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Revelation 20:2

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Read Chapter 20

Apringius of Beja

AD 600
In Greek letters, one thousand is designated with an 'alpha.' In the name of Christ (Χριστος) we have the cross, which is our victory and the destruction of the evil enemy. Therefore, both by the cross he bound the enemy of the world who deceived those who dwell upon the earth. For to that eternity no time is added, and the eternity of his time will be enclosed by no end, nor will there ever be an end to the number of years. And so by the sovereinty of the Lord throgh the power of the cross he bound him in the abyss.
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Athanasius the Apostolic

AD 373
The devil was hooked by the Lord, like a dragon, by the hook of the Cross; and was taken in a drag-net, and was bound like a fugitive slave, and his lips were perforated by a ring and a bracelet, and he is not permitted to devour any of the faithful. Now, like a wretched sparrow, he is made sport of by Christ; now he groans at his companions, being trodden like serpents and scorpions under the heels of Christians. (Life of Antony 24)
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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430
and bound him. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself says, No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man (Matt. 12:29) — meaning by the strong man the devil, because he had power to take captive the human race; and meaning by his goods which he was to take, those who had been held by the devil in various sins and iniquities, but were to become believers in Himself. It was then for the binding of this strong one that the apostle saw here. bound him: But the binding of the devil is his being prevented from the exercise of his whole power to seduce men, either by violently forcing or fraudulently deceiving them into taking part with him. If he were during so long a period permitted to assail the weakness of men, very many persons, such as God would not wish to expose to such temptation, would have their faith overthrown, or would be prevented from believing; and that this might not happen, he is bound. For the Almighty does not absolutely sec...
2 mins3/27
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Bede

AD 735
devil: "Diabolus," is interpreted, "flowing downward." But in Greek he is called "the accuser." "Satan is " the adversary," or " prevaricator." So he is called "the dragon," on account of his malice in hurting; "the serpent," on account of cunning in deceiving; " the devil," on account of the fall of his estate; "Satan," on account of obstinacy in opposition against the Lord.
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Bede

AD 735
bound him: That is, he kept back and restrained his power from seducing men who were to be set free. For if he were permitted to exert the whole of this, either by force, or deceit, he would beguile most of the weak in so long a time. By the "thousand years," he intended a part, namely, the remainder of the thousand years of the sixth day; in which the Lord was born and suffered. <a
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Bede

AD 735
and bound him. That is, he kept back and restrained his power from seducing men who were to be set free. For if he were permitted to exert the whole of this, either by force, or deceit, he would beguile most of the weak in so long a time.
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Epiphanius of Cyprus

AD 403
Now, as is evident, the thousand-year period is written about in the Revelation of John, and most people, including Origen, believe in the book. But most people, including the reverent, when they read the book, since they are familiar with spiritual realities and take the things that have a spiritual meaning in it in a spiritual way, believe indeed that they are true, but that their explanation lies deep beneath the surface of the text. For this is not the only passage whose meaning lies deep; there are many others.
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Eusebius of Caesarea

AD 339
St. Papias gives accounts which he says came to him through unwritten tradition...To these belong his statement that there will be a period of some thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, and that the kingdom of Christ will be set up in material form on this very earth. I suppose he got these ideas through a misunderstanding of the apostolic accounts, not perceiving that the things said by them were spoken mystically in figures. For he appears to have been of very limited understanding, as one can see from his discourses. But it was due to him that so many of the Church Fathers after him adopted a like opinion, urging in their own support the antiquity of the man; as for instance Irenæus and any one else that may have proclaimed similar views. (Church History 3.39.13)
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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849
And bound him for a thousand years. I shall give the reader an abridgment of what St. Augustine has left us on this chapter, in his 20th book de Civ. Dei who, in his Dialogue with Tryphon, holds that opinion of a thousand years reign; but adds, "I also told you, that many who are Christians of pious and sound sentiments, do not own this to be true. "Thus we read in the Greek, as well as in the Latin translation: but Mr. Mede quite changes the sense, by adding a negative in this manner; but many who are not of this pure and holy doctrine We may observe that St. Justin says in the next page, that they who own not the resurrection of the body, and say that souls go to heaven without any future resurrection, are not to be accounted Christians, but are to be looked upon as Sadducees and unbelievers. Which is very true. And he adds, that he, and others who think right with him, know that there will be a resurrection of the flesh, and a rebuilding of Jerusalem for a thousand years, which St. ...
3 mins9/27
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Gregory The Dialogist

AD 604
For by the number of a thousand he denoted not the quantity of time but the universality, with which the Church exercises dominion. Now the old serpent is bound with a chain and cast into the bottomless pit, because being tied up from the hearts of the good, while he is shut up in the minds of lost sinners, he rules over them with worse cruelty. (Morals 18.42)
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Gregory of Nyssa

AD 394
Do we promise the gluttony of the Millennium? Do we declare that the Jewish animal-sacrifices shall be restored? Do we lower men’s hopes again to the Jerusalem below, imagining its rebuilding with stones of a more brilliant material? (Letter 17)
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Hippolytus of Rome

AD 235
If the Devil has been bound, how does he deceive the faithful and persecute and plunder men ? And if you say that he has been bound as regards the faithful, how did he draw near against Christ, Him who aid no sin? according to the text, The Prince cometh and findeth no sin in me [St. John, xiv. 30]. And if then he has been bound, how did the Lord teach us to pray, that we should be delivered front the evil one [St. Matth. vi. 13] ? and why did he desire to tempt Simon and the Apostles [St. Luke, xxii. 31]? And how was one who had been bound able to sift and trouble the disciples? And truly for us the conflict is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world [Eph. vi. 12]. If he had been bound, he would not maintain the conflict, or catch away the word which was sown [St. Matth. xiii. 19], as is said in the Parable of the Seed. That He has bound the strong man; the meaning of it is this : that He has rebuked and cast scorn ...
2 mins12/27
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Hippolytus of Rome

AD 235
For the first appearance of our Lord in the flesh took place in Bethlehem, under Augustus, in the year 5500; and He suffered in the thirty-third year. And 6,000 years must needs be accomplished, in order that the Sabbath may come, the rest, the holy day "on which God rested from all His works." For the Sabbath is the type and emblem of the future kingdom of the saints, when they "shall reign with Christ," when He comes from heaven, as John says in his Apocalypse: for "a day with the Lord is as a thousand years." (On the Antichrist)
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Irenaeus of Lyons

AD 202
The Antichrist, rampant against mankind in the latter days, should be trampled down by Him (Jesus); and that He should bind “the dragon, that old serpent” and subject him to the power of man, who had been conquered so that all his might should be trodden down. (Against Heresies 3.23.7)
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Irenaeus of Lyons

AD 202
-indicating that sin, which was set up and spread out against man, and which rendered him subject to death, should be deprived of its power, along with death, which rules
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Jacob Bar-Salibi

AD 1171
'On this Caius the heretic objected : that Satan is bound here, according to that which is written, that Christ went up into the strong man's house and bound him, and spoiled his goods for us [St. Matth. xii. 29]. Hippolytus answered this and said : If the Devil has been bound, how does he deceive the faithful and persecute and plunder men ? And if you say that he has been bound as regards the faithful, how did he draw near against Christ, Him who aid no sin? according to the text, The Prince cometh and findeth no sin in me [St. John, xiv. 30 4]. And if then he has been bound, how did the Lord teach us to pray, that we should be delivered front the evil one [St. Matth. vi. 13] ? and why did he desire to tempt Simon and the Apostles [St. Luke, xxii. 31]? And how was one who had been bound able to sift and trouble the disciples [ib.]? And truly for us the conflict is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world [Eph....
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Jerome

AD 420
But the saints shall never possess an earthly kingdom, but only a heavenly. Away, then, with the fable about a millennium! (Commentary on Daniel 7:17-18)
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Julian of Toledo

AD 690
The thousand years refers to when the church of God which, by the diffusion of its faith and works, is spread out as a kingdom of faith from the time of the Incarnation until the time of the coming judgment.
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Justin Martyr

AD 165
But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then he built, adorned, and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare....those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place. (Dialogue with Trypho 80,81)
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Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius

AD 320
But He, when He shall have destroyed unrighteousness, and executed His great judgment, and shall have recalled to life the righteous, who have lived from the beginning, will be engaged among men a thousand years, and will rule them with most just command. Then they who shall be alive in their bodies shall not die, but during those thousand years shall produce an infinite multitude, and their offspring shall be holy, and beloved by God; but they who shall be raised from the dead shall preside over the living as judges...About the same time also the prince of the devils, who is the contriver of all evils, shall be bound with chains, and shall be imprisoned during the thousand years of the heavenly rule in which righteousness shall reign in the world, so that he may contrive no evil against the people of God. After His coming the righteous shall be collected from all the earth, and the judgment being completed, the sacred city shall be planted in the middle of the earth, in which God Hims...
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Nerses of Lambron

AD 1198
bound. Satan was then bound when he was mocked on the Cross, and mankind received authority from Christ to walk on that same serpent as on one bound, those whom he was unable to harm.
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Paul of Bush

AD 1300
For from the coming of the Lord to the end of time there are one thousand five hundred years. He mentioned the magnitude belonging to the larger number which is the one thousand years. For the Lord came in the sixth millennium and accomplished the redemption. Then he spoke about what took place after Him, which is the last millennium of the world, that is the completion of the time of the world. And to this will be added the time from the beginning of the holy resurrection of our Lord, the resurrection which is the guarantee of our eternal life.
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Peter Olivi

AD 1298
Moreover, if you begin the unloosing of Satan in connection with the time of the great Antichrist from the time when, under the fifth trumpet, the star falling from heaven took the key to the bottomless pit and opened it, then from Christ's resurrection to that time there are around one thousand years during which the saints reign with Christ.
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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220
But we do confess that a kingdom is promised to us upon the earth, although before heaven, only in another state of existence; inasmuch as it will be after the resurrection for a thousand years in the divinely-built city of Jerusalem, 'letdown from heaven,' which the apostle also calls 'our mother from above;' and, while declaring that our citizenship is in heaven, he predicts of it that it is really a city in heaven. This both Ezekiel had knowledge of and the Apostle John beheld. (Against Marcion 3.25)
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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220
And that the beast Antichrist with his false prophet may wage war on the Church of God; and that, after the casting of the devil into the bottomless pit for a while,
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Thietland of Einsiedeln

AD 1000
old serpent. The Devil is rightly called serpent because he decieved the first man through the serpent, and also rightly called old on account of the antiquity of the time, because at the beginning of created things he was created by God.
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Thomas Aquinas

AD 1274
Certain heretics asserted that there will be a first resurrection of the dead that they may reign with Christ on earth for a thousand years; whence they were called "chiliasts" or "millenarians."
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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20

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