Revelation 17:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Thus he will appear in the world. Or he will appear from the present life, which is also called an abyss figuratively because of the depth of sins and the turbulence of passions on the sea of life.

From there also the Antichrist will come, the instrument of Satan for ensnaring men. For this he will be condemned to destruction in the age to come.

Those whose names are not written in the book of the eternally living, and who did not recognize the Antichrist from Christ’s predictions, will marvel at the coming of the beast and at his false wonders.

They will marvel, not understanding why he has again received his former authority.

Because of the false wonders, he says, those who are not written in the book of the eternally living will marvel at the coming of the beast. These are those who have not studied him from Christ’s predictions.

They will marvel, considering also how he has again received his former authority.

Or one may try to understand the words "was and is not" in this way. In the Epistle to the Philippians the Apostle addresses all the saints in Christ Jesus who abide in Philippi (Phil 1:1). He calls the saints those who abide, because they abide in Christ, in nearness to God and remembrance of Him.

Therefore, if the saints already are, then the lawless devil now is not, even if he once existed before he became proud before God Almighty and fell from his rank. So also with the impious. Although they seem to exist, since they have hypostasis and essence, they nevertheless do not have being according to God's judgment and remembrance.

Because this is so, the book of Genesis contains no genealogy of Cain's descendants (cf. Gen 5:1-6:1), for they were not, because of their dishonor. And it is said that he will go to destruction, that is, he will undergo the just punishment of Gehenna.

For according to Matthew, the Lord spoke of the destruction of those condemned to it in this way: "Rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna" (Mt 10:28).

It is said: "And those who dwell on the earth will marvel," not all, but those whose names are not written in the book of life. At what will they marvel? That the beast was, and is not, and will appear and perish. Those who believed in him will be stunned by the great change that overtakes him.

For wishing to become ruler of the world, and presenting himself as such, he will not only be deprived of power. He will also receive the end worthy of his abomination.

John means those very men from whose members the body predestined for condemnation is composed. If the names here create some ambiguity, the same John says in his epistle in the singular: "As you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared" (1 Jn 2:18).

And a little later he says: "They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us" (1 Jn 2:19).

Since their names are not written in the book of life, those still alive at the end of the world will suffer the destruction of their curse. Too late they will be troubled by the knowledge that the one they accepted is not Christ.

They were deceived by the intoxicating seduction of the beast. Our Christ, whom they will certainly recognize as Judge, is the One by whom they are most justly condemned.

Therefore, from the foundation of the world, as "the Lord knows those who are His" (2 Tim 2:19), so He also promised what He said to them: "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Mt 25:34).

Likewise, those who are not His He did not write in the book of life from the foundation of the world. As strangers to Him, and as foreknown from long ago, He will condemn them to the punishment of the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Mt 25:41).

For "the Lord is high, and regards the lowly, but the proud He knows from afar" (Ps 137:6). Therefore He says: "I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who work iniquity" (Mt 7:23).

But when his son Maxentius only increased disorders and discontent against himself, Maximinus again assumed the title of emperor and began to be called bis Augustus.

Thus, they say, he was both one of the seven and the eighth. But with this explanation the expression remains incomprehensible: five have already been, one is, and another has not yet come.

Therefore others refer this expression to those emperors who came after Nero, the fifth emperor in sequence.

It is known that after Nero’s murder great disorders arose. Galba, proclaimed emperor, was soon killed, and Otho was set in his place.

At the same time Vitellius, who had declared himself emperor, moved from the Rhine into Italy. After defeating Otho, he took possession of Rome and could be counted both as one of the seven and as the eighth.

He himself was overthrown by Vespasian. In other words, he went to destruction.