Alcuin of York — on Rev 1:16 (COMMENTARY ON REVELATION)

“And he had in his right hand seven stars. By the seven stars, as the same angel explains below, angels are meant; not however those spirits of the heavenly fatherland, in whom nothing reprehensible can be found, but preachers of the Church, about whom it is said, The angels of peace shall weep bitterly. [Is. 33:7] It is right for these to be represented by stars and angels, because they both shine in the night of this world by the cleanness of their lives, and prove to be angels of truth by announcing heavenly things to their listeners. Because they are seven not truly in number, but in the signification of totality, this species includes all the preachers of the Church. Whence in signification there are no longer seven angels, but one, that is the perfected order of preachers, just as the seven candlesticks represent not only the churches of Asia, but the universal Church; and if we pay subtle attention, we also find the candlesticks in these seven stars, that is, the universal Church in the holy preachers. Whence, when the Lord speaks to one angel, he says in the end: Let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. [Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22] The right hand in this passage should be understood to mean the utmost blessedness, which now is there in hope, and will then be there in fact; whence this saying of Isaiah: The right hand of my just one will uphold thee. [Variant of Is. 41:10] Then, when we hear that the Church is held in the right hand, from the whole we must understand a part, which must be placed on the right hand in the future. And from his mouth came out a sharp two-edged sword. What is symbolized by the sword but the preaching of the Old and of the New Testament? As in this saying of Paul's: and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [Eph. 6:17] It is right for it to be called two-edged, because it cuts off faults committed in deed on one side, and forbidden thoughts on the other; or because it informs imperfect people on the outside according to the literal meaning, and instructs perfect people on the inside according to the mystical meaning. And his face was as the sun shineth in his power. By the face shining as the sun, we may understand the elect, as in The just shall shine as the sun. [Matt. 13:43] If we wish to understand the sun mentioned in this sentence to mean the visible sun, we should know that it will then be of a greater brightness than it now is, and the glory of the saints will then be greater, as Isaiah attests, who says, The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people; [Is. 30:26] whence in this passage it is added in his power. Alternatively: what is symbolized by the face of the angel but the Redeemer's manifest incarnation, which had, as it were, a rising in being born, a setting in dying, and again a rising in being resurrected? And since his resurrection had already become well-known throughout the world, it is as if the sun had gone up to the hours around midday when John was seeing these things, and this is why he said, with those words added, as the sun shineth in his power.”