Angels
Angels (ἄγγελος - Greek “messenger”) are disembodied spirits with reason and free will, who consciously chose the path of obedience and service to God, active participants in Divine Providence.
When was the angelic world created?
The angelic world was created before the visible world was created (Gen. 1:1). Initially, they were all created good. Subsequently, some of them abused their freedom of will and fell away from God. Other angels remained faithful to their Creator and their original purpose.
After this, the fallen angels were cast out from Heaven, and the bright ones established themselves in goodness and love for God.
How are bright angels different and what do they do?
In general terms, the life of bright angels is to improve, glorify God (Is. 6:3) and serve Him.
Angelic powers are divided into hierarchical degrees. The Holy Scripture designates nine such degrees or ranks: Seraphim (Is. 6:2), Cherubim (Ezek. 10:1), Thrones (Col. 1:16); Dominions (Col.1:16), Powers (Rom.8:38), Powers (Col.1:16); Principalities (Rom.8:38), Archangels (Jude 1:9), Angels (Rom.8:38). Since the name “Angel” means “Messenger,” it is applicable not only to representatives of lower hierarchical degrees, but also to any, even higher ones.
In addition to the fact that angels differ from each other in the degree of power and perfection, their difference is seen in the areas of activity associated with areas of personal responsibility. Thus, Scripture reports about the Angel of waters: “And I heard the Angel of waters” (Rev. 16:5), the Angel of fire: “An angel who has power over fire” (Rev. 14:18), angels who protect kingdoms, nations, churches . Finally, at Baptism, each Christian is given a special guardian angel. They serve God not mechanically, but meaningfully and creatively.
The conditioning of angels by space and time differs from the conditioning that is characteristic of representatives of the visible world. Because of this, they can all move with lightning speed from one area of the universe to another. Meanwhile, they still depend on time and cannot be present in two different places at the same time. It is believed that due to the fact that angels are disembodied spirits, they are not subject to the threefold dimension.
Angels are incorporeal. However, their incorporeality is not absolute, for such a feature is characteristic only of God, the Purest, Supreme Spirit. Appearing before people in a visible way, angels do not reveal their personal bodies, but the result of a special action, due to which a person sees them as if they were material.
Being created immortal, angels will never die. Moreover, once they have made their moral choice and are supported in their activities by God's grace, they will never sin.
- An angel is a spirit (although not as perfect as God);
— it is impossible to describe Angels, because... they belong to the spiritual world; appearing to people, they are transformed for our worldview (they can also appear in the form of ordinary people dressed in clothes that are modern to people);
- Angels are incorporeal, but not omnipresent (like God), but spatially limited (when they are in heaven they are not on earth);
— Angels move rapidly in space and freely pass through material objects;
- Angels have no gender and age, do not undergo changes;
– while protecting people, Angels at the same time do not remain on earth all the time, but visit Heaven and see “the face of the Heavenly Father” (Matthew 18:10);
– the number of Angels does not change, since they do not multiply (Matthew 22:30), as many as the Lord created them at the beginning of the world, so many of them will remain until the end of history;
- although the Angels do not know the day of God’s Judgment, they will be its executors: when the history of this world comes to an end, they will appear in a visible image “and will separate the wicked from among the righteous” (Matthew 13:49);
– Angels are not indifferent executors of God’s will; they “rejoice over every sinner who repents” Luke. 15:10, that is, they are sincerely interested in seeing that the will of God is carried out;
– Angelic beings live in our time (they cannot look into the future or be transferred from here to the past) and are limited by our space;
– Angels can be transported to any point in the universe, they can visit those spheres of existence that are inaccessible to us (the world in which the souls of the departed are located), but they are not omnipresent. They cannot be both here and there at the same time;
– Angels are extremely powerful. Basil the Great wrote that “ one Angel is equal to a whole army and a numerous militia.”
" This is confirmed by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, at least by the titles that the Bible assigns to the Angels and which speak for themselves: Dominance, Strength, Authority, Principality, etc.;
– Angels accompany us to another world and do not leave us there either.
Angels
Archimandrite John (Peasant)
Word angel
means
messenger
. Disembodied spirits have this name because they proclaim the will of God to people. An angel is someone whom the Lord can send with an assignment and who will exactly fulfill that assignment.
Angels live everywhere. But mainly in heaven, around the Throne of God. Where God most reveals His glory to them, and through them His will towards people.
The Holy Fathers of the Church call them second lights, as if a reflection of the Divine light.
They are the second lights! How can we understand this?! What to compare with so that it is accessible to our mind?..
Being in close proximity to God, Angels are filled with admiration, God's greatness, His holiness, wisdom and the greatest love of the Creator of the universe for His creation.
A certain Divine light freely flows through them like a wide river.
This is the image of true holiness. The Heavenly Forces received the light of God. They refracted it in themselves and, reflecting and crushing it into many beautiful rays, distributed it around themselves, giving it to people capable of perceiving it. And in this reflected radiance of the Divine light, an undiminished, undarkened radiance, but an increased and joyful radiance that brings life, we come to know God!
If it were not for the Angels, we would never be able to feel and perceive the Divine light, even to a small degree accessible to man.
We ourselves are not able to see and feel the glory of God - we need intermediaries who transform it so that it becomes available to us.
And so the Angels are these intermediaries for us.
Angels differ from each other both in enlightenment and in varying degrees of grace.
The highest hierarchy of those directly close to God consists of Angels who bear the names: Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones. Seraphim, true to their name, have hearts flaming with love for God, and they excite others to ardently love their Creator. Seraphim means fiery
.
Cherubim have fullness of knowledge and abundance of wisdom. They are illuminated by abundant rays of God's light. It is given to them to know everything to the extent that created beings can know.
Thrones - these Angels are so exalted and so illuminated by grace that the Lord dwells in them and through them manifests His justice.
The second, middle hierarchy consists of Angels bearing the names: Dominion, Strength and Authority. The Angels of Dominion teach people to dominate their will, to be above all temptation, and also to resist those evil spirits who have sworn to destroy a person. The powers are Angels filled with divine strength. These are the spirits through whom the Lord performs his miracles. They were given by God the ability to send down the grace of miracles to the saints of God, who work miracles during their lives on earth. Authorities - Angels who have the power to tame the power of demons and repel enemy temptations. In addition, they strengthen good ascetics in their spiritual and physical labors.
The third, lower hierarchy also includes three ranks: Principalities, Archangels and Angels.
The Beginnings are the rank of Angels, who are entrusted with governing the universe, protecting and governing individual countries and peoples. These are the Angels of the People. Their dignity is higher than the Guardian Angels of individual people. From the book of the prophet Daniel we learn that the care of the Jewish people was entrusted to the Archangel Michael (see Dan. 10:21). Archangels are the great evangelists of the mysteries of God, of all that is great and glorious. They strengthen the holy faith in people, enlightening their minds to the knowledge and understanding of the will of God.
Angels (the last, ninth rank of the hierarchy) are bright spiritual beings who are closest to us and have special care for us. I will talk about them in more detail a little later. And now briefly about the Archangels.
From the Holy Scriptures we know that there are seven Archangels, that is, the senior Angels who rule over everyone else.
In the book of Tobit (Tov.12:15) we read that the Angel who talked with him said: “I am Raphael, one of the seven Angels.” And the Revelation of John the Theologian speaks of seven spirits who are before the throne of God (see Rev. 1:4). The Holy Church includes among them: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Selafiel, Jehudiel and Barachiel. Tradition also includes Jeremiel among them.
1. Archangel Michael is the first of the supreme Angels, the champion of the glory of God. He is often depicted in military garb with other Angels faithful to God. Or he is depicted alone in the clothes of a warrior with a sword or spear in his hand, trampling underfoot a dragon or an ancient serpent - the devil.
This is how he is depicted in memory of the fact that once in heaven there was a great confrontation between Angels - the servants of God and evil spirits - angels who fell away from God and became servants of Satan.
Sometimes he is depicted with a copy, the top of which is decorated with a white banner with a cross. This is a special distinction between Archangel Michael and his army, meaning moral purity and unshakable loyalty to the Heavenly King.
2. Archangel Gabriel is the herald of God’s destinies and the servant of His omnipotence. Sometimes depicted with a branch of paradise or with a lantern with a burning candle inside, in one hand and with a mirror in the other. A candle closed in a lantern means that often the destinies of God are hidden until the time of their fulfillment, but even after their fulfillment they are comprehended only by those who carefully look into the mirror of their conscience and the words of God.
3. Raphael is depicted with an alabaster vessel filled with healing oil. The name Raphael means mercy, help to all those who suffer.
.
4. Uriel - the Archangel of light and fire of God - is depicted with lightning lowered down. He illuminates with the fire of fiery love, enlightens the minds of people with the revelation of useful truths. It can be said about him that he is a special patron of people who devote themselves to science.
5. Selafiel – Archangel of prayer. He is depicted either with a rosary in his hands, or in a prayer pose with his hands placed in reverence on his chest.
6. Jehudiel – praise of God
. Depicted with a golden crown in one hand and with a scourge of three cords in the other. The crown is to encourage people who strive for the glory of God, and the scourge is to protect them in the name of the Holy Trinity from enemies.
7. Barachiel - Archangel of God's blessings, sent during earthly life to those who work to receive heavenly, eternal blessings.
These are the Archangels.
And now about the Angels.
Among the host of Angels is the Guardian Angel of each of us. And so all of us, my dears, must strive to know our Guardian Angel as best as possible, to know him enough to feel his presence near us. And for this we need to know as much as possible about him.
Our Church teaches that God created Angels in His image. These are incorporeal, intelligent, purest beings, similar to spirit. They are generously endowed by God with natural gifts: intelligence, the ability to know and love both their Creator and people, and to be a living example of God’s perfections. They are faithful servants of God, doers of His will. Not only are they able to understand and converse with each other, but they also understand the language of our souls, and therefore we can turn to them in our prayers. And this is the guarantee of close direct communication with our Guardian Angel available to each of us.
As the Holy Gospel says, the Son of God came to earth to serve people and save them. And Angels are sent to earth for the same purpose - to serve people.
According to the teachers of the Church, man was created in order to replenish the number of fallen angels. Therefore, we must enter the Council of Angels. And for this, think, my dears, how pure and holy our life should be. Just as here on earth, we must prepare ourselves in advance for cohabitation with the Angels, for entering their bright and holy assembly. To that cathedral of theirs, which you and I now so solemnly celebrate!
But for this we must acquire both angelic thoughts and feelings. We are required to clear the place for love, to prepare our hearts to accept supernatural love, the love that God expects from us.
And it's not difficult! Live according to the Gospel commandments - and you will achieve what you need. But they are not impossible. And in this matter the Angels again help us, enlightening our minds with the knowledge of the Holy Gospel. Realizing the importance of our close union with the Angels, let us set ourselves, my friends, the goal that every day we live does not separate us, but brings us closer to the Angels, especially to our Guardian Angel.
From the book “Angel of Prayer”
Making wishes
Elena : So how do you make a wish for the Angels to hear? Maybe you need to know a ritual or special words for this?
Elena K .: I am told that no rites or rituals are needed, if every person wants to make a ritual of making wishes, so that it is like a ritual, but in fact it is pronounced simply, “I want” and make a wish on an emotional high.
This inner rejoicing can be compared to the emotional upsurge of a child when he is given a desired toy, how sincerely he rejoices and how many emotions he has at that moment. That's when you experience such emotions and desires to accompany them with such emotions - this is like a confirmation of your sincerity.
There are often contradictory desires, especially among women, now I want, but in two minutes I don’t want it anymore... Decide what you want. And contact your Angels as often as possible, the more you communicate with them, the more strength they have.
I now have an internal dialogue with them, and I see how each Angel grows, becomes stronger and wiser. It’s just like a person is born as a child and accumulates experience and wisdom in the process of life, the same thing happens with Angels.
Elena : We learned that there is a Creator, but are there other beings of such a high level?
Elena K.: There are such, so to speak leaders - these are Archangels. Which, just like the Angels, are responsible for their own area of activity, their own area of responsibility, and also depending on the desire of the person.
Angels can turn to one of the Archangels who is responsible for fulfilling a given desire or intention of a person and who can help with this. That is, there is such a hierarchy, and then there is this phrase: “grown Angels.”
These are experienced Angels who have already outgrown angelic duties, but are not yet Archangels.
There is such a gradation, and they also have their own tasks. I am clearly told that a person should not think about this and reflect on this topic; he has guides to whom he can turn to solve his life problems.
Elena : Is it possible to directly contact the Archangels, how effective is this?
Elena K .: We can use all methods, sometimes a person is in such an emotional state when he can directly contact, and this is not forbidden and he will be heard in the same way as if this information was conveyed by one of the Guardian Angels.
Because if a person can simultaneously listen to several streams of information, then with the Archangels and all higher teachers, information comes in in huge quantities, it is all heard and all is subject to execution.
Whatever we ask, negative or positive, will be fulfilled. Well, in our understanding, this is negative for them - there is no such thing as good or bad, there are tasks and information that need to be completed.
But again, if it is aimed at the person himself and at children. And they also show me frail old people who are in a state of illness and do not realize that a loved one may ask for them.
Elena : Do Angels only help people, or do they help someone else?
Elena K .: Now I see a dog and a certain creature is flying behind it, like an angel, which accompanies any animal. Even flowers and plants have their own Guardian Angels, but they are called differently. Everything has its own Angel who helps and guides, but these Angels are a little different.
Elena : How are they different from human Angels?
Elena K .: If we take the development of the soul, consider the development of the soul, then they are still very young, in their role as an Angel, and they start from the same basics. Just like a person is born, grows, receives knowledge, so also the Angels grow and comprehend step by step.
First they are close to plants, then they move into the animal world, then they move into the human world and then they rise higher.
