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chapter nineteen

REVELATION: EARLY VIEWS ON THIS BOOK; HERETICS WHO REJECTED IT; THEIR REASONS; DISCUSSION OF THEIR REASONS. LEARNED CATHOLICS IN THE EARLY ALSO ASCRIBED IT TO CERINTHUS. MODERN VIEWS ON THIS BOOK

The one remaining book of the New Testament to be examined is Revelation which St says, in one of his letters, was unanimously accepted in the Greek churches of his day.1 But if we heed the maxim of , illud verum quod prius,2 we shall give preference to the general view of early church writers rather than that of some Greek churches, which came later. It was on this basis that Grotius assessed the book when he said that Justin, St , Tertullian, Clement of , , St , whose word in this is reliable, all said it was by the apostle St John.3 Flacius Illyricus said the same thing before Jerome, stating that the best approach was to rely on the assertions of who lived closest to the time of John.4 On these grounds Baronius made the judicious observation that what St Jerome says concerning the view of Revelation held in the Greek churches could not be entirely true, since St Epiphanius who lived at that time, and who was only slightly older than Jerome, defended the authority of Revelation against the Alogian heretics and the Theodocians.5 Baronius nonetheless admits this does not mean that Jerome maligned the Greek churches of his day. He believes Jerome had in mind Basil (ca. 330– 379), Amphilocius (ca. 340–395),6 of and (younger brother of St Basil, ca. 330–395), and the Council of Laodicea, none of whom include Revelation within the of Scripture.7 He makes

1 Jerome, Letter 120 [to Dardanus] §11 (PL 22:1002). 2 “That which is true came  rst.” 3 Grotius, Opera omnia theologica …, 11, 2:1159a. 4 Flacius Illyricus (ed.), Novum Testamentum … (see supra, ch. 5 n. 13), 1303. 5 Baronius, Annales ecclesiastici, 1:800 (ce 97 n. 6). 6 The Iambics for Seleucus contains a list of books of Bible (PG 39:9–130). 7 Baronius, Annales ecclesiastici, 1:801 (ce 97 n. 7). 188 chapter nineteen a distinction between these church Fathers and the Alogians and Theo- docians because unlike the latter they did not deliberately and quickly undermine the authority of Revelation. St Epiphanius himself does not greatly depart from the view of St Jerome when he says that even though the Alogians generally rejected everything we have by St John, they could have been forgiven in a sense, if they had con ned their objections to Revelation, an obscure and inscrutable book.8 The Alogians claimed that Revelation, and the other books by St John, were written by the heretic Cerinthus, endeavouring to show this on the basis of the similarity of the doctrine of Cerinthus and the doctrine in the books by the apostle, especially his Revelation, against which they raised particular objections.9 Of what relevance to us, they asked, can Revelation be when St John starts talking about seven and seven trumpets? To this St Epiphanius replies that God wished his servant John to know everything that was most secret in the law and the prophets so that he could convey it in a spiritual and intelligible way.10 Whilst the heretics ridiculed the passage about the seven trumpets, he found them guilty of malice or ignorance, invoking the authority of St Paul who also mentions the trumpets in his  rst letter to the Corinthians (15:52) where he says The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised. Further to undermine the authority of Revelation, some Alogians ad- duced these words from 2:18: “Write unto the of the church in Thy- atira.”11 At that time there was no Christian church in Thyatira, they say. How then could St John have written to a non-existent church? Assuming as the Alogians did that there was no church there at that time, St Epipha- nius is obliged to resort to prophetic spirit to resolve this di culty. He claims that St John, being inspired by God, foresaw what would happen there with the passage of time. He therefore describes in as much detail as possible the condition of the city of Thyatira at the time when it was controlled by the heretics called Phrygians. He shows how it later became a very famous orthodox church.12 The , he says, intended to show through this passage of Revelation that this Church must have been living in error after the time of St John and the other apostles. This, says Epiphanius, occurred 93 years after the ascension of Jesus Christ.

8 Epiphanius, Heresy 51 nn. 3,4 (Panarion, 2:27). 9 Ibid., n. 32,1 (Panarion, 2:64). 10 Ibid., n. 32,4 (Panarion, 2:64). 11 Ibid., n. 33,1 (Panarion, 2:65). 12 Ibid., n. 33,3 (Panarion, 2:65).