Home›Archangels›Belongs To TraditionBrowse ByBelongs To TraditionThis page groups archangels by the religious tradition that names them. Wikipedia notes that "the word is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions and many offshoots with which they are historically associated." Browsing by belongs-to-tradition lets a visitor find every archangel named within the same tradition.FactsLearn MoreBelongs To TraditionSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOriginsOrigin PeriodWell-attestedSecond Temple Judaism: the named archangels appear in the later books of the Hebrew Bible and in the Jewish apocalyptic literature of roughly the third to the first century BCE. The elemental, planetary and sephirotic offices later attached to them are far younger. 1Place of OriginWell-attestedJudaea and the Hellenistic Jewish world. The elemental, planetary and sephirotic attributions are of Renaissance and modern Europe. 1Origin of the NameWell-attestedFrom the Greek archangelos, chief messenger. The word occurs twice in the New Testament, at 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Jude 9, and has no equivalent in the Hebrew Bible. 2StructureStructureWell-attestedThree attribution schemes group these figures: four elemental archangels of the quarters, seven planetary archangels of the classical planets, and ten sephirotic archangels of the Tree of Life. The same archangel can hold an office in more than one scheme. 3ComparisonCultural OriginWell-attestedChristian 4Era of OriginWell-attested500 CE 4Learn MoreThe Chief Angels of the Abrahamic Traditions The archangels are the highest-named angels of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel and others), who carry out the most significant of the divine errands: announcing, guarding, healing, bearing revelation. The lists differ between the three religions and between texts within each, and only a few names are common to all. In the Christian celestial hierarchy the archangels are, strictly, the second-lowest of the nine ranks, but in popular and esoteric usage the word names the great princely angels regardless of rank, and it is in that broader sense that the category is used here.From scripture to ceremonial magic The named archangels are drawn from scripture and from the wider religious literature, Michael and Gabriel appear in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran, Raphael and Uriel in works such as Tobit and 1 Enoch. Western esoteric practice then attached them to the elements, the planets and the sephiroth of the Tree of Life, giving each a colour, direction and correspondence. The entries record each archangel's scriptural and traditional roles across the three religions, and note the elemental, planetary or sephirotic attributions the later magical tradition assigned. The archangels group by domain, elemental, planetary and sephirotic, reflecting those assignments.Belongs To TraditionFilter Results4 entriesAdherents Today MaximumAll14,800,000 (1)2,000,000,000 (1)2,300,000,000 (1)Adherents Today MinimumAll14,800,000 (1)2,000,000,000 (1)2,300,000,000 (1)Basis of the Membership FigureAllIndependent Survey (3)Scholarly or Demographic Estimate (2)Era of Decline End YearAll600 (1)Era of Decline Start YearAll300 (1)Era of Modern Revival End YearAll1471 (1)Era of Modern Revival Start YearAll1463 (1)Establishment StatusAllDeclared Not Established (1)Varies by Province (2)How the Expectation Is EnforcedAllCodified Obligation With Consequences (1)Customary Norm (1)Membership Figure As OfAll2010-01-01 (2)2011-01-27 (1)2011-12-19 (1)2013-01-01 (1)2020-01-01 (3)Origin Period End YearAll400 BCE (1)50 (1)300 (1)632 (1)Origin Period Start YearAll586 BCE (1)1 (1)30 (1)610 (1)Position on MarriageAllMarriage may licitly be polygynous (1)Position on SexualityAllSame-sex orientation or practice is held to bar full membership or participation (1)The body holds no single settled position; the question is actively and openly contested within it (2)Position on UsuryAllInterest is permitted but bound by ethical constraints against exploiting the poor (1)Interest of any kind on a loan is forbidden (1)Practice StatusAllLiving, and practised in varied local forms (2)Partly restricted: some elements are closed to outsiders (2)Standard Rate ExpectedAllTen percent. (1)Two and a half percent. (1)Status TodayAllHistorical; not practised continuously (1)Living tradition, practised today (3)Revived or reconstructed in the modern era (1)TheologyAllEmanationist: reality proceeds from an ineffable One (1)Monistic: one ultimate reality behind all appearance (1)Monotheistic: one God (3)Show ResultsBrowseCompareChristianityBelongs To Tradition4 entriesHermeticismBelongs To Tradition21 entriesIslamBelongs To Tradition2 entriesJudaismBelongs To Tradition15 entriesSources1. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd editiontier 1Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.), Macmillan Reference USA, 2007on angels and angelology in Jewish traditionView the Source2. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editiontier 1F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005s.v. AngelView the Source3. The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introductiontier 1Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Oxford University Press, 2008on the Golden Dawn system of correspondencesView the Source4. Wikipedia: Archangeltier 2WikipediaWikipedia lead section, cultureArchangels are the second-lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book De Coelesti Hierarchia.Wikipedia lead section, eraput forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book De Coelesti HierarchiaView the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearChoose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.YearPresent300 BCEShow This Year