are representative of the saints. If this were not the case, mention of the saints in heaven would have been neglected. The traditional interpretation of the twenty-four elders is that this number is the total of twelve times two, namely, twelve Old Testament patriarchs and twelve New Testament apostles, the representatives of those redeemed by Christ. Victorinus of Pettau in Pannonia (modern Hungary), who died in 304, first suggested this view in his commentary on the Apocalypse. Many modern scholars