In the angelology of different religions, a hierarchy of angels is a ranking system of angels. The higher ranking angels have greater power and authority than lower ones, and different ranks have differences in appearance, such as varying numbers of wings or faces.
The Jewish angelic hierarchy is established in the Hebrew Bible, Talmud, Rabbinic literature, and traditional Jewish liturgy. They are categorized in different hierarchies proposed by various theologians. For example, Maimonides, in his Mishneh Torah or Yad ha-Chazakah: Yesodei ha-Torah, counts ten ranks of angels.
| Rank | Angelic Class | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chayot Ha Kodesh | See Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10 |
| 2 | Ophanim | See Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 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 God" |
| 9 | Cherubim | See Hagigah 13b |
| 10 | Ishim | "manlike beings", see Genesis 18:2 Daniel 10:5 |
The most influential Catholic angelic hierarchy was that put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book De Coelesti Hierarchia (On the Celestial Hierarchy). Dionysius described nine levels of spiritual beings which he grouped into three orders: [1] [2] [3]
During the Middle Ages, various schemes were proposed, some drawing on and expanding on Pseudo-Dionysius, others suggesting completely different classifications.
Pseudo-Dionysius ( On the Celestial Hierarchy ) and Thomas Aquinas ( Summa Theologiae ) drew on passages from the New Testament, specifically Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16, to develop a schema of three Hierarchies, Spheres or Triads of angels, with each Hierarchy containing three Orders or Choirs. Bonaventure summarized their nine offices as follows: announcing, declaring, and leading; regulating, enforcing, and commanding; receiving, revealing, and anointing. [4] Thomas agreed with Jerome's commentary on Mt 18:10 that every living human possesses a guardian angel. Of the angelic orders, he asserted that only the lowest five are sent by God to manifest themselves in the corporeal world, while the four highest remain in Heaven at His presence. [5]
The Chaplet of Saint Michael the archangel, a Catholic devotion also called the rosary of the angels, approved by Pope Pius IX, includes prayers and specific invocations for each of the nine choirs of angels. [6] [7]
There is no standard hierarchical organization in Islam that parallels the Christian division into different "choirs" or spheres, and the topic is not directly addressed in the Quran. However, it is clear that there is a set order or hierarchy that exists between angels, defined by the assigned jobs and various tasks to which angels are commanded by God. Some scholars suggest that Islamic angels can be grouped into fourteen categories, with some of the higher orders being considered archangels. Qazwini describes an angelic hierarchy in his Aja'ib al-makhluqat with Ruh on the head of all angels, surrounded by the four archangelic cherubim. Below them are the seven angels of the seven heavens. [8]
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1209) divided the angels into eight groups, which shows some resemblance to Christian angelology: [9]
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There is an informal Zoroastrian angelic hierarchy, with the specific angelic beings called yazatas having key positions in the day-name dedications on the Zoroastrian calendar segregated into the ameshaspentas (the second to seventh of the 30 days of the month), yazatas and minoos (the last six of the 30 days of the month).
Angels are occasionally presented in role-playing games as having ordered hierarchies, within which higher level angels have more power and the ability to cast more spells or exercise other magical abilities. For example, Angels in Dungeons & Dragons, a subgroup of the beings called Celestials, come in three different types, the progressively more powerful Astral Deva, Planetar, and Solar. [11] [12] Another game which has summonable angels is Shin Megami Tensei , often classified under Divine, or Heralds. In the game series Bayonetta , Black Angels are supporting and all seven spheres are present, each divided in the same seven way as the traditional hierarchy.
Angels have appeared in works of art since early Christian art, and they have been a popular subject for Byzantine and European paintings and sculpture.
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the Corpus Areopagiticum or Corpus Dionysiacum.
A cherub are one of the unearthly beings in Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden of Eden.
Archangels are described as the second-lowest rank of angel in De Coelesti Hierarchia written by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century. The Bible itself uses the term only two times, with no mention in the Old Testament, and does not mention a hierarchy of angels in any detail. The word is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions; similar beings exist in several other religions.
A seraph is a celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
In Christian angelology, dominions or dominations are a class of angels. They are mentioned in the Bible, as stated in Colossians 1:16:
"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him."
In Christianity, angels are the messengers of God.
In Christian angelology, thrones are a class of angels. This is based on an interpretation of Colossians 1:16. According to 1 Peter 3:21–22, Christ had gone to Heaven and "angels and authorities and powers" had been made subject to him.
The Testament of Adam is a Christian work of Old Testament pseudepigrapha that dates from the 2nd to 5th centuries AD in origin, perhaps composed within the Christian communities of Syria. It purports to relate the final words of Adam to his son Seth; Seth records the Testament and then buries the account in the legendary Cave of Treasures. Adam speaks of prayer and which parts of Creation praise God each hour of the day; he then prophesies both the coming of the Messiah and the Great Flood; and finally, a description of the celestial hierarchy of angels is given.
In some occult and similar writings, an archdemon, archdevil, or archfiend is a spiritual entity prominent in the infernal hierarchy as a leader of demons. Essentially, the archdemons are the evil opponents of the archangels.
The ophanim, alternatively spelled auphanim or ofanim, and also called galgalim, refer to the wheels seen in Ezekiel's vision of the chariot in Ezekiel 1:15–21. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q405) construes them as angels; late sections of the Book of Enoch portray them as a class of celestial beings who never sleep, but guard the throne of God. In Christian angelology, they are one of the choirs (classes) of angels, and are also identified as Thrones.
The concept of Seven Archangels is found in some works of early Jewish literature and in Christianity. In those texts, they are referenced as the angels who serve God directly.
In Judaism, angels are supernatural beings that appear throughout The Tanakh, rabbinic literature, apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, Jewish philosophy and mysticism, and traditional Jewish liturgy as agents of the God of Israel. They are categorized in different hierarchies. Their essence is often associated with fire. The Talmud describes their very essence as fire.
De Coelesti Hierarchia is a Pseudo-Dionysian work on angelology, written in Greek and dated to ca. AD the 5th century; it exerted great influence on scholasticism and treats at great length the hierarchies of angels.
Emanation is a belief, found in Neoplatonism, that the cause of certain beings or states of being consists of an overflow from the essence of God or other higher spiritual beings, as opposed to a special act of creation. This overflow is usually conceived in a non-temporal way as a permanent relationship of causation rather than as an event causing an entity to come into existence at a given point in time. The word "emanation" can refer either to the process of emanation or to the thing emanated.
The Chaplet of Saint Michael the Archangel, also called the Rosary of the Angels, is a chaplet approved by Pope Pius IX in 1851.
In Jewish cosmology, Shamayim is the dwelling place of God and other heavenly beings according to the Hebrew Bible. It is one of three components of the biblical cosmology. In Judaism specifically, There are two other realms, being Eretz (Earth), home of the living, and sheol, the realm of the dead—including, according to post–Hebrew Bible literature, the abode of the righteous dead.
An angel is a spiritual or heavenly supernatural being. In Western belief-systems the term is often used to distinguish benevolent and malevolent intermediary beings.
Celestial hierarchy can refer to:
Bearers of the Throne or also known as ḥamlat al-arsh, are a group of angels in Islam.
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