‘gig. =codex gigas Holmiensis (13th cent.), witness either to old Latin text or to “late European” type (Hort).
Pr.=Primasius, ed. Haussleiter in Zahn’s Forschungen zur Gesch. des NTlichen Kanons, iv., pp. 1-224 (1891), a very import- ant study. Cf. the same critic’s essay on Vict., Tic., and Jerome in Zeits. fir Kirchl. Wiss. u. Leben (1886), 237-257.
‘S.=Syriac Philoxenian recension (6th cent.), ed. Gwynn (1897) ; reflects a Greek text, which is mixed, but is in the main (Ixi. f.) allied to the normal uncial text, and is especially close to C and Origen (lv. f.). Cf. Gregory, ii. 507, 509.
Spec. =pseudo-August. Speculum (8th or 9th cent.).
Syr.=Harkleian recension (represented by about eight considerable MSS.): posterior and inferior to S.
Tic.=“comm. in Apoc. homiliis octodecim comprehensus” of Tyconius the Donatist (end of 4th cent.).
vg.=vulgate (Jerome’s version, 4th cent.), best preserved in codices Am. (=Amiatinus, 8th cent.), and Puld. (= Fuldensis, 6th cent.), Harl. (=Harleianus, 9th cent.), and Tol. (=Tole- tanus, 8th cent.).
Vict.=comm. of Victorinus, bishop of Pettau in Pannonia (end of 3rd cent.).
Ws. =B. Weiss: “die Joh. Apk., textkritische Unters. u. Textherstel- lung” (Texte u, Unters. vii. 1), 1891.
§ 2. Analysis.—The Apocalypse of John, which is thrown into epistolary form, is a slender book with a large design. After the title (i. 1-3) and prologue (i. 4-8) in which the prophet puts himself into relation with seven churches of Western Asia Minor, he proceeds to describe the vision of Jesus Christ (i. 9 f.) which furnished him with his commission to write.! The immediate outcome of the vision is a series of charges addressed to these churches (ii.-iii.).2 Like the
1 The phrase ἐν κυριακῇ (=imperial, cf. Deissmann’s Licht vom Osten, 258 f.) ἡμέρᾳ (i. το) denotes the Christian Sunday, not the day of judgment to which he ‘was transported (so Wetstein, Weyland, Selwyn, Hort, Russell’s Pavousia, 371, 372, and Deissmann in E. Bz., 2815). The day of the Lord is only twice used in the Apoc. (vi. 14, xvi. 14), and there in a special eschatological connexion and in its normal grammatical form. In the Apocalypse it means the day of judgment, whereas in i. Io the words imply revelation, and the Apocalypse is not a mere revelation of the judgment-day. Besides, ἐν mv. must go here with ἐγεν. as in iv. 2, otherwise it would have a verb of transport (so xvii. 3, xxi. 1Ο).
2 These are addressed to tiny communities in the cities, not to the churches as ‘being in any sense the cities. The character and history of the Christian community care by no means to be identified with those of the city; we have no reason to assume that the local Christians, who were ardently awaiting a citizenship from heaven,
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