ACC ~ Revelation 12 v2

THE CHURCH WILL NOT CEASE TO PREACH THE WORD. HIPPOLYTUS: [The words that she was with child and cried out in anguish for delivery] mean that the church will not cease to bear from its heart the Word that is persecuted by the unbelieving in the world. ON THE ANTICHRIST 61.

THE CHURCH GATHERS THE NATIONS. TYCONIUS: “She was with child and cried out in pangs of birth.” This means that by her preaching [the church] desires to gather together the nations of the Gentiles. “She is in anguish for delivery” as long as [the church] is either gathering together the multitude of the Gentiles or is excluding the hypocrites from its womb. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 12.2.

THE CHURCH SUFFERS FOR HER CHILDREN. TYCONIUS: “She was with child,” not in her womb but in her mind, “and she cried out, groaning (in the valley of tears) and was in anguish that she might deliver.” The church spiritually gives birth to those with whom she is in the pangs of childbirth, but she also never ceases to be in the pangs of childbirth with those to whom she has already given birth. For this reason the apostle says, “My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 12.2.

MARY BLUSHED BEFORE JOSEPH. OECUMENIUS: “And she was with child,” it says, “and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.” Clearly Isaiah speaks concerning her: “Before she was in labor she gave birth; before the pain of her labor she fled and gave birth to a son.”Also in his thirteenth homily on the Song concerning the Lord, Gregory says, “whose pregnancy remains without union, and the childbirth without defilement, and the labor free of pain.” If according to such a prophet and to such a teacher of the church the Virgin escaped the pain of childbirth, how is it that here it says “she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery”? What is said is not contradictory. By no means! For there would be nothing contradictory said by the same Spirit who was speaking through both. Rather, you will understand the present phrase “she cried out and was in anguish” is this way. Until the holy angel said to Joseph that that which was borne in her womb was of the Holy Spirit, she was faint of heart, as is natural for a virgin, and she blushed before her betrothed and thought that perhaps from the secrecy of the marriage he might think that she was in labor. And so, according to the rules of figurative language, he calls this faintheartedness and sorrow a “crying out” and “anguish.” Nor is this unusual. For even to the blessed Moses, when he was spiritually conversing with God and losing heart—for he saw Israel in the desert surrounded by the sea and the enemy—God said, “Why are you crying to me?” So also here, the vision calls the troubled disposition of the Virgin in her mind and heart a “crying out.” But may you, who by your unspeakable birth did bring to an end the faintheartedness of your undefiled servant, your mother according to the flesh, but my mistress, the holy mother of God, also forgive my sins. For it is proper to give you glory forever. Amen. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 12.1-2.

THOSE WHO FALL FROM CHRIST ARE MISCARRIAGES. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: We say that the church is in birth pangs for each one of those who are being born anew through water and the Spirit, “until Christ is formed in them,” as the apostle says.Those who have fallen from the true light of Christ are regarded as miscarriages and experience death at the end of their life because of unfaithfulness. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 12.2.

Rev