ACC ~ Revelation 17 v8a

THE UNGODLY DO NOT EXIST IN THE MEMORY OF GOD. OECUMENIUS: “The beast that you saw,” it says, “was, and is not, and is to ascend from the bottomless pit.” For the devil “was” before the foundation of the visible world, having been created by God for good works, even as were also the other holy angels. But he “is not” in respect to the events surrounding the consummation of the age which are shown to the Evangelist, in which he will go “into the fire prepared for him and his angels.” For it is certainly so that he is among them and not among them. Accordingly, since by his activity the antichrist will be manifested around the days of the end, it says that “he will ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition.” For through the antichrist the devil will experience an ascent and a kind of increase, since the antichrist will deceive humankind and persuade them to worship, as the many predictions above have indicated. Or you might interpret the phrase “he was and is not” in this way. Writing to the Philippians, the apostle says, “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi,” calling the saints those “who are” because they are in Christ and in the possession and memory of God. If, therefore, the saints are those “who are,” the wicked devil “is not” now, although he “was” before he acted arrogantly against God and fell from his rank. It is similar also with the ungodly. Although they appear to exist so far as their substance and essence are concerned, yet they do not exist in regard to the judgment and memory of God. And since this is the case, the book of Genesis gives no genealogy of those who descended from Cain, because they “were not” because of their ungodliness. Rather, it speaks of “perdition” to which he is destined to go, namely, to the just punishment of Gehenna against him. For in Matthew the Lord says that those condemned in it are destroyed: “Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 17.6-9.

THE DEVIL ARISES AND PASSES AWAY. PRIMASIUS: The holy Scriptures teach that from the beginning of the world there has been the rise and the advance to the present time of two cities. Of these, one is of God and the other is of the devil, and in this passage [the city of the devil] is indicated by the beast as [representing] altogether the whole body of the wicked. And so it says that it was and is not, because in the passing away of generations that succeed one another, it is built up and supplemented. And, therefore, it follows that it is going to ascend from the abyss as well as go to destruction. For by the hidden yet just judgment of God, it is brought to its end, so that the psalm says, “Your judgments are like the great deep.” Or it claims that [the beast] will come forth from the hearts of the impious, of which the psalm speaks, “The deep calls forth the deep.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 17.8.

THE WICKED ARE BORN OUT OF THE WICKED. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: We understand this to mean that an evil people is born out of an evil people. And so we can say the beast comes out of the beast and the abyss out of the abyss. And what does it mean that the beast comes out of the beast, unless an evil people is born out of an evil people? This is so because wicked children copy and replace their wicked parents, and while some are dying, others succeed to them. Therefore, those who from the beginning have always plotted against the church are never lacking, whether they be few or many, whether they be hidden or manifest. And although in this world we can never be separated from having some contact with them, let us beseech the mercy of God, that we might be so separated in our conduct that we do not go with them to an eternal punishment. Rather, when they hear, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire,” may we be worthy to hear, “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom.” EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 17.8, HOMILY 14.

THE DEVIL “WAS” BUT “NO LONGER IS.” ANDREW OF CAESAREA: The beast is the devil who is always seeking someone to devour. He was killed by the cross of Christ, but, it is said, he will live again at the end, effecting the denial of salvation through the deceit of the antichrist in signs and wonders. In this way he “was” and was powerful before the cross, but he “no longer is” after the salvific sufferings, for he has become powerless and is deprived of his authority that he had over the nations on account of idolatry. And at the end he will come, in the way we have indicated, arising from the abyss or from wherever he was condemned and where the demons, thrown out by Christ, begged him not to send them, but rather into the swine. Or he will come out of the present life, which is figuratively called “abyss” because of the depth of sin that lives in it and that is blown about and agitated by the winds of passion. From this place the antichrist, having Satan in himself, will come for the destruction of men, going himself to perdition in the age to come. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 17.8.

WHEN THE LORD WAS CRUCIFIED, THE DEVIL WAS CAST OUT. BEDE: The devil ruled in the world at one time, but when the Lord was crucified, he was cast out. However, at the end of the world, when he has been released from the confinement of his prison, he will perish for eternity by the breath of the mouth of the Lord. Tyconius interprets the beast to be the entire body of the devil, which is supplemented by the course of generations that pass away and succeed themselves. And especially for this reason he shows the woman seated on the beast whom he had promised to show seated upon the many waters, that is, upon the people. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 17.8.

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