The interpretation timeline

Rev 6:13

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

6 Patristic · 1 Medieval

Patristic before A.D. 750
220
A.D.
303
A.D.
Victorinus of Pettau
c. A.D. 250–303
“"And the stars fell to the earth." The falling of the stars are the faithful who are troubled for Christ's sake. "Even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs." The fig-tree, when shaken, loses its untimely figs-when men are separated from the Church by persecution.”
390
A.D.
Ticonius
d. A.D. 390
“The stars signify those in the church who for a time seem, according to human opinion, to stand out from the number of the elect, but who, when the fury of a sharp persecution comes near, are said to fall from their high status as though from heaven. The Lord foretold this in the Gospel, saying, "For then there will be tribulation such as has never been or shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened." The tree represents the church, and the sour fruit, which another translation calls "unripened," represents people. The winds are the turbulent turmoil of persecution by which people are shaken and fall from the church. And it is proper that they are compared with the unripened fruit of the fig tree. For they are either unfaithful and, "twisted like a deceitful bow," prefer this to the faith that they have abandoned, or because of the immaturity of the time the church suffers in them a tearful miscarriage, although it had sought for a happy birth at their conception.”
247 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
637
A.D.
Andreas of Caesarea
c. A.D. 563–637
“"The stars fell." As has been already written of those deceived by Antiochus, this refers also to those who think themselves to be lights of the world but who will fall, being crushed by the events of that time, as the Lord said, "to lead astray, if it were possible, even the elect by the great tribulation." This is perhaps the reason the fig tree is taken as a parable, for when the wind of the devil shakes it, it casts down its immature fruit that is not yet ripened by the heat of temptations or made sweet by grace. We know that this can be understood in either a good or in a bad sense, whether from the two baskets of good and evil figs that appear in Jeremiah or from the fig tree that Christ made to wither and that mentioned in the Song. But whether these things will occur in a visible manner when Christ comes in glory as judge, only he knows who has the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
735
A.D.
Medieval c. 750 – 1100
804
A.D.
Alcuin of York
c. A.D. 735–804
“And the stars of heaven fell upon the earth, as the fig tree casteth its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind. Heaven is the Church of the saints, which, as it contains countless lives of saints, shines in the night of this life as if stars were radiating light on it from above. Therefore the stars falling from heaven upon the earth mean those who seem to stick to the faith or works of the saints rushing down to the iniquity of overt error out of love for the earth. This is also what is meant by the fig tree casting its green figs, for when all the Church is shaken by the last persecution, it is as if a fig tree were shaken by a great wind. Furthermore, another translation has "bitter green fig."”
Undated date unknown
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.