Apocalipse 11
Alcuin of York
Apocalipse 11:1
And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, saying: Arise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar and them that adore therein. He says this in the person of preachers in general. The reed represents metaphorically the divine preaching written by it, and it is called like unto a rod because holy preaching is not pliant but straight. The temple of God is the faithful, to whom it is said, You are the temple of the living God. [2 Cor. 6:16] The altar in the temple is the life of the religious among the people of the faithful, in whom the fire of holy devotion principally and continuously remains without declining. By them that adore therein he means in the temple and the altar, words by which they that adore therein are themselves represented. So, what does it mean to measure the temple and the altar with a reed, if not to bestow the grace of gifts through holy preaching? Which the Church certainly does in Christ, that is in its Head. Note also that he who must measure the temple of God, is told to arise, that is, to rise to high summits of virtues through the practice of work, so as to become higher than the building he is measuring. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:2
But the court, which is without the temple, cast out, and measure it not: because it is given unto the Gentiles. He says The court which is without, cast out with the same way of speaking as when we order to cast someone out if someone knocks at the door and we do not want to let them in. What then do we understand the court to mean but the Jews, heretics and Gentiles? It is said to be given unto the Gentiles because they all pass into the number of the incredulous nations. And the holy city they shall tread under foot two and forty months. The holy city is the temple and the altar, that is the heavenly Jerusalem, which is being built like a city. What does it mean, then, for the Church of the saints to be trodden underfoot by those who are without, if not to be persecuted with words and torments? Two and forty months signify a time and times, and half a time, [Rev. 12:14] that is the time of the Antichrist, yet also the whole time of this life because of its seven ages and the seven days that constitute its cycle; for six times seven make forty-two. This is also what was signified by the fact that the children of Israel entered the Land of Promise at the forty-second mansion. [Num. 33:1-49] — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:3
And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. Martyr Victorinus understands the two witnesses to be Elijah and Jeremiah, for he says that we nowhere read Jeremiah's death; but others interpret it better in thinking that they are Elijah and Enoch. Let us for our part understand a genus in the species; that is, by the two witnesses let us understand the Church; and a thousand two hundred forty days are not only the cycle of the time of the Antichrist, but also that of previous times. It is appropriate for the Church to be represented by two witnesses, because of the two Testaments, the two peoples, the two commandments of love, and the two kinds of martyrdom. By sackcloth we understand confession of humility or the saints' brightness despised by the wicked. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:4
These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks, that stand in the sight of the Lord of the earth. The Church, whether in those two men or in all preachers in general, is represented by the olive tree because of the unction of the Holy Spirit, and by candlesticks because of the light of faith and work. While there is one olive tree and one candlestick made up of two peoples, they are called two olive trees and two candlesticks because of the two Testaments. They stand in the sight of the Lord because they stick to their Creator through inner contemplation. Hence Elijah, whom this is taken to refer to specifically, says, The Lord liveth, in whose sight I stand. [1 Kings 17:1] With another interpretation, this may refer to Elijah and Enoch specifically, who, taken away from human eyes, stick to God in secret. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:5
And if any man will hurt them, fire shall come out of their mouths, and shall devour their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, in this manner must he be slain. What is symbolized by fire but holy preaching kindled by the firebrands of the Holy Spirit? It is not surprising if preaching makes the wicked die, since the apostles says, We are the good odour of Christ unto God in them that perish, etc. [2 Cor. 2:15] Alternatively, fire coming out of the mouths of the witnesses kills their enemies because the Church strikes those who persevere in evil with the lightning of anathema. Alternatively again, we may understand by the whole a part which is burned so as to be changed for the better. So out of the Church comes a fire of brightness by which the wicked are changed for the better. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:6
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy. What do we understand by heaven but the same thing as by the two witnesses, namely the holy preachers of the Church? When they shut heaven that it rain not, it is indubitably themselves that they shut. They shut themselves not so that they do not rain at all, but that they do not rain upon an earth that is thorny and very close to malediction. The limbs possess this power in the Head. And they have power over waters to turn them into blood. It is the sword of the letter, which the Church uses spiritually to pierce through the hearts of the elect to give their hearts life in the spirit, that makes this blood flow in the hearts of people who understand things wrongly. And to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they will. Every time they shut the divine mysteries to the faithful, they strike them with an incurable plague. On the other hand, every time they disclose God's mysteries to the faithful, they bring some to life, others to death. Note also that it is not said that they will have this power, but that they already have it, in order that we may understand that this is not said only about those two men but also about the present preachers. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:7
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast, that shall ascend out of the abyss, shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. When they shall have finished means when they shall have reached the point at which they must finish their testimony, that is the time of the Antichrist. Whence it is clear that these things are happening before the last persecution; for due to the brevity of those days, about which the Lord says, For the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened, [Matt. 24:22] the Church's testimony is presented as if it were already finished when that time has been reached. Then the beast, that is the whole body of the Devil, is said to ascend out of the abyss, because it is given permission to speak by divine judgment; for the judgments of the Lord are a great abyss, [Ps. 35:7] therefore it ascends from where the permission for it to rise comes from. If on the other hand we understand by the beast the Antichrist alone, its ascent from the abyss is its carnal birth from the very deeply wicked people of the Jews, that it from the tribe of Dan. As for the fight, it will be both physical and spiritual. So in and shall overcome them, there is a certain part, mixed with the body of Christ, about which it is said that it can be overcome, either with threats or with flatteries. Hence the previous sentence by no means referred only to the two witnesses; for if it were the case (God forbid!) the beast would overcome them. Let us therefore understand these two as being in the part of the Church about which it is said, and kill them, that is in the elect part, which can be killed, but cannot be overcome. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:8
And their bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which is called spiritually, Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord also was crucified. By the fact that the Church of the saints is described as lying dead in the street of the great city, it is shown that it has been strongly afflicted and spiritually laid under its enemies by God's judgment. Note also that we should understand here not only the bodies of those who are killed by the sword but also of those who are still alive, the kind of people about whom the apostle says, for you are dead, etc. [Col. 3:3] Since the persecution will be more cruel in Jerusalem, consequently the martyrdoms of the saints are said to take place there; and here it is shown that it is principally the Jews who will stick to the Antichrist, until those who must be saved are converted when Elijah and Enoch are preaching. That city is called spiritually Egypt and Sodom because of its imitation of them. Also, since that persecution will take place throughout the world, we may understand by this city the whole globe raging against the Church; for the Lord did not suffer his Passion inside that city, but outside its gates, so that he might be believed to have been crucified in the whole world, and to have taken possession of the whole world. By Egypt and Sodom is represented the iniquity of persecutors. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:9
And they of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations, shall see their bodies for three days and a half: and they shall not suffer their bodies to be laid in sepulchres. Just as graves protect bodies from human eyes, so do quiet times protect the saints from tribulation. Therefore since there will be no peace for the saints, consequently they are said to remain unburied. Let it look contradictory to no one if we have said that the dead men can be understood to mean not only the slain but also the afflicted, because he is metaphorically indicating the whole men by the bodies. So is the sum of three years and six months represented by the time of three days and a half: the whole is symbolized by a part. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:10
And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry: and shall send gifts one to another, because these two tormented them that dwelt upon the earth. How they are tormented by them, we have explained a little earlier: by their devouring them with spiritual fire, stopping salutary rain, and turning waters into blood. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:11
And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them. And they stood upon their feet. In this place is declared the general resurrection of all the saints after that last persecution. The spirit of life from God entering into them does not mean that they will receive another spirit, but that they will get back the same that they had. Standing upon one's feet means not staggering with any changeableness of spiritual things any more. So, let us hear what happens to the reprobates when the saints awaken: and great fear fell upon them that saw them. It is not surprising if fear seizes the reprobates, since even the elect themselves will be scared, albeit with a serene fear. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:12
And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying to them: Come up hither. This voice is the one about which the apostle says, The Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. [1 Thess. 4:15] And they went up to heaven in a cloud: and their enemies saw them. They go up in a cloud, that is, in the power of him who judges. This is why the Lord, after subduing death, went up to the Father's seat in a cloud. As for what we said earlier, that the bodies of the two witnesses consisted of living and dead people, we bring here a suitable witness to confirm it, Paul, who says, We who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air, and so shall we be always with the Lord. [Ibid. 16] So if, as the apostle says, those who are found alive will be taken up in the clouds into the air to meet Christ, is the Psalmist then lying when he says, Who is the man that liveth, and shall not see death? [Variant of Ps. 88:49] And the book of Genesis when it says, Earth thou art, and into earth thou shalt go? [Gen. 3:19 acc. to LXX] No! For, as father Augustine says, at the very moment when they are taken up in the clouds, they will taste a momentaneous death. It is the same for the body to return into the earth and for the body to remain there when the soul leaves it, because the body is earth anyway. As for how quick both changes will be, the apostle indicates it, affirming that it will all happen in the twinkling of an eye. [1 Cor. 15:52] — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:13
And at that hour there was made a great earthquake. After showing the resurrection, he recapitulates starting from the last persecution. It is not surprising if he calls the time shortened for the sake of the elect an hour, when he says elsewhere concerning all this time, Little children, it is the last hour. [1 John 2:18] Note also that he says it is a great earthquake because, according to the Lord's saying, there shall be a tribulation such as hath not been from the beginning. [Matt. 24:21] And the tenth part of the city fell. The tenth part of the city falls in those who do not belong to the number of the elect. The elect indeed, joining the nine orders of angels, make up for the fallen demons with their own multitude, and fill up the tenth place, which is that of their order. Therefore it is not the whole tenth that we should understand here, but a part of the tenth, which falls, that is the part which, not joining the nine orders of angels, by no means holds the place of the tenth order. And there were slain in the earthquake names of men seven thousand. By these we should understand the part that is now hiding among the lambs, but will be brought to publicly visible error when the last persecution takes place, and will be sent into the body of the beast to be devoured by it. The rest were cast into a fear, and gave glory to the God of heaven. Who are the rest he is talking about? Those who have remained in faith throughout? Or those who denied it, but came back to it afterwards? Or those who have been faithless, but will believe afterwards when Elijah and Enoch are preaching? We may actually understand all of these. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:14
The second woe is past: behold the third woe cometh quickly. This is the end of the double recapitulation, but the second woe does not belong to this recapitulation. Indeed it had been said earlier, after the battle with the locusts was finished, that one woe was past and two were to come; then, when all that pertained to the second woe had been told (with the loosing of the four angels etc.) the second woe was not mentioned again. The reason for this is that there followed the recapitulation starting from Christ's coming, and he did not want us to think, if The second woe is past had been said there, that the third woe referred to the recapitulation. Therefore the second woe does not refer to this passage, but to the one above: the recapitulation that broke the order being finished, the second woe is mentioned with reference to where the order was broken. As for what the third woe is, it is disclosed when it is said after that: — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:15
And the seventh sounded the trumpet: and there were great voices in heaven. This seventh angel sounds the trumpet as the Lord appears for the judgment. By this angel we understand the Church, no longer preaching, but singing mercy and judgment for the Lord. This is why the angel standing upon the earth and the sea swears that time shall be no longer but the end will come with the seventh trumpet. The great voices in heaven, that is in the Church, are thanksgivings; and it is right to call them great, because a great desire is arising concerning great things. John shows where these voices come from, adding, saying: The kingdom of this world— that is the kingdom in which the old enemy used to reign — is become God's and his Christ's, and they shall reign for ever and ever. In them, that is the Father and the Son, the Trinity is understood. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:16
And the four and twenty ancients, who sit on their seats in the sight of God, fell on their faces. Concerning the ancients, it has already been said that they signify the preachers, because a genus should be understood in the species. It is right for them to be twenty-four because of the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles. By the seats and the ancients is understood one seat, that of Christ, consisting of superiors and inferiors. It is right to say that the ancients sit in the sight of God, because, when they examine the actions of their inferiors, they do not seek thereby human gratitude, but God's glory. They fall on their faces because they attribute all good not to themselves, but to God. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:17-18
And adored God, saying: We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who wast, and who art. By the fact that they do not say "who art to come," it is made clear that all this will be said or done at the last judgment. As for what follows, because thou hast received thy great power, and the nations were angry, it refers to his first coming. He received in his humanity the great power he has always had by his divinity. On the other hand, what is said next, because thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, refers to his second coming. Yet since the Lord says, Love your enemies, [Matt. 5:44 and Luke 6:27/35] how can it be said that these people are giving thanks for the coming of his wrath against the reprobates? Therefore they are not rejoicing at the destruction of the wicked, but at their own resurrection and glorification, which they know cannot possibly be fulfilled unless the damnation of the wicked comes first. It is according to this interpretation that the souls of the slain under the altar of God are said to cry, How long, O Lord, etc.; [Rev. 6:10] for they are not asking for revenge, but to be themselves rewarded after revenge has been taken on the wicked. Hence the Psalmist: The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge. [Ps. 57:11] The Judge's wrath does not mean a perturbation of the mind, but its straightness. So one shall see him such as one's own conscience is like. That thou shouldest judge them, and render reward to thy servants the prophets and the saints, and to them that fear thy name, little and great. When the apostle says that we are saved by grace, [Eph. 2:8] how can the Lord be said here to render reward? One should know then that when the Lord renders reward to his servants, it is his own gifts that he rewards in them, for we could not have any work worthy of reward if we had not received from him the ability to do works. Note also that by the name of prophets are represented the apostles. Meanwhile, let no one despair on account of their imperfection, if they nonetheless strive to do perfect things but do not succeed; because even the little ones shall obtain that reward; whence blessed Job: The small and great are there. [Job 3:19] And shouldest banish them who have corrupted the earth. They are said to be banished rather than killed so as to show the everlasting exile of damnation, their eternal indigence. To corrupt the earth is to pervert one's life with wicked works. So it is from this that the third woe of the wicked results, about which it was foretold that it would come quickly with the seventh angel. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 11:19
And the temple was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple. This saying goes back to the beginning of faith, and describes the battles of the Church with new symbols. What indeed does God's temple signify but Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells corporeally? [Col. 2:9] It is said to be open because Christ has already been born, suffered, been resurrected, and been elevated, and since it is in the Church that Christ is proclaimed to have done all this, consequently he is said to open the temple in heaven. The ark of the testament, in which the power of the two Testaments was written by God's finger, means the Church; according to Exodus, this ark has four golden rings with bars through them to be carried on, [Ex. 25:12-14] that is the four Gospels through which the Church is governed by the holy preachers. In it there is a golden pot with manna inside, that is the wisdom of the divine Word with the food of life; and also Aaron's rod, [Heb. 9:4] that is the proof of kingly priesthood. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail. Lightnings are miraculous signs, by which the minds of the unfaithful were struck so that they submitted to humility; whence the Psalmist: Thou wilt multiply lightnings, and trouble them. [Probably a variant of Ps. 143:6, but also reminiscent of Ps. 17:15.] It is appropriate for the voices, that is the preachers, to come after the lightnings, because, in order to bring the incredulous to faith by speaking, the preachers first displayed new miracles. After words there follow thunders in order for those who despise voices to be shaken by terror of the judgment. Then an earthquake, that is persecution, which is also indicated by hail; for just as hail gets crushed as it crushes the fruits of the earth, and the earth bears fruit again, when the furious multitude of the Gentiles tried to take the name of God away from the earth, it was itself reduced to naught, either by force or by being changed for the better — for quite many of them came to Christ's faith. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION