ACC ~ Revelation 5 v8

PRAYERS FROM A PURE CONSCIENCE. ORIGEN: We regard the spirit of every good person as an altar from which arises an incense that is truly and spiritually sweet-smelling, namely, the prayers ascending from a pure conscience. Therefore it is said by John in the Revelation, “The odors are the prayers of the saints”; and by the psalmist, “Let my prayer come before you as incense.”And the statues and gifts that are fit offerings to God are the work of no common mechanics but are wrought and fashioned in us by the Word of God, to wit, the virtues in which we imitate “the firstborn of all creation,” who has set us an example of justice, of temperance, of courage, of wisdom, of piety, and of the other virtues. AGAINST CELSUS 8.17.

THE FLESH OF CHRIST. VICTORINUS OF PETOVIUM: The harp, whose strings are stretched out upon wood, signifies the body of Christ, that is, the flesh of Christ bound to his passion. The bowls represent the confession [of faith] and the extension of the new priesthood. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 5.3.

WHEN WE CRUCIFY OUR PASSIONS. PRIMASIUS: The bowls that are accepted by God are the pious confession in which no one is hidden with a duplicitous heart but is rather sincere with an open affection. They are also the golden vessels that are in the great house, burning with the sweetness of the pleasant odor of Christ. Moreover, the prayers of the saints are the grateful deeds of those who rejoice over the salvation of the worldand their intercessions for the well-being of the helpless. [The apostle] says, “Christ suffered for us, leaving for us an example that we should walk in his footsteps.” When, therefore, “those who belong to Christ crucify their own flesh with its passions and desires,” it is as though they are playing to Christ on harps, so that what he has done for them, they might do for him, “looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 5.8.

THE SACRIFICE OF THE FAITHFUL. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: The harps indicate the harmonious and melodious divine doxology, while the incense indicates the sweet-smelling sacrifice of the faithful that is offered through a most pure life, as the apostle says: “We are the aroma of Christ.” The bowls are symbolic of the thoughts from which the sweet aroma of good works and pure prayer come. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 5.7-8.

THE CHURCH RENDERS THANKSGIVING. BEDE: When the Lord in his passion demonstrated that the proclamation of both Testaments was fulfilled in himself, the church renders thanksgiving and gives herself up to sufferings in order that, as the apostle says, she might fill up that “which is lacking of the sufferings of Christ in its flesh.” For the harps represent bodies made ready to die, since the strings are stretched tight on wood. And by the bowls are designated hearts wide open by the breadth of charity. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 5.8.

WE BEAR SPICE TO CHRIST’S TOMB. BEDE: Just as it is proper for us to seek the Lord shining with the light of good works, so also is it proper for us to seek him abundantly provided with the gift of spiritual prayers. Hence it is good that the women who came to the tomb early in the morning are reported to have been carrying with them the spices that they had prepared. Our spices are our voices in prayer, in which we set forth before the Lord the desires of our hearts, as the apostle John attested in the describing mystically the purest inmost longings of the saints, saying, “They had golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” What in Greek is called “spice” in Latin is called “incense.” We bear spices to the tomb of the Lord early in the morning when, mindful of the passion and death that he underwent for us, we show to our neighbor outwardly the light of our good actions and are inwardly aflame in our heart with the delight of simple compunction. We must do this at all times, but especially when we go into church in order to pray and when we draw near to the altar in order to partake of the mysteries of the body and blood of the Lord. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.10.

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