Commentary on the Apocalypse

Section Two

66 SECTION T WO Chapter 4 The Things Declared to the Angel of the Church of the Smyrnaeans 2.8. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: “Thus says the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life. he first as god, and the Last as having become man in the latter times, and having opened eternal life to us through his three-day death. 2.9a. I know your works and the tribulation and the poverty, but you are rich. “Affliction and poverty in the bodily things, which you suffer patiently for my sake, being afflicted by the unbelievers and deprived of your possessions, but in spiritual things you are rich, having ‘the treasure hidden in the field’1 of your heart.” [28] 2.9b. And the blasphemy of those who say they themselves are Jews and are not, but a synagogue of Satan. The I know used . And the blasphemy of the synagogue of Satan, he says, “I know that they are not that which they are called.” “For the Jew is not the one who is manifest, but is hidden.”2 For “Judah” means “confession .”3 1. Mt 13.44. 2. Rom 2.28. 3. Gn 29.35 indicates that “Judah” means “praise” or “give thanks,” suggesting “to profess” or “to acknowledge”; hence the interpretation of “Judah” as “confession.” SECTION TWO 67 2.10. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to put some of you in prison that you might be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He says, “Do not fear the tribulation from the enemies of God through afflictions and trials, for ten days and not long-lived.” For this reason, death must be despised, since in a little while it grants “the unfading crown of life.”4 2.11. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches : The one who is victorious will not be harmed by the second death.” He says, he who hears spiritually and conquers the devil ’s evil suggestions, even though he receives the first death through the flesh, he will not be harmed by the second death of Gehenna.5 [29] Chapter 5 The Things Declared to the Angel of the Church in Pergamum 2.12–13a. 12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: “Thus says the one who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13a I know your works and where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is. This city was full of idols, regarding which he says these things to them, accepting the faithful in it on account of their patience in temptations. The two-edged sword either means the word of the Gospel which he says circumcises the heart, separating the faithful and the unbelievers, or the sharp decision against the impious. 2.13b. And you keep my name. You did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, that all-faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. Antipas, whose name had become known as the bravest martyr in Pergamum, whose martyrdom I have read,6 the Evange4 . 1 Pt 5.4. 5. Rv 20.6, 14, and 21.8. 6. Exactly which martyrdom Andrew had read is unclear. St. Antipas 68 ANDREW OF CAESAREA list now mentioned to point to both their patience and the cruelty of those who had been led astray. 2.14–15. 14 But I have a few things against you: that you have there keeping the teaching of Balaam, who in Balaam taught [30] Balak to put a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat meat sacrificed to idols, and to practice fornication. 15 Thus you also have those who keep the teaching of the Nicolaitans, which I likewise hate. So it seems this city had possessed two difficulties: First, the majority was Greek,7 and second, among those who were called believers, the shameful Nicolaitans had sown evil “tares among the wheat.”8 For this reason he recalled Balaam, saying, who in Balaam taught Balak, through these words signifying that the Balaam of the mind, the devil, by means of the perceptible Balak, taught the stumbling block to the Israelites, fornication and idolatry. For by...