There seems to be a major problem here but there are two possible ways to rectify this. However, Michael is the only angel in Sacred Scripture explicitly addressed as Archangel (Jude 9) and thus if the Nine Choir Tradition is accurate he could not be among the order of the Seraphim at the top of the hierarchy, because the order of the Archangels is at the second to the lowest of the hierarchy. Saint Basil the Great made this argument during the 4th Century in his homily De Angelis and others, such as Saint Bonaventure (13th Century), argue that Michael was of the order of the Seraphim. the leader of all of the angels in Heaven). Some early Christian traditions, and some later ones as well, including The Prayer to Saint Michael by Pope Leo XIII, refer to Michael as the Prince of the Heavenly Hosts (i.e. There have been debates over the centuries about the exact rank of Michael over the angels. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world-he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. He is also the famous angel who led the forces of Heaven in casting out Lucifer/Satan when he rebelled against God: Traditionally, Michael has been referred to as the Prince/Guardian Angel of the people of Israel and he is now revered as the Guardian Angel of the Church. Various traditions say that he was the first of the angels who were created, which may explain why he is often revered as the eldest brother of his brethren. Michael’s name means, “Who is like God?” and he is the ultimate embodiment of the pious general and the Patron of soldiers, police officers, and firefighters. Michael also appears in many apocryphal Jewish and Christian sources. Michael in Sacred Scripture – Daniel 10:13, 10:21, and 12:1 Jude 9l and Revelation 12:7. The names of the other four Archangels appear in Jewish and Christian sources outside of the canon of Sacred Scripture (an example is the Book of Enoch chapter 20) and their names are: Uriel, Raguel, Zerachiel, and Remiel. Although the Church acknowledges that there are seven Archangels according to Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, because these three Archangels are the only angels named in Scripture, they are currently the only three who are officially recognized by name in Catholic doctrine. Some of the archangels in the bible are very well known, while others have been forgotten to history.Īs of Council of Rome in 745 under the reign of Pope Saint Zachary, the Catholic Church officially only acknowledges the names of three of the seven Archangels: St. The Archangels have played an important role in the Bible and in other Jewish and Christian literature for many centuries. I have taught about the Angels in great depth before and you can currently download my two part lecture series THE ANGELS ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH on My Audio Work page of my blog THE MODERN AUGUSTINE.īased upon what we know from Scripture from Tobit 12:15 Revelation 1:4,20 3:1 8:2,6 and Isaiah 63:9, the Church has determined that there are Seven Archangels. Seeing that the subject of the Archangels should be treated fairly with their own essay, I now expand this series with a fourth essay devoted to them. Inspired by a wonderful gentleman named John who commented on one of my essays on my blog THE MODERN AUGUSTINE, I expanded the material into a new essay called THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY: THE NINE CHOIRS OF ANGELS. In previous essays THE ANGELS and THE FALL OF SATAN I provided a very brief introduction about the Catholic teachings of the Angels.
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