I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is : and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
Ver. 13. Even where Satan's seat is] There was the court of King Attalus (discedat ab aula Qui velit esse pius; " flee thee away, O thou seer, for this is the king's court," Amo 7:13), and there was afterwards the seat of the Roman persecuting proconsuls, Qui ab ascensore suo Satana perurgebantur, as Bernard hath it. Such a seat of Satan is both old and new Rome. At Constantinople (which was called new Rome) Arius, that arch-heretic, sedens in latrina effudit intestina, voided his entrails at the stool, and left Mahometism there behind him as his excrement. Yet, as at Pergamos also God had a Church, so hath he still even at Constantinople; the patriarch whereof, Cyril, hath lately set forth a confession of the faith of those Eastern Churches, agreeable in all points almost to the Protestant religion, but diametrically opposite to Popery.
Thou holdest fast] κρατεις, as with tooth and nail, or by main strength.
Who was slain] An honour not granted to the angels of heaven, as Latimer was wont to say.