Angels-THRONES

The thrones, known as “the many eyed ones,” are third in the
Dionysian hierarchy of angels. They are angels of justice and it is their
job to carry out God’s decisions. It is to the thrones that Dionysius
refers when he states that, “God brings his justice to bear upon us.”
The thrones are possibly the most oddly represented of the choirs
in that they are described as fiery wheels. Undoubtedly this description
is based on accounts from the prophet Ezekiel, who around the
year 580 B.C. described a windstorm with a thunderhead that was
glowing in the northern sky. Humanlike winged creatures with four
heads and faces darted with lightning speed across the heavens. He
recounts that they were carried on four wheels whose rims were “covered
with eyes . . . their construction being as it were a wheel within a
wheel.” They were in constant motion “like the noise of great waters .
. . and above their heads [was] the likeness of a throne. . . .” These
angels are believed to be deployed like charioteers around the throne
of God (Ezek. 1:13–19).
Similar accounts are presented by Elijah who was taken to heaven
in a whirlwind and by Enoch who describes these angels as “of the
fiery coals.”
Raphael is thought to be ruler of this realm, which exists either in
the third or fourth heaven. According to Jewish legend, the Hebrew
patriarchs automatically become members of this order of angels upon
reaching heaven.