A Problem with the Churches
A strange commentary by Victorinus. He mentions the churches Paul wrote to but not the ones John wrote to. This is hard to believe but it would be consistent with both Eusebius and Victorinus looking at the Apocalypse John the Baptist wrote and that would not include the seven churches.
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A City of God
A new bible translated by Jerome precedes Augustine’s commentary on the Apocalypse in The City of God. Prior to the Vulgate many believed the Apocalypse did not belong in the bible. This was settled once and for all by Jerome who had the authority to define the bible.
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A Witness
A Church History that includes six of the seven churches that John wrote to but Eusebius never associates them with the Apocalypse. Victorinus doesn’t even mention them. Is it possible there is a version of the Apocalypse that doesn’t include the seven churches? It could be a reasonable explanation for what we are looking at.
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A Witness
A view of what was. We don’t know what the Apocalypse looked like in the third century. Victorinus knew and we know what his commentary looked like. It didn’t include the seven churches John wrote to. It did include the seven churches Paul wrote to. There is a reasonable explanation for this.
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A Reasonable Explanation
A question not addressed. Why does John introduce himself three times? He was asked to “prophesy again”. That could be another John. That’s two. Why not three? Multiple writers have been suggested by multiple commentaries. Both John the Baptist and John Chrysostom have been suggested.
A Beginning Of The Fifth Century
A connection of dots: in chapter seven of Book Twenty in “City of God” by Augustine is his first commentary on the Apocalypse of John which came after Jerome put it in his Vulgate and that came after Chrysostom replaced seven corrupt bishops in Ephesus not far from Patmos.
A History of the Church
A dog that didn’t bark. Eusebius never associates the churches with the Apocalypse. He does mention six of the seven churches but does not connect them with the Apocalypse. Since Victorinus has the same problem, it suggests that there may have been a version of the Apocalypse that didn’t have the seven churches.
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A Commentary on the Apocalypse
A dog that didn’t bark. Victorinus didn’t mention the churches. He does mention the seven churches that Paul wrote to. So why not mention the seven churches that John wrote to? It is possible that his version of the Apocalypse didn’t have the seven churches. We need to look at Eusebius to see if he has the same problem.
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A History
A witness to what no longer exists. What was Victorinus looking at when he wrote his commentary on the Apocalypse? What was Eusebius looking at when he wrote his history of the Church? We can only speculate based on what they wrote and what is reasonable. Can we make sense of it?
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A Recapitulation
A commentary on the Apocalypse by Victorinus who introduced the theory of recapitulation. Without it misinterpretation is likely. The visions of John cannot be understood to be in chronological order. Each vision should be considered independent of the others. Some are a repetition of others. Recapitulation is a necessary tool in understanding the Apocalypse.
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apocalypse 