Revelation 1:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Through the whiteness of the head, His antiquity, immortality, and the first source of power are indicated. And the head of Christ is God (1 Cor 11:3).

Though He is new for us, He is ancient, or more correctly, pre-eternal. His white hairs bear witness to this.

His eyes, like a flame of fire, enlighten the saints and scorch the impious.

The head of Christ is God (1 Cor 11:3). He is depicted as white because of the brightness of the purity of the Unbegotten, the simple light of the Only-begotten, the pure radiance of the Holy Spirit, and the spotless beauty of righteousness.

He is not called white by chance when He is compared with white wool and snow. This is because of the forgiveness which He continually grants to sinners.

So it is written: "Though your sins be like scarlet, I will make them white as snow; though they be red like crimson, I will make them white as wool" (Is 1:18).

Here wool means a fine woolen cloth from sheep's wool, which was whitened before use.

“His head,” says John, “and His hair were like white wool, like snow.” He says that the white hair is the multitude of those clothed in white garments, that is, the neophytes who have come through baptism.

It is wool because they are Christ’s sheep. It is snow because, as snow falls freely from heaven, so the grace of baptism comes not as the result of any preceding merits.

Those who have been baptized are themselves Jerusalem, which daily descends from heaven like snow. He says that Jerusalem, that is, the Church, descends from heaven because grace is from heaven.

Through this grace she is freed from sinners and united to Christ, the eternal Head and heavenly Bridegroom.

According to John, “His head and hair were white like white wool, like snow.” In Christ the mystery is new in its wondrous manifestation, but by good pleasure it is truly before the ages.

For the divine Apostle wrote of Him: “the mystery hidden from ages and generations, but now revealed to His saints, to whom He was pleased to make it known” (Col 1:26-27).

Thus he shows that the whiteness of His head, likened to wool and snow, is the antiquity of the mystery, which belongs to God’s good pleasure before the ages.

The word εὐδοκία, “good pleasure,” is used in this sense in Luke, for example in the verse often read in Orthodox worship: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure among men” (Lk 2:14).

This took place on the Lord’s Day, the day of rest and repose, the day of stillness and peace. The voice speaking to John was the voice of the Son of God, whose word is heard to the ends of the universe.

The seven lamps signify the seven churches. In their midst stands the majestic Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, clothed in a long robe, the garment of the Jewish high priests and kings, and girded about the chest with a golden belt.

The whiteness of His head and hair signified holy wisdom. It expressed the simplicity and purity of His thoughts and the antiquity of His years.

Whiteness of hair usually serves as a sign of old age and dignity. In the form that appeared, this sign corresponded to the fact that Jesus Christ is true God of true God, eternal from the eternal (Jn 8:57-58).

"And His eyes were like a flame of fire." This meant that before His gaze nothing is hidden or dark, and that He burns with wrath against every iniquity. Compare below, Rev 19:11-12.

Turning toward the voice, John saw Christ standing in the midst of the seven lampstands. They served as the symbol of the whole Church, in whose midst Christ abides.

In Christ’s outward appearance the Apostle noticed a great change in comparison with Christ’s former appearance. Since through the Resurrection Christ received a glorified body, He now appears not as the Son of Man simply, but only as one like Him.

He wears the long high-priestly garment, ποδήρης; compare Ex 18:4. He also wears the golden belt of a king. It is not properly for girding oneself for work or travel, but only for adornment, since it is fastened on the chest.