Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday of Easter

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (Revelation 21:1–7)

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The heavenly Jerusalem is the multitude of the saints who will come with the Lord, even as Zechariah said: “Behold, my Lord God will come, and all his saints with him.” These are being prepared for God as a fine dwelling, namely, those who will live with him. “As a bride adorned for her husband.” Adorned with holiness and righteousness, they go to be united with their Lord and shall remain with him forever.

Apringius of Beja, Commentary on the Apocalypse 21.2

The words are true since they are accomplished by the Truth Himself and no longer through symbols, but they are known through these things themselves. Christ is the Beginning and the End, since He is first on account of divinity and last on account of humanity and extends His own providential care from the first creation of the bodiless ones until the last of humans.

To him who “thirsts for righteousness” He promises to give the grace of the Life-giving Spirit, which in the Gospels He was promising to those who believe in him. Freely because “the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the future glory to be revealed” to the saints, or freely because this is not acquired by money but acquired by good deeds and the love for humankind of the One who will give it.

Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse 21.5–6