“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:”
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony that they had given — the fifth seal shifts from the four horsemen's cosmic disturbances to heavenly realities: martyrs' souls beneath God's altar (recall Exodus 29:12, blood poured at the altar's base). Slain for the word of God and testimony establishes that martyrdom results from faithful witness.
Church Fathers on Revelation 6:9
“And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain.” He relates that he saw under the altar of God, that is, under the earth, the souls of them that were slain. For both heaven and earth are called God's altar, as says the law, commanding in the symbolic form of the truth two altars to be made — a golden one within, and a brazen one without. But we perceive that the golden altar is thus called heaven, by the testimony that our Lord…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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