Angelic · First Sphere · c. 80 CE
Thrones
Also called Ophanim, Wheels, Galgalim · also recorded as θρόνος, thronus (per Wikidata)
The wheels of the chariot — rings of fire studded with eyes, on which divine justice is said to be seated.
Deep source base
Pseudo-Dionysius names this choir from Colossians' list of 'thrones, dominions, principalities and powers', and reads the word literally: they are the seat, the place where God rests, and so the choir associated with impartial judgment. Jewish tradition identifies them with the ophanim, the wheels of Ezekiel's chariot, which move without turning and are rimmed with eyes. The two identifications sit awkwardly together and later writers generally assert both without reconciling them.
Identity
Where does the name come from?
Where it was actually worshipped
No site of its own. Angels are venerated in the liturgy — a feast day, a dedication, a name in a prayer — rather than housed at a place the way a god is.
A figure with temples and a figure that only ever existed on a page are different kinds of thing, and the difference is easy to lose once both are entries in a list.
At a glance
Vitals
Vitals
Also known as
- First attested
- New Testament · c. 50–110 CE
- Rank
- Third Choir
- Order
- First Sphere
- Base of operations
- No site of its own. Angels are venerated in the liturgy — a feast day, a dedication, a name in a prayer — rather than housed at a place the way a god is.
- Era
- c. 80 CE
- Traditions
- Christian, Jewish
- Placed in
- The Nine ChoirsThe Ten Ranks
Traits
- Domain
- Divine justice, the seat of judgment
- Traditional form
- Burning wheels rimmed with eyes
- Sphere
- First
2 attributed
What is it said to do?
Where these powers cluster
The 2 offices attributed to Thrones, grouped by kind. Segment width is the share of powers falling in each category.
A bar dominated by one colour means a specialist; an even spread means a figure the sources credit with almost anything.
- martial1
- social1
5 texts
Which texts say so, and where do they disagree?
When these texts were written
Each dot is one of the 5 texts that names Thrones, placed at that text's approximate date.
A wide spread means the figure was carried across many centuries and traditions; a tight cluster means a single period produced the whole record.
5 texts spanning roughly 1,190 years
Where the texts differ
- Name: given as Thrones, Ophanim
- Rank: given as Created power; Third choir of the first sphere; Second of ten ranks
- Position in list: 3, 2 depending on the text
Listed among the invisible powers created through Christ.
Free from all base attachment, they bear God and are open to receive him.
One of the nine orders as Gregory enumerates them, named for the office it performs rather than for its rank in contemplation.
Second only to the Chayot ha-Kodesh.
Placed among the nine orders and assigned a degree of illumination, in the question on the angelic hierarchies (I, q. 108).
Connections
What is it connected to?
Commands Dominions
Pseudo-Dionysius places the Thrones at the foot of the first triad and the Dominions at the head of the second, so illumination crosses from one triad to the next here. The claim is transmission of light and knowledge, not command in any military sense.
Commanded by Cherubim
the Cherubim stand immediately above the Thrones within the first triad, and illuminate them. The claim is transmission of light and knowledge, not command in any military sense.
Placement
Where does it sit in the hierarchies?
Answered from the sources
Common questions
Which texts mention Thrones?
What rank is Thrones?
How else is Thrones spelled?
What is Thrones said to do?
How old is Thrones?
Nearest in the corpus
If Thrones is what you came for, these are next
Chosen by proximity rather than by popularity: the same pantheon first, then the same rank, then the same kind of figure.
Cherubim
Second Choir · First Sphere
Guardians of thresholds and bearers of the throne — four-faced in Ezekiel, flanking the mercy seat in Exodus, and nothing at all like the winged infants of later art.
Dominions
Fourth Choir · Second Sphere
The administrative choir: they regulate the duties of lower angels and never act directly on the created world.
Gabriel
Archangel · Archangels / Chief Princes
The messenger. The angel who explains Daniel's visions, announces two births in Luke, and in Islam delivers the entire Qur'an.
Michael
Archangel · Archangels / Chief Princes
The warring archangel: prince of Israel in Daniel, captain of the host in Revelation, and the only angel the New Testament calls an archangel outright.
Seraphim
First Choir · First Sphere
Six-winged and burning, they attend the throne directly and sing the trisagion. Their name is the Hebrew verb 'to burn'.
Angels
Ninth Choir · Third Sphere
The ninth and closest of the angelic choirs: the ordinary messengers who deal with individual people, and the only rank most human accounts ever describe meeting.
The books behind Thrones
Every claim on this profile is attributed to one of these. They are public domain, listed oldest first, and each links to a full text where one is freely available.
New Testament
Various · c. 50–110 CE · Koine Greek
Read New Testament in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Wikimedia file page
De Coelesti Hierarchia (The Celestial Hierarchy)
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite · c. 500 CE · Greek
Read De Coelesti Hierarchia (The Celestial Hierarchy) in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Unknown author · Wikimedia file page
Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 34
Gregory the Great · c. 590 CE · Latin
Read Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 34 in full ↗Cover: CC0 · British Library · Wikimedia file page
Mishneh Torah, Yesodei ha-Torah
Moses Maimonides · c. 1180 · Hebrew
Read Mishneh Torah, Yesodei ha-Torah in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Blaisio Ugolino · Wikimedia file page
Summa Theologiae, Treatise on the Angels
Thomas Aquinas; tr. Fathers of the English Dominican Province · c. 1265-1274 · Latin
Read Summa Theologiae, Treatise on the Angels in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Wikimedia file page
Corpus last revised 29 August 2026. A reference site’s credibility rests on being maintained, so this is the date the sourced records last changed — not the date the page was rebuilt.