On Rev 21:14:
He explained what the twelve foundations
signified when he added that the names of the twelve apostles and of the
Lamb were written on them. I was rebuked by someone for saying that Peter
was the foundation of the Church, in the passage where the Lord says: “You are
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church” (Matt. 16:18). If Peter is
the foundation of the Churhc, as are the other apostles, as the present passage
plainly shows, then the Church was built upon him, just as it was upon the
others. But if the Church was not built upon Peter, then neither was it built
upon the others. Therefore this assertion of John, our forebear, is false,
since he says that the twelve apostles are the twelve foundations
of the Church. Nor does what the Apostle says discourage us from our
understanding: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already
laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). For Peter is not one foundation and
Jesus Christ another; Peter is a member of Jesus Christ, as Christ himself said
of his disciples: “You in me, and I in you” (Jn. 14:20). For Christ is the
foundation of all his apostles, and they likewise are foundations for those who
believed through them. There is therefore one foundation, namely Christ, by
whom all the foundations are held together, and upon whom the whole structure
of the Church has been built. Paul speaks of the foundation, saying:” IF anyone
builds upon this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or
straw, each one’s work will be tested by fire to show what it is” (1 Cor.
3:12). Here he named six kinds: three valuable and three worthless. Gold often
signifies wisdom. A person builds gold upon Christ the foundation when he
stores in his heart the wisdom that crushes vices and nurtures virtures,
following the Psalmist, who said: “I have hidden your words in my heart, that I
might not sin against you” (Ps. 119:11). Silver signifies the word of
preaching, of which the same Psalmist says: “The words of the Lord are pure
words, silver refined by fire” (Ps. 12:6). A person builds silver upon Christ
the foundation when he teaches others the good he has learned, so as to lead
them to do good works. Precious stones signify good works. A person builds
precious stones upon Christ the foundation when he fulfills in deeds the good
he teaches. Some do not have words of encouragement with which to instruct
others fully, but by exercising themselves in good works, they build precious
stones upon Christ the foundation. Likewise, those who know little but teach it
to others build silver upon Christ, provided they fulfill in their deeds what
they teach. Many build upon Christ by teaching others the understanding they
have received, but through evil deeds they destroy within themselves what they
have built. Wood, hay, and straw signify minor sins. But there is another
interpretation that prevents us from understanding them in this way, for sins
are not built upon Christ; rather, works of virtue are: When we sin, we
withdraw from the building constructed upon Christ, and the more grievously we
sin, the farther we are separated from it. But when through repentance we
return to doing good works, we return to the building constructed upon Christ.
We can therefore understand wood as earthly labor: a person devotes himself to
such work to earn a living, lest he be driven by need to steal. For the Apostle
commands that each person work quietly and eat his own bread; and again: “Whoever
is unwilling to work,” he says, “shall not eat” (2 Thess. 3:12). By hay we can
understand earthly affection, as when someone loves his wife, children, and brothers
out of bodily attachment. The Apostle also commands that husbands love their
wives, wives their husbands, and children and parents one another (Eph. 5:25,
28). By straw we can understand those who take wives because they are troubled by
lust and unable to restrain themselves. The Apostle also commands this, saying:”
Because of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman
her own husband” (Titus 2:4). And because such ways of life cannot be free from
frequent failings, he says that such people will be saved through fire, that
is, through purgatorial fire. This will happen if they abstain from grave sins
and, by giving generously in alms, merit the possibility of being impure by admixtures
is purified by fire. For just as gold made impure by admixtures is purified by
fire, so these people are cleansed by fire of the impurities they contracted through
worldly deeds, so that they may become worthy of being joined to the company of
the elect. (Commentary on Revelation by Berengaudus of Ferrières [trans.
John Litteral; 2026], 350-52)
On his interpretation of Matt 16:18 in his commentary on
Revelation:
This is of some interest for he
saw its importance in the apostle Peter's confession that Christ is the Lord,
rather than as the basis of the Petrine doctrine. A similar reference, but to
Matthew 18:18 (where all the apostles are given the power that Peter received
in Matthew 16), occurs in a mass for Saint Peter: Confessing the true Christ is
the foundation of the Church. Haimo had written at Eph. 2: 19 that Christ was
the foundation of the apostles, the prophets and all the faithful as He
testified: "On this Stone, that is on me, I shall build my church.” (Derk
Visser, Apocalypse as Utopian Expectation (800-1500): The Apocalypse
Commentary of Berengaudus of Ferrières and the Relationship Between Exegesis,
Liturgy and Iconography [Studies in the History of Christian Thought 73; Leiden:
Brill, 1996], 56)
