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"Commentary on the Apocalypse" by St. Victorinus
CHAPTER 10
1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
10 Then what he says, a mighty angel descended from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow upon his head, and his face like the sun, and his feet like columns of fire, and having in his hand an open book, and he placed his feet upon the sea and the earth, signifies our Lord, as we have told above of His face like the sun, that is, of the resurrection; a rainbow upon his head is judgment, which was and will be. And the open book is the Apocalypse which John received. His feet, we also spoke of above, are to be equated with the apostles. For, both the sea and the earth to be trampled by Him signifies everything is put under His feet. He says he is an angel, that is, a messenger of the Father Almighty; for He is called a messenger of great counsel (Isa 9:5). To call out in a great voice: the great voice is of heaven; to announce to men the words of the Almighty God, because after the closing of repentance, there will be no hope afterward.
4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
2 Seven thunders spokes in their voices: the Spirit of sevenfold power (Who) has testified through the prophets all that will be, has by His voice given witness in the world. But because it says he was to be writing what was said by the thunders, that is, whatever was obscurely predicted in the Old Testament, he is prohibited to write, but (is told) to leave and to seal them. Because he was an apostle, it was not proper to confer the grace of the following degree on a man of the first, because now is the proper time. For the apostles, by powers, by signs, by warnings, by great works, have conquered unbelief. After them, now the churches are strengthened by faith, having been given the comfort of interpreting the writings of the prophets; which interpreters he called prophets. For the Apostle says: "And He also placed in the Church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers" (1 Cor 12:28) and the rest. And in another place he says: "Two or three prophets speak, and let others evaluate" (1 Cor 14:29), and he says: "Every woman praying or prophesying without a veiled head defiles her head" (1 Cor 11:5). For when he says: "Two or three prophets speak, and let others evaluate," he does not speak of general prophecy, unheard and unknown but now predicted; but let them evaluate whether the interpretation agrees with the witness of the prophetic saying. Therefore, this was certain not to have been necessary for John, armed with superior strength; with the Church being the Body of Christ, adorned with His members, it must answer in His place.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
3 For to take the little scroll and to eat it: having been shown to him, it is committed to memory. To be sweet in the mouth is the fruit of the preaching of the speaker, and to the hearers is very sweet, but (also) very bitter to the preacher and to those persevering in the commandments through sufferings. He says, It is necessary to preach again, that is, to prophesy, among peoples, tongues, and nations: this is because, when John saw this, he was in the island of Patmos, condemned to a mine by Caesar Domitian. Therefore, John is seen to have written the Apocalypse there. And when now old, he thought it possible to return after the suffering. Domitian having been killed, all his judgments were undone and John was released from the mine, and thus afterward he handed over this same Apocalypse which he received from the Lord. This is: It is necessary to preach again.
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