James Coates
Mrs. Kopcak
English
May 10, 2006
Angels
Angels were a major part of ancient civilizations, but how did the whole myth about angels start and has it changed over the years? How does the past compare to today’s world? Are there different classes of angels? What are their jobs, what do their jobs have them doing?
The word 'angel' comes from the Greek angelos, which itself could be considered as a translation of the Hebrew word mal'akh, meaning 'messenger', suggesting that a being responsible for carrying messages between the human world and some other realm or realms of existence, someone who is an intermediary between 'down here' and 'up there'. The origins of angels, started back in ancient Sumeria. The Sumerian society is the oldest society that has left us clear evidence of the use of a winged human motif. This evidence is in the form of stone carvings, either in the form of three-D statues or relief carvings that provide the illusion of three-dimensionality. The religion of these people was complex, embracing a wide variety of spirits and gods, but of particular interest was their belief in 'messengers of the gods', angelic forces who ran errands between gods and humans. The Sumerians also believed that each person had a 'ghost' of some sort (what we would now probably label as 'guardian angel') with this entity remaining a constant companion for a person throughout their life. After the polytheistic Semitic tribes had conquered the Sumerians around 1900 BC their mythical cosmology borrowed the notion of angels from the vanquished Sumerians. These Semitic peoples developed the idea of a corpus of angels split into groupings answerable to each of the many Semitic gods, further subdividing these groups into vertical 'ranked' hierarchies, a notion which persisted into Zoroastrianism and monotheistic Judaism and beyond, as we shall see. Sumerian ideas probably set the scene for the development of Egyptian theology as well, although it is difficult to be clear about the detail of such cross-cultural influences. ( Ebbs, Richard)
Angels can be put into different classes according to what they do. Angels consist of nine classes and three orders, upper, middle and lower. The upper order is composed of Cherubim, Seraphim, and Thrones: these are called 'priests' (kumrê), and 'chief priests,' and 'bearers of God's throne.' The middle order is composed of Lords, Powers and Rulers: these are called 'priests' (kâhnê), because they receive revelations from those above them. The lower order consists of Principalities, Archangels and Angels: and these are the ministers who wait upon created things. The Cherubim are an intellectual motion which bears the throne of the holy Trinity, and is the chief of all motions; they are ever watchful of the classes of themselves and those beneath them. As concerning the epithet 'full of eyes,' which is applied to them, the eyes indicate the mystery of the revelations of the Trinity. Their head, and the foremost and highest among them, is Gabriel, who is the mediator between God and His creation. The Seraphim are a fiery motion, which warms those below it with the fire of the divine love. The six wings which each of them is said to possess indicate the revelations which they receive from the Creator and transmit to mankind. The Thrones are a fixed motion, which is not shaken by the trials which come upon it. The Lords are a motion which is entrusted with the government of the motions beneath it; and it is that which prevents the demons from injuring created things. The Powers are a mighty motion, the minister of the will of the Lord; and p. 10 it is that which gives victory to some rulers in battle and defeat to others. The Rulers are a motion which has power over the spiritual treasures, to distribute them to its companions according to the will of the Creator. This class of angels governs the luminaries, the sun, moon, and stars. The Principalities are a defined motion which possesses the direction of the upper ether, of rain, clouds, lightning, thunder, whirlwinds, tempests, winds, and other ethereal disturbances. The Archangels are a swift operative motion, into whose hands is entrusted the government of the wild beasts, cattle, winged fowl, reptiles, and everything that hath life, from the gnat to the elephant, except man. The Angels are a motion which has spiritual knowledge of everything that is on earth and in heaven. With each and every one of us is an angel of this group--called the guardian angel--who directs man from his conception until the general resurrection. The number of each one of these classes of angels is equal to the number of all mankind from Adam to the resurrection. (ERNEST A. WALLIS BUDGE, M.A). The Zoroastrianism religion identifies six main archangels: the Archangel of Good Thought, the Archangel of Right, the Archangel of Dominion, the Archangel of Piety, the Archangel of Prosperity, and the Archangel of Immorality, along with at least 40 lesser angels called Adorable Ones. The Order of the Angelic Hierarchy(According to: St. Ambrose. ) Seraphim, Cherubim, Dominations, Thrones, Principalities, Potentates (Powers), Virtues, Archangels, Angels.( Aryella Jupiter)
Very angel has a different job. Some of these angels/archangels were considered to be male, some were considered to be female, and each one was associated with some particular attribute or quality. On a lower level again the third rank of angels in Zoroastrian cosmology were the Guardian Angels, each one assigned as guide, conscience, protector and helpmate throughout the life of one single human being. In the Jewish bible, Two archangels are mentioned in the canonical Old Testament: Michael, the warrior leader of the heavenly hosts, and Gabriel, the heavenly messenger. Two are mentioned in the apocryphal Old Testament: Raphael, God's healer or helper (in the book of Tobit), and Uriel (Fire of God), the watcher over the world and the lowest part of hell (the book of Esdras). ( Ebbs, Richard). Other angels jobs are: the Angel of Announcement: Who tells God's and Heaven's announcements to humankind. The Angel of Death: Who can reap life, and detach the soul of a person from the dead body so he/she can continue his/her path. Angel of Judgment: Who judges those accused of sin presented to him/her. Angels of Judgment have also the ability to transmute or consume the karma from a person's Book of Life (or Book of Karma.) Angel of Mercy: Who brings the Mercy of God. The Angels of Mercy are sent to Earth to deliver to the repentant the Mercy of God. Angel of Music: Who plays on the celestial choirs and compose celestial music. Angel of Punishment: Who punishes the iniquitous, blasphemous and wrongdoers. High level Angels of Punishment can also punish lands and entire nations. The Angels of Punishment are sent to Earth to deliver to the iniquitous the Wrath of God. Cleric Angel: An ecclesiastic angel. A Fallen Angel: An angel who fell and lost his/her light and wings. Half-Angel: Offspring of an angel and an ascended human, a man or woman of light. A great number of half-angels incarnate on Earth for special occasions, and they all are beings of great light. Healing Angel: Who can heal others. Mastinim (Accusing Angel): Who accuses sinners by pointing out their sins from the Book of Life (or Book of Karma.) Nephilim: Offspring of an angel with a mundane human. The nephilim are bonded to Earth and few are winged. The offspring of a nephilim with an angel is also a nephilim. Overseer: Who oversees and supervises a location. Reaper: Fierce angels who serve God to reap the life of the iniquitous and hunt evil. Warrior Angel: Who fights and engage in battle. (Aryella Jupiter)
In the Hebrew Bible, Angels often appear to people in the shape of humans of extraordinary beauty, and often are not immediately recognized as angels. Some fly through the air; some become invisible; sacrifices touched by them are consumed by fire; and they may disappear in sacrificial fire, like Elijah, who rode to heaven in a fiery chariot. Angels, or the Angel, appeared in the flames of the thorn bush. They are described as pure and bright as Heaven; consequently, they are said to be formed of fire, and encompassed by light, as the Psalmist said: "Who makes winds his messengers; his ministers a flaming fire." Some verses in the Apocrypha/Deuterocanon depict angels wearing blue or red robes. Angels bear drawn swords or other destroying weapons in their hands—one carries an ink-horn by his side—and ride on horses. It is worth noting that these angels carry items that are contempory to the time in which they visit (perhaps angels are bound by the technology which humans have achieved, or perhaps the items they carry have symbolic significance). A terrible angel is the one mentioned as standing "between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand." In the Book of Daniel, reference is made to an angel "clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude." This imagery is very similar to the description of Jesus in the book of Revelation. Angels are thought to possess wings, as they are described in the Bible, and depicted in Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian art. They are commonly depicted with halos. In Christian iconography, the use of wings is an iconographic convention that is intended to denote the figure as a spirit. Depictions of angels in Christian art as winged human forms, unlike classical pagan depictions of the major deities, follow the iconic conventions of lesser winged gods, such as Eos, Eros, Thanatos and Nike. (Angel)
In today’s world, Angels have become more main stream. They have been protrayed in many different ways, tv, movies, books. In the T.V. series “Touched By An Angel”, actors Roma Downey (Monica ), Della Reese (Tess), John Dye (Andrew), play three Angels who are dispatched from heaven to inspire people who are at a crossroads in their lives. Monica, an angel who at times still needs some guidance with her earthly assignments, reports to Tess, her tough, wise, and always loving supervisor. Joining them is Andrew, who, in addition to his duties as the Angel of Death, helps out as a caseworker on various assignments. The angels may not bring answers to every problem, but they always deliver a message of hope. (Daniel). Another T.V. series that angels are portrayed in, is “Charmed”. Charmed is about Three sister witches (Prudence 'Prue' Halliwell (Shannen Doherty), Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs), Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano), and Half-sister Paige Matthews(Rose McGowan) (who took over for the dearly departed Prue, in season 4(she is half witch and half white lighter)) who are just coming into their powers, who have a “White Lighter ( Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause))”( a guardian angel for witches.) (TV.COM). A White Lighter, is capable of healing others simply by laying his hands on them, but cannot heal the dead if their spirits have already passed on; he can also heal himself, so long as the wound is not caused by a Dark Lighter, but cannot heal people if their wounds were not caused by evil, nor can he heal demons. He can levitate up or down, but apparently cannot actually fly like Phoebe. He is able to change his appearance to resemble others. He can shield himself and others from evil being searching for them, travel from place to place in sparkling white lights, known as orbing, erase people's memories of magical encounters, and heat and cool objects in his immediate vicinity. When he became an elder, his powers became stronger, and he gained the ability to fire lightning bolts from his hands. After becoming an Avatar, his powers were boosted further, to an unspecified but major degree. (Spence) Darklighters can teleport from place to place by orbing, as Whitelighters can, but due to the fact that their orb effects are black in color, their ability is called 'dark orbing'. They also come equipped with crossbows, which they can summon into their hands at any time. The Darklighter crossbow arrows are coated with a special type of poison that is especially lethal to Whitelighters. Darklighters also possess the touch of death, a power triggered by hate and focused through their hands. Similar to Whitelighters, Darklighters also possess the ability to sense another magical being's presence through a magical form of telepathy. Hence they can locate a Whitelighter anywhere on the globe by merely concentrating. Besides the standard "assassin" type of Darklighter, who strives to kill current Whitelighters to leave their charges vulnerable or to kill future Whitelighters before they can earn their winds, there are three other known types of Darklighters: The first type of Darklighter spreads evil through procreation, by seducing innocent mortal women and tricking them into bearing their progeny. It's against the rules to tell these women about who they truly are, and so it is presumed that the women are abandoned once a child is produced. The second type of Darklighter, called a Spirit Killer, mentioned on the show are the ones that drive future Whitelighters to suicide, automatically disqualifying the person from becoming a Whitelighter. They curse these Whitelighters-to-be with bad luck, following the victim around, invisible to everyone, including the victim. As the bad luck escalates and drives all thoughts of happiness from the victim's mind, the Darklighter is there every step of the way, whispering hopeless thoughts into the victims' ears. Once the victim is thoroughly depressed beyond recovery, the Darklighter changes his whispered words to encourage them to commit suicide. And the third type of Darklighter is called a Tracker. A Tracker is a Darklighter that goes after Whitelighters who are about to lose their wings. Their orbing is more of a spiral that the particle of other Darklighters, and they are considered to be much more powerful than a regular Darklighter. They are rogue Darklighters who often only answer to themselves. They distinguish themselves from other types of Darklighters by wearing tribal tattoos on their face. (Darklighter) The Founders", but all subsequent episodes/seasons use the term "Elders". Elders mainly keep track of witches, watching from the Heavens. They communicate with those on Earth through their helpers and messengers, the whitelighters. The Elders decide who may become a whitelighter, and give and take their powers. A whitelighter's ability to heal is channeled directly from the Elders. Apparently in the show's universe at least most, if not all, of the Elders were at one time whitelighters themselves. Though most Elders have powers much like Whitelighters, the Charmed Ones protect a retiring Elder for a short time whose powers are strictly of the mental sort, and cannot orb or fight. Though whitelighters are not allowed to kill, the Elders have powerful fighting abilities. An Elders' powers are the same as Whitelighters but with their power level ramped up. Leo is seen using a lightning-like power to kill Gideon . In the episode "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World Part I" three elders are shown to kill a mortal with magical flames, although this occurs in a magic-induced hallucination and does not indicate their actual abilities. When witches need advice on demons they know nothing about, they can ask the Elders by sending their whitelighter. The Elders however are not all knowing, in some cases they are as clueless about something as the sisters are. In the episode Apocalypse Not Leo had to find out who the four horsemen were and what they were up to because the elders could not help. The Elders do not allow witches or any other magical being besides themselves and whitelighters to enter the Heavens. Even the Charmed Ones do not have this privilege, as Piper and Leo have to ask for an audience when they seek permission to have a relationship, and Leo specifically tells Piper she is not allowed there when she comes to see him. The Elders do, however, allow Leo to watch over his son Wyatt and to take him to be with the Elders when he may be in danger. (Elder (Charmed))
So in conclusion, the whole myth of angel was started by the Sumerians. There are at least nine different classes of angels. They look like human but in a more heavenly manner. And there roles have changed to fit the modern world.

Works Cited

"Angel." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 11 May 2006, 19:42 UTC. 12 May 2006, 16:36 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Angel&oldid=52710237>.
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"Elder (Charmed)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 23 May 2006, 10:51 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 24 May 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elder_%28Charmed%29&oldid=54686016>.
Aryella Jupiter (Lady Aryella.) “About angels”. Comic Blessings. Copyright 2001-2006 Cosmic Blessings. All Rights Reserved. May 4, 2006. http://www.cosmicblessings.com/angels.shtml
CNET Networks Entertainment.. "Charmed." tv.com. Copyright © 2006 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. CNET Networks Entertainment.. 18 May 2006 <http://www.tv.com/charmed/show/106/summary.html>.
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Ebbs, Richard. “Angels/ a History of Angels in Western Thought.” Richard Ebbs Web Site. Richard Ebbs. May 2, 2006 <http://www.feedback.nildram.co.uk/richardebbs/essays/angels.htm>
ERNEST A. WALLIS BUDGE, M.A. THE BOOK OF THE BEE, THE SYRIAC TEXT. LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND TYRWHITT SCHOLAR ASSISTANT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM. OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. 1886. May 4, 2006. http://www.disasterpage.com/school/index.php?q=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zYWNyZWQtdGV4dHMuY29tL2Noci9iYi9iYnRwLmh0bQ%3D%3D
Spence , David. "Leo Wyatt ." International Catalogue of Superheroes. January 29th 2002 . International Catalogue of Superheroes. 18 May 2006 <http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/l/leowyatt.htm>.