Alcuin of York — on Rev 8:13 (COMMENTARY ON REVELATION)

“And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth: by reason of the rest of the voices of the trumpets of the three angels, who were yet to sound the trumpet. John as well as the eagle and the angels bear the symbol of the Church. It is right for the Church to be called one eagle, because it is based on unity of faith and lifts itself up towards heavenly things after treading earthly pleasures underfoot. So in John it is the Church that sees itself; in the eagle it is the Church that flies; and in the three angels it is the Church that announces the evils to come in the last times. Note also that in a spiritual vision, seeing is the same as hearing. By the fact that the eagle is said to lament not because of the preceding voices but because of those of the following angels, it is shown that the Church laments and proclaims the future plagues of a different calamity at different times. It laments in the eagle and proclaims in the angels. Then it is said to fly through the midst of heaven because it possesses the world on either side, and its preaching is called a great voice because it has resounded in the whole world.”