Angels
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 which in turn is the
romanization of the
ancient Greek ἄγγελος (
ángelos[5]), "messenger",
[6] which is related to the Greek verb
ἀγγέλλω (
angéllō), meaning "bear a message, announce, bring news of" etc.
[7] The earliest form of the word is the
Mycenaean a-ke-ro attested in
Linear B syllabic script.
[8][9]
[edit]Judaism
The Bible uses the terms מלאך אלהים (
mal’āk̠ Elohim ’ĕlōhîm; messenger of God), מלאך יהוה (
mal’āk̠ YHWH; messenger of the Lord), בני אלהים (
bənēElohim ’ĕlōhîm; sons of God) and הקודשים (
haqqôd̠əšîm; the holy ones) to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels. Later texts use other terms, such as העליונים (
hā‘elyônîm; the upper ones).
The term
מלאך (
Malak mal’āk̠) is also used in the
Tanakh; a similar term,
ملائكة (
malā’ikah), is used in the
Qur'an. The Greek and Hebrew words, depending on the context may refer either to a human messenger or a supernatural messenger. The human messenger could possibly be a prophet or priest, such as
Malachi, "my messenger", and the Greek superscription that the
Book of Malachi was written "by the hand of his messenger" ἀγγήλου
angḗlou. Examples of a supernatural messenger
[10] are the "
Malak YHWH," who is either a messenger from God,
[11] an aspect of God (such as the
Logos),
[12] or God himself as the messenger (the "
theophanic angel.")
[10][13]
Scholar
Michael D. Coogan notes that it is only in the late books that the terms "come to mean the benevolent semidivine beings familiar from later mythology and art."
[14] Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name,
[15] mentioning
Gabriel (God's primary messenger) in Daniel 9:21 and
Michael (the holy fighter) in Daniel 10:13. These angels are part of Daniel's apocalyptic visions and are an important part of all apocalyptic literature.
[14] Coogan explains the development of this concept of angels: "In the postexilic period, with the development of explicit monotheism, these divine beings—the 'sons of God' who were members of the
Divine Council— were in effect demoted to what are now known as 'angels', understood as beings created by God, but immortal and thus superior to humans."
[14] This conception of angels is best understood in contrast to
demons and is often thought to be "influenced by the ancient Persian religious tradition of
Zoroastrianism, which viewed the world as a battleground between forces of good and forces of evil, between light and darkness."
[14] One of these is
hāšāṭān, a figure depicted in (among other places) the
Book of Job.
Philo of Alexandria identifies the angel with the Logos as far as the angel is the immaterial voice of God. The angel is something different than God Himself, but is conceived as God's instrument.
[16]
In post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels took on particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles. Though these
archangels were believed to rank among 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[17] 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,
[18] as well as in many Merkabah mystical texts. There is no evidence in Judaism for the
worship of angels, but there is evidence for the
invocation and sometimes even
conjuration of angels.
[19]
"...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 for the Perplexed II:4, Maimonides
According to
Kabalah, there are four 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 three angels and Lot meets with two. 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.
[20]
[edit]Famous angels and their tasks
[edit]Individual angels
One of
Melozzo's musician (seraphim) angels from the Basilica dei Santi Apostoli, now in the sacristy of St. Peter's Basilica
- Lucifer (translation: First Light of the Morning; Morning Star), God's first living creation. Most beautiful, betrayer of the hosts of heaven.
- Michael (translation: who is like God?), performs acts of justice and power
- Gabriel (translation: the strength of God), performs God's kindness
- Raphael (translation: God Heals), God's healing force
- Uriel (translation: God is my light), leads us to destiny
- Samael (translation: the severity of God), angel of death—see also Malach HaMavet (translation: the angel of death)
- Sandalphon (translation: bringing together), battles Samael and brings humankind together
- Camael/Chamuel (translation: one who seeks God), expelled Adam from the Garden of Eden and punishes those who transgress against God
- Sataniel/Satan (translation: the adversary),[22] tempts humans, serves as an adversary, and brings people's sins before them in the heavenly court
- Metatron (translation is disputed, may mean "keeper of the watch", "guardian", or "he who sits behind the throne of Heaven"), God's heavenly scribe recording the deeds of all that is done in Earth and Heaven and all of Creation.
[edit]Jewish angelic hierarchy
Maimonides, in his
Yad ha-Chazakah: Yesodei ha-Torah, counts ten ranks of angels in the Jewish angelic hierarchy, beginning from the highest:
[edit]Christianity
Early Christians inherited Jewish understandings of angels, which in turn may have been partly inherited from the Egyptians.
[23] 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.
[24] Later came identification of individual angelic messengers:
Gabriel,
Michael,
Raphael,
Uriel, and
Lucifer. 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.
[25]
By the late fourth century, the
Church Fathers agreed that there were different categories of angels, with appropriate missions and activities assigned to them. There was, however, some disagreement regarding the nature of angels. Some argued that Angels had physical bodies,
[26] while some maintained that they were entirely spiritual. Some theologians had proposed that angels were 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.
[27]
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). Some Christians believe that angels are created beings, and use the following passage as evidence: "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". Of note is that the Bible describes the function of angels as "messengers" and does not indicate when the creation of angels occurred.
[28][29]
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 depicted in painting and sculpture 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.
[33] Christian art perhaps reflects the descriptions in
Revelation 4:6–8 of the
Four Living Creatures (
Greek:
τὰ τέσσαρα ζῷα) and the descriptions in the Hebrew Bible of
cherubim and
seraphim (the
chayot in
Ezekiel's
Merkabah vision and the Seraphim of
Isaiah). However, while cherubim and seraphim have wings in the Bible, no angel is mentioned as having wings.
[34]
[edit]Interaction with angels
Since the completion of the New Testament, the Christian tradition has continued to include 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.
[41] 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.
[42]
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.
[43]
[edit]Latter Day Saints
Adherents of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (generally referred to as "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.
[44]
"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 in 1830) to have been visited by the prophet
Moroni,
John the Baptist, and the Apostles
Peter,
James, and
John. Later, at the dedication of the
Kirtland Temple, Smith and
Oliver Cowdery claimed to have been visited by
Jesus, and subsequently by
Moses,
Elias, and
Elijah.
[50] Angels are typically depicted in Mormon art as having no wings based on a quote from Joseph Smith ("An angel of God never has wings").
[51]
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.
[52]
Depiction of an angel in Islamic Persian miniature
Angels (
Arabic:
ملائكة ,
Malāʾikah) are mentioned many times in the
Qur'an and
Hadith. 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. An example of a task they carry out is that of testing individuals by granting them abundant wealth and curing their illness.
[53] Believing in angels is one of the six
Articles of Faith in
Islam.
Some examples of angels in Islam:
- Jibrail: the archangel Gabriel (Jibra'il) is an archangel who serves as a messenger from God.
- Michael: the angel of nature.
- Darda'il: the angels who travel in the earth searching out assemblies where people remember God’s name. Harut and Marut are two angels mentioned in Qur'an, who were sent down to test the people at Babylon.
- Kiraman Katibin: the two angels who record a person's good and bad deeds.
- Mu'aqqibat: a class of guardian angels who keep people from death until its decreed time.
- Malak Al-maut: the angel of death.
- Munkar and Nakir: the angels who test the faith of the dead in their graves. They ask the soul of the dead person questions. If the person fails the questions, the angels make the man suffer until the Day of Judgement. If the soul passes the questions, he will have a pleasant time in the grave until the Day of Judgement.
- Israfil: the angel that will blow the trumpet on the Day of Judgement, or Al-Qiyama.
- Ridwan: the angel in charge of maintaining Jannah or Paradise.
- Maalik: the angel who keeps or guards hellfire.
[edit]Bahá'í Faith
In his
Book of Certitude Bahá’u’lláh, founder of the Bahá’í Faith, describes angels as people who "have consumed, with the fire of the love of God, all human traits and limitations", and have "clothed themselves" with angelic attributes and have become "endowed with the attributes of the spiritual".
'Abdu’l-Bahá describes angels as the "confirmations of God and His celestial powers" and as "blessed beings who have severed all ties with this nether world" and "been released from the chains of self", and "revealers of God’s abounding grace". The Bahá’í writings also refer to the
Concourse on High, an angelic host, and the
Maid of Heaven of Bahá’u’lláh's vision.
[54]
[edit]Neoplatonism
In the commentaries of
Proclus (4th C, under Christian rule) on the
Timaeus of
Plato, Proclus uses the terminology of "angelic" (
aggelikos) and "angel" (
aggelos) in relation to metaphysical beings. According to
Aristotle, just as there is a
First Mover,
[55] so, too, must there be spiritual secondary movers.
[56]
[edit]Zoroastrianism
In
Zoroastrianism there are different angel-like figures. For example, each person has one
guardian angel, called
Fravashi. They patronize human beings and other creatures, and also manifest God’s energy. The
Amesha Spentas have often been regarded as angels, although there is no direct reference to them conveying messages,
[57] but are rather emanations of
Ahura Mazda ("Wise Lord", God); they initially appear in an abstract fashion and then later became personalized, associated with diverse aspects of the divine creation.
[58]
[edit]Sikhism
In So Dar and Raag Asa
Sat Guru Nanak mentions Chitragupta as the angel who record the deeds of men.
[60][61]
[edit]Brahma Kumaris
[edit]Theosophy
In the teachings of
Theosophy,
Devas are regarded as living either in the
atmospheres of the
planets of the
solar system (
Planetary Angels) or inside the
Sun (
Solar Angels) (presumably other
planetary systems and
stars have their own angels) and they help to guide the operation of the processes of
nature such as the process of
evolution and the growth of
plants; their appearance is reputedly like colored flames about the size of a human. It is believed by Theosophists that devas can be observed when the
third eye is activated. Some (but not most) devas originally incarnated as
human beings.
[66]
It is believed by Theosophists that
nature spirits,
elementals (
gnomes,
undines,
sylphs, and
salamanders), and
fairies can be also be observed when the
third eye is activated.
[67] It is maintained by Theosophists that these less evolutionarily developed beings have never been previously incarnated as humans; they are regarded as being on a separate line of spiritual evolution called the “deva evolution”; eventually, as their
souls advance as they
reincarnate, it is believed they will incarnate as devas.
[68]
[edit]Hermetic Qabalah
According to the
Kabbalah as described by the
Golden Dawn there are ten
archangels, each commanding one of the choir of angels and corresponding to one of the
Sephirot. It is similar to the Jewish angelic hierarchy.
[edit]Contemporary belief in angels
A 2002 study based on interviews with 350 people, mainly in the UK, who said they have had an experience of an angel, describes several types of such experiences: visions, sometimes with multiple witnesses present; auditions, e.g. to convey a warning; a sense of being touched, pushed, or lifted, typically to avert a dangerous situation; and pleasant fragrance, generally in the context of somebody's death. In the visual experiences, the angels described appear in various forms, either the "classical" one (human countenance with wings), in the form of extraordinarily beautiful or radiant human beings, or as beings of light.
[72]
In the US, a 2008 survey by
Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, published by
TIME magazine,
[73][74] which polled 1,700 respondents, found that 55 percent of Americans, including one in five of those who say they are not religious, believe that they have been protected by a guardian angel during their life. An August 2007
Pew poll found that 68 percent of Americans believe that "angels and demons are active in the world",
[75] and according to four different polls conducted in 2009, a greater percentage of Americans believe in angels (55%) than those who believe in
global warming (36%).
[76][77]
According to the
Gallup Youth Survey, in a
Teen Belief in the Supernatural poll in 1994, 76% of 508 teenagers (aged 13–17) believe in angels, a greater percentage than those who believe in astrology, ESP, ghosts, witchcraft, clairvoyance, Bigfoot, and vampires. In 1978, 64% of American young people believed in angels; in 1984, 69% of teenagers believed in angels; and by 1994, that number grew to 76%, while belief in other supernatural concepts, such as the
Loch Ness monster and
ESP, has declined. In 1992, 80% of 502 surveyed teenage girls believe in angels, and 81% of Catholic teens and 82% of regular church attendees harbored beliefs in angels.
[78][79] According to another set of Gallup polls, designated towards all Americans, in 1994, 72% of Americans said they believed in angels, while in 2004, 78% of the surveyed Americans indicated belief in angels, with the percentage of Americans that did not believe in angels dropping from 15% to 10%, and the percentage of Americans that were "not sure" dropping from 13% to 11%.
[80][81]
A 2008 survey of over 1000 Canadians found 67 percent believe in angels.
[82]
[edit]Angels in art
Main article:
Angels in art
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 the "Prince's Sarcophagus", discovered in the 1930s at Sarigüzel, near
Istanbul, and attributed to the time of
Theodosius I (379–395).
[84] From that period on, Christian art has represented angels mostly with wings, as in the cycle of mosaics in the
Basilica of Saint Mary Major (432–440).
[85] Four- and six-winged angels, drawn from the higher grades of angels (especially
cherubimand
seraphim) and often showing only their faces and wings, 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 church
domes or
semi-domes. Prior of the Judeo-Christian tradition in the Greek world, the Greek goddess
Nike and the god
Eros were also depicted in human-like form with 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."
[86]
In terms of their clothing, angels, especially the Archangel Michael, were depicted as military-style agents of God and came to be shown wearing
Late Antique military uniform. This uniform could be the normal military dress, with a tunic to about the knees, an armour breastplate and
pteruges, but was often the specific dress of the bodyguard of the
Byzantine Emperor, with a long tunic and the
loros, the long gold and jewelled
pallium restricted to the Imperial family and their closest guards. The basic military dress was shown in Western art into the
Baroque period and beyond (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; this costume was used especially for
Gabriel in
Annunciation scenes—for example the
Annunciation in Washington by
Jan van Eyck.
