Victorinus of Pettau

Bishop of Poetovio on the Drava, Victorinus was the first Christian writer to compose commentaries on Scripture in Latin, working through Genesis, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Ecclesiastes, Matthew, and the Apocalypse. Jerome, who read him closely, said he knew Greek better than Latin, so his works read weighty in thought but plain in style. A convinced chiliast, he expected a literal thousand-year reign of the saints, a view later editors — Jerome among them — softened when they reissued his Apocalypse commentary. He was martyred in the persecution under Diocletian, around 303.

His commentary on the Apocalypse is the oldest surviving commentary on the book of Revelation.

Victorinus of Pettau has 87 commentary entries in HolyStudy’s verse-by-verse Church Fathers commentary. Open any Gospel chapter, tap a verse, and choose the Church Fathers tab.