The book sealed with seven seals is opened by the Lamb, who thereupon receives adoration and praise from all.
4. S. Iohn vveeping, because no man could open the booke sealed vvith seuen seales: • the Lambe that vvas slaine, opened it: vvhich being done, 8 the foure beastes and foure and tvventie seniors, vvith an innumerable multitude of Angels & al creatures, did glorifie him excedingly.
1And I saw, in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book, written within and without, sealed with seven seals.E vidi nella destra di lui, che siedeva sul trono, un libro scritto di drento, e di fuori, e segnato con sette sigilli.AND I savv in the right hand of him that sate vpon the throne, a booke vvritten vvithin and vvithout, sealed vvith seuen seales.Et vidi in dextera sedentis supra thronum, librum scriptum intus et foris, signatum sigillis septem. 2And I saw a strong angel, proclaiming with a loud voice: Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof?E vidi un Angelo forte, che con voce grande sclamava: chi è degno dì aprire il libro, e di sciogliere i suoi sigilli?And I savv a strong Angel, preaching vvith a loude voice, Vvho is vvorthie to opē the booke, & to loose the seales thereof?Et vidi angelum fortem, prædicantem voce magna: Quis est dignus aperire librum, et solvere signacula ejus ? 3And no man was able, neither in heaven nor on earth nor under the earth, to open the book, nor to look on it.E nissuno poteva, nè in cielo, né in terra, né sotto terra, aprire il libro, né guardarlo.And no man vvas able neither in heauen nor in earth, nor vnder the earth, to open the booke, nor looke on it.Et nemo poterat neque in cælo, neque in terra, neque subtus terram aperire librum, neque respicere illum. 4And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open the book, nor to see it.E io piagnea largamente, perché non trovossi chi fosse degno di aprire il libro, né chi lo guardasse.And I vvept much because no man vvas found vvorthie to open the booke, nor to see it.Et ego flebam multum, quoniam nemo dignus inventus est aperire librum, nec videre eum. 5And one of the ancients said to me: Weep not: behold the lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.E uno de' seniori mi disse: non piangere: ecco, il leone della tribù di Giuda, stirpe di Davidde, ha vinto d'aprire il libro, e sciogliere i suoi sette sigilli.And one of the seniors said to me, Vveepe not: behold the lion of the tribe of Iuda, the roote of Dauid, hath vvonne, to open the booke, and to loose the seuen seales thereof.Et unus de senioribus dixit mihi: Ne fleveris: ecce vicit leo de tribu Juda, radix David, aperire librum, et solvere septem signacula ejus. 6And I saw: and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the ancients, a Lamb standing, as it were slain, having seven horns and seven eyes: which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.E mirai: ed ecco in mezzo al trono, e ai quattro animali, e ai seniori, un agnello su tuoi piedi, come scannato che ha sette corna, o sette occhi: che sono i sette spiriti di Dio, spediti per tutta la terra.And I savv, and behold in the middes of the throne and of the foure beastes and in the middes of the seniors, a Lambe standing as it were slaine, hauing seuen hornes & seuen eies: vvhich are the seuen spirites of God, sent into al the earth.Et vidi: et ecce in medio throni et quatuor animalium, et in medio seniorum, Agnum stantem tamquam occisum, habentem cornua septem, et oculos septem: qui sunt septem spiritus Dei, missi in omnem terram.
7And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne.E venne, e prese il libro di mano di colui, che sedeva sul trono.And he came, and receiued the booke out of the right hand of him that sate in the throne.Et venit: et accepit de dextera sedentis in throno librum. 8And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.E aperto che ebbe il libro, i quattro animali, e i ventiquattro seniori si prostrarono dinanzi all'Agnello, avendo ognun di loro cetere, e nappi d'oro pieni di materie odorifere, che sono le orazioni de' santi:And vvhen he had opened the booke, the foure beastes and the foure and tvventie seniors fel before the Lambe, hauing euery one harpes, and golden vials ful of odours, which are the praiers of sainctes:Et cum aperuisset librum, quatuor animalia, et viginti quatuor seniores ceciderunt coram Agno, habentes singuli citharas, et phialas aureas plenas odoramentorum, quæ sunt orationes sanctorum: 9And they sung a new canticle, saying: Thou art worthy, O Lord, to take the book and to open the seals thereof: because thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God, in thy blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation:E cantavano un nuovo cantico, dicendo: degno sei tu, o Signore, di ricevere il libro, e di aprire i suoi sigilli: dappoiché sei stato scannato, e ci hai ricomperati a Dio col sangue tuo di tutte le tribù, e linguaggi, e popoli, e nazioni:and they sang a nevv canticle, saying, Thou art vvorthie o Lord to take the booke, and to open the seales thereof: because thou vvast slaine, and hast redeemed vs to God in thy bloud out of euery tribe and tonge and people and nation,et cantabant canticum novum, dicentes: Dignus es, Domine, accipere librum, et aperire signacula ejus: quoniam occisus es, et redemisti nos Deo in sanguine tuo ex omni tribu, et lingua, et populo, et natione: 10And hast made us to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.E ci hai fatti pel nostro Dio regi, e sacerdoti: e regneremo sopra la terra.and hast made vs to our God a kingdom' and priestes, and vve shal reigne vpon the earth.et fecisti nos Deo nostro regnum, et sacerdotes: et regnabimus super terram. 11And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the ancients (and the number of them was thousands of thousands),E mirai, e udii la voce di molti Angeli intorno ai trono, e agli animali, e a' seniori: ed era il numero di essi migliaia di migliaia,And I looked, and heard the voice of many Angels round about the throne, and of the beastes & of the seniors: and the number of them vvas thousandes of thousandes,Et vidi, et audivi vocem angelorum multorum in circuitu throni, et animalium, et seniorum: et erat numerus eorum millia millium, 12Saying with a loud voice: The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and benediction.I quali ad alta voce dicevano: è degno l'Agnello, che è stato scannato, di ricevere la virtù, e la divinità, e la sapienza, e la fortezza, e l'onore, e la gloria, e la benedizione.saying vvith a loud voice, The Lambe that vvas slaine, is vvorthie to receiue povver, and diuinitie', and vvisedom, & strength, and honour, and glorie, and benediction.dicentium voce magna: Dignus est Agnus, qui occisus est, accipere virtutem, et divinitatem, et sapientiam, et fortitudinem, et honorem, et gloriam, et benedictionem.
13And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard all saying: To him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb, benediction and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever.E le creature tutte, che sono nel cielo, e sulla terra, e sotto la terra, cioè nel mare, e quante in questi (luoghi) si trovano: tutte le udii, che dicevano: a lui, che siede sul trono, e all'Agnello, benedizione, e onore, e gloria, e potestà' pe' secoli, de' secoli.And euery creature that is in heauen, and vpon the earth, and vnder the earth, and that are in the sea, and that are therein: al did I heare saying, To him that sitteth in the throne, & to the Lambe, benediction and honour and glorie and povver for euer and euer.Et omnem creaturam, quæ in cælo est, et super terram, et sub terra, et quæ sunt in mari, et quæ in eo: omnes audivi dicentes: Sedenti in throno, et Agno, benedictio et honor, et gloria, et potestas in sæcula sæculorum. 14And the four living creatures said: Amen. And the four and twenty ancients fell down on their faces and adored him that liveth for ever and ever.E i quattro animali dicevano: amen. E i ventiquattro seniori si prostraron bocconi, e adorarono lui, che vive pe' secoli de' secoli.And the foure beastes said, Amen. And the foure and tvventie seniors fel on their faces: and adored him that liueth for euer and euer.Et quatuor animalia dicebant: Amen. Et viginti quatuor seniores ceciderunt in facies suas: et adoraverunt viventem in sæcula sæculorum.
5:1
A book written within and without.[Ver. 1. Intus et foris, esothen kai opisthen; on the back side.] Books were then skins, membranes, or parchments, and when written on both sides part of the writing appeared, though they were rolled up.
Witham
Sealed with seven seals, as containing mysteries and secrets of high importance. (Witham)
5:3
Witham
No man was able,[Ver. 3. Aperire librum, neque videre illum, blepein kai anagnonai, legere.] etc. As to the contents, some understand the prophecies and mysteries both of the Old and New Testament; others, the events that should afterwards happen to the Church of Christ, as various persecutions against Christians. Alcazar would have the sense of these words to be, that only Christ and his Spirit could open the book to others, and make them believe and know the punishments prepared for the wicked, and the reward reserved for God's faithful servants. (Witham)
5:5
Calmet
Behold the lion, of the tribe of Juda, etc. viz. Jesus Christ, who was descended from that tribe, denominated a lion on account of his great power, by which title we find him designated also in the prophecy of Jacob. (Genesis 49:9.) (Calmet)
It is he who has merited by his triple victory over death, sin, and hell, the great honour of opening the book, and revealing the secrets therein contained.
5:6
Witham
I saw....a Lamb standing as it were slain, with the prints and marks of its wounds. It was of this lamb (that is, of our Saviour Jesus Christ) that St. John the Baptist said: "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." (John 1:29.) (Witham)
Calmet
Here again Jesus Christ is plainly marked out, the Lamb of God, the victim of expiation, who by his death has reconciled us with his Father; and who, even in heaven, bears the marks of his passion, and by the wounds therein received continually inclines his Father to shew us mercy. He has seven horns, as so many crowns and marks of his omnipotence; and seven eyes, to represent his infinite knowledge and wisdom. (Calmet)
Witham
Having seven horns and seven eyes, (to signify his power and his knowledge,) which are the seven spirits subject to Christ. See Apocalypse 1:4. It is observed that in the Revelation of St. John, the number seven is divers times applied to signify a multitude, and a number implying perfection, and three and a half for a small number. Thus are represented the seven candlesticks, seven churches, seven spirits, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials, etc. (Witham)
5:7
He....took the book,[Ver. 7-8. Cum aperuisset: in the present Greek only, ote elabe; and in one or two manuscripts of the Marquis de Velez, enoixe.]...and when he had opened it, or was about to open it, (in the Greek is only, he took it: which was a sign that he would open it)...the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, to adore him, as appears by what follows, ver. 13.
Witham
Having every one of them harps to celebrate his praise, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints: which shews that the saints in heaven offer up before the throne of the Divine Majesty the prayers of the faithful. (Witham)
Estius
Harps, etc. These harps are symbols of the praise which good men render to God; and the vials full of odours represent the prayers of the saints. In conformity with this idea, St. John wishes to represent these four and twenty ancients as so many senators, who present to the Almighty the prayers and homages of good men on earth. (Estius; Clement of Alexandria)
Calmet
This also is an imitation of what was practised in the temple, in which were always around the altar, in times of sacrifice, Levites with musical instruments, priests with vials to contain the wine and blood, and censers to hold the incense (Calmet)
Challoner
The prayers of the saints. Here we see that the saints in heaven offer up to Christ the prayers of the faithful upon earth. (Challoner)
5:9
Witham
They sung a new canticle, etc. called new, as belonging to the New Testament, or alliance of the new law of Christ. (Witham)
Grotius
Canticle; that is, excellent. The Scripture generally attaches the epithet new to canticles. New canticles are always more agreeable, says Pindar. (Grotius)
Calmet
And hast redeemed, etc. The twenty-four ancients here may well represent all, who are in possession of beatitude. They all acknowledge it is to Jesus Christ they are indebted for the felicity they enjoy; it is he that has assembled at the foot of God's throne all the nations of the world, faithful souls from every tribe and tongue, and people and nation, by his blood. (Calmet)
5:10
Witham
And hast made us to our God, etc. See 1 Peter 2:5, 9. (Witham)
Origen † AD 253
All Christians may justly be styled kings and priests of God, by the spiritual empire they possess over their passions and the world; and by the continual offering they make on the altar of their hearts, by means of the prayers they daily offer up to God. (Origen)
Estius
Thus they say, we shall reign on the earth by the empire we shall exercise over our passions; and by the union we shall have with Jesus Christ and his Church, triumph over all who have persecuted us. (Estius; Andraeas.)
5:11
Witham
The number of them was thousands of thousands.[Ver. 11. Millia millium, muriades muriadon, kai chiliades chiliadon.] In the Greek also, ten thousand times ten thousand. (Witham)
5:12
Witham
The Lamb is worthy....to receive power and divinity,[Ver. 12. Accipere virtutem et divinitatem: in the Greek, instead of divinitatem, plouton. In one or two manuscripts of the Marquis de Velez, theoteta.] etc. The Socinians and new Arians from hence pretend that the Lamb, Jesus Christ, is not the same true God with the Father, but only deserved divinity, or to be made God in an inferior and an improper sense. The argument is of no force at all in the ordinary Greek, where for divinity is read riches. The sense is, thou art worthy to have thy power and divinity acknowledged and praised by all creatures both in heaven and earth: and the following words are a confutation of the Socinians, "I heard all saying: To him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, benediction, and honour, and glory, and power, forever and ever," where the same divine power is attributed to the Father and to the Son of God, Jesus, true God and true man. (Witham)
5:8
The prayers of saints.... Here we see that the saints in heaven offer up to Christ the prayers of the faithful upon earth.
5:1
Concordance THE 3 VISION.
S. Gregorie taketh it to be the booke of holy Scripture. li. 4. Dialog. c. 42.
5:3
He speaketh not of the damned in Hel, of vvhom there could be no question: but of the faithful in Abrahams bosome, & in Purgatorie.
5:5
So did Iacob (Gen. 49.) call Christ. for his kingly fortitude in subduing the vvorld vnto him.
Concordance Gen. 49, 9.
5:6
In the liturgy The Epistle vpon al-Hallovves eue.
So Christ is called for that he is the immaculate host or sacrifice for our sinnes.
5:8
8. The praiers of Saincts.] The Saincts in heauen offer our praiers to God. Hereby it is plaine that the Saincts in heauen offer vp the praiers of faithful and holy persons in earth (called here saincts, and in Scripture often) vnto Christ. And among so many diuine & vnsearcheable mysteries set dovvne vvithout exposition, it pleased God yet, that the Apostle him self should open this one point vnto vs, that these odours be the laudes and praiers of the faithful, ascending and offered vp to God as incense, by the Saincts in heauen, that so the Protestants may haue no excuse of their errour. That the Saincts haue no knovvledge of our affaires or desires.
5:9
This maketh against the Caluinistes vvho are not cōtent to say that vve merite not, but that Christ merited not for him self. Calu. Philip. 2. v. 9.
Concordance 1 Pet. 2.
5:10
10. A kingdom and priests.] Spiritual kings and Priests. To serue God and subdue vices and sinnes, is to reigne or to be a king spiritually, likevvise to offer vnto him the sacrifices of good vvorkes, is to be a priest after a sort: though neither the one nor the other in proper speache. See the Annotation before Chap. 1. v. 6.
kinges.
5:11
In the liturgy The Epistle in a votiue Masse of the holy Angels.
Concordance Dan. 7. 10.
5:12
riches.
5:13
13. Euery creature.] Limbus Patrum and Purgatorie. He meaneth the creatures in heauen, as Angels and Saincts. the holy persons in earth, and those that vvere in Limbo, or be in Purgatorie (for of the damned in hel he can not speake in this case:) lastly, of the peoples in Ilands (here called the sea) vvhich the Prophets vse often to name seuerally, vvhen they foretel the spreading of Christs glorie through the vvorld. as Esa. c. 49. Heare ye ilandes and you people a far of. &c.
Al the said creatures are bound to giue honour, not onely to God, but to Christ as man, and our redeemer: & so they here doe.
Concordance Apoc. 4, 11.
5:1
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 5.4
… of this kind ourselves, and applying the words in question to the book of Psalms, we deny that we do so, and we would urge that in that case the words should have been, “In this book it is written of Me.” But He speaks of all the books as one chapter, thus summing up in one all that is spoken of Christ for our instruction. In fact the book was seen by John,
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.12
… And I wept much because nobody was found worthy to open the book, nor to look into it. And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose its seven seals.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.5
5. In the apocalypse a book is shewn sealed with seven seals,
St Vincent of Lérins † AD 445 The Commonitory of Vincent of Lérins, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies 5
And again in the third book of the same work, “Let us observe the precepts of our predecessors, and not transgress with rude rashness the landmarks which we have inherited from them. That sealed Book of Prophecy no Elders, no Powers, no Angels, no Archangels, dared to open. To Christ alone was reserved the prerogative of explaining it.
5:4
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 2.10
94. John wept sore, and, as he tells us, the mysteries of Christ were revealed to him. But that woman who, when she was in sin and ought to have wept, nevertheless rejoiced, and covered herself with a robe of purple and scarlet, and adorned herself with much gold and precious stones, now mourns the misery of eternal weeping.
5:5
Tertullian † AD 220 Five Books in Reply to Marcion 2
Did bear a lion: hurtful to her man
St Hippolytus † AD 235 Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 6
6. Now, as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also God, was prophesied of under the figure of a lion,
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 3.15
128. Let us, then, keep the precepts of our forefathers, nor with rude and reckless daring profane the symbols bequeathed to us. That sealed book of prophecy, whereof we have heard, neither elders, nor powers, nor angels, nor archangels, ventured to open; for Christ alone is reserved the peculiar right of opening it.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 55.11
… We do not adore sheep or cattle, although Christ is called both a Lamb, and by the prophet a young bullock; nor any beast of prey, though He is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 3.25
… They signify contraries, for example, when they are used metaphorically at one time in a good sense, at another in a bad, as in the case of the leaven mentioned above. Another example of the same is that a lion stands for Christ in the place where it is said, “The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Against Lying 24
… without doubt the waves, the gems, the bloom, the snow, for that we find them not in those objects to which we have from other transferred these words, shall by these persons be accounted lies. And Christ a Rock, and the stony heart of the Jews; also, Christ a Lion, and the devil a lion, and innumerable such like, shall be said to be lies.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 23.2
… Nay much more; besides this it may happen that under a figure, things very different from one another may be called by one and the same name. For what is so different as Christ and the devil? yet both Christ and the devil are called “a lion.” Christ is called “a lion:” “The Lion hath prevailed of the tribe of Judah;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 13.5
… Nothing is wider than this poverty of expression. Thou seekest a fitting name for Him, thou canst not find it; thou seekest to speak of Him in any way soever, thou findest that He is all. What likeness have the lamb and the lion? Both is said of Christ. “Behold the Lamb of God!” How a lion? “The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 46.3
… For both the lamb, and the sheep, and the shepherd are friendly with one another, but from the lions as their foes the sheep are protected by their shepherds: and yet of Christ, who is both sheep and Shepherd, we have it said, “The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 45.6
6. What follows then? “My tongue is the pen of a writer writing rapidly.” What likeness, my brethren, what likeness, I ask, has the “tongue” of God with a transcriber’s pen? What resemblance has “the rock” to Christ? What likeness does the “lamb” bear to our Saviour, or what “the lion” to the strength of the Only-Begotten?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 50.29
… The devil hath been called lion: “Your adversary,” He saith, “like a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom He may devour.” May it not be that whereas he hath been called lion because of savage fierceness, Christ hath been called Lion for wondrous mightiness? And where is that, “The Lion hath prevailed of the tribe of Judah?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 63.16
… “For stopped up is the mouth of men speaking unjust things.” When in weakness the Lamb was, even foxes were bold against the Lamb. There conquered the Lion of the tribe of Judah,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 91.6
… 5 ). What are “the wings,” the same is “the shield:” since there are neither wings nor shield. If either were literally, how could the one be the same as the other? can wings be a shield or a shield wings? But all these expressions, indeed, are figuratively used through likenesses. If Christ were really a Stone, He could not be a Lion; if a Lion,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 104.27
… For such is the madness of men; as if we said that a creature should be worshipped, when it is said, the sun is an emblem of Christ. Then worship the rock also, for it also is a type of Christ. “He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter:” worship the lamb also, since it is a type of Christ. “The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed;”
5:6
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.20.11
… “For I saw in the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 6.35
… For the man “was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb, dumb before his shearers,” saying, “I was as like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.” Hence, too, in the Apocalypse
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.16
… and they sang a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou, O Lord, to take the book, and to open its seals: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us with Thy blood from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation; and Thou hast made us a kingdom unto our God, and hast made us priests, and they shall reign upon the earth.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 23.10
… In the same way we, when we offer to Him our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, though they be sinners, weave no crown, but offer up Christ sacrificed for our sins
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 1.16
179. And let it not trouble you that either here it is said “rivers,” or elsewhere “seven Spirits,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 14
What are the heavenly things he speaks of here? The spiritual things. For although they are done on earth, yet nevertheless they are worthy of the Heavens. For when our Lord Jesus Christ lies slain
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 2.6
… yet we cannot call the Holy Spirit both God and a dove, or both God and fire, in the same way as we call the Son both God and man; nor as we call the Son the Lamb of God; which not only John the Baptist says, “Behold the Lamb of God,” but also John the Evangelist sees the Lamb slain in the Apocalypse.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin 4.34
… You make mistakes about these, not because they are in themselves deceptive, but because you do not accept them as they ought to be taken. For in the same apocalyptic vision where “the souls of the martyrs” are seen, there is also beheld “a lamb as it were slain, having seven horns:”
5:8
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.17.6
… Since, therefore, the name of the Son belongs to the Father, and since in the omnipotent God the Church makes offerings through Jesus Christ, He says well on both these grounds, “And in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure sacrifice.” Now John, in the Apocalypse, declares that the “incense” is “the prayers of the saints.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus, XXXVII 1
… For, “from the rising of the sun even to the setting my name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice;” as John also declares in the Apocalypse: “The incense is the prayers of the saints.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 8.17
… Therefore it is said by John in the Revelation, “The odours are the prayers of saints;”
5:9
Mathetes † fl. AD 130 Epistle to Diognetus 12
… Bearing this tree and displaying its fruit, thou shalt always gather in those things which are desired by God, which the Serpent cannot reach, and to which deception does not approach; nor is Eve then corrupted, but is trusted as a virgin; and salvation is manifested, and the Apostles are filled with understanding, and the Passover
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 56
… for in that case all the gain and fruit of the resurrection, and the permanent effect of God’s judgment both on soul and body, would certainly fall to the ground. If I remember not that it is I who have served Him, how shall I ascribe glory to God? How sing to Him “the new song,”
St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh 13.33
33. In the eight and twentieth year, let all mighty men of valour praise the Son, because they delivered not from him who took us captive. He only is to be praised, who being slain showed us life.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 1.51
The Revelation of John likewise tells us that in a new song these praises are offered to Christ: “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
5:11
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 8.2
… neither is this God. Neither as we think of the pure angels as spirits animating celestial bodies, and changing and dealing with them after the will by which they serve God; not even if all, and there are “thousands of thousands,”
5:13
Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 8
… Or, moreover, lest, because those things had arisen from earthly beginnings, they should naturally be inactive, from the rigidity of their origin, the hot nature of an interior spirit was added to all things; and that this nature concreted with the cold bodies might minister for the purpose of life equal measures for all.
5:1
1. AND I SAW IN THE RIGHT HAND OF HIM THAT SAT UPON THE THRONE, A BOOK WRITTEN WITHIN AND WITHOUT, SEALED WITH SEVEN SEALS. — He alludes to Isaiah xxix, 11: "And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which when they shall give to one that is learned, saying: Read this: he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed." And more to Ezekiel ii, 10: "And behold a hand was sent to me, wherein was a book rolled up, and he spread it before me, which was written within and without." Whence it is clear that this book was not similar to ours, but was rolled up like a rolled-up geographical map, as one now sees depicted in the temples of Rome: for such were the books of the ancients, which from their rolling they called volumes: and such very ancient Hebrew biblical books I have seen in the Vatican Library. For the ancients wrote on membranes or skins, on one side only, because it was cleaner, of the skin; they then rolled it up, bound it together and sealed it, as testaments are sealed. Sometimes, however, they wrote on both sides of the membrane, and then the book was said to be written within and without, that is, on the inner part of the membrane, and at the same time on the outer: such was this one. Hence it is clear that John could not have seen this book to be written on both sides unless after its unsealing, unrolling and unfolding. What therefore he says: "Written within and without," he did not know then, but later when the book was opened and unrolled. This therefore is a hysteron proteron: for the deed which happened later is narrated first. Finally, the seven seals of the cords by which the book was bound and sealed had to be unsealed before the book could be opened, seen and read. Otherwise Pineda, lib. V De Rebus Salom., cap. XIII, where he interprets the sealed book in Isaiah, cap. XXIX, vers. 11, and in Daniel, cap. VIII, vers. 26, and in John here, as written in secret marks and characters, just as the Egyptians wrote through hieroglyphic marks, and the Chinese still write. This book therefore was sealed with seven seals, as it were with seven characters, containing certain arcane mysteries, which are expounded in cap. VI. Yet in order that this be true in part, it cannot be denied that the signs of this book were seals, which would close and seal the book, so that the book could not be read unless the seals were opened and unsealed. For John says this expressly here and in cap. VI. You will ask: What is this sealed book? First, Ticonius, Ambrose, Rupert, Richard, Andrew, Bede, Haymo, Ansbert, Anselm, Joachim and Hugh here, and Origen, hom. 12 in Exod.; Eusebius, lib. VIII Demonstr., cap. II; St. Jerome in Isaiah cap. XXIX, and many of the ancients hold that this book is Sacred Scripture, namely the prophecies of both the Old and New Testament: for of this it is said in Deut. XXXIII, 2: "In his right hand a fiery law." The sense, "written within" as to the New Testament; "without," as to the Old: for this was the veil of the New, says Ansbert and Bede; or "without," as to the literal sense; "within," as to the spiritual and mystical, says Rupert. The seven seals signify that it is full of arcane and obscure mysteries: for the number seven is a symbol of multitude and universality. Thus Primasius and Bede. Now the first seal, says Hugh, is the profundity of the sentences of Holy Scripture; the second, the multiplicity of senses; the third, the variety of figures; the fourth, the incomprehensibility of the things themselves; the fifth, the obscurity of mysteries; the sixth, the sweetness of tropologies; the seventh, infallible truth mixed with the inevidence of things. Christ opened this sealed book, when going into heaven he gave the Apostles understanding of the Scriptures. Of this book Hugh of St. Victor speaks beautifully in his treatise De Arca Noe: "Sacred Scripture," he says, "is a book of life, whose origin is eternal, whose essence is incorporeal, whose writing is indelible, whose aspect is desirable, whose doctrine is easy, whose knowledge is sweet, whose depth is inscrutable, whose words are innumerable, and yet there is but one word in all." For although the words are innumerable as to sound, yet there is but one as to sense, or rather as to agreement. Once John saw one book written within and without, and heard: "Who is worthy to open the book?" Where Rupert says: "This one book," he says, "is Holy Scripture: which is therefore called and is one book, because it is written by one spirit, and is one treasury and sanctuary of the word of God." This sense is too general. For it fits as well to the books of Ezekiel, Isaiah and other books of Holy Scripture, as to the Apocalypse and to this place. Secondly, St. Hilarius, in the preface to the Psalms: "This book," he says, "is Christ, because Christ is the matter and argument of this book. Just as therefore Xenophon calls the book which he wrote concerning Cyrus, the Cyropaedia: so also we can entitle this book, Concerning the Principate of Christ, or His Rule, so that we may signify that it treats of Christ. The seven seals," says Hilarius, "are seven principal mysteries of Christ, namely first, the Incarnation; second, the Nativity; third, the Passion; fourth, the Resurrection; fifth, the Ascension into heaven; sixth, the sending of the Holy Spirit; seventh, His second coming to judgment." And Blessed Peter Damian, in a sermon on St. Luke the Evangelist: "The seven seals of the sealed book," he says, "are the seven Sacraments, by which the whole order of the Lord's dispensation is fulfilled, namely the Incarnation of the Lord, the Nativity, the Passion, the Resurrection, the Ascension into heaven, then the judgment, finally the kingdom." Christ alone opens these, because He alone perfects and fulfills them. Or, as St. Bernard, sermon 1 on Easter: The seven seals are seven mysteries which concealed the divinity and wisdom of Christ. The first is, the espousal of His mother with Joseph; the second, the weakness of the body of Christ; the third, circumcision; the fourth, flight into Egypt; the fifth, temptation by the devil; the sixth, the scandal of the cross; the seventh, burial. Christ rising again resolves and reveals all these seals. Again Seraphinus Firmanus understands by the seven seals seven secrets of the Passion of Christ: the first is, the utmost powerlessness in the Almighty; the second, the utmost punishment in the impassible One; the third, the utmost foolishness before men in Christ, who is divine Wisdom; the fourth, the utmost poverty in God of riches; the fifth, the utmost ignominy in the utmost majesty; the sixth, the utmost abandonment by God in the utmost union with Him; the seventh, the utmost severity in the utmost love of the Father toward the Son. But this explanation, equally as the first, is too universal, and more accommodated than genuine. For in the same manner some accommodate this sealed book to the Eucharist. For in it the Lamb, that is, the Passion and death of Christ is represented, and Christ Himself, having suffered and been slain, is veiled and concealed by seven seals, so that of Him it can truly be said that word of Isaiah, chapter 45, verse 15: "Verily thou art a hidden God, O God the Saviour." The seven seals which conceal Christ in the Eucharist are odor, taste, color, smallness, lightness, roundness, and thinness of the Host, which are all accidents of bread, not of the body of Christ, so that here seven senses, namely four external, sight, smell, taste and touch, and three internal, namely common sense, imagination and estimation, which follow the judgment of the external senses, are deceived, and judge it to be bread. Again the seven seals are seven greatest miracles, which make this Sacrament to be the mystery of mysteries of God: the first is transubstantiation, namely that the whole substance of bread and wine is converted into the substance of the body of Christ; the second, that the accidents of bread remain and exist without a subject; the third, that the whole quantity of Christ of six feet, in a small place, namely in the circle of the Host, is circumscribed; the fourth, that by the force of consecration under the species of bread there is only the body of Christ, but by concomitance there are present the blood, soul and divinity of Christ: in the same manner under the species of wine by the force of consecration there is only the blood of Christ, but by concomitance there follow and are present the body, soul and divinity of Christ; the fifth, that the same body in number, and the same Christ is present in all altars at once throughout the whole world, when the sacrifice of the Mass is being offered at the same time; the sixth, that Christ is whole in the whole Host, and whole in each part of it, indeed even in each point of it; the seventh, that Christ makes Himself food for all the faithful, so that He transforms them into Himself, not themselves Christ into themselves. Again, that Christ is like the manna, which gave to the one tasting it every flavor of sweetness which anyone wished: Christ gives the same, but spiritual, not corporeal. Finally, that by the power of the body of Christ glorified, which we eat in the Eucharist, we shall rise to immortal life, as He Himself promised, John, chapter 6, verse 51. But all these things are accommodated, not genuine to the scope and purpose of this passage: for here we are not treating of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Thirdly, Andrew of Caesarea judges this book to be God's decree and memorial, in which all men are described; or the inscrutable abyss of God's works and judgments. Whence it is sealed with seven, that is, with many seals. Thus also nearly Aureolus: "This book," he says, "is the mystery of divine wisdom." And Maldonatus, in Manuscript Notes, which I saw in the Roman College: "The book," he says, "is the knowledge of God, as is understood from the whole of chapter VI. It is written within and without, because the knowledge of God is most perfect, nor can it increase. It is sealed with seven seals, that is, entirely, because who has known the knowledge of the Lord? or because it contained seven principal future things, which no one knew, as is explained in chapter VI. But Christ alone opened it, because in him are all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God." Fourthly, others think this book to be the handwriting of Adam's sin, namely the obligation and guilt of sin, by which Adam bound himself and us to God the avenger. The seven seals are seven most grievous evils, which we incurred through this sin: the first is the offense of God; the second, the punishment of loss; the third, the punishment of the fire of hell; the fourth, the necessity of dying; the fifth, the yoke of the devil; the sixth, aversion from God and conversion to creatures; the seventh, concupiscence. All these things Christ alone was able to loose. But all these things are mystical, not literal. Fifthly, Ambrose says this book to be a chronology of the world, and the seven seals to be seven ages of the world. But thus the Apocalypse would be history, not prophecy: for most of the ages of the world had been unfolded and passed away in the time of John. Sixthly, Oecumenius, Lyra and Aureolus judge this book to be of God's foreknowledge, providence and predestination, which is closed to us, unless it be revealed to us from God's right hand, or be put into execution. To this our Prado adds, on Ezekiel II, 10, who reduces the seven seals to the greatest calamities of the Church, and in the first says the power of God shines forth; in the second, his indignation and strict sword; in the third, justice avenging crimes; in the fourth, death which makes faces pale; in the fifth, vengeance of innocent blood; in the sixth, the consummation of all things; in the seventh, the cataclysm of all evils. But these things are too general, nor do they indicate particular events of the Church. Seventhly, Alcazar judges this book to be that part of the Apocalypse which is contained in the seven seals, or the mysteries which were revealed to John when these seals were opened, which are contained from chapter VI to XI inclusive. For from chapter XI to XIX, he says, it is treated of the persecution which the Gentiles stirred up against the Church, and of their conversion. Moreover, the book, or the seven mysteries of the seals, he judges to be these: In the four first seals, he says, the sum of God's strength, beneficence, equity and wisdom is revealed and shown in the salvation of believing and predestined Jews; but in the three last appears in the repulse of unbelieving Jews the greatest patience of God, a horrible threat, and finally the most severe punishment. And these are the seven spirits, of which I spoke in chapter I, note 5. Moreover, this is not new doctrine, but the same which was preached by the Prophets in the Old Testament: whence the Fathers everywhere say this book to be sealed with the prophecies of the Old Testament, namely, because by them was preached the salvation of believing Jews, and the reprobation of those not believing, which John here shows actually completed. This book is said to be written within and without, because the outer part corresponded to the inner part as it were equally, just as in books of Computus (which were once whole parchments) on the back of the leaf they wrote the account of what was given, on the front of what was received: thus here the mysteries concerning the salvation of believing Jews correspond to the mysteries and plagues inflicted on unbelieving Jews. The book therefore written on both sides signifies how God conducts himself toward the pious and the impious, namely, as the Psalmist says, Psalm XVII, 26: "With the holy thou wilt be holy, and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted." Moreover, there is to be noted, says Alcazar, a distinction which ought to exist between mystery and seal: for a mystery is that which is hidden under a seal; a seal is that which contains the concealment and difficulty of the mystery itself. Wherefore the first mystery is the great strength of the Messiah; and the difficulty which arises in attaining knowledge of it proceeds from the external appearance and simulation of his weakness. The first seal therefore represents the appearance of weakness, under which lies hidden the first mystery, that is, the infinite virtue of Christ in the Jews, who embraced him, for their salvation. For the greatest strength of Christ shines forth in this, that in such great weakness of his flesh, through the cross he wrought so great a salvation and victory: "for virtue is made perfect in infirmity." Similarly the second mystery is immense benevolence toward those same people; the seal, however, is a simulation of rigor and tyranny. The third mystery is supreme equity, by which he governs them, hidden under the pretext of iniquity, as it were under a seal: for the equity of God by which he chose these, neglected and reprobated those, appears unjust, nay, an acceptance of persons: yet in truth it is most just. The fourth, admirable wisdom in procuring the happiness of his own; the seal, the appearance of ignorance and foolishness: for wisdom is wonderfully perfected under the simulation of foolishness, "because that which is foolish in God is wiser than men," 1 Corinthians 1, 23. The fifth, incredible patience toward rebellious Jews; the seal, a dissimulation of injuries, and as it were a not caring: for God wisely veils and covers his patience with the appearance of forgetfulness or connivance. The sixth, serious threatening; the seal, however, brings forth no external appearance of threats, but rather permission and license: for often threats and punishments are wisely concealed. The seventh, is severe punishment and the penalty which he takes from the Jews; the seal, however, brings the appearance of impunity: or in common evils, it pretends not the rejection of the Messiah, but other causes of punishment. Thus far Alcazar speculates subtly, but obscurely. But many things stand in the way of this exposition. First, that by the book he understands the seals themselves and their mysteries, when it is established that a book is distinguished from its seals. Second, that he judges this book to contain the salvation of believing Jews and the damnation of unbelievers, which had already passed and were public to the whole world: how therefore are these said to be sealed, so that no one can see or read them? Finally, this entire exposition appears rather to be an ingenious accommodation than a genuine explanation: just as Proba Falconia accommodated and adapted the Aeneid of Virgil to Christ and the deeds of Christ; and from Homer Eudocia, wife of Theodosius the Younger Emperor, composed her Homerocentones from the same. Eighth and genuinely, this book is the Apocalypse, or the mysteries and oracles of the Apocalypse, contained in the prescience, providence and predestination of God, as it were in a book: these mysteries are concerning the kingdom and persecution of Antichrist, concerning Elijah, Enoch and the constancy of the faithful resisting him, etc., and concerning the universal judgment and the happiness and glory of those to be blessed. The seven seals are the seven visions immediately following, by which, namely, at the opening of each seal, a new thing and calamity about to befall the world is revealed and shown, and preceding Antichrist and the end of the world, which is the matter and argument of the book itself. Whence the book could not be read and understood unless the seals were first opened, that is, unless those calamities were first seen, which ought to precede the final times of Antichrist and judgment. Ezechiel saw a similar book, cap. II, vers. 9, in which were written lamentations, a song and woe. Thus Pannonius, Prado, Ribera, Pererius, Viegas, who for this opinion cite Andrew, Arethas, Lyra, Aureolus and Dionysius. This book therefore is nothing other than the counsel and predefinition of divine providence, by which he determined with himself and decreed either to do or to permit those things which are to be in the time of Antichrist. Ribera rightly notes that the seven seals of the book are not to be understood as if, when they were loosed, that which John narrates he saw in the book would be read, as when the first seal was loosed he narrates he saw a white horse; when the second was loosed, a red one; when the third was loosed, a black one; when the fourth was loosed, a pale one, etc. For he did not read these things in the book, but with each seal opened, the individual things lying hidden and closed beneath them were unsealed and shown to him. For nothing in the book could be read except after the opening of all seven seals: for when all were unsealed, then at last the book could be opened and read, not before. For the book was rolled up, and thus sealed on the outside with seven seals: therefore what John saw after the opening of each seal, not in the book, since it was still closed by the other seals, but beneath the seal itself as if hidden, and made manifest by its opening, he saw. Whence: Note secondly: The entire Apocalypse is occupied in the description of this book and its seven seals. Wherefore there are two parts of the Apocalypse, as I said above: in the former, namely this chapter up to XI, the seals are unsealed and explained; in the latter, from chapter XI to the end, those things which were written in the book itself are unsealed and read. The book therefore contains those things which are to come in the time of Antichrist: the seven seals contain as many persecutions of the Church and the Saints, which were to come before the advent of Antichrist: wherefore the book cannot be read except with the seals unsealed, because the times of Antichrist cannot be seen unless these persecutions precede, which are to him as it were forerunners and precursors, and prepare and pave the way for him. And so because by God's counsel and decree it is necessary that these precede before that son of perdition comes, whose tyranny and cruel persecution are written in the book: hence these same things prevent the book from being read, that is, prevent those things written in it from being seen and appearing. Wherefore the seals are most rightly called seals. Something similar is what Paul says concerning the same time of Antichrist in II Thessalonians II, 6: "And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time (for the mystery of iniquity already worketh), only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way. And then that wicked one shall be revealed," as if to say, The advent of Antichrist is held back by Nero and the other Roman Emperors, who now reign: for he cannot come until the Empire is transferred. Thus these seals hold back the revelation of Antichrist, who is not to come until these times pass, and in them those things are done which God willed to be done in each of them, and which here in the seven seals are marked and prefigured, as if John saw them to be about to happen in their own time. That this is so is evident from the very context and the whole series of the Apocalypse. For in the following chapter, namely VI, the seals begin to be opened, and the calamities and plagues contained in them, and thenceforward up to chapter X each one is continuously opened in its own order; but in chapter X, with the seals already opened, John receives from the angel the book previously sealed, now opened, and when he had devoured it, he hears from him in verse 11: "Thou must prophesy again to the Gentiles," because namely the mysteries contained in the book itself concerning Antichrist, Elijah and Enoch, etc., in chapter XI and following, thou must prophesy and write. Furthermore I shall explain the seals themselves individually in chapters VI, VII, VIII and IX, in their respective places. Note thirdly: Just as St. John described the first advent of Christ in the Gospel, so here in the Apocalypse he describes the second advent of the same in the end of the world: that book is open, because it is historical; this one is sealed and closed because it is prophetic concerning future things under the day of judgment. For God willed that John describe both advents of Christ, the former as an Evangelist, the latter as a Prophet. WRITTEN WITHIN AND WITHOUT (in Greek ἔσωθεν καὶ ὄπισθεν, that is, within and on the back, that is on both sides of the parchment: whence the Syriac translates it, written within and on the back; the Arabic, written from within and from without, that is inwardly and outwardly), SEALED WITH SEVEN SEALS. — For the books of the ancients were rolled up: for they were rolled around a cylinder or some rod. Hence that saying in chapter VI: "Heaven departed as a book rolled up." Wherefore in these books the writing was within, that is inward, rolled up and wrapped; but this book, because it contained many things, hence was written not only within but also without, that is on the back on the outer face, such as Pliny calls opisthographos, that is, written on the back, concerning which Juvenal also says: Orestes written and on the back not yet finished. Add: Merchants and others not infrequently wrote on one side of the parchment the account of what was given, and on the other side, reversed and opposite, the account of what was received, or on one side a debt, on the other a credit. Thus here it can be said with Alcazar, that since this book contains different sorts of the pious and the impious, of which one corresponds to the other diametrically and is opposed to it, the lot of the pious on one side, for example on the inner face and page; the lot of the impious on the outer, or opposite face was written. By this phrase Pliny says, lib. II, cap. VII: "In the whole account of mortals, fortune alone makes both pages," that is to say, Fortune in life creates both prosperous and adverse things. For he himself appears to have been an atheist, and to have denied the divine nature and providence of God, and consequently to have ascribed the outcomes of things not to the providence of God, but to fortune.
5:2
2. AND I SAW A STRONG ANGEL,—that is, Gabriel, says Lyra. For Gabriel in Hebrew means the strength of God. Secondly, Dionysius the Carthusian thinks this was the same Angel who was revealing these mysteries to John, and was painting all these symbols of the throne of God, the 24 elders, the four living creatures, the sealed book, the slain Lamb, etc., in his imagination. He is called "strong," that is, mighty and powerful. For he appears to have been among the principal angels: for he was sent to a strong and mighty work, namely to seek a strong man who would unseal the sealed book full of the highest mysteries, which no angels or men could unseal. Whence with a strong and resolute voice he cries out: "Who is worthy to open the book?" Mystically: This Angel, says Rupertus, signifies the fathers in limbo eagerly awaiting the Messiah, who, opening the barriers of limbo, would free them from there. Again, it signifies John the Baptist, says Joachim, who said: I am not worthy to loose the latchet of the shoe of Christ; for the same latchet of the shoe binds as the seals of the sealed book close. Finally, Alcazar thinks there is an allusion here to Hosea XIV, 10: "Who is wise, and will understand these things? prudent, and will know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall stumble in them." For this book contains the ways, both of the pious, who following the ways of the Lord are blessed, and of the impious, who spurning them are damned. And that Hosea is called a strong angel coheres very well with what St. Epiphanius writes in his Life, namely that by the power of his words he divided a great oak into twelve parts. It also agrees with the subject matter of Hosea, who treats of the impious branch, namely the rejection of the Jews; and of the election and salvation of the faithful and pious, namely the Gentiles. Thus far Alcazar. WHO IS WORTHY?—Who can, who has the faculty of opening the book? For this is not granted by God except to him who is worthy. TO OPEN THE BOOK, AND TO LOOSE THE SEALS.—"And" means "that is," that is to say, Who is worthy to open the book, that is, to loose its seals; or, who is worthy to open the book by loosing its seals? For to open a book closed with seals is nothing other than to loose and unseal its very seals. Alcazar thinks less correctly that to open the book and to loose the seals is nothing other than for Christ to give men the abundance of his spirit, so that the mysteries contained in the Apocalypse concerning the happiness of the Jews believing in Christ and the unhappiness of the unbelieving might be known. Thus he thinks these mysteries were already known to St. John the Apostle, the 24 elders and the four living creatures: and therefore John wishes not that the book be opened to him and his, but to others, both believers and unbelievers at that time. But that the mysteries of this book were unknown to John himself, the elders and the four living creatures is evident from what follows: "And no one was able, neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth, to open the book;" and not only this, but "nor to look upon it:" therefore much less to understand it. If "no one in heaven," therefore neither the 24 elders nor the four living creatures could open or look upon the book. Whence also he adds: "And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book;" and not only this, but "nor to see it." The Greek texts add, οὐδὲ ἀναγνῶναι, that is, nor to read it. Plainly therefore by these words it is signified that no one of men or Angels knew the mysteries of the Apocalypse, that is, those things which were to happen in future times in the Church, especially under the Antichrist, and concerning the end of the world and the day of judgment, except God and the Son of God, as he himself says in Mark xiii, 32; where although he denies that he knows the day on which the judgment is precisely to happen, namely so that it may be permitted him to reveal it to others, he does not however deny that he knows the preceding signs, which will signify that day is at hand: for he himself reveals these here to John and to the whole world. Therefore this book remains closed and sealed, so that no one can read it, until Christ unseals and opens it, not for himself (for he already knew beforehand what the book contained), but for John and other believers. To open the book therefore is the same as to set it forth for others to read, that is, to relate to others the mysteries contained in it. Others refer these things to the execution and completion of the Apocalypse, whereby those things which are here predicted to be completed are in fact completed: for they think that to open the book is nothing other than to actually fulfill its prophecies, and to make to come to pass in act those things which are here foretold as future. But truly thus John would not have seen the book being opened to him here, but would have said it was to be opened at the end of the world. Therefore the opening of the book does not signify the real execution and completion of it, but the explanation and revelation. For He opened this book here to John, and to all men this sealed book.
5:3
3. NOR LOOK UPON IT, — that is, to see, as follows immediately after (for in the Greek the same word βλέπειν is used in both places), to inspect, to unfold, to read, to know the book, that is, those things which were written in the book.
5:5
5. AND ONE OF THE ELDERS SAID TO ME: WEEP NOT: BEHOLD THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDA HATH PREVAILED, THE ROOT OF DAVID, TO OPEN THE BOOK. — Alcazar holds that this elder was St. Luke: for he thinks that here is alluded to what Luke wrote in the Acts of the Apostles, namely that Christ imparted his spirit to many who heard the preaching of the Apostles, as in cap. viii, vers. 17: "Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost." And cap. x, vers. 44: "While Peter was yet speaking... the Holy Ghost fell upon all them that heard the word," etc. But especially is there allusion to the conversion of St. Paul, which Luke the historian narrates that Christ wrought, Acts ix. For he describes all these things as effects of the passion and resurrection of Christ, which are the victory of Christ over Jews and Gentiles, which were written in this sealed book. But I have shown above that the twenty-four elders were the twelve Apostles from the New Testament, and twelve chief Saints from the Old Testament, and consequently St. Luke was not among them. Secondly, Lyra wishes it to have been St. Peter. For he was the prince of the Apostles, and consequently the master of St. John, and was already blessed and glorious in heaven. Thirdly, Dionysius the Carthusian holds it to have been St. Matthew, because he himself at the end of his Gospel says of Christ: "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth;" which is the same as what John hears here from the elder: "Behold the lion of the tribe of Juda hath prevailed." But these things are said by guessing, and are mere conjectures. For you might as well say that James the brother of John, or Paul, or any other of the elders was it, as Matthew or Peter. BEHOLD THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDA. — Christ appeared here to John in the form of a slain lamb, as is evident from the following verse; therefore he did not appear in the form of a lion: yet he is called a lion by metaphor. "Hath prevailed," that is, obtained, prevailed, was able to open the book thus sealed, Christ. Alcazar adds, "hath prevailed," that is, communicated his spirit to men, so that they might understand these prophecies, not merely speculatively, but also practically and wisely, namely so that from them they might become spiritual: for this is to "open the book." But this is more moral than literal. Note: Christ is here called a lion, soon after a slain lamb, because through meekness, innocence and the weakness of death and the cross he merited and obtained supreme power and dominion, and became a lion, namely from conquered to conqueror, from dead to living again, from slain to the vivifier of all the faithful. Whence in Greek there is a double article, having great emphasis: ὁ λέων, ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα, that is, that illustrious and celebrated lion, which is of the tribe of Juda. Furthermore Christ is called a lion, first, because he was born of the tribe of Juda, whose emblem was a lion. For blessing them Jacob the patriarch says Genesis xlix, 9: "The whelp of a lion, Juda; thou hast couched as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall rouse him up?" Secondly, on account of the extraordinary strength by which he conquered the devil, death, sin and hell; Christ therefore suffered, but suffered as a lion, because suffering he conquered his enemies, and from passion and death soon as a lion he rose again. This is what the Apostle says Colossians II, 15: "Despoiling the principalities and powers, he hath exposed them confidently in open shew, triumphing over them in himself;" hence in verse 6 he is said to have seven horns. Thirdly, on account of royal dignity: for the lion is the king of beasts; so Christ is the King of the world, and the prince of the faithful and Saints. Fourthly, because as a lion he is terrible to the wicked, and will be on the day of judgment. For the lion by its roar alone so strikes other animals, that it almost stupefies and kills them, says Ambrose. And St. Hilary in Psalm CXXXI: "The lion," he says, "is a terror to all beasts, and this one alone through confidence and security sleeps fearless; terror of all, he watches:" so also Christ. Fifthly, as the lion alone among animals which have curved claws, as soon as it is born, opens its eyes, and with them sees and perceives: so Christ as soon as he was conceived and incarnate, saw God, and was full of wisdom and grace. Sixthly, the lion sleeps with open eyes; whence it was believed by the ancients not to sleep: hence the lion is a symbol of vigilance. So Christ in his passion, and throughout his whole life had open not only the eye of divinity, but also of humanity through the beatific vision, and through infused knowledge: hence he is said here to have seven eyes. Seventhly, St. Epiphanius adds, heresy 78, because the mother of Christ is a lioness. For as a lioness brings forth only once, so also the Blessed Virgin. Whether this is true of a lioness, I have disputed in Ezekiel xix. Eighth, the same St. Epiphanius in the Physiologus teaches that the lion covering its own footprints is a symbol of God difficult to know, and of Christ. "When the lion, he says, wanders on the mountain and scents the hunter, it covers its own footprints with its tail, so that the hunters following in them may not find its lair and capture it. Thus Christ the spiritual lion, who conquered from the tribe of Judah, sent by the Father, covered his own footprints, that is his divinity: for he emptied himself and descended into Mary's womb, that he might save the human race deceived by fraud. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt in us. Wherefore those who did not know that he had descended from above said: Who is this King of glory? But the Holy Spirit: The Lord, he says, of hosts, he is the King of glory." He adds that the whelp of a lion is born dead and blind, and on the third day, the father lion breathing upon it, receives life and sight: thus also Christ vivified and illuminated the nations dead in sin and blind in faith, when on the third day he rose from the dead. But physicists deny this of the lion, nor does it seem probable, unless you say that the lion's whelp is not dead, but sleeping and resembling the dead is awakened by the lion. Finally, a lion was carved on the tomb of strong men, as was done for the Thebans who fell in battle against Philip, as Pausanias teaches in the Boeotian history. Ptolemaeus Hephaestion teaches that Hercules was the author of this symbol, and from him our Nicholas Causinus, Elect. Symb., page 190. Therefore a lion is owed to the tomb of Christ, the strongest, dying for the salvation of the world. ROOT OF DAVID. — The Syrian, that root of David, namely celebrated and distinguished, not that which produced David, but that which was produced and generated from David, that is to say Christ is the root, that is the branch and stock, from the root, that is from the family of David now almost cut down, extinct, laid low, and in the root alone under the earth as if hidden, sprouting forth and sprung up, who restored this royal family of David and its kingdom not temporal but spiritual, indeed far more and more gloriously than it had been under David. It is a metonymy. Whence the Arabic translator rendered it, from the tribe of Judah and from the root of David. That this is the meaning is clear from the last chapter, verse 16, where Christ says: "I am the root and the offspring of David." Therefore "root" is the same as offspring, that is the shoot and son of David. He alludes to Isaiah XI, 1: "And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root." And to Isaiah chapter LIII, verse 2: "And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground." Thus Ribera, Alcazar and others. This sense is genuine. Yet hear also the interpretations of others. First, Andrew and Rupert: Christ is called, they say, the root of David as to his divinity, although as to his humanity he himself was from the root of David. For Christ as man was born from the seed of David; but as God, he was the root, that is the creator and Lord of David. Second, as to his humanity, says Arethas and Ansbertus, David was as it were the seed from which Christ was born, who is as it were the root sprouting forth all the faithful, all grace, all glory. Third, Pererius says: David was the root of Christ as to nature; Christ in turn was the root of David with respect to the eminent sanctification, exaltation and glorification of David. For on this account David was so exalted by God and heaped with so many gifts, that from his stock Christ was to be born, and therefore was to be called the son of David. Whence St. Bernard, sermon 1 On Easter: "Rightly, he says, holy David, you call your son your Lord, because you do not bear the root, but the root bears you." Hence the Poles, Ruthenians and Muscovites call the Blessed Virgin Bogoriza, that is the root of God, because namely from her as from a root Christ God and the Son of God was born.
5:6
6. AND BEHOLD IN THE MIDST OF THE THRONE AND THE FOUR ANIMALS. — "In the midst," that is, between the throne and the four animals: for the Lamb was not in the throne itself; for in verse 7 it is said that he came and took the book from the hand of him that sat upon the throne. But he was near the throne, or next to the throne, so that he was in the middle between the throne and the four animals and the elders. For the Lamb here is the mediator of God, of the angels and of men. The order of this whole vision therefore was as follows. God sat upon the throne, near him was the Lamb, whom the animals followed, surrounding both the Lamb and the throne from its four sides; after the animals followed the 24 elders sitting upon their thrones, holding in one hand a phial of aromatics, or incense, in the other a harp; after the elders followed thousands of thousands of Angels crying out: "Thou art worthy, O Lord," etc. Alcazar beautifully depicts all this, page 420. A LAMB STANDING. — Christ, who on account of his strength was called a lion a little before, is here called a lamb on account of his immolation, meekness and innocence. Hence John the Baptist, pointing to Christ with his finger: "Behold," he says, "the Lamb of God, behold he that taketh away the sins of the world," John I. Hear St. Bernard, sermon 1 On the Pasch: "John had heard of a lion, and saw a lamb; the lamb opened the book, and the lion appeared: it is fitting that he should not lose meekness, but receive strength, so that he may remain a lamb and be a lion." Note: Christ is called the "Lamb of God," because by God, that is, by the command and will of God, he was immolated for the redemption of men, just as the sacrifice of Abraham is called, which Abraham offered, as Theophylactus, Euthymius and Maldonatus say. Or, because he himself was offered and immolated to God. Or "of God," that is, divine, on account of the divinity which was in him. Or, as Clement of Alexandria, book 1 Paedagogus, chapter v, and from him Toletus in chapter 1 of St. John, because he was made for us a child and an infant of the Father; for we call children Lambs. The words of Clement are: "Since Scripture calls children and infants Lambs, God, who is the Word, who for us became man, who wished to be made like us in all things, called the Lamb of God, the Son of God, the infant of the Father," that is to say, Christ is the Lamb of God, that is, the Son of God: for Lamb denotes the Son; just as in Genesis xlix, the whelp of a lion is said, to signify mystically the Son of God, which many of the ancients have noted. Thus here he calls not a sheep, not a cow, but a Lamb, so that he might signify that this man is the Son of God, not the Father, not the Holy Spirit. Moreover, "the infant of the Father" is said by Clement improperly: for Christ, being equal to the Father and coeternal with him, is not rightly called the infant of the Father, as he is God; for as he is man, it can rightly be said of him. Our John the Evangelist follows John the Baptist, who repeatedly calls Christ a Lamb, and is wonderfully delighted with the word Lamb, so much so that in the Apocalypse he calls him Lamb twenty-seven times, as can be seen in the Concordances of the Bibles. Beautifully does St. Augustine say, sermon 50 On the Words of the Lord: "What sayest thou, Lord, good Shepherd? For thou art the good Shepherd, who art also a good lamb: the same Shepherd and pasture, the same lamb and lion." Hence also St. Peter, beholding the innocence of Christ, says that we are redeemed "with the precious blood as it were of a lamb unspotted, of Christ." On account of these figures and prophecies of the lamb concerning Christ, it was an ancient custom to depict Christ in the form of a lamb, which the precursor points out with his finger, as the sixth Synod held in Trullo teaches, Canon 82, where it also commands this custom to be retained and adds the reason, "that through the same, (the Lamb)," it says, "understanding in our mind the humiliation of the Word of God, we may also be led to the remembrance of his conversation in the flesh, and of his passion and saving death, and of the redemption of the world which was made by him." And the Roman and Latin Church has always retained this use, although the Greeks, on account of the calumnies of the Iconoclasts, sometimes forbade Christ to be painted in any form other than human, for the reason which Gabriel Vasquez gives, book II On Adoration, chapter II; for in Rome and in other Churches of the Latins, "in the ancient cemeteries and tombs one can see Christ depicted in mosaic work, or carved as a lamb; and also from sacred wax holy images of lambs are made in the Roman Order collected by Gelasius (as the more constant opinion holds) from the ancient use of that Church. On the same Sunday after the Octave of Easter, that is, in the Octave of the Pasch, within the City of Rome, wax lambs are given by the Archdeacon in the Church after Mass and the communion of the people, etc. These things indeed, preserved in the Roman Church of old, never afterwards discontinued, have persisted until now," says Cardinal Baronius, in the year of Christ 692, page 614. Note here the use of blessed wax lambs, as if it were a customary and ancient practice, praised by Gelasius, who lived about eleven hundred years ago, namely around the year of Christ 500. Certainly the baptized, when they laid aside the white garment received at baptism on Dominica in Albis, received in its place this wax lamb blessed by the Pontiff, so that they might be reminded to keep before their eyes and preserve the Lamb Christ and His innocence received at baptism. See Joseph Vicecomites in Observationes Ecclesiasticae. Finally, Pope Sergius, in the year of Christ 701: "He decreed that at the time of the Lord's body, 'Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us,' should be sung by the clergy and people," says Anastasius the Librarian, and from him Baronius. Thus indeed the Church wished to continually set before us the idea, memory, love, worship and invocation of this Lamb. Tropologically, through this form of lamb, Christ signified how precious and dear to Himself and to God is meekness, and how it itself is strong and invincible: namely Christ, as the firstborn Lamb of God, loves lambs, loves sheep, loves young goats, loves the innocent, loves virgins, loves martyrs, because they are meek, and through meekness He makes them superior to all enemies, all torments, all temptations. This therefore is the secret which Christ teaches us through the lamb, namely that meekness and patience are the shields of the faithful in defensive war, and equally unconquerable weapons in offensive war, by which all adversities and all adversaries are overcome, indeed subjugated. For meekness not only conquers enemies, but also overcomes vices, not only pride, anger, envy, impatience, but also lust and all concupiscence, as Cassian and the ancient Ascetics teach, and indeed Truth itself clearly pronounces: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land," Matt. cap. v. STANDING,—that is, lying down, says Alcazar: for it follows: "As if slain;" for slain lambs are accustomed to lie down, not to stand. But the Greek ἑστηκός properly signifies standing, not lying down, and thus all Interpreters translate it here: although this Lamb was once slain, yet He was now living. For He came and took the book from the hand of Him that sat upon the throne, verse 7. He stood therefore, not lay down. First therefore, "standing," because Christ rose to immortal life, says the Gloss. Second, "standing," as if prepared to complete the work of redemption begun by Himself, says Richard. Third, "standing," to judge, says Pannonius. Fourth, "standing," to help, says Ansbert, Hugh and others. Fifth, St. Augustine in Questions on the New Testament, Question LXXXVIII: Christ, he says, stands before the throne of God, as our advocate interceding for us. AS IF SLAIN,—in the past tense (for it was slain, which is of past time), not in the present, that is, not one who was still being slain and dead, but one who a short time before, namely for three days, had been slain and dead; for immediately on the third day He rose and came to life: whence He appeared to John living and glorious, and was seen to stand, not to lie down: thus Aretas, Ambrose and Haymo. For Christ's death, on account of the swiftness of the resurrection, was not so much death, which brings corruption of the body and dissolution of the members, as an image of death and a kind of sleep. Whence the elders in their hymn acclaim Him, verse 9: "Because thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God in thy blood." Second, "as if slain," because Christ rising preserved the scars of the five wounds by which He was slain; whence on account of these He appeared similar to one slain. Thus Andrew of Caesarea. Otherwise Aureolus and Lyranus: for they think that Christ is called "the Lamb as if slain," on account of the Eucharist, in which Christ is not slain, but as if slain, because the Eucharist represents to us the slaying and death of Christ: thus Alcazar. In this whole vision, he says, there is an allusion to the temple of Solomon, as I said at the end of chapter iv. In the Lamb therefore there is an allusion to the perpetual sacrifice, namely of the lamb, which was offered daily both morning and evening, as God had commanded in Exodus xxix, 39. Namely, so that through it this Lamb of God might be perpetually represented, who is daily immolated in the Eucharist in the Christian Church, to whose perpetual immolation the Church owes the opening of the seven seals and the perfect penetration of the sanctuaries of heavenly wisdom. Hence for "as if slain," in Greek it is ὡς ἐσφαγμένον, that is, as if slaughtered and immolated. For thus in Hebrew זבח zabach, that is, to sacrifice, to immolate, the Septuagint are wont to translate. There appeared therefore here to John the Lamb as if slain, and then he rose, and ascended to the throne of his eternal Father, and having received from his right hand the book, he opened it, which is the same as if it were said: That which Christ, undergoing death, rising again and ascending gloriously, effected (namely to reconcile us to God, and to show his virtue and power by rising again, and to ascend to the highest place and throne of heaven, and thence to send his spirit into the Apostles and the faithful), the same thing is daily renewed, and again made and represented in this sacrifice of the Mass; and therefore from this sacrifice there flows into the orthodox Church the communication of the Holy Spirit: which mysteries the book sealed with seven seals reveals and unfolds. Hence St. Andrew, when the proconsul of Aegae compelled him to sacrifice to idols, answered: "I immolate daily to almighty God, who alone is true, not the flesh of bulls, nor the blood of goats, but the immaculate Lamb upon the altar, whose flesh after all the people of believers have eaten it, the Lamb, which has been sacrificed, remains whole and alive." This sense is elegant and pious, and to it the Holy Spirit here looked and alluded, but rather mystical than literal. For literally here John saw Christ, not in the Eucharist, but in himself under the form of a Lamb slain and immolated on the cross. But, because the same is the Lamb who is daily immolated in the Eucharist, which represents and exhibits the same one slain on the cross, hence to the Eucharist also these things can be extended symbolically. For the same is the sacrifice of the cross and of the Eucharist, whether you regard the victim, or the representation, or the fruit and effect. HAVING SEVEN HORNS AND SEVEN EYES. — Alcazar depicts these seven horns in the Lamb quite fittingly, so that in the manner of a crown they surround the head, namely the summit of the forehead: then in the same way he places single eyes under single horns, and distributes them at equal intervals: and besides these seven symbolic eyes, he gives it two natural ones, in the place and manner in which lambs are wont to have them. You ask, what are these seven horns and seven eyes? First, Viegas says: The seven horns, he says, signify the full power, strength and dominion of Christ, which he obtained in his passion, and immediately upon rising showed forth. To this Alcazar adds: It is signified here, he says, the seven spirits, that is the gifts of divine providence, of which it was said in chapter 1, verse 4, and the sense is, as if to say, God the Father communicated to Christ as man these seven gifts of his, and constituted him the monarch of the whole world and universal ruler. For "The Father gave him (the Son) power to do judgment, because he is the Son of Man," John v, 27; whence Isaiah says of him in chapter xvi, verse 1: "Send forth the lamb, O Lord, the ruler of the earth." Hence these horns were arranged in the manner of a crown, which signifies principality. Whence Alcazar infers with Rupert, the seven spirits, seven horns, seven lamps, seven eyes, seven seals of the book, all these, I say, signify one and the same thing. Second, Ansbert, Bede and Rupert, by the seven horns and seven eyes, judge that the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are signified, which are called eyes, on account of the grace and power of illuminating which they have: they are also called horns, on account of the excellence of strength and power which they contain. Third, Joachim by the seven horns takes the seven angels of the Churches of Asia, of which chapters II and III. Fourth, Ambrose by the seven horns takes the seven ages of the world from Adam until the end of the world; or rather all the Saints and elect of Christ, who flourished in seven, that is in all ages, namely in every century. Fifth, Dionysius by the seven horns takes all the kingdoms and empires of the world, which are in the hand and power of Christ. Sixth and best, Pererius and Ribera by the seven horns and seven eyes take the seven spirits, as John himself immediately explains, namely the seven primary angels presiding over the Church and the whole world, of which chapter 1, verse 4, and chapter IV, verse 5. These are said to be horns, because they are most strong to overcome demons, to guard the Church, to work miracles, to defend the just and to avenge the impious. These same are called eyes, because they are most keen-sighted and most vigilant to know and fulfill God's will, to procure the salvation of the Church and of men: whence of them it is said in Zechariah IV, 10: "These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which run throughout all the earth," as also here they are said to be sent into all the earth, which cannot be understood of any others than of these angels. Furthermore, that these horns of the lamb are most strong is evident, because with them he subdued the whole world; whence they are compared to the rhinoceros in Deuteronomy XXXIII, 17: "The horns of the rhinoceros are his horns, with them he shall push the nations," which Tertullian, in his book Against the Jews, explains mystically of the horns of the cross of Christ, by which he was slain, and merited these horns of angels: "Christ," he says, "was signified, whose horns would be the extremities of the cross; for by this virtue of the cross he now winnows all nations through faith, taking them from the earth to heaven, and then will winnow them through judgment." And Habakkuk also prophesies of these horns of the cross of Christ in chapter III, verse 4, saying: "Horns are in his hands, there his strength is hidden;" for which the Septuagint translates: Horns in his hands, and he placed strong love of his strength; namely: "For this reason," says St. Jerome, "God the Father covered the heavens with glory, and filled the earth with praise, and placed horns, that is the kingdom in the hand of his Son, so that he might make his beloved to be loved by men, and to be loved not lightly, but vehemently and strongly." For strong as death was his love toward us, hard as hell his zeal: which therefore casts strong arrows of love upon us, by which it wounds and pierces our heart, so that we may love him in return with strong love, and through crosses, through darts, through enemies and fires run after him, saying with Paul: "Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or hunger?" etc.
5:7
7. AND HE CAME AND TOOK THE BOOK OUT OF THE RIGHT HAND OF HIM THAT SAT ON THE THRONE. — By this vision and symbol is signified that Christ has all knowledge, care and providence of the Church and of His elect. Again, that from the book, which is the law of God's decrees, as judge He pronounces and inflicts punishments and torments upon the impious, and rewards upon the pious. Alcazar thus explains it, as if to say: The Lamb which lay as if slain suddenly rose up as a lion, namely when on the third day He rose from death and the underworld; and He opened the book with great amazement of the whole world, when He manifested to men the mysteries of God and the hidden depths of His wisdom. But in the preceding verse we heard and saw "the Lamb standing," not lying down; unless you say that the Lamb did not lie down with its side cast to the earth and its head bowed, but leaning on its knees stood upright in a prostrate position, as lambs and sheep are accustomed to do when they eat and chew the cud, so that it could be said at the same time to have stood and lain down, and consequently to have risen up and raised itself on its feet when it approached the throne of God, about to receive the book from Him. For although it bore the marks and scars of the death it had undergone, and on account of these appeared slain and dead, it was in truth already alive for a long time, namely for sixty-three years (for so many years are there from the year of Christ 34, when He died and rose again, to the year of Christ 97, when John saw these things and wrote them) since it had risen from the dead. Furthermore the Lamb received with its feet and opened the book; for the feet of the lamb serve in place of hands. Thus we see apes and other animals accomplish with their feet what men accomplish with their hands: so also this Lamb used its feet in place of hands: especially because it appeared symbolically in the vision to John, not truly and really. Mystically Rupert notes that it is said "from the right hand," which represents eternal goods, not from the left, which represents transitory goods. "It is to be noted carefully," he says, "that when Christ came into this world through the mystery of the Incarnation, He took nothing of riches or glory from the left; but only the book, or the fiery law, from the right: offering a good example to all His disciples and those who believe in Him, He wished for and sought nothing of riches or glory in this world."
5:8
8. AND WHEN HE HAD OPENED THE BOOK. — You will say: The Lamb had not yet broken the seals of the book; for he breaks them in chapter VI and following. How then is it said here that he opened the book, when the book could not be opened unless the seals were first opened? Bede responds first that there is a mystery here: for the fact that the book was opened first, then the seals were opened, signifies that Christ, when he rose, opened the book, but at Pentecost when he sent the Holy Spirit, then at last he broke the seals of the book's mysteries. Hence others say that Christ first opened the book, that is, gave to his own faith in divine mysteries; then broke the seals, that is, communicated a clearer understanding of the same. But truly the mysteries of the book are one thing, the mysteries of the seals another; nor could the book and its mysteries be opened unless the seals were first opened, as I have already said. Secondly, others respond that it is a prolepsis, or anticipation. For the opening of the book, which happened later, namely after the seals were broken, is placed before. But this prolepsis seems harder and too much anticipated; especially because in chapter VIII, after the seventh and last seal was opened, it is said there was silence in heaven for half an hour; therefore this adoration of the elders and Angels and glorification of God could not have taken place then. I say therefore, "when he had opened," that is, began to open, "the book," for he broke the seals of the book gradually and in order, as is clear in chapter VI, verse 1 and following. An inchoate act is signified here, not a completed one, as often elsewhere. For when the elders and angels saw that the Lamb could open the book, and was in fact opening the first seal, before he had fully opened it, they immediately burst forth into doxology: whence the Greek texts have ὅτε ἔλαβε, when he had received the book; and thus Primasius, Arius and others read it: although Alcazar says he saw a Greek manuscript in which it read ἐπεὶ ἤνοιξε, that is, when he had opened; thus also our Interpreter seems to have read it. Alcazar responds differently, namely, that this book had been opened many times, and again closed. And so the Lamb here first perfectly opened the book, and broke all its seals, to show his power and ability: whence immediately the elders and angels glorified him equally as God; which done, the Lamb again closed the book and sealed it with its seals. Finally, he opened it again, breaking its seals gradually in chapter VI and following, so that the mysteries of each seal might be presented more fully and plainly for contemplation. But John says nothing of this repeated and frequent opening and closing of the book: and it seems lighter and less befitting the dignity of the Lamb. Note: All these things were not really happening, nor were they actually taking place, but only symbolically in a vision. For the Angel was painting these symbols in the imagination of St. John, so that he himself seemed to see a throne, four living creatures, elders, the Lamb receiving the book, and breaking its seals. Symbolically, St. Gregory, homily 16 on Ezekiel: "The sealed book," he says, "the Lion of the tribe of Judah alone opened, because he revealed to us all its mysteries in his passion and resurrection. And by the fact that he bore the evils of our weakness, he showed us the goods of his power and brightness. For he became flesh, that he might make us spiritual; he bent down kindly, that he might lift us up; he went out, that he might bring us in; he appeared visible, that he might show invisible things; he endured scourges, that he might heal; he sustained reproaches and mockeries, that he might free us from eternal reproach; he died, that he might give life. Let us therefore give thanks to him who gives life and died." EACH HAVING HARPS. — "Each," namely the 24 elders. Ansbert and Alcazar extend "each" by force also to the four living creatures, by enallage of masculine gender, which here includes also the neuter: whence he himself depicts the four living creatures, equally as the elders, holding a harp in one hand, a phial of incense, or frankincense, in the other; but so that when they played the harp, they set down the phial before them. HARPS AND GOLDEN PHIALS FULL OF ODOURS. — Harps, says Andrew, signify the harmonious and sweet praise of God; frankincense signifies the sacrifice which the faithful offer to God through chastity and integrity of morals; phials are pious and pure thoughts, from which this frankincense exhales. Secondly, Rupert: Harps, he says, are chaste breasts, with the plectrum of the tongue resounding the praises of God; phials are hearts dilated with charity. Thus also Richard, Bede and Hugh explain the phials; indeed Ansbert: "A phial," he says, "is charity; it is golden, that is, precious." Thus also Viegas. Thirdly, Richard again: Harps, he says, which are played by hand, signify the good works of the Saints, which by their effects and their fame, like sweet and likewise powerful sounds, stir up their neighbors to the love of God. Thus also Pannonius understands by harps a spiritual harmony resulting from the consonance of various virtues, by which the Saints always praise God. For in the strings of a harp each has its own sound, grave, acute, middle, and one different from another: these the harpist modulates and tempers by his art. Thus the senses in the body are, as it were, strings in a harp, composed: the harpist is the wise mind, which commands with them, the spirit discerns what is discordant, what is harmonious, what temperament is to be applied to each thing, so that it may meditate, undertake, do nothing that does not correspond to the modes and tones, whence a harmonious concord may be heard. Hence some think harmony is so called because various strings come together into one harmony: although others prefer harmony to be derived from the heart. Thus Cicero in Tusculan Disputations 1: "To some," he says, "the heart itself seems to be the mind, from which are derived 'without heart,' 'senseless,' and 'harmonious.'" This sense is illustrious, but moral and tropological. Wherefore a harp is a hieroglyph of a settled and composed mind, indeed also its cause. Hence the Spartans drew up their battle lines to the sound of the lyre and harp, rejecting trumpets and war-horns, so that they might engage in battle with a more settled mind. Whence Homer gave noise and tumult to the barbarians in their first encounter, while the Greeks advanced into battle gradually and silently. Yet Caesar reproved this cold hesitation in Pompey, since he was victorious in Pharsalia by the ardor of his soldiers. Thus Pierius, Hieroglyphics XLVII, chapter x. Fourthly, Alcazar: The adoration of the Lamb, he says, is to be referred to the sacrifice of the Mass; for those graces are pleasing to Christ our Redeemer above all others which are offered to him in the sacrifice of the altar: which is therefore called the Eucharist, that is, thanksgiving, and in it thanks are given to Christ, because he redeemed us by his blood, and has enriched us with many other benefits which flowed from the redemption. Hence those adoring say: "Because thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God in thy blood." The reason for this is that he himself considers the twenty-four elders to be priests of the New Testament, whose proper function is to sacrifice and offer the sacrifice of the Mass: for this is their adoration and Eucharist, that is, thanksgiving. They have therefore harps, and they play them, that is they exult and give thanks to God for the conversion of sinners. For they give thanks to God and Christ, because he communicated his spirit to hard men, when he opened to them the sealed book, that is, when he illuminated them with the light of his doctrine and the Gospel, as he did to Saul, when he made him Paul. For harps signify joy and the pleasure of gladness. The golden phials are golden chalices, by which they offer the sacrifice of the Mass: for these chalices spiritually accomplish the same thing as phials or censers, in which incense is burned. For priests in the chalice of the Mass offer incense, that is the contrition and prayers of those who have been brought to the knowledge and love of God. Whence in the oblation of the chalice it is said: "We offer unto thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation, beseeching thy clemency, that it may ascend in the sight of thy divine majesty for our salvation and that of the whole world." But all these things are allegorical and mystical, not literal. Add: the form and use of phials is altogether different from that of chalices; for chalices are deep and narrow, phials wide and flat, as he himself depicts them. Fifth, therefore, genuinely and plainly according to the letter, by harps first, understand by synecdoche musical instruments, namely organs, harps, lyres, pipes, etc., by which the Saints in their glorified body sing psalms and praise God: for St. John here insinuates that these will be in heaven, as also in chapter xiv, verse 2, where he heard from heaven a voice and a symphony as of "harpers harping on their harps." For the bodies and ears of the Blessed, as well as their other senses, equally as their mind and spirit, will have their pleasure in heaven, and that the greatest. But the melody of instruments is greater and sweeter than that of voices; and the highest and altogether perfect melody is when organs, harps and lyres sound in harmony and resound together with voices. If therefore here in churches we praise God, not only with voices, but also with organs and other musical instruments, why not also in heaven, where that praise and hymnody will be far more full and harmonious? Moreover those heavenly harps and organs are far more precious, sublime and resonant than ours. Hence St. Anselm in the Elucidarium: "O what pleasure," he says, "of hearing for those to whom the harmonies of the heavens sound incessantly, and the concert of angels, the sweet-sounding organs of all the Saints!" St. Augustine in the Meditations, chapter xxv: "All," he says, "their work is praise of God without end, without defect, without labour. Happy therefore, and truly happy forever, if after the dissolution of this little body I shall merit to hear those songs of heavenly melody, which are sung to the praise of the eternal King by the citizens of that heavenly country." And Clarius, chapter xxvi in the Hymn of Paradise: "New harmonies," he says, "the melodious voice ever resounds, and organs brought forth in jubilation delight the ears; those who are victors give praises to the King." Finally, in the Lives of the Saints we read not rarely that they heard music, not only of voices, but also of heavenly instruments, as St. Bonaventure relates of St. Francis, that when he desired to hear heavenly music, God granting it, he heard an angel most skillfully playing the harp. Second, by harps understand with Andrew of Caesarea and Areta any modulation and hymnody, by which with harmonious voice all the Saints uniformly praise God; so that it is a metalepsis, as if to say: These twenty-four elders were expedited with the four animals, prepared, prompt and eager to modulate eucharistic hymns, and to sound forth the praises of God and the Lamb, and that in harmony and consonance, as if all had been harpers. For in the concert of many voices, equally as of harps or other musical instruments, is elegantly intimated the admirable charity and concord of the Blessed, and the greatest glory of God and Christ, which from that harmonious consent and common doxology of all shines forth and is resplendent. For music is the symbol of concord, as not only the sacred writers, but also Plato and Cicero have taught. He names harps, because these resound sweetly with melody. Harps therefore befit heaven, where pleasure is blessed; the trumpet befits the earth, where there are battles. William of Paris, book II On the Universe, part II, folio 166, column 2, says: "The mouth of any glorified one will be as a harp of innumerable strings, and of innumerable pipes; and there will be from the mouth of each glorified man a sonority of innumerable voices or sounds, marvellous and unthinkable to us here, sweetly consonant with one another, and audible to the ears of that perfection all together." This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm cxlix, verse 5: "Let the saints be joyful in glory, let them be merry in their beds: let the high praises of God be in their mouth." Where St. Basil: "High praises," he says, "he calls hymns and psalms." These harps therefore signify the supreme joy and jubilation of the Blessed; second, the supreme praise of God; third, the supreme concord and consonance of the Blessed among themselves. Mystically and tropologically, Primasius understands by the harp the cross of the Lamb, that is of Christ (for his insignia do these elders, the attendants and followers of the Lamb, bear), and the imitation of his passion and mortification. So also Bede, Rupert, Ansbert and Hugh, by harps understand the mortification of the flesh, by which the twenty-four elders and other Saints reached heaven and these heavenly harps and thrones; and this first, because as in a harp the strings, so in mortification the members are stretched and tormented. Such harps resounding sweet melody in the ears of God were the Martyrs stretched on the rack and beaten, as St. Romanus, whose voice this is in Prudentius in the Hymn: You think me wretched, that I hang twisted back / Stretched with arms extended, that my feet are torn away, / My frame sounds with sinews cracking. And again: Hear all, I cry out far and proclaim, / I send forth my voice from the lofty scaffold. On this harp the Guardian of the Minorites of Canterbury sang a swan song, who, together with his Religious, was condemned to the gallows by Henry VIII, King of England, in the year of Christ 1537, and as he ascended the steps, he sang: "I will freely sacrifice to thee, and will confess to thy name, because it is good," as the English Martyrologies report. Secondly, because, as Ansbert says, on a harp some strings are stretched more, others less, so that some producing a high sound, others a low sound, make a harmony: so also in the Church, some undergo more mortification, others less, but devote themselves more to works of charity and mercy, and from all a beautiful harmony is made by which God is praised. Thirdly, as St. Gregory says, book III of the Morals, chapter III, just as on a harp a string, if stretched too little, does not sound; if too much, sounds harshly: so mortification, if it be lighter or more rigid than is just, does not sound in God's ears, nor does it please him. Fourthly, just as a harp sounds from its lower part, so mortification, subduing the lower powers of the soul and the flesh, causes them to resound and praise God. Thus St. Augustine on that verse of Psalm XLII: "I will confess to thee on the harp, O God, my God;" to which St. John here alludes. Again, our Viegas and others understand by harps the preaching of the Gospel and the word of God, and its very preachers, of whom Isaiah speaks mystically, chapter xvi: "My belly shall sound for Moab like a harp." Where St. Jerome teaches that a preacher, like a harp, ought to excel in the harmony of all virtues. Thus Clement of Alexandria in the Exhortation to the Gentiles says that Christ was a certain new harpist, who by the new sweetness of harmony drew all things to himself like Amphion, of whom it is said: "Amphion moved stones by singing." And like Orpheus, whom the poets fable to have attracted wild beasts, forests and rocks by song alone. "For thus Christ," he says, "drew to himself the Gentiles, who were like wolves, indeed stones and rocks, because they worshipped stones and rocks, and transformed them into men. See how much the new song could do, which made men out of stones and beasts." Thus Alexander the monk in the Life of St. Barnabas: "Barnabas," he says, "a great orator of the Church, a trumpet of evangelical preaching, a great voice of Christ, a harp of the Holy Spirit, a plectrum of divine grace, a pearl of virginity," etc. To this pertains the verse accustomed to be sung by the Spartans, which Plutarch cites, book II On the Fortune of Alexander: It turns to deadly iron, prettily to sing on the harp. By which they signified that by certain modes and modulations of the harp the motions of souls are calmed, others hearing are stimulated to battle. When Alexander the Great heard Antigonidas playing the modes on the pipe which are called Harmatian, he was so inflamed that, rising up together with his arms, he laid hands on those sitting nearby. The ancients excelled in these musical tones, so that by varying the tone and modulation at will, now to laughter, soon to tears, thence suddenly to anger, they stirred up those hearing, so that their affections seemed to be in their hand and power. Such are still some, especially in Italy. Let the preacher be such. Truly St. Augustine said, book X of the Confessions, chapter xxxiii, and from him St. Thomas, II II, Question XCI, article 2, at the end: "All the affections of our spirit, according to their diversity, have their own modes in voice and song, by whose secret familiarity they are stirred up." And this is the reason why in Italy, especially in Apulia, we see those who are seized with lethargy by the bite of tarantulas, are aroused by a certain tone of harmony, and by dancing and sweating cast off the poison. In the association therefore of voices and harps, is signified here the perfect preaching of the Gospel, in which the example of holy life ought to be joined and associated with sound doctrine of voice. For by the mouth is sung, but the harp is struck by the hands. Such were the Apostles, and are even now apostolic men, who moving hand equally as tongue in the praise of God, are as it were divine Orpheuses and Amphions, who wild beasts, forests and rocks, that is fierce, rude, hard and barbarous men drew and draw to the faith and sanctity of Christ. Whom as heavenly wise men, orators and musicians praising, Ecclesiasticus, cap. xxxix, vers. 17, exhorts and incites saying: "Hearken unto me, ye divine fruit," that is, as in Greek, υἱοὶ ὅσιοι, that is holy sons, "flourish," that is produce, "flowers" as the lily, "and give odour, and be leafy in grace," that is with grace, and graciously, as if he should say: Preach God of sanctity and of holy fame by odour, and by the grace of Christian eloquence together, that with Paul ye may be a good odour of Christ to the whole world unto life, "Give magnificence to his name in songs of lips and harps," as if to say: Join lips with hands, sound forth with the plectrum of lips equally as of hands the praises of Christ and his Gospel: by this harmony ye shall also soothe the hardest hearts, and shall draw them to the love and praise of God; and thus through you, and through those converted by you, ye shall magnificently celebrate the grace and glory of God and Christ. This sense is pious and elegant, but mystical, not literal, as its authors wish. For the voices and melody of these harp-players in this chapter are not directed literally to the people, but to God and the Lamb, whom they glorify with a eucharistic hymn. This is therefore a doxology of God and the Lamb, not however a sermon to the people, nor a preaching of the Gospel. AND GOLDEN PHIALS FULL OF ODOURS, WHICH ARE THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS. — Symbolically phials are here employed (for truly in heaven the Saints have no need of phials, that they might offer to God the prayers of the saints), and were seen by John; because in phials incense is wont to be offered in the temple of Solomon, on the altar of incense, to which this alludes. For incense was composed of odours, namely of galbanum, stacte, onycha and frankincense, whose literal and moral explanation I have reviewed in Exodus cap. xxx, vers. 34. Note: The prayers of the Saints are compared here to the burning not of any thing, but of odours. First, because prayer like frankincense ascends upward. Hence the Psalmist says, Psalm. cxl, vers. 2: "Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight." Secondly, because as frankincense is fragrant, so the prayers of the Saints delight God, and his subtle and divine nostrils. Hence of the sacrifice and prayers of Noah it is said Genesis viii, 21: "And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and said: I will no more curse the earth." Thirdly, as frankincense drives away stench, so prayer drives away sin, and mitigates the wrath of God. Fourthly, incense was burned and consumed in fire: so prayer is kindled in the fire of tribulations. Fifthly, incense was made from aromatic substances bruised, so prayer ought to proceed from a mortified and humble soul. Hence St. Gregory, hom. 22 in Ezech., explaining that passage Canticles III, 6, Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatic substances of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powder of the perfumer?: "Smoke," he says, "from aromatic substances is compunction of prayer conceived from the virtues of love; which prayer however is called a pillar of smoke, because, while it seeks only heavenly secrets, it proceeds, so that it may in no way be turned back to asking for earthly things. It is added, Of myrrh and frankincense, because frankincense is burned in sacrifice, myrrh is used to anoint dead bodies, lest they be corrupted by worms. Wherefore they offer a sacrifice of myrrh and frankincense, who both afflict their flesh, lest the vices of corruption dominate them, and kindle before the Lord a victim fragrant with the odour of their love." Viegas adds that the fire by which incense was burned in the Holy Place was accustomed to be brought from the altar of holocausts, which was in the courtyard, to the altar of incense, which was in the Holy Place; because namely the fervor of prayers arises from perfect mortification, from which one must never cease, on account of the continual motions of concupiscence rebelling against the spirit; for this is what the fire signifies, which was to be continually nourished on the altar of holocausts by the law of God, Leviticus chapter vi, verse 12. Whoever therefore strives to devote himself to prayer while not applying himself to mortification, does the same as if someone wished to burn incense without fire. Whence in the Canticle chapter v, verse 1, it is said: "I have gathered my myrrh with my spices," because namely both must be joined together, namely the myrrh of mortification and the spices of prayer. And in the Canticle chapter iv, verse 6, it is said: "I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense;" which words are of the bridegroom, as if he said: I will visit those who are occupied in the difficult works of mortification, as if on mountains; and those who rest in the sweetness of prayer, as if on hills flowing from that mountain. For prayer is as it were a hill, which extends from the mountain of mortification: for mountains are accustomed to end in hills. Finally, many have beautiful harps, that is, external voices by which they sing the praises of God, but they are destitute of golden bowls full of perfumes, that is, internal devotion of heart, which is especially required in this harping. Note here against Vigilantius, Luther, Calvin and other enemies of the Saints, that the Saints pray for us and offer our prayers to God. The same do the Angels, chapter viii, verse 3. Moreover, this especially befits the Apostles and Prelates, such as these 24 elders were: for it is their office to offer to God the prayers and necessities of the faithful subject to them.
5:9
9. AND THEY SANG A NEW CANTICLE. — In Greek ᾄδουσι, that is, they sing continually and perpetually. You will ask why this canticle is called new? I answer, because the singers were new, namely the Apostles and Patriarchs, renewed, not only by grace, but also by glory in heaven. Secondly, because the matter of the canticle was new, namely the new incarnation of Christ, his passion, redemption; his new and heavenly doctrine, new benefits, new miracles, new Sacraments, new law, new promises, new grace, new glory; but properly here it was the new opening of the new book so full of mysteries, and thus sealed, in which the new victory of Christ and the Church over their enemies, and especially over Antichrist, is described: therefore they sing a new song of triumph to Christ, the new victor. Hear Rupert: "A canticle," he says, "is called new, because it was new that the Son of God became man and underwent the death of the cross; it was new to rise again and ascend into heaven; it was new that sins were forgiven and men were visibly marked with the Holy Spirit; it was new to receive the priesthood of sacred observance and to await the kingdom of immense promise." Hence thirdly, this canticle is called "new," that is, singular, exquisite, excellent, most delightful, always affecting the mind with new gladness and soothing it, and therefore to be repeated again and again, indeed a thousand times and infinitely without weariness. Thus it is said in Jeremiah xxxi, 22: "The Lord hath created a new thing," that is, a singular, excellent, unheard of thing, "upon the earth," namely "a woman shall compass a man," that is, a virgin shall conceive Christ. Fourthly, "new," because it regards and sings the renewal and glorification both of the Lamb and of his spouse, namely the Church and the Saints, the joy and glory both of soul and body. Thus it is said in Psalm cxlix, verse 1: "Sing to the Lord a new canticle." Which Gilbert the Abbot explains, sermon 4 among those which he added to the sermons of St. Bernard on the Canticle: "Truly," he says, "new, whose matter knows not antiquity, whose grace knows not weariness, because it is always fresh with love, fresher with use. Truly new, which renews the minds of men to eternal blessedness. Finally, it is read: Remember not the former things, and look not upon the old things: for behold I make all things new. Justly new, which are not at all confined by the laws of the old nature running its course." And St. Augustine, on Psalm cxlix, verse 1: "The old man," he says, "the old canticle; the new man, the new canticle. The old testament, the old canticle; the new testament, the new canticle. Whoever loves earthly things sings the old canticle. He who wishes to sing the new canticle, let him love eternal things. Love itself is new and eternal. Therefore always new, because it never grows old." And further on: "All therefore who are renewed in Christ, so that they begin to belong to eternal life, sing the new canticle; and this canticle is the canticle of peace, this canticle is the canticle of charity. Whoever separates himself from the communion of the Saints does not sing the new canticle: for he has followed the old animosity, not the new charity." Thus mystically and morally St. Augustine. In a similar manner and for the same reason Christ says in John, chapter 13, verse 34: "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved you." For the commandment of charity, although it was ancient, being of the law of nature, was nevertheless made new by Christ, both in its utterance and in its accomplishment, by reason of a new object and cause. For Christ, who is the head of the Church, having been incarnate, there came to pass a singular communication and union of the members of the Church, both among themselves and with Christ their head, now made homogeneous with them: a union, I say, by nature, by grace, and especially by the sacrament of the Eucharist, by which Christ gives himself to all as food, that he might unite all to himself and to one another; which union is the foundation of a more singular obligation and a closer love of God, of Christ, and of Christians. For by this we are corporally united to God the Word, and to the whole Holy Trinity, and therefore we are bound to love that union more in return, and to love those joined to it, namely our neighbours, more greatly. Christ hinted at this meaning when he added: "That you love one another, as I have loved you," as if to say: I have loved you in a new manner, that by a new charity I might bind you to me and to one another, and might suggest to you a new cause and obligation of love; therefore it is fitting that you love one another with a new and more ardent love than before. For I exact from you only this, that you love one another as I have loved you: this reward of my love I demand from you, this example of new love I suggest, that, stirred by it, you love one another as I have loved you: love me in return, you who love me thus, not so much in myself (for I have no need of this love and aid of yours), but in my members, who are your brothers. And that you may do this, I breathe upon you my grace and spirit, not of fear, but of love, and in a new manner I send you the Holy Spirit; for Christ gave this new commandment properly to Christians, not however to all men, as Toletus rightly observed in that place. For he commands that Christians love one another not merely as neighbours for the sake of God, but as brothers and members of one body of Christ for the sake of Christ. Wherefore Christians are more bound to the duties and acts of this love than other men. Consequently they are bound to sing a new canticle to God, to offer new thanksgiving, on account of this new benefit and commandment of love received from him. Otherwise Alcazar: for he holds, according to his preconceived scope and end, that thanks are rendered to God in this canticle on account of the new conversion of the Jews, hitherto rebellious and attacking the Church, and especially of St. Paul's conversion to Christ. But I have taught above that this is not properly treated here. THOU ART WORTHY, O LORD, TO TAKE THE BOOK, AND TO OPEN THE SEALS THEREOF, BECAUSE THOU WAST SLAIN. — Note the word "because": for it signifies the meritorious cause. Whence it is clear that Christ, by the merit of his passion and death, received from God the power of revealing to whomsoever he wished the future things concerning the governance and propagation of his Church, especially those which shall come to pass under the times of Antichrist, and under his second coming to judgment. AND THOU HAST REDEEMED US TO GOD. — This is the canticle of the four animals, that is, of the primary angels, as well as of the twenty-four elders: not that the angels were redeemed by Christ; but that they speak themselves with the twenty-four elders, who all represent men. With them, therefore, and for them, as if for their clients, whose angels and guardians they are, they say: "Thou hast redeemed us," not for themselves. Rupertus adds that the angels were redeemed through Christ, because through him their ruin, made by the fall of demons, was repaired, and the number of the Blessed and of the triumphant Church was filled up. For "redeemed" in Greek is ἠγόρασας, that is, thou hast bought us; we are therefore servants bought by Christ: this is what Paul says: "You are bought with a great price; glorify and bear God in your body," I Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 20. OUT OF EVERY TRIBE, AND TONGUE, AND PEOPLE. — There is a twofold sense here: The first, thou hast redeemed and chosen us for thyself, few out of all the Gentiles, as it were a singular people. Just as of old out of all the nations of the world thou didst choose Israel for thyself, that it might be thy people and thy Church, Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verse 34. For Christ by his passion merited to receive the power of assuming to himself as a people whomsoever he wished, and of applying to them the merit of his blood, not only as to sufficiency (for thus he applied it to all men), but also as to efficacy. Thus Alcazar explains it. Second, that is to say, Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, us Christians from every nation. For Christianity is scattered throughout all nations: although these twenty-four elders were few, and selected from few nations, and almost entirely from the Jews, nevertheless they represent all Christians, both present and future, just as the senate represents the whole people. Therefore, in the voice and name of the whole Christian people, they speak and say that they have been redeemed from every nation by Christ, and called by Him to the grace and salvation of Christianity. This is what is expressed more clearly in chapter VII, verse 9: "After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and they cried with a loud voice, saying: Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb." For this is indeed a new canticle, by which they celebrate the new benefit of the redemption of the world, that is, of all nations, accomplished through Christ, by which Christ merited the faculty of opening this sealed book, as I said a little before; so that namely He could reveal and explain it to John, and through John to all Christians of all nations, inasmuch as they have been redeemed by Him and chosen by Him, and its mysteries. Therefore this sense is no less fitting than the first. Wherefore the sense will be complete if you join both together, that is to say, Thou hast redeemed us Christians, O Lord, and hast chosen us and sanctified us, not from Jews alone, as formerly; but from every nation: thou hast chosen us, I say, for thou hast left many others from every nation in their infidelity or sins.
5:10
AND THOU HAST MADE US TO OUR GOD A KINGDOM, AND PRIESTS. — For the Church is a priestly kingdom, and a royal priesthood of God and Christ: consequently holy Christians are kings and priests. See what is said in chapter 1, verse 6. They add this, because it was fitting that this sealed book containing the future mysteries of the Church should be revealed to such as these: for it is fitting that priests, as well as kings, should be aware of these things. Truly St. Augustine in the Sentences, Sentence 242: "He does not lack," he says, "royal power, who knows how to rule his own body rationally. For he is truly a lord of the earth, who governs his flesh by the laws of discipline." Whence it follows: AND WE SHALL REIGN UPON THE EARTH, — both this one of the dying: for in this Christians reign and have dominion over the flesh, the world and the devil; and that one of the living in the heavens, when we shall be transferred into it, as these elders had been transferred. For Christians who still live here have dominion over the earth and earthly things; but when they pass to God through martyrdom or death, they have dominion and reign with Christ in heaven: they are therefore lords and kings of heaven and earth. He alludes to what God promised to the Church, Isaiah LXII, 3, saying: "Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of thy God." See what is said there. Whence Rupert notes that it is not said "in the earth," but "upon the earth," because the saints, he says, are in condition upon the earth, but in life and conversation above the earth, and hold dominion over their earthly members. How all the Blessed in the heavens are kings, St. Anselm thus explains, epistle 2 to Hugo: "So great will be the love between God and those who shall be there, and among themselves, that all will mutually love one another as themselves, but all will love God more than themselves. And because of this no one there will wish for anything except what God wishes; and what one wishes, all will wish; and what one or all wish, God Himself will wish the same. Wherefore whatever each one wishes, this will be both concerning himself, and concerning all others, and concerning all creation, and concerning God Himself. And thus each one will be a perfect king, because what each one wishes will be; and all together with God will be one king, and as it were one man, because all will wish one thing, and what they wish will be." And further down, when he had said that the price by which this kingdom is bought is love, he adds: "Finally, because to reign in heaven is nothing other than to be thus joined to God, and to all holy angels and men through love in one will, so that all use together one power: love God more than thyself, and thou already beginnest to hold what thou there perfectly wishest to have. Be in accord with God and men, if only they themselves are not in discord with God, and thou already beginnest to reign with God and with all His Saints. For according as thou shalt be in accord now with God, and with men in their will, God and all the Saints will then be in accord with thee in thy will. If therefore thou wishest to be a king in heaven, love God and men as thou ought, and thou shalt merit to be what thou hopest for."
5:11
11. AND I SAW, AND I HEARD THE VOICE OF MANY ANGELS, — that is to say, I saw innumerable angels and heard their voice; for with one harmonious voice they cried out: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power;" etc. He speaks literally, not of monks and Religious, whom Gregory of Nazianzus calls earthly angels; but of true and heavenly angels, who are innumerable. Whence it follows: AND THE NUMBER OF THEM WAS THOUSANDS OF THOUSANDS. — The Greek Complutensian edition reads, μυριάδες μυριάδων, καὶ χιλιάδες χιλιάδων, that is, myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands. Moreover, myriads of myriads are ten times a thousand times ten thousand. He alludes to Daniel vii, 10: "Thousands of thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him." Alcazar takes these things literally of the sacrifice of the Mass, which the 24 elders, that is, priests, celebrated; for it is proper to angels to assist at the sacrifice of the Mass, and to accompany with reverence the most holy body of Christ. But I have taught above that all these things are not in heaven, not on earth, and signify the glory of heavenly things, not of earthly things.
5:12
12. SAYING WITH A LOUD VOICE. — A loud voice indicates a great affection of mind and ardor for glorifying God and the Lamb, because He had revealed to men the sealed book of God; for indeed the angels rejoice wonderfully in the welfare and salvation of men, and therefore with them and for them they wonderfully praise God. "A cry in God's ears is a vehement desire," says St. Bernard, sermon 16 on Psalm XC. For "with God there avails not a great cry, but great love." Whence St. Augustine in a Sermon: "When you pray," he says, "cry out not with voice, but with mind; for God hears even those who are silent." WORTHY IS THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN TO RECEIVE POWER AND DIVINITY. — "To receive," namely from all men, or "to receive," not in Himself, but in the mind and mouth of men, so that namely all men may acknowledge and praise the power of the Lamb, in Greek δύναμιν, that is, strength and divinity, and may transfer it from their idols to Christ, to whom it truly belongs. For otherwise Christ could not have merited divinity, inasmuch as it in Christ preceded His existence and merit, and was the cause and reason which gave infinite value and power of meriting to His works, as St. Thomas teaches, III part., Question XIX, article 3, Suarez and others. Let therefore Photinus depart, who taught that Christ was a mere man, and by the merits of a holy life merited to receive divinity. For Christ from the beginning of His conception was the Son of God, nor had He any other hypostasis than that of the Son of God. For this is what Gabriel predicted of Him to the Blessed Virgin: "That which shall be born of thee shall be holy, shall be called the Son of God," Luke 1. Let the Nestorians depart much more, and our Socinians, who think that Christ neither from the beginning of the Incarnation nor afterwards was God, but by His holiness merited that He should be called God, that is a divine man, as judges are called gods, Psalm LXXXI: "I have said: You are gods, and all of you the sons of the Most High." For in vain do they strive to prove this from this place, since they themselves equally confess that nothing else is said here than that Christ merited divinity, that is the name, fame and glory of divinity; so that namely He should be honored and worshipped by men, not only as a divine man, but truly as God, as we see Him worshipped and adored throughout the whole world. But He merited a true name, and true fame and glory, not false, not feigned; therefore He truly had divinity in Himself, and was God. This is what the Apostle says, Philippians chapter II, verse 5, of Christ: "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, etc. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross; for which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all names: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth; and every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father." Behold this was the Lamb receiving divinity. Thus Lyra, St. Thomas, Pererius and others. Thus often elsewhere we command God to be given glory, honor, holiness, blessing, not in Himself (for His glory and holiness, since they are in Himself immense, we can add nothing to them), but among men, namely by making men know, worship and praise God's holiness and glory. Note: Just as there were seven seals of the sealed book, which contained seven illustrious effects of divine providence, so here seven praises are given to the Lamb slain as He opens them, by which He is praised and celebrated with sevenfold praise, namely "power, divinity, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and blessing." Thus also in chapter VII, verse 12, to God, because He had freed His people from seven plagues, a sevenfold doxology is given by the four living creatures and 24 elders, namely: "Blessing, and brightness, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor, and power, and strength to our God." Therefore with sevenfold praise and hymn they celebrate the sevenfold providence of God. Note secondly, for "divinity" in Greek it is πλοῦτον, that is riches, and thus here read Andreas, Aretas, Ticonius and Primasius. But others read "divinity" throughout; whence thus it seems to have been originally in the Greek: although Alcazar thinks "riches" is put in the Greek for divinity. For the discourse is, he says, of the showing of riches in their communication, which is proper to divinity, namely to be rich in mercy and beneficence, and this seems truer. For between πλοῦτον and θειότητα there is no affinity of letters, so that it does not appear that πλοῦτον crept in for θειότητα. Moreover, God received His name from πλούτῳ, that is, riches, both among the Latins and Greeks and Hebrews: for in Latin He is called Deus, because nothing is lacking to Him, or because He gives all good things to men. Again they called God ditem, as it were rich. Hear Cicero in De Natura Deorum: "But all earthly force and nature is dedicated to Father Dis, who is rich, as among the Greeks Πλούτων, because all things fall back to the earth and arise from the earth." Among the Greeks Πλούτων, that is Pluto, or Plutus the God, received His name from πλούτῳ, that is riches. In Hebrew it is called שדי saddai, as it were שדי sche dai, that is, to whom belongs sufficiency, abundance, the cornucopia of all things: for this is what dai signifies; whence many derive the Latin Deus and the Greek Δίς, the name of Jupiter. Thus also in the Illyrian language God has His name from riches; for in Illyrian Bogh is God, Bogath, rich, Bogaztuo, riches. For divinity consists in this, that He is rich and abounding in all wisdom, goodness, justice, and all graces, attributes, perfections, and every good. Hence the Apostle says of God that He is "rich unto all that call upon Him," Rom. X, 12. And of Christ: "For your sakes He became poor, whereas He was rich," II Corinth. VIII, 9. And: "But God, who is rich in mercy," Ephes. II, 4. And: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" Rom. XI, 33. AND WISDOM,—namely full and perfect, to wit the knowledge of all things, as the Gloss says. Whence Ludovicus Molina, I part., Quaest. XII, art. viii, disp. 1, memb. 7, proves from this passage that Christ as man sees all things past, present and future in the Word, and therefore sees infinites; because it is fitting that His actual knowledge extend at least as widely as His dominion and power extends. But this extends to all things already mentioned. Therefore, etc.
5:13
13. AND EVERY CREATURE. — Just as in the preceding verse the angels, so here all other creatures seen in the vision by John are shown praising the Lamb, on account of the sealed book opened by him: by which through personification is signified that it was wonderful the benefit of the Lamb in opening the book, on account of which all angels and men should rejoice, so that heaven and earth and all irrational creatures appear to exult, and would in fact exult, if they were endowed with sense and reason. For they rejoice with men as with their masters: for they were created by God to serve man; whence also with man they await their own renewal, Rom. viii, 19. Rupertus adds: They rejoice, he says, not because they are redeemed, but because they are created, and therefore they praise God not by rational or vocal confession, but by a certain natural presentation of their state. WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, — namely the sun, moon, stars. Thus Ambrose, Rupertus and Pererius. Otherwise Alcazar: for he refers "to be in heaven" to Christians; "to be upon earth," to Jews; "to be under the earth," to demons and the damned; "to be in the sea," to Gentiles, as if to say: All Christians, Jews, Pagans and demons, though unwilling, glorify the Lamb. But this is mystical, not literal. AND UNDER THE EARTH. — These are the souls existing in Purgatory; for those, although they are in torments, nevertheless love and praise God and the Lamb, from whom they hope for liberation, salvation and glory in a short time. Thus Francis Suarez, Ribera and others in various places. Again, they are the damned and demons, who are forced to acknowledge and revere God and Christ, not by voluntary confession, but by forced concession, says Rupertus and St. Gregory, IV Dialogues, cap. XLII. You will say: Psalm cxiii, penultimate verse, and Baruch ii, 17, it is said: "The dead shall not praise thee, O Lord, nor all they that go down into hell." I answer: The sense is: The dead shall not praise thee, O Lord, namely in that reason and manner in which we living praise thee, to wit by common and public voice before the living. See the words on Baruch ii, 17. AND SUCH AS ARE IN THE SEA, — namely fishes, pearls and gems, etc. AND SUCH AS ARE IN IT, — namely "the sea." The Greek texts already have, τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς, which are in them, namely heaven, earth and sea. He repeats "in the sea," adding, "and such as are in it," so as to signify that creatures existing in the sea are farther removed from the glorification of God and the Lamb, and yet in truth glorify God and the Lamb. Therefore "and such as are in it" is a confirmation of what preceded, "And such as are in the sea." Otherwise Ribera: for he refers by force of "in it" to the Greek κτίσμα, that is creature which is neuter, as if to say: All things which are in this creature of heaven, earth and sea. Note: This doxology of all creatures signifies that all creatures are under the dominion and empire of Christ, equally as of God, and that they will especially know, venerate and aid this in the final judgment, when the mysteries of this sealed book, namely the universal judgment of the whole world, and Christ himself the judge will appear glorious to the whole world. For then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and the world shall fight for Christ against the senseless; for every creature shall see that he himself is the judge of the living and the dead: wherefore they will worship and adore him as such. SAYING, — with a mute voice, by which rejoicing creatures in their own way praise God their creator. To this pertains that passage of Philo, in the book On the Planting of Noah, a little before the end: "It is said," he says, "a fable handed down by wise men to posterity through the ages. But it is of this sort. Once when the maker of the whole world was completing it, he asked one of the Prophets whether he desired anything not yet created either on earth and water, or in air and heaven? He answered that indeed all things were perfect and full everywhere, yet he required one thing, a praiser of these works, who in all things, or what appears least and most obscure, would not so much praise as narrate; for the very narration of the works of God would be the most sufficient praise, needing no additional support. This answer is said to have pleased the Father of all; and not long after there arose a singing and musical race, from one virgin of the divine powers, memory, which they call mnemosyne. This is the fable of the ancients: from whose authority we learn that nothing is more proper to God than to do good, and nothing likewise to a creature than to give thanks, since moreover it can repay nothing. Morally, we learn here from the angels and heavenly beings various acts of congratulation, love, praise and jubilation, by which we ought frequently to celebrate God and the Lamb on account of His supreme majesty, wisdom, holiness, and on account of the benefits of creation, conservation, governance, etc., but especially on account of the incarnation of the Word and our redemption. The first is His very knowledge, consideration and profession, by which we profess that He is an immense ocean of essence, goodness, sanctity, perfection, blessedness and glory, from which as from a fountain all angels, men and creatures beg and partake of a drop of their entity, wisdom and virtue. For He Himself is the principle of all things, the end of all things, the creator of all things, indeed the creator from nothing, the sustenance of all things, the place of all things, the age of all things, the duration, termination, ordering, conservation, harmony, consummation, especially through the grace and glory which He communicates to us through Christ. He Himself is all good of angels and men, and of all nature, which is, and which is not, but can be and can be created by Him. From this act follows the second, namely the highest reverence and admiration of Him; for considering this immense excellence of His divinity, and on the other hand our vileness, and the abyss of nothingness, we revere and admire it supremely, and we most greatly humble and abase ourselves beneath it, just as the Seraphim veil their faces before it out of reverence, Isaiah vi, 2. The third is the act of love of desire, by which we love Him as the author of all our good most supremely, and we say to Him: Thou art my God, and all things are mine, "God of my heart, and my portion God for ever." The fourth is the act of love of friendship, by which we love Him with the purest charity and benevolence, because on account of His infinite excellence and dignity He is infinitely worthy of all love, all glory, all praise, all worship, all veneration, all obedience and service. For in Him is all good, all beauty, all that is delightful, all sweetness, all rest, all riches, all nobility, all majesty, all wisdom, all power, all glory, and whatever the mind can conceive, indeed infinitely more. Wherefore the mind loving this immense good disdains all created goods, as shadows, a dream and a thin picture of that supreme good. Furthermore St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure and Richard of St. Victor, in the tract On the Degrees of Charity, assign various degrees of this love, as well as its effects and qualities. The first is that love be inseparable, so that the soul with the Apostle can say: "Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ?" The second is that it be insatiable; for fire never says: It is enough. The third is that it be invincible, "For love is strong as death; and many waters could not quench charity." The fourth is that it be delightful, so that the soul drunk with this love says: "The king hath brought me into his chambers; comfort me with flowers, stay me up with apples, because I languish with love." The fifth is that it wound the soul with burning desires, and many, by which it wishes and strives as much as it can that all know Him, fear Him, love Him, worship Him, praise Him. The sixth is that it always thirst for God, always have Him present; in every creature ascend to Him, and contemplate Him. The seventh is that it desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, not from weariness of life, but that it may enjoy its beloved. From this love follows the fifth act of supreme joy, by which the mind rejoices in the attributes and immense perfections of God its Creator, Lord, Father and Redeemer, namely that our God is most good, most powerful, most holy, most glorious, and overflows with all goods on every side. From joy follows the sixth act of congratulation, by which we congratulate Him as our God on such great majesty, such great riches, such great happiness, saying: In Thee is all glory and dignity, all riches and treasures, all pleasures and consolations, all delights, all joys, all blessedness. All these things are owed to Thee, and if anything were lacking to them, or if I could add anything to them, I would most liberally expend all that is mine for that. For Thou art most worthy of them: these things befit Thy divinity. Therefore I congratulate Thee on them, I rejoice with Thee. From congratulation follows the seventh act of jubilation, by which exulting with the Blessed on account of the glory of our God so great, we jubilate and say: "To Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, benediction, and honour, and glory, and power for ever and ever." For in Him the mind jubilates, who is infinitely more than all things that are, and can be in infinite worlds; who is worthy of infinite love and jubilation: and therefore it pours out its whole heart into Him in praising and exulting, and would wish, if it were possible, for infinite hearts, by which it might celebrate Him with infinite loves and praises; finally it invites all angels, all men, all heavens, all living things, all creatures, that they jubilate with it to Him, and says: "Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord, praise and exalt Him above all for ever."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
5:1
In the triumphal arch of S. Maria Maggiore the throne is richly adorned with pearls and sapphires; on the cushion lie the purple mantle and the imperial diadem; on the footstool the scroll with the seven seals (Rev. 5, 1); in the center rises the gemmed cross; at the two sides of the throne are the medallions with the busts of the apostles Peter and Paul, who are also found standing and acclaiming …
5:5
… In other cases Sacred Scripture itself confirms the inherent ambivalence of all "symbolic forms": the same lion that because of its strength and majestic beauty symbolizes Christ, called (Rev. 5:5) "the lion of the tribe of Judah," lends itself by its dangerous ferocity to the similitude of the devil (1 Pt. 5:8). While the king of animals, in the sense of the first conception, …
5:6
… B. Allo refers Apoc. 1:4 and 4:5 to the Holy Spirit "sevenfold"; but J. Michl demonstrates that these (as also Apoc. 3:1; 5:6; 8:2; 15:1) are seven angelic princes.
Christian figurative art presents Jesus as the Lamb, drawing mainly on Apoc. 5:6-14 and 7:9-17.
5:8
Already Scripture shows explicit cases of intercession by angels (Zach. 1:12; Job 5:1; 33:23 ff.) and by saints (II Mach. 15:11-16) and shows us how they take an interest in the destinies of the Kingdom of God on earth (Apoc. passim, e.g., 6:10) and offer the prayers of men to God (Tob. 12:12; Apoc. 5:8; 8:3). The matter is then perfectly logical in the whole of the Christian Revelation, according to which the blessed know our prayers and our needs; a fact of which in the Church, …
… 4:15). Furthermore the concept of Redemption returns in St. John, who reaffirms the Pauline motif of death and blood as expiatory and propitiatory sacrifice: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29); and in Rev. 5:8: "You are worthy, O Lord, to take the book and to open its seals, because you were slain and have redeemed us for God with your blood"; I Jn. 2:2: "And he is the propitiation (ἱλασμός) …
5:9
… Christian charity does not allow itself to be overwhelmed by ingratitude, but neither does it remain insensible to well-ordered gratitude (Lk. 17:15-19): which is in the disinterested nature of love, namely to triumph solely in the reciprocation of love (Apoc. 5:9-10).
5:11
… their company, a company already begun here below, so that we are their fellow citizens (Heb. 22, 12). The knowledge of the a. is limited and admits of progress (Mt. 24, 36; Mk. 13, 32; Eph. 3, 10; I Tim. 3, 16). Their number is very great (Heb. 12, 22; Rev. 5, 11). There is also a certain diversity among them; named are: a., archangels, thrones, dominions, virtues, principalities, powers that dwell in the regions above the earth (Eph. 1, 21; …
5:12
… liturgical formula for glorifying either God (as often happens in Sacred Scripture and with a phrase that almost always contains the word δόξα) or Christ (and this in the most varied forms recurring frequently throughout early Christian literature [Rom. 9:5; Rev. 5:12 etc.]), or the Most Holy Trinity (and among these one distinguishes the lesser d., or Gloria Patri, which already in the 4th century was added at the end of the Psalms, the greater …
5:14
… untranslatable term (cf. M. Victorinus, Adv. Arium, 3, 9; St. Augustine, De doctr. christ., 2, 11; Tractatus in Io., 8, 34), one of those mystical words which, like the Alleluia, even in the heavens form part of the canticles of the Church triumphant (Rev. 5:14; 7:12; 19:4):
… Holy Scripture speaks of it (Gen. 42:6; 43:26, 28; Jos. 5:15). Thus the Magi venerated the Infant Jesus (Mt. 2:11); thus Jesus himself prayed in the garden (Mt. 26:39); thus the Apocalypse presents the elders in adoration (Apoc. 5:14; 19:4). Prostration, very much in vogue in the ancient Persian court, was not unknown in Rome (Suetonius, Aul. …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.