Angels

Ask Me Anything

Week 10: Angels

Umm…angels??
Where do angels come from?
Do people become angels?
What is the purpose of angels if no longer to be God’s messengers?

The theology around angels, just like with heaven, hell, demons, and the devil, has evolved over time. Belief in angels, whether they are believed to be literal, metaphorical, or somewhere in between, is tied to justice, grief, and interaction with the Divine. There is a wide range of belief in angels across the Abrahamic religions and within Christianity itself. The bottom line with any of these beliefs is that there is a lot of unknown, so we are trying to create answers and structure where little is offered.

The Babylonian exile had a massive effect on Jewish beliefs. The Israelite elites were exiled to live in Babylon for 70 years, and this ended up deeply effecting Judaism. Part of this was due to the influence of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion, still in practice today. It would've been common in Babylon. Zoroastrianism has a huge focus on good versus evil.

Ahura Mazdā, the benevolent god, and Angra Mainyu, opposing evil celestial being, are constantly at war. There are good and evil celestial beings that aide in this cosmic battle. This has direct correlations to how we view demons, the devil, and angels. In Zoroastrianism there are the Amesha Spentas, which are six divine beings created by God that function like archangels (although this would have pre-dated our concept of archangels). There was also the belief that everyone had a personal guardian angel called "Fravashi." Interestingly, Ezekiel and Isaiah, which were both written either during or after the exile, had vivid depictions of angels. It is likely due to the influence of shifting beliefs due to the exile and the close proximity to Zoroastrianism.

Near the end of the Roman Empire, the structured church was gaining a lot of power. The church could offer dogma and structure, which the Roman Empire didn’t. Belief in a more structured angelology can be seen through the evolution of artwork that emerges after the fall of the Roman Empire. This was also the beginning of the Dark Ages, which was a time of a lot of disorder and rejection of reason. This was also a time where religious pilgrimage was important, so people would travel from all over to go see various cathedrals. The paintings, mosaics, and statues would've been a vital way of communicating theology as most people of that time were illiterate. Angels promoted this idea of a hierarchy in heaven, with everything having a specific place and status. In that time, order was seen as a means of perfection and thus salvation. God was seen as very mysterious and unapproachable, therefore angels were mediators and messengers for God. Angels evolve from being a means of order and structure to helping exact judgement and salvation. Further into the middle ages, there start to be depictions of humans achieving angelic status. This ultimately feeds into the idea of Saints such as Mary, who is seen as an intermediary between humankind and Jesus. The idea that humans could achieve divine status is important, because belief in angels is seen through the imaginings of the afterlife, and what it looks like to interact with God on Earth and after death. There is a lot of hope involved in these depictions.

In the 6th century, Pseudo-Dionysus the Areopagite wrote De Coelesti Hierachicia (On the Celestial Hierarchy). This work was written as a way of understanding and putting structure to the hierarchy of angels. An interesting fact is that this author claimed to be a direct convert of Paul, however Paul was in the 1st Century and was long dead by the 6th. So people believed the work was much older than it actually was. Because of this claim, the work was widely circulated and had greater influence than it would've if the author hadn’t made the claim to be a cohort of Paul. However, this wasn't discovered until the 16th century, so this thought still had a lot of influence over Christian thought. This isn't to say the author had nefarious intentions, however it is something to take into account. A lot of people took it more seriously because they believed it was from Pauline thought. This work heavily influenced Thomas Aquinas, who has been nicknamed the "Angel Doctor." He developed the notion of angels existing in three spheres, with three types of classifications in each sphere.

Sphere One: Worship God directly, communicate God's will to other angels.

Seraphim: "Burning Ones"; Highest Angelic class, serve as caretakers of God's throne and continuously say "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory."
Cherubim: Guard the throne of God and the Garden of Eden. They are depicted as having four faces (human, ox, lion and eagle) and have four conjoined wings.
Thrones: Mentioned by Paul in Colossians, sit below God, carry out God's judgements.

Sphere Two: These angels work as heavenly governors, delegate tasks to lower angels.

Dominations/Lordships: Regulate the duties of lower angels. Rare for humans to interact with these angels.
Virtues: "Shining Ones"; Have control of the elements and assist with miracles.
Powers: Have restrain and control evil forces in order to prevent harm.

Sphere Three:

Principalities/Rulers: Protect entire nations, groups of people, and institutions. Carry out orders from higher up angels, seen as guardians and educators of humans.
Archangels: "Chief Angel"; Seen as messengers or envoys. Discrepancies on whether there are 3, 4 or 7. Includes Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel and Metatron.
Angels: Lowest of celestial beings but most recognized. Often seen as messengers and guardian angels.

In scripture, angels are usually the celestial beings that directly interact with humans and show God's care. It is a relatively recent idea that we can directly interact with God. Often, angels would be the beings that would come to share good news, and care for, protect, and guard humans. One of my favorite stories involving angels is from 1 Kings 19:4-8. Elijah is exhausted and fleeing for his life. There is something relatable about this picture of being so exhausted, praying for death, and sleeping your cares away. In that state, God sends angels to care for Elijah's needs and give him strength for what is to come.

4 Then he [Elijah] went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”
5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” 6 He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.
7 Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”
8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.

Angels came to announce the pregnancy of Mary and the birth of Jesus. According to the Gospel of Matthew, after the devil tempted Jesus, angels came to tend to him after 40 days of being out in the wilderness. Angels comforted Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane before his death. Angels freed the apostle Peter from prison. There are a lot of fantastical stories about angels within the bible. At the root of all of these there is an idea of the care and protection of God being carried out by other celestial beings. Angels convey this message of care, protection, and the nearness of the divine. A hope for the miraculous and un-explainable.

This past Sunday was All Saints Day, and we grieved those who we've loved and lost. Often in church spaces we think of out lost loved ones as saints who are looking out for us and cheering us on. There is a lot of beauty in this. I recently had a conversation with Pastor Jewell about grief and loss, and they said "We like to think we are rational about the afterlife, but that's often before we lose someone." There is a lot of truth in that, grief and loss deeply shape our beliefs in faith, and what comes after this life. Regardless of what we believe about angels, I think we can take lessons from the way we have talked about angels. In times past, the concept of angels was tied to an idea of a cosmic battle and the coming apocalypse. In the Middle Ages, we see angels as a way to institute a message of power and order that was deeply craved during a time of instability. Like with so many things, there are no clean answers, even though we might crave them. Angels or no angels, it ultimately comes down to how we engage with and process lived experience alongside the Divine.