Revelation 9:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

According to some, the four angels are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael. They are bound by the joy of contemplation of the Godhead and are loosed with the other angels on the day of judgment for the condemnation of the impious, a third of whom will be destroyed.

But I think these are evil demons, bound at the coming of Christ. Now, by the command of God proceeding from the altar above the heavens, whose image was in the tabernacle of Moses, they are loosed by the divine angel.

They are loosed to stir up the nations, not only against the faithful, but also against one another. Through this, some may prove faithful, tested, and worthy of the higher reward.

By the altar standing before God one must understand the Church. During the final persecutions, She dared to despise the words and commands of the most merciless king, and to separate Herself from those who obeyed him.

The sixth trumpet speaks of the beginning of the war waged by the antichrist and his followers against the Church. Then, after an insertion devoted to a repeated account of the coming of the Lord, it speaks of this enemy's defeat.

The sixth angel symbolizes those who prophesy concerning the final trials and reveal, as the Gospel foretells, the deception of the antichrist.

Without doubt, the horns of the golden altar are the Gospels, which project from the body of the Church.

In Old Testament times, criminals who grasped one of the horns of the altar in the Temple received mercy. But if all four horns of the golden altar standing before God command with one voice that the death-dealing powers be loosed, then there is nowhere on earth to seek pardon.

"Release the four angels at the Euphrates." These are destroyer-leaders like the previously mentioned Abaddon, or Apollyon. They are seen as commanders of separate regiments moved against Judea during the uprising.

The Euphrates, as the dwelling place of the destructive people of the Chaldeans, was always regarded by the Jews as the land that sent out its detachments for the destruction of nations.