The Encyclopedia of World Religions

16 S angels

Angels are important in the Western religious traditions, J UDAISM , C HRISTIANITY , and I SLAM . Here they have several roles. A hierarchy, including the mighty archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and others, is believed to praise and serve God in heaven. According to ancient sources, there are ranks of angels, in descending order known as Ser aphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and ordinary angels. A well-known story, hinted at in the Bible but developed by the poet John Milton and others, says that S ATAN , the devil, was once a very high angel, Lucifer (Lightbearer), but rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven and into hell. Second, angels are messengers of God. Arch angels and angels have performed missions for God crucial to the central narratives of these three faiths. In the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament to Christians) angels guarded the Garden of Eden after A DAM and E VE were driven out of that gar den. They visited A BRAHAM with the promise of a son, and the prophet I SAIAH saw a six-winged cherubim, a kind of angel, in the temple. In Chris tianity, it was the archangel Gabriel who visited M ARY to inform her she would become the mother of the Savior, J ESUS , and angels appeared singing in the skies at the time of his birth in Bethlehem. In Islam, the same archangel, Gabriel, delivered the sacred scriptures, the Q UR ’ AN to the prophet M UHAMMAD . On a more personal level, these faiths have traditionally believed that each individual has a guardian angel who guides and protects him or her. There is some popular belief that the departed become angels after death, but this is not consid ered orthodox. Third, angels are pictured as protectors. Great archangels are patrons of nations and cities; lesser angels of individuals are “guardian angels,” desig nated to help those persons and fend off tempta tions from the demons. Angels have traditionally been portrayed as beautiful human-like figures with wings. They often appear female but are said to be sexless, although the greatest archangels are often repre sented as male. The wings are partly due to the influence of ancient Greek and Roman art, which

The Annunciation by Botticelli. The archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to bear the son of God. (Alinari/Art Resource, N.Y.)

pictured various spirits in this way, although some ancient Hebrew angels, like the one Isaiah saw, were also winged. Historically, angels may have been a way to bring popular belief in many gods and spirits into harmony with belief in one God, by making them all his servants. But belief has certainly been reinforced by accounts from numer ous ordinary people who report angelic help and encounters. One such account is from the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of L ATTER - DAY S AINTS , the Mormon Church, by Joseph Smith (1805–44). Beginning in 1823, the angel Moroni is said to have visited Smith in upstate New York, and directed him to the golden plates containing the Book of Mormon, scriptures supplemental to the Bible in Mormonism. Moroni is often portrayed atop Mor mon temples. In H INDUISM and B UDDHISM , the equivalent of angels are beautiful figures, apsaras or yaksas in India, tennin or tennyo in Japan, said to inhabit the heavens of the gods, the Pure Land, and even mountains and forests as playful or mysterious spirits. Some may tempt holy men, but in their