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Dante, Purgatorio, xxix., 92-105.7.Lion, calf, man, eagle.From this passage is derived the familiarsymbolism of the four Evangelists; Mark seated on a lion, Luke on a steer,Matthew on a man, and John on an eagle.These are varied however.Irenaeus attributes the lion to John, and the eagle to Mark.Augustine thelion to Matthew, the man to Mark.Lion.See on 1 Peter 5:8.Calf (mo>scw|).Compare Luke 15:23.In the Septuagint for an ox or steer.Exodus 22:1; Ezekiel 1:10.Eagle (ajetw~|).See on Matthew 24:28.8.Had (ei+con).The best texts read e]cwn having, the participle in thesingular number agreeing with each one.Each of them (e[n kaq eJautoqen).The best texts place the comma after e[x sixinstead of after kuklo>qen around, and connect kuklo>qen with thesucceeding clause, rendering, are full of eyes round about and within.SoRev.They were full (ge>monta).Read ge>mousin are full.Round about and within.Around and inside each wing, and on the partof the body beneath it.They rest not (ajna>pausin oujk e]cousin).Lit., they have no rest.SoRev.See on give rest, Matthew 11:28; and resteth, 1 Peter 4:14.Holy, etc.Compare Isaiah 6:3, which is the original of the formula knownas the Trisagion (thrice holy), used in the ancient liturgies.In theApostolic Constitutions it runs: Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Hosts!Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory, who art blessed forever, Amen. Afterwards it was sung in the form Holy God, holy Mighty, holyImmortal, have mercy upon us. So in the Alexandrian liturgy, or liturgy ofSt.Mark.Priest. To Thee we send up glory and giving of thanks, and thehymn of the Trisagion, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and ever and toages of ages.People.Amen! Holy God, holy Mighty, Holy and Immortal,have mercy upon us. In the liturgy of Chrysostom the choir sing theTrisagion five times, and in the meantime the priest says secretly theprayer of the Trisagion. God which art holy and restest in the holies,who art hymned with the voice of the Trisagion by the Seraphim, andglorified by the Cherubim, and adored by all the heavenly powers! Thouwho didst from nothing call all things into being; who didst make man afterThine image and likeness, and didst adorn him with all Thy graces; who 1294givest to him that seeketh wisdom and understanding, and passest not bythe sinner, but dost give repentance unto salvation; who has vouchsafedthat we, Thy humble and unworthy servants, should stand, even at thistime, before the glory of Thy holy altar, and should pay to Thee theworship and praise that is meet; receive, Lord, out of the mouth ofsinners, the hymn of the Trisagion, and visit us in Thy goodness.Forgiveus every offense, voluntary and involuntary.Sanctify our souls andbodies, and grant that we may serve Thee in holiness all the days of ourlife; through the intercession of the holy Mother of God, and all the saintswho have pleased Thee since the beginning of the world.(Aloud.) For holyart Thou, one God and to Thee. According to an unreliable tradition this formula was received during anearthquake at Constantinople, in the reign of Theodosius II., through a boywho was caught up into the sky and heard it from the angels.The earliesttestimonies to the existence of, the Trisagion date from the fifth century orthe latter part of the fourth.Later, the words were added, that wascrucified for us, in order to oppose the heresy of the Theopaschites(Qeo>v God, pa>scw to suffer) who held that God had suffered and beencrucified.To this was added later the words Christ our king: the wholereading, Holy God, holy Mighty, holy Immortal, Christ our king thatwas crucified for us, have mercy on us. The formula thus entered into thecontroversy with the Monophysites, who claimed that Christ had but onecomposite nature.Dante introduces it into his Paradiso. The One and Two and Three who ever livethAnd reigneth ever in Three and Two and One,Not circumscribed and all things circumscribing,Three several times was chanted by each oneAmong those spirits, with such melodyThat for all merit it were just reward. Paradiso, xiv., 28-33. When I was silent, sweetest song did flowThrough all the heaven, and my lady tooWith them cried holy, holy, holy! Paradiso, xxvi., 67-69. 1295The interpretations of the symbols of the four living creatures are, ofcourse, numerous and varied.Some of them are: the four Evangelists orGospels; the four elements; the four cardinal virtues; the four faculties orpowers of the human soul; the Lord in the fourfold great events ofredemption; the four patriarchal churches; the four great apostles, thedoctors of the Church; the four principal angels, etc.The best moderninterpreters explain the four forms as representing animated nature man with his train of dependent beings brought near to God, and madepartakers of redemption, thus fulfilling the language of St.Paul, that thecreation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption intothe liberty of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:21; Milligan).Dsterdieck says: The essential idea which is symbolized in the figuresof the four living creatures may be expressed in such words as those ofPsalms 103:22
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