Revelation 10:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"Our belly has cleaved to the earth" (Ps 43:25), that is, our belly was in agreement with the impiety of this dust. For this is what is meant by "cleaved."

"But for me it is good to be near God." You are near to God when you agree with God. It is not without reason that our belly is said to have cleaved to the earth.

This indicates those who, not having endured persecution, agreed with the enemies. This is why they cleaved to the earth.

But why are they called the belly, if not because they are carnal? As the mouth of the Church is found in the saints and the spiritual, so the belly of the Church is found in the carnal.

To receive the little book and eat it means to entrust to memory what had been shown. That it is sweet in the mouth means that the fruit of prophecy is most sweet for the one who utters it and for those who hear it. But for those who preach and persist in what has been entrusted, it is most bitter.

The angel says: the knowledge of the future is sweet for you, but at the same time bitter for the belly, that is, for the heart, where the spiritual food is received. This bitterness comes from compassion for those who must endure the punishments sent down by divine decree. This may also be understood otherwise. Since the Evangelist did not know the evil deeds contained in the book, which includes the acts of the impious, he is shown that sin delights at the beginning. After its completion, it brings the bitterness of vengeance and recompense.

And John also says otherwise: it will be sweet in your mouth like honey, but bitter in your belly. By the mouth are understood good and spiritual Christians. By the belly are understood the carnal and those greedy for pleasures. Therefore, when the word of God is preached, it is sweet in the spiritual. But to the carnal, according to the Apostle, whose god is the belly (Phil 3:19), it seems bitter and sharp.

"Taking it," John says, "I ate the little book, and it was sweet in my mouth, but after I had eaten it, it was bitter in my belly." Then the divine Evangelist saw and heard how sinners were punished.

This was so that he might learn by deed, and not only by word, how bitter and vile men's iniquities are when they come before God.

He learns this through a vision, for he did not know it from his own experience, being a holy and blameless man. Through this he comes to know that the wrath of God against sinners is just.

For the little book contained the names of those who had committed the utmost crimes, as was said above. He was commanded to eat it and, as though by taste, to experience spiritually in the vision the bitterness of sins.

Having eaten it, he found that it was sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly after it was eaten. So it is with every sin: sweet while it is committed, but bitter after it has been committed.

"And I went to the angel and said to him, Give me the little book." The Church was moved by divine inspiration to learn this Mystery in its fullness.

"He said to me, Take and eat it," that is, it must be hidden in the secret inward parts. "It will be bitter in your belly, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey."

That is, as you receive it you will delight in the sweetness of the divine word, in the hope of the promised salvation, and in the mercy of divine justice. Yet you will also feel bitterness when you begin to preach it to the pious and the impious.

For when some hear the preaching of divine justice, they fear the bitterness of punishment and change for the better. Others become irritated, grow harder than before, and kindle fierce hatred against the preachers.

When the prophet Ezekiel was called by the Lord to be a prophet, he too had to eat a scroll of a book. In his mouth this scroll was sweet as honey, yet it contained lamentation, mourning, and woe (cf. Ezek 2:8-10; 3:1-3).

In the same way, when Saint John was sent to prophesy, he had to eat the scroll of a book, which is the prophetic word. Every word of the Lord is sweet food for souls enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is true manna.

But when this word proclaims a grievous judgment upon men, such food causes sorrow, pain, and bitterness in the belly. For what holy man, loving all his fellow men, would not feel grief on learning that great woe awaits them?

Yet this bitterness is necessary for the salvation of the brethren, because, when proclaimed in due time, it can lead them to repentance.

"Take it and eat it," that is, the little book. One may think that this little book contained a depiction of the destiny of Jews and Christians. John was commanded to eat it, that is, to learn what was contained in it. Its sweetness in the mouth and bitterness in the stomach after it was eaten express the temporary joy Christians could experience when freed from Jewish persecutions, and then sorrow during persecutions from the pagans.

At the voice from heaven, the Apostle approached the Angel, took the little book from His hands, and ate it. It was sweet as honey in his mouth, but bitter in his belly.

According to the interpretation of St. Andrew, the little book in the hands of the Angel, Who announced in the seven thunderous sounds the punishments awaiting wicked men on sea and land, contained the names and deeds of these unhappy ones.

The knowledge of the future was sweet, that is, pleasant to the Apostle. Yet at the same time his heart was bitter "because of compassion for those who must suffer the punishments sent down according to the divine determination."