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1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. 4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. 8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. 9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. 19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; 20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
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[AD 165] Justin Martyr on Revelation 1:1
John. There was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him.
[AD 171] Dionysius of Corinth on Revelation 1:1
What John this is, however, is uncertain. John the Apostle, But whether this is the one who wrote the Revelation, I could not say.
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 1:1-3
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him, and showed unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass, and signified it. Blessed are they who read and hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things which are written." The beginning of the book promises blessing to him that reads and hears and keeps, that he who takes pains about the reading may thence learn to do works, and may keep the precepts.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 420] Jerome on Revelation 1:1
John, the apostle whom Jesus most loved, the son of Zebedee and brother of James... In the fourteenth year then after Nero Domitian having raised a second persecution he was banished to the island of Patmos, and wrote the Apocalypse, on which Justin Martyr and Irenæus afterwards wrote commentaries. But Domitian having been put to death and his acts, on account of his excessive cruelty, having been annulled by the senate, he returned to Ephesus under Pertinax and continuing there until the time of the Emperor Trajan, founded and built churches throughout all Asia, and, worn out by old age, died in the sixty-eighth year after our Lord's passion and was buried near the same city.

Source: De Viris Illustribus (On Illustrious Men), Section 9
[AD 420] Jerome on Revelation 1:1
We read in the Apocalypse of John (a book which, although rejected in these regions, we ought nevertheless to know, because it is accepted and held as canonical throughout the west, and in other Phoenician provinces, and in Egypt, for the ancient churchmen, including Irenaeus, Polycarp, Dionysius, and other Roman expounders of Sacred Scripture, among whom is holy Cyprian, accept and interpret it)...

Source: Homily 1, on Psalm 1
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Revelation 1:1
which God gave unto him. But what is it, which the Son has heard from the Father? Has He heard the word of the Father? Yes, but He is the Word of the Father. When you conceive a word, wherewith to name a thing, the very, conception of that thing in the mind is a word. Just then as you have in your mind and with you your spoken word; even so God uttered the Word, i.e. begat the Son. Since then the Son is the Word of God, and the Son has spoken the Word of God to us, He has spoken to us the Father's word. What John said is therefore true.
[AD 532] Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite on Revelation 1:1
But the writer of the Revelation puts himself forward at once in the very beginning, for he says: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which He gave to him to show to His servants quickly; and He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bare record of the Word of God, and of his testimony, and of all things that he saw."
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:1
From this we learn that this [book] is called an Apocalypse, that is, “revelation,” which manifests those secrets which are hidden and unknown to the senses, and that unless [Christ] himself reveals them, he who perceives [the revelation] will not have the strength to understand what he sees.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:1
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on Revelation 1:1
Revelation is the revealing of hidden mysteries when the intellect is enlightened by either divine dreams or by visions from divine enlightenment while awake.

things which must shortly come to pass. this means that some of the prophecies about them are to happen then, and the things concerning the end are not to come until later on, because to God a thousand years is like a prior day, which is like having already happened. Ps. 89:4
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:1
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him, etc. The Church, founded by the apostles, by what course it was to be spread and by what end it was to be completed, had to be revealed to strengthen the preachers of the faith against the adversities of the world. John, as is his custom, referring the glory of the Son to the Father, testifies that Jesus Christ received the revelation of the mystery from God.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:1
Which must shortly come to pass. That is, what is about to happen to the Church in the present time.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:1
And he signified it. He intertwined the same Apocalypse with mystical words, lest it be despised by being manifest to all.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:1
Sending by his angel. For the angel used the figure of Christ to John, as will be more clearly apparent in the following.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:1
To his servant John. That through John, who, by the singular privilege of chastity, deserved to see these things before others, he might make the same known to all his servants.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 892] Berengaudus on Revelation 1:1
John. This book was written not by another John but by the one who wrote the Gospel, he who at the marriage feast at Cana reclined on the breast of the Lord in which all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are concealed.
There exist others that say it was composed not by him but by another.
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:1-2
At the beginning of all his writings, it is a common practice of John to use words that express the divinity of our Savior Jesus Christ. In this work he instead uses words that express His humanity, unless we might come to know Him from His divine qualities and not from His human qualities too. For it is a sign of true theology to believe that God the Word has been begotten from God and the Father before all eternity and of time and space, being coeternal and consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit, and joint-ruler of the ages and of all conceivable and sensible creation, according to the words of the most wise Paul in the letter to the Colossians, that: "For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and in him. And he is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he may hold the primacy: (Col.1:16,18)"

But it is also a sign of true theology to believe that He has become Man for us and for our salvation in these last days, not lifting up His Deity, but by receiving human flesh, animated by mind. In this way the one who is Emmanuel is known to have been one from two natures, divinity and humanity, each being complete according to the dwelling Word and according to the distinct characteristics of each nature, neither misunderstood nor altered by their unity, neither kept separate after the unspeakable and hidden union. For Nestorius and Eutyches are both similarly abominable, opposing but indeed measurably evil.

Therefore, in this manner he uses human words and thoughts and gives an accurate and polished doctrine of our Savior, after dwelling on the divinity of our Lord in other writings. Besides, neither before did he give an account of what is divine from what is human, nor in that case what is human from what is divine. But rather a greater or lesser attention to his writings. This is why he says, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, as if he was saying, : "Although this revelation has been given by the Father to the Son, it has now been given by the Son to us his slaves," By calling the saints slaves of Christ, he has defended his divine nature. For to whom would man belong, other than to the Creator and Maker of mankind? And who is the Maker of mankind and of all the creation? No one other than the one and only Word and Son of God. For "all things were made by Him," says John in his Gospel (1:3)

But what is meant by adding the things which must shortly come to pass, since those things that were going to happen have yet to be fulfilled, even though a long time, more than 500 years has gone by since John said this? The reason is because that all time in the eyes of the infinite eternal God are as nothing. For the prophet says, "For a thousand years in your sight are as the yesterday which is past, and as a watch in the night.(Ps. 90:4 LXX)" Therefore, he added shortly, not looking at actual time of the fulfillment of the future, but to the power and eternity of God. In this way, all temporary prolongings, even though it may seem long and extended as possible, is short when compared to eternity. Therefore, he says that Jesus Christ made known to me what must come to pass, not as appearing and speaking Himself, but through an angel he initiated me into his mysteries. You see the truthfulness of John in confessing that it was though an angel that the revelation came to him, and that he did not hear it from the mouth of the Lord. John says the angel hath given testimony to the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, what things soever he hath seen. He has used the same style in the Gospel too, as to preserve the truthfulness of his teaching. He said there, "This is that disciple who gives testimony of these things, and hath written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.(Jn. 21:24)" And now he says, he is the witness of the divine word which was seen by him concerning this Revelation and the testimony given by Christ, that is, "Through the testimony of the witness, I am the author."

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:1
As for this divine Revelation, some say, wagging their tongues brashly and ignorantly, that it was not composed by the divine John the evangelist and theologian. They listen to this tradition as though they have secretly received it.

But I think they say this not from ignorance nor from any secret revelation, but only from simplicity and, if one may dare to say it, from cowardice and a passionate love for earthly things, showing by their denials their fear of what is absolutely incontrovertible. For in the face of the explicit testimony of the blessed and holy fathers, who is able to contradict their testimony or somehow to reach the conclusion that this is certainly not the case?

For the great Basil in his writings against Eunomius refutes his godless blasphemies and nonsense. The divine theologian referred to these in his fourth book, “in which he mentions on the authority of the divinely inspired Scriptures both the problems and solutions to the controversies about the Son” by means of the Old and New Testaments. He starts by saying, “If the Son is God by nature, and the Father is also God by nature, the Son is not one God and the Father another, but they are the same.” And later on, “Moses said about the Son, ‘I am has sent me,’ and John the evangelist said, ‘In the beginning was the Word,’ and he said ‘was’ not once only, but four times, and again elsewhere he said, ‘he who is from God’ and ‘he who is in the bosom of the Father,’ and elsewhere, ‘he who is in heaven,’ and in the Revelation, ‘he who is and who was and is to come.’” He made no distinction between authors, but he followed the testimony of Paul and repeated it.

If then this Revelation was composed by some other John, as the nonsense of the majority has it, the great Basil also would have written his books on the Revelation with the name of its author. But after first listing the books of Moses, and then those of the apostle and theologian, as those, too, of the apostle Paul, he had no need to refer to anyone else in addition to these. These then are the incontrovertible words of the great and holy Basil.

The great Gregory, surnamed “the Theologian,” whom they call “the Organizer,” when he was making his defense in the presence of the hundred and fifty bishops, clearly and truly wrote, “When will you inherit my holy mountain?” and he went on to say, “I am convinced that others preside over other churches, as John teaches me in Revelation.”

And Eusebius Pamphyli, in the third book of his Ecclesiastical History, says somewhere, “This, then, was the situation of the Jews at that time,” and goes on to say, “It is recorded that at that time John the apostle and evangelist was still alive, and was sentenced by Domitian the son of Vespasian to live on the island of Patmos on account of his witness to the divine word. Indeed, Irenaeus, when writing about the number of the name of the Antichrist as given in the book of John called Revelation, uses these very words in the fifth book of his Against the Heresies, saying about John: ‘If it seems right at the present time for this name to be openly announced, it would have been mentioned by the one who actually saw the Revelation.’”

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 1198] Nerses of Lambron on Revelation 1:1
By Christ, he says, and not simply by God. But if through Jesus Christ God had this knowledge revealed, it is clear that it was through the Spirit, that is, because through Christ the grace of the activity of the Spirit descends to us.
[AD 1349] Nicholas of Lyra on Revelation 1:1
which must shortly come to pass That is, the trials of the Church which must come to pass quickly, because this proceeds from the divine command which is not able to be altered. This is for the testing of the faithful and to expand of their glory. sending by His angel Jesus appearing in this way.
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:2
Who bore witness to the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus, etc. Lest you doubt the person of John, it is he who bore witness to the eternal Word of God and the same incarnate, as he saw, saying: We have seen his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father (John 1).

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 1349] Nicholas of Lyra on Revelation 1:2
Who has given testimony to the word of God In the beginning of his gospel about his eternal Godhead saying, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (Jn. 1:1)”; that is about to his incarnation, saying, “And the Word was made flesh, etc.(Jn. 1:14)” Therefore, he adds: And the testimony of Jesus Christ, That is, concerning Jesus Christ. he has seen In His way of life, in His miracles, in His death and resurrection, as he clearly shows in the words his Gospel.
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:3
He wishes to make clear that the reading does not accomplish the obedience of the commandments, nor does the hearing display the completion of an accomplished deed. Rather, that alone is perfection, when you perform with understanding what you read and what you hear. “The time is short.” For those who accomplish these things, he does not prolong the time of recompense, but he says that the giving of the divine reward is near.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:3
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on Revelation 1:3
for the time is at hand. the time of the giving out rewards, because the brief moment of life is small in comparison to the future.
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:3
Blessed is he who reads, etc. Therefore, teachers and hearers are blessed, because the short time of labor is followed by eternal joys for those who keep the word of God.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:3
He does not call them blessed who are readers alone, because there would be many who would be blessed because there were many readers, but it is meant for those who hear and keep the warnings in the prophecy, and those who faithfully keep and observe its commands as divine laws.

For he says, the time is at hand. For everyone who keeps the commandments of God the time of blessedness is at hand. That is what he means or he could mean that the conclusion of what he said is close at hand. What is meant by at hand has already been explained.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 1349] Nicholas of Lyra on Revelation 1:3
Blessed He tells the hearers to listen to the power of the book; that is, how to get blessedness, saying: Blessed is he that reads Referring to the doctors of the Church, who hear Referring to pious students, The words of this prophesy, By keeping in mind. and keeps those things that are written in it; By enduring the future trials, and the reason is added: For the time is at hand, already passing, as if to say, the suffering is brief and the reward of blessedness is forever.
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 1:4
"Grace unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come." He is, because He endures continually; He was, because with the Father He made all things, and has at this time taken a beginning from the Virgin; He is to come, because assuredly He will come to judgment.

"And from the seven spirits which are before His throne." We read of a sevenfold spirit in Isaiah,1 -namely, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, of knowledge and of piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Revelation 1:4
The number seven signifies the perfection of the universal Church, for which reason the Apostle John writes to the seven churches, showing in that way that he writes to the totality of the one Church. City of God 17.4
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Revelation 1:4
Asia means “elevated,” by which the human race is indicated. These seven churches and the lampstands are to be seriously considered because it is the sevenfold grace which is given by God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, to us of the human race who have believed. For he himself promised to send to us the Spirit Paraclete from heaven, whom he also sent to the apostles who were seen to be in Asia, that is, in the prideful world, where he also gave the sevenfold grace to the seven churches, that is to us, through his servant John.

Source: EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:4, HOMILY 1
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Revelation 1:4
him that is. He wanted His eternity to be denoted by the present tense. This use of present time “today” is acknowledged to be peculiar to the divine Scriptures in this sense of perpetuity.
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:4
What is the importance of the people of Asia that they alone deserve to receive the apostolic revelation? However, there is a mystery in the number and a sacrament in the name of the province. First, let us discuss the meaning of the number, because both the number six and the number seven are always used in the law with a mystical meaning: “For God made heaven and earth in six days,” and “on the seventh day he rested from his works” and “on it,” it says, “they shall enter again into my rest.” The number seven, therefore, signifies the period of the present life, so that the apostle is not merely writing to seven churches and to that world in which he was then present, but it is understood that he is giving these writings to all future ages, even to the consummation of the world. Therefore, he mentions the number in a most holy manner, and he names “Asia,” which means “elevated” or “walking,” indicating that celestial fatherland which we call the “catholic church.” For exalted by the Lord and always moving toward the things which are above, it is the church which advances by spiritual exercises and is always desirous of the things of heaven.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:4
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:4
Here is that mystery of the number seven which is everywhere indicated. Here the seven spirits are introduced, which are one and the same Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, who is one in name, sevenfold in power, invisible and incorporeal, and whose form is impossible to comprehend. The great Isaiah revealed the number of its sevenfold powers when he wrote: “the Spirit of wisdom and understanding”—that through understanding and wisdom he might teach that he is the creator of all things—“the Spirit of counsel and might”—who conceived these things that he might create them—“the Spirit of knowledge and piety”—who governs the creation with piety by the exercise of his knowledge and whose purposes are always according to mercy—“the Spirit of the fear of the Lord”—by whose gift the fear of the Lord is manifested to rational creatures. This is itself the sacred character of the Spirit who is to be worshiped. It includes rather the ineffable praise, and does not indicate any form of nature.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:4
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on Revelation 1:4
Although there are many churches in every place, he wrote to seven only. For through the number seven he indicates the mystery of the church which exists everywhere and that which corresponds to the present life in which there is a sevenfold period of days. And therefore he makes mention of seven angels and seven churches to which he says, “Grace to you and peace from the tri-hypostatic deity.” Through the phrase “who is” the Father is indicated, who spoke to Moses: “I am Who I am.” Through the phrase “who was” the Word is indicated, who was in the beginning with God. And through the phrase “who is to come” the Paraclete is indicated, who always visits the children of the church in holy baptism but will come more perfectly and more clearly in the age to come. It is possible to recognize in the seven spirits the seven angels who have received the governance of the churches. These are not numbered with the most divine and royal Trinity but are mentioned together with it as servants, even as the divine apostle says: “I testify to you before God and the elect angels.” These phrases may be understood also in another manner. The phrase “who is and who was and who is to come” may signify the Father, who encompasses in himself the beginning, the middle and the end of all things.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:4
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:4
John to the seven, etc. Through these seven churches, he writes to the whole Church. For the universality is often designated by the number seven, as this whole age is revolved in seven days.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:4
Grace to you, etc. He wishes us grace and peace from the eternal God the Father, and from the sevenfold Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who in the assumed man bore witness to the Father. He names the Son third, of whom he was going to speak more. He names him last as well, because he is the first and the last, since he had already named him in the Father by saying, who is to come.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:4
This is just like saying, “Grace to you from the God of all of us.” For the Father calls Himself “Being/ONTA” when he talked to the most wise Moses at the bush, saying, “I am The One Who Is,(Ex. 3:14)” and this evangelist said “He was” concerning the Son, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,(Jn. 1:1)” and again in the first of the Catholic Epistles, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life.(1Jn. 1:1)”

And by that is to come he means the Holy Spirit. For the Spirit was not only there on the day of Pentecost, according to the account in Acts, but He is always present, too, to the souls who are worthy to receive Him...

The seven spirits are seven angels; but not as being equally honored or coeternal were they included with the Holy Trinity — far from it — but as genuine servants and faithful slaves. For the prophet says to God, “For all things are your slaves.” In all things the angels are also comprised. And again the same prophet says about them, “Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will.” In this fashion, too, the apostle addressed Timothy when writing the first letter: “I charge you,” he says, “before God and Jesus Christ and the elect angels.” Further, by saying who are before his throne John gave added testimony to their rank as servants and ministers, and certainly not as having equal dignity.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 1198] Nerses of Lambron on Revelation 1:4
before his throne. Now the seven spirits indicate the activity of the life-giving Spirit which directed Christ, God who was made man for us.
[AD 1349] Nicholas of Lyra on Revelation 1:4
This “7” is understood as the Church established in the world. St. Gregory says in Homily 25, “Because in 7 days all time is comprehended; the number 7 is a proper figure for the whole. Grace unto you In the present life. And peace in the future, for there the humanity will be completely tamed. From Him who is That is, from the eternal God. According to Boethius in the Consolation of Philosophy, “Eternity is endless life possessed all at once in its totality and its perfection. Nevertheless, his simplicity is not apprehended by us except by a comparison to time; for we understand in terms of succession and time. For he assists at every time, even infinitely as it were; therefore, this is expressed to us through the distinctions of present, past, and future time. And from the 7 spirits That is, from all the angels who are ministers of our salvation. Who are before His throne, Prepared to follow His will.
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Revelation 1:5
For the Lord, having been born "the First-begotten of the dead"

Source: Against Heresies Book III
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Revelation 1:5
Great, then, was the mercy of God the Father. He sent the creative Word, who, when he came to save us, put himself in our position, and in the same situation in which we lost life. He loosed the prison bonds, and his light appeared and dispelled the darkness in the prison, and he sanctified our birth and abolished death, loosing those same bonds by which we were held. He showed forth the resurrection, becoming himself the firstborn from the dead, and raised in himself prostrate man, being lifted up to the heights of heaven, at the right hand of the glory of the Father. Just as God had promised through the prophet, saying, “I will raise up the tabernacle of David.” This means that which is fallen, the body sprung from David. This was in truth accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ, in the triumph of our redemption, that he raise us in truth, setting us free to the Father.… as the firstborn of the dead, head and source also of the life unto God.

Source: PROOF OF THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING 38-39
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 1:5
"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first-begotten of the dead." In taking upon Him manhood, He gave a testimony in the world, wherein also having suffered, He freed us by His blood from sin; and having vanquished hell, He was the first who rose from the dead and "death shall have no more dominion over Him," but by His own reign the kingdom of the world is destroyed.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 311] Methodius of Olympus on Revelation 1:5
first begotten of the dead. For if the Christ is believed to be the first begotten of the dead, He is the first begotten of the dead as having risen in a glorified state before all others.
[AD 311] Methodius of Olympus on Revelation 1:5
But Moses and Elias arose and appeared with this form of which you speak, before Christ suffered and rose. How then could Christ be celebrated by prophets and apostles as "the first begotten of the dead? "

Source: Methodius From the Discourse on the Resurrection
[AD 339] Eusebius of Caesarea on Revelation 1:5
They did not proclaim themselves witnesses, nor did they allow us to address them by this name. If any one of us, in letter or conversation, spoke of them as witnesses, they rebuked him sharply. For they conceded cheerfully the appellation of “Witness” to Christ “the faithful and true Witness,” “firstborn of the dead,” and prince of the life of God. They reminded us of the witnesses who had already departed, and said, “They are already witnesses whom Christ has deemed worthy to be taken up in their confession, having sealed their testimony by their departure. But we are lowly and humble confessors.”

Source: ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 5.2.2-3
[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Revelation 1:5
Although it was after us that he was made man for us and became our brother by likeness of body, still he is called and is the firstborn of us. Since all people were lost through the transgression of Adam, Christ’s flesh was saved first of all and was liberated, because it was the Word’s body. Henceforth also we, having become joined together with his body, are saved through it. For in his body the Lord becomes our guide to the kingdom of heaven and to his own Father, saying,“I am the way” and “the door,” and “through me all must enter.” Wherefore he is also said to be “firstborn from the dead,” not because he died before us, since we died first, but because he suffered death for us and abolished it, and therefore, as man, was the first to rise, raising his own body for our sakes. Therefore, since he has risen, we too shall rise from the dead from him and through him.

Source: Discourses Against the Arians 2.61
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Revelation 1:5
first begotten. I know that some think that at the death of Christ a resurrection such as is promised to us at the end of the world was granted to the righteous, founding this on the statement in Scripture that, in the earthquake by which at the moment of His death the rocks were rent and the graves were opened, many bodies of the saints arose and were seen with Him in the Holy City after He rose. Certainly, if these did not fall asleep again, their bodies being a second time laid in the grave, it would be necessary to see in what sense Christ can be understood to be "the first begotten from the dead," if so many preceded Him in the resurrection. And if it be said, in answer to this, that the statement is made by anticipation, so that the graves indeed are to be supposed to have been opened by that earthquake at the time when Christ was hanging on the cross, but that the bodies of the saints did not rise then, but only after Christ had risen before them -- although on this hypothesis of anticipation in the narrative, the addition of these words would not hinder us from still believing, on the one hand, that Christ was without doubt "the first begotten from the dead." Letter 164.9
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:5
Since earlier he had recalled that Word who, before the assumption of the flesh, was with the Father in glory, he of necessity adds the humanity of the assumed flesh when he says, “And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness.” For through the humanity which he had assumed, he gave a faithful testimony to his divinity, and by his passion and blood he interceded for our sins and cleansed us from all unrighteousness. And so, for the sake of our frailty and weakness he brought a faithful witness to God the Father “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:5
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on Revelation 1:5
washed us from our sins. the splendor belonged to him who redeemed us through love from the slavery of death, and He washed the stains of sin through the outpouring of his life-giving blood and water.
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:5
It can be understood that, for a special reason, the Lord was said to be firstborn, according to what John says in the Apocalypse about him.… And the apostle Paul says, “Now those whom he has foreknown he has also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, that he himself should be the firstborn among many brothers.” He is the firstborn among many brothers because “to as many as received him he gave the power to become sons of God,” of whom he is rightly named the firstborn because in dignity he came before all the sons of adoption, even those who in their birth preceded the time of his incarnation. Therefore, they can with the greatest truth bear witness with John, “He who comes after us was before us.” That is, “He was born in the world after us, but by the merit of his virtue and kingdom he is rightfully called the firstborn of us all.”

Source: Homilies on the Gospels 1.5
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:5
The firstborn of the dead, etc. This is what the Apostle says: We have seen Jesus Christ crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. And elsewhere, explaining the disgrace of the cross, he added: Therefore God also has exalted him and given him a name that is above every name.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:5-6
The structure of these words goes from the end to the beginning. He means that it was to Him who hath loved us that glory and empire are owed.
For how did He not love "who gave Himself as a ransom"(1Tim. 2:6) on behalf of the life of the world.

And washed us from our sins in his own blood: For He Himself removed the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the 'wood of His' cross, (Col. 2:14) paying for our sins by His own death, and with His own blood he freed us from the error of our transgressions. He did this by becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross, (Phil. 2:8) and so healing our disobedience.

And hath made us a kingdom: And what does it profit of our becoming, as he says, priests to God and his prophets? That man should be thought worthy of these things proves to us the kingdom to come and the assurance of the unspeakable glory in the present. For this is even greater and more miraculous than washing away our sins in His own blood, and is worthy to be called the gift of God, there has not been another kind of offering beforehand such as our empowering to be priests and prophets of God, this is a valuable gift.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:5
He had written before concerning the pre-incarnate Word of God, describing of Him as “he who was”, but now he says concerning Him as the incarnate, saying, and from Jesus Christ. He does not divide him into two, but bares witness to Him in both states at one time, that He is both the Word of the Father and that He was made flesh.

He is the faithful witness- for according to the apostle "who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate, a good confession.(1 Tim. 6:13)" But He was because He is God and Lord of all even though He is incarnate. But this testimony is indeed true. He calls the one who is true faithful and genuine.

The first begotten of the dead: Paul also testifies, saying, "who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. (Col. 1:18)" They call Him the firstborn of the dead as being the one who founded the universal resurrection, and who, according to Scripture, "A new and living way which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh" (Heb. 10:20), by the resurrection of the dead. For everyone who was raised from the dead before the Lord came died again, because that was not the true resurrection, but a temporary pardon from death. That is why they were not called the firstborn from the dead. But the Lord is called this, as He was both the beginning and reason of the true resurrection. And just as He is a type of first-fruits of the resurrection of man, so when He became a man he led the way as from a tomb, from death to life. Concerning the Lord, the blessed Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, saying, "Knowing that Christ rising again from the dead, dies now no more, death shall no more have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin, he died once; but in that he lives, he lives unto God. (Rom. 6:9-10)"

He says and the prince of the kings of the earth, Daniel also said this to the king of Babylon, "until he knew that the most high God is Lord of the kingdom of heaven, and will give it to whomsoever he shall please.(Dan. 5:21)" So Christ is the King of all those in Heaven too. But now he speaks concerning those on earth. As he continues he demonstrates how He is King of the holy legions in the Heaven too.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 1198] Nerses of Lambron on Revelation 1:5
first begotten of the dead. Because he is not like those who died previously and rose and died again; but he is eternally immortal in the body which died.
[AD 1274] Thomas Aquinas on Revelation 1:5
washed us from our sins. Water flowed from Christ's side to wash us; blood, to redeem us. Wherefore blood belongs to the sacrament of the Eucharist, while water belongs to the sacrament of Baptism. Yet this latter sacrament derives its cleansing virtue from the power of Christ's blood.
[AD 1274] Thomas Aquinas on Revelation 1:5
washed us from our sins. Christ's Passion is the proper cause of the forgiveness of sins in three ways. First of all, by way of exciting our charity, because, as the Apostle says (Romans 5:8): "God commendeth His charity towards us: because when as yet we were sinners, according to the time, Christ died for us." But it is by charity that we procure pardon of our sins, according to Lk. 7:47: "Many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much." Secondly, Christ's Passion causes forgiveness of sins by way of redemption. For since He is our head, then, by the Passion which He endured from love and obedience, He delivered us as His members from our sins, as by the price of His Passion: in the same way as if a man by the good industry of his hands were to redeem himself from a sin committed with his feet. For, just as the natural body is one though made up of diverse members, so the whole Church, Christ's mystic body, is reckoned as one person with its head, which is Christ. Thirdly, by way of efficiency, inasmuch as Christ's flesh, wherein He endured the Passion, is the instrument of the Godhead, so that His sufferings and actions operate with Divine power for expelling sin.
[AD 1349] Nicholas of Lyra on Revelation 1:5
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness Of the glory of the Father and majesty, as is clear in the Gospel. the first begotten That is, the first among those rising from the dead, although before Him Lazarus and many others were brought back to life. Nevertheless, this was mortal life, which is more properly called death than life, as St. Gregory says in Homily 25, “The true resurrection is to immortal life to which Christ rose first. His resurrection is the cause of the resurrection of others. and the prince of the kings of the earth On account of this He said in his resurrection, “All power is given unto me in Heaven and on earth.(Matt. 28:18)” who hath loved us, and washed us That is, who alone by His love and not by our merits washed us. from our sins Original and actual sin. in his own blood The sacraments of baptism and penance, are made efficacious by His blessed passion.
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:6
Are not even we laics priests? It is written: "A kingdom also, and priests to His God and Father, hath He made us." It is the authority of the Church, and the honour which has acquired sanctity through the joint session of the Order, which has established the difference between the Order and the laity.

Source: On Exhortation to Chastity
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:6
" Us, moreover, Jesus, the Father's Highest and Great Priest, clothing us from His own store -inasmuch as they "who are baptized in Christ have put on Christ"-has made "priests to God His Father," according to John.

Source: On Monogamy
[AD 258] Cyprian on Revelation 1:6
For I have heard that you have received the ministry of the purpled ones. Oh, happy are you, even sleeping on the ground, to obtain your wishes which you have always desired! You have desired to be sent into prison for His name's sake, which now has come to pass; as it is written, "The Lord grant thee according to thine own heart; " and now made a priest of God over them, and the same their minister has acknowledged it. I ask, therefore my lord, and I entreat by our Lord Jesus Christ, that you will refer the case to the rest of your colleagues, your brethren, my lords, and ask from them, that whichever of you is first crowned, should remit such a great sin to those our sisters, Numeria and Candida. For this latter I have always called Etecusa -God is my witness,-because she gave gifts for herself that she might not sacrifice; but she appears only to have ascended to the Tria Fata, and thence to have descended. I know, therefore, that she has not sacrificed. Their cause having been lately heard, the chief rulers commanded them in the meantime to remain as they are, until a bishop should be appointed. But, as far as possible, by your holy prayers and petitions, in which we trust, since you are friends as well as witnesses of Christ, (we pray) that you would be indulgent in all these matters.

Source: Epistle XX
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 1:6
"And He made us a kingdom and priests unto God and His Father." That is to say, a Church of all believers; as also the Apostle Peter says: "A holy nation, a royal priesthood."

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:6
And made us a kingdom, etc. Because the King of kings and heavenly Priest, by offering himself for us, has united us to his body, none of the saints is spiritually devoid of the office of priesthood, since he is a member of the eternal Priest.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 1117] Anselm of Laon on Revelation 1:6
Amen. This is a Hebrew word of affirmation.
[AD 1198] Nerses of Lambron on Revelation 1:6
So at the end of this section glory is befitting to Him who brought us to this honor and created so much grace. For we have nothing else to give in exchange, except only glory.
[AD 1198] Nerses of Lambron on Revelation 1:6
made us a kingdom: He made us kings through hope according to the undying promise, because if we endure we shall reign with Him.
[AD 1198] Nerses of Lambron on Revelation 1:6
and priests. in that we continually offer to Him the rational sacrifice of thanksgiving and blessing, heeding the advice, ‘Offer to God a sacrifice of blessing’ instead of irrational sacrifices:
[AD 1349] Nicholas of Lyra on Revelation 1:6
made us a kingdom. That is, to be written as citizens of the kingdom of Heaven.
[AD 100] Didache on Revelation 1:7
Watch for your life's sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ready, for you know not the hour in which our Lord comes. [Matthew 24:42] But often shall you come together, seeking the things which are befitting to your souls: for the whole time of your faith will not profit you, if you be not made perfect in the last time. For in the last days false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate; [Matthew 24:11-12] for when lawlessness increases, they shall hate and persecute and betray one another, [Matthew 24:10] and then shall appear the world-deceiver as the Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and he shall do iniquitous things which have never yet come to pass since the beginning. Then shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial, and many shall be made to stumble and shall perish; but they that endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself. And then shall appear the signs of the truth; first, the sign of an outspreading in heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead; yet not of all, but as it is said: The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him. Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.

Source: The Didache, Chapter 16
[AD 108] Ignatius of Antioch on Revelation 1:7
And I know that He was possessed of a body not only in His being born and crucified, but I also know that He was so after His resurrection, and believe that He is so now. When, for instance, He came to those who were with Peter, He said to them, "Lay hold, handle Me, and see that I am not an incorporeal spirit." "For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have." And He says to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger into the print of the nails, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; " and immediately they believed that He was Christ. Wherefore Thomas also says to Him, "My Lord, and my God." And on this account also did they despise death, for it were too little to say, indignities and stripes. Nor was this all; but also after He had shown Himself to them, that He had risen indeed, and not in appearance only, He both ate and drank with them during forty entire days. And thus was He, with the flesh, received up in their sight unto Him that sent Him, being with that same flesh to come again, accompanied by glory and power. For, say the [holy] oracles, "This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen Him go unto heaven." But if they say that He will come at the end of the world without a body, how shall those "see Him that pierced Him," and when they recognise Him, "mourn for themselves? " For incorporeal beings have neither form nor figure, nor the aspect of an animal possessed of shape, because their nature is in itself simple.

Source: Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:7
And then shall they "learn to know Him whom they pierced, and shall beat their breasts tribe by tribe; " of course because in days bygone they did not know Him when conditionedin the humility of human estate.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:7
That, however, which we have reserved for a concluding argument, will now stand as a plea for all, and for the apostle himself, who in very deed would have to be charged with extreme indiscretion, if he had so abruptly, as some will have it, and as they say, blindfold, and so indiscriminately, and so unconditionally, excluded from the kingdom of God, and indeed from the court of heaven itself, all flesh and blood whatsoever; since Jesus is still sitting there at the right hand of the Father, man, yet God-the last Adam, yet the primary Word-flesh and blood, yet purer than ours-who "shall descend in like manner as He ascended into heaven" the same both in substance and form, as the angels affirmed, so as even to be recognised by those who pierced Him. Designated, as He is, "the Mediator between God and man," He keeps in His own self the deposit of the flesh which has been committed to Him by both parties-the pledge and security of its entire perfection.

Source: On the Resurrection of the Flesh
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:7
For they affirm that without those letters truth cannot be found; nay more, that in those letters the whole plenitude and perfection of truth is comprised; for this was why Christ said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega." In fact, they say that Jesus Christ descended, that is, that the dove came down on Jesus; and, since the dove is styled by the Greek name peristera/-(peristera), it has in itself this number DCCCI.

Source: Pseudo-Tertullian Against All Heresies
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 1:7
"Behold, He shall come with clouds, and every eye shall see Him." For He who at first came hidden in the manhood that He had undertaken, shall after a little while come to judgment manifest in majesty and glory. And what saith He?

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Revelation 1:7
and they that pierced him. a prophecy which implies that Christ will come in the very flesh in which He was crucified.
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Revelation 1:7
shall bewail. But when the wicked shall see the Judge, He will not seem good to them; because they will not rejoice in their heart to see Him, Trinity 1.13.31
[AD 533] Fulgentius of Ruspe on Revelation 1:7
Hold most firmly and never doubt that the Word made flesh always has the same truly human flesh with which God the Word was born of the Virgin, with which he was crucified and died, with which he rose and ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God, with which he will come again to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the apostles heard from the angels, “He … will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven,” and the blessed John says, “Behold, he will come amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will see him.”

Source: LETTER TO PETER ON THE FAITH 20.63
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on Revelation 1:7
he comes with the clouds. Either the bodiless powers are implied by the clouds, or those clouds which covered him on Mount Tabor with his holy disciples.
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:7
Behold, he comes with the clouds, etc. He who first came hidden to be judged will then come manifest to judge. He mentions this to strengthen the Church to endure sufferings, now oppressed by enemies, but then to reign with Christ.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:7
And those who pierced him, etc. Seeing him in the same form as a powerful judge in which they judged him as insignificant, they will lament themselves in late repentance.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:7
Even so, Amen. He affirms it without doubt by interposing "Amen," knowing most certainly that it will happen as revealed by God.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:7
He cometh with the clouds: The Lord spoke of this concerning Himself in the Gospel of Mark, saying, “And the stars of heaven shall be falling down, and the powers that are in heaven, shall be moved. 26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory.(Mk. 13:25-26)” Just as it is written in Acts, when He was ascending up into the heavens on the day of the ascension, “and a cloud received him out of their sight,(1:9) so He will come again with a cloud. I believe that the Holy Scriptures call the holy angels clouds because of their lightness and being lifted high and walking on air, as though John is saying, “the Lord will come riding on the angels of God as his spearmen.” For this is how the prophets spoke of Him saying, “And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew; he flew upon the wings of the winds.(Ps. 17:11)”

and every eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him: For His glorious second coming will not be pushed aside, nor secretly, as the first time when visited the world in the flesh. The prophet clearly told us beforehand about His first coming, saying, “He shall come down like rain upon the fleece; and as showers falling gently upon the earth.(Ps. 71:6)” But the second coming will be visible so that every eye will see, even the sinful and ungodly, among whom must be divided as those who drunkenly beat Him or pierced Him.

And all the tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves because of him: Those are who continued on in disbelief and did not yield under His saving yoke. But the words because of him you shall understand to mean to His appearance and coming. And then to add to the assurance that this will happen he adds, Even so, Amen, as saying accurately and positively that these things will happen. For as among the Greek “Even so” points out approval to what will happen, so does “Amen” among the Hebrews.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 1274] Thomas Aquinas on Revelation 1:7
every eye shall see him. Therefore all men will be present at the judgment.
[AD 1349] Nicholas of Lyra on Revelation 1:7
even so. Amen. this is the adverb of affirmation in Latin and similarly Amen in Hebrew, and by means of this double affirmation it is implied that truth is not retractable.
[AD 1349] Nicholas of Lyra on Revelation 1:7
they also that pierced him. That the Jews, who crucified Him by word of the soldiers by hand and Pilate by judging.
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on Revelation 1:8
Rightly, therefore, the Lord again promises milk to the righteous, that the Word may be clearly shown to be both, "the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end; "

Source: Clement of Alexandria The Instructor Book I
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:8
In the same way the Lord applied to himself two Greek letters, the first and the last, as figures of the beginning and the end which are united in himself. For just as Alpha continues on until it reaches Omega and Omega completes the cycle back again to Alpha, so he meant to show us that in him is found the course of all things from the beginning to the end and from the end back to the beginning. Every divine dispensation should end in him through whom it first began, that is, in the Word made flesh. Accordingly, it should also end in the same way in which it first began. So truly in Christ are all things recalled to their beginning. So the faith has turned away from circumcision back to the integrity of the flesh, as it was in the beginning. So, too, there is liberty now to eat any kind of food, with abstention from blood alone, as it was in the beginning. There is a unity of marriage, as it was in the beginning. There is a prohibition of divorce, which was not in the beginning. Finally, the whole man is called once more to paradise, where he was in the beginning.

Source: ON MONOGAMY 5
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:8
Meanwhile, let this be my immediate answer to the argument which they adduce from the Revelation of John: "I am the Lord which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty; " and from all other passages which in their opinion make the designation of Almighty God unsuitable to the Son.

Source: Against Praxeas
[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Revelation 1:8
The Godhead of the Son is the Father’s. It is indivisible. Thus there is one God and none other but he. So, since they are one, and the Godhead itself one, the same things are said of the Son, which are said of the Father, except his being said to be Father. For instance, it is said that he is God: “And the Word was God.” It is said that he is Almighty, “Thus says he who was and is and is to come, the Almighty.” It is said that he is Lord, “one Lord Jesus Christ.” It is said that he is Light, “I am the Light,” that he wipes out sins, “that you may know,” he says, “that the Son of man has power upon earth to forgive sins,” and so with other attributes. For “all things,” says the Son himself, “whatsoever the Father has, are mine”; and again, “And mine are yours.”

Source: Discourses Against the Arians 3.4
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Revelation 1:8
The martyrdom of the blessed apostles has consecrated this day for us. It was by despising the world that they earned this renown throughout the whole world. Peter was the first of the apostles and Paul the last of the apostles. The first and the last were brought to one and the same day for martyrdom by the First and the Last, by Christ. In order to grasp what I’ve said, turn your minds to the Alpha and the Omega. The Lord himself said plainly in the Apocalypse, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first”—before whom is nobody—“the last”—after whom is nobody; he precedes all things and sets a term to all things. Do you want to gaze upon him as the first? “All things were made through him.” Do you seek him as the last? “For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified.” In order for you to live at some time or other, you had him as your creator. In order for you to live always, you have him as your redeemer.

Source: SERMON 299B.1, ON THE BIRTHDAY OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:8
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, etc. The beginning, whom none precedes; the end, to whom none succeeds in the kingdom.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:8
Who is, and who was, etc. He said the same of the Father. For God the Father also came and is to come in the Son.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:8
Alpha means beginning, and Omega means the end. Therefore he says, “I am the first and the last (Rev. 1:17).” He professes by the first that God has no beginning, and by the last that He has no end. But with there is nothing that is without beginning and end, he says this for us instead of saying, “without beginning nor end.” This is what God also said through Isaiah, “I, God, am first, and for the things coming, I Am.(Is. 41:4)”

The Almighty, and Lord of creation: He calls God Lord over the spiritual and visible creation.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 532] Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite on Revelation 1:9
"This other author, on the contrary, did not even deem it sufficient to name himself once, and then to proceed with his narrative; but he takes up his name again, and says: "I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ."
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:9
The ecclesiastical writers have taught that at the time of Claudius Caesar, when that famine which the prophet Agabus had announced in the Acts of the Apostles would come in ten years time was at its height, that during that difficulty this same Caesar, impelled by his usual vanity, had instituted a persecution of the churches. It was during this time that he ordered John, the apostle of our Lord, Jesus Christ, to be transported into exile, and he was taken to the island of Patmos, and while there confirmed this writing. That he might present the trials of suffering which he was bearing at that time, he recalls that he was a participant in suffering, and then he adds the kingdom to the suffering of tribulation, and because of the kingdom to be received he further adds the patient endurance which he bore for the sake of Jesus.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:9
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:9
I, John, etc. He hints at the person, place, time, and cause of the vision. He testifies that he saw it also in the Spirit, lest he be thought deluded by a fleshly apparition.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:9
Was in the island, etc. The story is known, that John was banished to this island by Caesar Domitian because of the gospel, to whom it was fittingly given to penetrate the secrets of heaven when he was forbidden to exceed certain earthly spaces.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:9
Of Jesus: This is what it means to be "in Jesus".

For the word of God, and for the testimony: is what he testified when he proclaimed the Gospel, he was exiled to Patmos. Eusebius told in his Canonical Chronicle in the time of Domitian.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:10
There is the selfsame difference in respect of the soul's corporeality, which is (perhaps) invisible to the flesh, but perfectly visible to the spirit. Thus John, being "in the Spirit" of God, beheld plainly the souls of the martyrs.

Source: A Treatise on the Soul
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:10
He says that he was taken up in the spirit, that is, that he was raised up to the secret things of God, in order that he might see those things which he was to speak. Moreover, he says that he did not enter into the heights of heaven in a bodily manner, but that he entered in the spirit, recalling this word, “No one has ascended into heaven except he who has descended, namely the Son of man, who is in heaven.” The holy apostle Paul also says that he was taken up, but in what way? He says, “Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows.” He writes that he had been taken up into ecstasy, in the spirit. But since the day of the Lord is mentioned in this passage, when he says that he had been taken up in the spirit, he is indicating that he had been cleansed of any work of a profane kind. For, on the Lord’s day the apostle could only devote himself to divine things and holy duties.… Concerning the preachers of the gospel, it is written, “Cry aloud, do not cease, lift up your voice as a trumpet.” And concerning the words “behind me,” the prophet said, “And they shall hear a voice from behind of one teaching.” Let all humanity be exalted to whatever degree of sanctity, in comparison to the holy acts of God and to the divine words, it can by no means ever stand as an equal before his presence and face. But our flesh, weighed down by a certain weakness, is instructed, as it were, from behind by the words of God. Therefore, in saying “behind me” he indicates the weakness of his human nature.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:10
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:10
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. He also indicates a suitable time for the spiritual vision. For Scripture often expresses the fixed limits of causes, as often of place, body, or air, so also of time. For the angels visit Abraham at noon, Sodom in the evening. Adam feared at the voice of the Lord walking in the afternoon. And Solomon received wisdom at night, which he would not keep.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:10
And I heard behind me, etc. He is first admonished by the voice to turn his sight to the vision.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:10-11
There are more cities in Asia than these, but he is commanded to write to those taught by him and who had received the faith of Christ. For those who did not believe and turned away from the saving word, how could anybody even advise them?

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:10
I was in the spirit: These words mean that that he saw a vision that was not understandable by the senses nor seen with physical ears or eyes, but with a prophetic sense. Isaiah spoke concerning this spiritual hearing when he told “me a learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakened in the morning, in the morning he wakened my ear, that I may hear him as a master. The Lord God has opened my ear. (Is. 50:4-5)”

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:11
We have already said that he addressed one church which exists during the time of the whole world, that is, from that time when he spoke to the consummation of the world. Since he now mentions the names of these churches specifically, let us see what meanings they have.… There is a mighty mystery in the names which we will examine and discuss to the extent that God allows. Ephesus means “my will” or “my plan.” He wills that we know that the whole reality of our faith and the dignity of the catholic church is not to be ascribed to human merit, but they are the will of God and the disposition of the divine purpose. Smyrna means “their song.” And what else is the song of the perfect if not the celestial doctrine and the preaching of the gospel and the advance of the Christian religion, or the melodious confession of the catholic church? Pergamum means “to him who divides their horns.” This refers either to the insolence of the powers of the air, or to the arrogance of the heretics. And he teaches that the pride of the powers is always to be separated and divided from the congregation of the church, for the horns are either power or arrogance. He writes to Thyatira, that is “enlightened.” This signifies that, after the expulsion of heretical pride and after the defeat of temptations from the powers of the air, the holy church is deserving of the light of righteousness. Sardis means the “beginning of beauty.” The church is seized by the sun of righteousness and is illumined by the light of truth, so that she might have the beginning of beauty, the Lord Jesus Christ, and might always shine in perpetual light. Philadelphia means “preserving devotion to the Lord.” After possessing the sun of righteousness, after the illumination of holiness, after the comeliness of holy beauty, the church rightly is devoted to the Lord and preserves herself by an inviolable observation of devotion. Laodicea means either “a tribe beloved of the Lord,” or, as some would have it, “a birth is expected.” Both are meaningful, for she who has merited the beauty of faith and the sun of righteousness and knows that through faith the Lord cleaves to her, might also be a tribe whom the Lord loves, who is both loved by the Lord and preserved by the Lord. Furthermore, the church might well await her own birth, either the regeneration of baptism or the glory of the resurrection, whenever she preserves herself by humility and patience.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:11
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:11
And send to the seven churches, etc. The Church of Christ was not then only in these places, but the fullness consists in the number seven. Asia, which is interpreted as elevation, designates the proud height of the world in which the Church sojourns; and, as is the custom of divine mystery, the genus fits the species. For the Apostle Paul also writes to seven churches; not, however, the same as John. And although these seven places are a figure of the whole sevenfold Church, yet specific things happened in these which he reproaches or praises.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Revelation 1:12
Neither Moses nor Elijah nor Ezekiel, who all had many celestial visions, saw God. Rather, what they did see were likenesses of the splendor of the Lord and prophecies of things to come. It is evident that the Father is indeed invisible, of whom also the Lord said, “No man has seen God at any time.” But his Word, as he himself willed it, and for the benefit of those who beheld, did show the Father’s brightness and explained his purposes, as also the Lord said, “The only begotten God, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared [him].” … John also, the Lord’s disciple, when seeing the priestly and glorious advent of his kingdom, says in the Apocalypse: “I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And, being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in their midst One like the Son of man, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and wrapped around the chest with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white, as white as wool, and as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if they were forged in a furnace. His voice [was] like the sound of waters. He had in his right hand seven stars. Out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. He looked like the sun shining at full strength.” For in these words he sets forth something of the glory [which he has received] from his Father, as the head. He sets forth something of the priestly office, as in the case of the long garment reaching to the feet. And this was the reason why Moses vested the high priest after this fashion. Something also alludes to the end [of all things], as [where he speaks of] the fine brass being forged in the fire, which denotes the power of faith, and constant prayer, because of the consuming fire which is to come at the end of time.

Source: AGAINST HERESIES 4.20.11
[AD 258] Cyprian on Revelation 1:12
That after He had risen again He should receive from His Father all power, and His power should be everlasting. In Daniel: "I saw in a vision by night, and behold as it were the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven, came even to the Ancient of days, and stood in His sight. And they who stood beside Him brought Him before Him: and to Him was given a royal power, and all the kings of the earth by their generation, and all glory obeying Him: and His power is eternal, which shall not be taken away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed." Also in Isaiah: "Now will I arise, saith the Lord; now will I be glorified, now will I be exalted, now ye shall see, now ye shall understand, now ye shall be confounded. Vain will be the strength of your spirit: the fire shall consume you." Also in the cixth Psalm: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my fight hand, until I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet. God will send the rod of Thy power out of Sion, and Thou shalt rule in the midst of Thine enemies." Also in the Apocalypse: "And I turned and looked to see the voice which spake with me. And I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a long garment, and He was girt about the paps with a golden girdle. And His head and His hairs were white as wool or snow, and His eyes as a flame of fire, and His feet like to fine brass from a furnace of fire, and His voice like the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and His face shone as the sun in his might. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, and said, Fear not; I am the first and the last, and He that liveth and was dead; and, lo, I am living for evermore and I have the keys of death and of hell." Likewise in the Gospel, the Lord after His resurrection says to His disciples: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

Source: Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 1:12-13
"The court which is within the temple leave out." The space which is called the court is the empty altar within the walls: these being such as were not necessary, he commanded to be ejected from the Church.

"It is given to be trodden down by the Gentiles." That is, to the men of this world, that it may be trodden under foot by the nations, or with the nations. Then he repeats about the destruction and slaughter of the last time, and says:-

"They shall tread the holy city down for forty and two months; and I will give to my two witnesses, and they shall predict a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth." That is, three years and six months: these make forty-two months. Therefore their preaching is three years and six months, and the kingdom of Antichrist as much again.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:12
Resting on three arms, a lampstand raises the body of a single shaft, and upon this shaft there is placed a lamp of light. “For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” says the apostle, “from which the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love, according to the work and ability of each member.” This is that branch of which it is said: “There shall come forth a branch from the stump of Jesse.” Upon this branch a light is placed, that is, the light of the catholic church is made ready, so that seized by the truth of his light, she might herself bring forth perpetual light, and marked by the manifestation of one faith, she might be exalted by the light of the divine majesty.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:12
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on Revelation 1:12
He shows that the voice was not sensory when he says, “I turned,” not to hear but “to see the voice.” For spiritual hearing and spiritual seeing are the same thing.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:12
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:12
And having turned, etc. Here the form of the Church is beautifully described, bearing the light of divine love in the brightness of a pure heart. According to what the Lord says: "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning" (Luke XII). He designates the perfection of its interior and exterior by the two parts of the number seven, while each one, consisting of the four qualities of the body, loves the Lord God with all their heart, all their soul, and all their strength.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:12-16
The seven candlesticks are the seven churches that he was commanded to write. He called them candlesticks as they produce the enlightening of the glory of Christ. He did not call them candles, but candlesticks. The candlesticks cannot not be enlightened all by themselves, for it possess what it needs to be able to enlighten. Christ enlightens His churches spiritually. Just as the holy apostle counsels those who have received the faith, “shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.(Phil. 2:15-15)” Indeed, the star does not have light on its own but is able to get light from something else, just like the evangelist saw the churches as candlesticks and not just candles. For it says about Christ, “For it is you who gives light marvelously from everlasting mountains. (Ps. 75:3)”

For concerning Christ it is said, “You shine gloriously from the everlasting mountains”—perhaps meaning angelic powers—and, again, addressing the Father, “Send out your light and your truth,” and again, “the light of your face, Lord.” So those who share in the divine light are described in one place as stars and in another as lampstands.

He calls the lampstands golden on account of the honor and transcendence of those thought worthy of receiving the beam of divine light.

And in the midst of the seven lampstands, he says, one like a son of man: for since the Lord himself promises to dwell in the souls of those who have received him and to walk in their midst, how could he not have been seen in the midst of the lampstands?

He calls Christ son of man as one who for us humbled himself as far as “taking the form of a slave,” who became “the fruit of the womb,” according to the divine hymn, the womb of Mary, unwed and ever-virgin. Since Mary was a human being and our sister, naturally he who is born from her without seed as a human being is called God the Word and the son of man. He has carefully called him not a son of man, but one like a son of man; but he who is Emmanuel is also God and Lord of the universe.

The vision shows his varied appearance by his operations and powers, as it depicts his form. First he clothes him with a priestly dress, for the long robe and girdle are a priestly dress. He was addressed by God and the Father, “You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedek,” but the apostle, too, calls Christ “the high priest and apostle of our confession,”49 as being in the priestly service and leading us to make our confession of faith in him and the Father and the Spirit.

He puts a golden girdle around him, whereas the priests according to the [Mosaic] Law had a girdle of embroidered cloth. The difference between slaves and a master had to be pointed out, that is, the difference between the shadow of the law and the truth shown by the new girdle.

His head, he says, and his hair were like white wool and like snow: for God’s secret purpose in Christ is new in its appearance, but it is before all ages in its intention. For the blessed apostle has written about it as “the secret purpose which has been kept hidden in all past ages and from generations, which has now been revealed to those of his holy people whom he wished.” Therefore, the age-old intention of the purpose revealed in God’s good pleasure is represented by the hoariness of the head and its comparison with wool and snow.

He says, and his eyes were like a flame of fire: this either means that the flame of fire has the form of light—since Christ both is light and calls himself light, saying “I am the light and the truth”—or it exposes the danger and the threat against the seven churches to whom the facts of the Revelation are passed on, in that they were not fully following his laws.
And his feet, he says, were like burnished bronze: he refers to the bronze mined on Mount Lebanon as being pure even in itself and as rendered even purer when it has been refined in a furnace and cleansed of its slight impurity. In this way the steadfastness and constancy, as well as the brightness and glory, of faith in Christ is signified when it has come to assurance. For the apostle calls Christ “a rock,” and Isaiah calls him “a precious stone” in the foundations “of Sion.”

Else he means that the burnished bronze is the copper-colored frankincense which medical men are accustomed to call male. This is fragrant when burnt; for the fiery furnace represents the symbol of the burn ing of incense, which is the foundation of the preaching of the gospel—for the feet are the foundation of the rest of the body, which is Christ. For he is fragrant, and with spiritual fragrance he gives charm to the things in heaven and the things on earth.

Paul, too, calls Christ “a foundation” in writing the first epistle to the Corinthians, saying, “Like a wise master-builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. Let each one take care how he builds on it. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

That Christ is spiritually sweet-smelling, the bride in the Song of Songs who has experienced his sweet scent bears witness. In one place she says, “and the fragrance of your oils is above all spices,” and in another, “your name is oil emptied out,” and the Lord himself also describes himself as sweet-smelling in the words to the bride, saying, “I am a flower of the field, a lily of the valleys.” What then? Did not Paul, too, after becoming sweet-smelling from his communion with Christ, say, “for we are the fragrance of Christ”; and again, to us “he reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of him”?

And his voice, he says, was like the sound of many waters, and reasonably so; for how could his voice have come to all the earth and his gospel to the ends of the world, unless it had been clearly heard, not as a perceived loud sound, but by the power of the preaching?

And he had, he says, in his right hand seven stars: he himself goes on to interpret these stars, saying they were the angels of the seven churches, about whom blessed Gregory spoke at the coming of the bishops: “with reference to the presiding angels, I believe that each is a guardian of each church, as John teaches in the Revelation.” I think that he calls the holy angels stars on account of the abundant light of Christ, which is in them.

They are in his right hand. They have been thought worthy of the most honorable position by God’s side, and, as it were, they rest in the hand of God.

And from his mouth, he says, there was issuing a sharp twoedged sword: blessed David says to the Lord, “Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one.” For he had not then commanded us to keep the laws of the gospel, to transgress which was destruction. Therefore the actual position of the thigh indicated the postponement of punishment; for it was not the most suitable position for killing.

But now the sword issues from his mouth, the metaphor symbolizing that those who disobey the injunctions of the gospel will be in mortal danger of being cut in two by the sword. This is made clear by what the Lord says in the gospels. The apostle, too, said, “For the word of God is living and active and keener than a two-edged sword,” that is to say, holding out a threat against the disobedient. So this is described by John as sharp, which is the same as what Paul calls “very keen.”

His face, he says, was like the sun shining in full strength. Deservedly like the sun, for the Lord is the sun of righteousness according to the prophet Malachi. But lest you should think that the light of the countenance of Christ, which “gives light to everyone, coming into the world,” was a manifest body giving perceptible light, he added by his power, just as if he were saying: “The light of Christ is to be spiritually perceived, ‘operating in power,’ not a physical appearance, but giving light to the eyes of the soul.”

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:13
And, behold, six men were coming toward the way of the high gate which was looking toward the north, and each one's double-axe of dispersion was in his hand: and one man in the midst of them, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and a girdle of sapphire about his loins: and they entered, and took their stand close to the brazen altar.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:13
But the "Jesus" there alluded to is Christ, the Priest of God the most high Father; who at His First Advent came in humility, in human form, and passible, even up to the period of His passion; being Himself likewise made, through all (stages of suffering) a victim for us all; who after His resurrection was"clad with a garment down to the foot," and named the Priest of God the Father unto eternity.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 1:13
"As it were the Son of man walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks." He says, in the midst of the churches, as it is said in Solomon, "I will walk in the midst of the paths of the just," whose antiquity is immortality, and the fountain of majesty.

"Clothed with a garment down to the ankles." In the long, that is, the priestly garment, these words very plainly deliver the flesh which was not corrupted in death, and has the priesthood through suffering.

"And He was girt about the paps with a golden girdle." His paps are the two testaments, and the golden girdle is the choir of saints, as gold tried in the fire. Otherwise the golden girdle bound around His breast indicates the enlightened conscience, and the pure and spiritual apprehension that is given to the churches.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 420] Jerome on Revelation 1:13
In the law, John had a leather girdle because the Jews thought that to sin in act was the only sin.… In the Apocalypse of John, our Lord Jesus, who is seen in the middle of the seven lampstands, also wore a girdle, a golden girdle, not about his loins but about the breasts. The law is girdled about the loins, but Christ, that is, the gospel and the fortitude of the monks, binds not only wanton passion but also mind and heart. In the gospel, one is not even supposed to think anything evil; in the law, the fornicator is accused for judgment.… “It is written,” he says, “in the law, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ” This is the leather girdle clinging about the loins. “I say to you, anyone who even looks with lust at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” This is the golden girdle that is wrapped around the mind and heart.

Source: HOMILIES ON MARK 75 (1)
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Revelation 1:13
He who is girded signifies Christ the Lord. By the two breasts understand the two Testaments which receive from the breast of our Lord and Savior as though from a perennial fountain and from which they nourish the Christian people unto eternal life. The golden girdle is a chorus or the multitude of saints. For just as the breast is bound by a girdle, so the multitude of the saints is bound to Christ, so that as the two Testaments encompass the two breasts they are nourished by them as by holy paps.

Source: EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:13, HOMILY 1
[AD 560] Primasius of Hadrumetum on Revelation 1:13
“And I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man.” He saw Christ who rather often desires to be called by this name. He who is the enclothed Christ is the seven lampstands themselves. Whether the seven lampstands or the seven stars, both refer to the church.… On account of the exalted nature of the divine discourse, on occasion the genus cannot be described clearly, because it is more easily seen than expressed.… So also in this passage, among the seven lampstands he is describing the church in the Son of man. “For,” the apostle says, “the two shall become one flesh, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” As I said above, the genus is clarified through various species.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:12
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:13
The breasts of the Lord are the holy teaching of the law and the gospel. This girding is a sign of the passion, concerning which the Lord himself spoke to Peter: “When you are old, another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish” The “golden girdle” is his everlasting power, washed in the blood of the Lord’s passion. There is a variety of this girdle in the diversity of powers, yet there is one power behind the multitude of wonders. Another interpretation: The golden girdle is the chorus of the saints, tested as gold through fire. Another: The golden girdle around the chest is the fervent conscience and the pure spiritual understanding refined as though by fire, and so it was given to the churches.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:13
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on Revelation 1:13
He was clothed with a long robe, as a high priest of those things above “according to the order of Melchizedek.” Moreover, he was girded with a golden girdle, not around the loins, as other men are to check desires (for the divine flesh is not accessible to these), but at the chest, around the breasts, so that the boundlessness of the divine wrath might be restrained by benevolence and that the truth might be revealed girding about the two Testaments which are the dominical breasts through which the faithful are nourished. It is a golden girdle to indicate its excellence and purity and genuineness.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:12-13
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:13
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man. He says "like unto the Son of Man" after He had ascended into heaven with death conquered. For even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know Him. But well, "in the midst." For He says, "All those around Him shall offer gifts."

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:13
Clothed with a garment down to the foot. The "garment down to the foot," which in Latin is called a tunic reaching to the ankles, and is a priestly garment, shows the priesthood of Christ, by which He offered Himself as a sacrifice to the Father on the altar of the cross for us.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:13
And girt about the paps with a golden girdle. He calls the two testaments the paps, with which He nourishes the holy body connected to Him. For the golden girdle is the chorus of saints, adhering to the Lord with concordant charity, embracing and keeping the testaments (as the Apostle says) in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephes. IV).

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 1:14
"And His head and His hairs were white as it were white wool, and as it were snow." On the head the whiteness is shown; "but the head of Christ is God." in the white hairs is the multitude of abbots6 like to wool, in respect of simple sheep; to snow, in respect of the innumerable crowd of candidates taught from heaven.

"His eyes were as a flame of fire." God's precepts are those which minister light to believers, but to unbelievers burning.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Revelation 1:14
The white hair is the multitude of those made white, that is, he is speaking of the neophytes who come forth from baptism. He speaks of wool because they are the sheep of Christ. He speaks of snow because just as snow falls freely from heaven, so also the grace of baptism comes apart from any preceding merits. For those who are baptized are Jerusalem, which each day comes down as though snow from heaven. That is, the church is said to descend from heaven because that grace is from heaven through which she is both freed from sins and joined to Christ, who is her eternal head and heavenly spouse.… The beast from the abyss is said to ascend, that is, an evil people is born from an evil people. For just as by descending humbly Jerusalem is exalted, so the beast, that is, that prideful people which arrogantly ascends, is cast down.

Source: EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:14, HOMILY 1
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:14
The head of Christ is God, and he himself is white on account of the brightness of the purity of the Unbegotten and on account of the unmixed light of the Only Begotten and on account of the pure radiance of the Holy Spirit and the immaculate glory of his righteousness. And not without reason is he called white, because he is compared to white wool and to snow on account of his tenderness which he gives without ceasing to the sinners. As it is written: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; and though they are red as crimson, they shall become as wool.”

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:14
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:14
His head and his hairs were white like wool, etc. The antiquity and immortality of majesty are shown in the whiteness of His head, to which all the chief ones cling like hair, resembling wool because of the sheep that will be on the right hand, and like snow because of the countless multitude of the purified and the chosen given by heaven.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:14
And his eyes were as a flame of fire. The eyes of the Lord are the preachers, providing spiritual fire and light to the faithful, and burning to the unbelievers.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Revelation 1:15
Thus, in a variety of ways, he adjusted the human race to an agreement with salvation. On this account also does John declare in the Apocalypse that his voice is “as the sound of many waters.” For the Spirit [of God] is truly [like] many waters, since the Father is both rich and great. And the Word, passing through all those [men], did liberally confer benefits upon his subjects, by drawing up in writing a law adapted and applicable to every class [among them].

Source: AGAINST HERESIES 4.14.2
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 1:15
"His feet were like unto yellow brass, as if burned in a furnace." He calls the apostles His feet, who, being wrought by suffering, preached His word in the whole world; for He rightly named those by whose means the preaching went forth, feet. Whence also the prophet anticipated this, and said: "We will worship in the place where His feet have stood." Because where they first of all stood and confirmed the Church, that is, in Judea, all the saints shall assemble together, and will worship their Lord...

"And His voice as it were the voice of many waters." The many waters are understood to be many peoples, or the gift of baptism that He sent forth by the apostles, saying: "Go ye, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:15
The feet are the human nature which he possessed in himself which he assumed out of mercy for our salvation. For just as when copper ore is refined in a furnace there is no accretion or rusty buildup on the outside, so the most pure and perfect flesh of the assumed man, taken up by deity and remaining in deity, continues without any defect of human nature, without any guilt of the parent.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:15
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on Revelation 1:15
And the feet are also the foundations of the church. And they are “like bronze incense,” which, the medical people say, possesses a good smell when burned, and which is called by them masculine incense. There is another interpretation: since the bronze refers to the human nature and the incense refers to the divine nature, through these is indicated the sweet odor of the faith and the unconfusedness of the unity. Or another interpretation: the bronze shows the euphony of the proclamation, while the incense shows the conversion of the nations, from which the Bride is commanded to come.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:15
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:15
And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. The fiery feet represent the Church of the last time, which is to be examined and tested by severe tribulations. Fine brass is brass brought to a golden color by much fire and medicine. Another translation, which says like the brass of Lebanon, signifies the Church in Judea, whose mountain is Lebanon, to be persecuted especially at the end. For the temple often received the name of Lebanon, to which it is said: "Open, O Lebanon, your gates, and let fire devour your cedars" (Zach. XI).

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:15
And his voice as the sound of many waters. The voice of confession and preaching and praise resounds not only in Judea but among many peoples.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:15
And his feet are like fine brass. And he explains that the latter works of this church are more numerous than the former.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:16
Who will ply the sword without practising the contraries to lenity and justice; that is, guile, and asperity, and injustice, proper (of course) to the business of battles? See we, then, whether that which has another action be not another sword,-that is, the Divine word of God, doubly sharpened with the two Testaments of the ancient law and the new law; sharpened by the equity of its own wisdom; rendering to each one according to his own action.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:16
Now the Apostle John, in the Apocalypse, describes a sword which proceeded from the mouth of God as "a doubly sharp, two-edged one." This may be understood to be the Divine Word, who is doubly edged with the two testaments of the law and the gospel-sharpened with wisdom, hostile to the devil, arming us against the spiritual enemies of all wickedness and concupiscence, and cutting us off from the dearest objects for the sake of God's holy name.

Source: Against Marcion Book III
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 1:16
"And in His face was brightness as the sun." That which He called brightness was the appearance of that in which He spoke to men face to face. But the glory of the sun is less than the glory of the Lord. Doubtless on account of its rising and setting, and rising again, that He was born and suffered and rose again, therefore the Scripture gave this similitude, likening His face to the glory of the sun...

"And out of His mouth was issuing a sharp two-edged sword." By the twice-sharpened sword going forth out of His mouth is shown, that it is He Himself who has both now declared the word of the Gospel, and previously by Moses declared the knowledge of the law to the whole world. But because from the same word, as well of the New as of the Old Testament, He will assert Himself upon the whole human race, therefore He is spoken of as two-edged. For the sword arms the soldier, the sword slays the enemy, the sword punishes the deserter. And that He might show to the apostles that He was announcing judgment, He says: "I came not to send peace, but a sword." And after He had completed His parables, He says to them: "Have ye understood all these things? And they said, We have. And He added, Therefore is every scribe instructed in the kingdom of God like unto a man that is a father of a family, bringing forth from his treasure things new and old," -the new, the evangelical words of the apostles; the old, the precepts of the law and the prophets: and He testified that these proceeded out of His mouth. Moreover, He also says to Peter: "Go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that shall first come up; and having opened its mouth, thou shalt find a stater (that is, two denarii), and thou shalt give it for me and for thee." And similarly David says by the Spirit: "God spake once, twice I have heard the same." Because God once decreed from the beginning what shall be even to the end. Finally, as He Himself is the Judge appointed by the Father. on account of His assumption of humanity, wishing to show that men shall be judged by the word that He had declared, He says: "Think ye that I will judge you at the last day? Nay, but the word," says He, "which I have spoken unto you, that shall judge you in the last day." And Paul, speaking of Antichrist to the Thessalonians, says: "Whom the Lord Jesus will slay by the breath of His mouth." And Isaiah says: "By the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked." This, therefore, is the two-edged sword issuing out of His mouth...

"And He had in His right hand seven stars." He said that in His right hand He had seven stars, because the Holy Spirit of sevenfold agency was given into His power by the Father. As Peter exclaimed to the Jews: "Being at the right hand of God exalted, He hath shed forth this Spirit received from the Father, which ye both see and hear." Moreover, John the Baptist had also anticipated this, by saying to his disciples: "For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. The Father," says he, "loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands." Those seven stars are the seven churches, which he names in his addresses by name, old calls them to whom he wrote epistles. Not that they are themselves the only, or even the principal churches; but what he says to one, he says to all. For they are in no respect different, that on that ground any one should prefer them to the larger number of similar small ones. In the whole world Paul taught that all the churches are arranged by sevens, that they are called seven, and that the Catholic Church is one. And first of all, indeed, that he himself also might maintain the type of seven churches, he did not exceed that number. But he wrote to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Thessalonians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians; afterwards he wrote to individual persons, so as not to exceed the number of seven churches. And abridging in a short space his announcement, he thus says to Timothy: "That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the Church of the living God." We read also that this typical number is announced by the Holy Spirit by the month of Isaiah: "Of seven women which took hold of one man." The one man is Christ, not born of seed; but the seven women are seven churches, receiving His bread, and clothed with his apparel, who ask that their reproach should be taken away, only that His name should be called upon them. The bread is the Holy Spirit, which nourishes to eternal life, promised to them, that is, by faith. And His garments wherewith they desire to be clothed are the glory of immortality, of which Paul the apostle says: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on mortality." Moreover, they ask that their reproach may be taken away-that is, that they may be cleansed from their sins: for the reproach is the original sin which is taken away in baptism, and they begin to be called Christian men, which is, "Let thy name be called upon us." Therefore in these seven churches, of one Catholic Church are believers, because it is one in seven by the quality of faith and election. Whether writing to them who labour in the world, and live of the frugality of their labours, and are patient, and when they see certain men in the Church wasters, and pernicious, they hear them, lest there should become dissension, he yet admonishes them by love, that in what respects their faith is deficient they should repent; or to those who dwell in cruel places among persecutors, that they should continue faithful; or to those who, under the pretext of mercy, do unlawful sins in the Church, and make them manifest to be done by others; or to those that are at ease in the Church; or to those who are negligent, and Christians only in name; or to those who are meekly instructed, that they may bravely persevere in faith; or to those who study the Scriptures, and labour to know the mysteries of their announcement, and are unwilling to do God's work that is mercy and love: to all he urges penitence, to all he declares judgment.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 420] Jerome on Revelation 1:16
“Let two-edged swords be in their hands.” They who sing for joy upon their couches—this means the saints surely, perfect men—what else do they have? “Let two-edged swords be in their hands.” “Two-edged swords”—the swords of the saints are two-edged. We read in the Apocalypse of John—which, by the way, is read in the churches and is accepted, for it is not held among the Apocrypha but is included in the canonical writings—as I was saying, it is written there of the Lord Savior: “Out of his mouth came forth a sharp two-edged sword.” Mark well that these saints receive from the mouth of God the two-edged swords that they hold in their hands. The Lord, therefore, gives the sword from his mouth to his disciples. It is a two-edged sword, namely, the word of his teachings. It is a two-edged sword, historically and allegorically, the letter and the spirit. It is a two-edged sword that slays adversaries and at the same time defends his faithful. “A two-edged sword”—the sword has two heads. It speaks of the present and future world. Here below, it strikes down adversaries; above, it opens the kingdom of heaven.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 59 (PS 149)
[AD 533] Fulgentius of Ruspe on Revelation 1:16
Hold most firmly and never doubt that the same Holy Spirit, who is the one Spirit of the Father and the Son, proceeds from the Father and the Son. For the Son says, “When the Spirit of Truth comes, who has proceeded from the Father,” where he taught that the Spirit is his, because he is the Truth. That the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, the prophetic and apostolic teaching shows us. So Isaiah says concerning the Son: “He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.” Concerning him the apostle also says, “Whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth.” The one Son of God himself, showing who the Spirit of his mouth is, after his resurrection, breathing on his disciples, says, “receive the Holy Spirit.” “From the mouth,” indeed, of the Lord Jesus himself, says John in the Apocalypse, “a sharp two-edged word came forth.” The very Spirit of his mouth is the sword itself which comes forth from his mouth.

Source: LETTER TO PETER ON THE FAITH 11.54
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:16
And he had in his right hand seven stars. In the right hand of Christ is the spiritual Church. "The queen stood at your right hand in gilded clothing" (Psalm XLIV). To whom standing on His right, He says: "Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom" (Matt. XXV).

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:16
And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. Who judging visible and invisible things, after He has slain, has the power to cast into the hell of fire.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:16
And his face was as the sun shining in its strength. As he appeared to the disciples on the mountain, so will the Lord appear to all the saints after the judgment. For the impious will see in the judgment him whom they pierced (John XIX). However, this entire appearance of the Son of Man also applies to the Church, with whom Christ has become one in nature, granting it the honor of priestly and judicial power, and that it may shine like the sun in the kingdom of his Father (Matt. XIII).

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:17
Thoroughly terrified by fear of his weakness, insignificance and inferiority, he fell down, not falling only to some degree, but wholly giving himself over to the Lord in humility and faith. And, therefore, the Lord also felt compassion in view of this most pious devotion. “He laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not.’ ” Here he both rewards faith and strengthens the faithful, who is terrified not by unbelief but by an awe-filled wonder, and he urges John not to fear.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:17
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:17
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet. As a man, he trembles at the spiritual vision, but the Lord's mercy dispels human fear.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:17
Fear not; I am the first and the last. The first, because all things were made through him. The last, because all things are restored in him.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:17-19
It is the habit of the holy prophets when seeing a vision to be struck with amazement and to exhibit human weakness. Divine matters far exceed human affairs, and surpass them in ways past all comparison. We know that this is what Joshua the son of Nun felt when he saw the commander-in-chief of the battle-line of the Lord, as did Daniel, “the man of desires,” in the visions seen by him.

Therefore I fell at his feet as though dead, says the evangelist, struck with amazement by the sight. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Do not fear. Saint John would not have been able to stay alive as a result of being struck by the vision, if the saving right hand of the Son of God had not touched him, which could effect so many marvels with a single touch.

And he says to me, I am the first and the last, as if he said, “I am the one who came to be with you in the flesh for the salvation of all of you at the end of the age, though I am the first and ‘the first-born of all creation.’ So how can you suffer any evil from my appearance? For if while living and being a fountain of life for you I died and again came to life after trampling on death, how can you who have life because of me and my vision, ever become dead?

And if I also have the keys of Death and of Hades, so that those whom I wish I may put to death or preserve alive, and if I could send them down to Hades and bring them up in accordance with what has been written about me, and mine are, as the prophet says, “the ways of escape from death,” I would not dispatch my worshipers and disciples to an untimely death.”

Since, therefore, he will not die, he says, write what you have seen, both what is and what is going to take place. In saying what is, he means both past and present events, and in saying, what is going to take place, he means future events. Of the things seen in the vision by the holy one, some had already taken place. Even if he had gone back as far as he could, these events would not have preceded the beginning. So he mentioned what is; but the argument will go on to show some events that were past and some which were still to take place.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:18
And I have the keys of death and Hades. He says, not only have I conquered death by resurrection; but I also have dominion over death itself. He also granted this to the Church by breathing the Holy Spirit upon it, saying, "Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven," and so forth.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 2020] Douglas Wilson on Revelation 1:18
In the time before the Messiah came, the expectation of the godly was to die and go to Sheol. Jonah (most likely) actually died and cried out to God from the depths of Sheol (Jon. 2:1). The psalmist expected that Sheol would swallow him up (Ps. 18:5; 86:13; 116:3).

In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, they both died and went down to Hades. In that parable, Hades was divided in two by a vast chasm. The side where Lazarus was had the name of Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:23), while the rich man was in torment in Hades. Nevertheless, it was possible for communication to occur across the chasm.

In our text [Matt. 12:40], Jesus said that He was going to be three days and nights in the heart of the earth. But He also told the thief on the cross that He would be with him in Paradise that same day (Luke 23:43). So then, Abraham’s bosom was also known as Paradise. To the Greeks, this went by the name of Elysium. This is where Jesus went, and preached across the chasm.

The Greek word for the lowest pit of Hades, the worst part, was Tartarus. This word is used once in the New Testament (without any redefinition, mind). Peter tells us this: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Tartarus], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Peter 2:4).

While in Hades, the Lord preached. But the preaching was not “second chance” preaching. Rather the word used is one used for heralding or announcing, not the word for preaching the gospel. “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water” (1 Pet. 3:19–20). The Lord was announcing their final defeat to the “sons of God” and Nephilim both. And this, incidentally, tells us how momentous the rebellion at the time of the Flood actually was. Thousands of years after their definitive defeat, Jesus went to them to announce their final defeat.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the king of all things. The devil is not the ruler of Gehenna—Jesus is. The lake of fire was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). It is a place of torment for the devil. Furthermore, Jesus holds the keys to Hades as well. “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell [Hades] and of death.” (Rev. 1:18). Jesus, not the devil, is the King of Hell. Jesus, not the devil, is the Lord of Hades.

When the Lord rose from the dead, He led captivity captive (Eph. 4:8)—all the saints in the Old Testament who had died and gone to Abraham’s bosom were transferred when Paradise was moved (Matt. 27:52). And by the time of Paul, Paradise was up (2 Cor. 12:4). So if you had lived in the Old Testament, you would have died and gone down to Sheol/Hades. But the part of Hades that contained the saints of God has been emptied out, and now when God’s people die, what happens? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6, 8). We still go to Paradise, but Paradise itself has been moved into the heavens.

Source: The Apostles Creed 11: He Descended Into Hades
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:19
Write therefore the things which you have seen, etc. Make known to all the things you alone have seen, namely, the various labors of the Church, and the wicked mixed with the good in it, until the end of the world.

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Revelation 1:20
But the path of those belonging to the church surrounds the whole world. It possesses the sure tradition from the apostles and allows us to see that the faith of all is one and the same, since all receive one and the same God the Father. All believe in the same dispensation regarding the incarnation of the Son of God. All are cognizant of the same gift of the Spirit. All are conversant with the same commandments. All preserve the same form of ecclesiastical constitution. And all expect the same advent of the Lord and await the same salvation of the complete man, that is, of the soul and body. Undoubtedly the preaching of the church is true and steadfast, in which one and the same way of salvation is shown throughout the whole world. For to her is entrusted the light of God. Therefore the “wisdom” of God, by means of which she saves all people, “is declared in [its] going forth; it speaks faithfully in the streets, is preached on the tops of the walls, and speaks continually in the gates of the city.” For the church preaches the truth everywhere, and she is the seven-branched candlestick that bears the light of Christ.

Source: AGAINST HERESIES 5.20.1
[AD 220] Tertullian on Revelation 1:20
Therefore he has trifled both with his own "spirit," and with "the angel of the Church," and with "the power of the Lord," if he rescinded what by their counsel he had formally pronounced.

Source: On Modesty
[AD 600] Apringius of Beja on Revelation 1:20
The stars placed in the right hand of God are the souls of the saints, or, what is the same thing, the entire congregation of the blessed who have been and who will be until the consummation of the world. In a similar way, we have said that the seven lampstands are the one true church that has been established during the seven-day period of this world, which is founded by faith in the Trinity and which is made strong by the sacrament of the heavenly mystery.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:20
[AD 735] Bede on Revelation 1:20
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. That is, the rulers of the churches. For the priest, as Malachi says, is the angel of the Lord of hosts (Mal. II).

Source: Commentary on Revelation
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 1:20
Now since he has made clear to him what the stars and what the lampstands are, he goes on to speak of the evidence against each of the churches. He explains to the blessed evangelist how he is to lay a charge against the church which strays far away from the divine purpose, and how he is to commend the carefulness of those who observe part of the evangelical law, while in other cases he is to set right those which are stumbling. Christ, “who wills all people to be saved” and wishes them to become heirs and partners of his own bounty, has ordered his word and teaching as an appropriate remedy for each of the churches, and has enjoined the evangelist to spread abroad the gospel and his teaching. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse