Guiding to a Blessed End: Andrew of Caesarea and His Apocalypse Commentary in the Ancient Church

Description

Apocalyptic fervor gripped the Eastern Roman Empire as late antiquity drew to a close. The empire confronted bubonic plague, civil war, famine, and catastrophic Persian invasions. Meanwhile, Andrew, archbishop of Caesarea, was tasked with writing what would become the first Greek patristic commentary on the Apocalypse and the single most influential commentary on any biblical book. Andrew preserved existing Eastern Apocalypse interpretation and applied his own exegetical skills to create a commentary that remains fresh and remarkably contemporary. Andrew emphasized the spiritual value of the Apocalypse, transforming popular understanding of Revelation from a doomsday scenario to a "useful, God-inspired" book that would "guide those who read it to a blessed end." At the time, Revelation was largely rejected from the canon in the East, but Andrew's explanation would change its fate and influence Eastern eschatology forever. His work became the predominant and standard patristic commentary for the Greek East as well as the Slavic, Armenian, and Georgian churches. So highly regarded, it was directly responsible for the eventual acceptance of Revelation into the canon of the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox churches. In this interesting and insightful work, Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, the leading expert on Andrew of Caesarea and the first to translate his Apocalypse commentary into any modern language, identifies an exact date for the commentary and a probable recipient. Her groundbreaking book, the first ever written about Andrew, analyzes his historical milieu, education, style, methodology, theology, eschatology, and pervasive and lasting influence. She explains the direct correlation between Andrew of Caesarea and fluctuating status of the Book of Revelation in Eastern Christianity through the centuries. Preface ix | Abbreviations xi | Introduction xiii 1 The Trajectory of Early Apocalypse Commentaries 1 The Earliest Latin Apocalypse Commentaries 2 | Other Early Latin Commentaries 6 Greek Commentaries Emerge 7 | The Duality of the Apocalypse Interpretive Tradition 9 | Independence of the Eastern Apocalypse Interpretive Tradition 10 2 The Apocalypse in the Ancient East: From Acceptance to Rejection 14 Early Acceptance of the Apocalypse 17 | The Third Century: Opposition Appears 22 | The Fourth Century: Erosion of Support 27 3 Later Eastern Developments: From Rejection to Acceptance 35 4 Dating Andrew of Caesarea and Oikoumenios 47 Dating Andrew’s Episcopal Reign 48 | Dating the Oikoumenios Commentary 50 Dating Andrew of Caesarea’s Apocalypse Commentary 61 5 Andrew’s Recipient: “Makarios” and the Historical Milieu 72 Motivation and Historical Milieu 77 6 Why the Oikoumenios Commentary Failed 86 Andrew of Caesarea’s Assessment 86 | Presentation: Philosophical and Learned, but Unskilled and Unorthodox 93 | Theology: Non-Chalcedonian 99 7 Andrew’s Commentary: Purpose and Motivation 104 Expressed Purpose and Motivation 104 | Unexpressed Purpose and Motivation 106 8 Orientation, Structure, and Characteristics 112 A Pastoral Orientation 112 | A Liturgical Orientation 114 | A Sacramental Orientation 117 | The Structure of the Commentary 120 | Style and Characteristics of the Commentary 121 9 Andrew’s Exegetical Education and Skill 126 Knowledge of Manuscript Variations 128 | Knowledge of the Canonical Status of Revelation 131 | Knowledge of Other Traditional Scripture Interpretations 131 | Andrew’s Limitations 135 | The Three Levels of Scripture Interpretation 136 | The Literal Sense: Historia 137 | Typology 140 | The Moral Sense: Tropologia 141 | The Spiritual Sense: Theoria and Anagoge 143 10 Andrew’s Technique and Sources 152 Purpose—Skopos 152 | Context—Ta symphrazomena 154 | Sequence—Akolouthia 155 Word Association 162 | Andrew’s Use of Scripture 168 | Andrew’s Use of Sources 169 11 Andrew’s Dogmatic Theology 181 Doctrine 181 | View of Prophecy 187 | View of History 189 | Ecclesiology 194 The Apostles 197 | Angelology 201 | Sin and Salvation 205 | Free Will 209 12 Afflictions and the Love of God 215 The Purpose of the Afflictions 215 | The Nature of the Afflictions 218 | The Extent of the Afflictions 221 | The Suffering of the Saints 223 | The Love of God: Philanthropia 226 13 Andrew’s Eschatology 232 The End Is Not Near 232 | The Millennium 234 | Babylon and the Successive Kingdoms 238 | The Devil 244 | The Antichrist and the False Prophet 250 | The Mark of the Beast and the Name of the Antichrist 256 14 Death, Judgment, Punishment, and Reward 259 Death and the Soul 259 | Armageddon, Parousia, and Judgment 265 | Resurrection and the Renewal of Creation 267 | Oikoumenios and Apokatastasis 271 | Andrew on Eternal Punishment 278 | The Kingdom of Heaven 282 15 Andrew and the Greek Apocalypse Text 288 16 Andrew’s Posterity and Contributions 298 Subsequent Commentaries 298 | Translations of the Commentary 300 | Artistic Depictions of the Apocalypse 303 | Preservation of Early Traditions 304 | Facilitating Acceptance of Revelation into the Canon 306 17 Conclusion 311 Selected Bibliography 319 | Scripture Index 333 | General Index 337