Ancient of Days

The Ancient of Days (1794)
Watercolor etching by William Blake

Entrance to the GE Building in New York, adapted from Blake

Ancient of Days is a name for God in the Biblical Book of Daniel: in the original Aramaic Atik Yomin; in the Greek Septuagint Palaios Hemeron; and in the Vulgate Antiquus Dierum.

The title "Ancient of Days" has been used as a source of inspiration in art and music, denoting the Creator's aspects of eternity combined with perfection. William Blake's watercolour and relief etching entitled "The Ancient of Days" is one such example.

In Religion

Judaism

See also The names of God in Judaism

There are many sources for this term, including:

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

Daniel 7:9

Whenever Judgment looms and the forehead of the Impatient One is revealed, the Forehead of the Ancient of Ancients is revealed; Judgment subsides and is not executed.

Idra Rabba, Zohar 3:136b

This term appears three times in the book of Daniel (7:9, 13, 22), and is used in the sense of God being eternal.

The most powerful effect of this particular Name of God stems from the Jewish mystical book the Zohar, the seminal document of Kabbalah that emerged in 13th century Spain. In the Kabbalah there is mention of the Ancient of Ancients, and the Holy Ancient One - Atika Kadisha, variably interpreted as synonymous with the En Sof, the unmanifested Godhead. The Ancient of Days is the manifestation of the Ancient of Ancients within Creation. It refers to the most primary ("ancient") source of Creation in the Divine Will Keter ("Crown").

In 16th century Lurianic Kabbalah, Atik Yomin is systemised as the uppermost Partzuf (Divine "Countenance/Configuration") in the rectification of the World of Atzilut ("Emanation") after the "Shattering of the sephirot Vessels". Keter of Atzilut acts as the guiding Divine motivation in Creation, developing into two partzufim, Atik Yomin (Ancient of Days) and Arich Anpin ("Long Visage/Infinitely Patient One"). Atik Yomin is the inner partzuf of Keter, synonymous with Divine Delight, that enclothes within and motivates Arich Anpin, the outer partzuf of Keter, synonymous with Divine Will. Arich Anpin is said to extend down all levels of Creation in ever more concealed mode as the Divine substratum of everything. The Zohar goes into great detail describing the White Head of God and ultimately the emanation of its anthropomorphic personality or attributes. In the descending realms explained by Luria, the Gulgalta ("Skull"-Keter Will) within Arich Anpin enclothes the Chesed (Kindness) of Atik Yomin, becoming the origin of the lights of the world of Atzilut; the Mocha Stima'ah ("Concealed Brain"-Chokhmah Wisdom) within Arich Anpin enclothes the Gevurah (Severity) of Atik Yomin, becoming the origin of the vessels of the world of Atzilut. The Dikna ("Beard") of Arich Anpin constricts the infinite light originating from Atik Yomin in 13 channels of rectification to lower, relatively finite reality.

Christianity

"The Ancient of Days", a 14th-century fresco from Ubisi, Georgia.

In Eastern Orthodox Christian hymns and icons, the Ancient of Days is sometimes identified with God the Father or occasionally The Holy Spirit; but most properly, in accordance with Orthodox theology he is identified with God the Son, or Jesus Christ. As such, Eastern Christian art will sometimes portray Jesus Christ as an old man, the Ancient of Days, to show symbolically that he existed from all eternity, and sometimes as a young man to portray him as he was incarnate. This iconography emerged in the 6th century, mostly in the Eastern Empire. It was declared by the Russian Orthodox Church at the Great Synod of Moscow in 1667 that the Ancient of Days was the Son and not the Father.

In the Western Church similar figures usually represent only God the Father. Building his argument upon the Daniel passage, Thomas Aquinas identifies the Ancient of Days as the Person of the Father.

In the hymn "Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise", the last two lines of the first verse read:

Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,

Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.

Daniel 7:13-14 says, “I kept on beholding in the visions of the night, and, see there! with the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man happened to be coming; and to the Ancient of Days he gained access, and they brought him up close even before that One. And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin." A visit by the Son of Man to bestow a kingdom and honor on the Ancient of Days would suggest that they are two distinct identities. Among ancient Christian pseudepigrapha, one Book of Enoch states that He who is called “Son of man,” who existed before the worlds were, is seen by Enoch in company with the “Ancient of Days”

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the title Ancient of Days belongs to Adam, the oldest and earliest man, who is also identified with the archangel Michael.

Hinduism

The Sanskrit name, Karttikeya or Skanda, means "always a youth" and is revered as one of the four (or seven) sons of Brahma.

Buddhism

Main article: God in Buddhism

In Buddhism, in the Kevattha Sutta (Digha Nikaya 11), the term "ancient of days" is referred to the creator God Brahma,

"“I am the Great Brahma, the Supreme, the Mighty, the All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Controller, the Creator, the Chief of all, appointing to each his place, the Ancient of days, the Father of all that are and are to be.” ."

In Buddhism, although Brahma or God is respected, he is not regarded as omnipotent or all knowing, but someone in samsara who is subject to ignorance, birth and death (over billions of years) and a disciple of the Buddha.

Bahá’í

In the Bahá’í Faith, 'the Ancient of Days' is one of the titles with which Bahá’u’lláh refers to Himself.

Modern references

In music

• Ancient of Days is a well-known Anglican hymn, also known by its tune, Albany, by William Doane, the first Episcopal bishop of Albany, New York.
• "Ancient of Days" is a song by Van Morrison from his 1984 album A Sense of Wonder
• "Ancient of Days" is a gospel song by Ron Kenoly from his 1992 album Lift Him Up with Ron Kenoly
• "The Ancient of Days", is a 1992 song composed by Gary Sadler and Jamie Harvill.
• The Blake image was used as the cover of a 1978 album by the band Slave
• Ancient of Days is the name of a metal band from Leeds, England.
• Referenced by Tuomas Holopainen in the song "Dead Gardens" on the 2004 release of Once.

In literature

• Science fiction author Michael Bishop wrote a novel called Ancient of Days, about a Homo habilis discovered living in 20th century America.
• The 'Ancient of Days' is a term for God in Phillip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy.
• In the last stanza of his poem "Atlantis," W.H. Auden writes the following: "And may the Ancient of Days provide for all you must do his invisible guidance, lifting up, dear, upon your face the light of his countenance."
• In the book series by the Irish author Michael Scott,The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, from book three, The Sorceress, and onward, Gilgamesh the King, the oldest immortal in the world, is sometimes referred to as the "Ancient of Days."

References

• Cartlidge, David R., and Elliott, J.K.; Art and the Christian Apocrypha, Routledge, 2001, ISBN 0-415-23392-5, ISBN 978-0-415-23392-7, Google books
• The Sorceress by Michael Scott, Delacorte Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-385-73529-2