Archangel Michael by Darko Topalski
Angels in The Bible can belong to several classes. The Bible doesn't mention an exact ranking for these classes; only the "archangel" class is mentioned as being higher than the others, with the other classes presumably being of the same rank but having different job descriptions.
Note also that in the Old Testament, many Mysterious Stranger characters actually do not identify themselves as angels. They can be labeled angels only by oral tradition (a good clue is a plot-pivotal character whose origins are not stated, and who deflects any questions about his name).
In Revelation, it says:
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Revelation 12:4
Revelation 12:4
The tail in this passage is talking about the tail of Satan as a cosmic dragon, and him drawing out 1/3 angels to rebel and fall with him. Notice the Bible calls them "stars", as in stars of space, the second heaven. The implication here is that angels are the stars of space themselves incarnate, which ties in why the Bible is against divination through horoscopes and astrology.
- Archangel — the highest class. Michael is the only angel specified to hold this rank in the Protestant and Jewish Bible canons. It's worth noting that "arch-" as a prefix has a dictionary definition along the lines of "preeminent among all others of its kind", so linguistically there should only ever be one archangel (or arch-Enemy, or arch-Anything).
- Elders — there are twenty-four of this class, as mentioned in Revelation.
- Living Creatures
- Ezekiel mentions a set of four angels of this class, sometimes thought to be cherubim, having four faces: that of a lion, ox, man, and eagle. They also have two pairs of wings. Each is stationed alongside one of the four Ophanim, meaning "wheels", which look like eye-covered interlocking chariot wheels at the four corners of God's "chariot". The latter are sometimes described or thought to be UFOs by the general public or conspiracy theorists.
- In Revelation, John mentions another set of four angels classified among the Seraphim, similar yet different to those mentioned in Ezekiel. These each have a single face: one with the face of a lion, another an ox, another a man, and the last an eagle. These have three pairs of wings that are covered in eyes. They are stationed around God's throne.
- Cherubim — (singular Cherub) The Bible is not clear on if Cherubim are a separate class from the aforementioned living creatures or not, but according to Jewish tradition, normal angels of this choir could, and often did, look human. Both The Ark of the Covenant and Solomon's Temple included images of angels of this class in their design that seem a little closer to Ezekiel's description though.
- Seraphim — (singular Seraph) mentioned by Isaiah to have six wings, four of which are used to cover themselves. Their name means "burning ones".
- Angels — these are the ordinary inhabitants of Heaven; if something needs doing on Earth, these are the guys who generally go do it. This is also often used as a generic term for all members of the heavenly hosts, of whatever rank or species.
There is also a traditional celestial hierarchy of angels, which comes from an early Christian writing by one "Dionysius" (thus, the ranking and some of the angelic classes themselves are not found in The Bible). It divides angels into the following nine "Choirs" ordered from greatest to least, of which only the first and last two are commonly seen in art and literature:
- Seraphim — (singular Seraph) traditionally six-winged, red, and fiery; represent God's love. The reason they have six wings is to cover their true form, which is so bright and glorious that all who gaze upon it (sometimes including lesser angels) are incinerated instantly. They are also associated with snakes (their name is a corruption of "sarap", "fiery", more often than not connected with the word "nahash", "serpent"), and are outright described as draconic in appearance (see 2 Enoch and gnostic texts, for instance). Some traditions say their leader is Seraphiel, others say it's Michael. (Michael is an "archangel", but this doesn't necessarily mean he belongs to the second-lowest choir.) Satan used to be one of these (hence his six wings in Dante's The Divine Comedy). If they're not covered and won't set you on fire, they're described as handsome... but tall, terrifying, fiery, and speaking in Earth-shaking (quite literally) voices.
- Cherubim — (singular Cherub) tend to be depicted in blue, or as blue (or red, or lots of different colors); represent God's knowledge and act as soldiers and guardian angels. St. Gabriel is the leader of the Cherubim. In The Middle Ages, they were often misunderstood to be a single angel named "Cherubin". In The Renaissance, the Putti, chubby little children or even a chubby face between two or more wings, were later also confused with Cherubim (or even with Seraphim, as in this painting
◊ by Ghirlandaio). - Thrones or Ophanim — hold up God's throne, or are the living wheels of His chariot. They serve as the headquarters of the Virtues and the Upper Choirs and control the natural laws as well as being the bringers of God's justice who represent His authority (and badassery). They have the most alien physical descriptions of all the angels: wheels nested within wheels, constantly spinning, with rims covered in eyes. They may be "beryl-colored" (probably a greeny-yellow) and/or on fire. See in the center of the page image.
- Dominions — possibly mentioned in Protestant (Col. 1:16) and Jewish Bible canons. Wear crowns; represent God's power. Each serves as the patron angel of a nation and ruler of all angels assigned to that nation.
- Virtues — not mentioned in Protestant and Jewish Bible canons. They traditionally wear armor and swords and are considered to control the heavenly bodies. They live in the Thrones. The previous three choirs form the bulk of the heavenly army.
- Powers — possibly mentioned in Protestant (Col. 1:16) and Jewish Bible canons. They carry flaming swords and chains to bind The Devil, and serve as guardians. In Christian tradition, the Angel with the Flaming Sword in Eden was one of these, the Archangel Jophiel. They're considered to be Angels of Justice and perfect, incorruptible ultimate angels created by God Himself. (Sound familiar?) Naturally, some beliefs list Satan as a former Power.
- Principalities — possibly mentioned as a group in Protestant (Col. 1:16) and Jewish Bible canons. The Book of Daniel refers to a spirit that Gabriel calls "the Prince of Persia".note Gabriel also identifies Michael as the Prince of Israel. Principalities traditionally bear armor and swords and watch over rulers and nations, as well as acting as the head of a specific group of angels.
- Archangels — according to apocryphal works there are seven, including Michael, Gabriel (mentioned in Bible canon but only as a normal angel), and Raphael (who appears in the deuterocanonical book of Tobit). (Names for the others, such as Zadkiel, Uriel, and Ithuriel, don't seem to have caught on.) Each archangel is the head of one of the remaining upper choirs. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, there are seven major archangels; however, other than the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael the names of the others vary radically. Also the arrangement of the choirs and the status of archangels vary. In Christianity, archangels often embody a particular function or idea: for instance, Raphael is the archangel of Healing, Raguel the archangel of justice and Jegudiel of politics.
- Angels — used as a name of an angelic choir, these are usually the lowest rung of the hierarchy. They function as messengers to and from Earth. Though of course, "angel" is also a general term for all members of the nine choirs, just as "archangel" is a general term for an angel in authority over other angels. As an interesting note, in the book of Acts, Saint Peter is imprisoned by Herod. His friends all think he's dead, so when divine intervention rescues him and he goes knocking on their door they think that it is "his angel". The Bible simply lists them thinking this without stating that it's correct or incorrect, but it does indicate how the "dead people = angels" confusion/argument has been going on at least for the last two thousand years.
