This is the beginning of the coming of the antichrist. However, beforehand Elijah must preach and there must be peaceful times. And when the three years and six months of the preaching of Elijah is ended, the [dragon]^[1] along with all the apostate angels is to be thrown out from heaven, where he had the power of ascent until that time. And that the antichrist is to be aroused from hell, also Paul the apostle says, Unless the man of sin shall come first, the son of perdition, the adversary, who will exalt himself over everything which is called and is worshipped as God.^[2]

The vision that is to explain the events concerning the antichrist refers to a beginning earlier than the beginning just described. This earlier beginning . . . is the fall of Satan from heaven. The Lord also spoke of this, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.^[1] Why, then, does it say, And there was war in heaven? The holy Scripture says that Satan exalted himself against God, that is, he lifted up a stiff and insolent neck to him and devised an apostasy. Although God, who is by nature good and forbearing, was patient with him, the holy angels did not tolerate the arrogance of their master and banished him from their ranks. This passage speaks of this event. Michael, one of the great leaders of the angels, made war against Satan and his followers, and Satan did not prevail in this war against him.

We must not think that the devil and his angels dared to fight in heaven, since he could not even tempt Job without God’s permission.^[1] Rather by heaven he quite manifestly indicates the church, where each one of the faithful constantly contends against spiritual evils. Therefore the apostle says, Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers and against the world rulers of this present darkness.^[2] And so he says here that Michael with his angels fights against the devil, because by praying according to the will of God for the church in this world and by granting her his aid, he is properly understood to be fighting for her. And so the apostle says, Are not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?^[3] Indeed, the name of Michael himself is interpreted to mean the helper of God, and so this work is properly assigned to him. Also Daniel said that in the last distress [Michael] would come for the succor of the church: At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who stands for the children of your people. And there shall be a time such as has never been since the nations first began to be. And in that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book.^[4] The angels are said to be his by a certain manner of speaking, such as we read, For their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.^[5] And so it speaks of those who by believing began to be citizens in Christ and thus are his angels, because they are regarded as protected by one guardian king and as made glad by one life-giving spirit.^[6] . . . The devil and his angels are not only those who are similar to him in nature and will. They are also as men, who after being caught in his traps, became pursuers of such things. Indeed, because of the qualities of his will it is said about the devil, An evil man has done this,^[7] and about Judas, [One of you] is a devil.^[8] The devil is said to express himself by way of a twofold body. When he is conquered, he is said to be thrown out by those who have renounced him and have received faith in Christ and so no longer do his errors. Rather, in them love [remains] from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith.^[9] Or, since the church is already separated from any admixture of evil and is glorified by the future blessedness, no place is given to the devil and to his angels to seduce the evil or to tempt the good. The psalm refers to him and says, I passed by, and lo! he was not; and I sought him, but his place was not found.^[10]

These words can refer to the first fall of the devil from his angelic rank because of his pride and envy, or it can refer to his destruction through the cross of the Lord, when, as the Lord says, the ruler of this world is judged, cast out of his ancient tyranny.^[1] It is probable that the holy angels, together with their chief leader, Michael, could not tolerate the pride of the devil and previously threw him out of any association they had with him, since they found in him a lack of righteousness. As Ezekiel says, he was cast out by the cherubim from the midst of the stones of fire,^[2] that is, as I think, from the angelic ranks. When Christ came, they served him after the temptation, since the slave, although dishonored, was once more being loathsome. We should note that, as the fathers thought, after the creation of the physical world, [the devil] was thrown down because of his arrogance and envy, although he had at first been entrusted as the prince of the air, as the apostle says.^[3] Papias also speaks of this passage: To some of them, clearly the holy angels of that time, he gave dominion over the arrangement of the earth, and he commissioned them to exercise their dominion well. And then he says, But it happened that their arrangement came to nothing.^[4]

And there was no longer any place either for refuge or, indeed, for dwelling in heaven, and he was thrown down to the earth. [The dragon] either experienced this in a physical way, or, having been deprived of his heavenly and angelic position, he was cast down to an earthly mind. Then, as though avenging himself on God because of his fall, he harms his servants and deceives people and tempts them to apostatize from God. Since he could not harm God himself, he thinks that in this way he is harming the Master.

The wise tend to understand the earth here to refer to those earthly things in which by the strength of that curse the devil is known to inhabit. For it says, Earth you shall eat all the days of your life.^[1] Having been exiled from spiritual realities, he assailed those of the earth who were suitable to his own strengths. This is what it means that he was cast out of heaven and was thrown down to the earth.

The devil, as well as every unclean spirit along with their leader, were expelled from the hearts of the saints to the earth, that is, to persons who are wise only in earthly things and have their entire hope in earthly things.

This is most proper. For heaven has nothing to do with a base, earthly mind, since darkness has nothing in common with the light. If the term the Satan occurs here with the definite article, it does not suggest that he is someone other than the devil . . . rather he is named with two names. He is called devil because he accuses and slanders the virtues and those who love them, and he has even slandered God himself to people, as he did when he suggested to Adam that God was envious.^[1] He is called Satan because he opposes himself against the Master and his servants. It is therefore to be noted that the downfall of the devil did not only occur after the cross, as though he were inactive in former times. Rather, as he himself confessed to Anthony, the saying of the psalm is fulfilled in him, The swords of the enemy have come to their end.^[2] Therefore, his banishment is the abolition of all his evil enterprises along with his total exclusion from heaven and from his rank. The blessed Justin Martyr noted that after the coming of Christ and after the devil’s sentence to Gehenna, the devil especially became a blasphemer, while in former times he did not blaspheme God so brazenly.^[3] And so it is accurately said about him, His heart is hard as stone,^[4] since he is unyielding in his evil. And if the expectation of punishment makes him even more evil, how would punishing either him or his followers in Gehenna through fire wash out the filth of sin? And not attaining to this, how would there be a cessation of punishment against those who think vain thoughts?^[5]

The holy angels hint at the joy they received at the banishment of Satan by singing a triumphal hymn to God, saying, Now have the salvation and the kingdom and the power of God appeared, and the authority of his Christ, since he is all-powerful. For by the assistance [of Christ’s authority], it says, we have conquered the enemy, and the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them day and night before God, has departed from us. O, the moderation of the holy angels! How much like their own Master they are! They call people their brothers. But why should this seem so marvelous, when even our common Master did not think it improper to call them by this name, saying, I will proclaim your name to my brothers, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you?^[1] But why does it say that Satan has departed? Because he has been deprived of his rank and there is no longer a place for him to accuse people before God. But these gained their revenge in equal measure, for they defeated him who seemed so unconquerable when he had even dared to rise up against God. They conquered by the efficacious and beneficial and precious blood of Christ and the word of witness about him, which they regarded as more precious than their own lives.

Quite clearly he is showing in which heaven we are to understand that these things occur. For in the church we know that salvation is accomplished by the victory of Christ. Through this she has also received that authority to bind what is loose and to loose what is bound, since by way of a universal sign all in the one Peter heard, Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed [in heaven].^[1] And about this the Lord says, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.^[2] He is not speaking of that authority that he always possessed but of that authority in the church that [Jesus] began to have from the time he wished to be the Head among the members. . . . Using a manner of speech he speaks from the person of the angels and says the accuser of our brothers. That is, he speaks of those who in the future will be fellow citizens [of the angels] but who now are sojourners [on the earth]. For, to be sure, the faithful now are wending their way to that city, the celestial Jerusalem, in which the angels now dwell in happiness. However, since [the devil] has been thrown out of heaven and sent to the earth, they are depicted as joyful and as rejoicing together for the redemption of those whom the Lord had deigned to prepare to inhabit as a temple for himself. For the souls of the righteous are the seat of wisdom. And the angels also give praise concerning the earthly into whom [the devil] is said to have descended, for the angels peer into the depths of the divine justice and the blessed always sing to him of his mercy and judgment, for in the redeemed they recognize his goodness and in the lost they behold his equity. Since they conquered through the blood of the Lamb, they are said to have been able to overcome the devil. And there follows, For they loved not their lives even unto death. We must believe that they received that love that is poured out into our hearts, to be sure, not from ourselves but through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.^[3]

Because of his accusations and calumny against people, he has been called accuser, which he is. The angels rejoice at his downfall, for faith has nothing to do with faithlessness. And although the saints have been accused and slandered by him, as was also Job, yet by their sufferings for the sake of Christ they have conquered him as well as all those who trusted in him.

When these events occurred, it says, Rejoice all you angels of God, for you have been delivered from the bitter association with Satan. But woe to the earth and to the sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, for he knows that his time is short. Someone might ask, If by his coming down Satan was intending to do evil upon the earth and sea, why [was he allowed] to come down? Because, for those who are sober and have hope in God, this did not occur for their harm but rather for their benefit. It trained them, as though by a gymnastics instructor, so that by these trials they might be made more approved and hardened to be like iron. But this does harm the slothful and the weak, who, since the one urging them on is himself without foundation, would quickly become evil out of themselves and exchange any hardship for what they are by nature. When he says woe to the earth and to the sea, he is not saying woe to those who live upon the earth and sail upon the sea. Rather, he calls those earth and dust who are earthly in thought and, moreover, fickle, without direction and unstable in mind. Against such as these, our common enemy makes war and enslaves the weak who are willing to submit to his tyranny. Knowing, it says, that his time is short. The time from the downfall of Satan until his judgment and condemnation, when he will be thrown aside into unending ages, is short.

As above, in angels the church is recognized to be heaven, and it is proper to both to rejoice harmoniously in the Lord, for people are said to be the associates of angels and in Christ the angels serve the human nature. But there follows, Woe to you, O earth and sea. Just as there was exultation for those who are redeemed, there is lamentation for those who are perishing. Therefore, Ezekiel said that he saw a book having written within a lament, a song and a woe.^[1] In the lament he refers to the wailing of the penitent; in the song he refers to the joyfulness of the saints; in the woe he properly manifests the condemnation of the wicked. It is to these last that here [John] alludes when he says, Woe to you, earth and sea and the rest, for he knows that there is little time left to him. And so, moved by an unconquered power he confesses to the Lord and says, Have you come to destroy us before the time.^[2]

It says come down to preserve the allegory. As all are in heaven, that is, in the church, which is rightly called heaven, when the devil is thrown out of the saints, he comes down to his followers who are the earth because of their earthly affection. He is said to be thrown out of heaven, not so that he might come to those who have already been made heaven but because of those who have not become what they might be. For the saints cannot become heaven, unless the devil has been expelled.

In imitation of God, it follows that the powers above rejoice at his downfall but grieve over those who by his plot cling to earthly things. But woe to those who dwell upon the earth, that is, clearly to those who have no citizenship in heaven but only on earth. For many upon the earth do defeat the enemy and will continue to do so, although because of the nearness of his punishment he now is especially enraged against those who fight him. And so it is necessary to think that those are unhappy who have an earthly mind and are buffeted about by the sea of life.

When the dragon saw himself in these bad circumstances and that he had fallen from his angelic rank, he became exceedingly bitter against humankind and persecuted the woman who had given birth to the Savior of humankind, in order that he might kill her. He pursued the woman, for he knew that her child was too great to be captured, and he envied people their salvation from the Lord, for he could not tolerate such a change that while he had been expelled from heaven, people would ascend from earth to heaven through virtue.

As we said before, the devil carries on a hatred against the church that is without bounds and with all means. For the more he is defeated and is expelled, the more sharply does he try to multiply his deceptions.

When the devil wrestled with Christ after his baptism, he was overcome. Then arming himself against the holy apostles, he was again shamed when he saw that they found life through death, while as a snake he had been condemned to crawl upon the ground and to eat dirt, that is, earthly thoughts. He then began to persecute the church, for it has borne and continues to bear the masculine people of God which is not womanly because of desire.

The church, then, coming into this wilderness, a place barren of evils,^[1] is nourished, flying on the heavenward wings of virginity, which the Word called the wings of the great eagle,^[2] having conquered the serpent and driven away from her full moon the wintry clouds. It is for the sake of these things, meanwhile, that all these discourses are held, teaching us, O fair virgins, to imitate according to our strength our mother and not to be troubled by the pains and changes and afflictions of life. . . . Do not, therefore, lose courage on account of the schemes and slanders of the beast, but bravely prepare for the battle, armed with the helmet of salvation, your breastplate and your leg armor.^[3] For you will bring on him an immense consternation when you attack him with great advantage and courage; nor will he at all resist, seeing his adversaries set in array by One more powerful. But the many-headed and many-faced beast will immediately allow you to carry off the spoils of the seven contests. . . . Therefore, with a virile and sober mind, take up your arms against the swollen beast and do not at all give way, nor be troubled because of his fury. For you will have endless glory if you overcome him, and take away his seven diadems, on account of which we have to struggle and wrestle, according to our teacher Paul.^[4] For she who having first overcome the devil and destroyed his seven heads gains the seven diadems of virtue,^[5] having gone through the seven great struggles of chastity. For one head of the dragon is incontinence and luxury, and whoever crushes this is wreathed with the diadem of temperance. Another head is cowardice and weakness; and whoever tramples this carries off the diadem of martyrdom. Another head is unbelief and folly and other similar fruits of wickedness; and whoever has overcome these and destroyed them carries off the honors connected with them, the power of the dragon being in many ways uprooted.

When the Savior was on the cross, the Lord turned, as the Gospel according to John tells us, and saw the disciple whom he loved, and said to him of Mary, ‘Behold thy mother.’ And to her he said, ‘Behold thy son.’^[1] If Mary had children and her husband was alive, why did he entrust Mary to John and John to Mary? Why not rather entrust her to Peter? Why not to Andrew, Matthew and Bartholomew? But it is plain that he entrusted her to John because of virginity. For he says, Behold thy mother, even though physically she was not John’s mother; he says this to show that as the originator of virginity she was his mother, since the life began with her. . . . For if she had not truly been the mother who bore him, he would not have taken care to entrust the Ever-virgin to John—his mother because of the incarnation, but in his honor undefiled and the wondrous vessel. But the Gospel says, And from that day he took her unto his own home.^[2] But if she had a husband, a home, children, she would return to her own home and not to someone else’s. . . . Indeed, when this had been done and John had taken her to himself, she did not yet live with him. If any think I am mistaken, moreover, let them search through the Scriptures and neither find Mary’s death, nor whether or not she died, nor whether or not she was buried—even though John surely traveled throughout Asia. And yet, nowhere does he say that he took the holy Virgin with him. Scripture simply kept silence because of the overwhelming wonder, not to throw people’s minds into consternation. For I dare not say—though I have my suspicions, I keep silent. Perhaps, just as her death is not to be found, so I may have found some traces of the holy and blessed Virgin. In one passage Simeon says of her, And a sword shall pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.^[3] And elsewhere the Revelation of John says, And the dragon hastened after the woman who had born the man child, and she was given the wings of an eagle and was taken to the wilderness, that the dragon might not seize her. Perhaps this can be applied to her; I cannot decide for certain, and [I] am not saying that she remained immortal. But neither am I affirming that she died. For Scripture went beyond human understanding and left it in suspense with regard to the precious and choice vessel, so that no one would suspect carnal behavior of her. Whether she died, I don’t know; and even if she was buried, she never had carnal relations, perish the thought!

And so, the woman did not come into the control of Satan but fled into the desert. This is Egypt. For this reason the prophet sought wings like a dove, so that flying away, he might take rest . . . in the desert.^[1] But to the all-holy Virgin even more powerful wings were given, the wings of the great eagle. By the phrase wings of an eagle, he refers to the visitation of the holy angel who urged Joseph to take the boy and his mother and flee into Egypt. By means of this visitation, as though by means of the wings of an eagle, they arrived in Egypt. And since the dragon failed in this plot, which he had devised through Herod, he developed another one against the Virgin, namely, the death of her son. Consequently, the remaining portion of the narrative relates the cross and death of the Lord.

As though they were wings, the church uses the two Testaments, for taught by them and instructed in their precepts, she strives to avoid the snares of the enemy, and being fashioned to followed their examples, she overcomes.^[1] Moreover, [the church] is guided by the twofold love of God and the neighbor. The place of solitude is this place of our earthly sojourn, for while we are in the body, we are away from the Lord.^[2] And this is especially true of the heart that does not go away from the world by way of place but by way of affection, as the prophet says, Behold, I fled afar off and remained in solitude; I awaited him who might save me.^[3] It is proper that here he used the image of the eagle, for it can fly to greater distances than can other birds, yet when it sees its prey from afar, moved by its natural needs, it immediately swoops to low levels. Such is the church also, for although in her spiritual members she seeks and ponders in her mind that which is above, yet burdened by the weakness of the body, she submits to the requirements of bodily needs. Because of this, she groans in travail until now, for the creation is subjected to futility, not of its own will but on account of him who subjected her in hope.^[4] And again, For either we are beside ourselves for God, or in our right mind for you.^[5] The period of three years and six months signifies that time up to the end of world during which the church increases and flees the worship of idols and every error of the serpent.

From the beginning love for God and for the neighbor and a mind receptive of him who was crucified for us was given to [the church], as were the two Testaments. All of these things are symbolized by the wings of the eagle, and they were given to [the church] so that taking flight by them into the desert, that is, into a citizenship devoid of every desire, she might be nourished. To be sure, this occurs always, but it will especially be so at the coming of the antichrist, who will rule everywhere, it is written, for the designated time of three and a half years. It may be that during that time even those who have hid themselves in the mountains and caves of the literal, physical desert will flee him.

Supported by the two Testaments, the church avoids the poisonous tumults of the world, and by the affection of the mind each day seeks the solitude of a quick and gentle spirit. And so in joy she sings, Behold, I have gone far away in flight and remain in solitude.^[1] Nor is it contradictory that [in the psalm] she asked for the wings of a dove while here she received the wings of an eagle. For, just as the church, whose youth will be renewed as the eagle’s, is represented in the former because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, so in the latter she is symbolized because of the lofty flight and sublime sight by which she sees God with a pure heart. Where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. He is speaking of the whole time of the church, which is comprehended in the number of days mentioned previously. For a time signifies one year, times signifies two years, and half a time signifies six months.

The holy Scripture figuratively speaks of temptation as a river. Jonah said, You have cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea, and the rivers encircled me,^[1] and the Lord spoke similarly: The rain fell, and the rivers came, and the winds blew, but they did not blow that house down, because it was built upon the rock.^[2] And so here the trial of the Lord’s passion is called a river, and it says that through this [the dragon] intended to drown the Virgin. And truly, since they [the rivers] did bring her to this [the cross] and to very great grief, the dragon was able to fulfill his intention. For why did Simeon say to her, And a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed?^[3] But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured out of its mouth upon the woman. That the earth swallowed the river signifies that it received the trial into itself, that is, it received the Lord, who had been crucified. But the help that the earth rendered was not simply in this. Rather, its help was in this, that it gave the Lord back again. For on the third day he came to life again, having trampled on death, since it was not strong enough to hold him who was the Author of life, as the blessed Peter says.^[4] And that the whole narrative might be told, one must know the ending to the words the earth came to the help of the woman. Consequently, as though responding to a question after the manner of this aid, it says, it swallowed the river, that is, it received in itself the Lord, who had been betrayed, and gave him back again, and in this way [the earth] rendered its assistance.

It is possible to interpret the earth here to refer to the church, as in the psalm, He who set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be shaken.^[1] That is, he [set the earth] on the saints whose prayers and teachings and the working of salvation [which they have received] dispels the uncovered intrigues of the enemy. However, it would be better to interpret the earth to be the human nature in Christ, for it is itself the truth that has sprung up from the earth,^[2] and that always appears before the face of God and so, as the apostle says, intercedes for us.^[3] When it swallowed death, which it took to itself, this earth is said to have opened its mouth when it gulped down the author of death by the abundance of its own life. And no less was he swallowed when Christ taught sitting upon the mountain and opening his mouth gave greater precepts to his disciples, abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances.^[4]

When the church fled to inaccessible places where the deceiver makes his approach, out of his mouth, that is, clearly by his command, came water like a river after her. That is, he sent out against her a host of godless people and evil demons and all kinds of temptations that he might enslave her. But the earth, it says, came to [the church’s] aid. This may refer to the very great distances of travel in the desert and the aridity and dryness of those places, and in this way the river of temptations were swallowed up.^[1] Or [the demons and their temptations were overcome] by the humility of the saints who say with utter sincerity, I am earth and dust and so bring to naught all the snares of the devil, even as the angel said to the holy Anthony.^[2]

And since the dragon had failed also in his second plot [i.e., to kill the male child], what further is there for him to do? He has persecuted those called sons and brothers of the Lord, that is, the faithful—for it says that these are the offspring of the woman, since the faithful are the sons and brothers of the Lord, as it is written, I will proclaim your name to my brothers,^[1] and again, Behold, I and the children which God has given to me.^[2] Therefore, they are relatives of his mother—and [the dragon] made war with them, persecuting them and plotting against them and killing them through the tyrants and powers of the earth, since they were giving witness that the one born of the Virgin was God.

The [dragon] saw that he could no longer continue the persecutions since they were stopped by the mouth of the holy earth [i.e., Christ], and so he armed himself all the more with the mystery of wickedness, so that he might be able to continue his plotting. Who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. To keep the commandments of God by faith in Jesus Christ is to fight against the devil and to provoke him to war. But thanks be to God who has brought to naught all that the evil dragon has begun! For, behold, although he tried to kill the Lord incarnate, he was frustrated in this by the Lord’s resurrection. And afterward, he worked to take from the apostles the confidence of their teaching, and this was as though he had given himself the task of taking the woman, that is, the whole church, from human affairs. But since he has failed to accomplish this, he fights against the faithful in every age. And he stood on the sand of the sea. This means that he stood upon the multitude of the people, which the wind drives away from the face of the earth.^[1] For when he wishes to excite plots and wars, he stands upon that multitude that is in the habit of adopting his plans.