Commentary on the Apocalypse

Section Nine

119 SECTION NINE Chapter 25 About the Fourth Angel and the Darkening of the Luminaries 8.12. And the fourth angel blew his trumpet. And a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them was darkened and a third of the day did not shine, and the night likewise. e think that these things also fit the sayings by Joel about the sun and the moon,1 which things were already drawn out according to the decision of the Master concerning the end.2 We say that by the one third of the luminaries and stars and the one third of the day and night is shown an interval , so that we might know that, even then, God does not bring unmitigated suffering, but, allowing those who have been wounded to suffer the one-third interval of time, [95] imperceptibly encourages the greater portion which remains . For who will be able to bear the cup of the divine wrath unmixed? 8.13. And I saw, and I heard one angel flying in mid-heaven saying with a great voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, and from the rest of the sounds of the trumpet which the three angels are about to blow!” Through these is also shown the sympathy and love for humankind of the divine angels imitating God, pitying those sinners being punished, but even much more those who do not 1. Jl 2.10, 31. 2. Mt 24.19–23; Mk 13. 20. 120 ANDREW OF CAESAREA see the afflictions for the purpose of returning , those for whom the woe is especially appropriate, dwelling on the earth and thinking in an earthly manner, breathing dirt instead of the Myrrh which was emptied out3 for us. For those who have “citizenship in heaven”4 difficulties become the starting point of unfading crowns and trophies. Chapter 26 About the Fifth Angel and the Mental Locusts and the Variety of their Form 9.1–5. And the fifth angel blew his trumpet; and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him. 2 And he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke rose from the pit like the smoke [96] of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened from the smoke of the pit. 3 And from out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth, and they were given power, like scorpions having power on the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth nor any greenery nor any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal upon their foreheads. 5 They were allowed not to kill them but to torture them for five months, and their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings a man. Some said that the star descending upon the earth, that is, during the judgment that took place in the valley of Jehosaphat , is the divine angel in charge of the punishments.5 The pit of the abyss is the Gehenna, and the smoke that comes from it causes the sun and the air to be invisible to the suffering ones.6 The locusts the worms of which the prophet says, “their worm will never die.”7 They will torment neither the earth nor the grass, but human beings because these things will escape corruption, to which today they are in bondage because of us.8 The five months of torture some delineated period of time for those being punished intensely, after which [97] less vio3 . Cf. Phil 2.7. 4. Phil 3.20. 5. Oik. 5.17.2. 6. Oik. 5.17.4. 7. Oik. 5.17.5. The quotation is from Is 66.24. 8. Rom 8.21. SECTION NINE 121 lently, but eternally. I agree that the star is the divine angel.9 By divine allowance he leads up the evil demons who had been condemned in the abyss, those whom Christ bound when he became man, so that they might do their uncompleted tormenting work before the end. The smoke is the gloom which precedes the evil deeds out of their encounters; those will receive authority given to them to torment people. The darkness of the...