CHAPTER 19
Revelation 19:1-5 After these things I heard a great voice of a multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and power to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” And a second time they said, “Alleluia!” And the smoke of her torment goes up for ever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying, “Amen, Alleluia.” And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”
As from a great multitude I heard a voice from heaven : for the ranks of the holy angels are innumerable; as one of the Fathers said 1 , the ninety-nine are the sheep (see Matt. 18:12, Luke 15:4) preserved and steadfast, the angels, and the one that was led astray is all humanity. And they said, “ Alleluia .” The word alleluia is Hebrew; it means “praise” or “give thanks, praise God.” Therefore they sing a song of thanksgiving at the righteous judgment of spiritual Babylon.
And a second time they raised the same hymn, and again he uttered it even more softly, that with the three times repeated alleluia the holy and much-praised Trinity might be glorified by them (see Rev 19:1, 3, 4); for this is God.
He says, And the smoke of her torment goes up for ever and ever . In the midst the alleluia being praised interrupted the sequence of the discourse, since this indeed is the course of the arrangement;
and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand ; And the smoke of her torment goes up for ever and ever . For smoke it says as of the city being utterly burned about which these things are said; for smoke is a sign of fire. But to have the elders and the living creatures say Amen denotes assent to the doxology brought by the holy angels; for the Amen signifies the voice transferred into Greek from the Hebrews, “so be it.”
“ Praise our God ,” it says, “ you small and you great ”; for he calls small those greater in sanctification, and great those who reign.
Revelation 19:6-9 And I heard like the sound of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunders, saying, "Alleluia, for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns." And let us rejoice 2 and be glad, and let us give 2 him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself, and she was granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And he says to me, "Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." and he says to me, "These are the true words of God."
Just as the Seraphim before the divine prophet Isaiah, having three times cried "Holy," (Isa. 6:3) enclosed the threefold hymn into one lordship, signifying the three as to their properties and persons, whereby the hymned are called beloved, but one as to the essence of the Godhead, so here likewise the heavenly angels, having three times in the front chanted the Alleluia , and having set the reverence upon each of the holy three hypostases, now sing the Alleluia in the Holy Trinity, showing that the holy and most-praised Trinity exists in a single essence and Godhead.
For he says, " The Lord our God reigns ." Our Lord Jesus Christ, both before the saving incarnation the One who reigned in heaven and on earth together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, as the only-begotten Son and the Word of the Father and the Creator of all. And after the incarnation he is likewise Lord and King of all, in no way diminished by the flesh with respect to the source and kingdom of all.
But since, according to the most wise apostle (see 1 Cor 15:27-28), we do not yet see all things subjected to him, and in the age to come all things will be subjected and even those who now proudly lift up their necks against him will submit, just as even death itself will be subjected; “for death is abolished as the last enemy.” (1 Cor. 15:26)
For the heavenly angels fittingly say, “ The Lord our God has reigned ,” making the offering of praise unto the age to come, when, upon the most complete subjection of all things to Christ, whose kingdom is acquired over all, some will be delivered to punishment, others to personal knowledge, and not by a mirror or a riddle as now will they effect that subjection. (1 Cor. 13:12)
For , he says, the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself . The marriage present with the Lord is still an engagement to the church and not yet a completed marriage. And this the divine apostle associates, writing the second letter to the Corinthians, in which he says: “for I engaged you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” (2 Cor. 11:2)
Oecumenius commentary on 2 Corinthians 11:2
“For I have betrothed you.” The whole passage refers to the Church. For after marriage she is a virgin. The present time is one of betrothal, and the time to come is of the end; as it is said, “The bridegroom has risen.” What then are the bridal gifts? The kingdom of heaven. David himself was also a forerunner of this betrothal when he said, “Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear.” (Ps. 45:10) And Paul too was a bridal attendant when he said, “For Christ’s sake we are ambassadors,” (2 Cor. 5:20) that he might receive the bride, he says. These things were typified in the matters concerning Abraham, who sent a servant to secure a virgin of the nations for his son; and God sent the prophets long ago, and later the apostles, to engage to the Son the Church from among the nations.
Therefore the matter is still an engagement; for “I engaged you: truly. And as the sign of the engagement, we receive “the pledge of the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 1:22) When, however, the church becomes one spirit with Christ, just as a husband is one body with his wife, then it is the perfect marriage. For even while philosophizing about the physical marriage, the wise apostle, adducing the scriptural statement that “the two shall be one flesh,” brings forward that “this mystery is great; but I say it of Christ and the church.” (Eph. 5:31-32)
Oecumenius commentary on Ephesians 5:32
"This mystery is great." How great? Because Christ, though it was possible for him to remain in his own glory, humbled himself in becoming man, so that he might be joined to the Church, and the two might become one spirit. For he who is joined, he says, to the Lord is one spirit.
Therefore the holy angels say: “ The marriage of the Lamb has come ,” signifying then the marriage that will be celebrated in the present engagement; for the Gospel clearly handed this down to us, where first it introduces marriages of a king’s son celebrated by the father, and many called to the feast, some partaking of the banquet, others refusing the dinner, and one cast out who was not clothed in a wedding garment (Matt. 22:2-14); Then the same Gospel (Matt. 25:1-13) speaks of ten virgins, of whom five, whom it also calls wise, bringing their lamps to meet the bridegroom for that blessed wedding feast, while the excluded ones, when they had no oil left, extinguished their lamps; none of this is to be understood for the present time, but for the time to come.
Then came the marriage of the Lamb, and his bride , the Church, was ready to partake of those inexhaustible blessings that come from communion with Christ. She is said to be clothed in the garment of virtues, clothed with fine linen . Fine linen, because of its brightness and simple style: bright with blameless life and conduct, and simple in style [ἰσχνόν] with respect to doctrines and reflections concerning God.
And he says to me, "Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb ," and indeed go forth as is proper; for we know many who are called in the Gospels, but who have renounced the spiritual banquet or even, though they have gone away, are cast out as not having wedding garments, (Matt. 22:11-12) as is shortly shown. But the divine apostle also said, “many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matt. 22:14)
Revelation 19:10 And I fell down before his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that; I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
The accursed and God-hating Greeks, hearing how it is a doctrine among us that holy angels by the good pleasure of God protect nations and churches and each one individually. Of the nations it is written by the most wise Daniel and “I came because of your words. And the prince of the kingdom of the Persians stood against me,” (Dan.10:12-13) and again “now I return to make war with the prince of the Persians; and I was going out, and the prince of the Greeks was coming,” (Dan.10:20) and again “there is none to resist me on this matter except Michael your prince; ” (Dan.10:21) and again “at that time shall arise Michael the great prince who stands over the sons of your people.” (Dan. 12:1) But concerning the churches of the present unveiling it says this in those who have reached it, to which a companion writer, Gregory among the saints, says concerning the holy angels: “for I believe that different angels protect different churches, as John teaches me through the Revelation 3 ;” and concerning each one, in the prophet's saying “an angel of the Lord will be set around those who fear him and he will deliver them.” (Ps. 33:8) Moreover also the apostle writing about the holy angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” (Heb.1:14) 4
Oecumenius commentary on Hebrew 1:14
Thus Gregory says in the second book "On the Son": "Are they not all ministering spirits?" He comforts them, saying: Christ is indeed the natural Son of God, but the angels are our servants: having been assigned this ministry, that they may do and administer all things so that we humans may be saved. For indeed, angels have frequently become ministers to men, as to Mary (Luke 1:26) and at the Lord's tomb (Matt. 28:2-7) and to Cornelius. (Acts 10:3)
Since then the Greeks hear these things being taught by us, they say to us, “Why do you, who hold the same opinions as we do, reproach the teaching among us that regards the leaders of nations as gods? For those whom you call angels we call gods,” as if only our names were in dispute and not also the matters themselves. Not that you indeed call the order of angels gods, so that there would be no difference even in names between us. To these men, accursed and worshipping with the works of your hands, and having set up as gods yesterday and the day before those whom you became acquainted with in all shameful things, who, having taken away most of the divine doctrines from us and bringing them into your destructive teachings, mingled them with your doctrines, but because you followed a guide who was a man and not God, you were not able to preserve the gentleness of all our teachings, and having followed him but a little, you shipwrecked perhaps about the first starting-point.
Therefore, nothing is common between us and you, just as neither is light common with darkness, nor Christ with Beliar (see 2 Cor. 6:14-15), as it is written.
Oecumenius commentary on 2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Neither is light with darkness, nor Christ with Belial, that is, with the apostate and Satan; for Belial, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies the apostate. "What agreement has Christ with Belial?" In every way wishing to separate them from the unbelievers, he did not say "to the righteous and the lawless," but what was greater. He did not say "to the servants of light and of darkness," but it was the more severe. He did not say "to the ministers of Christ and to those of Satan," but it was the more dreadful. Then, lest comparisons lead one to despise the plain matters, he comes to the persons themselves. "To a faithful man, saith he, with an unbeliever." Thus: just as, he says, those mentioned above have nothing in common with one another, so neither has the faithful with the unbeliever. "What concord hath the temple of God with idols?" That is, likeness. Those, he says, are temples of idols; ye are the temple of God. What then fellowship have ye with them? That ye are a temple of God, he says, is evident from hearing the prophet Jeremiah.
For you, while setting up ethnic rulers as gods, or rather impure demons, introduce yourselves to them by assigning and wishing to offer reverence and worship as to gods; and indeed you treat some among you as divine and make no account of the One who appointed guardianship of men to God, but govern the nations by your own will as you yourselves may desire. Therefore you assigned to Ares the most savage and bloodthirsty peoples, the Scythians and the Germans, those who came to be governed by Ares as a scanty and murderous mortal would be; but to Athena you assigned the Greeks as wise, having received their intelligence from her 5 ; and you distributed other peoples to other gods, each of the gods arranging the nations according to his own dispositions. As for us, what shall we say concerning recognition from present things? For when one wished to worship the divine angel of the evangelist, and not to worship him as a god, for who more than John knew who is by nature and in truth God, and who the angels are, that they are ministers and servants and creatures of God?—nevertheless he appears to refuse even that worship as due to an angel, since worship in any case is present, and saying, See that you do not do that; I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus . The "See" is not merely a word preventing the act but is a claiming declaration. And he also calls himself a fellow servant of all who profess themselves servants of Christ and bear witness that God has been made flesh. What then is to be done, most divine angel, since you forbade yourself to be worshiped? Worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, as if he said: Is that why you seek to worship me, because I have foretold to you the things that are to come? All those who testify to the lordship and divinity of Christ are filled with a prophetic gift, and I am not alone. Why then, he says, do you worship the same gift as is granted to my fellow servants? Likewise the Greeks are similarly glorified concerning their national founders, and Christians speak so concerning the holy angels.
Revelation 19:11-16 And I saw the heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were 6 a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; he had a name written, that no man knew but himself; and he was clothed with a garment sprinkled 7 with blood. And his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth went a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, And Lord of lords .
After the hour of Babylon's destruction; and it is clear who Babylon is understood to be, and this is further shown to the evangelist, the fall of the Antichrist and of the arch-evil Dragon, and into what relentless punishment at the time of the end and of retribution, and the destruction of the kings who will arise against the servants of Christ at that time, and see what he says.
I saw the heaven opened, and behold a white horse , and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness . The Lord alone I behold fighting alongside and leading in battle the saints and warring against the adversaries.
Therefore the vision also bestows upon him a military form, handing him a horse and a sword and the leadership of armies . And behold , it says a white horse on which the Lord rode, signifying by the riddle that Christ rests not with others but with the pure and with those unspotted by the filth of sin. Therefore concerning the vessel of Paul’s calling it is said by the Lord, “to bear my name before the nations and the kings of the sons of Israel.” (Acts 9:15) Observe then that Christ rests and rides upon those who are according to Paul.
Oecumenius commentary on Acts 9:15
For he says that he is a vessel of election. Therefore, he says, he showed that he is approved; for an approved thing is chosen as a vessel. And he will be not only faithful, he says, but also a teacher and a preacher to the inhabited world, and will also suffer much for my sake. For this reason he says that he is a vessel of election to me, and that he will bear my name.
And he who sits upon him , that is, upon the horse , is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and wages war . Faithful is the true one according to the apostle who speaks concerning him; “he remains faithful; he cannot deny himself.” (2 Tim. 2:13)
Oecumenius commentary on 2 Timothy 2:13
If we are faithless, he remains faithful. If we are faithless concerning that he rose from the dead, or that he is God, he remains faithful, that is, true. For having said that he will rise, and that he is God (for this was signified in many ways), he is faithful. For he rose and he is God. He says that he cannot deny himself , so as not to be God or to have risen. Just as he said: There will be no change because of our denial, but he remains faithful and true concerning himself. And to deny, that is, to lie to himself, he cannot do, in not having risen or not being God. For having promised concerning himself, he cannot lie to himself and fail to fulfill the promises. For neither by believing do we make him not God, nor by being unfaithful do we cast out the divine nature, but both in our believing and in our unbelief he himself is God. Therefore, we who believe reap the benefit. But the "It is not possible," instead of, "It is not permitted." " He remains faithful ." Therefore, for our salvation, he demands from us consent to him. For, he says, it is not harmed by our denial.
Therefore Faithful and True ; for of the same one it has been said, two names applied to one matter. And because he judges righteously and wars against the sensible enemies on behalf of his servants, the prophet who speaks is witness, “Give to the king your judgment, and to the son of the king your righteousness,” (Ps. 72:1) that is, to Christ; for the Christ according to the flesh is the son of Solomon, to whom the Psalm is then assigned, going on “to judge your people in righteousness and your poor with judgment.” (Ps. 72:2)
That the same one also wages war , he shows that he arms him militarily by saying: “tighten your sword upon your thigh, mighty one, for your beauty and your splendor, and be strong, and show kindness and reign”; then adding “your sharpened arrows, mighty one: peoples will fall under you.” (Ps. 45:3-5)
And his eyes , he says, are a flame of fire . The wrath against the enemies, he shows by the burning of the eyes .
And on his head he says many crowns , as many certainly as there are orders reigning in heaven and on earth.
He says he had a name written, that no man knew but himself . God says in the Exodus of the seventh day to the prophetic Moses: “I am the Lord who appeared to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob being their God; and I did not declare to them my name, the Lord,” (Ex. 6:2-3) as clearer than or capable of being conveyed by human hearing. Therefore, and as the Lord instructed the apostles to baptize those returning to the knowledge of God, he said, “baptizing them into the name,” and by saying “name” he did not hand over the proper names; for he did not have the strength to sustain their proclamation, but instead he delivered it in relational and nominative terms in place of the proper names, relational when saying “into the name of the Father and of the Son,” and nominative when also invoking “and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 28:19) Therefore, very securely and in the Revelation the divine name of the Only‑Begotten is allowed to be unknown to all.
He says he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood ; for in the vision the Lord also bore the symbols of the Passion and showed the all‑holy body stained only with his precious blood .
And his name is called the Word of God . Do you see how, fleeing the divine name in the heavens above, the vision has now set a nominative in its place, saying “ the Word of God ”?
And heavenly hosts followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen ; for the Lord is both the commander of the heavenly powers and has so named himself, speaking as Joshua son of Nun. (see Jos. 5:14) Saying, “I the commander-in-chief of the power of the Lord, have now appeared.” (Jos. 5:14)
And the horses are white even to the holy angels; for they likewise take pleasure in those pure of men, since they are pure in nature and unmingled with any stain. And this is shown by that garment of white and fine linen .
And out of his mouth , namely of the commander-in-chief, a sword proceeds. Therefore the divine prophet gives the sword to the Lord's thigh for use placed a little before (Ps. 44:4); but the vision, writing more precisely, presents it at the mouth . By which it is signified that by the word of God all things subsist, and whoever transgresses it in any way will not go unpunished, so that by him he may strike the nations . What kind of nations? Those who join with the Antichrist against the servants of Christ and are placed under him.
And he says that he shall rule them with a rod of iron ; for the Lord, being supremely good and merciful, would shepherd these nations about whom the word speaks with a shepherd’s and consoling rod, “leading them to a place of pasture and nourishing them at waters of rest.” (Ps. 22:2) But since they have not willed this, they shall be shepherded with an iron rod , that is, with strict and deadly discipline. For whom the word does not reform, those it certainly submits to punishment. And because the iron rod denotes strict and punitive action, the prophet, intending to signify the rule of the Romans about which Daniel says, “Arise, devour much flesh,” (Dan. 7:5) said to God, “You shepherd them with an iron rod: as with earthen vessels you will crush them.” (Ps. 2:5) But when the season was favorable God shepherded by means of that; in the last time by means of this.
And he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God . The Lord in the Gospels said concerning the heavenly Father, “The Father judges no one; and he gave all judgment to the Son.” (Jn. 5:22) It is therefore most fittingly said in the Revelation that he himself treads the winepress of the fury of the anger of God ; for by judgment and recompense of the wicked he fulfills the paternal will and becomes the fulfiller of the righteous anger of the Father.
And it is written upon his garment and on his thigh : King of kings and Lord of lords . The garment is understood to be the flesh of the Lord; it is interpreted spiritually as flesh and blood, according to the holy interpreters who cite Isaiah: “Why are your garments red, and your clothing like one who treads the fully trampled winepress?” (Isa. 63:2-3)
But the thigh signifies the fleshly birth; for it is written in Genesis, "all the souls that went into Egypt with Jacob are those who came forth from his loins." (Gen. 46:26) This, then, shows the riddle written on the garment and on the thigh : that the King of all is Emmanuel. For although the Word was united to flesh in hypostasis and endured the fleshly birth from the Virgin, he nevertheless was established as King and Lord of all (Isa. 7:14), both of those in heaven and of those on earth, not diminished in worth by the incarnation; for he was and is and will be God.
Revelation 19:17-21 And I saw another angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in midheaven, Gather yourselves together unto the great supper of God; that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the False Prophet that wrought miracles before him, by which he had deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image: these two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh .
I believe this holy angel about whom the speech now is to be some sort of military herald of the divine host. And that he commands all the holy angels in heaven, whom he conventionally calls birds because of their elevation and ability to fly through the air, to share in the slaughter against the enemies; not that a single angel were unable to destroy the whole host of enemies, for that was clearly shown by him who in one night struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians (see 2 Kings 19:35), but so that all might become participants in the joy over the enemies. For I think he even says with the prophet, “Did I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and was I not hostile to your enemies? I utterly hated them; they became enemies to me.” (Ps. 139:21)
And when he commissioned the angels flying in midheaven , he himself also stood in midheave n and proclaimed; for the sun is set in the midst of the seven planets, having three above it and three below it. 8 Either therefore this, or that the proclamation was made in the light as in a spirit, and he was speaking of the doom of those murders about to be, for the spirit is an intelligible light toward God, as the prophet teaches; and making his words a father and saying, “In your light we shall behold light,” (Ps. 138:21-22) that is, we will see the Spirit in the Son.
He says, that you may eat the flesh of kings . And he calls the feast over the death of enemies an eating of these and those; for therefore also the Lord names joy when speaking to his disciples and apostles: “I have a food to eat which you do not know,” (Jn. 4:32) calling in this way the gladness that is to come upon the believers. The war with the Lord and the divine angels was waged by both the Devil and the Antichrist, for he calls him a false prophet of the beastly Devil, and kings who band together with them; but they were defeated sooner than speech.
What do the divine Scriptures say about them? Isaiah says, “Let the impious be taken away, so that he may not see the glory of the Lord,” (Isa. 26:10) the sudden annihilation; but the apostle, “whom the Lord will consume by the breath of his mouth.” (2 Thess. 2:8) What is swifter than to breathe upon and blow the enemies away?
Oecumenius commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2:8
“whom the Lord will consume.” Then follows relief. Whom Christ, he says, will destroy . For just as, while a fire is still at a distance, small creatures are consumed by the heat, so likewise Antichrist will be consumed from the very coming of Christ and by the breath of his mouth . And he calls the breath of the mouth a command and precept, and as it were a blast, or the Holy Spirit. “ will consume,” that is, restrain, destroy.
“ And those two ,” he says, “ were cast alive into the lake of fire, and the rest were slain by the sword .” O excess of justice! He did not deem the authors of the war and those co-responsible worthy of the same punishment; but the two, namely the Devil and the Antichrist, were condemned to fire, in which they will live forever, for this is hinted by their being cast alive into the fire; the rest were slain by the sword. By far it is preferable to give judgment by the sword briefly than by fire. Having begun once to speak about the judgment which he will give to the Devil, guarding the continuity of the discourse, he also recounts what he suffered in the incarnation of the Lord; and taking this as his theme, he speaks more at length about the Lord’s presence in the flesh, and says:
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Translator’s notes for chapter 19.
1. This is from Epiphanius Homily 4, On the Ascension of Christ. The text from Epiphanius says… “Wherefore arise, let us go hence; for my heavenly Father awaits the lost sheep; the ninety and nine sheep (see Matt. 18:12, Luke 15:4), the angels, are waiting for the time when Adam their fellow-servant should arise, when he should ascend and return to God. A cherubic throne is set, and those who bear it aloft are ready and waiting, the bridechamber is furnished, the choice foods are made, the everlasting tabernacles and mansions are built, the treasuries of blessings are open, the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages. (see Matt. 25:34) The good things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9), are laid up in store for mankind.”
2. The oldest Oecumenius manuscript reads indicatives χαίρομεν and δώσομεν, the common reading uses subjunctives χαίρωμεν and δώσωμεν. The older Oecumenius manuscript reading would be, “And we will rejoice and be glad, and we will give him the glory.” I have chosen to use the common reading based upon manuscripts 203 and 240.
3. Gregory of Nazianzus Orations 42.9
4. Here is an example of Oecumenius here in his commentary on Revelation showing parallels with his other commentaries. In his commentary on Hebrews, Oecumenius also quotes this passage from Hebrews and quotes the Orations of Gregroy Nazianzus. He said, Thus Gregory" says in the second book "On the Son": "Are they not all ministering spirits?" He comforts them, saying: Christ is indeed the natural Son of God, but the angels are our servants: having been assigned this ministry, that they may do and administer all things so that we humans may be saved. For indeed, angels have frequently become ministers to men, as to Mary (Luke 1:26) and at the Lord's tomb (Matt. 28:2-7) and to Cornelius. (Acts 10:3)
5. see Homer, Iliad 5.31, 455, 844, 846.
6. The oldest Oecumenius manuscript does not have “like”, but manuscripts 203 and 240 do. I have chosen to not add “like” because it is not in any of the manuscripts below in his (Oecumenius) comments.
7. Oecumenius manuscripts 203 and 240 read “dipped” [βεβαμμένον]. The oldest Oecumenius manuscript reads “sprinkled” [ἐρραμμένον], and manuscript 240 has it in the margin. I have chosen to use “sprinkled”.
8. The phrase "the sun is set in the midst of the seven planets, having three above it and three below it" describes a classical, geocentric (earth-centered) model of the cosmos, often found in ancient and medieval astronomical, Hermetic, and occult literature.