8:3b. And to him was given much incense, in order to offer the prayers of all
the saints upon the golden altar before the throne;
This altar is Christ, upon whom is established every ministering and
holy power and to whom the sacrifices of martyrdom are carried, of whom the
altar was the foreshadowing shown to Moses on the mountain together with the
tabernacle. The incense is the prayers of the saints, as sweet
fragrances to God, as has been said. And before
the throne meaning Christ, clearly the supreme [88] holy powers, as has
been said, on account of the flow of fiery divine love in them and pure wisdom
and knowledge. The interpretation of the names of the supreme powers who
approach God shows precisely that. (Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary
on the Apocalypse, ed. David G. Hunter [trans. Eugenia Scarvelis
Constantinou; The Fathers of the Church 123; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic
University of America Press, 2011], 113)
