Alcuin of York, on Rev 1:1

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to make known to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass: and signified, sending by his angel to his servant John,”

“The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. First, it is to be noted that the meaning would be expressed more fully if he said "this is the Apocalypse;" but it is a habit of the Scriptures to leave those little words implied for brevity's sake. This is why Solomon did not say "these are the parables of Solomon" [Cf. Prov. 1:1] or "these are the words of Ecclesiastes." [Cf. Eccles. 1:1] Apocalypse, as already said, comes from the Greek for "revelation." Jesus in Hebrew translates to soter in Greek and salutaris in Latin. Christ comes from the Greek for "anointed"; for chrisma means "unction". It is told in the book of Exodus [Ex. 30:22-25] that Moses was the first to prepare chrisma at the Lord's bidding, with which kings and priests used to be anointed, prefiguring Christ invisibly anointed by the Father. Which God gave unto him, to make known to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass. Here also it is to be noted that "'by' which God gave unto him" would be a more usual way of saying it; but it is a habit of the sacred Scripture frequently to put the accusative instead of the ablative without preposition. Whence this in a psalm: Hear, O Lord, my voice, which I have cried to thee, [Variant of Psalm 26:7] and Paul: I have fought a good fight [2 Tim. 4:7]. Indeed what is shown by these words is that this revelation is that of Jesus Christ, and that he received from God the task to make known to his servants by his revelation the things which must shortly come to pass. This is why it is necessary to mark it thus: the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, and then to introduce, which God gave unto him, to make known to his servants, etc., the former referring to his divinity, according to which he reveals all the mysteries with the Father; the latter referring to his humanity, according to which he received not only from the Father and the Holy Spirit, but also from himself, the task to manifest to his servants by his revelation the things which must shortly come to pass. Whence it is not said, "which God 'the Father' gave unto him," but, indeterminately, which God, that is the Trinity, gave unto him. Note also that in saying to his servants, he also shows the Son in the form of a servant, but not a servant, as his humanity is proclaimed master of the servants. He says his, which means "subject to divine grace", according to this: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. [Lk. 10:21] In what is said afterwards, the things which must shortly come to pass, although one could understand countless things by it, his particular intention was nonetheless to speak of the Church's temporal afflictions and everlasting joys to come, and of the wicked's present happiness and future eternal torments. These things all come to pass shortly, because this present time is forced to fly by until the end without a moment's interruption; whence the same John says elsewhere, little children, it is the last hour. [1 John 2:18] And signified, sending by his angel to his servant John. Signified. That is "sealed." For signum means "seal," whence it is also said to Daniel, clausi sunt signatique sermones, [Dan. 12:9] and to Isaiah, signavi visionem in discipulis meis. [Apparently a variant of Is. 8:16] But what does it mean that this vision is said to be sealed, while it is said later, seal not the words of the prophecy of this book, [Rev. 22:10] if not that these words are opened for the good, and closed with a seal for the wicked? For it is not because of faithful servants, but because of thieves that riches are sealed. Whence it is said to Daniel, the wicked shall deal wickedly, but the learned understand. [Slight variant of Dan. 12:10] Moreover, by saying signified, he showed that it should not be taken literally, but by the word signification he made us intent on examining the mysteries more deeply. So this vision was sent through an angel; but the unbounded Spirit that sent it was there both in the one through whom he sent it and in the one to whom he sent it. The same angel who appeared wore the figure of the Word incarnate alone and of his body, which is the Church. John himself as well, whom he appeared to, presented the symbol of the Church. However, one should not believe that the angel and John prefigured two churches; but when the angel possesses the symbol of the Head, John possesses that of the preachers, and when the angel possesses that of the preachers, John possesses that of the listeners; and when by the angel are represented the members that lead the way, by John are represented those that follow; or in the angel we understand the Church glorified after the resurrection, and in John the present Church needing to be instructed by Christ. Furthermore, one should know that the Lord appears after his Ascension in the same way as he appeared to the fathers before his Incarnation, namely through an angelic creature. By this fact he clearly shows that he must not now be sought physically for teaching, as he is present everywhere in majesty; for we should not think that his humanity taken from the Virgin was present in the angel, but that the angel expressed its figure. It is not at all surprising either that he is called like to the Son of man, [Rev. 1:13] when the prophet Daniel is said to have called the angel Gabriel a man. [Dan. 9:21] Moreover, it is said by this angel, I am the First and the Last, [Rev. 1:17] etc., just as, before the Incarnation, God said in the person of an angel he had assumed, I am the God of Abraham, [Ex. 3:6] etc. Indeed, just as Moses calls the one who appeared to him in the bush sometimes "angel," sometimes "God," so does John say that this revelation was sent to him through an angel, and affirm that it was the Lord Jesus Christ himself in the mystery and figure. Therefore it was also through an angel that the Lord appeared to Paul on the road, [Acts 9:1-19] because if he had been to appear in the substance of his own flesh, he would appear thus to John, whom he particularly loved. It is also to be noted that John speaks of himself as if of someone else, as others do. Indeed Moses says, Moses was a man exceeding meek, [Num. 12:3] and Job, there was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job [Job 1:1] etc.; for they were not speaking by themselves, but it was the Holy Spirit speaking through them.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

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