Alcuin of York

The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. First, it is to be noted that the meaning would be expressed more fully if he said “this is the Apocalypse;” but it is a habit of the Scriptures to leave those little words implied for brevity's sake. This is why Solomon did not say “these are the parables of Solomon” [Cf. Prov. 1:1] or “these are the words of Ecclesiastes.” [Cf. Eccles. 1:1] Apocalypse, as already said, comes from the Greek for “revelation.” Jesus in Hebrew translates to soter in Greek and salutaris in Latin. Christ comes from the Greek for “anointed”; for chrisma means “unction”. It is told in the book of Exodus [Ex. 30:22-25] that Moses was the first to prepare chrisma at the Lord's bidding, with which kings and priests used to be anointed, prefiguring Christ invisibly anointed by the Father. Which God gave unto him, to make known to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass. Here also it is to be noted that “‘by’ which God gave unto him” would be a more usual way of saying it; but it is a habit of the sacred Scripture frequently to put the accusative instead of the ablative without preposition. Whence this in a psalm: Hear, O Lord, my voice, which I have cried to thee, [Variant of Psalm 26:7] and Paul: I have fought a good fight [2 Tim. 4:7]. Indeed what is shown by these words is that this revelation is that of Jesus Christ, and that he received from God the task to make known to his servants by his revelation the things which must shortly come to pass. This is why it is necessary to mark it thus: the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, and then to introduce, which God gave unto him, to make known to his servants, etc., the former referring to his divinity, according to which he reveals all the mysteries with the Father; the latter referring to his humanity, according to which he received not only from the Father and the Holy Spirit, but also from himself, the task to manifest to his servants by his revelation the things which must shortly come to pass. Whence it is not said, “which God ‘the Father’ gave unto him,” but, indeterminately, which God, that is the Trinity, gave unto him. Note also that in saying to his servants, he also shows the Son in the form of a servant, but not a servant, as his humanity is proclaimed master of the servants. He says his, which means “subject to divine grace”, according to this: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. [Lk. 10:21] In what is said afterwards, the things which must shortly come to pass, although one could understand countless things by it, his particular intention was nonetheless to speak of the Church's temporal afflictions and everlasting joys to come, and of the wicked's present happiness and future eternal torments. These things all come to pass shortly, because this present time is forced to fly by until the end without a moment's interruption; whence the same John says elsewhere, little children, it is the last hour. [1 John 2:18] And signified, sending by his angel to his servant John. Signified. That is “sealed.” For signum means “seal,” whence it is also said to Daniel, clausi sunt signatique sermones, [Dan. 12:9] and to Isaiah, signavi visionem in discipulis meis. [Apparently a variant of Is. 8:16] But what does it mean that this vision is said to be sealed, while it is said later, seal not the words of the prophecy of this book, [Rev. 22:10] if not that these words are opened for the good, and closed with a seal for the wicked? For it is not because of faithful servants, but because of thieves that riches are sealed. Whence it is said to Daniel, the wicked shall deal wickedly, but the learned understand. [Slight variant of Dan. 12:10] Moreover, by saying signified, he showed that it should not be taken literally, but by the word signification he made us intent on examining the mysteries more deeply. So this vision was sent through an angel; but the unbounded Spirit that sent it was there both in the one through whom he sent it and in the one to whom he sent it. The same angel who appeared wore the figure of the Word incarnate alone and of his body, which is the Church. John himself as well, whom he appeared to, presented the symbol of the Church. However, one should not believe that the angel and John prefigured two churches; but when the angel possesses the symbol of the Head, John possesses that of the preachers, and when the angel possesses that of the preachers, John possesses that of the listeners; and when by the angel are represented the members that lead the way, by John are represented those that follow; or in the angel we understand the Church glorified after the resurrection, and in John the present Church needing to be instructed by Christ. Furthermore, one should know that the Lord appears after his Ascension in the same way as he appeared to the fathers before his Incarnation, namely through an angelic creature. By this fact he clearly shows that he must not now be sought physically for teaching, as he is present everywhere in majesty; for we should not think that his humanity taken from the Virgin was present in the angel, but that the angel expressed its figure. It is not at all surprising either that he is called like to the Son of man, [Rev. 1:13] when the prophet Daniel is said to have called the angel Gabriel a man. [Dan. 9:21] Moreover, it is said by this angel, I am the First and the Last, [Rev. 1:17] etc., just as, before the Incarnation, God said in the person of an angel he had assumed, I am the God of Abraham, [Ex. 3:6] etc. Indeed, just as Moses calls the one who appeared to him in the bush sometimes “angel,” sometimes “God,” so does John say that this revelation was sent to him through an angel, and affirm that it was the Lord Jesus Christ himself in the mystery and figure. Therefore it was also through an angel that the Lord appeared to Paul on the road, [Acts 9:1-19] because if he had been to appear in the substance of his own flesh, he would appear thus to John, whom he particularly loved. It is also to be noted that John speaks of himself as if of someone else, as others do. Indeed Moses says, Moses was a man exceeding meek, [Num. 12:3] and Job, there was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job [Job 1:1] etc.; for they were not speaking by themselves, but it was the Holy Spirit speaking through them.

John to the seven churches which are in Asia. By the number seven is represented the universal Church, because of the seven gifts of him who has filled the earth. Hence Elisha made the child upon whom he lay gape seven times, [2 Kings 4:32 et seq.] because the people that died from unfaithfulness is brought back to life by the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. So the number seven is perfect, being formed by the number three and the number four; for the number three is considered perfect in the divine Scriptures because of the mystery of the Trinity, because of the three virtues: faith, hope, and love, or because of the three classes of the faithful: preachers, celibates, and married people. As for the number four, it is perfect because of the four parts of the world, because of the four cardinal virtues (namely prudence, temperance, courage, and justice) or because of the four books of the Gospels. Therefore, because knowledge of the Trinity encompasses the four cardinal points of the sky; because hope, faith, and love complete the sum of the four cardinal virtues; or because the three classes of believers submit to the commandments of the four Gospels, it is right for the universal Church to be symbolized by this number seven. One should nonetheless know that it was especially to the seven churches of the Ephesians that he sent these mysteries he wrote in exile. So species is not excluded, but in the species a genus is shown, namely the universal Church. It is appropriate to say that the universal Church is in Asia, for Asia translates to “pride.” The word “pride” is not always used to refer to a vice, but sometimes to the summit of virtue, as in I will make thee to be the pride of worlds, [Is. 60:15] that is “I will make you despise all pleasures and low honors;” and elsewhere, He hath lifted thee up above the height of the earth. [Cf. Is. 58:14] So it is in this height of pride that the Church takes its place. Alternatively, if “pride” is being used to refer to a vice, we should not take it to mean that the Church will remain proud, but that it was raised in the arrogance of pride some time ago, but is predestined to become humble through a heavenly gift, according to this: Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or has thou beheld the treasures of the hail: Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war? [Job 38:22-23] Grace be unto you and peace from him that is, and that was, and that is to come, and from the seven spirits which are in the sight of his throne, and from Jesus Christ. Grace means forgiveness granted freely, and it is with it shining on us when we were servants of sin that we were adopted as children of justice. It is this grace that Peter and Paul first mentioned in their salutations when they were about to write to the faithful, in order to show, before exhorting the peoples of grace, that the whole sum of the salutation was in this grace. It is proper for grace to be put before peace, because no one could have come to God's peace reconciled if the grace of mercy had not preceded them. As for the fact that he says from him that is, and that was, and that is to come, it should be taken as referring specifically to the only-begotten Son of God. He is in essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and has never been affected by mutability, according to this saying of Paul's: There was not in him « it is » and « it is not », but « it is » was in him [Variant of 2 Cor. 1:19], because, before he was born of the Virgin in time, he spent all times with the Father. Whence the same John says, in the beginning was the Word. [John 1:1] It is also the same who is to come to judge the living and the dead in the humanity he assumed, as it is written: He shall so come, as you have seen him going into heaven. [Acts 1:11] So, since it is certain that the Church has received this grace not only from the Son and the Holy Spirit but also from the Father through the Son and the Holy Spirit, why is the person of the Father not mentioned in this passage? Because it is habitual in the sacred Scriptures, where one or two of the persons of the Trinity are mentioned, for the whole Trinity to be understood at the same time. As for the words from the seven spirits, he says this because of the sevenfold operation of one spirit; and this spirit is said to be alone in the sight of the throne, that is of the Church, that is in the memory of the saints, because it is to this same spirit in particular that the remission of sins is ascribed, according to this: Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them. [John 20:22-23] Or if not, then surely the whole Trinity is understood in the Spirit. In saying from Jesus Christ, he mentions the person of the Son again, because the one referred to existed before the ages, and was made man in the end of the ages. Who is the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. It is obviously a way of speaking when he calls Christ specifically the faithful witness, while there are three who give testimony: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the three are one God. [Cf. 1 John 5:7] One may also call the Son specifically, in the role of man he assumed, a faithful witness, in that he went as far as the death of the flesh for the sake of the testimony of the truth. For while the whole Church, in the holy preachers, gives testimony concerning Christ, the ones called martyrs, that is “witnesses,” are principally those who suffered physical death for Christ. He is called first begotten because no one before him rose never to die. A different interpretation would be that all the saints are dead to the world, as it is said in for you are dead, [Col. 3:3] but he is so in a special way, because there has been no sin in him. By the kings, he means either all the saints, who know how to govern themselves well, or at any rate the preachers, who become partners with the good but raise themselves above the wicked, like Peter above Ananias, [Acts 5:1 et seq.] and Paul who brandishes his scepter, saying, What will you? shall I come to you with a rod? [1 Cor. 4:21] Because he hath loved us. How he has loved us, the pains he suffered clearly show. He did not however love us as we were, that is wicked ones, but as he made us by love itself. Whence it is added right afterwards, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; but in what way he has washed us in his own blood, the apostle indicated, saying, All we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death. [Rom. 6:3]

And hath made our kingdom priests to God and his Father. Because our Head is a king and priest, all the limbs are kings and priests, as the apostle Peter says in You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood. [1 Pet. 2:9] They are kings by governing themselves, and priests by offering themselves to God, according to this: I beseech you therefore by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. [Rom. 12:1] So, in saying to God and his Father, he indicates one person (although, according to the rule mentioned earlier, the Holy Spirit is there understood) in the same way as the apostle also says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, [2 Cor. 1:3] with the intention that one person should be understood by God and Father; hence it needs to be said, to him be glory forever and ever: to him, that is to him who has made us kings and priests, namely the Father and the Son, in which we understand the love of both, which is the Holy Spirit: for the love of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. [Rom. 5:5] Moreover, the Church is right to attribute glory for these things not to itself, but to the one it received them from, according to this: Not to us, O Lord, not to us; but to thy name give glory. [Ps. 113:9]

Behold, he cometh with the clouds. If we are to take this literally, when the Lord comes for the judgment, there will be a white cloud overshadowing the saints to protect them from the fire burning the world. This cloud will be frightening, and the reprobates will be terrified by its din. However, hardly anything in this Apocalypse is to be taken literally. So, in the sacred Scripture, when clouds are mentioned in the plural, they represent the holy preachers, who are light by the cleanness of their minds, and keep watering the hearts of their listeners with drops of preaching. Therefore it is with these clouds that the Lord will come for the judgment, according to this saying of the prophet: Behold, the Lord comes for the judgment with the ancients of his people. [Variant of Is. 3:14] And every eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him. Every eye shall see him, that is, every man shall (the whole is meant by a part) who shall then have been resurrected, either to life or to death — but not the eyes of animals, to which it is not given to rise again after death. Every man shall see him in the form of a servant in which he was judged by the wicked, not in the form of the divinity, which cannot be seen by the wicked. Note also that another translator says, “all the earth shall see him such,” as if he were saying, “such as the wicked did not believe he would be when he was here.” And all the tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves because of him. In this place it is to be noted that he says with an addition, the tribes of the earth, as if he were saying “those who long for earthly things and devote themselves to greed,” to whom it is said, Woe to you that are rich, [Luke 6:24] as well as, Woe to you that laugh. [Ibid. 25] As for what the cause of their pain is, it is disclosed with the words because of him: for even though there will then be mourning due to many afflictions, it will be nothing compared to the lamentation caused by the sight of Christ's glory; for the unfortunate will then feel more pained by the fact that they have lost such a Lord than by the fact that they have fallen into the most atrocious torment. Now, look: he confirms the things that have been said with the insertion of an oath, when he adds, Even so. Amen. Amen is for the Hebrews what even so is for us. Both are adverbs of affirmation: therefore he says Even so. Amen as if he were saying with duplication, “It is true. It is true.”

I John, your brother and your partner in tribulation, and in the kingdom, and patience in Christ Jesus, was in the island, which is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus. In this place John represents both his own person specifically and that of the Church generally. It is also to be noted that the kingdom pertains to the Head, tribulation to the limbs, and patience to both, and all this can be found in Jesus alone. Indeed, the Head was suffering tribulation with the limbs when he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? [Acts 9:4]. The kingdom is in the Head, as in Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, [Matt. 25:34] which is like saying clearly, “Come, ye limbs, reign with the Head, because I am the kingdom.” For he will grant himself to his people, as it is written: The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant (himself) to us [Luke 1:73]. Patience awaits us, according to this: Knowest thou not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to patience? [Variant of Rom. 2:4], and we, in our patience, shall possess our souls. [Cf. Luke 21:19] By the island of Patmos, which translates to “strait,” in which John was in exile, are represented the persecutions and hardships suffered by John and the Church (that is, a species and a genus) but for the Word of God, not for their own bad actions, according to this saying of the apostle Peter: Let none of you suffer as a thief, [1 Pet. 4:15] but as a disciple of Christ.

I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. Here we need to start speaking about species and genus individually. John's spirit did not leave his flesh altogether when he saw this, because his body could not have survived without spirit; but, being in ecstasy, he could not feel or understand anything through his body. Note also that he says he was in the spirit not on the Sabbath, but on the Lord's day, because the old law, which produced death, had already passed, and the new one, which gives life, had become well-known with Christ's Resurrection. Allegorically, the Church is also shown to be the Lord's day, because, in the elect, it mortifies the deeds of the flesh by the spirit [Rom. 8:13] so that it may rise in the spirit in the conduct of a new life. Whence this saying of the apostle: You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. [Ibid. 9] And heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying: What thou seest, write. What one should know is that just as John heard it in the spirit, so was the voice spoken to him spiritual. We should however ask the question of what back a spirit could have to be able to hear a voice behind him. It seems then that the face of that spirit was the very force of divine contemplation, and its back, obliviousness of present matters. Therefore he heard the voice in the things he had forgotten, the purpose of this being to make him turn his mind's face towards them and write in a book everything he saw; as if the voice were saying to him, “Those things which you are beginning to see in the spirit of God, either have been done or must be done here, where you hear me sounding without sound, that is on earth.” With the words What thou seest, write, it is as if he were saying “what thou art about to see,” for he had not seen anything yet. Allegorically, the Church hears a voice concerning its union with Christ, behind it, from the law and the prophets, like this: They shall be two in one flesh. [Gen. 2:24] This voice, whether with regards to the Church or with regards to John, is rightly called great, because it speaks of the highest mysteries, and because of that it is compared to a trumpet and spread by the mouths of the preachers; whence it is said to one of them, Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. [Is. 58:1] This voice, through John, tells the Church to write what it sees, that is, to keep it in mind. And send to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamus, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. We need to say how the interpretations of these names tally with the universal Church. Ephesus translates to “my will” or “my counsel”: and whose counsel, but that of the one who casteth away the counsels of princes, but his counsel standeth forever? [Ps. 32:10-11] Moreover, the Church is the will of God, to which it is said through the prophet, Thou shalt be called My will. [Is. 62:4] Note also that will pertains to love, while counsel pertains to correction. Indeed, someone is the will of God when they submit to the Creator not out of fear of punishment, but willingly; whereas if someone wants to join neither for fear nor for love, they are given a speech of correction through the action of divine mercy so that they may abandon their error and receive the counsel of salvation. Smyrna translates to “their canticle,” that is the elect's, and that canticle is the new commandment. Therefore the Church sings this canticle every day when it fulfills the new commandment by loving God and neighbor. Pergamus translates to “separating their horns”: and whose horns but Christ's and the Devil's? So by Christ's horns is represented his kingdom, that is the Church, and by the Devil's horns, it is also his kingdom that is represented, that is the wicked. Hear therefore the separation of the horns: I will break all the horns of sinners, and the horns of the just shall be exalted. [Ps. 74:11] Thyatira means “enlightened”: and what other enlightened one are we to understand, but the one to whom it is said by Isaiah, Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem? [Is. 60:1] It is appropriate for the Church to be called enlightened, so that it should remember that it used to be darkness; whence the apostle to its members: You were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord. [Eph. 5:8] Sardis means “for the prince of beauty,” and “fitted” or “prepared” is implied. The prince of beauty is the one about whom the Psalmist says, beautiful above the sons of men. [Ps. 44:3] And who is prepared for him, if not the one about whom the prophet says to the same prince, The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety? [Ibid. 10] Philadelphia translates to “saving the inheritance for the Lord.” From this it is right to understand the Church of the elect, which strives to save itself with divine help. Indeed it is about this inheritance that it is said, I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance. [Ps. 2:8] Laodicea translates to “tribe lovely to the Lord” or “they were in vomit”: this interpretation shows the good mingled with the wicked in the Church.

And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. By saying to see, he shows that it was not a physical voice, which cannot be seen, but a spiritual one, with which seeing it is no different from hearing it. Allegorically, the Church turned to see the voice, because it directed its attention, out of the desire of its mind, to the words of the law and of the prophets, so as to see their mysteries now fulfilled. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks: and in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, one like to the Son of man. By the seven candlesticks is represented the sevenfold Church, in whose midst is Christ, who is called like to the Son of man because he was now immortal, or because he appeared not with sin, but in the likeness of the flesh of sin. We read that he appeared in the midst according to this: Where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. [Matt. 18:20] It is appropriate for the Church to be symbolized by seven golden candlesticks, for the sevenfold operation of the Holy Spirit is symbolized by the number, and the brightness of eternal wisdom is symbolized by gold. So just as gold, tried by fire and stretched by blows, is made into a candlestick, so does the Church, melted by the fire of tribulation until purification, and extended into long-suffering by the blows of temptations, reach completion; whence Isaiah says, The Lord hath said it, whose fire is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. [Is. 31:9] Furthermore, one should know that one Church is represented by both the seven candlesticks and the Son of man, because the person of Christ and of the Church is one. So the same Lord who appeared clothed with a garment down to the feet in the midst of the candlesticks, put on as a garment the candlesticks themselves. Therefore, Christ's clothes are the same as the seven candlesticks, that is the Church. Indeed genus is joined to genus, when the Church is meant by both the seven candlesticks and the Son of man. Note also that the likeness to the Son of man concerns us, because just as our Head has risen again in deed, so have we in hope. Clothed with a garment down to the feet (a poderes). Podes means “feet” in Greek. What do we understand by the poderes, that is a tunic reaching the ankles, which Zechariah says is a priestly garment, [Probable reference to Zec. 3:4 LXX] if not the flesh of Christ specifically, and the whole Church generally? Indeed, by offering himself on the cross to God the Father, he carried out a priesthood. Now, this priestly garment is down to the ankles because his body, which is the Church, down to its very last members, fills up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ; [Cf. Col. 1:24] or if not, then certainly his garment down to the ankles was his work of love to the suffering of death. And girt about the paps with a golden girdle. What one should know is that Daniel saw a man girt about the loins [Dan. 10:5] and John saw him girt about the paps because the Old Testament restrains the lust of the flesh, whereas the New restrains also that of the mind. However, that double girding does not refer to the Head, but to the limbs, since it is certain that our Redeemer has been touched by neither the lust of the body nor that of the heart. So it is fitting to say that this girdle was golden, because whoever is a citizen of the heavenly fatherland, forsakes uncleanness, not out of fear of punishment, but out of love for heavenly brightness. The order given to the apostles in the New Testament, Let your loins be girt, [Luke 12:35] is given, through their persons, to those who, not yet restraining the fornication of the flesh, belong to the man of the old life; for the apostles themselves had already forsaken the uncleanness of the flesh. Alternatively, the angel is girt about the paps with a golden girdle because the Church, coming from two peoples, is united in Christ by the bond of love.

And his head and his hairs were white, as white wool, and as snow. Christ's head is God the Father; whence the apostle: The head of Christ is God; [1 Cor. 11:3] whose eternity is represented, according to the habit of human speech, by the whiteness of the head. Allegorically, the head of the Church is its Redeemer, according to this: The head of man is Christ. [Ibid.] The hairs are the most excellent people in the Church, who are compared to lambs, that is to wool, because of their innocence, and to snow because of the resurrection. Because Christ has shown both in himself (i.e. innocence and resurrection, the former of which we are ordered to imitate, the latter of which we are ordered to expect) not only the hairs, but also the whole head is assimilated to white wool and snow. And his eyes were as a flame of fire. These eyes are those concerning which it is said later, I saw a Lamb as it were slain, having seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God; [Rev. 5:6] for since the Holy Spirit both enlightens the Church to faith and burns it to the love of God, it is right for him to be assimilated to the lights of eyes and to a flame of fire. These eyes may also represent spiritual angels in the Church who enlighten the same Church with the light of knowledge and provide the fire of love.

And his feet like unto fine brass, as in a burning furnace. The fabrication of fine brass is said to be as follows: copper is thrown into a furnace, a violent fire is applied to it, a certain medicine is also thrown into it all, and the copper as a result both gains a greater solidity and turns into the brightness of gold: whence it is appropriate for the feet like unto fine brass to refer to those last members of the Church that are to be melted by an intense fire of tribulation under the Antichrist, but will be found to be stronger and brighter after using the medicine of endurance. Because the trouble will be even more severe in Judea, where the Lord was crucified by the wicked Jews, another translation has “fine brass of Lebanon,” which is said to be a mountain in Judea. And his voice as the voice of many waters. Above, he compared the voice of the one who appeared to a trumpet, and now he compares it to the voice of many waters, because what was first proclaimed by a few preachers, was afterwards proclaimed by the whole world. Alternatively, we could understand, by the voice of the trumpet, the voice of the Old and of the New Testament, and by the voice of many waters, love, whose law is manifold, as it is said in and thou shalt know that his law is manifold. [Cf. Job 11:6]

And he had in his right hand seven stars. By the seven stars, as the same angel explains below, angels are meant; not however those spirits of the heavenly fatherland, in whom nothing reprehensible can be found, but preachers of the Church, about whom it is said, The angels of peace shall weep bitterly. [Is. 33:7] It is right for these to be represented by stars and angels, because they both shine in the night of this world by the cleanness of their lives, and prove to be angels of truth by announcing heavenly things to their listeners. Because they are seven not truly in number, but in the signification of totality, this species includes all the preachers of the Church. Whence in signification there are no longer seven angels, but one, that is the perfected order of preachers, just as the seven candlesticks represent not only the churches of Asia, but the universal Church; and if we pay subtle attention, we also find the candlesticks in these seven stars, that is, the universal Church in the holy preachers. Whence, when the Lord speaks to one angel, he says in the end: Let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. [Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22] The right hand in this passage should be understood to mean the utmost blessedness, which now is there in hope, and will then be there in fact; whence this saying of Isaiah: The right hand of my just one will uphold thee. [Variant of Is. 41:10] Then, when we hear that the Church is held in the right hand, from the whole we must understand a part, which must be placed on the right hand in the future. And from his mouth came out a sharp two-edged sword. What is symbolized by the sword but the preaching of the Old and of the New Testament? As in this saying of Paul's: and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [Eph. 6:17] It is right for it to be called two-edged, because it cuts off faults committed in deed on one side, and forbidden thoughts on the other; or because it informs imperfect people on the outside according to the literal meaning, and instructs perfect people on the inside according to the mystical meaning. And his face was as the sun shineth in his power. By the face shining as the sun, we may understand the elect, as in The just shall shine as the sun. [Matt. 13:43] If we wish to understand the sun mentioned in this sentence to mean the visible sun, we should know that it will then be of a greater brightness than it now is, and the glory of the saints will then be greater, as Isaiah attests, who says, The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people; [Is. 30:26] whence in this passage it is added in his power. Alternatively: what is symbolized by the face of the angel but the Redeemer's manifest incarnation, which had, as it were, a rising in being born, a setting in dying, and again a rising in being resurrected? And since his resurrection had already become well-known throughout the world, it is as if the sun had gone up to the hours around midday when John was seeing these things, and this is why he said, with those words added, as the sun shineth in his power.

And when I had seen him, I fell at his feet as dead. In this passage John signifies Christ's limbs, and the angel signifies Christ specifically. Therefore John falls as dead at the angel's feet because the Church follows Christ's footprints to die to the world. It is appropriate to say that he is as dead, because even if the Church dies to the world and to vices, it still lives to God. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying: Fear not. The right hand of the angel in this place represents the preachers. Hence it is said by Moses, In his right hand a fiery law, [Deut. 33:2] that is, in the holy preachers the teaching of the Holy Spirit. It is not mentioned at all what the angel did with his hand laid upon him, but we deduce with a certain reasoning that he lifted up from the ground either John or the Church in him. Now, can it be that the Church was put away from the imitation of the sufferings of Christ? No. Therefore the angel laying his hand upon John who lay at his feet as dead and raising him from the ground, is the Redeemer Lord lifting up the Church which imitates his sufferings from sorrow of the heart to the hope of future glory by encouraging it through the holy preachers, as in The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us. [Rom. 8:18] He fittingly says Fear not, as if the Lord were saying to the Church, “Receive confidence from above, and drive human fear away.” I am the First and the Last, and I was alive, and dead, and behold I am living for ever and ever. Here it is made clear that this angel specifically bore the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom all this corresponds to. And have the keys of death and of hell. By the keys is represented the divine judgment’s power, which no one can escape, but it shuts everyone in like a key, according to this: He shutteth, and no man openeth; [Rev. 3:7] by death is meant the one about whom it is written, By the envy of the devil, death came into the world; [Wis. 2:24] and by hell are represented those who belong to him. So with one set of keys the Devil is released to tempt the Church, and with the other he is bound; whence it is written, God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able. [1 Cor. 10:13]

Write therefore the things which thou hast seen, and which are, and which must be done hereafter. It passes from genus to species, for here John represents the preachers specifically. Note also that he repeats things he had already said, so that the fault of sluggishness should be put away. Write therefore, he says, the things which thou hast seen, as if he were saying “the things foretold concerning me in the law and the prophets,” “and which are — namely the things fulfilled by me — and which must be done hereafter — that is the things that are to be fulfilled among my limbs.” But we should now close this book in its due end, so that we not get tired in the flat of plains before we come to climb the mountains of this Apocalypse. As we have already said in the previous book, some affirm that this vision is a spiritual one, while others affirm it is an intellectual one. If it is an intellectual one, it is not in his own person, but in that of others that he learns. If, on the other hand, it is a spiritual one, he says in some places how he received understanding of the vision, and keeps silent about it in other places. This he of course does with the right moderation, because if the vision were made altogether clear, it would lose its worth, and if it remained completely obscure, it would be despised.