Seraphim

Cherubim

Thrones

Dominations

Virtues

Powers

Principalities

Archangels

Angels

Definitions

Seraphim

The name, a Hebrew masculine plural form, designates a special class of heavenly attendants of Yahweh’s court.

In Holy Writ these angelic beings are distinctly mentioned only in Isaias’s description of his call to the prophetical office ( Isaiah 6:2 sqq. ). In a vision of deep spiritual import, granted him in the Temple, Isaias beheld the invisible realities symbolized by the outward forms of Yahweh’s dwelling place, of its altar, its ministers, etc. While he stood gazing before the priest’s court, there arose before him an august vision of Yahweh sitting on the throne of His glory. On each side of the throne stood mysterious guardians, each supplied with six wings: two to bear them up, two veiling their faces, and two covering their feet, now naked, as became priestly service in the presence of the Almighty. His highest servants, they were there to minister to Him and proclaim His glory, each calling to the other: ” Holy, holy, holy, Yahweh of hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.” These were seraphim, one of which flew towards Isaias bearing a live coal which he had taken from the altar, and with which he touched and purified the Prophet’s lips, that henceforth these might be consecrated to the utterances of inspiration.

Such, in substance, is Isaias’s symbolical vision from which may be inferred all that Sacred Scripture discloses concerning the seraphim. Although described under a human form, with faces, hands, and feet ( Isaiah 6:2, 6 ), they are undoubtedly existing spiritual beings corresponding to their name, and not mere symbolic representations as is often asserted by advanced Protestant scholars. Their number is considerable, as they appear around the heavenly throne in a double choir and the volume of their chorus is such that the sound shakes the foundations of the palace.

They are distinct from the cherubim who carry or veil God, and show the presence of His glory in the earthly sanctuary, whilst the seraphim stand before God as ministering servants in the heavenly court. Their name too, seraphim , distinguishes them from the cherubim, although it is confessedly difficult to obtain from the single Scriptural passage wherein these beings are mentioned a clear conception of its precise meaning.

The name is oftentimes derived from the Hebrew verb saraph (“to consume with fire”), and this etymology is very probable because of its accordance with Isaiah 6:6 , where one of the seraphim is represented as carrying celestial fire from the altar to purify the Prophet’s lips. Many scholars prefer to derive it from the Hebrew noun saraph , “a fiery and flying serpent”, spoken of in Numbers 21:6 ; Isaiah 14:29 , and the brazen image of which stood in the Temple in Isaias’s time ( 2 Kings 18:4 ); but it is plain that no trace of such serpentine form appears in Isaias’s description of the seraphim. Still less probable are the views propounded of late by certain critics and connecting the Biblical seraphim with the Babylonian Sharrapu , a name for Nergal, the fire-god, or with the Egyptian griffins ( séréf ) which are placed at Beni-Hassan as guardians of graves.

The seraphim are mentioned at least twice in the Book of Enoch (lxi, 10; lxxi, 7), together with and distinctly from the cherubim. In Christian theology, the seraphim occupy with the cherubim the highest rank in the celestial hierarchy, while in the liturgy (Te Deum; Preface of the Mass) they are represented as repeating the Trisagion exactly as in Isaiah 6 .

Cherubim

Angelic beings or symbolic representations thereof, mentioned frequently in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament.

I. IN PHILOLOGY

The word cherub ( cherubim is the Hebrew masculine plural) is a word borrowed from the Assyrian kirubu , from karâbu , “to be near”, hence it means near ones, familiars, personal servants, bodyguards, courtiers. It was commonly used of those heavenly spirits, who closely surrounded the Majesty of God and paid Him intimate service. Hence it came to mean as much as “Angelic Spirit”. (The change from K of Karâbu , to K of Kirub is nothing unusual in Assyrian. The word has been brought into connection with the Egyptian Xefer by metathesis from Xeref=K-r-bh. ) A similar metathesis and play upon sound undoubtedly exists between Kerub and Rakab , “to ride”, and Merkeba , “chariot”. The late Jewish explanation by analogy between Kerub and Rekûb , “a youth”, seems worthless. The word ought to be pronounced in English qerub and querubim , and not with a soft ch.

II. IN ART

Cherub and Cherubim are most frequently referred to in the Bible to designate sculptured, engraved, and embroidered figures used in the furniture and ornamentation of the Jewish Sanctuary.

• According to Exod., xxv, 18-21 there were placed on the kapporeth , or lid of the Ark, (i.e. “the Mercy-Seat”) the figures of two cherubim of wrought (=massive?) gold.
• According to 1 Kings 6:23 sqq. , and 2 Chronicles 3:11 sqq. , Solomon placed in the Holy of Holies two huge Cherubim of olive-wood overlaid with gold. “They stood on their feet and their faces were towards the house”, which probably means they faced the Holy Place or the Entrance.
• According to Exod., xxvi, 31, cherubim were embroidered on the Veil of the Tabernacle, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. “With blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen” they were made. How many such cherubim were embroidered on the Paroket, or Veil, we do not know. It is often supposed that as this veil screened the Holy Holies, two large- sized figures to represent guardian spirits or keepers were thereon depicted.
• According to 1 Kings 6 and 7 , cherubim were engraved apparently as an artistic “motif” in wood and metal. The panelling of the Temple, both interior and exterior, was covered with them, as well as with palm-trees and open flowers. The brazen sea was adorned with figures of lions oxen, and cherubim.
• According to Ezechiel, xli, 18 sqq., in his visionary description of the Temple, the wall-space of the Sanctuary was ornamented with cherubim and palm-trees, and each cherub had two faces, that of a man and that of a lion, the faces respectively turned to the palm tree to the right and left. But there is no ground whatever to suppose that the actual cherubim of the Solomonic Temple or pre-Solomonic Sanctuary were double-faced; the contrary seems certain, but from the Scripture text we cannot with certainty conclude what sort of faces these Temple cherubim had, whether animal or human. It is sometimes concluded from Ezekiel 10:14 , “the first face was the face of a cherub and the second that of a man, the third the face of a lion and the fourth the face of an eagle”, that a cherub’s face cannot have been a human one, and the face of an ox has naturally been suggested, but the argument is not conclusive.

In Egyptian art, figures with a human face and two outstretched wings attached to the arms are exceedingly common. In Assyrian art, also, winged human figures on either side of a palm tree are very often used in decoration. They are sometimes hawk-headed, but more usually possess men’s faces. However, even the Jews at the time of Christ had completely forgotten the appearance of the Temple cherubim. Josephus (Antiq., VIII, 3) says that no one knows or even can guess what form they had. The very fact, however, that the Bible nowhere gives a word of explanation, but always presupposes them well-known, makes us believe that they were among the most common figures of contemporary art.

III. IN INSPIRED VISION

As Jehovah was surrounded by figures of cherubim in His Sanctuary on earth, so He is, according to Scripture, surrounded in reality by cherubim in His Court above. The function ascribed to these heavenly servants of God’s Majesty is that of throne-bearers, or “carriers”, of His Divine Majesty. In Psalm 17 the psalmist describes the sudden descent of Jehovah to rescue a soul in distress in the following words: “He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under His feet. He rode upon a cherub and flew upon the wings of the wind.” The idea of cherubim as the chariot of God seems indicated in I Paralip. 18, where David gives gold for the Temple cherubim, who are described as “the Chariot”, not, probably, because they had the outward shape of a vehicle, but because the Temple cherubim symbolized the swift-winged living thrones upon which the Almighty journeys through the heavens.

The Prophet Ezechiel mentions the cherubim in a two-fold connection:

• in his vision of the living chariot of God (Ch. i and x);
• in his prophecy on the Prince of Tyre (Ch. xxviii, 14 sqq.).

Ezechiel’s vision of the Cherubim, which is practically the same in the tenth chapter as in the first, is one of the most difficult in Scripture, and has given rise to a multitude of explanations. The prophet first saw a luminous cloud coming from the north; from a distance it seemed a heavy cloud fringed with light and some intense brilliancy in the centre thereof, bright as gold, yet in perpetual motion as the flames of a fire. Within that heavenly fire he began gradually to distinguish four living beings with bodies as men, yet with four faces each: a human face in front, but an eagles face behind; a lion’s face to the left and an ox’s face to the right. Though approaching, yet their knees did not bend in their march, straight and stiff they remained; and for feet they had the hoofs of oxen, shod as it were with shining brass. They had four arms, two to each shoulder, and attached along each arm a wing. Of these four winged arms two were outstretched above, and two were let down and covered their bodies. These four living beings stood together, facing in four opposite directions, and between them were four great wheels, each wheel being double, so that it could roll forward or sideways. Thus this angelic chariot, in whatever of the four directions it moved, always presented the same aspect. And both angels and wheels were all studded with eyes. And over the heads of the cherubim, so that they touched it with the points of their outstretched wings, was an expanse of crystal, and on this crystal a sapphire throne, and on the throne one resembling a man, the likeness of the glory of Jehovah.

The mystical meaning of each detail of this vision will probably remain a matter of speculation, but the meaning of the four faces seems not difficult to grasp: man is the king of creation, the lion the king of beasts of the forest, the ox the king of the kine in the field, the eagle the king of the birds of the air. On this account the cherubim have of recent years been explained as mere symbols of the fulness of earthly life, which, like the earth itself, is the footstool of God. But these faces are more naturally understood to signify that these angelic beings possessed the intelligent wisdom of man, the lithe strength of the lion, the ponderous weight of the ox, the soaring sublimity of the eagle. Early Christianity transferred this Old Testament vision to a New Testament sphere and gradually used these cherubic figures to designate the four Evangelists — a thought of rare grandeur and singular felicity, yet only a sensus accommodatus.

Ezechiel’s Prophecy against the Prince of Tyre contains a description of the almost more than earthly glory of that ancient city. Tyre is spoken of as an angel fallen from glory. Of the King of Tyre it is said: Thou, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. In Eden, the garden of God wert thou, all precious stones were thy covering. Thou wert a cherub with wings outstretched in protection, thou wert on the holy mountain of God, thou didst walk amongst fiery stones. Thou wert innocent in thy ways form the day on which thou wert created until iniquity was found in thee…thou didst sin, therefore I will cast thee out from the mountain of God and destroy three, O protecting cherub away from the fiery stones.

Indirectly we can gather from this passage that Cherubim were conceived to be in a state of perfection, wisdom, sinlessness, nearness to God on His Holy Mountain and of preternatural glory and happiness. Unfortunately, the words paraphrased as “with wings outstretched in protection” are difficult to translate: the Hebrew term may mean “cherub of anointing, who covers”, therefore a royal, anointed being, overshadowing others with its wings to shelter them. If this be so, we must add royalty and beneficence to the characteristics of cherubim.

IV. IN THEOLOGY

Notwithstanding the present common opinion of advanced Protestant scholars, that cherubim are only symbolic representations of abstract ideas, the Catholic Church undoubtedly holds that there are actually existing spiritual beings corresponding to the name. That Old Testament writers used the word cherubim to designate angels, not merely to express ideas, can be best gathered from Genesis 3:24 , where God sets cherubim at the entrance of Paradise. This sentence would bear no sense at all if cherubim did not stand for ministerial beings, differing from man, carrying out the behest of God. Likewise, it is difficult to read Ezechiel and to persuade oneself that the Prophet does not presuppose the actual existence of real personal beings under the name of Cherubim; in chaps. i and x he speaks again and again of “living beings”, and he says the spirit of life was within them, and repeatedly points out that the bodily forms he sees are but appearances of the living beings thus mentioned. The living beings ( zoa ) so often mentioned in St. John’s Apocalypse can only be taken as parallel to those in Ezechiel, and their personal existence in St. John’s mind cannot be doubted. The frequent sentence also: “who sittest upon the Cherubim” ( 1 Samuel 4:4 ; 2 Samuel 6:2 ; 2 Kings 19 ; Isaiah 37:37, 16 ; Psalms 79:2 and 98:1 ), though no doubt referring to Jehovah’s actual dwelling in the Holy of Holies, yet is better understood as referring to the heavenly throne-bearers of God. There can be no doubt that the later Jews — that is, from 200 B.C. onwards — looked upon the cherubim as real angelic beings ; the angelology of the Book of Enoch and the apocryphal Books of Esdras give us an undeniable testimony on this point.

So the Christian Church from the first accepted the personality of the cherubim and early adopted Philo’s interpretation of the name. Clem. Alex.: “The name Cherubim intends to show much understanding ( aisthesin pollen ).” (Stromata, V, 240.) Though counted amongst the angels during the first centuries of Christianity, the cherubim and seraphim were not mentioned in the lists of the angelic hierarchy. At first but seven choirs of angels were reckoned, i.e. those enumerated ( Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16 ), with the addition of angeli et archangeli. Thus St. Irenæus, Haer.II, xxx, and Origen, Peri archon , I, v. But soon it was realized that the Apostle’s list was not intended to be a complete one, and the Old Testament angelic beings mentioned by Ezechiel and Isaias, the cherubim and seraphim, and others were added, so that we have eight, nine, or ten, or even eleven ranks in the hierarchy. The cherubim and seraphim were sometimes thought to be but other names for thrones and virtues ( Gregory of Nyssa, “Contra Eunom.”, I; Augustine in Ps., xcviii, 3). Since Psuedo-Dionys., De Caelesti Hier. (written about A.D. 500), the ninefold division of the angelic order has been practically universal; and the cherubim and seraphim take the highest place in the hierarchy, a rank which was ascribed to them already by St. Cyril of Jerusalem (370) and by St. Chrysostom (about 400), and which Pope Gregory the Great, once aprocrisarius or nuncio at Constantinople, made familiar to the West. Pope Gregory divided the nine angelic orders into three choirs, the highest choir being: thrones, cherubim, and seraphim. Of the cherubim he says (Hom. in Ev., xxxiv, 10), that cherubim means “the fulness of knowledge, and these most sublime hosts are thus called, because they are filled with a knowledge which is the more perfect as they are allowed to behold the glory of God more closely”. This explanation of St. Gregory is ultimately derived from Philo’s similar statement, and was already combined with the Old Testament function of the cherubim by St. Augustine in his sublime comment on Ps., lxxix, 2, “Who sitteth upon the Cherubim”:Cherubim means the Seat of the Glory of God and is interpreted: Fulness of Knowledge. Though we realize that cherubim are exalted heavenly powers and virtues ; yet if thou wilt, thou too shalt be one of the cherubim. For if cherubim means, Seat of God, remember what the Scripture says: The soul of the just is the Seat of Wisdom.

Explanation

	Q.	Which are the chief creatures of God?
	A.	The chief creatures of God are angels and men.

35	Q.	What are angels?
	A.	Angels are pure spirits without a body, created to adore and enjoy God in Heaven.

“Angels” are not the same as saints. Saints are those who at one time lived upon the earth as we do, and who on account of their very good lives are now in Heaven. They had bodies as we have. The angels, on the contrary, never lived visibly upon the earth. In the beginning God was alone. We take great pleasure in looking at beautiful things. God, seeing His own beauty, and knowing that others would have very great pleasure and happiness in seeing Him, determined to create some beings who could enjoy this happiness; and thus He wished to share with them the happiness which He Himself derived from seeing His own beauty. Therefore He created angels who were to be in Heaven with Him, singing His praises and worshipping before His throne.

The angels are not all equal in dignity, but are divided into nine classes, or choirs, according to their rank or office, and, as theologians tell us, arranged from the lowest to the highest and named as follows; angels, archangels, virtues, powers, principalities, dominations, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim. Archangels are higher than angels and are so called because sent to do the most important works. It was the Archangel Michael who drove Lucifer from Heaven and the Archangel Gabriel who announced to the Blessed Virgin that she was to be the Mother of God. The angels receive their names from the duties they perform. The word angel signifies messenger.

*36	Q.	Were the angels created for any other purpose?
	A.	The angels were also created to assist before the throne of God and to minister unto Him; they have often been sent as messengers from God to man; and are also appointed our guardians.

The duties of the angels are many. Some remain always in Heaven with God; some are sent to earth to be our guardians and to remain with us. Each of us has an angel to take care of us. He is with us night and day, and offers our prayers and good works to God. He prays for us, exhorts us to do good and avoid evil; and he protects us from dangers spiritual and temporal. How unfortunate then must one be to cause him to return to Heaven with sad complaints to God; such as: “The one whom I have in charge will not obey Thy laws or use the grace Thou sendest him: with all my efforts to save him, he continues to do wrong.” He will be doubly sad when he sees other angels returning with good reports and receiving new graces for those whom God has committed to their care. If you love your guardian angel, never impose on him the painful duty of bringing to God the report of your evil doings.

Now, how do we know that the angels offer our prayers and good works to God? We know it from the beautiful story of Tobias, told in the Holy Scripture. (Tobias). This holy man loved and feared God. He lived at a time when his people were persecuted by a most cruel king, who wished to force them to give up the true God and worship idols, but many of these good people suffered death rather than deny God and obey the wicked king. When they were put to death, their bodies were left lying on the ground, to be devoured by birds of prey or wild animals. Anyone caught burying them was to be put to death by the king’s servants. Tobias used to carry the dead bodies of these holy martyrs into his house and bury them at night.

One day when he returned very tired he lay down by the wall of his house to rest, and, while lying there, some dirt fell into his eyes and he became blind. This Tobias had a young son whose name was also Tobias; and as he himself was now blind and poor, he wished to send his son into a certain city, at a good distance off, to collect some money that he had formerly loaned to a friend. As the young man did not know the way, his father sent him out to look for a guide. Young Tobias went out and found a beautiful young man to be his guide and he consented, and he brought Tobias to the distant city. As they were on their way they sat down by the bank of a river. Tobias went into the water near the edge, and soon a great fish rushed at him. Tobias called to his guide. The guide told him to take hold of the fish and drag it out upon the shore. There they killed it, and kept part of its flesh for food and part for medicine. Then they went on to the city, got the money and returned. The guide told young Tobias to rub the part of the fish he had taken for medicine upon his father’s eyes. He did so, and immediately his father’s eyes were cured and he saw. Then both the father and son were so delighted with this young guide, that they offered to give him half of all they had. He refused to take it and then told them he was the angel Raphael sent from God to be the guide of this good man’s son. He told the old Tobias how he (the angel) had carried up to God his prayers and good works while he was burying the dead. When they heard he was an angel they fell down and reverenced him, being very much afraid. From this beautiful history we know that the angels carry our prayers and good works to God. Again we learn from the Holy Scripture (Gen. 28) in the history of another good man almost the same thing. The patriarch Jacob was on a journey, and being tired, he lay down to rest with his head upon a stone. As he lay there he had a vision in which he saw a great ladder reaching up from earth to Heaven. At the top he saw Almighty God standing, and on the ladder itself angels ascending and descending. Now the holy Fathers of the Church tell us this is what is really taking place; the angels are always going down and up from God to man, though not on a ladder and not visibly as they appeared to Jacob. Besides the guardian angel for each person, there are also guardian angels for each city and for each nation.

Again (Gen. 19) angels appeared to Lot to warn him about the destruction of the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrha. Angels appeared also to the shepherds on the night Our Lord was born (Luke 2). The catechism says angels have no bodies – how, then, could they appear? They took bodies made of some very light substance which would make them visible, and appeared just like beautiful young men, clad in flowing garments, as you frequently see them represented in pictures. Angels were sometimes sent to punish men for their sins, as the angel who killed in one night 185,000 men in the army of the wicked king, Sennacherib, who blasphemed God, and was endeavoring to destroy Jerusalem, God’s city. (4 Kgs. 19).

But here is a difficulty. If God Himself watches over us and sees all things, why should the angels guard us? It is on account of God’s goodness to us; though it is not necessary. He does not wish us to have any excuse for being bad, so He gives us each a special heavenly servant to watch and assist us by his prayers. If a friend received us into his house and did all he could for us himself, we should certainly be satisfied, but if he gave us a special servant, though it would not be necessary, he would show us great respect and kindness. Moreover whatever the angels do for us, we might say God Himself does, for the angels are only obeying His commands.

*37	Q.	Were the angels, as God created them, good and happy?
	A.	The angels as God created them were good and happy.

*38	Q.	Did all the angels remain good and happy?
	A.	All the angels did not remain good and happy; many of them sinned and were cast into Hell; and these are called devils or bad angels.

God did not admit the angels into His presence at once. He placed them for awhile on probation, as He did our first parents.

One of these angels was most beautiful, and was named Lucifer, which means light-bearer. He was so perfect that he seems to have forgotten that he received all his beauty and intelligence from God, and not content with what he had, became sinfully proud and wished to be equal to God Himself. For his sin he and all his followers were driven out of Heaven, and God then created Hell, in which they were to suffer for all eternity. This same Lucifer is now called Satan, and more commonly the devil, and those who accompanied him in his fall, devils, or fallen angels.

^{From lesson 4 of an, An Explanation Of The Baltimore Catechism of Christian Doctrine: For The Use of Sunday-School Teachers and Advanced Classes Also known as Baltimore Catechism No. 4, found on https://convertjournal.com/}