And the following: “She stood upon the moon. The moon I regard figuratively <to
be> the faith of those who are cleansed of corruption by the washing <of
baptism>, for [122] the condition of liquid substance is regulated by the
moon. She labored and gave birth anew to those ‘carnal-minded into spiritually
minded’ and formed and fashioned them according to the likeness of Christ.” And
again he says: “We must not think that Christ is he who is to be born. For
formerly, before the Apocalypse, the mystery of the Incarnation of the Logos
had been fulfilled. John speaks with authority about the present and future
things.” And afterwards <he mentions> other things, <and then
says>, “Therefore, it is necessary to confess that the Church must be the
one in labor and gives birth to those redeemed, as the Spirit said in Isaiah:
‘Before she labored to give birth, she escaped and gave birth to a male.’ Whom
did she escape? Either the dragon, certainly, in order for the spiritual Zion
to give birth to virile people.” (Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the
Apocalypse [trans. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou; The Fathers of the
Church 123; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011],
137)
