The elder and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail.
Read Chapter 9
Aponius
AD 500
He who may have been at the head of the flock of Christ is now made the tail of another flock, as God declared through Isaiah: “The prophet who teaches lies is the tail.” Everyone among the people who is of right faith, even though he may hold a lower position or office, is beyond doubt at the head of the people by virtue of his right faith. But if he were to depart from the head, great though he may seem among the heretics, he becomes the tail by teaching lies. No longer a lamb who hears the voice of the Lord, he is now made like a wandering goat by following in the footsteps of the evil flock. - "Exposition of Song of Songs 2.23"
Where the head and the tail are said through the prophet to be destroyed, it is clear that priests are designated by the head and prophets by the tail. The crown, therefore, is removed from the head when those who are seen to preside over the body of the church abandon the rewards of heavenly compensation. Once its leaders fall, normally, the army that follows them also succumbs. Hence, soon after the condemnation of the leaders, Job comments on the manifold afflictions of the church: “He destroyed me on every side, and I perish; and he has removed my hope like uprooting a tree.” For the church is destroyed on every side and perishes in the persons of its sick members when those who seem to be its strength are corrupted, that is, when the crown is removed from the head because its leaders have abandoned their pursuit of eternal rewards. It is in reference to the sick who have fallen that Job then adds, fittingly: “and he removed my hope like uprooting a tree.” A tree is felled by a gus...
Remember what is written in Isaiah: “The elder and honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail, and there will be some who delight my people while deceiving them, and those who are delighted will be cast headlong.” Thus it is clear that some desire to master those domains which all the saints and teachers of the truth are zealous to avoid, namely, worldly glory and the deception of harmful preaching. The power in their tails, therefore, extends back into this life for five months, where the lie is able to marshal the wicked or temporarily to torture the spiritual. - "Commentary on the Apocalypse 3.9"
