And I John saw&c. Lit. and I John [am] he that saw and heard (or "heard and saw") these things. It is possible to connect these words with the immediately preceding sentence, regarding it, not as a continuation of the angel's speech, but as the beginning of St John's reflexion, "Blessed is he that keepeth the words, &c., and [blessed am] I John, who see and hear these things." It was so understood by St Dionysius of Alexandria in the third century, and this construction is the easiest and smoothest grammatically. But few modern commentators accept this view: it seems inappropriate to the context.

I fell down to worship As at Revelation 19:10. Some suppose that St John is here repeating his statement of what he did then, but it is far more natural to understand that he did the same again. The words "I come quickly" would even more naturally lead him to think that this angel was "He that is to come," than the words of that angel (who may or may not have been the same as this) led him to think that he was the God Whose "true sayings" he communicated.

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