Fathers

Revelation 4

Tap a verse to read the Fathers. Press and hold, then drag, to make a card.

After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, was one saying, “Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this.” Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne that looked like a jasper stone and a sardius. There was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. On the thrones were twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white garments, with crowns of gold on their heads. Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before his throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!” When the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed, and were created!”

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

Revelation 4:3

Eastern Fathers

Oecumenius

And a spirit above Him resembling jasper and carnelian. God is not like these things; away with that thought [ἄπαγε]. He is unlike any of the things perceived by the senses, neither having a body at all, invisible, spiritual, and without form. The invisible God is like that of the Seraphim, revealing their unseen nature, cover their faces with their wings (Is. 6:2). And to Moses, God spoke, saying: "No one shall see my face and live." (Ex. 33:20) But even the evangelist states decisively: "No one has ever seen God." (Jn. …

Commentary on Revelation ↗

Dionysius bar Salibi

Stone of jasper—jasper or onyx, i.e., like white lead is his likeness. And of carnelian—He is of red color like fire. Of emerald—The color of emerald is like beet. Sea of glass like crystal—of ice. Twenty-four elders—They are of the order of Thrones. And four living creatures—order of Cherubim. And those having six wings are Seraphim; but in the Apocalypse he says the Cherubim have six wings and they exclaim: "Holy!" For by the church above the Son of Thunder is illuminated with this revelation. …

Commentary On The Apocalypse 4:3-6 ↗

Western Saints

Bede

And a rainbow was around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. The rainbow, which is made by the sun shining on clouds, and after the flood was first made a sign of propitiation, by the intercession of the saints whom the Lord illuminates, signifies the Church being fortified. They are well compared to the emerald stone of great greenness; for as they expect an imperishable inheritance with perfect faith, they also powerfully protect others by praying.

Commentary on Revelation ↗

Alcuin of York

And he that sat, was to the sight like the jasper and the sardine stone. By the jasper, which is green, are represented the green pastures of the paradise; and what are those pastures but Christ's divinity, in which all things live? As the same John said, He that hath the Son, hath life. [1 John 5:12] By the sardine stone, which has a resemblance to red earth, is represented our Redeemer's humanity, because truth is sprung out of the earth. [Ps. 84:12] The species of these stones may also represent the Church. …

Commentary On Revelation ↗

Victorinus of Pettau

"And He that sate upon the throne was, to look upon, like a jasper and a sardine stone." Upon the throne he says that he saw the likeness of a jasper and a sardine stone. The jasper is of the colour of water, the sardine of fire. These two are thence manifested to be placed as judgments upon God's tribunal until the consummation of the world, of which judgments one is already completed in the deluge of water, and the other shall be completed by fire. …

Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John ↗