ACC ~ Revelation 1 v13b

THE ROBE IS THE FLESH OF CHRIST. VICTORINUS OF PETOVIUM: The words “in priestly garment” most clearly indicate the flesh, which was not corrupted by death and which possesses through his death an eternal priesthood. “A golden girdle was tied to his breast.” These words suggest that a vibrant knowledge and a pure spiritual understanding have been given to the churches. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 1.4.

THE GOSPEL DEEPENS THE LAW. JEROME: In the law, John had a leather girdle because the Jews thought that to sin in act was the only sin. … In the Apocalypse of John, our Lord Jesus, who is seen in the middle of the seven lampstands, also wore a girdle, a golden girdle, not about his loins but about the breasts. The law is girdled about the loins, but Christ, that is, the gospel and the fortitude of the monks, binds not only wanton passion but also mind and heart. In the gospel, one is not even supposed to think anything evil; in the law, the fornicator is accused for judgment. … “It is written,” he says, “in the law, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’” This is the leather girdle clinging about the loins. “I say to you, anyone who even looks with lust at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” This is the golden girdle that is wrapped around the mind and heart. HOMILIES ON MARK 75 (1).

LAW AND GOSPEL ARE GIRD BY THE PASSION. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: The breasts of the Lord are the holy teaching of the law and the gospel. This girding is a sign of the passion, concerning which the Lord himself spoke to Peter: “When you are old, another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish” The “golden girdle” is his everlasting power, washed in the blood of the Lord’s passion. There is a variety of this girdle in the diversity of powers, yet there is one power behind the multitude of wonders. Another interpretation: The golden girdle is the chorus of the saints, tested as gold through fire. Another: The golden girdle around the chest is the fervent conscience and the pure spiritual understanding refined as though by fire, and so it was given to the churches. TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 1.13.

THE TWO TESTAMENTS NOURISH CHRISTIANS TO ETERNAL LIFE. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: He who is girded signifies Christ the Lord. By the two breasts understand the two Testaments which receive from the breast of our Lord and Savior as though from a perennial fountain and from which they nourish the Christian people unto eternal life. The golden girdle is a chorus or the multitude of saints. For just as the breast is bound by a girdle, so the multitude of the saints is bound to Christ, so that as the two Testaments encompass the two breasts they are nourished by them as by holy paps. EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 1.13, HOMILY 1.

CHRIST IS OUR BENEVOLENT HIGH PRIEST. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: He was clothed with a long robe, as a high priest of those things above “according to the order of Melchizedek.” Moreover, he was girded with a golden girdle, not around the loins, as other men are to check desires (for the divine flesh is not accessible to these), but at the chest, around the breasts, so that the boundlessness of the divine wrath might be restrained by benevolence and that the truth might be revealed girding about the two Testaments which are the dominical breasts through which the faithful are nourished. It is a golden girdle to indicate its excellence and purity and genuineness. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 1.12-13.

Rev