Voices and influences
Primasius of Hadrumetum
The African bishop whose Latin commentary on Revelation medieval Europe leaned on for centuries.
Summary
This site quotes Primasius of Hadrumetum 10 times across 1 book, and lists 0 works.
- Lived died 560.
- Quoted here most in Revelation: 10 of 10.
Primasius of Hadrumetum
- Lived
- died 560
- Tradition
- Patristic
- Portrait
- None held under a licence this site can print
5 of 10 quotations
Own words
Quoted at 50 words or fewer, because Primasius of Hadrumetum's works are in copyright.
The bed here is to be understood as that security which sinners often promise to themselves when they have committed disgraceful crimes with impunity. That is, sinners at times do not experience the vengeance of present wrath and so neglect penance until sudden destruction comes …
COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:22, 560
Revelation 2:21 Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling. BSB
This one elder represents either the body of the prophets or the church. It depicts the leaders teaching the other members of the future reward for which the laborers might hope, just as the apostle spoke of the gospel, "In it the righteousness of God …
COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 7:13-14, 560
Revelation 7:13 Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?” BSB
["As king they have over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is 'Armageddon,' whose name in Greek is 'Apollion,' and whose name in Latin is 'Exterminans.' "] Although God is supremely good, by hidden yet just judgments he nevertheless allows …
COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:11, 560
Revelation 9:11 They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon. BSB
With these months there is completed the three years and six months, which above were understood to refer to the quality of the present age. However, here the severity of the final persecution is especially foretold. For were one to consider the four familiar directions …
COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13:5-6, 560
Revelation 13:5–6 The beast was given a mouth to speak arrogant and blasphemous words, and authority to act for 42 months. And the beast opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God and to slander His name and His tabernacle—those who dwell in heaven. BSB
It is the habit of blasphemers that they prefer to blame God for wickedness and iniquity rather than themselves, and therefore [they] do not seek penance after plagues but, even though tormented, continue to throw insults. For just as a bronze vase, when subjected to …
COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 16:9, 560
Revelation 16:9 And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues; yet they did not repent and give Him glory. BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Primasius of Hadrumetum 10 times across 1 book.
This site’s own count of what it does with the voice
The life, in order
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record
Primasius was bishop of Hadrumetum, a coastal city in the African province of Byzacena — modern Sousse in Tunisia — in the middle of the sixth century. He was in office by 535 and died about 560. His career ran straight through the Three Chapters controversy, the last great convulsion of the ancient church in the West. The emperor Justinian, trying to reconcile the churches that had rejected Chalcedon, condemned three long-dead Antiochene authors — Theodore of Mopsuestia, and certain writings of Theodoret of Cyrus and Ibas of Edessa. The African bishops regarded this as an attack on Chalcedon itself and on the principle that a dead man who died in the church's peace cannot be tried. They resisted almost to a man. Primasius was summoned to Constantinople with Verecundus of Junca to represent Byzacena, arriving in 551. He held out with his colleagues for a time. Under sustained imperial pressure — and after Pope Vigilius himself gave way — Primasius eventually subscribed to the condemnation. The African sources treat that as a fall; the historian Victor of Tunnuna, who suffered exile rather than sign, records it bitterly and says Primasius was rewarded with the primacy of his province. He went home to a church that did not want him. What outlived the politics was his book. Primasius wrote a five-book commentary on the Apocalypse, and it is the most important Latin exposition of Revelation between Victorinus of Pettau in the third century and Bede in the eighth. He did not invent his reading. He drew heavily on two earlier Africans: Augustine, and — remarkably — the Donatist layman Tyconius, whose commentary on Revelation was lost and survives largely through what Primasius and others quoted. Primasius says plainly that he took what was sound from a man on the wrong side of a schism and left the rest. Scholars reconstructing Tyconius depend on him for it. The reading itself is the one Augustine had made standard in the West: the thousand years is the age of the church between the first and second comings, not a future earthly kingdom; the beast, the harlot, and the two witnesses are read as the church's present enemies and present witness rather than as a calendar of events. That interpretation, carried by Primasius into the medieval commentaries — Bede used him, and Beatus of Liébana copied him at length — held the field in Western Europe for a thousand years. A commentary on the letters of Paul also circulated under his name; modern editors generally judge it not to be his. Sources: Primasius, Commentarius in Apocalypsin (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 92); Victor of Tunnuna, Chronicle; Isidore of Seville, De viris illustribus; Kenneth B. Steinhauser, The Apocalypse Commentary of Tyconius (for the transmission of Tyconius).
10 quotations across 1 book
Where this voice is quoted
Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling.
“The bed here is to be understood as that security which sinners often promise to themselves when they have committed disgraceful crimes with impunity.”
Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?”
“This one elder represents either the body of the prophets or the church. It depicts the leaders teaching the other members of the future reward for which the laborers might hope, just as the apostle spoke of the gospel, "In it the righteousness of God…”
They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.
“["As king they have over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is 'Armageddon,' whose name in Greek is 'Apollion,' and whose name in Latin is 'Exterminans.'”
The beast was given a mouth to speak arrogant and blasphemous words, and authority to act for 42 months.
“With these months there is completed the three years and six months, which above were understood to refer to the quality of the present age. However, here the severity of the final persecution is especially foretold.”
And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues; yet they did not repent and give Him glory.
“It is the habit of blasphemers that they prefer to blame God for wickedness and iniquity rather than themselves, and therefore [they] do not seek penance after plagues but, even though tormented, continue to throw insults.”
All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality.
“This passage refers to three kinds of sins, and it also mentions the same number of those persons who transgress by them.”
The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
“Having mentioned the patriarchs, he now mentions the apostles. Although we know that the church has but a single foundation, that is, Christ, it is not surprising that here it is said to have twelve [foundations].”
And he measured its wall to be 144 cubits, by the human measure the angel was using.
“Clearly in many passages an angel symbolizes the church. Since the church is gathered together from people and is lifted high by the promises of Christ, she hopes for equality with the angels and her every intent longs for their company, and for this reason…”
But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
“Just as the body consists of individual members, so is the temple constructed from precious stones. Although we are accustomed to material things, he does not want us here to think of something physical as is our habit.”
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be within the city, and His servants will worship Him.
“He does not speak here of thrones. For where there is a natural and undifferentiated unity, there the glory of the Godhead may be especially esteemed.”