BEHIND THE HEAVENLY DOOR:

EARTHLY LITURGY AND HEAVENLY WORSHIP

IN THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN

A Dissertation

Submitted to the Graduate School
of the University of Notre Dame
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

by
Ardea Caviggiola Russo



David E. Aune, Director


Graduate Program in Theology
Notre Dame, Indiana
July 2009




UMI Number: 3441750






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BEHIND THE HEAVENLY DOOR:
EARTHLY LITURGY AND HEAVENLY WORSHIP
IN THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN

Abstract
by
Ardea Caviggiola Russo


This dissertation explores the sources that the author of the Apocalypse used to create
his description of the heavenly liturgy. Many previous treatments of this subject have
overstated the conclusions that can be drawn from our evidence for Christian liturgical
practice in the late-first century CE. In order to determine which of the elements found in
Rev 4-5 might have been taken from an early Christian service of worship, the available
liturgical evidence is examined to ascertain what we can say that we know about
Christian worship at the end of the first century CE, and to correct some mistaken
conclusions that have appeared in earlier scholarship. This examination includes the
first-century evidence for the use of the Sanctus, hymns, doxologies, the use of incense,
the amen, and the alleluia. The results of this survey are disappointing, as the pieces that
we need to be able to reconstruct the ways in which Christians worshipped in the first
century are largely lacking, and many of these prayers and practices remain beyond our
reach. Turning to the texts of Rev 4-5 themselves, the dissertation tries to identify the
sources of the authors imagery for his picture of what the heavenly worship of God
looked like, focusing on what may have been derived from a service of Christian
worship. Contemporary Jewish and Christian liturgical practices were likely to have


Ardea Caviggiola Russo
been one source of this imagery, along with the OT and Jewish apocalyptic literature,
elements of ancient Near Eastern throne room scenes, Roman imperial court ceremonial,
and his own imagination. Another concern of the dissertation asks whether the
Apocalypse was read at a liturgy, focusing on the introductory and concluding passages
of the text (Rev 1:4-8 and 22:6-21), which some have argued take the form of a liturgical
dialogue between the lector and assembly. This theory helps to explain some parts of
these passages better then others, but most problematic is the fact that our evidence for
worship practices in the first centuries remains incomplete, and we cannot be sure that
liturgical dialogues were a part of Christian liturgy at this early date.




ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Chapter 1: Thesis Statement and Review of Research....................................................... 1
1.1 Thesis Statement ............................................................................................... 1
1.2 Review of Research........................................................................................... 6
1.2.1 Attempts to Explain Liturgical Elements in the Apocalypse ................... 6
1.2.2 Attempts to Understand the Liturgical Use of the Apocalypse.............. 26
1.3 Conclusion to Chapter One ............................................................................. 39

Chapter 2: What Do We Know about Early Christian Worship? .................................... 41
2.1 Introduction to the Problem............................................................................. 41
2.2 Methodology ................................................................................................... 43
2.3 The Paschal Liturgy of the Earliest Church .................................................... 50
2.3.1 Emergence of the Annual Celebration of Easter.................................... 53
2.3.2 Paschal Baptism in Asia Minor? ............................................................ 55
2.3.3 Paschal Baptism Elsewhere in the Early Church? ................................. 57
2.3.4 Tradition of Baptism on Pentecost ......................................................... 62
2.3.5 Fixity vs. Fluidity of Early Liturgy........................................................ 64
2.4 The Place of the Sanctus in Early Christian Worship..................................... 67
2.4.1 Two Early Theories about the Use of the Sanctus ................................. 68
2.4.2 Bryan Spinks, Robert Taft, and Gabriele Winkler on the Sanctus......... 70
2.4.3 Non-Eucharistic Uses of the Sanctus ..................................................... 79
2.5 Other Elements of Early Christian Worship ................................................... 83
2.5.1 Use of Hymns......................................................................................... 83
2.5.2 Doxologies ............................................................................................. 89
2.5.3 Use of Incense in Early Christian Worship............................................ 92
2.5.4 Amen...................................................................................................... 99
2.5.5 Alleluia................................................................................................. 102
2.6 Conclusion to Chapter Two .......................................................................... 104

Chapter 3: Throne-Room Visions in the OT and in Jewish Apocalypses....................... 106
3.1 Exodus 24:1-11 ............................................................................................. 107
3.2 1 Kings 22:19-23........................................................................................... 108
3.3 Isaiah 6:1-13.................................................................................................. 108
3.4 Ezekiel 1:1-28a.............................................................................................. 109
3.5 Daniel 7 ......................................................................................................... 111
3.6 Job 1-2........................................................................................................... 112

iii
3.7 Conclusion to the Texts of the Hebrew Bible ............................................... 113
3.8 1 Enoch 1-36 ................................................................................................. 115
3.8.1 Summary of 1 Enoch 14....................................................................... 116
3.8.2 Comparison with Hebrew Bible Ascent Narratives ............................. 117
3.8.3 Function of the Vision in Context ........................................................ 119
3.9 The Testament of Levi ................................................................................... 122
3.10 1 Enoch 37-71 ............................................................................................. 126
3.10.1 1 Enoch 39-40 .................................................................................... 127
3.10.2 1 Enoch 47.......................................................................................... 129
3.10.3 1 Enoch 71.......................................................................................... 131
3.11 2 Enoch........................................................................................................ 132
3.12 3 Baruch...................................................................................................... 136
3.13 Apocalypse of Abraham .............................................................................. 142
3.14 Qumran Texts.............................................................................................. 147
3.15 Conclusion to Chapter Three....................................................................... 151

Chapter 4: Is There An Early Christian Liturgy Behind the Apocalypse? .................... 153
4.1 The Opening Throne Vision: Revelation 4-5................................................ 153
4.1.1 The Open Door in Heaven ................................................................... 153
4.1.2 The Throne and its Surroundings ......................................................... 156
4.1.3 The Twenty-Four Elders ...................................................................... 157
4.1.4 The Seven Torches before the Throne ................................................. 166
4.1.5 The Four Living Creatures ................................................................... 169
4.1.6 The Worship by the Elders................................................................... 172
4.1.7 The Hymns of Revelation 4-5.............................................................. 181
4.1.8 The Sealed Scroll ................................................................................. 187
4.1.9 The Lion and the Lamb........................................................................ 195
4.1.10 The Investiture of the Lamb............................................................... 208
4.1.11 The Worship of the Lamb as Eucharist .............................................. 211
4.1.12 The Worship of the Cherubim and Elders.......................................... 214
4.2 The Hymns of Revelation 19.........................................................................224
4.3 Opening and Closing Dialogues: Revelation 1:4-8 and 22:6-21................... 233
4.3.1 Revelation 1:4-8......................................................................................... 233
4.3.2 Revelation 22:6-21............................................................................... 243
4.4 Conclusion to Chapter Four .......................................................................... 250


Appendix A: Synagogue Worship in the First Century AD...........................................252
A.1 The Development of Communal Prayer.......................................................254
A.2 The Shema.....................................................................................................257
A.3 The Amidah...................................................................................................258
A.4 Reading of the Torah and Prophets...............................................................260
A.5 The Use of Psalms.........................................................................................266
A.6 Conclusion....................................................................................................269


iv

Bibliography....................................................................................................................271

1

CHAPTER 1:
THESIS STATEMENT AND REVIEW OF RESEARCH
1.1 Thesis Statement
Scattered throughout the narrative of endtime events contained within the book of
Revelation are a number of scenes set within the heavenly throne room, in which the Seer
is allowed to witness the worship of God that eternally takes place there (4:1-6:17; 7:9-
17; 11:15-19; 14:1-5; 15:2-8; 19:1-8). These throne room visions are common in the
prophetic and apocalyptic traditions of early Judaism, and can be found with and without
an introductory narration of the ascent to heaven experienced by the visionary. David
Aune has noted that these passages function in one of six different ways, either as: (1)
enthronement scenes; (2) judgment scenes; (3) commission scenes; (4) eschatological
heavenly festal gathering scenes; (5) visions of God as the goal of Merkavah mysticism;
or (6) literary throne scenes, in which the vision provides the setting for commenting on
earthly events that are taking place within the text.
1
Within the Apocalypse, the most
detailed of these heavenly throne visions is found in chapters 4-5. At the beginning of
the passage, the author, John, is on the island of Patmos, and he sees an open door in
heaven through which he is invited to pass, so that he will be able to witness what must
happen after this. He ascends to heaven and finds himself in the throne room, where he

1
David E. Aune, Revelation 1-5 (WBC 52A; Dallas: Word, 1997), 1.277-8.

2
witnesses the worship of God by the heavenly beings that surround him and receives the
revelation that is narrated throughout the text. This particular vision functions as the
background that allows the text to comment on the narrative of the events that are
occurring simultaneously on earth, and to interpret these events for the reader. The
narration of what must happen after this unfolds within these scenes of heavenly
worship as the vision of it is carried out on the earth. These scenes of the heavenly
throne room found in Revelation also provide a narrative framework for the hymns that
are found throughout the text, usually arranged in antiphonal units (4:8-11; 5:9-14; 7:9-
12; 11:15-18; 16:5-7; 19:1-4, 5-8).
2
These hymns are sung before God by various
groups, including the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, numerous angels and
unnamed voices in heaven, an innumerable multitude comprised of people from every
nation, and every being in creation.
The relationship between the scenes of heavenly worship depicted by the author
of Revelation and the variety of earthly liturgies that may have been known to this author
has been examined before. There are at least five possibilities that have been proposed in
the quest for answers to this question. (1) The heavenly liturgy in Revelation is modeled
on the earthly liturgy of the author and his community. This possibility has been
suggested by M. Shepherd, among others, who argues that the structure of Revelation is
based on an outline of an early Paschal liturgy. (2) The heavenly liturgy is envisioned by
the author as an idealized version of the earthly liturgy, a suggestion that O. Piper
includes as part of his explanation. (3) The heavenly liturgy has nothing to do with the

2
Aune, Revelation, 1.315. Aune notes that the independent hymn of Rev 15:3b-4 is an exception
to this antiphonal structure.

3
earthly liturgy of the church, but is based on oral and literary Jewish traditions pertaining
to the worship of God in his heavenly court. (4) Gods heavenly throne room in
Revelation is modeled after the glorious descriptions of Ancient Near Eastern throne
room scenes or Roman imperial court ceremonial. The former is defended by L. Mowry
and the latter by David E. Aune, both of whom argue that from this point of view, the
authors purpose is to portray God as the true king and object of worship, with the
emperor and his cult being a mere (and inadequate) imitation. (5) That scenes of
heavenly worship in Revelation are purely a literary composition of the author, which has
been argued by K.-P. Jrns. In this theory, for example, the hymns in Revelation are not
taken from actual early Christian liturgies, but rather serve the narrative function of
interpreting the events that are occurring simultaneously on earth for the reader.
The thesis of this dissertation is that it is possible to strike a balance between the
two most extreme points of view: that the heavenly liturgy in Revelation is purely a
fictional composition by the author on the one hand, and that it is a copy of the earthly
liturgy known to him on the other. The accounts in Revelation cannot be only literary
compositions: in order to be understood by the audience as a heavenly liturgy or as a
scene of heavenly worship, there had to be liturgical elements in the text familiar to the
audience that would make this portrayal clear. On the other hand, despite the fact that the
visions in Revelation certainly contain elements of first-century Jewish and Christian
worship as well as of ancient Near Eastern throne room scenes and Roman imperial court
ceremonial, some of the descriptions do indeed seem to be the authors creation in order
to depict what for him was the ideal form of worship appropriate for the heavenly liturgy.

4
Certainly all of the possibilities raised by the different scholars capture aspects of the
origin of Revelations scenes of heavenly worship.
The structure of this dissertation will be as follows. This first chapter will include
a review and critique of the ideas proposed by those who have argued for the five
positions summarized above. In the second chapter, I will consult current liturgical
scholarship in order to ask what we can know with a fair amount of certainty about early
Christian worship. It will be important to lay out a responsible methodology for
examining the liturgical evidence, such as that proposed by Paul Bradshaw. Following
this, I will attempt to use this methodology to examine the liturgical evidence in order to
question some of the assumptions made by scholars investigating the liturgical context of
Revelation and to see what we can say with certainty about the liturgical practices of the
earliest Christians, with attention to specific elements of early worship, such as hymns
and doxologies, the Sanctus
3
, and the use of incense.
Chapter three will continue with background material by asking about current
conceptions of heaven at the time of the writing of the Apocalypse, especially Jewish
traditions of heaven as a place where God sits enthroned in his royal court, or presiding
over the divine council, or worshipped in his temple. Aside from the evidence gathered
from the Hebrew Bible, it will be necessary to provide a survey of the conceptions of

3
I would like to insist upon a terminological clarification. All too often in biblical scholarship,
authors will use the terms Trisagion and Sanctus interchangeably. To do so is highly problematic and
confusing. The reason is that the Trisagion has a specific technical meaning in liturgiological research as
well as in the common liturgical parlance of most of the Eastern churches; namely, it refers to that hymn
that is found in the so-called Enarxis of the Divine Liturgy (Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal
One, have mercy on us, and the Christological expansions made to this formula by many of the non-
Byzantine Eastern churches), and not to the anaphoral hymn found in Isaiah or the formulation in Rev 4:8.
For the sake of clarity, biblical scholarship ought to use the term Sanctus alone to refer to the anaphoral
hymn.

5
heaven as seen in Jewish apocalyptic literature, including 1 Enoch 1-36, 1 Enoch 37-71,
the Testament of Levi, 2 Enoch, 3 Baruch, and the Apocalypse of Abraham. Texts from
Qumran will also have to be taken into consideration, specifically the Songs of the
Sabbath Sacrifice. These texts will be helpful in understanding what traditions were
commonly used in contemporary Jewish and apocalyptic literature for describing God in
his heavenly throne room and also what may have been created by the author of the
Apocalypse.
The fourth chapter of the dissertation will turn to the text of Rev 4-5 itself, and
will examine the details of the picture of the heavenly worship presented in these
chapters. The goal of the chapter will be to identify the sources of the authors imagery
for his conception of what the heavenly worship of God looked like, focusing on what
may have been derived from an early service of Christian worship. Special attention will
be devoted to the interpretation of the hymns of Rev 4-5 (4:8, 11; 5:9-10, 12, 13b), as
well as those of Rev 19 (19:1b-2, 3, 4, 6b-8), a passage that shares a number of
similarities with the earlier chapters. Also of interest here will be Rev 1:1-8 and 22:6-21,
the opening and closing texts of Revelation, which U. Vanni and M. A. Kavanagh have
argued take the form of liturgical dialogues that took place between lector and
congregation. In this chapter, these texts will be examined in order to attempt to answer
the following questions: Can we posit a liturgical setting for the book of Revelation?
What elements of early Christian worship can we detect within the text? What biblical
and extra-biblical traditions of heaven can be found? Of course, the goal of the chapter,
and of the dissertation as a whole, is to posit a relationship between the heavenly worship
portrayed in the book and that known to the author and his community. A final issue that

6
will require attention in this chapter is the question of the authors intention for the book
he composed. Certainly it was meant to be read aloud and shared in the various
congregations addressed by this author. But was it intended to be read as a liturgy, or as
part of one? This question of Revelation being read as part of a liturgy is a somewhat
different one from that of Revelation being based on a liturgy, and to my knowledge,
these two issues have not yet been clearly differentiated in the literature on the subject.
Finally, an appendix to the dissertation will survey current research on the topic of
the worship of the first-century Jewish synagogue and the possibility of its influence on
early Christian worship and on the Apocalypse.
1.2 Review of Research
4

1.2.1 Attempts to Explain Liturgical Elements in the Apocalypse
In his 1950 article, The Apocalypse of John and the Liturgy of the Ancient
Church, Otto Piper notes that little attention has previously been paid to the liturgical
character of Revelation, a fact that he feels is especially striking because it is precisely in
this way that the book differs from other Jewish and Christian apocalypses. He argues
that closer attention should be paid to these portions of the book because they share a

4
This review of research begins with O. A. Pipers article that appeared in 1950, but scholarship
was not altogether silent on the question of the relationship between Revelation and early Christian worship
before that time. The Apocalypse is treated in a longer essay by A. Cabaniss (Liturgy-Making Factors in
Primitive Christianity, Journal of Religion 23 [1943]: 43-58), but most of the scholars that he cites are
those concerned with reconstructing the history of the Roman Catholic Mass. In a footnote in the 1950
article cited above in this review, Piper notes a number of histories of early Christian liturgy that pay little
or no attention to the Apocalypse, and he attributes this to the fact that the overwhelming majority of
Catholic students of the liturgy are interested in the Canon of the Mass and its historical antecedents only
(O. A. Piper, The Apocalypse of John and the Liturgy of the Ancient Church, Church History 20 [1950]:
20).

7
number of features with the earliest Christian liturgies and thus are able to illumine the
historical development of Christian worship. In support of this assertion, he singles out
two examples of these features: participation of the community in the worship of the
angels and the worthiness of the interpreter of Scripture. He cites evidence from texts
roughly contemporary with Revelation (1 Clement, Didache), and concludes that the
description of the heavenly liturgy as given in Revelation was patterned after the actual
liturgy of the Primitive Church.
5
In coming to this conclusion, Piper first rules out the
alternative possibility that the Apocalypse was the source of the Christian liturgies; the
hymns and other forms of worship found in the book do not appear in Christian worship
until the fourth century, and if it had been the case that Revelation was their source, we
would expect to find these elements earlier in the liturgical evidence than we have --
certainly earlier than the fourth century.
6
Piper also rejects the possibility that the
similarity between Revelation and the other early liturgies is due to a common, yet
independent, derivation from Jewish worship. While he acknowledges that early
Christian liturgy is certainly indebted to the ideas of worship found in the Hebrew Bible,
he notes that a complete re-evaluation of Jewish worship has taken place.
7
Jesus name
was not merely added to existing Jewish prayers, but rather a total transformation took
place so that Jesus person became the center and the object of worship. Moreover, Piper
argues that the resulting Christian liturgies show too many common features for their

5
Piper, The Apocalypse of John and the Liturgy of the Ancient Church, 18.
6
Piper does not mention this example specifically, but if Revelation was the source of early
liturgies, we would expect to find the Sanctus in all of the extant evidence, but it does not appear in a text
as early as the Didache or in the so-called Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus.
7
Piper, The Apocalypse of John and the Liturgy of the Ancient Church, 18.

8
development to have been the result of these churches independently drawing on their
knowledge of Jewish worship. Rather, he feels that the evidence points to a type of
liturgy that was common even early on across different churches and different historical
conditions.
Pipers conclusion that the heavenly worship in Revelation was patterned after
that of the earthly church is based on the author of the books claim that he experienced
his visions on the Day of the Lord (Rev 1:10). He notes that no other chronological
information is given along with this reference, so the purpose of this statement must
rather be to indicate the function of the Seers vision:
We may, therefore, presume that in the description of the heavenly liturgy John,
as one who had himself been in the spirit, was spiritually partaking in the
Sunday services of the congregation from whom he was absent in body. In
recording this experience, he wanted to tell his readers what the public worship
was meant to be by God.
8

Through his vision, the author of the Apocalypse was able to perceive the heavenly
reality lying behind the worship of his community, and his intention in writing was to
communicate this reality to the faithful. Piper, however, discourages the attempt to try to
find specific liturgies embodied in Revelation. The most he feels that we can conclude is
that there was a definite type of worship in the churches with which the author was in
contact, with an order that was largely taken over from contemporary Jewish worship
found in the synagogues, but also including elements of Christian origin. But, he
cautions, in this early period, the wording of the prayers that accompanied the worship
had not yet been decided on.

8
Ibid., 19.

9
This last point, regarding an early type of liturgy, is both a strength and a
weakness of Pipers article. He does reject the argument that we have evidence for the
existence of an early authoritative liturgy
9
that was universally used, and he
acknowledges that this type, had it existed, would have been implemented in different
ways by different communities, both of which are points that would be supported by the
most current liturgical scholarship. But by a type of liturgy, he seems to mean a
specific structural framework, which would include a number of common structural
elements. But he does not indicate what these elements are, and this leaves unanswered
the question of whether there is a common structure of worship among the earliest
churches. As indicated above, the Sanctus is certainly an important element in the
heavenly liturgy of Revelation and is probably borrowed from Jewish liturgy, but is not
found in such texts as the Didache, nor is it found in the Apostolic Tradition ascribed to
Hippolytus of Rome.
10
Although the Sanctus is found in texts as early as 1 Clement and
in Tertullians De oratione, if a widespread, common structure of worship was present
this early on, we would expect to find this element elsewhere in our liturgical evidence,
in texts such as the early-second century church order the Didache, or the somewhat later
church order attributed to Hippolytus, the so-called Apostolic Tradition.

In 1952, Lucetta Mowrys Revelation 4-5 and Early Christian Liturgical Usage
appeared, arguing from the text and imagery of Rev 4-5 that these chapters comprise the

9
As an example of this claim, Piper cites F. E. Warrens 1897 work, Liturgy and the Ritual of the
Ante-icene Church (London: SPCK, 1897).
10
For more about this text, see Paul F. Bradshaw, Maxwell E. Johnson, and L. Edward Phillips,
The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002). Both the text and commentary
will be discussed further in chapter 2.

10
earliest known form of a Christian liturgy, and that this service is possibly a Eucharist.
Mowry does not examine any contemporary early Christian texts, but instead focuses on
the relevance of the glorious descriptions of Ancient Near Eastern throne room scenes for
understanding the setting of these chapters: The background for the setting of the Seers
vision, therefore, as indeed for similarly described scenes in the documents of the Old
Testament, is the royal splendor of the human court as a model for the divine.
11
These
chapters of the Apocalypse envision God seated in his heavenly court and rightfully
exalted as the King of kings. Also, she argues that the hymns in Rev 4-5 are associated
either in form or in theme not only with the psalms of the Hebrew Bible, but even more
so with other songs known in the first-century Jewish synagogues. For example, Mowry
suggests that the hymn in Rev 4:11 finds a close similarity with the Kedushah of the
Yotzer:
Rev 4:11 Kedushah of the Yotzer

Worthy art thou, our Lord and God,
To receive glory and honor and power
For thou didst create all things,
And by thy will they existed and were
created.

Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of
the Universe, who formest light and
createst darkness; who makest peace and
createst all things; who givest light in
mercy to the earth and to those who live
thereon and in goodness renewest every
day continually the work of creation.
12



11
Lucetta Mowry, Revelation 4-5 and Early Christian Liturgical Usage, JBL 71 (1952): 77.
12
For this translation, Mowry cites the work of W.O.E. Oesterley, The Jewish Background of the
Christian Liturgy (Oxford: Oxford University, 1925), 44-46. Oesterley acknowledges that the original
form of this prayer cannot be known with certainty, but this text is one that he believes to have a high
probability of being similar to what was used in the first century AD. The problem, as will be seen in the
appendix to the dissertation, is that any conclusion about what texts were bring used in the Jewish worship
services of the first century CE involves an amount of specuation. The evidence that we do have suggests
that Jewish prayer texts were not yet fixed in this early period, and there is very little that can be used to
reconstruct what was actually being done.

11
The holy, holy, holy of Rev 4:8 certainly does recall that of Isa 6:3, as Mowry
points out, but a connection between the hymns of Rev 4-5 and those of the Hebrew
Bible or Jewish synagogal worship based merely on a general theme of creation or
redemption does not seem to be enough to posit a relationship. She does go on, however,
to point out a number of departures found in the Christian hymns from the traditional
Jewish expressions that seem to bring these hymns into line with those used in the
contemporary ruler cults. The fact that these two cultic settings (synagogue and royal
court) influenced the Christian hymns suggests to Mowry that the hymns in Rev 4-5
would have been appropriate for a Christian liturgy. The identity of this specific service
of worship is dependent upon the setting of these chapters themselves, which she sees as
following the usual order of a Jewish liturgy. She argues that the scroll in Rev 5 is the
Jewish Torah and thus that this symbol is an allusion to the reading of scripture in the
worship of the Jewish synagogue. The other main feature of Jewish worship, the offering
of prayers, is also contained in the chapter with the mention of the golden vials that are
said to be the prayers of the saints. Further, Mowry concludes that this service of
worship is specifically a eucharistic celebration from the fact that the hymns in Rev 4-5
are comparable to those used at the Jewish Passover (a point upon which she does not
elaborate) and that Rev 4-5 follows an allusion to partaking of the meal with Christ in
these words, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat
with him and he with me (Rev 3:20).
13

Despite Mowrys stress on the comparison with Jewish worship, and on her
somewhat tenuous identification of Rev 4-5 as stemming from an early Christian

13
Ibid., 83.

12
eucharistic celebration, her point is that early Christian worship, and the heavenly
worship portrayed in Rev 4-5, are in some sense connected to contemporary synagogue
worship as well as to the ruler cult, and that it is this imagery that assisted the author of
the Apocalypse in depicting the heavenly worship of God as King of kings.

The following year, A. Cabaniss A Note on the Liturgy of the Apocalypse
stated at the outset that it is coming to be generally recognized that the author of the
Apocalypse presents his visions, at least in part, against the background or within the
framework of the church liturgy of the latter years of the first Christian century, and in
the supporting footnote, he cites the articles by Piper and Mowry summarized above.
14

As points of reference, he looks to the description of early Christian worship provided by
Justin Martyr in his First Apology, and glances briefly at details included by Clement of
Rome and Ignatius. After examining Rev 4-5, he concludes that the description of the
scene of the heavenly liturgy portrayed in these chapters nicely parallels the information
offered by these writers, who are writing at a time roughly contemporary with the
Apocalypse. Notably, he sees a 4-part structure common to Justin and to the Apocalypse
consisting of (1) Scripture, (2) homily, (3) prayer, (4) Eucharist. The point of his article
seems to be that these two texts share this common structure of worship, which, with
some elaboration and growth, has remained the structure of Christian worship
everywhere, the universal tradition of the church.
There are two problems with Cabaniss argument. The first is that his conclusion
that all of these elements are present or intended in the Apocalypse is not convincing.

14
A. Cabaniss, A Note on the Liturgy of the Apocalypse, Interpretation 7 (1953): 79.

13
Regarding the presence of a homily in Revelation, Cabaniss merely states, It is also
possible and indeed probable that the Apocalyptist intends to intimate that the reading
was accompanied or followed by impromptu exposition or a homily,
15
but
unfortunately, he does not argue for this conclusion or cite any texts to back up his
assertion. Second, what is to be gained by positing a common structure shared by the
worship found in Revelation and that described by Justin? Does he envision the
dependence of one upon the other, or that they both sprang from a common source? Or
that Christian liturgy shared a universal tradition everywhere at this early date? He does
not say. Cabaniss makes a point of emphasizing that this general shape of the liturgy is
more important than specific rituals, wording of prayers, or external trappings that
naturally would have varied from place to place, but if, as he argues, this general order is
the most significant thing to consider, then how would he explain the presence of the
Sanctus in Rev 4, which later universally found its way into eucharistic prayers, while the
reading of Scripture occurs after this, in Rev 5? This line of argument is much akin to
Gregory Dixs attempt to find the shape of the liturgy.
16
Even if all of these features were
actually present, finding such an overall structure of worship as Scripture, homily, prayer,
Eucharist is so general that it does not really enhance our understanding of early liturgy
or of the worship of the Apocalypse.

One of the most extensive treatments of this topic appeared in 1960 with Massey
Shepherds The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse. Shepherd proposes that the Paschal

15
Ibid., 83.
16
See Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy (Westminster: Dacre Press, 1945).

14
liturgy celebrated by the early church suggested to the author of Revelation an outline by
which to structure his message (but not, however, that the imagery employed by the
author is derived from the liturgy or that the book is itself a liturgy). In order to
reconstruct this Paschal celebration, Shepherd is indebted to the later document Apostolic
Tradition, which was ascribed to Hippolytus of Rome, a work that even he acknowledges
to have been composed a century after Revelation. Still, he accepts Hippolytus claim
that his description of the rite is apostolic and feels that apart from certain details of
ceremonial, there is nothing in the general ordo of the Paschal rite described by
Hippolytus that could not have been in use in the first century.
17
Shepherd argues that
his reconstructed liturgy would have consisted of scrutinies of the members of the
catechumenate, a vigil, the initiation itself, a synaxis comprised of readings and psalms,
and finally the Eucharist, and he sees sections of Revelation that symbolize each of these
parts of the Paschal liturgy.
Despite the fact that Shepherd, at the very outset of his treatment of Revelation,
states that he will be presenting only a very modest claim with respect to its liturgical
origins, and that he acknowledges the methodological danger of reading later
developments in the liturgy back into an earlier period or text, Shepherds work still has
problems. Some of these issues are discussed by Paul Bradshaw in the second edition of
his The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship. Bradshaw points out that Shepherd
is overly dependent on the later text of the so-called Apostolic Tradition and is overly

17
Massey Hamilton Shepherd, The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse (Richmond: John Knox,
1960), 79.

15
confident in the value of that document for reconstructing first-century traditions.
Bradshaw notes of Shepherds work:
He therefore proceeded to see behind the structure of the Book of Revelation a
full-blown baptismal liturgyMany of these elements, however, are not in fact
found in Apostolic Tradition, but are also being read back from even later sources;
and more recent scholarship. . .casts serious doubt on the notion that such a
standardized paschal initiation liturgy existed anywhere before at least the fourth
century.
18

Further, in another article, Bradshaw argues that there is no evidence in the
eastern churches for Paschal baptism prior to Nicea.
19
The evidence that we do have for
the preferred day of baptism in this early period is Alexandrian, and that day seems to
have been specified as forty days after Epiphany. In summary, Bradshaw concludes,
Whatever the theory may have been in some places, therefore, it looks as though
baptism at Easter was never the normative practice in Christian antiquity that many have
assumed.
20
In saying this, he is responding to those who have supposed that Paschal
baptism was a universal norm early on in the Churchs history. Bradshaw is not arguing
that baptism never could have taken place on this occasion, but rather that we have no
evidence that it was the case. This conclusion renders problematic Shepherds assertion
that by the second century at the latest, the Pascha was the normal occasion in the

18
Paul F. Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship: Sources and Methods for
the Study of Early Liturgy (London: Oxford University, 2002), 51-52.
19
Paul F. Bradshaw, Diem baptismo sollemniorem: Initiation and Easter in Christian
Antiquity, in Living Water, Sealing Spirit: Readings on Christian Initiation (ed. Maxwell E. Johnson;
Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1995), 137-47.
20
Ibid., 147.

16
Church for the ministration of baptismal initiation.
21
Shepherds arguments will be
examined more closely in the following chapter.

In his 1964 book entitled Apocalypse et Liturgie, P. Prigent devotes two main
sections to the topic of the origin of the heavenly liturgy in the Apocalypse, the first of
which focuses on the liturgical references in the letters to the seven churches found in
Rev 2-3, followed by a more detailed chapter on the liturgy of Rev 4-5. In the first
section, Prigent focuses on images within the letters that are often thought to have
baptismal or eucharistic significance: the tree of life, the crown of life, and the white
garment, among others. He notes that many of these images appear in the Hebrew Bible
as promises of future reward, but he argues that the author of the Apocalypse is
presenting them as available now to Christians, and that this interpretation suggests to
him a paschal context for the use of these images.
But it is the second section of Prigents work that is more relevant to our purposes.
After discussing the identity of the twenty-four elders and the place of the Sanctus in the
Western, Eastern, and Jewish liturgies, Prigent arrives at the main part of his argument,
which is that Rev 4 is not a pure invention of the author. Rather, his source was a Jewish
liturgy that announced the wondrous works of creation and celebrated God as Creator.
From this liturgy, argues Prigent, the author took the great moments (for example, the
Sanctus) and used them to form this scene of heavenly worship, which in turn replicates a
Christian Paschal liturgy. In doing this, the author of the Apocalypse brings together in
the same thanksgiving the angels, the believers of the Old Testament and the faithful of

21
Shepherd, 81.

17
the present church.
22
Thus, according to Prigent, in the text of Revelation, we are able to
glimpse not only the paschal worship of this early community of Christians, but also the
authors commentary on and development of this liturgy.
Prigents analysis of Rev 5 concludes with the not uncommon view that the sealed
scroll is indeed a copy of the Old Testament. The prophecy contained within these
writings is proclaimed to be accomplished with the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb and
redeemer, and this is portrayed by the author of the Apocalypse in the Lambs unique
ability to open the scroll. The salvation celebrated in the benediction that follows the
opening of the scroll is, according to Prigent, an echo of the deliverance accomplished on
the first Passover.
Finally, Prigent asks whether it is reasonable to suppose that these two chapters of
the Apocalypse comprise a liturgy known to the author of the text, and if so, whether we
can place this liturgy within the concrete life of the church. As alluded to above, he
reaffirms the point that the language of the letters to the seven churches and the imagery
of the sacrifice of the Lamb in Rev 5 suggest that a primitive paschal celebration is the
answer to his question. This is a rather modest claim, and Prigent is responsible in
affirming that perhaps not much more than this can be said; he does not elaborate on the
rites that would have been a part of this liturgy. However, he does offer the important
concluding insight that its significance and that of Revelation as a whole are that the book
serves to
announce to Christians that their worship, their liturgy, their sacraments do not
have only an educational worth because they prepare them for the return of Christ,

22
P. Prigent, Apocalypse et liturgie (Delachaux and Niestle: Neuchtel: 1964), 68.

18
but again and above all they are an effective participation in this final moment in
which they present their anticipation.
23

Without repeating too much of what was said above in response to Shepherds
work, it is important to note that many of the same objections apply to Prigents
argument, especially that we do not have the sources to reconstruct the details of a
paschal liturgy as early as the first century. However, Prigents claims about the liturgy
that can be detected behind the text of Revelation are much more restrained and
reasonable. He is not as confident in a particular structure of this service of worship,
which is appropriate; rather, he simply argues that the images in the book suggest the
overall context of a paschal liturgy. However, the conclusions that he draws from the
imagery in the letters to the seven churches in relation to a paschal celebration are very
intriguing, but it seems that these images do not require a paschal context to be
significant for Christians who believed that they were indeed living in an eschatological
age.

Klaus-Peter Jrns made an important contribution to the discussion of the hymns of
the Apocalypse in his 1971 book, Das Hymnische Evangelium: Untersuchungen zu
Aufbau, Funktion und Herkunft der Hymnische Stcke in der Johannesoffenbarung.
24
As
suggested by the title of the book, Jrns devotes much of his work to a detailed formal
study of the hymns of the Apocalypse. He sees an antiphonal structure in most of the

23
. . .annonce aux chrtiens que leur culte, leur liturgie, leurs sacrements ont non seulement une
valeur educative puisquils les prparent au retour du Christ, mais encore et surtout ils sont une
participation effective ce moment final dont ils offrent les arrhes (Ibid., 79).
24
K.-P Jrns, Das Hymnische Evangelium: Untersuchungen zu Aufbau, Funktion und Herkunft
der hymnische Stcke in der Johannesoffenbarung (Gtersloh: Mohn, 1971).

19
hymns; in his analysis, he breaks them up into strophes sung by the different groups
present in the scenes. This antiphonal structure, Jrns argues, is a traditional element of
early Christian liturgical hymnody. He believes that there is evidence for this form as
early as the beginning of the second century CE (though he cites only Sokrates Hist.
eccl. VI, 8, 11, which is citing a custom originating with Ignatius), and possibly even
earlier, since this element was most likely inherited from Jewish tradition.
Jrns larger argument is that the hymns of the Apocalypse should not be
understood as having their original Sitz im Leben in a context of Christian worship, from
which they were borrowed by the author of Revelation and then scattered throughout the
text. Rather, he sees the hymns as integral to the structure of the book. For Jrns, the
hymns are part of the end-time events, part of what the seer heard and witnessed. He
says that the test of this thesis lies in what results when the hymns are removed from the
book: an almost continuous message of doom. Thus it seems that the hymns are intended
to represent the point of view of salvation. Moreover, these sections have a specific
purpose with regard to the action of the book. Jrns point of view is that, although their
antiphonal structure may have been traditional, the author did not use specific hymns
with which he was familiar from his own worship, but rather composed new hymns for
use in the book that served to move the story along by interpreting the events for the
reader. As a result of this assertion, he decides that to ask whether a reflection of the
worship structure of the community can be detected in the text goes beyond the evidence
and involves us in sheer speculation. It is not out of the question that the author of
Revelation may have drawn upon hymns that were in use in his community; indeed, Jrns

20
acknowledges that there is traditional material found in these compositions.
25
But the
important point is that examining the hymns in order to detect a worship structure in the
Apocalypse misses the point of their function in the text, which is to respond to the action
of God or Christ for the benefit of the reader.
While I am not completely convinced that it is possible to be certain that the
hymns of the Apocalypse were not used in actual Christian worship, Jrns book was
very important for the history of interpretation of these hymns. His study, along with that
of R. Deichgrber
26
which appeared a few years before, performed the necessary task of
analyzing the hymns in their contexts and trying to understand how they functioned
within the text of Revelation. His conclusions, that the hymns serve to interpret the
events that are taking place and move the storyline along, seem to be correct on the level
of the narrative. My concern is that we cannot be sure, simply because the hymns appear
to be integral to the structure of the book, that they are compositions of the author and
thus not derived from a liturgical setting. How can we be certain which texts were used
in early Christian worship at such an early period?

In his 1977 essay entitled Liturgie terrestre et liturgie celeste d'apres
l'Apocalypse, . Cothenet asks an important question that had not been raised earlier:
why does the author of Revelation give the heavenly liturgy such an important place in
his book? He answers this question first by trying to identify the line of thought that
came to see heaven and earth as united in common prayer and worship. Cothenet is the

25
Ibid., 161-4.
26
R. Deichgrber, Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus in der frhen Christenheit (Gttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967).

21
first author that we have examined who was writing at a late enough date to utilize the
Qumran texts in his research. He focuses on the Hodayot and on sections of the Songs of
the Sabbath Sacrifice to show examples of the religious current that saw the participation
of its community in the heavenly worship of the angels. Cothenet next turns to the
hymns of Rev 4 and asks whether it is possible to discern in them a Jewish or Christian
earthly liturgy. He concludes that the liturgy suggested by the hymns of this chapter
follows the same pattern as the Jewish morning prayer, the Yotzer. Unfortunately, in his
explanation, he points out only the common pattern of the Sanctus followed by the praise
of the congregation, after which he turns to the question of the identification of the
twenty-four elders of Rev 4. However, Cothenet ultimately agrees with the conclusions
of Prigent, that this chapter is an adaptation of a Jewish liturgy focused on the praise of
God as Creator.
The largest section of Cothenets article is an examination of the significance of the
enthronement of the Lamb Rev 5. In order to appreciate this significance, Cothenet
compares the hymns of Rev 5 with the christological hymn of Phil 2:5-11. He sees the
similarities between these two texts not as arising from their common dependence on the
suffering servant figure of Isa 52:13-53:13 (as is commonly held), but rather by the
importance that both texts assign to the messianic enthronement of Jesus. He notes:
On the basis of the faith in the exaltation of Christ and in making use of the royal
psalms such as Ps 2 and 110 or of prophetic texts such as Dan 7, the first
Christians have transposed the acclamations that they rendered to Christ in their
assemblies in a celestial liturgy of enthronement.
27


27
E. Cothenet, Exegese et Liturgie. (Lectio Divina 133; Latour-Maubourg: Cerf, 1988), 283. The
translation and emphasis are mine. The French reads: Sur la base de la foi en lexaltation du Christ et en

22
He thus concludes that Rev 5 is an example of a liturgical schema that was in existence in
the first century for speaking of Jesus enthronement in heaven.

In his 1983 article, The Influence of Roman Imperial Court Ceremonial on the
Apocalypse of John, David E. Aune rejects the idea that the heavenly worship portrayed
in Revelation is modeled on the earthly worship of the Christian community, and argues
instead that in the former we can see a parody of the imperial court ceremonial and cult.
He notes that:
The throne room ceremonial of the Apocalypse, it appears, is a pastiche of images
and conceptions drawn from Israelite-Jewish kingship traditions and ideologies,
from Hellenistic kingship traditions and from Roman imperial court and ruler
ceremonial.
29

In order to support this argument, Aune first draws a parallel between the role of the
Roman emperor and that of God presented in the Apocalypse: both have the role of
dispensing justice in the form of punishment for the wicked and reward for the righteous.
Second, Aune points out the similarity between the cosmic symbolism with which the
emperor surrounded himself and that used by the author of Revelation not to describe
God, but to talk about his position in his heavenly court and his function in the New
Jerusalem. Within the heavenly throne room, the author of the Apocalypse describes

utilisant des psaumes royaux comme les Ps 2 et 110 ou des textes prophtiques comme Dn 7, les premiers
chrtiens ont transpos les acclamations quils rendaient au Christ dans leurs assembles en une liturgie
cleste dintronisation.
29
D. E. Aune, The Influence of Roman Imperial Court Ceremonial on the Apocalypse of John,
Biblical Research 28 (1983): 6.

23
God as being located at the center of a number of concentric circles consisting of the
elders and living creatures, the rainbow, and the great numbers of angels surrounding the
elders. Circular constructions are known to have had cosmic significance and are used by
this author to emphasize the cosmic kingship of God. Likewise, the Roman imperial cult,
in turn influenced by Hellenistic divine ruler traditions, is known to have utilized cosmic
symbolism in order to demonstrate its divine power. Aune gives the example of Nero,
who built for himself a house whose circular banquet hall continually revolved like the
heavens, and who represented himself as and was represented by statues of Apollo-
Helios. Aune concludes of this similarity between the language used to describe God in
his heavenly court and the emperors use of cosmic imagery: The fact that Nero himself
depicted himself as Apollo-Helios and was enthroned in a cosmic hall suggests an
obvious antithesis between the two. The latter must be regarded as a counterfeit of the
former.
30

Regarding the hymns of the Apocalypse, Aune cites the work of R. Deichgrber
and K.-P. Jrns, both of whom have suggested that these verses are not fragments of
hymns used by early Christians in their worship, as is often argued, but instead are
compositions of the author used to describe or comment on the events of the narrative.
Little is known about the hymns addressed to Roman emperors in the first century, but
certainly the implication of hymns directed toward human beings was that these
individuals were being hailed as divine or as equal to the gods. Important to note is the
number and stature of the groups that sing these hymns to God in Revelation. In this
period, the legitimacy of a rulers power was measured by the consent of the people

30
Ibid., 12.

24
whom he governed, and accordingly, the author of the Apocalypse specifically mentions
the great number (every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the
sea, and all therein) and the social status (small and great) of those who offer worship
to God, the true King of kings. Aune concludes, Indeed, those who celebrate the
sovereignty and power of both God and the Lamb are more numerous and more
representative that those who are depicted as participating in the rituals of imperial
accession and adventus.
31
The result of all of this is that God and the Lamb are elevated
to a level far above any earthly rulers, whose claims to glory and majesty become only
weak imitations of the former. Certainly Aune would not deny the influence on
Revelation of the traditions of the Hebrew Bible or those of post-biblical Jewish worship,
or that certain elements of early Christian liturgy found their way into the text of the
Apocalypse, but his argument that the Greco-Roman world of which the author and his
communities were a part must be considered in the analysis of the heavenly worship of
Revelation is invaluable.
There is no doubt about Aunes assertion that a central message of the Apocalypse
revolves around not only the inferiority of earthly rulers to God, but also their opposition
to him. However, I think it is important not to discount completely the role played by
Jewish and Christian liturgical traditions in shaping the heavenly worship of the book.
32

It is not a case of one or the other, but rather of a number of influences shaping the
authors vision of the heavenly liturgy in Revelation, including Roman imperial court
ceremonial and the liturgy known to the author and other traditions current in first-

31
Ibid., 20.
32
As indicated below, this point is elaborated upon by Aune in his three-volume commentary on
the Apocalypse.

25
century thought and belief. We cannot depend upon only one of these to explain
everything in the book.

In his commentary on the Apocalypse that appeared between 1997 and 1998,
David E. Aune expands on the view presented in his article mentioned above.
33
Within
his detailed analysis of the heavenly worship portrayed in Rev 4-5, he comments on the
genre of the throne-vision report. Aune points out that all of these scenes from early
Judaism of God in heaven, surrounded by his heavenly court, are based on the
widespread Ancient Near Eastern conception of the divine council. This particular scene
in Revelation functions to comment on the earthly events being narrated by the author, as
do most of the other throne room visions in the book (the exception being 7:9-17, which
envisions an eschatological gathering of worship before God). While Aune still
maintains the view that this heavenly liturgy is based on the authors knowledge of
Roman imperial court ceremonial, he elaborates on his suggestion in his earlier article
that the report also includes elements of both Jewish and Christian liturgy. Although the
specific doxologies and acclamations in these chapters were probably composed by the
author and were not taken from a particular Christian liturgy, as Jrns has also argued,
these forms were certainly part of the Christian tradition known to the author, and
because of this these particular forms found their way into the heavenly liturgy
envisioned in the text of Revelation.
A rather obvious example of such a Jewish liturgical tradition is the Sanctus sung
by the cherubim in Rev 4:8, a feature which Aune notes made its way into Christian

33
Aune, Revelation, 1.276-8.

26
liturgy as early as Tertullian and into the anaphora contained in ApConst 8 by the late
fourth century.
34
However, it is important to clarify that liturgical scholars would want to
make a clear distinction between the anaphoral use of the Sanctus, and its general use in
Christian praying outside of the eucharistic liturgy. For instance, R. Taft is well aware of
the Sanctus presence in Rev 4:8, 1 Clement 34:6, Tertullian De oratione 3.3, and the
Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas 12.2.
35
But in these texts, even if a liturgical
context is certain, it cannot be proven that the liturgical context was definitively
eucharistic or anaphoral. So, while the Sanctus may have been used somewhere in
Christian liturgy as early as the late first or early second centuries, incontrovertible proof
of its use in the Eucharist or anaphora comes only from the fourth century.
1.2.2 Attempts to Understand the Liturgical Use of the Apocalypse
In 1964, an English translation of Erik Petersons Das Buch von den Engeln
appeared under the title The Angels and the Liturgy.
36
This study attempts to determine
whether Scripture and the tradition of the Church support the view that earthly worship
can be seen as the participation of the angels in this worship, or, alternatively, as the
participation of Christians in the heavenly worship of the angels. Petersons first chapter

34
Ibid., 304. Aune notes that the form of the Sanctus found in ApConst 8 is the form used in the
eucharistic prayers of the liturgies of John Chrysostom, James, Mark, Addai and Mari, and Sarapion. To
this list one could add the witness to the Sanctus in the Mystagogical Catecheses of Cyril (or John II) of
Jerusalem dating to the second half of the fourth century. It should also be pointed out that, unless one
accepts that the Sanctus found in the anaphora of Addai and Mari is integral to the prayer (see footnote 123
below), then the anaphora of Sarapion of Thmuis is the earliest extant use of the Sanctus in the eucharistic
prayer. See Maxwell E. Johnson, The Prayers of Sarapion of Thmuis: A Literary, Liturgical, and
Theological Analysis (OCA 249; Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 1995).
35
R. Taft. The Interpolation of the Sanctus into the Anaphora: When and Where? A Review of
the Dossier, OCP 57 (1991) 301.
36
E. Peterson, The Angels and the Liturgy (trans. Ronald Walls; New York: Herder and Herder,
1964).

27
deals specifically with the evidence of the Apocalypse. At the outset, he notes the
importance of the visions of the heavenly throne room, and specifically the hymns
contained within these passages, for the overall message of the book. The author of
Revelation is concerned above all to show that there is an eternal world in heaven where
only the praise of God is known. Behind the pain of suffering of this world is the eternal
worship of God by the angels in heaven, and it is in this worship that the Church on earth
takes part.
37
Peterson further argues that the author of the Apocalypse connects this
heavenly worship to that of the earthly community using the figures of the twenty-four
elders, whom he believes are symbolic of the spiritual Israel, the Church. Because of the
number of elements of liturgical practice that he finds throughout the text (the Sanctus,
the Psalms, the Amen, the Alleluia), he argues that the author certainly intended to depict
a liturgy in heaven, and thus he concludes that the Scriptures support the view that there
is a liturgy of heaven in which the church on earth takes part.
38

The problem with Petersons thesis is not his conclusion that the Apocalypse
supports the view that in its liturgy, the Church joins in the heavenly worship of the
angels; this seems reasonable enough. The issue is that his argument that Revelation
must be concerned with a liturgy because it contains elements that he believes to be
liturgical is a circular one. As will be seen in the following chapter, the question of
whether these particular forms are necessarily indicative of liturgical activity is not so
straightforward.


37
Ibid., 2.
38
Ibid., 12.

28
G. Bornkamm, in an article entitled The Anathema in the Early Christian Lords
Supper Liturgy found in an expanded version in a 1969 English translation of a number
of his articles, comments on the possibility of finding remnants of a eucharistic liturgy at
the end of the Apocalypse.
39
He begins with the assertion, previously made by H.
Lietzmann and others, that 1 Cor 16:20-24 contains a liturgical dialogue that could
originally have been found as the introduction to an early Lords Supper liturgy that
began with the reading of Pauls letter to the congregation.
40
Bornkamm points out a text
parallel in style and content to 1 Cor 16:22 in Did. 10.6, which Lietzmann has also
recognized as a dialogue from an early Christian eucharistic liturgy:
1 Cor 16:22 Did. 10.6
If anyone has no love for the Lord, let
him be accursed.
Our Lord, come!

If anyone is holy, let him come; if anyone
is not, let him repent;
Our Lord, come; amen.


Bornkamm believes that the formula in 1 Cor 16 is a shortened version of that known to
Paul, and the full expression may have been something like, If anyone loves the Lord,
let him come; if anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed..., thus making it a
closer parallel to that found in Did. 10.6. Further, he sees the concluding Maranatha in
both passages as a kind of threatening emphasis added to the curse on those who do not

39
G. Bornkamm, The Anathema in the Early Christian Lords Supper Liturgy, in Early
Christian Experience (trans. Paul L. Hammer; London: SCM Press, 1969), 169-76.
40
H. Lietzmann, Mass and Lords Supper: A Study in the History of the Liturgy (trans. D. H. G.
Reeve; Leiden: Brill, 1955-79).

29
belong, or as a notification that the Lord will return soon to judge those who are not
worthy.
Turning to the Apocalypse, Bornkamm sees in the final chapter yet another
relevant text that has the same pattern of invitation and exclusion, and he argues that
more reflections of a eucharistic liturgy (i.e., an invitation to participate in the Eucharist
or refusal of this participation) can be seen in the concluding verses of this chapter. For
example, Rev 22:17 contains the invitation to partake (Let the one who is thirsty come,
let the one who desires receive the gift of the water of life), while 22:15 is a witness to a
refusal of entry to the ungodly (Outside are the dogs and the magicians and the
fornicators and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and does falsehood).
Further, the chapter concludes with another example of the Come, Lord Jesus (v. 20),
which he believes to belong to the liturgy of the Lords Supper, as seen above. But the
problem with Bornkamms theory is that it assumes the presence of a eucharistic liturgy
where we cannot be certain that this is what the authors of these texts had in mind. More
will be said at the end of this section and in the following chapter about the methodology
of interpreting possible liturgical references in the NT texts, but for now it is sufficient to
point out that our evidence for the earliest period of Christian history must be used with
caution. We cannot assume that the original Sitz im Leben of a given passage is a setting
of worship simply because it sounds liturgical. Further, it is not appropriate to isolate
phrases from the NT that sound liturgical and then use them to reconstruct early Christian
liturgical rites, especially when the possibility exists that these phrases themselves may
have influenced later worship. These ideas will be elaborated upon below.


30
In a short article that appeared in 1975, G. J. Cuming draws attention to Service-
Endings in the Epistles. Just as it is widely believed that the introductory phrases which
appear at the beginning of several of the NT epistles are an echo of the first words of an
early Christian gathering for worship, Cuming argues that the endings of several epistles
(and Revelation) contain phrases that may have been used to conclude such services of
worship. Cuming points out three phrases that, with some variation among the different
letters, seem to occur repeatedly at the conclusions of the NT texts: (1) The God of
peace be with you all. Amen, (2) Greet one another with a holy kiss, and (3) The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
41
He further notes that the heart of this
sequence (1) - (2) - (3) is the kiss that is symbolic of the peace that exists among the
faithful, and that it is possible that this kiss of peace was at first the climax and
conclusion of a non-sacramental service, and acquired its connection with the anaphora
only after the fusion of synaxis and eucharist.
42
Cuming reminds the reader that, despite
what is commonly assumed to be the case, there is the possibility that not all earliest
Christian worship was eucharistic, and that, following the pattern of the contemporary
services of the synagogue, there may have been a non-eucharistic meeting for worship in
the first century. Such a service of Christian worship would have ended with this
sequence of three phrases and with the kiss of peace, a conclusion that is suggested by the
placement of these phrases at the conclusions of the NT documents.

41
G. J. Cuming, Service-Endings in the Epistles, TS 22 (1975-76): 111. The sequence found
in Revelation consists of a ban (22:18-19), followed by Come, Lord Jesus! (22:20b) and finally the third
phrase noted by Cuming (22:21).
42
Ibid., 113. This is against what has been argued by Hans Lietzmann and independently by J. A.
T. Robinson, that these phrases originally served as an introduction to the Eucharist.

31
In his dissertation on the ritual kiss in early Christian worship, L. Edward Phillips
reviews Cumings article in a section dealing with previous attempts to show that the kiss
mentioned at the conclusions of many NT epistles was already a reflection of an actual
liturgical rubric.
43
Phillips objection is that Cuming fails to explain why the New
Testament letters must reflect liturgical practice of the first-century church.
44
If this is
not demonstrated, then it could just as easily be argued that the NT letters were the
source of that tradition rather than its origin. His conclusion is that, although the ritual
kiss was a liturgical element by the mid-second century, it remains to be proven that it
had this function as early as the time of the Pauline epistles.

Another specific response to Cumings argument was made in 1978 by James M.
Gibbs in another short article entitled Canon Cumings Service-Endings in the
Epistles: A Rejoinder. Gibbs calls attention to data from Luke-Acts not considered by
Cuming and uses this new information to nuance Cumings original argument. His
position is connected to the suggestions made independently by both Lietzmann and
Robinson mentioned in the footnote above
45
, that the sequence of the three phrases noted
by Cuming serves as an introduction to the Eucharist. He sees the NT epistles that
conclude with these phrases as constituting the homilies which ended the ministry of the

43
L. Edward Phillips, The Ritual Kiss in Early Christian Worship (Ph.D. diss., University of
Notre Dame, 1992), 48-9.
44
Ibid., 49.
45
See above, note 42.

32
Word and immediately preceded the eucharistic action.
46
In order to support this
assertion, Gibbs turns to the data from Luke-Acts, pointing out a liturgical structure
common to Luke 24:13-33 (the Emmaus incident) and Acts 8:26-39 (the baptism of the
Ethiopian eunuch) that he had discussed in detail in an earlier article.
47
This structure,
presumably reflecting that used in the Lukan church, would have consisted of: (1) the
greeting, (2) reading of scripture, (3) preaching of a sermon (the most likely place for the
various epistles to have been read), (4) examination of baptismal candidates, (5)
celebration of Eucharist/baptism, and (6) a dismissal. If this structure is accepted, then
there is evidence that already in the first century, at least in some churches, there was
already a service of worship that united (what would later be called) the synaxis with the
Eucharist. Thus, Gibbs argues that the sequence of phrases pointed out by Cuming could
very well have served as an introduction to the Eucharist, which already in the first
century could have been connected to a service of the word that included the reading of
these writings as a sermon.
We will have the chance to comment further on the problems of trying to
reconstruct the details of the earliest Christian worship in the following chapter, but for
now it is important to point out a single cautionary note in response to the proposals of
Bornkamm, Cuming, and Gibbs. Paul Bradshaw has likened this endeavor not to
joining up the dots on a sheet of otherwise plain paper, but rather of finding the dots in
the first place, buried as they are among countless others of different shades and hues,

46
James M. Gibbs, Canon Cumings Service-Endings in the Epistles: A Rejoinder, TS 24
(1977-78): 546.
47
James M. Gibbs, Luke 24:13-33 and Acts 8:26-39: The Emmaus Incident and the Eunuchs
Baptism as Parallel Stories, Bangalore Theological Forum 8 (January-June 1975): 17-31.

33
and of doing so with a blindfold over ones eyes.
48
Of course, he goes on to emphasize
that, although we cannot know all of the details we would like to know about early
Christian worship, certainly a fair amount of information can be reconstructed from the
evidence we possess. However, Bradshaw also points out a further caveat illustrated by
the articles of Cuming and Gibbs specifically: that even when we are able to identify a
series of liturgical references within a text, this does not mean that we can be confident of
the sequence or construction of the particular rite that they represent. The proposals of
Bornkamm, Cuming, and Gibbs are not without merit, but we must keep in mind that,
especially for a period as early as the first century, we may have to be satisfied with only
a faint picture of what early Christian worship looked like and with the knowledge that
we do not always have the evidence to reconstruct many of the details.

U. Vanni made an important contribution to the discussion in his 1991 article
entitled Liturgical Dialogue as a Literary Form in the Book of Revelation.
49
Vanni
clearly states his hypothesis at the outset, which is based on the introductory verses of the
book, Rev 1:1-3
50
:
By uniting the lector and hearers in the same macarism, and bearing in mind the
respective roles suggested by the meaning of the two terms [ and

48
Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 20.
49
Ugo Vanni, Liturgical Dialogue as a Literary Form in the Book of Revelation, TS 37 (1991):
348-372. Vannis earlier book that treats the subject in more detail is LApocalisse: Ermeneutica, Esegesi,
Teologia (Bologna: Editzioni Dehoniane, 1988), 100-114. This work will be treated in more detail in
chapter 4 of the dissertation.
50
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take
place; he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testified to the word of God and to
the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the
prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near.

34
], this passage makes one think of the liturgical assemblies of the
synagogue and the early Christian church, in which, as we know, there was a kind
of dialogue between lector and hearers.
51

He devotes much of his article to a detailed analysis of the two major dialogues that he
sees at the beginning and end of the book, Rev 1:4-8 and 22:6-21, and seeks to answer
the question of whether such a liturgical setting can be detected throughout the text of the
Apocalypse. Regarding the first passage, 1:4-8, Vanni sees a dialectical form consisting
of proclamations and responses that is suggested by the switch from second person plural
pronouns in 1:4 (Grace to you () and peace) to first person plural in 1:5a-6 (To
the one who loved us () and freed us ()). This switch may imply that a
dialogue is taking place between a lector and a group of hearers, corresponding to, but
not necessarily the same as, John and the seven churches within the text of Revelation.
An important conclusion reached by Vanni at this point is that this dialogue is not
connected with a specific occasion for the reading of the book, but is what we could call
a model of the dialogue that will actually take place every time a lector reads Johns
message to a group of hearers that recognizes itself as part of the totality of the church as
symbolized by the seven churches of Asia.
53

Vanni then turns to analyze a second dialogue found near the conclusion of the
Apocalypse in Rev 22:6-21. He divides the passage into three sections (vv. 6-11, 12-16,
and 17-21, that had earlier been identified as the three stages of the passage by his

51
Vanni, Liturgical Dialogue as a Literary Form in the Book of Revelation, 348.
53
Ibid., 355.

35
student M. A. Kavanagh; see below), and believes that it is possible to identify the
speaker of each of the verses of this passage, leading to a dialogue, or rather a series of
statements made by Jesus, John, and the angel. Turning to the world of the liturgical
assembly, Vanni sees the lector as speaking the part of John and of any transcendent
persons that appear, and acknowledges that it is not clear any real exchange in the
assembly is taking place until the end of the dialogue, where the group is assigned a part
in the text. One could ask why there could not be three speakers in the assembly who
recite the parts of Jesus, John, and the angel as Vanni has assigned them. At any rate, he
is therefore able to conclude that these dialogues (and thus the reading of the book itself)
took place within an early Christian assembly. Because of this, he calls such dialogues
liturgical, but he is careful not to overstate the liturgical details that can be drawn from
this conclusion.
A strength of Vannis essay is that he addresses the issue of how exactly
Revelation could have been read within an early Christian assembly; he paints a picture
of what this concretely would have looked like. However, while Vannis reconstruction
of an opening liturgical dialogue in 1:4-8 is convincing and seems to work, that of the
closing liturgical dialogue in 22:6-21 is less so. Even leaving aside the textual question
of whether this section can be isolated as its own unit, as Vanni believes it can be, it is
simply not clear that the dialogue that he proposes makes sufficient sense of the difficult
nature of the text. Even with speakers assigned to the different parts, the section still
seems somewhat jumbled and does not necessarily emerge as what seems like a dialogue.


36
In 1984, a dissertation by M. A. Kavanagh, himself a student of Vanni, undertook a
detailed study of this passage at the end of Revelation. Kavanagh concludes that the
complexity of this difficult text can be best explained by understanding 22:6-21 as a
liturgical dialogue. In his study, he examines possible parallels from the biblical psalms,
the Qumran texts, and other early Christian texts such as Did. 10:6. He is careful about
laying out what he feels is a proper methodology for establishing the presence of a
liturgical dialogue: (1) finding simultaneous unity and diversity in the text; (2)
establishing the liturgical character of the passage; and (3) demonstrating that the text has
the character of a dialogue. The first two elements are shown convincingly enough, but
the third is somewhat weaker. In assigning the various sections of the text to different
speakers, he has to assign to the lector so many different roles that the actual dialogical
character is called into question. At any rate, at the end of his work, Kavanagh answers
the important questions of the function of the passage in the text of the Apocalypse and of
the liturgical function of the passage itself. This section is a strength of his work and
regrettably takes up only a few pages. He makes the significant point that Rev 22:6-21
should be thought of as part of an early Christian liturgy only when it is read as the
conclusion to the Apocalypse as a whole: It does not reproduce a liturgical text which
could be used independently of a liturgical reading of the bookone must be quite
careful about drawing any conclusions concerning liturgy from it--except conclusions
concerning the liturgical reading of the Apocalypse itself.
54



54
M. A. Kavanagh, Apocalypse 22:6-21 as Concluding Liturgical Dialogue (Rome: Pontificia
Universit Gregoriana, 1984), 138.

37
In 1986, David L. Barrs article, The Apocalypse of John as Oral Enactment, was
published, arguing that a consideration of the fact that the book of Revelation was read
aloud to a group of hearers is essential to its interpretation.
55
He concludes that the oral
performance of the Apocalypse served to make Jesus present,
56
as the reader of the book
speaks for John, who in turn reports the words of Jesus himself to the community.
Moreover, it is reasonable to assume that this kind of presentation necessitates a liturgical
context for the reading of the book, especially when the amount of liturgical language
and imagery in the book is taken into consideration. Barr further argues that an evening
eucharistic service would have been an appropriate social situation in which to envision
the reading of the Apocalypse. He believes just such a service is alluded to by Pliny in
his letter to Trajan regarding the practices of Christians in early second-century Asia
Minor, when he refers to the congregation separating after their morning service and then
reassembling later in the day to share a meal. At any rate, in this context, the purpose of
the oral presentation of the book would have been to prepare the congregation for the
celebration of the Eucharist.
57
Further, just as the celebration of the Eucharist by the
faithful does not merely commemorate the saving events of Jesus death and resurrection
but actually makes those events present again for the congregation, Barr suggests that the
reading aloud of the Apocalypse within the context of a liturgical celebration is not

55
David L. Barr, The Apocalypse as Oral Enactment, Interpretation 40 (1986): 243-56.
56
Ibid., 252.
57
An objection to this view is the length of the book and the practical considerations involved in a
regular reading of it, but Barr addresses this objection, saying that we must not impose our modern view of
the length of a service of worship on that of the early Christians. The Pauline tradition contains several
references to the fact that early Christian worship may have been lengthier than we would expect. See
Barr, 253.

38
merely a description of the coming of the Kingdom of God, but it makes present in this
world the reality of the kingdom.
While Barrs arguments are certainly interesting and not without merit, they raise
some questions that could be answered with a bit more precision. First, if there was a
community of Christians in the late first century that read the Apocalypse in its entirety
every week before the Eucharist, then what happened to that tradition? I am not aware of
any other liturgical evidence for a book read in its entirety during a service of worship,
and it does not seem that this tradition was continued or picked up anywhere. Was this
just a flash in the pan liturgy that then disappeared into history? Second, as indicated
above in a footnote, Barr addresses the question of practicality that is raised by the
suggestion of the reading of such a lengthy work at an evening eucharistic service and
decides that this could have been done. However, it is interesting to note that the
anaphora found in Book 8 of the late fourth-century work Apostolic Constitutions takes
forty-five minutes to read
58
(less than the full hour needed for Revelation), and for that
reason, liturgical scholars believe that this prayer was not actually used in worship, but
rather that it was an idealized armchair anaphora. Finally, I would be interested to
learn what Barr means by the statement that the Apocalypse was read in preparation for
the Eucharist. Justin Martyr, in his description of a eucharistic celebration at the weekly
worship of the community, says that the presider, speaking over the gifts, sends up
prayers and thanksgivings according to his ability,
59
and this is thought to be a kind of

58
Louis Bouyer, Eucharist: Theology and Spirituality of the Eucharistic Prayer (trans. Charles
Underhill Quinn; Notre Dame and London: University of Notre Dame, 1968), 250-51. However, Bouyer
does acknowledge that a celebrant in a hurry could recite the anaphora in this text in just over 15
minutes, and he argues that the length of the text was not an obstacle to its use within the liturgy.
59
Justin, First Apology 67.5.

39
proto-anaphora. How does Revelation fit into this tradition of the development of
eucharistic prayers in general?
1.3 Conclusion to Chapter 1
The review of research outlined above obviously covers a wide variety of
questions related to the heavenly worship of the Apocalypse. It may be helpful at this
point to specify a number of issues that require further attention as the dissertation
progresses. First, many of the treatments of the liturgical aspects of Revelation cited
above do not use a methodology that current liturgical scholarship would regard as
appropriate. This misuse of liturgical evidence has led to a number of mistaken or
overconfident assumptions about the way that first-century Christians worshipped. The
subject of what it is possible to know about early Christian liturgy will be taken up in the
following chapter.
Second, the author of the Apocalypse seems to have been a Palestinian Jewish
Christian who was comfortable citing and alluding both to the Hebrew Bible and the
worship of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. If this is the case, then it is very reasonable
that the authors conception of the worship of God in his heavenly throne room was
influenced by these images as well. An examination of the relevant texts from the
Hebrew Bible and of contemporary Jewish apocalypses will illuminate some of the
imagery that the author of Revelation chose to describe his own vision.
Finally, aside from the question of possible liturgical images or references found
throughout the Apocalypse are the issues of how the text was actually used liturgically by
the communities that read it, and whether there are references to this liturgical use

40
actually in the text. Arguments have been made by a number of scholars reviewed above,
and they will be considered further in chapter 4 of the dissertation.



41
CHAPTER 2:
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT EARLY CHRISTIAN WORSHIP?
2.1 Introduction to the Problem
The aim of the present chapter is to illustrate the issues that are involved when
studying the liturgical practices of the early Church. Before addressing the more general
question of methodology, a specific example will be provided in order to see more clearly
the problems that can arise from such a study.
In the middle of the twentieth century, several studies appeared claiming that the
language of 1 Peter reflects, to one degree or another, the baptismal rites practiced by an
early Christian community.
60
Among these is the rather ambitious argument by F. L.
Cross that we have in the text of 1 Peter a nearly complete baptismal liturgy. He arrives
at this conclusion by first determining that the reading of the letter would have fit best in
a Paschal setting. Cross has three reasons for thinking that this is the case : (1) the
recurrence of the words and ; (2) the coexistence of ideas of joy and
suffering; and (3) the reference to the Exodus in 1:18ff. Then, assuming that Easter was
already the normative occasion of baptism at this early point in the Churchs history (this
idea will be taken up later in this chapter in more detail), Cross turns to the conclusions of

60
F. L. Cross, I Peter: A Paschal Liturgy (London: Mowbray, 1954); M. E. Boismard, Une
liturgie baptismale dans la Prima Petri, RB 63 (1956): 182-208, 64 (1957): 161-183; A. R. C. Leaney, 1
Peter and the Passover: an Interpretation, TS 10 (1963-4): 238-51.

42
a number of scholars before him who argued that 1 Peter contains at least portions of a
baptismal homily.
61
Important for his argument is the use of baptismal language that he
finds throughout the letter, as well as the repeated use of and , which he feels
indicate a rite was taking place during the reading of the letter.
62
In the end, Cross claims
that 1 Peter gives us the text that would have been used by the celebrant at this Paschal
baptismal liturgy. However, he acknowledges that, as the service presumably would
have lasted through the entire night, our text must be only a small section of what
actually took place, and the rubrics naturally have not been included in the present form
of the letter.
63

Several articles that point out the weaknesses of a number of his specific points
appeared not long after the publication of Cross lecture; for example, the fact that the
presence of baptismal language does not necessarily signal the presence of a baptismal
liturgy.
64
But more important for our purposes is the general objection raised by James
D. G. Dunn in a survey of these works in Unity and Diversity in the ew Testament.
Dunn notes that there is really no evidence whatsoever for the view that in the first two
generations of Christianity baptisms were organized ceremonies. . ..
65
Rather, the
weight of the evidence from the NT suggests that, at this early period, baptism was still

61
In this section, Cross is especially dependent upon the work of H. Preisker, who revised the
earlier commentary by H. Windisch, Die Katholischen Briefe (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1911). The
revised version is the third edition that appeared in 1951.
62
Cross, I Peter: A Paschal Liturgy, 28-30.
63
Ibid., 38.
64
See C. F. D. Moule, The Nature and Purpose of 1 Peter, TS 3 (1956): 1-11; T. C. G.
Thornton, 1 Peter, A Paschal Liturgy? JTS 12 (1961): 14-26.
65
James D. G. Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the ew Testament: An Inquiry into the Character of
Earliest Christianity (3rd ed.; London: SCM, 2006), 158.

43
simple and spontaneous, and he argues that it usually would have contained only a
confession of faith, an immersion, and a short baptismal formula. Dunn adds, Beyond
that we leave firm ground and enter the realm of speculation.
66

This example, although not directly related to this study of the Apocalypse, is an
attempt to show that scholars have often been overconfident about the amount that the
NT texts can tell us about the liturgical practices of the first generations of Christians.
Dunns skepticism is a reminder that we must be more cautious, and keep in mind both
the small amount and the disjointed nature of the evidence that we have before reaching
any conclusions about early Christian worship. With this in mind, we now turn to a
specific methodology that will guide our investigation.
2.2 Methodology
The example in the previous section illustrates the problem that will be discussed
in the remainder of this chapter, namely that the evidence that we need to be able to
reconstruct the ways in which Christians worshipped across the empire in the first
century of the churchs existence is largely lacking. Unfortunately, a significant amount
of scholarship on early Christian worship that was done prior to the end of the twentieth
century was overly optimistic with regard to its theoretical reconstruction of the way that
worship was done in this early period. This situation is likely the result of resistance to
the idea that this cant be all there is, as the notion that the words and actions which
composed the earliest Christian services of worship often remain beyond our reach is

66
Ibid., 159.

44
certainly disappointing and difficult to accept. In the study of the earliest church,
however, we must often be content with a faint picture without a lot of details, especially
for the first century of Christian worship. Of course, our evidence can tell us something
about particular elements of early Christian traditions, and smaller snapshots can
certainly be captured from individual texts (e.g., Justin gives a basic sequence of events
in 1 Apol. 67, which will be discussed further below). The problem is that we are not
always able to fill in the basic outline with more detail, or to put these smaller elements
together to form a larger, complete picture.
However, it is important to emphasize that scholarship on this early period does
not need to consist only of possible reconstructions of portions of the earliest liturgies; it
is aided equally by conclusions that there is simply not enough evidence to make a
judgment about what was done on certain types of occasions. It is important to keep in
mind that scholarship advances both by hypothesis confirmation and hypothesis negation;
it is just as valuable to say we cannot or do not know something as it is to say that we can
or do.
An articulated methodology that is necessary in order to examine responsibly the
liturgical evidence from the first few Christian centuries, especially that thought to be
found in the New Testament, was also lacking until relatively recently. This gap has
been more than adequately filled with the publication of Paul Bradshaws The Search for
the Origins of Christian Worship: Sources and Methods for the Study of Early Liturgy in
1992, and even more so with the second edition that appeared a decade later.
67


67
Paul F. Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship: Sources and Methods for
the Study of Early Liturgy (London: Oxford University, 2002).

45
Bradshaws method is specifically developed for the study of early liturgical texts. This
method arises from the nature of this early evidence, which rarely consists of specific
liturgical directives or prescriptions for exactly what should be done on a given occasion,
as is found in the liturgical material from later periods where there is more evidence
available for us to study. For the first few centuries of Christian worship, we must rely
on documents that have little, if anything, to do with liturgical celebration, such as
epistles, homilies, or even the ancient church orders that purport to give directions for
carrying out a liturgy, but are often idealized visions from the imagination of an
interested author. Even if texts such as the Didache, the so-called Apostolic Tradition,
and the late-fourth century church order Apostolic Constitutions provide instructions for
carrying out actually services of worship, these directives should not be assumed to have
been followed in every community in which these works were known.
There are, to my knowledge, two theoretical frameworks that can be used to
interpret this early liturgical evidence. One of these frameworks is that embraced by
Bradshaw, whose methodology arises out of his evaluation of the existing data. His view
is that the liturgical practices that we detect from this early evidence cannot be
universalized; just because a rite or ritual was used in one place does not mean that it was
standard practice. For example, we know that prior to Nicea in Syria, the rite of baptism
involved a pre-baptismal anointing but not a post-baptismal anointing. However, from
this information, we cannot draw the conclusion that this is how baptism was done
prior to Nicea; we must limit our conclusions to the time and place from which our
evidence comes, and even then we must realize that there is the chance that our data do
not reflect actual practice. However, there is an alternative theoretical framework that

46
would not necessarily disagree with the principle of limiting the conclusions that can
responsibly be drawn from our evidence, but rather wants to step back from the
differences in details and ask whether there are fundamental commonalities across the
different traditions nonetheless, since all of them share the same kerygma. For example,
proponents of this view may say that there is an essential eucharistic rite that is common
to all of the communities for which we have evidence: there is bread, it was blessed,
broken, and given. (Incidentally, Bradshaw points out that this is not even the case: we
now have evidence of eucharists that were celebrated without wine, and of some that
used milk and honey in their celebrations.)
Bradshaws method can be summarized quite simply as implementing the use of a
hermeneutic of suspicion. According to him, it is necessary for the student of the early
liturgical evidence, as it is for the biblical scholar, to remember a few important points.
First, the nature of a source in which we find liturgical evidence must be taken into
consideration, and the purpose for which a text was written must be considered. We
cannot take possible references to or comments on liturgical celebration out of their
contexts and then use them to prove what was done at a certain time or, even more
dangerously, what was done at an earlier time.
Second, authors rarely include in their writing every detail of an event or custom
that they are discussing, just as, for example, Paul does not expound every detail of his
theology every time he mentions baptism or resurrection or grace in one of his letters.
Writers include what is needed to make the point that they intend to make, but they do
not recount every aspect of an event, as if we could then use that information to reenact
exactly the tradition that they are describing. Of course, this fact limits the conclusions

47
that we can draw from a possible liturgical reference, but it helps to control the way we
interpret such references.
Finally, and perhaps most relevant to this discussion, is the chapter that Bradshaw
devotes to possible liturgical references in the New Testament.
68
In this section, he
points out a number of methodological criticisms of both liturgical and biblical scholars
that he has observed in the study of the New Testament texts. We need not recount all of
his observations here, but it would be helpful to summarize a few of his points as an
introduction to the material in this chapter.
The first of these trends is what Bradshaw calls a tendency towards
panliturgism, which occurs when scholars identify references to early liturgical
celebration throughout the NT writings, even where none was meant by the author. This
tendency involves not only detecting a liturgical context for a given verse or section of an
NT text, but also placing the original Sitz im Leben of the text within the celebration of an
early service of worship. Examples of this phenomenon include the attempts to discern
an early lectionary or cycle of readings behind the gospels,
69
or the finding of elements of
a baptismal liturgy in Colossians 1:12-20.
70
The problem with this methodology,
Bradshaw explains, is that there is often no evidence at all that can support these theories.

68
Ibid., 47-72.
69
R. G. Finch, The Synagogue Lectionary and the ew Testament (London: SPCK, 1939); Philip
Carrington, The Primitive Christian Calendar: A Study in the Making of the Markan Gospel (Cambridge:
Cambridge University, 1952); Michael Goulder, Midrash and Lection in Matthew (London, Wipf & Stock,
1974).
70
For the argument regarding Col 1:12-20, see Ernst Ksemann, Essays on ew Testament
Themes (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982). Bradshaw specifically mentions in this context Massey Shepherds
book regarding the finding in the outline of the book of Revelation the elements of an early paschal liturgy,
which was summarized in the previous chapter. For a list of other examples, see Bradshaw, The Search for
the Origins of Christian Worship, 47-50.

48
Moreover, there are sometimes contra-indications that actually make such theories
unlikely. In the case mentioned above regarding the finding of a lectionary behind the
gospel accounts, there is the absence of evidence that a fixed Sabbath lectionary existed
in the first century, and also the fact that there is little evidence to support the claim that
Christians used specific readings for specific occasions in this early period.
The second element in the methodology for the study of these early texts has
already been discussed in the previous chapter but deserves a brief mention here.
Bradshaw finds that scholars often make the mistake of reading back later liturgical
practices that we know to have been used into earlier times where there is less evidence.
But we are not justified in making these connections: a reference by the author of an NT
text to something that sounds like a later liturgical practice is not necessarily to be
interpreted in light of the later liturgical evidence, especially when the later data come
from a different geographical region. Drawing these conclusions involves us in too much
speculation about what was done in the first century when there simply may not be
evidence to know for sure.
Related to the reading back of later evidence into an earlier period is the
tendency towards harmonization. In this section,
71
Bradshaw mentions the temptation
to combine what little liturgical evidence can be found in the NT together to form a more
complete picture of how early Christians worshipped. The problem with this
methodology is that it assumes an early unity of practice that probably did not exist.
Recent liturgical scholarship has found reason to embrace the theory of early diversity to

71
Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 52-53.

49
later unity,
72
and not the other way around, as was previously believed to be the case.
73

If primitive Christian worship truly had the multifaceted character that recent research
has shown it to have had, then we cannot assume that what was practiced in one place
was carried out elsewhere, even in the same period, nor can we assume that a piece of
liturgical evidence from the early period reflects standard practice at that time.
Finally, an issue that must be mentioned here is the question of literary metaphor
versus liturgical practice. When an NT text alludes to something that sounds like a
liturgical practice, it is difficult to know whether the author is describing an existing
liturgical custom, or whether he is using a literary device that would later give rise to an
actual practice.
74
Bradshaw notes that the heavenly liturgy in Revelation is especially
problematic in this regard: some scholars believe that the book is full of references to
liturgical customs known to the author; others question the existence of any parallels to
an earthly liturgy. He then adds another piece to the puzzle: After all, it is generally
taken for granted that the early Christians did not use incense in their worship, in spite of
the references to it in Revelation 5.8 and 8.3f. How then can we be sure that other

72
One of the earliest to articulate this theory was Anton Baumstark, although he acknowledged the
simultaneous development from simplicity to more complex, as is discussed in Bradshaw, The Search for
the Origins of Christian Worship, 11. (See A. Baumstark, Liturgie compare [3rd ed; Chevetogne,
Belgium: ditions de Chevetogne, 1953]; ET = Comparative Liturgy [trans. F. L. Cross; Westminster, MD:
Newman Press, 1958], 15-22.) See also R. Taft, How Liturgies Grow: The Evolution of the Byzantine
Divine Liturgy, OCP 43 (1977); Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 52-3.
73
As an example of this way of using the evidence, Bradshaw cites Oscar Cullmann, Early
Christian Worship (trans. A. Stewart Todd and James B. Torrance; London: SCM, 1953), 7-36.
74
Bradshaw cites a number of baptismal images in the New Testament as examples of this
phenomenon. One case is the mention in Gal 3:27 of those who are baptized having put on Christ. Is the
author simply using a metaphor that later became a baptismal custom, or is he describing an existing
baptismal custom with which he was familiar, perhaps one of the newly baptized being clothed in a white
garment to symbolize their baptism? For more, see Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian
Worship, 56-7.

50
elements do correspond to regular Christian liturgical customs?
75
This particular issue
will be discussed further in chapter 3, but for now, the question is another reminder of the
difficult nature of the evidence for the earliest Christian worship.
In the remainder of this chapter, I will attempt to use this methodology to examine
the liturgical evidence in order to question some of the assumptions made by scholars
investigating the liturgical context of Revelation.
2.3 The Paschal Liturgy of the Earliest Church
The work of Massey H. Shepherd was discussed briefly in the review of research
presented in the preceding chapter, but because Shepherds work on the Apocalypse has
been so influential, I would like to point out some problems for his proposals that are
created as a result of some recent conclusions of liturgical scholarship. A brief summary
of his arguments will be helpful to begin the section.
In The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse, which appeared in 1960, Shepherd
argued that it was the Paschal liturgy celebrated by the early Church that suggested to the
author of Revelation an outline by which to structure his message. Shepherd is careful to
point out that this modest claim is the only one that he is making; he is not saying that the
actual imagery in the book is somehow derived from a liturgy or that the book of
Revelation itself is a liturgy. He simply wants to place the overall structure of the book
within a liturgical framework. In order to reconstruct this liturgical framework, Shepherd
relies upon the so-called Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, which he believed to have

75
Ibid., 57.

51
been composed more than a century after the Apocalypse.
76
He acknowledges the
methodological dangers of using a third-century work to reconstruct a Paschal liturgy that
was celebrated at the end of the first century in Asia Minor, but still chooses to use this
later work on the basis of its claim that the rite it describes is apostolic. Shepherd
writes,
apart from certain details of ceremonial, there is nothing in the general ordo of the
Paschal rite of Hippolytus that could not have been in use in the first century. It is
not unreasonable to suppose that the broad outline of the Paschal liturgy known to
Hippolytus...may have obtained in churches so well established and developed as
those of Asia at the close of the first century.
77

In the chapters that follow, Shepherd uses the outline of the Paschal liturgy found in the
Apostolic Tradition, supplemented with traditions taken from fourth and even fifth
century sources, and identifies the sections of Revelation that he believes correspond with
these elements. He uses the following chart to summarize his arguments:

76
More will be said about the Apostolic Tradition and the circumstances of its composition later in
this chapter. As for the dating of Revelation, Shepherd accepts the traditional dating of the book, placing
its composition in the last years of the reign of the emperor Domitian (81-96) in the province of Asia.
77
Shepherd, Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse, 79.

52
TABLE 2.1
SHEPHERDS RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PASCHAL LITURGY
Component of Paschal Liturgy Event in Revelation Chapters
in
Revelation
(1) The Scrutinies The Seven Letters 1-3
(2) The Vigil The Assembly before the Throne of
God
4-5
(a) The Lessons Seals 1-6 6
(3) The Initiation Pause: Sealing of the White-robed
Martyrs
7
(4) The Synaxis Seal 7 8
(a) The Prayers The censing
(b) The Law (Exodus) Trumpets 1-6 = Woes 1-2 8-9
(c) The Prophets Pause: The Little Scroll; the Two
Witnesses
10-11
(d) The Gospel Trumpet 7 = Woe 3: The Struggle of
Christ and Antichrist
12-15
Vials 1-7 16-18
(e) The Psalmody The Hallelujah 19
(5) The Eucharist The Marriage Supper of the Lamb 19
The Consummation 20-22

Based on the chart above, it is clear that Shepherd is suggesting that, at the end of the first
century in Asia Minor, there was already in existence an annual Paschal liturgy that
included the baptism of new members. If this was not the case, then his argument that
the structure of the Apocalypse was organized around such a liturgy will be difficult to
sustain. It is to these issues that we now turn.

53
2.3.1 Emergence of the Annual Celebration of Easter
The assertion that the outline of Revelation is based on the structure of an annual
Paschal liturgy that included the baptism of new members leads first to the question of
when the annual celebration of Pascha first appeared in the early church. Was there
already a yearly Paschal celebration in the churches of Asia at the end of the first
century?
Thomas. J. Talley and Raniero Cantalamessa, both experts in the study of the
development of liturgical feasts, answer this question in the affirmative.
78
Talleys The
Origins of the Liturgical Year discusses the emergence of two different occasions for an
annual commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ: the Quartodeciman
Pascha celebrated on the night of the Jewish Passover, regardless of the day of the week
on which it occurred, and the tradition that celebrated the Pascha on the Sunday
following the Passover. According to Talley, it is likely that both of these observances
date back to as early as the first generation of Christians. However, he notes, most
scholars now recognize the historical priority of the Quartodeciman practice, and it is this
tradition that is the most relevant to a discussion of the liturgy of the Apocalypse, as this
movement enjoyed a popular following among the Jewish Christians of Asia Minor.
79
It

78
Thomas J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (New York: Pueblo, 1986), 4-7; Raniero
Cantalamessa, Easter in the Early Church: An Anthology of Jewish and Early Christian Texts (trans. James
M. Quigley, S. J. and Joseph T. Lienhard, S. J.; Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1993), 7-8. Also, Paul F.
Bradshaw, who is the inspiration for much of this chapter, agrees with the assessments of Talley and
Cantalamessa and cites their work in his essay, The Origins of Easter, in Passover and Easter: Origin
and History to Modern Times (ed. Paul F. Bradshaw and Lawrence A. Hoffman; Notre Dame, IN:
University of Notre Dame, 1999), 81-97.
79
An example of the traditional tendency to assign historical priority to the Sunday celebration of
Easter, with the Quartodeciman practice in Asia Minor being thought of as only a local aberration arising
from Judaizing tendencies, is seen in Josef A. Jungmanns The Early Liturgy (trans. Francis A. Brunner, C.
SS. R.; Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1959), 25-6.

54
is not difficult to imagine that the origins of the Quartodeciman practice are to be found
among the very first Christians in Jerusalem, who continued to celebrate the Passover in
the years immediately following the death of Jesus.
80
But to the content of the Passover,
they would have added a commemoration of Jesus Passion, so that the celebration
became a Christianized version of the Jewish tradition. Talley envisions a scenario in
which, following the turmoil brought about by the destruction of the Temple in AD 70,
this Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem would have been displaced, and he even
mentions specifically the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Apocalypse (among
others) as places where the refugees from Jerusalem would have settled.
81
At any rate,
the Quartodeciman Christians celebrated Jesus entire redemptive act, both his death and
his resurrection, on the evening of 14 Nisan, the night of the Jewish Passover. This early
Paschal celebration took the form of a vigil of fasting, readings, and prayers during the
time that the Jewish community observed the Passover. When the Jewish feast was over,
the Quartodecimans broke the fast by celebrating the Eucharist.
In the introduction to his collection of texts relevant to the eventual celebration of
Pascha entitled Easter in the Early Church, Raniero Cantalamessa also argues that the
annual observance of Easter emerged among Jewish Christians who originally celebrated
the Passover, and over time, this Passover celebration was increasingly Christianized:
It would seem that, after the death and resurrection of Christ, the primitive
Christian community continued for a while to go up to the Temple (Acts 3:1)
and celebrate the Pesach with the other Jews. But the followers of Jesus began to

80
Joachim Jeremias argues exactly this point, that the Quartodeciman practice originated in first-
century Palestine, as a Christianized celebration of the Passover, in The Eucharistic Words of Jesus (trans.
N. Perrin; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1966), 122-3.
81
Talley, Origins of the Liturgical Year, 7.

55
think of, and to experience, this yearly festival, no longer as the recalling of the
events of the Exodus and as the expectation of the coming of the Messiah, but
rather as the recalling of what had happened a few years before in Jerusalem at
the time of Pesach, and as the expectation of the return of the Messiah.
82

Although the theories of Talley and Cantalamessa regarding the origin of the
Christian celebration of Easter of are somewhat speculative, especially concerning how
far back the annual celebration of Pascha actually can be dated, it is reasonable that this
annual celebration among the earliest Christians arose from an increasingly Christianized
celebration of the Jewish Passover, and that there was an annual observance of this
tradition by the end of the first century AD in Asia Minor.
83
But it is still important to
ask whether this Jewish-Christian Passover had become formalized enough by the time of
the writing of Revelation (around AD 95) that there would have been a ritualized
Christian liturgy, with all of the elements that Shepherd imagines, upon which Revelation
could be based.
2.3.2 Paschal Baptism in Asia Minor?
Even if there was an annual celebration of a Pascha at this time, complete with a
structurally developed liturgy, can we show that baptism was definitely a part of it? As

82
Cantalamessa, Easter in the Early Church, 7-8.
83
It is important to mention that the attempt to reconstruct Jewish liturgical practices from the first
century AD is met with problems similar to those found in the study of early Christian worship. More will
be said about this subject in the appendix, but it should be noted at this point that there is not much concrete
evidence for what was done at the celebration of Passover itself at the end of the first century. Much of
what is often cited comes from the Mishnah, which, although it certainly contains earlier traditions, dates
no earlier than the beginning of the third century, and so must be used with caution. A further problem is
that the fall of the Temple in AD 70 created a need for adaptation in Judaism from a temple-based religion
to one that could survive without the accompanying sacrifices. This process increases the likelihood that,
in the years following this event, the rites and prayers for Passover were in transition and not formalized
and fixed in actual practice. See Baruch M. Bokser, The Origins of the Seder: The Passover Rite and Early
Rabbinic Judaism (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California, 1984).

56
argued in the preceding section, it is reasonable to suppose that the first-century
Christians in Asia Minor, who were the original audience of the book of Revelation, were
Quartodecimans. But despite the allusions to baptism in the Quartodeciman sources,
which include Melito of Sardis homily Concerning the Pascha (which will be discussed
below) and another homily of Pseudo-Hippolytus of Rome, On Holy Pascha, it is not safe
to assume that the actual administration of baptism was a regular part of their Paschal
celebration. In his book on the latter homily, LOmelia In S. Pascha Dello Pseudo-
Ippolito di Roma, R. Cantalamessa warns scholars against assuming that the
Quartodecimans practiced Paschal baptism as a part of their annual celebration.
84
These
sources certainly do speak of the sacrament of baptism, but Cantalamessa is careful not to
jump to the conclusion that a source is referring to the actual administration of baptism
just because it brings up the subject (he says this is assurdo, or ludicrous). He does not
deny the possibility that there were some Quartodecimans who may have administered
baptism at this time of year, but rather argues that the sources that we have do not allow
us to affirm this with certainty.
It is important to mention here a homily from Melito of Sardis, entitled
Concerning the Pascha, which can be dated to around the year 165. This homily
explains how the death and resurrection of Jesus have fulfilled the Passover, and it is
from this work that we know of the existence of the Quartodeciman Paschal vigil in Asia
Minor. In The Peoples Work: A Social History of the Liturgy, Frank Senn mentions this
writing specifically in connection with his discussion of Shepherds work on the liturgy

84
Raniero Cantalamessa, LOmelia In S. Pascha Dello Pseudo-Ippolito di Roma: Ricerche
Sulla Teologia DellAsia Minore nella Seconda Meta Del II Secolo (Milan: Societ Editrice Vita e
Pensiero, 1967), 282-7.

57
of the Apocalypse. He uses it to support Shepherds assertion of the existence of such a
liturgy, saying that because of this piece of evidence, we know that such a Paschal vigil
was observed in Asia Minor in the mid-second century, and that, if we accept the view
that Revelation was written toward the end of the reign of Domitian, then we are closer
to the time when this tradition of paschal celebration was developing in Asia.
85
Still,
even if we are close to that time, Melitos homily reflects a period seventy years after the
writing of Revelation, so even if the vigil was a well-established custom when Melito
wrote his homily, this does not mean that it would have had the same elements in the year
165 as it would have had in 95. Further, and perhaps most importantly, Melito is reticent
about what we would like most of all to know, namely, the details of what took place at
the vigil. He makes no reference at all to a baptism celebrated there, which makes the
use of this homily to support Shepherds theory, or to support the more general theory
that the Quartodecimans baptized at their Paschal liturgy, problematic.
86

2.3.3 Paschal Baptism Elsewhere in the Early Church?
Even if we look beyond the community of Quartodeciman Christians, we still
cannot be sure that mainstream Christianity celebrated the initiation of new members
exclusively, or even primarily, at Pascha during the first three centuries of the Churchs
existence. The Paschal liturgy envisioned by Shepherd includes such a baptism at the

85
Frank C. Senn, The Peoples Work: A Social History of the Liturgy (Minneapolis: Fortress,
2006), 52.
86
At the conclusion of his section about Shepherds work on the liturgy of Revelation, Senn states
(p. 54): On the whole, then, it may be affirmed that the emerging liturgical, initiatory, and sacramental
practices of the church are reflected in the Apocalypse, especially as they came together in the paschal vigil
that celebrated the Passover of Christ from death to life. This statement is overstating the evidence for our
knowledge of these practices in the early period.

58
communitys Easter vigil, and he asserts that by the second century at the latest, the
Pascha was the normal occasion in the Church for the ministration of baptismal initiation,
by which the convert was mystically conjoined with Christ in death and resurrection and
given the promise of eternal life in the world to come.
87
But a careful examination of
the evidence does not warrant the confident conclusion that Pascha was the normative
occasion for baptism at this early period in the history of the Church.
In an article mentioned in the previous chapter, entitled Diem baptismo
sollemniorem: Initiation and Easter in Christian Antiquity, Paul F. Bradshaw calls into
question the antiquity of the preference for Paschal baptism.
88
He points out that
liturgical scholars have been unanimous in assuming that this practice was the norm as
early as the third century, and he asks whether there is evidence to support such a
conclusion. The problem is created by the fact that the authenticity and reliability of the
so-called Apostolic Tradition attributed to Hippolytus of Rome have been called into
question. This document, previously believed to have been composed in Rome around
the year 215 and thus to reflect early Roman practice, now appears to be a composite,
made up of liturgical material from several different locales and time periods.
89

Moreover, a closer look reveals that the so-called Apostolic Tradition does not mention a
specific season for the celebration of baptism. It contains a schedule that directs

87
Shepherd, The Paschal Liturgy in the Apocalypse, 81.
88
Paul F. Bradshaw, Diem baptismo sollemniorem: Initiation and Easter in Christian
Antiquity, in Living Water, Sealing Spirit: Readings on Christian Initiation (ed. Maxwell E. Johnson;
Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1995), 137-47.
89
Marcel Metzger, Nouvelles perspectives pour la prtendue Tradition Apostolique, Ecclesia
Orans 5 (1988): 241-259; and Paul F. Bradshaw, Maxwell E. Johnson, and L. Edward Phillips, The
Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary, (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002), 13-17.

59
catechumens to: (1) bathe on Thursday, (2) fast on Friday, and (3) receive a final
exorcism by the bishop following the fast.
90
It has been commonly assumed that this
final exorcism takes place on Saturday morning, after which the candidates would spend
all of Saturday night in prayer and be baptized at cockcrow on Sunday morning.
However, in their commentary on the Apostolic Tradition, Bradshaw, Johnson, and
Phillips point out that this is not necessarily the case.
91
They argue that it is possible that
the fast on Friday was immediately followed by the exorcism at sundown, which would
be the beginning of the Sabbath. In this case, the vigil would take place from Friday
night to Saturday morning, and not from Saturday night to Sunday morning. The text of
the Apostolic Tradition does not permit certainty about the day of the vigil, but the editors
of the commentary point out that the assumption that the text is describing baptism on
Pascha has influenced the way it has been read.
However, even if the text does envision a vigil that lasts from Saturday to Sunday,
Bradshaw points out that this order of events still does not rule out the possibility of
baptism on Pascha, but it certainly does not require it either. This conclusion is
strengthened by the fact that the Paschal season is discussed later in the document (ch.
33) with no mention of baptism, and it seems likely that this occasion would have been
specified as the one appropriate for baptism if that was what was intended. Therefore,
the vigil mentioned in Apostolic Tradition is one that would have been followed
whenever baptisms were celebrated and cannot be used to support a hypothesis of
baptism on Easter.

90
Apostolic Tradition 17, 20-21.
91
The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary, 110.

60
The first witness to what would become the later ideal of Paschal baptism
comes from Tertullians De baptismo 19 (c. 200), in which he mentions appropriate
occasions for baptism in North Africa in his own day, Pascha being his favorite among
these options:
The Passover offers the day of most solemnity for baptism, when our Lords
passion, into which we are baptized, was completed . . . . After that, Pentecost is
a most joyful time for conferring baptisms, when also the resurrection of the Lord
was frequently made known to the disciples and the grace of the Holy Spirit first
given and the hope of the coming of the Lord was indirectly revealed. . . .
However, every day is the Lords Day: any hour, any season, is suitable for
baptism. If there is a difference in solemnity, there is no difference in the grace.
92

On the basis of Tertullians testimony, then, the most that we can say is that in theory, by
the beginning of the third century in North Africa, Tertullian regarded Pascha as the most
desirable day on which to celebrate baptism, but it seems that baptisms could be
performed on any day of the year. However, it is important to point out that we cannot be
entirely sure whether, in this passage, Tertullian is describing a practice that was known
to him, or whether he is giving his own opinion on what ideally should be the case, but
was not necessarily the consensus in his community.
Moreover, Bradshaw points out that Paschal baptism appears to have been
unknown in Alexandria before the middle of the fourth century, as baptism there was
celebrated in the context of Epiphany and the forty-day fast that followed it. Elsewhere,
Syrian Christianity seems to have understood baptism not in the context of being baptized
into the death and resurrection of Christ, as is found in Romans 6:3-5, but rather as being
a mimesis of Jesus own baptism in the Jordan, a framework that would not suggest

92
De baptismo 19, cited in Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 138-139.

61
baptism on Pascha as being particularly appropriate.
93
Finally, Bradshaw notes that in
1973, Stuart Hall tried to make the best possible case for an early preference for Paschal
baptism, and in this study, he was forced to conclude that all of the alleged references to
Paschal baptism in the early sources are indefinite. In a second article several years later,
he further concluded that second-century baptism on Easter was an unproven
supposition.
94
On the basis of all of this, Bradshaw is able to conclude that whatever
the theory may have been in some places, therefore, it looks as though baptism at Easter
was never the normative practice that many have assumed.
95

All of this discussion of the emergence of Paschal baptism has been a response to
Shepherds assertion that, on the basis of the so-called Apostolic Tradition, we can
conclude that the first-century churches of Asia Minor celebrated the baptism of new
members at their Paschal vigil. Shepherd was certainly not alone in his assumption;
many scholars assumed that the normativity of Paschal baptism that emerged in the
second half of the fourth century was so strong that it must go back to the apostolic
period, or at least reflect a very early practice in the Churchs history. But the available
evidence forces us to agree with Hall, that Paschal baptism in the early Church is indeed
only an unproven supposition. Nothing can be assumed for the earliest period, especially
as early as the end of the first-century, when the Seer wrote the Apocalypse to the seven
churches in Asia. We simply do not know exactly what they were doing at their Paschal

93
Gabriele Winkler, The Original Meaning of the Prebaptismal Anointing and its Implications,
Worship 52 (1978): 36.
94
S. G. Hall, Paschal Baptism, in Studia Evangelica VI (Texte und Untersuchungen 112; Berlin:
Akademie-Verlag, 1973), 239-51; S. G. Hall, ed., Melito of Sardis: On Pascha and Fragments (Oxford:
Oxford University, 1979), xxviii.
95
Bradshaw, Diem baptismo sollemniorem, 147.

62
vigil, and none of our evidence points in the direction that baptisms were celebrated at
that time.
2.3.4 Tradition of Baptism on Pentecost
As a response to the work of Paul Bradshaw, Maxwell Johnson revisited the issue
of Paschal baptism a few years later.
96
Returning to Tertullians statement about the days
that were appropriate for the celebration of baptism in his community (Pascha, Pentecost,
or any day), Johnson observes that the possibility of baptism during Pentecost has been
neglected by liturgical scholars because of the necessity of pre-baptismal fasting as part
of the preparation for receiving baptism (cf. Didache 7). Fasting as a whole was (and still
is) generally seen as something that is inappropriate during the fifty days of Paschal
rejoicing following Easter, and so the idea of baptism at Pentecost emerged as only a
lesser alternative to the ideal of Paschal baptism (which we have seen was not the
common practice anyhow). The problem with this, Johnson argues, is that we are not
certain that fasting during Pentecost was prohibited from the beginning; our earliest
evidence for a proscription against fasting during these fifty days dates to the late second
century, in Irenaeus (as quoted by Eusebius). Moreover, even if fasting was discouraged
during Pentecost, this does not mean that the candidates to be baptized could not be
excluded from this requirement.
Johnson then turns to the more interesting question of why scholars have not
taken seriously the biblical precedent for linking baptism with Pentecost, when it is the

96
Maxwell E. Johnson, Tertullians Diem baptismo sollemniorem Revisited: A Tentative
Hypothesis on Baptism at Pentecost, in Studia Liturgica Diversa: Essays in Honor of Paul F. Bradshaw
(ed. M. E. Johnson and L. E. Phillips; Portland: The Pastoral Press, 2004), 31-44.

63
only feast on the Jewish liturgical calendar with which baptism is connected in the NT.
In Acts 2:1-42, following Peters sermon, 3000 people are baptized and welcomed into
the faith, so it seems to be the case that, for the author of Luke-Acts, baptism and the
Jewish feast of Pentecost were somehow connected. Johnson asks the question: Was
there also something already initiatory in character about Pentecost somewhere in
Judaism that would have led the author of Luke-Acts to connect Christian baptism with
these eschatological gifts of the Spirit on this particular occasion?
97
Moreover, was
there already, at the time of the writing of Luke-Acts, a practice in place of baptizing new
converts to the faith on the Jewish feast of Pentecost that would have shaped Lukes
account of the narrative in Acts 2?
In order to answer these questions, Johnson cites the recent work of tienne
Nodet and Justin Taylor, who argue that the Jerusalem church was greatly influenced by
various sectarian groups within Judaism, particularly the community at Qumran and the
practices reflected in the book of Jubilees. In those strains of Judaism, Pentecost seems
to have been celebrated as the most important feast of the year, on which these groups
observed a covenant renewal ceremony and welcomed new members into the
community.
98
Moreover, James VanderKam has noted parallels between the
understanding of Pentecost in these same two Jewish communities and that reflected in
Acts 2.
99
So it is not unreasonable to think that Lukes narrative could have been

97
Ibid., 34.
98
tienne Nodet and Justin Taylor, The Origins of Christianity: An Exploration (Collegeville:
Liturgical Press, Michael Glazier, 1998), 397.
99
James VanderKam, The Festival of Weeks and the Story of Pentecost in Acts 2, in From
Prophecy to Testament: The Function of the Old Testament in the ew (ed. Craig A. Evans; Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson, 2004).

64
influenced by the way that Pentecost was being celebrated among some forms of
sectarian Judaism around the turn of the era. But the more important question is whether
the account in Acts 2 reflects the actual liturgical practices of Lukes community, of
celebrating the sacrament of baptism on the feast of Pentecost. Johnson points out that
biblical scholars have long read the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper in this way, not
as historical accounts of Jesus final meal with his disciples, but rather as glimpses of
the eucharistic meal as practiced within various communities at the time of the various
writings.
100
So, he asks, why should we not read the account of Pentecost in Acts 2 in
this same way? Perhaps it is the case that baptism on Pentecost does not emerge in the
third century as a lesser alternative to the ideal of Easter baptism, but rather belongs to an
earlier strain of the liturgical tradition.
2.3.5 Fixity vs. Fluidity of Early Liturgy
There is one final observation to be made before moving on from the arguments
of M. Shepherd regarding the liturgy of the Apocalypse. Since Shepherd claims that a
formalized Paschal liturgy that included the celebration of baptism suggests the outline of
Revelation, it is necessary to ask how we can square this with our (lack of) knowledge of
the shape of early Christian liturgies.
What evidence do we have regarding the degree to which early Christian liturgies
followed fixed texts or had fixed structures of worship?
101
Again, there is so little that we

100
Johnson, Diem baptismo sollemniorem Revisited, 36.
101
This is also an issue in the history of Jewish worship; for a discussion of the problem, see the
appendix. It will suffice for now to note that it does seem that the development of Jewish liturgical prayer
followed a similar pattern to the one discussed in this section regarding Christian worship: that of early
diversity and variety to later unity and systemization.

65
can know with certainty about the liturgical celebrations of the communities from the
first century, but it seems that when liturgical texts begin to be fixed, they are fairly brief.
For example, if Didache 9-10, which can be dated to the early- to mid-second century,
contains a prayer to be said at a eucharistic celebration,
102
it is only a few short lines of
thanksgiving before and after the bread and cup. Moreover, the Didache also provides

102
I am aware of the lengthy debate regarding the kind of prayers that are present in chapters 9 and
10 of the Didache, with four major options usually being chosen: (1) that it is a different kind of Eucharist,
such as a private, daily celebration or a fellowship meal, (2) that it is a prayer of preparation for the
eucharist, (3) that the meal reflected in these chapters is an agape rather than an a Eucharist, and (4) that
this material reflects an early eucharistic prayer. For an overview of these options, see Paul F. Bradshaw,
Eucharistic Origins (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 24-32.
According to Bradshaw, the major objection to option (2) is the question of why the author would
devote so much space and detail to a prayer of preparation for the Eucharist, and then pass over the actual
celebration with almost no comment. A number of scholars have preferred the explanation that this prayer
refers to an agape rather than a Eucharist proper (3), but Bradshaw points out the problem that the whole
concept of the agape is a very dubious one. It has served as a useful vague category in which to dump any
evidence for meals that scholars did not want to treat as eucharistic, regardless of whether the text itself
described the meal as an agape or by some other title... (Bradshaw, Eucharistic Origins, 29). He goes on
to say that we have almost no evidence at all for any early communities that practiced both a Eucharist and
an agape; rather, when a particular group celebrated an agape, it seemed to be the only Christian ritual
meal that they knew.
The position held by Bradshaw and the majority of liturgical scholars today is (4), that Didache
9-10 reflects an early form of Eucharist. My inclination is to agree with his assertion, for a number of
reasons. First, the prayer mentions words to be said over a cup and broken bread (in that order), and these
elements are called eucharistia. Also, the text includes a prohibition against giving this eucharist to
outsiders; only those who are baptized may partake of it. Finally, a reason that many scholars have not
wanted to call this prayer a Eucharist is because it lacks the words of institution, which are found in
virtually all anaphoras from the fourth century onward (but not universally so beforehand), and only much
later in the Latin West became the indispensable form bringing about the change of the elements into the
body and blood of Christ. For an example of this, see Jungmann, The Early Liturgy, 37-8.
Finally, Bradshaw notes that an objection to the view that Didache 9-10 contains a prayer to be
said at a eucharistic celebration is 10.6 (May grace come, and this world pass away. Amen. Hosanna to
the God of David. If anyone is holy, let him come; if anyone is not, let him repent. Marana tha. Amen.),
which has seemed to some to make sense as a transition to a Eucharist that follows, rather than as a
conclusion to a rite. However, as noted in the review of research in chapter 1, G. Bornkamm noted
parallels between this verse, 1 Cor 16:22, and Rev 22:15,17, all of which contain the same pattern of
invitation and refusal and likely reflect early eucharistic practice. It is interesting to note that the verses
from the NT form part of the closings of the documents of which they are a part, and this may lend support
to the idea that Didache 10.6 could serve as a closing as well, rather than being only a transition to a later
part of the celebration.
For a detailed commentary on the contents of the Didache, see Kurt Niederwimmer, The Didache:
A Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998).

66
for extemporaneous prayer: After you have had your fill, give thanks thus . . . But allow
the prophets to give thanks as they wish.
103
Thus, the prayers of chapters 9 and 10 are
either a base to which impromptu thanks could and should be added, or they are a form
that could be used in the absence of someone capable of rendering a prayer of
thanksgiving on the spot.
Another example of this early tendency occurs in Justin Martyrs description of
the weekly worship of the community. He says that over the bread and cup, the presider
should offer prayers according to his ability ( ).
104
The purpose of
citing the Didache and the writings of Justin is not to suggest these texts were known to
the communities addressed in the Apocalypse, or that these communities even used
similar texts, but rather to emphasize that the weight of the early evidence suggests that
the wording of prayers was still fluid at this point.
The prayers that we find in the so-called Apostolic Tradition, which have been
used to reconstruct the order of a first-century liturgy known to the author of Revelation,
reflect a later period of liturgical development. As mentioned above, in their recently
published commentary on the Apostolic Tradition, Paul F. Bradshaw, Maxwell E.
Johnson, and L. Edward Phillips argue that the internal evidence of the document
suggests that it is not the work of one early-third century writer. Instead, the text as we
have it is a compilation of traditions emerging from a number of different geographical
regions and historical periods, ranging from the middle of the second century to perhaps
the middle of the fourth. Certainly, the authors of the commentary acknowledge that it is

103
Didache 10.1,7.
104
Justin, First Apology 67.5.

67
possible, and even probable, that individual elements of the text reflect early practices.
But overlaid on top of these elements are traditions that continued to develop within
living liturgical communities, and there is no way of reliably peeling back these later
additions to find the historical core of early practice. As a result of the way that the text
developed, it is not advisable to use this document as a witness to the shape of early-
third-century (or even earlier, with regard to the liturgy of the Apocalypse) liturgical or
baptismal practices. In other words, even if there are elements in the Apostolic Tradition
that are not inconsistent with early liturgical practices, the composite nature of the text
prevents us from using it to reconstruct them.
2.4 The Place of the Sanctus in Early Christian Worship
At the beginning of Rev 4, the Seer is invited into the heavenly throne room,
where he is privileged to witness the eternal praise of God in the heavenly court. Around
the throne, he sees the four living creatures, each of them having six wings and eyes all
around, and day and night without ceasing they sing, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God
Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come! (Rev 4:8). The presence of the
Sanctus sung by the cherubim in this verse is one of the liturgical elements within the
book around which scholars look for clues to the liturgy known to the author, but it was
only in the fifth century that this hymn became universally used in the eucharistic prayers
of churches around the Christian world. Prior to this later date, when there is evidence
for the local liturgical use of the Sanctus, it is fragmentary and not specifically
eucharistic; this evidence will be reviewed below. The circumstances surrounding the
entrance of the Sanctus into early Christian liturgy have received much attention from

68
liturgical scholars, especially of late. As a result of their research, what can we say with
some certainty about this hymn and its use in early Christian worship?
2.4.1 Two Early Theories about the Use of the Sanctus
Prior to the work done on the use of the Sanctus in the eucharistic prayer at the
end of the twentieth century, which will be discussed in more detail below, there were
two primary theories regarding how this hymn came to take its place at this point in the
liturgy. The first of these is known as the Egyptian theory, first advocated by Gregory
Dix.
105
Dix suggested that the Sanctus began to be used in the eucharistic prayer around
the middle of the third century in Alexandria, and from there it spread to the rest of Egypt
and eventually to rest of the Christian world. He finds evidence to support this theory in
the parallels between Origens De principiis I and IV (dated sometime after 217) and the
(mid-fourth century) anaphora of Sarapion of Thmuis. But, in a review of research on the
subject of the anaphoral use of the Sanctus, Maxwell Johnson points out that Dixs
conclusions are only tentative and cannot be proven with certainty.
106
Johnson agrees
with G. J. Cumings observation that Origens references to the Sanctus in De principiis
seem to be to the biblical Sanctus found in Isa 6, and not necessarily to a liturgical use of
the hymn. Thus we cannot be sure that Origens community used the Sanctus in their
eucharistic celebration as early as Dix suggests.

105
G. Dix, Primitive Consecration Prayers, Theology 37 (1938): 261-83; idem, The Shape of the
Liturgy, 165.
106
Maxwell E. Johnson, The Origins of the Anaphoral Use of the Sanctus and Epiclesis
Revisited: The Contribution of Gabriele Winkler and Its Implications, in Crossroad of Cultures: Studies in
Liturgy and Patristics in Honor of Gabriele Winkler (Orientalia Christiana Analecta 260; ed. H-J. Feulner,
E. Velkovska, and R. Taft; Rome: Pontifical Oriental Institute, 2000), 405-442.

69
Dixs theory of the Egyptian origin of the anaphoral use of the Sanctus was later
refined by Georg Kretschmar.
107
According to Kretschmar, it was not that Origen was
citing a liturgical text already known to him from his community, but rather that Origens
writing influenced the eventual form that the Sanctus took when it came to be used in the
anaphora later in the third century. It seemed to Kretschmar that the parallels between
the anaphora of Sarapion and the theology of Origen pointed out by Dix were so clear,
that only someone influenced by this theology, presumably a bishop, could have
introduced the Sanctus into the eucharistic prayer.
108
Despite the problems with the
particular hypotheses of Dix and Kretschmar, their suggestion that the anaphoral use of
the Sanctus began in Alexandria remains one of the two major options chosen by
scholars.
The second theory regarding the introduction of the Sanctus into the anaphora is
known as the climax theory, advocated by E. C. Ratcliff in an essay published in
1950.
109
Ratcliff believed that the Sanctus was a part of Christian worship from the
beginnings of eucharistic celebration, where it would have served as the conclusion to a
prayer that offered thanks for allowing the earthly community to participate in the
heavenly worship. This is not a difficult scenario to imagine, for the biblical Sanctus
recorded in Isa 6 is envisioned as being sung by the seraphim who worship God around
his throne, so it would be appropriate for the earthly community to sing a hymn such as

107
G. Kretschmar, Studien zur frhchristlichen Trinittstheologie (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck,
1956), 180, 182.
108
Kretschmar suggests that the identity of this bishop is likely to have been Dionysus the Great of
Alexandria, whose episcopacy spanned from 247 to 264.
109
E. C. Ratcliff, The Sanctus and the Pattern of the Early Anaphora, Journal of Ecclesiastical
History 1 (1950): 29-36, 125-134.

70
this as a conclusion to this type of prayer. However, most scholars today do not accept
Ratcliffs reconstruction, and Paul Bradshaw notes that the major objection to this theory
is the difficulty in explaining how, if the Sanctus once functioned as the climax of a
eucharistic prayer and of the liturgy itself, it could eventually be dropped later from the
prayer altogether.
110

2.4.2 Bryan Spinks, Robert Taft, and Gabriele Winkler on the Sanctus
At the end of the twentieth century, Bryan Spinks,
111
Robert Taft,
112
and Gabriele
Winkler
113
each made a significant contribution to the solution to the puzzle of the origins
of the Sanctus in the eucharistic liturgy of the Christian community. In the preceding
brief summary of the work of Dix and Kretschmar, it was noted that their proposal of
Alexandria as the place that witnessed the origin of the Sanctus in the anaphora remains
one of the two major options chosen by scholars today. However, another view accepted
in current scholarship is that the provenance of the first anaphoral use of the Sanctus is
rather Antiochene or Syrian.

110
Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 127. He also notes that in 1951,
W. C. van Unnik forcefully argued . . . that there was no clear evidence for any liturgical use of the
Sanctus in early Christianity. See W. C. van Unnik, 1 Clement 34 and the Sanctus, VC 5 (1951): 204-
48.
111
Bryan Spinks, The Jewish Liturgical Sources for the Sanctus, The Heythrop Journal 21
(1980): 168-179; idem, The Sanctus in the Eucharistic Prayer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1991).
112
Robert Taft, The Interpolation of the Sanctus into the Anaphora: When and Where? A
Review of the Dossier, Part I, OCP 57 (1991): 281-308; Part II, OCP 58 (1992): 531-552.
113
Gabriele Winkler, Nochmals zu den Anfngen der Epiklese und des Sanctus im
eucharistischen Hochgebet, ThQ 74,3 (1994): 214-231; idem, Weitere Beobachtungen zur frhen
Epiklese (den Doxologien und dem Sanctus). ber die Bedeutung der Apokryphen fr die Erforschung der
Entwicklung der Riten, Oriens Christianus 80 (1996): 177-200.

71
Bryan Spinks is a proponent of this second view and, in fact, argued against the
Egyptian theory in his 1980 article and even more strongly in his later book on the
subject. In the article, entitled The Jewish Sources for the Sanctus, Spinks examines a
number of Jewish liturgical sources in order to address the question of the influence of
Jewish synagogue morning prayer on the developing Christian liturgy. He suggests that
it is more likely that the Sanctus entered the eucharistic prayer through East Syrian
Christianity and its anaphora of Addai and Mari, where it was influenced by the Jewish
liturgy, specifically the Yotzer Or benediction and its Qedushah with which the anaphora
shares a number of similarities.
114
However, in 1991, Spinks published a book devoted to
the discussion of this topic, entitled The Sanctus in the Eucharistic Prayer. This later
work reflects more of an openness to a number of different scenarios by which the
Sanctus came to be used in Christian worship; perhaps there is no one explanation, but
rather a number of possibilities. Spinks writes:
...it may be that the sanctus originated in a different way in different places; for
example, perhaps the East Syrian rite developed under the influence of merkvh,
whereas elsewhere biblical phraseology, or Nehemiah 9:6, was the inspiration.
Elsewhere, perhaps, there was a more conscious reflection of the Synagogue
qeduot, or more precisely, that of the Yoer.
115

But despite this openness to different possibilities and his cautious attitude toward trying
to pin down any one solution, Spinks clearly does not accept the Egyptian theory as a
viable option. For him, a Syrian provenance makes the most sense of the evidence.

114
See J. Vellian, The Anaphoral Structure of Addai and Mari compared to the Berakoth
Preceding the Shema in the Synagogue Morning Service contained in the Seder R. Amran Gaon, Muson
86 (1972): 201-223.
115
Spinks, The Sanctus in the Eucharistic Prayer, 116.

72
Around the same time as the publication of Spinks book, Robert Tafts two
articles investigating the origins of the Sanctus in the anaphora appeared. After a
thorough investigation of primary texts from the NT onward, Taft concludes that he
differs from the conclusions drawn by Spinks, although he also admits that he believes
that a definitive answer to the question of the origins of the anaphoral Sanctus cannot be
given at this time. His study rehabilitates the possibility of the Egyptian origin of the
anaphoral use of the Sanctus, and suggests that it was borrowed and adapted for use from
Egypt by the Syrian churches. Before summarizing his reasoning, it is important to point
out that the evidence that we have for the way that the Sanctus was used in the eucharistic
prayers of the early churches reflects two different forms. Like the options for the
traditions within which the Sanctus originated, the forms or styles are the Egyptian or
Syrian. The Egyptian type is basically the same as that found in Isa 6, with a few minor
changes: the addition of heaven and a change from a third-person description to a
second-person address: All the earth is full of his glory becomes Heaven and earth are
full of your glory. The Syrian type adds to this formulation of the Sanctus the
Benedictus of Mt 21:9: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna
in the highest! Another characteristic of the Egyptian type that is relevant to Tafts
conclusion is the relationship between the full of the Sanctus and the first petition of
the epiclesis that immediately follows the Sanctus, without the interruption of the
Benedictus, for example: Heaven and earth are full of your glory... Full in truth are
heaven and earth of your holy glory...fill, O God, this sacrifice also with the blessing
from you.... On the basis of these differences, Taft makes two arguments that support

73
his (tentative) claim that Egypt is the location that saw the first anaphoral use of the
Sanctus.
First, Taft notes that it is likely that the Syrian Sanctus contained the Benedictus
from the beginning, not borrowed from Mt 21:9, but based on the similar wording of
Ezek 3:12 and borrowed from the synagogue Yotzer. If this is the case, then the fact that
this added benediction does not occur in any of the Egyptian sources implies that these
sources did not borrow the Sanctus from elsewhere; it is unlikely that the benediction
would have been deleted in every instance in which it occurred. Second, the full-fill
relationship mentioned above (known as the pleni/vere-plenum/imple structure) suggests
to Taft that the Sanctus is a more integral part of the Egyptian anaphora than of the
Syrian. He writes:
Ultimately, it is the perfect integration of the Sanctus-without-Benedictus into the
pleni-vere-plenum/imple structure of the Egyptian anaphora, over against the what
seems to me less integral framework of the anaphoral Sanctus/Benedictus
elsewhere, that makes me incline, albeit tentatively, toward giving priority to
Egypt, in agreement with Dix and others.
116

So Taft concludes that the argument that the Syrian churches inherited their use of
the Sanctus from Jewish synagogue prayer does not necessarily mean that this is where
the use of the Sanctus originated. The form of Sanctus-Benedictus may have come from
Judaism, but the very idea of using the Sanctus in the anaphora still could have come
down to the Syrian churches from Egypt.
117


116
Robert Taft, The Interpolation of the Sanctus into the Anaphora, 118.
117
Ibid., 118.

74
The final contribution to scholarship on the anaphoral use of the Sanctus to be
considered here is that of Gabriele Winkler. Like Bryan Spinks, but independently of
him and with the use of different sources, Winkler places the origin of the Sanctus in an
Antiochene or Syrian context. Important for Winkler are the Syrian Apocryphal Acts of
the Apostles, especially the (fourth-century) Syriac History of John the Son of Zebedee, a
text which describes a baptismal rite and contains a number of recitations of the Sanctus
within the celebration. She notes the significant point that within this text, the Sanctus is
never said with the Benedictus, which suggests to Winkler that the early Syrian tradition
did not necessarily always use the Sanctus with the Benedictus attached. Also, Winkler
stresses the importance of the Sanctus within this overall context of a rite of initiation,
and she argues that it is from this context that the Sanctus passes into use in the
eucharistic prayer.
It is important to add at this point that, very generally speaking, early Christian
initiation rites in Syria were composed of (1) an anointing, (2) a water bath, and (3) the
reception of the Eucharist. A unique characteristic of the early Syrian baptismal liturgies
was that this anointing came before the water bath, whereas elsewhere, notably in the
west, it came afterward. However, due to the inevitable process of liturgical cross-
fertilization, anointings eventually came to be found both before and after the water bath
in the baptismal liturgies of the late-fourth century onward. Winklers argument is based
on the fact that in the fourth-century, the Syrian rite of initiation, which previously had
contained only a prebaptismal anointing that was the high point of the rite, received a
second, post-baptismal anointing. The meaning of the all-important prebaptismal
anointing then shifted to this second anointing, leaving the first one in search of a

75
meaning. It was at this time that the Syrian prebaptismal anointing shifted from a
pneumatic focus on the candidates assimilation to Christ (now the significance of the
postbaptismal anointing) to an exorcistic focus that prepared the candidate to receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit. Based on this, Winkler suggests that these changes in the rite may
be what caused the Sanctus to shift from the prebaptismal anointing to the (new)
culmination of the process, the eucharistic liturgy.
In the article mentioned above,
118
Maxwell Johnson comments on Winklers
arguments. While acknowledging the great importance of her work and the certain
plausibility of her theory, he is hesitant to abandon the Egyptian theory altogether. He
suggests that it is necessary to consider the possibility that there was an intermediary
involved when the Sanctus would have made its shift from the prebaptismal anointing of
the Syrian rite to the eucharistic prayer. He writes:
Indeed, granting its possible shift from a prebaptismal anointing context to a
postbaptismal location, would it not be more logical to expect the Sanctus to be
associated now with the pneumatic orientation of the postbaptismal anointing
rather than the anaphora? . . . Does it not remain a strong possibility, still that the
very idea of interpolating the Sanctus into the anaphora, rather than in some other
place, came from Egypt?
119

But despite these issues, and the problems caused by the inability to date these texts with
certainty, the work done by Winkler on the Syrian Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles raises
a number of concerns regarding the conclusions of Dix, Kretschmar, and Taft.

118
See above, note 106.
119
Johnson, The Origins of the Anaphoral Use of the Sanctus, 437.

76
Several years after these preliminary articles on the Sanctus, Winkler published a
large monograph that investigates this topic in more detail.
120
But in this volume, while
continuing to hold the position that Syria is the place of the origin of the anaphoral use of
the Sanctus, Winkler moves beyond this issue to focus on the study of the OT
Pseudepigrapha and other Jewish sources in order to investigate where the Sanctus may
have come from originally to take its place in the eucharistic prayer. Using mainly a
philological approach in her analysis, Winkler pays particular attention to the liturgical
material from Ethiopia, specifically the Ethiopian Anaphora of the Apostles. She notes
similarities between the Sanctus and Benedictus in this anaphora and the Qedushah found
in 1 Enoch 39, which is followed by a benediction that is a variant of Ezek 3:12. The
problem she finds in claiming that 1 Enoch is the source of the Sanctus in the anaphora is
that in that text, the Sanctus and Benedictus are separated by a number of elements, but
Winkler is able to solve this problem by claiming that the material that divides them is a
later interpolation between two elements that were an early, integral part of the anaphora.
So, she concludes, as in her earlier essays, the idea of using the Sanctus in the eucharistic
prayer came from Syria, but the particular form it took in this prayer came from Ethiopia,
and ultimately from 1 Enoch.
121
Of course, it should be noted that the origins of this
section of 1 Enoch remain unclear. The text survives only in Ethiopic, which is
presumably a translation of a Greek version that was made from a Hebrew or Aramaic

120
Gabriele Winkler, Das Sanctus. ber den Ursprung und die Anfnge des Sanctus und sein
Fortwirken (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 2002).
121
This conclusion is almost a reversal of Tafts argument that the form of the Sanctus may have
come from a Christianization of synagogue prayer by the Syrian churches, but the idea of using the Sanctus
in the anaphora in the first place came from Egypt.

77
original.
122
Therefore, more investigation is needed before conclusions regarding this
text can be made with certainty.
The contributions that Spinks, Taft, and Winkler have made to research on the
anaphoral use of the Sanctus, while contributing much that is positive to liturgical
scholarship, also serve to remind us that our evidence for the use of this hymn in the
eucharistic prayer is relatively late. As they readily admit, we cannot be sure exactly
when the Sanctus entered the anaphora, but our earliest evidence for its use there is much
later than the composition of Revelation.
123
This creates problems for biblical scholars
who want to claim that Revelation reflects a eucharistic liturgy based on the presence of
the Sanctus in Rev 4, for, as the scholars reviewed above reveal in their treatments of
primary texts, not only is our evidence for its use there too late to be of relevance for a
study of the Apocalypse, but there are also examples of eucharistic prayers that do not
contain the Sanctus (early examples of this are the Didache and ApTrad 4).
A further problem that is found in some of the scholarship on the liturgy of
Revelation is that authors do not often make the necessary distinction between early

122
James C. VanderKam, An Introduction to Early Judaism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001),
110.
123
There has been debate over the earliest certain witness to the anaphoral use of the Sanctus, with
much of it centering around the East Syrian anaphora of Addai and Mari. Following the work of William
F. Macomber (1982), Spinks and Winkler have argued in favor of the presence of the Sanctus in the
original core of the text. The opposing view, that the Sanctus (along with the Epiclesis and a more
expanded reference to the Last Supper) is an addition to an earlier, simpler core, has recently been argued
by Sarhad Jammo. If the former view is correct, then Addai and Mari would be our earliest evidence for
the use of the Sanctus in the anaphora, but the debate continues. See William F. Macomber, The Ancient
Form of the Anaphora of the Apostles, (Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks, 1982); Spinks, The Sanctus
in the Eucharistic Prayer, 81; Winkler, Das Sanctus, 129; Sarhad Jammo, The Anaphora of the Apostles
Addai and Mari: A Study of Structure and Historical Background, OCP 68 (2002): 5-35. Thanks to
Nicholas Russo, who provided these references for me. If the Sanctus is indeed a later interpolation to
Addai and Mari, ), then the anaphora of Sarapion of Thmuis is the earliest extant use of the Sanctus in the
eucharistic prayer. See Maxwell E. Johnson, The Prayers of Sarapion of Thmuis: A Literary, Liturgical,
and Theological Analysis (OCA 249; Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 1995).

78
eucharistic liturgy and more general, non-eucharistic gatherings for prayer.
124
For
example, Plinys letter to the emperor Trajan reveals that Christians in his community
were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a
hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but
not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to
return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom
to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent
food.
125

Another example of this type of non-eucharistic meeting for worship was mentioned in
the previous chapter in the discussion of G. J. Cumings article on the endings of the NT
epistles. Cuming reminds us that not all early Christian worship was eucharistic, and that
there may have been a non-sacramental service, or a general gathering for prayer that
was later joined with the eucharistic liturgy. This distinction is important, because, given
the late date of the evidence for the Sanctus in the anaphora, the presence of this hymn in
Rev 4 is not enough to claim that the chapter reflects a liturgy in which the Eucharist was
celebrated.
Finally, if the author of Revelation was a Jewish-Christian writing to Jewish-
Christian communities in Asia Minor at the end of the first century, then it seems that
biblical scholars investigating the liturgy known to these communities should consider
the work of Bryan Spinks. As mentioned above, his work on possible Jewish sources for
the Sanctus carefully examines a number of Jewish liturgical sources that may have
influenced the earliest Christian liturgies, including their use of the Sanctus, which of

124
I do not here mean to suggest the distinction between celebrations of the Eucharist and agape or
fellowship meals that were practices of the early Christian communities. Much has been written about
these other types of meals, but discussion of them takes us beyond the scope of the chapter.
125
Pliny, Letters, 10.96-97.

79
course appears in Rev 4. An important question in light of Spinks work is: is it possible
that Revelation 4 was based on a Jewish liturgical celebration, if this is the place from
which the Sanctus was borrowed?
2.4.3 Non-Eucharistic Uses of the Sanctus
The work of most of the scholars reviewed in the previous section has been on the
circumstances surrounding the use of the Sanctus in the eucharistic prayer. This is not
surprising, as this is where the Sanctus appears in modern-day liturgies, and most of our
early evidence contains the hymn used in this way. However, although most of our
evidence for the anaphoral use of the Sanctus comes from the third or fourth century at
the earliest, there are a few earlier texts that contain a non-eucharistic usage of the
Sanctus that may be more relevant to a study of Revelation.
Aside from Rev 4:8, where the four living creatures sing the Sanctus around
Gods throne, there are three other early texts where the hymn is used before it took its
place in the eucharistic prayer. The first of these is in 1 Clement 34:5-8, which is dated to
around 95-96 CE, around the same time as Revelation is believed to have been
composed:
Let our glorying and our confidence be in him; let us subject ourselves to his will.
Let us consider the whole multitude of his angels, how they minister to his will,
standing before him. For the Scripture says: myriads of myriads stood by him,
and thousands of thousands ministered to him, and cried, Holy, holy, holy, Lord
sabaoth, the whole creation is full of his glory. And so let us too, gathering
together in one place, in inner concord, as with one voice, cry out to him
insistently, that we may become sharers in his great and glorious promises. For
he says: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man,
what he has prepared for those who await him.

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This text could be read as having a liturgical celebration in mind, although this is not
certain. The author indicates that he is quoting Isa 6 (for the Scripture says...) and is
not necessarily referring to a liturgy with which he is familiar, but 34:7 (let us too,
gathering together in one place...cry out to him insistently) could suggest a liturgical
context. Prior to the middle of the twentieth century, it was the accepted scholarly
opinion that this text did in fact contain a reference to the Sanctus used in the Roman
liturgy of the late-first century. However, in 1951, W. C. van Unnik published a detailed
analysis of this chapter of 1 Clement that challenged the prevailing view.
126
He argues
that the context of chapter 34 is not liturgical (and Clement does in fact discuss liturgical
issues later in the text), but rather is concerned with issues of eschatology and judgment.
Further, van Unnik makes the important point that v. 7 is not intended to be a reference to
an earthly version of the worship of the angels in heaven, but rather that there is a gap
between this verse and the previous one. He writes,
Vs 6 gives the reason for the contents of the will of God in vs 5; vs 7 describes a
meeting of the church which serves the will of God amongst the afflictions and
dangers of this world, longing for the end. Therefore it is impossible to see a
direct parallelism between the two. Consequently this passage does not speak of
the heavenly Sanctus which is imitated on earth.
127

Robert Taft notes a parallel between the eschatological sense of this text and of Rev 4:8,
which addresses the Sanctus to the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to
come.
128
It may also be the case the author of Revelation, in citing the Sanctus, is not

126
Van Unnik, 1 Clement 34 and the Sanctus, 204-48.
127
Ibid., 245.
128
Robert Taft, The Interpolation of the Sanctus into the Anaphora, 300.

81
necessarily thinking of a liturgy known to his community, but rather, like the author of 1
Clement is quoting the text of Isa 6. This is a reasonable assumption, as the Seer of the
Apocalypse makes reference to the OT over one hundred times throughout his work. It
may not be the case that the hymn was used liturgically in the authors community, but
could simply be that he knows that the Sanctus is continually sung in the heavenly throne
room, which is where he places it, because of the reference in Isa 6.
The second text that includes a use of the Sanctus outside of the eucharistic prayer
is the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas 4.2, which dates to the end of the second
century. In a vision of Perpetuas companion, Saturus, the martyrs ascend to heaven, and
when they pass through the heavenly city and come to enter Gods presence, they find
four angels, who without ceasing sing Agios, agios, agios. Interestingly, the text of the
martyrdom account is in Latin, but the Sanctus is found in Greek. The Greek words in
this otherwise Latin text have suggested to some that this is a liturgical reference,
129
but
Taft points out that the text does not say that it is the earthly community of worshippers
that sings the hymn, but again, the Sanctus is sung by the angels in heaven.
130

Finally, at the beginning of the third century, the Sanctus appears in Tertullians
De oratione 3.3:
Otherwise, when is the name of God not holy and hallowed through Himself,
seeing that of Himself He sanctifies all others--He to whom that surrounding
circle of angels cease not to say Holy, holy, holy? In like wise, therefore, we
too, candidates for angelhood, if we succeed in deserving it, begin even here on

129
Christine Mohrmann, Liturgical Latin. Its Origins and Character (Washington DC: Catholic
University of America, 1957), 16.
130
Robert Taft, The Interpolation of the Sanctus into the Anaphora, 300.

82
earth to learn by heart that strain hereafter to be raised unto God, and the function
of future glory.
131

The immediate context of Tertullians reference is a discussion of the Lords Prayer and
the hallowing of Gods name. He is saying that, since the angels around the throne
continually make Gods name holy, the faithful should also do the same. As in Rev 4:8
and 1 Clement 34:8, there is also an eschatological sense here (that service of the glory
that is to be), but, as Taft notes, no liturgical context is clearly indicated.
132

On the basis of the three texts briefly reviewed above, 1 Clement 34:5-8, The
Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas 4.2, and Tertullians De oratione 3.3, it appears
that we cannot be certain that the Sanctus was used liturgically prior to our fourth-century
evidence of its appearance in the anaphora.
133
These texts, including Rev 4:8, seem to be
allusions to the use of the Sanctus in Isa 6, and not to a liturgical celebration; however,
none of the passages necessarily excludes a liturgical context. It is simply important to
point out that we cannot be sure that the hymn was used liturgically at such an early date
as the end of the first century. Therefore, it is clear that the mere presence of the Sanctus
in Rev 4:8 does not automatically mean that the imagery in the chapter arises from a
liturgical context. This hymn can simply be an allusion to the Isaian passage in which it

131
De oratione 3.3 (AF 3:682).
132
Ibid., 301.
133
The occurrence of the Sanctus in ApConst 7, dated to around the year 380, should also be
mentioned at this point. Although it is later than some of the early anaphoral references, this text is
important because it contains a liturgical usage of the Sanctus outside of the eucharistic prayer, presented
with the benediction from LXX Ezek 3:12. See Johnson, The Origins of the Anaphoral Use of the
Sanctus, 408. Some have argued that this presentation of the hymn is of Jewish origin, influenced by the
formulation of the synagogue Yotser. See Taft, The Interpolation of the Sanctus into the Anaphora, 302-
303.

83
occurs, portraying the activity that takes place around Gods throne. Its use in early
Christianity did not always signal the presence of a liturgy.
2.5 Other Elements of Early Christian Worship
2.5.1 Use of Hymns
The hymns that are contained in the heavenly throne room scenes in the book of
Revelation have been the focus of a great deal of scholarly attention, as have most of the
hymnic passages that appear throughout the NT writings. While the hymns of Revelation
will be treated in greater detail in chapter 4, it is necessary at this point to examine the
evidence that we have for the use of hymns in the worship of the early Christian
communities. Although putting the pieces together is not as easy and straightforward as
we would like, our earliest evidence for what the first Christians were doing at their
services of worship is, of course, the NT texts themselves.
As has been recognized, especially as of late, these texts contain a number of
passages that are often seen as hymns, such as those in Luke 1-2 (the Magnificat [1:46-
55], the Benedictus [1:68-79], the Gloria in excelsis [Luke 2:14], and the unc Dimittis
[Luke 2:29-32]); Philippians 2:5-11; and Colossians 1:15-20, among others.
134
Scholars
have had difficulty in all of these cases in deciding whether these texts were used in

134
The study of the NT hymns has been plagued by the lack of a clear definition of exactly what
constitutes a hymn, and this confusion over terminology extends to both ancient and modern writings on
the subject. In his study of Col 1:15-20, Matthew E. Gordley argues that the content of a given formula is
the best indicator that one is dealing with a hymn, and ultimately concludes, by way of a more elaborate
definition, that a hymn is thus a catch-all category for a composition in praise of the divine. See Gordley,
The Colossian Hymn in Context (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), 33. For the sake of simplicity, the term
hymn will be used, but it is important to acknowledge that there is not a consensus regarding what falls
into this category.

84
actual liturgical settings toward the end of the first century, or whether they are simply
compositions of the author that may have been adapted from existing oral and/or written
sources. But what seems to be more certain is that, given the presence of hymnic
material in so many of the NT texts, Christians were singing hymns to God and to Christ
during their worship.
Moreover, two of the NT epistles allude to the singing of hymns in the
communities addressed in the letters. In 1 Cor 14:26, in the midst of a discussion of what
is appropriate to be done when the church gathers together, Paul says, What then,
brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a
tongue, an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. Also, in Eph 5:18-20,
singing is mentioned as a feature of early Christian assemblies: ...but be filled with the
Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks for everything in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
Aside from the NT references to the singing of hymns, it is important to point out
another in the letter of the Roman governor Pliny to the emperor Trajan around the year
111-12. Already mentioned above in the context of early non-eucharistic meetings for
worship, this text is one of the only witnesses to early Christian worship from the early
second century. The information that Pliny has received from Christian apostates states:
they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a
hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but

85
not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to
return a trust when called upon to do so.
135

In his treatment of this passage, Ralph Martin supports the view that this is a description
of a Sunday morning worship service held by some Christians in Asia Minor in the early
second century, and he reviews the four possibilities that have been argued in order to
clarify the Latin words used to describe the singing that was done at this service
(carmenque Christo quasi deo dicere secum inuicem).
136
These options are: (1) that the
carmen refers to an OT psalm, on the grounds that these Jewish-Christians had
incorporated into their liturgy elements of the Jewish Sabbath service; (2) that carmen
does not necessarily refer to a song of any sort, but rather any set form of words; (3)
that the carmen is really an invocation of Jesus, whether a hymn or a set prose formula;
and (4) that carmen is a translation of the Greek . Martin notes that there are
objections to all of these views, but there is in fact evidence in support of understanding
the description as intending a song rather than just a spoken phrase or formula: Tertullian,
in his reference to this passage in Apol. 2.6, seems to believe that this was the case. He
writes,
For the younger Pliny, when he was ruler of a province, having condemned some
Christians to death, and driven some from their steadfastness, being still annoyed
by their great numbers, at last sought the advice of Trajan, the reigning emperor,
as to what he was to do with the rest, explaining to his master that, except an
obstinate disinclination to offer sacrifices, he found in the religious services
nothing but meetings at early morning for singing hymns to Christ and God, and

135
Pliny, Letters, 10.96-97.
136
Ralph Martin, A Hymn of Christ: Philippians 2:5-11 in Recent Interpretation & in the Setting
of Early Christian Worship (Rev. ed.; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1997), 3-9.

86
sealing home their way of life by a united pledge to be faithful to their religion,
forbidding murder, adultery, dishonesty, and other crimes.
137

In addition to Tertullians statement, Martin finds that an inquiry into the use of the verb
by later Latin authors (notably Horace) also supports the earlier conclusion. Therefore,
he is able to affirm that the usage of the phrase in Latin and in the later Christian
commentary upon the text endorses the conviction of those writers who wish to see in the
description of early Christian worship an allusion to a hymn to Christ.
138

As noted above, one of the major challenges with regard to the hymns of the
Apocalypse has been to decide whether the author of the book is quoting hymns with
which he is familiar from the worship of his community, or whether he has composed
them to serve a specific function in his narrative. The former view was most often
defended in the middle of the last century, when a number of scholars argued that the
hymns of Rev 4-5 echoed those of first-century Jewish and early Christian liturgies.
139

The current view, although a minority opinion in the middle of the last century, is that
these hymns were composed by the author of Revelation himself.
140
This view was
recently argued for by David R. Carnegie, who rejects the view that the hymns of the
Apocalypse originated in a eucharistic setting and instead urges scholars of the book to
consider a different alternative, namely that the Seer himself is the composer of these

137
Apol. 2.6 (AF 3:18).
138
Ibid., 9.
139
From the review of research in the previous chapter, see L. Mowry, Revelation 4-5 and Early
Christian Liturgical Usage, or P. Prigent, Apocalypse et Liturgie.
140
See the review in chapter 2 of K.-P Jrns, Das Hymnische Evangelium.

87
passages.
141
He uses two lines of argument to support this theory. The first of these is
that, if the hymns were taken over from a setting of early Christian worship, then we
would expect to find in them vocabulary that is not typical of the author. However, in the
hymns of Revelation, the opposite is the case: the vocabulary and style of these hymns
are the same as those found throughout the rest of the book.
142

The second reason to believe that the hymns are compositions of the author is that
they are closely related to their individual contexts within the book. Carnegie points out
that other NT hymns show signs of being interpolated, and therefore likely stood on
their own before taking their place within the biblical text. Conversely, those in
Revelation are intimately connected with their context. They can therefore hardly have
had independent standing or have ever been sung in Christian worship.
143

While Carnegies arguments are somewhat convincing, I am hesitant to accept his
claim that the fact that the hymns fit well within the language and the structure of
Revelation means that they could not have been used liturgically. Why is it that a well-
situated hymn could hardly. . .have ever been sung in Christian worship? If these
hymns are indeed an essential part of the structure of the book, as both Jrns and
Carnegie have argued, then is it not likely that the author carefully constructed them in

141
David R. Carnegie, Worthy is the Lamb: The Hymns in Revelation, in Harold H. Rowdon
(ed.), Christ the Lord: Studies in Christology presented to Donald Guthrie (Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1982),
243-56.
142
Carnegie does not treat this point in detail, but mentions that the work has been done by R. H.
Charles in the chapter-by-chapter analysis of vocabulary in his commentary on the Apocalypse. See
Charles, Revelation (T & T Clark, 1920). He does give a few examples, such as the repeated use of
connected adjectives both in the hymns and in the larger text (true and just, small and great, etc.), or
the use of divine names within the hymns and outside of them (the Lord God Almighty, who is and who
was and who is to come). Carnegie does not, however, address the alternative possibility that the hymns
could have been the authors source for these ideas, rather than the author being the source of the hymns.
143
Carnegie, Worthy is the Lamb, 246.

88
order to fit appropriately within his narrative? Although Carnegie rightly points out that
the presence of the Sanctus in Rev 4:8 does not necessarily mean that the chapter reflects
an early eucharistic celebration, he does not bring up this particular verse again in the
discussion of the composition of the hymns. Certainly no one would argue that the
author of Revelation composed the Sanctus, but yet it fits in nicely with its context and
does not show signs of interpolation. Why could this not be the case for the other
hymns?
Whether the hymns in Revelation were compositions of the author or whether
they were actually used at services of worship at the end of the first century (a choice that
I am not sure it is possible to be certain about), these verses certainly must reflect at least
the kind of liturgical forms that were used by the Seer and the churches to whom he
wrote. It is not likely that the author chose not to use hymns that he knew, but rather
composed some that bore no resemblance to the ones used in his communitys worship,
and then expected his audience to recognize them as the hymns of the heavenly liturgy.
Paul Bradshaw also reaches the conclusion that, even if the hymns in the NT are products
of the imagination of the author, they still provide for us a glimpse of how this aspect of
early Christian worship would have looked. He writes,
This conclusion is confirmed by a comparative analysis of the passages in
question, which reveals a large number of common stylistic and linguistic features
persisting across differences of author, theology, and background, and so suggest
that this commonality derives from the similarities within their various liturgical
traditions.
144


144
Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 59.

89
Even if we cannot tell if the specific wording of individual verses of the Apocalypse
reflect actual hymns used in a late-first century Christian community, these verses must
reveal at least the kind of hymns that were used in their worship.
2.5.2 Doxologies
A number of doxologies are found throughout the text of Revelation. (1) Rev 1:6
is a doxology addressed to Christ rather than to God. It is likely that in this passage, the
doxology is an epistolary convention, as it occurs immediately after the epistolary
prescript, where a thanksgiving almost always occurs in the Pauline letters (with the
exception of Galatians, which also substitutes a doxology for the thanksgiving). (2) Rev
4:9, which occurs immediately after the recitation of the Sanctus, is not a direct quotation
of a doxology offered to God, but rather is an affirmation of what will take place when
the cherubim offer glory and honor and thanksgiving at some later point: the twenty-four
elders will worship God and cast their crowns before the throne. (3) Rev 5:13-14 is
found within the narrative context of the heavenly liturgy. In keeping with this liturgical
setting, the doxology is addressed to the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb, and is
spoken by every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and in the sea. In this
passage, the concluding amen has a responsorial character, being uttered instead by the
four cherubim. (4) Rev 7:12 is a doxology spoken by the angels, elders, and cherubim,
and occurs after the cry of victory by the innumerable multitude. (5) Rev 16:5-6, 16:7,

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and 19:1-2 have the specific character of a judgment doxology
145
that has the purpose of
justifying Gods bringing of justice to his enemies.
146

There are some minor disagreements regarding exactly what elements must be
present in order for a given formula to be considered a doxology. In his commentary on
Revelation, David E. Aune lists four specific elements that are generally included in these
forms of praise: (1) the mention of the one to whom the doxology is offered, or to whom
the qualities listed in the doxology are attributed; (2) the listing of the attributes
themselves, usually including glory (); (3) a statement that the object of the
doxology will possess these attributes forever; and (4) a concluding amen, although,
depending on the function of the doxology in its context, this is sometimes omitted.
147

However, E. Werner has argued that only two elements are necessary to constitute a
doxology: the proclamation of praise and an affirmation of Gods eternity, and he
emphasizes that the specific use of glory in the formulation is not essential.
148

In this same study, Werner traces the origin of Christian liturgical usage of
doxologies to the OT (the five books within the Psalter conclude with doxologies;
however, these passages begin with blessed be... [] rather than a form of
) and to the prayers of the Second Temple. He argues that these small doxologies

145
This term is used by R. Deichgrber, Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus, 45.
146
For a more detailed comments on the nature and function of the doxologies of the Apocalypse,
see Aune, Revelation.
147
Ibid., 44. Also see Deichgrber, Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus, 40-43; E. Werner, The
Doxology in Synagogue and Church: A Liturgico-Musical Study, HUCA 19 (1945-46): 275-351.
148
Eric Werner, The Sacred Bridge: Liturgical Parallels in Synagogue and Early Church (New
York: Schocken, 1959), 274.

91
were used in the Temple rather than the synagogues, where these forms faded from use
after AD 70: . . . the basic idea of the doxology was a reaffirmation of theocracy in the
mouth of the priestly caste. Such reaffirmation was considered a priestly prerogative
inherent in the constitution and tradition of the Temple cult.
149
Rather, Werner notes
that the synagogues in this early period were less ceremonial and more intimate than the
Temple in this early period and had no place for these rigid and solemn formulas.
150

For him, this preference for the shorter, more formal doxology (as is found in the Psalter)
in more organized, structured worship explains the almost complete absence of
doxologies from the Gospels and their presence in the Pauline epistles. Further, this
phenomenon explains why this form did not become dominant in Christian liturgical use
until at least the third century, where the doxology is traditionally found at the closing of
important liturgical prayers.
It should be pointed out that doxologies in the strict sense (ascribing glory to God
with the usage of the term ) are rare in Jewish literature, where a preference for the
benediction is more frequently found, nor are there Hellenistic parallels to this form.
151

However, doxologies occur much more often in the NT and in early Christian literature.
In addition to those found in the Apocalypse, a number of doxologies occur in the NT:
Rom 11:36; 16:25-27; Gal 1:5; Eph 3:20-21; Phil 4:20; 1 Tim 1:17; 6:16 (although the
word does not appear in this verse: , , to him be

149
Ibid., 296.
150
For more about the worship of the first-century synagogue, see the appendix.
151
Deichgrber, Gotteshymnus and Christushymnus, 40-3.

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honor and eternal power, amen)
152
; 2 Tim 4:18; Heb 13:21; 1 Pet 4:11; 5:11 ( is also
absent here: , , to him be the power forever, amen);
Jude 24-25. There are also several doxologies in the Didache that are used to conclude
portions of the liturgy narrated within the text, but these differ from the doxologies found
in the NT in that they are formulated in the second person singular ( or ), addressed
directly to God rather than the more commonly used third person singular (8:2; 9:2, 3, 4;
10:2, 4, 5). Since doxologies do occur more frequently in the Apocalypse and in early
Christian literature, it is reasonable to suppose that this form enters Christian writing
from the worship practices of the earliest church. Due to the lack of concrete evidence,
this conclusion must remain speculative, but the characteristic presence of this
formulation in Christian literature and the absence of Jewish and Hellenistic parallels
suggest this to be the case.
2.5.3 Use of Incense in Early Christian Worship
There are two references to incense in the Apocalypse. The first of these is
contained in the heavenly throne room scene that comprises chapters 4-5. After the
Lamb takes the sealed scroll that is held by the one seated on the throne, the four living
creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden
bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (5:8). In this scene, it is
noteworthy that the incense is never said to be offered to God or to the Lamb, but remains
in the bowls that are held by the elders.

152
Werner, The Sacred Bridge: Liturgical Parallels in Synagogue and Early Church, 273-4.

93
The second reference to incense in Revelation is found in a passage that describes
the events that are brought about by the opening of the seventh seal of the scroll (8:1ff.).
Following the half hour of silence in heaven,
Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a
great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden
altar that is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of
the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the
censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there
were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake (8:3-5).
As in Rev 5, here the incense is associated with the prayers of the saints, but in a slightly
different way. In the former passage, the incense is actually identified with the prayers of
the saints; the incense is a metaphor for speaking about the prayers of Christians on
earth.
153
However, the incense in Rev 8 is not understood metaphorically. In this
passage, it is described as being offered along with the prayers of the saints, but the two
are not identical.
154

It is generally the opinion of liturgical scholars that the earliest use of incense in
Christian worship could not predate the emperor Constantines legalization of
Christianity in the early fourth century, primarily because of the obvious association of
incense with pagan worship. Before the peace of Constantine, the ordinary test to
determine whether someone was a Christian was to ask that person to offer incense to the
emperor, along with an invocation of the gods, and declining to do this put the person at
the risk of death. This is the process described by Pliny in his letter to the emperor

153
Aune, Revelation, 1.358.
154
For the options in translating the dative , see Aune, Revelation, 1.512.

94
Trajan, where he asks for more details about how to handle the trials of the Christians in
his province. In this letter, Pliny describes the system he has been using, following the
publication of an anonymous document containing a list of the names of alleged
Christians. He writes,
Those who denied that they were or had been Christians, when they invoked the
gods in words dictated by me, offered prayer with incense and wine to your
image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose together with statues of
the gods, and moreover cursed Christ--none of which those who are really
Christians, it is said, can be forced to do--these I thought should be discharged.
Others named by the informer declared that they were Christians, but then denied
it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some three years before,
others many years, some as much as twenty-five years. They all worshipped your
image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.
155

In this passage, Pliny speaks of three elements that are required for a person who is
accused of being a Christian to be acquitted: (1) an invocation of the gods (in words that
Pliny dictates); (2) an offering of incense and wine to the image of the emperor; and (3) a
curse directed at Christ. Those who would do these three things were to be released. As
a result of this process, it has been argued that this element would not have become a
feature of the regular worship of the church until after Nicea.
In a recent article that focuses on the Syriac incense rite of forgiveness, the
ssy, Joseph P. Amar surveys the Syriac evidence that provides the first references to
the use of incense in worship, and none of these texts predates the fourth century.
156
The
late-fourth century apocryphal Testament of Ephrem mentions the burning of incense in
the church in a way that suggests that it is an established practice in ordinary worship. In

155
Pliny, Letters, 10.96.
156
Joseph P. Amar, Patterns of Prayer: The ssy Incense Rite of Forgiveness, OCP 73
(2007): 379-415.

95
this text, the saint is on his deathbed, and he makes the request that his followers not burn
incense at his funeral, but rather save it to be burned when they gather for worship: Do
not prepare me (for burial) with sweet spices, for this honor does not befit me; neither
with incense nor perfumes, for this honor does not benefit me. Burn sweet spices in the
sanctuary, and conduct me to the grave with prayer.
157

The writings of St. Ephrem (d. 373) also contain a number of references to the
liturgical use of incense. Several of these texts seem not to refer to the actual use of
incense in Christian practice, but rather to envision the burning of incense during the
worship that took place in the Jerusalem Temple. However, in his Hymns on Nisibis,
Ephrem celebrates the life of the citys bishop, Abraham, whose acts of piety and virtue
protect the people, and whose offering of incense serves to bring about reconciliation
with God. He writes, May your fasting be the armor for our country; your prayer, a
shield for our city. May your incense obtain our reconciliation. Blessed is the One who
sanctified your sacrifices.
158

These earliest references to the use of incense in Christian worship are separated
from the writing of the Apocalypse by more than two centuries. We do not have any
concrete liturgical evidence from an earlier period that suggests that this was an element
of first-century Christian liturgy. However, it is worth mentioning that in the NT, there
are two metaphorical references to incense outside of the Apocalypse. In 2 Cor 2:14-16,
Paul speaks of Christians as being like the aroma of incense to those who hear their
message:

157
Testamentum Ephraemi, 51, lines 271-73, cited by Amar, 404.
158
Ephraem Syrus, Hymn XVII, in Des Heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Carmina isibena (ed. E.
Beck; CSCO 218, Scriptores Syri 92; Louvain: Peeters, 1961), 4, cited by Amar, 406.

96
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and
through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him.
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and
among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the
other a fragrance from life to life.
Even more explicit is the reference in Eph 5: Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved
children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant
offering and sacrifice to God (Eph 5:1-2). Again, this reference is a metaphorical one
that speaks about the death of Jesus in sacrificial language. Despite these early symbolic
references in the NT itself, it should be noted that these are not liturgical texts describing
the use of incense at a Christian service of worship.
Is it possible that first-century Jews were using incense in any of their liturgical
celebrations? If this was a Jewish custom, where within the Judaism of the late-first
century (after the destruction of the Temple) was it being used? Gregory Dix has made
the suggestion that incense was used ceremonially at domestic Jewish liturgical meals.
159

He notes that the burning of incense after the evening meal was commonly practiced
throughout the Mediterranean world of the first centuries BCE, but this practice was
given a religious coloring when celebrated at formal Jewish meals, such as the chabrah
meal (the category of meal into which he places the Last Supper). He finds evidence for
the tradition of burning incense at this particular meal in a dispute among the rabbis over
the order of the blessing of the lamp and spices, a dispute that he dates to the first century
AD.
160
Dix further suggests that it is because of this Jewish practice, as well as the fact
that incense was a part of the regular worship of the Jerusalem Temple, that the NT does

159
Dom Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy (New York: Seabury, 1945), 425-30.
160
m. Ber. 8.5.

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not contain the hostility toward the use of incense that develops in later Christian writing,
as seen above in the references from 2 Cor 2 and Eph 5.
161
In fact, Dix cites the verses in
Revelation that mention the use of incense in the heavenly court and comments that,
although he believes that incense was not actually used in Christian worship during the
second and third centuries, it was even taken for granted as playing a prominent part in
the ideal Christian public worship of heaven.
162

If Dixs suggestion about the burning of incense at Jewish liturgical meals is
correct, then we might have a plausible line of inquiry for exploring another possible
liturgical element contained in Revelation. Enrico Mazza has attempted to trace the
origins of the eucharistic prayer to Jewish meal practices,
163
so if Jewish meal prayers did
involve the use of incense, then this seemingly small detail could become the basis of a
much more firmly grounded analysis of the relationship of Revelation to early Christian
eucharistic liturgy as it developed from Jewish meal prayers.
Before concluding this section, the possibility should be raised that the reference
to incense in Revelation could simply be a parody of that offered to the emperor in
Roman imperial court ceremonial. In his article summarized in the previous chapter,
The Influence of Roman Imperial Court Ceremonial on the Apocalypse of John, David
E. Aune argues that in the heavenly worship of Revelation, we can see a parody of the

161
For example, Tertullian, de Idololatria, ii.
162
Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, 426. Emphasis is mine.
163
Enrico Mazza, The Origins of the Eucharistic Prayer (trans. Ronald E. Lane; Collegeville:
Liturgical Press, 1995). As a primary example, Mazza argues that the prayers in Didache 9 and 10 parallel
the Jewish rites that were found at the beginning and end of Jewish ritual meals, namely the Kiddush and
the Birkat ha-mazon. Although he finds similarities in both the content and structure of these prayers, he
emphasizes that the focus on the saving work of Jesus in the Christian texts accounts for the marked
differences between them, and that we must take into account a number of influences when considering the
origins of the eucharistic prayer.

98
imperial court ceremonial and cult. Indeed, he claims that the author uses specific
elements to portray the idea that the emperors claims to glory and majesty are only weak
imitations of that claimed by God. However, Aune does not mention the use of incense
as an example in this article, and in his commentary, he argues that this imagery derives
from another source altogether: Here we are certainly dealing with the early Jewish
conception that angelic beings function as the heavenly priests of God, so that...[these
liturgical elements]...are all part of the heavenly worship of God presided over and
accomplished by angelic beings.
164
This is certainly a reasonable assumption, especially
given the context of the use of incense in the book. But perhaps it is worth considering
this other possibility for a moment. Incense was offered in the presence of the emperor
(Aune notes some evidence that this was the case)
165
. Moreover, the offering of incense
to the emperor and invocation to the gods was used as a test to see whether someone was
a Christian, and refusing to do so put the person at the risk of becoming a martyr. Given
Revelations focus on the reality of martyrdom and its use of imagery from the Roman
imperial cult in its portrayal of God, the suggestion that the incense used in the book is
intended to parody that offered to Caesar becomes at least a tentative possibility.
In conclusion, although our earliest liturgical evidence of the Christian use of
incense dates only from the fourth century, I would venture the very tentative suggestion
that we do not know for sure that the earliest Christians did not use incense in their
worship. It was certainly used in the Jewish Temple and, after the destruction of the
Temple, was part of private Jewish liturgical practice. If, as Dix suggests, it was

164
Aune, Revelation, 1.356.
165
Andreas Alfldi, Die Ausgestaltung des monarchischen Zeremoniells am rmischen
Kaiserhofe. MDAIRA 49 (1934); 111-13, cited by Aune, 1.358.

99
conceived of as being part of the ideal worship of God in heaven, and, as Mazza suggests,
the eucharistic prayer could possibly be traced to Jewish liturgical meal prayers where
incense was used, then why could it not have been used in Christian worship, at least in
the earliest period?
2.5.4 Amen
The Hebrew word mn is used throughout the OT primarily as a response or
confirmation, as seen by its usual Greek translation in the LXX of , may it be so.
It most likely entered Christian liturgical use from the Jewish synagogue, where it was
used primarily as a response to someone elses prayer or to ones own, or as a response to
each verse of a blessing. Within the earliest Christian liturgies, amn was also used as a
response, or as a conclusion to a prayer or doxology. In light of this fact, Jesus own use
of the word in the NT stands out as unique (or at least characteristic of him), as he is
presented as introducing his own sayings with the term as an indication of their truth or
legitimacy.
166

Throughout the NT, aside from Jesus own use in the Gospels, amn appears in
the epistles with the same usage as is found in the Hebrew Bible, primarily as a response
or conclusion, especially to doxologies or other words of praise.
167
Within the book of

166
It is worth mentioning that Joachim Jeremias has argued that Jesus introductory use of amen is
is without any parallel in the whole of Jewish literature and the rest of the New Testament. See Jeremias,
ew Testament Theology (New York: Scribner, 1971), 35. In his work on this historical Jesus, John P.
Meier, also takes this position. He does not argue that every instance of this usage of amn found in the
Gospels is historical, but rather that Jesus use at the beginning of a solemn saying is characteristic. See
Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. Volume Two: Mentor, Message, and Miracles
(New York: Doubleday, 1994), 1.367-9.
167
Rom 1:25, 9:5, 11:36, 15:33, 16:27; 1 Cor 14:16, 16:24; 2 Cor 1:20; Gal 1:5, 6:18; Eph 3:21;
Phil 4:20, 4:23; 1 Thess 3:13; 1 Titus 1:17, 6:16; 2 Titus 4:18; Heb 13:21; 1 Peter 4:11, 5:11; 2 Peter 3:18;

100
Revelation in particular, amn is used eight times, usually as a response or conclusion to
a hymn or doxology (1:6; 1:7
168
; 5:14; 7:12 [two occurrences]; 19:4; and 22:20. There is
also a titular use of the term in Rev 3:14; this verse is discussed briefly below.
169

Within the earliest Christian liturgical prayer, amn came to have three primary
uses: after the eucharistic prayer, after communion, and, as in the NT, as the conclusion
of doxologies and other prayers.
170
Unfortunately, much of our liturgical evidence for its
use is dated to the third century and later, and so is not useful for a study of the
development of Revelation. However, there is some evidence for the use of amn in
early Christian communities. It appears in the doxology at the end of 1 Clement, which
can be dated to the end of the first century: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you and with all men in all places who have been called by God and through Him,
through whom be glory and honor, power and greatness and eternal dominion, unto Him,
from the ages past and forever and ever. Amen (65.2). The Didache, which is also
roughly contemporary with the Apocalypse, does contain amn at the conclusion of the
eucharistic prayer contained in chapter 10: If any one is holy, let him come; if any one is

Jude 1:25; Rev 1:6, 1:7, 3:14, 5:14, 7:12 (2x), 19:4; 22:20, 22:21. Note its concentration at the beginning
and end of many of the epistles, as a conclusion to a doxology or other words of praise. However, the uses
of amen in Gal 1:5 and 6:18 should be distinguished, as the manuscript evidence indicates that they are
an original part of the letter, rather than an addition to the text. See Nils A. Dahl, Galatians: Genre,
Content, and Structure, in Mark D. Nanos (ed.), The Galatians Debate (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson,
2002), 117-142.
168
In 1:7, amen has the same affirming function as the rest of the passages listed, but in this
verse, the words associated with it come after the amen rather than before it.
169
Some mss contain an in Rev 22:21, as the conclusion to the letter as a whole. However,
Aune argues that omitting this is the more difficult reading and thus to be preferred, given the
tendency to conclude NT books with amen (Aune, Revelation, 3.1239).
170
Fernand Cabrol, Dictionnaire dArchologie Chrtienne et de Liturgie (Paris: Letouzey et An,
1924-53), 1556.

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not so, let him repent. Maranatha. Amen (10:6). However, it should be noted that this
text does not contain the amn at the end of the baptismal formula (Did. 7) or as the
conclusion to the Our Father (Did. 8). A final example of early usage appears in Justin
Martyr, in his explanation of the ritual of baptism and what follows it (1 Apol. 65-67).
After the baptism itself is the greeting with a holy kiss, following which the presider
offers thanks over the bread and cup. Justin continues, ...and when he has concluded the
prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen.
This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language [so be it].
It seems clear enough that amn enters Christian liturgical use from the Hebrew
Bible and from Jewish prayer in the first century. But it is important to remember that
the presence of the word should not automatically be assumed to signal liturgical activity.
As seen above, Jesus (or the evangelists) did not use amn as the conclusion to a prayer
or in a way that reflected Jewish or later Christian practice; he used it as an indication of
the truth of what he was about to say. Also, Revelation itself contains a use of the term
that is not liturgical or even used in the traditional sense: And to the angel of the church
in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of
Gods creation (Rev 3:14). Here, amn is used as a title for Jesus, and in this case is
meant to attribute to him a title that is associated only with God (cf. Isa 65:16), something
that is not unusual for the author of the Apocalypse to do.
171

Moreover, as indicated in the evidence from the Didache, liturgical use of amn
was by no means universal in the first or second centuries. Even a text that contains one

171
Aune, Revelation, 1.255.

102
use of the word does not use it everywhere we would expect it. In his article on the
history of the use of amn, F. Cabrol notes that the early evidence is the opposite of what
we would expect: the majority of early texts do not contain amn, but rather it was added
later to these texts through their use in Christian worship as it became the standard
practice in the first few centuries of the church. Indeed, he notes that the evidence
suggests that the term was added later to NT writings, especially at their conclusions, a
phenomenon that does point to liturgical use of the texts. So, universal use quickly
becomes the norm, but it is not necessarily the case early on.
172
These cautions should
serve as a reminder that in the very early period, the presence of amn was not standard
and does not necessarily mean that liturgical use is intended.
2.5.5 Alleluia
The Hebrew hall-yh, or praise Yahweh, occurs in the NT only four times,
always transliterated into the Greek , and all four of these occurrences are
found in Revelation 19 (vv 1, 3, 4b, and 6). In that passage, it is used three times to
introduce a following hymn (19:1, 3, 6) and one time as an antiphonal response (19:4b).
In the Hebrew Bible, alleluia is found most frequently in the Psalms. F. Cabrol makes
the observation that the psalms that contain this word are mostly concentrated in the fifth
book of the Psalter, which seem to have been particularly intended for liturgical use in the
Temple.
173
Moreover, he says that alleluia does not seem to be an integral part of the
psalms in which it is found, but rather that it was probably chanted in the form of an

172
Cabrol, Amen, 1561.
173
Ibid., Alleluia, 1230.

103
antiphon at a liturgical service. Cabrol gives the example of the Hallel psalms (113-118)
that he believes to have been chanted on the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and
Tabernacles, as well as several other smaller feasts throughout the year. Although this is
likely to have been the case for Passover, the evidence for the use of these psalms in these
other Jewish liturgies in the first century is largely lacking. As will be seen in the
appendix, the evidence for the Jewish usage cited by Cabrol comes only from the texts
and practices of later centuries.
Because the use of alleluia is so rare in the NT, it probably made its way into
Christian liturgical use as an acclamation from contemporary Jewish worship. But it is
interesting to note that among the ante-Nicene authors, alleluia is only rarely used, in
contrast to the use of amn, which becomes more frequent and is eventually used at the
end of the majority of prayers and doxologies.
174
Cabrol mentions only one occurrence
in Tertullian: The more diligent in prayer are wont to subjoin in their prayers the
Hallelujah, and such kind of psalms, in the closes of which the company respond. And,
of course, every institution is excellent which, for the extolling and honouring of God,
aims unitedly to bring Him enriched prayer as a choice victim.
175
In this text, at least
according to Tertullian, alleluia is used, along with certain psalms, as a liturgical
acclamation on the part of the assembly, perhaps as a kind of antiphonal response.
As is the case with other questions of early liturgy, our evidence on this subject is
not precise or complete. Liturgically, alleluia was most often used with the Hallel
psalms, and outside of this usage, sometimes alone and sometimes as a part of an

174
Ibid., 1231.
175
Tertullian, De orat. 27.

104
antiphon. Unfortunately, it is difficult to say more than this with certainty for the early
period.
2.6 Conclusion to Chapter 2
In this chapter, I have attempted to survey the findings of liturgical research in
order to examine some of the assumptions that are often made when dealing with the
liturgical elements of the Apocalypse. Unfortunately, in many cases, we are left with
even fewer certainties than we thought we had when we began, as is illustrated by the
following conclusions:
(1) In response to the work of M. Shepherd, it is worth mentioning that although it
is likely that the early Christians did celebrate an annual Paschal liturgy by the end of the
first century, baptism was not necessarily a component of this liturgy at the end of the
first century, and Shepherd overstates the evidence for the occasion of the administration
of baptism prior to Nicea. If this was the case, then the scrutinies and vigil that Shepherd
proposes would have preceded the baptism cannot have been in existence at this early
date either. With regard to the other elements with which he has reconstructed his
hypothetical Easter liturgy (readings of Scripture, psalmody, and the reception of the
Eucharist), these will be discussed further in chapter 4. But it should be emphasized that
we simply do not have the evidence to reconstruct the way in which the earliest
Christians celebrated their Paschal liturgies.
(2) As seen from the evidence of the texts examined in this chapter, Christian
services of worship in the first and early-second centuries did not necessarily have fixed
structures with the wording of these liturgies already decided upon. And even if they did

105
in some places, we have no way of peeling back the layers of editing of the texts that we
do have in order to recover these early prayers and practices. Therefore, we cannot use a
more developed text (such as the Apostolic Tradition) to learn about earlier worship,
because it appears to have been composed over time, containing data from a number of
times and locations.
(3) Regarding the Sanctus, we cannot be sure that this hymn was ever used
liturgically prior to its fourth-century appearance in the anaphora, despite the presence of
earlier non-eucharistic texts that contain it. When the Sanctus is found in 1 Clement, The
Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, and Tertullians De oratione, the context is not
necessarily a liturgical one; rather, they seem to be allusions to the use of the hymn in Isa
6. This fact serves as a caution that we should not take the presence of the Sanctus in
Rev 4 as a necessary indicator of the presence of a liturgy.
(4) Given the widespread nature of the evidence for the presence of hymns in the
earliest Christian worship, it seems certain that these communities did use hymns in their
services. However, the major question surrounding their use is whether those hymns
found in Revelation (or elsewhere in the NT) were ever really sung by early Christians, or
whether they were composed by the author for use in a particular context. Either way the
question is answered, these compositions must reflect at least the kind of hymns that were
used by the early churches.
(5) It seems likely that incense was not used in regular Christian worship until
after the peace of Constantine in the beginning of the fourth century, although in the very
earliest period, during which the Apocalypse was written, we do not have enough
evidence to be completely certain.

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CHAPTER 3:
THRONE-ROOM VISIONS IN THE OT AND IN JEWISH APOCALYPSES
This chapter will provide a survey of the conceptions of heaven, and specifically
of the heavenly throne room, that were circulating in Jewish literature at the time of the
composition of the Apocalypse. This survey will include the writings of the Hebrew
Bible, as well as Jewish apocalypses roughly contemporary with Revelation. It should be
stated at the outset that other features that these writings have in common with
Revelation, although fascinating, cannot be included here, as they are outside of the scope
of the dissertation. For example, the idea of the ero redivivus myth that is found in
Revelation can also be found in Sib. Or. 5,
176
and the concept of the two-stage eschaton
present in Revelation is also found in 4 Ezra.
177


176
J. Lawrence, Nero Redivivus, Fides et Historia 11 (1978): 54-66; W. Jakob-Sonnabend,
Untersuchungen zum ero-Bild der Sptantike (Hildesheim: Zrich; New York: Olms-Weidmann, 1990).
177
John J. Collins, From Prophecy to Apocalypticism: The Expectation of the End, in The
Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism. Volume 1: The Origins of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity
(ed. John J. Collins; New York/London: Continuum, 2000), 151-154.

107
3.1 Hebrew Bible
3.1.1 Exodus 24:1-11
At the beginning of Exodus 24, God invites Moses, along with Aaron and his two
oldest sons Nadab and Abihu, as well as seventy of the elders of Israel, up to Mount Sinai
to worship him. Moses is told in v. 2 that he alone will be able to come near to the Lord,
but in v. 9 it is said that all of them went up, and they saw the God of Israel (24:10).
The divine throne is not explicitly mentioned, but perhaps it is presupposed by the brief
comment on what Moses and his companions saw on Mount Sinai. The only description
of what was seen is given in the rest of v. 10: Under his feet there was something like a
pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. Following their vision
of God, this small group of Israelites is not harmed, but rather they remain on the
mountain and share a meal by which they ratify the covenant.
This vision of Gods throne, or at least the lower half of it, is not really a heavenly
ascent, as God comes down from heaven to meet Moses. John J. Collins has commented
that the men are meeting God halfway, as the vision takes place on Mount Sinai.
178
Still,
the mention of Gods presence, along with imagery that is found in Ezek 1 and Rev 4 (see
below), makes it important to mention in this section.

178
John. J. Collins, A Throne in the Heavens: Apotheosis in pre-Christian Judaism, in Death,
Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys (ed. John J. Collins and Michael Fishbane; New York: State
University of New York, 1995), 45.

108
3.1.2 1 Kings 22:19-23
In this chapter of 1 Kings, King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah are
considering going to battle with the King of Aram over the town of Ramoth-gilead, and
in order to decide whether to do this, they consult a prophet of the Lord, Micaiah ben
Imlah. The prophet reports a vision of God, sitting on his throne, with all the host of
heaven standing beside him to the right and to the left of him (22:19). In this vision of
God in his heavenly court, the Lord confers with the heavenly beings that surround him
to find out who will entice King Ahab to go to battle and be defeated at Ramoth-gilead.
So these heavenly beings are conceptualized as members of Gods divine council, who
offer advice and carry out his will. The prophet does not describe an ascent to heaven,
but unlike the vision experienced by Moses and Aaron in Exodus 24, this is where the
scene takes place. There is no description of the heavenly throne room in this passage,
beyond the picture of God surrounded by the host of heaven. These heavenly beings who
stand around the throne are likewise not described further; the one who offers to be a
lying spirit in the mouth of Ahabs prophets is called simply a spirit.
3.1.3 Isaiah 6:1-13
In this well-known chapter of Isaiah that describes the prophets commissioning,
Isaiah has a vision of God seated upon his throne in his heavenly temple: I saw the Lord
sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple (6:1). God
is depicted as surrounded by six-winged seraphim who continually sing hymns of praise,
namely the Sanctus. But the passage suggests that these creatures have a more important
function than simply a liturgical one (although offering unending praise to God certainly
is an important task). The action of the scene is similar to that of the heavenly council in

109
Micaiah ben Imlahs vision. After Isaiah is purified by one of the seraphim and is thus
able to observe the proceedings of the divine assembly, he hears Gods voice asking
which of the heavenly beings he can send to accomplish a certain task. So these creatures
are portrayed as members of Gods council; even if he does not seek their advice on
matters that require his attention, these divine beings at least carry out his will. But in
this case, instead of one of the seraphim volunteering (like the spirit in the vision of 1
Kings 22), it is Isaiah who offers to carry out Gods wishes.
3.1.4 Ezekiel 1:1-28a
The book of Ezekiel opens with the prophets vision of Gods throne in the land
of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar (1:1), so like the visions of Exodus 24 and Isaiah 6,
this is a vision that takes place on earth rather than in heaven. This description from the
beginning of the sixth century BCE is by far the most elaborately detailed that we have
seen thus far. At the beginning of the visions, Ezekiel sees what seems to be a storm
cloud coming out of the north, but as it moves closer, he sees fire coming forth from it,
and in the middle of the fire is something like gleaming amber (1:4). At the center of
this cloud of fire are four living creatures in human form, but with four faces (those of a
human being, a lion, an ox, and an eagle) and four wings (1:5-6) and they were sparkling
like bronze (1:7). The wings of the four living creatures touch one another, so that they
are arranged in a square and move without turning (1:9). In the middle of the square that
is formed by the living creatures is something that looked like burning coals of fire, like
torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; the fire was bright, and lightning
issued from the fire (1:13).

110
On the ground next to the living creatures, Ezekiel sees four wheels that seem to
be constructed of a wheel within a wheel (1:16). The wheels are glimmering like crystal
(1:16), and their rims have eyes going all around them (1:18).
Over the heads of the living creatures is a dome, also shining like crystal (1:22).
Above the dome is something like a throne, seemingly made of sapphire, and seated on
the throne is something like a human form (1:26). The figure on the throne is
surrounded by something that appears to be fire (1:27), and his splendor is like a rainbow
all around (1:28).
It should be pointed out that the text of Ezekiel is only an attempt to describe what
was seen in terms that could be understood. The vision is full of words like something
like... and the appearance of.... The author is trying to describe something for which
there are no words that can adequately express the reality; human language is insufficient
to give an exact picture.
It is necessary here to consider the purpose of this vision within the text of
Ezekiel. Along with serving to illustrate that the message that Ezekiel brings to the
deportees carries divine authority, the prophets vision of God places him in a mobile
chariot-throne that comes to rest on Babylonian soil, far from his traditional dwelling
place in the Jerusalem Temple. This is an important development: the message to the
exiles is that God is present with them in Babylon. They are still able to worship him
there, and they have not been rejected.
179
This idea is further developed later in the book
of Ezekiel, as will be seen below.

179
Robert R. Wilson, Prophecy in Crisis: The Call of Ezekiel, in Interpreting the Prophets
(James Luther Mays and Paul J. Achtemeier; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 164.

111
3.1.5 Daniel 7
Daniels vision of Gods throne begins in a way similar to that of Ezekiel 1, with
a storm approaching near the water. In Ezekiel, the water is said to be the river Chebar,
and although the great sea is not named specifically in Daniel 7, the suggestion has
been made that it is the Mediterranean.
180
However, the prevailing opinion seems to be
that, in this verse, rather than referring to a specific body of water, the sea has a
mythological significance, along the lines of John Collins argument that the symbolism
in the chapter has been influenced by Canaanite mythology.
181

In this section, which occurs in the context of Daniels vision of the four great
beasts that arise out of the sea, the context seems again to be on earth, rather than in the
heavenly throne room. Also, this passage contains a description of a judgment scene, and
the thrones that Daniel sees have been set up for this specific purpose. So this scene is
slightly different than the ones described above; this is not simply a vision of God
enthroned eternally in his heavenly temple. Although multiple thrones are mentioned in
Daniel 7:9, God alone is said to take his seat for the judgment.
182
Gods throne is
described as flames of fire, and having wheels flashing fire that recall the wheels in
Ezekiels vision of the throne (7:9). A river of fire flows out from Gods presence, and
a thousand thousands serve him (7:10). This picture of the Gods throne always

180
For example, Maurice P. Casey, Son of Man: The Interpretation and Influence of Daniel 7
(London: SPCK, 1979), 18.
181
See John J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 295.
182
In his commentary, Collins notes that the vision in Daniel 7 is part of the larger tradition of
biblical throne visions that also includes Rev 4-5 (Collins, Daniel, 301). However, the mention of
thrones in connection with judgment is more reminiscent of the scene in Rev 20, where the resurrected
martyrs are said to sit on thrones and reign with Christ for one thousand years. Of course, the latter passage
does not fall into the category of throne visions, and the fact that the scene in Daniel 7 is describing Gods
coming to judge the beasts means that the passage in Daniel does not fit neatly into this category either.

112
surrounded by innumerable heavenly beings is not surprising, given the importance of the
idea of the heavenly council in the ancient Near East.
183
This conception is, of course,
extremely influential in the depiction of the throne throughout the Hebrew Bible.
Commenting upon this imagery that is found throughout the throne room visions of the
Hebrew Bible and of the later Jewish apocalypses, Larry Hurtado writes, the purpose
seems to be to emphasize how awesome and formidable God himself is who has such a
vast and powerful retinue as his servants and courtiers.
184

3.1.6 Job 1-2
The scenes in the first two chapters of Job alternate between the land of Uz, where
Job and his family live, and Gods heavenly throne room. After describing the setting of
the story (1:1-5), the location of the narrative shifts to God in heaven, where the members
of the divine council present themselves before the LORD (1:6). The satan appears
among them, not, of course, as the embodiment of evil that he would later become, but
rather as a regular member of Gods heavenly court who remains under Gods authority,
and who functions as a devils advocate.
185
In this text, the satan appears to require

183
See Theodore E. Mullen, Jr., The Assembly of the Gods: The Divine Council in Canaanite and
Early Hebrew Literature (HSM 24; Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1980), 113-120; Cross, Frank Moore,
Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1973), 186-190.
184
Larry W. Hurtado, Revelation 4-5 in the Light of Jewish Apocalyptic Analogies, JST 25
(1985): 105-124. As is often his concern, Hurtado is careful to point out that this multitude of heavenly
beings could have had the effect of blurring the uniqueness or oneness of God, but the mere presence of
thousands of angels and other beings in heaven should not be taken as evidence that the visionaries view
of the one God was compromised.
185
Within the text of Job, the satans task seems to be to observe the works of those on earth, and
to report to God on what he has seen. A legal metaphor is often used by commentators, referring to Satan
as Gods prosecutor, which is how he appears to function in Zech 3:1, where he is present to accuse the
high priest Joshua. For an overview of the historical development of the concept of the Satan, see Jeffrey
B. Russell, The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity (Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University, 1977), 174-220, 221-249.

113
Gods permission to afflict Job and his family; he does not act on his own. At any rate,
the two heavenly throne room scenes in the first chapters of Job (1:6-12, 2:1-6) provide
little in the way of description of the actual setting; most of the text is concerned with the
wager that develops between God and the satan. However, the basic details of the scene
are consistent with the picture of 1 Kings 22 and Isaiah 6 described above: God, in his
heavenly court, is surrounded by a number of angels, or sons of God, with whom he
confers and who are available to carry out his will on earth.
3.1.7 Conclusion to the Texts of the Hebrew Bible
The texts relevant to the conception of the heavenly throne room surveyed thus
far can be placed into two general categories. The first of these groups is comprised of
those passages that merely envision God on his throne, surrounded by a number of
heavenly beings that praise him and do his will: 1 Kings 22, Isaiah 6, and Job 1-2. If we
consider this group as describing God surrounded by his heavenly court, then it is
possible to place Daniel 7 tentatively in this group as well, although the specific character
of this passage as a judgment scene makes it less clear than the other texts. Daniel 7 does
indeed mention the thousands of thousands who are in Gods presence, as do the former
texts, but in this passage they are not depicted as part of the judgment. The fact that these
passages do not provide very much detail about the heavenly throne room makes sense in
light of their function; each of the visions is one scene of the story being told in the text
in which it is found. These images are not there to provide information about the
appearance of God enthroned, but rather are a part of the narrative.
The second group of texts from the Hebrew Bible contains those that actually
provide at least some description of Gods presence, and often describe the throne in

114
more detail: Exod 24, Ezek 1, and Dan 7. It is interesting to note the similarities among
these passages. Both Exod 24 and Ezek 1 mention the image of a sapphire, but Exod 24
refers to a clear sapphire surface under Gods feet, whereas in Ezek 1, the throne itself is
made of something like sapphire, but the dome on which it rests is said to shine like
crystal. Further, both Ezek 1 and Dan 7 depict Gods throne has having wheels that carry
it from place to place. The wheels in Ezek 1 are like the gleaming of beryl and are
covered with eyes, but those in Dan 7 are made of burning fire. The image of fire
around the throne is used elsewhere in these two passages: in Ezek 1, fire comes forth
from the throne and surrounds the figure seated on the throne, and in Dan 7, a stream of
fire flows out from Gods presence.
It is important to point out that an ascent to heaven by the seer is never actually
described in the Hebrew Bible, even when the location seems to be the heavenly throne
room, as in Micaiah ben Imlahs vision in 1 Kings 22. However, John Collins stresses
that a description of an ascent to heaven is not a concern to the authors of these biblical
throne visions, nor do they make a point to emphasize the location where these visions
take place, whether it be in heaven or on earth. He writes, These visions typically serve
two functions: they establish the credentials of the visionary and legitimate him as an
intermediary between heaven and earth, and they provide revealed information, typically
about the future course of events.
186

This point raises a caution of which we must again take note: these visions of
God enthroned in the Hebrew Bible have specific functions in the narrative settings in
which they are found. Their purpose is not only to provide information about the details

186
Collins, A Throne in the Heavens, 45.

115
of Gods throne, even if this is how we would like to use them. There seems to have
been a tradition of speculation about the divine throne that explains the basic agreement
between the passages, but it must be kept in mind that the authors who draw on this
imagery are using it as part of the purpose of their overall narrative.
3.2 Jewish Apocalypses
3.2.1 1 Enoch 1-36
The earliest occurrence of a narrative of heavenly ascent in the Jewish
apocalypses, or in any Jewish writing from the pre-Christian era, occurs in the first
section of the composite 1 Enoch, the Book of the Watchers. Within this first section,
chapters 12-16 can be separated as a distinct unit that includes Enochs commissioning
by an angel to announce the verdict of doom to the Watchers, as well as a further
commissioning by the Watchers to intercede for them before God. This section also
contains the vision of Enochs ascent to the heavenly Temple, where God gives him the
message that he is to deliver to these watchers of heaven. This unit within 1 Enoch can
be dated fairly early within the Jewish apocalyptic tradition, probably between 300-250
BCE.
187


187
George W. E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1: A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 1-36,
81-108 (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 230.

116
3.2.2 Summary of 1 Enoch 14
In the Book of the Watchers, Enochs journey to the heavenly throne room begins
in 14:8. Although the story of Enochs stay in heaven continues through 16:4, the actual
description of what he saw in the throne room ends in 14:23; the rest of the section is
taken up with recounting Gods message that Enoch is to deliver to the Watchers. From
the first moment of his arrival in heaven, the images that he sees are a bit frightening, and
the text affirms that this is indeed Enochs reaction (14:9). It is a place where opposing
forces are able to exist together: tongues of fire surround Enoch, but there is also a house
made of hail stones with walls and a floor of snow (14:10). This is not a pleasant place to
be, and Enoch notes that no delight of life was in it.
188
As he enters the house, he is
filled with fear and falls down, but then he sees another open door and another, greater
house built of tongues of fire that surpasses all else in glory and splendor (14:15-16). It is
in this house, with its floor of fire and its ceiling of lightning, shooting stars, and fire that
Enoch sees the throne. The throne in his vision is described as being like ice, with
wheels like the sun and rivers of fire going forth from it (14:18). The glory of God sits
upon the throne, surrounded by fire, and his garment shines like the sun and is whiter
than snow (14:20). We are told that no angel can even enter the house (14:21), but also
that ten thousand times ten thousand stood before the throne (14:22).
It is unclear from these verses exactly who has the ability to remain in Gods
presence, but if this heavenly house is to be understood as Gods heavenly Temple, then
it is not unreasonable to assume that these thousands of angels have a liturgical

188
All quotations of 1 Enoch in this section are from Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1.

117
function.
189
Indeed, in his commentary on 1 Enoch, Nickelsburg points out that the
wording of 14:23 supports this point. We are told that these angels who approached him
did not depart by night, nor <by day> did they leave him. Nickelsburg cites a number of
instances where this formulation of attending day . . . and night may suggest liturgical
activity, notably including Rev 4:8, a passage that he believes to be dependent on 1
Enoch 14:23.
190
In support of this point, the text of 14:22 makes explicit the fact that
although God has in his presence at least a hundred thousand angels, he needed no
counselor. So the author insures that we are not to think of this scene as Gods heavenly
court, where the Creator confers with members of his heavenly council, as in Micaiah ben
Imlahs vision found in 1 Kings 22. Rather, their function in this passage must only be to
offer continual praise and worship to the one seated upon the throne.
To sum up, the vision of the heavenly throne room that we find in 1 Enoch 14:8-
23 is a fairly simple one. The seer ascends to heaven, which, rather than being made up
of multiple layers, as is often seen in later apocalypses, consists only of two houses, one
located inside of the other, and both of which are surrounded by a wall. Gods throne is
located inside the second, greater house, and it is guarded by cherubim and surrounded by
streams of fire and thousands of angels, who most likely praise him without ceasing.
3.2.3 Comparison with Hebrew Bible Ascent Narratives
This vision in 1 Enoch has a few details in common with the vision of the
judgment scene that occurs in Daniel 7. In both accounts, a river of fire is mentioned as

189
John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature
(2nd ed., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 54.
190
Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 266.

118
going out from Gods throne, and also in both cases, Gods garment is compared with the
whiteness of snow. John Collins, noting some of the similarities and differences between
the two passages, concludes that, while there is not enough evidence to suggest
dependence one way or the other, the parallels between the texts require at least a
common tradition of speculation about the divine throne.
191
The Book of the Watchers
may go back to 300-250 BCE, which makes it older than Daniel 7. However, this does
not permit certainty about the direction of influence between the two texts; the possibility
has been raised that Dan7:9-10 may have been taken from an older source and
incorporated secondarily into the text of Daniel.
192
If this is the case, then the most that
we can say is that the two texts are certainly related, but we cannot be sure which of the
texts influenced the other.
Perhaps even more important are the consequences suggested by the influence of
the vision from Ezekiel 1 on the text of this passage. Martha Himmelfarb argues that it is
the mention of wheels on the heavenly throne in 1 Enoch 14 that suggests the dependence
of the text on the vision of Ezekiel 1, which is the only biblical reference to this image.
This is all the more striking when it is noted that the wheels have lost their original
function in Enochs vision, as Gods throne is there depicted as stationary in heaven. The
purpose for which they were intended by the text of Ezekiel, that is, to carry Gods
presence after he has vacated the Jerusalem Temple, is no longer needed.
193
As noted

191
Collins, Daniel, 300.
192
Ibid., 299-300. Collins provides a number of sources that argue for the use of an older text in
Dan 7:9-10, including M. Noth, Zur Komposition des Buches Daniel, ThStK 98/99 (1926): 145-47; and
S. Niditch, The Symbolic Vision in Biblical Tradition (HSM 30; Chico, CA: Scholars 1983), 195-99.
193
Martha Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (Oxford: Oxford
University, 1993), 10.

119
above, the purpose of Ezekiels vision of the divine throne is to establish not only that
God no longer dwells in the Temple in Jerusalem, but also that even in Babylon it is
possible for his people to worship him, and that he is present with them there. This is
confirmed later in the book, in Ezekiel 8-11, in which the prophet watches as the glory of
God leaves his dwelling in the Temple and descends upon the chariot-throne described at
the outset of the book. God chooses to abandon the city to its destruction by the
Babylonians. The consequences of this shift are far-reaching, and Himmelfarb writes that
the Second Temple is never able to regain fully the association it once had with the sole
and proper dwelling of God:
In the period of the Second Temple, under the influence of Ezekiel, those who are
unhappy with the behavior of the people and especially its priests come to see the
Temple not as Gods proper dwelling, the place where heaven and earth meet, but
rather as a mere copy of the true temple located in heaven. It is this
desacralization of the earthly temple in favor of the heavenly that opens the way
for Enochs ascent in the Book of the Watchers. The first ascent in Jewish
literature is thus a journey to the true temple.
194

So Ezekiels influence on this section of 1 Enoch seems to involve more than simple
imagery of the vision, but appears to have provided this author with the idea of
portraying heaven as the true temple, where God sits permanently enthroned.
3.2.4 Function of the Vision in Context
But what function does this ascent narrative have within the text of 1 Enoch?
John Collins has pointed out that, much like the visions of the prophets found in the

194
Ibid., 11.

120
Hebrew Bible, Enochs ascent to heaven seems to have two purposes.
195
The first of
these is to establish Enochs authority as one who can be trusted to carry a message from
heaven to earth. In his vision, Enoch not only travels to heaven at a time before the idea
of a heavenly afterlife for the faithful had taken a firm hold in Judaism (although not long
before this idea begins to be considered),
196
but is allowed to see the throne of God itself
within its heavenly dwelling. Certainly this privilege legitimates his status as one who is
able to deliver authentic revelations from God. The second function of this narrative
noted by Collins is related to the first, namely that the ascent is the starting point for
further divine revelations, which are continued in the following chapters that narrate
Enochs tours of heaven and of the dwelling places of the dead. Enochs ascent to
heaven is itself a revelation.
Another option for the function of this section of the Book of the Watchers has
been suggested by David Suter.
197
He argues that the primary concern of 1 Enoch 6-11,
along with what he calls the commentary on it in chapters 12-16, is the purity of the
angels, and that this focus reflects a concern in Second Temple Judaism with priestly
purity and specifically with illegitimate marriages on the part of the priests. But for this
argument to work, he has to show that the angels in the myth are a reasonable symbol for
the priests of the Jerusalem Temple, and he attempts to do this by noting three parallels
between the two groups: (1) the problem of the impurity caused by the marriages of the

195
Collins, A Throne in the Heavens, 48.
196
The first mention of this idea in the Hebrew Bible occurs in Daniel 12:3, which can be dated to
the middle of the second century BCE: Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and
those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
197
David Suter, Fallen Angel, Fallen Priest: The Problem of Family Purity in 1 Enoch 6-16,
Hebrew Union College Annual 50 (1979): 115-135.

121
angels parallels that caused by the inappropriate marriages of the priests; (2) the polemic
against the priesthood found in documents such as T. Levi or the Damascus Document
parallels that directed against the angels and giants in the myth; and (3) the intercessory
function of the angels in 1 Enoch parallels that of the priests in contemporary Judaism.
Suter concludes that these three parallels indicate that at an important level of meaning
the myth of the fallen angels in 1 En. 6-11 deals with the problem of the inner purity of
the Jewish community to which the purity of the priesthood is essential.
198

While it can be questioned whether there is adequate evidence to support Suters
connection of the Watchers with the priests of the authors own day, it should be noted
that both George Nickelsburg and Martha Himmelfarb independently agree with his
assertions.
199
Although he is careful to emphasize the tentative nature of his conclusions,
Nickelsburg also points out that the language of the myth of the Watchers in 1 Enoch
recalls anti-priestly polemic found elsewhere (he cites CD 5.6-7), and that the easiest
explanation appears to be that the mythmaker has a grievance against the priesthood in
his own time.
200
In support of this conclusion, Nickelsburg wonders if the typology
between Urzeit and Endzeit (a correspondence between the events at the beginning of
time and those at the endtime), which is often found in apocalyptic writings, may be
active in this text as well. In other words, he asks whether it is reasonable to conclude
that the sin of the angels in 1 Enoch, which took place near the beginning of time, has its

198
Ibid., 131.
199
George W. E. Nickelsburg, Enoch, Levi, and Peter: Recipients of Revelation in Upper
Galilee, JBL 100 (1981), 583-86; also see Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 119, 231; Himmelfarb, Ascent to
Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, 21-3.
200
Nickelsburg, Enoch, Levi, and Peter: Recipients of Revelation in Upper Galilee, 586.

122
parallel in the authors own day, in the form of the behavior of the defiled priesthood in
Jerusalem. He notes again this assessment is tentative, but he does include it in his
hypothesis about the origin of these chapters of 1 Enoch.
3.2.5 The Testament of Levi
The dating and history of composition of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
remain difficult issues. The texts seem to be based on Jewish sources and, in their
present form, exhibit Christian influence as well, but the extent of both the Jewish and
Christian material continues to be debated.
201
The complete text of T. Levi as we have it
is in Greek, but several discoveries from the last century show that an Aramaic source
lies behind the Greek text, either directly or indirectly. At the beginning of the twentieth
century, several fragments in Aramaic from the Cairo Geniza were found that provide
partial parallels to T. Levi 6 and 8-13.
202
Other Aramaic fragments from Qumran seem to
correspond with parts of T. Levi 2-3, but it is important to note that this extremely
fragmentary Aramaic Levi text contains elements not found in the later Greek
translation.
203
Therefore, it should be emphasized that the Greek text, which is the
version referred to in this section, is not the original but rather a later translation, and thus

201
For a history of the discussion, see H. D. Slingerland, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs:
A Critical History of Research (SBLMS 21; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1977). The theory that these
texts are Christian compositions was defended by M. de Jonge, first in his doctoral dissertation The
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Study of Their Text, Composition, and Origin (Assen: van Gorcum,
1953), and continued in his Jewish Eschatology, Early Christian Christology and the Testaments of the
Twelve Patriarchs: Collected Essays of Marinus de Jonge (Leiden: Brill, 1991).
202
For the translation of these fragments see R.H. Charles, (ed.), APOT, 2:361-7.
203
J.C. Greenfield, Aramaic Levi Document, in G. Brooke et al., (eds.), Qumran Cave 4 - XVII:
Parabiblical Texts, Part 3 (DJD 22; Oxford: Clarendon, 1996).

123
should be approached with caution, especially in light of the differences from the
Aramaic fragments and the Christian interpolations in the text as it stands.
The Testament of Levi is important for our purposes because it contains a
heavenly ascent by the twenty-year-old Levi, where he is entrusted with the priesthood.
At the beginning of the document, the patriarch describes a vision that he had, seemingly
as a result of his worry that the human race stands condemned because of sin and
injustice. In the vision, Levi first sees a high mountain, upon which he then finds himself
(2:5). He then sees the heavens opened, and an angel calls him to enter (2:6). The
cosmology of the next verse marks a departure from the ascents we have seen thus far, as
Levi is said to have entered the first heaven, where he sees water hanging (2:7).
204

After the first heaven is a second heaven, which is much brighter than the previous one.
Levi inquires of an angel about what he has seen, and the angel promises that he will see
yet another heaven that is even brighter than the first two, and it is in this third heaven
that he will stand near the Lord (2:10). The angel then announces to Levi what appears
to be the purpose of the ascent and the vision, that he will be Gods priest, and he will
declare his mysteries to men (2:10). So chapter 2 describes a series of only three
heavens, which it comments on only minimally, but the text at this point is somewhat
confused, with some versions speaking of only these three heavens, and others promising
that Levi will see four more, envisioning a total of seven heavens.
205


204
Translations of T. Levi in this section are from H. W. Hollander and M. de Jonge, The
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Commentary (SVTP 8; Leiden: Brill, 1985).
205
Adela Yarbro Collins notes that there are two recensions of the Greek version of T. Levi, one
that speaks of three heavens and another of seven. A possibility is that the Aramaic version of the text
included only three heavens, and that the idea of seven heavens was added in the Greek version, possibly
by a Christian editor. Collins further argues that the idea of three heavens originates from Babylonian
tradition, but that there is not enough evidence to know how or from where the idea of seven heavens came

124
In the following chapter, Levis angelic guide provides a more detailed
explanation of the seven heavens in which the patriarch finds himself. The angel first
describes the three lower heavens. The first and darkest heaven, where Levi had seen the
suspended waters, sees all the unrighteous deeds of men. The second contains fire,
snow, and ice, ready for the day of the ordinance of the Lord in the righteous judgment of
God, and also those heavenly beings who will be responsible for carrying out this
judgment at the appropriate time (3:1-2). In the third heaven are more of the powers of
the hosts...which are ordained for the day of judgment (3:3). After explaining the first
three heavens, the angel discusses the four highest heavens, but he mentions the seventh
first, in which is found the Great Glory, in the holy of holies, far beyond all holiness
(3:4). Below Gods dwelling, in the sixth heaven, are the archangels, whose function
there is to minister and make propitiation to the Lord for all the sins of ignorance of the
righteous (3:5). In the heaven below this one are found the angels who bear the
answers to the angels of the presence of the Lord (3:7). Finally, in the fourth heaven,
the angel comments that always praises to God are offered, presumably by the
thrones and authorities dwelling there, which Hollander and de Jonge believe to be
two different kinds of angels (3:8). However, the focus in the passage seems also here to
be on intercessory prayer on behalf of the righteous and preparation for the judgment of
the wicked.

to enter the text. She does note the significant point that when the three heavens are expanded to seven, no
new information about the description or contents of the heavens is added to the text, but rather the
information given about the three is further divided among the seven, a fact which supports the idea that the
image of seven heavens is secondary in the passage. See Yarbro Collins, The Seven Heavens in Jewish
and Christian Apocalypses, in Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys (ed. John J. Collins and
Michael Fishbane; New York: State University of New York, 1995), 63-65.


125
This description of the different levels of the heavens is briefly interrupted by
chapter 4, in which Levis angelic guide predicts the punishment that will befall the
wicked, and then praises the visiting patriarch and his priesthood. After the angels short
speech, he opens the gates of heaven, and Levi is allowed to see the Most High
sitting on his throne (5:1). Although the mention of a singular heaven and the lack of
reference to an ascent or to the layers of heaven described in the previous chapters feels
somewhat like a disconnect from the cosmology of chapters 2-3,
206
I think that the
angels opening of the gates to reveal Gods presence neither demands or excludes the
idea of multiple heavens. Whatever the case may be, no further details of Levis vision
are narrated in this chapter.
Noting a number of similarities between the details of Levis ascent to heaven and
the ascent narrated in 1 Enoch 12-16, which was discussed earlier in this chapter, George
Nickelsburg argues that these two visions are not only closely related, but that 1 Enoch
has influenced the later vision in T. Levi 2-3.
207
His list of parallels makes a strong case,
and it should be further mentioned that the cosmology of the later vision is obviously
more developed than the former. While Enochs description of heaven includes only one
heaven, in which are located two houses, one inside of the other, the account in T. Levi 2-
3 speaks of seven heavens, with the divine throne room located in the uppermost, or
seventh heaven. This cosmology supports Nickelsburgs theory that 1 Enoch is earlier, as
the speculation about the number of heavens in T. Levi is more developed. However,
even the description of seven heavens found in the later text does not provide much detail

206
This is noted by de Jonge, Notes of Testament of Levi II-VII, in M. de Jonge (ed.), Studies
on the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (SVTP 3; Leiden: Brill, 1975), 253.
207
Nickelsburg, Enoch, Levi, and Peter: Recipients of Revelation in Upper Galilee, 588-9.

126
about what Levi actually saw there. Adela Collins points out that, for the most part,
there is little interest in the contents and layout of each of the heavens. What seems to be
of primary interest is the number of the heavens itself.
208
Perhaps this has to do with the
purpose of the ascent in the text as a whole.
In chapter 8, Levi again reports that he sees the same vision while he is at Bethel,
where he sees seven men dressed in white, presumably angels, who carry out his
commissioning for the priesthood by anointing him and providing the necessary
accoutrements. Levis ascent to heaven is thus followed by his priestly investiture, and
further, it seems that the purpose of the ascent to and vision of heaven in this text is in
fact this investiture.
3.2.6 1 Enoch 37-71
The second section of the book of Enoch, the Similitudes or Parables, was most
likely composed much later than the Book of the Watchers, which was discussed earlier
in this chapter. We should probably date the Similitudes closer to the beginning or
middle of the first century AD, or at least prior to the Jewish revolt in AD 70, which is
not alluded to in these texts.
209
There are at least two visions in the book that require our
attention.

208
Collins, The Seven Heavens in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, 66. However, in her
commentary on the passage, Martha Himmelfarb ventures a guess that the picture of heaven in Aramaic
Levi contained a more detailed description of the heavenly sacrifices and the hymns that accompanied them
and, even more significantly, that the later apocalypses are indebted to Aramaic Levi for the conception of
heaven as the home of the heavenly liturgy (Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian
Apocalypses, 36).
209
Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination, 178.

127
3.2.7 1 Enoch 39-40
A brief reference to the heavenly throne room is located in another ascent near the
beginning of the Similitudes in 1 Enoch 39-40. The seer describes a whirlwind that
carries him off and sets him down within the confines of the heavens,
210
where he sees
the holy ones dwelling with the angels and the holy ones, both of whom have the
interesting function of petitioning and interceding and...praying for the sons of men
(39:4-5). The righteous dead exist together with the angels in heaven, and together they
offer prayers for those on earth. Enoch then speaks a prayer of praise to God, which
includes the observation that the Watchers who stand in Gods presence bless and praise
and exalt, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Spirits, he fills the earth with his
spirits (39:12). This verse of 1 Enoch 39 was mentioned in the previous chapter in the
context of how the Sanctus came to occupy its place in the eucharistic prayer, and of the
work of Gabriele Winkler on the subject in her important monograph, Das Sanctus.
211


210
Translations of 1 Enoch in this section are taken from George W. E. Nickelsburg and James C.
VanderKam, 1 Enoch: A ew Translation, Based on the Hermeneia Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress,
2004).
211
In her discussion of the passage, Winkler notes several interesting issues that are worthy of
mention (Winkler, Das Sanctus, 79-84).
First, the Sanctus being continually sung in Gods presence is of course an allusion to Isa 6:3, but
in this latter passage, it is the Seraphim who sing the hymn, whereas in 1 Enoch we find that it is the
Watchers (those who sleep not) who are the category of angel that is singing.
Second, a few changes are made to the text of the Sanctus itself. Instead of the expected Lord of
Hosts as the subject of the hymn, in this text we find Lord of Spirits. Winkler notes that this is a typical
attribution in the Similitudes of Enoch, and is found in this section of the book over one hundred times.
Another change from Isa 6 is the conclusion, he fills the earth with spirits, instead of the expected the
earth is full of his glory. Winkler confesses that she does not know of any other text of the Sanctus that
presents this formulation.
Finally, after a detailed textual study of the Benedictus found in this passage, Winkler concludes,
as was noted in the previous chapter, that the Sanctus entered the Ethiopian Anaphora of the Apostles
directly from Ethiopic Enoch. She points out that this should not be surprising, as 1 Enoch belonged to the
canon of the Hebrew Bible (of course those terms should be used carefully for such an early period) that
was used by the Ethiopian Church, and that they held the Enochic tradition in high esteem.

128
Following his prayer of praise, Enoch sees the glory of the Lord of Spirits,
before which are found thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand
(40:1). As he gazes on this sight, he also sees four other figures who surround God on
four sides, who seem to have a variety of liturgical functions:
And I heard the voices of those four figures, uttering praise before the Lord of
Glory. The first voice blesses the Lord of Spirits forever and ever. And the
second voice I heard blessing the Chosen One and the chosen ones who depend
on the Lord of Spirits. And the third voice I heard petitioning and praying for
those who dwell on the earth, and interceding in the name of the Lord of Spirits.
And the fourth voice I heard driving away the satans, and he did not let them
come before the Lord of Spirits, to accuse those who dwell on earth (40:3-7).
At the end of the chapter, Enochs angelic guide identifies these four figures as four of
the archangels: Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel (40:9). From the description of
their activity in the heavenly throne room, it is clear that these four angels that surround
the presence of God do more than simply praise him, although that is part of their
function. The third figure plays more of an intercessory role, offering the prayers of
those on earth along with his own on their behalf. Related to this is the fourth figure,
whose voice is able to keep the satans away from God, in order to prevent their
indictments of those on earth from reaching Gods presence.

It should be noted that this last conclusion has recently been challenged by Reinhard Mener and
Martin Lang, who argue that the source of the doxology in the Ethiopian Anaphora of the Apostles is not 1
Enoch, but rather the Ethiopic Testamentum Domini. Further, they claim that the formula in all three of
these texts entered the traditions from Jewish Temple berakhot, specifically the Blessed is the name of the
glory of his kingdom for ever and ever that was used after speaking Gods name (on this issue see Joseph
Heinemann, Prayer in the Talmud: Forms and Patterns [Berlin: De Gruyter, 1977], 134-37). For the full
discussion, see Ethiopian Anaphoras. Status and Tasks in Current Research Via an Edition of the
Ethiopian Anaphora of the Apostles, in Jewish and Christian Liturgy and Worship: ew Insights into its
History and Interaction (ed. Albert Gerhards and Clemens Leonhard; Leiden: Brill, 2007), 185-205. I wish
to thank Prof. Maxwell Johnson for bringing this article to my attention.

129
The idea of Gods throne being surrounded by innumerable heavenly beings
offering praise is consistent with the texts examined above. But in this section of 1
Enoch, there seems to be a greater emphasis on intercession and petition on behalf of
those who are still living on earth. These prayers are not only offered generally by the
holy ones who are found in heaven, but also by the third and fourth of the archangels
who surround the divine throne. The prominence of this theme could be due to the
importance of the idea of judgment in this section of the book. The first of the parables,
which comprises chapters 38-44, is especially concerned with the future resting place of
both the righteous and the wicked following the eschatological judgment, a time when
everyone on earth would benefit from the prayers of the angels.
3.2.8 1 Enoch 47
Although the texts from Revelation will be treated in detail in the following
chapter, it is appropriate to mention here an interesting parallel from the Similitudes.
This parallel occurs in chapter 47, which falls in the second parable concerning the
judgment of those who deny the name of the dwelling of the holy ones and of the Lord
of Spirits (45:1). Here it is said that in those days there had arisen the prayer of the
righteous, and the blood of the righteous, from the earth into the presence of the Lord of
Spirits (47:1). In heaven, these prayers will be joined by the prayers of the holy ones
and the angels in heaven on behalf of the blood of the righteous that had been shed, and
this will continue until judgment might be executed for them (47:2). Gods judgment
then finally occurs when the number of <the righteous> was at hand, and the prayer of
the righteous had been heard, and the blood of the righteous one had been required in the
presence of the Lord of Spirits (47:4).

130
This imagery is reminiscent of two passages in Revelation that should be
mentioned at this point. The first of these is Rev 6:9-11, the opening of the fifth seal of
the scroll, when the souls of the martyrs under the altar in heaven cry out to God to
avenge their blood. The answer given to them is that they should rest a bit longer, and
await the time when the number of those to be killed would be complete. Both passages
contain the idea that God is waiting to intervene with judgment and vengeance at the
appropriate time, when a certain number of his people have suffered this fate.
The second passage to note is Rev 8:3-5, in which an angel with a golden censer
stands at the altar before the throne in heaven and offers incense along with the prayers
of all the saints. Both the smoke from the incense and the prayers of the saints rise
together before God. Although incense is not mentioned in the passage from 1 Enoch,
both texts envision the prayers of the righteous who are still living on earth reaching God
in heaven. Further, it is reasonable to assume from the angels act of offering the prayer,
and then throwing fire, thunder, lightning, and earthquakes down onto the earth, that
these prayers that are offered are the same prayers for vengeance that are mentioned in
Rev 6:9-11.
212
So it appears that this section of the Similitudes and the book of
Revelation both contain the idea of the prayers of the holy ones on earth and those
already in heaven as coming before God, and more specifically, that these prayers are
calling out for God to avenge the blood of the righteous that has been shed.

212
So Aune, Revelation, 1.512-13.

131
3.2.9 1 Enoch 71
A second mention of the divine throne is found near the end of the Similitudes,
within the epilogue(s) of chapters 70-71. These chapters comprise Enochs account of
his assumption at the end of his life on earth, the possible origin of which is recorded in
Gen 5:18-24. This elaborate account begins with the ascent of Enochs spirit to heaven,
where he sees the sons of the holy angels, who are stepping on flames of fire (71:1).
Presumably these figures surround Gods throne, as the next sight that Enoch reports is
the two rivers of fire, that are before the Lord of Spirits, and the light of the fire shines
like hyacinth (71:2). The idea of a river of fire that proceeds from the throne is also
found in the vision of Daniel 7 and in 1 Enoch 14. Although it is not explicitly
mentioned in Ezekiel 1, there is a great deal of fire imagery in the passage. Fire goes
forth from the cloud that Ezekiel first sees (1:4), and more fire and lightning is seen from
the center of the four living creatures that support the throne above them (1:13).
Following this, the archangel Michael appears and takes Enoch to the heaven of
heavens, which is the first allusion in the text to more than one heaven; the vision in
chapter 14 seems to have envisioned only a single heaven. In this highest heaven, Enoch
sees a house built of hailstones, and between those stones were tongues of living fire
(71:5). This imagery, however, is reminiscent of Enochs vision of the heavenly throne
room in 1 Enoch 14, where there is also found a house built of hailstones that is able to
survive despite the presence of the tongues of fire. Surrounding the house are rivers
full of living fire, as well as Seraphim, Cherubim, Ophanim, and tens of thousands of
angels (71:6-8). Further, the four archangels mentioned above are seen coming out of the

132
house, along with the Head of Days, whose hair is white as wool, and whose garments
are indescribable (71:10).
3.2.10 2 Enoch
Although the text of 2 Enoch is preserved only in two Slavonic recensions, and
the extant manuscripts date from at least the fourteenth century, the consensus among
scholars remains that the document is a first-century Jewish work, dated to the pre-70
period because of the importance attached to animal sacrifice in the text. The place of
composition is likely to be Egypt. In this text, the ascent of the visionary begins right at
the beginning of the work, as Enoch is at home in his bed, and filled with distress,
although the cause of his distress is not specified. Two huge men, who seem to be
angels, appear at Enochs bedside and tell him that he will return to heaven with them
that very day (1:8).
213

Like the Testament of Levi, 2 Enoch contains a cosmology that includes a series
of seven heavens. In the first heaven, Enoch sees clouds, as well as a vast ocean.
Inhabiting this lowest heaven are elders who govern the stars and guard the storehouses
of snow. These elders, whose number is not specified, seem to be distinct from the two
hundred angels who are also present there and are said to have the same function (4:1-
5:2). It should be noted that these heavenly beings do not offer praise to God or prayers
on behalf of those on earth; instead, they are occupied with managing the cosmos.
214


213
Translations of 2 Enoch in this section are from F. I. Anderson, The Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha. Vol. 1: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments (ed. James H. Charlesworth; Garden City,
NY: Doubleday, 1983), 102-221.
214
This mention of elders in the first level of heaven is interesting in light of the presence of the
twenty-four elders who appear around Gods throne in Rev 4:4. More will be said about their identity in

133
Enochs angelic guides then take him to the second heaven, a place of darkness,
where the fallen angels are guarded and await their judgment (7:1-3). They ask Enoch to
pray to God on their behalf, which seems to imply that his prayers can benefit them, but
he refuses, saying that a man should not be able to pray for angels, and that he needs
someone to pray for him in light of his uncertain fate.
215

Enochs visit to the second heaven ends with this ominous note, and he then is
taken to the third heaven, which is Paradise (8:1-8). The abundant vegetation of this
level of heaven is described in detail, after which is noted that there are three hundred
angels who maintain Paradise, and they unceasingly sing praises to God (8:8). In the
following chapter, this third heaven is said to be the place that has been prepared for the
righteous (9:1). But strangely, the place of eternal torment for the wicked is also located
in his level of heaven, and is also described in detail (10:1-6).
In the fourth heaven, Enoch sees the place where the movements of the sun,
moon, and stars are located. There is a detailed discussion of astrological phenomena
(13:1-16:8), at the end of which is described the armed troops of angels, who eternally
sing indescribable praises to God (17:1).
When Enochs guides take him to the fifth heaven, he finds that this is where the
Watchers are imprisoned, as God has judged them with a great judgment (18:6). Enoch
is struck by their silence and by the absence of a heavenly liturgy there, despite the fact

chapter 4, but for now it should be pointed out that the figures in this passage appear to be angelic beings of
some kind, whereas elders, when they do appear in visions of heaven, appear to be human. For this
conclusion see, A. Feuillet, Les vingt-quatre viellards de lApocalypse, RB 65 (1958): 3-32. For more
about these angelic leaders in 2 Enoch, see F. I. Andersons note to the translation in Charlesworth, OTP,
110-11.
215
Charlesworth, OTP, 114.

134
that the angels in the first and second heavens also did not offer praises to God. He
encourages the Watchers to begin to worship God, and they follow his advice and burst
into singing in unison...and their voice rose in front of the face of the LORD, piteously and
touchingly (18:9).
In the sixth heaven, the liturgy of the angels becomes more of the focus of
heavenly activity. Enoch describes seven groups of angels, all equally brilliant and
radiant (19:1). They not only sing praises to God, but also organize and govern the
cosmos and, perhaps most significantly, are said to record all human souls, and all their
deeds, and their lives before the face of the LORD (19:5). In the midst of these angels
are seven phoenixes and seven cherubim and seven six-winged beings, all singing a song
that cannot be revealed (19:6). It is tempting to see this song as the Sanctus, especially
given the presence of the six-winged beings, but there is no evidence in the passage that
this is or is not the case.
Finally, Enoch reaches the seventh heaven, which is the place where God dwells
on his throne, surrounded by all the fiery armies of the great archangels, and the
incorporeal forces and the dominions and the origins and the authorities, the cherubim
and the seraphim and the many-eyed thrones... (20:1).
216
This heaven is filled with very
bright light, and with the constant sound of the liturgy of the angels, who surround the
throne and continually praise God, but also carry out his will. At this point, the Sanctus

216
F. I. Andersen notes in his translation that a tradition about three more heavens was
incorporated into the antecedent of the longer recension of 2 Enoch, for a total of ten heavens, with God
dwelling in the tenth. But the text at this point is problematic: the Hebrew words in these interpolations do
not reflect medieval Slavonic ideas, and the manuscripts of the shorter recensions are incoherent, so much
so that Andersen suggests that they have been mutilated. See the notes to the translation in Charlesworth
(ed.), Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 134-5.

135
is mentioned as the song of the heavenly liturgy, but this text is only specifically cited in
the longer recension of 2 Enoch.
The description of the heavenly throne in the following chapter is problematic
because of the interpolation of the three extra heavens into the manuscripts of the longer
recension and the incoherence of the shorter one, but the text does not seem to provide
additional information about this layer of heaven. Armies of cherubim and seraphim
surround the throne, and Enoch is struck by the majesty and glory of what he sees and is
unable to describe it further. After two prostrations, the remainder of the chapter is taken
up with Enochs anointing and clothing in glorious garments, which transform him into
one who is no different from the angels (22:1-10).
Many scholars have noted the influence of the vision of the heavenly throne room
in 1 Enoch 12-16 on this text.
217
However, John Collins is hesitant to make too strong of
an argument in favor of this conclusion, saying that the Book of the Watchers was a
foundational document for a number of ascent narratives. Further, he points out that
although there are occasional details in 2 Enoch that allude to the earlier vision, both the
cosmology and ethical message of the later text are independent of 1 Enoch, and that
there is not the influence of imagery that some have posited.
218
For example, as
mentioned above, the vision of heaven in the Book of the Watchers is a simple one, in
which Enoch observes two houses, one inside of the other. There is no mention of a
numbered series of heavens, as we find in 2 Enoch and other apocalypses from the first

217
See, for example, George W. E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible and the
Mishnah (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981), 185. Nickelsburg argues here not only for an influence of 1 Enoch
upon the later work, but further for a parallel structure of the material in the two texts. Also Himmelfarb,
Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, 38.
218
Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination, 244.

136
century CE. A different approach is taken by both Nickelsburg and Himmelfarb, who
support their position by noting that the specific contents of the seven heavens in 2 Enoch
are drawn from the ascent in 1 Enoch 14-16 and from Enochs tour to the ends of the
earth, but that the imagery is reorganized to fit the later works more complex cosmology
of seven heavens.
Adela Collins has made the observation that the traditions about the contents of
the seven heavens in 2 Enoch also share a number of features with those found in T. Levi
2-3.
219
Aside from the obvious connection of the series of seven heavens, both texts
contain: (1) the idea that water is present in the first heaven (T. Levi 2:7, 2 Enoch 4:2), as
well as the mention of snow and ice (T. Levi 3:2, 2 Enoch 5:1), and (2) the association of
the second heaven with the wicked angels (T. Levi 3:3, 2 Enoch 7). However, she notes
that 2 Enoch, throughout the visionarys journey, repeatedly returns to the discussion of
astrological phenomena, a focus that is lacking in T. Levi.
3.2.11 3 Baruch
The issue of dating and provenance is less complicated with this text than with 2
Enoch, as 3 Baruch appears to be a result of a concrete historical situation, that of the
destruction of the Temple in AD 70 and the captivity of Jerusalem (although the narrative
itself refers at the outset to the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians in 587
BC). Egypt is usually suggested as the place of composition.
The beginning of the text finds Baruch mourning the fall of Jerusalem to
Nebuchadnezzar, when an angel appears to him and promises to disclose...the mysteries

219
Yarbro Collins, The Seven Heavens in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, 72-3.

137
of God (1:8).
220
The angel immediately leads Baruch to heaven, where he first sees a
river, which no one is able to cross (2:1). Although the visionary has not yet reached
the first heaven, the river is reminiscent of the hanging water mentioned at the outset of
the heavenly journey in T. Levi 2. But before Baruch and his angelic guide can enter the
first heaven, they must pass through a very large door (2:2, cf. Rev 4:1), the size of
which the angel tells Baruch is as great as the distance from earth to heaven (2:5),
perhaps to indicate the vastness of the heavens or their distance from the earth. This level
of heaven is envisioned as a plain, and the men who occupy it are said to have faces of
cattle and horns of deer and feet of goats and loins of sheep (2:3), and are identified as
the ones who built the tower of the war against God (2:7).
The second level of heaven is also reached through a large door, and also contains
a plain occupied by hybrid creatures, this time described as men, but in the form of dogs
with feet of deer. These creatures are the ones who planned the building of the tower and
who organized the labor of those who would build it (3:5).
There is no explicit transition to the third heaven in either the Greek or the
Slavonic texts of 3 Baruch, although it seems as though they are entering it at the
beginning of chapter 4, where the text is problematic. As with the first two heavens,
there is a statement by the angel at this point that they should enter the heaven, and then a
reference to the number of days that it took them to pass through it. Also, mention of this
third level of heaven is found in 7:2 as the place where the sun passes and lights the
world, and Baruch and his guide witnessed this at the beginning of chapter 6. So it seems

220
Translations of 3 Baruch are taken from James H. Charlesworth (ed.), The Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha. Vol. 2: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983),
662-79.

138
that they entered the third heaven in 4:2, and the statement that they entered the third
heaven in 10:1 should mean that they came to the fourth heaven instead.
221
At any rate,
in this third heaven, Baruch is shown the place where Hades exists, which is in the belly
of a large dragon or serpent, who eats the bodies of those who pass through their lives
badly, and he is nourished by them (4:5).
222
He also sees the course that is taken by the
sun, which is represented as a fiery chariot drawn by horses and forty angels, and the
winged phoenix that protects the earth and its inhabitants from the suns rays.
When Baruch and his guide enter the fourth heaven, there is another plain, with a
lake in the middle, surrounded by a great number of birds. Baruch asks about the identity
of the lake and the birds, but the answer he receives is ambiguous. The angel tells him,
Listen, Baruch: this plain which surrounds the lake, and in which are other mysteries, is
the place where the souls of the righteous come when they assemble, living together choir
by choir (10:5). And further, the angel says of the birds: These are the ones who
continuously praise the Lord (10:7). It is not immediately clear from the Greek text of
the passage whether the souls of the righteous are the birds, or whether the birds are
simply heavenly creatures, similar to the phoenix that was found in the preceding heaven,
and the righteous souls exist here separately. Complicating the issue is the fact that the
Slavonic text does not mention righteous souls at all; in that version, the birds are simply
said to praise God themselves. In his commentary on the passage, Daniel C. Harlow

221
So H. E. Gaylord, Jr, in Charlesworth (ed.), Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 673.
222
This verse may imply that, according to the author of 3 Baruch, the judgment of individuals
(i.e., their placement in Hades) occurs immediately after death, rather than postponing it to the eschaton,
along the lines of the scenario of Revelation. This is noted by Adela Yarbro Collins, who contrasts this
viewpoint found in 3 Baruch with that of T. Levi, where, in the first heaven, fire, snow, ice, and winds are
kept for the final judgment. The eschatology of the former work is more realized than that of the latter.
See Yarbro Collins, The Seven Heavens in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, 79.

139
writes that a hint of their identification comes in the statements that the souls arrange
themselves in choirs (10:5b) and that the birds sing praises to the Lord.
223
But, in the
end, the text is not completely clear. It is perhaps worth mentioning at this point that this
is the only mention in the text of praise that is offered to God in heaven; however, this
could be explained by the fact that Baruch never actually reaches the presence of God nor
sees the heavenly throne room.
As they reach the fifth heaven, Baruch and the angel encounter a gate that is
closed and locked, and Baruch is told that they must wait for Michael, who holds the keys
of heaven (11:1). When Michael finally appears, he is carrying an extremely large
bowl,
224
which holds the virtues of the righteous and the good works which they do, so
that Michael can bring them before God (11:9). As Baruch observes this, he also sees
other angels carrying baskets of flowers that are identified as the virtues of the
righteous (12:5). Michael brings the virtues to God, and he returns to the angels with
rewards and punishments to distribute to those on earth based on their deeds. Following
this vision, the angel returns Baruch to earth, and he praises God.
The mention of only five heavens in the text of 3 Baruch raises interesting
questions about the cosmology presupposed by this author. Did the author conceive of
heaven as having only five levels, as opposed to seven, which was coming to be

223
Daniel C. Harlow, The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch) in Hellenistic Judaism and
Early Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 113. It is not outside the realm of possibility that birds could be
pictured as singing praises, although this insight is not overly helpful.
224
Incidentally, the Greek word used for bowl in 11:8, , is the same as that used in Rev 5:8
for the golden bowls of incense held by the four living creatures and the elders in the heavenly throne
room. So Harlow, The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, 35. It is also interesting that the contents of these
bowls in Rev 5 are identified as the prayers of the saints, and Michaels bowl in 3 Baruch contains their
virtues and good works. So in both cases, the actions of the faithful are made concrete so that they can be
used as part of the heavenly liturgy.

140
commonplace in the first century?
225
Or, in light of the fact that Baruch is repeatedly
promised that he will see the glory of God (7:2, 11:2), was his journey through the
heavens cut short for some reason? The major options seem to be: (1) the author of 3
Baruch envisioned heaven as having five levels, (2) he envisioned more than five, with
seven being the usual suggestion, but did not include them in his description for a reason
that suited his purposes, and (3) there was a longer version of 3 Baruch that did include
descriptions of the upper levels of heaven, but they were lost due to a process of
abridgment that occurred during the course of the transmission of the text.
Martha Himmelfarb, citing the work of Richard Bauckham, supports option (3),
and believes that there was an original ending of 3 Baruch that included an ascent to
the sixth and seventh heavens. Bauckham has argued that the Slavonic recension of 3
Baruch contains an abbreviation of an original ending that has completely dropped out of
the Greek text. It is in this longer ending that Baruchs journey to the highest levels of
heaven would have been narrated.
226
However, Himmelfarb is not convinced of the other
part of Bauckhams argument, that Baruch would have been able to observe God seated
on his throne when he reached the highest heaven. Rather, she believes that 3 Baruch is
engaged in a polemic against the understanding of the visionarys ascent in apocalypses
like the Ascension of Isaiah, where the visionary is able to behold the glory of God.
227

Himmelfarb notes that Baruch calls his guide lord throughout the text, and that this

225
Of course, there are exceptions to the seven-heaven cosmology in the apocalypses dating to the
first century AD, notably the subject of this dissertation, the book of Revelation. Other NT writings speak
of a multitude of heavens, without specifically mentioning their number, and Paul seems to speak of heaven
as having three levels in the description of his journey in 2 Corinthians 12.
226
Richard Bauckham, Early Jewish Visions of Hell, JTS 41 (1990):355-85.
227
Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, 90-1.

141
guide is only an angel. Further, the sight of natural phenomena like the sun and the
phoenix are enough to bring Baruch to a point of terror, so she cannot imagine that he
travels to the heavenly throne room and is able to look upon God directly or speak with
him, as the visionary is able to do in the Book of the Watchers or 2 Enoch.
On the other hand, in his commentary on the Greek text, Daniel C. Harlow argues
for option (2) above; he believes that the author believes in a heaven with more than five
levels, and ended Baruchs journey early for polemical reasons. Harlow surveys an
impressive number of contemporary Jewish and Christian texts, and concludes that,
although there is a variety in the number of heavens described in the texts, nowhere is
found the number five. Moreover, the number of heavens in a given text usually has a
rationale behind it that can be explained with reference to the text, but there is no
plausible explanation for the number five in 3 Baruch.
228
As for the question of why the
visionarys journey was ended before reaching Gods presence, Harlow believes that the
answer lies in considering the original purpose for which the book was written, i.e., to
respond to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. He writes, The aborted ascent of the
visionary in 3 Baruch underscores the authors conviction that the glory of God is no
longer to be sought in visionary access to God in the Temples heavenly counterpart or in
the hope of its future manifestation.
229
For Harlow, God is not to be found in any
Temple, but rather, access to him should be sought through the doing of good works, for
which one will be rewarded at the appropriate time.

228
Harlow, The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, 34-76.
229
Ibid., 76.

142
3.2.12 Apocalypse of Abraham
As is the case with 3 Baruch, the dating of the Apocalypse of Abraham is made
somewhat easier by the mention of the fall of the Jewish Temple in AD 70. It should be
mentioned at the outset that a second-century date has been suggested for the
composition of this book, which would make it later than Revelation and thus not as
helpful for the background of the latter text.
230
The consensus for the date seems to favor
the end of the first century; however, the uncertainty will be kept in mind throughout the
treatment of the text.
Chapters 1-8 of the Apocalypse of Abraham tell the story of how the patriarch
came to be converted form his former practice of idolatry, and then in chapter 9, God
speaks to Abraham and tells him to begin fasting and preparing sacrifices, in order to be
prepared for the divine revelation that God has planned for him. Abraham hears the
voice but sees no one, and he faints, but the angel Iaoel is sent in the form of a man to
accompany him (10:4). Iaoels splendid appearance is described in the following chapter,
and Himmelfarb has noted the parallels between this description and those of God found
in the Hebrew Bible, although she notes that an exact comparison is problematic, as this
text survives only in Slavonic. For example, Iaoels body is said to be like sapphire,
231

which recalls the pavement of sapphire stone beneath Gods feet in Ex 24:10 and the

230
George Herbert Box and J. I. Landsman, The Apocalypse of Abraham (London: SPCK, 1919),
lvi.
231
Translations of the Apocalypse of Abraham are taken from R. Rubinkiewicz, The Old
Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vol. 2: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments (ed. James H. Charlesworth;
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983), 681-705.

143
throne made of (something like) sapphire in Ezek 1:26.
232
Further, his hair is said to be
like snow, as is the hair of the Ancient of Days in Dan 7:9.
233

After an account of Abrahams fasting (12:1-3) and the sacrifices that he makes
(12:4-13:14), the text describes his ascent to heaven accompanied by his angelic guide.
They ascend directly to the presence of God on the wings of the birds that they sacrificed
prior to their journey, Abraham on the pigeon and Iaoel on the turtledove (15:2).
Although no other heavens are mentioned along the way, the seventh expanse is
mentioned in 10:9 as Iaoel introduces himself to Abraham: I am Iaoel and I was called
so by him who causes those with me on the seventh expanse, on the firmament, to shake,
a power through the medium of his ineffable name in me. Thus this text also appears to
envision a cosmology that includes seven levels of heaven.
However, in 19:6, all of the extant manuscripts mention an eighth firmament,
but this reading has been questioned by commentators on the text. R. Rubinkiewicz
believes that sixth is the preferred reading, as Abraham looks downward to the sixth
firmament in the preceding verse.
234
G. H. Box and A. Pennington also choose to emend
the text, but both prefer the reading seventh firmament, which is where Abraham is
standing in chapter 19.
235
It is noteworthy that many commentators choose not to
mention this reference to an eighth heaven in chapter 19, but John C. Poirier has made the
interesting argument that the text originally reflects an eight-tiered heaven, and the

232
Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, 62.
233
Ibid., 62.
234
R. Rubinkiewicz, in Charlesworth (ed.), Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 698.
235
G. H. Box and J. I. Landsman, The Apocalypse of Abraham, 64; A. Pennington, The
Apocalypse of Abraham, in The Apocryphal Old Testament (ed. H. F. D. Sparks; Oxford: Oxford
University, 1984), 382.

144
confusion arises from an attempt to change the scheme from an eight-level heaven to a
seven-level heaven.
236
He is careful to note that neither solution to the problem is
without difficulties. Inconsistencies in the text remain whether we posit an original
reading of seven heavens or of eight heavens; we have to accept glosses or emendations
in either case. In the end, however, Poirier favors the view that an eight-level heaven is
the original, and that this conception arises from a developing idea in Judaism that God is
actually enthroned above the highest, seventh heaven.
237

Whether it is the seventh or the eighth heaven to which Abraham and Iaoel
ascend, there is no mention at this point in the text of the passing through of other layers
of heaven. Rather, Abraham is immediately taken to the highest level, where he sees a
great crowd in the likeness of men. They were all changing in aspect and shape, running
and changing form and prostrating themselves and crying aloud words I did not know
(15:7). He expresses his fear at this frightening sight, but his guide reassures him, and
tells him that he will soon see coming the Eternal One who has loved you, but he will
not be able to look at God directly (16:3). As God approaches, he is described as a fire,
with a voice of many waters, like a voice of the sea in its uproar (17:1; cf. Ezek 1:24;
note that the one like a Son of Man in Rev 1:24 is also described as having a voice like
many waters). Abraham and Iaoel immediately fall down to worship, and they sing a
hymn of praise, the words of which are given in 17:8-21, and this hymn is later revealed

236
John C. Poirier, The Ouranology of the Apocalypse of Abraham, JSJ 35 (2004): 391-408.
237
Ibid., 396. In support of this final idea, Poirier cites the work of Christopher C. Rowland, who
argues that seven was the usual number of heavens in this period in The Open Heaven: A Study of
Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity (New York: Crossroad, 1982), 81-83. For a discussion of
the idea of God enthroned above the heavens, see Rowland, The Second Temple: Focus of Ideological
Struggle? in Templum Amicitiae: Essays on the Second Temple Presented to Ernst Bammel (JSNTSup 48;
ed. William Horbury; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991), 194.

145
to be the song that the many-eyed ones and the living creatures around Gods throne also
sing (18:3-4).
As Abraham watches the fire and sings the hymn of praise, he sees a throne made
of fire underneath the original fire. Surrounding this throne are the many-eyed ones,
who are singing the song with Abraham and Iaoel (18:3). Under the throne are located
the four fiery living creatures, having the faces of a lion, a man, an ox, and an eagle on
each of four heads, for a total of sixteen faces, and these creatures also join in the
heavenly song (18:4-5). R. Rubinkiewicz suggests that these particular four faces have
been influenced by Rev 4:7, which describes the four living creatures chanting the
Sanctus on each side of Gods throne: the first living creature like a lion, the second
living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the
fourth living creature like a flying eagle.
238
Again, if the Apocalypse of Abraham
should be dated later than Revelation itself, then this could limit the usefulness of the text
for reconstructing the background of the Apocalypse.
The description of the living creatures in the following verse recalls another group
of Sanctus-chanting beings, those of Isa 6:2 (18:6-7). Both in this text and in Isa 6, they
are described as having six wings: two for covering their faces, two for covering their
feet, and two that are used for flying. However, it is interesting that the Sanctus is not
mentioned at all in this text; it seems to have been replaced by the heavenly song that
Iaoel teaches to Abraham. At any rate, the behavior of the living creatures is somewhat
unusual; they are presented as threatening each other, and Iaoel must go and turn their
faces away from one another so that they do not see what is happening. He then teaches

238
R. Rubinkiewicz, in Charlesworth (ed.), Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 698.

146
them the song of peace, presumably to prevent future occurrences of this behavior (18:9-
11).
As Abraham continues watching, he notices behind the living creatures and
beneath the throne a chariot with fiery wheels that are covered with eyes reminiscent of
the chariot-throne in Ezek 1. A voice from the midst of the fire then directs Abraham to
look at the expanses which are under the firmament to which you have now been
directed and see that on no single expanse is there any other but the one whom you have
searched for or who has loved you (19:3). The text at this point is a bit confused.
Abraham reports that the heavens below him open, but then the first thing he sees is the
seventh firmament upon which I stood (19:4, emphasis is mine). However, the
description of what he sees is somewhat tricky and does not necessarily agree with what
has come before: a fire spread out, and a light and dew and a multitude of angels and a
host of the invisible glory, and up above the living creatures I had seen; I saw no one else
there. Indeed, in the following verse, he is said to look downward to the sixth
firmament, where he sees a multitude of spiritual angels, incorporeal, carrying out the
orders of the fiery angels who were on the eighth firmament (19:5-6). Finally, he sees
on the fifth firmament hosts of stars, who give orders to the elements of earth (19:9).
Unfortunately, Abraham does not reveal what he sees in the first four heavens.
As discussed above, Poirier has noted the discontinuity between the command of
the voice to look downward into the lower heavens and Abrahams first sight to be the
seventh heaven on the one hand, and the statement that he was standing on the seventh
firmament on the other. He believes that an eight-level heaven is original to the text, but

147
this is not the only possible solution. He could be describing what he sees where he is
before he looks downward to the other heavens.
3.3 Qumran Texts
The thirteen songs that make up the fragmentary document entitled Songs of the
Sabbath Sacrifice (4Q400-407) seem to have had a liturgical function, and specifically
were designed to be used on the thirteen Sabbaths that made up the first quarter of the
calendar year. Their content is largely a depiction of the liturgy that the angels perform
in the heavenly temple, the structure of which begins in Song Seven. But rather than
describing layers of heavens or even any areas around the sanctuary where God dwells,
the focus of the text is on a basic two-chamber structure, comprised of the outer holy
place and the inner holy of holies that houses Gods throne (rather than the Ark of the
Covenant, which was housed in a similarly constructed structure within the Jerusalem
Temple). Much of the imagery describing the heavenly temple does seem to reflect the
structure of the earthly temple, or at least the cult that functioned there.
239
But despite the
amount of technical vocabulary found in the text, the temple in heaven is difficult to
imagine because of the continued repetition of the number seven. Envisioned by the
author are actually seven sanctuaries, with seven inner chambers and seven holy places,
although the songs do not describe how these sanctuaries are arranged in relation to one
another. Although there is a consistent focus on the number seven throughout the songs,
commentators seem to agree that the author is not envisioning seven heavens, with

239
For a detailed list of the technical vocabulary used in the songs to describe the heavenly temple,
see Carol Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition (Harvard Semitic Studies 27;
Atlanta: Scholars, 1985), 39-58.

148
various layers containing different inhabitants, as was seen in a number of the
apocalypses summarized earlier in this chapter.
240
The author of this text is concerned to
describe the worship of the angels, not to recount systematically the organization of the
heavens. Philip Alexander writes,
The lack in the Sabbath Songs of a detailed cosmology that can be clearly
imagined is almost certainly deliberate. Our author(s) would have completely
agreed with the later Merkabah mystics that heaven is a bewildering, awesome
world, intrinsically unlike anything we know on earth, a place where terrestrial
laws do not apply.
241

Despite the lack of an organized account of the layout of the heavens, it is
possible to discern some features of the heavenly worship. Perhaps not surprisingly, a
number of these elements have been taken from the biblical theophanies described at the
beginning of this chapter. 4Q403 1 ii 15 makes explicit mention of Gods chariot
(actually seven chariots, as everything in the text is sevenfold) and its wheels, alluding to
the vision in Ezekiel 1. However, the wheels are said to bless wondrously, and seem to
be envisioned as the angels themselves. This is in keeping with the spiritual nature of the
text and its focus on the angelic liturgy.
Also related to the spiritual nature of the angelic worship is the way that the
heavenly sacrifices are performed. Newsom points out that, although sacrificial
vocabulary is used to describe what is taking place, the language of material offering is
applied to offering of praise.
242
The angels are offering bloodless sacrifices of praise

240
Ibid., 49; Philip Alexander, The Mystical Texts: Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and Related
Manuscripts (New York: T&T Clark, 2006), 53.
241
Alexander, The Mystical Texts, 53-4.
242
Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, 220.

149
that are described with the language of physical sacrifice; the material sacrifices have
been spiritualized. This image of a spiritual sacrifice offered by the angels is almost the
reverse of the vision in 3 Baruch (and Revelation) of the prayers of the holy ones on earth
being offered to God as incense. In those cases, something spiritual (good works or
prayers) is made material in order to be offered in heaven, but in this text, a material
sacrifice is spiritualized for the same use.
Finally, despite its poor state of preservation, 4Q405 15 ii-16 2-3 mentions two
familiar features of Gods throne: (1) the rivers of fire
243
which recall those flowing
from the throne in Dan 7:10, and (2) the appearance of flames of fire upon the veil of the
debir of the King, in keeping with the biblical and apocalyptic vision of the throne as a
fiery entity.
The function of these songs is somewhat more difficult to discern; we do not
know exactly how they were used within the Qumran communitys worship. In her
commentary on the text, Newsom argues against the hypothesis that these songs provided
the community with the means of participating in the sacrificial cult of the earthly temple,
separated as they were from the Jerusalem establishment.
244
According to this argument,
the songs would have allowed the community to participate instead in the worship of the
heavenly temple, to which these songs would have provided the liturgical
accompaniment. Rather, her argument is that the texts have a mystical function, which
she describes as the praxis of something like a communal mysticism:

243
Newsom translates rivers of light, but Alexander believes this is a mistake and translates
rivers of fire instead. The two phrases are similar: naharei or (light), or naharei ur(fire). See
Alexander, The Mystical Texts, 36.
244
Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, 18-19.

150
The mysteries of the angelic priesthood are recounted, a hypnotic celebration of
the sabbatical number seven produces an anticipatory climax at the center of the
work, and the community is then gradually led through the spiritually animate
heavenly temple until the worshippers experience the holiness of the merkabah
and of the Sabbath sacrifice as it is conducted by the high priests of the angels.
245

The songs then serve to evoke within the reader a sense of actually being present with the
angels in the heavenly temple.
246

Against this point of view, it should be noted that Elliot Wolfson is extremely
skeptical about the presence of any type of mysticism or mystical language in the Scrolls,
and he has argued specifically against Newsoms reconstruction of the function of the
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice for the Qumran community.
247
He acknowledges the
influence on these hymns of a tradition of speculation about the divine throne, which
includes a description of the classes of angels in heaven and the structure of the heavenly
temple, but he emphasizes that it must be kept in mind that these descriptions lack a
mystical ascent or any instructions on how to achieve one. Lawrence Schiffman has also
argued along these same lines, saying that these texts from Qumran represent something
more like an exegesis of the biblical texts that contain descriptions of Gods throne,
such as Ezekiel 1. He notes that the songs give a number of details about the events of
heaven, but do not provide a link between the angelic worship in heaven and that of the

245
Ibid., 19.
246
Newsoms view here is reminiscent of Erik Petersons argument that the Apocalypse supports
the idea that, in its liturgy, the Church participates in the heavenly worship of God by the angels, although
he does not mention mysticism or heavenly ascent.
247
Elliot R. Wolfson, Mysticism and the Poetic-Liturgical Compositions from Qumran: A
Response to Bilhah Nitzan, JQR 85 (1994): 185-202.

151
earthly community. There is no sign in the songs of a preparation for a heavenly journey
on the part of the worshipper or any instructions for achieving this experience.
248

3.4 Conclusion to Chapter 3

From this review of texts from the Hebrew Bible and the Jewish apocalypses, we
have observed a number of features that will assist in the interpretation of Revelation in
the following chapter, and the specific parallels will be pointed out at the appropriate
points. The details of the various throne room visions will be important, as will the
conceptions of heaven as a whole described in the various texts. A number of these
features that will have to be considered in chapter four are worth noting at this point.
First, the imagery from the vision of the chariot in Ezek 1 obviously had a great influence
on the later Jewish apocalypses, and also on the throne room vision in Revelation, so it
will have to be taken into consideration in a study of these texts.
Second, it appears that the conception of heaven as having a number of levels,
often (but by no means always) seven, was becoming commonplace in the first century.
However, it is worth noting that the author of the Apocalypse does not seem to share this
vision. Often throughout the text, he speaks of the universe as being comprised of
heaven, earth, and either the region under the earth or the sea (5:3, 5:13, 10:6, 14:7,
20:11, 21:1), but he makes no mention of more than one heaven. This authors view

248
Lawrence H. Schiffman, Merkavah Speculation at Qumran: the 4Q Serekh Shirot Olat ha-
Shabbat, in Mystics, Philosophers, and Politicians: Essays in Jewish Intellectual History in Honor of
Alexander Altmann (ed. Jehuda Reinharz and Daniel Swetschinski; Durham: Duke University, 1982), 15-
47.

152
reflects an older cosmology consisting of a three-story universe, where the earth was
envisioned as a flat circle surrounded by water, with the underworld (Sheol or Hades)
beneath and heaven (the dwelling place of God) above.
249
This idea of a three-tiered
universe was also shared by the author of the Book of the Watchers, as well as the rest of
the books that make up the composite 1 Enoch. The cosmology of the Apocalypse is
striking because it was not the view that developed in the Hellenistic period and largely
replaced the older model. In the new model, the earth was envisioned as a sphere
surrounded by the sun, moon, and stars, also spherical, that moved around the earth. A
larger, eighth sphere surrounded the others, and this last region is where God was thought
to dwell.
250
As we noted above, many of the apocalypses surveyed in this chapter share
this conception of the universe as having a number of heavens. Further, it is important to
note that even within the NT, Pauls narration of his own ascent to heaven mentions three
heavens (2 Cor 12:2-4), and the author of Ephesians seems also to know of a plurality of
heavens, but does not mention a specific number (4:10, 6:9).
251

Finally, it is important to note that there does not appear to have been one
conception of the appearance of heaven or of the heavenly throne room in the first
century AD. Individual features in any given description will have to be examined in
order to see what role they play in the authors message. This is the task of the following
chapter.

249
M. R. Wright, Cosmology in Antiquity (London and New York: Routledge, 1995), 16, 40. Also
see Aune, Revelation 1.317-19.
250
Wright, Cosmology in Antiquity, 163-184; see especially 179.
251
Yarbro Collins, The Seven Heavens in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, 67-8.

153
CHAPTER 4:
IS THERE AN EARTHLY LITURGY BEHIND THE APOCALYPSE?
4.1 The Opening Throne Vision: Revelation 4-5
4.1.1 The Open Door in Heaven
Many of the inquiries into the liturgical character of the Apocalypse take chapters
4-5 as their starting point, in light of the significant number of elements in the text that
are perceived to be a reflection of contemporary worship or a source for later worship.
These chapters comprise the first description of the Seers experience in the heavenly
throne room, where he is able to witness the worship of God by the heavenly beings. In
Rev 4:1, John sees an open door in heaven, and hears a voice telling him, Come up here,
and I will show you what must happen after this. So it seems that, at least according to
this verse, the author conceives of entering a door as the manner in which one passes
from earth to heaven. The idea of a door in heaven can also be found in a number of the
Jewish apocalypses that were examined in chapter 3. A door is mentioned in 1 Enoch 14,
although the imagery is not exactly the same as that of the Apocalypse. In that passage,
the visionary is said to have entered heaven before he reaches the wall of hailstones,
within which the two houses are located. Enoch enters the first house through the doors
that are said to blaze with fire (14:12), and within this house he sees another open door
before him leading to another, greater house. It is inside the door of this second house

154
that Enoch sees God seated upon his throne, not inside of the first door that he enters, nor
is the door the entrance to heaven as in Rev 4, but the parallel imagery is interesting
nonetheless.
The idea of a door as the entrance to heaven can also be found in 3 Baruch. In
this text, an angelic guide takes the visionary up to the first heaven, but before they can
go in, they must pass through a very large door (2:2), which the reader is told has the
thickness of the distance from earth to heaven. However, the cosmology of 3 Baruch is
different than the single-layer heaven of Revelation and 1 Enoch, as the former text
envisions heaven as having at least five layers. Accordingly, there is also a door at the
entrance to the second heaven in 3 Baruch 3:1. There is no mention of anything blocking
the access of the visionary and his guide to the third or fourth heavens, but there is a
locked gate at the entrance to the fifth heaven in 11:1.
The gates of heaven are also mentioned in T. Levi 5:1 as the access to the place
where God is seated on his throne (and the only level of heaven mentioned in this section
of the text), but the earlier chapters that describe the contents of each of the layers of
heaven make no mention of doors or gates connecting the levels. These earlier chapters
contain the alternate idea of the open heavens, found in T. Levi 2:6. It is interesting to
note that even though a door or gate is not explicitly mentioned here, this verse is a closer
parallel to Rev 4:1 than is found in chapter 5: And behold, the heavens were opened, and
an angel of the Lord spoke to me: Levi, Levi, enter! And I entered the first heaven. . .
(2:6-7). Of course, the possibility of the influence of the NT must be kept in mind in a
consideration of this later text. The open heaven motif is also found later in the
Apocalypse, at the beginning of its description of the Parousia in 19:11: the Seer

155
witnesses the opening of the heavens, from which the rider on a white horse comes forth
to judge the earth.
252
Since both the heavenly door and the more general opening of the
heavens are each found in Revelation and T. Levi, it does not seem to be the case that
these authors have only one consistent idea of the manner in which heaven is accessed.
At any rate, the picture envisioned in Rev 4:1 is a much simpler one than the more
elaborate cosmology found in the texts from most of the Jewish apocalypses examined in
chapter 3; the Seer ascends to heaven, passes through the door, and finds himself
immediately in the presence of God in his throne room. There are no other layers of
heaven through which he must pass, nor is there the mention of walls and houses, as 1
Enoch 14, which is the other text that envisions a single-layer heaven.
Despite these parallels from a few Jewish apocalypses, the motif of the open
door or open gate in heaven occurs only two times in the OT: (1) Gen 28:17, in which
Jacob has a dream of a ladder reaching to heaven, after which he affirms that this place is
the gate of heaven; and (2) Ps 78:23, in which the doors of heaven are opened so that
manna could be sent for Israel to eat. Although this imagery is not widespread in Jewish
sources, it is more commonly found in Greek texts.
253
David Aune has noted a
fragmentary hexameter poem written by Parmenides, dating from the early fifth century
BC entitled On Nature.
254
In this poem, Parmenides rides in a chariot up to the gate

252
The opening of the heavens is also mentioned in Ezek 1:1 as the source of the prophets vision
of the divine throne, but this verse is the only occurrence of the motif in the Hebrew Bible. See Aune,
Revelation, 3.1052.
253
For more examples, see L. Taran, Parmenides: A Text with Translation, Commentary, and
Critical Essays (Princeton: Princeton University, 1965), 17-31.
254
The English translation of this poem is given in K. Freeman, Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic
Philosophers (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1948), 41-46; also see A.P.D. Mourelatos, The Route of
Parmenides (New Haven: Yale University, 1970).

156
that divides night from day, and is able to persuade the goddess Dike to open it so that he
can enter. Inside the gate, various cosmological issues are explained to him, such as the
nature and origins of the heavens and the heavenly bodies. Aune comments that the
motif of the journey is likely to be dependent on the epic journey found in the Odyssey,
but the heavenly tour and the accompanying revelations are independent of this tradition.
The similarity between these traditions is therefore not based on any historical
connection, but rather a widespread ancient revelatory topos based on common
cosmological conceptions.
255
So the motif of the open door or open gate in the
passages mentioned above serves a specific purpose, namely to introduce a heavenly
revelation that is received by the visionary.
4.1.2 The Throne and Its Surroundings
Once the Seer arrives in heaven in Rev 4:2, the first thing he sees is a throne, with
someone seated upon it. The throne of God itself is an important part of these visions,
appearing in nearly all of the OT descriptions of heaven; the exceptions to this are
Exodus 24 and Job 1-2. However, it should be noted that the vision of Exodus 24 does
not actually take place in heaven, where Gods throne is said to be located, but rather on
Mount Sinai, although there is a mention in that passage of something like a pavement
of sapphire stone under Gods feet. Further, Job 1-2 is not really a throne room
description, where we would expect at least a reference to the presence of the throne;
rather, the setting in heaven is incidental to the purpose of the passage, which is to set up
the wager between God and Satan.

255
Aune, Revelation, 1.281.

157
Returning to the text of the Apocalypse, the reader is then told that the One sitting
upon the throne looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that
looks like an emerald (4:3). As noted above, a precious stone is also said to be located
at the base of Gods throne in Exodus 24, but in that passage the surface is compared to a
very clear sapphire rather than an emerald. Although not typically found in the majority
of the throne visions of the Hebrew Bible or Jewish apocalypses examined in chapter 3,
this type of imagery is used in the vision of Gods throne in Ezekiel 1. In that passage, a
dome that shines like crystal is found over the heads of the four living creatures that
support the throne (1:22). This dome shining like crystal is also likely to be the source of
the imagery for the sea of glass, like crystal that is said to be located in front of the
throne in Rev 4:6. At any rate, the throne in Ezek 1 is found on top of this dome of
crystal, and in that passage is described as having an appearance like sapphire (1:26).
256

Further, these verses from Ezekiel describe the splendor that surround the throne as
being like a bow in a cloud on a rainy day, to which the reference to a rainbow that
circles the throne in Rev 4:3 could be an allusion.
4.1.3 The Twenty-Four Elders
Outside of the rainbow that surrounds the throne is another circle created by
twenty-four other thrones, upon which are seated twenty-four elders, dressed in white
robes and wearing golden crowns on their heads (4:4). Although their identity is a matter
of debate, these elders play a role in the heavenly liturgy. Later in the chapter, it is said

256
Although sapphire is mentioned explicitly in the visions of Exodus 24 and Ezekiel 1, and
references to precious stones seem to be unusual in throne room visions, this particular stone is found only
in the Apocalypse in 21:19, where it is said to be the material of the second foundation of the wall of the
New Jerusalem.

158
that when the four living creatures, who also surround the throne, offer praise to God, the
elders will fall down and worship, cast their crowns before the throne, and sing a hymn
(4:9-11). The idea of God surrounded by members of a heavenly council is widespread
in the Hebrew Bible (e.g. 1 Kgs 22:19; Isa 6:2-3; Dan 7:9-10; Job 1:6, 2:1)
257
, but the
conception of twenty-four elders is unique to the Apocalypse.
258
A number of different
suggestions as to the identity of these elders have been made by the scholars investigating
the liturgical background of the book.
(1) Israel and/or the Church: O. Piper argued that they represent the leaders of
the two covenants, that is, the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles.
259
He also
raises the interesting possibility that the origin of the Seers imagery in this verse may be
T. Levi 3:8, which contains the idea that there are thrones present in the heaven below the
highest heaven, whose duty it is to offer praise to God.
260
However, he affirms that T.
Levi explicitly speaks of twenty-four thrones, but this number is not present in the text:
And in the (heaven) next to it there are thrones, authorities, in which always praises are
offered to God (3:8). Similarly, U. Vanni interprets the twenty-four elders in this way,

257
See the review of OT texts in chapter 3. Also see Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the ew
Testament, 130.
258
Aune, Revelation, 1.287. Also see Revelation, 1.287-92 for a thorough review of the work of
biblical scholars on the subject of the twenty-four elders. Aune also notes that the conception of the
presence of other thrones in heaven is found in other texts, but the imagery is not exactly the same as that
of the Apocalypse. Dan 7:9 mentions thrones set up around Gods throne for the judgment that is to follow,
and there are a number of references in the second half of the Ascension of Isaiah to thrones in the different
levels of heaven that belong to the angels that inhabit these heavens (7:14, 19, 24, 29, 31, 33, 35; 8:9; 9:10,
24; 11:40). See Revelation, 1.286.
259
Piper, The Apocalypse of John and the Liturgy of the Ancient Church, 11.
260
Ibid., 11.

159
representing the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles.
261
But he believes that
the imagery is more complex than this simple interpretation: They are the basis, the
heavenly foundation of all the people of God. But, already in a state of salvation, they
are also the expression of the goal toward which the people of God aims: and they help in
its attainment.
262

E. Petersons view is that the twenty-four elders represent only the spiritual Israel,
the Church.
263
As both kings (sitting on thrones and wearing crowns) and priests (serving
in the heavenly Temple, and holding libation bowls in Rev 5:8) who take up the song of
praise of the angels, these figures serve to express the connection between the heavenly
and earthly liturgy and to unite the eternal worship of heaven with that of the church on
earth.
(2) Members of a Royal Court: In keeping with her argument that the heavenly
throne room scenes of the Apocalypse are modeled on the magnificence of royal courts
on earth, L. Mowry believes that the imagery of the twenty-four elders is a part of the
usual splendor that would be appropriate in the presence of a king.
265
Further, she argues
that the specific form of the heavenly worship of the King of kings found in Rev 4-5 may
constitute an early Christian celebration of the Eucharist, in which the elders symbolize
or play the role of an earthly congregation.

261
U. Vanni, Apocalisse: Una assemblea liturgica interpreta la storia (11th ed.; Brescia: Editrice
Queriniana, 2000), 82.
262
Ibid., 37. Translation is mine. Vanni argues in more detail for this same conclusion in his
earlier work, LApocalisse: ermeneutica, esegesi, teologia (Bologna: Editzioni Dehoniane, 1988), 175-7.
263
Peterson, The Angels and the Liturgy, 3, 5.
265
Mowry, Revelation 4-5 and Early Christian Liturgical Usage, 76-7.

160
(3) Participants in an Earthly Liturgy: A. Cabaniss sees a parallel with early
Christian liturgy, and he suggests that the Seer, in describing God on his throne
surrounded by the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders, had in mind the first
sight that met the eye of a person entering a Christian religious assembly for the
Eucharistic service: the presiding bishop, flanked by his fellow presbyters, and attended
or assisted by his servant-deacons.
266
M. Shepherd holds a similar view to that of
Cabaniss, namely that the scene in Rev 4 corresponds to an early Christian service of
worship, albeit an idealized one. He argues that God on his throne surrounded by the
twenty-four elders and seven spirits is a symbol of the presiding bishop, who was
surrounded by a number of elders and deacons on either side.
267
However, Shepherd
does caution that the specific numbers of elders and deacons described by the Seer do not
necessarily correspond with the practices of his community; rather, other factors have
influenced the number-symbolism of this passage. This passage would instead be a case
where the text has shaped the later practice of the church. More will be said below in
response to this reading of the text.
(4) Figures mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: The view that the elders represent
worthy figures from the Hebrew Bible was argued for by A. Feuillet, and, he was
followed in this view by P. Prigent and . Cothenet in the studies reviewed in chapter
1.
268
Cothenet raises the possibility of an allusion to the twenty-four classes of priests
that officiated in the Temple, and points out that these figures in Revelation do have

266
Cabaniss, A Note on the Liturgy of the Apocalypse, 81.
267
Shepherd, The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse, 87.
268
Feuillet, Les vingt-quatre viellards de lApocalypse; P. Prigent, Apocalypse et liturgie;
Cothenet, Earthly and Heavenly Liturgies in Revelation, 127-8.

161
somewhat of a priestly role, inasmuch as they offer the prayers of the saints in golden
censers (5.8).
269
In his 2001 commentary on the Apocalypse, P. Prigent returns to the
question of the identity of these figures.
270
He notes that the problem arises mainly in
connection with the number of elders: why are there twenty-four of them? Prigent
mentions the possibility of the twenty-four classes of priests from the second-temple
period and the suggestion of the combination of twelve patriarchs and twelve apostles,
but emphasizes that nothing in the passage invites us to make these connections. His
conclusion is that the twenty-four elders represent the twenty-four writers to whom the
books of the Hebrew Bible are attributed, an interpretation known in the early church and
attested as early as Victorinus of Pettau in the third century AD. Prigent writes,
If we accept this explanation, the mystery of the 24 elders finally becomes clear:
when God reveals himself in his glory, the seer recognizes around him the authors
of the OT, those fathers who, having been the chosen instruments of the prophetic
revelation, are now associated with the worship rendered to the eternally living
God.
271

While I am not convinced by this argument, Prigent does point out the problems with the
two most common interpretations, namely that the text of the Apocalypse does not really
lead the reader to the conclusion that these figures have anything to do with the twenty-
four classes of priests or the twelve patriarchs and twelve apostles. The number twenty-
four certainly seems to be important for their identification, but there is not enough

269
Cothenet, 127-8. However, Aune notes that aside from the censers containing the prayers of
the saints, the elders do not exhibit explicitly any of the priestly functions that would make this
identification more secure. See Aune, Revelation, 1.288-9.
270
P. Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John (trans. Wendy Pradels; Tbingen: Mohr
Siebeck, 2001), 227-9.
271
Ibid., 229.

162
evidence in the text to support either of these interpretations, namely (1) or (4) above.
Rather, it seems likely that, in this passage, the Seer has drawn on two primary sources:
(1) the conception of God surrounded by a heavenly council, as pictured in the relevant
texts from the Hebrew Bible, and (2) his own imagination.
The idea that the imagery of the throne room visions from the Hebrew Bible and
Jewish apocalyptic traditions has influenced this passage is not surprising, as has already
been argued and will be seen further throughout this section. James D. G. Dunn has
commented that, if the elders of Rev 4 are intended to symbolize human beings at all,
then it is likely that they represent the earthly Church as a whole rather than particular
offices within it. However, he notes that it is equally likely, if not more so, that they
simply represent the common motif of the OT council of Yahweh.
272
It must be
pointed out that nowhere in Revelation do the elders exhibit the function of a heavenly
court from whom God seeks counsel (cf. 1 Kgs 22; Isa 6; Job 1-2); rather, most of their
actions center around offering praise in the heavenly liturgy (cf. Rev 4:4, 10-11; 5:8-11,
14; 7:11-12; 11:16-18; 19:4), a function that is also found in the texts from the Hebrew
Bible, as well as 1 Enoch 14. Aune rightly makes the point that the literary function of
the twenty-four elders within Revelation is far more important that any speculation
regarding their supposed identity, namely, their role in the heavenly worship of God.
273

Unfortunately, we may not be able to say much more than that with certainty.
The conception of elders as being present before Gods throne is not often
found in descriptions of the heavenly world; are there other texts that speak of elders

272
Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the ew Testament, 130.
273
Aune, Revelation, 1.288.

163
()? Although the heavenly court or council is a common motif in the throne-
room scenes of the Hebrew Bible, the beings that surround the throne are never identified
as elders. There are, however, two passages where elders figure in connection with the
throne.
274
The first of these is Exod 24:9-10, mentioned above, in which Moses, Aaron
and his two sons, and seventy of the elders of Israel worship and share a meal in Gods
presence on Mount Sinai. These elders, of course, are not heavenly beings, and there are
seventy of them rather than twenty-four, but the imagery is worth noting. The second
passage is Isa 24:23, an apocalyptic scenario that describes the coming of the rule of God
to earth: For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before
his elders he will manifest his glory. Although it is not completely clear from the
passage, it seems that here also, the author has in mind a group of human beings living on
earth, not heavenly figures as in the Apocalypse. The scene takes place on Mount Zion;
if the elders were heavenly beings, they would already have been in the presence of
Gods glory.
It is helpful to look at the texts that make mention of elders elsewhere in the
Hebrew Bible. The biblical evidence for their existence and function has been
thoroughly reviewed a number of times, and the picture that emerges is somewhat
unclear, largely because the sources that mention them do not offer much information
about them.
275
John L. McKenzie offers a list of the functions defined in the OT, and
several of them may be helpful in illuminating the role of these figures in the

274
Ibid., 287.
275
John L. McKenzie, The Elders in the Old Testament, Bib 40 (1959): 522-40; H. Reviv, The
Elders of Ancient Israel (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1989); R. Alastair Campbell, The Elders: Seniority within
Earliest Christianity (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994).

164
Apocalypse: (1) they represent the people or a community in political or religious
activity; (2) they are associated with the leader, or accompany him when he exercises his
authority; (3) they appear as a governing body and are a part of the royal council; and (4)
they function as a judicial body of some kind.
276
Further, R. Alistair Campbell
emphasizes that although the elders were not holders of a specific office in ancient Israel
or early Judaism, the term certainly was used to confer prestige on senior members of a
community, who exercised an authority that was informal, representative and
collective.
277
He does mention Rev 4:4 in an appendix, where he focuses not on the
question of the identity of these figures, but rather on the question of why they are called
elders at all. Campbell concludes that this designation arises from the fact that those in
power tended to have about them a cluster of distinguished persons, for whom the
elders was a readily available term of honor, and John, in picturing the heavenly throne
room, has furnished it in the traditional manner.
278
This argument brings to mind the
idea of the heavenly council mentioned above, although Campbell does not speak of this
motif, but rather restricts his comments to the entourage that surrounded earthly rulers.
A final point to consider with regard to the twenty-four elders is the way in which
they are introduced to the audience. The text of Rev 4:4 reads, Around the throne are
twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white
robes.... The first mention of the elders within the text is anarthrous, but then the
references to the elders thereafter appear with the definite article (4:10; 5:5, 6, 8, 11, 14;

276
McKenzie, The Elders in the Old Testament, 523-7.
277
Campbell, The Elders, 65.
278
Ibid., 209.

165
7:11, 13; 11:16; 14:3; 19:4). This construction supports the conclusion that the mention
of the elders in 4:4 is the first time the audience is hearing of them, since the definite
article is typically omitted on the first mention of an object, but then used with
subsequent references since the object is now known to the audience.
279
This point is
especially noteworthy in light of the argument that the scene of Gods throne surrounded
by the thrones of twenty-four elders reflects a structure found in the liturgical assembly
known to the Seer. The grammatical meaning of the verse is that the author is describing
something new to his audience. But what about the idea that this was an arrangement
that could be found in the communities addressed in the Apocalypse? As seen above, A.
Cabaniss and M. Shepherd have both argued that the scene reflects a bishop, seated on
his throne at a service of the Eucharist, surrounded by presbyters and attended by
deacons. The problem with this argument is that we have no evidence that this
hierarchical threefold structure of ecclesial offices of bishop, elder, deacon was
established as early as the end of the first century CE. The earliest clear evidence for this
threefold structure is found in the letters of Ignatius of Antioch (Magn. 6.1; Smyrn. 8;
Trall. 2-3.1), usually dated to ca. 115 CE, and even in these writings there is no
indication that they physically arranged themselves in such a structure (a central throne
surrounded by a number of other thrones) for a service of worship. Further, there is no
evidence that this was a widespread pattern, especially since Ignatius feels the need to
emphasize that these ministers are to be obeyed and respected.
280
This structure does

279
On the anaphoric article, see Herbert Weir Smyth, Greek Grammar (rev. Gordon M.
Messing; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920), 287; G. Mussies, The Morphology of Koine Greek
as used in the Apocalypse of St. John: A Study in Bilingualism (Leiden: Brill, 1971), 187-88.
280
Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 200. For more on the question of
the development of Christian ministry, see Bradshaw, Liturgical Presidency in the Early Church

166
appear to become the model that was in use by the end of the second century, but we do
not have the evidence to assert that it would have been known to the author of Revelation
at the end of the first century.
4.1.4 The Seven Torches before the Throne
In the following verse, the reader is told that before Gods throne are burning
seven flaming torches, which are also described as the seven spirits of God (4:5). Aune
notes that the most natural sense of the verse is to interpret the torches as referring to the
seven-branched menorah located in the tabernacle.
281
However, he also mentions the
common view in early Judaism that angels are made of fire (2 Baruch 21:6; 4 Ezra 8:21-
22), so, as the explanation at the end of the verse suggests (and in front of the throne
burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God), it may be that the
torches symbolize angels. Revelation 1:4 also contains a reference to seven spirits who
are before Gods throne, and in his comment on that passage, Aune argues that the spirits
are indeed a reference to the seven principal angels of God.
282
Therefore, in Rev 4:5, the
explanatory comment that concludes the verse serves to link the image of seven torches
before the throne with the seven spirits from Rev 1:4.

(Bramcote, England: Grove Books, 1983); Christine Trevett, Prophecy and Anti-episcopal Activity: A
Third Error Combatted by Ignatius? JEH 34 (1983); 1-18; Harry Maier, The Social Setting of the Ministry
as Reflected in the Writings of Hermas, Clement, and Ignatius (Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier
University, 1991); Frances Young, On Episkopos and Presbyteros, JTS 45 (1994); 142-8; John St. H.
Gibaut, The Cursus Honorum: A Study of the Origins and Evolution of Sequential Ordination (New York:
Peter Lang, 2000).
281
Aune, Revelation, 1.295.
282
Ibid., 34.

167
Surprisingly little attention is paid to these burning torches by the scholars who
have studied the liturgical context of the Apocalypse. Shepherd interprets the
torches/spirits as representing the deacons, who would have stood before the bishops
throne at the earthly liturgy, although he does not argue for this position, but rather seems
to assume it.
283
Peterson simply says that the torches burn before Gods throne as
symbolic expression of his majesty, and offers no other comment, although he does cite
parallels to the Roman emperor cult in a footnote.
284

Another possibility is argued for by both Vanni and Prigent, namely that here and
in Rev 1:4, the seven spirits are a way of speaking about the Holy Spirit.
285
However,
this interpretation requires an answer to the question of why the Spirit would be described
as sevenfold. In his discussion of Rev 1:4, Prigent suggests an allusion to the LXX
reading of Isa 11:2-3, which enumerates the seven spirits that will come to rest on the
Messiah (The Spirit of God will rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a
spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and godliness; the Spirit will fill him
with the fear of the LORD), and he argues that these seven spirits represent the fullness
of the Spirit. However, he does acknowledge that there is nothing in Rev 1 or 4 that leads
one to think that the passage from Isaiah is in view. It seems more likely that the
identification of the seven spirits with the Holy Spirit is influenced by the context of 1:4
itself, which, as part of the epistolary prescript, offers grace and peace from God, the

283
Shepherd, The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse, 87.
284
Peterson, The Angels and the Liturgy, 3.
285
Vanni, LApocalisse: ermeneutica, esegesi, teologia, 184-7; Prigent, Commentary on the
Apocalypse of St John, 230.

168
seven spirits before the throne, and from Christ, so there is certainly a natural desire to
interpret this verse as a reference to the Trinity (Prigent himself does admit this).
Vanni also mentions Isa 11:2-3 as being important for the understanding of the
Spirit as sevenfold, since he reads this passage as listing the multiple effects that are seen
when the Spirit comes into contact with a human being. But above all, he argues that the
number seven in Rev 4:5 is best understood in the context of the overall numerical
symbolism used by the author, in which seven indicates a totality, or completeness.
Vanni further notes that the location of the spirits before the throne is significant for
understanding the imagery of this verse, as the throne in Revelation represents the active
rule that God exercises on history, and the Spirit must be seen as being located this
context.
286
The biggest challenge to accepting the view of Prigent and Vanni is that it is
difficult to see how it is not a case of reading later theological conclusions about the
nature of God as Trinity back into the text of the Apocalypse, especially because, as
Prigent notes, nothing in the text of Revelation specifically alludes to the seven gifts of
the Spirit in Isa 11:2-3.
As a final note, it is interesting that none of these commentators suggests the
possibility of the use of seven torches as part of the accoutrements of the earthly worship
of the church.

286
Lo Spirito, venendo in contatto con gli uomini con una certa totalit, si colloca nel movimento
di dominio attivo, simboleggiato dal trono, che Dio esercita sulla storia. Vanni, LApocalisse:
ermeneutica, esegesi, teologia, 187.

169
4.1.5 The Four Living Creatures
In addition to the twenty-four elders located around Gods throne, there are also
four living creatures covered with eyes and having six wings (4:6b-8). The first of these
creatures has the form of a lion, the second that of an ox, the third with a face like that of
a human, and the fourth like a flying eagle. The function of these heavenly beings,
according to the author, is to unceasingly sing an altered form of the Sanctus: Holy,
holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come (4:8).
Commentators on this passage generally agree that these figures are an allusion to the
four living creatures who carry Gods throne in Ezek 1.
However, there are a few significant differences from the beings in Ezekiels
vision. First, the living creatures of Rev 4 are covered with eyes, but in Ezek 1, it is the
wheels of the chariot-throne that contain the eyes, not the creatures themselves. Perhaps
this is due to the fact that, in the later passage, the wheels are no longer a necessary part
of the imagery, since the throne is stationed permanently in heaven and not part of a
moveable chariot as in Ezek 1. A second difference is that the four creatures in Ezek 1:5
are said to be in human form, but each having four faces, namely those of a human, a
lion, an ox, and an eagle, so a different order than is given in Rev 4. But the text of the
Apocalypse does not limit the animal-like characteristics to the faces of the creatures
only, nor are they said to have multiple faces. Finally, the living creatures of Rev 4 are
described as having six wings, but the figures in Ezek 1:6 have only four wings. The
author of Revelation could have had in mind the seraphim of Isa 6:2, who have six wings
and also chant the Sanctus. It is perhaps worth considering that the number four figures
prominently in the vision of Ezek 1: there are four creatures with four faces and four

170
sides, and four wheels moving in four directions, so the four wings fit nicely with the
imagery in this passage.
287

Similar imagery can be found in the Apocalypse of Abraham, a text roughly
contemporary with Revelation, although possibly written slightly later.
288
As mentioned
in chapter 3, upon arriving in the highest heaven with his angelic guide, Abraham sees a
fiery throne surrounded by the many-eyed ones singing the heavenly song. Under the
throne are the four living creatures, also singing, each of them having sixteen faces, four
each of a lion, a human, an ox, and an eagle (a different order from Ezek 1 or Rev 4) on
each of their four heads. These figures bear greater similarity to those in Ezek 1 than
those in the throne room of the Apocalypse, with each having multiple faces rather than
the unified living creatures of Rev 4. However, the influence of Isa 6 can also be seen in
the description of the wings in 18:6-7: And each one had six wings: two on the
shoulders, two halfway down, and two at the loins. With the wings which were on their
shoulders they covered their faces, with the wings at their loins they clothed their feet,
and they would stretch out their two middle wings and fly, erect.
289
Even if certainty is
not possible about the direction of influence between this passage and Rev 4, it seems

287
In addition to the seraphim of Isa 6:2, six-winged heavenly beings surround the throne in 2
Enoch 19:6, although textual differences between the J and A recensions prevent certainty regarding
whether there are seven cherubim and seven six-winged beings (J) or seven cherubim, six-winged
beings (A). It is interesting to note that in neither case are these figures specifically called seraphim,
especially because these figures are mentioned a few verses later as being present in the seventh heaven:
the cherubim and the seraphim and the many-eyed thrones (J, 20:1; this phrase is not present in A). In 2
Enoch 21, there is a further mention of cherubim and seraphim standing all around the throne, six-winged
and many eyed, who unceasingly chant the Sanctus, but Andersen suggests that this verse is a later
intrusion from the Christian liturgy, which, from the wording of the verse, seems to be a reasonable
conclusion (Anderson, OTP, 135).
288
George Herbert Box and J. I. Landsman, The Apocalypse of Abraham, lvi.
289
Cf. Isa 6:2: Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered
their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

171
reasonable to conclude that these texts are at least drawing on the same traditions about
the beings that surround Gods throne.
As noted above, Rev 4:8 specifies that the living creatures have the purpose of
unceasingly (day and night) offering praises to God, with the words Holy, holy, holy,
the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. The first half of this
hymn is based on Isa 6:3 (Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full
of his glory), although the author of Revelation has substituted for
, which is the wording found in the LXX. The title Almighty
() seems to be a designation for God preferred by this author,
290
as it occurs
nine times in Revelation (1:8 [also in connection with the phrase who was and who is
and who is to come]; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:6, 15; 21:22), but only one time in
the rest of the NT, in 2 Cor 6:18. The second half of the hymn recorded in Rev 4:8
differs from that found in Isa 6:3; in place of the whole earth is full of his glory is
found who was and who is and who is to come. This title appears here and two other
times in Revelation (1:4, 8), but is unattested elsewhere in early Christian writings, so it
looks, at the very least, like a redactional insertion by the author.
291

An issue often raised by commentators in connection with this passage is whether
the specific idea of unceasing praise offered to God by heavenly beings is attested in any

290
Aune, Revelation, 1.306.
291
Ibid., 30-1. Aune argues that the author of the Apocalypse employs this title for God two times
at the beginning of his book (1:4, 8) in order to give authority to his prophetic message by attributing it to
. Both R.H. Charles and K.-P. Jrns note that this divine name was known in Jewish tradition from Tg.
Ps.-J. Exod 3:14 and Deut 32:39. See Charles, Revelation, 1.10-11 and Jrns, Das hymnische Evangelium,
26-27.

172
of the other throne room visions. There are certainly texts that speak of the praise of God
by angels and living creatures in heaven,
292
but in his commentary, Aune notes that none
of the texts offers certainty regarding the ceaseless nature of their praise.
293
However, an
interesting text to consider is 1 Enoch 14:23, which Nickelsburg translates: And the holy
ones of the watchers who approached him did not depart by night, nor <by day> did they
leave him. Nickelsburg does acknowledge that this reading is a reconstruction, in which
he adds by day where it is missing in the text, arguing that night and day is a clich
that makes more sense in the context than simply by night.
294
Either way, it was
already mentioned in chapter 3 that Nickelsburg argues that this verse is a reference to
some kind of continual liturgical activity on the part of the watchers, specifically the
praise of God, and that he believes this mention of perpetual praise in Rev 4:8 to be
dependent on this text from 1 Enoch.
4.1.6 The Worship by the Elders
The remainder of Rev 4 takes up again the activity of the twenty-four elders. The
NRSV translates, And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to
the one who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders
fall before the One who is seated on the throne and worship the One who lives for ever
and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne,

and following this, they are said to

292
cf. 1 Enoch 39:12: Those who sleep not bless you, and they stand in the presence of your
glory; and they bless and praise and exalt, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Spirits, he fills the earth
with spirits. It is true that this text does not specifically say that the praise of the Watchers is unceasing,
but one could ask whether those who sleep not does not imply that the Watchers stay awake continually
in order to perform this service.
293
Aune, Revelation, 1.302.
294
Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 259.

173
sing a hymn praising God and affirming his worthiness to receive such praise because he
indeed is the Creator (Rev 4:9-11). The assumption behind the translation chosen by the
NRSV is that the glory and honor and thanks of the living creatures must refer to their
singing of the Sanctus that was mentioned in the preceding verse (despite the future tense
of the verbs in the passage), and that this prostration and casting of crowns of the elders is
a activity that is perpetually taking place as part of the heavenly liturgy. However, this is
not necessarily the case. The issues to be decided are the translation of the adverb ,
and whether it is referring to a continued action on the part of the living creatures
(whenever) or to a specific future point in time (when the living creatures give glory
and honor and thanks...), and whether the future verbs in the passage (,
, , ) should accordingly be translated as having a future
sense. In his work entitled The Morphology of Koine Greek, G. Mussies devotes an
excursus to these verses.
295
He specifically challenges the readings of A. Lancellotti and
R.H. Charles, who translate these futures as imperfects, and believes that their readings of
the verse arise from an understanding of the context of the chapter as a whole, that the
verses reflect a picture of the usual (?) situation in heaven.
296
Instead, Mussies argues
that in 4:9 designates a specific point in the future, rather than a continuing event
(whenever...), as it also does in Rev 8:1, at the opening of the seventh seal, which of

295
Mussies, The Morphology of Koine Greek, 342-7.
296
Ibid., 344. See A. Lancellotti, Sintassi ebraica nel Greco dellApocalisse; I. Uso delle forme
verbali (Collectio Assisiensis I; Assissi: Studio Teologico Porziuncola, 1964), 65. Lancellotti even
translates the verse: ...ogni volta che i 4 viventi davano gloria... (every time/whenever the 4 living ones
give [imperfect] glory...).

174
course occurs only one time (And when () he opened the seventh seal...). Further,
the doxology in 4:11 is to be sung by the elders when the living creatures give glory and
honor and thanks to God, which, in the context, happens only in Rev 5:12-14, at the end
of which the elders do indeed fall down and worship.
297
So, according to this view, Rev
4:9-11 is not describing the liturgy that is continually taking place in heaven, but rather
describing an event that takes place at a specific point in the vision of the Seer.
These verses also provide a glimpse of some of the activities of the mysterious
heavenly elders surrounding Gods throne. As noted above, at the appointed time, they
will fall down and worship God, and then cast their crowns before the throne.

It would be
difficult to sustain the argument that these specific actions of the elders are a reflection of
anything that took place during an early Christian liturgy (and, as far as I know, no one
has argued this), and there is also nothing in the OT or the Jewish apocalypses that could
conceivably be the source of this imagery. It is far more likely that we are dealing with a
different influence, that of Hellenistic ruler worship, which in turn exercised influence on
the Roman emperor cult. The evidence that prostration was practiced before Hellenistic
kings and before Roman emperors is well-documented.
298
Further, it is clear enough that
the presentation of crowns to a ruler was an act of homage familiar in the Greco-Roman

297
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all
that is in them, singing,To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory
and might forever and ever! And the four living creatures said, Amen! And the elders fell down and
worshipped. It should be pointed out, however, that this hymn is directed to the Lamb, and not directly to
the One who sits on the throne, as 4:9 would suggest.
298
Aune, The Influence of Roman Imperial Court Ceremonial on the Apocalypse of John, 12-
14; Andreas Alfldi, Die monarchische Reprsentation im rmischen Kaiserreiche (Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1970); Fergus Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World (31 BC-AD
337) (Ithaca: Cornell University, 1977).

175
world. An often-cited example is Tacitus account of Tiridatus presentation of himself
before Nero:
After an interval of a few days there was a grand display on both sides; on the
one, cavalry ranged in squadrons with their national ensigns; on the other, stood
the columns of our legions with glittering eagles and standards and images of
deities, after the appearance of a temple. In the midst, on a tribunal, was a chair
of state, and on the chair a statue of Nero. To this Tiridates advanced, and having
slain the customary victims, he removed the crown from his head, and set it at the
foot of the statue; whereupon all felt a deep thrill of emotion . . .
299

An explanation of these images of the elders before the throne, dressed in white,
prostrating and presenting their crowns to God and singing hymns or shouting
acclamations is provided by Aune, who has argued that the entire scene of the heavenly
throne room in Rev 4 is depicted by the Seer to resemble the ceremonial of the imperial
cult. This thesis gains support from two other elements in the description of the throne
room: (1) the cosmic symbolism inherent in the arrangement of the heavenly throne room
as a series of concentric circles, with God at their center, and (2) the numerical
symbolism employed by the author, specifically the doubling of the number twelve
(twenty-four elders) and the use of the number of completeness, the number seven (the
torches before the throne).
300
Regarding the presentation of the twenty-four elders in the
passage, Aune notes that their white clothing together with crowns on their heads would
suggest, above all, the appropriate ritual apparel for worship to a Greek audience, and he
adduces a number of passages that confirm that the presentation of crowns to a ruler, as
well as the custom of honoring gods with crowns, are both practices associated with the

299
Tacitus, Ann. 15.29. Also see the examples cited in Charles, Revelation, 1.133.
300
Aune, The Influence of Roman Imperial Court Ceremonial on the Apocalypse of John, 10.

176
imperial cult.
301
Although he does not deny the influence of the OT or post-biblical
Jewish traditions upon this passage, which certainly play a role in filling in the details of
the scene, he builds a convincing case that this accumulation of images familiar from
Roman imperial court ceremonial are used to emphasize Gods exaltation and
transcendence. However, in Rev 4-5, these elements have been expanded and given
cosmic significance, so that they function in the text to show that the majesty of the
earthly cult of the emperor cannot begin to compare to the splendor of its heavenly
counterpart.
G.M. Stevenson has offered a thorough presentation of the variety of concepts
that could be conveyed by crowns and crown imagery in antiquity, including victory,
royalty, divine glory, and honor.
302
Turning to the text of the Apocalypse, he agrees that
the actions of the elders in 4:10 symbolize their homage and subordination:
By vacating their thrones and casting their crowns at the feet of the one on the
central throne, the elders testify either that they have no right to possess for
themselves what those objects represent or that they recognize one with greater
right. The behavior of the elders thus functions to show that whatever is
symbolized by the thrones and crowns belongs to God.
303

Stevenson argues that the golden crowns worn by the elders, as well as their white
clothing, function in the text specifically to symbolize two elements of their identity: their
connection with the divine, and honor. Regarding their connection with divinity, he notes
the widespread association of golden crowns and divinity was employed by Greeks,

301
Ibid., 12-14.
302
G.M. Stevenson, Conceptual Background to Golden Crown Imagery in the Apocalypse of
John (4,4.10; 14,14), JBL 114 (1995): 257-72.
303
Ibid., 269.

177
Romans, and Jews, citing an impressive number of examples, and argues that the concept
of divinity is further expressed by the fact that the casting of the crowns before the throne
is part of the worship of the elders. In addition, Stevenson believes that the golden
crowns worn by the elders also symbolize honor, citing as evidence the widespread use of
the presentation of a golden crown to a benefactor as a sign of honor and gratitude. So
the function of the casting of the crowns by the elders is to show that they themselves
cannot possibly possess these traits as they stand in Gods presence, since, as the elders
themselves say in 4:11, God is the one who is worthy to receive glory and honor and
power. So they remove their crowns and fall down in an act of worship: their actions
thus express visually what they state in v. 11, namely, that God alone is worthy to possess
what the thrones and wreaths symbolize.
304

The words of the hymn that will be sung by the elders are given in Rev 4:11:

,
,

.

Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
because you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.

This four-line hymn is sung in praise of God, and affirms that it is appropriate for him to
receive such praise because he is the Creator. The attribute in referring to God is

304
Ibid., 270.

178
not frequently found outside of the Apocalypse.
305
However, the term occurs two other
times within this section of Revelation, where it begins two of the hymns addressed to the
Lamb, and declares his worthiness to receive praise because of his sacrificial death (5:9,
12; on these hymns see below). It has been suggested that this acclamation of worthiness
has its origin in imperial accession liturgies, but the problem is that many of the
suggested parallels are from later centuries, and we do not have a great deal of evidence
regarding imperial acclamations in the first century.
306
However, this explanation fits
nicely with the idea that a major theme of the Apocalypse is the true sovereignty of God,
in contrast to the worldly power held by the emperor. Right at the beginning of the first
major vision of Revelation is an affirmation of the reality that God the Creator is
enthroned in heaven, and he is the one who is truly worthy (in contrast to earthly rulers)
to receive the praise of those who worship him. Charles notes a number of closer
parallels to this passage in the doxologies of 1 Enoch, many of which praise God for his
creative work. For example, 1 Enoch 9:4-5 reads:
And approaching, they said to the Lord of the Ages, You are the God of gods and
Lord of lords and King of kings and God of the ages. And the throne of your
glory (exists) for every generation of the generations that are from old. And your
name (is) holy and great and blessed for all the ages. For you have made all
things and have authority over all. And all things are manifest and uncovered

305
For a review of the parallels, all of which seem to be later than Revelation, see Jrns, Das
hymnische Evangelium, 56-73.
306
For the argument from a political origin, see E. Peterson, (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck
& Ruprecht, 1926), 176-80; J. Comblin, Le Christ dans lApocalypse (Tournai: Descle, 1965), 104ff. For
objections, see Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 236. Also see Aune, The Influence of
Roman Imperial Court Ceremonial on the Apocalypse of John, 15-20.

179
before you, and you see all things, and there is nothing that can be hidden from
you.
307

Another explanation considered by Prigent is that the expression has its
background in Christian liturgy. He argues: Starting with the Apostolic Tradition, the
Apostolic Constitutions 8.12, etc., we encounter in almost all of the liturgies a brief
dialogue at the beginning of the eucharistic anaphora between the worship leader and the
community: Let us give thanks unto the Lord -- This is worthy and just (
).
308
This dialogue is then followed by a speech in praise of the great deeds of
God, including creation and the incarnation. Therefore, Prigent suggests that the
regularity of this outline obviously tends to lead us to imagine that it can be traced back
to a very ancient model.
309
Although he does not reach a more specific conclusion, it
still should be pointed out that any attempt to posit a basis for this sequence in early
Christian liturgy remains highly speculative in the absence of earlier evidence.
310
Much
has already been said about the problems of dating of the so-called Apostolic Tradition,
and the Apostolic Constitutions dates from the end of the fourth century, so it is difficult
to see how we can imagine a historical connection between these texts and the

307
Charles, Revelation, 1.135. Other parallels from 1 Enoch cited by Charles include 22:14; 25:7;
36:4; 39:9-13; 48:10; 81:3; 83:11; 84; 90:40.
308
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 237.
309
Ibid.
310
Prigent does not mention this text, but an interesting parallel can be found in the description of
the Eucharist provided by Justin Martyr: Then bread and a cup of water and (a cup) of mixed wine are
brought to him who presides over the brethren, and he takes them and sends up praise and glory to the
Father of all in the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and gives thanks at some length that we have
been deemed worthy of these things from him (1 Apol. 65).

180
Apocalypse, especially since it is just a plausible that a later liturgy could be based on
this hymn of praise in this verse.
The attributes that God is said to be worthy to receive in 4:11 are glory and
honor and power ( ). In Rev 4:9, it is said that the
glory and honor and thanksgiving ( ) given by the living
creatures to the One seated upon the throne will be the signal to the elders to begin their
worship; in 4:11, the thanksgiving of v. 9 has been replaced by power, highlighting
its presence in the verse.
311
A close parallel occurs later in the text of the Apocalypse, in
the hymn of thanksgiving sung by the twenty-four elders in 11:17-18: We give you
thanks, Lord God Almighty, who was and who is, because you have received your great
power () and have begun to reign. Charles cites a parallel from 1 Chronicles,
which is also a prayer of thanksgiving, sung by David: Honor () and majesty
() are before him; strength () and joy () are in his place. Ascribe to
the LORD, families of the nations, ascribe to the LORD glory () and strength ()
(16:27-28).
312
Charles does not mention this, but the preceding verse of 1 Chronicles
mentions Gods act of creation: For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD
made the heavens (16:26).
It was argued above that the elders act of worship and singing of this hymn of
praise might not be a continuing event in heaven, but rather a unique event that takes

311
Jrns, Das Hymnische Evangelium, 37; Aune, Revelation 1. 312.
312
Charles, Revelation, 1.134

181
place when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanksgiving to God,
depending on how the future verbs in 4:9 are translated. If this is the case, then within
the heavenly liturgy of Rev 4-5, this hymn would actually be sung after the (concluding?)
amen of 5:14, which is when the elders are said to prostrate themselves and worship.
However, such a reconstruction may not be worthwhile; it is probably more useful to
treat the text as it stands.
4.1.7 The Hymns of Revelation 4-5
The scene of heavenly worship in Rev 4-5 contains five hymns, or hymn-like
compositions, interspersed throughout the narrative: (1) 4:8 (the Sanctus); (2) 4:11 (the
praise of the 24 elders); (3) 5:9-10, 12, 13b (the responses of the various orders of
creation to the taking of the scroll by the Lamb).
313
A fundamental question regarding
the hymns of the Apocalypse centers around whether these passages have been taken
from actual early Christian hymns used in worship, with varying degrees of reworking on
the part of the author or, whether they have been composed by the Seer to serve a specific
purpose in his narrative. Not surprisingly, the former view is most often held by

313
For a more complete treatment of the hymns of the Apocalypse, see R. Deichgrber,
Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus in der frhen Christenheit (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
1967); J.J. ORourke, The Hymns of the Apocalypse, CBQ 30 (1968): 399-409; L. Thompson, Cult and
Eschatology in the Apocalypse of John, JR 49 (1969): 330-50; K.-P Jrns, Das Hymnische Evangelium:
Untersuchungen zu Aufbau, Funktion und Herkunft der hymnische Stcke in der Johannesoffenbarung
(Gtersloh: Mohn, 1971); J.T. Sanders, The ew Testament Christological Hymns: Their Historical
Religious Background (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1971); D.R. Carnegie, Worthy is the Lamb: The
Hymns in Revelation, in Christ the Lord: Studies in Christology presented to Donald Guthrie (ed. H.H.
Rowdon; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1982), 243-56; M.A. Harris, The Literary Function of Hymns in
the Apocalypse of John (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1989); Jean-Pierre Ruiz, Revelation 4:8-11;
5:9-14: Hymns of the Heavenly Liturgy, SBL Seminar Papers 34 (1995): 216-220; J.M. Ford, The
Christological Function of the Hymns in the Apocalypse of John, AUSS 36 (1998): 207-29; A.R. Nusca,
Heavenly Worship, Ecclesial Worship: A Liturgical Approach to the Hymns of the Apocalypse of St.
John, (Ph.D. diss., Rome, 1998); G. Schimanowski, Connecting Heaven and Earth: The Function of the
Hymns in Revelation 4-5, in Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions (ed. R.S.
Boustan and Annette Yoshiko Reed; Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004) 67-84.

182
commentators who view the book as a whole as having a background in the earthly
liturgy of the community. For example, in her treatment of the four hymnic passages in
Rev 4-5, L. Mowry is able to find parallels between these verses and the practices of both
the worship of the first-century synagogue and from contemporary ruler cults.
314
The fact
that motifs similar to those found in these passages from the Apocalypse have their home
in Jewish and Hellenistic cultic life leads Mowry to conclude that these passages would
have been appropriate for a service of Christian worship as well. After a closer
examination of Rev 4-5, she argues that the setting of these chapters is an early Christian
eucharistic celebration. She writes,
That the worship here set forth is used in celebrating the eucharist is suggested by
the fact that these Christian lyrics are comparable with the liturgy associated with
the Jewish passover, that the stress is Agnus Dei and that Rev 4-5 follows an
allusion to partaking of the meal with Christ in these words, if anyone hear my
voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.
(Rev 3:20).
315

The problems with identifying Rev 4-5 as a liturgy have been treated above, but it is
appropriate to note here that it is the hymnic passages in these chapters, and their
similarity to Jewish worship and imperial ruler cults, that lead Mowry to the conclusion
that a eucharistic liturgy lies behind them. She does thus maintain that the specific
hymns in these chapters of the Apocalypse have their origin in services of Christian
worship dating back to the end of the first century.

314
Mowry, Revelation 4-5 and Early Liturgical Usage, 75-84. For a similar view, see also
Peterson, The Angels and the Liturgy, 11-13. It is interesting to note that Shepherd, who is generally
optimistic about the fact that the outline of a liturgy can be seen behind the text of the Apocalypse, writes,
It is possible that the anthems in these chapters reflect a custom of introit hymnody or psalmody in the
liturgy, though there is no evidence for this in any of the ancient liturgies before the latter part of the fourth
century. See Shepherd, The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse, 88.
315
Ibid., 83.

183
A similar conclusion is argued for by J. J. ORourke, who examines the sections
of the Apocalypse that have been thought to be examples of hymnic material in order to
determine which of these passages may have been taken from services of worship and
which have been created by the author.
316
He acknowledges that this approach involves a
certain amount of subjectivity, but sets forth several criteria that may help to bring a
measure of objectivity to the project: (1) parallelism similar to that found in the OT
Psalms; (2) the use of a solemn tone that would be appropriate for worship; (3) the
presence of awkward or difficult grammar, which might indicate that material is being
added to the text from an already existing source. In his examination, he treats the
doxologies and acclamations found throughout the text, as well as a number of passages
that do not fall into these larger categories. The problem with his argument is that the
presence of Semitic parallelism, or the general feeling that the theme of a doxology
would not have been out of place in Jewish or Christian liturgy is not enough to
conclude that such passages were actually known and used in such liturgies. Those who
want to claim that the hymnic passages from Revelation come from an early Christian
service of worship do not have much support to back up their claims. It is not surprising
that the hymns of the heavenly throne room have the character or tone of actual liturgical
songs or prayers, but this does not prove that they were actually used in practice.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to know for sure whether they were used in actual
liturgies; how could this assertion be proven?
In contrast to these earlier approaches, recent research seems to prefer the idea
that these hymnic passages in the Apocalypse were composed by the Seer as part of his

316
ORourke, The Hymns of the Apocalypse, 399-409.

184
heavenly liturgy.
317
If this is the case, then what is the function of these passages in the
text? Three of the studies that comment on this question have already been discussed
above. First, K.-P Jrns, has concluded that the function of the hymns is to respond to
the events of the text for the benefit of the reader. Second, D. R. Carnegie has argued on
the basis of the vocabulary and literary context of the hymnic passages that they were
composed by the author himself and are integral to the text. Finally D. E. Aune has
suggested that the function of the hymns should be understood in the context of the
ancient idea of the argument from universal agreement (argumentum e consensus
omnium), or the idea that the legitimacy of a rulers power was given by the consent of
those whom he governed, and that the vast multitude of beings singing the hymns in
Revelation indicates the superior sovereignty and power of God.
318

L. Thompson has studied the scenes of heavenly liturgy in the Apocalypse in
order to illuminate the interconnectedness of cult and eschatology from the viewpoint of
the author, and further, to ask whether this same relationship existed in the worship
practices of the early church.
319
He divides the material in the book into two types of
passages, those that consist of dramatic narrative and those containing the heavenly
worship itself. The dramatic narrative is where the traditional future eschatological
scenario is presented (the tribulation and accompanying unusual cosmic phenomena, the
final resurrection and judgment, etc.), and it is within the context of the heavenly liturgy

317
R. Deichgrber, Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus in der frhen Christenheit; K.-P Jrns, Das
Hymnische Evangelium; Carnegie, Worthy is the Lamb: The Hymns in Revelation, 243-56.
318
Aune, The Influence of Roman Imperial Court Ceremonial on the Apocalypse of John, 14-
20.
319
Thompson, Cult and Eschatology in the Apocalypse of John, JR 49 (1969): 330-350.

185
that the narrative of these endtime events unfolds. Regarding the hymns that are found
within these sections of the book, Thompson notes that it is specifically in the hymnic
passages where the function of the larger scenes of worship can most clearly be seen. He
argues that the author of the Apocalypse, in creating the heavenly liturgies for use in his
book, used the hymns in order to realize the future eschatological events in the present
life of the church. Gods just judgment and kingship will not be fully realized until the
conclusion of the eschatological events described throughout the book, but Thompson
argues that the worship of the early church, as reflected in the Apocalypse, served to
make these saving events present.
The appeal of Thompsons approach is that its goal is to examine the function of
the hymns in the context of Revelation, rather than trying to place them within a
particular earthly liturgy that remains speculative. His argument that the hymns of the
heavenly liturgy serve to make present for the audience events that will only fully be
realized in the future is persuasive, but it is best to limit this conclusion to the function of
the hymns within the text rather then to attempt to expand them into first-century
Christian liturgical practice. Even if we assume that Revelation was read aloud in the
congregations of Asia Minor to whom it was addressed, and the hymns functioned this
way for these communities, it does not seem that we can make many confident statements
about their worship practices. There is simply not enough evidence for the liturgy of the
first-century churches of Asia Minor to prove or disprove this claim.
J. Ford has compared the hymns of the Apocalypse to the words of a Greek
chorus, functioning to comment on the events of the narrative as they are taking place.
320


320
Ford, The Christological Function of the Hymns in the Apocalypse of John, 211.

186
But the main part of her argument focuses on a developing Christology that she believes
can be detected in the hymns throughout the book, in which the Lamb fulfills the role of
the various eschatological figures expected by various groups in the first century AD.
Specifically with regard to the hymns of Rev 4-5, Ford focuses on the second half of the
Sanctus in 4:8, where the author has substituted a title of his own, who was and is and is
to come, in place of the traditional formulation of Isa 6. Following Jrns, she suggests
that the phrase who is to come refers to an eschatological coming, in this case the
eschatological coming of Christ. It is interesting to note that in support of this idea, Jrns
cites a parallel from Isa 24:23, a passage that has already been discussed above in relation
to Gods coming to rule in the presence of his elders and to punish the kings of the
earth, a phrase which Ford notes occurs eight times in Revelation.
321
Of course, Ford
finds support for the suggestion that this phrase is a reference to the coming of Christ
placed within a designation for God in the hymns of Rev 5, where the Lamb is accorded
praise and honor that was previously given to God alone. This idea will be discussed
further below.
In his 2004 article, G. Schimanowski focuses on the hymns of Rev 4-5 within the
literary setting of the heavenly liturgy of which they are a part.
322
While he does not
argue that these hymns have been taken from an earthly liturgy, he emphasizes the
significance of a description of the heavenly worship for the church on earth. It is
through their own worship that the faithful are able to participate in the reality of the

321
Jrns, Das Hymnische Evangelium, 27-30; Ford, The Christological Function of the Hymns in
the Apocalypse of John, 214..
322
G. Schimanowski, Connecting Heaven and Earth: The Function of the Hymns in Revelation
4-5, in Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions (ed. R.S. Boustan and Annette
Yoshiko Reed; Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 67-84.

187
eternal praise of God; in this way heaven and earth can be unified. For Schimanowski,
the goal of the hymns in Rev 4-5 is to invite the earthly community to be a part of this
heavenly worship of God. Further, the purpose of this invitation to witness and
participate in the heavenly liturgy is to encourage the faithful to stand firm in their faith
during the eschatological struggle and to remind them that that God is firmly in control of
history. He concludes:
Johns hope is that the earthly community will come (back) to participate in his
experience, not only at the level of moral exhortation, but also by sharing the
Lambs glory and serving him through earthly worship. That is why Revelation
not only records that the angels sing but actually presents the text -- the very
words -- of their songs: The earthly community is invited to take up this liturgy
on its own.
323

This approach to the hymns is interesting because it preserves the link between the
heavenly liturgy of the Apocalypse and the earthly worship of the community, taking
seriously the claim that the text was read aloud in the communities of Asia Minor.
However, rather than arguing that the scenes in Revelation reflect the earthly worship of
the community, these passages reflect the ideal liturgy, that which takes place eternally in
heaven, and the faithful are invited and encouraged to participate.
4.1.8 The Sealed Scroll
The vision of the heavenly liturgy begun in Rev 4 continues in chapter 5, but there
are a number of significant new elements introduced into the scene in this chapter that
also separate it from what has come before. At the outset of the chapter, the Seer notices
a scroll sealed with seven seals in the hand of the One seated upon the throne (5:1). The

323
Ibid., 83.

188
scroll was not mentioned in the vision of Rev 4, but no details about Gods appearance
were given in that passage, so it may be assumed that the scroll was already present at
that point in the text. A wide variety of suggestions has been given for the contents of the
scroll.
324
A common view among those investigating the background of the Apocalypse
with regard to early Christian worship is that the scroll represents the Torah or the whole
of the Old Testament, but this position may have been suggested by their view that the
book was influenced by early Christian liturgy. For example, O. Piper has argued that the
scroll represents the OT, or at least that portion of it that deals with the future.
325
But,
for Piper, the imagery described in this chapter implies that these prophecies cannot be
easily interpreted by anyone; rather, their true meaning can only be revealed by the one
chosen by God. So the breaking of the seals by the Lamb symbolizes the idea that Jesus
alone reveals the true meaning of the OT.
Another example of this view can be found in the work of L. Mowry, who has
argued that the appropriate background for the scroll of Rev 5 is the scroll given by God
to Ezekiel in Ezek 2:9-10.
326
She believes that the image in the prophets vision refers
specifically to the Torah, for several reasons. First, the scroll in Ezek 2 comes
miraculously from the hand of God, and she observes that Hebraic and Jewish tradition
increasingly surrounded the receiving of the Law with a sense of mysterious and

324
For an impressive review of these suggestions to answer this still unresolved question, see R.
Stefanovi, The Backgrounds and Meaning of the Sealed Book of Revelation 5 (Berrien Springs, MI:
Andrews University, 1996) 8-117.
325
Piper, The Apocalypse of John and the Liturgy of the Ancient Church, 13. This is also the
interpretation of Prigent. See Apocalypse et liturgie, 70-71, and a more detailed version in his Commentary
on the Apocalypse of St. John, 244-45.
326
Mowry, Revelation 4-5 and Early Liturgical Usage, 82-3. Her conclusion is supported by A.
Cabaniss, A Note on the Liturgy of the Apocalypse, 83, as well as M.H. Shepherd, The Paschal Liturgy
and the Apocalypse, 88.

189
miraculous awe so indicating that it could come only from the hand of God himself.
327

It seems clear enough, however, that even if this is how the Torah came to be viewed in
later tradition, it is not the only possibility for what could be handed to the prophet in the
vision, especially in light of the comment that the scroll contained lamentation and woe
(Mowry does not comment on how this feature of the scroll relates to its identification as
the Torah). Second, regarding the comment that the scroll tasted sweet after being eaten
by the prophet, Mowry draws a parallel between this passage and Ps 19:10, which
describes the Law as sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. But
the most important clue to the identification of the scroll of Ezek 2 with the Torah is that
it is described as having writing on the front and on the back. Accordingly, similar
language is used of the two tablets of the Law that Moses brings down from Mt. Sinai;
they are said to be written on both sides, written on the front and on the back (Exod
32:15). Mowry acknowledges that it is not known whether the scrolls of the Torah were
written on both sides either in the time of Ezekiel or in the first century AD, but she
nevertheless concludes that the scroll in Rev 5 symbolizes the Jewish Torah.
328


327
Ibid., 82.
328
A small, open scroll is described in Rev 10:2, in the hand of a mighty angel descending
from heaven. This scroll is mentioned again in 10:8-10, where a voice from heaven instructs the Seer to
take the open scroll from the hand of the angel. When the Seer does this, the angel tells him to take it and
eat it, and that it will irritate your stomach but be as sweet as honey in your mouth. The scroll of Rev
10, like that the one found in Rev 5, seems to be an allusion to the scroll mentioned in Ezek 2:9-10, in
which a mysterious hand extends the scroll to the prophet that he is then told to eat, and later is said to be as
sweet as honey (3:2). Despite links between Rev 5 and 10 (a mighty angel appears in 5:2 and 10:1;
both passages contain allusions to the prophets experience with the scroll in Ezek 2-3; the scroll of Rev 5
is gradually opened in the following chapters, and the scroll of Rev 10 appears open, or unsealed), it does
not seem that the scrolls in the two passages are intended to be identical. The grammatical argument made
above in connection with the twenty-four elders must also be considered here. When the second scroll is
introduced in 10:2, the noun is anarthrous, and thus is not likely to be referring back to
something that has already been mentioned, namely the of Rev 5. When the scroll of Rev 10 is
mentioned again in v.8 (this time called ), the definite article is present since the scroll has
already been mentioned at the beginning of the chapter.

190
Although I am not persuaded by Mowrys arguments, the assertions that the scroll
in Rev 5:1 is either the Torah or the whole of the OT are not unreasonable, and in fact
this interpretation dates as far back as the early third century, in Hippolytus Commentary
on Daniel, and also appears several times in the writings of Origen.
329
However, at least
for the modern writers, this identification appears to arise from their view of the
background of the chapter as a whole as reflecting an early Christian liturgy, of which the
reading of the OT is likely to have been a part, especially considering the Jewish-
Christian character of the original audiences of the book and the number of references to
the OT throughout the text. Although we have seen above that the relationship of the
imagery of the Apocalypse to early Christian liturgy is problematic and complex, it does
seem that Mowrys identification of Ezek 2:9-10 as the background for scroll of Rev 5 is
correct (although not necessarily that either of the scrolls represents the Torah). In that
passage, the prophet reports that he sees a hand reaching out to him holding a scroll. The
person holding this scroll is not specified, although God is the implied speaker in the
chapter, and the previous verse instructs Ezekiel to eat what I give to you (2:8), after
which the prophet is handed the scroll. But Ezekiel does not take the scroll and open it
himself; rather, it is opened before him, and he notes that there is writing on the front and
on the back containing words of lamentation and mourning and woe (2:10). There is
no mention of seals in this passage, but instead the contents are revealed to the prophet
and seem to be connected to the message that he is instructed to deliver to the people, as
is made clear when he eats the scroll in the following verse (3:1).

329
Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel 34.3; Origen, Commentary on John 5.6-7, Philocalia 2.1-2,
5.5. See Stefanovi, 14-17.

191
The specific contents of the scroll of Rev 5 are not clearly specified in the
anywhere in the text. They must be in some way connected to the events of Gods
eschatological plan that are revealed and then set into action with the opening of the
seven seals in Rev 6:1-8:1, but they are not necessarily to be identified with these events,
although this has been argued.
330
It is possible to be more certain, however, about the
function of the scroll within the text of the Apocalypse. It seems clear that the seven
seals of the scroll serve to structure the narrative of the plagues that are sent to the earth
with the opening of the seals in the following chapters. Beginning in 6:1, the Lamb
opens the first four seals of the scroll one at a time, and with the opening of each seal, a
rider on a horse comes forth, armed with some kind of tribulation or destruction to bring
to the earth (6:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8). There is a break in the series with the opening of the fifth
seal, following which the Seer notices the souls of the martyrs under the altar in heaven,
who then ask God how long it will be before their blood is avenged (6:9-11). With the
opening of the sixth seal, the wrath of God and the Lamb begins to be realized on earth,
which consists of destructive cosmic phenomena, including the blackening of the sun and
the moon turning to blood (6:12-17). After a larger interruption that narrates the sealing
of the 144,000 (Rev 7), the opening of the seventh seal is followed by a half hour of
silence in heaven (8:1). So one function of the scroll is to provide a device through

330
See for example Charles, Revelation, 1.260; G.R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation
(2nd. ed.; Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1981), 171. A somewhat similar view, that the contents of the sealed
scroll encompass larger parts of the Apocalypse has been argued as well. See Gnther Bornkamm, Die
Komposition der apokalyptischen Visionen in der Offenbarung Johannis, ZW 36 (1937): 132-149;
George E. Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 80-81; David
Hellholm, The Problem of Apocalyptic Genre and the Apocalypse of John, Semeia 36 (1986): 13-64.
Other interpretations of the contents of the sealed scroll center around a debate between whether the events
described in Rev 6:1-8:1 should be largely confined to the first century and the authors own experiences
under the Roman Empire, or whether they are a prediction of future events, Gods plan that is yet to be
enacted. The arguments for each of these positions is surveyed by Stefanovi, 74-94.

192
which these eschatological events can be narrated. Another function of the sealed scroll
involves the status of the Lamb, as will be discussed further below.
As noted above, the sealed scroll of Rev 5 has been interpreted by a number of
scholars who see the Apocalypse as having a background in Christian liturgy as
representing all or part of the OT. According to this view, the unique ability of the Lamb
to open the seals of the scroll symbolizes the idea that Jesus reveals the true meaning of
these prophecies. For example, O. Piper has written, From this vision we can therefore
infer that the Primitive Church or at least the section to which John belonged, treated the
Old Testament as a sealed book of which Jesus alone held the key.
331
However, it has
been suggested that this reading of the passage is influenced by the liturgical framework
that these commentators already see behind the text; if Rev 4-5 is based on a liturgy, and
the OT was read at early Christian liturgies, then the interpretation of the scroll as the OT
(or part of it) clearly suggests itself.
Indeed, it is a widespread and reasonable assumption that the OT was read in
Christian worship from the earliest times, but there is not as much evidence to support
this assertion as being universally true as is often thought. Of course, there is no
evidence of a lectionary for a period as early as the first century (i.e., specific readings for
specific days) in either the synagogue or the church, but what about the more general idea
that the reading of the OT accompanied the earliest Christian celebration of the Lords

331
Piper, The Apocalypse of John and the Liturgy of the Ancient Church, 14.

193
Supper? A nuanced view of the situation has recently been presented by G. Rouwhorst,
who examines the earliest available evidence for this practice in early Christianity.
332

Rouwhorst starts by pointing out the importance of drawing a distinction between
Christian communities of Jewish origin and those that were largely composed of
Gentiles, as the situation is likely to have been different for these two groups.
333

Regarding Jewish Christian communities, similar to the ones that are likely to have been
the audience of the Apocalypse, he agrees with the common assumption that these
communities would probably have continued the tradition of the synagogue of reading
from the Torah and the Prophets, especially on the Sabbath.
334
As evidence of this, he
cites Acts 15:21, where James concludes his speech regarding the requirements for
pagans that convert to Christianity by saying, For in every city, for generations past,
Moses has had those who proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every Sabbath in the
synagogues. Although the interpretation of this passage in its context has its own
accompanying difficulties, it is clear that James expects other Jewish Christians to be
convinced by the argument that the Torah was read weekly in the contemporary Jewish
synagogue, and that the practice was likely to have been continued by James Jewish
Christian audience.

332
Gerard A.M. Rouwhorst, The Reading of Scripture in Early Christian Liturgy, in What
Athens Has To Do With Jerusalem: Essays on Classical, Jewish, and Early Christian Art in Honor of
Gideon Foerster (ed. Leonard V. Rutgers; Leuven: Peeters, 2002), 305-331. (Thanks to Prof. Paul
Bradshaw for bringing this article to my attention.)
333
He does acknowledge that this division of early Christians into these two general categories is
an oversimplification of the issue, since there are likely to have been mixed communities. Further, not all
Jewish communities would have necessarily retained all Jewish practices, and not all Gentile Christians
would have rejected these practices.
334
Rouwhorst, The Reading of Scripture in Early Christian Liturgy, 319. The question of our
knowledge of first-century synagogue practices will be treated in an appendix.

194
On the other hand, evidence from the NT has also been used to illumine the
practices of Gentile Christian communities in this regard, but this evidence remains
inconclusive. An important source of information about these groups comes from 1 Cor
11-14, where Paul describes a celebration of the Eucharist, and then goes on to talk about
a more charismatic type of service that includes prophecy, speaking in tongues, and the
singing of hymns. On the one hand, reading from the scriptures is not explicitly
mentioned by Paul in this passage as part of these worship services. On the other hand,
Paul is not describing a complete service of worship, but rather is discussing only the
various gifts of the Spirit given to members of the community. Therefore, it is not
completely clear how what he is describing is connected to the Lords Supper in chapter
11. Further, an objection that has been raised in connection with this passage is that
communities such as this would have had difficulty gaining access to copies of biblical
scrolls, but a response to this objection has been that Paul alludes regularly to passages
from the OT, so how would his audiences understand his references without the benefit
of regular scripture readings?
335
Of course, Rouwhorst also points out that even if a
certain conclusion could be drawn from 1 Cor 11-14, it would be unwise to use this
passage as a basis for judgments about Gentile Christianity in general. Therefore, he
argues that although it is conceivable that both Jewish and Gentile Christians continued
the practice of the synagogue of reading from the OT during their liturgical meetings,
explicit references to this practice are relatively rare, and in the end it remains

335
See W. Bauer, Der Wortgottesdienst der ltesten Christen (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1930),
42-43; J. Salzmann, Lehren und Ermahnen. Zur Geschichte des christlichen Wortgottesdienstes in den
ersten drei Jahrhunderten (WUNT 59; Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1994), 73-78.

195
questionable for this early period.
336
So Rouwhorsts essay is important because it lays
out the evidence for the reading of the OT in the first century of Christianity, a practice
that is commonly assumed to be continued from Judaism and widespread early on, but it
is interesting to see that the evidence is limited and somewhat unclear.
Turning back to the sealed scroll of Rev 5 and its opening by the Lamb, it does
appear that those who would identify the scroll with the OT and the Lambs opening of
the scroll as Jesus revealing its true meaning have been influenced by the liturgical
background that they perceive to be behind the text. Although we have seen throughout
the dissertation that our knowledge of the details of these early worship practices have
been overstated, the assumption that the reading of the OT was a part of Jewish Christian
worship seems to be an accurate one. This is an intriguing way of interpreting the text,
but a problem arises when the leap is made to assume that the author has based this
imagery upon a service of worship about which it is impossible for us to know the details.
4.1.9 The Lion and the Lamb
After the initial vision of the sealed scroll, an angel appears and asks the question,
Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? (5:2). This question brings to
mind several of the scenes of the heavenly court found in the OT, where God and his
council are portrayed discussing how they will intervene in earthly events (1 Kings

336
Of course, the practice does become common not long after this period, as Christian worship
appears to evolve gradually into a celebration of the Eucharist that is preceded by a so-called Liturgy of
the Word. The earliest evidence of this practice is found in the description of a Sunday Eucharist found in
Justins First Apology (1 Apol 67), but its origin and circumstances continue to be debated, as well as the
extent to which this (probably Roman) practice was known in other places around the Christian world.
However, the practice appears to become the universally accepted one by the start of the third century. See
Rouwhorst, The Reading of Scripture in Early Christian Liturgy, 323-330.

196
22:20; Isa 6:8; cf. Job 1:6-12, 2:1-6). The setting of these passages is the council
discussing who can be found among them to accomplish a particular task, so it appears
that the mighty angel who asks this question should be envisioned as a member of this
heavenly council.
337
At any rate, the Seer is distressed to find that no one in heaven or on
earth or under the earth is able to open the scroll and thus to reveal the events that must
take place, but he is immediately comforted by one of the heavenly elders (and not the
expected interpreting angel, who often serves as a guide to the visionary in Jewish and
Christian apocalypses), who tells him not to weep, for the lion of the tribe of Judah, the
root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the book and its seven seals (5:5).
338

Most commentators agree that the lion of the tribe of Judah is an allusion to
Gen 49:9-10, in which Jacob refers to his son Judah in this way: He stretches out like a
lion, like a lioness -- who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the rulers staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience
of the peoples is his. This verse was interpreted messianically in early Judaism, as can
be seen in a number of frequently cited texts from Qumran. 4Q252 5:1-4 is an example
of this messianic reading:
A sovereign shall [not] be removed from the tribe of Judah. While Israel has the
dominion, there will [not] lack someone who sits on the throne of David. For the
staff is the covenant of the royalty, [the thou]sands of Israel are the feet. Until

337
A mighty angel appears in Revelation in 10:1, where he announces the nearness of the
fulfillment of the mystery of God (and, interestingly, holds a little scroll in his right hand that the Seer is
instructed to eat), and also in 18:21, where he throws a millstone into the sea, symbolizing the destruction
of Babylon (Rome).
338
It should be pointed out that this verse is a reflection of the three-tiered universe envisioned by
the Seer. In the Apocalypse, the cosmos consists of heaven, the earth, and the underworld, and does not
contain a series of heavens, as was the conception of most of the Jewish apocalypses discussed in the
preceding chapter (the notable exception being the cosmology of 1 Enoch).

197
the Messiah of justice comes, the branch of David. For to him and his
descendants has been given the covenant of royalty over his people for all
everlasting generations.
339

Further, the symbol of a lion to designate the Messiah can be found in texts roughly
contemporary with Revelation. The fifth vision of 4 Ezra contains a reference to a lion
who reprimands the insolent eagle and is interpreted in the text as the Messiah whom the
Most High has kept until the end of days, who will arise from the posterity of David, and
will come and speak to them; he will denounce them for their ungodliness and their
wickedness, and will cast up before them their contemptuous dealings (12:32).
340
This
verse is especially interesting in light of Rev 5:5, as it also contains the mention of a lion
along with a reference to a descendant of David. Not only did the Messiah have to come
from the tribe of Judah, he had to be more specifically of Davidic descent.
341

The other title in Rev 5, the root of David, is an allusion to two verses from
Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11:1 states that a shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a
branch shall grow out of his roots. Further, Isa 11:10 uses similar terminology to
describe the coming Davidic king: On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to
the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him and his dwelling shall be glorious. These
verses were also read to be predictions of the coming Messiah, as can be seen in a
number of texts in early Judaism. In addition to 4 Ezra 12:32 and 4Q252 cited above, T.
Judah 24:4-6 contains similar terminology: This (is) the branch of God Most High and

339
Translation is taken from Florentino Garca Martnez, Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The
Qumran Texts in English (Leiden and New York: Brill, 1994), 215.
340
Translation of 4 Ezra is taken from B. M. Metzger, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vol.
2: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments (ed. James H. Charlesworth; Garden City, NY: Doubleday,
1983), 550.
341
So Aune, Revelation, 1.351.

198
this (is) the fountain unto life for all flesh. Then the sceptre of my kingdom will shine,
and from your root a stem will arise; and in it a rod of righteousness will arise to the
nations to judge and save all who call upon the Lord.
342
Further, Sir 47:22 reads, But
the Lord will never give up his mercy, or cause any of his works to perish; he will never
blot out the descendants of his chosen one, or destroy the family line of him who loved
him. So he gave a remnant to Jacob, and to David a root from his own family.
Within the text of the Apocalypse, the Seer is thus consoled with the knowledge
that this messianic figure has conquered, so that he is the one who is worthy to open the
sealed scroll and thus set in motion the events it records. Regarding the use of these OT
prophecies that came to be read as referring to the Messiah, R.H. Mounce writes, These
two titles unite the Christ of the New Testament with the messianic expectations of the
Old. He becomes the theological link which makes the Christian faith the authentic
fulfillment of all that God promised to his ancient people Israel.
343
By introducing this
vision of the victorious Lion of Judah, the Seer is implying that the Davidic leader
prophesied in the OT has finally arisen and is able to participate in Gods plan.
Following the promise made by the elder that the conquering lion will be able to
open the scroll, the Seers next vision is of a lamb standing as though slaughtered, who
appears in the midst of the throne, among the cherubim and elders (5:6). The Lamb
appears here for the first time in the narrative, just as the scroll in Rev 5:1 is not
mentioned until it is needed to move the plot of the story along. It is interesting to note

342
Translations of T. Judah in this section are from H. W. Hollander and M. de Jonge, The
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Commentary (SVTP 8; Leiden: Brill, 1985).
343
Robert H. Mounce, Worthy is the Lamb, in W. Ward Gasque and William Sanford LaSor
(eds.), Scripture, Tradition, and Interpretation: Essays Presented to Everett F. Harrison by his Students
and Colleagues in Honor of his Seventy-fifth Birthday (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 60-69.

199
that the author makes no mention of the Lamb until now, after the comforting elder refers
to the figure who will intervene as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. It is the strength and
majesty of a lion that make this image a fitting symbol for the conquering Messiah,
344
but
it seems that the text is here making a statement about the correct nature of the Messiah:
the expected warrior or military hero is actually a slaughtered Lamb. The contradiction
of a Lion that is really a Lamb parallels the contradiction of one that conquers death
through his own sacrifice, of one that brings salvation through his own defeat.
The word (lamb) occurs as a designation for Jesus twenty-eight times in
the Apocalypse, and is found elsewhere in the book only once (13:11, where the second
beast from the sea is said to have horns like a lamb). Outside of Revelation, the term
occurs elsewhere in the NT only in John 21:15, where it is used as a symbol for the
followers of Jesus (When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon
son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that
I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my lambs.). In Rev 5:5, the Seer identifies the
Lamb with the recipient of two messianic titles, the lion of Judah and the root of David,
so he seems to be using this image to designate a messianic figure, but yet a lamb does
not appear to have been a symbol for the Messiah in contemporary Judaism.
345
A central
consideration in identifying the background for the Lamb in Rev 5 is the fact that he is
presented , as having been slaughtered. It seems clear enough that this

344
Stefanovi, 182.
345
Aune, Revelation, 1.368. He mentions the possible exception of T. Jos. 9:3, but, as he notes,
scholars have debated the amount of Christian redaction that is present in the text. See the reconstruction in
Charles, The Greek Versions of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (Oxford: Clarendon, 1908), 210-
11.

200
slaughtered Lamb is a symbol of Jesus and his sacrificial death, but there are a number of
options for the influences behind this metaphor.
Some commentators have pointed to Isa 53, a text that describes the vicarious
suffering of the Isaian servant in language that can be easily applied to Jesus. The image
of the lamb who is slain appears in 53:7: He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he
did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that
before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
346
But it could be argued that
the sacrificial metaphor in this passage is part of a larger, more general understanding of
the slaughter of a lamb as bringing about the desired result of redemption or atonement
within the context of the OT sacrificial cult. A few specific possibilities have been
suggested as the background for the image of the slaughtered lamb.
One view is that the image of the Lamb in Rev 5 is an allusion to the offering of
the Passover lamb.
347
This is not a surprising view; already in 1 Cor 5:7, Paul supports
his argument that the community should reform their behavior with the statement that
Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. The problem with this view is that the
sacrifice of the Passover lamb, like the other types of peace offerings (lmm) of which
this is an example, is not carried out in order to effect atonement or forgiveness of sins.
G.A. Anderson writes, Though the fat and certain other organs of the sacrifice were
burnt on the altar as a pleasing odor and the blood was sprinkled on the altar, nowhere

346
This passage is specifically proposed as the background for the Lamb in Rev 5 by Comblin, Le
Christ dans lApocalypse, 17-47.
347
This is the view accepted by T. Holtz, Die Christologie der Apokalypse des Johannes (2nd ed.;
Berlin: Akademie, 1971) 42-46; Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 250.

201
do we hear of these acts as atoning for any sin.
348
Rather, the sacrifice of the Passover
lamb serves as a commemoration of the exodus from Egypt and Gods liberation of his
people Israel. Prigent, who favors an interpretation involving the Passover lamb, answers
this objection by saying that Jesus sacrifice brings about the redemption of mankind, just
as Israel was ransomed from the land of slavery at the first Passover.
349
While I am not
convinced that the Lamb of Rev 5 is so clearly an allusion to the Passover lamb, it is
reasonable to think that it could have been one of the influences in the construction of this
passage. This is especially the case considering the view discussed in chapter 2 that the
Pascha, the Christian celebration of Jesus entire redemptive act of death and
resurrection, arose from a Christianized observance of the Passover among Jewish
Christians such as those to whom the Apocalypse is addressed. Easter is a celebration of
the triumph over death, which is what the first Passover meant for the firstborn sons of
the Israelites that were spared before they left Egypt. Further, although the exodus story
and its early remembrance do not originally contain the idea of the forgiveness of sins,
the celebration does appear to have acquired this association during the Second Temple
period through a typological move that connected the forgiveness and redemption of the
deliverance from exile in Babylon with that of the first exile in Egypt.
350

There are other types of offerings within the sacrificial cult that could also have
been the basis for the vision of the Lamb in Rev 5.
351
(1) The l or tmd offering

348
G.A. Anderson, Sacrifice and Sacrificial Offerings (OT), ABD 5:878.
349
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 250.
350
Through a conversation with Gary Anderson; for more on this subject, see below.
351
For a detailed study of these and other aspects of the OT cult, see Anderson, Sacrifice and
Sacrificial Offerings (OT), 870-86.

202
(Exod 29:38-42; Num 15:1-10; 28:3-8; Dan 8:11; Ezek 46:13-15) was a twice daily
sacrifice consisting of two lambs (one in the morning and one in the evening) and
accompanied by a cereal and drink offering. It does seem to have had an atoning
function, but was also envisioned as a kind of gift presented to God that symbolized his
presence among the people. (2) Another option is the at or purification offering
(Lev 4:1-5:13; Num 15:22-31), which is sometimes translated sin offering, but in
practice was used not for the remission of any sin, but rather for purging or purification,
such as someone suffering from a discharge (Lev 15) or the installation of a new altar
(Lev 8). (3) The m or reparation offering, is a category related to the purification
offering but largely dealing with the profanation of sacred items. However, it does not
appear that the details of these various types of offerings do much to illumine the symbol
of the slaughtered lamb in Rev 5. They are all really expressions of the same idea, that
the sacrifice of a lamb (or some other animal) achieves a desired result, and in this
passage, the meaning is that Jesus sacrificial death brings about redemption. But it is
also important to note that there is more than a sacrificial context involved in the Seers
use of the Lamb in this section of the vision. The lamb is described as having been
slaughtered, but he is also described as being endowed with power and omniscience (as
will be discussed below), and will eventually share in the worship of God himself (5:12-
13; 7:17; 22:1-3).
A final option for the background of the Lamb image in Rev 5 is suggested by
Prigent and taken further by Cothenet, arising from the aforementioned idea that the
figure in the Apocalypse should be linked with the servant song in Isa 53. According to
Isa 53:7, the Isaian servant is like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that

203
before its shearers is silent. The Lamb does appear slain in 53:7; however, as Prigent
acknowledges, nothing in the text of Revelation invites us to think of this earlier passage.
The difference in imagery lies mainly in the fact that the lamb of Isa 53 is a silent victim,
whereas the Lamb of the Apocalypse is not characterized this way at all; rather, he is
powerful and omniscient.
352

In order to explain this, Cothenet also focuses on the lamb led to the slaughter
language of Isa 53 as the background to the slaughtered Lamb. His contribution is to
draw attention to the link that he believes connects the prophecy from Isaiah to the faith
of the early church: the reflection on the sacrifice of Isaac that took place during the
Second Temple period. During this time, he notes, the sacrifices prescribed by the OT
came to be seen as commemorations of the aqedah, and this is specifically true of the
Passover lamb. For example, the following text from a Palestinian Targum describes the
purpose of the sacrifice of the seven-day-old lamb prescribed in Lev 22:27:
The lamb was chosen to recall the merit of the unique man, who was tied on one
of the mountains like a lamb as burnt offering upon the altar. But (God) delivered
him in his good mercies, and when his sons pray they will say in their hour of
tribulation: Answer us in this hour and listen to the voice of our prayer and
remember in our favor the Aqedah of Isaac our Father.
353

This can be further seen in a noteworthy text from the Jerusalem Targum, which links the
aqedah with the angelic liturgy on the night of Passover: Our father Isaac was thirty-
seven years old at the moment when he was offered on the altar . . . And he called Esau,
his elder son, on 14 Nisan and said to him, My son, this night the heavenly (beings) sing

352
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 249.
353
Tg. eof. to Lev 22:27, cited by Cothenet, Earthly and Heavenly Liturgies in Revelation,
130.

204
the praises of the Master of the world, and the treasures of the dew are opened.
354
On
the basis of these texts, Cothenet concludes,
The Lamb who conquers at the cost of his blood not only fulfills the mysterious
prophecy of Isaiah (chap. 53) but is also the true antitype of Isaac to whose merits
Jews appealed in their liturgies. The Lamb of Revelation has not only generously
offered his life; in a true sense he has sacrificed it by carrying the gift of himself
to the extreme.
355

This insight regarding the sacrifice of Isaac is helpful, especially as it came to be
related to the Passover Lamb in second temple Judaism. J. Levenson has noted the idea
that during this period the aqedah came to be viewed as the origin of the daily sacrifices
of the OT, and most of all of the offering of the Passover lamb.
356
This can be seen
above all in Jubilees 17, in which the very root of the feast of Passover is grounded in the
aqedah:
And it came to pass in the seventh week, in its first year, in the first month, in that
jubilee, on the twelfth of that month, that words came in heaven concerning
Abraham . . . And Prince Mastema came and he said before God, Behold,
Abraham loves Isaac, his son . . . Tell him to offer him [as] a burnt offering upon
the altar. And you will see whether he will do this thing (Jub 17:15-16).
Levenson further notes the redemptive association that the sacrifice of Isaac came to
acquire, and that these overtones were carried over into the understanding of the Passover
sacrifice. Isaacs sacrifice saves from sin, as does the paschal sacrifice with which it

354
Tg. Yer. II on Gen 22, cited by Cothenet, Earthly and Heavenly Liturgies in Revelation, 130.
355
Ibid., 131.
356
Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of
Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993), 174-
187.

205
came to be associated.
357
Returning to Cothenets emphasis on the sacrificial lamb
imagery of Isa 53 for understanding the Lamb of Rev 5, it does not seem that the Isaian
passage offers anything beyond what can be gained by positing any sacrificial lamb for
the background. The connection to the Passover lamb that he suggests is a more
plausible background for the passage, especially with the atoning function that it
eventually acquired. This idea of the Passover lamb that atones for sin is not alone a
sufficient background for the slaughtered Lamb of the Apocalypse, but it does appear that
it has contributed to this imagery, although other factors must be taken into consideration;
these will be explored below.
In a recent study, Brent A. Strawn examines the question of the use of the lion in
Rev 5 that is introduced and then immediately set aside in favor of the image of the
lamb.
358
Why not stay with the lion throughout the text, or not use the lion at all? His
extensive catalog of the use of lion imagery throughout the OT, the Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha, the Qumran texts, the NT, and the Gnostic literature yields an interesting
result. Although he does not discuss the interpretation or function of these texts in their
contexts, it appears that in all of these bodies of literature, the lion is somewhat of an
ambivalent image that can have positive or negative connotations. It is almost always an
image of threat and power, but depending on the perspective of the author, the power can
be protective and comforting or violent and negative. Therefore, using the lion imagery
consistently throughout the Apocalypse, rather than switching to the lamb, would have
risked evoking these negative associations:

357
Ibid., 179-181.
358
Brent A. Strawn, Why Does the Lion Disappear in Revelation 5? Leonine Imagery in Early
Jewish and Christian Literatures, JSP 17 (2007): 37-74.

206
By introducing the lion, with its system of associated commonplaces, the author
evokes a profoundly rich image-history, much of which is positive in tenor. But,
by quickly shifting the image to the lamb, the author protects against the equally
profound negative aspects that also inhere in the lion image, inviting in their place
the host of commonplaces associated with the lamb image.
359

In support of this conclusion, Strawn points out that although this particular figure in
Revelation does not continue to be characterized as a lion, the use of leonine imagery
does continue in the book, but largely to attribute negative qualities rather than positive,
majestic ones. For example, the locusts that appear with the blowing of the fifth trumpet
have teeth like lions teeth (9:8), and the beast from the sea has a mouth like a lions
mouth (13:2).
360
So in order to explain fully the switch from lion to lamb in Rev 5:5,
one must take into consideration not only the appropriateness of the lamb image, but the
ambiguity and negativity of that of the lion.
The description of the Lamb in the Apocalypse continues with the observation
that he had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into
all the earth (5:6). The seven horns are not commented upon further; no elaboration is
given that parallels the comment about the seven eyes being seven spirits of God.
361
In
the biblical tradition, horns are used to symbolize power, and often that of kings. For
example, the fourth beast in the vision of Dan 7 has ten horns that are usually interpreted
as symbolizing various Seleucid kings, with the eleventh little horn representing
Antiochus IV Epiphanes (7:7-8, 20-21). Beyond this passage, Collins has noted that the

359
Ibid., 73.
360
Ibid., 74.
361
Aune suggests that the number seven that connects the horns and eyes implies that both the
horns and eyes should be interpreted as the seven spirits. See Revelation, 1.354.

207
imagery of power and strength implied by the horn can be seen in its use in Zech 2:1-4,
where there are four horns that are said to scatter Judah and Israel, and the purpose of the
four blacksmiths in this passage is to strike down the horns of the nations that have lifted
up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.
362

Most commentators agree that the background of the reference to the seven eyes
of the Lamb is likely to be Zech 4:10, where the seven lamps of v. 2 (i.e., the menorah
located in the Temple) are said to be the eyes of the LORD, which range through the
whole earth. In this verse, it is these eyes of God themselves that observe what is
happening on earth, but in Rev 5:6, the eyes of the Lamb are identified with the seven
spirits of God that are sent out into the earth, so the imagery is slightly different but
parallel nonetheless. The seven eyes of the Lamb, like the eyes of the LORD in Zech 4,
mean that he observes all that is taking place on earth. The seven spirits of God were
mentioned previously in the Apocalypse, appearing before Gods throne in 1:4, and in
connection with the seven torches that burn before the throne in 4:5, where the torches
are identified with these heavenly spirits. It is worthwhile at this point to recall LXX Isa
11:1-3, which lists the seven spirits that will come to rest on the Messiah and introduces
this figure with the words, A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots.... These two allusions to Isa 11 strengthen the messianic
imagery in the passage; the Lamb is called the root of David, and is described as

362
John J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia; Minneapolis, Fortress: 1993), 299. Collins also cites Pss
92:10; 132:17-18; Luke 1:69. Charles lists a number parallels from the OT where a horn is used as a
symbol of power: Num 23:22; Deut 33:17; 1 Sam 2:1; 1 Kings 22:11; Pss 74:4, 89:17; and also where is it
used specifically as a symbol of kingly dignity: Zech 1:18; Dan 7:7, 20; 8:3ff. Charles, Revelation, 1.141.

208
having eyes that are the seven spirits of God, both of which are characteristics of the
coming Messiah in the Isaian passage.
4.1.10 The Investiture of the Lamb
When the Lamb approaches the throne and takes the scroll from Gods right hand,
the cherubim and the elders immediately fall down before him in response to this action.
However, it is interesting to note that the expected word (worship) is not
actually used in this verse along with , as it was in Rev 4:10 to describe the
worship by the elders of the One seated upon the throne.
363
Still, despite the idea that this
may imply a distinction between the worship of the Lamb and that of God, the
significance of the worship of the Lamb (Jesus) in this passage, especially within the
context of Jewish monotheism and the apocalyptic literature that this tradition had
produced, is vast and has been amply discussed by commentators.
364
The fact that the
Lamb appears in the midst of the throne room and subsequently receives devotion from
the heavenly beings has led a number of scholars to conclude that this scene from the
Apocalypse intends to portray the enthronement of the Lamb, usually according to a
model suggested from the mythology of other traditions.
365
But W.C. van Unnik has

363
So Aune, Revelation, 1.355.
364
For example, see Richard J. Bauckham, The Worship of Jesus, in The Climax of Prophecy:
Studies on the Book of Revelation (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993), 118-149; Bauckham, The Theology of
the Book of Revelation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993); Larry W. Hurtado, Revelation 4-
5 in the Light of Jewish Apocalyptic Analogies, 105-124; Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus
in Earliest Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 590-94.
365
Holtz, Die Christologie der Apokalypse des Johannes, 27-54; Beasley-Murray, The Book of
Revelation (rev. ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 110; J.P.M. Sweet, Revelation (Philadelphia:
Westminster, 1979), 121-127; J. Roloff, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (Zrcher Bibelkommentare NT 18;
Zrich: Theologischer, 1984 = The Revelation of John (trans. J.E. Alsup; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993);

209
argued specifically against this reading of the text, raising a number of objections that
must be taken into consideration.
366
The proposed model of this enthronement ritual
consists of three steps: (1) the elevation, (2) the presentation, and (3) the actual accession
to the throne. But Van Unnik notes that an examination of the text of Rev 5 does not
allow the conclusion that the text envisions these stages of the hypothetical ritual. First,
the Lamb is not elevated to a new status; rather, he already possesses the worthiness that
allows him the unique ability to receive and open the scroll. His status does not change;
he receives honor and praise for what he has done, not for what he has become. Further,
the Lamb is never said to be presented in the heavenly council, but rather simply appears
in the text at the point when he is noticed by the Seer. Finally, the text never states that
the Lamb takes his place on Gods throne or shares the throne of God, for his purpose in
this passage is not to judge or rule, but simply to open the scroll.
367

Another reading of the events surrounding the taking of the scroll by the Lamb
has been suggested by David Aune, namely that the scene reflects not the enthronement
of the Lamb, but rather his investiture, which refers to the act of establishing someone in
office or the ratification of the office that someone already holds informally.
368
The

G.K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 356-57. For a lengthy review of
these and other scholars holding the same position, see David E. Aune, Revelation 5 as an Ancient
Egyptian Enthronement Scene? The Origin and Development of a Scholarly Myth, in Apocalypticism,
Prophecy and Magic in Early Christianity (WUNT 199; Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1999), 233-39. In this
article, Aune argues that the reconstructed three-fold model of Egyptian enthronement ceremonial believed
by many to be the background of Rev 5 did not exist in the first century AD, and thus could not have been
the schema upon which the chapter is based.
366
W.C. van Unnik, Worthy is the Lamb: The Background of Apoc. 5, in Mlanges Bibliques
en hommage au R.P. Bda Rigaux (ed. A. Descamps et al.;Gembloux: Duculot, 1970), 445-61.
367
Ibid., 447-8.
368
Aune, Revelation, 1.336-8.

210
contribution to this passage of commission scenes from the OT has already been
mentioned above, in reference to the angels question of who is to perform a specific task
on behalf of the heavenly council, as in 1 Kgs 22:20 or Isa 6:8. Aune notes that an
additional influence on Rev 5 is the judgment scene in Dan 7:9-14, in which the Ancient
of Days, seated on his throne, receives into his presence the mysterious one like a son of
man and presents him with an eternal kingship that will not pass away.
369
The Seers
usage of imagery from Dan 7 has already been noted in the discussion of the throne
described in Rev 4, but there are two further allusions in Rev 5 to this passage in Daniel,
which narrates the investiture of the human figure. First, Rev 5:11 tells us that myriads
of myriads and thousands of thousands of angels sing a hymn of praise to the Lamb; this
formula (also found in 1 Enoch 14:22) is also used in the LXX of Dan 7:10 to enumerate
the angels that surround the Ancient of Days on his throne. The second allusion to Dan 7
is the Seers collective interpretation of the one like a son of man, as the author of
Daniel himself seems to do in 7:18, 27. In Dan 7:14, this human figure is given an
eternal kingdom, but in v. 18, it is rather the holy ones of the Most High that receive
the kingdom and possess it forever. This connection is reinforced by more similar
phrasing: Rev 5:9 speaks of every tribe, language, people, and nation, and Dan 7:14 of
all peoples, nations, and languages serving the one like a son of man.
According to the view proposed by Aune, the author of the Apocalypse has used
this investiture scene from Dan 7, and specifically the language of 7:14 and its
interpretation in 7:18, to comment upon the effect of the redemptive death of Jesus. The

369
Also see G.K. Beale, The Use of Daniel in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature and in the Revelation
of John (Lanham: University Press of America, 1984), 178-228.

211
Lamb was slaughtered, and by his death he ransomed for God saints from every tribe
and language and people and nation, with the result that they became a kingdom and
priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth (5:9-10). The holy ones of the
Most High receive the kingdom in Dan 7:18, just as the death of Jesus attains the same
for Christians.
4.1.11 The Worship of the Lamb as Eucharist
An interesting issue with regard to the earthly worship of the early Christian
community arises when the authors use of the image of a slaughtered Lamb is taken to
mean that the passage reflects a eucharistic liturgy.
370
When the passage is believed to
reflect a service of worship that may have been known to the Seer, it seems reasonable
enough that the worship of the sacrificed Lamb would symbolize the eucharist. Indeed, it
is clear enough that by the end of the first century, the idea that Jesus sacrificial death
had replaced the need for physical sacrifices, or at the very least was itself a sacrifice,
was a common one in early Christianity (cf. 1 Cor 5:7; 2 Cor 5:21; Rom 5:8-9; Eph 5:2;
Mark 10:45; 1 John 1:7; Heb 9-10). However, although Jesus death was certainly
understood as in some way sacrificial, it is not yet the case that the eucharist itself, or
specifically the eucharistic elements (usually bread and wine, but by no means always),
were universally understood in this way in this early period.

370
As Mowry, Revelation 4-5 and Early Christian Liturgical Usage, 83-84. Shepherd does not
say that these chapters are based on a celebration of the eucharist, but rather believes that this practice is
reflected in Rev 19, with the idea of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Still, the later passage shares
much with Rev 4-5; it is another scene in the heavenly throne room, complete with the worship of God by
the elders and living creatures, the singing of hymns, and the mention of the Lamb. This is also the view of
Cabaniss, A Note on the Liturgy of the Apocalypse, 84-85.

212
It is true that the account in Didache 14:1-3 speaks of the eucharist as being in
some sense sacrificial:
Having assembled together on the Lords day of the Lord, break bread and give
thanks, having first confessed your faults, so that your sacrifice [] may be
pure. Let no one having a dispute with his neighbor assemble with you until they
are reconciled, that your sacrifice [] may not be defiled. For this is what was
spoken by the Lord, In every place and time offer me a pure sacrifice [];
for I am a great king, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the
nations.
Estimates for the date of the Didache range from the middle of the first century AD to the
middle of the second, with the consensus being the early-to-mid second century,
371
so
depending on the date that one accepts, this text may be slightly earlier than the
Apocalypse or a bit later. Whatever the date of the document, this passage is an early
reference to the idea of sacrifice in the context of eucharistic worship, but the crucial
point is that it is not the eucharistic elements that are being offered as a sacrifice, but
rather the whole act of Christian worship.
372
This same idea is also reflected in a number
of writers from the second century. For example, in his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin
writes that prayers and thanksgivings that are made by the worthy are the only perfect
and pleasing sacrifices to God (117.2). Tertullian makes a similar claim about the
prayers of Christians being offered as sacrifices:
For this is the spiritual victim which has abolished the pristine sacrifices. To
what purpose, saith He, (bring ye) me the multitude of your sacrifices? I am full

371
Bradshaw, Eucharistic Origins, 25.
372
Ibid., 40-1; see also Gordon W. Lathrop, Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology (Minneapolis:
Fortress, 1993). A similar conception is also found in many of the NT writings, where the sacrifice that
God requires is the offering of a Christians whole life.

213
of holocausts of rams, and I desire not the fat of rams, and the blood of bulls and
of goats. For who hath required these from your hands? What, then, God has
required the Gospel teaches. An hour will come, saith He, when the true
adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and truth. For God is a Spirit, and
accordingly requires His adorers to be such. We are the true adorers and the true
priests, who, praying in spirit, sacrifice, in spirit, prayer,--a victim proper and
acceptable to God, which assuredly He has required, which He has looked
forward to for Himself! This victim, devoted from the whole heart, fed on faith,
tended by truth, entire in innocence, pure in chastity, garlanded with love, we
ought to escort with the pomp of good works, amid psalms and hymns, unto God's
altar, to obtain for us all things from God (De orat. 28).
These references are cited to show that, in some communities in early
Christianity, the sacrifices offered by Christians were not believed to be the bread and
wine of the eucharist, but rather the prayers or worship of the community. On the other
hand, it must be acknowledged that alongside these early references to Christian prayer or
worship being the sacrifice that was made by the faithful or the spiritual parallel to the
physical sacrifices of the OT cult, there are also a few references to the bread and cup
actually being the material equivalent of these earlier sacrifices. In the same text in
which he argues that prayers and thanksgivings are the only acceptable sacrifices,
Justin adds regarding the pure offering of Mal. 1:11 that it speaks of those Gentiles,
namely us, who in every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist, and
also the cup of the Eucharist, affirming both that we glorify His name, and that you
profane (41.3; cf. 41.1).
373
Irenaeus also affirms that the eucharist is the fulfillment of
the sacrifices commanded in the OT, specifically the offering of the first-fruits of
creation:

373
Bradshaw, Eucharistic Origins, 81.

214
Again, giving directions to His disciples to offer to God the first-fruits

of His own,
created thingsnot as if He stood in need of them, but that they might be
themselves neither unfruitful nor ungratefulHe took that created thing, bread,
and gave thanks, and said, This is My body. And the cup likewise, which is part
of that creation to which we belong, He confessed to be His blood, and taught the
new oblation of the new covenant; which the Church receiving from the apostles,
offers to God throughout all the world . . . (Adv. haer. 4.17)
These texts are somewhat later than the Apocalypse and thus not necessarily
directly relevant to its conception of the eucharist; however, the important point to note is
that at the end of the first century, we cannot assume that the eucharistic elements were
what was believed to be offered as sacrifice when the community celebrated the
eucharist. Rather, as in much of early liturgical practice, there was a diversity of thinking
regarding what was being offered by the church. Regarding the slaughtered Lamb of Rev
5, it seems fair to conclude in light of the apparent variety of thinking regarding this
celebration, it is not safe to assume that the lamb that was slain was understood as what
was being offered in the eucharist. This contention causes problems for those who would
argue that the presence of the Lamb suggests a celebration of the eucharist as the
background of Rev 5 or, by extension, that of the wedding feast of the Lamb in Rev 19.
4.1.12 The Worship of the Cherubim and Elders
As part of their worship, the elders and living creatures are portrayed as each
holding a kithara and a golden bowl () of incense, the latter of which is described as
the prayers of the saints (5:8).
374
The or bowl held by the elders seems to have

374
Aune notes that here is used as a reference to all Christians, and should perhaps more
accurately be translated Gods people. Revelation, 1.359.

215
been a specific type of utensil, as the translation given by BAGD (bowl used in
offering) suggests. These objects appear eleven other times in the Apocalypse (15:7;
16:1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 17; 17:1; 21:9), but in these other occurrences are connected with
negative implications for the inhabitants of the earth. There are seven bowls held by
seven angels in Rev 15-17 that are said to contain the wrath of God (15:7), and these
are poured out on the earth one at a time, bringing punishment and devastation. But the
use of the bowls in 5:8 is different, having a more positive association in their connection
with the worship of God, and being filled with incense that is said to be the prayers of
the saints. This metaphorical use of incense representing the prayers of Gods people
brings to mind Ps 141:2: Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting
up of my hands as an evening sacrifice, to which this passage of Revelation could be an
allusion.
375
A similar idea is found in Rev 8:3, in which an angel appears before the
heavenly altar and offers incense with the prayers of all the saints, but in this passage,
the incense is not identified with the prayers, but rather they are offered together.
Such imagery is also found within the heavenly journey narrated in 3 Bar. 11.
When Baruch and his angelic guide reach the fifth heaven, they must wait outside the
gate for Michael, and when he appears, he is carrying a large bowl (also called a ),
which holds the virtues of the righteous and the good works which they do, so that
Michael can bring them before God (11:9). As Daniel C. Harlow notes in his

375
Psalm 141 continues to be used by the churches of the Byzantine rite during the celebration of
Vespers, and was a part of evening prayer as least as early as the time of Origen (mid-third century);
Origens On Prayer 32 is the earliest reference to this psalm used at this point in the worship of the church.
See R. Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours in East and West: The Origins of the Divine Office and Its Meaning
for Today (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1986), 11, 16. However, this may or may not be relevant to the
liturgy of the Apocalypse. Taft notes that this usage of the prayer likely originated within communities of
Gentile Christians, as it is not present in Jewish evening prayer.

216
commentary on the text, the term is used in the LXX for the sprinkling pans that
were used in the worship conducted at the second Temple, and this angelic presentation
of the prayers or good works of Gods people may suggest priestly activity.
376
Similar
imagery is found in T. Levi 3:5-6, in the description of the activity of the angels of the
sixth heaven: In the (heaven) next to it there are the angels of the presence of the Lord,
those who minister and make propitiation to the Lord for all the sins of ignorance of the
righteous, and they offer to the Lord a pleasant odor, a reasonable and bloodless
offering. Of course, this passage from T. Levi may have been subject to Christian
editing; a reasonable and bloodless offering is terminology that is often found in early
Christian literature. Further, this passage from T. Levi is a closer parallel to Rev 8:3; in
both passages, the incense is implied to be part of the heavenly liturgy, offered on behalf
of the sins of the people, but there is not the metaphorical use of incense that is found in
Rev 5 or 3 Baruch 11. On this basis of these texts and the general context of the
heavenly liturgy of the Apocalypse, it seems that the elders in this passage are portrayed
as having somewhat of a priestly function, serving at the heavenly liturgy bearing incense
that (presumably) will be offered as the prayers of Gods people.
The heavenly liturgy of Rev 5 then closes with three hymns, the first two of which
are directed to the Lamb alone (5:9-10, 12), and the third to both the One seated on the
throne and the Lamb (5:13):
(1) ,

376
Daniel C. Harlow, The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch) in Hellenistic Judaism and
Early Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 35. For more a more detailed commentary on the accoutrements
of the first Temple, on which the OT descriptions of the furnishings and utensils of the tabernacle seem to
have been based, see M. Haran, Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israel (Oxford: Clarendon, 1978) .

217
,
,
,
. (5:9-10)

You are worthy to receive the book and open its seals,
because you were slaughtered and you redeemed for God by your blood,
people from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you made them a kingdom and priests for our God,
and they will reign upon the earth. (5:9-10)

In Rev 5:2, the Seer witnessed a mighty angel asking who might be found
worthy () to open the sealed scroll held by the One sitting on the throne, and
subsequently wept because no one was found worthy () to do this (5:4). In the first
of the three hymns of chapter 5, the elders declare that the Lamb is worthy () to take
the scroll and open it because of the saving act of his sacrificial death, which ransomed
Gods people and made them a kingdom and priests serving our God (5:9-10).
Whereas the hymn in Rev 4:11 speaks of Gods worthiness ( . . .) to receive praise
for his act of creation, this passage affirms the Lambs unique worthiness ( . . .) to
accomplish a specific task, namely to open the sealed book because of his act of
redemption through his crucifixion.
377
This point is made clear through the use of the
verb (to buy), which expresses the idea of salvation through the metaphor of
purchase: Christ has bought the faithful for God by the shedding of His blood.
378
Paul

377
So Ruiz, Hymns of the Heavenly Liturgy, 218.
378
Charles, Revelation, 1.147.

218
also uses with this same sense in 1 Cor 6:20 (For you were bought with a price
[ ]; therefore glorify God in your body), and in 7:23 (You were bought
with a price [ ]; do not become slaves of human masters). This verb is
also found in 2 Pet 2:1 with the subject (master): They will even deny the
Master who bought them -- bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Those who have benefitted from the Lambs redemptive sacrifice are said to be
people from every tribe and language and people and nation; in other words, the
salvation accomplished by Jesus is universal in scope. It is often suggested that the
phrasing of this verse is an allusion to similar lists of groups of people that occur
throughout the book of Daniel. References to peoples, nations, and languages are
found in Dan 3:4, 7, 29; 5:19; 6:25; 7:14, although Collins has noted the tension between
the universality implied in this formulation and the local character of what is actually said
in many of these passages.
379
Commentators have noted that similar (although not
identical) four-item lists of ethnic groups also occur elsewhere in Revelation, also
symbolizing universality: (1) 7:9 (nations, tribes, peoples, languages); (2) 10:11 (peoples,
nations, languages, kings); (3) 11:9 (peoples, tribes, languages, nations); (4) 13:7 (tribe,
people, language, nation); (5) 14:6 (nation, tribe, language, people); (6) 17:15 (peoples,
crowds, nations, languages). However, it is interesting to note that Charles points out that
this phrasing (people from every tribe...) does not envision the same universal scope of
Jesus sacrifice as is found in 1 John 2:1-2: But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate

379
Collins, Daniel, 183.

219
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and
not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
380

According to the hymn, the redemption brought about by the death of Jesus
accomplishes the making of Gods people into a kingdom and priests, a phrase that is
likely to be an allusion to Exod 19:5-6: Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep
my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the
whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.
Similar phrasing to Rev 5:10 is found earlier in the text in 1:6: To him who loves us and
freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and
Father...; however, the actual wording of the two passages is different. Revelation 1:6
reads a kingdom, priests (, ), whereas 5:10 more clearly envisions two
distinct privileges ( ): Christians make up a kingdom, and in this
kingdom, they will be priests. Further, the hymn affirms that this kingdom of priests
constituted by Gods people will reign upon the earth, so they will be priests, but will
also perform at least some of the functions of a king. This reign may be actualized later
in the text, when the Seer witnesses the souls of those who had been beheaded for their
testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, who are raised from the dead and reign with
Christ for one thousand years (20:4-5). The following verse says of this group that they
will be priests of God and Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years
(20:6). However, this later vision may be referring only to the Christian martyrs, and it is
difficult to reconcile this with the universal scope of Rev 5:10, although it is possible. A

380
Charles, Revelation, 1.147.

220
textual issue with regard to this hymn concerns whether or
(they reign or they will reign) is the correct reading of the verse, since the manuscript
evidence is divided.
381
The passage does seem to conceive of the reign of Christians as
an ideal that will only be realized in the future, after the unfolding of Gods plan has been
completed. However, Charles argues for the intriguing possibility that the present tense
is the more difficult reading and thus the right one: In the vision, the Seer sees the saints
already reigning.
382
This possibility is enhanced by the situation behind the doxology at
the conclusion to the chapter, where every being in the universe sings the praise of God
and the Lamb.
(2)
.
(5:12)

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive
power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. (5:12)

After this first hymn, the Seer witnesses another song, sung by a larger group that
includes not only the living creatures and the elders, but myriads and myriads and
thousands of thousands of angels encircling the throne (5:11). These figures that did not
appear in the first part of the throne vision in Rev 4, but in this passage are likely to be an
allusion to Dan 7:10 and its mention of the thousand thousand and ten thousand times
ten thousand heavenly beings that surround Gods throne. This second hymn is an
acclamation of the worthiness of the Lamb formulated in the third-person ( . .),

381
Aune, Revelation, 1.325.
382
Charles, Revelation, 1.148.

221
rather than the second-person address ( . . .) found in 5:9 and 4:11. As in 5:9, the
Lamb is declared to be worthy, but the sense of this verse is different from the former
one. In the first hymn of the chapter, the Lamb is said to be worthy to take the sealed
scroll, meaning that he is the only one who is qualified to perform this specific task. But
in this verse, as in Rev 4:11, the Lambs worthiness has to do with the fact that it is
appropriate for him to receive these attributes from those who worship him. He is worthy
to be praised. However, the hymn in 5:12 reads more like a doxology; it states the fact
that the Lamb is worthy to receive these qualities, but lacks any descriptive comment or
narrative regarding the basis for their attribution to the Lamb, as can be found in the
hymns of 4:11 and 5:9.
383

The Lamb here is said to be worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and
might and honor and glory and blessing (5:12). This list of attributes has parallels in the
final hymn of the chapter directed to both God and the Lamb (praise [], honor
[], glory [], and power []) and to that of Rev 4:9, which is directed to God
alone (glory [], honor [], and thanksgiving []. Another parallel to
this text is found in Rev 7:12, in which the angels, elders, and living creatures sing a
hymn to God in the presence of the innumerable multitude: Amen, praise [] and
glory [] and wisdom [] and thanksgiving [] and honor [] and
power [] and strength [] be to our God for ever and ever, amen. With the

383
ORourke, The Hymns of the Apocalypse, 400; E. Peterson, Das Buch von den Engeln:
Stellung und Bedeutung der heiligen Engel im Kultus (Leipzig: Hegner, 1935), 340.

222
exception of wealth (), all of the qualities listed in 5:12 are ascribed to God in
other hymns of the Apocalypse: (1) power (): 4:11; 7:12; 11:17; 12:10; 19:1; (2)
wisdom (): 7:12; (3) strength (): 7:12; (4) honor (): 4:11; 7:12; (5) glory
(): 4:11; 7:12; 19:1; (6) praise (): 5:13; 7:12. But Aune makes the important
point that this does not mean that the author is intending to imply that the Lamb should
thereby be venerated as God, since these are gifts that God can also bestow onto a human
king, supporting the interpretation of the passage as the investiture of the Lamb.
384
An
example of this usage is found in Dan 2:37, in which Daniel, before revealing the
interpretation of Nebuchadnezzars dream, tells the king that his power has been given to
him by God. This verse contains a list of attributes similar to those found in Rev 5 that
God has bestowed onto the king: You, O king, the king of kings -- to whom the God of
heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory. (The LXX lists
five attributes: the rule [] and the kingdom [] and the strength [] and
the honor [] and the glory [].) These qualities are appropriate to be ascribed
to the Lamb because they have been bestowed upon him by God, just as Nebuchadnezzar
was able to receive them because his kingship was given by God.
(3)
. (5:13)

To the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever. (5:13)


384
Aune, Revelation, 1.365.

223
Concluding the chapter and this heavenly liturgy is a doxology addressed to the
One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb, and, within the narrative setting of the
heavenly liturgy, is a response to the previous hymn.
385
This time, the verses are intoned
by all of creation, including those in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and in the sea,
offering praise and honor and glory and power both to God and to the Lamb (5:13).
Aune notes that the second indirect object (and to the Lamb) has the feel
of an addition, which is striking in light of the fact that Christian doxologies are usually
addressed to God alone.
386
Even within the Apocalypse, this double address is not found
in the doxologies in Rev 4:9 (And when the living creatures give glory and honor and
thanksgiving to the One seated upon the throne...) or 7:12 (Amen, praise and glory and
wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and
ever, amen), the latter of which is especially noteworthy, since 7:10 does contain praise
of both God and the Lamb by the innumerable multitude before the throne: They cried
out in a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne,
and to the Lamb.
In response to the singing of this doxology by all of creation, the four living
creatures say, Amen, and, in a fitting conclusion to the heavenly liturgy described in
this chapter, the elders prostrate themselves and worship (5:14). In addition to Rev 5:14,
amen is used seven other times in the Apocalypse, usually as a conclusion to a hymn or
doxology (1:6; 7:12 [second occurrence]) or as an affirmation of what has been said (1:7;

385
Deichgrber, Gotteshymnus and Christushymnus, 53; Jrns, Das hymnische Evangelium, 54.
For more about the use of doxologies in the NT and in early Christian liturgy, see 2.5.2 above.
386
Aune, Revelation, 1.43-6, 366.

224
7:12 [first occurrence]; 19:4; 22:20). This concluding function of amen in this verse is
consistent with the usage of this term in the OT, where it is usually found as a response or
confirmation, as its translation in the LXX by the Greek would suggest. As
discussed in chapter 2, this usage continues into early Christian worship, where the term
was usually used either with a responsorial function, or as the conclusion to a
doxology.
387

4.2 The Hymns of Revelation 19
Revelation 19:1-8 is a complex collection of hymnic passages that shares a
number of similarities with the hymns of Rev 4-5. This scene also takes place in the
heavenly throne room, and occurs following the judgment of the great whore
(Babylon/Rome) in the preceding chapter. Rev 19 consists of a number of hymnic
passages that seem to have been composed for their narrative setting, yet still contain
elements drawn from early Christian liturgical practices.
388

The first hymn is said to be sung by a group that sounds like the loud noise of a
huge crowd in heaven (19:1), and their song celebrates the judgment and destruction of
Babylon described in Rev 18:1-24.
(1) , ,
,
, ,
. (19:1b-2)

387
For a more detailed discussion of the function of the amen in early Christian liturgy, see 2.5.4
above.
388
Deichgrber, Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus, 58.

225

Alleluia, salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
because true and just are his judgments,
because he judged the great whore, who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and he avenged the blood of his servants caused by her. (19:1b-2)

These verses comprise a judgment doxology, a type of doxology that has the purpose
of justifying Gods bringing of justice to his enemies.
389
It is introduced with ,
which is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew formulation hall-yh, meaning praise
Yahweh, and occurs only in this chapter of the Apocalypse (19:1, 3, 4, 6). It is not
found elsewhere in the NT. Within Rev 19, three of the uses of alleluia are to introduce a
hymnic passage (19:1, 3, 6), while 19:4 is an antiphonal response.
390
In the Hebrew
Bible, alleluia is found most frequently in the Psalms, where it is used either as a title for
a particular psalm or as a conclusion. F. Cabrol makes the observation that the psalms
that contain this word are mostly concentrated in the fifth book of the Psalter, which seem
to have been specifically intended for liturgical use in the Temple.
391
Moreover, he says
that alleluia does not seem to be an integral part of the psalms in which it is found, but
rather that it was probably chanted in the form of an antiphon at a liturgical service.
Because the use of alleluia is so rare in the NT, it is reasonable to think that it made its
way into Christian liturgical use as an acclamation from contemporary Jewish worship,
but is difficult to be sure of the circumstances of this practice.
392
However, regarding the
hymns of Rev 19, Prigent makes the important point that the uses of alleluia in

389
Ibid., 56. Judgment doxologies are also found in Rev 16:5-6 and 16:7.
390
Aune, Revelation, 3.1024.
391
Cabrol, Alleluia, 1230.
392
For more about the liturgical use of alleluia, see 2.5.5 above. For more about Jewish worship
in the first century AD, see the appendix.

226
Revelation have not been borrowed directly from the worship practices of early
Christians, as the passages in which they occur are too closely related to the narrative of
the Apocalypse itself. Rather, he argues that these bits of text certainly do give us a
fairly accurate idea of the form these Hallelujahs took in the Christian liturgies of the end
of the 1st century. We should keep in mind in particular that these are rather highly
developed songs of praise whose link to the recitation of the Psalms has been lost from
sight.
393

After the attribution of salvation and glory and power to God, the hymn gives
two reasons for doing this, the first of which is very general and does not refer to any
specific action: Gods judgments are true and just. The term translated salvation
() is not found in the hymns or doxologies of the throne room scene of Rev 4-5,
but is ascribed to God in Rev 7:10 by the innumerable multitude (Salvation []
belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb). It also occurs in
12:10, after Michael and his angels defeat the dragon (Now have come the salvation
[] and the power [, also found in 19:1] and the kingdom of our God, and
the authority of his Messiah). As noted above, glory () is attributed to God in Rev
4:11 and 7:12, and power () in Rev 4:11; 7:12; 11:17; 12:10. The same phrase
used in 19:1 to describe the actions of God (true and just are his judgments) occurs in
Rev 16:7, but in that passage it is found in the second person singular (true and just are
your judgments).

393
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 520.

227
The second half of the hymn of 19:1b-2 names the specific charge against the
great whore, and the reason given for her judgment and destruction by God: she has
corrupted the earth with her immortality, and caused the death of Gods servants
(19:2). These deaths are avenged (the verb is ) with her destruction, in a phrase
that recalls the cry of the martyrs under the altar in Rev 6:10: Master, holy and true, how
long will it be until you judge and avenge () our blood caused by those who dwell
on the earth? The martyrs called for Gods judgment and now it has been accomplished.
Commentators frequently point out the likelihood of an allusion to 2 Kgs 9:7, in which
God avenges the deaths of his servants caused by Jezebel. The LXX reads, And you
will avenge () the blood of my servants the prophets and the deaths of all of the
servants of the Lord caused by Jezebel ( ). Charles also notes a parallel
in Deut 32:43: Praise, O heavens, his people, worship him, all you gods. For he will
avenge the blood of his children, and take vengeance on his adversaries.
394

The following verse is a second hymn that continues the narrative celebrating the
judgment of Babylon. It is spoken by the same huge crowd of 19:1 and introduced
with , and they said a second time (19:3):
(2) , . (19:3)

Alleluia, and her smoke ascends forever and ever. (19:3)

It is not immediately clear whether the alleluia at the beginning of 19:3 serves to
introduce the hymn in this verse or to conclude the doxology in 19:1b-2, and

394
Charles, Revelation 2.120.

228
commentators have argued for both.
395
The prevailing view seems to be that this alleluia
introduces the hymnic passage that follows it in the remainder of 19:3, just as the first
alleluia of the chapter introduces the judgment doxology that follows it in 19:1b-2. The
verse affirms what has been said previously about the destruction of Babylon/Rome with
the statement that the smoke from this destruction will rise eternally, symbolizing the
finality of her punishment.
396
Charles, however, notes that in this passage,
(forever) must really only mean one thousand years, since the millennial
kingdom is imminent at this point in the vision, and the earth will be destroyed at the end
of that period, at which time the burning of the ruins of the city will likewise cease.
397

This eternal rising of the smoke has several parallels within the Apocalypse. In
Rev 14:11, an angel speaks of the smoke of the torment of those who worship the beast
and its image, which also will rise forever and ever (
). Similarly, a number of passages from Rev 18, which
narrate the destruction of Babylon/Rome itself speak of burning as the means by which it
is to take place: 18:8 (she will be burned with fire [ ], for mighty
is the Lord God who judges her); 18:9 (and the kings of the earth. . .will weep and wail
over her when they see the smoke of her burning [ ]);

395
Deichgrber notes a number of psalms that are introduced and concluded with an alleluia
(Gotteshymnus and Christushymnus, 57). For the opposing view, see Charles, Revelation, 2.120; Jrns,
Das hymnische Evangelium, 150; Aune, Revelation, 3. 1026.
396
Aune, Revelation, 3.1026; Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 521.
397
Charles, Revelation, 2.120.

229
18:17-18 (And all shipmasters and seafarers, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea,
stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning [
]. . .). Aune points out that this passage is probably an allusion to Isa
34:10, which speaks of the smoke that will ascend eternally from the ruins of the Edom
after the land is burned.
398

The narrative of Rev 19 continues with the reappearance of the twenty-four elders
and the living creatures before the throne, where they again take their part in the heavenly
worship of God. After the doxology of 19:1b-2 and the second hymn (19:3), the elders
and living creatures again fall down and worship the One seated on the throne (cf. 4:10;
5:14). Like the vision of the throne room in Rev 4-5, this scene of heavenly worship
serves to give a narrative context in which the hymns can be sung, as part of the function
of the hymns is to comment on the events in the text as they are occurring. The response
of the elders and living creatures to the first two hymns of the chapter has a concluding
function:
(3) , (19:4)

Amen, alleluia!

This combination of amen and alleluia is also found at the end of Ps 106:48, which
concludes the fourth book of the Psalter. It is interesting to note that the LXX (105:48)
translates this combination as , suggesting that both of these words have

398
Aune, Revelation 3.1026.

230
the same (affirming and concluding) function. Commentators also point out a parallel in
Neh 5:13, And all the assembly said amen and praised the Lord.
The final hymn in Rev 19 is sung by a group in heaven that the author describes
as sounding like the sound of a huge crowd ( ), and like the sound
of many waters ( ),
399
and like the sound of loud thunder (
). Those who gave voice to the judgment doxology in 19:1-2 were
described using similar vocabulary ( ), but the phrase in 19:6
is anarthrous, suggesting that this group is being mentioned by the author for the first
time. This group sings a hymn of praise directed to God that, like the first two hymns of
Rev 19, also begins with an alleluia:
(4) , ,
,
,
. (19:6b-8)

Alleluia, for the Lord God Almighty reigns,
Let us rejoice and exult and give glory to him,
for the wedding of the Lamb has come and his wife has prepared herself
for it was given to her to wear fine linen, shining and pure. (19:6b-8a)

Aune has noted that this passage is the only hymn in the Apocalypse that displays the
characteristics of the genre of hymn found in the OT, most frequently in the Psalms.
400

This type of hymn consists of three parts: (1) the invitation to song (the alleluia in 19:6b);

399
Cf. Apoc. Abr. 17:1, although in this passage the sound of many waters is used to describe
the voice of God.
400
Aune, Revelation, 3.1022, 1028.

231
(2) the thematic sentence, which introduces the theme of the hymn and tells why the
praise should be given (for the Lord God Almighty reigns), and (3) the main part of the
hymn, which narrates the acts of God that are to be praised (in this case, the [future]
arrival of the marriage of the Lamb and the readiness of his bride in 19:7-8a).
401

The title used for God in this passage, (Lord God
Almighty), was mentioned above in connection with Rev 4:8, as the author of the
Apocalypse chose to substitute this title for in his formulation of the
Sanctus. It also occurs in Rev 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22. According to the hymn, praise is
now to be given to God because his reign has begun, as it will indeed do once the
judgment and destruction of Babylon/Rome has been completed and Gods kingdom can
be inaugurated, a process that will begin with the coming of the divine warrior on a white
horse in 19:11 (probably Jesus).
The idea of the wedding of the Lamb in Rev 19:7 appears somewhat unexpectedly
in the text, and is found only in this verse and in 19:9. However, its arrival is significant
enough that it is given as the reason for the praise of God at the beginning of the hymn:
the wedding has come, and the wife of the Lamb has prepared herself. This hymn may
be loosely dependent on Isa 61:10; the imagery is similar, but the vocabulary differs: I
will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for he has clothed me with
the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a

401
O. Eissfeldt, The Old Testament: An Introduction (trans. P.R. Ackroyd; New York and
Evanston, IL: Harper & Row, 1965), 105-9; H. Gunkel, The Psalms: A Form Critical Introduction
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967), 10-13.

232
bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and a bride adorns herself with jewels.
402

(LXX: . . .and they shall greatly rejoice in the Lord. Let my soul rejoice []
in the Lord, for he has clothed me with the robe of salvation and the garment of joy; as on
a bridegroom he has put a mitre on me, and adorned me with ornaments as a bride.)
This passage from Isaiah, like the hymn of Rev 19:6-8, mentions rejoicing in the Lord in
connection with wedding imagery, but there is an important difference. The garments
worn by the bride of the Lamb are described as actual clothing (fine linen, shining and
pure), whereas in Isaiah, the wedding garments mentioned in Isaiah are metaphors for
Gods protection (robe of salvation, garment of joy). Within Revelation, this
imagery is not mentioned again until the final chapters of the Apocalypse, which describe
the descent of the New Jerusalem to earth, designated in the text as a bride adorned for
her husband ( , 21:2), and the bride, the wife of the
Lamb ( ; 21:9). So the function of the hymn in the
text is to praise God for his future action that has now been revealed, namely the
destruction of the enemies of his people and the bringing of his kingdom to earth.

402
Aune, Revelation, 3.1029.

233
4.3 Opening and Closing Dialogues: Revelation 1:4-8 and 22:6-21
4.3.1 Revelation 1:4-8
While the preceding section of this chapter attempted to analyze the imagery in
Rev 4-5 that may have been inspired by the worship practices of the early Christian
communities addressed in the Apocalypse, this section will take a closer look at some
studies that have posited a liturgical setting for the reading of the text of the book itself.
Perhaps the most elaborate theory on this subject has been articulated by U. Vanni in a
number of his studies.
403
He argues that the best way to understand the introduction and
conclusion to the Apocalypse is to posit a setting of early Christian worship as the
background for the reading of the book; the book is intended for liturgical reading,
although he is tentative about the conclusions that can be drawn about the details of this
liturgical setting.
404
His basic hypothesis regarding the introduction to the Apocalypse is
that the grammatical and stylistic difficulties found in Rev 1:4-8 can best be explained by
the suggestion that these verses comprise a dialogue that would have been recited in an
early Christian liturgical setting and taken place between a reader and the assembly.
Vanni believes that the dialogue would have taken this form:
(1) Reader ( ):


403
U. Vanni, La struttura letteraria dellApocalisse (Brescia: Morcelliana, 1980); Vanni,
LApocalisse: ermeneutica, esegesi, teologia (Bologna: Edizioni Dehoniane Bologna, 1988), 101-113;
Vanni, Liturgical Dialogue as a Literary Form in the Book of Revelation, TS 37 (1991): 348-372;
Vanni, Apocalisse: Una assemblea liturgica interpreta la storia (Brescia: Editrice Queriniana, 2000), 126-
132.
404
Vanni, La struttura letteraria, 114-115.

234




(1:4b-5c)

Grace and peace to you from the One who is and who was and who is coming
and from the seven spirits which are before his throne
and from Jesus Christ
the faithful witness
the firstborn of the dead
and the ruler of the kings of the earth (1:4b-5c)

(2) Assembly ( ):


,
, (1:5d-6)

To the one who loves us and frees us from our sins by his blood
and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father
To him is the glory and the power forever and ever, men (1:5d-6)

(3) Reader:




(1:7a-7d)

Indeed, he is coming with the clouds
and every eye will see him
even those who pierced him
and all the tribes of the earth will mourn for him (1:7a-7d)

(4) Assembly:

, (1:7e)

Yes, Amen! (1:7e)

235

(5) Reader:

,
, (1:8)

I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God
the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty (1:8)

The grammatical problems mentioned above are apparent right at the start of the
passage and have been noticed and treated by commentators. Rev 1:4-8 begins with the
wish of grace and peace from the One who is and who was and who is coming (
), and includes the unusual occurrence of followed by the
nominative rather than the expected genitive (which is what is found after the other two
instances of in the verse).
405
But Aune has commented that many copyists of this
verse noticed the unusual construction and inserted a genitive after (such as the
article , or a genitive form or ) in order to correct the difficult grammar, but
he concludes that the wording of the verse is not a mistake, but rather an indication that
the author regarded as an expression of the divine name
that is indeclinable. Another instance of such grammatical difficulty is found in the

405
See Aune, Revelation, 1.24. Vanni has suggested that this phrasing of with the genitive
was constructed deliberately by the author: that it enables one to grasp the significance of the paraphrase
of the divine name in the nominative, and that the pause that the break in grammatical continuity allows
further appreciation of its content. See Vanni, Liturgical Dialogue as a Literary Form in the Book of
Revelation, 354.

236
following verse, where the nominative is found modifying the
preceding genitive .
Along with these apparent grammatical problems, Vanni also notes a number of
stylistic issues that he believes to require explanation. The verse mentioned above (1:5)
contains three instances of phrases in the nominative that refer to Jesus (
, , ), but these are sharply
followed by a switch to the dative , which of course
also refers to Jesus. Further, in the same verse, these first two descriptions of Jesus
saving actions (loves us and saves us...) are followed by a change to the aorist (
..., he made us a kingdom...), and then another change back to the dative
in the doxology at the end of the verse ( ...). In addition, Vanni
mentions that the remainder of the passage is comprised of several different types of
material. Following the doxology in 1:6 is a prophetic oracle, that does not seem to
have any connection to what precedes or follows it: Indeed, he is coming with the
clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the
earth will mourn for him (1:7). Finally, the conclusion of the passage consists of
another oracle, yet this one is portrayed as spoken by God in the first person: I am the
Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, the One who is and who was and who is
coming, the Almighty (1:8).
Despite these grammatical and stylistic complexities, Vanni emphasizes that there
is also a certain literary unity within each of the textual units that comprise Rev 1:4-8

237
(1:4b-5c, 1:5d-6, 1:7, 1:8).
406
It is this suggestion of unity, together with several
indications within the text that suggest a liturgical context for the reading of the book,
that leads Vanni to his hypothesis of a liturgical dialogue. These indications include the
wording of the introduction to our passage and to the Apocalypse as a whole (1:3), which
states that the reading of the book involves a relationship between two parties: one who
reads ( ), and those who listen ( ).
407
The possibility of a setting
involving a service of worship is strengthened by the verse immediately preceding the
dialogue, that speaks of the Seers message being addressed to the seven churches in
Asia (1:4). Further, the liturgical coloring of the passage is enhanced by the greeting
at the beginning of the passage (Grace and peace to you from the One who is and who
was and who is coming...). This formula (with some variation) is also found in a
number of the NT epistles, and often has been suggested to be associated with settings of
early Christian worship.
408

Finally, and perhaps most intriguing, is the switch within Rev 1:4-8 between
verbs in the second person and those in the first person. Indeed, the passage begins with
a greeting in the second-person plural (), a group which, given the context, is likely
to be connected with the seven churches in Asia mentioned at the beginning of the
verse. Following this greeting grace and peace to you... is a change to the first-person
plural: To the one who loves us () and frees us from our sins by his blood. This

406
Vanni, LApocalisse, 102-5.
407
Ibid., 104-5.
408
Ibid., 104.

238
statement spoken in the first-person plural is marked off from what follows by a
doxology and a responsory amen. Vanni comments that the change from the second-
person (Grace and peace to you) to the first-person (...who loves us) emphasizes the
heterogeneous nature of the passage, but at the same time provides the explanation for
this discontinuity: the us is the assembly that is responding to the reader of the first
section.
409
What appears to be disconnected should be understood as the two parties
engaged in an exchange of dialogue.
The passage concludes with two oracles that are somewhat unexpected within the
flow of a dialogue. The first of these (1:7) is a proclamation of Jesus second coming,
which Vanni believes would have been spoken by the lector due to the fact that it has the
form of a prophetic oracle, and the Seer described his message at the outset as a work of
prophecy (Rev 1:3: ... ). This verse does not seem to arise
naturally from what precedes it, although Vanni believes that the connection lies in the
fact that 1:6 concludes with the attribution of glory and power forever to Jesus, and 1:7
is seen as describing how this power and glory will appear at the end of time. He assigns
the , that immediately follows to the assembly, since a reaction on their part to
the prophecy is what we would expect at this point.
410
The final verse in the passage is

409
Ibid., 106-7. Vanni has also noted a chiastic structure in the passage that clarifies the
hypothesis of a liturgical structure: La ... augurata dal lettore passa da Cristo (1,5a) all
assemblea; dallassemblea ritorna a Cristo la (1,6b): il blocco letterario 1,5b-6 appare
cos come una risposta esplicita al blocco letterario 1,4b-5a.
410
Vanni, Liturgical Dialogue as a Literary Form in the Book of Revelation, 350. Vanni adds
that the suggestion of a liturgical setting is strengthened by the appearance of amen in the response of the
congregation. However, it is important to remember the suggestion made above that the presence of the
word amen in a period as early as the first century does not necessarily signal liturgical activity. See
2.5.4 above.

239
another prophetic oracle (1:8), yet this one is pronounced by God himself in the first
person (spoken in the course of the dialogue by the reader). The proclamation made by
God also comes as a surprise, but Vanni argues that his speech is a response to the
invocation of the amen on the part of the congregation in the preceding verse.
Vanni believes that the benefit of this reading of the text is that it explains the
grammatical and stylistic difficulties and apparent discontinuity that are present in the
passage; these breaks in continuity impart particularly expressive accents to the text,
determining the rhythm and tone adopted for the reading.
411
The pauses that arise from
unexpected grammatical constructions or from surprising content provide structure for
the dialogue and allow the opportunity for reflection on its content. A further strength of
this approach is that the hypothesis of a dialogue attempts to provide a concrete picture of
what the reading of the book within a setting of Christian worship would have looked
like, whenever it was read by a lector to a group of hearers. It takes seriously what the
Apocalypse says about itself, that it is a message of prophecy to be delivered to the
churches.
While I agree that the first two verses of 1:4-8 do seem to work as a dialogue,
especially given the change in person between 1:4-5a and 1:5b-6 that the suggestion of a
dialogue does appear to explain, I am not entirely convinced that this form can be so
clearly seen in the rest of the passage. My hesitation centers on the suspicion that the
opening verse of the dialogue (Grace and peace to you from the One who is and who
was and who is coming...) suggests the possibility of such a format simply because it


411
Ibid., 354.

240
sounds liturgical, or sounds like the opening of a liturgical celebration, not least
because it is phrased in a way that would later be phrased as an invocation of the Trinity.
Vanni does cite a number of texts in which a dialogue between a reader and assembly can
be found, thus implying that such a structure was present in the worship of the early
Church. The first of these is the often-cited Pliny-Trajan correspondence, in which the
brief description of Christian worship begins with the affirmation that they would meet
on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god (10.96).
He cites the work of K.-P. Jrns
412
in support of this first text, but the problem is that this
text is not really a parallel to Rev 1:4-8. Plinys letter is speaking about the way that
hymns were sung, and the comments made by Jrns also relate to this antiphonal style of
early Christian hymnody.
A second example of a liturgical dialogue noted by Vanni is from the First
Apology of Justin Martyr, whose description of the weekly worship of Christians reads:
the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as
time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs,
and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and
pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water
are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings,
according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen . . . (1 Apol. 67)
If what Vanni is referring to in this passage is the Amen spoken by the congregation in
response to the prayer of the presider, it is not clear that this text is truly a parallel to Rev
1:4-8, although that passage does contain a responsory amen. Justins description does

412
Jrns, Das hymnische Evangelium, 161-2.

241
not really portray a dialogue, but rather the customary use of this term as a conclusion,
response, or affirmation.
Vannis final example is taken from Didache 10.6: May grace come, and may
this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David! If anyone is holy let him come; if
anyone is not, let him repent. Maranatha. Amen. He divides this passage into a dialogue
in the following way:
(1) Liturgist: Let grace come, and let this world pass away
(2) Assembly: Amen, Hosanna to the house of David
(3) Liturgist: If anyone is holy, let him come; if anyone is not, let him repent
(4) Assembly: Maranatha, Amen.
413

This is a much-debated chapter and verse within the Didache, and questions remain
regarding what exactly is being described in Did. 10 and how this verse fits into that
description. The majority (but by no means all) of liturgical scholars today hold the view
that this chapter contains a prayer to be said at a eucharistic celebration. The material in
v. 6 has caused so much discussion due to its seeming discontinuity with what precedes
it; the beginning of the chapter is a prayer of thanksgiving, but this verse contains a wish
for the coming of the eschaton and then a statement of invitation and refusal. Further
debate has ensued surrounding the timeline of events within the service of worship that is

413
Vanni, LApocalisse, 105, citing M.A. Kavanagh, Apocalypse 22,6-21 As Concluding
Liturgical Dialogue, 114-117. Kavanagh notes that the first Amen, before Hosanna to the house of
David, is attested only in the Coptic version of the text and is absent from the Georgian version and from
the manuscript found in Constantinople but later transferred to Jerusalem. See Kavanagh, Apocalypse 22,6-
21, 168-69. Vanni does not include this first Amen in his citation of the text.
H. Lietzmann also argued that this passage should be read as a dialogue, but he assigned the
Maranatha to the liturgist rather than the assembly. See H. Lietzmann, Mass and Lords Supper: A Study
in the History of the Liturgy (trans. Dorothea H.G. Reeve; Leiden: Brill, 1979), 188-193.

242
envisioned. If Did. 9-10 does contain a eucharistic prayer that concludes at the end of
chapter 10, how can that be reconciled with the statement If anyone is holy, let him
come in v. 6? Is this not an invitation to communion, thus implying that the reception of
the eucharist must have followed the prayer rather than preceded it? Bradshaw has
pointed out that many have read this statement as an invitation to come forward for
communion, but this vision of a procession going forward to receive the eucharist may be
anachronistic; it is likely to be the case in this early period that the bread and wine would
simply have been passed around the congregation.
414
However, he notes that it is also
possible to read this verse as appropriate for the conclusion of the eucharistic celebration
in a way that connects it to the prayer for the eschaton in the preceding phrase, inviting
the holy to join the community of the redeemed and those who were not to repent.
415

Therefore, even if this passage should be read as a dialogue between presider and
congregation, it is one that most likely would have taken place at the conclusion of a
celebration of the eucharist. It is not necessarily a parallel to Rev 1:4-8, which envisions
the reading of the Apocalypse in an assembly that is difficult to picture as part of a
eucharistic liturgy. Vannis hypothesis that the passage at the beginning of the
Apocalypse constitutes such dialogue is a persuasive one, as it explains many of the
difficult stylistic issues in this section, especially the switch from the second person to the
first person, but my concern is that we do not have enough evidence to affirm that such
dialogues were a part of Christian worship in the first century.

414
Bradshaw, Eucharistic Origins, 37.
415
Ibid., 37.

243
4.3.2 Revelation 22:6-21
The hypothesis that the final verses of the Apocalypse also constitute a dialogue
was suggested by Vanni and continued and elaborated upon by his student M. A.
Kavanagh.
416
Kavanagh bases his argument that the passage should be read as a
concluding liturgical dialogue upon a preliminary textual analysis, in which he asserts
that this passage should indeed be taken as a single literary unit, a position to which there
are a number of objections.
417
He also examines texts that he believes to exhibit parallel
liturgical dialogues, including Did. 10.6, but also the psalms of the OT and a number of
texts from Qumran. Turning to Rev 22, Kavanagh begins with the phrases in the passage
that indicate that someone is speaking (22:6 [ ], 9 [ ], 10 [
], 17a [ ], 17c [ ], 20 [
]), and uses these to form the structure of the dialogue, although he
focuses mostly on the three stages of the dialogue that he sees (22:6-11, 12-16, 17-21),
rather than specifically assigning a speaker for each verse. At the end of his work,
Kavanagh devotes only a little attention to an analysis of his dialogue and of its function
in the context of the book; however, his conclusion is picked up and taken further by
Vanni. In his later article, Vanni assigns the verses to various speakers as follows:
418

(1) John: ,

416
Vanni, La struttura letteraria dellApocalisse, 109-15; Kavanagh, Apocalypse 22:6-21 as
Concluding Liturgical Dialogue, 97-141.
417
C.H. Giblin, Structural and Thematic Correlations in the Theology of Revelation 16-22, Bib
55 (1974): 487-504; Aune, Revelation, 3.1201-1216.
418
Vanni, Liturgical Dialogue as a Literary Form in the Book of Revelation, 361-363.

244

And he said to me, (22:6a)

(2) Angel: ,
, ,

.

These words are faithful and true,
And the Lord, God of the spirits of the prophets,
sent his angel
to show to his servants what must happen soon. (22:6b)

(3) Jesus: .

Indeed, I am coming soon. (22:7a)

(4) Angel: .

Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. (22:7b)

(5) John: .
,

.
,

I, John, am the one hearing and seeing these things.
When I heard and saw them,
I fell down to worship
before the feet of the angel who was showing these things to me.
And he said to me: (22:8-9a)

(6) Angel:
,

,
.


245
Dont do that!
I am your fellow-servant
and that of your brothers the prophets
and of the ones keeping the words of this book.
Worship God. (22:9b)

(7) John: ,

He said to me: (22:10a)

(8) Angel: ,
.
,
,
,
.

Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book,
for the time is near.
Let the unjust one still act unjustly,
and let the depraved one still be depraved,
and let the righteous one still practice righteousness,
and let the holy one still be holy. (22:10b-11)

(9) Jesus: ,
,
.
,
,
.

Indeed, I am coming soon,
and my reward is with me,
to repay to each as is his work.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End. (22:12-13)

(10) Angel: ,


246
.





.

Blessed are those who wash their robes,
so that they will have access to [lit: power over] the tree of life
and enter the city through the gates.
Outside are the dogs
and the magicians
and the fornicators
and the murderers
and the idolaters
and everyone loving and practicing falsehood. (22:14-15)

(11) Jesus:

.
,
.

I, Jesus,
sent my angel
to testify these things to you on behalf of the churches.
I am the root and the offspring of David,
the bright morning star. (22:16)

(12) John: ,

The Spirit and the bride say, (22:17a)

(13) The Spirit and the bride: .

Come! (22:17b)

(14) John: ,

247

Let the one who hears say, (22:17c)

(15) The hearers: .

Come! (22:17d)

(16) John: ,
.

,
,

,
,

,
.
,

Let the one who is thirsty come,
let the one who wishes receive the gift of the water of life.
I testify to everyone who hears
the words of the prophecy of this book,
if anyone adds to them,
God will add to him
the plagues written in this book,
and if anyone takes away from the words of the prophecy of this book,
God will take away his part
of the tree of life and of the holy city
that are written in this book.
The one testifying these things says, (22:17e-20a)

(17) Jesus: , .

Yes, I am coming soon. (22:20b)

(18) Hearers: , , .


248
Amen, come, Lord Jesus. (22:20c)

(19) John: .

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all [of you]. (22:21)
Vannis analysis focuses mostly on the identification of the speakers of the
various parts of this complex and difficult passage. As is the case with Rev 1:4-8, the
text of this concluding section of the Apocalypse exhibits a great deal of heterogeneity,
and the relationship of the verses to one another has not been given a satisfactory
explanation. But, in contrast to the introductory passage, I am not convinced that the
hypothesis of a dialogue provides a solution to this problem. For example, the section
begins with the Seers recollection of what the angel said to him: And he said to me,
These words are faithful and true, And the Lord, God of the spirits of the prophets, sent
his angel to show to his servants what must happen soon (22:6). But it is not clear that
this statement requires a different speaker from the introductory phrase that precedes it; it
is equally reasonable that the reader is simply relating what was said. Second, there is a
change in number from third person to first person that recalls the change from second
person to first person in 1:4-8. Following the verse cited above, which is spoken in the
third person, there is a change to a statement in the first person, the subject of which is
presumably Jesus: Indeed, I am coming soon (22:7a). But the suggestion of a liturgical
setting in which a dialogue takes place does not make sense of the disconnected nature of
these verses. In the introduction, the switch from Grace and peace to you... to To the
one who loves us... sounds like a speaker and response, but in 22:6-7, this is not a
plausible scenario and does not adequately explain the change of person between the two
verses. Kavanaghs suggestion that elements of heterogeneity and abrupt changes of

249
topic can signal the presence of a dialogue might thus be questioned. Even if the text
contains unifying elements, a dialogue should make sense as a whole, or as a
conversation or exchange between two or more parties. If there is a dialogue in which
the parts have little or no topical relation to each other, then the nature and function of
such a passage must be explained.
419

Further, Vanni assigns speaking parts to John, the angel, Jesus, the Spirit and the
bride, and the hearers. However, the transcendent characters of the angel, Jesus, and the
Spirit are of course not actually present for the service of worship, so Vanni determines
that for the purpose of the dialogue, the lector will recite all of these parts.
420
This means,
then, that for most of the dialogue, there is only one person who is speaking all of the
parts; indeed, Vanni admits that the assembly speaks only a few words toward the end of
the passage ( [22:17d] and , , [22:20c]). So one might ask
in what sense this format constitutes a dialogue. If we do accept that this passage was to
be read at an early Christian service of worship, it appears more plausible to envision it as
a speech on the part of a reader (albeit a disconnected one), with the assembly giving a
response or affirmation as their part at the conclusion of the speech. Either way, the
suggestion of a dialogue does not appear to bring the measure of unity to this passage that
it does in the introduction to the Apocalypse.

419
Another criterion believed by Kavanagh to suggest the presence of a liturgical dialogue is the
liturgical character of the passage. But the examples that he cites of this are from the vision of 21:9ff,
which immediately precedes 22:6-21, a passage which he argues is the conclusion to the preceding vision
as well as the Apocalypse as a whole: the lack of a Temple in the New Jerusalem (21:22); the worship that
takes place there (22:3); and the images of the throne and the Lamb connecting the passage to Rev 4-5.
However, even if these images are liturgical in nature, they would suggest that the passage has been based
on a liturgy known to the author, and are not necessarily indications that the book is read in a liturgical
setting.
420
Vanni, Liturgical Dialogue as a Literary Form in the Book of Revelation, 364.

250
4.4 Conclusion to Chapter Four
The two sections of this chapter attempted to answer two basic questions related
to the liturgy surrounding the Apocalypse. First, is the heavenly worship depicted in Rev
4-5 based on or inspired by the liturgy known to the author of the book? Second, using
the example of the hypothesis that the introductory and concluding passages of
Revelation were read as liturgical dialogues, what is the evidence that this book was read
aloud at a service of Christian worship, regardless of the source of its imagery?
Regarding the first question, it appears that there were a number of influences that played
a role in the description of the heavenly throne room in Rev 4-5. Of course, elements of
early Christian liturgy found their way into the text so that the scene would be
recognizable as a heavenly service of worship, but arguing that the text mirrors or even
reflects such a liturgy oversimplifies the text and overstates our knowledge of what this
earthly worship would have looked like. Aside from this influence, heaven is also
portrayed as a place where the ideal worship of God occurs. Thousands upon thousands
of angels surround the throne in Gods service, and all creation sings hymns in praise of
the Creator and the Lamb. Further, as suggested at the beginning of the dissertation, this
passage also contains a number of allusions to the OT, including texts that speak of the
throne of God and the coming Messiah, and also shares imagery with contemporary
Jewish apocalypses as well as traditions of Roman imperial court ceremonial. So it
appears that the author of the Apocalypse used a number of building blocks to construct
his vision of the heavenly throne room and the worship of God that occurs there,
including elements of early Christian worship, but also biblical and extra-biblical
traditions of heaven, and his own imagination.

251
As for the second question, which must be differentiated from the first, can we
posit a liturgical setting for the reading of the book of Revelation? It is certainly possible
that the book was read at early Christian gatherings, as the text itself certainly implies,
and has been given a concrete form in the work of Vanni and Kavanagh. However, even
if this reasonable assertion is accepted, it must be emphasized again that almost nothing
can be known about the details of what took place at these liturgies: whether dialogues
were recited, what readings were used, or whether the eucharist was necessarily a part of
these services of worship where the book would have been read. If the reading of the
Apocalypse did actually take place at an early Christian liturgy, then practical questions
remain to be answered regarding how this service would fit into the development of
Christian worship as a whole: what happened to this service, where such a long work was
read in its entirety? Is it reasonable to think this was a possibility? When was it
discontinued? With what was it replaced? These are important questions, the answers to
which will help to fill out the rather nebulous picture of the worship practices of
Christians in Asia Minor at the end of the first century AD.

252
APPENDIX A:
SYNAGOGUE WORSHIP IN THE FIRST CENTURY AD
This appendix is not a complete study of the worship practices of the first-century
Jewish synagogue, but rather an attempt to determine from the available evidence what
can be said with some degree of certainty about this issue of the worship of the
synagogues in the first century CE, in order to determine the extent to which we can
argue with confidence that the liturgical practices of the early Christians were borrowed
from contemporary Jewish practices. The discussion of first-century Jewish synagogue
worship presents a number of problems at the outset. A major obstacle in the search for
the answers to these questions is that there are very few sources to examine in order to
determine what took place in the synagogue in the first century CE. Many scholarly
reconstructions of this worship are overly dependent upon the testimony of the Mishnah,
Tosefta, and Talmud, and tend to be too quick to accept the descriptions of earlier
worship offered by the rabbis as historical, the earliest of which, the Mishnah, was
compiled around 190 CE by R. Judah ha-Nasi. This tendency has been questioned in
recent years by a body of scholarship particularly associated with Jacob Neusner, which
calls into question the historical reliability of these reports.
421
The rabbinic texts date
roughly from the late second to seventh centuries, and it is not appropriate


421
See, for example, The Use of Later Rabbinic Evidence for the Study of First-Century
Pharisaism, in Approaches to Ancient Judaism: Theory and Practice (BJS 1; ed. W.S. Green; Missoula,
MT: 1978), 215-28.

253
methodologically to take the opinion of a single rabbi from within that literature and
assume that it gives us a trustworthy picture of Jewish worship from the first century.
That approach does not take into consideration the way that the texts developed; they
were redacted by a group (or groups) of those who were looking to justify their own
beliefs and practices, and so this influence must be taken into consideration. As is the
case with the formation of the Gospels of the NT, this literature in its final form may tell
us more about the period in which it was compiled rather than the period it describes. On
the other hand, it should be pointed out that Stefan Reif has warned against rushing to the
conclusion that the rabbinic literature has nothing to tell us about Jewish worship in the
first century. He writes,
to accept uncritically the historicity of all talmudic reports...and the attribution of
all statements to particular personalities is as misguided as the approach that
claims all previous studies antiquated and distinguished talmudists obsolete and
refuses to credit the rabbis with any reliable information about the origin of their
own religious traditions.
422

Reif reminds us that we must avoid one extreme as much as the other. It is equally
problematic to accept uncritically the reliability of the testimonies of the rabbis and to
dismiss all of them across the board as untrustworthy. More questions must be asked of
the data before final decisions are made.


422
Stefan C. Reif, Some Liturgical Issues in the Talmudic Sources, SL 15 (1982/3): 190. He is
right to point out that the rabbinic texts are not a work of fiction, and that the rabbis certainly were careful
to preserve information about the formation of their tradition, but the problem lies in figuring out which of
the preserved traditions are authentic and which have been influenced by later thinking and practices. This
is possible to do, but is not an easy task.

254
A.1 The Development of Communal Prayer
Another presupposition of earlier Jewish liturgical scholarship was called into
question by Joseph Heinemann in a revised version of his doctoral dissertation that was
originally published in Hebrew in 1964.
423
Heinemann proposed a new model for the
study of early Jewish liturgical texts that is somewhat similar to that which has been
suggested for the development of prayer forms in early Christianity: that of early
diversity to later unity, rather than the other way around. He rejected the widely-held
idea that there was an earlier core common to all liturgical texts that could be discovered
by peeling back the layers of subsequent addition and development. Rather, his
argument, as he states at the outset of his appropriately-titled second chapter, The
Development of Prayer and the Problem of the Original Text, is that Jewish prayers
were originally created and developed in the individual synagogues, and then only later
were standardized into a common form by the rabbis. Heinemann writes,
The Jewish prayers were originally the creations of the common people. The
characteristic idioms and forms of prayer, and indeed the statutory prayers of the
synagogues themselves, were not in the first place products of the deliberations of
the Rabbis in their academies, but were rather the spontaneous, on-the-spot
improvisations of the people who gathered on various occasions to pray in the
synagogue. Since the occasions and places of worship were numerous, it was
only natural that they should give rise to an abundance of prayers, displaying a
wide variety of forms, styles and patterns. Thus, the first stage in the
development of the liturgy was characterized by diversity and variety -- and the
task of the Rabbis was to systematize and to impose order on this multiplicity of
forms, patterns and structures. This task they undertook after the fact; only after
the numerous prayers had come into being and were familiar to the masses did the

423
Joseph Heinemann, Prayer in the Talmud: Forms and Patterns (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1977).

255
Sages decide that the time had come to establish some measure of uniformity and
standardization.
424

Heinemann argues that this process of establishing uniformity happened slowly
over time, and that the exact wording of prayers was not decided upon until at least the
fifth century AD. Moreover, we cannot be sure that these forms were universally used
even at this later date.
Lee Levine has commented that the major question today regarding communal
prayer in the synagogue is whether it was already in place in the first century, within the
framework of regular and obligatory worship, whether or not we have the evidence to
reconstruct these prayers.
425
Study in this area has mainly focused on the Amidah, and
the attempt to trace themes found in the eighteen benedictions from fragments in the OT
(usually Nehemiah or the Psalms), intertestamental literature, and the Qumran texts into
their complete liturgical form, a development which is usually believed to have taken
place late in the Second Temple period. Levine notes that even Heinemann, whose
important study revealed that Jewish prayers did not develop in this linear fashion,
believed that the basic outlines of the Amidah (number of blessings, content, and order)
had already taken shape in the pre-70 period.
426
But Levine himself, following the work
of S. Zeitlin, takes an opposing view regarding prayer in the synagogues of Judea at this
early date, arguing that there is no documentary evidence for communal Jewish prayer-

424
Ibid., 37.
425
Lee I. Levine, The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years (2nd ed.; New Haven and
London, Yale University Press, 2005), 162.
426
Ibid., 163; Heinemann, Prayer in the Talmud, 13-36.

256
worship in the pre-70 period.
427
Even the early rabbinic traditions speak only of Torah
reading and commentary on it; none mentions public communal prayer as one of the
practices of the synagogue, as will be seen in more detail below.
The situation is a bit more complex in the synagogues of the Diaspora. Recently,
E. Fleischer has made a similar argument for communal prayer outside of Judea, also
based on the fact that the available evidence for what was done in the synagogue does not
mention it.
428
But Levine notes that there is a major objection to this line of thinking: the
fact that the name used for many Diaspora synagogues, proseuche, or house of prayer,
suggests that they were used as houses of prayer, and, despite the fact that the relevant
texts focus on the reading and study of the Torah (see below), this name cannot be
explained away so easily. To suggest that these places, for hundreds of years and across
a large geographical area, were called by a name that had no bearing on what took place
there is difficult to believe. He concludes: In sum, it would appear unwarranted to deny
the existence of prayer as an integral part of Diaspora worship, although, admittedly, it
was not the dominant element. The name proseuche, associated with many Diaspora
institutions, is simply too telling to be summarily dismissed.
429
Levine does agree with
Fleischer that there is a discrepancy between the name used for the places of Jewish
worship in the Diaspora and the activities that are described in the sources. Despite the

427
Ibid.; S. Zeitlin, The Tefillah, the Shemoneh Esreh: An Historical Study of the First
Canonization of the Hebrew Liturgy, JQR 54 (1964): 208-49.
428
E. Fleischer, On the Beginnings of Obligatory Jewish Prayer, Tarbiz 59 (1990): 402ff.
(Hebrew)
429
Levine, The Ancient Synagogue, 165. Fleischer argues that the name often used for the
Diaspora synagogue does not necessarily indicate that prayer is what took place there; rather, he believes
that this name was used to ascribe a measure of sanctity to their institution, thereby asserting its
inviolability in the face of pagan attack. Levine argues at length against this reading on 164-6.

257
fact that they are designated as proseuche, the reading of the Torah is the practice that is
emphasized, and this does seem to have been the primary component of synagogue
worship, as will be seen below. But it should be noted that even if prayer was a more
common element of Jewish worship in the Diaspora than in Judea, evidence does not
exist that reveals the texts or content of these prayers, or how they were used within a
service of worship.
430

A.2 The Shema
The Shema (hear) refers to a prayer consisting of Deut 6:4-9, and seems to have
been frequently recited along with two other passages from the Torah: Deut 11:13-21 and
Num 15:37-41. The Mishnah suggests that this full version of the Shema was recited two
times a day, in the morning and in the evening (m. Ber. 1-2), and that it was also recited
this way by the priests in the Jerusalem Temple (m. Tamid 5.1), although caution is
certainly in order when dealing with rabbinic reports concerning the practices of the
Temple.
431
Since these rabbinic texts do not refer to the use of the Shema in the
synagogue, debate continues over whether it was recited there before the destruction of
the Temple, or whether this was a later development that was practiced only privately in
the earlier period. Allusions to the twice daily recitation of the shorter version of this
prayer (only Deut 6:4-9) can be found in a number of early sources, including the Letter
of Aristeas 158-160 (mid-second century BC); Josephus (Ant. 4.8.13); and Philo (De

430
Ibid, 169.
431
Stephen K. Catto, Reconstructing the First-Century Synagogue: A Critical Analysis of Current
Research (Library of New Testament Studies 363; London: T&T Clark, 2007), 137.

258
spec. leg. 4.141), although these sources seem to be referring to private practice rather
than a public, liturgical one. It is also noteworthy that Jesus makes a similar allusion to
the Shema in the gospel of Mark (12:29-30). Another piece of evidence comes from the
Nash papyrus, a text discovered in Egypt dating to the middle of the second-century BC.
This papyrus contains the Decalogue along with the beginning of the Shema, a
combination of passages that has suggested to some that this text may have been used
liturgically, although these scholars are quick to point out that there is no way to prove
this assertion.
432
Finally, the Shema is mentioned in m. Meg. 4.3 in a list of activities that
should not be carried out unless at least ten men are present, a list that also includes the
recitation of the Tefillah, the priestly blessing, the reading from the Torah, and the
reading from the Prophets. Although it is not at all clear that this text is describing a
synagogue liturgy (the other four items in the list refer to activities that are obviously not
part of a Sabbath liturgy, but rather refer to practices at weddings, funerals, and prayers
after meals), and it is likely that it reflects a time later than the first century CE,
433
this is
a piece of evidence that provides a witness to the communal recitation of the Shema,
which is the form that the prayer would eventually take.

A.3 The Amidah
The Amidah, also called the Shemoneh Esreh (the eighteen, from the number of
sections that the prayer came to have, each of which was eventually combined with a

432
Levine, The Ancient Synagogue, 166; Catto, Reconstructing the First Century Synagogue, 137.
Catto also points out that m. Tamid 5.1 also contains the Decalogue before the Shema.
433
Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 36.

259
concluding benediction), is another prayer that has been commonly thought to be a part
of the worship of the synagogue. The Mishnah states that this prayer is to be said three
times a day, but of course, it is not known whether this structure reflects earlier practice
or is a later development (m. Ber. 4.1). The debate over the extent of the use of the
Amidah in the first century centers around the question of the editing done under
Gamaliel II at Yavneh, based on two passages from the Talmud that refer to this activity:
Our sages taught: Simeon Hapaquli arranged eighteen benedictions before Rabban
Gamaliel according to [their] order at Yavneh (b. Ber. 28b; b. Meg. 17b).
434
A number
of earlier scholars assumed that the work done at Yavneh was largely editing or
reworking of prayers that had already been in existence during the second Temple period,
and that earlier strands of these prayers could be found in sources from this period,
including the Psalms, Nehemiah, Ben Sira, and even the Dead Sea Scrolls.
435
On the
other end of the spectrum, there are those who want to argue that what was done at
Yavneh was not the reworking of existing prayers, but rather the creation of prayers that
were not known before this time.
436
Levine has argued that both these extremes are
unconvincing and, given the difficult nature of the evidence for pre-70 Jewish prayer, it is
necessary to strike a balance between these two points of view.
437
Certainly the

434
Levine, The Ancient Synagogue, 540.
435
Heinemann, Prayer in the Talmud, 21-24; I. Elbogen, Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive
History (trans. R.P. Scheindlin; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1993), 21-34.
436
Fleischer, On the Beginnings of Obligatory Jewish Prayer, 424-41; T. Zahavy, Three Stages
in the Development of Early Rabbinic Prayer, in From Ancient Israel to Modern Judaism: Intellect in
Quest of Understanding: Essays in Honor of Marvin Fox (ed. J. Neusner et al.;Atlanta: Scholars, 1989),
233-65; H.J. Kugelmass, Jewish Liturgy and the Emergence of the Synagogue as House of Prayer in the
Post-Destruction Era, in O demeures-tu? (Jn. 1, 38): La maison depuis le monde biblique (ed. J.C.
Petit; Quebec: Fides, 1994), 289-301.
437
Levine, The Ancient Synagogue, 543-48.

260
benedictions found in the Amidah have roots in a wide variety of sources, as mentioned
above, and the efforts made at Yavneh had no problem using these earlier traditions. But
there is also some evidence in the rabbinic literature that suggests that this process also
involved creative activity on the part of the sages at Yavneh. As an example, he cites a
debate between Rabban Gamaliel and several other sages regarding what components are
required to be recited daily, indicating that even at this later date, uncertainty still existed
over the form in which the prayer could be said, and whether a fixed form of prayer was
even appropriate (m. Ber. 4.3-4a). Levine thus concludes that the obligatory, daily
Amidah prayer (individual and communal) was first implemented in the period following
the destruction of the Temple under the leadership of Rabban Gamaliel, but the
formulation of these prayers certainly involved some reworking of earlier material.
However, Levine notes that, as has been pointed out by Heinemann, the wording of the
individual prayers continued to develop over the next several generations, and what was
decided upon at Yavneh may have only consisted of the framework, topics, and number
of the blessings contained in the prayer.
438
Certainly any decisions made by the rabbis at
Yavneh did not immediately become standard practice for the first-century Jewish
community.
A.4 Reading of the Torah and Prophets
In his comprehensive work on the origin and development of the synagogue,
Levine surveys the available primary sources that refer both to the Judean and Diaspora

438
Ibid., 548.

261
synagogues and attempts to reconstruct what it is possible to know about what took place
there.
439
It is important to note at the outset that the synagogue appears to have been used
for purposes other than worship; it could serve as a community center of sorts, as well as
a place for study and learning and for dispensing justice. This is especially noticeable
from the references to the synagogue found in the NT texts; many (though not all)
suggest that it is a place for judicial activities.
440
For example, Jesus warns his disciples
that their opponents will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues
(Mt 10:17). He encourages the disciples in a similar way in the Gospel of Luke: When
they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about
how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach
you at that very hour what you ought to say (Lk 12:11-12). Finally, in Acts 22:19, Paul
speaks about his persecution of Christians before his conversion, saying to the risen
Jesus: Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those
who believed in you. So it is important to notice that the NT presents a number of
examples where the synagogue is described as a place where legal proceedings occurred,
and not only a house of prayer and worship.
Regarding the services of worship that would have been held there, Lee Levine
observes that in the first-century CE (pre-70), most of them would have taken place on
the Sabbath or on holidays, and seem to have included the reading and study of the Torah
and Prophets (Josephus [Ag. Ap. 2, 175]; Philo [Embassy 156; Hypoth. 7, 12; Good

439
Ibid., 146-155. This review will for the most part be limited to the pre-70 period, as the nature
of the evidence makes it difficult to distinguish between late first-century practices and those attested in the
rabbinic material that emerges not much later.
440
James W. McKinnon, On the Question of Psalmody in the Ancient Synagogue, Early Music
History 6 (1986): 170-1.

262
Person 81-82 (on the Essene practice)]; Luke 4:16-22 [Jesus reads a passage from Isaiah
in the synagogue in Nazareth]; Acts 13:14-15, 15:21).
441
The passage from Josephus is
worth quoting; in it he refers to the reading of the Torah on every Sabbath within an
assembly of the community:
For ignorance he left no pretext. He appointed the Law to be the most excellent
and necessary form of instruction, ordaining, not that it should be heard once for
all or twice or on several occasions, but that every week men should desert their
occupations and assemble to listen to the Law and to obtain a thorough and
accurate knowledge of it, a practice which all other legislators seem to have
neglected. (Ag. Ap. 2.175)
Philo, although writing from a different locale, describes the Sabbath gathering as
consisting of the reading of the Torah, accompanied by some kind of explanation of the
text by one of the leaders of the community:
What then did he do? He required them to assemble in the same place on these
seventh days, and sitting together in a respectful and orderly manner hear the laws
read so that none should be ignorant of them. And indeed they do always
assemble and sit together, most of them in silence except when it is the practice to
add something to signify approval of what is read. But some priest who is present
or one of the elders reads the holy laws to them and expounds them point by point
till about the late afternoon, when they depart having gained both expert
knowledge of the holy laws and considerable advance in piety. (Hypoth. 7.12-13)
However, despite these references, the circumstances of the introduction of the
reading of the Torah at these services remain unclear; it is not known whether this
Sabbath practice began only as a preparation for a particularly sacred occasion, or
whether only especially meaningful sections of the text were read at first, and then were

441
Levine, The Ancient Synagogue, 145.

263
later expanded to include larger portions.
442
Further, it is clear enough that these
observations made by Josephus and Philo should not be universalized; we do not know
the extent of the practice that they are describing or what was done in specific settings,
whether in Judea or elsewhere. But it is reasonable to conclude that the reading of the
Torah was a centerpiece of synagogue worship, even as early as the first century, and that
the lection was probably followed by some sort of extemporaneous commentary on what
was read.
443

Levine also notes that the evidence for the generally accepted Judean practice of
the reading of the Torah in a three- to three-and-a-half year period (as opposed to only a
one-year consecutive cycle for the reading of the Torah in the Babylonian Talmud) is
available only in sources from the later Roman and Byzantine periods, but he suggests
that this is usually assumed also to have taken place in the pre-70 period. The theory that
the Torah was read consecutively during the Sabbath morning liturgy was first introduced
in the nineteenth century by Adolph Bchler, and has had a number of supporters.
444

The Sabbath readings did eventually evolve into a concrete cycle of readings that could
be followed, as can be seen from the later rabbinic sources; however, there is simply not

442
Ibid., 150.
443
Heather McKay has questioned whether the reading and studying of sacred texts actually
constitutes worship, which she defines as rites and rituals which pay homage, with adoration and awe, to a
particular god or gods. However, she does say that this practice could be considered a form of worship if
it was given a place in a planned session of worship. Her definition has been criticized by a number of
scholars, especially since a planned session of worship is difficult to define for such an early period. See
H.A. McKay, Sabbath and Synagogue: The Question of Sabbath Worship in Ancient Judaism (Religion in
the Graeco-Roman World 122; Leiden: Brill, 1994), 3-4.
444
A. Bchler, The Reading of the Law and Prophets in a Triennial Cycle, JQR 5 (1893): 420-
68; JQR 6 (1894), 1-73. Also see J. Mann, The Bible as Read and Preached in the Old Synagogue (2 vols.;
Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1940-66); A. Guilding, The Fourth Gospel and Jewish Worship: A
Study of the Relation of St. Johns Gospel to the Ancient Jewish Lectionary System (Oxford: Clarendon,
1960), 24-57.

264
evidence of this practice that dates back to the first century CE. Stefan C. Reif has
argued that the proposed reconstructions of these hypothetical lectionaries are
unconvincing, and that the evidence rather suggests that the systems of readings from the
Torah and Prophets remained fluid even as late as the end of the geonic period (589-1038
CE).
445
Similarly, after examining the evidence from both the Babylonian and Jerusalem
Talmuds, J. Heinemann commented that it is not merely a case of being obliged to use
caution in supposing that a fixed triennial lectionary cycle was in existence in the second
-- or first -- century; but rather that such a hypothesis contradicts all available evidence,
and belongs clearly to the realm of fiction.
446
Further, in his discussion of the subject,
Bradshaw has noted a problem with a frequently cited source that is often believed to
give evidence of this practice. A text from the Mishnah (Meg. 4:4) prescribes that on
each Sabbath, at least seven readers must read at least three verses of the Torah each, but
these guidelines are only minimum of what could be done, so there is no way of knowing
how much was done in a particular place or how much further along one synagogue
would be than another.
447
So, regardless of whether this text reflects the time that the
Mishnah was redacted or an earlier period, it does not present a picture of a fixed cycle of
Torah readings that took place in the synagogues, but rather establishes a baseline for
what should be done on the Sabbath gathering for worship. Of course, the absence of an
established cycle of particular readings does not mean that the Torah was not read in the

445
Stefan C. Reif, Judaism and Hebrew Prayer: ew Perspectives on Jewish Liturgical History
(Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1993), 64.
446
J. Heinemann, The Triennial Lectionary Cycle, JJS 19 (1968): 41. For a review of the
scholarship both for and against this position, see Levine, The Ancient Synagogue, 151-2.
447
Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 37.

265
synagogue of the first century CE, but rather that we cannot be sure of the details of these
readings, and that it is likely that there was no fixed order of Torah readings at this point.
The practice of the reading from the Prophets is even more difficult to discuss due
to the lack of evidence regarding what was actually done. The NT contains two instances
of this custom. The first of these is found in Luke 4:17-20, in which Jesus reads from the
book of the prophet Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue:
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the
synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found
the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has
anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to
proclaim the year of the Lords favor. And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to
the attendant, and sat down.
The second mention of this practice in the NT is in Acts 13:14-15, where Paul gives a
speech in the synagogue in Antioch after the reading of the law and the prophets. It is
important to remember that it is not certain in either case whether Luke is describing a
practice of his own day or one that dates back to the lifetimes of Jesus or Paul, and that he
does not give many details about the circumstances of these readings. Levine notes a
further piece of evidence for the reading of the prophets from the Tosefta (t. Meg. 3:1-9),
which provides lists of readings from the prophets for holidays and lists of passages that
are not to be read in public. He affirms that much of this (third-century) tractate does
appear to reflect early practice, but of course we must be careful about using later sources
as evidence of what was done in such an early period.
448
At any rate, despite the

448
Levine, The Ancient Synagogue, 153.

266
suggestions that readings from the prophetic literature were a part of synagogue worship
in the first century, which certainly is a reasonable conclusion, we do not have the
evidence to know how these readings were chosen or the order in which they were read,
whether because of a connection with the Torah reading for that day, or whether they
were read consecutively.
449

A.5 The Use of Psalms
Scholars are divided on whether the OT psalms were used in the worship of the
synagogue as early as the first century AD.
450
This is in part because of the difficult
nature of the evidence and in part because there are suggestions that the singing of hymns
was a part of the worship of at least some Jews in this period (for example, the Hodayot
of the Qumran community). In order to try to answer the related question of whether the
psalms entered Christian liturgical usage from the contemporary synagogue, James
McKinnon has surveyed the evidence for the use of psalms in the pre-70 synagogue, and
his results are fairly negative: there is simply no evidence for their use in the synagogues
of this period, and he concludes that the common assumption that they were used is based
on its supposed appropriateness.
451
He notes that even the later evidence in the
Mishnah and Talmuds regarding particular readings and prayers is silent on the issue of
psalmody, and this silence is striking. The first reference in the primary literature does

449
Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 37.
450
For a positive view of this topic, see W.O.E. Oesterly, The Jewish Background of the Christian
Liturgy, 75; Clifford Dugmore, The Influence of the Synagogue upon the Divine Office (Westminster: Faith,
1944); Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, 36-40.
451
McKinnon, On the Question of Psalmody in the Ancient Synagogue, 182.

267
not appear until the eighth century in Sop 18.1, which lists the seven psalms to be recited
in the daily synagogue service, and even then a justification is added for their use in the
absence of a sacrifice.
452
The only other relevant text is a puzzling reference in the
Mishnah (m. Meg. 2:5) to those who complete a hallel every day, and this hallel is
identified in the Babylonian Talmud as pesukei de-zimrah, or verses of song (b. Shab.
118b). Bradshaw points out that this is the phrase that is later used to refer to Pss 145-50,
but it is not possible to know if this is what the Talmudic phrase is referring to, or which
psalms are alluded to in the Mishnah.
453
Either way, he concludes, it seems that these
texts are referring to private or domestic recitation of these psalms, and are not a
reference to a formal, structured synagogue liturgy. The same can be said for the
description given by Philo of the activities of the Jewish community in Alexandria,
especially since he is narrating what took place on a specific occasion (their reaction to
the arrest of Flaccus) and not providing the details of a service of worship: ...with hands
outstretched to heaven they sang hymns and led songs of triumph to God...all night long
they continued to sing hymns and songs of praise... (Flaccus, 121-22).
In addition to the issue of whether psalms were in use at the daily synagogue
services of the first century is the related question whether we can identify psalms that
may have been used on special occasions. As suggested above, McKinnon argues that
the earliest use of such psalms to appear in the synagogue (for which we have evidence)
is that of the Hallel psalms (113-118).
454
Placing their appearance in the synagogue

452
Ibid., 183.
453
Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 38.
454
Ibid., 185-86.

268
before the destruction of the Temple, or even within the first century, is difficult, but the
many references to the recitation of these psalms at the domestic celebration of the
Passover meal in the Mishnah and in the Babylonian Talmud suggest that it began not
long afterward, although complete certainty is not possible (b. Ber. 9a; m. Pesa 9:3; 10,
6-7; b. Pesa 85b-86a; 115b; 117a). It is noteworthy in this regard that in the gospels of
Matthew and Mark, in which the Last Supper is presented as a Passover meal, these
gospels make an identical statement at the conclusion of the meal: And when they had
sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives (Mk 14:26; Mt 26:30). If the Last
Supper was indeed a Passover meal, then it is likely that this hymn was the Hallel.
455

Further, McKinnon isolates two examples that speak of the usage of the Hallel in the
(slightly later) liturgy of the synagogue. The first of these is from the Gemara of Rosh
ha-Shanah: In the recital of the Torah [in synagogue], one may read and another
translate; what is not allowed is that one should read and two translate. . .in the recital of
Hallel and Megillah even ten may read (27a). The second passage is from the Gemara
of Sotah 30b, which discusses how the song of Moses in Exod 15 should be read. Rabbi
Akiba believed that it should be read as an adult would read the Hallel (with the response
of the congregation being only an Alleluia refrain), but another rabbi argued that it should
be read as a minor reads the Hallel (with each verse repeated).
456
So it does seem to be
the case that the Hallel psalms made their way into domestic Passover celebrations and
those of the synagogue at an early date, but it is difficult to be much more specific about
when this took place.

455
Ibid., 186.
456
Ibid., 184.

269
Therefore, it does not seem that daily psalms were adapted into the liturgy of the
synagogue until many centuries later, or at least there is no evidence for their use there as
early as the first century CE; however, there is some indication that the Hallel psalms
(and possibly others) were incorporated into domestic usage early on, and eventually
these came to be used in the liturgy of the synagogue. In the end, McKinnon tempers his
conclusion by admitting that he is not arguing that the psalms were never heard in the
worship of first-century Jews, and that it is reasonable to believe that psalms were
occasionally sung; the lack of evidence does not allow us to make too strong of a
statement either way. He writes,
If the present study teaches us one thing about the early synagogue, it is that we
cannot think about it in terms of absolutes. Anything was liable to happen
there...and who is to exclude the possibility of occasional psalm-singing? But
what the evidence assembled here does refute...is the conventional notion that
psalmody was a discrete event in an established synagogue liturgical order before
the destruction of the Temple. Daily synagogue psalmody as generally
understood was not instituted until several centuries into the Christian era.
457

A.6 Conclusion
This brief review of prayer, the reading of scripture, and the use of psalmody in
the first-century synagogue has painted a somewhat bleak picture. It appears that at least
through the first century AD, the synagogue service was still developing and had not yet

457
Ibid., 190. He notes that this conclusion is also the one preferred by a number of Jewish
liturgical historians, who do not give much attention to the question of psalmody simply because it is not
discussed in the primary texts. J. Heinemann does not treat this subject in Prayer in the Talmud, and J.
Petuchowski only mentions the Verses of Song as a practice adopted after the Talmudic period. See
The Liturgy of the Synagogue: History, Structure, and Contents, Approaches to Ancient Judaism 3 (ed.
W. Green; Brown Judaic Studies 27; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1983), 25. I would add to this list that Levine
does not mention the usage of psalms in the synagogue until his chapter on Late Roman Palestine, saying
that the psalms once recited in the Temple (Tamid 7.4) were transferred to the synagogue only in this later
period, some time in the third or fourth century. See Levine, The Ancient Synagogue, 200.

270
achieved a fixed and unified form. Further, the limited amount of evidence for such an
early period prevents certainty about the forms that these practices would have taken.
The more secure conclusion is the affirmation that we do not know enough about what
took place in the synagogues of the first century to reconstruct a service of worship with
confidence, or to make certain statements about its nature or extent. It should be
emphasized that this is not to say that individual features of the worship of the synagogue
cannot be reconstructed; certainly there are reliable pieces of evidence from the early
period, and the later liturgy must have some roots in earlier practice. Therefore, it is
possible to argue that individual Christian liturgical practices were borrowed from the
contemporary Jewish synagogue, but these hypotheses must be advanced with caution,
taking into consideration the limited evidence and the questions that remain.


271
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