ACC ~ Revelation 4 v4

THE ELDERS REPRESENT THE CHURCH OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. VICTORINUS OF PETOVIUM: And there were twenty-four elders who had twenty-four tribunals. These are the books of the prophets and of the law which give the testimonies of the judgment. However, these twenty-four fathers are also the twelve apostles and the twelve patriarchs. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 4.3.

SYMBOLS OF THE WHOLE CHURCH. TYCONIUS: The elders represent the whole church, as we learn through Isaiah, “The Lord has reigned in Zion and in Jerusalem, and he will be glorified in the presence of his elders.”However, the twenty-four includes at the same time both leaders and people, as though duplicating the twelve tribes of Israel on account of the two Testaments. For the very same church is established in both the old and in the new, since he shows the church in the twelve apostles, namely, the entire body of leaders. And so we discover Jerusalem in the description of the city descending from heaven. The twenty-four thrones, considered by way of a distribution of offices, are twelve, since also the leaders of the twelve tribes will be advanced. And the twelve thrones, considered by way of a mystical number, is one throne, where from comes the church. For the Lord Christ is alone the one who will sit in judgment. However, the church also will sit and does sit judging the twelve tribes, but she will do this in Christ in whom is the whole [church]. Therefore, the members will sit and judge, but in one head and through one head. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 4.4.

THE PATRIARCHS AND APOSTLES. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: Most evidently John has described the chorus of the patriarchs and of the apostles, who sit upon the chair of holy doctrine. These he calls “elders,” that is, “fathers,” and they are clothed in white garments, that is, they are clothed in works of righteousness and in purity. They carry upon their heads golden crowns, for they have been made victors in present struggles, since that evil enemy, the devil, has been thrown down, and they have received their crowns from the Lord. Concerning this crown, the vessel of election says: “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on the day, and not only to me but also to those who love his appearing.” TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 4.4.

SAINTS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. OECUMENIUS: God alone, who knows every mystery, and that person to whom he might reveal it, might know the identity of the twenty-four elders who are seated upon the thrones. But in my own opinion there was Abel, and Enoch and Noah, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, Melchizedek and Job, Moses and Aaron, Joshua the son of Nun and Samuel, David, Elijah and Elisha, the twelve minor prophets who are accounted as one, Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, Zachariah and John, James the son of Joseph and Stephen, the two martyrs of the New Testament. One might have mentioned Peter and Paul and James, the brother of John whom Herod killed with the sword, and the rest of the choir of the holy apostles, had not the Lord promised them that not at the present time but at the regeneration they would sit upon twelve thrones, these clearly being different thrones than the ones mentioned above. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 4.4-6.

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