Revelation 4 in the early church

[Vulgate: Apocalypse]

58 passages quote, allude to, or echo Revelation 4, grouped by verse; passages on the same verse are in date order. Verse text from the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). References use the Protestant English Bible's numbering, with a writer's own numbering in brackets where it differs.

Verses: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11

Revelation 4:1

After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.”
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:1	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.1 · Victorinus of Pettau	quotation, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:1	Exposition of Psalm 118 8.61.2 · Ambrose	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 386-397

Revelation 4:2

At once I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne standing in heaven, with someone seated on it.
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:2	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.1 · Victorinus of Pettau	quotation, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:2	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.2 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:2–4	Poem 6 (To Flavius Felix on the Resurrection of the Dead), lines 174–199 · Anonymous	allusion, medium confidence	4th-5th cent. (disputed)

Revelation 4:3

The One seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow that gleamed like an emerald encircled the throne.
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:3	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.2 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century

Revelation 4:4

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on these thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads.
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:4	Miscellanies 6.13.106 · Clement of Alexandria	allusion, high confidence	ca. 198–203
Rev 4:4	Miscellanies 6.13.107 · Clement of Alexandria	allusion, high confidence	ca. 198–203
Rev 4:4	The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity 5 · Anonymous	allusion, high confidence	203
Rev 4:4	On the Crown 15 · Tertullian	allusion, high confidence	211
Rev 4:4	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.3 · Victorinus of Pettau	quotation, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:4	On the Making of the World 10 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:4	Apostolic Church Order 18 · Anonymous	allusion, high confidence	ca. 300
Rev 4:4	On the Christian Faith 5.6 · Ambrose	quotation, high confidence	ca. 378–380
Rev 4:4	Formulae of Spiritual Understanding 10 · Eucherius of Lyon	quotation, high confidence	ca. 420-430
Rev 4:4	The Conferences 24.1 · John Cassian	allusion, high confidence	ca. 426–429

Revelation 4:5

From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder. Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven spirits of God.
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:5	Fragment 59 (on the seven spirits of Rev 4:5) · Clement of Alexandria	quotation, high confidence	late 2nd-early 3rd century
Rev 4:5	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.6 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:5	On the Making of the World 8 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century

Revelation 4:6

And before the throne was something like a sea of glass, as clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, covered with eyes in front and back.
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:6–7	On Ezekiel (Syriac fragment I, on Ezek 1:5-10) · Hippolytus of Rome	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 200-235
Rev 4:6	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.2 · Victorinus of Pettau	quotation, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:6	On the Making of the World 3 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:6–8	Letter 64.20 · Jerome	allusion, high confidence	ca. 370–419
Rev 4:6	City of God 20.16 · Augustine of Hippo	quotation, high confidence	413–426
Rev 4:6–8	Prayers 1–30 · Orientius of Auch	allusion, high confidence	5th-6th century(?)

Revelation 4:7

The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight.
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:7	Against Heresies 3.11.8 · Irenaeus of Lyons	quotation, high confidence	ca. 180–190
Rev 4:7	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.3 · Victorinus of Pettau	quotation, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:7	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.4 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:7	On the Making of the World 3 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:7	On the Orthodox Faith against the Arians 6 · Gregory of Elvira	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 360-392
Rev 4:7–8	Book of Heresies 139.1 · Philastrius of Brescia	allusion, high confidence	ca. 380s
Rev 4:7	Sermon 210.5 · Augustine of Hippo	allusion, high confidence	ca. 391-430
Rev 4:7	Against Jovinianus 1.26 · Jerome	allusion, high confidence	393
Rev 4:7	The Harmony of the Gospels 1.9 · Augustine of Hippo	allusion, high confidence	ca. 399–400
Rev 4:7	The Harmony of the Gospels 4.11 · Augustine of Hippo	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 399–400
Rev 4:7	Tractates on the Gospel of John 36.5 · Augustine of Hippo	allusion, high confidence	ca. 406–420
Rev 4:7	Book 1, lines 337–368 · Sedulius	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 425-450
Rev 4:7	Book 1, section 31 · Sedulius	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 425-450

Revelation 4:8

And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:8	Martyrdom of Polycarp 14.1 · Anonymous	echo, low confidence	ca. 156–160
Rev 4:8	On Prayer 3 · Tertullian	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 198–206
Rev 4:8	The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity 5 · Anonymous	allusion, high confidence	203
Rev 4:8	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.3 · Victorinus of Pettau	quotation, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:8	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.5 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:8	Poem 6 (To Flavius Felix on the Resurrection of the Dead), lines 174–199 · Anonymous	echo, medium confidence	4th-5th cent. (disputed)
Rev 4:8	Letter 94.6 · Augustine of Hippo	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 386–430
Rev 4:8	Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.2.1 · Ambrose	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 387-397
Rev 4:8	Letters 45.6 · Paulinus of Nola	allusion, high confidence	ca. 394–413
Rev 4:8	Confessions 12.7 · Augustine of Hippo	quotation, medium confidence	ca. 397–401
Rev 4:8	Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 5 · Rufinus of Aquileia	quotation, high confidence	ca. 404

Revelation 4:9

And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:9	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.7 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century

Revelation 4:10

the twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:10	Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.7 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, high confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:10	On the Making of the World 10 · Victorinus of Pettau	allusion, medium confidence	late 3rd century
Rev 4:10	Old Testament list · Anonymous	quotation, high confidence	ca. 360
Rev 4:10	Letter 94.6 · Augustine of Hippo	allusion, high confidence	ca. 386–430
Rev 4:10	Letters 45.6 · Paulinus of Nola	allusion, high confidence	ca. 394–413
Rev 4:10	Sermon 6 · Peter Chrysologus	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 425-450
Rev 4:10	The Conferences 24.1 · John Cassian	allusion, high confidence	ca. 426–429

Revelation 4:11

“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things; by Your will they exist and were created.”
BSB

Reference	Passage	Kind	Date
Rev 4:11	Didache 10.3 · Anonymous	allusion, medium confidence	ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100)