Seven Stars

Et habebat in dextera sua stellas septem. In dextera ejus stellas septem dixit: quia Spiritus sanctus septiformis virtutis datus est in potestate ejus a Patre. Sicut Petrus ad Judeous exclamavit: 'Dextera Dei exultatus acceptum a Patre Spiritum effudit hunc quem videtis et auditis. Sed et Joannes Baptista anticipaverat, discipulis suis dicendo: Non enim ad mensuram dat Spiritum Deus. Pater, inquit amat Filium, et omnia dedit in manu ejus.' Istae septem stellae sunt septem ecclesiae quas nominat in vocabulis suis, et vocat eas ad quas fecit epistolas. Non quia ipsae solae sunt Ecclesiae, aut principes: sed quod uni dicit, omnibus dicit. Nihil enim differunt, ut ex illa ratione quis paucorum similium majori numero anteponat. In toto orbe septennatim ecclesias omnes, septem esse nominatas, et unam esse catholicam Paulus docuit. Et primum quidem ut servaret et ipse typum septem Ecclesiarum, non excessit numerum. Sed scripsit ad Romanoas, ad Corinthios, ad Galatas, ad Ephesios, ad Thessalonicenses, ad Philippenses, ad Colossenses. Postea singularibus personis scripsit, ne excederet numerum septem ecclesiarum. Et in brevi contrahens praedicationem suam, ad Timotheum sic ait: ' Ut scias qualiter debeas conversari in Ecclesia Dei vivi  Hunc typum et ab Spiritu sancto per Esaiam praedicare legimus: 'De septem mulieribus quae apprehenderunt hominem unum.' Unus homo Christus est, non ex semine natus: septem vero mulieres septem ecclesiae sunt, panem accipientes suum, et tunicis suis velatae, quae poscunt auferri improperium suum, tantum ut nomen illius vocetur super illas. Panem Spiritum sanctum, qui nutrit in vitam aeternam, sibi videlicit per credulitatem promissam. Tunicae vero suae, quibus cooperiri se optant, immortalitatis est gloria, de qua Paulus apostolus ait: ' Oportet ergo corruptibile hoc induere in corruptionem, et mortale hoc induere immortalitatem.' Auferri vero improperium suum poscunt, hoc est emundari se a peccatis: improperium enim est peccatum pristinum, quod aufertur in baptismo, et incipiunt vocari homines christiani; quod est, 'invocetur nomen tuum super nos.' Victorinus Petavionensis, Scoli in Apocalypsin Beati Joannis Source: Migne PL 5.319d-320c

'And He had in His right hand seven stars.' 1 He said that in His right hand He had seven stars, because the Holy Spirit of sevenfold virtue was given into His power by the Father. As Peter cried out to the Jews: 'Being exalted at the right hand of God, He has poured forth the Spirit received from the Father, which you see and hear.' 2 Moreover, John the Baptist had also anticipated this, by saying to his disciples: 'It is not by measure God gives the Spirit. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hands.' 3 Those seven stars are the seven churches, which he names in his addresses by name, and calls them to whom he wrote epistles. Not that they are themselves the only, or even the principal, churches, but what he says to one, he says to all. For they are no different, that one should prefer them to the larger number of similar small ones. In the whole world Paul taught that all the churches are arranged by sevens, that they are called seven, and that the Catholic Church is one. And first of all, indeed, that he himself also might maintain the type of seven churches, he did not exceed that number. But he wrote to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Thessalonians, to the Philippians, and to the Colossians. After he wrote to individual persons, so as not to exceed the number of seven churches. And in a short space drawing together his teaching, he says to Timothy: 'That you might know how you should conduct yourself in the Church of the living God.' 4 We read of this type announced by the Holy Spirit through Isaiah: 'Of seven women who took hold of one man.' 5 The one man is Christ, not born of seed; the seven women, however, are the seven churches, receiving His bread, and clothed with his apparel, who ask that their reproach should be taken away, and that they should be called by His name only. The bread is the Holy Spirit, which nourishes to eternal life, promised to them, that is, by faith. And His garments with which they desire to be clothed are the glory of immortality, of which the Apostle Paul says: 'For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortality must put on immortality.' 6 Moreover, they ask that their reproach may be taken away, that is, that they may be cleansed from their sins: for the reproach is the original sin, which is taken away in baptism, and they begin to be called Christians, which is: 'Let us be called by your name.' Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John 1 Apoc 1.16 2 Acts 2.33 3 Jn 3.34-35 4 1 Tim 3.15 5 Isaiah 4.1 6 1 Cor 15.53