Stephen
Benko offered the following examples of early Christian interpretations of the “woman”
in Rev 12 prior to the time of Epiphanius of Salamis. Note that they all
believed that the woman was the church, not Mary:
The Greek
Fathers
Hippolytus (d. 235), the bishop of Rome, was
the first Christian author to deal with this question in his Treatise on Christ and Antichrist,
Chapter 61. He interpreted the woman as a figure of the church which possesses
the Word of God whose brightness is above the sun. The moon under her feet
means that she is adorned with heavenly glory. The crown of twelve stars refers
to the twelve apostles. The statement that the woman cries in travail of birth
means that the church always bring forth the Word, which is persecuted by the
world. The male child born of the woman refers to Christ, who is always brought
forth by the church. Christ is heavenly and earthly; this is the meaning of the
words that the child was "caught up" to heaven. The two wings of the
eagle given to the woman are the faith of Jesus Christ.
Origen (d. 253 or 254) wrote a commentary on
Revelation. This was found and published in 1911. Unfortunately, this
commentary is incomplete. From Revelation 12, only verses 9 and 13 are briefly
mentioned, then again in verse 17. After this the commentary of Origen abruptly
ends and what follows is the long section from Irenaeus' Adversus Haereses.
The martyr bishop of Tyre in Phoenicia,
Methodius (d. 312), dealt with this problem in his book Symposium. The woman is the church, he wrote, and the child born of
her means the Christians who are being brought forth in baptism. The moon
refers to baptism, and thus, the woman standing on the moon represents the
church which stands upon the faith of the Christians.
Methodius rejected this interpretation of the
"male child" as Christ, because S. John spoke in the book of
Revelation about present and future things, but the incarnation took place long
before Revelation was written. Neither was Jesus "caught up" to
heaven after his birth, but he stayed on to subdue the dragon which is the
devil. The church flees into the wilderness, a place unproductive of evils, the
place of Virtue. She flies on the heavenly wings of virginity, called the
"wings of the great eagle." Christians should imitate the church in
the wilderness overcoming the Devil . . .
The Latin
Fathers
The first to be mentioned here is Victorinus
(d. 304), bishop of Poetovio, which today is in Yugoslavia (formerly Pettau,
Steiermark in Austria). Victorinus died as a martyr during the great persecution
of emperor Diocletian, and among others, he is remembered as the first
Christian exegete to write in Latin. The original text of his commentary on the
book of Revelation was found in 1916; until then it was known only in the form
of an edition by S. Jerome. For Victorinus also, the woman represented the
church which is clothed in the sun, i.e., the hope of resurrection. The moon
refers to the death of the saints. "Caught up" to heaven is reference
to the Ascension of Jesus; the male child is apparently thought of as Jesus.
The eagle's wings were given to the church; these are the prophet Elijah and
the "prophet who will be with him." The flight of the church did not
yet take place.
The next to advocate an allegorical
interpretation of Revelation 12 was Tyconius, a Donatist Christian. His book,
written around 380, is lost, but it can be reconstructed from works of others
who used his book and wrote their commentaries on the basis of his ideas. Such
authors are Primasius; Cassidorus . . . and during the Middle Ages, Beda and
Beatus. According to a manuscript of his Commentary
published in 1897, he also interpreted the woman as the church. (Stephen Benko,
The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan
and Christian Roots of Mariology [Studies in the History of Religions 59;
Leiden: Brill, 2004], 131-32, 133-34)
For more on
Rev 12 and other topics relating to Mariology, see Behold the Mother of My Lord: Towards a Mormon Mariology, esp.
chapter 5, “The Bodily Assumption of Mary,” pp. 139-56
