ACC ~ Revelation 14 v20

THE BLISS OF THE SAINTS. OECUMENIUS: And he has called the punishment a “winepress,” fittingly extending the metaphor of the grape clusters and the vintage. “And the winepress was trodden outside the city.” It would not be seemly were those punished to receive the rewards of their evil deeds in the heavenly Jerusalem allotted to the saints or if the happiness of the saints was spoiled by any experience with those who are justly being punished. Moreover, there is a “great chasm” that separates the godly from the ungodly, as the patriarch Abraham said when he spoke to the rich man in the Gospels. “And blood flowed from the winepress,” it says. He speaks rightly of “blood,” to show that he was speaking figuratively when he spoke of “clusters of grapes.” For, to be sure, it is real persons who are being trampled up and cut up, so that [their blood flowed] “as high as a horse’s bridle, for one thousand and six hundred stadia.” In the holy Scriptures there is a common usage whereby God has certain horses with himself as the rider, these horses symbolizing an angelic power. For in the Song of Songs the heavenly bridegroom says to the bride, “I have compared you, my love, my love, to my horse in the chariot of Pharaoh,” and Habakkuk the prophet sings to God, “You will mount upon your horses, and your chariots are salvation.” The Apocalypse says that the bridles of these horses are soaked with the blood of sinners, not only of those close by but also of those standing far away. The passage is wholly figurative, intending to show the great amount of blood. For those who walk in the wide road are much more numerous than those who walk in the straight and narrow path, so that they soak the bridles of the horses responsible for punishment, even though these be angels. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.17-20.

THE BLOOD OF THE SAINTS. PRIMASIUS: [The winepress is trodden] outside the city, that is to say, outside of the church. This will obviously take place when the future separation has been accomplished, for then every person of sin will be outside. This trodding of the winepress or the threshing of the field will destroy all that is useless, but it will prove that which is incorruptible, for the trials of tribulations test the righteous,just as a vase is tested by fire. The blood flowing as high as horses’ bridles represents the vengeance that reaches even to the leaders of the nations. When the devil, together with his accomplices, begin to pay the penalties for the persecutions that they initiated, it is aptly said that the blood of the saints, which was once spilled, reaches as far as him and his princes, that is, those horses which in the person of the heretics started wars, as well as those who followed their errors. As it had been foretold, in the blood of sin “also the blood shall pursue you” for 1,600 stadia, that is, into all the four corners of the world. For four is multiplied by four, as in four square-shaped faces and in wheels. Four times four hundred gives 1,600. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.20.

OVERTAKEN BY TORTURES. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: However, it is possible to understand this another way.For since those who transgressed by giving themselves over to pleasure have become horses full of lust, they will be overtaken by tortures up to their bridles, for they knew no bridle in their pleasures. By the “1,600 stadia” we learn of the great chasm that separates the righteous from the sinners. For these were perfect in evil and did that which is abominable, and therefore ten times one hundred signifies the complete magnitude of their evil, while the six hundred suggests their eager engagement in sin through the misuse of the creation, which was created in six days, and also in the six hundredth year of Noah all land was inundated by water. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.20.

TRIALS TEST WHAT IS USEFUL. BEDE: Should this harvest and vintage pertain only to the evil, the winepress signifies punishment. However, should they also pertain to the good, then the treading of the winepress and the threshing of the floor grinds down that which is useless and tests that which is useful. For it is as the apostle said, precious metals are tested by fire, but wood, hay and stubble are consumed by fire. And both are accomplished outside the heavenly Jerusalem. The winevat of wrath is so called by a manner of speaking, as it is said: “On the evil day the Lord delivered him.” … Tyconius interprets the harvester and the vintager to be the church, which shines after the fires of persecution and holds the power of binding and loosing. He says that the angels from the temple and the altar announce the kingdom of the Lord, not with an audible voice but by the suggestion of the Holy Spirit who works in [Christ’s] body and teaches that now is the time for the evil to be accursed. And he has power over the fire, that is, that which comes out of the mouth of the witnesses and consumes their enemies. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 14.20.