The seven eyes signify the fullness of His knowledge and at the same time His gaze upon the churches. They are "the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth," active in the churches. "And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne." And here there is an appeal not only to the One who sits, but also to the Lamb Himself. The Cosmos present, celebrating the Liturgy in the person of monstrous cherubs, angels and elders – all of them prostrate themselves before the Angel, and musical instruments, bowls with incense – all this, as the Apostle himself explains, is the essence of the prayers of the saints. "A new song is being sung."

What does "new song" mean? A new song is mentioned here several times, because the "old song" is one of the most important Old Testament hymns. In this case, the old hymn is considered to be "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." And here is a new one, "Thou art worthy – this is already an appeal to the Lamb – to take a book and open the seals from it." The Lamb conquered, but He conquered not by force, but by being slain, and "with His blood He redeemed us to God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation." And He made us kings and priests to our God." These words confirm the general idea of the interpreter that the twenty-four elders denote the humanity of the elect. It does not matter whether twelve of them belong to the Old Testament and twelve to the New, but somehow it is the totality of the church as mankind and humanity as the church, the transfer to the church of the common adoption that was given first to Israel, and then to the whole church.

Open. 5:10." "And we shall reign on the earth," that is, the kingdom of God is the dominion of blessed principles which the Lord wants to lay at the foundation of creation, and which do not exist as long as there are opposing powers. And the entire Apocalypse is devoted to this battle, this tragedy, that the world rises up against God and resists Him: it is, as it were, an answer to people in the very first days of the first persecutions. It is an answer to the perplexed who were waiting for the immediate descent of Christ in power and glory, an answer to those who could not understand why there was no mass conversion such as they thought. The world resists God, but when God reigns, it will no longer be. And then the elect, that is, those who followed Him, will reign on earth. But this is not a small handful or a handful, as the Qumran sectarians or similar groups thought. Here it is said: the voice of many angels around the throne and animals and elders, and their number was ten thousand and thousands of thousands" – this is the number not only of angels, but also of people. Perhaps this is one of the songs of the early Christians about the worthiness of the Lamb slain. Who receives the gifts of the Holy Spirit, power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor and glory and blessing, and possesses these treasures. And here the whole creation is emphasized that all the Christians in heaven and on earth, that is, the entire cosmos, are already singing glory to God and to the Lamb who sits on the throne, "and to the Lamb blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." .

He Who was Man, He Who was slain, is now standing at the right hand of God. Jesus, as God, is always in the Trinity, and as the God-man, He rises from the earth – this is the mystery of the Ascension – and enters the divine world. After this comes the opening of the seals, the revelation of the mystery of the catastrophes that precede the appearance of Christ in power and glory.

The number four, in the case of four animals, always in antiquity signified the world circle, the four cardinal points, the fullness of this kind. And when asked why there are four Gospels, the early Christian writers answered: because there are four corners of the world. To many, this answer seemed strange, but in fact it meant symbolic completeness, like the square Jerusalem in Ezekiel's vision, like four gates; it was such a universal, universal sign, there was a parallel development, and so the four Gospels and the four animals were chosen. They were once depicted separately; Four animals, four cherubs, were depicted in early Christian churches, and only later were the evangelists, and then they somehow merged. There are already subsequent interpretations about this, but purely arbitrary, which anyone can come up with.

The usual traditional interpretations boil down to the fact that the evangelist Matthew is symbolized by a person, because he begins with the human genealogy of Christ. The Evangelist Mark is depicted with a lion, because he begins with a description of the desert and the Baptist. The Evangelist Luke is with a calf, because he begins with a description of the sacrifice in the temple performed by Zechariah. And the Apostle John, like an eagle, ascends into the heavenly spheres. It was accepted in the Middle Ages, but it doesn't really matter.

What is to be done with those creatures that possess eternal life—angels, heavenly powers, cherubim, etc., including souls? To what extent do they partake of eternity, or, having partaken of eternity, must they lose something of their creation, but in all cases they remain creatures? Remember the words of the Savior: "The angels of heaven do not know when the day and the hour will be. "And the Son of Man does not know..."

He didn't get power and glory until He went up there, He made Himself small, and so He couldn't stand out of time. This means that the angels also depend on time in their own way, they may be freer from it than we are, but they obviously cannot really get out of it completely. And while everyone is in time, and souls too, it is not for nothing that we celebrate forty days after death.

6

1 And I saw that the Lamb had opened the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four beasts saying as with a voice of thunder, 'Come and see.' 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and a rider having a bow on it, and a crown was given to him; And he went forth as victorious, and to overcome.

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast saying, 'Come and see.' 4 And another horse came out, a red one; and it is given to him who sits on it to take peace from the earth, and to kill one another; and he was given a great sword.

E-5 And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast saying, 'Come and see.' I looked, and behold, a black horse, and on it a rider having measure in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts, saying, A hinix of wheat for a denarius, and three quinixes of barley for a denarius; but thou shalt not damage the oil or the wine.

7 And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast saying, "Come and see." 8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and on it a rider, whose name is death; and hell followed him; and he was given power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and with the beasts of the earth.

9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they had. 10 And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Holy and True Lord, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11 And white robes were given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little while, until both their fellow-workers and their brethren, who would be slain like them, should add to the number.