Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
After the destruction and damnation of the purpled harlot, namely Babylon, there is described here the joy and congratulation of the heavenly hosts redoubling Alleluia, both at her damnation, and because the day of the Lamb's nuptials and the reward of the Saints draws near. Then, in verse 10, John wishes to adore the angel announcing these things, but is forbidden by him. Thirdly, in verse 11, Christ having written on His thigh, "King of kings and Lord of lords," brandishing a sword from His mouth, comes with regal glory and pomp with the army of robed heavenly hosts, that He may protect the Saints fighting against Antichrist at the end of the world, and that He may destroy and slay Antichrist with his followers. Wherefore, in verse 17, an angel invites the birds to the great supper, that they may devour the flesh of the slain. Hence fourthly, in verse 19, Antichrist and his precursor, or pseudo-prophet, are swallowed alive by the earth; the rest of his followers, namely the army of the ten kings, with Gog and Magog are slain.
Vulgate Text: Apocalypse 19:1-21
1 After these things I heard as it were the voice of much people in heaven, saying: Alleluia. Salvation, and glory, and power is to our God. 2 For true and just are His judgments, who hath judged the great harlot which corrupted the earth with her fornication, and hath revenged the blood of His servants, at her hands. 3 And again they said: Alleluia. And her smoke ascendeth for ever and ever. 4 And the four and twenty ancients, and the four living creatures fell down and adored God that sitteth upon the throne, saying: Amen; Alleluia. 5 And a voice came out from the throne, saying: Give praise to our God, all ye His servants; and you that fear Him, little and great. 6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunders, saying: Alleluia: for the Lord our God the Almighty hath reigned. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath prepared herself. 8 And it is granted to her that she should clothe herself with fine linen, glittering and white. For the fine linen are the justifications of saints. 9 And he said to me: Write: Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith to me: These words of God are true. 10 And I fell down before his feet, to adore him. And he saith to me: See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus. Adore God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and with justice doth He judge and fight. 12 And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems, and He had a name written, which no man knoweth but Himself. 13 And He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is called, THE WORD OF GOD. 14 And the armies that are in heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword; that with it He may strike the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 And He hath on His garment, and on His thigh written: KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that did fly through the midst of heaven: Come, gather yourselves together to the great supper of God: 18 That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of tribunes, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all freemen and bondmen, and of little and of great. 19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war with Him that sat upon the horse, and with His army. 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, who wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced them who received the character of the beast, and who adored his image. These two were cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword of Him that sitteth upon the horse, which proceedeth out of His mouth; and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
Verse 1: I Heard the Voice of Much People in Heaven Saying Alleluia
1. After These Things I Heard as It Were the Voice of Much People. — Wrongly do Ambrose and Bede read "of many trumpets": for the Greek is ochlou pollou. By this voice is signified a multitude of heavenly beings, and the common congratulation and exultation of all.
Alleluia. — In Hebrew hallelu ia, that is, praise God (for ia is the abbreviated Jehovah), with joyful and lofty voice rejoicing. For Alleluia contains an acclamation together with an exhortation, say Ribera, Viegas, and Alcazar.
Salvation. — So the Roman and Greek editions, not "praise," as Ribera would have it read. The sense is, as if to say: Our salvation, by which, when Babylon, that is Pagan Rome, was destroyed, we were freed from her persecution, and from this consequently "glory," both of God and of us; and "power," Greek dynamis, that is, strength and might, by which He brought forth this victory and salvation for us: it is not to be ascribed to our strength, but received and attributed to our God. Alcazar adds kai hē timē, that is "and honor," so that these four praises may correspond to the fourfold Alleluia, of which presently. But neither the Roman nor the Complutensian have it. Symbolically, salvation and victory are attributed to the Father, the glory of redemption to the Son, the power of sanctifying and beatifying to the Holy Spirit.
Verse 2: Which Corrupted the Earth with Her Fornication
2. Which Corrupted the Earth with Her Fornication — in her idolatry and other crimes. See what was said in chap. XVII, vers. 2.
Verse 3: And Again They Said Alleluia
3. And Again They Said: Alleluia. — Note: The heavenly beings, out of immense devotion and exultation of feeling, repeat Alleluia four times, namely, first in vers. 1; second in vers. 3; third in vers. 4; fourth in vers. 6.
And Her Smoke (namely of Babylon set on fire in chap. XVIII) Ascendeth for Ever and Ever. — As if to say: They praise God by singing Alleluia, and, that is because, the damnation and torments of Babylon, that is, of the wicked and persecuting Romans, will endure in eternity. Hence Isidore, in book VI of the Etymologies, ch. xix, teaches that the Church on the more joyful feasts uses and repeats Alleluia, and has received this from this passage of the Apocalypse, as also from the Psalms, and from Tobit xiii, 22, where it is said: "Through her streets (of Jerusalem) Alleluia shall be sung."
Mystically Alcazar: Perfect praise of God, he says, comprises four parts, which correspond to the fourfold Alleluia: the first is the faith and knowledge of God Himself and of the Holy Trinity, and of His victory and salvation; the second is integrity of life: for a pious life praises God more than the voice. For this praise of life and morals is long-lasting, indeed eternal. Hence it is said in Psalm cx, 10: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding to all that do it, His praise continueth for ever and ever." Where "His praise" is called that praise which the fear of God attributes to Him, that is, the praise which piety renders Him. The third is the public praise of the whole Church in the sacrifice of the Mass, in sermons, in chanting the Divine Offices. Whence this Alleluia is sung by the twenty-four ancients, that is, by the Priests. The fourth is that of those who strive after perfection, that, ever intent on the greater glory of God, they may serve God religiously each in his own state, and burn with zeal for souls, and by prayers, pious conversations, and the admirable example of their lives, may promote the common good, that is, the greater glory of God in the conversion and perfection of souls. For by this means the Apostles and the first Christians converted barbarians and utterly impious men. And if priests and the faithful would now do the same, and conspire in this, they would easily convert both heretics, Pagans, and Turks. Hence the voice from heaven, that is, the efficacious instinct and breathing of the Holy Spirit, stirs up men to this Alleluia, and therefore Christ ascended into heaven, that He might send down this Spirit from heaven into us. This voice is like that of many waters, and like that of thunder, because resounding, penetrating, and efficacious for moving and stirring souls. Furthermore, these four Alleluias correspond to, and are more fully explained by, the twenty Alleluias which are prefixed as titles to twenty psalms, namely Psalms civ, cv, cvi, cx, cxi, cxiii, cxiv, cxv, cxvi, cxvii, cxviii, cxxxiv, cxlv, cxlvi, cxlvii, cxlviii, cxlviii, cxlix, cl, which Alcazar in note 2 measures and adapts to these four Alleluias. Again, Richard notes that Alleluia is here repeated four times, that it may be signified that God is Triune as well as One; for three and one make four.
Thus in Africa, in a place called Regia, when in the Easter solemnity a lector was singing Alleluia in the pulpit, his throat being pierced by an arrow shot by the Arians, he died singing, and as a martyr flew into heaven, there to chant Alleluia perpetually, as Victor of Utica relates in book I of the Vandal history.
St. Jerome testifies in the Life of St. Paula that in her monastery, when "Alleluia" was sung aloud, the nuns were wont to be summoned to the Holy Synaxis. St. Augustine on Psalm cvi writes that by ancient tradition Alleluia was wont to be sung by the Catholic Church spread throughout the whole world, namely in the paschal season. Wherefore as to what St. Gregory says in book VII, epist. 36: "That Alleluia should be said here (at Rome), is handed down to have been drawn from the Church of Jerusalem from the tradition of Blessed Jerome, in the time of Damasus of blessed memory": understand it with Baronius, that it was said outside the paschal season. For St. Jerome himself teaches that the use and singing of Alleluia was so frequent that it was even sung at the funerals of the dead. For so he says in the Epitaph of Fabiola: "The psalms were sounding, and the gilded roofs of the temples, resounding on high, were shaken with Alleluia." The same teaches that Christians had Alleluia so often in their mouths, that even infants when beginning to speak were taught first to sound and stammer Alleluia. For so writing about Paula to her mother Laeta, epist. 7 and 27, he relates that the little child was wont to sing Alleluia with stammering mouth. Other pious mothers did the same, teaching their infants to make their first sound Alleluia. Finally, St. Jerome in epist. 17 to Marcella teaches that at Jerusalem Alleluia was so frequent in the mouths of all the faithful, that even farmers used to lighten the burdens of their labor with this song: "Wherever," he says, "you turn yourself, the plowman holding the plow-handle chants Alleluia." Wonderful is what Constantius the Bishop relates, and from him Baronius, namely that in the year of the Lord 429, the Britons, pressed by enemies, by the admonition of St. Germanus crying out Alleluia, obtained a notable victory over them. For when all together with one voice they cried out Alleluia: "The hostile array," he says, "is laid low with terror, and not only the surrounding crags, but even the very fabric of heaven trembles to fall upon them," etc. See what I noted about Alleluia on Ephes. v, 20.
Verse 4: Amen, Alleluia
4. Amen, Alleluia. — The 24 ancients say "Amen," as it were approving the doxology and the Alleluia of the heavenly beings which preceded: whence after "Amen," they themselves also add their own proper Alleluia, as if to say: Let it altogether be so, let all praise God, let all say Alleluia.
Verse 5: A Voice Came Out from the Throne
5. And a Voice Came Out from the Throne (from God through some Seraph or Cherub) Saying: Give Praise to Our God — that is, say Alleluia. This voice exhorts the heavenly beings, that they should repeat and double the Alleluia which they had begun to say, on account of the magnitude of the victory over Babylon overthrown, and the salvation and exultation that followed thence. Or certainly this voice goes out from heaven, and is directed to the earth-dwellers, that the faithful here in the Church may say Alleluia, just as the heavenly ones said in vers. 1, 3 and 4. Whence alluding to this, St. Jerome says: "In the Church," he says, "in likeness of the celestial thunder, Amen resounds," as also Alleluia. Thus he himself in the preface to book II of the epistle to the Galatians.
Verse 6: For the Lord Our God the Almighty Hath Reigned
6. For the Lord Our God Hath Reigned. — Babylon, the enemy, having been destroyed, our God now begins a peaceful, joyous, and firm reign. He alludes to Psalms xcii, xcvi and xcviii, which each begin thus: "The Lord hath reigned."
Verse 7: The Marriage of the Lamb Is Come
7. Let Us Be Glad and Rejoice, and Give Glory to Him: For the Marriage of the Lamb Is Come. — He alludes to the parable of the nuptials of Christ, Matt. xxii, 2. So St. Jerome and Jansenius there. And to Psalm xliv: "My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the king," which is the epithalamium of the bridegroom and bride, that is, of Christ and the Church. For just as Ahasuerus, having rejected Vashti, taking Esther to wife, commanded "a most magnificent banquet to be prepared for all his princes and servants, for the union and nuptials of Esther," Esther II, 18: so also God the Father has prepared a wedding, that is, a wedding banquet, and that perpetual, for Christ and the Church, that is, for the faithful in heaven. Literally then in this place all the heavenly ones rejoice and acclaim, that the day of judgment has now come, and the perfect nuptials of Christ with the Church to be celebrated in heavenly beatitude. Whence he adds:
And His Wife Hath Prepared Herself — as if to say: The Church has adorned herself with every virtue, and with every variety and number of the Elect, namely the Apostles, Martyrs, Virgins, Confessors, that as a bride she may be led into the bridal chamber of her bridegroom Christ in heaven, and become His wife, and enjoy Him for ever. Note: In this life the Church is the betrothed of Christ, whose betrothal is celebrated in baptism through grace; but in the future life she will be the wife through glory, whose nuptials will be celebrated in heaven for all eternity. Of the betrothal of Christ and the Church it is said in Canticles ch. iii, vers. 11: "Go forth and see, ye daughters of Sion, king Solomon in the diadem with which his mother crowned him on the day of his espousals." Of the nuptials it is said here: "For the marriage of the Lamb is come." Thus St. Gregory and others whom I shall cite at vers. 9.
Wherefore mystical and accommodative is what Alcazar holds, namely that the wife is the Roman Church; that her nuptials were when Rome was converted by St. Peter and others to Christ, and therefore the universal Church says Alleluia.
Verse 8: She Should Clothe Herself with Fine Linen
8. And It Is Granted to Her That She Should Clothe Herself with Fine Linen, Glittering — Greek lampros, that is, clean: for those things which are very clean and bright, these by their brightness shine and glitter.
For the Fine Linen Are the Justifications (that is, the just and holy works) of Saints. — Byssus represents the most pure and innocent conversation of the Saints, which in tribulation and persecution shines forth and gleams the more: just as byssus and flax (for the byssus of the ancients was the most excellent flax, as I taught at Exodus xxv, at the beginning of the chapter) by injury, that is by maceration, beating, and combing always becomes better, namely purer, whiter and more splendid, as Pliny says in book XVIII, ch. 1. Wherefore the Syriac translates: "for that fine linen is the dues (that is, the merits to which a great reward is owed) of the Saints"; the Arabic: "for the byssus is the justice of the Saints."
Again, byssus and white cloth are the symbol of happiness. Hence by the Poets the threads of the Fates are called golden or white, to signify great happiness. Whence Martial, book VI On the Thread of Domitian:
"She herself will draw out for you golden threads with snowy thumb, / And Julia will spin out the whole sheep of Phrixus."
On the contrary, black cloth is the symbol of unhappiness; whence Poets call the threads of life and fate black in unfortunate matters: because black, says Plutarch, belongs to the evil daemon. Thus at Thebes the spiders, which around the doors of Ceres had formerly woven white webs, when the Macedonians invaded the borders, wove black ones, says Pausanias in his Boeotica.
Verse 9: Blessed Are They That Are Called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
9. And He Said to Me: Write — that all who shall read these things may be encouraged to hope, fortitude, and constancy in persecution and the struggle with the impious. You will ask: Who "said" these things? Alcazar answers: The angel of great power of whom in chap. xviii, vers. 1, whom he holds to be St. Peter himself. Hence follows that John fell down to kiss the feet of Blessed Peter, just as in chap. xxii, vers. 9, he fell suppliantly at the feet of another angel, who was one of the seven angels having vials, namely at the feet of St. Paul, exulting with joy over the most happy news of Rome's conversion, and the most prosperous success of the Roman Church. Wherefore he is forbidden by them on this ground, that they say they are fellow-servants of John, as if to say: You are equally a Prophet in this your Apocalypse, as we are Prophets revealing to you the conversion of Rome, and therefore you are equal to us; and therefore it is not fitting that you should fall down at our feet, since you stand in the same degree of dignity with us. Thus he himself piously and ingeniously accommodates and applies these things rather than explains them.
But I say that this angel is a true angel, namely the one who at Christ's command revealed the Apocalypse to St. John, as I said at chap. i, vers. 1. For that angel of great power, of whom at chap. xviii, vers. 1, already long since, namely there at vers. 4, finished his embassy and discourse.
Blessed Are They That Are Called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. — Syriac: "Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the banquet of the Lamb"; Arabic: "Blessed are they who are called to the banquet of the Lamb." Alcazar takes these words about the nuptials, that is, the conversion of the Roman Church, and her union with Christ: for Christ then called her to His banquet of wisdom and sacred Scripture. "I recall," says Alcazar, "having heard from a man of remarkable wisdom and holiness, that the image of celestial happiness which is found on earth seemed to him to be no other than to read and understand sacred Scripture." And rightly: for in the same sense Christ used the name "Blessed," when He said to Peter at Matt. ch. xvi, vers. 17: "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father who is in heaven." And: "Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it." And: "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear" the Gospel and the word of God. "For amen I say to you, that many Prophets and just men have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them, and to hear the things that you hear, and have not heard them," Matt. xiii, 16. For what the Apostles saw and heard, this same we read dictated by the Spirit and written in sacred Scripture.
To this banquet contributes, and it is seasoned and adorned by, the frequency of admirable sermons, the abundance of books filled with heavenly doctrine, conversations held with most wise men, the excellent instruction of spiritual men, and above all the interior illumination of the divine Spirit through pious meditations on divine things, and frequent prayer to God, ever adhering to the institution of the Roman Church and of the holy Councils. Again, to this banquet pertain the frequency of the sacrifice of the Mass and of holy communion, which began at Rome as soon as she had professed the faith of Christ; the easy practice of the Religious life, on account of the monasteries of men consecrated to God, the multitude of churches, the adoration of images, the veneration of holy relics, and the celebrity of the divine offices. For all these things disposed the souls of the faithful for the supper of the Lamb, that is, for union with Christ.
Furthermore Blessed Peter called the Romans to this supper: whence John here alludes to those words of Peter in epist. II, ch. i, vers. 2: "Grace to you and peace be accomplished in the knowledge of God, and of Christ Jesus our Lord." These things are true and pious, but mystical. Wherefore let the reader use them aptly and fittingly, as mystical and moral interpretations.
Literally then St. John speaks of the nuptials which the blessed Church celebrates with Christ in the heavens: for whoever has been efficaciously called and brought there, are thrice and four times blessed. Beatitude is called a supper, first, because at evening and the end of life this celestial feast will be given to us. It is also called a dinner, Matt. xxii, 4, when Christ says: "Tell those that were invited: Behold, I have prepared My dinner," so that the continuation and perpetuity of heavenly joy and happiness may be signified: for after dinner follows supper. Thus in heaven there will be a continual and perennial banquet. So St. Gregory, hom. 24 on the Gospels, Bede, Salmeron, Maldonatus, Barradius on Matt. xxii, 4, Viegas and Ribera here. Leonidas, the brave leader of the Greeks, when about to burst into the innumerable camps of Xerxes with three hundred most valiant soldiers, used to say: "Dine here, fellow soldiers, about to sup in hell." But Christ says: "Dine here, fellow soldiers, about to sup in heaven." So St. Dorothy, when after dire torments she received the sentence of death from the Governor, jubilantly said: "I bless Thee, Lord Jesus, lover of my soul, that Thou hast deigned to call me, unworthy, to the nuptials of the immaculate Lamb, and to invite me to Thy celestial bridal chamber."
Secondly, because it alludes to the rite of the ancients, who celebrated marriages, the day and the day's business being already finished, in the evening and at night, as is clear from Matt. xxv, 1, in the parable of the ten virgins, who with lamps awaited the bridegroom coming at night to the nuptials. The same is clear from Plutarch, Varro, Tiraquellus and others. Whence also they used to carry lighted torches before the spouses at the nuptials. Wherefore the torch is taken for the nuptials themselves, as in Ovid, epist. 4: "But not even married, nor the nuptial torch received." And epist. 6: "The chaste torch gave me to thee, and thee to me." And Catullus On the Locks of Berenice: "With the longed-for light the torch joined you." And Seneca in Oedipus: "The twin Cupid sings the torches (that is, the epithalamium, or wedding song)." Hence "the conjugal torch" in Cato, ch. x. And "to join torches" is to enter marriage, in Statius, book III Silvae, IV.
These Words of God Are True (that is, certain, firm, indubitable) — that no one may be permitted to doubt about these promises of God, although they are great and wonderful.
Verse 10: I Am Thy Fellow Servant — the Testimony of Jesus Is the Spirit of Prophecy
10. And I Fell Down before His Feet, to Adore Him — as if to say: Because of the most joyful announcement of Babylon's destruction and the nuptials of the Lamb, and of the voices of the heavenly ones doubling Alleluia, I fell to the ground, that I might pay this kind of honor to the angel announcing such joyful and divine things, by prostrating myself before him. Add perhaps that St. John suspected that here was ending the discourse of the angel revealing the Apocalypse to him; for its end is the destruction of the impious and the nuptials of the Lamb. For up to this point he had not adored him, because he was eager to hear more from him, nor did he wish to interrupt his discourse. But now thinking that he had heard everything, as if in thanksgiving for all that he had heard, he falls to the ground to venerate him and give him thanks. But when afterward he saw the angel still revealing more things, he rose up, and at last when all things were finished, at the end of the Apocalypse, ch. xxii, vers. 9, he again attempts to adore the same.
See Thou Do It Not: I Am Thy Fellow Servant (Syriac, companion) and of Thy Brethren Who Have the Testimony of Jesus: Adore God. — The Arabic translates: "No, because I am thy friend (companion): adore God; because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of truth." You will ask: For what cause did this angel refuse to be adored by St. John? First, St. Athanasius, sermon 3 Against the Arians; St. Thomas, II II, Question LXXXIV, art. 4, and St. Augustine, book XX Against Faustus, ch. xxi, hold that St. John supposed this angel because of his unusual splendor to be Christ, and so wished to adore him as God; wherefore he repulsed him, saying: "I am thy fellow servant; adore God"; or, as St. Cyprian reads in the book On Patience: "Adore the Lord Jesus." But this is not probable. For St. John was here accustomed, after the first angelic visions, to know this one was not Christ but an angel, and so although already recognized as such here, he again wished to adore him in chapter xxii, verse 9. Second, Alcazar holds that this angel is St. Peter, as the one in chapter xxii, verse 9 is St. Paul; and that therefore neither Peter nor Paul permitted himself to be adored by St. John, because he was their equal in office and merit. But this is an accommodated, not a literal, interpretation.
Third, St. Gregory, Homily 8 on the Gospel, and after him Haymo, Rupert, Richard, and Ausbert, hold that this angel, properly so called, did not permit himself to be adored by John, out of reverence for the Incarnation of Christ. "For angels," says St. Gregory, "after they behold our nature taken up above them in Christ, dread to see it prostrate before themselves." And as St. Ambrose says, "The angel dreads to be adored by a man, since above himself he was adoring the God-man."
But this angel does not give this reason, but another.
Fourth, the angel did not wish to be adored by St. John on account of the virtue and merit of virginity, in which St. John surpassed all angels and likewise all men, and that by as much as he, by the merit of companionship, diligence, and perpetual guardianship, approached more closely than others to the virginity of Blessed Mary, says Peter Damian, sermon 1 On the Excellence of St. John.
Fifth, because John was a priest and pontiff, having the power of consecrating the body of Christ in the Eucharist, and of absolving the guilty from sins in the Sacrament of penance; and accordingly he was more worthy than the angels, who lack both of these powers, says Viegas.
Sixth and genuinely, this angel did not wish to be adored by John because John was a Prophet. For this is the reason the angel gives in chapter xxii, verse 9, saying: "For I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the Prophets," as if to say: I am not above thee; why then dost thou adore me? For thou art equal to me in dignity, because thou art Christ's Apostle, art a Prophet, Evangelist, Preacher (for the name "Prophet" signifies all these), and a continuous martyr (who continually bearest the greatest labors and sorrows for Christ), and therefore thou art equal to, indeed superior to, the angels in merit, and likewise wilt be superior in reward and glory in heaven. For this is what he says: "I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren who have the testimony of Jesus," as will soon appear.
Cardinal Baronius adds (vol. I, year of Christ 60) that the angel did not wish to be adored by John, in order to confute the heresy of Cerinthus, then beginning to spring up, who exalted angels too much, preferring them to Christ, and teaching that the world was created by angels and that the God of the Hebrews was one of those angels. Hence the Apostle in Colossians ii, 18, inveighs against this religion, that is, superstition and idolatry of angels. And in Hebrews i, by many proofs, shows that the angels are inferior to Christ; whereby it is also signified that, although Christ reigns on earth, battle and warfare against the enemies of the Church will never be lacking, but for Christians victory will be sure and certain.
Who Have the Testimony of Jesus — that is, those having the spirit of prophecy, say Ambrose, Rupert, Bede, Viegas. For so John explains himself in chapter xxii, and here in the following verse, when he adds: "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," which is in you and those like you, O John. But that spirit is not now usually given except to those who are servants of Jesus Christ: not just any sort, but those distinguished by illustrious faith and Christian life, so that by their prophecy they may bear testimony of Him before all, and may bear witness that they themselves are servants and Prophets of Jesus Christ, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, says Ribera. These Prophets, therefore, were at the same time Apostles, Doctors, Preachers, and Martyrs. For they had the testimony of Jesus objectively: in the heart by faith, in the mouth by preaching, in life by imitation of His patience and other virtues and miracles of Jesus.
Wherefore by "the spirit of prophecy," first, with Alcazar, may be understood the spirit and zeal for preaching the Gospel. For this is excellent prophecy, and therefore preachers are excellent Prophets. Second, it can be understood as prophecy properly so called, inspired by the Holy Spirit: thus Ambrose, Rupert, Bede, Viegas, and Ribera. Hence it is clear that all Prophets aim at Christ as at their target, and therefore those alone are true Prophets, and to be heard as such, who lead us to Christ.
Verse 11: I Saw Heaven Opened, and Behold a White Horse
11. And I Saw Heaven Opened, and Behold a White Horse. — Note: St. John in vision here saw heaven, as it were, opened; and from it Christ proceeding forth as a horseman with His angelic and blessed troops, and from there, with the gates as it were standing open, descending to engage in battle with Antichrist, and to bring aid to His faithful who fight against him, before celebrating the victorious and triumphant nuptials of which He spoke in verse 7.
Moreover He sits upon a white horse, first, because this color is joyful and festive, and a symbol of felicity and triumph; for which reason the Poets feign that Jove's chariot is drawn by white horses, as Suetonius witnesses in the Life of Augustus, ch. 9. Wherefore Camillus, borne in his triumphal chariot by white horses, incurred envy, as one who wished to make himself equal to Jove.
Second, because white horses were swifter than others, and therefore here they are a symbol of Christ's swift victory. Thus Virgil, in book XII of the Aeneid, describes Turnus pledging himself victory over Aeneas:
"He demands his horses, and rejoices to see them snorting before his face, / Which in whiteness would surpass the snows, and in their courses the breezes."
And below:
"Turnus rides in a chariot of white horses, / Brandishing in his hand twin spears with broad iron."
And Plautus in the Asinaria, denoting swift four-horse chariots, calls them white. For the ancients believed that white horses were swifter, as Turnebus teaches in book XXIV, ch. 31. See what was said on chapter vi, verse 2.
Third, because the white color belongs to God and to divine things. For it signifies the purity, blessedness, glory, and immortality of God and Christ. Whence Virgil, eclogue 5:
"Gleaming white, He marvels at the unaccustomed light of Olympus."
Where Servius: "'Candidus,'" he says, "'that is, God,'" as on the contrary we call the dead "black." And Cicero, book II Of the Laws: "The color white," he says, "is especially becoming to God, both in other things and most of all in woven fabric." Namely, because virtues ought to be fit and joined together with one another, therefore woven fabrics are more pleasing to God; or because chastity, faith, and the other virtues, unless they are joined with charity, which is signified by the gold in woven fabric, are not pleasing to God: therefore in sacred things vestments were of old white and still are so; the cause of which Plato relates, as we have said, and Plutarch in his book On Isis and Osiris. Thus Martin de Roa, book VI Singularia, ch. 15.
Viegas understands by the white horse the humanity of Christ, and by the rider His divinity, or, as St. John says, "the Word of God." So also others.
Aureolus understands by this horse Baldwin, who succeeded Godfrey of Bouillon, and was the second Christian king of Jerusalem. For he, with the Teutonic Knights, Templars, and Hospitallers, vanquished the Saracens. He has "written on his thigh: King of kings and Lord of lords," because for love of Christ, the King of kings, among other virtues he preserved continence and chastity. Second, just as the rose is called the flower of flowers, so the king of Jerusalem, as of the most ancient and most noble city, is called King of kings. This is accommodated, not literal.
Note: Lactantius, book VII, chapters 17 and 18, seems to assert that this descent of Christ, sword, battle, etc., are to take place plainly to the letter as the words sound. Hear him: "When these things," he says, "shall come to pass, the just and followers of truth will separate themselves from the wicked, and will flee into the wildernesses. There the impious king, inflamed with anger, will come with a great army, and bringing up all his forces will surround the mountain on which the just shall dwell, that he may seize them. But they, when they see themselves shut in on every side and besieged, will cry out to God with a great voice, and will implore heavenly aid." And in chapter 19: "God therefore, moved by the doubtful peril and pitiable lamentation of the just, will at once send a deliverer. Then heaven will be opened in the dead and dark of night, that the light of the descending God may appear in the whole world as lightning." And a little after: "He, before He descends, will give this sign: a sword will suddenly fall from heaven, that the just may know that the leader of the holy army is about to descend. And He will descend, with angels accompanying Him, into the midst of the earth, and an inextinguishable flame will go before Him. Moreover, the power of the angels will deliver into the hands of the just that multitude which had besieged the mountain, and they will be cut down from the third hour until evening, and blood will flow as a torrent, and when all the forces have been destroyed, the impious one alone will flee, and his strength will perish from him. This is he who is called Antichrist: but he himself will pretend to be Christ, and will fight against the true one, and being conquered will flee; and he will often renew the war, and will often be conquered, until in the fourth battle, when all the impious have been finished off, having been overcome and captured, he will at last pay the penalty of his crimes." Thus far Lactantius.
But it seems truer that these things, shown symbolically only to John, signify Christ's authority, dominion, and command, by which He, while remaining in heaven, through Michael as His captain, accompanied by other angels, will strike down and breathe upon Antichrist with immense light as with lightning, and so will deprive him of all power, strength, and life, and will hurl him down into Tartarus. That this is so is clear, first, because it is certain that the things here said of heaven opened, of white horses, of Christ's diadems and a garment sprinkled with blood, of the title inscribed on His thigh: "King of kings and Lord of lords," will not really come to pass, but were shown to John only symbolically by vision, to represent the mysteries of Christ which I have explained in this chapter of the Apocalypse. Therefore the rest also, since they are like these, are to be taken symbolically, not as things really to happen. With a similar figure the Psalmist, Psalm xvii, symbolically and poetically describes God borne on the clouds, armed with hail, thunder, lightning, etc., descending to crush His impious enemies.
Second, because the Apostle says, II Thessalonians ii, 8, that Christ will slay Antichrist, not with a sword, but with the spirit, that is, the command, of His mouth; and with the brightness, that is, the foregoing and announcing splendor, of His coming. For with this brightness, as with lightning sent from heaven, whether by Himself or rather by Michael, He will strike down and consume Antichrist.
Third, because Daniel, chapter xii, verse 1, says that then Michael will rise up in battle for Christ and Christians. As therefore a king wages wars and finishes off the enemy through his commander, so Christ through Michael will finish off Antichrist. For he is the Guardian of the Church, and therefore Christ's commander. Hence also in Apocalypse xii he is set as the leader of the Christian war, in which, that is, at the end of the world, he will contend with Lucifer and Antichrist for Christ and Christians, and will overthrow Antichrist.
Fourth, because St. Peter, Acts iii, 21, teaches that Christ after His ascension into heaven shall remain there, and shall not visibly descend from it, except on the day of judgment, when He will restore all things. Therefore He will not descend to slay Antichrist. For Antichrist will be slain many days, and perhaps weeks and months, before the day of judgment, as I shall show on verses 11 and 12.
Fifth, the right ordering of divine providence demands this. For God is wont to exercise His judgments through angels; for these are His ministering Spirits, Hebrews i, 14. The contrary would befit neither Christ nor Antichrist. For why should Christ, God and Lord of all, descend from heaven with so many legions of angels and Saints to dispatch Antichrist, who will be a wretched and contemptible little man, whom He can slay, even annihilate, by a mere breath, indeed a mere nod? For why do so many legions of Angels, as it were soldiers, stand by Him, ready at His every nod, of whom one is enough to destroy many thousands of men?
Sixth, because the Sibyl, book III, foretells that Antichrist will be blasted by celestial fire, namely lightning, when she says: "When the burning power (that is, fire and a mighty thunderbolt), pouring down upon the earth, shall come, and shall set on fire Beliar, and proud men; all those whoever shall have placed faith in him." For Beliar (that is, Belial; for sometimes the letter l is converted into r), that is, the most impious man, without a yoke, without God and law, is Antichrist.
And He That Sat upon Him Was Called Faithful and True. — To this Rider, who in verse 14 is the leader of the following army, four names or epithets are given. First, "faithful and true"; second, in verse 12: "a name written which no one knows but Himself"; third, in verse 13: "the Word of God," namely of whom John spoke, in chapter i of the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"; see what was said there; fourth, in verse 16: "King of kings, and Lord of lords." The first is a name of virtue; the second, of essence; the third, of person; the fourth, of power and dominion. He is therefore called here "Faithful and True," because faithfully, as He promised, He will protect and reward those who are and will be faithful to Him; but the unfaithful and impious He will punish. Hence follows:
"With justice," that is, most justly and by most equitable right He enters upon war; "He judges," that is avenges, "and fights," namely by slaying the impious enemies. Symbolically, as if to say: He is called Jehovah. For Jehovah is the same as "He who is, who causes to be, who keeps His promises (as I said on Exodus vi, 3)," that is, faithful and true.
Verse 12: His Eyes Were as a Flame of Fire
12. His Eyes Are as a Flame of Fire. — Eyes flaming and flashing signify Christ's anger against the impious, hastening to their vengeance and punishment, as I said on chapter i, verse 14. Great is the power in the eyes; for the basilisk, with cruel eyes, kills whomever he looks upon. Conversely, ostriches and tortoises, by kindly looking at their eggs, hatch them, says Pliny, book IX, chapter 10. The reason is that the eyes are, as Damascene says in the Life of Isidore, agalmata tēs psychēs, exact images of the soul, through which the soul itself flows out. So Christ with His flaming eyes will scrutinize His enemies, but with serene and gentle eyes will wonderfully refresh His elect.
And on His Head Many Diadems. — Of old kings and Emperors used not crowns, but a diadem, as we see Roman Emperors depicted with bands surrounding the head. For, as Rhodiginus says, book XXIV, chapter 6, a diadem was a white band which was bound to the heads of kings. This royal insignia Father Liber (Bacchus) first invented, according to Pliny. Hence when someone had placed a laurel crown bound with a band upon Caesar's statue, the Tribunes of the people ordered the band to be pulled off the crown, as a sign of royalty, and the man led in chains. Thus Curtius records that Alexander the Great took off his diadem to bind with it the wound which Lysimachus had received on the forehead. Ammianus Marcellinus relates that it was held against Pompey by his rivals, that he wore his leg bound with a band on account of an ulcer, as if that were a presage of his striving after revolutions. Moreover "many diadems" were many bands of this kind, or coils, surrounding the head, such as we see in the turbans of the Turks, in which a linen or byssus cloth is wound about the head in many circles, and each such circle or fold is, as it were, a diadem, says Alcazar. Christ therefore has many diadems, because He is King of kings, and Lord of all the kingdoms of the earth; for He contains all things in His one self.
Having a Name Written (on His head and diadem; for the other name, "King of kings," was written on His thigh, in verse 16) Which No One Knows but Himself. — Ribera, Viegas, and others think that this name is what follows in verse 13, namely "the Word of God." For no one knows, that is, perceives, penetrates, and plainly knows and comprehends, this except Christ Himself. But John, as I said on verse 11, seems here to give four names to Christ, and to distinguish this second from the third, which is "the Word of God"; for he says this second to be unknown, but the third to be known, namely "the Word of God." For he does not say that the thing signified by the name, but that the name itself is unknown: wherefore this name is not the Word of God, nor any other name made known by Him or by Sacred Scripture, but another, unknown to us. For it was so engraved that it could be read not even by John, but by Christ alone: and this for the purpose of signifying the immensity and incomprehensibility of Christ's nature and substance, which no human or angelic intellect can comprehend. So Aretas and Alcazar. He alludes to the name Jehovah; for that was arrhēton kai asunkriton, that is, ineffable and incomparable, as I said on Exodus chapter 6:3. Again, the name Jehovah was borne by the high priest, written on a gold plate hanging from his tiara; in like manner, Christ the Pontiff has this name written on His head and diadem, because this is the name signifying and representing His divinity.
Verse 13: His Name Is Called THE WORD OF GOD
13. And He Was Clothed with a Garment Sprinkled with Blood. — Understand this garment to be both Christ's and the holy Martyrs'. For Christ's humanity was made bloody by the Jews, and even now, with the scars of the wounds remaining in Christ's body, it is reddened, as if to say: Christ even later carries the marks and memory of His blood and of His followers' blood, impiously shed by the impious, whose vengeance He now demands, and at the sight of which He rouses and kindles Himself to vengeance. Thus Viegas.
Our Martin de Roa graphically and tragically describes the same thing in book I of his Singularia, chapter 2, saying: "Therefore in order that Christ may strike down the demon, He shows Himself bloody to him on the cross: when he, having been the author of that crime and outrage, sees the body defiled with blood, mindful of so atrocious an injury, he will not dare to engage, and will yield. Hence you may grasp the mystery of why in Zechariah chapter iii, when Satan stood at the right hand of Jesus the high priest to oppose him, Jesus was clothed in filthy garments. The fierce enemy stands, levels his sword, dooms and devotes the priest's head to death: he opposes a bare side, a bare head and body, or, what in war is the same, a body clothed in tattered and squalid garments. The royal prophet David had already seen, before that encounter, Christ Jesus, whose type he bore, had seen Him preparing Himself for battle; but he exhorted Him to gird Himself with the sword and arm Himself with His own strength: 'Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most mighty.' The prophet Isaiah had seen, and he likewise gave warning: 'Arise, put on thy strength, O arm of the Lord.' Why with garments tattered and bloody for battle? But the Emperor Christ, in place of a brazen breastplate puts on a bloody mantle; instead of iron gauntlets and greaves, iron nails; instead of a helmet, thorns; instead of soldiers' protection, solitude; instead of the clamor of trumpets, silence; and patience He sets in opposition as He goes to engage the enemy. For 'He will not have pleasure in the strength of the horse, nor will He take delight in the legs of a man.' But no sword is so powerful as bloodied flesh; no fortitude more excellent against the enemy than the very weakness of a torn body: when he sees this, he is weakened and broken, since he is the author of that atrocity. The passage of Apocalypse xix is in harmony: 'And He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood, and His name is called the Word of God.' And so when He proceeds to battle, He advances in a bloody or purple garment and on a red horse." St. Jerome on Isaiah chapter 63: "On a red horse," he says, "sat the Lord and Savior, when He took on a human body, to which it is said: 'Why is Thy clothing red?' and: 'Who is this that comes from Edom, with His tawny garments from Bosra?' etc. But He sat on a white horse when after the resurrection He took up an immortal and incorrupt body: and whoever followed Him used white horses, that is to say, incorrupt and immortal bodies."
Second, and rather, Christ's garment was sprinkled with the blood of the enemy, which He has shed and soon here will shed; for, as follows: "He treads the winepress of the wine of the fury of the wrath of God." For Christ is here introduced as fighting, trampling, and slaughtering His enemies, namely the impious: whence He is sprinkled and stained with their blood, and as bloodied He is symbolically presented to John in vision, even before the battle, because He proceeds to the bloody battle, and in it He will be bloodied. For there is an allusion to Isaiah lxiii, 1, where it is said of Christ slaying His enemies: "Who is this that comes from Edom, with garments dyed from Bosra? I have trodden the winepress alone, I have trampled them in My fury. Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments."
Verse 14: The Armies in Heaven Followed Him on White Horses
14. And the Armies That Are in Heaven (of angels and heavenly ones) Were Following Him — not so much as soldiers about to fight for Him, but as companions and spectators of His battle and victory. For Christ alone accomplished this war. Hence it is said of Him in verse 21: "They were slain by the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which proceeds out of His mouth." Hence likewise Christ alone is said to have a garment sprinkled with blood; but the rest, His knights and companions, were "clothed in fine linen, white and clean": which garment is a symbol both of purity and innocence, and of felicity, glory, and triumph. It is credible, however, that their garments, especially those of the Martyrs, were sprinkled with blood, for the reasons already given. So in the Old Testament, it was not so much the Hebrews fighting, as God battling for them, that brought victories. For this is what is said in Deuteronomy i, 30: "The Lord your God who is your leader, He Himself will fight for you." Similar texts are in Joshua xxiii, 3, and Judith v, 16. Therefore this victory is attributed to Christ alone, because by His strength, command, and order Michael and the angels will accomplish it.
On White Horses. — St. Jerome on Isaiah 66, and St. Gregory, Ansbert, and Viegas, by the white horses understand the incorrupt and immortal bodies of the Saints. More to the letter, Ribera says: White horses are here given to the heavenly ones and angels symbolically, that by them victory and triumph may be signified. So Zechariah, chapter i, verse 8, saw the angels who are guardians of men sitting on white horses. Hear St. Gregory morally: "The horse," he says, "is, for each holy soul, its own body, which it knows how both to restrain from unlawful things by the rein of continence, and again by the impulse of charity to relax in the exercise of good work. Therefore by the name of horseman is expressed the soul of a holy man, which rules its body, the beast of burden, well subjected. Hence John, contemplating the Lord in the Apocalypse, says: 'And the armies that are in heaven were following Him on white horses;' for he rightly calls 'army' the multitude of Saints who had toiled in this war of martyrdom; who are therefore described as sitting on white horses, because their bodies have shone both with the light of justice and with the brightness of chastity." So he, in book XXXI of the Moralia, chapter 9.
Verse 15: A Sharp Two-Edged Sword
15. And out of His Mouth Proceeds a Sharp Two-Edged Sword (this sword is the dominion, force and power of Christ, which He will exert against Antichristians and the impious. Hence follows) That with It He May Strike the Nations (with present and eternal death, in which) And He Shall Rule Them with a Rod of Iron, and He Treads the Winepress of the Wine of the Fury of the Wrath of God Almighty — that is, He will most fiercely press, trample and punish them both here and in the future. For here He will corporally strike and slay them: but in the future He will torment them in Gehenna, in such a way that they will always seem to die and be slain, yet never die, but always live in death-bringing punishments, mortally immortal, and immortally mortal. Note: St. John, after the Hebrew manner, frequently and variously uses kai, that is "and," for "for," "then," "afterwards," etc. For the Hebrews use that vau of theirs in place of all particles.
Verse 16: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
16. And He Has Written on His Garment and on His Thigh: KING OF KINGS. — "On the garment," that is, on the breastplate; "and on the thigh," that is, on the thigh-coverings, or on the lower part of the tunic. Second, and rather, it is a hendiadys: "on the garment and on the thigh," that is, on the thigh-covering garment, or the one covering the thighs, or on the clothed thigh; for since the garment covered the whole body, He here designates a definite part of it by saying: "on the thigh." Hence the Syriac translates: "and He has on His garment, and on His thigh, names written: King of kings and Lord of lords."
You will ask, why Christ bears this name "on His thigh." I answer, because the thigh symbolically signifies Christ's humanity. For He took this from the thigh of Jacob, of David, and of others, and through it He spiritually begot for God all the elect; for the thigh, because it embraces the genital parts close to it, is hence the cause and symbol of generation. Therefore by the thigh, first, the Incarnation of the Word is signified. Thus St. Gregory, homily 15 on Ezekiel. Second, the Passion of Christ; for this is the thigh and the garment of Christ sprinkled with blood, as I said on verse 13: for by the merit of this blood and Passion Christ has been made King of kings, and Lord of lords. Therefore just as on His head He has the name of divinity (for the symbol of this is the head), "which no one knows but Himself": so on the thigh of humanity He has the name known to all, namely that as man He is "King of kings and Lord of lords." Third, by the thigh is signified Christ's offspring, namely sons and grandsons, says Alcazar, according to that text of Genesis xlix, 10: "A leader from his thigh." Hence the fact that it is written on His thigh: "King of kings," etc., indicates that His sons are true kings, and that He is the king of them. For in the thigh the propagation of the race is understood, as St. Gregory, Ansbert, and Bede teach, as if to say: Christ will make His sons kings, and they themselves shall also judge nations. To this purpose makes that iambic of Blessed Thomas More: "A pious prince will never lack children: / The prince is father of the whole kingdom." Most happy then is he who abounds in as many children as peoples.
Fourth, Maldonatus on Matthew chapter xxvii, 11, says: in the thigh is signified Christ's kingdom, and that Christ as God by His own nature reigns: for by the thigh nature is signified, as if to say: Christ is king not by force, not by tyranny, not by election, not by adoption, but by nature, and by natural propagation and generation.
Second, Ambrose understands by the garment the Saints, by the thigh the humanity of Christ: "Because," he himself says, "first, in the works of the Saints He is recognized to be true God, who possesses such servants; second, because in the works which He Himself, set in the flesh, performed, He has been known to be the true Son of God."
Third, Pannonius: "The garment," he says, "is from without, the thigh from nature; and Christ has the humanity from without, in time, but His divinity from nature, by which from eternity He is God: and neither of these does He have without the honor of dignity, because from both He is king," as if to say: Christ both as man and as God is King of kings. But the first sense is the simplest and most genuine.
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. — This was the title and inscription of the kings of the Persians, on the testimony of Alexander ab Alexandro, book I Genialia, chapter 28. Thus Julius Capitolinus, chapter 24, calls Sapor King of kings, where he recounts his letter to the Emperor Constantius; whose inscription was this: "King of kings Sapor, partaker of the stars, and brother of the sun and moon, to Constantius my brother, sends greeting." Whence that saying of Agesilaus against the man who customarily called the king of the Persians "the Great": "In what," said he, "is he greater than I, unless he be also more just and more modest?" So Plutarch in the Laconica. So also Suetonius in the Caligula, chapter 6, calls the king of the Parthians "king of kings." So also Plutarch in the Lucullus calls Tigranes, king of the Armenians, King of kings. Moreover among the Parthians, the first king was called "the Great," Artabanus, and used a double diadem, on the testimony of Herodian, book VI. These and more in Pineda on Job i, 1, no. 17.
Verse 17: An Angel Standing in the Sun — Come to the Great Supper of God
17. And I Saw an Angel Standing in the Sun, and He Cried Out with a Loud Voice, Saying to All the Birds, etc.: Come and Be Gathered to the Great Supper of God. — This angel stands in the sun, to signify that this vengeance on the Antichristians by Christ shall be done in the eyes of the whole world. The summoning and inviting of the birds signifies that the slaughter shall be huge, so much so that vultures and other carnivorous birds shall fly together from all sides to feed and devour the corpses of the Antichristians. For these God has prepared this supper, that is, this banquet and feast of corpses. He alludes to Jeremiah xii, 9: "Come, gather, all ye beasts of the earth, hasten to devour." Again he alludes to, or rather cites, Ezekiel xxxix, 17, where, speaking of the same slaughter of Antichrist's army, namely Gog and Magog, God says: "Say to every fowl and to all the birds and to all the beasts of the field: Come together, hasten, run together from every side to My victim, which I sacrifice for you, a great victim upon all the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood."
Mystically, this Angel is a type of the Evangelical preacher. But why does that new preacher cry out from the sun as from a pulpit? Is it because, just as the sun always hastens, never rests: so the Evangelical preacher most swiftly circles and traverses the whole world? Or because, just as the sun rises beneficently for all over the just and unjust: so the Evangelical preacher devotes himself to the advantages, especially the spiritual ones, of all, both good and bad? Or finally, because, just as the sun illumines the whole world with its splendor and makes it fruitful by its warmth: so the Evangelical preacher illumines men's blind minds with his words, and inflames their perverse wills by his examples? Thus our Mendoza on I Kings iii, 21.
Verse 19: The Beast and the Kings of the Earth Gathered for War
19. And I Saw the Beast and the Kings of the Earth — ten in number, concerning whom see what was said on chapter xvii, at the end. This beast is Antichrist, as I said on chapter xiii, verse 1. For he, with all his own, who will be innumerable, will be gathered at Armageddon to fight against Christ and the Christians, but will be utterly defeated by Christ. Hence follows:
Verse 20: The Beast and the False Prophet Cast Alive into the Lake of Fire
20. And the Beast Was Taken (Antichrist), and with Him the False Prophet — namely that notorious impostor, who will be Antichrist's precursor, concerning whom see chapter xiii, verse 11.
These Two Were Sent Alive into the Lake of Fire Burning with Brimstone. — Some read "burning"; Primasius, "of fire and brimstone burning"; the Greek, "burning in brimstone"; the Arabic, "full of fire and brimstone." But the Roman editions read, "burning with brimstone."
Note: Antichrist, in order to prove himself to be Christ, as it were an ape of Christ, will pretend to die, and after death to rise to life, as is clear from Apocalypse xiii, 12. Hear St. Gregory, book XI, epistle 3: "When Antichrist comes into the world, he will command both the Sabbath day and the Lord's day to be kept from all work. For because he is to feign that he dies and rises again, therefore he will command the Lord's day to be held in veneration; but because he will compel the people to judaize (so that he may seem to be the Messiah promised to the Jews), so as to recall the rites of the Mosaic law, and subject the perfidy of the Jews to himself, he will compel the Sabbath day to be observed. After this feigned and hypocritical resurrection, he will, before all the people, ascend Mount Olivet (as Daniel ii, 45 signifies), and will wish to ascend into heaven like Christ, from which he will lie that he first descended: demons taking on the appearance of angels will lift him up into the air, with all marveling and acclaiming his divinity," says Pererius. But soon he will be cast down by Christ through Michael, and soon the earth will gape open for Antichrist, and the demons will snatch him alive into Tartarus, whether he arrives there alive (for to perish from the earth, and to be handed over to the fire of Gehenna, will for him be death and slaying, says Andreas of Caesarea), or whether rather he first dies on the way and is suffocated. For both are probable, as I have taught also concerning Korah, Dathan and Abiram on Numbers xvi, 33. But the latter is more probable and more conformable to Sacred Scripture, which elsewhere says that absolutely all men shall die, as in II Thessalonians ii, 8; Hebrews ix, 27. Now Antichrist will be slain, "as the doctors hand down, on the Mount of Olives, in his pavilion and on his throne, in that place opposite which the Lord ascended into the heavens," says Haymo on chapter xi of Isaiah. Moreover Michael, as it seems, will cast him down with lightning. For so the Sibyl sings of him, book III: "When the burning power, pouring upon the earth, shall come, and shall set fire to Beliar (that is, Antichrist)." Unless one with Ribera should say that the wrath of Christ slaying the impious is, in poetic and prophetic manner, called by the Sibyl "a burning power."
Burning with Brimstone. — From this passage and from chapter xx, verse 9, and chapter xxi, verse 8, it is plain that there is true brimstone in hell, as the Doctors commonly teach. For brimstone is the most fit material and fuel for fire, and by its stench and acridness increases the punishment of fire. There is, I say, brimstone in Gehenna, not one succeeding another, but always the same in number, remaining and constant, just as the fire is the same in number and always self-consistent.
Verse 21: The Rest Were Slain by the Sword of Him That Sat upon the Horse
21. And the Rest Were Slain by the Sword — as if to say: The remaining soldiers of Antichrist, namely the army of the ten kings, and Gog and Magog, "by the sword," that is, by the command and power of Christ, will be slain; which He will execute not by a sword, but by fire sent from heaven, as He teaches in chapter xx, verse 9. The sword therefore here will be fire and hail, which will proceed from the mouth of Christ, because by Christ's command they shall come down from heaven, and shall destroy that army of the impious.
Morally, see here how sharp and fearful is God's vengeance on the impious and on Antichristians, especially on heresiarchs, whose leader and head will be Antichrist. The end of Simon Magus, the first heresiarch, is well known, which Arnobius briefly so describes, book II Against the Gentiles: "The Romans had seen Simon Magus's course and his fiery chariots blown away by the mouth of Peter, and at the naming of Christ vanished; they had seen, I say, him trusting in false gods, and abandoned by those very gods through fear, and dashed down by his own weight, and lying with broken neck; afterward, brought to Brundisium, worn out with sufferings and shame, again hurled himself down from the topmost height of a building."
Julian the Apostate, struck by a celestial weapon, filled his hand with blood, and tossing it into the air, said: "Thou hast conquered, O Galilean," says Theodoret, book III of his History, chapter 20.
Valens, the Arian Emperor, was burned by the Goths in a hut; which St. Isaac the monk, although absent, seeing in the spirit, said: "Now," he says, "Valens is roasted by fire, and his nostrils perceive its stench." So Nicephorus, book XI, chapter 50.
St. Jerome adds in Daniel xii, 11 that he is to be slain on the 1290th day from the beginning of his reign, and that this is what Daniel signifies when he says: "And from the time when the perpetual sacrifice shall be taken away (by the Antichrist at the beginning of his monarchy), and the abomination of desolation shall be set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred ninety days." Daniel adds: "Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days." From these words St. Jerome and others commonly conclude that, after the death of the Antichrist, there will remain 45 days until the day of judgment, which God will grant to those who lapsed during the Antichrist's persecution, that they may repent. Some, with him, take these days precisely, so that on the day after — that is, the 46th day from the slaying and persecution of the Antichrist — there will be the resurrection of all and the universal judgment.
Furthermore, it is probable that the day of the general resurrection will be the same on which Christ rose, namely Easter day. Hence Lactantius, book VII, chapter 19, teaches that we shall rise on the Lord's Day, indeed at the same hour at which Christ rose: for Christ was the exemplar of our resurrection. The same is taught by St. Anselm in the Elucidarium, and by Macarius in homilies 5 and 12, saying that our resurrection will be in the season of April, when all things blossom and display an image of heavenly glory. The same view is held by our own John Salas, on I-II, Question 5, article 5, tractate 2, disputation 14, section 10.
Granting these two principles — first, that from the slaying of the Antichrist until the day of judgment and resurrection there will be precisely 45 days; second, that the resurrection will be on the very day of Easter — it follows that the Antichrist must be slain when the Bacchanalia are ended (let revellers note this and tremble) on the first day of Lent; and that the whole of Lent will then be given to the lapsed for repentance, that they may prepare for the final Easter, on which they will rise and undergo the general judgment. For Lent up to Easter contains 46 days; subtract from these the first day, on which the Antichrist will be slain, and 45 days will remain, which Daniel reckons up to the day of judgment: so that when the 45th day is finished and the 46th is beginning — which will be Easter — all will rise and be judged. So thinks a certain learned man at Rome who discussed this matter with me. If you say: "Then the day of judgment can be known precisely, which Christ denies in Mark xiii, 32," I reply by denying the consequence. For now it cannot be known, nor can it be known henceforth until the death of the Antichrist; but once that has come to pass, it can probably be inferred from what has been said, though not known with certainty: for each principle on which this opinion rests is uncertain and merely probable — namely, that the resurrection will be on Easter day, and that there will be precisely 45 days from the slaying of the Antichrist until the day of judgment. For many think there will be far more, as I said on Daniel xii, 11. In these conjectures, therefore, nothing can be defined with certainty, especially since various other opinions are advanced by various authors, of which the outcome will declare which is true.
You will ask: when is the Antichrist to be slain? I answer: after he shall have reigned three years and a half, as Daniel teaches in xii, 7, and St. John in Apocalypse chapter xi, verses 2 and 3, and chapter xii, verse 14.
Zeno, the Eutychian emperor, was buried alive by his wife; of whom Cedrenus writes: "The guards," he says, "who had been posted to watch over the tomb in which he was laid, reported that for two nights they had heard a piteous voice from the sepulchre saying: 'Have pity, and open to me.' When they replied that another was now reigning, he said: 'I care not — take me to a monastery.' But since the tomb was not opened, they say that some time later the monument was unsealed, and Zeno was found in it, having gnawed his own arms in his hunger, together with the boots he had been wearing."
The Emperor Anastasius, Zonaras tells us, beheld a fearsome figure saying: "Behold, because of the perversity of your faith, I take fourteen years from your life." For, as the same author and Cedrenus add, when he had learned from an oracle that he was to perish by fire, he opened with many channels the cistern called the "Cold," hoping to elude the oracle; but in vain, for he was struck by lightning.
Theodoric, the Arian king, was seen by a certain holy man, between Pope John and the Patrician Symmachus, whom he had put to death, ungirded, unshod, and with hands bound, being cast into a Vulcanian (i.e. volcanic) cauldron. So St. Gregory in Dialogues, book IV, chapter 30.
Constantine Copronymus, an enemy of the Mother of God, died wretchedly at Chalandion, crying out: "Yet living, I have been handed over to inextinguishable fire," and begged that the holy Virgin Mother of God be named and praised, as Theophanes records.
Arius burst asunder in the middle in a privy, like Judas, and poured out his bowels — because he had sought to wrest from God the Father His own bowels, that is, the consubstantial Son. So St. Gregory Nazianzen in his Praises of St. Athanasius.
The tongue of Nestorius, which had blasphemed against Christ and the Mother of God, was eaten away by worms, and his whole body rotted with putrefaction, as Evagrius (book I, chapter 7), Cedrenus, and others record.
That Luther broke his own throat, learned from his closest associates, is reported by Bozius (On the Marks of the Church), Genebrardus, and others — and that a flock of ravens accompanied his funeral; nay more, that the demons departed out of the possessed at Geel (a town I have seen in Brabant, along with the possessed who flock there to St. Dymphna) and flew off into Saxony to his funeral, is recounted by Tilmann Bredembach, book VII of the Sacred Collections, chapter 39.
Beza writes that Calvin was tormented by phthisis, colic, asthma, the stone, gout, and hemorrhoids. To these was added a lousy disease, which spread over his whole body, together with a most foul and purulent ulcer about his private parts: thus, eaten by worms, he expired like Herod, Huneric, Maximian, and Antiochus Epiphanes — the bitterest persecutors of Christ and the Church: so Hieronymus Bolsec, Doctor of Medicine, in his Life of Calvin, chapter 22.