ACC ~ Revelation 5 v3

THE INCARNATE SON OF GOD ALONE CAN FULFILL ALL THINGS. PRIMASIUS: When it says that no one in heaven was found worthy, it indicates that [opening the scroll] exceeded the capacities of the angels. This was not because they were ignorant of the future mystery of the Lord’s incarnation and work but because this was not to be completed through an angelic creature. For the Son of God, who through the assumption of true humanity was going to redeem humanity, wishes to fulfill all things through himself. Therefore Isaiah said, “Neither an angel nor a messenger but the Lord himself saved them.” When it says that no one on the earth was worthy, it means that no one of the just remains perfect in this life, for in order to be re-created man requires the assistance of him who alone is Creator. And that no one could be found under the earth means that no one among the saints who had died was found worthy to open the scroll or even to see it. Here “to see” means “to comprehend,” and therefore Paul says that he preaches the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles of which the Lord spoke, that is, the glory of the New Testament that was hidden in the law and that Christ reserved for his own presence. And so, no one was able to see this with an adequate sight, so that he might be able to effect it, since Christ had the power to fulfill it by his own dispensation. For [this glory] could only be foreseen by them, but it could not be effected. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 5.3.

WHY HELL IS UNDER THE EARTH. GREGORY THE GREAT: But it occurs to me that if we call an object “infernal” because it lies in a lower position, then hell ought to be “infernal” to the earth just as the earth is to the sky. This is perhaps what the psalmist had in mind when he said, “You have freed my soul from the lower infernal regions.”The earth then is the “upper infernal,” and lying below this is the “lower infernal.” The words of John, too, are in keeping with this concept. He says he saw a book sealed with seven seals, and, because no one was found worthy to open the seals, either in heaven or on earth or under the earth, he “was all in tears.” Yet, later, he says that the Lion of the tribe of Judah opened the book. This book can refer only to sacred Scriptures, for no one opened it but Christ our Redeemer, who became man, and by his death, resurrection and ascension opened the way to all the mysteries it contained. No one in heaven opened it, because no angel could. No one on earth opened it, because no one living in the flesh had the power of doing so. No one under the earth was found worthy to open it, because souls separated from their bodies do not have such powers. No one but our Lord could open up the hidden meanings of the sacred word. Since, then, no one under the earth was found worthy to unseal the book, I see no reason why we should not believe that hell is under the earth. DIALOGUES 4.44.

THE SPLENDOR OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. BEDE: This vision shows to us the mysteries of the holy Scriptures, which were revealed through the incarnation of the Lord. Its harmonious unity contains, as it were, the Old Testament without and the New Testament within. … Neither an angel nor anyone of the righteous who are already freed from the flesh was able to reveal or to search out the mysteries of the divine law or to look into the book, that is, to contemplate the splendor of the grace of the New Testament. Similarly, the sons of Israel had not been able to look upon the face of the giver of the law of the Old Testament, which contains the New. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 5.1-3.

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