The following are comments on Rev 5:8; 6:9-10; 8:1-5 (common proof-texts for praying to/through glorified saints as well as angels) from the commentary on the Book of Revelation from Alcuin of York (735-804)
VERSE 8
And when he had opened the
book, the four living creatures, and the four and twenty ancients fell down
before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of
odours, which are the prayers of the saints. The Lamb opened the book
when he fulfilled the work of his voluntary Passion. Now what does it mean that
the living creatures and the ancients have harps, if not that the Church
of the elect is filling up those things which are wanting on the afflictions of
Christ? [Cf. Col. 1:24] IT is fitting for the sufferings of Christ to be
symbolized by harps, for in a harp some strings are stretched
more tightly and others more loosely, but, albeit stretched differently, they
do not at all produce each a different song: it is the same with the different members
in the body of Christ: some imitate his sufferings more fully and others less,
but they resound with one praise in harmony. So the living creatures and the
ancients fall before the Lamb with harps because all the saints attribute
the merit of everything they suffer for Christ to Christ and not to themselves.
By the golden vials we understand love, a love capable of praying not
only for friends but also for enemies, which is why it is said that they were full.
IT is right for the vials to be mentioned after the harps,
because the Lord first climbed the cross, and then thus prayed for his
persecutors with an incomparable love, saying, Father, forgive them,
etc. [Luke 23:34] (Alcuin of York on Revelation: Commentary and the
Questions and Answers (English and Latin) [trans. Sarah Van Der Pas; Consolamini Commentary Series;
West Monroe, La.: Consolamini Publications, 2016], 80-81)
VERSE 9
And when he had opened the fifth
seal, I saw under the altar of God the souls of them that were slain for the
word of God, and for the testimony which they held. By the souls of the
slain we understand the souls of all the elect, who are oppressed with
either physical or spiritual attacks from the reprobates; for there are two
kinds of martyrs: one apparent, the other hidden. By the altar we
understand Christ: we offer on him our sacrifices to God the Father when
imitating his only begotten Son, we appear in his sight as a living sacrifice.
Therefore the souls of the slain are under the altar because they are
under our Mediator, but if by the altar we understand the elect
themselves, they are under themselves, because they have not yet been clothed
in immortality of the body
VERSE 10
And they tried with a loud
voice, saying: How long, O Lord (holy and true) dost thou not revenge our blood
on them that dwell on the earth? What does it mean that the souls of the
saints ask for revenge for their blood about the persecutions, if not
that they are waiting for the day of the last judgment? It is not by the
stomach being drawn by the gullet that the words of the souls are formed, but
their great cry is a great longing. However, since a mind that is asking is
generally, and since the souls of the saints cling to God in such a way that
they rest in clinging to him, how can they be said to ask for this, while it is
certain that they are ignorant of neither the will of God nor things that will
happen? One should know then that the reason why they are said to ask something
from him while they are in him is not that they long for a revenge because it
is in disagreement with the will of him whom they see, but they receive from
him himself the task to ask from him what they know he wants to do. (Alcuin
of York on Revelation: Commentary and the Questions and Answers (English and
Latin) [trans. Sarah Van Der
Pas; Consolamini Commentary Series; West Monroe, La.: Consolamini Publications,
2016], 89-90)
VERSE 1
And when he had opened the
seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, as it were for half an hour. Heaven,
as we often said, means the Church, which produces as it were, silence
for God when, through some of its members, it departs from the abundance of
material things to seek the retreat of inner contemplation; but because this silence
cannot be perfect in this life, it is said to have lasted as it were for
half an hour. Note also that he ended the recapitulation where he said, After
this I saw a great multitude, [Rev. 7:9] and now he concludes the narration
with the seventh seal.
VERSES 2, 3, and 4
And I saw seven angels
standing in the sight of God; and there were given to them seven trumpets. And
another angel came, and stood before the altar, having a golden censer. In
this place he upsets the order of the narration and interposes something; for,
as the following will show, the angel with the censer came and stood
before the altar before they received the seven trumpets. He
interposes something because he introduced this angel with the censer
in the middle before he had finished talking about the others. So, what do we
understand by the seven angels but the holy Church in its preachers, who
are the announcers of eternal life? It is also right for them to be said to be seven
in number, because they are filled up with the sevenfold Spirit, or because
they are put in charge of the totality of believers. They are said to be standing
in the sight of God because they have trodden earthly desires underfoot and
stick to divine contemplation. What is shown by their seven trumpets but
the perfect preaching of the Old and of the New Testament? According to this: Lift
up thy voice like a trumpet. [Is. 58:1] By the fact that it is the office
of a priest to stand by the altar and burn incense prepared with spices, we
realize that this angel is the Mediator between God and men, the Angel of
the seven angels, and, so to speak, the Pontiff of the seven priests, he
about whom the prophet said, angel of great counsel. [Is. 9:6 acc. to
LXX, where the verse is number 5.] From this we clearly gather that he came
before the seven angels received the trumpets. By the altar
are represented the elect, in whom a spiritual sacrifice is being performed.
So, the angel came by the flesh, and stood by the divinity. Also,
what is represented by the censer but Christ’s humanity? It is
appropriate for it to be called golden, because the flesh assumed by the
Word of God is, together with him, the wisdom about which it is said, Take
wisdom as gold. [Variant of Prov. 16:16] The censer, in which spices
are burned, may also symbolize the Church, which says every say, kindled by the
fire of divine love, Let my prayer be directed as incense, etc. [Ps.
140:2] Then it is rightly said after that concerning Christ alone: And there
was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of the
saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne. And the smoke of the
incense of the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God from the hand of
the angel. Just as smoke comes out of burned spices, so is the virtue of
devotion produced by zeal for prayer. However, in order for the incense
to become pleasing to God, it is given to the angel, which means that the zeal
of prayers entrusted to our Redeemer. The body is totally unable to
speak to God but by the agency of the Head. The fact that the incense is
offered on the golden altar shows that the sacrifice of prayers
is accepted by him nowhere else but in the body of Christ, all of which shines
with the wisdom of the divine Word. Note also that the throne and the altar
before the throne do not signify two Churches, but one, just like Noah’s
ark and the eight souls in it. [Cf. Gen. 6; 1 Peter 3:20]
VERSE 5
And the angel took the censer,
and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth. The angel
took the censer when the Lord joined human nature to himself, within the
Virgin’s womb; or we may take it as referring to the body, when he first chose
his disciples in Judea. Since the angel, the censer, and the altar
are one body, we should understand the censer being said to have been filled
with the fire of the altar as if he were saying, “Both the Head and the
body have been kindled with no other fire but their own, that is the Holy Spirit.”
Then he cast it on the earth, that is, he brought it into this pagan people;
whence it is fittingly said after that, And there were thunders and voices, that
is terrors caused by preachings, and lightnings that is miraculous signs,
and an earthquake, that is persecutions. (Alcuin of York on
Revelation: Commentary and the Questions and Answers (English and Latin)
[trans. Sarah Van Der Pas;
Consolamini Commentary Series; West Monroe, La.: Consolamini Publications,
2016], 110-13)
