Throne (angel)

Lore & Background

In Christian angelology, thrones are a class of angels based on an interpretation of Colossians 1:16. According to 1 Peter 3:21–22, Christ had gone to Heaven and 'angels and authorities and powers' had been made subject to him. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, in his work De Coelesti Hierarchia, includes the thrones as the third highest of nine levels of angels. According to the Second Book of Enoch, thrones are seen by Enoch in the Seventh Heaven.

Reader's Guide

Thrones occupy a significant place in Christian angelology as the third highest order in the nine-level hierarchy described by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Their name derives from the interpretation of Colossians 1:16, and they are associated with the divine throne. According to Rosemary Ellen Guiley, thrones are also known as ophanim and galgallin, functioning as the actual chariots of God driven by cherubs. They are characterized by peace and submission, with God resting upon them. Depicted as great wheels containing many eyes, they reside in the area of the cosmos where material form begins to take shape. They chant glorias to God, remain forever in his presence, mete out divine justice, and maintain the cosmic harmony of all universal laws. The Hebrew term erelim is sometimes equated with thrones, but this opinion is far from universal, as the word is usually translated 'valiant ones,' 'heroes,' or 'warriors,' and the function ascribed to erelim in Isaiah 33:7 and Jewish folklore is not consistent with the lore surrounding the thrones.

Did You Know?

• Thrones are the third highest of nine levels of angels according to Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite.
• Thrones are sometimes equated with ophanim, as the throne of God is often depicted as being moved by wheels.
• The Hebrew word erelim is usually translated 'valiant ones,' not 'thrones,' and its function in Jewish folklore differs from that of thrones.

Biblical Roots and Scriptural Anchors

The very existence of thrones as a distinct angelic class rests on how early Christian readers interpreted specific passages in the New Testament. Colossians 1:16, which speaks of all things being created through and for Christ, is the verse most commonly cited as the textual seed from which the thrones category grew. A second anchor comes from 1 Peter 3:21–22, where the risen Christ is described as having ascended to Heaven and having angels, authorities, and powers placed under his authority, a formulation that later theologians read as a layered hierarchy of celestial beings. Beyond the canonical texts, the apocryphal Second Book of Enoch contributes a vivid narrative dimension: in that work, the prophet Enoch is granted a vision of the Seventh Heaven, where thrones are explicitly seen as part of the celestial landscape. The naming itself travels across languages—Ancient Greek θρόνος, Latin thronus, and the Hebrew אוֹפַנִּים—reflecting how the concept was translated and adapted as Christian angelology spread through different linguistic and cultural milieus.

Rank Within the Celestial Hierarchy

The most influential structural framework for understanding where thrones sit in the angelic order comes from Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, the writer whose treatise De Coelesti Hierarchia became a cornerstone of Christian angelology. In that work, Dionysius organizes all angels into nine distinct ranks and places the thrones as the third-highest tier in the entire system. This positioning means they stand just below two superior orders yet above the six lower ranks, giving them a role that bridges the most intimate divine presence with the broader machinery of heavenly governance. The fact that Dionysius could assign such a specific ordinal position suggests that by his time the thrones were already a well-recognized category in liturgical and theological discourse, even though their direct scriptural basis remained relatively thin. The nine-level schema he proposed would go on to dominate Western angelic taxonomy for centuries, and the thrones' slot as the third rung became the default reference point for later encyclopedias, commentaries, and devotional literature. Scholars such as Rosemary Ellen Guiley and Matthew Bunson both work within or reference this Dionysian framework when discussing the thrones' functions and relationships to other celestial orders.

The Ophanim Identification and Wheel Imagery

One of the most visually striking aspects of thrones lore is their frequent identification with the ophanim, also spelled offanim or galgallin, a connection rooted in the prophetic vision recorded in Daniel 7:9, where the throne of God is depicted as being set in motion by wheels. Because of this shared imagery, many later writers simply treated thrones and ophanim as interchangeable names for the same class of beings. Rosemary Ellen Guiley, writing in her 1996 Encyclopedia of Angels, offers a rich composite picture: these creatures serve as the actual chariots of God, propelled by cherubs, and are defined by an attitude of profound peace and submission, with God resting upon them. Their physical form is described as enormous wheels studded with countless eyes, and they inhabit the particular zone of the cosmos where raw, formless energy begins to coalesce into material shape. Their eternal occupation involves chanting glorias in God's unbroken presence, dispensing divine justice, and upholding the cosmic harmony that governs every universal law.

Jewish Parallels and the Question of Equivalence

A persistent scholarly question concerns whether a true counterpart to the Christian thrones exists within Jewish angelic tradition. Matthew Bunson, in his reference work Angels A to Z, proposes that the corresponding Jewish order is called the abalim, aralim, or erelim. However, he himself acknowledges that this identification is far from universally accepted among scholars. The central difficulty is linguistic and functional: the Hebrew term erelim is ordinarily rendered as valiant ones, heroes, or warriors rather than thrones, and the duties ascribed to these figures in Isaiah 33:7 and in broader Jewish folklore do not align neatly with the serene, wheel-bearing, justice-met ing character of the Christian thrones. This mismatch highlights a broader pattern in comparative angelology, where categories developed in one religious tradition resist clean mapping onto the taxonomy of another. The Hebrew name אוֹפַנִּים, which does appear in the Christian thrones entry, further complicates the picture, since it overlaps with the ophanim tradition rather than with the erelim. The result is an ongoing debate about how much genuine continuity exists between the two systems.

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