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before believing in Christ. The book was in the right hand of God; the ways of the saints, as I think, of those who acted rightly in the old covenant. The book was closed and sealed with seven seals. The number seven, being perfect, signifies that the book was very securely closed and sealed. What does it mean that the book was closed? That no one was deemed worthy of the vision of God, except for a very few. For how could that which was closed be seen, because of the transgression in Adam? But the majority who were in sins caused the book to be closed. For they were countless compared to the very few who were pleasing to God, †it was opened; both this and the† fact that all boldness toward God was commonly blocked for those written within, since 'they have all turned aside, they have together become worthless,' according to the prophet; for even if a few and easily numbered people acted rightly in the old covenant, still being human, they were not sufficient to restore to all humanity the boldness lost through sin. Wherefore the prophet, knowing this, cried out to God: 'In the morning 77 you will hear the voice of my prayer; in the morning I will stand before you and you will see me,' calling the Epiphany of Christ, the sun of righteousness, an intelligible 'morning' which loosed the darkness of ignorance; as in it humanity would acquire boldness; and in no other way; so as both to be heard when they pray and to be deemed worthy of the vision, since Christ removed the sin that walled us off from God. But before his coming among men, 'every mouth was stopped, and all the world was liable to judgment before God,' according to what is written. Therefore, the lack of boldness of those written in the book, as has been said, shows that the book was closed and sealed. I saw, he says, a strong angel proclaiming, 'Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?' No one, indeed, O most divine angel, one might say to him, but only the incarnate God, who took away sin, and tore up the record that was against us, and by his own obedience healed our disobedience. Fourth Discourse And no one, he says, was able in heaven or on the earth or under the earth to loose the book. For neither did an angel accomplish these things for us, as Isaiah says: 'not an envoy, nor an angel, but he himself saved them because he loved them;' neither a living man, nor any of the dead. 'A brother does not redeem—a man will not redeem,' as it is written somewhere. And why, he says, do I say open the book, when 78 no one among men was even able to look at it? For how could anyone filled with the mist of sin have looked upon the divine throne, on which the book lay? And the unworthiness of all became for me a cause of weeping. But one of the elders consoled me by pointing out the one who opened it. For he says to me, 'Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the book and its seven seals.' He who, he says, conquered our conqueror, the Devil, he opened the book and its seals. Who was the lion of the tribe of Judah? Surely Christ, about whom the patriarch Jacob said: 'Crouching he lay down as a lion, and as a cub; who will rouse him?' And that the Lord arose from Judah according to the flesh, the divine apostle is a witness, saying, 'For it is evident that our Lord Jesus Christ has sprung from Judah;' one might wonder why he did not call him a rod from the root of Jesse, nor a flower that has come up from the root, as Isaiah said, but the root of David. He says this, showing that according to his humanity he was a rod that sprouted from the root of Jesse and David, but according to his divinity, he himself is the root, not only of David, but of all sensible and intelligible creation, as being the cause of all things, as has also been said before. And I saw, he says, in the midst of all those around the throne of God a Lamb standing as though slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth; and he came and took—that is, the book—from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. The Lord is indeed a lamb

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πρὶν ἢ Χριστῷ πιστεῦσαι. τὸ δὲ βιβλίον ἦν ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ· αἱ ὁδοὶ τῶν ἁγίων, ὥς γε οἶμαι, τῶν ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ κατορθωσάντων. τὸ δὲ βιβλίον ἐκέκλειστό τε καὶ ἐσφράγιστο σφραγῖσιν ἑπτά. ὁ ἕβδομος τέλειος ὢν ἀριθμὸς δηλοῖ τὸ λίαν ἀσφαλῶς κεκλεῖσθαι καὶ κατασεσημάνθαι τὸ βιβλίον. τί δὲ τὸ κεκλεῖσθαι τὸ βιβλίον βούλεται; τὸ μηδένα ἐποψίας ἠξιῶσθαι Θεοῦ πλὴν ὀλιγοστῶν. πῶς γὰρ ἐποπτευθείη τὸ κεκλεισμένον, διὰ τὴν ἐν Ἀδὰμ παράβασιν; ἀλλ' οἱ πλείους οἱ ἐν ἁμαρτίαις κεκλεῖσθαι τὸ βιβλίον παρεσκεύασαν. ἦσαν γὰρ ἀμύθητοί τινες ἤπερ οἱ ὀλιγοστοί, οἱ Θεῷ εὐάρεστοι, †ἀνεῶχθαι· τοῦτό τε καὶ τὸ† πᾶσαν κατὰ κοινοῦ ἐμπεφράχθαι παρρησίαν τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν τῶν ἔνδον γεγραμμένων, ἐπεὶ καὶ πάντες ἐξέκλιναν, ἅμα ἠχρειώθησαν, κατὰ τὸν προφήτην· εἰ γὰρ καὶ κατώρθωσαν ὀλίγοι καὶ εὐαρίθμητοι ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ, ἀλλὰ ἄνθρωποι τυγχάνοντες, οὐ γεγόνασιν ἀξιόχρεοι πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις τὴν ἀπολλυμένην ἐκ τῆς ἁμαρτίας παρρησίαν ἀνακαλέσασθαι. ὅθεν τοῦτο ἐπιστάμενος ὁ προφήτης πρὸς Θεὸν ἀνεφώνει· τὸ πρωῒ 77 εἰσακούσῃ τῆς φωνῆς τῆς δεήσεώς μου, τὸ πρωῒ παραστήσομαί σοι καὶ ἐπόψει με, πρωΐαν νοητὴν καλῶν τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιφάνειαν, τοῦ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἡλίου, τὴν λύσασαν τὸν ζόφον τῆς ἀγνωσίας· ὡς ἐν ταύτῃ κτησομένης παρρησίαν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος· καὶ οὐκ ἄλλως· ὥστε καὶ εἰσακούεσθαι προσευχομένους, καὶ ἐποψίας ἀξιοῦσθαι, ἀνελόντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν διατειχίζουσαν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ἁμαρτίαν. πρὸ δέ γε τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιφοιτήσεως αὐτοῦ, ἅπαν στόμα ἐπέφρακτο, καὶ ὑπόδικος ἦν ἅπας ὁ κόσμος τῷ θεῷ κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. τὸ οὖν ἀπαρρησίαστον τῶν ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ γεγραμμένων, ὡς εἴρηται, δηλοῖ τὸ τὴν βίβλον κεκλεῖσθαι καὶ ἐσφραγίσθαι. εἶδόν φησιν ἄγγελον ἰσχυρὸν κηρύσσοντα· τίς ἄξιος ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον καὶ λῦσαι τὰς σφραγῖδας αὐτοῦ; οὐδεὶς μέν, ὦ θειότατε ἄγγελε, εἴποι τις πρὸς αὐτόν, μόνος δὲ ὁ ἐνανθρωπήσας Θεός, ὁ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνελών, καὶ τὸ καθ' ἡμῶν ῥήξας χειρόγραφον, καὶ τῇ οἰκείᾳ ὑπακοῇ τὴν ἡμῶν παρακοὴν ἰασάμενος. Λόγος τέταρτοσ καὶ οὐδείς φησιν ἠδύνατο ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οὐδὲ ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς λῦσαι τὸ βιβλίον. οὔτε γὰρ ἄγγελος ταῦτα ἡμῖν κατώρθωσεν ὥς φησιν Ἡσαΐας· οὐ πρέσβυς, οὐδὲ ἄγγελος, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἔσωσεν αὐτοὺς διὰ τὸ ἀγαπᾶν αὐτούς· οὔτε ἄνθρωπος ζῶν, ἀλλ' οὔτε τις τῶν τεθνηκότων. ἀδελφὸς οὐ λυτροῦταιοὐ λυτρώσεται ἄνθρωπος, καθὼς γέγραπταί που. καὶ τί φησι λέγω ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον, ὁπότε 78 οὔτε βλέπειν τις αὐτὸ ἴσχυε τῶν ἀνθρώπων; πῶς γὰρ ἄν τις τῶν τῇ ἀχλύι τῆς ἁμαρτίας πεπληρωμένων ἐνέβλεψεν ἐνώπιον τοῦ θείου θρόνου, ἐν ᾧ τὸ βιβλίον ἐπέκειτο; ἡ δὲ πάντων ἀναξιότης γέγονέ μοι θρήνων αἰτία. παρεμυθήσατο δέ τις τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ὑποδείξας τὸν ἀνοίξαντα. φησὶ γὰρ πρὸς ἐμέ· ἰδοὺ ἐνίκησεν ὁ λέων ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα, ἡ ῥίζα ∆αυίδ, ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον καὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ σφραγῖδας αὐτοῦ. ὅς φησιν ἐνίκησε τὸν ἡμέτερον νικητήν, τὸν ∆ιάβολον, οὗτος τὸ βιβλίον καὶ τὰς σφραγῖδας ἤνοιξεν. τίς δὲ ὁ λέων ὁ ἐκ τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς ἦν, πάντως ὁ Χριστός, περὶ οὗ ὁ πατριάρχης εἶπεν Ἰακώβ· ἀναπεσὼν ἐκοιμήθη ὡς λέων καὶ ὡς σκύμνος. τίς ἐγερεῖ αὐτόν; ὅτι δὲ ἐξ Ἰούδα τὸ κατὰ σάρκα ἀνατέταλκεν ὁ Κύριος μάρτυς ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος εἰπών, πρόδηλον γὰρ ὅτι ἐξ Ἰούδα ἀνατέταλκεν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός· θαυμάσειε δ' ἄν τις πῶς οὐκ εἶπεν αὐτὸν ῥάβδον ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἱεσσαί, οὐδὲ ἄνθος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης ἀναβεβηκός, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἡσαΐας ἔφη, ἀλλὰ ῥίζαν τοῦ ∆αυίδ. τοῦτό φησι, δεικνὺς ὅτι κατὰ μὲν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ῥάβδος ἦν ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἱεσσαὶ καὶ ∆αυὶδ ἀναβλαστήσας κατὰ δὲ τὸ θεϊκὸν, αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ ῥίζα, οὐ μόνον ∆αυίδ, ἀλλὰ πάσης αἰσθητῆς καὶ νοητῆς κτίσεως, ὡς αἴτιος τῶν ἁπάντων ὑπάρχων καθὼς καὶ πρόσθεν εἴρηται. καὶ εἶδόν φησιν ἐν μέσῳ πάντων τῶν ἀμφὶ τὸν θρόνον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀρνίον ἑστηκὸς ὡς ἐσφαγμένον, ἔχον κέρατα ἑπτὰ καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἑπτά, οἵ εἰσι τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀπεσταλμένοι εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν· καὶ ἦλθε καὶ εἴληφετουτέστι τὸ βιβλίονἐκ τῆς δεξιᾶς τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου. ἀρνίον μὲν τὸν Κύριον