ACC ~ Matthew 24 v31

THE SON OF MAN WILL SEND HIS ANGELS

APOLLINARIS: By saying that the Son of man will send his angels, he demonstrates that the Son of man is God. For they are God’s angels, and to send them is solely God’s prerogative. The saying “from one end of the heavens to the other” teaches us that the extremes of earth and heaven are the same. Hence it is necessary to believe in Christ and not to be deceived as though the smallest part of earth, situated in the midst of the heavens, was surpassed by their infinite greatness. FRAGMENT 127. [1]

[1] MKGK 43-44.

THE GATHERING OF THE ELECT

ORIGEN: You will understand why the saints are gathered “from the heights of the earth” [1] if you consider the conduct of their lives and the perfection, insofar as possible, of their dealings with others. All who lived uprightly will be gathered not simply from the earth but “from the heights of the earth.” After their earthly lives have ended, their conduct in the next life will raise them not simply from the highest point in heaven, as it was from the highest level of earth, but from the “heights of the heavens” because each and every heaven has both a beginning and a conclusion or perfection. After their exemplary lives on earth, the saints’ conduct in the first heaven, once they have attained its perfection or conclusion, will elevate them still further. The same is true for the second heaven and the third heaven. It seems to me therefore that there are many heavens, each with its own initiation and perfection. It is from the beginnings and ends of these diverse heavens that God gathers his elect.

“From the heights of the heavens to their ends.” It is also possible that the heavens here represent either the divine Scriptures or their authors, in both of which God dwells. In that case, the heights of the Scripture is its beginning, and the perfection of Scripture is its conclusion. To say that the saints will be gathered from “the heights of the heavens” means that they will be found from among those who live in the beginning of Scripture to those who live at its conclusion, or, if I may speak more profoundly, from the unskilled to the experts.

The angels who will be sent by the Savior to gather his elect will gather them not just with any ordinary voice but with what Scripture calls a “great trumpet.” It won’t be an uncertain voice but one that is definite and clear so that all who hear and learn will be established on the way of perfection which leads to the Son of God. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 51. [2]

[1] Mk 13:27. In the parallel passage in Mark we read “from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” Origen links the uttermost part of earth in Mark with the acme of heaven in Matthew and presents the progression toward perfection as a continuous ascent of the rational being from the earth through the various heavens, where heavens signifies allegorically the sacred Scriptures.

[2] GCS 38.2:115-16.