Alcuin of York, on Rev 11:12

“And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying to them: Come up hither. And they went up to heaven in a cloud: and their enemies saw them.”

“And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying to them: Come up hither. This voice is the one about which the apostle says, The Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. [1 Thess. 4:15] And they went up to heaven in a cloud: and their enemies saw them. They go up in a cloud, that is, in the power of him who judges. This is why the Lord, after subduing death, went up to the Father's seat in a cloud. As for what we said earlier, that the bodies of the two witnesses consisted of living and dead people, we bring here a suitable witness to confirm it, Paul, who says, We who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air, and so shall we be always with the Lord. [Ibid. 16] So if, as the apostle says, those who are found alive will be taken up in the clouds into the air to meet Christ, is the Psalmist then lying when he says, Who is the man that liveth, and shall not see death? [Variant of Ps. 88:49] And the book of Genesis when it says, Earth thou art, and into earth thou shalt go? [Gen. 3:19 acc. to LXX] No! For, as father Augustine says, at the very moment when they are taken up in the clouds, they will taste a momentaneous death. It is the same for the body to return into the earth and for the body to remain there when the soul leaves it, because the body is earth anyway. As for how quick both changes will be, the apostle indicates it, affirming that it will all happen in the twinkling of an eye. [1 Cor. 15:52]”

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

This page is the stable address of one quotation — verbatim, dated, attributed, with its edition. Cite it freely.