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What are Angels? – Beliefs About Angels

Angels are believed to be the messengers of God, or His servants, or His doppelgangers. In reality, angels seem to play many roles on their service to the deity.

In Judaism, Islam and Christianity, the angels are heralds. But in Christianity, they have also assumed the added responsibilities of being a manifestation of God Himself, praising Him, attending to His throne, executing His law in the world and as personal guardians protecting humans.

St. Thomas Aquinas, 13th century Dominican and Doctor of the Church, described angels as spiritual beings, eternal but without form. Like humans, angels are God’s children and possess spirits, but unlike humans angels can function outside a body (Summa Theologica, Part 1, Questions 50 and 54).

In other words, it’s believed that angels have no bodies of their own, but they are thought to have spirits and a desire to serve God and all God’s people.

The term “angel” is derived from the Greek term “aggelos,” and the Latin “angelus” meaning “one sent.” The English term “angel” is found through a combination of the Old French expression “angele” and the Old English “engel.”

But not everybody referred to angels as such. The ancient Hebrews called them “Elohims” (“messengers of god”), “Adonai” (“messenger of the lord”) and in other less known ways. In the Koran, angels are known by their Arabic name, “Malaekah.” Under many names, there are references to angelic beings in the text of many ancient faiths such as Zoroastrianism, Sikhism and Hinduism.

There is deliberation about the nature and qualities of the angelic corps. Angels are pure spirits created by God according to Judaism, Islam and most of Christianity. Latter Day Saints (Mormons) believe the angels are the souls of the deceased and those yet to be born. While Christians and Jews have faith in the angelic intellect and free will, Muslims do not.

In Christianity and Judaism angels can make choices — Satan and his followers did rebel against God — and while not omniscient, they do have greater knowledge than humans. In Islamic tradition, angels have no free will or intellect. They are only about to do and think what God orders them.

 

Do Angels Have Wings?

It’s generally believed that images of angel wings, robes, armor and other such associations are the result of art and iconography. Christian angelic iconography does not represent beings with wings until late in the fourth Century AD. The wings were added to the images, to show that the angels came from above as well as their transcendent and magnificent nature.

The long, white flowing robes were probably incorporated into the iconography to show the angels’ asexuality. Some angels, like Michael the archangel, are portrayed in armor. This is so because it’s believed that angels battle evil in the world.

What Do Angels Do?

In Jewish, Christian, and Muslim tradition, angels share news, protect, and comfort God’s people. The Christian Holy Scriptures offer multiple glimpses of angels at work in the world.

Angels share news from God. An angel announced Jesus’ birth to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and angels shared the birth of Jesus with the shepherds so the world could rejoice (Luke 1: 26-38, Luke 2:15-20).

The angels also guard and protect God’s people. Angels in human bodies warn Lot and his family about Sodom and Gomorrah’s fall (Genesis 19:1). Hagar, Moses’ concubine, and her son Ishmael are saved from death by an angel in the desert (Genesis 16). An angel stops Abraham from sacrificing his son Issac to God as well (Genesis 22). St. Michael the Archangel fights the dragon to save souls destined for heaven (Revelations 12:7).

Praying with Angels

Believers pray with the angels during mass or for private devotion. Praying with the angels can be as complicated as reciting specific prayers to them or as simple as remembering them in one’s prayers.

Pope Leo XIII’s “Prayer to St. Michael” was a staple at mass before Vatican II and still offers protection for those who pray it. The simple prayer asks St. Michael the Archangel to protect those who believe and cast all who seek evil firmly into hell.

Cultivating devotion to one’s guardian angel and including the angel in daily prayer life are other ways to connect with the angels.

Celebrating angels in the life of the Church, on the Feast of the Annunciation and the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels are other ways to honor the angels. Reflecting on stories of angels in scripture and miracles attributed to them is another way to pray with angels for God’s world.

Angels care for, guide, and communicate God’s blessing to God’s people. With scripture and prayer, Christians continue to honor angels and their mission to save the world for God’s glory.

Angel Categories – Types of Angels

In the Western World, the best-known classification of angels is probably that of the Roman Catholic Church. According to the Catholic Church, there are nine choirs or orders in three sphere, hierarchies or triads.

The Nine Angelic Orders

The Celestial Hierarchy is comprised of nine angelic orders arranged in three separate but intersecting triads. These triads contain the various heavenly entities that radiate outward from the Divine Core, or God. In their given order from the Divine Core, they consist of the following:

The Lower Triad:

This outer triad is that which harbors the great Angels and Archangels whose sole job it is to convey illumination from the Divine Core, or God, to mortal humans.

The lowest sphere is the Third. In this triad dwell the Angels at the bottom, then the Archangel and then the Principalities. They act as messengers and soldiers.

  1. Angels – Angels are most involved in the affairs of humans. They have different tasks. They are also the most numerous.
  2. Archangels – Archangel means “chief angel.” They are considered princes. Even though there are supposed to be seven, the only one referred to as an archangel in the Bible is Michael. They are the guardian angels of nations and thus are involved in political and military affairs as well as commerce.
  3. Principalities – The angels of art and science. They are the protectors of groups of peoples such as clubs and, associations.

The Middle Triad:

This triad serves as a transformer of the divine energy into a form more amenable to humans.

The Second of Middle Sphere includes, from the bottom up, Powers, Virtues and Denominations. It’s said that they govern heaven.

  1. Powers – The angels distribute power to humans. In addition, they are the keepers of history and they are warriors, all of them, totally loyal to God. However many theologians believe that Satan was once the leader of the Powers.
  2. Virtues – Virtues are said to be the keepers of the cosmological order. Their main duty is to regulate the movement of celestial bodies: planets, comets, stars, galaxies, etc.
  3. Dominions – The dominions are the supervisors of the angels. Hey are supposed to look like the traditional image of angels: extremely attractive humans with one pair of large wings.

The Upper Triad:

These are seated closest to the Divine Core and so presumed the most pure and holy. In the Third Sphere dwell Choirs of the Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim.

  1. Thrones – The thrones are said to be the living signs of God’s authority and righteousness.
  2. Cherubim – They are the guardians or the Throne of God and have complete knowledge of God. As opposed to common believes, a Cherub is not a child, but an awe-inspiring creatures with the faces of an eagle, a lion, an ox and a man, ox feet and four wings covered with eyes.
  3. Seraphim – The seraphim are highest order of angels. They are the angels that endlessly sing His praises and take care of His Throne. They burn with love and fervor for God and their light is so bright not even other heavenly creatures can look at them. They have six wings; two to fly, two to wrap their bodies and two to cover their faces.

The Most Important of These:

The most important of these is the lowest triad because it harbors the great messengers whose very names carry a powerful resonance:

  • Archangel Micha-el
  • Archangel Grabri-el
  • Archangel Rapha-el
  • Archangel Sari-el

Of all the entities of the celestial sphere, the Archangels are most closely aligned to the archetypal core of the individual psyche.

Angels, it seems can be just about anything the believer wants them to be.

Angels and Archetypes: The Same or Different?

The archetype provides the arch or bridge over which the heavenly Archangels of the celestial realm enter the realm of individual psyche as conceived by Carl Jung.

Is there a connection between angels and archetypes? Does Jung’s concept of archetype have a seat at the table among the angels and archangels of the world’s great religions? Looking historically at their presence in the monotheistic systems of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, all of which share the same or similar Celestial Hierarchy, there are striking parallels.

Jung’s Archetype

Here is where the individual archetype intersects with the angelic sphere. To understand how, it should be noted that Jung’s idea of individual psyche which houses the archetype, is trans-personal in nature. In other words, it goes far beyond the more localized thoughts, feelings and behavior of family and circumstances such as Freud trucked in. Jung’s psyche has a broader reach.

Also, like the Celestial Hierarchy, Jung’s definition of the psyche consists of four distinct functions wrapped around a central core or archetype. The parts of the psyche fall in this order:

  • Archetype (at the core of the individual psyche)
  • Self (whose job it is to keep the overactive ego in check)
  • Ego (whose job it is to give shape and substance to the Self)
  • Complexes (those aspects of personality comprising behaviors, beliefs, and circumstances)
  • Outer shell of personality/persona

Like the great Archangel messengers, this archetypal core acts as a messenger field, much like a gravitational field, between the celestial hierarchy and the individual psyche.

Traversing Realms

The core or archetype, in a way similar in nature to the Divine Core in the Celestial Hierarchy, has the strongest pull and is often the least understood. These two realms, the celestial and the human, are in sync with each other through their mutual archetypal energies. When they are brought together they form an interface or bridge over which the energies cross from one realm to the other. How does this co-mingling occur?

The Secret of the Arch

The words themselves reveal the secret: Archetype meets Archangel. The word Arch, in its oldest definition from the Oxford English Dictionary means bridge. Moreover, a bridge that also serves as an arch brings together two separate bodies at their highest point. The archetype within the human realm meets the divine in its angelic realm. In this way, the divine reaches into the human as the human stretches towards the divine.

In conclusion, the Celestial Hierarchy aligns with the individual psyche creating a newly combined hierarchy of human and divine.

  • God or Divine Core
  • First Triad
  • Second Triad
  • Third Triad (home of angels and archangels)
  • The Arch or Bridge: Archangel meets Archetype
  • Archetype
  • Self
  • Ego
  • Human complexes/personality/persona

Sources:

Edinger, E. F. (1972). Ego and Archetype. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Godwin, M. (1990). Angels, An Endangered Species. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Edition, available online through the Oremus Bible Browser.

Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Available online through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.