The Spirit's Inspiration

Post haec vidi et ecce ostium apertum in coelo. Ostium apertum in caelo, Novum Testamentum praedicatur. Et vox prima quam audivi tanquam tubae loquentis mecum, dicens: ascende huc. Quando apertum ostenditur , clatisum fuisse antea hominibus manifestum est. Satis autem et plene patefactum est, quando Christus cum corpore in coeios ad Patrem ascendit. Vox autem prior quam audierat, cum dicit illam secum esse locutam , sine contradictione arguit eos, qui aliuin in prophetiis , alium in Evangelio dicunt fuisse locutum, cum magis ipse qui venit, ipse sit qui in prophelis locutus est. Joannes enim ex circumcisione erat; et omnis ille populus qui VeterisTestamenti praedicatiouem audierat, illa voce aedificatus est. Illa eademque vox, inquit, quam audieram, illa mihi dixit: Ascende huc. Id est spiritus, quem paulo ante quam filium hominis inter candelabra aurea ambulantem se vidisse fatetur: et nunc exinde recolit, quae per legem in similitudinibus praenuntiata erant, et per hanc scripturam conjungit omnes priores, et aperit scripturas. Et quia postquam invitavit in coelum omnes credentes in nomine suo Dominus noster, statim Spiritum sanctum effudit qui ferturus ad coelum, ait: Statim fui in spiritu. Et cum aperiatur per Spiritum sanctum mens fidelium, et illud eis manifestetur, quid et prioribus est praedictum, significater ait. Victorinus Petavionensis, Scoli in Apocalypsin Beati Joannis Source: Migne PL 5.323c-324a

After that I saw a door open in heaven. 1 The door open in heaven speaks of the New Testament. And the first voice that I heard, speaking to me like a trumpet, said, 'Come up here.' When it is shown to have been opened, it is manifest that it was closed before to men. It was plainly thrown right open when Christ in the body ascended to the Father in the heavens. But the voice which he had previously heard, when he says that it spoke to him, without contradiction disputes with those who say that one thing was spoken in the prophets and another in the Gospel, when rather He who came is He who spoke through the prophets. For John was of the circumcision and all that people who heard the Old Testament preached were edified by that voice. 'That same voice,' he says, 'which I heard, that said to me, 'Come up here.' That is, the Spirit, whom a little before he says he had seen walking like a son of man in the midst of the golden candlesticks. And he now gathers from Him what had been foretold in similitudes by the Law, and through  Scripture joins up all that came before, and thus open up the Scriptures. And because after our Lord invited all who believe in His name into heaven, He then poured out the Holy Spirit which brings to heaven, he says: 'Immediately I was in the Spirit.' Since when the mind of the faithful is opened by the Holy Spirit, that is made manifest to them which was foretold to those who came before, he distinctly says. Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John 1 Apoc 4.1-2

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

Fallen Angels

Et cauda ejus habebat tertiam partem stellarum coeli, et misit illas in terram. Quod autem dicit draconis caudam traxisse tartiam partem stellarum coeli, bifariam hoc accipi potest; multi enim arbitrantur tertiam partem hominum credentium posse cum seducere. Sed quod verius intelligi debeat angelorum sibi subditorum eum adhuc principes esset, cum descenderet constitutione sua, tertiam partem seduxisse. Victorinus Petavionensis, Scoli in Apocalypsin Beati Joannis, Caput XII Source: Migne PL 5.336c

And his tail grasped a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them down to earth. 1 Here it says that the tail of the dragon dragged down a third part of the stars from heaven, and in two ways this can be understood. Many judge that he is able to seduce a third part of the faithful. But more accurately it should be understood that when he was prince a third part of the angels were under his command, and when he fell from his place, he drew down a third part with him.  Victorinus of Pettau, from the Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John, Chapter 12 1 Apoc 12.4

Receiving The Book

Accepi librum de manu angeli et comedi illum. Accipere librum et comedere, ostensione sibi facta memoriae est mandare. Et erat in ore meo tamquam mel dulcis et cum devorassem eum, amaricatus est venter meus. Dulcem esse in ore praedictionis est fructus loquentis, et audientibus dulcissimus, sed et praedicantibus et perseverantibus in mandatis per passionem amarissimus. Victorinus Petavionensis, Scoli in Apocalypsin Beati Joannis Source: Migne PL 5 333

I received the book from the hand of the angel and ate it. 1 To receive the book and to eat is the placing into memory the things revealed to him. And it was in my mouth as sweet as honey and when I had eaten it, it was bitter in my stomach. To be sweet in the mouth of the preacher is the fruit of speaking, and to the hearers it is most sweet, but it is most bitter to both those who preach and those who persevere in the commandments on account of suffering. Victorinus of Pettau, from the Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John 1 Apoc 10.10

Seven Churches In One Church

In his ego septem ecclesiis, unius Ecclesiae catholicae, fideles sunt, quia una in septem per qualitatem fidei et electionis est. Sive ad eos scribens, qui laborant in saeculo, et operantur de frugilitate suorum laborum, et patientes sunt; et cum videant homines quosdam in Ecclessia dispentatores et pestiferus, ne dissentio fiat, portant. Admonet tamen eos de amore, ut in quibus fides eorum deest, agant poenitentiam. Aut ad eos qui crudelibus inhabitant inter persecutores, ut perseverent fideles. Aut ad eos qui, sub praetextu misericordiae, illicita peccata in Ecclesia faciunt, et aliis facienda ostendunt. Aut ad eos qui sunt in Ecclesia faciles. Aut ad eos qui negligentes nomine tantum christiani sunt. Aut ad eos qui humiliter instructi sunt, ut in fide fortiter perseverent. Aut ad eos qui student Scripturis, et laborant cognoscere arcana praedicationis, et Dei opus facere nolunt, id est misericordiam et amorem: omnibus poenitentiam denuntiat, omnibus judicium annuntiat. Victorinus Petavionensis, Scoli in Apocalypsin Beati Joannis

Hence I say that there are seven churches of the faithful in the one Catholic Church because in the one there are seven types of faith and election. So to one he writes that those who labour in the world might work with frugality in their labours and endure, and that when they see certain ruinous and pestilential men in the Church that they might suffer them. However, he admonishes them concerning love, that it is lacking in their faith, and that they might make penance. He writes to those who dwell in cruel places among persecutors that they persevere faithfully. He writes to those who beneath a pretext of mercy would make illicit sin in the Church and would show others how to do it. He writes to those who are at ease in the Church. He writes to those who by negligence are but nominal Christians. He writes to those who have been humbly instructed that they persevere strong in faith. He writes to those who study the Scriptures and labour to know obscure meanings and are unwilling to do the work of God, that is, mercy and love. To all he declares penance, to all he announces judgement. Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John