Angels are supernatural beings who are messengers of God. This creature is usually human-like but has wings on the back. Angels are often mentioned in different religions; the same Bible speaks about them more than once. In the most important events of human history, described in the sacred books, these messengers of God are always present nearby.
The image of angels is reflected in culture and art. Artists and sculptors have devoted themselves to creating winged images for centuries. These could be innocent cherubs in Renaissance paintings, or they could be mourning angels on tombstones.
But over a long period of studying angels and their nature, mainly on the basis of legends and objects of art, man has significantly modified their original appearance. We attribute to them those features that were not and could not be in the original sources. In any case, studying the Bible, and not pictures of creatures with wings, allows us to dispel some myths about angels.
Each of us has our own guardian angel
There are many stories about how angels protect us, and sometimes these mysterious strangers even save people from death. The very phrase “guardian angel” implies such a caring being. Isn’t it nice to think that someone from above is constantly watching us and, using his intelligence and the gift of foresight, invisibly guides us on the right path, protecting us from troubles. But the Bible says nothing about the individual guardian angel that every person has. True, in several places you can find references to guardian angels. Thus, in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18:10, it says: “Do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that the angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” This passage is usually interpreted as describing angels who watch over all true Christians and over children. But there are no words here about the fact that everyone has their own personal angel. And this idea generally appeared quite recently, becoming the result of the evolution of history. In the Middle Ages, stories often appeared about how saints met with angels who protected them. Gradually the stories transformed. They began to say that angels come to people in everyday life. Such stories began to appear in the 18th-19th centuries. And by the 20th century, a myth had already developed that each of us has our own guardian angel, invisibly present nearby and protecting us from troubles.
Who are angels? Why did God create them?
EXPLANATION AND JUSTIFICATION IN SCRIPTURE
A. Who are angels?
We can define angels as follows: angels are created, spiritual beings who have moral judgment and high intelligence, but do not have bodies.
1. Created spiritual beings. Angels did not always exist; they are part of the world created by God. In the text where the angels are called the heavenly “host,” Ezra says: “You, O Lord, are one, you made the heavens, the heavens of heaven and all their hosts... and the heavenly hosts worship you” (Neh. 9:6; cf.: Psalm 147:2,5). Paul says that God created all things “visible and invisible” through and for Christ, and specifically designates the angelic world with the words “thrones... dominions... principalities... powers...” (Col. 1:16).
The fact that angels are capable of moral judgment is evident from the fact that some of the angels sinned and fell (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; see: ch. 20). They have intelligence, this is seen in Scripture when they speak to people (Matthew 28:5; Acts 12:6-11, etc.) and sing the glory of God (Rev. 4:11; 5:11).
Because angels are “spirits” (Heb. 1:14), or spiritual beings, they do not usually possess physical bodies (Luke 24:19). Therefore, we usually cannot see them, unless God gives us a special ability to see angels (Num. 22:31; 2 Sam. 6:17; Luke 2:13). In their ordinary activities—protecting and protecting us (Ps. 33:7; 90:11; Heb. 1:14) and joining us in worshiping God (Heb. 12:22)—they remain invisible. However, from time to time they take on bodily form in order to appear to various people (Matt. 28:5; Heb. 13:2).
2. Other names for angels. In Scripture, other titles of angels are sometimes used, for example, “sons of God” (Job 1:6; 2:1), “saints” (Ps. 89:6,8), “spirits” (Heb. 1: 14), “Those who watch” (Dan. 4:10,14,19), “thrones,” “principalities,” “powers,” “powers” (Col. 1:16), and “dominions” (Eph. 1 :21).
3. Other celestial beings. There are three other specific types of celestial beings named in Scripture. Whatever we consider them to be - a special species
2. “angels” (in the broad sense of the word) or other celestial beings - they are still created spiritual beings who serve and worship God.
1) “Cherubim”1. Cherubim were assigned to guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:24), and God is often said to have His throne on cherubim or to travel on cherubim as if on a chariot (Ps. 18:10; Ezek. 10:1 -22). Above the Ark of the Covenant two cherubim stretched out their wings, and it was there that God promised to dwell with His people: “There I will reveal myself to you and speak to you above the mercy seat, in the midst of the two cherubim that are above the ark of the testimony, about everything that I will command.” through you to the children of Israel” (Ex. 25:22; cf. vv. 18-21).
2) “Seraphim”2. Another group of celestial beings, the seraphim, are mentioned only in Isa. 6:2-7, where they continuously worship God and exclaim: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! the whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isa. 6:3).
3) Animals. Both the Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation speak of another type of heavenly being, known as the “living creatures,” who are at the throne of God (Ezek. 1:5-14; Rev. 4:6-8) 3. Having the appearance of a lion, a calf, a man and an eagle, they are the most powerful representatives of all God's creation (wild animals, domestic animals, human beings and birds) and constantly worship God: “And neither day nor night they have peace, crying: holy “Holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Rev. 4:8).
1 In Hebrew the singular number is “kerub”; "Kerubim" is the plural form (or "cherubim", according to the transliteration taken from the Septuagint - Note).
2 In Hebrew the singular number is “seraph”; "seraphim" is the plural form.
3 The accounts in Ezekiel and Revelation are somewhat different, but they also have many similarities. It is difficult to say whether we are talking about two different groups of beings, or whether the beings from Revelation have changed their form compared to the one described in Ezekiel's vision.
4. Hierarchy and order among angels. Scripture indicates that there is order and hierarchy among the angels. One of the angels, Michael, is called an archangel (Jude 9), and this name implies his power over the other angels. In Dan. 10:13 he is called “one of the first princes.” Michael also appears as the commander of the angelic army: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought against them, but they could not stand, and there was no longer a place for them in heaven” ( Rev. 12:7,8). Paul tells us that the Lord will return from heaven “with the voice of the Archangel” (1 Thess. 4:16). Whether Michael is spoken of here as the only archangel, or whether there are other archangels, Scripture does not specify.
5. Names of specific angels. Only two angels are named in Scripture4. Michael is mentioned in Jude. 9, Rev. 12:7,8 and in Dan. 10:13,21, where he is called "Michael, one of the chief princes" (v. 13). The angel Gabriel is mentioned in Dan. 8:16 and 9:21 as a messenger who comes to Daniel from God. Gabriel is also mentioned in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke as God's messenger to Zechariah and Mary. The angel answers Zechariah: “I am Gabriel, standing before God, and I was sent to speak to you and bring this good news to you” (Luke 1:19). Further we read: “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Alilee, called Nazareth, to the Virgin... and the Virgin’s name was Mary” (Luke 1:26,27).
6. Only in one place and at one time. Scripture often shows us angels moving from one place to another, as in the verse mentioned above where Gabriel was “sent... from God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth” (Luke 1:26). The fact that angels move in space becomes obvious when an angel comes to Daniel and says to him:
Don't be afraid, Daniel; from the first day that you set your heart to achieve understanding and humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I would have come according to your words, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia stood against me twenty-one days; but behold, Michael, one of the first princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. And now I have come to tell you what will happen to your people in the last times, since the vision refers to distant days (Dan. 10:12-14).
The idea that an angel can only be in one place at a time is consistent with the fact that angels are created beings. Unlike God, they are finite creatures, and therefore limited to being in one place at one time, like everything created by God5. ——- .———
4 I do not mention Satan here, since he is a fallen angel and is sometimes called by other names (for Satan and demons, see Chapter 19). (In the English-speaking tradition, “sa-tana” [in ancient Hebrew “adversary”, “adversary”[ is considered a proper noun and is written with a capital letter, and “devil” [in ancient Greek “slanderer"[ is considered a common noun and is written with lowercase letter. - Translator's note)
5 However, it appears that a very large number of angels can be present in any place at one time, at least as the example of fallen angels, or demons, suggests. When Jesus asked the demonic forces in the demon-possessed man, “What is your name?” the answer was “Legion,” because many demons were entered into him” (Luke 8:30). Even if we do not interpret this word literally, as a number equal to the soldiers of one legion of the Roman army (3-6 thousand people), since Satan is the father of LIES, and therefore demons can greatly exaggerate real events, it is enough that Luke says “Many demons entered into him.”
6 The Greek word μΰριας
(“myriad”) is an expression meaning “a very large but indefinite number” (BAGD, p. 529).
(Or ten thousand. - Note transl.)
7 Another possibility is that the "angel" (where the disciples think that Peter's "angel" is knocking at the gate - Matthew 18:10 and Acts 12:15) - this is not an angelic being, but the “spirit” of a deceased person; For a defense of this view, see W. W. Wufield, “The Angels of Chrises 'Little Ones',” in Selected Shorter Writings,
ed.
John E. Meeter (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1970), 1:253-266; D. A. Carson, "Matthew," EBC,
8:400-401.
The problem with this interpretation is that no clear example of the word "angel" (Greek: όγγελος)
meaning “spirit of a deceased person.”
Warfield (pp. 265, 266), followed by Carson, cites two supposed examples from Jewish extra-biblical literature: 1 Enoch. 51:4 and 2 Var. 51:5,12. However, these texts are unconvincing. In 1 Enoch. 51:4 states simply: “And the faces of the angels in heaven will shine with joy” (R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, 2\0\s.
[Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913], 2:219 ), however, there is nothing said there about people becoming angels. In 2 Var. 51:5 says that the righteous will be "turned into the brightness of angels" (Charles, 2:508), but this simply means that they will be as righteous as angels, not that they will become angels.
8 of the other two texts say that the righteous will achieve perfection, “exceeding that of angels” (2 Bar. 51:12), and that “they will be like angels” (2 Bar. 51:10. See:
7. How many angels are there in total? Although Scripture does not indicate the number of angels God created, it appears that the number is very large. We read that God on Mount Sinai “walked with ten thousand saints; at His right hand is the fire of the law" (Deut. 33:2; here "darkness" is an Old Slavonic numeral meaning "ten thousand." - Note transl.). We also learn that “the chariots of God are thousands upon thousands” (Ps. 67:18). When we come to worship, we come to “ten thousand angels” (Heb. 12:22)6. Their multiplicity is especially emphasized in Rev. 5:11, where John says, “And I saw and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and of the living creatures, and of the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand ten thousand and thousands upon thousands.” These words point to an amazingly large number (from a human point of view) - an innumerable assembly of angelic forces glorifying God.
8. Do people have personal guardian angels? 'Scripture clearly tells us that God sends angels to protect us: “For He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Ps. 90:11,12). However, people have gone beyond this idea of protecting people in general and posed the question this way: “Perhaps God gives a specific “guardian angel” to every person, at least to a Christian?” Confirmation of this thought was seen in the words of Jesus about children: “ Their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). However, our Lord may simply have meant that the angels charged with the protection of children always have ready access to the presence of God.7 When Jesus' disciples say (Acts 12:15) that Peter's "angel" must be knocking at the door, this does not necessarily imply a belief in individual guardian angels. Perhaps some angel simply protected Peter and took care of him at that time. Thus, the concept of personal “guardian angels” does not find convincing support in Scripture.
9. Angels do not marry. Jesus taught that in the resurrection people “neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain as the angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30; cf. Luke 20:34-36). This means that angels do not have the same family relationships that are characteristic of humans. Scripture does not speak about this anywhere else, so it would be wise not to discuss this topic in too much detail.8
Charles, 2:509). However, these texts also do not say that people will become angels. Moreover, since these passages are not available to us in the Greek version (the First Book of Enoch is taken from the Ethiopic text, with only some Greek fragments, and the Second Book of Baruch from the Syriac), they are of little use in determining the meaning of the Greek word άγγελος .
Warfield also quotes from the Acts of Paul and Thecla (Tischendorf, p. 42, para. 5, ad finem): “Blessed are those who fear God, for they will become the angels of God.” However, this text dates from the end of the 2nd century. n. e. (ODCC,
R. 1049) and is not very credible as a source of information about what the early church believed or what the New Testament taught.
8 It should be noted that this statement was given by Jesus in response to a question from the Sadducees about a woman who was married seven times; Jesus said their question demonstrated their ignorance of Scripture and “the power of God” (Matt. 22:29). Therefore, we should be content with Jesus' answer and not be alarmed. We need to think about heaven not with a sad anticipation of the loss of family relationships, but with a joyful anticipation of the enrichment of our relationships. (For the “sons of God,” see Gen. 6:2,4, as well as chapter 19 of this book.)
9 Scripture does not tell us whether the angels who sinned lost some of their power when they fell away from God, or whether they have the same power that they had while still angels.
10. The power of angels. Apparently, angels have great power. They are called “mighty in strength” (Ps. 102:20) and “powers” (cf. Eph. 1:21), “principalities” and “powers” (Col. 1:16). Angels appear to be superior to rebellious humans “in strength and power” (2 Pet. 2:11; cf. Matt. 28:2). At least during their earthly existence, people are “lowly” before angels (Heb. 2:7). Although the power of angels is great, it is certainly not infinite and is used in the fight against the evil demonic forces over which Satan rules (Dan. 10:13; Rev. 12:7,8; 20:1-3)9. However, when the Lord returns, we will be resurrected to a state more exalted than that of angels (1 Cor. 6:3; see below, pp. 453-455, B 1).
11. Who is the Angel of the Lord? In many texts of Scripture, especially the Old Testament, the Angel of the Lord is spoken of as if it were God Himself, who took on human form in order to appear before people.
Thus, the “Angel of the Lord” who found Hagar in the desert promised her: “By the mind and knife I will multiply your descendants, so that it will not be possible to count them from the multitude” (Gen. 16:10); answering, Hagar called “the Lord who spoke to her by this name: You are the God who sees me” (Gen. 16:13). Also, when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, the “Angel of the Lord” called to him from heaven and said: “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God and have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Gen. 22:12). When the “angel of the Lord” appeared to Jacob in a dream, he said to him: “I am God, who appeared to you at Bethel, where you poured oil on the memorial and where you made a vow to me” (Gen. 31:11,13). When the “Angel of the Lord” appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he said: “I am the God of your God, the God of Abram, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:2,6). There are clear cases where the Angel of the Lord, or Angel of God, appears as God Himself, perhaps God the Son, taking on a human appearance for a short time in order to appear before people.
There are also cases when the Angel of the Lord differs from God (see: 2 Samuel 24:16; Ps. 33:7; Zech. 1:11-13), and such texts where they speak of a certain “Angel of the Lord”10 (eg: Luke 1:11), and in these cases we are simply talking about an angel sent by God.
Cherubim - angels with the appearance of a baby
In art you can often find images of cherubs. They look like little naked children, just as adorable and chubby. Only these creatures also have wings. In fact, artists came up with such an image for angels, but in the Bible cherubs are described completely differently. These are very specific angels. God brought them closer to himself, forcing them to serve himself directly. Cherubs have no relation to people. In the Old Testament, these creatures are mentioned quite often, but they are not cute at all. The Book of Genesis mentions how two cherubim were given the task of guarding the tree of life. Ezekiel chapter 1:5-11 gives a complete description of these creatures. In Scripture they appear very similar to people, only their legs ended in calf hooves. Each cherub had four wings to hide their human hands, as well as four faces. When these angels moved, their faces did not turn around. In front they always had a human form, behind - an eagle, on the left - a bull, and on the right - a lion. At the same time, each cherub seemed to be burning in fire. Ezekiel describes the angels as God's living chariot, an intelligent one, a force subject to the Lord alone. He said that God moves in a chariot, whose wheels are the cherubim. The four together personify the wisdom of God's main creation - man, as well as the strength of the lion, the earthiness and heaviness of the bull, the freedom of the eagle and the strength of the lion. In their fields, all these creatures are the best. Each cherub covers its body with one pair of wings and extends the others. Moreover, the wings themselves are also covered with eyes. As you can see, the description has nothing to do with well-fed and cute babies.
Cherubim are good creatures. Cherubs look at us from paintings with kind eyes
They smile and have charming wings behind them. Artists often place harps in their hands. But in the Bible these angels are not so pretty at all. Thanks to Indiana Jones, we were able to view the lid of the Ark of the Covenant - the Mercy Seat. It depicts cherubs, whose faces and bodies are hidden under pairs of wings. They pull the other pair towards each other, thus forming a throne. According to Scripture, such a Throne marks the presence of an angry God, threatening death. Every year the high priest performed a ceremony, making a sacrifice and sprinkling the blood of animals on this Mercy Seat. So the people asked the Lord not to be angry with them for another year. And in order to fearlessly approach the Throne, another special ritual was required. It was believed that any violation of the norms would be a mortal sin for the priest. And there were no people who would allow the relic to be treated disrespectfully. Every year a blood offering was given to the cherubs. And only after the crucifixion of Christ this ceremony was stopped. It was believed that his blood sacrifice was enough to appease the cherubim.
People themselves can become angels
Movies often show how people turn into angels after death. In fact, the Bible says nothing about this, even the righteous do not get the right to do this. And in several places in the Bible it is directly stated that such a transformation is impossible. Humans and angels were created by God, but for different purposes. Hebrews 1:14 explicitly states that angels were created specifically to lend a helping hand to those who believe in the Lord. In the Book of Genesis in chapter 1:26 it is said that angels are spiritual beings who, by the will of God, can take not only the form of a person, but also any other. But in the book of Peter it says: “And it was shown to them that they did not serve themselves, but you, through the wisdom that was shown to you through those through whose mouth the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven, speaks: a wisdom upon which angels look for a long time.” The Holy Spirit brings truth to man, angels want to hear the same revelations. However, they were never people.
Angels: where did this word come from, their role and hierarchy, what they look like, where they get their wings and halos
In the traditional understanding, angels are messengers from God. They appear in many places in the Bible, such as bringing the news of the birth of Christ and even being present at the crucifixion. They are also present in other religions, for example, in Egyptian frescoes they look like animals or people with wings. The Egyptian pharaohs were covered with them long before the birth of Christ.
Table of contents
Where did this word come from?
About the messengers
Hierarchy of Angels
What do angels look like?
Do angels have wings?
Where do angels get halos?
Music and angels
The Role of Angels
In ancient Rome and Greece, angels were also present, usually in the form of various deities. Nowadays, various sects and religions appear that worship angels. There are many people who claim to have heard the voices of angels who helped them, for example, prevent road accidents and other troubles. Many clairvoyants and psychics claim that they receive help from angels in the form of various signs, thereby solving the client’s problems.
From time to time, photographers will capture angels as clouds.
Where did this word come from?
In Hebrew, angel is translated as “mallah,” which also means “messenger.” Many words related to religion have the root "mallah", for example, the prophet in the Old Testament is called Mallachi (My Messenger), in Greek his name sounds like "Angelos", and in Latin "Angelus". Apparently, in modern languages, not only in Russian, the root is taken from Greek or Latin. Therefore, the exact meaning of this word should be understood as “messenger” or “messenger”.
About the messengers
One of the famous messengers is, perhaps, the angel Gabriel. It was he who told the Virgin Mary that she would have the Son of God. He appeared to her three days before her death, indicating that her earthly life would end. The name Gabriel means "Power of God."
In the Muslim religion there is a similar angel, perhaps the same one, with a sonorous name - Gabriel. He appeared to the Prophet Muhammad during meditation and dictated the sacred book for Muslims, the Koran (analogous to the Orthodox Bible).
Hierarchy of Angels
In many religions there is a celestial hierarchy. For example, the Syrian monk Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (not a Holy Scripture), who lived in the 5th–6th centuries, divided the angels into nine ranks, which are divided into three ranks:
- seraphim, cherubim (worship God), thrones (bring justice);
- dominion (give instructions and distribute responsibilities among other angels), strength, authority (protect from evil);
- principles (take care of well-being), archangels, angels (serve as messengers between people and heaven).
However, it is worth considering that there is no mention of the hierarchy of angels in the official Scriptures, they only indicate the result of the work.
What do angels look like?
There is no direct mention in the holy books of what angels look like. The image of a man with wings has been created by artists for many centuries.
The Hebrew Bible mentions angels in the form of men who appear on earth from time to time. There is no mention anywhere of their having wings. From about the 4th century, their image begins to resemble today’s - angels began to have wings. This coincided with the adoption of Christianity by Ancient Rome. Therefore, angels began to look like ancient Roman deities.
At first, the angel’s gender remained male, only the figure acquired more “beautiful” outlines, feminine attire and wings.
Then images of women and even children began to appear. Female images tend to lack breasts.
In Gateshead (northeast England) there is a 20-meter sculpture “Angel of the North”. It weighs more than the Statue of Liberty - 208 tons, and its wingspan reaches 54 m. This is how traditional images of an angel change. It is possible that in a few centuries the image of an angel may be exactly like this.
Cherubs have a romantic image and represent babies with wings, and are actively used on various cards - New Year's, Valentine's Day, etc. The Holy Scriptures say that they guarded the gates of Eden after Adam and Eve were expelled.
In fact, in the classical representation, cherubs look like this.
Or so.
They have from 1 to 3 pairs of wings. It’s just that over time, artists embellished this image, and it became just like that.
The most famous representative of such angels is Cupid. He carries with him a deadly weapon (bow and arrows) that can easily pierce the heart. At the same time, he almost always smiles and gives the impression of a benevolent angel. In ancient times, when artists created the image of an angel, many babies died, so perhaps people believed that after death they turned into angels, although the church considered this belief to be heresy.
Do angels have wings?
In all ancient drawings, for example, in the Roman catacombs, which were drawn around the 2nd century AD. e., no wings. Wings first began to be depicted in the 5th century. Therefore, most likely, wings were invented by artists so that they could distinguish an angel from an ordinary person.
However, it is possible that the image with wings was taken from Roman or Egyptian mythologies, since many deities had wings.
Where do angels get halos?
A halo is a radiance in the form of a circle above the head of a saint. Like wings, they were invented by artists so that they could distinguish a saint from an ordinary person.
Music and angels
Often angels are depicted with some kind of musical instrument - a harp, drum, sakbut, violin, lute, flute, tambourine, etc. All these instruments were popular during the Renaissance (XIV-XVI centuries), so perhaps they were painted on angels to idealize the image. However, the Bible says that before the Day of Judgment, the Archangel Gabriel will sound a tragic trumpet sound. Therefore, it is no coincidence that angels may have instruments.
The Role of Angels
Jews claim that man has two angels: a good one and a bad one. The good one is the Guardian Angel, the bad one is the Tempter Angel. In the Middle Ages, similar ideas migrated to Christianity. Nowadays, Catholics pray to their Guardian Angel.
In August 1914, the British and German armies clashed near the Belgian city of Mons. The British won, although a significant numerical superiority of troops was on the side of the German army. Participants in this event reported extraterrestrial intervention - they saw their angels. Later this became known to everyone from the British press.
They say that on the battlefield was the Archangel Michael (the name translates as “who else but God”) - the Angel-Commander in the battles between good and evil. In the 1950s, the Pope recognized him as the patron saint of police officers.
There are angels of hell - fallen angels.
A classic example of the action of these angels is that Lucifer, being an ordinary angel, was jealous of Adam, so he staged a provocation. In the Bible, the fallen angels are led by the devil, and in the Koran, by Satan. Interested in a solution to your problem? Ask the experts for advice with our free Q&A service.
Angels can be female
In numerous paintings of biblical scenes, male angels can be seen. But on cemetery tombstones, angels are depicted as inconsolable women with wings. But the Holy Scripture itself says nothing about the female gender of angels. You should not compare them with people and attribute some biological characteristics characteristic of us. Sex and gender issues have nothing to do with them. Throughout the Bible, angels are described exclusively as male. Even the word “angelos” from the New Testament is masculine, but has no feminine gender at all. The names of only two angels are mentioned - Gabriel and Michael, while the others are simply called "he". The Bible speaks of a winged female creature only once. In the Book of Zechariah, chapter 5:9 there is a mention of such creatures flying in the form of visions, and there is also a scroll flying there. But nowhere does it say that these were angels. And the very idea of female angels appeared centuries after the creation of the Bible. Until the 4th century there were no artistic depictions of angels at all, at least we know nothing about it. Thus, Christianity tried to distance itself from the worship of images and idols characteristic of other religions. And after the appearance of portraits of angels in art, they began to be associated with winged creatures from other ancient mythologies, for example, with the pagan Nike. This is how the female appearance of the angels appeared.
The word αγγελος (Greek) means “messenger”, “messenger”, which indicates not the nature of the Angels, but the service they perform.
The word “angel”, meaning “messenger”, in the Holy Scriptures refers not only to disembodied spirits, but also to other messengers of God. For example, the prophet Moses is called an angel (Num. 20:16) and other prophets (Isa. 33:7; Hag. 1:13); The Forerunner of Christ, like Christ Himself, is called the “Angel of the Covenant” (Mal. 3:1). In the New Testament, in addition to the Forerunner (Matthew 11:10), “angels” are referred to in the Greek text as his disciples (Luke 7:24), Apostles (Luke 9:52), and leaders of the Churches (Rev. 1:20; 2 :1), and in the Old Testament - even the various elements, when they are executors of the will of God (Ps. 77:49). From here, of course, it does not follow that Scripture says nothing definite about the existence of disembodied spirits - Angels in the proper sense of the word. In the Bible their existence was never questioned. Evidence of them is very numerous in both Testaments.Thus, after the expulsion of people who had fallen into sin from paradise, a Cherub with a flaming sword was placed to guard the doors of paradise (Genesis 3). Abraham, sending his servant to Nahor, encouraged him, saying that the Lord would send His Angel with him and make his way good (Gen. 24:7). Jacob saw Angels both in a dream (in a vision of a mysterious staircase, on the way to Mesopotamia. - Gen. 28) and in reality (on the way home, to Esau, when he saw a “militia” of God’s Angels. – Gen. 32:1-2) . The Psalter speaks many times about Angels (for example, praise Him, all His Angels
- Ps.
148:2; He will command His angels about you - to guard you in all your ways
- Ps. 90:11). They are spoken about in the book of Job and the prophets. The prophet Isaiah saw the Seraphim surrounding the throne of God (Is. 6); the prophet Ezekiel saw the Cherubim in a vision of the House of God (Ezek. 10).The New Testament Revelation contains many references to Angels. An angel announced to Zechariah the conception of the Forerunner; An angel announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary the birth of the Savior, and the Angel appeared to Joseph in a dream; a large army of Angels glorified the birth of Christ, an Angel preached the birth of the Savior to the shepherds, an Angel kept the Magi from returning to Herod; Angels served Jesus Christ after His temptation in the desert; An angel appeared to strengthen Him in the Garden of Gethsemane; The angels announced to the myrrh-bearers about the Resurrection of Christ, and to the Apostles during the Ascension of Christ to Heaven about His Second Coming. The angels loosed the bonds of Peter and the other Apostles and one Apostle Peter; An angel told the Apostle Paul that he must appear before Caesar. The vision of Angels lies at the heart of the revelations given to St. John the Theologian.
The Lord Jesus Christ himself repeatedly proclaims about Angels. “I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God. 9 But he who rejects Me before men will be rejected before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8-9)
. Angels are constant witnesses of Divine actions. They constantly see the face of the Heavenly Father, that is, they contemplate the Divine in His energies. They will accompany Christ at His glorious Second Coming.
After so much evidence, there is no doubt about the existence of the angelic world. It should be recognized as completely unfounded the opinion of Protestant biblical criticism that the doctrine of Angels was drawn by the Jews from the Persian religion during the Babylonian captivity. Mention of Angels runs throughout the Bible, including its oldest books, the writing of which preceded the resettlement of the Jews to Babylon. In addition, there are significant differences between the Persian and revealed teachings about disembodied spirits.
1. The religion of the Persians is dualistic, and, accordingly, good Angels come from the good beginning (Ormuzd), and the evil ones come from the evil one (Ahriman). The Bible teaches that the One God created everything “very good,” and only subsequently did some of the Angels fall of their own free will.
2. Persian spirits are bisexual, just like people. According to biblical teaching. Angels are disembodied and are not divided by gender.
3. If the Persians worshiped Angels in the same way as Ormuzd, then all worship of Angels was forbidden to the Jews.
Equally unacceptable is the opinion of rationalists that Christ and the Apostles, speaking about Angels, are only adapting to popular beliefs. This would be inconsistent with the holiness of the Savior and the height of His teaching. There was no lie in His mouth. Christ is Truth incarnate.
Admonishing the Sadducees, who rejected the Resurrection and the existence of Angels, the Lord says: “ You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God. For in the Resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain like the Angels of God in heaven
"(Matthew 22:29-30).
If in the Epistle to the Colossians the Apostle warns against excessive or incorrect veneration of Angels (Col. 2:18), then in the same Epistle he lists some degrees of the angelic hierarchy created by the Son (Col. 1:16), leaving no doubt about the actual existence angelic world.
Origin of Angels.
In the Creed we confess God as the Creator of the visible and invisible world.
The Apostle Paul also writes that everything that is in heaven and that is on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or Dominions, was created by the Son of God.
Is it the authorities? Whether it is the authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him (Col. 1:16). Even the ancient Fathers of the Church, contrary to the false Gnostic theories about Angels as creatures of the Divine nature, taught quite clearly about their creatureliness.Revelation does not speak definitely about the time of creation of the ethereal forces. However, there are indirect indications that they were created before man and before the material world. Thus, in the form of a serpent, the forefathers were tempted by none other than a fallen angel (Gen. 3). Thus, by the time of the creation of the ancestors, the angelic world not only existed, but in it some Angels had already fallen away from God. The book of Job says that when the foundations of the earth were just being laid, the Angels of God shouted for joy, glorifying the omnipotence of the Creator (Job 38:6-7). And if at first the earth was unstructured, formless and empty, then the spiritual heaven did not need to be structured, the angelic world was immediately created ordered.
The Holy Fathers also teach that Angels were created before the material world. Saint Gregory the Theologian writes that “God invents, first of all, the angelic Heavenly Powers; and the thought became a deed, which was filled with the Word and accomplished by the Spirit. Since the first creatures (Angels) were pleasing, he invents another world - material and visible" (St. Gregory the Theologian. Homily 38 // Creations. Vol. 3.). St. John of Damascus expresses the same thought: “...It was necessary to create first of all a mental essence, then a sensual one, and then from both essences - man” (St. John of Damascus. Exact exposition... Book. 2. Chapter III P. 191 .).
Nature of Angels.
A. Ethereality.
In Scripture, Angels are called spirits (Heb. 1:14).
The Apostle Paul refers them to the invisible world (Col. 1:16), which also indicates the spirituality of their nature. Christ Himself clearly teaches about the incorporeality of Angels. After His Resurrection, He appeared to the disciples, who were afraid of His appearance, mistaking Him for a spirit. But He said: “Why are you embarrassed... look at My hands and My feet... touch Me and see;
for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:38-39) . That is, spirits do not have not only a rough earthly body, but even such a light, all-pervading, glorified body that the Risen Savior had and which the saints will have in the Future Age.In Scripture, Angels are always depicted in some kind of sensual, most often in human, images. This, however, does not mean their physicality. God Himself repeatedly appeared in the Old Testament in similar sensory images (three strangers, a bush, a cloud, an Angel, etc.), because God can temporarily take on any form in order to become visible. The Holy Fathers say the same thing about Angels. “Angels, appearing, according to the will of God, to worthy people, do not appear as (they) are in themselves, but are transformed in accordance with how those who look can see them,” writes St. John of Damascus (St. John of Damascus. Exact summary... Book 2, Chapter III, p. 190).
Thus, angelic tongues, purity and wingedness are only symbols of the properties of angelic nature, their spiritual insight and swiftness. The bodies in which they appeared to people do not belong to them, but are accepted by them temporarily according to the will of God. St. John of Damascus says that the created nature of the angelic world is incomprehensible to us: “Only the Creator knows the form and definition of this (angelic) essence” (St. John of Damascus. Exact exposition... Book 2, Chapter III. P. 189. ). It is not known whether the Angels are consubstantial with each other. It is possible that each of them is a special creation of God, a special spiritual world.
So, Angels are pure, or disembodied, spirits. But what is their nature in relation to God? Is it permissible to consider them the same absolute and perfect spirits as God Himself? Of course not. The spirituality of Angels, as created beings, is certainly limited and finite. The ancient fathers and teachers of the Church almost all unite in the idea that Angels have only an incorporeal and spiritual nature in comparison with humans. Some of the fathers and church writers - Saint Justin the Philosopher, Tertullian, Origen, Saint Methodius of Patara and Saint Basil the Great - spoke about the corporeality of Angels on the basis that all created things are not alien to some materiality. They understood this angelic physicality, however, in a special, higher sense. They said that Angels have nothing to do with visible, sensory bodies, but have a formless and ethereal nature. Other holy fathers - Athanasius the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, John of Damascus - believed that Angels are completely incorporeal. However, they still allowed some materiality in the Angels. Thus, Saint John of Damascus writes: “An Angel is called incorporeal and material only in comparison with us, for in comparison with the one and incomparable God, everything turns out to be crude and material; one Divinity is entirely immaterial and incorporeal” (St. John of Damascus. Exact exposition... Book 2. Chapter III.). The Fathers of the VII Ecumenical Council, in support of the position on the admissibility of depicting Angels on icons, pointed out that God alone is incorporeal and invisible. “As for the rational forces, they are not completely removed from corporeality and are not absolutely invisible, being endowed with subtle, airy or fiery bodies, in which they repeatedly appeared and were visible” (Bishop Sylvester. Experience of Orthodox Dogmatic Theology Vol. 3 . P. 168). The Fathers did not specify whether the Angels wear these subtle bodies temporarily or permanently. They only testified that the incorporeality of Angels is relative, that Angels appeared to people, and therefore they are, in a certain sense, depictable.
Being disembodied, Angels are free from bodily needs. They do not need material food, although the Bible sometimes depicts them eating it. Saint Justin Martyr teaches that Angels, like fire, can destroy food offered to them. So the Angel says to Tobit: “ All the days I was visible to you, but I did not eat or drink - only this appeared to your eyes.”
"(Tov. 12:19).
True, Scripture calls the manna sent from heaven to feed the Jews in the desert “ the bread of angels
” (Ps. 77:25), but these words should not be taken literally. Manna served to nourish the body, and with it grace was given to nourish the soul (St. Athanasius the Great. Conversations on the Psalms // Creations. T. 4. P. 265.). This same grace sustains the life of the angelic world.Angels do not give birth to their own kind. Christ says that in the Resurrection “they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain like the Angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:29-30)
. Angels do not “have the need for marriage, since they are not mortal,” writes St. John of Damascus (St. John of Damascus. Exact summary... Book. 2. Chapter III. P. 190.). Since they cannot multiply, they were created all at once at the same time, and in such a multitude that, according to the thought of St. John Chrysostom, they surpass any number (Handbook of a Clergyman. M., 1986. Vol. 5. P. 263.) .
Some apocrypha speaks of marriage between Angels and women. In the book of Enoch, the text from the book of Genesis, which speaks of the marriages of “sons of God” with “daughters of men” (Gen. 6:4), is interpreted as a message about the wicked “mixing of female blood with angelic fire.” However, the Church Fathers reject such an interpretation and believe that we are talking about marriages between Sethites and Cainites. However, some Christian writers, in particular Tertullian, Saint Justin the Philosopher, Clement of Alexandria, considered the union of fallen angels and women possible. Tertullian wrote that the power of female charm is such that it can seduce not only demons, but also Angels (apparently, in this sense, he understood the words of the Apostle Paul: “A wife should have on her head a sign of power over her, for the Angels” (1 Cor. 11 :10)
.
The opinion about the possibility of marriage between a person and the gods (that is, demons) was very widespread in paganism.
In the cults of Baal, Dionysus, Astarte and others, there is a huge number of father and mother gods, gods of love who marry each other and people. The so-called sacred prostitution, practiced in pagan temples, personified the relationship of deities (Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Stb. 1145.). It is no coincidence that in the Old Testament God stigmatizes the rituals of the pagans, calling idolatry fornication (Ex. 34:15; Isa. 1:21). When the Apostle Jude in his Epistle reports about the Angels who did not retain their dignity, but left their home (1:6), then one should not look for a hint of some kind of demonic marriage, but one must understand the falling away of some of the Angels from God. B. Attitude to space and time. Angels are incorporeal and, therefore, do not occupy space in space.
They move with lightning speed and there are no obstacles for them. “They are not held in place by walls, doors, locks, or seals” and can temporarily take on various spatial images. Saint John of Damascus writes that, being heavenly minds, they are in places “comprehensible only by the mind, not being physically described (limited) - for by nature they do not have the form of a body, and a threefold dimension - but are spiritually present there where they are commanded, and cannot be and act here and there at the same time... When they are in Heaven, they are not on earth, and when they are sent to earth by God, they do not remain in Heaven.” In other words, Angels are not omnipresent, that is, in a certain sense, they are still limited in space (St. John of Damascus. Exact exposition... Book 2. Chapter III P. 190.). For they do not contain the whole world, but they themselves are in it, being appropriately limited by the God who created them (Arch. Cyprian (Kern). Anthropology of St. Gregory Palamas. P. 357.). Immortality belongs to them.
Scripture teaches that they cannot die (Luke 20:36). However, the Angel, according to St. John of Damascus, “is immortal not by nature, but by grace (by gift), for everything that had a beginning by nature also has an end” (St. John of Damascus. Exact exposition... P. 189.) . Saint Gregory Palamas, on the contrary, considers Angels to be immortal by nature, just like human souls. It is precisely because of their immortality that eternal torment is possible. The eternity of the angelic world is a created eternity that had a beginning. Angels were created at the first moment of the creation of the world, “in the beginning,” on the border between time and eternity. “From this momentary temporality,” writes V. Lossky, “they emerged for eternal praise and service or rebellion and hatred. In created eternity there is a certain process, because the angelic nature can continually increase in the acquisition of eternal goods, but this happens without temporal sequence” (V. Lossky. Dogmatic Theology. P. 151.). “All temporary beings received from the Creator the order of existence and the beginning, and for some the end is destined, but the end of virtue is limitless... and the Angels, these incorporeal beings, do not remain without success, but always accept glory to glory and reason to reason” (Rev. John, abbot of Mount Sinai, Ladder, Homily 26, paragraph 152, p. 203). This kind of variability of angelic nature is associated with a certain, although unknown to us, temporality (Bishop Sylvester. Experience of Orthodox Dogmatic Theology T. 3. P. 172.). B. Perfection of the Angelic Nature. Angels are created in the image and likeness of God.
St. John of Damascus writes: “The Creator of Angels, who brought them from non-existent into being, created them in His image, incorporeal, rational and free” (St. John of Damascus. Exact summary... Book 2. Ch. Sh. S. 188- 189.). St. Gregory Palamas teaches that in the likeness of God we are greatly diminished, and especially now, from the Angels (Quoted from: Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern). Anthropology of St. Gregory Palamas. P. 358.). Unlike us, they always directly partake of the Divine Light, and becoming like God occurs through the illumination of His grace. In grace and radiance, in unity with God, Angels are superior to people. That is why they are called second lights, servants of the Supreme Light, second lights, reflections of the First Light, intelligent forces and serving spirits. “An angel is a certain outflow (stream) of the First Light and its communion. And the divine minds, spinning, unite with the beginningless and endless illumination of beauty and goodness. God Himself is Light... And what the sun is for sensual beings, then God is for intelligent forces” (Quoted from: Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern). Op. cit. pp. 357-358.). Calling the holy Angels a “stream of the Divine”, one should not in a pantheistic sense identify them with some part of the essence or energy of God. Like everything that exists, Angels were created “out of nothing” by the wave of the Divine will. Their essence is created, but they are richly saturated with Divine grace and transmit it to the rest of creation, therefore, by the sacrament of grace, they are called in theology “rivers of Divine Grace.” They contemplate the Divine “as far as it is possible for them, and this serves as food for them,” writes St. John of Damascus (St. John of Damascus. Exact summary... Book. 2. Chapter III. P. 190.). He also gives a definition of an Angel: “An Angel is a rational nature, endowed with intelligence and free will” (St. John of Damascus. Exact summary... Book 2. Chapter III. P. 189.). Following Saint John of Damascus, Saint Gregory Palamas teaches that Angels, being incorporeal, do not have sense organs. “Good Angels,” he writes, “have knowledge of the senses, but they do not perceive this with sensual and natural power, but know it with God-like power (i.e., by grace), and nothing from the present, past or future can hide from this power "(Quoted from: Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern). Decree op.). Possessing intelligence and free will, Angels can succeed in good or deviate towards evil. However, the holy Angels, writes Damascene, “are inflexible to evil, although they are not inflexible, but now they are even inflexible - not by nature, but by grace and by attachment to good alone” (St. John of Damascus. Exact exposition... P. 190.). They freely chose the path of glorifying God and serving Him, which is a means of improving their nature.Their wisdom is presented in Scripture as a model for man (2 Samuel 14:20). They have a mind that is more subtle, flexible and broad than a person. Envy and pride are alien to the angels of light. They are filled with joy at the repentance of every sinner (Luke 15:10). Angels are endowed with power and strength. According to the Apostle Peter, in strength and strength they surpass all earthly principalities and powers (2 Pet. 2:11). At the command of God, they can perform extraordinary actions. Thus, an Angel, descending from heaven to the tomb of the Risen Savior, caused a great earthquake (Matthew 28:2). In one night, the Angel defeated the 185,000-strong Assyrian army (2 Kings 19:35).
Despite its perfection, the angelic nature, being created, is limited in all respects. The limitations of their minds do not allow Angels to know the depths of the Being of God (1 Cor. 2:11). They do not have omniscience, they do not know the future unless God Himself reveals it to them. For example, they do not know the day and hour of the Second Coming (Mark 13:32; Isa. 44:7). For them, the mystery of the Redemption, which they would like to penetrate, is not fully comprehended (1 Pet. 1:12). To a certain extent, the thoughts of human hearts are also hidden from them (1 Kings 8:39; Jer. 17:9). Sometimes they predict the future, but not by virtue of their own knowledge, but by revelation from above. Being incorporeal and free from bodily passions, they are “not dispassionate,” that is, not completely free from spiritual passions, “for only the Divinity is dispassionate,” writes St. John of Damascus (St. John of Damascus. Exact exposition... Book 2. Ch. III. P. 191). The book of Job says that God sees shortcomings not only in people, but also in His Angels (Job 4:18). Their will and power are limited by their nature. They cannot perform any miracle with their own power unless they receive a command from God, Who alone works miracles.
The Council of Laodicea, with its 35th canon, condemned and rejected the heretical worship of Angels as creators and rulers of the world and approved their Orthodox veneration as servants of the Holy Trinity. The celebration of November 8 (November 21 according to the current time) was not established by chance. November is the ninth month (At the time the holiday was established, the church year began on March 1), which symbolically indicates the nine ranks of the heavenly hierarchy. The eighth day indicates the future Council of all Heavenly Powers on the day of the Second Glorious Coming of Christ. When this time, reckoned by the week, ends, then “the Son of Man will come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him” (Matthew 25:31)
(Handbook of a clergyman. M., 1978. T. 2. P. 254.)
Number of Angels.
The angelic world appears to be unusually great in the Holy Scriptures.
Thus, Patriarch Jacob, seeing the Angels, said: “This is the army of God” (Gen. 32:1-2) .
The Prophet Daniel contemplated in revelation how thousands of thousands, that is, millions of Angels served the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7:10). The numerous host of Heaven praised the birth of the Savior of the world (Luke 2:13), etc. Some holy fathers explained the idea of the innumerability of Angels with the help of the Gospel parable of the lost sheep. If all fallen humanity, according to St. Cyril of Jerusalem, is only one lost sheep, then the 99 unlost sheep are holy Angels. “The earth we inhabit,” he writes, “is, as it were, a certain point located in the center of the sky: therefore the sky surrounding it has as large a number of inhabitants as the space is larger; and the heavens of heavens contain an immense number of them. If it is written: thousands of thousands served Him, and darkness stood before Him (Dan. 7:10), - this is not because such was the number of Angels, but because the prophet could not speak of a greater number” (Handbook of the Priest. M. , 1978. T. 2. P. 254.).Angelic hierarchy
God immediately created various kinds of angelic powers. The difference between them in nature was not the result of different degrees of “cooling” of the Angels in love, as Origen taught. Dionysius the Areopagite systematized the church doctrine of the nine ranks of angels. He writes that the Upper World has a hierarchical structure, since not all angelic ranks equally accept divine enlightenment. Lower ranks accept enlightenment from higher ranks. The angelic world is a single whole and, at the same time, a ladder. All Angels are to a certain extent involved in the Divine and the Light communicated from Him (Florovsky G., Archpriest Byzantine Fathers of the 5th-8th centuries, p. 112), but the degrees of their knowledge and perfection are not the same.
The angelic hierarchy consists of three triads. The first, highest, is the Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones
. All of them are located in the closest and most immediate proximity to God, “as if on the threshold of the Divinity,” at the Trinity Sanctuary itself. They have access to direct and immediate knowledge of the Divine mysteries. They live in indescribable illumination, contemplate God in bright light.
Six-winged Seraphim
(Heb. - flaming, fiery), which are spoken of only by the prophet Isaiah (Is. 6:2), blaze with love for God and encourage others to it.
Cherubim
(Heb. - chariots) - spiritual creatures that the prophet Ezekiel saw in the images of a man, an ox, a lion and an eagle (Ezekiel 1).
These symbols mean that Cherubim combine the qualities of intelligence, obedience, strength and speed. Cherubim stand before the throne of God (Rev. 4:6-7). They are the spiritual chariot of the Most High (Ezek. 1:10), which is why God is called riding on the cherubim
(1 Sam. 4:4).Cherubim guarded the entrance to paradise (Gen. 3:24). Images of two Cherubim overshadowed the Ark of the Covenant, the place of God's immediate presence (Ex. 25:18-20). The King of Tire, symbolizing, according to the holy fathers, Satan, is called the overshadowing cherub (Ezek. 28:14), which indicates his initial closeness to God.
The many-eyed Cherubim, according to Dionysius the Areopagite, shine with the light of knowledge of God. They send down wisdom and enlightenment for the knowledge of God to the lower ranks. They are “rivers of wisdom” and “places of God’s rest”; hence some of the Cherubim are called " Thrones
“, since God Himself rests on them not sensually, but spiritually, with a special abundance of grace (Dionios the Areopagite. On the heavenly hierarchy. Ch. 7, § 1.2 M, 1845. P. 25-29).
The middle hierarchy consists of: Dominance, Strength and Power
.
Dominations
(Col. 1:16) rule over the subsequent orders of Angels.
They instruct God-appointed earthly rulers in wise governance. They teach how to control feelings, tame sinful lusts, enslave the flesh to the spirit, and overcome temptations. The powers
(1 Pet. 3:22) work miracles and send down the grace of miracles and clairvoyance to the saints of God.
They help people with their work, strengthen them in patience, and bestow spiritual strength and courage. Authorities
(1 Pet. 3:22; Col. 1:16) have the power to subdue the power of the devil. They ward off demonic temptations from us, protect ascetics, and help them in the fight against evil thoughts. They also have power over the forces of nature, such as wind and fire (Rev. 8:7).The lower hierarchy includes: Principalities, Archangels and Angels
.
Beginnings
(Col. 1:16) rule over the lower Angels, directing their activities to fulfill Divine commands. They are entrusted with managing the Universe, protecting countries, peoples and tribes. They teach earthly authorities to fulfill their duties not for the sake of benefits and personal glory, but to seek in everything the glory of God and the benefit of their neighbors.
Archangels
(1 Thess. 4:16) preach great and glorious things. They reveal the secrets of faith, prophecy and the will of God to people, that is, they are conductors of Revelation.
Angels
(1 Pet. 3:22) are closest to people. They proclaim the intentions of God, instruct in virtues and holy life. They protect the faithful, keep us from falling, and raise the fallen.
Saint Dionysius the Areopagite is aware of the imperfection of such systematization. He writes: “How many ranks of heavenly beings, what they are and how the secrets of the hierarchy are performed among them, God alone, the Author of their hierarchy, knows exactly; They also know their own strengths, their light, their sacred and worldly order. And we can be told as much about this as God has revealed to us through them, as those who know themselves” (St. Dionysius the Areopagite. On the heavenly hierarchy. Chapter 6, § 1. P. 24.).
St. Augustine argues in a similar way: “I unshakably believe that there are Thrones, Dominions, Principalities and Powers in the heavenly abodes, and that they differ from each other, I undoubtedly maintain; but what they are and how they differ from each other, I don’t know.”
Some holy fathers believe that the listed nine ranks do not cover all existing angelic ranks; there are others that will be revealed only in the Future Age (Eph. 1:21).
The famous Orthodox theologian Archpriest John Meyendorff believes that for the Christian tradition the hierarchical structure of the angelic world, proposed by Dionysius the Areopagite, represents great inconvenience. “Old Testament angelology is complex and does not fit into the hierarchy of Dionysius. Thus, Seraphim in the book of the prophet Isaiah is the direct messenger of God (in the system of Dionysius, Seraphim would have to use the underlying hierarchy). The Church honors Archangel Michael as the head of the Heavenly army (in the Epistle of the Apostle Jude he fights Satan), however, in the system of Dionysius, the archangel rank is one of the lowest in the heavenly hierarchy.” This was noticed by the holy fathers, so they accepted the hierarchy of Dionysius with reservations. Thus, St. Gregory Palamas argues that the Incarnation of Christ violated the original order: in violation of all hierarchical ranks, God sent the Archangel Gabriel, that is, one of the lower Angels, to announce the good news of the Incarnation to the Virgin Mary. Reflecting the same idea, the hymns of the feasts of the Ascension and Dormition proclaim that the Angels were surprised that the human nature of Christ and the Mother of God “ascends from earth to heaven” completely independently of the angelic hierarchy (Prot. I. Meyendorff. Introduction to Patristic Theology. New York , 1985. pp. 291-292).
So, it should be borne in mind that the classification of the Heavenly Powers of Dionysius the Areopagite is rather conditional and schematic; it is unable to satisfactorily explain some facts of Revelation and the phenomena of spiritual life.
For example, if we strictly follow Dionysius’s scheme, then our communication with God is possible only through Angels. However, in the Holy Scriptures there are any number of examples of people communicating with God without the mediation of Angels. ARCHANGELS
In the canonical books of the Bible, only two names of Archangels are mentioned:1) Michael (from Hebrew - “who is like God”; Dan. 10:13; Jude 1:9) - Archangel of the ethereal Forces.
2) Gabriel (from Hebrew - “man of God”; Dan. 8:16; Luke 1:19) - servant of the Divine fortress and messenger of the mysteries of God.
Four names appear in non-canonical books:
3) Raphael (from Hebrew - “God’s help”; Tov. 3:16) - healer of ailments.
4) Uriel (from Hebrew - “fire of God”; 3 Ezra 4:1) - a servant of Divine love, kindling in the hearts love for God and enlightening with the light of the knowledge of God.
5) Selaphiel (from Hebrew - “prayer to God”) - a minister of prayer, teaching prayer.
6) Jeremiel (from Hebrew - “the height of God”; 3 Ezra 4:36).
In addition, pious tradition speaks of two more Archangels:
7) Jehudiel (from Hebrew - “praise of God”) - an assistant in labor and an intercessor of rewards for those who work for the glory of God.
Barachiel (from Hebrew - “blessing of God”) is a minister of God’s blessings.
There is an opinion that seven of them stand before the throne of God. In this sense, the following words from the Revelation of John the Theologian are interpreted: “ Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and was, and is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne
"(Rev. 1:4). This, of course, is a rather conditional interpretation. The exact meaning of this text is hidden from us.
There are prayers with petitions to each of the Archangels according to their ministry.
1. Holy Archangel Michael, conqueror, conquer my passions.
2. Holy Archangel Gabriel, messenger of God, announce to me the hour of death.
3. Holy Archangel Raphael, healer, heal me from mental and physical illness.
4. Holy Archangel Uriel, enlightener, enlighten my feelings of soul and body.
5. Holy Archangel Jehudiel, glorifier, glorify me with good deeds.
6. Holy Archangel Selafiel, prayer book, pray to God for me, a sinner.
7. Holy Archangel Barachiel, blesser, bless me, a sinner, to see me through my entire life in spiritual salvation.
8. Holy Angel of God, my Guardian, save my sinful soul.
9. O My Most Holy Lady Theotokos, all the Heavenly Powers of the saints Angels and Archangels and all the saints, have mercy on me, help me in this life, in the outcome of my soul and in the Future World. Amen
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Angels have halos
If you imagine a classic biblical angel, he will appear in flowing robes with wings and a halo. But the Bible says nothing about the presence of the latter in these creatures. This scripture says nothing at all about halos. Something similar to the “business card” of religious art can be considered the rays of light that emanated from the famous characters from the Bible - Moses and Christ. And the halo itself appeared above the images of saints only in the fourth century. Initially, such a glow was placed above Christ seated on the throne. Gradually, the halo began to be considered a symbol of goodness; it was also painted over angels. And by the sixth century, all the saints also acquired a halo. But Christians did not invent the halo, but borrowed this idea. It appeared in Ancient Syria and Egypt, where kings were depicted with halos on their heads, like crowns. The divine glow emphasized the connection of the rulers with the supreme beings. And in ancient Rome, emperors were often painted wearing crowns and rays of light. So Christian artists simply borrowed a successful symbol, which stuck.
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Jorge Luis Borges History of the Angels
The angels are two days and two nights older than us: the Lord created them on the fourth day, and they, between the newly created sun and the first moon, looked at our earth, which then hardly represented anything other than several fields with wheat and vegetable gardens not far from the water. These original angels are stars.
It was not difficult for the ancient Jews to connect the concepts of “angel” and “star”. I will choose from many other examples the place in the Book of Job where the Lord speaks out of the storm, recalling the beginning of the world: when all the morning stars sang to me and all the sons of God rejoiced. This is a literal translation of Fray Luis de Leon, and it is not difficult to guess that these sons of God and singing stars are angels.
Also, Isaiah (14, 12) calls the fallen angel “the Lucifer,” which Quevedo remembers when he writes “the rebellious angel, the rebel Lucifer.” This identification of stars and angels (brightening up the loneliness of the nights) seems to me beautiful, this is a reward to the Jews for reviving the souls of the stars, giving vitality to their radiance.
Throughout the Old Testament we meet many angels. There are hidden angels there who walk in righteous paths through the valley and whose supernatural essence is not immediately noticeable; there are angels as strong as farm laborers, such is the one who fought with Jacob on the holy night until the dawn broke; there are warrior angels, like the leader of the army of the Lord who appeared to Joshua; there are “two times ten thousand” angels in the war chariots of the Lord. But the whole angelarium, the whole host of angels, is in the Revelation of St. John: there are strong angels who cast down the dragon, and those who stand at the four corners of the Earth so that it does not rotate, and those who turn a third of the seas into blood, and those who, becoming instruments of his wrath, cut off the grapes and throw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God, and those who are bound by the great river Euphrates and prepared to torment people, and those in whom the eagle and man are mixed.
Islam also knows angels. The Muslims of Cairo are barely visible because of the angels, the real world in which they live is almost swallowed up by the angelic world, since, according to Edward William Lane, every follower of the prophet receives two guardian angels, or five, or sixty, or one hundred and sixty.
The treatise “On the Heavenly Hierarchy,” attributed to the Greek convert to Christianity Dionysius and created around the 5th century AD, is the most accurate register of the ranks of angels and distinguishes, for example, cherubim and seraphim, believing that the first fully and most perfectly see God, and the latter - ecstatic and trembling, like an ascending flame - eternally strive for Him. Twelve hundred years later, Alexander Pope, the archetype of the poet-scholar, kept this distinction in mind when he wrote his famous line:
As rapt seraph, that adores and burns (Like a seraph, burning, idolizing)
Intellectual theologians do not limit themselves to angels, but try to comprehend the world of dreams and wings. This is not an easy undertaking, since angels should be considered as beings superior to man, but, of course, inferior to the deity. Numerous examples of such dialectical oscillations can be found in the writings of Rothe, the German idealist theologian. His list of properties of angels is worthy of reflection. Among them are the power of the mind, free will, incorporeality (however, in combination with the ability to temporarily acquire a body), extra-spatiality (an angel does not occupy space and cannot be its prisoner); constant existence, having a beginning and no end; angels are invisible and even unchanging - a property inherent in eternity.
As for the characteristic features of angels, they are recognized as having extraordinary speed, the ability to communicate with each other without resorting to words or signs, and to do things that are amazing, but not miraculous. For example, they can neither create something out of nothing nor raise the dead. As you can understand, the world of angels, located between people and God, is highly regulated.
This swarm of angels could not help but end up in literature. There are countless examples. In a sonnet by Don Juan de Jauregui dedicated to St. Ignatius, the angel retains its biblical power, its warlike severity:
Look: fully armed with purity, the mighty angel sets the sea on fire.
For Don Luis de Gongora, an angel is a precious decoration that can captivate ladies and young ladies:
When, taking pity on my melancholy, will the noble seraph loosen the steel bonds with a fragile hand?
In one of Lope’s sonnets there is a charming metaphor, as if written in the twentieth century:
Ripe grapes of angels.
For Juan Ramon Jimenez, angels smell like fields:
Foggy lilac angel
extinguished the green stars.
We are approaching that almost miracle, because of which the entire text was written: how unusually tenacious angels are. The human imagination has conjured up many amazing creatures (newts, hippogriffs, chimeras, sea serpents, unicorns, dragons, werewolves, cyclops, fauns, basilisks, demigods, leviathans and countless others), and they all disappeared except the angels.
Which verse today dares to mention the phoenix or the procession of the centaurs? No one. But any modern poem will happily become the abode of angels and shine with their light. Usually I imagine them when it gets dark, in the evening hour of the suburbs or plains, in a long and quiet moment, when all that is visible is what the sunset rays illuminate, and the colors seem to be memories or premonitions of other shades. There is no point in bothering the angels in vain, because these are the last deities who have found shelter with us, in case they fly away.
Translation from Spanish by V. KULAGINA-YARTSEVA
Artist: Sulamith Wulfing - angels
Angels had two wings
It turns out that the artists painted not only halos, but also wings on the angels. To be more precise, we are talking about two wings. And in this case, the original source, that is, the Bible, says nothing about this. And although angels are often called “flying”, who said that they were two-winged? It is quite logical that if these creatures moved through the air, then they also had wings. And speaking of numbers, a couple of such natural adaptations immediately appear. Seraphim occupy one of the highest places in the hierarchy of angels. They stand right in front of the Throne of God and literally burn with love for their master. This is an example for others. In the book of the prophet Isaiah it is generally said that each seraphim has six wings. But only a pair is required for the flight itself. Two more cover the face, and the third covers the legs. Cherubim are described as angels with four wings. Early Christian paintings depicted angels descending from heaven on wings. A striking example is the images on the sarcophagi of the Romans. For example, on the tombstone of the politician Junius Basus there is a scene from the Bible where an angel appears to Abraham and asks him to sacrifice his son. But in the Bible, when describing this event, nothing is said about wings, whereas they already appeared on the scene on the sarcophagus. The painting dates back to the year 359, therefore, it was around then that ideas about the appearance of angels were formed. By the end of the 4th century they were already painted in this form everywhere. We can say that since then angels have become firmly associated with winged pagan deities.
ANGELS
Archimandrite John (Peasant)
The word angel means messenger. Disembodied spirits have this name because they proclaim the will of God to people. An angel is someone whom the Lord can send with an assignment and who will exactly fulfill that assignment.
Angels live everywhere. But mainly in heaven, around the Throne of God. Where God most reveals His glory to them, and through them His will towards people.
The Holy Fathers of the Church call them second lights, as if a reflection of the Divine light.
They are the second lights! How can we understand this?! What to compare with so that it is accessible to our mind?..
Being in close proximity to God, Angels are filled with admiration, God's greatness, His holiness, wisdom and the greatest love of the Creator of the universe for His creation.
A certain Divine light freely flows through them like a wide river.
This is the image of true holiness. The Heavenly Forces received the light of God. They refracted it in themselves and, reflecting and crushing it into many beautiful rays, distributed it around themselves, giving it to people capable of perceiving it. And in this reflected radiance of the Divine light, an undiminished, undarkened radiance, but an increased and joyful radiance that brings life, we come to know God!
If it were not for the Angels, we would never be able to feel and perceive the Divine light, even to a small degree accessible to man.
We ourselves are not able to see and feel the glory of God - we need intermediaries who transform it so that it becomes available to us.
And so the Angels are these intermediaries for us.
Angels differ from each other both in enlightenment and in varying degrees of grace.
The highest hierarchy of those directly close to God consists of Angels who bear the names: Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones. Seraphim, true to their name, have hearts flaming with love for God, and they excite others to ardently love their Creator. Seraphim means fiery.
Cherubim have fullness of knowledge and abundance of wisdom. They are illuminated by abundant rays of God's light. It is given to them to know everything to the extent that created beings can know.
Thrones - these Angels are so exalted and so illuminated by grace that the Lord dwells in them and through them manifests His justice.
The second, middle hierarchy consists of Angels bearing the names: Dominion, Strength and Authority. The Angels of Dominion teach people to dominate their will, to be above all temptation, and also to resist those evil spirits who have sworn to destroy a person. The powers are Angels filled with divine strength. These are the spirits through whom the Lord performs his miracles. They were given by God the ability to send down the grace of miracles to the saints of God, who work miracles during their lives on earth. Authorities - Angels who have the power to tame the power of demons and repel enemy temptations. In addition, they strengthen good ascetics in their spiritual and physical labors.
The third, lower hierarchy also includes three ranks: Principalities, Archangels and Angels.
The Beginnings are the rank of Angels, who are entrusted with governing the universe, protecting and governing individual countries and peoples. These are the Angels of the People. Their dignity is higher than the Guardian Angels of individual people. From the book of the prophet Daniel we learn that the care of the Jewish people was entrusted to the Archangel Michael (see Dan. 10:21). Archangels are the great evangelists of the mysteries of God, of all that is great and glorious. They strengthen the holy faith in people, enlightening their minds to the knowledge and understanding of the will of God.
Angels (the last, ninth rank of the hierarchy) are bright spiritual beings who are closest to us and have special care for us. I will talk about them in more detail a little later. And now briefly about the Archangels.
From the Holy Scriptures we know that there are seven Archangels, that is, the senior Angels who rule over everyone else.
In the book of Tobit (Tov.12:15) we read that the Angel who talked with him said: “I am Raphael, one of the seven Angels.” And the Revelation of John the Theologian speaks of seven spirits who are before the throne of God (see Rev. 1:4). The Holy Church includes among them: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Selafiel, Jehudiel and Barachiel. Tradition also includes Jeremiel among them.
- Archangel Michael is the first of the supreme Angels, the champion of the glory of God. He is often depicted in military garb with other Angels faithful to God. Or he is depicted alone in the clothes of a warrior with a sword or spear in his hand, trampling underfoot a dragon or an ancient serpent - the devil. This is how he is depicted in memory of the fact that once in heaven there was a great confrontation between Angels - the servants of God and evil spirits - angels who fell away from God and became servants of Satan. Sometimes he is depicted with a copy, the top of which is decorated with a white banner with a cross. This is a special distinction between Archangel Michael and his army, meaning moral purity and unshakable loyalty to the Heavenly King.
- Archangel Gabriel is the herald of God's destinies and the servant of His omnipotence. Sometimes depicted with a branch of paradise or with a lantern with a burning candle inside, in one hand and with a mirror in the other. A candle closed in a lantern means that often the destinies of God are hidden until the time of their fulfillment, but even after their fulfillment they are comprehended only by those who carefully look into the mirror of their conscience and the words of God.
- Raphael is depicted with an alabaster vessel filled with healing oil. The name Raphael means mercy, help to all those who suffer.
- Uriel - the Archangel of the light and fire of God - is depicted with lightning lowered down. He illuminates with the fire of fiery love, enlightens the minds of people with the revelation of useful truths. It can be said about him that he is a special patron of people who devote themselves to science.
- Selaphiel – Archangel of prayer. He is depicted either with a rosary in his hands, or in a prayer pose with his hands placed in reverence on his chest.
- Jehudiel - praise of God. Depicted with a golden crown in one hand and with a scourge of three cords in the other. The crown is to encourage people who strive for the glory of God, and the scourge is to protect them in the name of the Holy Trinity from enemies.
- Barachiel is the Archangel of God's blessings, sent during earthly life to those who work to receive heavenly, eternal blessings. These are the Archangels.
These are the Archangels.
And now about the Angels.
Among the host of Angels is the Guardian Angel of each of us. And so all of us, my dears, must strive to know our Guardian Angel as best as possible, to know him enough to feel his presence near us. And for this we need to know as much as possible about him.
Our Church teaches that God created Angels in His image. These are incorporeal, intelligent, purest beings, similar to spirit. They are generously endowed by God with natural gifts: intelligence, the ability to know and love both their Creator and people, and to be a living example of God’s perfections. They are faithful servants of God, doers of His will. Not only are they able to understand and converse with each other, but they also understand the language of our souls, and therefore we can turn to them in our prayers. And this is the guarantee of close direct communication with our Guardian Angel available to each of us.
As the Holy Gospel says, the Son of God came to earth to serve people and save them. And Angels are sent to earth for the same purpose - to serve people.
According to the teachers of the Church, man was created in order to replenish the number of fallen angels. Therefore, we must enter the Council of Angels. And for this, think, my dears, how pure and holy our life should be. Just as here on earth, we must prepare ourselves in advance for cohabitation with the Angels, for entering their bright and holy assembly. To that cathedral of theirs, which you and I now so solemnly celebrate!
But for this we must acquire both angelic thoughts and feelings. We are required to clear the place for love, to prepare our hearts to accept supernatural love, the love that God expects from us.
And it's not difficult! Live according to the Gospel commandments - and you will achieve what you need. But they are not impossible. And in this matter the Angels again help us, enlightening our minds with the knowledge of the Holy Gospel. Realizing the importance of our close union with the Angels, let us set ourselves, my friends, the goal that every day we live does not separate us, but brings us closer to the Angels, especially to our Guardian Angel.
From the book “Angel of Prayer”
There is an Angel of Death
In Christianity there is a majestic image of an angel coming to a person for his life. This creature is beautiful in its dark, otherworldly depth and inevitability. Except he only has one goal, and people don't really like it. There are several passages in the Bible that deal with angels taking human life. This is mentioned in Exodus, in the Passover story, chapter 11:4-5, and also in the Second Book of Kings, chapter 19:35. In the latter case, we read how an angel took the lives of 185 thousand Assyrians at once. However, in modern understanding, we consider the Angel of Death to be death itself. In the Bible, these creatures are not only engaged in taking people’s lives. Their actions in this regard are just fulfilling the next orders of the Lord. In Jewish traditions, the very idea of the Angel of Death is completely meaningless. After all, only God, and not some of his messengers, have power over life and death. But gradually the gloomy image found its way into religious canons. They began to talk about the Angel of Death named Samael. The first mentions of him were so insignificant that it is difficult to even track their appearance. During the time of the Amorais in 220-370, more frequent references to Samael as the angel of death began to appear. In those ancient texts, angels become deadly and vengeful messengers, and Samael himself took on the mantle of the chief Angel of Death. He was destined to move from a purely religious character to a folkloric one. Samael stopped fulfilling God's will, now he appears to people at will and takes their lives. And according to folk legends, the body of this creature was completely covered with eyes. This allowed the angel to see everything that was going on around him. In Jewish tradition, Samael is associated with Cain. They say that it was this angel who inspired him with the desire, giving him strength, to kill his brother.
Church Teaching on Angels
Demons, damn... What do these names of evil forces mean?
The personal and evil force that once rebelled against God, now harming man, wishing to destroy man, was called by the ascetics of the Church differently. There are many names, but they are all synonymous, all about the same thing...
Satan (from Heb.
"Satan") means adversary.
Devil (Greek)
"diabolos") - slanderer, gossip.
Demon (glory)
– philologists consider it to be a derivative of “to be afraid.”
Demon (Greek)
- false god, spirit.
Evil (glory)
- cunning, deceiver.
Damn (glory)
– presumably from the Indo-European root sker, fast, hence korn, i.e. cut, trim, cut off!
My grandfather says that you can’t call the devil (“cursing”). Is it so?
It is noteworthy that church people never mention the devil. Before the revolution of 1917, it was generally indecent in Russia to swear; every time mentioning the devil was a challenge, shocking. After the revolution, the word “God” began to be written with a small letter, and “devil” with a capital letter; in post-revolutionary literature and poetry, the word “devil” became very popular.
Are believers afraid of demons? Of course no. St. Athanasius the Great wrote: “One should not be completely afraid of demons, for all their undertakings are reduced to nothing by the grace of Christ.”
However, devotees of the faith have always spoken very carefully on this topic. There is no point in laughing or making fun of demons. It is better to overcome them in your Christian life. Then, if we succeed in our feat, we will have the right to sneer at demons. In the meantime, you should not underestimate the enemy.
Do saints encounter demons?
These meetings are inevitable if we embark on an active spiritual life. A few days ago, one of my parishioners said: “Father, what is this? As soon as I start praying and fasting, I get sick, I quarrel with my wife, troubles start at work...” All of these are typical attacks of demons against new Christians.
On the paths of prayer, asceticism and good deeds, ascetics of the Church constantly encounter a strange evil force opposing them. This force cannot be called an accident; it does not fit the definition of the unknown unconscious. It’s as if someone is deliberately, actively acting evilly, whispering bad thoughts, pushing people to do bad things... Once you start living a real spiritual life, this evil force is right there. It creeps out of all the cracks of life, like an infection, like a contagion, penetrating into thoughts and feelings. It is impossible not to notice it, to ignore it, because it means not seeing that someone is actively hindering you in your spiritual life; for some, such a life is unpleasant.
At first the demons, of course, hide. An ancient writer famously said that Satan's eternal trick is to convince people that he does not exist. With ascetics who have succeeded in asceticism and mystical life, Satan behaves more brazenly. He no longer hides and sometimes comes into contact with the ascetic completely openly.
With those prayer books who have reached a high degree of spiritual life, demons behave openly viciously. It even happens that they attack ascetics of the faith and beat them.
How did the teaching of the Orthodox Church about evil spirits appear?
This teaching was explained by the holy ascetics of our faith. The Bible says very little about Satan. This point of teaching is only outlined. Little theory, but a lot... practice. Practices of meeting and fighting dark demonic forces.
Thus, in the Gospel we find many examples of Christ’s struggle with Satan. Even when Jesus approaches the demon-possessed, the demons within them cry out in horror: What have you to do with us, Jesus, Son of God? You came here ahead of time to torment us
(Matt. 8:29).
Christ casts out demons; we can say that He declared war not to life but to death to the entire demonic army. And He gives the same power to all who believe: Behold, I give you power to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.
(Luke 10:19).
And devotees of the faith from the very first times of the existence of the Church were convinced that this struggle with the devil is not a myth, not a pious turn of phrase, but a reality. And that a Christian actually receives strength in the Church to fight demons.
In confronting demonic forces, the Church gained both knowledge about these forces and knowledge about the human soul, which goes out to fight the evil one.
Is there a doctrine of Satan?
We can describe and explore what is accessible to the senses. We can dissect the physical world around us, “take tests” and so on. But the area of the spiritual world is mysterious and practically hidden from us.
Only at the level of personal spiritual experience can we comprehend this world.
But our experience, the experience of mediocre, unspiritual people, is a bad guide in this matter. Therefore, we take as a basis the experience of the highest ascetics of the spirit, the knights of faith. These are the saints of our Church.
It is noteworthy that their experiences are almost the same. This means that we can say something concrete about Satan!
Where did Satan come from?
Opening the Bible, we read: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.
(Gen. 1, 1–2).
The word “abyss”, in the original – tehom (Hebrew),
reminds us of the Babylonian goddess Teomat, goddess of chaos, goddess of the ocean depths. The biblical author, hinting at Theomat (the people of biblical times understood this hint), wanted to emphasize that from the first moments of peacemaking, the cosmos was confronted by an uncontrollable destructive force.
So, already on the first page of the Bible we are introduced to Satan. In the future, he will always be invisibly, but really present in the world created by God.
However, the fact that Satan already existed at the creation of the world proves that he appeared before the world. This is true. According to the ancient church-wide Tradition, Satan is one of the Angels created by God.
Angels are spiritual free beings created by God before the creation of the visible world. There are a great many angels. They are not all the same. We say that the angelic world is hierarchical. There are higher Angels - among them Cherubim, Seraphim, and there are lesser Angels. Satan belonged to the number of the highest Angels. The Holy Scripture even says that it was the greatest, best Angel!
And this Angel, perfectly aware of his power, wanted to become even more powerful and glorious - like God! He rebelled against the Creator, was defeated, cast out of Heaven. But not destroyed. And now this extremely evil defeated spirit, together with a large number of Angels - demons - who have come to his side and have become evil - is trying to harm the cause of God. And the main work of God is the salvation of man and the world. This means that all the forces of Satan are aimed at preventing a person from living correctly, pleasing to God and achieving salvation.
Do you know how many demons there are?
Demons, as well as Angels, are innumerable. The ancient biblical hero Jacob, seeing a host of Angels, exclaimed: this is a militia
(i.e., a huge army)
of God
(Gen. 32:1-2), and in the book of the prophet Daniel it is said even more specifically: thousands of thousands and ten thousand thousand are before God (see Dan. 7:10) (i.e. speech is about millions of Angels).
The exact number of angelic beings cannot be determined. And although in the Middle Ages in the West there were disputes about how many Angels could fit on the tip of a needle, all this is nothing more than speculation.
We only know that there are a great many Angels and demons, or demons, many times more of them than people.
You say that Angels are not equal. What does it mean?
Holy Scripture very specifically indicates that the Angels are not in an equal position, but between them there are greater and lesser ones.
In the Bible we find references to several different orders of angelic beings: Archangels, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Powers. Just seven.
Why did God create different Angels?
We can only speculate about this. We know how amazingly diverse our natural world is. St. John Chrysostom wrote that the abundance of species of animals, fish, insects, plants and other things in the world around us testifies to the abundance of God's goodness... In the natural world there is a lower one - for example, the simplest single-celled animals, and a higher one - mammals, and between these poles there is a great diversity species, genera of animals and living beings. Approximately (very, very approximately) the same can be said about Angels.
We would like to think that the highest Angels - Cherubim, Seraphim - are practically equal to the “simple” Angels, our Guardian Angels. But perhaps there is an abyss between them. However, here we go deeper into the mystery...
Let me remind you of the beautiful words of St. Augustine: “That there are Thrones, Dominions, Principalities and Powers in the heavenly abodes, I unshakably believe, and that they differ from each other, I undoubtedly maintain; but what they are and in what way they differ from each other, I don’t know.”
Where do Angels live?
The Holy Scriptures call heaven the place of residence of the good Angels. Of course, this is spiritual Heaven. No localization, that is, determination of the exact coordinates of their location, is possible. Their place of residence lies outside the categories of our created world. Therefore, to say, for example, that Angels live on distant planets, in the depths of the Universe, would be naive, to say the least.
Where do the demons live in this case?
Around 1990, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported that the deepest well in the world had been drilled on the Kola Peninsula, and from this well there was a stench and terrible screams were heard. The authors of the note stated that, perhaps for the first time in history, it was possible to “drill to hell.”
Of course, this is a newspaper joke. Although the now popular author Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) in his book “The Soul after Death” tried to defend the opinion that hell is located in the insides of the Earth, we agree that this is an extreme.
Hell as the habitat of fallen spirits is alien, just like Paradise.
Biblical authors believed that Angels are in Heaven, beyond the firmament, where the Throne of God is. People are naturally on earth. This means that demons are located in the space between earth and heaven, in the heavens.
The Apostle Paul also calls demons spirits of wickedness in high places.
But such a theory, if taken literally, stemmed from the ancient biblical cosmology, according to which the earth was considered flat, and above it stretched the firmament of the sky (firmament).
Naturally, the demons who tempt a person were placed by ancient authors in the space between earth and heaven. Not modern?
However, one can approach the sacred testimony of the Bible more thoughtfully. If we say that the location of angelic beings is spiritual Heaven, then it is quite possible to say that the space between earth and spiritual Heaven is actually occupied by demons.
This is what authoritative authors of a modern textbook on dogmatic theology write: after the fall from God, “the seat of the devil became the abyss that separates our world from the world of the holy Angels and the inhabitants of Paradise.”
Although now we are talking about subjects that are completely hidden and incomprehensible to us. Let us remember the words of St. John Chrysostom: “You ask where hell is, but why do you need to know this? You should know that hell exists, and not where it is... In my opinion, it is somewhere outside this world... Let’s try to find out not where it is, but how to avoid it.” I would advise you to especially pay attention to the last sentence of Chrysostom.
What do Angels look like?
They are disembodied spirits, and that says it all. But when appearing to humans, Angels take on different forms, usually human form. This can be the image of a young man or an old man. Let us remember the icon of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary. An angel in the form of a golden-haired youth with flaming wings behind his shoulders flies to the Virgin. In his hands, the lily is a symbol of purity. This is a traditional image, although, for example, St. Athanasius the Great believed that the Angel appeared to Mary in the form of... an old man.
Speaking about the appearance of Angels, we note that we have not only the evidence of Holy Scripture, but also abundant evidence of the Holy Tradition of the Church. Simply put, Angels appeared to many devotees of our faith, and there is numerous evidence of this.
So, most often an Angel is a young man in long robes, with wings over his shoulders, which symbolizes the speed of his service - the fulfillment of the will of God.
Can Angels appear to ordinary people?
St. Isaac the Syrian speaks about the people he knew who had cleared their spiritual vision: “Since they, having abandoned everything earthly, loved heavenly things and became imitators of the Angels, the Angels themselves did not hide their faces from them and fulfilled their every desire. From time to time Angels appeared to them, teaching them how they should live; sometimes they were told what was not clear; sometimes the saints themselves asked them what was needed. Sometimes, during the obvious struggle of the enemy with the saints, the Angels showed themselves to them personally and said that they were sent to their aid, and produced in them courage, vigor and courage, and sometimes performed healings through them ... "
But let us still remember that many of these revelations are not of a visual nature, they are from the sphere of the spiritual experience of the ascetic.
Let's say a praying ascetic ascends with his soul to the spiritual spheres or his spiritual vision opens, that is, he sees the invisible world, which seems to be superimposed on our world. And this is where he meets the inhabitants of heaven, and not so that an Angel creaks open the door of his cell and squeezes sideways.
Who is a Guardian Angel?
Based on the testimony of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, the Church believes that a Guardian Angel is assigned to each of the Christians. It is given to a person on the day of Baptism.
To His angels,
- exclaims the psalmist, -
He will command you, to keep you in all your ways.
They will take you in their arms so that you do not dash your foot against a stone (Ps. 90:11-12).
“Formerly the Angels were according to the number of nations, but now according to the number of believers,” writes St. John Chrysostom. - How is this known? Listen to what Christ says: See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven
(Matt. 18:10). Know that each of the faithful has an Angel. And each of the ancient righteous people had an Angel..."
Is it possible to communicate with Angels?
Without a doubt. The Church doesn't just say that we can, it calls us to communicate with heavenly friends. Friends because Angels for Christians are friends, helpers and inspirers in spiritual life.
Moreover, they are also our defenders from demonic attacks.
Over whom do demons have power?
Over sinful and evil people; Often the channel for a demon to enter a person is vices or human passions. But I think that this question can best be answered... by the demons themselves.
In the life of St. We read about the martyr Tryphon that at a young age he healed illnesses and cast out possessed demons. The Roman Emperor Gordian, from whose daughter St. The martyr cast out the demon and wished to see the expelled one with his own eyes. St. Tryphon summoned a demon, and everyone saw him in the form of a black dog with fiery eyes. "St. The martyr asked the demon: “Who sent you to become a young woman?” The demon answered: “The Father, the ruler of all evil, who sits in hell.” St. Tryphon: “Who gave you such power?” Demon: “We have no power over those who know God and believe in the Only Begotten Son of God; Only by God's permission do we inflict light temptations; but we have complete power over those who do not believe in God, walk in their own lusts, and do what pleases us. The following things are pleasing to us: idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, envy, murder, pride, etc. These people are entangled in sins like nets; they are our friends, and the same fate awaits us.”
Should you be afraid of demons?
Of course not, you shouldn’t be afraid of demons. “One should not be afraid of them (demons), for all their enterprises are reduced to nothing by the grace of Christ” (St. Athanasius of Alexandria).
But also forget that the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour
(1 Peter 5:8), it’s also not worth it.
It should be remembered that Christian life is a confrontation with Satan, it is a battle with demons and with all the thoughts and feelings that they want to sow in us.
How to fight demons?
No magic tricks will help us here. Only through personal spiritual life, prayer, confession and communion will we receive the strength to resist Satan. Resist, repel his attacks and defeat him.
It happens that after turning to psychics or sorcerers, a person who assumes that he has a demon (or is experiencing demonic attacks) feels noticeable relief. In reality, no spiritual healing occurred. Demons, seeing the occult manipulations that a psychic sorcerer performs on a person, enter into some kind of game - they stop disturbing the person for a while. They do this on purpose, deliberately, in order to lull the vigilance of the unfortunate person. And after a while they show themselves again. He runs to the healers again. Again the demons subside for a while. And so all my life. They torture the victim and laugh at her stupidity...
If demons do not attack me, does this mean that my spiritual life is correct?
Not at all. I remember that when I entered the theological seminary, at one of the first lectures the teacher said: “Brothers, remember that from the moment you decided to connect your life with the Church and entered the seminary, you became enemies of the devil. He is not interested in tempting worldly people and unbelievers. Most of them already belong to him. But his abuse is against those who have seriously decided to serve Christ. All the arrows of hell are aimed at 17 Obvodny!”
A few years later, I read in the “Prologue” (a book of church teachings for every day) for February 21 a confirmation of the words of the old professor. “We (demons), - the demon answers one of the ascetics, - we fight only with those who arm themselves against us with prayer, and we do not fight with the lazy.” Why don't they fight? Because a person who does not take care of his soul already belongs to demons...
I'm afraid that my children will become possessed. How to protect them from this?
The Rev. Anatoly Optinsky will answer this question better than me: “As for the children’s fear of being in the power of the devil through some witch, then by this you only prove that your concepts about a Christian, about God, about the devil are the concepts of a village woman. If demons did not dare to enter pigs without the will of Jesus Christ, how will they enter people?”
It is up to us to bring children to church, teach them to pray, tell them about the Divine Liturgy, and introduce them to constant communion, which is preceded by the Sacrament of Confession with repentance for their sins.
As parents, we must watch over our children like a gardener watches over a fragile, precious plant. Water, loosen the soil, fertilize, pull out weeds, protect from predators. That is, helping children grow up in purity and kindness. Pray daily for children. And leave the rest to God.
I know one family where the child behaves like a devil. He bites and beats his parents, commits sins unusual for early youth. How does this child spend his free time? He lies in front of the TV all day. Parents do not pay attention to him - and at the same time they fear that someone might possess their child. These parents, perhaps, have something to fear.
Text author: Archpriest Konstantin Parkhomenko
Material created: 01/05/2017
Resurrection of Christ
Marriage through the eyes of the Church
Gabriel - an important angel
There are four references to this character in the Bible. The first time it is said that he comes to earth every Christmas. That is why people revere him so much. It was Gabriel who became the messenger who informed Mary about her choice to be the mother of God’s son. And on other occasions he acted as a messenger. Meanwhile, it is customary to consider Gabriel not just an ordinary ordinary angel, but an archangel. They occupy a place above ordinary angels in the heavenly hierarchy. But there are other angelic ranks above them; the hierarchy of spiritual beings is generally quite complex. The Bible says that the angelic hierarchy has three levels, or spheres. Each of them has three more subgroups. The first sphere is closest to God; it includes seraphim, cherubim and thrones. It is the first rank of those mentioned that is the highest among the angels. The second sphere includes dominions that teach people to control their feelings, and rulers to lead peoples. These angels work miracles and protect good people from devilish temptations. The last niche is the lowest because it is farthest from God. Here are the archons, or principles. They guide the lower rank angels. It is believed that each earthly kingdom has its own archon, who is responsible for the rule of kings. These angels ensure that the most worthy people ascend to the throne and rule in the name of God. And right below them are the archangels, including Gabriel. Below are only simple angels who from time to time appear to people, perform small miracles and help if necessary. Below in the heavenly hierarchy are only people. They are the furthest away from God. So from the point of view of such a hierarchy, Gabriel, although one of the few angels with a name, has a very low status. And even the appearance of the baby Jesus at the manger did not give him significance.
The secret of angels and archangels revealed
The secret of angels and archangels has been revealed. Many religions of the world have such a concept as an angel, and only some know a little about archangels. This article will talk about the Heavenly Host, from among which the expanded concepts of angels and archangels, and a little about cherubim and seraphim will be considered. This is the most famous celestial hierarchy, which is only slightly known in Christianity. Ask any priest who an angel is and who the archangels are, not a single priest will give a clear answer, since they are not engaged in acquiring the Holy Spirit (Pranayama), and are accordingly deprived of intelligence.
Angels
Christians usually only know about angels that God created angels in Heaven, there was a war between Satan and the Archangel Michael, and Satan carried away a third of the angelic army. It is also known to the community of believers that God is restoring the number of heavenly angels at the expense of earthly people who have received the status of saints. This is usually the end of the information.
There is a hierarchy among angels. Angels are divided into three angelic classes. The very first angels are deprived of a choice between good and evil. These are the simplest angels and represent a kind of program that is programmed for certain actions. In some sources of existence, information has been preserved that the first angels were created as assistants to God and helped create the Earth. Accordingly, such angels are endowed with different abilities, with the help of which angels can perform real miracles.
The second caste of angels is higher in abilities than the first and were created a little later. This part constitutes a large half of the Heavenly Host and is endowed with freedom of choice. They are stronger than the first caste of angels, and it was from this part that Satan carried away the third part.
Only recently has a third caste of angels emerged. They come from earthly people, that is, from saints. Christianity on Earth was introduced precisely for this purpose, so that at the expense of Christians God could restore the fallen third part of the Heavenly angelic army. It is this third part that is of the greatest value to God. Christians are given the opportunity to experience all demonic temptations and freedom of choice. Thus, if a Christian or Christian woman has taken the path of monasticism, this means that they have voluntarily accepted their future destiny as the angel of the Almighty. Upon entering monasticism, a person is tonsured into an angelic position.
Having become a monk, a person ceases to belong to himself, but undertakes to develop an angelic being within himself. There are many different guides for monks to use to gain angelic powers and abilities. The libraries of Athos contain enough literature so that one can master the angelic craft and, most importantly, spiritual practice. Without spiritual practice it is impossible to become an angel.
The only way a monk can know that a blessing has been received from God is by acquiring some miraculous ability. It is the acquisition of miraculous ability that is considered a blessing for an angelic position.
Unlike archangels, angels do not have a physical body, therefore in Christianity it is customary not to burn people, but to bury them in the Earth (deactivates reincarnation for three years). There is one more detail in such a tradition, this is the belief in a general Resurrection. It is believed that by burying a person in the Earth, during the coming second coming, all buried people will be resurrected for God's Second Judgment.
Let me remind you that modern religions are very distorted and the prince of this world has done a good job on this, which is why many concepts have been removed from Christianity, for example, about the reincarnation of the soul, which I wrote about in my earliest articles. Unbelief in reincarnation leads to the fact that Christians go through cycles of rebirth and re-education on Earth very difficultly and with great delay, and are unable to create their own prosperous race.
Archangels
This part is the most interesting and the prince of this world made every effort to ensure that any concepts about archangels were removed from the Earth. It’s just that the Prince of this world does not need little gods to reincarnate and incarnate on Earth, and thus deprive the prince of the world of power.
Now the dawn of Svarog has come and, involuntarily, man-gods began to incarnate on Earth, it is they who will take the steering wheel of the Earth into their own hands and this is already happening. Submitting to events, the prince of this world gave the order to his vassals, the Masons and the Illuminati, to accompany the embodiment of the Golden Age on Earth.
If an angel is endowed by God with some kind of miraculous power to receive abilities, then archangels can have countless different miraculous abilities. In fact, when an angel receives miraculous power as a gift from God, this does not mean that God gave it. All abilities are inherent in a person from the very beginning. It’s just that during the period of Kali Yuga, people degraded, and therefore lost all kinds of wonderful abilities. In general, when a monk is cleansed of sins and increases the power of Reveal (the power of the Holy Spirit), then the abilities inherent in the soul (the essence of a person) turn into a conscious way of life. It was in this way that the saints could walk on water, move through the air, turn coal into salt and Loboda grass into bread, and could perform many other miracles.
Dying, a holy man became an angel, that is, an incorporeal being.
For the archangels the situation is different.
Archangels are higher in hierarchy than angels and stronger, including archangels who have a physical body that can miraculously exist in all worlds and dimensions.
The future archangel begins his path in the same way as the monks, but the difference is that God reveals the secrets of the archangel’s “settings” to such a chosen person. The path of the future archangel is the same as that of the monk. An archangel is chosen by God because he has greater spiritual power than an ordinary monk. Among the Christian saints, there are several archangels who emerged from people. The bodies of such saints have either not been found, or they are in a state of samadhi, that is, “sleeping.”
The future archangel, just like a monk, is cleansed of sins (cleanses his Nav), collects the power of Revealing (the Holy Spirit), but unlike an ordinary monk, the archangel is given more freedom. That is, the archangel does not have to be a monk.
And one more important detail. God gives the Archangel a host of saints, that is, angels who help him and subsequently serve him. For example, the Mother of God has her own host of saints. Archangel Michael also has his own host of saints. How it works?
Everything is actually very simple. The angels and the archangel become one being, and the angels always remain with the archangel and within him. It's kind of like the retinue of a king or king.
An archangel can increase his power, allowing the angels to act within him as one. For angels, the body of an archangel is a temple into which angels can enter. Imagine that the plow is pulled by one horse. Naturally, it is difficult for a horse to carry such a burden alone. Now imagine that several horses are connected to the plow, now the work moves faster. You can also take as an analogy a tractor with a power of 400 horsepower. That is, the more angels an archangel has in his “arsenal,” the stronger he is.
And don’t forget that you need to confirm your faith with deeds, otherwise your faith is empty!
Cherubim and Seraphim
Orthodox Christians know such a prayer as the “Cherubim” or “Theotokos”. The image of cherubs can be seen in the picture of the Old Testament golden Ark of the Covenant, which the Jews dragged along through the desert. In fact, believers were deceived here too. Well, think for yourself how God will live in a small box (see the description of God in my articles). Moreover, the fact is that when one of the caretakers opened the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, after which they lost their lives in terrible agony. Doesn't it at all coincide with the description of God, how God is love and killing people, including the killing of Egyptian babies? This suggests that the prince of this world worked closely on the Bible and believers were fed fake information about the Jewish people.
Since I’m talking about this, I’ll shed a little light on this matter.
The fact is that at that time Egypt was ruled by the former Thoth Atlas, who also became Osiris during the uprising of the Jews in Egypt. See my article on the construction of the Pharaoh's pyramids, some of the information is revealed there.
Since Osiris was to become Satan, it was necessary to prepare the ground for the creation of world power. This is what later led to the expulsion of the Jews and their resettlement throughout the world. The Torah that was sold to the Jews and the Kabbalah that they study, as well as the way of life that was foisted on them, is a complete deception! In short, Jewish guys, you are in trouble and it’s very cool, you are simply being used. Whoever is using you has already given this information.
So that Jews could comfortably exist in the world and at the same time safely fulfill the will of the prince of this world, it was for this purpose that they were written into the Bible, which was subsequently sold to Christians around the world. The Jews have already fulfilled their role, and since with their religion they do not fit into the coming Golden Age at all, they should already understand that God will not allow them to go into the future world with their faith! Now the god who created the religion of the Jews is changing his polarity from negative to positive and will again become That Atlas (already became), that is, the former Satan will become an archangel.
Now do you understand why the golden Ark of the Covenant is still hidden? The fact is that there is no god inside the Ark. This is technology and inside there is a radioactive battery installed to power the technology that served the Jews in the desert. If the Jews are now shown their Ark of the Covenant, they will understand that they were simply deceived and used. Therefore, dear Jews, if you want to pass into the coming Golden Age, run as far away from your religion as possible!
Let's return to the Cherubim and Seraphim.
In previous publications I have already revealed some information about the Archangels and Seraphim. Now dear reader knows that Archangel Michael is 15 meters tall, is a former Atlantean and has a physical body. Seraphim Dennitsa looks like a six-winged dragon and also has a size of 15 meters.
I repeat, seraphim can look like anything, here God showed his imagination in full. In one of the articles, he introduced the reader to the fabulous Firebird as one of the types of seraphim, which Ivan Tsarevich caught. Since the Mother of God is sung about as the most honest Seraphim and the most beautiful Cherub, then you can further use your imagination, and you will not be mistaken, the world of the Almighty is so great.
The saints themselves who described the Kingdom of Heaven also say that the world of God is great and diverse, and full of strange creatures, including many different cherubim and seraphim. Like angels, cherubim and seraphim are divided into castes and hierarchies, respectively. The first fallen seraphim Dennitsa only confirms these words.
I repeat, the fairy tale about Ivan Tsarevich is not fiction! Many saints walked the same path as Ivan Tsarevich.
If dear reader wants to experience the world in all its beauty and diversity, it is necessary to go through the path of a spiritual practitioner.
Prosperity to everyone!
Angels bring only good things to people
Angels are usually perceived as good beings who help people. Even if these messengers of God spread death, they are only carrying out his orders. But there is one interpretation of biblical texts that directly blames angels for the global flood. But then all the people died except Noah and his family. The Book of Genesis says that shortly before those events, our planet was home not only to people, but also to giants (the Nephilim). These creatures were born from the “sons of God” and “daughters of men.” A fairly popular interpretation is that such “sons” are angels. They came to Earth and stayed here, enjoying pleasures, including carnal ones. In Jude 1:6, the Nephilim appear as beings who abandoned their rightful home for an earthly one. And in Genesis they are called the descendants of certain divine beings and earthly women. Who it was - Christians continue to argue. But in Jewish theology everything is much simpler. When God saw that his creations, Hazael and Samsaveel, were overcome by corruption, he sent them to Earth. The angels had to prove that people themselves can be responsible for their future. But on Earth they did not just discover pleasures forbidden to angels. Samsaveel also violated one of the most sacred oaths. He told the mortal woman the true name of God. Legends say that the angel was forbidden to return to heaven as punishment, but that same woman, Ishtar, was lifted up and left among the stars. Samsaveel eventually repented of his wrongdoing, but he was never allowed to return, leaving him between Heaven and Earth. According to other legends, as many as 18 angels entered into relationships with earthly women and left behind offspring. Either way, both stories end the same way. This carnal sin forced God to destroy every created name on Earth, including the descendants of the angels - the Nephilim giants.
ANGELS IN THE BIBLE
Article: Judging Angels 1 Cor.6:1-8
In the previous article we looked at a passage from Paul's letter to the church in Corinth. We were interested in the first half of chapter 6, where Paul condemns the trials of Christians in Greek courts.
One of the interesting passages was this:
Don't you know that we will judge the angels? 1 Cor. 6:3
Today we will try to understand more about the issue of angels. Who is an angel? What does the Bible say? Are there differences between angels in the Old and New Testaments? What is their task? Let's look at the hierarchy of angels and look at the terrible example of the fallen angels
First, let's give a brief description of angels.
Angels in the Bible: fate, hierarchy, fallen
ANGEL - MESSENGER, MESSENGER
+Angel - the Hebrew word malakh and the Greek angelos mean “messenger”, “messenger”. Both words are used in the Bible to designate both ordinary messengers (Gen. 32:3; James 2:25 - in the Synod. Transl. - “spies”), and messengers (prophets, priests) sent by God (Hag 1:13; Mal. 2:7; Matthew 11:10); but more often they denote the heavenly messengers of God.
Word: aggeloj Pronounce: ang'-el-os - angel, messenger, messenger, messenger, spy; LXX: 04397 (;K/a;l'm) Strong's Greek Lexicon (c) Bob Jones University
+The reality of the existence of Angels is confirmed by the Bible. The fact that they are mentioned frequently already in the book of Genesis:
(Genesis 16:7; 19:1,15, etc.)
- excludes the possibility of a later (Persian) origin of the doctrine of Angels.
Angels differ from the biblical cherubim and seraphim in that, being God's messengers, they appear before people in human form.
(Genesis 18:1-15 and 19:1; Judges 13)
The Flying Angel is mentioned only in Rev. 14:6:
6 And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people; (Rev. 14:6)
In Rev. 8:13 the Greek text is an eagle , which probably symbolizes an Angel.
+Angels are often presented as protectors of God's people, but they can also act as arbiters of God's judgment.
(2 Samuel 24:16ff; 1 Chronicles 21:12)
However, their main task is to proclaim God's will to the people, especially to those whom the Lord has chosen.
ANGELS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
In the Old Testament, Angels are depicted as “ mighty in strength ”, guardians and protectors of those who fear God in all their ways, carrying the righteous in their arms.
20 Bless the Lord, [all] His angels, mighty in strength, who do His word, obeying the voice of His word; (Ps. 102:20)
11 For He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways: (Ps. 90:11ff.)
They can:
- defeat enemies (Exodus 14:19ff; 2 Kings 19:35; Psalm 35:5ff),
- "to prevent" the curse (Numbers 22:22),
- warn against judgment (Gen. 19:1,15),
- appearing to people in a dream for comfort and guidance on the righteous path (Gen. 28:12; 31:11 et seq.; 32:2 et seq.).
An angel who brings a message from God or acts on His instructions is often called the ANGEL OF THE LORD.
He embodies Yahweh Himself, being God’s personified help for the people of Israel.
(Gen 16:7; Ex 14:19; Num 22:22; Judges 6:11ff; 2 Kings 1:3ff, etc.)
Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between Yahweh and His Angel: when Yahweh is spoken of without reference to man, God is referred to as “ Yahweh ,” but if a person enters into communication with Him, then He is already called “ Yahweh’s Angel .”
This technique emphasizes the greatness of Yahweh.
(Gen 16:7-11 and 13; Gen 18; Ex 3:2ff; 23:20ff)
Malachi 3:1 gives the promise of the Angel of the covenant.
1 Behold, I send My angel, and he will prepare the way before Me, and suddenly the Lord, whom you seek, and the Angel of the covenant, whom you desire, will come to His temple; Behold, He comes, says the Lord of hosts. (Mal.3:1)
In addition, the Bible talks about the INTERPRETATING ANGEL, who, appearing to the prophets, interprets visions for them, and sometimes himself becomes an actor in these visions.
(Eze 40:3ff; Dan 10:5,14; Zech 1:9; 2:2; 4:1ff)
The participation of the Angel in the transmission of the Law on Mount Sinai is known (along with the arguments of the rabbis) from:
53 You who received the law under the ministry of angels and did not keep it. (Acts 7:53)
19 What is the law for? It was given after the transgressions, until the time of the coming of the seed to which the promise [refers], and was given through angels, by the hand of a mediator. (Gal.3:19)
2 For if the word spoken through angels was established, and every transgression and disobedience received a righteous reward (Heb. 2:2)
In all these places the New Testament emphasizes the superiority of the direct New Testament revelation in Jesus Christ.
ANGELS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
In the New Testament, Angels appear at crucial moments in sacred history.
- They announce to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the shepherds about the birth of the Savior (Luke 1:2),
- serve the Lord after His victory over the tempter (Matthew 4:11),
- strengthen Him in prayerful struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:43),
- proclaim His resurrection (Luke 24:4-6),
- and after His ascension - about His Second Coming (Acts 1:10ff.).
+In addition, the Angels rejoice at the salvation of people:
10 Thus, I tell you, there is joy among the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:10)
+and serve those who are called to inherit grace:
10 See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven. (Matt. 18:10)
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve those who are to inherit salvation? (Heb. 1:14)
+When a God-fearing person dies, the Angels take him to a place of joy:
22 The beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. (Luke 16:22)
+ and keep watch at his coffin:
12 and sees two angels, dressed in white, sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus lay. (John 20:12)
and also Jude 9
+An angel freed Peter and the apostles from prison:
19 But the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors by night and brought them out, saying: (Acts 5:19)
7 And behold, the angel of the Lord appeared, and light shone around the prison. [The angel], pushing Peter in the side, woke him up and said: get up quickly. And the chains fell from his hands. (Acts 12:7ff.)
+Angels guided the apostles on their journeys:
26 And to Philip the angel of the Lord said, Get up and go at noon to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza, to the road that is empty. (Acts 8:26)
+and prepared the pagans to receive the message about Christ:
3 He clearly saw in a vision about the ninth hour of the day an Angel of God who came to him and said to him: Cornelius! (Acts 10:3)
7 When the angel who had spoken with Cornelius departed, he called two of his servants and a godly soldier from those who were with him (Acts 10:7)
22 And they said: Cornelius the centurion, a virtuous man who fears God, approved of by all the people of Judea, received a command from the holy angel to call you to his house and to listen to your speeches. (Acts 10:22)
Related article: Abaddon. Angel of the Abyss. Revelation 9:11
In the book of Revelation, Angels appear especially often to carry out God's judgment (cf. Matt. 13:39,49; 24:31) and to glorify God.
Although Angels are spiritual beings who know neither birth nor death:
30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain as the angels of God in heaven. (Matt. 22:30)
they are still not given special veneration, since this would mean diminishing the glory of God.
(Rev 19:10; 22:8ff.)
Paul warns believers against ostentatious “arbitrary humility” that honors angels as mediators.
18 Let no one deceive you through self-willed humility and the ministration of angels, intruding on what you have not seen, being foolishly puffed up with your carnal mind (Col. 2:18)
Hebrews 1-2 emphasizes the essential difference between Jesus and the Angels; the time will come when the saints, the saved children of God, will judge the angels with Jesus at the end of time.
3 Do you not know that we will judge angels, much less the things of this life? (1 Cor. 6:3)
The words “angels of the churches” (Rev. 1:20; 2:1,8, 12,18, etc.) probably do not mean Angels in the generally accepted sense of the word, but the leaders or officials of local churches.
HIERARCHY OF ANGELS
Within the world of Angels there is its own hierarchy, which is determined by various degrees of dignity.
Yes, the Bible talks about
- archangels, or princes Michael (Dan 10:13,21; 12:1; Jude 9; Rev 12:7)
- and Gabriel (Dan 8:16; 9:21; Lk 1:19,26),
- the apocrypha also name Raphael and Sariel.
Bible passages such as Col 1:16 and 1 Cor 15:24 also indicate different degrees of dignity of heavenly beings.
16 For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers—all things were created by Him and for Him; (Col. 1:16)
24 And then the end, when He will hand over the Kingdom to God the Father, when He will abolish all rule and all authority and power. (1 Cor. 15:24)
FALLEN ANGELS
Since Angels, guided by their mind and will, can choose between good and evil, some of them, being fallen angels , no longer serve the Lord, but belong to the retinue of Satan.
44 Your father is the devil; and you want to do the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks his own way, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but, having bound them in the chains of hellish darkness, he handed them over to be judged for punishment; (2 Peter 2:4)
And Jude 6
But they will go “ into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels .”
41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand: Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matt. 25:41 cf. Rev. 20:10,15)
As we study the Bible, we can find interesting parallel verses. Some of them are already written in the Bible, and some, for example, I wrote myself, so as not to forget later, for example:
From parallel places I found several interesting ones and combined them for myself:
3 Do you not know that we will judge angels, much less the things of this life? (1 Cor. 6:3)
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but, having bound them in the chains of hellish darkness, he handed them over to be judged for punishment; (2 Peter 2:4)
6 And the angels who did not keep their dignity, but left their habitation, he keeps in everlasting bonds, under darkness, for the judgment of the great day. (Jude 1:6)
JEWS ABOUT ANGELS
The Jews had an elaborate doctrine of angels, the servants of God. In particular, the Jews believed that each nation had its own angel exercising supreme leadership.
In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures, in Deut. 32.8 we read:
“When the Most High gave inheritance to the nations and scattered the sons of men, then he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel” (in Barkley: according to the number of the angels of God).
That is, each nation received its own angel.
The Jews believed in the fall of angels; Much is said about this in the book of Enoch, which often gives food to the Apostle’s thoughts.
+Some see the reason for the fall of angels in their pride and rebellion. These legends are mainly associated with the name of Lucifer, the bringer of light, the son of the dawn.
In Isa. 14.12 we read:
“How you fell from the sky, Lucifer, son of the dawn!”
When the seventy disciples sent to serve returned and told Jesus about the success of their mission, He warned them against pride:
“I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning” (Luke 10:18).
The idea was that there was a civil war in heaven. The angels rebelled against God and were cast out; Lucifer was the leader of the rebellion.
According to him, the angels did not retain their dignity; this means that they were claiming a place that was not intended for them.
To the people who read the words of the Apostles at that time, the idea was clear, because the book of Enoch said a lot about the fate of these fallen angels. Thus, Jude, Paul and Peter spoke to their listeners and readers in a language they understood and in expressions they understood, that if pride and lust destroyed the angels, despite all their privileges, then pride and lust would destroy men even more.
Probably the evil people in the Church were filled with pride, believing that they knew everything better than the Church teaches, and lust, turning the grace of God into a justification for debauchery.
Regardless of what ancient ideas lay behind the words of Jude, for example, his warnings will remain valid.
Pride, claiming knowledge higher than God's, and lust for the forbidden - these are the paths that lead to death.
THEMATIC DICTIONARY
ANGEL
- - see {C} in Hebrews 1:14
- - spiritual beings created by God
- — perfume => Hebrews 1:14 {C}
- — Michael => Dan 12:1 ; Jude 9; Rev 12:7
- 1. General duties - revealed the law => Acts 7:38; Gal 3:19; Hebrews 2:2
- — Gabriel preached the news of the birth of Jesus to Mary => Luke 1:26-38
- 1. Their leader is Satan => Job 1:6; Zechariah 3:1; Matthew 4:10
Thank you for studying together today the topic of Angels in the Bible.
