Apocalipse 12
Alcuin of York
Apocalipse 12:1
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. The woman clothed with the sun is blessed Virgin Mary, covered with the power of the Most High. A genus, namely the Church, is also understood in her. The Church is not called a woman by reason of weakness, but because it gives birth every day to new people, with whom the general body of Christ is being formed. So the Church is clothed with the sun according to this: As many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. [Gal. 3:27] Indeed Christ is the Sun of justice, [Mal. 4:2] and the brightness of eternal light. [Wis. 7:26] The moon, which wanes as time passes, represents the mutability of time; and since the Church despises it, it is as if it pressed it down under its feet. Note also that there are some things in the following that do not correspond to the species, but to the genus. And on her head a crown of twelve stars. The twelve stars the crown is fitted with are the twelve apostles, through whom the Head of the Church, that is Christ, first won victory. They are called stars because the reason of truth illuminates the darkness of ignorance. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:2
And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered. This cannot refer specifically to blessed Mary, but it refers to the Church, which suffers here a certain difficulty in childbirth when it tries to give birth once again to people it had already given birth to, until, according to the apostle's saying, we all meet unto a perfect man. [Eph. 4:13] — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:3
And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his heads seven diadems. The Devil is called a dragon because of his evilness, great because of the manifoldness of his snares, and red because of his murders. He is seen in heaven, that is in the Church, not because he possesses it, but because he opposes it. By his heads and horns is indicated his entire kingdom, as if seven heads were coming against the seven churches, seven wicked spirits against the sevenfold Spirit of God, and ten horns against the ten commandments of the law — but we shall speak about all this more at length in the following. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:4
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. The dragon's tail is depraved preachers, according to this: The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. [Is. 9:15] People who from the outside seem to stick to the pursuit of heavenly life are made to fall into the iniquity of overt error by false preachers out of love for the earth. About these people Job says, Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof. [Job 3:9] Now since the tail is the end of the body, we may understand by it the Antichrist and his preachers, if we take it that the past is here being used for the future — and indeed the casting down of these stars will be more manifest then. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son. The dragon then stood that he might swallow down the Head after it was born, and he is always standing that he may swallow down the limbs of the Head; but, as the following shows, the woman's son escaped the dragon's bite because he was taken up to the Father's throne. From this there arises a serious question; for neither did Christ physically climb to heaven as soon as he was born and sought by Herod, nor do his limbs avoid the dragon's teeth by leaving the body altogether to come to their Head. One should know then that the right faith, which keeps the commandments of life and is revealed by the sacred pages of the Scriptures, is an ascent of the mind towards God, by means of which one avoids the dragon's evilness. Therefore he does not mean an ascent in the physical sense. Note also that those whom the dragon is not said to stand behind, but before, are those who know his tricks. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:5
And she brought forth a man son. The one gave birth to the Head, the other gives birth to the limbs of the Head. But why did he add man, since he already said son? Because it can be said either in a positive sense with regards to someone's excellence in strength, or in a negative sense with regards to the immensity of their wickedness: just as it is here used in a positive sense, so is it used in a negative sense in Jeremiah when he says, Cursed be the man that brought the tidings to my father, saying: A man child is born to thee. For the rest, the Church does not give birth to any effeminate, any slack child. Who is to rule all nations with an iron rod. This refers both to the Head and to the body. By the rod is represented the straightness of justice; whence the Psalmist, The rod of thy kingdom is a straight rod. [Variant of Ps. 44:7] Now, what is meant by what is said after that, as the vessel of a potter they shall be broken, if not that vile works among the inferiors are broken by the severity of justice so that they may be turned from worthless vessels into vessels of honor and sanctification? Though it could also refer to Christ's reprobates. And her son was taken up to God, and to his throne. This was explained a little earlier. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:6
And the woman shall flee into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her a thousand two hundred sixty days. The woman's fleeing into the wilderness means the same as her son's being taken up to God; for the Church flees, not in a physical ascent, but in a spiritual one. The wilderness is the secret of the mind; for, in order to escape the serpent's venom, holy men make themselves a desert by contemning all transitory and fleshly desires. Note also that it is the duty of preachers to feed this woman. As for the place where she is fed, it is he to whom it is said, Be thou unto me a protective God, and a place of refuge. [Variant of Ps. 30:3] He is also the food she is fed with, he who says, I am the living bread. [John 6:51] The number of days mentioned here signifies the times of the Antichrist, but while still also including the whole time of this life from the preaching and Passion of Christ. Indeed evangelical preaching was performed by the Lord during the same number of days as it will be finished in the end by the last preachers. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:7
And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. Let the faithful's hearts not believe that this battle happened when the old enemy fell from heaven with his followers because of his pride; but it should be believed without any doubt that it has been on-going since the beginning of the Christian faith and will last until the end of this life, because it is demonstrated that the dragon, that is the Devil, has been fighting back and offering opposition in heaven, that is in the Church (whence it is proclaimed by the apostle's voice, Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against the spirits of wickedness in the high places) [Eph. 6:12] ever since the beginning. Now if we are fighting, why is it said, contradictorily with this idea, that Michael is fighting? With regards to this, one should know that it is shown in numerous other passages too that the struggle against the Devil belongs both to us and to angels; for while Peter said, Whom resist ye, strong in faith, [1 Pet. 5:9] and James, Resist the devil, and he will fly from you, [James 4:7] yet David declares that this same thing is done by angels, saying, The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him: and shall deliver them. [Ps. 33:8] By these examples it is shown that neither do we fight without the angels' fighting, nor do the angels without our fighting. Some angels are said to be Michael's not because, as the perfidy of some heretics would have it, he created them, but because he received them from God as a help, or because it is believed that they are soldiers under one king and from one city, in the same way as the angels who are demonstrated to belong to the dragon and to do his will are called the dragon's angels — and bad men are included in their number, just as we are included in the number of the good angels. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:8
And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. How can it be said that evil spirits prevail not, while they deceive many people, and people who used to be the Redeemer's dwelling become the deceiver's place? Therefore by the whole we should understand a part, over which the multitude of evil spirits cannot prevail to cause their eternal death; for one gives a place to the old enemy when one commits a deadly fault. Or if it is not this, then surely this prophecy refers to the time of the Antichrist, when they have been driven away from among the elect and have no time to deceive any more. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:9
And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Our enemy is called a dragon because of his evilness, great because of the hugeness of his wickedness, a serpent because of his snares, old because of the long duration of his deception, and devil because of his fall from heaven and his accusation of the faithful and elect: indeed, devil means both "flowing downwards" and "slanderer;" as for Satan, it means "adversary." In saying who seduceth the whole world, he mentioned the whole to mean a part. So, where was the dragon cast from, and where to, if not from heaven to the earth, that is from the minds of the elect into the hearts of the reprobates? Not that he was not already in them before, but once he has been driven out of the elect, he rules over the reprobates all the more. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:10
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: Now is there made salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night. Since the dragon falls from heaven to the earth every day, it is certain that this voice, which is a desire of the mind for praising, starts from the Lord's coming, and does not stop clamoring in heaven, that is in the Church, until the end of the world. Therefore it is all time that is included in the adverb now. They say that salvation is made because we have been saved by the free goodness of God; strength because we have been strengthened by it; and power because we have been raised to a high glory. Indeed all these things have been made among men, although not by man, but by Jesus Christ. The Devil accuses people day and night when he takes care that some be lifted up in success, and others broken in adversity. The Devil accuses the saints not by speaking on the outside, but by listening on the inside; for his evilness is his accusation of the saints. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:11
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. They overcome him by the blood of the Lamb because they follow the example of the sufferings of Christ, and by the word of their testimony because they keep the rightness of faith. It is then added concerning them, and they loved not their lives unto death, which means that they put themselves to death so as not to love their lives wickedly. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION
Apocalipse 12:12
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you that dwell therein. He invites the heavens in the plural to rejoice, because he is here indicating the numerousness of the churches, which all make up one. By those who dwell in heaven he means angels or holy men, for whom it is right to rejoice together in harmony in the Lord when, the enemy vanquished, men come back to the fellowship of angels. There is nothing more here that needs explaining, except that, with this joy remaining, this book should come to its due end. The exposition of the remaining chapters is missing from the manuscript, whether Alcuin wrote it or not — though in verse 3 of this last chapter he does promise that he will write more. — COMMENTARY ON REVELATION