{The four and twenty elders} (hoi eikosi tessares
presbuteroi). They follow the living creatures (verse  15 , if
correctly interpreted) in their adoration, as in  4:9ff . Though
seated on thrones of their own ( 4:4 ), yet they fall upon their
faces in every act of worship to God and Christ ( 4:10  5:8,14  19:4 ). Here epi ta pros(9370)a aut(936e) (upon their faces) is added
as in  7:11  about the angels. The elders here again represent
the redeemed, as the four living creatures the forces of nature,
in the great thanksgiving here (eucharistoumen, present active
indicative of euchariste(935c)).