Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. … The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (Revelation 21:9-14, 21-27)

What is the need of a temple when God is present with the saints and in a way sharing His life with them, and is seen by them face to face, insofar as He may be approached? For the divine apostle has called the knowledge of God in the present life as being “in a mirror” and “dimly,” but that in the future it will be “face to face.” One might reasonably ask, “Why did he mention God the sovereign Lord, and the Father, the Lord, and the Lamb, the Son of God, without making mention of the Holy Spirit?” To such a questioner one must reply, “My good man, by saying the Lord and God he has named the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit—for this is God—and by saying further, the Lord God, the sovereign of all, he indicated the Holy Trinity by the three titles.” But one might go on to ask: “Why, therefore, after mentioning the venerable Trinity in the words The Lord God, the sovereign of all, is its temple, does he separately specify for us the Lamb, who is Christ, so that we no longer think of the Trinity?” “This is nonsense,” I would tell him. This is not what we are being taught. By mentioning both the Holy Trinity and the Lamb, the account indicates both that the incarnate Son is one person of the Holy Trinity, and that the Son completes the Holy Trinity in his humanity and is not now apart from his humanity in heaven. He indicated, somewhat obscurely, the incarnate Son by the word God, who is the Son, and by the Lamb he again meant the same Christ, incarnate and of the same essence as we are, animated by a rational soul, in the flesh with which the Word is hypostatically united.

Oecumenius, Commentary on the Apocalypse 21.15–22

What an image there is in these words, that the city, which has no need of a temple, has no need of the brightness of the heavenly luminaries! And what is the reason for this? Because the glory of God gives it light. The glory of God, that is, the presence of His majesty, about which it is said: “We shall see him as he is.” Therefore, why would those who shall see God have need of sun or moon? – By the light, the Lamb is clearly shown to be the city’s lamp, and the kings and the nations will walk in his light. The prophet knew this and said: “In your light we shall see light.” The apostle also spoke concerning this light: “The night is far gone, the day is at hand.” The Evangelist also writes in a similar way: “The life was the light of people, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” This is to say, what the nature of our weakness had concealed and what the shadow of our humanity had rendered dark was made clear by the assumption of the Lord’s body. And while God, who is light, inhabits the lot of our flesh, He enlightens the whole by the greatness of His glory. For this reason the honor and the glory of the kings and the nations are given to Him, because all have been made glorious through Him, and the darkness of night shall not overcome His faithful, whom the presence of the Lamb and the Word of the ineffable, unbegotten Father illuminate.

Apringius of Beja, Commentary on the Apocalypse 21:24–26

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

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.… The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (Rev 21:9-14, 21-27)

Through these it is shown that not only the angels apply distressing wounds, but they are like doctors, on one occasion cutting and on another pouring on assuaging medicines. For the one, then bringing the wound upon the ones deserving it, now shows to the saint the great blessedness of the Church. Correctly it says the Bride of the Lamb is wife, for when Christ was sacrificed as a lamb, He gave Himself in marriage by His own blood. For just as the woman was formed out of the sleeping Adam, by removal from side, thus also, Christ having voluntarily slept by death on the cross, the Church, constituted by the pouring out of blood from His side, is given in marriage, having been united to the One suffering for us.

Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse

The Lord God Almighty is its temple. God established the temple so that the people gathered within the walls of the temple might call on him whom neither the world nor the temple can contain. In this way their minds might obtain through the work of faith what cannot be seen of God. However, where he openly manifests himself to the faithful there a temple is neither desired nor existent, for he who sanctifies the temple is known in the sight of all. What an image there is in these words, that the city, which has no need of a temple, has no need of the brightness of the heavenly luminaries! And what is the reason for this? Because the glory of God gives it light. The glory of God, that is, the presence of his majesty, about which it is said: “We shall see him as he is.” Therefore, why would those who shall see God have need of sun or moon?

By the light, the Lamb is clearly shown to be the city’s lamp, and the kings and the nations will walk in his light. The prophet knew this and said: “In Your light we shall see light.” The apostle also spoke concerning this light: “The night is far gone, the day is at hand.” The Evangelist also writes in a similar way: “The life was the light of people, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” This is to say, what the nature of our weakness had concealed and what the shadow of our humanity had rendered dark was made clear by the assumption of the Lord’s body. And while God, who is light, inhabits the lot of our flesh, He enlightens the whole by the greatness of his glory. For this reason the honor and the glory of the kings and the nations are given to Him, because all have been made glorious through Him, and the darkness of night shall not overcome His faithful, whom the presence of the Lamb and the Word of the ineffable, unbegotten Father illuminate.

Apringius of Beja, Explanation of the Revelation