The Heavenly host ( Hebrew : צבאות ṣəḇāʾōṯ , "armies") refers to the army (or host ) of Yahweh , as mentioned in both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, as well as other Abrahamic texts .
95-507: The Bible typically describes the Heavenly host as being made up of angels , and gives several descriptions of angels in military terms, such as their encampment ( Genesis 32:1–2 ), command structure ( Psalms 91:11–12 ; Matt.13:41 ; Rev.7:2 ), and participation in combat ( Job 19:12 ; Rev.12:7 ). Other passages indicate other entities make up the divine army, namely stars ( Daniel 4:35 , Judges 5:20 , Isaiah 40:26 ). In Christian theology,
190-722: A child despite his old age, thus proclaiming the birth of John the Baptist . In Luke 1:26, Gabriel visits Mary in the Annunciation to foretell the birth of Jesus . Angels proclaim the birth of Jesus in the Adoration of the shepherds in Luke 2:10. 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 during
285-508: A concession to human's imperfection, in contrast to the angels. Thus, they occasionally appear in Midrashim as competition with humans. The angels as heavenly beings, strictly following the laws of God, become jealous of God's affection for man. Humans, by following the Torah, in prayer, by resisting evil instincts ( yetzer hara ) and by teshuva , are preferred to the flawless angels. As
380-571: A dream-vision from God. [...] As Daniel watches, the Ancient of Days takes his seat on the throne of heaven and sits in judgement in the midst of the heavenly court [...] an [angel] like a son of man approaches the Ancient One in the clouds of heaven and is given everlasting kingship. Jeffrey Burton Russel writes that "the more the banim and the mal'ak were seen as distinct from the God, the more it
475-544: A little proud in appearance, but docile indeed: great lovers of the sciences, subtle, officious to the wise, and enemies of the foolish and ignorant. Their wives and daughters are male beauties, such as the Amazons are depicted... Know that the seas and rivers are inhabited as well as the air; the ancient Sages named Ondins or Nymphs this species of people... The earth is filled almost to the center with Gnomes, people of small stature, guardians of treasures, mines, and gems. As for
570-470: A perishable material envelope, the destruction of which, by death, restores them to liberty. Among the different species of corporeal beings, God has chosen the human species for the incarnation of spirits arrived at a certain degree of development; it is which gives it a moral and intellectual superiority to all the others. The soul is an incarnated spirit, whose body is only its envelope. There are in man three things: 1. The body, or material being, analogous to
665-676: A result, they are also inferior to humans in the Jewish tradition. In the Midrash, the plural of El ( Elohim ) used in Genesis in relation to the creation of human beings is explained by the presence of angels: God therefore consulted with the angels, but made the final decision alone. This story serves as an example, teaching that the powerful should also consult with the weak. God's own final decision highlights God's undisputable omnipotence. Although these archangels were believed to rank among
760-448: A spirit would have a form of existing and thinking ; it would exist without being generally visible; often popular traditions endow it with miraculous powers and more or less occult influences on the physical world. It is not uncommon for a "living" person to feel the presence of a spirit shortly after a loved one dies, under conditions of grief and emotion related to the death. This presence sometimes manifests itself several years after
855-600: A supernatural messenger are the " Malak YHWH ", who is either a messenger from God, an aspect of God (such as the logos ), or God himself as the messenger (the " theophanic angel.") In the early writings of the Hebrew Bible, both Hebrew : בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים , romanized : Bənē hāʾĔlōhīm , lit. 'Sons of Gods' as well as the Hebrew : מַלְאָךְ , romanized : mal’āḵ , lit. 'messenger' are aspects of God. In
950-410: A whole collection of immaterial entities, generally possessing a certain number of the attributes of the human person, but not all, and, first of all, no concrete bodily envelope... First of all, the 'spirits of the dead'... Another widespread category is that of ' bush spirits ', frequent personifications of the forces of nature... Sahara, the fried (dangerous). 'Genies' are a category that often combines
1045-451: A woman's womb and there forms an embryo, he would think this a miracle and accept it as a mark of the majesty and power of the Deity, despite the fact that he believes an angel to be a body of fire one third the size of the entire world. All this, he thinks, is possible for God. But if you tell him that God placed in the sperm the power of forming and demarcating these organs, and that this is
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#17327725266471140-407: A world inhabited by spirits, satyrs, etc: The places inaccessible to men are populated by a crowd of Longaevi who inhabit the forests, woods and sylvan sanctuaries, lakes, springs and rivers. In his Commentary on Timaeus (439), Proclus admits nine levels of reality: One, being, life, mind, reason, animals, plants, animate beings, and prime matter. He posits a hierarchy of gods in nine degrees: 1)
1235-440: Is a species which a unique individual belongs to; angels differ one from another by way of their unique and irrepetible form. In other words, form - and not matter - is their principle of individuation . Belief in angels is fundamental to Islam. The Quranic word for angel ( Arabic : ملاك Malāk ) derives either from Malaka , meaning "he controlled", due to their power to govern different affairs assigned to them, or from
1330-582: Is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly , or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings . In Western belief-systems the term is often used to distinguish benevolent and malevolent intermediary beings. It is often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent ) and humanity (the profane ) in various traditions like the Abrahamic religions . Other roles include protectors and guides for humans, such as guardian angels and servants of God. Emphasizing
1425-629: Is also used in other books of the Hebrew Bible . In the early stages of Hebrew writings, the term refers to human messengers, not to supernatural entities. A human messenger might be a prophet or priest, such as Malachi , "my messenger"; the Greek superscription in the Septuagint translation states the Book of Malachi was written "by the hand of his messenger" ἀγγέλου ( angélu ). Examples of
1520-416: Is best understood in contrast to demons and is often thought to be "influenced by the ancient Persian religious tradition of Zoroastrianism , which viewed the world as a battleground between forces of good and forces of evil, between light and darkness." One of these is hāššāṭān , a figure depicted in (among other places) the Book of Job . Rabbinic Judaism has been an orthodox form of Judaism since
1615-660: Is evident from the Qumram writings . In the Angelic Liturgy , the Hebrew term elim (deities, heavenly powers) is used for angelic beings and not for God. The War Scroll speaks about angels of light fighting against demonic beings of darkness. In Zoroastrianism there are different angel-like figures. For example, each person has one guardian angel , called Fravashi . They patronize human beings and other creatures, and also manifest God's energy. The Amesha Spentas have often been regarded as angels, although there
1710-402: Is in the centre. He is sitting on a throne high and exalted According to Kabbalah , there are four worlds and our world is the last world: the world of action (Assiyah). Angels exist in the worlds above as a 'task' of God. They are an extension of God to produce effects in this world. After an angel has completed its task, it ceases to exist. The angel is in effect the task. This is derived from
1805-585: Is intellectual and not through senses (LIV. 5). Differently from humans, their knowledge is not acquired from the exterior world (having acquired all knowledge they would ever receive in the moment of their creation); moreover they attain to the truth of a thing at a single glance without need of reasoning (LV. a; LVIII. 3,4). They know all that passes in the external world (LV. 2) and the totality of creatures, but they don't know human secret thoughts that depends on human free will and thereby are not necessarily linked up with external events (LVII. 4). They don't know also
1900-564: Is mentioned in the Book of Daniel ( Daniel 8:15–17 ) and briefly in the Talmud, as well as in many Merkabah mystical texts . There is no evidence in Judaism for the worship of angels , but there is evidence for the invocation and sometimes even conjuration of angels. Philo of Alexandria identifies the angel with the Logos inasmuch as the angel is the immaterial voice of God. The angel
1995-406: Is moved by the motion of the sphere; the sphere is moved by means of a disembodied intellect, these intellects being the 'angels which are near to Him', through whose mediation the spheres move ... thus totally disembodied minds exist which emanate from God and are the intermediaries between God and all the bodies [objects] here in this world. Maimonides had a neo-Aristotelian interpretation of
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#17327725266472090-656: Is no direct reference to them conveying messages, but are rather emanations of Ahura Mazda ("Wise Lord", God); they initially appeared in an abstract fashion and then later became personalized, associated with various aspects of creation. In Judaism, angels ( Hebrew : מַלְאָךְ mal’āḵ ; "messenger"), are understood through interpretation of the Tanakh and in a long tradition as supernatural beings who stand by God in heaven, but are strictly to be distinguished from God (YHWH) and are subordinate to him. Occasionally, they can show selected people God's will and instructions. In
2185-463: Is only in the late books that the terms "come to mean the benevolent semi-divine beings familiar from later mythology and art." Daniel is the biblical book to refer to individual angels by name, mentioning Gabriel in Daniel 9:21 and Michael in Daniel 10:13. These angels are part of Daniel's apocalyptic visions and are an important part of apocalyptic literature . In Daniel 7 , Daniel receives
2280-524: Is something different from God himself, but is conceived as God's instrument. Four classes of ministering angels minister and utter praise before the Holy One, blessed be He: the first camp (led by) Michael on His right, the second camp (led by) Gabriel on His left, the third camp (led by) Uriel before Him, and the fourth camp (led by) Raphael behind Him; and the Shekhinah of the Holy One, blessed be He,
2375-650: Is the Septuagint's default translation of the Biblical Hebrew term malʼākh , denoting simply "messenger" without connoting its nature. In the Latin Vulgate , this meaning becomes bifurcated: when malʼākh or ángelos is supposed to denote a human messenger, words like nuntius or legatus are applied. If the word refers to some supernatural being, the word angelus appears. Such differentiation has been taken over by later vernacular translations of
2470-698: Is traditionally transliterated in Latin as Sabaoth , a form that will be more familiar to many English readers, as it is used in the King James Version of the Bible. In the Book of Joshua 5:13–15, Joshua encounters a "captain of the host of the Lord" in the early days of his campaigns in the Promised Land. This unnamed heavenly messenger is sent by God to encourage Joshua in the upcoming claiming of
2565-776: The Agony in the Garden . 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. 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. In a biography of Gemma Galgani written by Germanus Ruoppolo, Galgani stated that she had spoken with her guardian angel . Pope John Paul II emphasized
2660-501: The Bible , early Christian and Jewish exegetes and eventually modern scholars. The concept of angels is historically best to be understood from different ideas of the concept of God throughout history . In polytheistic and animistic worldviews , supernatural powers (i.e. deities, spirits , daemons, etc.) were assigned to different natural phenomena . Within a monotheistic framework, these powers were reconsidered to be servants of
2755-402: The Devil (or devils) are identified with such angels. Angels in art are often identified with bird wings , halos , and divine light . They are usually shaped like humans of extraordinary beauty, though this is not always the case—sometimes, they can be portrayed in a frightening, inhuman manner. The word angel arrives in modern English from Old English engel (with a hard g ) and
2850-580: The New Testament , the existence of angels, just like that of demons, is taken for granted. They can intervene and intercede on behalf of humans. Angels protect the righteous ( Matthew 4:6 , Luke 4:11 ). They dwell in the heavens ( Matthew 28:2 , John 1:51 ), act as God's warriors ( Matthew 26:53 ) and worship God ( Luke 2:13 ). In the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus , angels behave as psychopomps . The Resurrection of Jesus features angels, telling
2945-600: The Old French angele . Both of these derive from Late Latin angelus , which in turn was borrowed from Late Greek ἄγγελος angelos (literally "messenger"). Τhe word's earliest form is Mycenaean a-ke-ro , attested in Linear B syllabic script. According to the Dutch linguist R. S. P. Beekes , ángelos itself may be "an Oriental loan, like ἄγγαρος ( ángaros , 'Persian mounted courier')." The rendering of ángelos
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3040-653: The Trinity . The resolution of this Trinitarian dispute included the development of doctrine about angels. According to Augustine of Hippo , the term 'angel' refers to "the name of their office, not [...] their nature", as they are pure spirits who act as messengers, clarifying: "If you seek the name of their nature, it is 'spirit'; if you seek the name of their office, it is 'angel': from what they are, 'spirit', from what they do, 'angel'." Gregory of Nazianzus thought that angels were made as "spirits" and "flames of fire", following Hebrews 1, and that they can be identified with
3135-596: The book of Genesis when Abraham meets with three angels and Lot meets with two. The task of one of the angels was to inform Sara and Abraham of their coming child. The other two were to save Lot and to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah . Jewish philosopher Maimonides explained his view of angels in his Guide for the Perplexed II:4 and II ... This leads Aristotle in turn to the demonstrated fact that God, glory and majesty to Him, does not do things by direct contact. God burns things by means of fire; fire
3230-564: The heavenly host , no systematic hierarchy ever developed. Metatron is considered one of the highest of the angels in Merkabah and Kabbalah mysticism and often serves as a scribe; he is briefly mentioned in the Talmud and figures prominently in Merkabah mystical texts. Michael, who serves as a warrior and advocate for Israel ( Daniel 10:13 ), is looked upon particularly fondly. Gabriel
3325-531: The supreme deity , turning autonomous supernatural beings into "angels". By that, supernatural powers controlling or influencing humanity's perception of the world, including natural phenomena and humans, are ultimately under control of a supreme God. Prominent angels, such as Michael and Gabriel, reflect a connection to the Chief Semitic deity El . Even "bad" angels such as Satan , Samael , Iblis etc., can be understood as an operating force within
3420-776: The " Dogmatic constitution on the Catholic faith ". In the Middle Ages, theologians had to address Augustine's ideas of "angelic knowledge", as set out in De Genesi ad litteram , which he divided into "morning" knowledge, knowledge of Creation before it is created derived from direct access to the Word of God, and "evening" knowledge, knowledge of Creation derived from perceiving it after it has been created. Thomas Aquinas (13th century) related angels to Aristotle 's metaphysics in his Summa contra Gentiles , Summa Theologica ,
3515-543: The "thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities" of Colossians 1. Forty Gospel Homilies by Pope Gregory I (c. 540 – 12 March 604) noted angels and archangels. The Fourth Lateran Council 's (1215) Firmiter credimus decree (issued against the Albigenses ) declared that the angels were created beings and that men were created after them. The First Vatican Council (1869) repeated this declaration in Dei Filius ,
3610-505: The 6th century CE , after the codification of the Babylonian Talmud . In post-Biblical Judaism , certain angels took on particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles. According to Rabbinic Judaism, the angels have no bodies, but are eternally living creatures created out of fire. The Babylonian Talmud reads as "The Torah was not given to ministering angels." (לא נתנה תורה למלאכי השרת) usually understood as
3705-606: The 8th question of Quaestiones Disputatae de Veritate , and in De substantiis separatis , a treatise on angelology. Aquinas varied significantly from the Augustinian view in two major respects: angels were not created in an initial state of bliss, and only beatified angels have "morning" knowledge. In other words: angels have an angelic nature, but in their natural states have no access to Divine "morning" knowledge of Creation, which they only gain with supernatural assistance. This
3800-617: The Bible in both old and new testaments - ( Hebrews 1:14 ) calls them "ministering [or serving] spirits", sent by God to aid the "heirs of salvation". Later came identification of individual angelic messengers: Gabriel , Michael , Raphael , and Uriel . Then, in the space of slightly over two centuries (from the 3rd to the 5th) the image of angels took on definite characteristics both in theology and in art. Ellen Muehlberger has argued that in Late Antiquity , angels were conceived of as one type of being among many, whose primary purpose
3895-408: The Bible. Maimonides writes that to the wise man, one sees that what the Bible and Talmud refer to as "angels" are actually allusions to the various laws of nature; they are the principles by which the physical universe operates. For all forces are angels! How blind, how perniciously blind are the naive?! If you told someone who purports to be a sage of Israel that the Deity sends an angel who enters
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3990-492: The Devil ( Apologies , I, 5, 25-27). Numerous theologians would follow him, including Tertullian ( De spectaculis ) and Lactantius (4th century). The Neoplatonist Porphyry of Tyre (c. 260) carefully asks how to distinguish high-ranking divine beings (gods, archangels, angels , demons, heroes, archons of the cosmos or matter) from mere souls, not to mention malignant spirits ( antitheoi ): Thou inquirest concerning what reveals
4085-480: The Elements, the giants and dwarfs, and the dwarfs on Earth. He believes in the genies of the four Elements. Earth, by spontaneous generation, produces dwarves guarding the treasures beneath the mountain; water produces undines; fire, salamanders; air, elves. Then there are the giants and dwarves who come from the air but live on the earth. The book is called A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on
4180-528: The Hades (bronze race), heroes without posthumous promotion, and humans of the past (iron race). Hesiod was the first to set forth clearly and distinctly four classes of rational beings: gods, demigods, heroes, in this order, and, last of all, men; and as a sequence to this he postulates his transmutation, the golden race passing selectively into many good divinities, and the demigods into heroes. Pythagoras sees souls or spirits everywhere, as detached particles of
4275-661: The Islamic concept of angels. Some of them, such as Gabriel and Michael , are mentioned by name in the Quran, others are only referred to by their function. Most Muslim theologians, such as al-Suyuti , based on a hadith stating that the angels have been created through the light (Nūr), depict angels as entities consisting of substance, in contrast to philosophers who argued for angels being disembodied spirits. Additionally, angels are thought to be endowed with reason and be subject to God's tests. Al-Maturidi (853–944 CE) states that
4370-586: The Jewish tradition they are also inferior to humans since they have no will of their own and are able to carry out only one divine command. The Torah uses the Hebrew terms מלאך אלהים ( mal'āk̠ 'ĕlōhîm ; "messenger of God"), מלאך יהוה ( mal'āk̠ Yahweh ; "messenger of the Lord"), בני אלהים ( bənē 'ĕlōhîm ; " sons of God ") and הקודשים ( haqqôd̠əšîm ; "the holy ones") to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels. Later texts use other terms, such as העליונים ( hā'elyônîm ; "the upper ones"). The term 'מלאך' ( 'mal'āk̠' )
4465-585: The Law of Moses was introduced by angels rather than God, combined with his statements in Galatians , implies a negative role. In Collosians 2:18 , he criticizes the worship of angels. Forget not to show love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.— Hebrews 13:2 Three separate cases of angelic interaction deal with the births of John the Baptist and Jesus . In ( Luke 1:11 ), an angel appears to Zechariah to inform him that he will have
4560-660: The Law. Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light. Honor likewise the Terrestrial Dæmons by rendering them the worship lawfully due to them. Honour likewise thy parents, and those most nearly related to thee. A little bit similar to Hesiod, in Timaeus , Plato mentions gods, demons, inhabitants in the Hades, heroes and humans of the past. The Romans admitted gods, goddesses, masons (souls of
4655-517: The One, the first god; 2) the henads; 3) the intelligible gods; 4) the intelligible-intellective gods; 5) the intellective gods; 6) the hyper cosmic gods; 7) the encosmic gods; 8) the universal souls; 9) the angels, demons, heroes (according to Pierre Hadot). Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite , c. 490, influenced by Proclos and Saint Paul , classified the heavenly spirits into three triads, thus forming
4750-468: The Other Spirits ( Latin : Liber de Nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris et de caeteris spiritibus ). The word inanimatum designates six families of soulless men... These soulless men are first and foremost those of the four families who inhabit the four Elements: the nymphs, nymphae , daughters of the water; the sons of the earth, lemurs, who dwell beneath the mountains; the spirits of
4845-510: The Promised Land: Once when Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you one of us or one of our adversaries?” He replied, “Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and he said to him, “What do you command your servant, my lord?” The commander of
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#17327725266474940-974: The Quran, although interpretation credits Gabriel with that. Angels are not limited to benevolent tasks, but can also carry out grim orders. Not demons, but angels are tasked to guard and punish sinners in hell. Angels play a significant role in Mi'raj literature , where Muhammad encounters several angels during his journey through the heavens. Further angels have often been featured in Islamic eschatology, Islamic theology and Islamic philosophy . Individual angels are further evoked in exorcism rites , with their names engraved in talismans or amulets to call upon their powers. Islamic theology usually distinguishes between three types of invisible creatures: angels ( malāʾikah ), djinn , and devils ( šayāṭīn ). Islamic theologian al-Ghazali (c. 1058 – 1111) divides human nature into four domains, each representing another type of creature: animals, beasts, devils and angels. Reconciling
5035-470: The air, gnomi ; the genii of fire, vulcani . The other two families are made up of men who were also born without souls, but who, like us, breathe outside the Elements. These are, on the one hand, the giants and, on the other, the dwarfs who live in the shadows of the forests, umbragines... Some beings naturally remain within the same Element. The phoenix, for example, stands in the fire like the mole in your earth. Do not be disbelievers, I will prove it! As for
5130-591: The angel, or that all forms are produced by the Active Intellect ; that here is the angel, the "vice-regent of the world" constantly mentioned by the sages, then he will recoil. – Guide for the Perplexed II:4 In the formative stage, the Christian concept of an angel characterized the angel as a 'messenger' of God. The word "angel" can be drawn to the term or role of a "messenger" throughout
5225-444: The animals, and animated by the same vital principle; 2. The soul, or immaterial being, a spirit incarnated in the body; 3. The link which unites the soul and the body, a principle intermediary between matter and spirit. Edward Tylor , one of the founders of anthropology , introduced the concept of animism in 1871 to provide, according to him, "a rudimentary definition of religion," and he posits "the minimal definition of religion as
5320-436: The archons, if by that thou meanest the masters of the world who administer the sublunary elements, they are varied, but arranged in order. Pagan angels and archangels have Persian origin. Saint Augustine equates angels with uncreated light, born of the Word; he believes that demons have celestial bodies; he considers fauns to be monstrous children between women and devils. In the 5th century, Martianus Capella described
5415-629: The army of the Lord said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so. In the Book of Revelation , the rebellious forces of Satan are defeated by the heavenly host led by Michael the Archangel during the War in Heaven ( Rev.12:7–9 ). The Quran mentions God's heavenly army ( Jundallah ( Arabic : جندالله ) in Quran 9:40 , comparable to
5510-487: The belief in spiritual beings, within the framework of evolutionism:" I purpose here, under the name of Animism, to investigate the deep-lying doctrine of Spiritual Beings… Animism characterizes tribes very low in the scale of humanity, and thence ascends (...) into the midst of high modern culture. According to Pierre Alexandre, in Sub-Saharan Africa : the somewhat vague term 'spirit' is used to designate
5605-595: The dead"), elves ( alves ), trölls ("gigantic dead"), landvaettir ("tutelary deities of places"), disir , fylgja ("female figure following or accompanying each human being and embodies his destiny"), hamr ("form that everyone carries and which escapes from its support"), hamingja (form applied to the entire family), hugr ("spirit of the world"). Johann Weyer is a witchcraft specialist, with his De praestigiis daemonorum ac incantationibus (1563). He classifies demons by their elemental nature (fire, water, air, earth, and subterranean), and by their habitat (demons of
5700-537: The dead), lares (tutelary spirits protecting houses, etc.), genies (spirits presiding over the destiny of a place, a group, or an individual), lemurs (specters of the dead), etc. Theologians began thinking of angels in the 3rd century, with Origen and the Cappadocians (Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil of Caesarea). Justin Martyr (2nd century) was the first to see the gods of paganism as messengers of
5795-400: The death. Spirits can be classified according to the science in charge of their study: angels and demons belong to theology , ghosts and spirits to metapsychology , fairies and gnomes to folklore , the souls of the dead to the cult of the dead , spiritualism , magic , necromancy . However, there are frequent hesitations. In the first century, for example, Justin thought that
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#17327725266475890-533: The demons mentioned in the Gospels were disembodied souls. Alternatively, a historical approach can be taken. Medieval texts are full of planetary spirits (inhabitants of the planets), angelic spirits (angels, archangels , guardian angels, etc.), nature spirits ( undines , sylphs , etc.), place spirits, etc. Spirits are often classified by the worlds they inhabit: underworld, earth, atmospheric, or heaven. They are also classified as good and bad, or as neutral:
5985-666: The distance between God and mankind, revelation-based belief-systems require angels to bridge the gap between the earthly and the transcendent realm. Angels play a lesser role in monistic belief-systems , since the gap is non-existent. However, angelic beings might be conceived as aid to achieve a proper relationship with the divine. Abrahamic religions describe angelic hierarchies , which vary by religion and sect. Some angels have specific names (such as Gabriel or Michael ) or titles (such as seraph or archangel ). Malevolent angels are often believed to have been expelled from Heaven and called fallen angels . In many such religions,
6080-557: The earliest records, the Bənē hāʾĔlōhīm are in heaven. They are depicted as the heavenly court or the pantheon of religious belief-system of their time. They reflect the transcendent aspect of the Divine, but become progressively differentiated from the good aspect of the Divine. The mal’āḵ on the other hand, expresses the Divinties' interaction with the world. As such the mal’āḵ functions as
6175-486: The ether: The whole air is full of souls which are called genii or heroes. Pythagoras identifies four types of spiritual beings: gods, heroes, demons, and humans. While the gods are immortal souls, the humans are mortal souls. Gods inhabit the stars, glorious heroes inhabit the ether, and demons inhabit the earth. The heroes are the demigods. First worship the Immortal Gods, as they are established and ordained by
6270-412: The existence of spirits such as angels, demons, and disembodied souls. He argues that "angels have bodies of ether, demons of air, humans of earth". In his prose novel Merlin (7th to 8th century), Robert de Boron introduces his heroes as children of a virgin and a devil, who is therefore an incubus , a sexual demon. The novel Huon de Bordeaux (early 13th century) mixes two categories of spirits:
6365-554: The first beings created by God before the creation of Earth ( Psalms 148:2–5 ; Colossians 1:16 ). Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible refer to intermediary beings as angels, instead of daimons , thus giving raise to a distinction between demons and angels. In the Old Testament , both benevolent and fierce angels are mentioned, but never called demons . The symmetry lies between angels sent by God, and intermediary spirits of foreign deities, not in good and evil deeds. In
6460-529: The four cardinal points, day and night demons, wood demons, mountain demons, country demons, domestic demons). In his novel The Count of Gabalis, or Interviews on the Secret Sciences (1670), Abbé Henri de Montfaucon de Villars correlates demons and elements, simplifying Psellus and continuing Paracelsus. Sylphs are of air; undines, water; gnomes, earth; salamanders, fire. The air is full of an innumerable multitude of peoples [Sylphs] of human figure,
6555-421: The future unless God reveals it to them (LVII. 3). According to Aquinas, angels are the closest creatures to God. Therefore, like God, they are constituted by pure form without matter . While they do not have a physical composition of matter and form (called ilemorphysm ), they possess the metaphysical composition of act (the act of being ) and potency (their finite essence, yet without being ). Each angel
6650-443: The giants and dwarves of the forest, they live in our world. All these soulless beings are produced from seeds that come from heaven and the Elements but without the loam of the earth... They come into the world like insects formed in the mire [by spontaneous generation]. The Germans developed an "astonishing proliferation of supernatural creatures:" primordial giants (who personified "the great supernatural forces"), dwarves (who "are
6745-432: The gruesome attributes of God and can be both benevolent and malevolent. The notion of angels as embodiment of good emerges only under influence of Zoroastrianism , in which the Devil is conceived as the principle of evil, with a hosts of demons, in battle with the holy entities ( Aməša Spəṇta ) created by Ahura Mazda (principle of good). Influence of dualistic tendencies and replacement of divine powers by angels
6840-534: The heavenly host in Judeo-Christian tradition. The term junud refers explicitly to hosts of spirits. The opposite is junud Iblis (the invisible hosts of Satan). The Quran describes that angels have intervened during the Battle of Badr to fight against the šayāṭīn (devils) Islamic theology and philosophy understands the battle of these two hosts to occur within the human heart ( Qalb ) as written in
6935-520: The heavenly host participate in the war in Heaven . In the Hebrew Bible , the name Yahweh and the title Elohim (literally 'gods', usually rendered as 'God' in English translations) frequently occur with the word tzevaot or sabaoth ("hosts" or "armies", Hebrew: צבאות) as YHWH Elohe Tzevaot ("YHWH God of Hosts"), Elohe Tzevaot ("God of Hosts"), Adonai YHWH Tzevaot ("Lord YHWH of Hosts") or, most frequently, YHWH Tzevaot ("YHWH of Hosts"). This name
7030-446: The inhabitants of heaven were tested by adorenments, just as humans and jinn on earth were tested, pointing at Sūrat al-Kahf [Q. 18:7] When angels fail their tests, they might end up on earth, such as Harut and Marut . If the devils ( šayāṭīn ) have been angels once or form a separate type of creature from the beginning, is discussed in Islamic tradition. Contrary to popular belief, angels are never described as agents of revelation in
7125-548: The kings and rulers of the world inviting them to recognize him as the Promised One of all ages and faiths, some of which were compiled and published in English as The Summons of the Lord of Hosts . Karel Van der Toorn says the Ugaritic texts put the council of heavens (dr dt šmm) in synonymous parallelism with the assembly of the stars (pḫr kkbm) and the sons of El (bn il), meaning the gods. Angel An angel
7220-507: 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, 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
7315-575: The literal meaning ( Ẓāhir ) with the Avicennan cosmology of falsafa of angels, he identified angels with the " celestial intellects " or "immaterial souls". Angels, made from light ( Nūr ) and thus associated with reason (' aql ), represent the intellectual capacity of a human and the ability to bound the devilish qualities from within. By that, Ghazali does not deny the literal reality of angels, but rejects that they could be perceived directly. Spirit (supernatural entity) A spirit —in
7410-510: The nature of humans, as responsible for selfish tendencies. The idea of angels in early Hebrew scripture as supernatural agents is absent. Instead, the Hebrew deity intervenes in human affairs, mostly by means of punishment. Only in later thought of post-exilic and prophetic writings , the Biblical deity is conceptualized as distant and more merciful, his interventions replaced by the idea of angels. However, such angels still carry out
7505-558: The nine heavenly choirs (from top to bottom): Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Lordships, Powers, Dominions, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. Michel Psellos , a great Byzantine scholar of the 12th century, lists six categories of demons in a famous treatise used by Ronsard: Treated by energy dialogue or devil's operation (translated 1511). His categories are: igneous spirits, aerial spirits, terrestrial spirits, aquatic spirits, subterranean spirits, and tenebrous spirits. Honorius Augustodunensis (1075-1157), in his Elucidarium , admits
7600-459: The other two: sometimes a dead person can become a genie. They are more personalized than nature spirits... Ecumenical religions have added a few new ones —angels, Djinn , Ifrit , demons — to the catalog of African spirits. For Ernst Dammann, in addition to nature spirits, which consist of "a large number of protective spirits of houses, settlements, professions, and social classes", there are "animal spirits" (e.g. spirits attached to giraffes among
7695-433: The presence of a god, an angel, an archangel, a demon, or some archon [planetary governor] or soul. In a word, I pronounce that manifestations accord with their essences, powers, and activities… Of a single kind are the appearances of the gods; those of the demons are varied; those of the angels, simpler than those of the demons, but inferior to those of the gods; those of the archangels, closer to divine causes; as for those of
7790-780: 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. According to the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments , "The practice of assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture." By
7885-417: The root either from ʼ-l-k , l-ʼ-k or m-l-k with the broad meaning of a " messenger ", just like its counterparts in Hebrew ( malʾákh ) and Greek ( angelos ). Unlike their Hebrew counterpart, the term is exclusively used for heavenly spirits of the divine world, but not for human messengers. The Quran refers to both angelic and human messengers as "rasul" instead. The Quran is the principal source for
7980-441: The salamanders, fiery inhabitants of the region of fire, they serve the philosophers. Rationalist Descartes uses the physiological term "animal spirits" to refer to corpuscles composed of the "most vivid and subtle" parts of the blood, which move the body as they circulate from brain to muscle ( Discours de la méthode , V) (1637). These are not entities, then; they are nerve impulses. In the spiritualism codified by Allan Kardec ,
8075-411: The sense in which the word is used in folklore and ethnography — is an "immaterial being", a "supernatural agent", the " soul of a deceased person", an "invisible entity" or the "soul of a seriously suffering person". Often spirits have an intermediate status between gods and humans, sharing some properties with gods (immateriality, greater powers) and some with humans (finite, not omniscient). Thus,
8170-475: The spirits spoken of by theologians (angels, demons, etc.), and the spirits spoken of by storytellers (dwarfs, giants, ogres, evil animals, etc). In 1398, 1241, 1270 and 1277, the Paris Faculty of Theology condemned the thesis that other eternal entities existed in addition to God. Paracelsus counts seven races of soulless creatures: the human-shaped but soulless and spiritless genii ( inanimata ) of
8265-405: The spirits". In some cultures, the "spirits of nature" refers to the elementals , spirits linked to the four classical elements: gnomes for earth, undines for water, sylphs for air, salamanders for fire). In his Theogony , written in the 7th century B.C., Hesiod distinguishes five categories of powers: superior demons or gods (golden race), inferior demons (silver race), deceased from
8360-526: The texts of Ja'far ibn Sa'id and Al-Ghazali . Unlike Christianity, dualistic tendencies are usually minimized in Islamic tradition, and God is ultimately in control of both hosts; enabling a choice to side with either of these created beings. The term "Lord of Hosts" is also used in the Baháʼí Faith as a title of God. Bahá'u'lláh , claiming to be the Manifestation of God , wrote tablets to many of
8455-455: The voice of the Divine, the Divine spirit, or as God himself. In Exodus 3:2-4, it is both Yahweh as well as a mal’āḵ Moses is addressed by. The fusion of the Bənē hāʾĔlōhīm with the mal’āḵ is evident in the Book of Hiob. Here, Satan is both one of the Bənē hāʾĔlōhīm in the heavenly court, as well as a mal’āḵ expressing God's interaction with humanity. Michael D. Coogan notes that it
8550-465: The woman that Jesus is no longer in the tomb, but has risen from the dead. Angels don't marry ( Matthew 22:30 , Mark 12:25 , and Luke 20:34–46 ). Paul the Apostle acknowledges good (2 Cor 11:14; Gal 1:8; 4:14) and evil angels in his writings. According to 1 Corinthians 6:3, angels will be judged by God, implying that angels can be both good and evil. Some scholars suggest that Gal 3:19 means that
8645-406: The word "devil" is pejorative, but the word "demon" changes the value. In 17th century Europe, spirits included angels, demons, and disembodied souls. Dom Calmet , a specialist on the subject, explained that he was writing "on the apparitions of angels, demons and souls separated from the body". The Lalande dictionary follows suit: "God, angels, demons, disembodied souls of people after death are
8740-592: The word "spirits" denotes the souls of the deceased with whom a medium can communicate. Kardec 's first book is entitled: The Spirits Book , which contain the principles of Spiritist doctrine on the immortality of the soul, the nature of spirits and their relationship with mankind; moral laws, the present life, the future life and the future of mankind. According to the teachings given by the Higher Spirits through various mediums collected and organized by Allan Kardec (1857) , he affirms: Spirits temporarily assume
8835-620: Was Aquinas' most original contribution to Christian angelology. Although angels have greater knowledge than men, they are not omniscient , as Matthew 24:36 points out. According to the Summa Theologica , angels were created instantaneously by God in a state of grace in the Empyrean Heaven (LXI. 4) at the same time when he created all the contents of the corporeal world (LXI. 3). They are pure spirits whose life consists in knowledge and love. Being bodiless, their knowledge
8930-539: Was possible ti thrust upon the evil elements in the divine character that Yahweh had discarded.". Coogan explains the development of this concept of angels: "In the postexilic period, with the development of explicit monotheism, these divine beings—the 'sons of God' who were members of the Divine Council —were in effect demoted to what are now known as 'angels', understood as beings created by God, but immortal and thus superior to humans." This conception of angels
9025-522: Was to guard and to guide Christians. In systematic Christian theology, angels are imagined as incorporeal entities and in opposition to corporeal humans, as in the writings of Origen and Thomas Aquinas . Angels are represented throughout Bibles as spiritual beings which are intermediate between God and humanity: "For thou hast made him [man] a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour" ( Psalms 8:4–5 ). Christians, based on Psalms and Genesis 2:1, believe that angels were
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