In Christian angelology, thrones (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θρόνος, pl. θρόνοι; Latin: thronus, pl. throni) are a class of angels. This is based on an interpretation of Colossians 1:16.[1] According to 1 Peter 3:21–22, Christ had gone to Heaven and "angels and authorities and powers" had been made subject to him.[2]
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in his work De Coelesti Hierarchia includes the thrones as the third highest of nine levels of angels.[3]
According to the Second Book of Enoch, thrones are seen by Enoch in the Seventh Heaven.[4]
According to Matthew Bunson, the corresponding order of angels in Judaism is called the abalim or erelim,[5] but this opinion is far from universal. The Hebrew word erelim is usually not translated "thrones", but rather "valiant ones", "heroes", or "warriors". The function ascribed to erelim in 2 Isaiah and in Jewish folklore[6] is not consistent with the lore surrounding the thrones.
Thrones are sometimes equated with ophanim since the throne of God is usually depicted as being moved by wheels, as in the vision of Daniel 7:9 (Old Testament). Rosemary Ellen Guiley (1996: p. 37) states that: