And what book does John see, which has writing on the front and back and is sealed? Which book could no one read and loose its seals, except the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David who has the key of David, and who opens and no one will close, and closes and no one will open? For the whole Scripture is what is revealed by the book that has writing on the front because its interpretation is easy, and on the back because it is hidden and spiritual.

This scroll, which is said to be written on the inside and on the outside, is all of the present world which is a creature [of God]. God perceives the inner [thoughts of every creature] and he knows their outer deeds. For, by the virtue of his power he surpasses this world which is contained [by him] and by the clarity of his majesty he searches into the inmost parts. The book is said to be sealed by seven seals, so that the decree and limit of the present seven days, in which the world was made, might be manifested. Another interpretation: This book signifies the teaching of the Old Testament, which was given into the hands of our Lord, who accepted the judgment from the Father. The seven seals are these: First, incarnation; second, birth; third, passion; fourth, death; fifth, resurrection; sixth, glory; seventh, kingdom. These seals, therefore, are Christ. Since he completed all things through his humanity, he opened and unsealed everything which had been closed and sealed in the Scriptures.

The book is in the right hand because it is in Christ, for he is the arm of God, he is the right hand of the Father, or it means that it was in the highest blessedness. The book written on the inside and the outside is both Testaments, the Old Testament on the outside because it was visible, and the New Testament on the inside because it lay hidden within the Old.^[1] The apostle speaks to the Hebrews of this: For you have not come to what may be touched, a fire, a storm, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice with words whose hearers entreated that no further word be given to them, for they could not bear what was said, and the following.^[2] However, now comparing spiritual things with spiritual things, we do not contemplate what is seen but what is not seen,^[3] for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal.^[4] And therefore one book is mentioned, since the New Testament cannot be without the Old, nor the Old without the New. For the Old Testament is the messenger and the veil of the New, while the New is the fulfillment and revelation of the Old. And because the Old Testament was on the outside, it neither disclosed everything nor did it conceal everything. Or, to express this more clearly, every dispensation of the Savior that is either promised or enacted in either Testament is collected here in this book.

The holy Scriptures depict for us a certain book, in which all of humankind is registered, perhaps calling God’s memory of us a book, except that the prophet calls it a scroll, saying, Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in your scroll shall they all be written.^[1] And the most wise Moses, making propitiation for sinful Israel, weeps and cries out to God, But now, if you will forgive their sin, forgive, but if not, blot me out of your book which you have written.^[2] The holy Evangelist saw this book written within and without. That written within may be those from Israel who are registered as pious through the guidance of the law, while that without would be those from the Gentiles who by a worse fate had been idolaters before they believed in Christ. The scroll was in the right hand of God. This is, as I certainly think, the ways of the saints who walked uprightly in the old covenant. The scroll was rolled up and sealed with seven seals. As a perfect number, the seven shows how exceedingly securely the scroll is closed and sealed up.

Sealed, it says, by seven seals. This means that the book was obscured by the plenitude of all mysteries, since until the passion and resurrection of Christ it had remained sealed. For in no way is anything called a testament, unless those who are about to die make it, and it is sealed until the death of the testator, and after his death, it is opened. And so, after the death of Christ every mystery was revealed.

We recognize the book to be the most wise memory of God in which, according to David, all people are recorded, as well as the depths of the divine judgments. Those things written on the outside through the letter are more easily comprehended. Those things written on the inside through the Spirit are more difficult to decipher. The seven seals signify either the obscurity of the book which is known to no one or the economies of him who searches the depths of the Spirit of God.^[1] No created being is able to open these seals. The book also is understood to be the prophecy that Christ himself said to be fulfilled in the Gospel,^[2] but the rest of [the prophecy] will be fulfilled in the last days.

In the hand of him who is seated on the tribunal there is a book written within, sealed by seven seals. This signifies the Old Testament which was given into the hand of our Lord, who received the judgment from the Father. A herald cried out, he says, whether there was anyone worthy to open the book and to loose its seals, and no one was found worthy, neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth. However, to open the testament is to suffer and to conquer death for humanity. No one was found worthy to do this, neither among the angels in heaven, nor among men on the earth, nor among the souls of the saints who are at rest; only Christ, the Son of God, whom he says that he saw as though a lamb slain, having seven horns. What had been prophesied of him, whatever the law had mediated of him through oblations and sacrifices, it was necessary that he fulfill. And because he himself was the testator who had conquered death, it was just that he himself be appointed God’s heir, so that he might possess the property of the one who was dying, that is, the human race.

When it says that no one in heaven was found worthy, it indicates that [opening the scroll] exceeded the capacities of the angels. This was not because they were ignorant of the future mystery of the Lord’s incarnation and work but because this was not to be completed through an angelic creature. For the Son of God, who through the assumption of true humanity was going to redeem humanity, wishes to fulfill all things through himself. Therefore Isaiah said, Neither an angel nor a messenger but the Lord himself saved them.^[1] When it says that no one on the earth was worthy, it means that no one of the just remains perfect in this life, for in order to be re-created man requires the assistance of him who alone is Creator. And that no one could be found under the earth means that no one among the saints who had died was found worthy to open the scroll or even to see it. Here to see means to comprehend, and therefore Paul says that he preaches the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles^[2] of which the Lord spoke, that is, the glory of the New Testament that was hidden in the law and that Christ reserved for his own presence. And so, no one was able to see this with an adequate sight, so that he might be able to effect it, since Christ had the power to fulfill it by his own dispensation. For [this glory] could only be foreseen by them, but it could not be effected.

But it occurs to me that if we call an object infernal because it lies in a lower position, then hell ought to be infernal to the earth just as the earth is to the sky. This is perhaps what the psalmist had in mind when he said, You have freed my soul from the lower infernal regions.^[1] The earth then is the upper infernal, and lying below this is the lower infernal. The words of John, too, are in keeping with this concept. He says he saw a book sealed with seven seals, and, because no one was found worthy to open the seals, either in heaven or on earth or under the earth, he was all in tears. Yet, later, he says that the Lion of the tribe of Judah opened the book. This book can refer only to sacred Scriptures, for no one opened it but Christ our Redeemer, who became man, and by his death, resurrection and ascension opened the way to all the mysteries it contained. No one in heaven opened it, because no angel could. No one on earth opened it, because no one living in the flesh had the power of doing so. No one under the earth was found worthy to open it, because souls separated from their bodies do not have such powers. No one but our Lord could open up the hidden meanings of the sacred word. Since, then, no one under the earth was found worthy to unseal the book, I see no reason why we should not believe that hell is under the earth.

This vision shows to us the mysteries of the holy Scriptures, which were revealed through the incarnation of the Lord. Its harmonious unity contains, as it were, the Old Testament without and the New Testament within. . . . Neither an angel nor anyone of the righteous who are already freed from the flesh was able to reveal or to search out the mysteries of the divine law or to look into the book, that is, to contemplate the splendor of the grace of the New Testament. Similarly, the sons of Israel had not been able to look upon the face of the giver of the law of the Old Testament, which contains the New.

It was the church that wept in John’s weeping, for she is weighed down with the burden of sins and beseeches her own redemption, which was shown to exist in the opening of this book.

Now, as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also God, was prophesied under the figure of a lion,^[1] because of his royalty and glory, in the same way have the Scriptures also previously spoken of antichrist as a lion, because of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so antichrist is also a lion. Christ is a king,^[2] so antichrist is also a king. The Savior was manifested as a lamb;^[3] so he too, similarly, will appear as a lamb, though within he is a wolf. The Savior came into the world in the circumcision, and he too will come in the same way. The Lord sent apostles among all the nations, and he similarly will send false apostles. The Savior gathered together the sheep that were scattered abroad,^[4] and he too will bring together a people that is scattered abroad. The Lord gave a seal to those who believed on him, and he too will give one in like manner. The Savior appeared in the form of man, and he too will come in the form of a man. The Savior raised up and showed his holy flesh like a temple,^[5] and he too will raise a temple of stone in Jerusalem.

In this one elder we recognize the whole body of the prophets, for their prophecies consoled the church as they foretold that Christ would come from the tribe of Judah and would redeem the world by his own blood. Of him it was foretold: Judah is a lion’s whelp. For prey, my son, you have gone up. You lie in wait as a lion and as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?^[1] Moreover, the same one is taught to be a lamb as well as a lion, for he assumed death with a devout innocence, even as he killed with power the death he had assumed. To death he had long ago truly issued threats, saying through Hosea, I will be your death, O death, I will be your sting, O hades.^[2] And through Isaiah, Behold, the root of Jesse will rise for the salvation of the people. The nations will entreat him, and his sepulcher will be glorious.^[3] For when anyone of the faithful individually and earnestly weeps for his or her own sins and recalls the promises of redemption through the consolation of the Scriptures,^[4] [that person] will recognize that he or she has the hope of eternal salvation. As I say, by one of the elders this is confirmed with a similar response. For this reason, he mentions what is past while he is also promising the future, because in the things of the past the Spirit shows future things by way of subtle hints.

So the true victory of our Lord Jesus Christ was achieved when he rose again and ascended into heaven. Then was fulfilled what you heard when the Apocalypse was read, The lion from the tribe of Judah has conquered. It is he that is called a lion, he that is called a lamb. He is called a lion for courage, a lamb for innocence. A lion because unconquered, a lamb because gentle. And when this lamb was slain, he conquered by his death the lion who prowls around seeking whom he may devour. The devil, you see, is called a lion for his ferocity, not for any virtue. Thus the apostle Peter says we must be on the watch against temptations, because your adversary the devil is prowling around seeking whom he may devour; but he did say how he prowls around: Like a roaring lion he is prowling around, seeking whom he may devour.^[1] Who could avoid encountering the teeth of this lion, if the lion from the tribe of Judah had not conquered? Against the lion fights a lion, against the world a lamb. The devil was exultant when Christ died, and by that very death of Christ was the devil conquered. It’s as though he took the bait in a mousetrap. He was delighted at the death, as being the commander of death. What he delighted in, that’s where the trap was set for him. The mousetrap for the devil was the cross of the Lord. The bait he would be caught by, the death of the Lord. And our Lord Jesus Christ rose again.

Like a sheep he was led to be slaughtered, and like a lamb in the presence of his shearer he was without voice, thus he did not open his mouth. Who is this? Obviously the one about whom he goes on to say, In humility his judgment was taken away. His generation, who shall relate?^[1] I can see this model of such humility in a king of such power and authority. Because this one, who is like a lamb not opening its mouth in the presence of the shearer, is himself the lion from the tribe of Judah. Who is this, both lamb and lion? He endured death as a lamb; he devoured it as a lion. Who is this, both lamb and lion? Gentle and strong, lovable and terrifying, innocent and mighty, silent when he was being judged,^[2] roaring when he comes to judge. Or perhaps both in his passion lamb and lion, and also in his resurrection lamb and lion. Let us see him as a lamb in his passion. It was stated a moment ago: Like a lamb in the presence of his shearer he was without voice, thus he did not open his mouth. Let us see him as a lion in his passion; Jacob said, You have gone up, lying down you have slept like a lion.^[3] Let us see him as a lamb in his resurrection. The book of Revelation, when it was talking about the eternal glory of virgins, They follow the lamb, it is said, wherever he goes.^[4] The same book of Revelation says, what I mentioned just now, The lion from the tribe of Judah has conquered, to open the book. Why a lamb in his passion? Because he underwent death without being guilty of any iniquity. Why a lion in his passion? Because in being slain he slew death. Why a lamb in his resurrection? Because his innocence is everlasting. Why a lion in his resurrection? Because everlasting also is his might.

For he said to me, Behold, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open its seven seals. He who has conquered our conqueror, the devil, it says, that is the one who has opened the scroll and its seals. And who was this Lion from the tribe of Judah? Obviously, the Christ, concerning whom the patriarch Jacob spoke: He lay down and couched as a lion and as a lion’s whelp. Who will arouse him?^[1] For the holy apostle is witness that the Lord was from Judah according to the flesh: It is evident that our Lord Jesus Christ was descended from Judah.^[2] Someone might wonder why he was not called a rod from the root of Jesse or flower coming out of the root, as Isaiah said,^[3] but rather the root of David. He says this to show that although according to his humanity he was a rod coming forth from the root of Jesse and David, according to his deity he was the root not only of David but of every visible and invisible creature, since he was the source of them all.

But if we examine the declaration about Jesus who is pointed out by John in the words, This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,^[1] from the standpoint of the dispensation itself of the bodily sojourn of the Son of God in the life of humankind, we will assume that the lamb is none other than his humanity. For he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and was dumb as a lamb before its shearer,^[2] saying, I was as an innocent lamb being led to be sacrificed.^[3] This is why in the Apocalypse, too, a little lamb is seen standing as though slain. This lamb, indeed, which was slain in accordance with certain secret reasons, has become the expiation of the whole world. In accordance with the Father’s love for humanity, he also submitted to slaughter on behalf of the world, purchasing us with his own blood from him who bought us when we had sold ourselves to sins.

The throne, the animals, the elders are all the church. For the church is in the midst, and he continues to describe the scene and says, A lamb standing as though slain. For as often as Christ is preached in the midst of the church as slain, so often is the same Lamb seen as though sacrificed for the fault of the world, since what is unknown is made known to the uninitiated and the memory of the faithful is formed by a pious worship. For whenever the church, which Christ has put on, mortifies herself to the world that she might live to God, the Lamb is said to be sacrificed, as though the Head for the body. And so it continues: Having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. The variety of words teaches but one understanding, for the horns symbolize the most excellent gifts of the Holy Spirit by which Christ reigns throughout the world in his church. It continues, which are the seven spirits of God. For no one governs with a righteous prominence throughout the world or is especially glorified by the gift of the Holy Spirit spread abroad, except the church. As we know, seven signifies universality and completeness. And this is true, because the horns are upon the head, and so the exaltation of each church is rightly said to be placed upon Christ. For upon this Rock I shall build my church,^[1] which is as though he said, I shall build you upon me.

The throne, the animals, the elders and the Lamb as though slain are all the church together with her head. [The church] dies for Christ that she might live with Christ. The martyrs in the church may also be understood as the Lamb slain.

Here he showed even more clearly our Lord, Jesus Christ, whom he declares was not dead but was as though slain because of the suffering and the death which he had undergone. He says that he had seen this [Lamb] in the midst of the throne, that is, in power and in divine majesty. And among the four living creatures. This is because he is known in the fourfold order of the gospels. And among the elders. By this he indicates the chorus of the law and the prophets, or of the apostles. He testifies that he saw the Lamb there, not slain but as if slain, that is, even he who had conquered death and had trampled upon the passion. And he had seven horns and seven eyes. The horns symbolize power and strength. The number seven represents the condition of the world which he rules effectively and which he governs with great power. Moreover, he calls the seven eyes the seven spirits of God, and in this way speaks of the Holy Spirit who remains with our Lord, Jesus Christ, gloriously by the degrees of the seven virtues. Concerning him the apostle says: We know that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.^[1] And again: The Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead will also vivify our mortal bodies on account of his Spirit who dwells in you.^[2] Since their sound has gone out into the whole world,^[3] he speaks of the Spirit as those sent, calling to mind the gifts of the Holy Spirit which have been abundantly spread throughout the entire earth.

He has called the Lord a lamb, because of his innocence in providing what we need. For just as every year the lamb provides by giving of its wool, so also the Lord opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing.^[1] And so, prophecy speaks of him in this way, through Isaiah: As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearer is dumb;^[2] and also through Jeremiah: I was like an innocent lamb led to the slaughter, and I did not know.^[3] But the lamb [in the vision] had not been slain, but it was as though it had been slain. For Christ returned to life, having trampled death and having despoiled hades of all the souls held by it. And so the death of Christ was not a death of inviolate surety; it was as a death cut short by the resurrection. And even after the resurrection the Lord had carried about the trophies of death—the imprint of the nails, his life-giving body made red by his blood, as Isaiah says in front of the holy angels: Why is your robe red and your garments like his who treads in a full wine press?^[4]—for this reason he was seen in the vision as though slain. The seven horns witness to his great power, since the number seven, being perfect, indicates a great amount, as we noted above. And certainly the horns are symbolic of power, as the prophet says, And all the horns of the sinners I will cut off, and the horn of the righteous will be exalted,^[5] and as Habakkuk says, His horns are in his hands.^[6] And to be sure, Isaiah has interpreted for us the seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth, saying, And there will rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety. The spirit of the fear of God will delight him.^[7]

The Lord says, All things are delivered to me by the Father.^[1] . . . But in the all things [it is implied that] nothing has been kept back [from him], and for this reason the same person is the Judge of the living and the dead; having the key of David: he shall open, and no man shall shut: he shall shut, and no man shall open. For no one was able, either in heaven or in earth, or under the earth, to open the book of the Father, or to behold him, with the exception of the Lamb who was slain and who redeemed us with his own blood, receiving power over all things from the same God who made all things by the Word, and adorned them by [his] Wisdom, when the Word was made flesh; that even as the Word of God had the sovereignty in the heavens, so also might he have the sovereignty in earth, inasmuch as [he was] a righteous man, who did not sin, neither was there found guile in his mouth;^[2] and that he might have the preeminence over those things that are under the earth, he himself being made the first-begotten of the dead;^[3] and that all things, as I have already said, might behold their King; and that the paternal light might meet with and rest upon the flesh of our Lord, and come to us from his resplendent flesh, and that thus humanity might attain to immortality, having been invested with the paternal light.

Therefore, he opens and unseals the testament, which he had sealed. And Moses the lawgiver knew that it was necessary for [the testament] to be sealed and hidden until the coming of his passion, and so [he] covered his face and in that way spoke to the people, revealing that the words of preaching were veiled until the time of Christ’s coming. For when he had read this law to the people, he took wool soaked in calf’s blood and water and sprinkled all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament, concerning which the Lord had commanded you.^[1] Therefore, the diligent person ought to be attentive to the fact that the totality of preaching comes together into a unity. For it was not sufficient that it was called law, since it was also called a testament. For no law is called a testament, nor is anything called a testament, except that which is made by one who is about to die. And whatever is within the testament is sealed until the day of the death of the testator. And therefore rightly it is unsealed by the Lamb slain who, as a lion, destroyed death and fulfilled that which had been foretold of him, and had freed man, that is, flesh, from death, and had received as a possession the property of him who was dying, namely, of the human race. For as through one body all people had come into the debt of death, so through one body all who believe might rise to eternal life. Now the face of Moses is uncovered; now it is revealed, and therefore the apocalypse is called a revelation; now his book is unsealed; now the sacrifices of the victims are understood; now the offerings and the duties of the Anointed, the building of the temple and the prophecies are clearly understood.

To be sure, the Lamb is the assumed man who for our salvation willingly offered himself over to death. Worthily he received the scroll, that is, the power of all the works of God, and from the right hand of him who is seated on the throne, that is, he received all things from God the Father, as he himself said: All which the Father has is mine.^[1] Then did he receive this scroll, when rising from the dead he showed the mystery of the Trinity, which had been hidden from the ages, and revealed it to the world.

The Son of man is said to have received the book from the right hand of God as both the dispensation from the Father and an arrangement from himself, for each reigns upon the throne with the Holy Spirit. And also here we ought understand the right hand to represent the blessedness of the victory. Nor ought it be understood in a fleshly manner as though he received the book from another hand of the Father, since the self-same is Son of the Father and the self-same the right hand [of God]. But since he who said, Rejoice, for I have overcome the world,^[1] always conquers in those who belong to him, he also makes his own church to exist as a conqueror, and it is declared of her that she receives the book.

We regard the spirit of every good person as an altar from which arises an incense that is truly and spiritually sweet-smelling, namely, the prayers ascending from a pure conscience. Therefore it is said by John in the Revelation, The odors are the prayers of the saints;^[1] and by the psalmist, Let my prayer come before you as incense.^[2] And the statues and gifts that are fit offerings to God are the work of no common mechanics but are wrought and fashioned in us by the Word of God, to wit, the virtues in which we imitate the firstborn of all creation, who has set us an example of justice, of temperance, of courage, of wisdom, of piety, and of the other virtues.

The harp, whose strings are stretched out upon wood, signifies the body of Christ, that is, the flesh of Christ bound to his passion.^[1] The bowls represent the confession [of faith] and the extension of the new priesthood.

The bowls that are accepted by God are the pious confession in which no one is hidden with a duplicitous heart but is rather sincere with an open affection. They are also the golden vessels that are in the great house, burning with the sweetness of the pleasant odor of Christ. Moreover, the prayers of the saints are the grateful deeds of those who rejoice over the salvation of the world^[1] and their intercessions for the well-being of the helpless. [The apostle] says, Christ suffered for us, leaving for us an example that we should walk in his footsteps.^[2] When, therefore, those who belong to Christ crucify their own flesh with its passions and desires,^[3] it is as though they are playing to Christ on harps, so that what he has done for them, they might do for him, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.^[4]

The harps indicate the harmonious and melodious divine doxology, while the incense indicates the sweet-smelling sacrifice of the faithful that is offered through a most pure life, as the apostle says: We are the aroma of Christ.^[1] The bowls are symbolic of the thoughts from which the sweet aroma of good works and pure prayer come.

When the Lord in his passion demonstrated that the proclamation of both Testaments was fulfilled in himself, the church renders thanksgiving and gives herself up to sufferings in order that, as the apostle says, she might fill up that which is lacking of the sufferings of Christ in its flesh.^[1] For the harps represent bodies made ready to die, since the strings are stretched tight on wood. And by the bowls are designated hearts wide open by the breadth of charity.

Just as it is proper for us to seek the Lord shining with the light of good works, so also is it proper for us to seek him abundantly provided with the gift of spiritual prayers. Hence it is good that the women who came to the tomb early in the morning are reported to have been carrying with them the spices that they had prepared. Our spices are our voices in prayer, in which we set forth before the Lord the desires of our hearts, as the apostle John attested in the describing mystically the purest inmost longings of the saints, saying, They had golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. What in Greek is called spice in Latin is called incense. We bear spices to the tomb of the Lord early in the morning when, mindful of the passion and death that he underwent for us, we show to our neighbor outwardly the light of our good actions and are inwardly aflame in our heart with the delight of simple compunction. We must do this at all times, but especially when we go into church in order to pray and when we draw near to the altar in order to partake of the mysteries of the body and blood of the Lord.

The twenty-four elders and the four animals had harps and bowls and were singing a new song. The preaching of the Old Testament joined with the New reveals the Christian people singing a new song, that is, the proclaiming of their public confession. It is new that the Son of God became man; it is new that he was given over into death by men; it is new that he rose again on the third day; it is new that he ascended in the body into heaven; it is new that he gives the forgiveness of sins to men; it is new that men are sealed with the Holy Spirit; it is new that they receive the priestly service of supplication and await a kingdom of such immense promises.

Christ wrote a new song by the harmonious truth of both Testaments. This he did when he, remaining the Word which was in the beginning, was born by a new sort of birth through the Virgin. This he did when he as God put on man in a new manner. This he did when he gave himself over to his killers by his own power. This he did when he was wondrously made alive from the dead and when at a time of his own choosing was ascended beyond the heavens. And this new song he bestowed upon all those who belong to the church which he acquired, that it might be sung continually, and that in this [the church] might rest secure as it awaits in hope the coming judge, that we might walk in the newness of life.^[1] As he said, If any one wishes to be my disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.^[2]

And they sang a new song. It was new because it was sung to that God who had become flesh, for this song had formerly never been offered, until the incarnation. And what was the song? You are worthy, it says, you who were slain for us and who by your blood did acquire an inheritance from the many nations under heaven, to grant this salvation to humanity. And with very good reason he said from tribe and tongue and people and nation. For while he did not gain all nations—for many have died in unbelief—yet he acquired from every nation those worthy of salvation. And the prophet said something similar: Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you will inherit [some] from among all the nations,^[1] not to be sure, all the nations. And he made them kings and priests for our God, and they will reign upon earth. In addition to the faithful servants of Christ who are kings and leaders of the churches, perhaps you will also be able to understand the kings in this passage as those who have ruled their passions and have not been ruled by them, and the priests as those who have offered their own bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, as the Scripture says.^[2]

Through this passage it is revealed that the elders, both those in the Old Testament and those in the New Testament, were well-pleasing to God, and that on behalf of the whole world they bring forth a [hymn of] thanksgiving to the Lamb of God who was slain and redeemed us. It is a new song, which we have been taught to sing, who from every tribe and tongue have been freed from the antiquity of the letter and through the Spirit have received light. He says that these will rule the new earth, which the Lord promised to the humble.

This is not said of his Godhead, in which are all the treasuries of wisdom,^[1] so that he should receive [wisdom]. Rather, this is said of his assumed manhood, that is, concerning his body, which is the church. Or, it might be said of his martyrs who were slain for his name. For the church receives all things in her Head, as the Scriptures say, He has given us all things with him.^[2] The Lamb himself receives, as he said in the Gospel, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.^[3] However, he receives [this authority] according to his humanity, not according to his divinity.

From all beings, whether intelligent or sensible, whether living or simply existing in some way, God, as the Creator of all things, is glorified by words proper to their natures. Also praised is his only begotten and consubstantial Son who graciously renewed humankind and the creation that was made through him. And it is written that, as man, he received authority over all things in heaven and upon the earth.

Through these, one flock and one church from angels and from men is indicated which has been formed through Christ, the God who united that which was separate and has destroyed the partition wall of separation. And so, as we have heard, with the four living creatures who surpass the other angelic ranks, also the [elders], who represent the fullness of those who are being saved, are worthy of the hymn and worship of God. Of which may also we be found worthy in Christ himself, the Giver of peace and our God, with whom together with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.

[The Shepherd said:] “But those who are weak and slothful in prayer hesitate to ask anything from the Lord; but the Lord is full of compassion, and gives without fail to all who ask him. But you, [Hermas,] having been strengthened by the holy angel [you saw], and having obtained from him such intercession, and not being slothful, why do you not ask understanding of the Lord, and receive it from him?”.

In this way is [the true Christian] always pure for prayer. He also prays in the society of angels, as being already of angelic rank, and he is never out of their holy keeping; and though he pray alone, he has the choir of the saints standing with him [in prayer].

Blessed Sozon gave back [his spirit] aged nine years; may the true Christ [receive] your spirit in peace, and pray for us.

Gentianus, a believer, in peace, who lived twenty-one years, eight months, and sixteen days, and in your prayers ask for us, because we know that you are in Christ.

Pray for your parents, Matronata Matrona. She lived one year, fifty-two days.

Mother of God, [listen to] my petitions; do not disregard us in adversity, but rescue us from danger.

Hail to you forever, you Virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for to you do I again return. You are the beginning of our feast; you are its middle and end; the pearl of great price that belongs to the kingdom; the fat of every victim, the living altar of the bread of life. Hail, you treasure of the love of God. Hail, you fount of the Son’s love for man. . . . You gleamed with the insupportable fires of a most fervent charity, bringing forth in the end what was conceived of you . . . making manifest the mystery hidden and unspeakable, the invisible Son of the Father—the Prince of Peace, who in a marvelous manner showed himself as less than all littleness.

[W]e pray you, the most excellent among women, who boastest in the confidence of your maternal honors that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy Mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in august hymns celebrate the memory, which will ever live, and never fade away.

And also, O honored and venerable Simeon, you earliest host of our holy religion and teacher of the Resurrection of the faithful, be our patron and advocate with the Savior God, whom you were deemed worthy to receive into your arms. We, together with you, sing our praises to Christ, who has the power of life and death, saying, “You are the true light, proceeding from the true light; the true God, begotten of the true God”.

[During the Eucharistic Prayer] we commemorate those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that in their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition.

Atticus, sleep in peace, secure in your safety, and pray anxiously for our sins.

Yes, I am well assured that [my father’s] intercession is of more avail now than was his instruction in former days, since he is closer to God, now that he has shaken off his bodily fetters, and freed his mind from the clay that obscured it, and holds conversation naked with the nakedness of the prime and purest mind.

Aschandius, my father, beloved of my heart, with my sweet mother and my brothers, be mindful of your Pectorius abiding in the peace of the Fish [Christ].

For he who wears the purple himself goes to embrace those tombs, and, laying aside his pride, stands begging the saints to be his advocates with God, and he that wears the crown implores the tentmaker and the fisherman, though dead, to be his patrons.

You say, in your pamphlet, that as long as we are alive we can pray for one another; but once we die, the prayer of no person for another can be heard, and all the more because the martyrs, though they [Rv 6:10] cry for the avenging of their blood, have never been able to obtain their request. If apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, when they ought still to be anxious for themselves, how much more must they do so when once they have won their crowns, overcome, and triumphed?

It is true that Christians pay religious honor to the memory of the martyrs, both to excite us to imitate them, and to obtain a share in their merits and the assistance of their prayers.

This it was that the blessed martyrs did in their burning love; and if we celebrate their memories not in an empty form, and, in the banquet at which they were filled to the full, approach the table of the Lord, we must, as they did, also be making similar preparations. For on these very grounds we do not commemorate them at that table in the same way, as we do others who now rest in peace, by praying for them, but rather that they should pray for us, that we may walk in their footsteps.

For the souls of the pious dead are not separated from the Church, which even now is the kingdom of Christ; otherwise there would be no remembrance made of them at the altar of God in the partaking of the body of Christ, nor would it do any good in danger to run to baptism, that we might not pass from this life without it; nor to reconciliation, if by penitence or a bad conscience anyone may be severed from his body.