The vision of the throne of God, the twenty-four ancients and the four living creatures.
1. A doore being open in heauen, he savv one sitting in a throne, 4 and round about him foure and tvventie seniors sitting, 6 and the foure beastes here described 9 vvhich vvith the 24 seniors continually glorified him that sate in the throne.
1After these things I looked, and behold a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard, as it were, of a trumpet speaking with me, said: Come up hither, and I will shew thee the things which must be done hereafter.Dopo di ciò guardai: ed ecco una porta nel cielo aperta: e la prima voce, che udii, come di tromba, che meco parlava, dicendo: sali qua, e farotti vedere le cose, che debbon accadere in appresso.AFTER these thinges I looked, and behold a doore open in heauen, and the first voice which I heard, vvas as it vvere of a trompet speaking vvith me, saying, Come vp hither, and I vvil shevv thee the thinges vvhich must be done quickly after these.Post hæc vidi: et ecce ostium apertum in cælo, et vox prima, quam audivi tamquam tubæ loquentis mecum, dicens: Ascende huc, et ostendam tibi quæ oportet fieri post hæc. 2And immediately I was in the spirit. And behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne one sitting.E subito fui rapito in ispirito: ed ecco, che un trono era alzato nel cielo, e sopra del trono uno stava a sedere.Immediatly I vvas in spirit: and behold there vvas a seate sette in heauen, and vpon the seate one sitting.Et statim fui in spiritu: et ecce sedes posita erat in cælo, et supra sedem sedens. 3And he that sat was to the sight like the jasper and the sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.E quegli, che stava a sedere, era all'aspetto simile alla pietra Iaspide, e alla Sardia: e intorno al trono era un'iride, simile, a vedersi allo smeraldo.And he that sate, vvas like in sight, to the Iasper stone, and the Sardine: and there vvas a raine-bovv round about the seate, like to the sight of an Emeraud.Et qui sedebat similis erat aspectui lapidis jaspidis, et sardinis: et iris erat in circuitu sedis similis visioni smaragdinæ. 4And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats, four and twenty ancients sitting, clothed in white garments. And on their heads were crowns of gold.E intorno al trono ventiquattro sedie: e sopra le sedie ventiquattro seniori sedevano, vestiti di bianche vesti, e sulle loro toste corone d'oro.And round about the seate, foure and tvventie seates: and vpon the thrones, foure and twentie seniors sitting, clothed about in vvhite garmentes, and on their heades crovvnes of gold.Et in circuitu sedis sedilia viginti quatuor: et super thronos viginti quatuor seniores sedentes, circumamicti vestimentis albis, et in capitibus eorum coronæ aureæ.
5And from the throne proceeded lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.E dal trono partivano folgori, e voci, e tuoni, e dinanzi al trono sette lampane accese, le quali sono i sette spiriti di Dio.And from the throne proceeded lightenings, and voices, and thunders: and seuen lampes burning before the throne, vvhich are the seuen Spirites of God.Et de throno procedebant fulgura, et voces, et tonitrua: et septem lampades ardentes ante thronum, qui sunt septem spiritus Dei. 6And in the sight of the throne was, as it were, a sea of glass like to crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes before and behind.E in faccia al trono come un mare di vetro somigliante al cristallo: e in mezzo al trono, e d'intorno al trono, quattro animali pieni d'occhi davanti, e di dietro.And in the sight of the seate, as it vvere a sea of glasse like to crystall: and in the middes of the seate and round about the seate foure beastes ful of eies before and behind.Et in conspectu sedis tamquam mare vitreum simile crystallo: et in medio sedis, et in circuitu sedis quatuor animalia plena oculis ante et retro. 7And the first living creature was like a lion: and the second living creature like a calf: and the third living creature, having the face, as it were, of a man: and the fourth living creature was like an eagle flying.E il primo animale somigliante a leone, e il secondo animale simile a vitello, e il terzo animale avente la faccia come d'uomo, ed il quarto animale simile ad aquila volante.And the first beast, like to a lion: and the second beast, like to a calfe: and the third beast, hauing the face as it vvere of a man: and the fourth beast, like to an egle flying.Et animal primum simile leoni, et secundum animal simile vitulo, et tertium animal habens faciem quasi hominis, et quartum animal simile aquilæ volanti. 8And the four living creatures had each of them six wings: and round about and within they are full of eyes. And they rested not day and night, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.E i quattro animali avean ciascheduno sei ale: e all'intorno, e di dentro son pieni d'occhi: e di dì, e, di notte, senza darsi posa, dicono: santo, santo, santo, il Signore, il Dio onnipotente, il quale era, il quale è, e il quale verrà.And the foure beastes, euery one of them had sixe vvinges round about: and vvithin they are ful of eies and they had no rest day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God omnipotent, vvhich vvas, and vvhich is, and vvhich shal come.Et quatuor animalia, singula eorum habebant alas senas: et in circuitu, et intus plena sunt oculis: et requiem non habebant die ac nocte, dicentia: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus omnipotens, qui erat, et qui est, et qui venturus est.
9And when those living creatures gave glory and honour and benediction to him that sitteth on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever:E mentre quegli animali davano gloria, e onore, e rendimenti di grazie a lui, che sedeva sul trono, che vive ne' secoli de' secoli,And vvhen those beastes gaue glorie and honour and benediction to him that sitteth vpon the throne, that liueth for euer and euer:Et cum darent illa animalia gloriam, et honorem, et benedictionem sedenti super thronum, viventi in sæcula sæculorum, 10The four and twenty ancients fell down before him that sitteth on the throne and adored him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:Prostravansi i ventiquattro seniori dinanzi a lui, che siede nel trono, e lui adoravano, che vive ne' secoli de' secoli, e gittavano le loro corone dinanzi al trono, dicendo:the foure and tvventie seniors fel dovvne before him that sitteth in the throne, and adored him that liueth for euer and euer, and cast their crownes before the throne, saying,procidebant viginti quatuor seniores ante sedentem in throno, et adorabant viventem in sæcula sæculorum, et mittebant coronas suas ante thronum, dicentes: 11Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honour and power. Because thou hast created all things: and for thy will they were and have been created.Degno se' tu, Signore, Dio nostro, di ricevere la gloria, l'onore, e la virtù: attesoché tu creasti le cose tutte, e per volere tuo elle sussistono, e furon create.Thou art vvorthie O Lord our God to receiue glorie and honour and povver: because thou hast created al thinges, and for thy vvil they vvere and haue been created.Dignus es Domine Deus noster accipere gloriam, et honorem, et virtutem: quia tu creasti omnia, et propter voluntatem tuam erant, et creata sunt.
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Walmesley
No sooner had St. John received in the preceding vision the documents he was to transmit to the seven Churches of Asia[Asia Minor], when, behold, a new scene displays itself. Heaven opens, and St. John is invited up thither by the voice which had spoken to him before, and is told he shall see what is to happen in future ages. On a sudden appears a throne, and the Almighty himself seated upon it. The rainbow which surrounds the throne, denotes the covenant of reconciliation and peace between God and man. (Walmesley)
Behold a door open. Here begins what may be looked upon as the second part of the Apocalypse, and from hence to the two last chapters are contained wars and victories of the Church over all its enemies, the devil, Jews, heathens, and heretics. These visions are so differently expounded, when applied to different events, that this alone may convince us how uncertain are those various interpretations. The servants of God are taught that they must expect to meet with many trials, afflictions, and persecutions; but this ought to be a great subject of consolation to the faithful, that they are assured of victory if they fight manfully, and of a recompense of endless happiness for their short labours. Such visions and majestic descriptions shew that St. John was inspired by the same spirit of God, as the ancient patriarchs and prophets.
Witham
I will shew thee the things which must come to pass hereafter; that is after the things already revealed concerning the seven Churches, and therefore after the destruction of Jerusalem, which was about twenty years before St. John wrote this Apocalypse. (Witham)
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Witham
I was in the spirit, rapt as it were in an ecstacy into heaven, and saw a throne, and one sitting, representing God the Father. (Witham)
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Witham
And he....was to the sight like the jasper,[Ver. 3. Similis erat aspectui jaspidis, omoios orasei iaspidi.] or had the appearance of jaspers, as to the colours with which he appeared, etc. (Witham)
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Witham
About the throne were four and twenty seats, or lesser thrones, with twenty-four seniors or senators upon them, representing the illustrious saints both of the Old and New Testament, clothed in white garments, in token of their innocence, and crowns of gold, signifying the glory of the heavenly inhabitants. (Witham)
Calmet
These four and twenty elders sitting round the throne of God, represent the judgment which the Almighty was about to pass upon the enemies of his Church. Thus in Daniel, when he was about to pronounce sentence against Antiochus Epiphanes, "thrones were placed, and the ancient of days sat,...the judgment sat, and the books were opened." (Daniel 7:9, 10.) They represent kings and priests who attend on the Sovereign Judge. It appears as if God intended to designate by the number the ancient patriarchs and the twelve apostles, who judge with the Lord, and condemn the injustice of their persecutors. (Calmet)
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Lightnings, a symbol of God's majesty and power.
Witham
Seven lamps burning, which signified the seven spirits of God, the chief spirits that attend his throne. See Apocalypse 1:4. (Witham)
Walmesley
The lightnings, loud voices, and thunders, which come from the throne of God, announce alarms and severe hardships, such as persecutions, heresies, calamities, etc. by which he tries the fidelity of his servants on earth. And the seven spirits of God, who appear under the form of burning lamps, are seven Angels, as before mention, (Chap. 1:4.) standing ready to execute the divine commands. (Walmesley)
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A sea of glass, like crystal, calm and transparent, and may signify that the saints had passed a boisterous sea of troubles in this world, which is now changed into everlasting tranquillity.
Witham
Four living creatures, or animals. Alcazar (p. 364) takes notice of thirty different expositions of these animals. He understands the apostles, bishops, and preachers of the Christian faith: others, four of the chief Angels or celestial spirits. Several others expound them of the four evangelists: yet this was before St. John himself had written his gospel. (Witham)
Walmesley
The extensive sea of glass, here described transparent as crystal, represents what may be called the floor of heaven. Before the throne and round it stand four living creatures, of an extraordinary shape, which denote the four great prophets, Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel, and Daniel. Their bodies are described full of eyes, both before and behind, an emblem of their prophetic sight, that penetrates into all ages past, present, and to come. And their being also full of eyes within, indicates that their extensive knowledge arises from an interior divine inspiration. They have each six wings, in the same manner as the seraphim appeared to the prophet Isaias. (Chap. 6:2.) Some have imagined these four symbolical animals to represent the four evangelists; but we think improperly, as St. John was still living and there present in person. The first animal is here said to resemble a lion, the king of beasts, because the prophet Isaias, represented by it, was descended of the royal race of David. The second animal resembles a calf, and represents the prophet Jeremias in his character of priest; the calf, which was the principal victim in Jewish sacrifices, being on that account the emblem of the priesthood. The third animal, exhibiting Ezechiel, has the countenance of a man; because God, in speaking to that prophet, always addresses him by the name of son of man. The fourth animal, denoting Daniel, resembles a flying eagle, on account of the sublime oracles of this prophet, who soars to the highest objects, and views the succession of all the great empires that were to rise up in the world to the end of time. Probably these four principal prophets are to be understood to represent all the prophets of the old law. (Walmesley)
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Witham
Like a lion, etc. The qualities in these animals are observed to be courage and strength in the lion; profit to human life, by the calf; reason and wisdom, by the face of man: soaring high, and rapidity or swiftness, by the eagle: whether we understand those spiritual perfections to belong to blessed spirits, or to the apostles in general, or to the four evangelists. (Witham)
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Each of them six wings. See the like visions, Ezechiel 1:4; Isaias 6:2. These signify their swiftness in executing God's just commands.
Full of eyes: a symbol of knowledge and watchfulness.
Witham
They rested not day and night. There is no night in heaven; but hereby is signified, that they praised God without intermission for all eternity, saying: Thou art worthy, O Lord, our[Ver. 8. Dignus est Domine Deus. God is wanting in many copies, but Dr. Wells restored it as the true reading.] God, etc. (Witham)
Walmesley
They repeat the word holy three times, probably in honour of the blessed trinity. And the four and twenty elders prostrate before the throne, in token of their acknowledging all their happiness and pre-eminence to be his gift. (Walmesley)
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Calmet
Nothing is so well adapted to give us an idea of the infinite majesty of God, and of the sovereign respect which is due to him, as this description. How ought Christians to appear in the presence of the God of armies, if what is most august and most elevated in heaven acknowledges its lowness and nothing before this tremendous Majesty? (Calmet)
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Concordance THE 2 VISION.
In which is represented vnto vs the glorie and maiestie of God in heauen, and the incessant honour & praises of al Angels and Saincts assisting him. Vvhich is resembled in the daily honour done to him by al orders and sortes of holy men in the Church militant also.
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These foure beastes, and the like described Ezaech, 1, by the iudgement of the holy Doctors signifie the 4 Euangelistes, and in them al true preachers. the man, Mathevv. the liō, Marke: the calle, Luke: the egle, Iohn? See the causes hereof in the Summe of the 4 Euangelist. pag. 1. S. Gregoin 1. Ezech.
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8. Holy, holy. holy.] This vvord is thrise repeated here, and Esa. 6: and to the imitation therof, in the seruice of the holy Church, The Sanctus thrise repeated. at Te Deum, and at Masse, specially in the Preface next before the great mysteries, for the honour of the three persons in the B. Trinitie, and that the Church militant may ioyne vvith the triumphant, and vvith al the orders of Angels, vvho also are present at the consecration, and doe seruice there to our common Lord and Maister. as S. Chrysostom vvriteth li. 6 de Sacerdotie. and h•. 1. de verb. Esa. to. 1. The Greekes call it, the hymne Trisagies, that is, Thrise holy.
Concordance Es. 6, 3.
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.105
… “Behold a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard, as of a trumpet speaking with me and saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On the Apparel of Women 1.7
… At last there has really been found a way to prevent even gold from being loved! We have also seen at Rome the nobility of gems blushing in the presence of our matrons at the contemptuous usage of the Parthians and Medes, and the rest of their own fellow-countrymen, only that ( their gems) are not generally worn with a view to ostentation. Emeralds
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Chaplet, or De Corona 14
… She has the burden of her own humility to bear. If she ought not to appear with her head uncovered on account of the angels, much more with a crown on it will she offend those (elders) who perhaps are then wearing crowns above.
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.6
73. Not to the angels, then, has He given it, nor to the elders who worship Him that sitteth; for they do not sit upon the seat of majesty, but as the Scripture has said, round about the throne; for there are four and twenty other seats, as we have it in the Revelation of John: “And upon the seats four and twenty elders sitting.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 24.1
This twenty-fourth Conference of Abbot Abraham is by the favour of Christ produced, which concludes the traditions and decisions of all the Elders; and when by the aid of your prayers it has been finished, as the number mystically corresponds to that of the four and twenty Elders who are said in the holy Apocalypse
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Harmony of the Gospels 4.10
… Thus, too, it is a clearly admitted position that the first three—namely, Matthew, Mark, and Luke—have occupied themselves chiefly with the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to which He is both king and priest. And in this way, Mark, who seems to answer to the figure of the man in the well-known mystical symbol of the four living creatures,
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.4
Wherefore those who are over others are to be admonished, that through earnestness of circumspection they have eyes watchful within and round about, and strive to become living creatures of heaven ( Ezek. i. 18 ). For the living creatures of heaven are described as full of eyes round about and within (
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.11.8
… As also David says, when entreating His manifestation, “Thou that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth.” For the cherubim, too, were four-faced, and their faces were images of the dispensation of the Son of God. For, [as the Scripture] says, “The first living creature was like a lion,”
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1. AFTER THIS I SAW: AND BEHOLD A DOOR OPENED IN HEAVEN, — so that, as it were through a door, John might see God's throne, the twenty-four elders standing by, the four living creatures, angels, and other things which he afterwards describes. This was merely an imaginary, or intellectual vision; and consequently not a real, but only an imaginary opening of heaven. For heaven does not have a door which is opened and closed. Mystically, this opening of heaven signifies that the heavenly mysteries of faith were revealed more clearly to John and the Apostles of the New Testament than to Moses and the Prophets. Hence Stephen saw the heavens opened, Paul was caught up to the third heaven, angels ascended and descended above the Son of Man, John I, 51. For, as Daniel says cap. II, vers. 28: "There is a God in heaven revealing mysteries." He alludes to Ezech. 1, 1: "The heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God." Thus also Jacob saw a ladder set up to heaven, and by it angels ascending and descending; therefore he said: "This is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven." But these were types and shadows of Christ, the Apostles and the Church, and therefore more obscure, more shadowy and enigmatic. Whence Ezekiel did not ascend to heaven, but rather a chariot of Cherubim descended to him from heaven. For, as he himself says cap. VIII, vers. 15, "a wheel appeared upon the earth beside the living creatures." Alcazar contends the same thing concerning God, namely that God was seen by Jacob leaning upon the ladder not in heaven, but on earth beside Jacob standing. But others everywhere reject this, as I said at Genesis XXVIII, 13. It is more true that John and Paul were caught up to heaven without the ladder which Jacob saw. AND THE FIRST VOICE WHICH I HEARD, AS IT WERE OF A TRUMPET. — Alcazar thinks the trumpet here, as also in cap. I, 10, signifies war waged by the Jews against the Church. But this trumpet does not sound a call to arms for the Jews, but summons John to heaven. For he says: SAYING: COME UP HITHER. — Therefore John, caught up in ecstasy, ascended to heaven in mind and spirit, not in body. For this was an efficacious summons of him to heaven by God through the trumpet. In heaven therefore he saw, not so much the glory of the triumphant Church, as the future struggles and labors of the militant Church, which she was to overcome by virtue received from the heavens, and through them to ascend to heaven. For this reason Christ descended from the heavens to earth, that he might bear her and her faithful, followers of his cross and strength, up to heaven. Hence concerning Christ it is said John III, 13: "No one (hitherto) has ascended to heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven." For although Elijah ascended to heaven by a whirlwind, yet this was the aerial heaven, not the starry, nor the ethereal. This is what the most wise Solomon says: "I knew not the learning of the saints. For who hath ascended up to heaven and descended?" Proverb. XXX, 3. Mystically, it is signified that Prophets, Apostles and Apostolic men ought to dwell in the heavens in mind and action, and to live a life heavenly and higher than earthly things, so that they transcend all human life, and say with Paul: "Our conversation is in heaven." For thus they also incited the people to the study of the heavenly way and life. Shrewdly indeed did Diogenes say to someone speaking of wondrous things concerning the heavens: "When did you come from heaven?" I WILL SHOW THEE THE THINGS WHICH MUST BE DONE HEREAFTER. — Alcazar, thinking that the past victory of the Church over the Jews and God's vengeance upon them are described here, thus explains τὸ "which must be done": Although, he says, those things were already past, yet their magnitude and excellence had not yet been revealed to the world; and then something is said to be done when it is made manifest. But τὸ "which must be done" properly signifies those things which have not yet been done, but are still to come. Add that the magnitude of the destruction of the Jews, as well as the glory of the Church, was conspicuous and celebrated to the whole world in itself, while it was being accomplished.
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2. AND IMMEDIATELY I WAS IN THE SPIRIT, — I was caught up in ecstasy. AND BEHOLD A THRONE WAS SET IN HEAVEN. — Alcazar holds that this throne was God's, like the mercy seat and the Cherubim. For these were God's throne in Solomon's temple, to which this alludes. For the twenty-four elders, he says, are the princes of the priests. For these were twenty-four, as appears in 1 Paralipomenon XXIV. Hence also the seven lamps correspond to the seven lamps of the candlestick, the sea of glass to the brazen sea, the animals to the great Cherubim which Solomon made: finally the very head itself terminates in praises and adoration of God. And he holds that this same throne was in all the prophetic visions, as when God was seen by Moses and the elders, Exodus XXIV, 10; and Isaiah VI, 1; and Ezekiel I, 22, except that in place of the golden table of the mercy seat, Exodus cap. XXIV, vers. 10, it was sapphire; and Ezekiel cap. I, vers. 22, crystal: which he holds was also the case here, because this throne was in heaven. Furthermore the mercy seat, he says, signified the humbling of the soul and the holiness of those who wholly subject themselves to God, and establish for him a seat within themselves. It was golden, because humility must be tempered with charity: here it was sapphire or crystal, because it signified heavenly life. Two Cherubim with joined hands offering a seat to God, so that God's feet appeared to rest upon the mercy seat, or the cover of the ark, as upon a footstool, signified wisdom and holiness, that is a mind illuminated by heavenly light, and a will fervent in divine service. For the perfection of these powers makes both angels and men the most glorious throne of God. Wings are a symbol of an upright mind, prompt and most ready to execute God's commands. He gives the reason for all these things, because, he says, this discourse is not about the throne which God has in the heavens, but about the new throne of the kingdom of heaven, which Christ and the Apostles preached, that is about the throne which the Church has. For the genuine sense is that the new kingdom is most glorious to God, which he has in the Christian Church, that is in the hearts of the faithful, who having received the Holy Spirit perfectly subject themselves to him through excellent holiness, and most perfect life, and contempt of all earthly things. The throne of God therefore is the faithful just and holy. Nor does this throne signify anything else or any others. Thus far Alcazar. But these things are partly mystical and moral, partly uncertain or less probable. For no mention is made of Cherubim here, as neither in Isaiah VI nor in Ezekiel I; nay rather the Cherubim of Ezekiel surrounded God's chariot: therefore they could not be his throne. Furthermore that this concerns the throne of God which he has in heaven, not however in the Church, is clear from what follows, where it teaches that around this throne there were heavenly spirits and the blessed clothed in white and crowned with golden crowns, crying out: "Holy, holy, holy," etc. Again from the fact that he says in vers. 5, that from the throne proceeded lightnings, voices and thunders; for these proceed from heaven, not from earth. Finally Alcazar says the Apocalypse is like a revolving stage, in which suddenly by certain machines the framework being turned, another appearance is shown, as for example a forest is seen to be suddenly converted into a palace: thus indeed this heavenly throne is changed as it were into an earthly one, which accords little with divine gravity and majesty. I say therefore according to the letter that there was shown to St. John the appearance of a certain most magnificent throne, namely a royal one, that is heavenly and divine, which far surpassed the magnificence of the mercy seat, of Emperors, Kings and all Pontiffs. For it represented the immense and most high sublimity and majesty of the divine nature, happiness and glory, in which God as it were in a throne from all eternity dwells and rests. This throne was therefore more similar to the throne of God which Isaiah saw in cap. VI, and Ezekiel in cap. I, as will presently appear, than to the mercy seat. Mystically, this throne is the Church, says Rupertus, Ambrose and Alcazar, namely of the Saints, as Arethas says; or of angels, as Richard of St. Victor wishes; or rather the Blessed Virgin. Thus St. Bernard, sermon On the Blessed Mary: "From the throne, he says, proceeded lightnings and voices, and thunders, because the Mother of the Son Jesus Christ drank in more eagerly the parables, enigmas, legal things and wondrous deeds, sayings and works, believed them more faithfully, and set them forth to others more sincerely and more clearly." Others more distinctly understand by the lightnings the miracles of the Blessed Virgin; by the voices, gentle exhortations; by the thunders, rebukes, threats of hell, vengeances and punishments inflicted by her upon her enemies and the impious. Hence the Blessed Virgin is called by St. Epiphanius, sermon On the Praises of the Mother of God, "The Cherubic Throne." "Our Father Anthony Spinellus, Provincial of Naples, wrote a very large and equally learned work on this matter, whose title is: 'Mary the Mother of God, Throne of God.'"\n\nAND UPON THE SEAT ONE SITTING. — This sitter was not Christ, as Ambrose wishes. For Christ is the Lamb before the throne, who received the book from him that sat, as is evident cap. V, vers. 7; but God, who here appeared in human and royal form sitting upon the throne, as is evident from the fact that in cap. V, vers. 7, he is said to have had a right hand. This prince therefore residing in this heavenly seat is the King of the heavens, that is, the Creator of heaven and earth. Thus Richard, Alcazar, Ribera and others.\n\nFurthermore Alcazar thinks that both here and in Isaiah VI, the sitter was God the Father alone. But far better do others think it was God absolutely, as is common to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For it alludes to the throne in Isaiah cap. VI, vers. 1, where the sitter was God three and one, or the Holy Trinity, as I showed there. Whence also here, equally as there, the holy animals continually acclaim to him the trisagion, namely "Holy, holy, holy," as if to say: Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Holy Spirit; for these three are most holy, and they themselves are the primeval, uncreated, essential and immense holiness.\n\nAlcazar objects: The Son is here represented as the Lamb who approached him that sat upon the throne. Therefore he did not sit upon the throne: for he did not approach himself. If you say the Lamb signifies Christ as man: he however could approach himself, inasmuch as he was God, Alcazar responds, this is true theologically, but Scripture does not speak thus, but rather says everywhere that the Son, as he is man, approaches the Father, and invokes him, not himself. But I say Scripture speaks both ways. For when it says everywhere that Christ redeemed us and reconciled us to God by his merits, prayer and passion, it signifies that Christ reconciled us to the whole holy Trinity, namely not to the Father alone, but to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as is evident, and all the Orthodox confess. For the Son and the Holy Spirit were equally offended by us, and equally needed to be reconciled, as the Father. And so that prayer and voice of Christ Psalm XXXIX, 7, which the Apostle cites Hebr. cap. X, 7: "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, etc., then said I: Behold I come, that I may do, O God, thy will," regards not only the Father, but also the Son and the Holy Spirit, and is directed to all. For Christ came, that he might fulfill the will of all these concerning the redemption of men. Thus on the cross praying and crying out: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matt. XXVII, 46, he signified that his humanity was forsaken in torments and death not only by the Father, but also by himself, as he was God. Thus Matt. VI, 9, he prayed; and taught us to pray: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name," etc., understanding the Father certainly not personally, but essentially, namely God himself, who is the father, that is the creator and God, of his humanity and of all men: which is equally the Son and the Holy Spirit, as the eternal Father, for we pray that the name of all these be hallowed and their will be done. Much more in visions, such as this is, the Son as man can be said to approach himself as he is God.
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3. HIS APPEARANCE WAS LIKE. — Correct with the Romans: appearance, that is, color, or the appearance of jasper. For among the Hebrews, eye or appearance is put for color or appearance, namely by power, or the act for the object, by metonymy. OF JASPER STONE AND SARDIUS. — Jasper is of a greenish color, sardius of a reddish color. Whence Pererius thinks these colors were mixed together in the body of God sitting. Especially because Pliny, lib. XXXVII, cap. viii, teaches that in Phrygia there are purple jaspersand in Virgil, IV Aeneid, the sword is studded with tawny jasper. More fittingly Alcazar judges that they were not mixed, but divided, namely that the body of God from below to the loins was like jasper, but from the loins upward like sardius. For John alludes to Ezech. 1, 27, and viii, 2, where of him sitting on the throne of the Cherubim it is said: "From the appearance of his loins, and downward, fire; and from his loins, and upward, as the appearance of brightness." Therefore this vision and appearance was divided: for above it was of the color of amber, below fiery; just as here above it was sardius, below jasper. Thus formerly illustrious men joined many gems for magnificence, and wore them in rings and on their fingers, whence Martial lib. V, epigr. 11: Sardonyxes, emeralds, diamonds, jaspersone Stella, Severe, carries on her finger, my. You will ask, what do jasper and sardius signify in this throne of God? They answer, first, Victorinus, Primasius, Beda and Rupertus, that by these two gems are signified God's justice and vengeance upon sinners: namely by jasper, which is of a watery color, is signified the flood under Noah, by which God submerged all sinners; by sardius, which is reddish, is signified the fire of the conflagration of the world, which will burn up sins and sinners. Secondly, Richard: By the greenness, he says, of jasper is signified the ever-flourishing glory of the Saints in heaven; by sardius, the burning of hell: which two are man's last things, and God here and elsewhere subjects them to the eyes of men, that they may always gaze upon them. Thirdly, Joachim: Jasper, he says, is the Father; sardius is the Son; emerald and iris is the Holy Spirit. Fourthly, Viegas and Pererius: By jasper, they say, flourishing, is signified mercy, by sardius reddening, justice. For by these two all the republic and the whole world is ruled by God. Whence the Psalmist says: "Mercy and judgment I will sing to thee, O Lord." For by this vision much is shadowed forth concerning the providence and mercy of God toward the pious, and justice and vengeance toward the impious. Fifthly, Lyranus: God, he says, appears here as the provider of the Church militant; whence by jasper is signified his consolation and recreation in adversities, by sardius his inflaming, by which he causes us to serve God more ardently. Sixthly, Aureolus: This seat, he says, is the chair of the Roman Church, which is the head of the Church militant. In this is jasper flourishing, namely mercy and the power of loosing sins, and there is also sardius, that is, the power of retaining and punishing the same. For the seat of God is the seat of the Church and of his Vicar, namely the Supreme Pontiff; whence the Psalmist sings of it: "And in the chair of the elders let them praise him." Seventhly and best, Andrew, Aretas and Ribera: Jasper, they say, which is the most firm gem, green and often transparent, as Pliny testifies, lib. XXXVII, cap. viii, signifies the splendor and beauty of divinity always flourishing and blooming. Sardius, because it is of a blood-red and fiery color, and, as Aretas says, strikes terror into beasts, signifies first, the fiery, that is, the most sublime and most efficacious nature of God. Secondly, his justice, terror and vengeance upon the impious, the precursors or followers of Antichrist; for these things are foreshadowed and foretold in the Apocalypse: whence God most fittingly shows his appearance here, and assumes the habit of an avenger: for he is accustomed to assume an appearance and habit similar to the matter and thing with which he is dealing. Thirdly, Abulensis and others assert that joy is kindled by sardius: fittingly therefore sardius signifies that immense glory of God and happiness, from which flows his immense pleasure and joy. This is supported by what Alcazar, pag. 579, letter C, relates, that sardius is a part and origin of amethyst, and this is made manifest from the fact that in some gems which are found, on one part sardius, on the other amethyst is seen. But amethyst, which has the color of wine, is a symbol of heavenly delights, and of divine nectar, which far more than Falernian wines gladdens the heart, and inebriates it with joy, according to that of the Psalmist: "They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasure." Therefore sardius signifies the same. Eighth, Alcazar holds that jasper and sardius signify the same thing here as in chapter xxi, numbers 19 and 20, in the twelve foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem: which, since they signify, he says, the twelve articles of faith, and the first foundation is jasper, the sixth sardius, it follows that jasper signifies the first article of the Creed concerning God the creator of all things, but sardius signifies the sixth, which is concerning the resurrection of Christ. For there is an error here in Alcazar's numbering; for he places sardius fifth, when in the Apocalypse xxi, 19, it is placed sixth, as Alcazar himself also places it there, where he also places the article concerning the resurrection of Christ, which others join with the descent of the same to the underworld, and place fifth, he divides from it, and places sixth. Hence he aptly teaches that both the stone and the article are joined in the idea of God the Father, to whom power is attributed, and consequently both creation and resurrection. For just as through creation creatures began to be, so through the resurrection of Christ the beginning of a new creature was given; for before that the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Wherefore Christ's resurrection is deservedly considered in Scripture as it were a new creation of the world: but all creation is the work of God the Father. Again, jasper is aptly supposed before sardius, that is creation before resurrection; for this is more excellent and glorious than that. And just as creation is supposed before resurrection, which is as it were a recreation, or repeated creation, to which ancient production of things in Genesis, the glory of a new creation and new creature has been added. So sardius itself, as I have said, is a symbol of the joy and divine happiness which God communicates to his elect by making them blessed, and raising them to life and eternal glory. AND THE RAINBOW WAS ROUND ABOUT THE THRONE, IN SIGHT LIKE TO AN EMERALD. — First, Andreas: The rainbow, he says, varied and flowery represents the ornaments of the heavenly virtues and orders, and their diverse duties and offices, and especially, as Pererius says, the three colors of the rainbow signify the threefold virtue of purging, illuminating and perfecting, which is in God and the angels. Second, Richard of St. Victor, through the rainbow, which has the appearance of an arch, and thus shows a sign and instrument of war, thinks that the universal judgment is signified, in which the emerald, which is partly green, partly red, indicates that the good are to be rewarded, the wicked punished. Whence also Christ the judge is painted sitting upon the rainbow; for he shall sit upon a glorious cloud, such as is the rainbow. Third, the Venerable Bede: The rainbow, he says, are the Saints, who protect the Church by their prayers, just as the rainbow encircles and protects our hemisphere. Fourth, Ansbertus: The rainbow, he says, is the incarnation of the Word; and this first, because, just as the sun shining in a cloud makes the rainbow, so the Word shining in flesh made Christ. Second, just as the rainbow was a symbol of peace in the time of Noah, so also the incarnation of Christ was the reconciliation of the world. Third, the two horns of the rainbow are the two natures of Christ, namely the human and the divine; the chord in this as it were arch is their hypostatic union. Fourth, in the rainbow there is a threefold color, so also in Christ: Christ was as it were blue, that is heavenly, through assiduous prayer; he was green, through the flower of graces and virtues; he was ruddy on the cross, through love equally as through blood. Fifth, from this arch arrows of love are sent forth, by which the bride wounded said in the Canticle II: "Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples, for I languish with love." Thus Viegas. Sixth, this rainbow was rain-bearing, because it poured forth into the world an abundance of preaching and heavenly doctrine. Fifth, Alcazar holds that this rainbow had no color other than green, and was so green that it appeared similar to an emerald. For although the common rainbow is multicolored, yet this new and heavenly one, he says, was green only, and is called a rainbow because it exhibited the appearance of a heavenly arc, not in color, but in form and figure. Moreover, Christ's resurrection, chapter xxi, equally as here, signifies the passion of Christ, by which the world was reconciled to God the Father, just as through Noah it was reconciled in the flood, and God gave the rainbow as a sign of this reconciliation and new covenant; for this passion, equally as Noah's rainbow, is continually before God's eyes, and restrains His anger, and makes Him merciful and generous toward the Church: both because this obedience, piety and charity of Christ affects Him with incredible delight: and because it continually makes Him mindful of His promise made to Christ, concerning grace and pardon to be given to sinners. The arc therefore of Christ's passion is wholly green, that is, it is wholly the object of our hope, wholly a promise of benignity and mercy. See Isaiah chapter LIV, verse 8. For the cross, or Christ stretched out on the cross, was as it were a heavenly arc drawn taut, by which Christ ratified a new covenant, pact and testament between God and men. The ark therefore of the covenant of the old Testament was changed by Christ crucified into a heavenly rainbow, so that the excellence of the new covenant might be indicated, just as the brazen sea was converted into a sea of glass, verse 6. This Alcazar expresses elegantly and aptly. For when Christ slain comes forth before the throne of God as it were upon a stage here, it is apt that the symbol and instrument of His slaying, namely the cross, is represented in the rainbow, and is brought forth upon the stage. Again, the cross of Christ cries out nothing but reconciliation and mercy; whose symbol is the rainbow, as I shall now say. Sixth therefore, more generally and genuinely Ribera, Viegas, Pererius and others in various places: The rainbow, they say, is God's mercy, which surrounds the throne of God on all sides. For in the time of Noah the rainbow was a sign of reconciliation and covenant between God and men, and the rainbow was the same as a sign, that is peace, says Tyconius. Second, the rainbow of many colors refreshes, and pours down abundant and varied rain upon the earth: God's mercy does the same; whence in it there is as it were a blue color, that is faith; and green, that is hope; and reddish, that is charity; and other mixed colors, that is various other virtues and graces, which God pours out upon men. Third, just as the rainbow is a semicircle, which appears only in our hemisphere: so also God's mercy appears only in this life, but justice in the other. I saw at Louvain at the inauguration of the Most Serene Princes Albert and Isabella, among various triumphal arches and inscriptions, one erected, to which was inscribed in capital letters: "At the arrival of Octavian Augustus into the city, a crown in the form of a rainbow appeared around the sun, an omen of new power, of new peace. This, O our Princes, the senate and people of Louvain dedicate to you at your very entrance, an omen of new peace." This inscription, this rainbow, St. John consigns to God, the author of new peace through Christ, in his mind. Thus the rainbow, that is peace, was in reality and in name in her own age the Empress Irene, wife of the Emperor Leo the Iconoclast and mother of the Emperor Constantine the Younger: who, her husband dead, succeeding to the empire with her son, abolished iconoclasm, and restored peace to the Bishops, Monks and Church. Whence Theodore of Studium in the Life of St. Plato: "After," he says, "the worshipper of God Irene began to reign (in the year of Christ 780); who brought peace both in name as in deed, in whose reign along with other goods the faculty and door of approaching the monastic life was opened, which had formerly been closed by the impious Emperor, etc. From that time, I say, when Irene began to reign, our whole family of those who had renounced earthly things professed the obedience of the monastic life." Christ prefigured this same thing by a wonderful portent. For in that same year a certain man digging in the long walls of Thrace found a stone ark, which when he had cleaned and opened, he found a man lying, and glued together tablets containing under a letter these words: "Christ shall be born of the Virgin Mary. I believe in Him. Under the Emperors Constantine and Irene, O sun, you shall see me again." Thus Theophanes relates, and from him Baronius, in the year of Christ 780. It could also be understood with Ribera that by the rainbow is meant the variety, universality, and beauty of all creatures, which God contains within Himself. For just as in the rainbow there is a wonderful variety of colors, and, as Virgil says in the fourth book of the Aeneid: "It draws a thousand various colors, opposite to the sun," so also in the universality of creatures there shines forth a most delightful and admirable variety of the perfections of God. See what is said concerning the rainbow in Genesis ix, 13, and Ezekiel i, 28. SIMILAR TO AN EMERALD VISION. — "Similar" was not the one sitting upon the throne itself, namely God, as Ribera wishes, who thinks that "and a rainbow was round about the throne" should be taken as a parenthetical interruption and inclusion; but similar was, namely the rainbow itself, to a green emerald. Therefore the rainbow was green, not entirely, as Alcazar wishes, as if it had no color other than green, but in that the green color in it was outstanding and surpassed the others. "The emerald," says Lyra, "is of green color, and this is one of the colors of the rainbow. But that imaginary rainbow here appeared in such a way that its green color seemed more intense than the others. By which was signified the consolation of God about to come to His elect, especially in the future tribulations of the Church, because the green color is consoling and comforting to the sight itself." The emerald, therefore, which by its greenness wonderfully refreshes the eyes, and so much so that according to Solinus, chapter seventeen, it surpasses herbs and grasses in verdure, indeed it infects and colors things near to it with its own verdure, nor does the sun change it in shadow, by lamps or in sunlight, signifies the mercy of God never growing old, but always verdant, as it were new and fresh, wonderfully consoling us. The emerald, says Pliny, in book XXXVII, chapter five, fills the eyes with its verdure and beauty, never satisfies, and in turn performs the function of a most beautiful mirror. Whence Nero watched the fights of gladiators through an emerald. Again the emerald, says Ribera, signifies the vision of God and of creatures in God, as it were in a most beautiful mirror, which most delightfully fills the mind of the one contemplating, never satisfies; for it represents creatures more beautifully and clearly than they are in themselves. This mirror is wonderful and indescribable, just as the Poets said of the rainbow, that it is the daughter of Thaumas, that is of admiration, when they sing of it thus: The bright offspring of Thaumas shines beneath the ethereal clouds, when the sun has touched the rain with its rays, and girds the sky with a painted veil, and adorns the sky with various wondrous colors, beautiful in painted garment and multicolored wings. Tropologically, the rainbow like an emerald is a symbol of virginity, which always flourishes, and shines by its verdure like an emerald. Wherefore the Poles fittingly, in the canonization of St. Casimir, who preferred to die rather than lose his virginity by marriage, when physicians said that this was necessary for his health, gave him this anagram: "Casimir, I am as a rainbow," into which namely the sun of justice shining, breathed upon him its splendor of purity. Again: "Casimir," as it were "a wonderful vessel," because you die for chastity, and fall as a victim of virginity: You fall willingly, but you fall for love of modesty, Casimir: wonderful, you fall, Christ making you wonderful. He fell in the year of the Lord 1484, so that with the Lamb he might rise again, and follow Him through all the joys of heaven.
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4. AND ROUND ABOUT THE SEAT WERE SEATS TWENTY-FOUR, AND UPON THE THRONES TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS SITTING. — He alludes both to the order of the angels of the first hierarchy, who are called thrones; and to the 24 princes of the priests: for there were so many of their families distributed by David, that they might perform the sacred rites in turn in the temple, each of which had its own princes (namely the firstborn of the family was the head and prince), who therefore are called "Princes of God, and Princes of the sanctuary," I Paralipomenon xxiv, 5. For these 24 princes of the temple were a type of the 24 elders in the heavenly temple. For elders, or senators, are called princes of the people, because the senate was formerly chosen from the aged; and although afterwards the sons of senators and princes, even if they were young, succeeded their deceased parents in office, yet these too were called elders, or senators, that is princes, from the original nomenclature. "Elder" therefore is a name not so much of age as of dignity: for this is what it signifies in Hebrew זקנים zekenim, that is, elders. Whence also Presbyters were called among the Spartans the highest magistrates, who presided over sacred matters. Hence also the Italians, Spanish, French and other peoples call the Lord Señor, and the Goths call him Sihora. Whence St. Augustine, epistle 178: Sihora armen, he says, in Gothic signifies Lord, have mercy, which the Greeks say Kyrie eleison: and this the Romans, captured and suppliants, learned to say from the Goths; for from the Goths the Latin language was corrupted, and translated into Italian, Spanish and French; so that from Senior the Goths made Sihora; thence the Italians Signor, and the Spanish Señor, and the French Seigneur. This is what Cicero says, in the book On Old Age: "He would use the counsel, reason, and judgment, which unless they were in the aged, your ancestors would not have called the highest council the Senate." The same, in book III of the Laws: "A senator," he says, "has three duties: to be present, for the matter has weight when the order is frequent; to speak in his place, that is when asked; to do so in measure, that it be not endless." SEATS. — In Greek θρόνους, that is, august thrones, such as those of kings and princes. He alludes to Psalm cvii, 32: "And in the seat of the elders let them praise him." For the 24 Princes of the priests in the temple had their own seats and thrones, as now Bishops and Pontiffs have, from which churches are called Cathedral churches. Hence also the feasts of the Chair of St. Peter, both the Roman and the Antiochene. Such thrones of Pontiffs, both ancient and later and of the present age, we see many in Rome in the tribune, that is in the choir of any church. Moreover these thrones surrounded the throne of God in the manner of a semicircle; for they were "round about the throne:" just as the thrones of Cardinals surround the throne of the Pontiff; but this one is far more august and sublime than those. Yet Alcazar imagines them to have been seen as if in the Holy of Holies, which was square, and therefore thinks these thrones were arranged in a square, so that there were six on each side. But into the Holy of Holies only the high priest entered, not the other princes of the priests. And even if they had been in the Holy of Holies, it would have been more convenient, more fitting and more elegant for them to be arranged in a semicircle than in a square. For thus all were before the throne in the sight of God, seeing him, and being seen by him. For sitting in a square, only on three sides of the quadrilateral could they have had God before their face. For those sitting on the fourth side which closed the square, on that side where the throne of God was, would have turned their back, or certainly their side to God, or certainly would have been behind God. CLOTHED IN WHITE GARMENTS (white garments denote not so much priesthood, as Alcazar wishes, but the charity and glory of the blessedness of the 24 elders), AND ON THEIR HEADS CROWNS OF GOLD. — These crowns denote their victory, triumph and kingdom. For they are victors and conquerors, as much as kings in the kingdom of God in heaven. You will ask, who are these 24 elders? First, Ticonius, Bede, Primasius and Arias Montanus in Zechariah iv, think that the 24 elders signify the whole Church, which is crowned by God, and brings back her crowns accepted by God. Second, Ambrose says, the 24 elders are the Patriarchs and holy Fathers of the Old Testament, who in the reading and meditation of the 24 books of the Old Testament, as if in 24 seats, rested. For although St. Jerome and others count only 22 books of the Old Testament, according to the number of letters which are in the Hebrew alphabet; yet the Rabbis, such as Aben Ezra and R. David, count 24 both books and letters of Hebrew, namely by repeating twice the letter Jod, as it is repeated in the name of the tetragram Jehova abbreviated, in this way יי. Third, Andrew of Caesarea, Arethas and Jerome Prado, in the preface to Ezekiel, section 11: The twenty-four elders, they say, are the twelve Patriarchs, namely the twelve sons of Jacob in the Old Testament, and the twelve Apostles in the New Testament; for twice twelve are twenty-four. Thus also nearly Rupertus, except that he, in place of the twelve sons of Jacob, takes the twelve judges who ruled Israel after Joshua until Saul: namely the first is Othniel; the second, Ehud; the third, Shamgar; the fourth, Barak; the fifth, Gideon; the sixth, Jair; the seventh, Jephthah; the eighth, Ibzan; the ninth, Elon; the tenth, Abdon; the eleventh, Samson; the twelfth, Samuel. But not all the sons of Jacob, nor all the Judges were holy, or at least not so illustrious as others. Fourth, St. Gregory, book IV on I Kings, chapter ix, verse 24: The elders, he says, are holy preachers, mature in judgment and grave in morals, who surround the throne of God; because they love the Creator more than others, and therefore through the highest contemplation and conversation rest nearer to him. And the Gloss: All, it says, the Doctors of the Church are now called twelve, on account of the faith of the Holy Trinity, which they announce to the four parts of the world; now they are called twenty-four, because this number is made up by six times four; six refers to the works which God made in six days, four truly to the Gospels; because the works which God made in the law of nature and in the Gospel, the Doctors themselves venerate and explain. Fifth, Joachim, whom Peter Galatinus follows: The twenty-four elders, he says, are the twelve Apostles and their sons, namely the Martyrs (concerning whom this vision speaks), until the Antichrist. Again they can be precisely numbered as twenty-four; for just as twelve were the Apostles at the time of Christ born from the Jews, so twelve similar elders and Apostles from the Gentiles God will raise up and choose at that time when Elias is about to come, so that with him they may contend against the Antichrist. But this is said without foundation, says Pererius: for nowhere has it been revealed. Add: John was one of the twelve Apostles at the time of Christ; but John was still living at this time when he saw the twenty-four elders in heaven: therefore not all twenty-four were Apostles from among the twenty-four elders, who all were deceased and blessed in heaven. Sixth, Aureolus and Lyra: Heaven, they say, is the Church militant; the seat of God is the Roman Church, in which sits the Roman Pontiff, as the Vicar of Christ; the twenty-four elders are all the Bishops in their seats, that is in their Bishoprics. For it alludes to the twenty-four chief priests, as I have said, who were figures and types of the Bishops. Seventh, Alcazar: By the twenty-four elders, he says, is designated the dignity of priests in the Church of Christ; for these are called presbyters and elders, and they succeed the seventy-two disciples of Christ, just as bishops succeed the twelve apostles, who are signified here by the four living creatures; for the Church is a priestly kingdom, in which priests are princes. These have a throne in heaven, that is, divine authority and power of consecrating the body of Christ and absolving from sins, which the Seraphim do not have. Whence they have crowns upon their heads, and golden phials, that is, great chalices, in which they offer to God the prayers of the faithful and of the Saints. Alcazar deduces this from his purpose and preconceived end. For here, he says, it is not a matter of the happiness of the Saints in heaven, but of the loftiness of the new heavenly kingdom, and of the great dignity of the ministers of the Church. By white garments is signified the excellent holiness and chastity which the priestly state demands. Golden crowns upon the head signify the greatest honor and splendor, which is proper to the dignity of priests, according to that of Psalm viii, 6: "Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast set him over the works of thy hands: thou hast subjected all things under his feet." He alludes to Ecclesiasticus xlv, 14, where concerning the crown of Aaron it is said: "A golden crown upon his mitre, having a mark engraved of holiness, and the glory of honor: the work of virtue." Again, a crown signifies judicial power in the absolution of sins; for formerly judges crowned sat to judge, as Demosthenes testifies. Finally, a crown signifies that they are kings and princes in the kingdom of God, that is, in the Church, and that they are wholly devoted and consecrated to the worship of God therein. Whence in this excellence and dignity of priests, the glory and majesty of God himself shines forth in a wonderful manner. For a golden crown was formerly given to none but eminent men; whence Apuleius, book IX of the Metamorphoses: "Hercules alone is worthy to wear a golden crown upon his head." Tertullian, in the book On Idolatry, teaches that priests, but only provincial ones, had a golden crown. "For only, he says, was this honor conferred in name upon those who merited the familiarity of kings." For a golden crown was the prerogative of kings, and it was not thick and solid, but made from a sheet of gold drawn out and thinned, so as to signify that little gold suffices for those whose virtue rules over gold, nor does a king so much need gold as the commonwealth needs a golden king, as Charles Paschalius teaches from Xenophon, book I of the Education of Cyrus, in book IX On Crowns, chapter ix, where he also recounts that the Gentiles held that gold was born from Jupiter, and therefore was attributed to none but kings and divine men: hence it was called "aurum coronarium," which was given to kings: concerning which see Lipsius, book II On the Greatness of Rome, chapter ix. Thus Procopius, book I of the Gothic War, writes that Theodatus, king of the Goths, "made a pact with Peter, the general of the Emperor Justinian, to depart from all Sicily, and to send to Justinian yearly a golden crown of three hundred pounds." Moreover Festus: "Triumphal, he says, are the crowns which are borne golden to the victorious emperor, which in ancient times on account of poverty were of laurel." Alcazar notes, note 4, that these twenty-four thrones and the elders sitting in them represent the choir of angels which are called Thrones; and that in the Church (perhaps also in heaven) the first order is that of the Seraphim, the second of the Thrones, the third of the Cherubim. For the office of the Thrones is to bear God, says St. Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy, chapter 11; whence also Sophronius, St. Thomas and others call Thrones the seats of God. Moreover, Thrones are called angels sitting next to God in thrones, indeed St. Chrysostom seems to hold that the choir of Thrones excels the choir of Seraphim, because nothing seems to be nearer to God than God's own seat. Again, these three orders represent three attributes of God, namely power, wisdom and goodness. Furthermore, the Cherubim represent God's seat in this vision; for it is said of him: "Who sittest upon the Cherubim;" but the seats of God are Christian just men. The twenty-four Thrones, however, the elders, the Seraphim the four living creatures, that is, the bishops, are represented and correspond: for bishops ought, like the Seraphim, to burn with charity and to inflame others with it. Thus to the Cherubim correspond on earth the faithful saints, to the Thrones the priests, to the Seraphim the bishops, just as here the throne of God, which the Cherubim made by joining their wings, is represented by the faithful; but by the thrones of priests the elders, and by the four living creatures the bishops. Finally, in the Thrones, he says, priests are admonished lest they so care for the salvation of others as to neglect their own, but always remember that they have been called to this end, that they themselves be thrones of God. But the Church now places the highest Seraphim in the heavenly hierarchy, the second Cherubim, the third Thrones. Again, this vision pertains to God and His heavenly and glorious kingdom, not to the kingdom which God has in the Church militant, as Alcazar wishes. Otherwise I confess that in these thrones and their occupants, the twenty-four, there is an allusion to the Thrones, which are the third order of angels, as I said above. Eighthly, Vilalpando, part II, book IV, chapter xlv, thinks these twenty-four elders represent twenty-four Cherubim placed in the temple of Solomon. For he holds that twelve Cherubim were placed in the Holy Place before the doors of the oracle, and as many were placed in the Holy of Holies around the ark. Through these, however, the universality of angels who assist God is represented, and from this they are called elders, namely because the angels were created long ago, that is, from the beginning of the world. But neither from the Scriptures, nor from Josephus, nor from anywhere else can it be proved that there were precisely twenty-four Cherubim in the temple. Add that elders are never called angels, but more worthy men. Finally, angels are signified here by the seven lamps and by the four living creatures; therefore not by the elders. Ninthly and more genuinely, Haymo, Maldonatus in his Notes, and Ribera: the twenty-four elders, they say, are all the Fathers and more illustrious Saints, both of the Old and New Testament. For there are twelve Apostles in the New, under whom understand all apostolic men; and there are twelve Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament, under whom understand all the illustrious Saints of the Old Testament. For although not all Patriarchs were holy, yet because they were Patriarchs of Israel, or the people of God, hence they fittingly signify the illustrious Saints of the ancient Church, either as progenitors or propagators. For the number twelve is perfect, signifying all things. For it is composed of three multiplied by four; for three times four makes twelve. Three signify faith, hope and charity of the Holy Trinity; four signify the four regions of the world, from which all Saints flow together. Thus also Richard, Bede, Rupert and Viegas understand by the twenty-four elders the most excellent Saints and principal Prelates and Doctors of both Testaments. Following these, Pererius, most simply and plainly thinks that John saw here in heaven precisely twenty-four more illustrious Saints and heroes of the Old Testament alone, or rather of both the New and Old Testament, namely from the New twelve Apostles, where for St. John still living, Paul must be substituted; from the Old these or similar ones: Abel (for he was the first virgin and martyr in the world, and is placed first by the Apostle in the catalogue of Saints of the Old Testament, Hebrews xi, 4), Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. That this is so appears first, because everywhere in what follows these twenty-four elders are introduced definitively, and they celebrate God, indeed they even speak to St. John. Whence in chapter vii, verse 13, he says: "One of the elders said to me." Secondly, all agree that the four living creatures are four angels and four Evangelists; therefore the twenty-four elders are other more distinguished Saints. Thirdly, because these twenty-four elders in this vision are not introduced as judges, but as witnesses and interpreters of the mysteries of divine providence concerning the Church, and those things which are to happen in the Church until the end of the world. They are called elders on account of antiquity, gravity, wisdom, prudence and virtue, from all of which they are venerable. They are clothed in white, that is, they are full of innocence, joy and glory. They have crowns on their heads, both because they are kings, and because as illustrious victors by generously contending and conquering they obtained the kingdom of Christ: therefore these twenty-four elders are as it were the senate of the Church triumphant, and assessors of God. Furthermore, that they were chosen precisely as twenty-four is not surprising: for thus Christ chose precisely twelve Apostles, four Evangelists and seventy-two disciples: thus formerly God chose twelve Patriarchs and twelve minor Prophets. In like manner here he chose twelve elders from the New Testament, and as many from the Old. For just as the number twelve is perfect, signifying universality, namely all in this kind: so also and rather the number twenty-four. For this is double the number twelve, and the number twelve doubled. Again, just as the sun completes its course in twenty-four hours and goes around and illuminates the whole world: so also these twenty-four as it were suns illuminate the Church successively, namely each in its own age. For more mysteries of this number twenty-four see Arethas here, and Peter Bungus, book On the Mysteries of Numbers, page 444. These 24 elders represent the Cardinals, and thus the thrones, the seat, and this entire head elegantly represents the Council (commonly called the Chapel) of the Pontiff, in which is seen the image of the heavenly Jerusalem, so that it may justly appear that this is drawn from that. For the Pontiff, as it were the Vicar of God, represents God; the seven ancient Deacons, the seven spirits assisting God; the Cardinals, the 24 elders; the Lamb, Christ, who is offered in the Mass; the sealed book, the book of the Gospels. Finally, the Patriarchs and Bishops wearing mitres and pontifical vestments, the Penitentiaries, the Canons, and the entire ordered multitude and magnificence of Prelates, priests and ministers, equally as the heavenly symphony, represent the innumerable glorious multitude of Angels and Saints, which continually jubilates and sings psalms to God. In a similar manner the seven Bishops of Asia, subject to St. John, represent the seven Cardinal Bishops subject to the Pontiff; the seven Churches are foreshadowed through the seven Roman Churches, celebrated throughout the whole world by their structure, Indulgences and pilgrimages, which Romans, equally as foreigners, are accustomed to visit frequently, and to supplicate the aid of the Martyrs and Saints, who are buried there in countless numbers. There are many such things, so much so that from the Apocalypse the ceremonies and magnificence of the Roman Church appear to be drawn and expressed; so that St. Fulgentius, beholding and admiring it, justly said: "If thus shines the earthly Rome, how shall the heavenly Jerusalem shine." Finally, in the manner of these 24 elders, Cassian wrote as many Conferences of 24 Fathers serving God angelically in the desert, which St. Thomas Aquinas was accustomed to read frequently as most useful for sanctity and perfection. Cassian himself professes this of himself, Collation final, cap. 1. Symbolically Pineda in Job cap. xix, vers. 19, num. 3, judges that in these 24 elders, who are as it were senators and counsellors of divine wisdom, is noted what the counsellors of princes ought to be, namely, first, that they stand continually before the prince, and the prince do nothing without their counsel. For, as the Wise man says, Proverbs xi, 14: "Where there is no governor, the people shall fall: but there is safety where there are many counsels." Nero sinned in this respect, who never used the counsel of the senate, but rather hated it; hence he miserably perished, condemned by the senate. And Hieronymus, king of Sicily, who, although in a grave matter, "neither convoked nor consulted the public council;" wherefore he perished equally as Nero: for the "senate" is the "mind, reason, intelligence of the republic," says Cicero, nay the "foundation" of the same. Secondly, that they be old; for old men abound in experience and prudence. Wherefore Plutarch, in the tract Whether an old man should govern the republic? answers: "A city is most safely preserved where the counsels of the old hold sway, and the arms of the young." Thus king Agamemnon had Nestor, an old man, as his counsellor. Thirdly, that they be "clothed in white garments," so that they may abound in brightness and sincerity of soul, and that no cupidity or fear may obscure and corrupt their right judgment. Fourthly, that they have a crown upon their head, that is, that they be endowed with freedom and a royal spirit, and therefore do not obey the cupidities of princes, but freely pronounce what is right and just. Hence Demetrius of Phaleron, as Plutarch testifies in the Apophthegms, wisely admonished Ptolemy Philadelphus to read those books in which it is taught how kings and princes ought to govern. For these speak freely, and say those things which no one would afterwards dare to say to kings privately. Fifthly, that they be not of their own judgment, nor stubborn in defending their opinion against colleagues or the president. For you see these elders falling down before the throne, and adoring him that liveth for ever and ever, and casting their crowns before the throne. Sixthly, that they exactly keep secrets. For thus these elders are occupied about the sealed book, and no one opens it, but all permit it to be opened by the Lamb. Hence Theodoric, king of the Goths, wise though heretical, writing to Senarch the Count, lib. IV, cap. III, praises him saying: "You closed our secrets with the probity of your character, conscious of many things, yet not puffed up because you knew more. You pleased your colleagues with grace, your superiors with humility." Most truly Valerius Maximus, lib. II, cap. 1, calls taciturnity in senators "the best and safest bond of administering affairs." Curtius writes, lib. IV, Concerning the Counsellors of the kings of the Persians: "The secrets of kings they guard with wonderful faithfulness; neither fear nor hope draws forth a word by which hidden things are betrayed: an ancient discipline of kings sanctioned silence by peril of life. Nor do they believe that a great matter can be sustained by him to whom silence is burdensome." For this reason Philippides declined the office of counsellor. For when Lysimachus the king said to him at a certain time: "In what of my affairs shall I share with you?" He answered: "In whatever you please, provided in no secret." Plutarch is witness, lib. On Curiosity.
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5. AND FROM THE THRONE (of God, not of the elders) PROCEEDED LIGHTNINGS, AND VOICES, AND THUNDERS. — By these symbols God displays His power, majesty and magnificence, as appeared on Sinai, when the law was given by God there, Exodus xix, 16. Again, these signify the wrath and terror of God, which will appear most greatly at the end of the world, of which we shall hear in the sixth seal of the sealed book, which God, cap. v, will hand over to Christ. Voices seem to be distinguished from thunders, as if they were horrible cries of men or angels. Thus Alcazar here associates human voices with heavenly thunders. Unless you say it is an epexegesis, and that "and" is put for that is, "voices and (that is, that is) thunders;" or a hendiadys "voices and thunders," that is thundering voices, or vocal thunders, as if they produce articulate and human voices. For John heard such things, cap. x, vers. 3: "They spoke, he says, thunders their voices." And cap. xix, vers. 6, he heard "the voice of great thunders saying: Alleluia." Mystically, voices are preaching, lightnings are the energy and efficacy of the word of God: for this penetrates the heart of the sinner like lightning. Thunders are the threats of hell, judgment and the wrath of God. Let the preacher learn here that he ought to utter now voices, now thunders, according to the soft or hard disposition of his hearers. Thus also John and James are called by Christ Boanerges, that is sons of thunder, Mark III. See Psalm. xxviii. Again, these proceed from the throne of God, that is from those who have made themselves thrones of God by their sanctity, in which God as it were dwells and speaks. Through such persons God hurls as it were thunders and lightnings, by which He penetrates, wounds and changes the hearts of hearers. For vain and empty is the labor of the learned and eloquent preacher, unless he draws and derives from God and God's grace and sanctity the efficacy of speaking, persuading, and striking and wounding hearts. For unless the sermon flows from great knowledge and love of God, it is cold and evanescent. Thus Ambrose. So also Tyconius, Rupertus and Richard, except that these three understand by lightnings miracles, which these 24 elders wrought by the power of God, and for this reason first, because, as lightning gleams far and wide, so the splendor of miracles drew many to Christ, and draws them. Second, because, as lightnings come from clouds, so miracles proceed from the Saints. Third, because, as lightning draws forth rain, so miracles draw forth repentance and tears. Fourth, because, as lightning, or rather a thunderbolt, strikes a man and affects him, so that while the appearance of his body remains outwardly the same, inwardly it shatters his bones, indeed incinerates them: so miracles, while the man remains outwardly the same, shatter and change his mind, so that he is plainly a different man than he was before. Thus Viegas. To this Alcazar adds, who brings forward this sense as literal, though it seems rather to be mystical and moral. The throne, he says, of God are all Christians, who by an excellent knowledge and love of God, fabricate a seat for God in their own heart, and labor keenly and strenuously in the conversion of souls. From these proceed voices, that is, pious discourses joined with lightnings and thunders: because they have joined with them a heavenly virtue, which thunder signifies; and the illustration of pious life and holy example, which lightning signifies. Hence lightnings are here placed first; for he says: "Lightnings and voices, and thunders:" for lightning is seen by the eyes before thunder is perceived by the ears, so that it may be signified that the light of the best example ought to precede the virtue and strength of words. Thus in the darkness of paganism the sanctity of the first Christians, and the lightnings of a most holy life, and the thunders of powerful and efficacious words, showed that the throne of the true God is found in the Christian Church. These therefore thunders and lightnings, as they are most joyful and festive to the Church, so are they horrible and to be feared by the enemies of the Church; for with these as it were with certain discharged bombards Antichrist waged war with the Gentiles, and subjected them to his dominion. For physicists relate that lightning and thunder are thus generated: within a cloud an enclosed fiery exhalation is kindled by the antiperistasis of the surrounding cold, and becomes flame and fire. Then that happens which occurs in a musket or bombard when it is discharged. For when the flame and ignited matter expand most swiftly, it is necessary that the cloud be immediately disrupted with great vehemence, and the light of the hidden fire be presented to the eyes, the sound of the disrupted cloud to the ears: so also the fire of charity kindled in the hearts of the faithful expands by its force and impulse most swiftly toward neighbors, and overcomes all difficulties opposing itself, eager to go forth. And the effect of its virtue is that the eyes receive that external manifestation of internal sanctity, the ears the sound and efficacy of doctrine. Moreover, the greater the resistance of the fire while it bursts forth from the cloud, the more vehemently is thunder emitted and the more brightly does lightning flash, if great fire has been kindled in the cloud. Thus the first Christians, kindled with great divine fire, the more the Gentiles resisted, the more strongly did they emit the thunder of preaching and the lightning of sanctity, as is evident from the words and deeds of the holy Martyrs and Apostles. AND SEVEN LAMPS BURNING BEFORE THE THRONE, WHICH ARE THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD. — He alludes to the seven lamps of the candlestick, which were in the tabernacle of Moses, and in the temple of Solomon, namely in the Holy Place, by which the seven planets were represented. For the temple bore the type and image of heaven; for in heaven, as in his temple and throne, God resides. Whence his divine glory hidden from us is as it were illustrated through lamps, and is proposed to be seen in some manner; just as in the tabernacle the candlestick before the Holy of Holies illuminated it in some manner, so that it itself, and God residing in it, could be seen through the darkness. In a similar manner lamps lit are suspended before the tabernacle, in which the holy Eucharist is preserved. You will ask: What are these seven lamps? Many, whom I reviewed in cap. 1, vers. 4, by the seven spirits, and consequently by the seven lamps, understand the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are called lamps, because they illuminate and inflame men. They are before the throne of God, so that it may be signified that God has them before his eyes and at hand, so that at his pleasure he may offer and distribute them to anyone. Secondly and more genuinely, as I said in cap. 1, vers. 4, these seven spirits and lamps are seven primary angels, to whom is committed the care of men, especially of the Church and the faithful. These are called lamps, because they shine in the knowledge of God, and burn with his love; and because they illuminate and kindle men with knowledge, and likewise with fear and love of God, and of eternal salvation and happiness; and they show to them God's providence, and are its witnesses. Whence Eccles. v, 5, he says: "Say not before an angel: There is no providence." Mystically, Alcazar by these seven lamps understands the seven gifts and virtues of divine providence, which I reviewed in cap. 1, vers. 4.
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6. AND BEFORE THE THRONE AS IT WERE A SEA OF GLASS LIKE UNTO CRYSTAL. — The Syrian: And before the throne as a sea of glass, which is like unto crystal. The Arabic: And before the seat of God a sea of glass, like unto ice, or frost, or crystal. Glass, that is glassy, that is transparent, and consequently calm; for unless water be calm, it is not transparent, but turbid and opaque: just as the Red Sea is called glassy, because transparent, as by Horace, book IV of the Odes, ode 2: About to give names to the glassy Pontus. And book III, ode 13: O fountain of Bandusia, more splendid than glass. So also Virgil, depicting the Nereids, attributes a glassy colour to the sea nymphs, when he says in the fourth Georgic: The Nymphs were plucking Milesian fleeces, dyed with a saturated hyaline colour. And Ovid, in the epistle of Sappho: It is bright, and more transparent than glass is the stream. You will ask: What is this sea of glass? First, Primasius, Bede, Richard and Rupert understand it as the Sacrament of Baptism, through which those who are to go to the seat and to the presence of God must pass. Moreover, baptism is called a sea of glass on account of the purity and clarity which it brings to the mind. It is similar to crystal, because just as this removes from the sea, that is from waters, instability (for it congeals them), and from glass fragility (for crystal hardens like stone): so baptism has the amplitude of the sea, the transparency of glass, and the firmness and solidity of crystal. For just as glass is pervious to the rays of the sun, so the baptized soul is illuminated by the rays of grace from God, says Hugh. Again, as Rupert says, the faithful in this life are glassy, that is bright, but fragile, weak, mortal; but after the resurrection they will be like unto crystal, that is solid, robust and immortal. Second, Dionysius the Carthusian: The sea of glass, he says, is penance, on account of the analogies of the sea of glass already applied to baptism, which can be applied with equal, or even greater reason to penance; and because penance is a sea, on account of bitterness and abundance of tears: like unto crystal, on account of the firmness of the resolve to avoid sins henceforth, and to undertake a new life. To this Alcazar adds, who thinks the glassy sea refers literally to that huge vessel of water in the temple, which from its capacity was called the brazen sea, but with this difference, that this one was glassy, whereas in the temple of Solomon it was brazen. Therefore the glassy sea, he says, is a small pool, or a huge crater, or a great fountain full of water, made from the most brilliant transparent and fragile glass. Moreover this glassy sea, just as the brazen sea, was supported by twelve brazen oxen, and was in the manner of a perfect hemisphere, having a lip of repanded lilies, and a thickness of three inches. Just as therefore the brazen sea, with which priests about to sacrifice washed themselves, was a symbol of penance, so also the glassy sea. Hence first, it is supported by twelve oxen, that is by the twelve Apostles and their successors; for these are the ministers of penance. Second, the old sea was brazen, that is opaque, because enigmatic: ours is glassy, because the significance, power and efficacy of the Sacraments of the new law, especially of penance, shines through, and is clear and evident to all, according to that of Zechariah, chapter xiii, 1: "There shall be a fountain open to the house of David for the washing of the sinner and of the menstruous woman." Again, just as the sea washed away all the ills of mortals, as Euripides says in Iphigenia, so also does penance. Third, just as in the time of St. John, Pliny writes, book XXXVI, chapter xxvi, from nitre (which is a kind of salt) and sand mixed together transparent streams flowed, and this was the origin of glass; now indeed glass is made from the ashes of ferns and similar salty herbs, which when mixed with sand and cooked with the most ardent fire, are glued together and hardened, and from the admixed bitumen become transparent and pellucid; hence glass has its transparency: so from the memory of death and the ashes into which the human body is resolved, and from the salt of fear of judgment and divine vengeance, and from faith and the light of heavenly and divine things, which God infuses, penance is born, which is cooked and soldered in the fire of contrition and charity in the burning furnace of the passion of Christ. Fourth, Pliny adds, "the magnet stone began to be added to glass:" but the magnet, because it directs the ships and the way of sailors, is a symbol of wisdom, which is the mother of penance. Again, just as the magnet draws iron, so the charity of God draws sinners to itself through penance. Fifth, its huge capacity from which it is called a sea, denotes the abundance and copiousness of grace, which is given to all those doing penance. Sixth, the lip of repanded lilies denotes the facility of the vessel, by which it communicates its water to all who approach, so that each may wash himself in it: thus penance offers itself easy and accessible to all, and through it forgiveness and grace. This sense is apt, but more moral than literal. Third, Joachim: The glassy sea, he says, is Holy Scripture, because this is pellucid as a mirror, in which men behold their sins, so that they may wash them away by penance and tears, according to that saying of Christ, John, chapter xv, verse 3: "Now you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." This sense is literal as it were a vast sea; the specular glass is the moral sense: in it indeed we behold and correct our morals; crystal, because firm and enduring, is the spiritual and anagogical sense, which is of the glorious and eternal kingdom of the Blessed. Thus also Ambrose: The sea, he says, brazen (which was in the temple of Solomon) is the Old Testament; the glassy sea is the New Testament. Fourth, Ribera by the glassy sea understands the present age, through which as through a sea we pass to the harbor of blessedness; it is called glassy, that is pellucid, both because the air here is pellucid, and because the secret thoughts of men dwelling in it are pellucid and patent to God. Whence this sea is said to be in the sight of God. Hence the Saints are said to stand upon this glassy sea, chapter xv, 2. Fifth, Andrew of Caesarea brings forth two expositions: First, the glassy sea, he says, are the waters which are above the firmament, or it is the crystalline heaven itself, and therefore all heaven, which shines and is pellucid like crystal: in this sea the stars as it were swim and flash like fishes. I shall bring forth the second presently. Sixth and most genuinely, Pererius: The sea of glass, he says, is the empyrean heaven, which is the seat of God, of Angels and of the Blessed. This is called a sea on account of its vastness, because it is most immense. It alludes to the heavens adjacent to and subject to the empyrean, because they were formed by God from the primordial abyss of waters: whence in Hebrew they are called שמים scamaim, that is, waters there, as I said in Genesis cap. 1, 7; the empyrean is called vitreous on account of its subtlety and tranquility: whence also in cap. xxi, John compares the heavenly Jerusalem to glass and crystal: for John saw here the glory of God in the empyrean heaven. In this as it were sea, Angels and the Blessed shine forth like fishes, as our painters depict them in it. Whence Andrew of Caesarea and Arethas hold that the sea of glass is the very Angels and Blessed themselves. By the sea, says Arethas, is signified immense multitude; by glass, splendor, purity and tranquility; by crystal, the solidity and firmness of the glory and blessedness of blessed and angelic minds. For Scripture is wont to represent the majesty of God by this multitude, strength and glory of angels, and hence God is called Sabaoth, that is, of hosts. For they are always in the sight of God. This is what Daniel says, cap. vii, vers. 10: "Thousands of thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him." This therefore is the sea of glass, but also golden; for there is in it a sea of all goods, just as in Gehenna there is a sea of all evils. AND IN THE MIDST OF THE SEAT, AND ROUND ABOUT THE SEAT FOUR LIVING CREATURES. — Properly, living creatures could not be in the midst of the seat, and at the same time round about it, as Ambrose says especially, because in the midst of the seat sat the King himself, namely God: whence Alcazar explains it in three ways: First, "in the midst of the seat," that is of this assembly, namely between God and the 24 elders. Second: The seat, he says, is here to be taken broadly with its footstool, or base, so ample that these four living creatures distributed through four sides might be contained by it. Third, "in the midst of the seat," that is of the space in which the seat was. Second, Pererius responds that they were not at the same time in the midst of the seat and round about it, but successively; for they walked, he says, and now they surrounded the seat, now they proceeded into the midst of the seat's circuit. Third, Ribera holds that three were round about the seat, the fourth, namely the eagle, raised itself aloft within the circuit of the seat, so that it as it were touched the breast of the one sitting, and therefore John says: "The fourth living creature like an eagle flying." The first explanation seems most fitting, so that "in the midst of the seat" is the same as within the circuit of the seat, namely in the very footstool of the seat, and its ample circuit; for John wishes by "in the midst" only to signify that these living creatures were near to the seat and to the one sitting, namely that a king sat on the throne, round about the throne were near the four living creatures, and round about these living creatures sat the 24 elders. But that "round about" signifies that these four living creatures did not stand in one place, but were disposed through the four angles and sides of the seat. Mystically St. Ambrose cited in the Gloss refers these to the residence and care of Pastors: "Round about," he says, "the seat four living creatures stand, because teachers defend the people committed to them, both from visible and from invisible enemies, with all the strength they can; they stand in the midst of the seat, because they do not cease to admonish each of them that he may make progress in all virtues and good works."
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7. THE FIRST BEAST LIKE A LION, AND THE SECOND LIKE A CALF, etc. The Arabic version: according to like a bull. You may ask whether complete animals, or only heads, or other parts of these animals appeared to John, and consequently what was the form and figure of these four beasts? First, our Jerome Prado in Ezekiel 1, section 7, and Vilalpando, vol. II, book IV, chapter XLI, and Pererius hold that these beasts are in all respects the same as the four Cherubim of Ezekiel, chapter 1, and consequently that these, equally as those, had each only a human face and figure, but the wings of an eagle, the manes of a lion, and the hoof of an ox. For they were four-formed, so that each beast appeared to be composed of four: therefore they were, as if a man clothed himself with the manes of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the hoof of an ox: and such were the four. For they were all uniform, and consequently each was four-formed, in the manner just stated. They prove this first, because if they had had leonine, bovine and aquiline heads, with human form, they would have been monsters. Moreover, St. John distinguishes likeness from face, and says the first beast is like a lion, the second like a calf; but in the third he does not say, like a man, but "having a face as of a man:" therefore the first was like a lion in its manes; the second, like a calf in its hoof; the third had only the face of a man; whence also of the fourth it is added: "Like an eagle flying," that is to say, It was like an eagle in its wings and flight, but not in its face. Second, because St. Dionysius, Sophronius, Basil, Cyril, Rupert and others say that John saw the same beasts here which Ezekiel saw in chapter 1; but those individually were four-formed, but with a human head: therefore these also. However, in Ezekiel 1, from the clear words of the prophet I taught that each of the Cherubim of Ezekiel had four faces, namely the true face of a lion, eagle and ox, as well as of a man; therefore here also John was shown the true face of a lion, eagle and ox, as well as of a man. This is confirmed, because he says: "The first beast like a lion, and the second like a calf:" but the likeness and form of beasts is chiefly observed from the face. St. Dionysius teaches the same thing expressly, in the Celestial Hierarchy, chapter xv, where speaking of the three faces of the lion, eagle and calf, he calls them effigies of beasts, and assigns horns to the face of the ox. Again, in the eagle he notes the keenness of the eyes and the power by which it gazes upon the sun with direct and unwavering sight. And in chapter II, treating of the eagle of Ezekiel, he says it was fashioned "in the likeness of eagles with curved beaks." This eagle therefore had a beak and the face of an eagle, not the mouth and face of a man. Finally, St. John, saying: "The third beast having a face as of a man," by this very fact signifies that the first, second and fourth did not have the face of a man (for by this he distinguishes the third from the others), but the first of a lion, the second of a calf, the fourth of an eagle. And this appears to be the sense of the Church, which conceives these beasts thus and depicts them everywhere. Moreover, that Prado explains these words: "The first beast like a lion, the second like a calf," thus, that is to say, The first face of each beast was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third like a man, the fourth like an eagle, is refuted by the third, of which John says: "The third beast having a face as of a man;" for who would explain this thus, that is to say, The third face was having the face of a man? To the first I answered in Ezekiel 1, that the four-faced Cherubim were not so much monsters as hieroglyphics, many of which Daniel saw: for they are symbolic visions, not true things; as also the symbolic Lamb he saw taking the book and opening its seals in chapter v. Whence it is not surprising if these faces and mouths of the lion, ox and eagle spoke, and uttered articulate and human voice. In a similar manner John, in chapter viii, verse 13, saw an eagle flying and crying out: "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth!" However you conceive them, they are monstrous. For each is full of eyes, and has six wings. Finally, it is monstrous to add manes, wings and hooves to the face and figure of a man. To that of the third beast: "Having a face as of a man," I will respond at the end of this question. To the second point I reply that these animals were the same as those in Ezekiel chapter 1, as to their primary idea, not as to all their accidents and emblems. John therefore alludes to those; yet he does not represent those same ones as to all things. Thus often St. John and others allude to the visions of Daniel, Ezekiel and others; yet those visions are not entirely the same with these, but rather are clothed and interspersed with different and different parts or ornaments, according to the variety of matter. Ezekiel therefore saw four animals in all things similar to one another, each of which had four faces, so that it seemed to be clothed with four animals as it were, and to be formed and compacted from them: but John dissolves these animals thus composed by Ezekiel and compacted into one, and makes four from one, giving to each its own face and form. The second opinion is common and vulgar, namely that these four animals were whole and entire such as are named here, so that the first animal, for example, which is said to be like a lion, had a head, breast, mane, feet and all the members of a lion: thus also the second of a calf, and the third of a man, and the fourth of an eagle: as in chapter 5, verse 6, Christ placed among these animals, was seen in all things to have the form of a slain Lamb, and thus we see these animals depicted everywhere in churches and elsewhere. This opinion is proved first, because the words of John plainly seem to signify this, when he says: "The first animal like a lion, the second like a calf," etc. For if these animals had had only one member, it would not be rightly said that the whole animal was like a lion, a calf, etc. But it should have been said that the head, for example, and face of the animal was like a lion, as Ezekiel says of his Cherubim, chapter 1. Second, because St. Dionysius, in the Celestial Hierarchy, chapter xiii, gives many feet to the Seraphim. But the Cherubim were similar to these: they were therefore quadrupeds; by which figure were the sphinxes of the Egyptians, which Clement of Alexandria teaches were depicted from the Cherubim of Solomon, book V of the Stromata. Third, because these attended and drove the chariot of God, Ezekiel 1, 19. Whence Cherubim by metathesis is the same as recubim, that is, chariot-bearers, or those driving a chariot. And Prado contends that this is the genuine etymology of Cherubim; they were therefore quadrupeds; they were therefore whole animals, namely a whole and in all members perfect ox, a whole lion, a whole eagle, just as the third animal was a whole man. Fourth, that they did not have a human form is signified by this: "The third animal having a face as of a man," that is to say, In the face, and consequently in the head, neck and all other things there was a man; but the others were not men, but purely animals. Whence the Syrian translator renders it, and that third animal has the appearance (or form, figure, face, person) like the Son of Man, or a man; and Josephus favors this, who, in book III of the Antiquities, chapter vi, writes that the Cherubim of Moses were animals new and of wondrous form, and not seen until then. Third, no less probably and fittingly, indeed more probably and more fittingly, Alcazar holds that these four animals were not whole, but only the heads of animals; as to the other members they had the form or figure of a man (for they were not true and natural animals, but symbolic and hieroglyphic); the first animal therefore had the head of a lion, six wings, and was full of eyes; as to the breast, belly, shins, feet, arms, hands and all other things it was a man; thus the second had the head of a calf, the fourth of an eagle with six wings, and was full of eyes; as to all other things it was a man: yet if anyone wishes to clothe this with Prado and Pererius in the first animal with a mane, in the second with a hoof, so that they may be more similar to a lion and a calf, I shall not object. It is proved first, because as to the primary form and figure, these animals were the same as those in Ezekiel chapter 1; but those had only the faces of animals with wings, as to the rest they were men: therefore these also. Second, because they were near to God and preceded the 24 elders: therefore they were of human form; for it seems unbecoming and incongruous if a lion, ox, or eagle be set before a man, especially at the throne of God. It is otherwise with Christ, to whom John gives no other form than that of a Lamb, for reasons which I shall set forth in chapter 5, verse 6. Third, because they signified angels, namely Cherubim (whence they continually praise God); but these, when they appear and are depicted, have the form of a man, not of other animals. Fourth, because in chapter vi these four animals in their own order call forth and lead John, and say to him, "Come, and see," and show him four horses successively, namely white, red, black and pale, which represented four future states of the Church: but these actions are those of men, not of animals. Hence it seems to follow that they had indeed horrible heads, and faces indeed human, yet so that they had somewhat altered similarity to a lion, a calf and an eagle, and appeared to be faces of a lion, a calf and an eagle. That this is so is proved, because John does not say: I saw a lion, or I saw the face of a lion, but, I saw an animal like a lion; therefore it was not a lion, but had some similarity with a lion in its countenance. Thus we see, and commonly say: This man has a bovine countenance, that one leonine, this one an aquiline gaze and nose, another canine: as Achilles in Homer, in the Iliad, calls Agamemnon κυνῶπα, that is, having a canine countenance; for there are indeed some men with such a large brow, such a grim countenance, that they appear to be bulls; others with such a gaping, savage and cruel mouth, that they seem to resemble lions; others with such a sharp, snarling and impudent aspect, that they appear to resemble dogs. And thus some painters paint these animals with a countenance neither plainly human, nor plainly leonine, bovine and aquiline; but intermediate, that is partly human, partly leonine, bovine and aquiline. For there is great similarity between the countenance of a man, and of a lion, and of a calf, so that in pictures you often doubt whether the face is that of a man or of an animal; and with few changes you easily transform one into another, or mix one with another. Thus therefore here also the human face appears mixed with the others, so as to be similar to them. And thus these animals have little of the monstrous and deformed, which they would otherwise have, if you were to attach a human body to the head of a lion, calf and eagle. Finally, in the Cherubim of Ezekiel, the primary face of each was that of a man, although joined with three others; therefore here also the human face was mixed with the face of a lion, a calf and an eagle. To the first argument of the second opinion it can be answered, that the denomination of the animal is taken from the head; for the head is the first and most principal part of an animal. To the second, St. Dionysius says that the Seraphim had many feet, because they did not have one, but two; for the binary is the first species of number, or of multitude, and of it is it first said that it is many. For it is certain that the Seraphim, in Isaiah vi, were bipedal, not quadrupedal. Moreover, that painters have painted these four animals whole and quadrupedal is not surprising. For since they themselves were ignorant of the sense of Holy Scripture, they followed the bare words of Scripture, which, since it says: "The first animal like a lion," they painted a lion, and similarly a calf, and an eagle. To the third, the attendants of the chariot are bipedal, not quadrupedal; for they are men, namely servants and followers of their master. To these things, Cherub does not signify a chariot, but one abounding in much knowledge. Moreover, in I Paralipomenon xxviii, 18, it is called the chariot of the Cherubim, because the Cherubim, extending their wings over the ark, as a seat and vehicle, namely a chariot (for thus much does the Hebrew mercaba signify, which the Interpreter calls a chariot), exhibited themselves to God; whence God is said to ride and be carried upon the Cherubim; but not that the Cherubim were quadrupedal. For the Interpreters agree that the Cherubim of Moses as well as of Ezekiel were bipedal, not quadrupedal. To the fourth, John says: "The third animal having as it were the face of a man," so as to distinguish it from the others; for they were distinguished by face, not by body: for all had a human body, but different heads, namely the first had the head of a lion, the second of a calf, the third of a man, the fourth of an eagle. For if he had said: "The third animal like a man," he would not have sufficiently distinguished it from the others; for another could also be like a man as to the figure of the whole body except the head, as the other three animals were: so that he might remove this, and clearly express the form of the third, he says that it was not only in body, but also in face like a man, whereas the others were indeed like a man in body, but not in face. Therefore this human face confirms rather than weakens this opinion. Hence also of the others he does not say: Having the face of a lion, calf, eagle; but, Like a lion, eagle, calf, because face properly belongs to man alone, not to other animals, as if to say: This animal had the face of a man and was wholly a man; the others in countenance were similar to a lion, calf and eagle; therefore the human face distinguished this animal from the countenances of the others. Moreover, Josephus seems to have wished to conceal the form of the Cherubim, so as to make them more wonderful and venerable to Titus and the Romans. Thus also elsewhere, in praise of his own nation, he adds certain things with embellishment beyond the truth, indeed contrary to the truth. Add that they were wonderful animals, because they were winged youths: for such an animal has not been seen in the world up to this time. Finally, the same animals were seen by Ezekiel in cap. 1, which John saw here, except that those seen by Ezekiel were confused, namely four joined into one: but those seen by John were seen more clearly, distinguished, namely divided and as if dissected. But the animals of Ezekiel had only the faces of four animals; the rest were men: therefore these four animals also seen by John had only the faces of four animals, but each one had a single face; as to the rest, however, they were men. The reason why the animals of Ezekiel had four faces, but those of John single faces, is that the symbols of divine things, which in the Old Testament were wrapped up, hidden and obscure, are in the New Testament divided, separated, plain and explained. Alcazar gives a moral reason here, p. 377: because, he says, in cap. vi it was to be signified that we are invited by the strength of apostolic men (for these are mystically signified by these four animals) to contemplate clearly and distinctly the strength of divine providence, hidden in the first seal; and similarly to be stirred by their beneficence to behold the beneficence of God under the second seal; by equity, to equity in the third; and by wisdom, to wisdom in the fourth: for the symbol of strength is the lion, of beneficence the ox, of equity the man, of wisdom the eagle: wherefore these four animals of God have their face and appearance divided and distinct; hence from each animal in order John is summoned, to behold these gifts and virtues in the seals one by one. "Come," they say, "and see." But of this below. You will ask: What are these four animals? Omitting the insipid expositions of heretics, who take the lion for the Apostles, the ox for the Emperor Constantine, the man for Luther and Calvin, and still await the eagle; first, Aureolus thinks that by them are signified literally the four patriarchal sees: The Lion, he says, is the Jerusalem see, on account of the constancy of the Apostles there. The Calf is the Antiochene, because it submitted its neck to the Apostles acting in Jerusalem. The Man is the Alexandrian, on account of most learned men, such as Origen, Clement, Didymus, Cyril, Athanasius, Pantaenus, Heraclas, and others, whom it had partly as doctors, partly as Bishops. The Eagle is the Constantinopolitan, in which men of great contemplation flourished, such as St. Chrysostom, Nazianzenus and others. These four are around the throne of God, that is the Chair of Rome in which sits the Vicar of Christ. Second, Aretas thinks that by these four animals are signified the four cardinal virtues, in the lion fortitude, in the calf justice, in the eagle temperance, in the man prudence. Third, Origen, in his homily on Ezekiel, and from him Nazianzenus in Sixtus Senensis, lib. II, think that by these four animals are signified the four faculties and powers of the human soul. Man is the rational power, the lion the irascible, the ox the concupiscible, the eagle is conscience, or spirit. Fourth, Ausbertus, Jerome, Abulensis and others think it is Christ, who in the incarnation was man, in the passion a calf, in the resurrection a lion, in the ascension an eagle. Fifth, others think it is the four Doctors of the Church, namely the man to be the gentle St. Gregory, the lion the strong Ambrose, the ox the laborious and solid Jerome, the eagle the sublime Augustine. Sixth, Galfridus in Sixtus Senensis thinks these four are a type of a good Prelate, who ought to be strong as a lion, laborious as an ox, clement and compassionate as a man, contemplative as an eagle. Thus also Pererius and Viegas think that in these four animals all the Prelates of the Church are represented. Seventh, Aretas takes this four-formed animal for the world, both great and small, which consists of four elements; for the lion signifies fire, the ox earth, man air, the eagle water: for from water God created birds. Eighth, others are of the opinion that by these four are signified four attributes of divine providence. For this is strong as a lion, swift and penetrating as an eagle, sweet and lovable as a man, long-suffering and patient as an ox. For the ox signifies strong labor and persistent struggle, says Philastrius, lib. De Haeresib., § De quatuor animalibus. Ninth, Alcazar thinks that by these four are signified not only the four Evangelists, but most holy men who are of greater perfection and dignity than the 24 elders. Therefore, he says, just as the faithful saints are the throne of God, the 24 elders are priests: so the four animals, or the Cherubim and Seraphim angels, are the Apostles and apostolic men, namely Bishops: for these hold the supreme rank in the heavenly Church on earth, that is in the Church, and by their power are nearest to God. These are Cherubim in knowledge and wisdom, they are Seraphim in ardor and zeal, they have four faces: First, the magnanimity and fearless fortitude of the lion. Hence the lion in Hebrew is called לבי labi, from לב leb, that is heart, because it has a great heart, strength and spirit. Whence in II Kings xvii, of a magnanimous man it is said: "Whose heart is as the heart of a lion." Second, the same have the beneficence of the ox: for the ox by ploughing prepares the fruits, and moreover from putrefied oxen bees and silkworms are generated; the ox therefore is a symbol of beneficence. Third, they have the reason and equity of man. Fourth, the perspicacity, wisdom and prudence of the eagle, by which participated from God the wise understand in their craftiness: just as "the feathers of eagles mixed with the feathers of other birds devour them," as Pliny says, lib. X, vers. 3. But although all these things seem apt, nevertheless they are symbolic and mystical, not literal and genuine. For St. John describes these four animals as it were four intelligent natures, which in the heavens blessed are always present before God, and conscious of God's secrets perpetually praise God. Wherefore it is necessary that these four be either four blessed men, or four angels. Tenth, many think they are the four Evangelists; for the Church adapts this vision to them, when it reads it in their ecclesiastical office. And although various ones variously adapt these four animals to them, as St. Augustine, tract. 36 in the Gospel of St. John, tom. IX, understands by the lion St. Matthew, by the man St. Mark; others differently, as may be seen in Pererius, pag. 302, and Viegas: nevertheless more plainly accommodate them thus, that the lion is St. Mark, whose face, as Ezekiel has it, is that of a lion, because the beginning of his Gospel begins with the cry and roar of St. John, as it were a lion in the desert. For he roars saying: "I am the voice of one crying in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord." The calf is St. Luke, whose beginning starts from the old priesthood of Zacharias. Man is St. Matthew, whose beginning is the human genealogy of Christ. The eagle is St. John, who begins from the divinity of the Word. Thus St. Jerome and Gregory in cap. 1 Ezech., Victorinus, Bede, Ambrose, Haymo and others here. Hear St. Ambrose in the preface to St. Luke: "Many," he says, "think that our Lord himself in the four books of the Gospel, in the form of the four animals of this chapter about God, about the 24 elders, about the four animals announcing to John this prophecy, is present: therefore in this vision John, seeing and seen — that is prophesying and hearing the prophecy — was present, just as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and other Prophets were present, not future, when they prophesied about future things. Again in cap. vi, vers. 7, John heard from the fourth animal, namely from the eagle, said to him: 'Come and see;' but John could not be instructed by himself, especially about a future matter being present, nor could he be at the same time on earth and at the same time in heaven. Third, St. Matthew, indeed even John, are among the twelve Apostles, and consequently among the 24 elders; therefore they are not among the four animals literally, but mystically only. I say therefore with Pererius and Jerome Prado in chapter 1 of Ezechiel, that these four animals are literally the same as those which Ezechiel saw in chapter 1, and consequently are four primary angels, attendants, princes and ministers of God, concerning the care of the Church, and concerning the salvation and governance of men and of the whole world. Hence there is fashioned for them the likeness of four most noble animals, by which are signified the insignia of dignity both of God and of themselves: the eagle signifies the sublimity and wisdom of God; man, his goodness and gentleness; the ox, patience, justice, religion and worship: the lion, strength and power. Of which four properties these angels are partakers, and represent them in themselves. Thus St. Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy, xv. See the sayings on Ezech. 1, at the end of the chapter, Question III. Pererius applies these somewhat differently, page 303, at the end. That they were angels is evident, because their face and form plainly allude to the four Cherubim of Ezechiel chapter 1, as I said: but those were angels. Secondly, because they are near to the throne of God; and angels stand near to it. Thirdly, because they are full of eyes, and have six wings; but wings signify the swiftest angels. Moreover they continually sing "Holy;" they are therefore similar to the Seraphim of Isaias, as I shall say below. Furthermore in chapter vi they call John forth, and lead him out: "Come," they say, "and see," and show him four horses, representing four future states of the Church. But these are the offices of the angels who preside over the governance of the Church: for God is accustomed to give prophecies to the Prophets concerning the affairs of the Church, and to illuminate them through the angels who preside over them, as is evident from what follows and from Daniel. You will say: In chapter 1, verse 4, and in Tobias xii, 15, the same man, the same lion, the same calf, the same eagle are said. Man, because born of Mary; lion, because stronger; calf, because a victim; eagle, because resurrection. Note first: The Fathers hand down that these four animals signify so many properties of Christ set forth in the Gospels. The lion signifies the royal strength of Christ, which he showed most especially in the resurrection and after it; the calf signifies the priesthood of Christ consummated on the cross; man, his humanity; the eagle, his divinity and his ascension into heaven. Note secondly, these animals are distinguished most by their faces, because the Evangelists are distinguished most in their beginning: some afterwards in their progress have the same things, and all these four properties and dignities of Christ they set forth and narrate. Hence also in Ezech. chapter 1, verse 6, each animal is said to have four faces, namely because each one comprises the beginnings of the three others, indeed even the whole narration of the others. Thus Primasius. Note thirdly, these animals are placed in one order in Ezechiel, in another here. For Ezechiel followed the order of time in which each Evangelist wrote, namely the first is man, that is Matthew; the second lion, that is Mark; the third calf, that is Luke; the fourth eagle, that is St. John. But John followed the order of things, in which the first is the lion, that is Mark, because he begins from the preaching of John the precursor of Christ. Luke follows, because the ancient sacrifices, from which Luke begins, were a type of Christ, and gave way to the advent of Christ, and ceased. Third is Matthew, because to the old Law hidden and its sacrifices succeeded faith in the humanity of Christ, and through his miracles faith in his divinity: Matthew narrates the origin and series of his humanity, John his divinity, and consequently Matthew is third, John fourth. But this sense seems more accommodated and mystical, not literal and genuine. For from the words of St. John it is certain that he speaks of the same animals (although Isidore Clarius denies it, yet St. Jerome, Richard, Ansbert, Rupert, Hugh, Prado and others assert it throughout: see Viegas section 12, at the end of this chapter) of which Ezechiel speaks in chapter 1; but those were angels: for Ezechiel calls them Cherubim, who surround the chariot of the glory of God: therefore these also. Secondly, because John, whom they commonly understand by the fourth animal, namely the eagle, was still living, and was not yet an Evangelist, because he had not yet written the Gospel: how therefore was he seen here not only as an Evangelist, but also as blessed in heaven? Ribera responds that these animals were represented to John, not as they then were, but as they would be in the last time, of which he prophesied. But although the prophecy itself is future, or rather concerning the future, nevertheless the vision is not four, but seven spirits or angels standing before the Lord. I respond: Just as in a kingdom and republic there are often triumvirs, then septemvirs, so also in heaven the first principal angels are four, then seven. You will say secondly: In chapter v, verse 9, these four animals say: 'Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in thy blood;' but angels are not redeemed by Christ, but men. I respond: These angels say this with others and for others, namely the 24 elders and other Saints. For they speak in their common voice, inasmuch as they are their guardians and curators. Hence they themselves also bear the insignia of Christ's redemption, as I showed in Ezekiel I. And namely the ox, or calf, signifies the death and sacrifice of Christ. Thus an ambassador sent somewhere speaks in the name, not his own, but of his king; and a protector in the name of the republic: for he assumes and bears his person and voice. You will say thirdly: John in chapter vii, verse 11, says he heard with the four animals the voice of many angels; therefore they themselves were not angels, but something distinct from them. I respond: These four were as it were princes of the other angels, singing and crying out together with them: just as in a choir the prefect and precentor is as it were the prince of the musicians singing with him: for he leads and directs all, and all sing with him in concert and harmony. Some think these four are the Cherubim Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel, as I said in Ezech. 1. But if they are from the seven spirits standing before God, and sent by him, of which I spoke in chapter 1, verse 4, then they cannot be from the four animals, or Cherubim; because these were seen by John in this chapter together with the seven spirits, as distinct from them. Unless someone should say that in this symbolic vision, they were seen by John as seven spirits inasmuch as they are sent by God, and four of them were seen together as four animals, inasmuch as they constantly stand before God, and bear the insignia of his dignity. For similarly the seven spirits are called in this chapter seven lamps, and soon in chapter v, verse 6, the same are called seven horns of the Lamb. They were therefore seen together both as lamps, and as horns. But since God abounds in angels and distributes offices among them, so that the heavenly court is like an army of camps arranged in battle order, hence it seems rather that some of them are Attendants, who bear the insignia of God's dignity, and these seem to be signified by the four animals; others truly are Ministers, and these seem to be represented by the seven lamps, horns and spirits both of God and of the Lamb. Add that in what follows these seven spirits are openly distinguished from the four animals. For in chapter vi, verses 1 and following, each of the four animals calls St. John to the opening of each of the four first seals of the sealed book, that he may behold them; but the seven spirits sing in seven trumpets, and singing they call forth seven plagues of the world in chapter viii, verse 2, and chapter xvi, verse 1. Who therefore these four Cherubim are, and who these seven spirits are, the citizens of heaven know, and we shall know, when we have entered their court, and associated with them shall enjoy them. FULL OF EYES BEFORE AND BEHIND. — Ezekiel, chapter 1, verse 18, beheld these eyes in the wheels of the chariot of the Cherubim, not in the Cherubim themselves; but John saw them in the very animals, namely the Cherubim: although Lyra and from him our Prado, in Ezech. 1, 18, hold that Ezekiel, equally as John, saw a multitude of eyes both in the Cherubim and in the wheels: for from the wheels, where they are expressed, it is to be understood that they were there, indeed by a stronger argument, in the Cherubim; and therefore since in the wheels they were not living and human, but symbolic and as it were painted, such as appear in the tail of a peacock, hence consequently such were they also in the very Cherubim themselves. But all others here generally take them to be true eyes: for thus they are taken in the following chapter, verse 6, when he says the Lamb has seven eyes; and such also they appear to have been in the wheels of Ezekiel: "For the spirit of life was in the wheels;" they were therefore as it were living wheels, and consequently appeared to have living eyes. You will say: These eyes, as the wheels revolved with perpetual revolution through the earth, therefore were not true, nor living; for they would have been struck against the earth and injured. Alcazar answers that these eyes did not touch the earth, but were either disposed at the sides of the wheels, or were placed within, and as it were enclosed by lattices, so that they could not be touched or injured. Whence also from this he rightly infers that these animals were naked: for they were "full of eyes before and behind," such as the Poet feigned Argus to be. Now the sense is, "full of eyes before and behind," that is to say, These animals, namely these Angels, these Cherubim, are of the keenest intellect and knowledge, both natural and supernatural; they see all things, past and future, so that they appear to be pure and mere eyes. Hence they are most wise and most prudent in the administration of the world and the Church. For this reason, and through this symbol, the ancient Egyptians depicted God and God's providence as an eye seated upon a staff or scepter. By the multitude of eyes, says Andrew of Caesarea, is signified the wonderful power by which the heavenly and blessed spirits are able to drink in the rays of divinity. Mystically: A prelate, a doctor, a preacher ought to be full of knowledge and wisdom, both contemplative and active, so that like Argus he be full of eyes. AND THE THIRD ANIMAL HAVING A FACE AS IT WERE OF A MAN. — By face therefore it was distinguished from the others, namely in that it had a human face, while the others had the face of a lion, of an ox, and of an eagle: the third therefore was a man. You will say: Why does he not call it a man, but an animal? I answer: Because it was one of the four animals: for the other three were animals, but the fourth was a man, who is himself also an animal, but a two-footed, upright and rational one. Add to this. Allegorically, Victorinus thinks that by the six wings of the four animals, that is by 24 wings (for six times four are 24) are signified the 24 books of the Old Testament, by which the faith and preaching of the New Testament is supported and flies throughout the whole world. Ambrose adds that the seats of the 24 elders, that is the 24 books of the Old Testament, in the four animals of the New Testament are converted into wings, because we now understand spiritually what the Jews understood carnally, and thus we fly to divine things. Tropologically, Joachim: The four animals are four orders and states in the Church. The lion signifies the strength of faith of the Apostles, the ox the invincible patience and victim of the Martyrs, man the wisdom of the Doctors, the eagle the Virgins living angelically, and the Religious devoted to contemplation: these with two wings, namely penance and mercy, veil their feet and their shame; with two, namely humility and patience, they veil their face and the praise of their good works; with two, namely faith and hope, they fly to heavenly things: they have eyes all around, because they foresee all things; before and behind, because they mourn the past, and foresee future things and eternal evils. In circuitu. — Many Bibles punctuate this differently, and connect it with the preceding in this way: "They had six wings round about, and within they are full of eyes." But the Roman edition refers both to what follows, and reads: "Round about and within they are full of eyes." "Within," that is, within the wings, that is to say, Both within the wings and without, both inwardly and outwardly they are full of eyes. Thus it opposes "round about" to what follows, "within." Since therefore "within" is the same as inwardly, intrinsically, within the wings, it follows that "round about" is the same as outwardly, without the wings, externally, all around. Alcazar adds that perhaps it was revealed to John that the animals, besides the manifold eyes which they had before and behind, were also full of eyes within, which, if the innermost viscera were laid bare, would appear and be seen. All these things signify that the Cherubim are most keen-sighted and most provident on every side, so that they appear to be nothing but eyes. THE FOURTH LIKE AN EAGLE FLYING. — "Flying," not in act, but in preparation; for it extended and balanced its wings in its place standing, as if prepared for flying. "Flying" therefore is the same as about to fly, or willing to fly and preparing to do so.
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8. EACH OF THEM HAD SIX WINGS. — He alludes to the Seraphim of Isaiah chapter VI, verse 2. These animals of John were therefore similar to these Seraphim both as to wings and as to the voices "Holy, holy, holy." Wherefore, just as the Seraphim of Isaiah, with two they covered their face, with two their feet, with two they flew, that is, they had them extended as if prepared and ready to fly. See the words of Isaiah VI. Ezekiel saw Cherubim equipped with only four wings, but Isaiah and John with six; where Prado, Vilalpando and Pererius hold that both those of Ezekiel and these of John were altogether similar in wings as well as in other respects, indeed the same. Therefore the Cherubim of Ezekiel, besides four wings, had two hands, which John here, equally as Isaiah in chapter VI, calls wings. For that the Seraphim had hands besides wings is evident from Isaiah VI, 6, when it is said: "And there flew unto me one of the Seraphim, and in his hand was a live coal." Isaiah therefore and John call the very arms and hands of the angels wings, because what in man is an arm, this in a bird and angel is a wing. Whence also from wing is called the armpit that which under the arm is hollow. Moreover that the animals of John had hands besides wings is evident from chapter V, verse 8, where each one holds harps and vials, certainly not with feet, nor with wings, but with hands. But the contrary is more true, namely that hands are distinguished from wings, equally as these animals of John and the Seraphim of Isaiah from the Cherubim of Ezekiel in this respect, namely in the number of wings: for the Cherubim of Ezekiel were Cherubim, those of Isaiah were Seraphim truly and properly so called; those of Ezekiel had four wings, those of Isaiah and John six. Besides wings, both those of Ezekiel and these of Isaiah and John had their arms and hands, as is evident from the places and verses already cited. Thus Alcazar, who also adds that two wings by which they covered their face were inserted and joined in the manner of a cross, as is depicted the Seraph who impressed the sacred stigmata of Christ crucified upon St. Francis. Similarly Prado holds that with two lower wings arranged in the manner of a cross, their thighs were covered; and thus they represented, indeed bore the cross, as it were the emblem and insignia of Christ. Finally the feet of all the Cherubim of Ezekiel were those of a calf, that is having a cloven hoof like a calf: such were the feet of these animals of John, equally as of the Seraphim of Isaiah, according to the contention of Jerome Prado. But John or Isaiah says nothing of such a thing; for although in many respects the Cherubim were similar to the Seraphim, yet in many respects they were also dissimilar. Wherefore if with Alcazar and Prado we say these animals were of human form, except for the face, it seems more fitting to give them human feet, not those of a calf: for such are those of men and angels, when they appear or are depicted; and such the Cherubim had above the ark in the tabernacle of Moses. This therefore was the figure and idea of these four animals: they were of human body and form, and consequently also of human head and face, as it appears: this man is called an animal because he had six wings, which are of animals, namely of birds; again he was full of eyes, so that he seemed to be not so much a man as some new kind of animal. Moreover the number six is a symbol of perfection: the six wings therefore in these four angels signify, to wit, the most perfect flying, namely first, the highest agility of them in every direction; second, the elevation of mind and perspicacity to penetrate the highest and deepest things in God; third, the swiftest obedience to God and execution. But somewhat bent and changed, so that the face of the first approached the likeness of the face of a lion, and was similar to a lion; that of the second to a calf, that of the fourth to an eagle, that of the third truly and perfectly was human: for this form seems more fitting; second, the rest of the body was plainly human, namely two-footed and of upright stature; third, they had six wings, with two they covered their head, with two their feet, with two they flew; fourth, before and behind, under the wings and all around outside they were full of eyes; fifth, they had hands, and in their hands vials and harps, Apocalypse V, verse 8; sixth, they had no rest, but continually sang to God: Holy, holy, holy; seventh, they were near the throne of God, and surrounded and encompassed it from four sides; eighth, they stood as if about to fly, prepared for every nod of God, and eager to fly, so that they might immediately execute the commands of God. Hence it follows that there is a sixfold difference between the animals of John and the Cherubim of Ezekiel: First, Ezekiel saw four faces in each animal, John only one; second, in Ezekiel the first face was of a man, the second of a lion, the third of an ox, the fourth of an eagle: in John the first face is of a lion, the second of an ox, the third of a man, the fourth of an eagle; third, these of John, like the Seraphim of Isaiah, had feet of men, those of Ezekiel of calves; fourth, these of John, like those of Isaiah, had six wings: those of Ezekiel had four: for they lacked two, with which the former covered their face; for they were going to war, namely to the destruction of Jerusalem: therefore they ought to have their eyes open, that they might see the enemy and strike him: but these adore and praise God, whence from reverence of such majesty they veil their eyes; fifth, these of John were in the very throne of God, and in its circuit: those of Ezekiel had above their head a firmament, as it were a footstool of the feet of God; sixth, these of John had two hands, those of Ezekiel four. HAD NO REST. — In Greek οὐκ ἔχουσιν, that is, they do not have, as if to say: I saw that these animals without ceasing continually praised God, content in mind and voice crying out: Holy, holy, holy; because these angels assiduously with all their heart and mouth proclaim and celebrate the Most Holy Trinity. The same do the four Evangelists, whom allegorically these four animals, namely these four angels, represent. For in heaven by themselves, on earth through their four Gospels they sing and preach to men nothing other than faith, love, worship and praise of the Most Holy Trinity. See what is the office, what the occupation of angels? what do they continually do? nothing surely but praise God. The Church imitates this in perpetual psalmody, and says with the Psalmist: "In the sight of the angels will I sing praise to thee;" this do the pious and holy, who always sing with heart and mouth: "I will bless the Lord at all times," whose life is continual praise of God. These are earthly angels: for the praise of God is the continual and idle business of angels, and their busy idleness. They are therefore of the angelic order, who always praise God. There are in the Church penitents, there are those who are occupied in works of mercy, there are those who teach, there are those who govern; but in the highest degree are placed those who assiduously both in adversities and in prosperities praise God. Nay, the angels themselves taught us this very thing, namely to sing, to chant: Holy, holy, holy; or, what is almost the same, to sing: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost." For the sum of the glory of the Most Holy Trinity is the sum of its holiness. For, as Socrates relates, book VI, chapter XXXVI, when the Arians at Constantinople sang the hymns of their heresy, saying: "Where are those who say that three are one power?" St. John Chrysostom instituted that the Orthodox on the other side should sing the trisagion and homousion, and this alternately, as is done in the Choir. Socrates then adds: "But this also ought to be said, whence the custom of responsive hymns in the Church began. Ignatius, the third Bishop of Antioch in Syria from the Apostle Peter, having at some time conversed with the Apostles, saw a vision of angels through responsive hymns praising the Holy Trinity, and transmitted the manner of the vision to the Church of Antioch; whence also this tradition flowed to all Churches. And this is the reason for responsive hymns," that is of those which are sung alternately by antiphons, as is done in the choir. St. Ignatius therefore is the author of alternate psalmody, or of the choir. Thus as the angels in heaven, so the faithful and Saints in this life, as earthly angels, continually sing: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," or thrice Holy; they sing, I say, with all their heart, mouth and work, with all their affection and spirit, as if to say: If I had a hundred tongues, if I had a hundred mouths, nay, if I alone had the mouths and tongues of all men and angels; if I had a heart so ample and vast that it could contain the hearts of all animals and all creatures: I would pour forth and shed all of that and those, however many and great they might be, into a doxology of the Holy Trinity, because all this praise would be meager for His dignity and merit, and of no value. Whoever therefore wishes to emulate and begin the life, office and happiness of angels, let him transcend earthly things, let him esteem all things, both happy and unhappy, as nothing, let him dwell in the heavens, and there with the holy angels perpetually celebrate and glorify God and the Holy Trinity, and let him say with St. Paul, Rom. XI: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways! For of Him, and by Him, and in Him are all things: to Him be glory for ever. Amen." Our Father Nicholas Serarius published a pious and learned explanation of this doxology, "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," by which he also teaches the practice of the same by way of reciting and repeating it in the manner of a rosary; so that, just as in the rosary of the Blessed Virgin we recite fifty times "Hail Mary," and five times "Our Father," in the rosary of the Holy Trinity we might recite fifty times "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," and five times "Our Father," so that we might thus continually glorify the same. Again, St. Basil, explaining Psalm XXXIII, 1: "His praise shall be always in my mouth," asks how we can always praise God, even in sleep, in eating, in work? and he answers in two ways: First, "Thought," he says, "which has once been impressed upon the mind, and as it were sealed with a seal in the principal part of the soul, namely in the mind, can rightly be called the praise of God always existing in the soul;"; secondly, if he does all things to the glory of God, so that his deeds and words, and all his spiritual operation, have the force of praise. For whether the just man drinks, or eats, or does anything else, he does all things to the glory of God. Such a one also, when he sleeps, his heart watches, according to the word of the one saying in the Canticle: "I sleep, and my heart watcheth." For as it were a certain tenor of sound once uttered, and sounding long in the ears, are those images which recur through sleep, conceived by thought during the day. HOLY, HOLY, HOLY. — St. John alludes to the Seraphim of Isaiah; for these four animals were similar to them as to wings and voices, just as they were similar to the Cherubim of Ezekiel as to their four faces. For John seems to connect both visions, namely both that of Ezekiel and that of Isaiah, and to embrace both in this one of his. Note first: For Holy, holy, holy, in Hebrew in Isaiah VI, 3, it is קדוש קדוש קדוש cados, cados, cados, which signifies that which on account of its purity is separated from unclean and profane things, nay from others, namely from all created things, and is holy, and therefore is supremely to be venerated and adored; for the root קדש cadas signifies to separate, and to be separated, holy and sacred. Hence the Greek ἅγιος, that is, holy, Origen says, and from him Bede, is said as it were α, that is, without, γῆ, that is, earth. But thus it should be said ἅγιος with a smooth breathing, not ἅγιος with an aspirate. Rather therefore ἅγιος is the same as ἄγιος, that is, to be revered and venerated, namely a divinity or partaker of divinity. The Latin sanctus is derived from sancire, that is, to confirm with the blood of a victim, as the ancients confirmed their pacts and covenants in the same way: because truly things entered into and confirmed so sacredly and religiously were impious to violate, hence sanctus is the same as whole, uncorrupted, undefiled and inviolable. Holy therefore God the Father, holy God the Son, holy God the Holy Ghost. Hence the Church uses and celebrates this trisagion daily in the sacrifice. See the words of Isaiah VI, 3. Furthermore, in this trisagion the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is taught to be represented by St. Basil, Epiphanius and others whom Leo Castrius cites and follows, Isaiah VI. Likewise Damascene. Pope Felix, the Council of Chalcedon and the second Council of Constantinople, which was the fifth general council, celebrated this decree against Peter Gnapheus, who added to the trisagion: "Thou who wast crucified for us, have mercy upon us." For instead of the Trinity he wished to introduce a quaternity: for he posited two sons, one immortal, the other mortal and crucified. Triophthalmos is born with an onyx, a thing at once expressing the eyes of a man, says Pliny, lib. XXXVII, cap. XI. Triophthalmos, having three eyes mixed together, and shining with one light, is a symbol of the Most Holy Trinity, which St. Gregory of Nazianzus in his Odes calls φάος ἓν τριλαμπές, that is, one light shining with a triple face (as it were eye). Note: Holiness is itself justice, rectitude and perfection of mind; this, however, consists in the conformity of will and action with the eternal law, which is in the mind of God: on the other hand, sin, which is directly contrary to holiness, is nothing other than deformity and transgression of the eternal law. For just as the natural perfection of things consists in this, that any thing whatsoever be measured according to its rule, namely the idea, according to which it was made: so the perfection of morals consists in the measuring and equating of the will with the eternal law, according to which one ought to act. For just as the idea in the mind of God is the measure of natural perfection of each created thing: so the eternal law in the mind of God is the measure of moral perfection and holiness of rational nature in all good works. For he is perfect and holy whose volitions and actions fully accord with the eternal law. Wherefore since the divine will is the same as the divine mind and the eternal law, it follows that it is essentially uncreated and infinite holiness, so that the holiness of creatures, namely of angels and all men, compared to the divine, is as it were nothing, and as it were a certain impurity: just as the being, power, wisdom, dominion of creatures compared with the being, power, wisdom, dominion of God, is but a shadow of being, power, wisdom, dominion. Whence Christ, Matthew XIX: "Why askest thou me of that which is good? One is good, God." And in the doxology of the Mass: "Thou alone art holy, Thou alone art Lord." Hence secondly, holiness is itself innocence and purity from every stain, as St. Dionysius says, chapter XII of the Divine Names; and the Apostle, I Corinthians VII, says that a virgin is holy, that is, chaste and pure in body and spirit; for just as moral stain and blemish consists in the deformity of action from the eternal law: so moral beauty, purity and holiness consists in the conformity of actions with the eternal law. Wherefore God is holy, because He is the purest spirit. Hence angels, because they participate in this purity before others, are most holy; men also, the more they turn their mind away from contact, adherence and love of earthly things, as being filthy, sordid and most vile, and lift and draw it up to God and divine things, the more they are and become holy. For holiness consists in contact and love of divine things, as being spiritual and most pure, namely in union with God. This also makes men spiritual, heavenly, angelic and divine. Hence thirdly, holiness is itself integrity of mind, itself virtue, especially charity, itself grace, itself glory: for all these things are measured according to the eternal law. For this reason Psalm CXLIV says God is "just in all his ways, and holy in all his works," because in all things He shows forth some remarkable virtue, namely either mercy and beneficence, or justice and vengeance of crimes. Thus God in the work of incarnation and redemption of men shows Himself most holy, that is, supremely merciful and beneficent: in that, as if forgetful of so many offenses and injuries of men, to sanctify them and reconcile them to Himself He sent His Son into flesh, nay into the death of the cross, which these Seraphim of Isaiah and John especially regard. This is what the Psalmist says: "Confession and beauty are in His sight, holiness and magnificence in His sanctification," Psalm XCV, 6. And Moses in Exodus XV, 11: "Who is like unto Thee, magnificent in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, working wonders?" Now because charity and divine love is holiness, hence, just as divine love is twofold, namely essential, common to the three persons, and notional, proper to each: so holiness is also twofold. For the Father and Son, loving each other with immense love, produce notional love, and it is most holy: which is therefore called the Holy Spirit, because the Father and Son, its producers and spirators, are most holy, and through most chaste and most holy love produce and spirate the same. To this divine and immense holiness, as to a most sacred godhead, we owe the highest reverence, worship and latria through sacrifices, prayers, oblations, vows, etc.; likewise the highest gratitude, love and obedience, in that He has freed us sinners from sin and made us partakers of His holiness through Christ; moreover the highest imitation: for God wills us to imitate His goodness and holiness, not His omnipotence, omniscience, magnificence, etc. For this makes us just, holy, grateful to God, indeed sons and heirs of God. Hence God Himself ordained in Leviticus XI: "Ye shall be holy, because I am holy." And Christ in Matthew V, 48: "Be ye therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect." And the Apostle in Hebrews XII, 14: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God." Wherefore although the world is as it were a certain temple of the divinity itself, sanctified by His presence, so that we may behold Him everywhere present, creating, sustaining, providing for and adorning all things, everywhere venerate, praise and celebrate Him, and always think ourselves to be conversing in His presence as in a certain sacred temple: yet properly and in a more principal manner the temple of God is a holy soul, according to that saying of the Apostle: "For you are the temple of the living God, as God saith: I will dwell in them, and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people," II Corinthians VI, 16. Wherefore we ought often to retire into the depths of our soul, and there to worship and venerate God present and dwelling by grace, setting aside all other thought and care, in a holy manner according to our capacity. For the holiness of the soul is faith, hope, charity, religion, prayer, patience in adversities, continence, and other virtues. Hence St. Gregory, book VI, on chapter XVI of the first book of Kings: "Holiness, he says, of the body is chastity, holiness of the mind is charity and humility." To this we are invited and stirred by the golden saying of St. Basil, in the homily On the Holy Spirit: "God, he says, is each one of the Saints. For it was said to them by God: I have said, You are gods, and all of you the sons of the Most High; and: The God of gods (namely of the saints) hath spoken, and God shall be seen, the God of gods (namely of the saints) in Sion. But it is necessary that the divine spirit be, and be from God, who is the cause of divinity to gods." And St. Bernard, epistle 23 to Atco: "God, he says, although He is wonderful in His majesty, deigns also to appear glorious in His Saints, lest He alone have glory." The same, sermon 25 among the lesser ones: "There are three things, he says, which make a man holy: sober food, just action, pious feeling, etc. There are three things which make the death of Saints precious: rest from labour, joy from novelty, security from eternity." Finally, to this end came the Holy of Holies, Christ the Lord, into the world, that "we may serve Him in holiness and justice before Him, all the days of our life," Luke I, 75. It is therefore our part to sanctify divine holiness by a holy life, and to exhort and lead all to the same holiness, and thus to spread and celebrate the most holy name and glory of God among all throughout the whole world. This is true and perfect holiness. Symbolically, the trisagion contains not only the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, but the whole Apostles' Creed and the entire evangelical doctrine. For when the Seraphim acclaim the eternal Father, "Holy," they signify the holiness of the Father shown in the creation of the world; when they acclaim the Son "Holy," they signify His holiness in the redemption of the world; when they acclaim the Holy Spirit "Holy," they signify that He is the sanctifier and beatifier of the Church, because in these three works, of creation, redemption and sanctification (to which the twelve articles of the Creed and the whole Gospel are referred) the threefold holiness of the three persons appears; and because in these appears the omnipotence of God and His universal dominion, hence it is added by the living creatures: "Lord God Almighty." Thus Alcazar. In the Lauretan and Spanish manuscripts ἅγιος, that is holy, is repeated nine times, perhaps to signify that to each of the three persons "holy" is acclaimed three times; for each is thrice holy, that is most holy, and also thrice and four times blessed, that is most blessed, so that it may be signified that the Most Holy Trinity is acclaimed all-holy by all nine, that is by all the choirs of angels. But the true reading is that "holy" is read only three times, as it is read in Isaiah VI. WHO WAS, AND WHO IS, AND WHO IS TO COME. — See the remarks on chapter 1, verse 4; here, however, the order is somewhat changed, for in chapter 1 it first places "who is:" for it says: "Who is, who was, and who is to come." Alcazar gives the reason for the transposition: In chapter 1, he says, God's providence over the Church is noted by this threefold name, as if to say: Now indeed "is" the Redeemer, who once "was" the promiser and prefigurer, and finally "is to come" to fully perfect His work. But here the mystery and doxology of the Most Holy Trinity is treated: hence it was fitting that it should begin with "who was," which is the Father; for He is the Ancient of Days, who was before the world, and before all ages. Again, the order of those three works, which are attributed to the three persons, is this: creation, redemption, and perfect sanctification. "Who was" refers to creation; "who is," to redemption; "and who is to come," to the sanctification of the Church, or rather to its beatification and glorification, as I said in chapter 1.
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9. AND WHEN THOSE BEASTS GAVE GLORY, AND HONOUR, AND BENEDICTION — crying out: "Holy, holy, holy;" these three things, therefore, "glory, honour and benediction," are the same as the Trisagion, or threefold "holy." For by repeating this to the Most Holy Trinity, they glorified, honoured and blessed it most highly, that is, they praised and celebrated the holiness of God which it possesses in itself. To Him that sitteth on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever — as if to say: Who not only lives in Himself, but is Himself the uncreated and eternal life, and the cause of the life of all Angels, men and animals: life, I say, both natural and supernatural through grace, and glorious and blessed. This is what John 1, 4 says: "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." And Psalm 35, 10: "For with thee is the fountain of life." 10. AND THE FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS FELL DOWN BEFORE HIM THAT SITTETH ON THE THRONE, AND ADORED HIM. — Alcazar understands this adoration as the sacrifice of the Mass. For the 24 elders, he says, are the priests of the Church, who through the sea of glass, that is through penance, prepare themselves for this sacrifice, which contains the most excellent adoration of God and the glorification of the Most Holy Trinity, on account of the most precious victim most pleasing to God which is offered to Him, namely His only-begotten Son Himself; whence in the Canon it is called "a sacrifice of praise." This is the mystical sense, not the literal. For literally it treats of the principal Saints of both Testaments, who, already blessed in heaven, see, adore and celebrate God and the three divine persons. Note here the threefold gesture of reverence, by which the remarkable humility and veneration of the elders is signified: first, they fall down and cast their faces to the ground as if about to kiss the earth; second, they adore; third, they cast their crowns before God. The first signifies eager haste and profound reverence; the second, the just worship of latria owed to God; the third, the whole truth of mind, sincerity and gratitude, while they strip themselves of their crowns and all dignity, and as it were renounce it, and resign and return it to God, as their true Lord. CAST (The Syriac, went before; the Arabic, laid down, left) THEIR CROWNS BEFORE THE THRONE — as if returning to God the kingdom which they obtained in heaven, the victories, triumphs and crowns received from Him: just as Roman triumphators ascended the Capitol, and after their triumph dedicated their triumphal crowns to Jupiter Capitolinus, as if to their author, as Alexander ab Alexandro testifies, lib. VI Genial., cap. vi. Thus Rupertus here, lib. IV, at the end: "Considering," he says, "that they obtained their crowns not by their own merits, but by the preventing and subsequent mercy of grace, etc., they themselves do not esteem so great a dignity lightly, and with humble reverence they ascribe all that they have merited to Him. They cast therefore before the throne their crowns, that is, whatever virtue, whatever dignity they have, with thanksgiving they offer to God." Thus the Pontiff bore inscribed on his tiara: "Holy to the Lord," as if to say: All my sacerdotal dignity, all my pontifical consecration and holiness, is to me from God; whence openly and continually I profess that this pontifical holiness of mine is not mine, but God's, indeed that I have been consecrated as pontiff for this, that I might continually proclaim and celebrate it. Let earthly kings and princes learn from these 24 elders, who are kings in heaven, to refer their riches, sceptres and kingdoms received from God, and to offer them to Him, that they might use them at God's nod in His service and worship: for thus they will be happy and long-lived, indeed eternal, as God promises them in Deuteronomy 17, 14, Wisdom 6, 22. Wherefore "of old," says Pliny, lib. XVI, cap. IV, "no crown was given except to God. Hence Homer gives them only to heaven, and to the whole of war: but to no one privately, not even in contests." Alcibiades in Plato's dialogue 3, after offering a crown to Socrates, said he would dedicate crowns to the gods, and all things which are customarily given, if he might see that day on which those things which were said by Socrates would come to pass. Hence Tertullian, in the book On the Crown of the Soldier, teaches that Christians ought not to use crowns, because they are used by "those whom the world believed to be gods." For indeed a crown is first a symbol of perfection and completion. God alone, however, is most perfect, and the crown and completion of all things. Second, it is a symbol of victory and triumph; third, of happiness; fourth, of empire and kingdom; fifth, of majesty and glory: which things belong originally and fully to God alone, and are derived from Him to creatures, especially to the Saints, and communicated through streams. Thus to St. Cecilia and St. Valerian an angel brought down from heaven crowns woven from lilies and roses, as it were the laurels of virginity and martyrdom, and the tokens of Christ, in whose roses the flower of blood shone forth, and in whose lilies the brightness of the body gleamed, saying: "Keep these crowns with an immaculate heart and a pure body, because I have brought them to you from the Paradise of God." Thus the Acts of St. Cecilia have it, and from these St. Aldhelm, On Virginity, XXIII. "Let each one now strive, let them receive either the white crown from their work, or the purple crown from their passion," says St. Cyprian, epistle 9. Furthermore, St. John here alludes to the fourth book of Esdras II, verse 46, where Esdras saw a most beautiful young man, namely the Son of God, placing crowns upon the heads of the Saints, concerning which elegant vision I shall say more in chapter vii, 13. Thus literally all the Saints offered and resigned their merits and crowns to God. Isaiah, chapter xxvi, verse 12: "Lord, Thou wilt give peace to us: for Thou hast wrought all our works for us." Jeremiah, chapter xvii, verse 14: "Save me, and I shall be saved: for Thou art my praise. And I was not troubled following Thee as a shepherd: and I have not desired the day of man, Thou knowest." The Royal Prophet, Psalm xv, 5: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup, Thou art He that wilt restore my inheritance to me." And Psalm cxiii, 9: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory." And Psalm lxi, 8: "In God is my salvation and my glory: God is the God of my help, and my hope is in God." And Psalm iii, 3: "But Thou, O Lord, art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head." Moreover his son and successor in the kingdom Solomon, I Paralipomenon xxix, 11: "Thine, he says, O Lord, is the magnificence, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and to Thee is the praise; for all things that are in heaven and on earth are Thine: Thine, O Lord, is the kingdom, and Thou art above all princes. Thine are the riches, and Thine is the glory, Thou rulest over all: in Thy hand is power and might: in Thy hand is greatness and the empire of all." Daniel chapter ix, verse 7: "To Thee, O Lord, justice, but to us confusion of face: to Thee mercy and forgiveness." So also the Blessed Virgin: "My soul, she says, doth magnify the Lord, because He that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His name." And Judith, after slaying Holofernes, chapter xvi, verse 3: "The Lord breaking wars, the Lord is His name." And Moses with the Hebrews, after crossing the Red Sea and Pharaoh being drowned, Exodus xv, verse 1: "Let us sing to the Lord; for He is gloriously magnified: the horse and the rider He hath thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my praise, and He is become my salvation," etc. And St. Peter, epistle I, chapter 1, 3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." And St. James, chapter 1, verse 17: "Every best gift, and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." And St. Paul, Ephesians chapter 1, 3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ. As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity. Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the purpose of His will, unto the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He hath graced us in His beloved Son." And II Corinthians IV, 7: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God, and not of us." Thus St. Agnes, placed in the flames, resigned to God the crown of virginity and martyrdom, saying: "Almighty, adorable, venerable, terrible Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I bless thee, because through thy only-begotten Son I have escaped the hands of the impious, and have passed through the undefiled way, avoiding the filthiness of the devil. I bless thee, Father worthy of praise, who permittest me even amid the flames to come to thee undaunted. Behold, what I believed I now see; what I hoped for I now possess; what I desired I now embrace. I confess thee with my lips and heart, I desire thee with all my inmost being. Behold, I come to thee, the living and true God." Thus St. Ambrose relates it, lib. IV, epist. 34. So too Blessed Agatha, when she had overcome the cutting off of her breasts, imprisonment, fire, etc., now breathing forth her soul, with hands extended toward heaven: "Lord, she said, Jesus Christ, good Master, I give thee thanks, because thou hast made me overcome the torments of executioners: command me, Lord, to come to thee, whom I thirst for ineffably, and to arrive happily at thy unfading glory." For what, says St. Augustine, are our good works but gifts of God? When therefore God crowns our good works, what does he crown but his own gifts? This is the truth by which the vanity of glory is put to flight. For the saints, while they see in themselves something good, equally see that it is from God, not from themselves: whence they do not exalt themselves, but rather humble themselves more under God. Let us therefore say continually with the Psalmist, Psalm cii: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgiveth all thy iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion." Where St. Augustine says: "Let us rejoice, because we have conquered. We who were conquered in ourselves, have conquered in him (God). Therefore he crowns thee, because he crowns his own gifts, not thy merits." This is true wisdom, if thou knowest what thou art of thyself, what thou art from God, what in thee is thine, what is God's. Of thyself thou art an abyss of nothingness, ignorance and sin. From God thou art man, wise, holy, etc. Attribute therefore these things to God, those to thyself. The more clearly thou shalt perceive this, and the more fully accomplish that, the wiser and holier, and equally more humble shalt thou become.
4:11
11. SAYING: THOU ART WORTHY, O LORD OUR GOD, TO RECEIVE GLORY, AND HONOUR, AND VIRTUE. — Just as the four living creatures sang the trisagion to God, so likewise here the twenty-four elders sing the same in imitation of them (whence certain Greek manuscripts add here: "Because thou art holy"). For "virtue" here is the same as blessing and praise of virtue, by metonymy. Just as in chapter v, verse 12, it is said: "The Lamb is worthy to receive virtue and divinity," that is, praise and doxology of his virtue and divinity. For virtue in Greek is δύναμιν, that is, fortitude, as if to say: Thou art worthy, O Lord, who from our mouth, and from that of all men and Angels, receivest confession and praise of thy immense power and fortitude, by which thou hast created all things, and by which thou hast made us and other faithful ones subject to thee victorious: thou art worthy that this thy virtue and strength be praised and celebrated by all. The Greek manuscripts contain more titles of God. For they have: ἄξιος εἶ, ὁ Κύριος καὶ Θεὸς ἡμῶν ὁ ἅγιος, that is, thou art worthy, O Lord and our God the holy one, to receive, etc. BECAUSE FOR (by) THY WILL THEY WERE (were, that is, they existed, came forth, received their essence and existence, when, as follows, they were made) AND CREATED. — For τὸ and is exegetical, and explains τὸ were, as if to say: "They were and," that is, "they were created." Others say: "They were," that is, they were conserved and are conserved, as if on account of a twofold benefit, namely of creation and conservation, they give thanks to God; for it follows: "And they were created." Secondly, many read εἰσι, that is, are, instead of ἦσαν, that is, were; which reading is the easiest and plainest. Thus Vatable, Erasmus and many others read it. Thirdly, Ansbert says: "They were," the creatures before creation in the eternal ideas of the divine mind, in the eternal decree of God, by which from all eternity he had decreed that they should be created by him in time. Whence he subjoins the execution of this decree, saying: "And they were created." Fourthly, Alcazar refers τὸ were to the being of nature, but truly "they were created" to the being of grace, by which nature lost through sin, as if newly created and restored, as if to say: Men owe to God not only the being of nature, which all creatures received through the ancient production in Genesis; but also the new being of grace, which was imparted to them when they were made new creatures, as St. Paul says, and sharers of the divine nature, as St. Peter says. But thus he would rather have said, "recreated," or "newly," or "again created," not absolutely "created"; for this signifies the work of the first creation, by which God produced and established all things from nothing. Moreover, under this as it were root, these elders understand at the same time the work of recreation, or redemption, grace and salvation. For this reason they cast their crowns before the throne, as if bearing their merits and salvation acceptable to God, as if to say: Thou, O Lord, art the creator and author of all things, of all goods both natural and supernatural; therefore we owe our glory to thee. We offer and refer ourselves and all that is ours to thee, nay, not what is ours, but what is thine we render back to thee. Finally, Alcazar notes that here throughout there is an allusion to the temple and vessels of the temple of Solomon, except that the ark, as being Mosaic, is turned into a heavenly arc, namely the most beautiful rainbow of Christ; and in place of the table of the shewbread is the sealed book which he held in his hand sitting upon the throne; in place of the altar of incense are the golden phials full of odours, chapter v, verse 8; in place of the altar of holocausts is the adoration of the twenty-four elders, that is, the sacrifice of the Mass. Therefore in the Old Testament these nine things were illustrious: first, the throne of God; second, the ark of the covenant; third, the dignity of the high priests descended from Aaron; fourth, the doctrine of the divine law which was preached there; fifth, the golden candlestick with seven lamps; sixth, the table of the loaves of proposition; seventh, the brazen sea; eighth, the great Cherubim which Solomon made; ninth, the sacrifices which were offered to God. To these nine things, equally illustrious and corresponding in the same order, have succeeded in the New Testament, which John here recounts. For first, the throne of God here are the Cherubim and the mercy seat, not corporeal and old, but spiritual and new, namely Christ and his faithful Christians; second, in place of the ark of the covenant appeared the heavenly rainbow of emerald; third, in place of the 24 high priests, here 24 elders are substituted; fourth, in place of the doctrine of the law, thunders and lightnings are heard; fifth, to the seven candlesticks with lamps are substituted seven heavenly lamps; sixth, in place of the table of the loaves of proposition, a wonderful sealed book is set forth in the hand of the Most High; seventh, in place of the brazen sea, a glassy sea is presented to the eyes; eighth, in place of Solomon's Cherubim, four admirable and most mystical animals stand before God; ninth, in place of the ancient bloody victims, the bloodless sacrifice of the Mass is substituted. These things are set forth, but mystically, not literally, as Alcazar wishes. Add that it is not sufficiently fitting that the ark be transformed into a rainbow, the table into a book: for although grammatically, or as regards the letters and words, the word ark may easily pass into and be changed into the word rainbow, nevertheless the thing itself does not: for the nature of the ark is one thing, of the rainbow another, especially as regards the form and figure of the iris. Thus we see that learned men sometimes, while pursuing more minutely and studiously certain allusions and elegances, whether grammatical or historical, stray from the solid and true sense of Holy Scripture. The rest correspond to one another sufficiently well: but they are to be understood literally concerning the temple not earthly, that is the Church, but heavenly. For the temple of Solomon, just as it signified allegorically the Church militant, so it signified and represented anagogically heaven, or the Church triumphant, concerning which St. John here speaks literally.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
4:3
… (Rev. 4:3 - 5:10).
4:4
… Christian liturgy always willed ecclesiastics to be indistinctly clothed in a white base-garment in the likeness of the 24 Elders and of the innumerable throng that, in heaven, stands around the throne of the Lamb (Rev. 4, 4).
4:5
… In Daniel there is mention of angelic "princes", among whom Michael and Gabriel are named (8:10; 9:21; 10:13). In Tob. 12:15 a third is mentioned, Raphael, as "one of the seven who stand before the Lord" (cf. Apoc. 1:4; 4:5). In the Greek version of Dan. 12:1, Michael is called ἀρχάγγελος; the "archangel" (v.) occurs in I Thess. 4:14 and in Iud. 9. Besides the cherubim and the seraphim known …
4:6
… But clearly distinct categories are the Seraphim (v.), the Cherubim (v.) and the Ophāmim (Enoch 61:10) or "Wheels" (Ez. 1:15-21; 10:9-17) that surround the throne of God (cf. Apoc. 4:6-8). St. Victorinus of Pettau (4th cent.) identifies the archangels with the "seven spirits who stand before the throne of God" and cites Tob. 12:15; Apoc. 1:4 (In Apoc., 8, ed. Haussleiter). …
4:8
1) The biblical T., or the triple Sanctus at the end of the Preface, is derived from Is. 6:3 (cf. Rev. 4:8), and is therefore also called the "seraphic hymn." Already in use in the synagogue (cf. the "Kedushah" of the morning Office), it is found in Clement of Rome (ad Corint., ch. 34), …
4:10
… A simple form is distinguished from a paraphrastic one with various additions, e.g., "qui crucifixus es pro nobis," "qui venisti ab excelsis pati pro nobis" (Missal of Bobbio, 25: dicitur post dios), "[Agnē Dei] qui tollis peccata mundi [miserere nobis]" or similar to Rev. 4:10-11, etc.
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.