Fulgentius of Ruspe

In his own words on Revelation

• Revelation 1:7

  Hold most firmly and never doubt that the Word made flesh always has the same truly human flesh with which God the Word was born of the Virgin, with which he was crucified and died, with which he rose and ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God, with which he will come again to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the apostles heard from the angels, "He … will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven," and the blessed John says, "Behold, he will come amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will see him."

  LETTER TO PETER ON THE FAITH 20.63

• Revelation 1:16

  Hold most firmly and never doubt that the same Holy Spirit, who is the one Spirit of the Father and the Son, proceeds from the Father and the Son. For the Son says, "When the Spirit of Truth comes, who has proceeded from the Father," where he taught that the Spirit is his, because he is the Truth. That the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, the prophetic and apostolic teaching shows us. So Isaiah says concerning the Son: "He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked." Concerning him the apostle also says, "Whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth." The one Son of God himself, showing who the Spirit of his mouth is, after his resurrection, breathing on his disciples, says, "receive the Holy Spirit." "From the mouth," indeed, of the Lord Jesus himself, says John in the Apocalypse, "a sharp two-edged word came forth." The very Spirit of his mouth is the sword itself which comes forth from his mouth.

  LETTER TO PETER ON THE FAITH 11.54

• Revelation 2:11

  This then is done in them through grace so that the change brought about by divine gift may begin in them here. The change begins first through justification, in which there is a spiritual resurrection, and afterwards, in the resurrection of the body, in which the change of the justified is brought to completion; the perfected glorification, remaining for eternity, is not changed. To this end, first the grace of justification, then the grace of glorification changes them so that the glorification itself remains, unchangeable and eternal in them. For here they are changed through the first resurrection by which they are enlightened that they may be converted. That is, they change from death to life by this, from iniquity to justice, from infidelity to faith, and from evil acts to a holy way of life. Therefore, the second death has no power over them. Concerning such people, it is said in the Apocalypse: "Blessed is the one who shares in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them." Again it is said in the same book: "The victor shall not be harmed by the second death." Therefore, just as the first resurrection is found in conversion of the heart, so the second death is found in eternal punishment. Let every person who does not wish to be condemned by eternal punishment of the second death hasten here to become a participant of the first resurrection.

  ON THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS 2.12.3-4

• Revelation 3:19

  The kindness of God leads us to penance. He afflicts us with trials, he corrects us with infirmities, teaches us with cares, so that we who have sinned in the health of the body may learn to abstain from sins in infirmity. We who scorned the mercy of God in frivolity, corrected by the lash of sadness should fear his justice. Thus it comes about that we who by abusing health have begotten infirmity for ourselves, through that infirmity may again procure the benefits of health. And we who through frivolity have fallen into trials, through these trials may regain happiness. Holy Scripture bears witness that God's love for us is shown more by the lash and correction. For it says, "My child, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproofs, for the Lord reproves the one he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights." And the Savior himself says that he loves those he reproves, saying, "Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise." The teaching of the apostles does not cease to proclaim that "it is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God." The Lord himself also says that the road which leads to life is constricted and the gate narrow.

  LETTER 7.16, TO VENANTIA

• Revelation 6:11

  The Word of God shows that when the time of vengeance comes, conversion will not then help the evil person evade punishment but avenging wrath will destroy him with due damnation. For that will be a time not of remission but of retribution, not of forgiveness but of revenge. This is put off by the divine patience so that the number of the saints can be filled up. The blessed John in the Apocalypse recalls that it is the saints who asked for this vengeance in these words, "How long will it be, holy and true master, before you sit in judgment and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?" And to teach those who are joined to this company that the time for vengeance is being put off by the highest ordinance, he adds right away. "Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to be patient a little while longer until the number was filled of their fellow servants and brothers."

  ON THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS 2.5.2-3

• Revelation 20:15

  [In evil persons] God begins his judgment with desertion and ends with anguish. For in this present time as well in which God deserts the evil ones who go away from him, he does not work in them what displeases him but works through them what pleases him. Afterwards, he is going to give them what they deserve from his justice.… Such people God has fitted for destruction as punishment that the just judge by his just predestination has decreed for the sinner.… Concupiscence, conceiving, has given birth to sin, but the mature sin has begotten death. The wicked, therefore, have not been predestined to the first death of the soul but have been predestined to the second, that is, to the pool of fire and sulphur. … He calls the second death that which follows from the sentence of the just judge, not that which went before in the evil concupiscence of the sinner.… Therefore, the first death of the soul, which a person inflicted on himself, is the cause of the second death. And the second death, which God has rendered to the person, is the punishment for the first death.

  LETTER TO MONIMUS 1.27.1-6

• Revelation 22:12

  It is recognized that there is no forgiveness of sins if penance is not done at this moment; nor is penance in this time of any avail for those who despair of the forgiveness of sins. But in the future time, there is to be no conversion for the wicked, and the penance of such people will be endless as well as useless. Just as forgiveness will never be given to them, so their penance will never be ended. For they neglect the time in which penance is fruitfully done by sinners and in which divine pity grants the forgiveness of sins. Because of this the Lord himself in the Apocalypse of John, consoling his faithful and directing the attention of the wicked to the penalty of future punishment, speaks thus.… In order that we may more fully recognize that only the time of this present world is allotted for conversion, let us pay attention to those workers whom the Lord called to his vineyard. Although he called for them at various hours, still at the eleventh hour he ended the call, that is, just before the end of the day. In those hours at which the call went out for workers are recognized the ages of the world, in which God has called to a good work those whom he converted to himself by a free justification.… Then the eleventh hour came in the first coming of Christ, in which he came in humility in mortal flesh, in which he, the immortal one, deigned to be killed for the sin of the world.… After the end of this hour, the Lord does not call workers to the vineyard, but he will come to render to each one the reward for his work, as he himself says, "Behold, I am coming soon; I bring with me the recompense."

  ON THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS 17.3-18.3