ACC ~ Revelation 1 v11

THE SEVEN CHURCHES REPRESENT THE ONE CATHOLIC CHURCH. VICTORINUS OF PETOVIUM: He mentions seven churches by the explicit use of their own names to which he has sent letters. He does this not because they are the only churches, or even the most important of the churches, but because what he says to one, he says to all. For it makes no difference whether one speaks to a cohort, in number only a few soldiers, or whether one speaks through it to the entire army. Whether in Asia or in the whole world, Paul taught that all of the seven churches which are named are one catholic [church]. And therefore, that he might preserve this understanding, he did not exceed the number of seven churches, but he wrote to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to the Ephesians, to the Thessalonians, to the Galatians, to the Philippians and to the Colossians. Later he wrote only to individual persons, lest he exceed the number of seven churches. … We read that this type was announced by the Holy Spirit through Isaiah [who spoke] of seven women who seized one man.However, this one man is Christ, who was not born of seed. And the seven women are churches who received their own bread and wear their own clothes but who ask that their reproach be taken away and that his name be invoked over them. The “bread” is the Holy Spirit, who nourishes to eternal life. It is “their own” because it has been promised to them through faith, and “their own clothes” refers to the promises which have been made to them and by which they wish to be covered, as Paul says: “It is necessary that this corruptible be clothed with incorruption and that this mortal be clothed with immortality.” And the words “that their reproach be taken away” refer to that first sin which is taken away in baptism when each person begins to be called a “Christian,” which is the meaning of the words “your name will be invoked over us.” In these seven churches, therefore, we are to think of the one church. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 1.7.

THE NAMES OF THE CHURCHES CONTAIN MYSTERIES. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: We have already said that he addressed one church which exists during the time of the whole world, that is, from that time when he spoke to the consummation of the world. Since he now mentions the names of these churches specifically, let us see what meanings they have. … There is a mighty mystery in the names which we will examine and discuss to the extent that God allows. Ephesus means “my will” or “my plan.” He wills that we know that the whole reality of our faith and the dignity of the catholic church is not to be ascribed to human merit, but they are the will of God and the disposition of the divine purpose. Smyrna means “their song.” And what else is the song of the perfect if not the celestial doctrine and the preaching of the gospel and the advance of the Christian religion, or the melodious confession of the catholic church? Pergamum means “to him who divides their horns.” This refers either to the insolence of the powers of the air, or to the arrogance of the heretics. And he teaches that the pride of the powers is always to be separated and divided from the congregation of the church, for the horns are either power or arrogance. He writes to Thyatira, that is “enlightened.” This signifies that, after the expulsion of heretical pride and after the defeat of temptations from the powers of the air, the holy church is deserving of the light of righteousness. Sardis means the “beginning of beauty.” The church is seized by the sun of righteousness and is illumined by the light of truth, so that she might have the beginning of beauty, the Lord Jesus Christ, and might always shine in perpetual light. Philadelphia means “preserving devotion to the Lord.” After possessing the sun of righteousness, after the illumination of holiness, after the comeliness of holy beauty, the church rightly is devoted to the Lord and preserves herself by an inviolable observation of devotion. Laodicea means either “a tribe beloved of the Lord,” or, as some would have it, “a birth is expected.” Both are meaningful, for she who has merited the beauty of faith and the sun of righteousness and knows that through faith the Lord cleaves to her, might also be a tribe whom the Lord loves, who is both loved by the Lord and preserved by the Lord. Furthermore, the church might well await her own birth, either the regeneration of baptism or the glory of the resurrection, whenever she preserves herself by humility and patience. TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1.11.

Rev