Oecumenius

Could it be that some of the Fathers accepted the concept of restoration [ἀποκατάστασιν] from this point onward, saying that sinners are punished only up to this time, but thereafter no longer, as if they have been purified by the punishment? But what should be done regarding the many others among the Fathers, and the approved Scriptures, which speak of the punishments of those who were then being punished as eternal?

What then might one say, or how should one regulate the parts? One must blend the opinions of both sides. I say this as in a kind of exercise, and not as a definitive statement; for I add to the doctrine of the Church that which wishes the punishments in the future to be eternal, since even this was said by the Lord in the Gospel according to Matthew, saying, "And these will go away into eternal punishment" (Matt. 25:46); and Isaiah said, "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched." (Isa. 66:24)

As in an exercise, therefore, this must be said: a middle portion of each part of the path is to be marked out, because until a certain time—"five months", as the present Revelation, having employed a certain secret number, has said—the sinners will be severely "tormented" "as if" stung "by a scorpion"; but after this, gradually, although we will not be entirely free from punishment, it will be to such an extent that we "will seek death and not find it".

For who would have a need to seek death for those who are not punished at all? "Death", he says, "will flee from them", for they share in punishment eternally.

Who then is "the voice that was heard from the horns of the altar"? It says, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." The divine Scripture calls the apostate an angel, and I say it is Satan and those who have rebelled with him. For indeed, he has been handed over to us as if they are kept "in eternal chains under darkness," (Jude 6) and as if they are condemned to the abyss of the sea.

For in the second epistle of Peter it says, "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them into chains of gloomy Tartarus, delivering them to be kept for judgment," (2 Peter 2:4) and in the epistle of Jude it refers to angels who "did not keep their own position, but left their own dwelling, in eternal chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day." (Jude 6) Indeed, the book of Job in the sea says that the apostate has been defiled in various ways by altering his form, size, and the bitterness of his character; and it also states that "he is mocked by the angels of God." (Job 41:25)

And Isaiah also cried out concerning him that "the sword of God will be brought down upon the dragon, the fleeing serpent, upon the crooked serpent; and he will destroy the dragon on that day who is in the sea." (Isa. 27:1) And the prophet, speaking about him after all creatures have passed away, adds this concerning those who are in the sea: "This dragon which you have fashioned to mock him" (Ps. 104:26); following these words, the divine prophet Ezekiel also speaks concerning the Egyptian, saying: "You are like a lion among the nations, and like a dragon in the sea, and you mingle with your rivers." (Ezek. 32:2)

No one, indeed, has transmitted a tradition to us that they were "bound in the Euphrates River", nor will they ever be released, nor will people be punished through them. For Jude, who said that they are "bound with eternal chains," forbade that they should ever be loosed; and the one who said through Isaiah that the Dragon in the sea will be destroyed on the day of judgment, declared that no one else would destroy him but that very one. And the Lord, sending forth in the Gospels those who have sinned into "the fire prepared for the Devil and his angels," (Matt. 25:41) declared that He would use them as punishers and executors of justice, and that they themselves are destined to suffer punishment. How then could one understand the previously mentioned statement that they are "bound in the river Euphrates" and that they will be released and will themselves punish the sinners? I believe that what was said is metaphorical, as if it were a law established for every vision; for I consider that it refers to the angels who are bound to the divine contemplation that spiritually delights God.

The "river" is allegorically used to represent the divine, both by Isaiah, who says, "Behold, I will turn toward them like a river of peace, and like torrents washing over the glory of nations," (Isa. 66:12) and by the prophet, who states, "The impulses of the river delight the city of God." (Ps. 46:4)

And the Lord Himself said to John, in the twentieth section concerning the Spirit, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from his belly." (Jn. 7:38-39) He says that these are those released from the vision of God, sent as punishment to the impious; for he says these are the ones who are condemned for the present day.

Then, which "four angels" does he mention? Perhaps those narrated in Scripture: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael.

The prophet, striking the spiritual harp, recounted to us concerning those punished in Hades, saying to God: "that there is no one in death who remembers you; and in Hades, who will confess to you," (Ps. 6:6) depriving them both of joy according to God and repentance? For through the remembrance of God there is spiritual joy, for the same one writes that elsewhere he "remembered God and was glad," (Ps. 76:4) but through not confessing repentance— for confession is the declaration of those who have sinned, arising from remorse and turning back through shame that comes near to the soul.

For in truth, God has appointed for us two lives, the present and the future. In the present life, He has given us the ability and authority to govern ourselves according to reason; but in the future life, there will be recompense for what has been lived, and neither the present life is subject to judgment, unless perhaps someone is profitably reminded and urged to repentance, nor the future life is a state so that we might be reformed from a misused life to a better one. Since these things are so, how then has it been said concerning those punished there?

"And the rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, neither repented from the works of their hands". It does not say that those who did not repent in that life, but that those still living, and not from obedience and seeing the things that were then to come, repented from these and those unlawful deeds. By this said "plague", they do not die the intellectual death, calling punishment death, as they co-exist eternally with the wicked, unless they are punished by another, indeed worse, which, though attempting to say it, he wisely kept silent. May it happen that all of us become free; by the grace and generosity of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.

Moreover, John, the divine narrator in the present discourse, recounts the events that occurred when the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, which I have not yet fully explained all at once, since the fifth discourse is so long, I therefore did not reveal it in full. But what else does he write that has happened?

Therefore, those who, while still alive, having heard or even seen the punishments inflicted upon the wrongdoers, did not repent, but remained wicked as previously stated, John says that I saw an angel descending from heaven, bringing images of punishments.

He says that his vision and form were as follows: he was clothed with a cloud. The cloud symbolizes the eternal and invisible nature of the holy angels; for the cloud is a symbol of the unseen. The prophet, indicating the invisible nature of God, describes "clouds and thick darkness are round about him." (Ps. 97:2)

And a rainbow was upon his head; as if the head and the foremost among the good angels were saying, it is brightness; for angels are beings of light. (2 Cor. 11:14)

And his face is said to be like the sun; and this too is an appearance of pure brightness. But the rainbow is the brightness of a created nature, signifying virtue; therefore, the brightness of the rainbow is not uniform, but varied, indicating all the virtues of the angels. The sun, indeed, signifies their natural brilliance by a gleaming light. Therefore, it was surrounded by a rainbow, for virtues are around us; but its face resembled the sun, for in us all natural excellence is present in abundance.

And his feet were like pillars of fire. The fire signifies the punishment that he came to bring upon the impious.

And he is said to have held in his hand a tiny open scroll [βιβλιδάριον]. Daniel, recalling such small scrolls [βιβλίων], says: "before him sat a judge, and scrolls [βίβλοι] were opened." (Dan. 7:10) The tiny scroll [βιβλιδάριον] was one in which were recorded the names and the multitude of the very impious who were to be punished. Therefore, it was also diminutively called a "tiny scroll" [βιβλιδάριον], since it is a kind of scroll [βίβλου]. Both terms have been used in the Holy Scripture, in which the names of all men are written, according to what was previously stated by me. The term "tiny scroll" [βιβλιδάριον] refers to the record containing the names of the exceedingly impious. For the worshippers of idols were not so numerous, nor marked by murders and poisonings and other afflictions that would serve to fill an entire scroll small [βιβλίον] with the diseases they caused.

And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the land. This was a sign both of the greatness of the saints and a sign that those who have sinned on the earth as well as those in the sea, such as shipwrecked individuals or others who have committed evil deeds, would bear the consequences of punishment.