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Etymology
The word
angel in
English is a fusion of the
Old English word
engel (with a hard g) and the
Old French angele. Both derive from the Latin
angelus, and thence the
Koine Greek ἄγγελος - angelos ('messenger') used in the
Septuagint to translate the
Hebrew מלאך
mal'akh (yehowah) "messenger (of Yahweh)"
[1][2]
Judaism
The Bible uses the terms מלאך אלהים (
mal'akh Elohim; messenger of God), מלאך יהוה (
mal'akh Adonai; messenger of the Lord), בני אלוהים (
b'nai Elohim; sons of God) and הקדושים (
ha-qodeshim; the holy ones) to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels. Other terms are used in later texts, such as העליונים (
ha'elyoneem; the upper ones). Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name.
[3]
In post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels came to take on a particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles. Though these
archangels were believed to have rank amongst the heavenly host, no systematic hierarchy ever developed.
Metatron is considered one of the highest of the angels in
Merkabah and
Kabbalist mysticism and often serves as a scribe. He is briefly mentioned in the
Talmud,
[4] and figures prominently in Merkabah mystical texts.
Michael, who serves as a warrior and advocate for Israel (
Daniel 10:13) is looked upon particularly fondly.
Gabriel is mentioned in the
Book of Daniel (
Daniel 8:15–17), the
Book of Tobit, and briefly in the Talmud,
[5] as well as many Merkabah mystical texts. There is no evidence in Judaism for the
worship of angels, but evidence for the
invocation and sometimes even
conjuration of angels.
[6]
...This leads
Aristotle in turn to the demonstrated fact that God, glory and majesty to Him, does not do things by direct contact. God burns things by means of fire; fire is moved by the motion of the sphere; the sphere is moved by means of a disembodied intellect, these intellects being the 'angels which are near to Him', through whose mediation the spheres [planets] move... thus totally disembodied minds exist which emanate from God and are the intermediaries between God and all the bodies [objects] here in this world.
– Guide of the Perplexed II:4, Maimonides
According to
Kabalah, there are 4 worlds and our world is the last world: the world of action (Assiyah). Angels exist in the worlds above as a 'Task' of God. They are an extension of God to produce effects in this world. After an Angel has completed its task, it ceases to exist. The Angel is in effect the task. This is derived from the
book of Genesis when Abraham meets with 3 Angels and Lot meets with 2. The task of one of the Angels was to inform Abraham of his coming child. The other two were to save Lot and to Destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah.
[7]
Famous Angels and their Tasks [8]
Malachim (translation: Messengers) General word for Angel
Michael (translation: who is like God) Performs God's Kindness
Gabriel (translation: The Strength of God) Performs Acts of Justice and Power
Raphael (translation: God Heals) God's healing force
Uriel (translation: God is my light) Leads us to destiny
Seraphim (
translation: The burning ones) Protects the Gates to the
Garden of Eden
Malach HaMavet (translation: the Angel of Death)
HaSatan (translation: the prosecutor) Brings our sins before us in the heavenly court
Chayot HaKodesh (translation: The Holy Beasts)
Ophanim (translation: Orbits) Astrological Influence
HaMerkavah (translation: The Chariot) Transports God's glory
Christianity
Early Christians inherited Jewish understandings of angels. In the early stage, the Christian concept of an angel characterized the angel as a messenger of God. Angels are creatures of good, spirits of love, and messengers of the savior Jesus Christ. Later came identification of individual angelic messengers:
Gabriel,
Michael,
Raphael, and
Uriel. Then, in the space of little more than two centuries (from the third to the fifth) the image of angels took on definite characteristics both in theology and in art.
[9]
By the late fourth century, the
Church Fathers agreed that there were different categories of angels, with appropriate missions and activities assigned to them. Some theologians had proposed that Jesus was not divine but on the level of immaterial beings subordinate to the
Trinity. The resolution of this Trinitarian dispute included the development of doctrine about angels.
[10]
The angels are represented throughout the Christian Bible as a body of spiritual beings intermediate between God and men: "You have made him (man) a little less than the angels..." (
Psalms 8:4,5). They, equally with man, are created beings; "praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts... for He spoke and they were made. He commanded and they were created..." (
Psalms 148:2-5;
Colossians 1:16). The
Fourth Lateran Council (1215) declared that the angels were created beings. The Council's decree
Firmiter credimus (issued against the
Albigenses) declared both that angels were created and that men were created after them. The
First Vatican Council (1869) repeated this declaration in
Dei Filius, the "Dogmatic constitution on the Catholic faith".
Many Christians regard angels as asexual and not belonging to either
gender as they interpret Matthew 22:30 in this way. Angels are on the other hand usually described as looking like male human beings. Their names are also masculine. And although angels have greater knowledge than men, they are not
omniscient, as Matthew 24:36 points out.
[11] Another view is that angels are sent into this world for testing, in the form of humans.
[12]
Interaction with angels
Since the completion of the New Testament, the Christian tradition has continued to include a number of reported interactions with angels. For instance, in 1851
Pope Pius IX approved the
Chaplet of Saint Michael based on the 1751
private revelation from
archangel Michael to the
Carmelite nun Antonia d'Astonac.
[18] And
Pope John Paul II emphasized the role of angels in Catholic teachings in his 1986 address titled "
Angels Participate In History Of Salvation", in which he suggested that modern mentality should come to see the importance of angels.
[19]
As recently as the 20th century, visionaries and mystics have reported interactions with, and indeed dictations from, angels. For instance, the bed-ridden Italian writer and mystic
Maria Valtorta wrote
The Book of Azariah based on "dictations" that she directly attributed to her guardian angel Azariah, discussing the
Roman Missal used for Sunday Mass in 1946 and 1947.
[20]
Iconography
12th-century
icon of the Archangels
Michael and
Gabriel wearing the
loros of the Imperial guards.
The earliest known representation of angels with wings is on what is called the Prince's Sarcophagus, discovered at Sarigüzel, near
Istanbul, in the 1930s, and attributed to the time of
Theodosius I (379-395).
[22]
Saint
John Chrysostom explained the significance of angels' wings: "They manifest a nature's sublimity. That is why Gabriel is represented with wings. Not that angels have wings, but that you may know that they leave the heights and the most elevated dwelling to approach human nature. Accordingly, the wings attributed to these powers have no other meaning than to indicate the sublimity of their nature."
[23]
One of
Melozzo's famous angels from the Basilica dei Santi Apostoli, now in the sacristy of St. Peter's.
From then on, though of course with some exceptions, Christian art represented angels with wings, as in the cycle of mosaics in the
Basilica of Saint Mary Major (432–440).
[24] Four- and six-winged angels, often with only their face and wings showing, drawn from the higher grades of angels, especially
cherubim and
seraphim, are derived from Persian art, and are usually shown only in heavenly contexts, as opposed to performing tasks on earth. They often appear in the
pendentives of
domes or
semi-domes of churches.
Angels, especially the Archangel Michael, who were depicted as military-style agents of God came to shown wearing
Late Antique military uniform. This could be either the normal military dress, with a tunic to about the knees, armour breastplate and
pteruges, but also often the specific dress of the bodyguard of the
Byzantine Emperor, with a long tunic and the
loros, a long gold and jewelled
pallium restricted to the Imperial family and their closest guards. The basic military dress is still worn in pictures into the
Baroque period and beyond in the West (see Reni picture above), and up to the present day in
Eastern Orthodox icons. Other angels came to be conventionally depicted in long robes, and in the later Middle Ages they often wear the vestments of a
deacon, a
cope over a
dalmatic, especially
Gabriel in
Annunciation scenes—for example the
Annunciation in Washington by
Jan van Eyck.
Latter Day Saint beliefs
The
Latter Day Saint movement (generally called "Mormons") view angels as the messengers of God. They are sent to mankind to deliver messages, minister to humanity, teach doctrines of salvation, call mankind to repentance, give priesthood keys, save individuals in perilous times, and guide humankind.
[25]
While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.
He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant....
Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me.
Most angelic visitations in the early
Latter Day Saint movement were witnessed by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, who both claimed (prior to the establishment of the Church) to have been visited by the prophet
Moroni, the Book of Mormon prophet
Nephi,
John the Baptist, and the Apostles
Peter,
James, and
John. Later, at the dedication of the
Kirtland Temple, Smith and Cowdery claimed to have been visited by
Jesus, and subsequently by
Moses,
Elias, and
Elijah.
[31]
People who claimed to have received a visit by an angel include the other two of the
three witnesses:
David Whitmer and
Martin Harris. Many other Latter Day Saints, both in the early and modern church, have claimed to have seen angels, though Smith posited that, except in extenuating circumstances such as the
restoration, mortals teach mortals, spirits teach spirits and resurrected beings teach other resurrected beings.
[32]
New Church (Swedenborgian)
The Christian (Swedish) writer
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) wrote in his book
Conjugal Love that a soul of a man and a soul of a woman who are (happily) united by marriage enter heaven and become an angel. This could be a married couple on earth or a couple that met after their earthly deaths.
[citation needed]
Islam
Islam is clear on the nature of angels in that they are messengers of God. They have no free will, and can do only what God orders them to do. Angels mentioned in the Quran and Hadith include
Gabriel (the angel of revelation),
Michael (Brings food),
Israfel (The horn Blower; signals of the end), Izraail/
Azrael ( the angel of death.), Raqib (Writes good doings), Aatid (Writes bad doings),
Maalik (Guardian of Hell),
Ridwan (Guardian of Heaven),
Munkar and Nakir (Interrogater afterlife).
[citation needed]
Angels can take on different forms. Prophet Muhammad, the last Prophet of Islam, speaking of the magnitude of Angel Gabriel has said that his wings spanned from the Eastern to the Western horizon. At the same time, it is well known in Islamic tradition that angels used to take on human form.
[33]
The following is a Quranic verse that mentions the meeting of an angel with Mary, mother of Jesus: Surah Aal ‘Imran Chapter 3 verse 45
Behold! The angels said: O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name is the Christ Eisa the son of Mariam, held in honour in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those Nearest to God.
– [Al-Qur’an 3:45]
"Angel" is sometimes used as a translation of related concepts in non-Abrahamic traditions.