PART I
DATING THE REVELATION

OTHER WITNESSES

The earliest Latin commentator on the Apocalypse, Victorinus of Pettan (A.D. 305) states that John was exiled by Domitian to Patmos. In his commentary, On the Apocalypse of John, Victorinus writes as a comment on Rev. 10: 11, "When John said these things he was in the island of Patmos, condemned to the labour of the mines by Caesar Domitian. There, therefore he saw the Apocalypse ... and John being dismissed from the mines, thus subsequently delivered the same Apocalypse which he had received from God." 1

Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine (born A.D. 262) in his Ecclesiastical History affirms that the Revelation was written during Domitian's reign. "In this persecution, it was handed down by tradition, that the apostle and evangelist John, who was yet living, in consequence of his testimony to the divine word, was condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos ... Even historians that are very far from befriending our religion, have not hesitated to record this persecution (i.e. Domitian's) and its martyrdoms in their histories. These have accurately noted the time, for it happened, according to them, in the fifteenth year of Domitian." 2

The statement of Eusebius is unequivocal, and he had sources other than Irenaeus. Eusebius "not only discovered annotated history but also preserved for posterity great masses of prime sources."3 Neither Eusebius nor Irenaeus give any indication that the tradition, dating the Revelation to A.D. 95, was disputed. And no evidence of an alternative dating has come to us from that period. From the information available to him, therefore, Eusebius relates the historical background of the Apocalypse.

"... But after Domitian had reigned fifteen years, and Nerva succeeded to the government, the Roman Senate decreed, that the honours of Domitian should be revoked, and that those who had been unjustly expelled, should return to their homes, and have their goods restored. This is the statement of the historians of the day. It was then also, that the apostle John returned from the banishment in Patmos, and took up his abode at Ephesus, according to an ancient tradition." 4

The historian Mosheim (1694-1755) sums up the impact of the emperor Domitian upon the early church. "In the year 93 or 94 a new assault was made upon the Christians by Domitian, an emperor little inferior to Nero in baseness of character and conduct ... The persecution was undoubtedly severe: but it was of short continuance, as the emperor was soon after murdered. In the midst of this persecution, John the apostle was banished to the isle of Patmos."5 It was there that John received the Revelation (Rev. 1: 9).

1 Victorinus of Petau (Pettan), On the Apocalypse of John, Ante-Nicene
Christian Library, Vol. XVIII, p. 416.

2 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, ch. xviii.

3 Great Events from History (Ancient and Medieval Series), ed. F. N. Magill, Vol. II (A.D. 1-950), p. 841.

4 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, ch. xx.