The "twenty-four thrones" are humanity, animals, these monsters with the heads of a calf, a lion, an eagle and a man are the kerubim who personify the created world. From ancient times, from the very first books of the Bible, they personified the universe. This is especially clearly stated in the prophet Ezekiel, where four cherubs, huge fiery kerubim, similar to those depicted by the Assyrians and Babylonians, carry a divine chariot on their shoulders. And here, the same semblances of kerubi surround the heavenly ark, and twenty-four elders on both sides, twelve each, are the sign of the chosen ones of mankind. Some believed that it was the Church of the Old and New Testaments, the patriarchs and the apostles (which is not excluded if it was written in the 90s). But if in the year sixty-four, when perhaps some of the apostles were still alive, then this is already doubtful. Christ says: "Sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel," that is, when the Lord draws you close to Himself, that is, sits at the right hand, at the right hand of His throne, this means a special trust in God. There is another interpretation, which can be reduced to the following: in the Jerusalem temple there were twenty-four lines of priests who were supposed to perform divine services during the day. And here, since a certain heavenly service is being performed, we are in the heavenly altar, here these twenty-four elders are heavenly priests, intercessors, representatives of the human race, heavenly twenty-four lines.

"From the throne came lightning and thunder and voices" – this is the image of Sinai. "And seven lamps of fire burned before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God..." The seven are the fullness of the spiritual world, the seven angels of the book of Tobit, who are with God, and at the same time the fullness of the church, for the seven angels are the patrons of the seven churches.

"In front of the throne is a sea of glass, like crystal" ... is a common image of the world cosmic globe in the Bible, it is the sky, the firmament, which resembles both the sea and transparent glass.

The four animals are the cosmic universe, and they are at its four corners. "They are full of eyes" – the eyes, according to the prophet Ezekiel, are the stars that sparkle in the heavenly chariot, and thus the entire universe is gathered here: people, living creatures and heavenly bodies. And they all cry out continuously, day or night, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." These are the words from the sixth chapter of the prophet Isaiah, this is the song of the angels, the song of the seraphim.

But what does it mean, "they have no rest day or night"? This means that cosmic worship is a special kind of communion with God, and that they have constant communion with God. Divine services have as their goal communion with God, it is the path to God, and not that God is brought something that He needs. Now, the heavenly beings, the spiritual beings that lie at the bottom of nature, the angels and the people, are there in constant communion with God. This is exactly what it means... "They have no rest day or night...", that is, there is no time for them. They are above time, over being, there they cry out: "Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, Who was, is, and is to come." It is believed that this hymn was very ancient, it was sung by the first Christians in apostolic times (which is why it was included in the liturgy). Not only does nature give praise to God, but all creation, especially the twenty-four elders, who fall down before the living, placing their crowns before the throne.

Why do they lay down their crowns? All mankind is crowned; man is set up as the king of creation, but at the same time he is a king only because he received his power from above, from God. When he wants to fall away from God, he puts on this crown and considers it his own. When true humanity stands before the face of God, it falls down before Him and takes off its crown. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power, for Thou hast created all things, and all things exist and are created according to Thy will." Before us is the heavenly Eucharist; glory, honor and thanksgiving are given to Him who sits on the throne, and thanksgiving is the Eucharist. This beginning of the description of the mystery of the fate of the world is considered by some interpreters to be the prologue of the appeal to the Jewish church — hence the eleventh chapter, and from the twelfth chapter — the appeal to the pagan church. But this division is not accepted by everyone. In any case, the narrative of the hidden fate of the world begins with a picture of the vision of the glory of God, painted in the colors of the Old Testament authors.

5

1 And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book, written within and without, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel declaring with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open this book, and to open its seals?' 3 And no man was able, neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth, to open this book, nor to look into it. 4 And I wept a lot because there was no one worthy to open and read this book, and even look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep not; Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered, and is able to open this book, and to open the seven seals thereof. 6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it were slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth. 7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. 8 And when he took the book, then the four beasts and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sing a new song, saying, 'Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and by thy blood hast redeemed us unto God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,10 and hast made us kings and priests unto our God; and we shall reign on the earth. 11 And I saw, and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders, and their number was ten thousands, and thousands of thousands, 12 who said with a loud voice, 'The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing.' 13 And every creature that is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all that is in them, I have heard, saying, To him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and dominion for ever and ever. 14 And the four beasts said, 'Amen.' And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshipped Him who lives forever and ever.

Comment

Open. 5, 1. The first act of this vision is the picture of the throne of God, with which Dante's "Paradise" ends. The second act is the appearance of the book, and this book is the history of the universe, the one that is visible to God from the transcendental heights in a complete and perfect form. Not exactly what is intended – we will not use such a harsh term – but what is actually being done. It is difficult for us to fit this into our consciousness, in our dimension of existence there are always opportunities to go right and left, but if we look back, we will see that our choice can no longer be changed, somewhere it has already been made. And here are the events being written somewhere; By the way, this is quite on the other side of time, which means going beyond the limit of creation, since a creature can only be in time. And so the apocalypticists, the ancient authors of the apocrypha, hoped that this secret book would be revealed to them, and in these hopes they often came to a determinism that was far from the biblical understanding: that everything was defined rather rigidly and there was no other way. This was the opinion of the authors of the Book of Enoch, the Book of the Sibyl, the Book of Jubilees, the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, etc.

In the prophet Daniel, the canonical apocalyptic, this is not expressed in such a harsh form. He seems to have an alternative. Here, in the author of the Apocalypse, although it would seem that he is completely imbued with the same spirit, it is clearly stated that this is a mystery into which no one can penetrate. Only he who stands on the other side of created existence can penetrate it. This thought is given with profoundly dramatic concreteness: he sees a mysterious book, he is so eager to know what will happen that he even cries — he is so bitter that the future is closed

(Rev. 5:4) But it is not fitting for a Christian to live in the future and look into the future, it is closed, and who can do that? No one. The elder told him that "the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, conquered."

And this is where the superhuman dignity of Christ is manifested (Rev. 5:6). He stands in the midst of the elders, mind you, not on a throne, no, Christ comes as a seeker, as one to be exalted, and as He walks on earth, He voluntarily deprives Himself of almost all the prerogatives of divinity. He not only needs rest, sleep, food, but also suffers and dies. He has no power in heaven or on earth. And only by conquering death, He, namely the man Christ, receives this power. He, being at the same time a man, is on the other side of creation, so He can open this book, the only one of all. Although the Apostle John does not yet give a complete formula for God-manhood, he immediately wants to emphasize that he is not just a prophet lifted up from somewhere into the depths of man. Jesus appears before the elders in a symbolic form. He's a winner; the victor must come with a sword, on horseback, wearing a crown, as later in the Apocalypse. He will be the victor of the empire. And here, "the lion of the tribe of Judah" – according to biblical prophecy, this is the Messiah, the Deliverer. The "Root of David" is also a clear reference to the Messiah-Christ. He won and can open this book. But despite the fact that He has conquered, He does not appear fully armed, but comes like a Lamb with the signs of the slaughter, as if slain.

It is impossible to depict this image of Christ standing before the throne, there are no such picturesque colors, because He has seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, that is, the seven powers of the Holy Spirit (the horn in the Old Testament and in ancient Eastern symbolism always denoted power).