ACC ~ Revelation 19 v16

THROUGH FAITH THE SONS OF GOD CONFESS CHRIST. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: Christ is the basis and the foundation on which Paul builds as an architect. Christ is the good Shepherd “who gives his life for the sheep.” Christ is the head of every dominion and power. He is himself the head of the church, wherefore it is said, “the head of man is Christ,” because he is the head of the church. He is the father, because by him through baptism all the nations of the earth are born again. His thigh, on which his name is written, are the believers whom the Son of God, that is, Christ, has willed to name “sons” through the adoption of faith. His robe is the assumed man, and because there is one person of two substances, we recognize his divinity in his robe, that is, in the sacrament of the Lord’s body. Upon the vestment of his body it is said that his name was written, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Indeed, it is written on his thigh, because all who are called “sons” through faith witness with an unswerving confession that he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 19.15-16.

THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST DID NOT DIMINISH HIS RANK. OECUMENIUS: The robe symbolizes the flesh of the Lord, which was endowed with a rational soul. The holy angels spoke of his flesh through Isaiah, “Why are your garments red and your apparel as if from a trodden winepress, utterly stained by trodden [grapes]?” Moreover, the thigh indicates his birth in the flesh, for it is written in Genesis, “All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, who came out of his thighs.” Therefore, when the vision shows that on the robe and on the thigh it is written that the Immanuel is king of all, it shows that the Word, united personally to the flesh and having undergone a fleshly birth from a virgin, was in no way established less a King and Lord of all things in heaven and upon earth; nor was he diminished in rank by virtue of his incarnation. For even as such he was God and is and shall be God. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 19.11-16.

THE SPIRITUAL OFFSPRING OF CHRIST. PRIMASIUS: [The name is inscribed] on his robe, that is, on the church with which Christ is clothed and which, according to the apostle, “he cleansed by the washing of water with the word, that he might present to himself a church glorious, without spot or wrinkle.”He cleansed the robe that it might have no spot, and he stretched it that it might have no wrinkle. The thigh symbolizes the posterity of his offspring, by which all nations will be blessed, according to the apostle who teaches, “It does not say, ‘and to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘and to your offspring,’ which is Christ.” As though to a dead brother, according to ancient custom, the same apostle raises offspring spiritually, saying, “Lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name,” since he says that from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum he has done all things for the gospel, so that he might truthfully say to the Gentiles, “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Therefore, on this thigh, as though on children, the knowledge of Christ is written “not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts,”which confess him to be the King of kings and the Lord of all lords. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 19.16.

IN CHRIST THE CHURCH IS LORD. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: This is a name that the proud do not know. For by serving [Christ], the church reigns in Christ, and she is lord of lords, that is, she conquers vices and sins. EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE 19.16, HOMILY 17.

THOSE WHO RULE THEIR PASSIONS. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: This name reveals the unity of the divine incarnation. For in this unity he who is God suffered in the flesh, and although man, he is King of kings and Lord of lords. Those who have ruled the passions and in cooperation with Christ have possessed the authority and power over sin shall also rule with him in the coming age. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 19.16.