"Written in the sixth century but discovered only at the beginning of the twentieth, it presents a fascinating view of a writer who strove to be faithful to the teaching of the church while at the same time allowing his imagination to make sense of the stories and visions of Revelation."

(On Revelation 6:17)
"One could also suppose that these things recounted in the Revelation were the sufferings not only of demons but also of the lawless Jews who erected the cross for the Lord, when they were oppressed by the war against the Romans and became fugitives in the mountains and caves and holes of the earth, and on every side afflicted by hardship and stress" (Suggit, p. 76)

(On Revelation 7:1-6)
"Here all that happened to the Jews in the war against the Romans is clearly shown to the evangelist.   These things happened to them because of the cross and their madness against the Lord.  The four angels controlling the four corners of the land of the Jews were on guard lest any of the Jews deserving of death should escape, perhaps by making them too afraid to run away or by putting some difficulties in their way or causing an excessive longing for their country or their wives and those dearest to them.  These are indicated figuratively by their control of the four corners of Judaea.   The control of the four winds, that they should not blow on earth or sea or against any tree, indicates that the Jews found no relief in the war, nor any consolation for their disasters, whether they were fighting on foot on land, or fighting on ships at sea - for they fought many naval battles according to Josephus -- or indeed whether they were busy with farming and the care of crops.   Utter calamity overtook them all: their cities were being destroyed by fire, their land was being ravaged, and their crops were being cut down.  All this Josephus related accurately in his account of the destruction of Jerusalem." (p. 77)

"But those these were saved, the rest were in their wickedness utterly destroyed by flight and desertion to the Romans.  "They became a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men," though in a different sense from that which Paul said about the blessed apostles.  Josephus again records that he reckons tens of thousands died by famine." (p. 78)

(On Revelation 8:12)
"He says, The sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of the shaft, not because these elements were darkened, but because those who had been thrown into the shaft were filled with darkness because of their punishment, and so were blind to the air and the sun.  For this is what one of the holy prophets also said:  "The sun" will be darkened "at noon," describing the disasters of the Jews, not that the sun was darkened, but that they suffered this in their affliction and could not see the sun ; for the extent of their disasters was like being overcome with dizziness." (p. 88)

(On Revelation 11:1)
"A measuring rod is given him to measure the temple of God and the altar in the temple, obviously the one in Jerusalem, and those who worship in it.  And he measured it; those who had pleased God in the times of the old covenant could be measured because of their scarcity.  But, he says, leave out the court outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given over to the nations.   When he measured the temple and the altar and those sacrificing in it, he heard that he must leave out the court outside and widen it, definitely not measure it, since it was too large to be measured.  He says the court has been given to the nations; it is attached to the temple and also outside it, just as the new covenant is attached to the old.  For [the writings of] the new covenant spiritually and truly fulfill the shadows [of the old], and yet they are different from it, as Jeremiah says.."  (pp. 99-100)

(On Revelation 14:1-5)
"The Lord is described in the gospels as addressing the lawless people of the Jews:  "Behold, your house is forsaken."  For they were no longer worthy of God's presence after the madness with the cross.   So how is it that the Lord is now shown by the vision as standing on Mount Zion, as though they had repented?  The Romans clearly saw to it that their city, their temple, and their race had been completely abandoned when they burned the temple, set fire to cities, ravaged all their land, and enslaved their chief city itself." (p. 126)

(On Revelation 17:9-14)
"He says, The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman is seated: this is a very clear indication that he is speaking about Rome, for Rome is described as seven-crested, and no other city is so called.  He says There are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain only a little while.  He reasonably regards the kings as heads ; for the kings are the head and summary of the Roman empire.  Why did he say, in spite of the very many emperors of Rome, that the beast had only seven heads?  He said this since the seven were specially responsible for causing the beast, that is, the Devil, to raise up his head against the Christians, by stirring up persecutions against the church.   These were first Nero, second Domition, then Trajan, Severus, after him Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian.  When these were the emperors of Rome, they persecuted the church without restraint, as Eusebius says in the Chronicles.  He says that of these seven, five have fallen by death : Nero, Domition, Trajan, Severus, and Decius, but that there was still one, that is, Valerian.   The other, he says, has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain only a little while.   He means that the other is Diocletian, after whom the seat of empire ceased to be in Rome and was transferred to the city named after the pious Constantine, who himself was responsible for changing the policies of the empire.   The evangelist was told everything very accurately, especially with regard to Diocletian, when he said, And when he comes, he must remain only a little while, referring to the time spent in his persecution against the Christians.  For although he reigned for twenty years, he began the persecution during the last two years before he abdicated." (p. 149)

(On Revelation 20 - Coming Soon)
Takes the position that the thousand years began with Christ's advent -- with Satan being loosed after Christ's ascension -- and that he was then in the "little space" between the loosing of Satan and the Consummation.
 

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID

His history was redated as a result of this find and the redefinition of later works as "Pseudo-Oecumenius" - "Oecumenius was bishop of Tricca in Thessaly in the tenth century. " (1915 CLP) // "Oecumenius was bishop of Tricca in Thessaly about 600 AD" (1962 JBL)

Ignatius Aphram Barsoum (2003)
"Living in the first half of the sixth century, this noble man was a strong adherent of orthodoxy, as is testified by the four letters which Mar Severus [Monophysite Patriarch of Antioch] wrote to him.  He wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse of John in six sections."  (Scattered Pearls, p. 293)

Marc De Groote (2001)
"In 1901, F. Diekamp, a scholar from Munster in Germany, reported that he had discovered four manuscripts containing the text of Oecumenius' Commentarius in Apocalypsin (CPG 7470), namely (1) Messina, Bibl. Region. Univ., S. Salv 99 (siglum: M); (2) Rome, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1426 (siglum: V); (3) Rome, Bibl. Vat., Ottob. gr. 126-128 (copy of V); (4) Turin, Bibl. Naz. Univ., B I 15 (Pasini LXXXIV; siglum: T).  It was expected that a critical edition under his authorship would soon appear.  However, decades passed, and nothing happened.  The reason did not become clear until 1929: Diekamp had been trying unsuccessfully to obtain photographs of a 15th-century manuscript from Thessaloniki, without which he considered a sound scholarly edition quite impossible." (Historia, Biblica, Theologica et Philosophica, p. 298)

Careful reading of the Commentary on the Apocalypse, written by Andreas of Caesarea (CPG 7478), shows that this author knew and used Oecumenius; very often he challenges the ideas of the latter with the interpretation of other church fathers or his own.  Sometimes his own exegesis runs strikingly parallel with that of Oecumenius, albeit without ever mentioning Oecumenius' name, but limiting himself to vague paraphrases.. Andreas has presumably borrowed material from Oecumenius.." (p. 300)

Judith Kovacs (2005)
"Oecumenius, author of brief glosses on the letters of Paul preserved in medieval chain-commentaries, is a shadowy figure.  He was probably a sixth-century writer who copied John Chrysostom's homilies on the letters of Paul and added brief comments.   A long chain-commentary on the letters of Paul published by Migne in PG 118, probably composed at the end of the eighth century, was once attributed to Oecumenius, but this attribution is now rejected and the work's unknown author referred to as "Pseudo-Oecumenius." (1 Corinthians: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentaries, p. 297)

OTHER SUBJECTS COVERED

The Official Church View of Mary in 6th C.

"The vision intends to describe more completely to us the circumstances concerning the antichrist…. However, since the incarnation of the Lord, which made the world his possession and subjected it, provided a pretext for Satan to raise this one up and to choose him [as his instrument] – for the antichrist will be raised to cause the world again to fall from Christ and to persuade it to desert to Satan – and since moreover His fleshly conception and birth was the beginning of the incarnation of the Lord, the vision gives a certain order and sequence to the material that it is going to discuss and begins the discussion from the fleshly conception of the Lord by portraying for us the mother of God. What does he say? "And a sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sum and the moon was under her feet." As we said, it is peaking about the mother of our Savior. The vision appropriately depicts her as in heaven and not on the earth, for she is pure in soul and body, equal to an angel and a citizen of heaven. She possesses God who rests in heaven – "for heaven is my throne" – it says yet she is flesh, although she has nothing in common with the earth nor is there any evil in her. Rather, she is exalted, wholly worthy of heaven, even though she possesses our human nature and substance. For the Virgin is consubstantial with us. Let the impious teaching of Eutyches, which make the fanciful claim that the Virgin is of another substance than we, be excluded from the belief of the holy courts together with his other opinions. And what does it mean that she was clothed with the sun and the moon was under her feet? The holy prophet Habakkuk, prophesied concerning the Lord, saying, "The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood still in its place for light." calling Christ our Savior, or at least the proclamation of the gospel, the "sun of righteousness". When He was exalted and increased, the moon – that is, the law of Moses – "stood still" and no longer received any addition. For after the appearance of Christ, it no longer received proselytes from the nations as before but endured diminution and cessation. You will, therefore, observe this with me, that also the holy Virgin is covered by the spiritual sun. For this is what the prophet calls the Lord when concerning Israel he says, "Fire fell upon them, and they did not see the sun." But the moon, that is, the worship and citizenship according to the law, being subdued and become much less than itself, is under her feet, for it has been conquered by the brightness of the gospel. And rightly does he call the things of the law by the word "moon", for they have been given light by the sun, that is, Christ just as the physical moon is given its light by the physical sun. The point would have been better made had it said not that the woman was clothed with the sun but that the woman enclothed the sun, which was enclosed in her womb. However, that the vision might show that the Lord, who was being carried in the womb, was the shelter of His own mother and the whole creation, it says that He was enclothing the woman. Indeed, the holy angel said something similar to the holy Virgin: "The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." For to overshadow is to protect, and to enclothe is the same according to power. [Commentary on the Apocalypse 12.1-2]

What do YOU think ?

Send an email with your comments to todd @ preteristarchive.com
Be sure to include the article name.  They will be posted shortly upon receipt