Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John

This commentary is said to have been composed around 260, making it the earliest surviving commentary on Revelation. The author, St. Victorinus of Pettau (d. 303) flourished about 270, and was martyred during the Roman persecutions under Emperor Diocletian. The commentary does not cover every verse but focuses instead on key passages, giving mostly allegorical interpretations. He saw the Apocalypse as consisting of various subdivisions which run parallel with each other, the main theme of which is the coming Second Advent.

By : St. Victorinus of Pettau (? - 303), translated by Philip Schaff (1819 - 1893)

01 - Chapter 1 02 - Chapters 2,3 03 - Chapters 4,5 04 - Chapters 6-9 05 - Chapters 10,11 06 - Chapters 12-15 07 - Chapters 17,19,20-22

The commentary was composed not long after the Valerian Persecution, about 260. According to Claudio Moreschini, "The interpretation is primarily allegorical, with a marked interest in arithmology." "It seems that he did not give a running commentary on the entire text but contented himself with a paraphrase of selected passages."

Victorinus was apparently the first of the Church Fathers to ascertain the basic notion of repetition – that the Apocalypse is not one uninterrupted and developing line of prophecy, but rather that various subdivisions run parallel with each other. And he saw that the theme of the soon coming Second Advent was a continuous thread of thought throughout the Apocalypse.

He wrote of the seven churches as representing seven classes of Christians within the church. The seven seals are explained as constituting a prophetic fore view of the spread of the gospel throughout the world. In connection with the Second Advent and the end of the world he looked for wars, famines, pestilences and persecution of the church.

The crowned rider of the four horsemen seated upon the white horse, going forth "conquering, and to conquer," is interpreted as prophetic of Christ's church going forth on its victorious mission, the triumph of Christianity over paganism. The red horse is explained as "coming wars," predicted as salient events preceding the end. The black horse, Victorinus avers, signifies "famines" in the time of the Antichrist. The pale horse meant "coming destructions."

The angel with the seal in chapter 7 symbolizes Elias the prophet as the "precursor of the times of Antichrist." Then comes the kingdom of Antichrist and finally the angel reapers smite the kingdom of Antichrist delivering the saints.

The great red dragon with seven heads of chapter 12 he sees as Rome, from which springs Antichrist in the last times, amid the ten horns. The Antichrist springs from the battle in heaven, and the expulsion and his earthly domination foIlow the three and half years of Elijah's preaching."

The first and second angels of Revelation 14 are the predicted Elias and Jeremiah, witnessing before the Second Advent and end of the world, ushering in the eternal kingdom. The leopard beast of Revelation 14 signifies the kingdom of the time of Antichrist. Victorinus considers the 666 of verse 18 as the computation of letters, each of which comprise the equivalent number, of an assortment of possible names.

After the seven plagues of the last days in Revelation 15, Babylon, in Revelation 17, is identified as Rome seated upon her "seven hills," drunk with the blood of martyrs. The seven heads of the seven-hilled Rome are believed, in their immediate application, to represent seven emperors, the sixth being Domitian, with the eighth who is "of the seven," as Nero.  The ten horns of Daniel 7 are equated with those of the Apocalypse, with three of the kings killed by the Antichrist." Victorinus interpreted the "thousand years" in Revelation twenty, in which Satan is bound, as occurring "in the first advent of Christ, even to the end of the age." Likewise, he understood the "First Resurrection" as the martyred souls currently reigning with Christ. Thus Victornius represents an early Amillennial eschatology.