천사-예수탄생알림

Angel
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For other uses, see Angel (disambiguation).
"Angelology" redirects here. For the novel, see Angelology (novel).

 Schutzengel (English: "Guardian Angel") by Bernhard Plockhorst depicts a guardian angel watching over two children
An angel is a supernatural being or spirit found in various religions and mythologies. In Zoroastrianism and Abrahamic religions they are often depicted as benevolent celestial beings who act as intermediaries between Heaven and Earth, or as guardian spirits or a guiding influence.[1] [2] Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings, and carrying out God's tasks.[3] The term "angel" has also been expanded to various notions of spirits found in many other religious traditions. The theological study of angels is known as "angelology".
In art, angels are often depicted with bird-like wings on their back, a halo, robes and various forms of glowing light.[4]
Individual angels[edit]
From the Jewish Encyclopedia, entry "angelology".[15]
•  Michael (translation: who is like God?), kindness of God*
• Gabriel (archangel) (translation: the strength of God), performs acts of justice and power*
• Raphael (translation: God Heals), God's healing force
• Uriel (translation: God is my light), leads us to destiny
• Samael (translation: the severity of God), angel of death—see also Malach HaMavet (translation: the angel of death)
• Sandalphon (translation: bringing together), battles Samael and brings mankind together
• Jophiel (translation: Beauty of God), expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden holding a flaming sword and punishes those who transgress against God.
*These are the only two angels to be mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible; the rest are from extra-biblical tradition.
Christianity[edit]
Main article: Christian angelic hierarchy
 
  The Archangel Michael wears a late Roman military cloak and cuirass in this 17th-century depiction by Guido Reni
Later Christians inherited Jewish understandings of angels, which in turn may have been partly inherited from the Egyptians.[21] In the early stage, the Christian concept of an angel characterized the angel as a messenger of God. Later came identification of individual angelic messengers: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, and Lucifer. Then, in the space of little more than two centuries (from the 3rd to the 5th) the image of angels took on definite characteristics both in theology and in art.[22]
By the late 4th century, the Church Fathers agreed that there were different categories of angels, with appropriate missions and activities assigned to them. There was, however, some disagreement regarding the nature of angels. Some argued that angels had physical bodies,[23] while some maintained that they were entirely spiritual. Some theologians had proposed that angels were not divine but on the level of immaterial beings subordinate to the Trinity. The resolution of this Trinitarian dispute included the development of doctrine about angels.[24]
The angels are represented throughout the Christian Bible as spiritual beings intermediate between God and men: "You have made him [man] a little less than the angels ..." (Psalms 8:4-5). The Bible describes the function of angels as "messengers" but does not indicate when the creation of angels occurred.[25] Some Christians believe that angels are created beings, based on (Psalms 148:2-5; Colossians 1:16): "praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts ... for He spoke and they were made. He commanded and they were created ...". The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) declared that the angels were created beings. The Council's decree Firmiter credimus (issued against the Albigenses) declared both that angels were created and that men were created after them. The First Vatican Council (1869) repeated this declaration in Dei Filius, the "Dogmatic constitution on the Catholic faith".
Thomas Aquinas (13th century) relates angels to Aristotle's metaphysics in his Summa contra Gentiles,[26] Summa Theologica,[27] and in De substantiis separatis,[28] a treatise on angelology. Although angels have greater knowledge than men, they are not omniscient, as Matthew 24:36 points out.[29]
Interaction with angels[edit]

  An angel comforting Jesus, by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1865–1890.

“
Forget not to show love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.—Hebrews 13:2
”

The New Testament includes many interactions and conversations between angels and humans. For instance, three separate cases of angelic interaction deal with the births of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. In Luke 1:11, an angel appears to Zechariah to inform him that he will have a child despite his old age, thus proclaiming the birth of John the Baptist. In Luke 1:26 the Archangel Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary in the Annunciation to foretell the birth of Jesus Christ. Angels then proclaim the birth of Jesus in the Adoration of the shepherds in Luke 2:10.[30]
According to Matthew 4:11, after Jesus spent 40 days in the desert, "...the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him." In Luke 22:43 an angel comforts Jesus Christ during the Agony in the Garden.[31] In Matthew 28:5 an angel speaks at the empty tomb, following the Resurrection of Jesus and the rolling back of the stone by angels.[30]
In 1851 Pope Pius IX approved the Chaplet of Saint Michael based on the 1751 reported private revelation from archangel Michael to the Carmelite nun Antonia d'Astonac.[32] In a biography of Saint Gemma Galgani written by Venerable Germanus Ruoppolo, Galgani stated that she had spoken with her guardian angel.
Pope John Paul II emphasized the role of angels in Catholic teachings in his 1986 address titled "Angels Participate In History Of Salvation", in which he suggested that modern mentality should come to see the importance of angels.[33]
Jewish angelic hierarchy[edit]
Main article: Jewish angelic hierarchy
 Maimonides, in his Yad ha-Chazakah: Yesodei ha-Torah, counts ten ranks of angels in the Jewish angelic hierarchy, beginning from the highest:

Rank
Angel
Notes
1
Chayot Ha Kodesh
See Ezekiel chs. 1 and 10
2
Ophanim
See Ezekiel chs. 1 and 10
3
Erelim
See Isaiah 33:7
4
Hashmallim
See Ezekiel 1:4
5
Seraphim
See Isaiah 6
6
Malakim
Messengers, angels
7
Elohim
"Godly beings"
8
Bene Elohim
"Sons of Godly beings"
9
Cherubim
See Talmud Hagigah 13b
10
Ishim
"manlike beings", see Genesis 18:2, Daniel 10:5