6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
At the start of the explanation of the vision it was said that the vision, in its wish to set out in greater detail the facts about the Antichrist, begins with the conception and birth of the Lord, which was why that vandal had been chosen by the universal foe and enemy of all to enslave again those who had been gathered together by the Lord. So it must now be said that the vision, in its wish to explain in detail all that concerns the Antichrist, reverts to the original event preceding the beginning already mentioned—I mean the birth of the Lord. This concerns Satan, and the way he was thrown down from heaven, even though he says this more clearly in the following vision, when he adds that he had also plotted against the Lord. In this way he laid some kind of prior foundation on which to build the future explanations of the Antichrist’s affairs and his deeds.
After this preface, we must move on to consider the text.
“And another sign appeared in heaven.” As though rebuking Satan, that author of evil, who although a heavenly being became base because of his pride, the passage shows him first in heaven, so that the apostate might know from what heights to what depths he has fallen. “Behold, a great red dragon,” it says. He calls Satan a “dragon” because of his deceitful ways. Isaiah also speaks of him in this way, saying, “against the dragon, that twisting serpent.” He is said to be red because of his thirst for blood and his angry nature. He had “seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems upon his heads.” The prophet also knew that he had many heads, and therefore he says to God, “You have crushed the heads of the dragon; you did give him as food to the people of Ethiopia.” It refers to him as having many heads, since, as we have often noted, seven signifies many, for he exercises many dominions and performs many crafty plots against people by which he enslaves them. The diadem too is a symbol of tyranny, and the ten horns signify his very great power, for the number ten is perfect and the horn is a symbol of power. For it is said, “My horn will be exalted like that of a wild ox.” And one may learn that he is powerful by reading the book of Job.
He says, And with his tail he swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them down to the earth. For he cast down with himself a very great number of the angels, persuading them to rebel with him against God, and so he has made the heavenly beings earthy, and those who were bright as stars he has turned into darkness. With his tail means that he has done this by means of his uttermost and hindmost trespasses; for when he first considered his mad rebellion, and then went on consciously to nurture it in the arrogance of his purpose, he thus came to destroy the rest too.
He says, And the serpent stood in front of the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth. These are some of the events concerning the Lord: when he was to be born, the one who was planning to bring his power to an end carefully watched his opportunity so that when the Virgin gave birth he might destroy the child. So he did not miss his opportunity but stirred up Herod to destroy the manly male child, who had nothing weak or womanish about him. For “before the child knows how to call ‘father’ or ‘mother,’” Isaiah proclaims to us, “he will take the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria in the face of the king of Assyria.”
And who this one is who was born, this male child, reveal to us, John, more clearly. He who is, he says, to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. You have plainly told us, divine seer, that he is our savior and Lord, Jesus the Messiah. For he had been promised by his own Father, “Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession; you will rule them with a rod of iron, you will dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
And, he says, her child was caught up to God and to his throne. But the poisonous serpent was lying in wait and provoked Herod to destroy the children in Bethlehem, because [he thought] he would at all events find the Lord among them. But the child, by the forethought of his Father, escaped the plot. For Joseph heeded a divine warning to take the child along with his mother and escape to Egypt as Herod was about to seek the child’s life.
And the woman fled into the desert, where she has a place prepared by God, so that she might find shelter there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. So while the child was rescued from the serpent’s plot, was the woman given over to destruction? No, but she, too, was rescued by the flight into Egypt, which was desert and exempt from Herod’s plot. And there she lived, he says, and was sustained for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, which comprise almost three and a half years. The Mother of God spent all that time in Egypt until the death of Herod, after which an angel’s divine message brought them back to Judaea.
"But the woman fled into the wilderness, and there were given to her two great eagle's wings." The aid of the great eagle's wings-to wit, the gift of prophets-was given to that Catholic Church, whence in the last times a hundred and forty-four thousands of men should believe on the preaching of Elias; but, moreover, he here says that the rest of the people should be found alive on the coming of the Lord. And the Lord says in the Gospel: "Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; " that is, as many as should be gathered together in Judea, let them go to that place which they have ready, and let them be supported there for three years and six months from the presence of the devil.
“The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God where she might be nourished.” … It says “into the wilderness,” for in the apostles the church has received authority to walk among scorpions, serpents and every power of Satan. The Lord said to the apostles, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.” As a figure of the whole church, the people of Israel were fed and led in the desert among the serpents of this world. “All these things happened as a figure for us upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” Furthermore, as a figure of the church sings and says, “[Those] whom he has redeemed from the hands of their enemies he has gathered from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the sea. They wandered in the desert and dry places.” To be sure, he is describing Israel in the wilderness, for she was not gathered from those places mentioned but from the stock of Abraham, who was in Mesopotamia.
We understand the wilderness to be this world where Christ feeds and leads the church unto the end. In this world the church herself tramples under foot through the help of Christ haughty and impious persons as though they were scorpions and vipers and all the power of Satan.
When the devil through the antichrist in whom he works arrays himself for battle against the church, those in the church who are elect and preeminent will spit upon the tumults of life and the desires of the world and flee into that desert devoid of every evil, that life which bears every virtue, as Methodius says, and these escape the assaults of people and demons who war against them. It is likely that the physical desert will also save those who flee from the plot of the apostate to the mountains and caves and holes in the earth, as was recently the case with the witnesses, for in the three and a half years are reckoned the 1, days during which the apostasy will rage. During this time the great judge will not think to tempt us beyond what we are able to bear, but freeing us will present to us a strong mind free from any weakness against the onslaughts upon it. And so we, fighting against the principalities and powers of darkness, may be decorated with the crown of righteousness and receive the rewards of victory. For to him who through those who are weak puts to flight the mighty principalities of the air, it is proper to ascribe victory and might, together with the Father and the life-giving Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
And the woman fled into the wilderness. The Church, living under the hope of eternal things, rejoices in the pilgrimage of the present wilderness, having received the power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the red dragon, like the Israelite people, who, fed with heavenly bread in the wilderness, by the sight of the bronze serpent, conquered the fiery serpents.
That they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. This number of days, which makes three and a half years, encompasses all times of Christianity, because Christ, whose body this is, preached for that time in the flesh.
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 12:3-6
After this preface, we must move on to consider the text.
“And another sign appeared in heaven.” As though rebuking Satan, that author of evil, who although a heavenly being became base because of his pride, the passage shows him first in heaven, so that the apostate might know from what heights to what depths he has fallen. “Behold, a great red dragon,” it says. He calls Satan a “dragon” because of his deceitful ways. Isaiah also speaks of him in this way, saying, “against the dragon, that twisting serpent.” He is said to be red because of his thirst for blood and his angry nature. He had “seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems upon his heads.” The prophet also knew that he had many heads, and therefore he says to God, “You have crushed the heads of the dragon; you did give him as food to the people of Ethiopia.” It refers to him as having many heads, since, as we have often noted, seven signifies many, for he exercises many dominions and performs many crafty plots against people by which he enslaves them. The diadem too is a symbol of tyranny, and the ten horns signify his very great power, for the number ten is perfect and the horn is a symbol of power. For it is said, “My horn will be exalted like that of a wild ox.” And one may learn that he is powerful by reading the book of Job.
He says, And with his tail he swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them down to the earth. For he cast down with himself a very great number of the angels, persuading them to rebel with him against God, and so he has made the heavenly beings earthy, and those who were bright as stars he has turned into darkness. With his tail means that he has done this by means of his uttermost and hindmost trespasses; for when he first considered his mad rebellion, and then went on consciously to nurture it in the arrogance of his purpose, he thus came to destroy the rest too.
He says, And the serpent stood in front of the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth. These are some of the events concerning the Lord: when he was to be born, the one who was planning to bring his power to an end carefully watched his opportunity so that when the Virgin gave birth he might destroy the child. So he did not miss his opportunity but stirred up Herod to destroy the manly male child, who had nothing weak or womanish about him. For “before the child knows how to call ‘father’ or ‘mother,’” Isaiah proclaims to us, “he will take the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria in the face of the king of Assyria.”
And who this one is who was born, this male child, reveal to us, John, more clearly. He who is, he says, to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. You have plainly told us, divine seer, that he is our savior and Lord, Jesus the Messiah. For he had been promised by his own Father, “Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession; you will rule them with a rod of iron, you will dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
And, he says, her child was caught up to God and to his throne. But the poisonous serpent was lying in wait and provoked Herod to destroy the children in Bethlehem, because [he thought] he would at all events find the Lord among them. But the child, by the forethought of his Father, escaped the plot. For Joseph heeded a divine warning to take the child along with his mother and escape to Egypt as Herod was about to seek the child’s life.
And the woman fled into the desert, where she has a place prepared by God, so that she might find shelter there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. So while the child was rescued from the serpent’s plot, was the woman given over to destruction? No, but she, too, was rescued by the flight into Egypt, which was desert and exempt from Herod’s plot. And there she lived, he says, and was sustained for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, which comprise almost three and a half years. The Mother of God spent all that time in Egypt until the death of Herod, after which an angel’s divine message brought them back to Judaea.