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Document Details : Title: Angels as Letter Couriers in Rev 1,4-3,22? Subtitle: The Symbolism of Royal Letters Author(s): PITTA, Antonio Journal: Biblica Volume: 102 Issue: 1 Date: 2021 Pages: 106-125 DOI: 10.2143/BIB.102.1.3289357 Abstract : The system for the transmission of edicts in epistolary form under the Roman Principate seems to shed new light on the long-standing enigma of the angels in Rev 1,4-3,22. The angels in the section are not human beings but supernatural beings who are sent as symbolic epistolary couriers to churches convened in the main tax districts of Asia. The symbolic secretary (John of Patmos) is ordered to write the edicts dictated by the Ruler of kings and to hand them over to the angelic couriers who will then deliver them to the churches. Without the letter courier, the symbolic Ruler could not have governed his churches in absentia, and the secretary would have performed a useless task. The hyperbaton, the associative dative case and the genitive of direction require a new translation of Rev 2,1a and par: 'With the courier to the church that is in Ephesus, write […]'. |
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