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 "9. And they had breastplates as breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was as the noise of chariots and many horses running to battle.

10. And they had tails like to scorpions, and there were stings in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had over them

11. A king, the angel of the bottomless pit; whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon; in Latin Exterminans."

The vision described in this chapter is one of the most important of the whole Apocalypse. It foretells the first woe announced by the flying eagle, the conditions and events destined to usher in the reign of Anti-christ.

1. In the fallen star ancient commentators saw a figure of Arius and other early heretics. As a matter of fact, any priest or bishop of the Church who becomes the leader of heresy may be compared to a star fallen from heaven. But in this case the star refers to some particular person whose revolt from the Church shall lead directly to the reign of Antichrist.

We cannot agree with those who refer the beginning of this vision to the early ages of the Church. The prophecies of St. John are developed in regular order according to time This vision marks a new period of exceptional gravity for the Church. We hold with Cornelius a Lapide and many others that it refers to the