And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast. And his kingdom became dark: and they gnawed their tongues for pain.
και ο πεμπτος πεμπτος αγγελος εξεχεεν την φιαλην αυτου επι τον θρονον του θηριου και εγενετο η βασιλεια αυτου εσκοτωμενη και εμασωντο εμασσωντο τας γλωσσας αυτων εκ του πονου
6 Church Fathers comment on this verse
The bowl will be poured out upon the throne of the beast. This indicates that the wrath of God will fall upon the kingdom of the antichrist, since it is not illumined by the Sun of righteousness.
The biting of the tongue points to the severity of the disease by which those deceived by him will be struck. God will strike them with plagues, so that, being convinced of the falsehood of the one they receive as god, they may turn away from deception.
The bowl of the fifth angel was poured out upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened.
The Apostle wrote of the Antichrist, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the spirit of His mouth. Isaiah said: “Let the ungodly be slain, that he may not see the glory of the Lord” (Isa 26:10), calling the coming of the Lord in glory “glory.”
The statement that the bowl was poured out upon the throne of the beast shows that the ungodly tyranny of the Antichrist will come to an end when he is mercifully removed.
Darkness, as an unforeseen recompense upon the accursed one, will cover all who were appointed by him. For what happens overtakes by surprise those whose minds have been darkened.
“And they gnawed their tongues because of the fire.” This commonly happens during every serious misfortune, when people bite their tongues or another part of the body with their teeth, thinking that by this they lessen the force of suffering.
Those who ought to have repented, even for such a reason as the removal of the Antichrist, whom they made their king and god, blasphemed the true God for the death of the sinner.
The throne of the beast, or his kingdom, became darkened. This is said as though of judicial authority, which grew dark because his accomplices were blackened by joy in earthly happiness.
Since they praised the goods of this age more than the possession of the highest blessedness, and suppressed the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18), they gnawed their tongues.
The psalm agrees with this in meaning when it says: “Their mouth speaks vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood” (Ps 143:8), and “they speak unrighteousness from on high” (Ps 72:8).
For in the arrogance of temporal prosperity, they were lifted up like smoke. From this they should have turned away by repentance, yet they rejoice in blindness.
As Job said: “They spend their days in prosperity, and in an instant they go down to Hades” (Job 21:13).
The throne of the beast, that is, his kingdom, like a judicial power, was darkened by such plagues: by the false joy of earthly prosperity.
Light was taken from them, according to the psalmist’s word: “You cast them down when they are lifted up” (Ps 72:18). It does not say: after they have been lifted up.
“And they gnawed their tongues because of pain.” As the righteous man will taste the fruit of his labors, so the ungodly man, handed over to the punishment worthy of his blasphemy, is as though filled with his own tongue.
For blasphemers handed themselves over to the punishment of God, taking it for prosperity.
“And they blasphemed the God of heaven,” and so forth. This does not refer to their hard-heartedness, but to the righteous indignation of God, who brought such a plague upon the people that in it they remember nothing.
For who, suffering bodily, would not feel the hand of God, like Antiochus (cf. 2 Macc 9:5-12)?
“And they blasphemed,” John says. But they did not blaspheme openly. Rather, they did so by giving themselves more and more to sin.
Passion comes from the word suffering.
"He poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast," that is, the calamity must fall upon the ruler of Rome himself, or upon Rome itself. But what darkening should be understood here is difficult to disclose.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 26 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS