An elegant response.

It is unlawful, and indeed rash, to add anything to those things said by the renowned and catholic fathers. Yet, the wide field of the scriptures is common to all who confess Christ, and the freedom to treat them cannot be denied to anyone by right, provided that, while keeping the faith safe, one says or writes what they feel.
Genesis 26.

For who could rightly be indignant that in the same possession, after one or two wells which the preceding fathers dug, the succeeding sons should dig more by their own labor? Indeed, Isaac also dug other wells besides those which the servants of his father Abraham had dug, which the Philistines had once blocked up after his father’s death. For after he dug them again, and called them by the same names his father had called them before, the scripture follows and says: "They dug in the torrent and found living water." Likewise, they dug another. and thereafter: "Moving from there, he dug another well." Therefore, according to this rule, let it be granted to us also, after those wells which our fathers and predecessors have dug—that is, after those treatises which they have treated—to dig other wells with the proper plowshare of our wit, provided that we also can find living water, which harms no one who drinks, and creates no scandal or error for any who read.
Psalm 72.

But now, relying on the grace of God and the patronage of your authority, I shall enter upon the proposed work, placing my hope only in the Lord God so that I may receive a benefit as a reward in the future.

---

THE FIRST BOOK OF COMMENTARIES

BY RUPERT, ABBOT OF DEUTZ,

ON THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN THE APOSTLE

Apocalypse original: "Αποκάλυψις" is the Greek title of the book, kept because of the dignity of its outward forms and its meanings.

A large woodcut depicts the initial letter A for the word Apocalypse. To the left of the letter, Saint John sits at a desk writing his Gospel or the Revelation, accompanied by an eagle, his traditional symbol. The ornate frame includes symbolic figures, animals, and foliage representing themes from the Book of Revelation.
THE REVELATION Apocalypsis unveiling or disclosure of Jesus Christ. Although the entire sequence of the book was written in Greek, and flowed from a Greek source into the river of the Latin language, its title alone remained untouched, so that among the Latins it is called the Apocalypsis. This name could have been translated as "revelation," but the original term was kept because of the excellence of the things or mysteries that this scripture contains. In the same way, Alleluia praise the Lord and Amen so be it, which are Hebrew words, remained in Greek and Latin letters because of their dignity. Likewise, the term Evangelium Gospel or Good News was preserved from the Greek in Latin manuscripts, the language in which all the evangelists except Matthew wrote.
Interpretation of the Title. Psalm 44.

¶ Therefore, the Apocalypsis, that is, the surpassing revelation, and in its meanings belonging to the adorable majesty of JESUS CHRIST, he says, that is, of the anointed Savior. Just as it is written in the psalm: "God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions."

Iesus. Matthew 1. Christus. Colossians 2.

¶ And indeed many have been called by the name of Jesus in an equivocal sense, but this one has the proper reason for this name. The angel added this reason when he said, "But you shall bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he himself," he said, "shall save his people from their sins."
The gifts of Christ's humanity from God.

¶ Likewise, there have been many "Christs," that is, anointed ones, but this one is anointed above all of them, inasmuch as in him dwells all the fullness of divinity bodily. The others, however, were or are his companions or participants. ¶ Therefore, one must perceive concerning this, that just as with all power, so also the humanity of the same Jesus Christ received the power of this Apocalypse to be revealed as a gift, a power which it did not possess by nature.
1 Corinthians 4. Romans 8.

Wherefore it follows and says: L L stands for Lectio, indicating the biblical text "Which God gave to him, to make manifest to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass."
Psalm 8. Matthew, last chapter. Below, chapters 1, 4, and 5.

¶ For what does our nature have, even in the only-begotten Son, that it has not received? Furthermore, what did it not receive, or what was not given to it because he was obedient even unto death, even death on a cross? God left nothing not subject to him, as the psalm says: "You have put all things under his feet." But he also says of himself, his obedience now being completed: "All power is given to me in heaven and on earth."
Power of revealing from God: given to Christ. Below, chapters 3, 4, and 5.

In this book he also says: "And I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and hell." Truly, these things were said concerning the power over all things. ¶ That power of which we now speak, namely the power of revealing heavenly sacraments to his servants, his humanity received as a gift. This is also signified in this book where the Lamb received and opened the sealed book from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. Concerning this power, the Spirit likewise says to the churches: "These things says the holy and true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts, who shuts and no one opens." Thus, to the humanity of Jesus Christ there is nothing that has not been given, or that he has not received. To his divinity, however, nothing was given in power that it did not have before.
A trope of scripture: using "which" [quā] for "by which" [per quā]. 2 Timothy 4.

¶ Let him say therefore: "Which God gave to him to make manifest to his servants." It would indeed be clearer if he had said "by which." But this mode of speaking often occurs in the scriptures. From this comes "I have fought a good fight" original: "Bonum certamen certavi", instead of "I have fought by a good fight." To which servants should he make this manifest? Certainly to those whom he already calls friends because of that very manifestation. Speaking thus under the very opening of the sealed book—that is, under the moment of his passion by which he made the scriptures intelligible by fulfilling them—he said: "I will no longer call you servants, but my friends, because everything I have heard from my father I have made known to you."
John 15. things which must shortly come to pass.

¶ However, when he says, "things which must shortly come to pass," it is not to be understood as if only those things which were in the future were contained in this Apocalypse, and not those which were already present then, or those which had been done before. For afterward it is said to John: "Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which must come to pass after these." But because the greatest focus is on those things which were quickly to be, and because the past and present are woven in mostly for their sake, he was rightly content to say in the beginning "things which must shortly come to pass."
† concerning past things. Genesis 49. Difference between "signified" and "made manifest." Matthew 13.

So also the patriarch Jacob, in his blessings, was not going to be entirely silent about present or past things, and yet in the beginning he made mention only of future things, saying: "Gather yourselves together, sons of Jacob, that I may announce what shall befall you in the last days." It follows: L "And he signified it, sending by his angel to his servant John."
Acts 2.

¶ "Signified" in this place is the same as if he said he "sealed" it, that is, he closed and fastened it under certain seals of images, so that it would be open not to everyone but only to the diligent and the studious. Nor does that contradict the preceding phrase where he said, "To make manifest to his servants." For there are some to whom he made things manifest, saying: "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God." But there are others to whom he "signified," about whom he immediately adds: "but to the rest in parables." Finally, the holy apostles, to whom it was given in their time to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God—namely when the Holy Spirit came upon them and taught them invisibly—are those who were servants until then, but from then on were friends to whom he made these things manifest. But those who, by the quality of their perception, do not know how to revere or love heavenly things unless under the names or images of things which are usually formidable or venerable to the senses of the flesh, are those to whom he signified the same things. "Sending," he says, "by his angel to his servant John."
The angel in the figure of Christ.

¶ This angel appeared to blessed John in the figure of Christ. For since the Son is one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, revealing all things, he certainly filled that angel, and dwelling in his heart, spoke through him to John. L "Who bore testimony to the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, of whatever things he saw."
The canonical authority of this book.

¶ This part of the beginning establishes the great authority of the entire book, so that it ought not to be despised or held in lower esteem than the other scriptures which the Church of Christ receives and venerates in the canonical heights. For if anyone does not receive this Apocalypse, it follows that he does not receive that testimony of the word of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the Gospel of the same John, in the beginning of which he says: "In the beginning was the Word," and so forth.