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{{Short description|Name for God in the Book of Daniel}}
[[File:Europe a Prophecy, copy D, object 1 (Bentley 1, Erdman i, Keynes i) British Museum.jpg|right|thumb|''[[The Ancient of Days]]'' (1794). Watercolor etching by [[William Blake]]. For Blake, however, this was a title of [[Urizen]] (the [[demiurge]] in his [[William Blake's prophetic books|prophetic books]]).]]

'''Ancient of Days'''{{efn|{{langx|tmr|עַתִּיק יֹומִין|ʿattiq yomin}} or {{langx|tmr|עַתִּ֤יק יֽוֹמַיָּא֙|ʿattiq yomayyā}}; {{langx|grc-x-koine|παλαιὸς ἡμερῶν|palaiòs hēmerôn}} or {{lang|grc|ὁ παλαιὸς τῶν ἡμερῶν}}, {{transliteration|grc|ho palaiòs tôn hēmerôn}}; {{langx|la|antiquus dierum}}}} is a [[names of God|name for God]] in the [[Book of Daniel]]. The title "Ancient of Days" has been used as a source of inspiration in art and music, denoting the creator's aspects of [[God and eternity|eternity]] combined with perfection. [[William Blake]]'s watercolour and relief etching entitled ''[[The Ancient of Days]]'' is one such example.

==Judaism==
{{See also|Names of God in Judaism}}

This term appears three times in the [[Book of Daniel]] (7:9, 13, 22),<ref name="Daniel7">{{bibleverse|Daniel|7:9–22}}</ref> and is used in the sense of God being [[God and eternity|eternal]].<ref name="Eastons">{{cite book | title=Easton's Bible Dictionary, "Ancient of Days"| url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/easton/ebd2.html?term=Ancient%20of%20Days| last=Easton| first=M. G.| author-link=Matthew George Easton| year=1897}} "In contrast with all earthly kings, his days are past reckoning."</ref>

{{quote|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.|[[Book of Daniel|Daniel]] 7:9}}

===Kabbalah===
In the [[Zohar]], the seminal document of [[Kabbalah]] that emerged in 13th-century Spain, there is mention of the Ancient of Ancients, and the Holy Ancient One &ndash; Atika Kadisha, variably interpreted as synonymous with the [[Ein Sof]], the unmanifested [[Godhead (Judaism)|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").

{{Quote|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}}

In 16th-century [[Lurianic Kabbalah]], {{transliteration|he|Atik Yomin}} is systemised as the uppermost {{transliteration|he|[[Partzuf]]}} (Divine "Countenance/Configuration") in the rectification of the [[Four Worlds|World]] of [[Atzilut]] ("Emanation") after the "[[Tohu and Tikun|Shattering of the sephirot Vessels]]". Keter of Atzilut acts as the guiding Divine motivation in creation, developing into two {{transliteration|he|partzufim}}, {{transliteration|he|Atik Yomin}} (Ancient of Days) and {{transliteration|he|[[Arich Anpin]]}} ("Long Visage/Infinitely Patient One"). {{transliteration|he|Atik Yomin}} is the inner {{transliteration|he|partzuf}} of Keter, synonymous with Divine Delight, that enclothes within and motivates {{transliteration|he|Arich Anpin}}, the outer {{transliteration|he|partzuf}} of Keter, synonymous with Divine Will. {{transliteration|he|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 [[Anthropomorphism in Kabbalah|anthropomorphic personality or attributes]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/glossary/ancient.html |title=Glossary entry for Ancient of Days |access-date=2007-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702115508/http://www.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/glossary/ancient.html |archive-date=2007-07-02 }}</ref> In the [[Seder Hishtalshelut|descending realms]] explained by Luria, the {{transliteration|he|Gulgalta}} ("Skull"-[[Keter]] Will) within {{transliteration|he|Arich Anpin}} enclothes the [[Chesed]] (Kindness) of {{transliteration|he|Atik Yomin}}, becoming the origin of the lights of the world of {{transliteration|he|[[Atzilut]]}}; the {{transliteration|he|Mocha Stima'ah}} ("Concealed Brain"—[[Chokmah]] Wisdom) within {{transliteration|he|Arich Anpin}} enclothes the {{transliteration|he|[[Gevurah]]}} (Severity) of {{transliteration|he|Atik Yomin}}, becoming the origin of the vessels of the world of {{transliteration|he|Atzilut}}.<ref>[http://www.inner.org/worlds/mocha.htm Recification in Keter of Atzilut] from inner.org</ref> The {{transliteration|he|Dikna}} ("Beard") of {{transliteration|he|Arich Anpin}} [[Tzimtzum|constricts]] the infinite light originating from {{transliteration|he|Atik Yomin}} in [[Thirteen Attributes of Mercy|13 channels]] of [[Tohu and Tikun|rectification]] to lower, relatively finite reality.<ref>[http://www.inner.org/worlds/dikna.htm Rectification in Keter of Atzilut] from inner.org</ref> The [[Merkabah mysticism|Merkabah]] text Re'uyot Yehezkel identifies the Ancient of Days as [[Metatron]].<ref name ="Nathaniel">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yhfMea8gTu4C&q=Daniel+&pg=PA34 | title = Guardians of the Gate: Angelic Vice-regency in the Late Antiquity |pages=45–47 |author= Nathaniel Deutsch | publisher =BRILL| year = 1999| isbn = 90-04-10909-9 | access-date = 5 March 2014}}</ref>

== Christianity ==
===Eastern Christianity===
[[File:Damian. The Ancient of Days.jpg|thumb|''The Ancient of Days'', a 14th-century fresco from [[Ubisi]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]]]

In [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] Christian hymns and icons, the Ancient of Days is sometimes identified with [[God the Father]] or occasionally the [[God the Holy Spirit|Holy Spirit]]; but most properly, in accordance with Orthodox theology he is identified with [[God the Son]], [[Jesus Christ]].

Most of the eastern church fathers who comment on the passage in Daniel (7:9–10, 13–14) interpreted the elderly figure as a prophetic revelation of the Son before his physical incarnation.<ref name="McKay">{{Cite journal|url = http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_early_christian_studies/summary/v007/7.1mckay.html|title = The Eastern Christian Exegetical Tradition of Daniel's Vision of the Ancient of Days|last = McKay|first = Gretchen K.|date = 1999|journal = Journal of Early Christian Studies|volume = 7|pages = 139–161|doi = 10.1353/earl.1999.0019| s2cid=170245894 |url-access = subscription}}</ref>

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, or wise baby, to portray him as he was incarnate. This iconography emerged in the 6th century, mostly in the Eastern Empire with elderly images, although usually not properly or specifically identified as "the Ancient of Days."<ref>Cartlidge and Elliott, 69–72</ref> The first images of the Ancient of Days, so named with an inscription, were developed by iconographers in different manuscripts, the earliest of which are dated to the 11th century. The images in these manuscripts included the inscription "Jesus Christ, Ancient of Days," confirming that this was a way to identify Christ as pre-eternal with the God the Father.<ref>The manuscripts that include an image of the Ancient of Days are discussed in the unpublished dissertation by Gretchen Kreahling McKay, "Imaging the Divine: A Study of the Representations of the Ancient of Days in Byzantine Manuscripts," University of Virginia, 1997.</ref> Indeed, later, it was declared by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] at the [[Great Moscow Synod|Great Synod of Moscow]] in 1667 that the Ancient of Days was the Son and not the Father.<ref>''The Tome of the Great Council of Moscow (1666–1667 A.D.)'', Ch. 2, 43-45; tr. [[Hierodeacon]] Lev Puhalo, ''Canadian Orthodox Missionary Journal''</ref>

===Western Christianity===
In the Western Church similar figures usually represent only God the Father. [[Thomas Aquinas]], for example, identifies the Ancient of Days with God the Father, quoting [[Hilary of Poitiers]]' comment that "eternity is in the Father".<ref>Summa Theologica III.59.1 obj 2, ad 2</ref>

The Book of Daniel also contains a reference to "someone like a son of man", who is brought up close before the Ancient of Days, and to whom are given "rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him" (Daniel 7:13–14). Some Christian commentators have understood this to describe God the Father bestowing rulership over an everlasting kingdom upon Jesus (who is often called "the [[Son of man (Christianity)|Son of man]]"), which would suggest that the Ancient of Days is not identical with Jesus. It has been noted that "Daniel's vision of the two figures is the only one in which the two divine persons are seen face to face".<ref name=McKay/>

Among ancient Jewish [[pseudepigrapha]], the [[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".<ref>{{cite web|title=Book of Enoch|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/deane/pseudepig.iv.html|work=Pseudepigrapha: An Account of Certain Apocryphal Sacred Writings of the Jews and Early Christians|publisher=Christian Classics Etherial Library|access-date=2 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Book of Enoch, Chapter XLVI |url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/boe049.htm |publisher=Sacred Texts.com |access-date=10 May 2021}}</ref>

In the hymn "[[Immortal%2C_Invisible%2C_God_Only_Wise|Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise]]" (lyrics Walter C. Smith, 1867), the last two lines of the first verse read:

{{Poem quote|Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.}}

In the hymn "O Worship the King" (lyrics Robert Grant, 1833), the last two lines of the first verse read: 

{{Poem quote|Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.}}

===Latter-day Saints===
In [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], the title ''Ancient of Days'' belongs to [[Adam and Eve (Latter Day Saint movement)|Adam]], the oldest and earliest man, who is also identified with the [[archangel]] [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]].<ref name="D&C27">{{Mormonverse|D&C|27:11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last= Millet |first= Robert L. |author-link= Robert L. Millet |title= The Man Adam |journal= [[Liahona (magazine)|Liahona]] |date= February 1998 |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/1998/02/the-man-adam?lang=eng }}</ref>

== Urantia ==
According to [[the Urantia Book]], the ''Ancients of Days'' are an order of [[Angelic being|celestial beings]] created by the [[Trinity]] to serve in groups of three as the [[Sovereignty|rulers]] of the [[The Urantia Book#Cosmology|seven superuniverses of time and space]].{{sfn|The Urantia Book|1955|loc=[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Urantia_Book/Paper_18#section3 Paper 18 Section 3]}}
{{quote|The Ancients of Days were all trinitized at the same time. They represent the beginning of the personality records of the universe of universes, hence their name — Ancients of Days. When you reach Paradise and search the written records of the beginning of things, you will find that the first entry appearing in the personality section is the recital of the trinitization of these twenty-one Ancients of Days.|[[The Urantia Book]] 18:3.4 (209.6)}}

== See also ==
* [[Abatur]]—Ancient of Days in Mandaeism
* [[God the Father]]

== Notes ==
{{Noteslist}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
* {{Cite book |last1=Cartlidge |first1=David R.|last2=Elliott |first2=J. K. |year=2001 |title=Art and the Christian Apocrypha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o0LBvOMYArYC&dq=Dura+Europas+Christian&pg=PA240 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-23392-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Michael |year=2009 |title=The Sorceress |publisher=Delacorte Press |isbn=978-0-385-73529-2}}
* {{citation |year=2019 |title=The Urantia Book |ref={{sfnRef|The Urantia Book|1955}} |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Urantia_Book |publisher=[[Urantia Foundation]] |isbn=978-0-911560-07-7}}

{{Time in religion and mythology}}
{{Book of Daniel}}
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[[Category:Biblical phrases]]
[[Category:Book of Daniel]]
[[Category:Christian iconography]]
[[Category:Deities in the Hebrew Bible]]
[[Category:Kabbalah]]
[[Category:Names of God in Christianity]]
[[Category:Names of God in Judaism]]
[[Category:Religious terminology]]