Seven orders of angels. The ranks of the forces of heaven and saints in Orthodoxy. Movies about angels

The Greek word "angel", like the Hebrew "malak" and the Muslim "malaika", means the same thing - "messenger". Heavenly spirits, messengers of the gods, these peculiar threads of life that connect people with their creators, are known to many peoples. The Vikings called them Valkyries, the Greeks called Ores. In Persia, there were fravashes, and sometimes they were confused with peris and guris, sexless effeminate creatures. The Romans knew them as geniuses, and the Indians called the higher celestial spirits asuras, and the lower ones - apsaras. Angels are present in Zoroastrianism, in Buddhism, in Taoism. They are known to the Assyrian and Mesopotamian sages. Belief in angels permeates the Manichaean tales. Shamanic practice also involves getting to know winged messenger creatures.

Angels is a common name for very different beings, divided into three triads or nine angelic ranks. The first and highest among them are thrones, seraphim and cherubim. Thrones are so named because they are closer than others to the throne of the Lord, they are the highest forces of self-giving and self-sacrifice. The modern researcher Sophie Burnham writes about them in her “Book of Angels” as follows: “At the Throne of God, angels are devoid of form, present there as pure primary energy, huge, swift fireballs, like supernovae, whirling, rotating, rushing in black space.

Having created man in his own image and likeness, God taught us a system of subordination, which is similar to how the Kingdom of God is arranged. Archangel Michael - Commander-in-Chief of the heavenly host. Accordingly, there are ranks of Angels. Without a clear subordination, it is difficult to restore order in any structure, and therefore the nine angelic ranks were arranged by the Lord precisely for the high effectiveness of managing the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is important to understand that God, endowed with possibilities without limits, is sometimes forced to digress from one issue in order to attend to another. After all, the existing world is so fragile as to withstand the direct intervention of the Creator. God needs help. And nine angelic ranks exist directly for this. The Cherubim and Seraphim are subordinate to the Almighty, who cooperate with the Thrones, they control the Dominions and Forces, to which the Authorities are subordinate, those who control the Beginnings and Archangels, in whose submission are the Angels. The nine ranks are subdivided into three triads. Thus, the first triad is those who are in close proximity to God; the second highlights the divine foundation of the universe and dominion over the world; the third is those who are close to people, to humanity.

They are called wheels or thrones, and cannot even be depicted symbolically, but the mystics who have contemplated them and heard their deafening silence know what they have seen, and therefore are suppressed by this power. However, sometimes the thrones were depicted as fiery wheels with wings. Their entire body seemed to consist of many eyes that could cover everything with their gaze. Perhaps they are the only ones among the angels who do not even remotely resemble a person.

The fiery spirits of the seraphim in their six-winged body embody the great cosmic principle of universal love: their very name, translated from the Chaldean, means Love. Their appearance is described in some detail in the biblical Book of the prophet Isaiah: “Seraphim stood around Him; each of them has six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And they called to each other, and said: holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! The whole earth is full of His glory!”

Only due to a deep-rooted misunderstanding, cherubim are sometimes considered to be lower angels and are depicted as children with wings. Cherubim, belonging to the highest triad of heavenly creatures, symbolize Wisdom and infinite Powers, they are the guardians of heaven.

The Book of Genesis also testifies to this, where it is described how the Lord expelled the sinning Adam from paradise: “And he expelled Adam, and placed in the east near the garden of Eden a cherub and a flaming sword turning to guard the way to the tree of life.” And the cherubim seen by the prophet Ezekiel are not at all like rosy-cheeked babies: “Cherubim and palm trees were made: a palm tree between two cherubim, and each cherubim has two faces.

On the one hand, a human face is turned to the palm tree, and on the other hand, the face of a lion is turned to the palm tree. Such formidable angels guarded the ark with the tablets of the covenant - the Divine rules of human life.

On the shoulders of these mighty spirits rested the very throne of the Lord, which they easily carried from one place to another: "And the (God) of the cherubim sat down and flew, and flew on the wings of the wind."

Cherubim more than thrones and seraphim, resemble people: "And the cherubim could see the likeness of human hands under their wings."

Eduard Schure writes about the appointment of the higher celestial spirits in the book "Divine Evolution": entities, are above Space and Time, like God himself, they manifest God in Time and Space.

Below is the second trinity of angels - power, strength and dominance. Byzantine theologian, 5th c. Dionysius the Areopagite considered dominations to be the first among them, the fourth in the heavenly hierarchy of spiritual forces. If the forces of the first hierarchy spread divine light, wisdom and inspiration, then the second - streamlined and balanced. The highest angels ruled the Universe, the middle ones - the planets, including our Earth. If the seraphim, cherubim and thrones sowed in the interstellar spaces the ideas of love, wisdom and will, then dominions, forces and powers harmonized the forms of all things and its movement. They shortened the path from the general idea to its specific implementation. About them, who submitted to the power of Christ, it is said in the New Testament “First Epistle of the Apostle Peter”: “... Christ, in order to bring us to God, once suffered for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, was put to death according to the flesh, but revived by the spirit, which, having ascended heaven, is near God, and to whom angels and authorities and powers have submitted. But even among these angels appeared opponents of God, about whom the Epistle to the Ephesians says: “Put on the whole armor of God, so that you can stand against the wiles of the devil; because our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against authorities, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spirits of wickedness in high places.”

Closest to people are the beginnings, the archangels and the angels themselves, who are in charge of the idea of ​​individuality, divine fire and the very life of people. And then he writes: “The Beginnings, or the Spirits of the beginning, have already conceived the Archangels… After all, the Beginnings are the most powerful magicians among the Elohim. They can give life and individuality to their Thought Forms by sheer force of will… Thanks to the breath of the Beginnings, the Archangels rise and become life.” This is how the archangels appeared, many of whom we know by name: this is the heavenly commander Michael; Gabriel, who appeared to the Virgin Mary with the good news that her son Jesus would be born; the healing angel Raphael, as well as Uriel, Yehudiel, Jeremiel, Salafiel, Barahiel and many, many others.

Jan van Ruysbroek, in his book Seven Steps on the Ladder, said: “The higher ranks of the angels (cherubim, seraphim and thrones) do not participate in our fight against vices and stay with us only when, above all discord, we unite with God in the world, contemplation and eternal love. Indeed, how can they, who control galaxies and systems of stars, see the troubles of each of us, one in a mass of millions? Only angels, who, according to popular belief, are with every person behind the right shoulder, are always aware of our joys and sorrows. They know everything about us and in difficult times rush to help. Why do they do it? The answer lies in the ninetieth psalm of David, where it is sung: “For he will command his angels about you - to guard you in all your ways; they will carry you in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” The great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote about the same thing: “I believe we are free within certain limits, but an invisible hand or guide angel, like a hidden propeller, moves us.”

They take care of us during their lifetime, and in a mournful hour an angel descends to us to become our guide to the World of Death. And the winged muse flies to the poets at the hour of inspiration. And perhaps Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best: "In the midst of turbulent crises, in the midst of unbearable trials, in the midst of strivings that exclude sympathy, the angel appears."

November is chosen for the feast of the Angels because it is the ninth from March, which was once the beginning of the year, and the number nine corresponds to the nine orders of the angels.

Angels on icons are a set of symbols that convey to us not the appearance, but the idea of ​​angels as messengers of God, because Angels do not have material flesh:

• Wings- a symbol of speed and all penetration;
• Staff- a symbol of the messenger;
• Mirror(sphere in hand with the image of a cross or an abbreviation of the name of the Savior) - a symbol of the gift of foresight, which God endowed the Angels with;
• toroki(developing golden "ribbons" in the hair) - a symbol of special hearing of God and obedience to His will;
• "Eye" in the forehead- a symbol of omniscience;
• The face of a beautiful youth- a symbol of perfection. In the Holy Scriptures, the Angels sent by God, as a rule, appeared to the chosen people in the form of beautiful, radiant youths in white robes.

Orders of Angels

The Bible speaks of 8 orders of angels. These are: Archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Forces.

Why such a diversity of the inhabitants of Heaven?.. The teachers of the Church thought about it. Origen (III century) suggested that the difference in ranks of Angels is due to their cooling in love for God. The higher the rank, the more faithful, more obedient to God the Angel is, and vice versa. However, the Orthodox Church rejected this interpretation.

St. Augustine (4th century) wrote: “I unshakably believe that there are Thrones, Dominions, Principalities and Powers in the heavenly abodes, and that they differ from each other, I undoubtedly contain; but what they are and in what exactly they differ from each other, I do not know.

The most profound and thoughtful work on this subject belongs to the theologian of the 5th century, St. Dionysius the Areopagite. He wrote an essay, which is called “On the Heavenly Hierarchy” and in which the question is clarified - how do the Angels differ from each other.

St. Dionysius divides all Angels into three triads. In each triad there are 3 ranks (in total, he gets 9 ranks).

The first triad, closest to God, are: Cherubim, Seraphim and Thrones.

The second triad: Dominions, Forces, Powers.

Finally, the third triad: Principles, Archangels, Angels.

St. Dionysius says that the rank of an Angel depends on the position in the Heavenly Hierarchy, that is, on proximity to the King of Heaven - God.

The highest angels glorify God, stand before Him. Other Angels, whose rank is lower in the Heavenly hierarchy, perform various tasks, for example, they protect people. These are the so-called service spirits.

The work of St. Dionysius is a remarkable achievement of Orthodox mysticism, theology and philosophy. For the first time, a coherent teaching appears, trying to show the principles of the interaction of God with the world through angelic beings; for the first time, the diversity of the ranks of Angels, which the Bible mentions, is put in order. However, it should be remembered that the classification of angelic ranks by St. Dionysius is not a strictly scientific work - rather, mystical reflections, material for theological reflections. Angelology of St. Dionysius, for example, cannot be used in the study of biblical angelology, since biblical angelology proceeds from other theological principles, develops according to other laws than St. Dionysius. However, for the work of the theologian, the system of St. Dionysius is irreplaceable, and this is why: in his work, the Byzantine thinker shows that the closer the Angelic rank is to God, the more he becomes a partaker of the blessed Light and grace of God.

Each of the triads of Angels, writes St. Dionysius, has its general purpose. The first is purification, the second is enlightenment, and the third is perfection.

The first triad, the first three higher ranks - Cherubim, Seraphim and Thrones - are in the process of being cleansed of any admixture of something imperfect. Being close to God, in constant contemplation of the Divine Light, they achieve the highest degree of purity and clarity of their angelic spirit, striving to resemble the Absolute Spirit - God. And there is no limit to this perfection. No other creature of God can achieve that dizzying degree of purity in which these Angels are. No one ... except Mary of Nazareth - the Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing of her, who carried under her heart, gave birth, swaddled, raised the Savior of the world, as “The most honest Cherubim and the most glorious Seraphim without comparison.”

The second triad - Domination, Strength, Power - is constantly enlightened by the light of God's Wisdom, and in this there is also no limit for it, for God's Wisdom is limitless. This enlightenment is not of a mental nature, but of a contemplative one. That is, the Angels in awe and amazement contemplate the boundless and perfect Wisdom of God.

Finally, the work of the last triad - the Beginnings, the Archangels, the Angels - is perfection. This is a more understandable and concrete form of service. These Angels, joined to God's perfection and to His will, convey this will to us and thus help us to improve.

St. Dionysius also emphasizes the fundamental difference in the characteristics of the natures of the Angels that make up different triads. If the angelic nature of the first, highest, triad can be described as light and fire, then in the second, Dionysius notes power and material characteristics, and the third triad is understood completely as serving the will of God, addressed to the world.

St. Dionysius determined not only the general ministry of the triads of Angels, but also the specific ministry of each of the nine ranks.

And to find out what kind of service they carry, the very name of the rank will help us.

So, the name Seraphim, which is worn by the highest Angels, is translated in Hebrew as “flaming”, and the name Cherubim means “an abundance of knowledge or an outpouring of wisdom” (St. Dionysius the Areopagite). Finally, the name of the third rank of the first triad - the Thrones - means the Angels withdrawn from everything earthly, and shows us the desire of these Angels to “cleave motionlessly and firmly” to the Lord.

Accordingly, one can understand the properties and qualities of the other two angelic triads.

Dominations - instruct earthly rulers to wise management.

Forces - work miracles and send down the grace of miracles to the saints of God.

Authorities - have the power to tame the power of the devil. They reflect all our temptations and also have power over the elements of nature.

Beginnings - govern the universe, the laws of nature, protect peoples, tribes, countries.

Archangels - proclaim the great and glorious Mysteries of God. They are the bearers of the revelation of God.

Angels are present in every person, they inspire spiritual life, keep in everyday life.

Certainly, the opinion of St. Dionysius should not be considered indisputable. In the holy fathers (and even in St. Dionysius himself) we come across the idea that there are many more angelic ranks than nine, their ministries are more diverse than those listed above, but this is not revealed to us. The system of St. Dionysius is only an introduction to angelology, a starting point for further theological research on these issues.

The great John of Damascus, who himself greatly appreciated the work of St. Dionysius summed up the opinion of the Orthodox Church on this issue in this way: “Whether they are essentially equal or differ from each other, we do not know. But God alone knows who created them, Who knows everything. They differ from each other in light and position; or having a degree according to the light, or participating in the light according to the degree, and enlighten each other because of the superiority of rank or nature. But it is clear that the higher angels communicate both light and knowledge to the lower ones.

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Everything in the world is subject to strict laws and hierarchy. Without order, cities would not have arisen, civilization would not have developed. But the hierarchy can be traced not only in the material plane of being, but also in the spiritual or otherwise - the angelic world.

The angels who help God in his affairs and become the conductors of His will were no exception. The structure of the angelic hierarchy is clearly divided into three spheres, each of which has its own ranks of angels.

Each religion has its own angels, archangels and other heavenly powers, but, of course, they are called differently.

Angels of Christianity

Modern Angelology began to take shape at the initial stages of the development of Christianity. The theologians of that time took seriously the issue of creating schemes for the hierarchies of these beings. Moreover, each scheme is divided into several levels, which later became known as choirs.

Of course, Christian theologians did not invent all this out of their heads. They used the Old and New Testaments as a source of information. This is confirmed by the fact that in Judaism (from which many traditions followed to Christianity) there are no such angelic ranks as an archangel or "bosses".

Since all these schemes were created at about the same time, they often overlap with each other. At the same time, it often happened that the hierarchies and choirs underwent a serious increase, or vice versa, the previously existing ranks were missing.

However, there were also examples of schemes with radically different provisions in history. Moreover, there were hierarchies of the reverse execution scheme (from lowest to highest).

An example is the hierarchy built and described by Athanasius the Great: he did not systematize all the information and simply listed all the available ranks.

Those who are now called cherubs are actually the image of the ancient Greek Cupid.

The first treatise that appeared, in which more or less thoroughly work was done on structuring the crowd of angels, was called "Ariopagitics". It was this Talmud that theologians used in their works as a source for a detailed description of the choirs.

This book belongs to the hand of Pseudo-Dionysius and in it the hierarchy of heavenly powers is shown in ascending order. Where more and more important angels were placed above the rest.

In the treatise "On the Heavenly Hierarchy" there are two options for the arrangement of the hierarchy of the heavenly forces. How it happened is explained in the work of a later time - Schilia to the "Areopagitics".

Another interesting scheme is Hildegard's vision of the hierarchy, which is described in the work "Know the ways of the light, that is, the Lord." In this scheme, there were nine choirs, which had their own symbolism:

1. The angels, along with the archangels, corresponded to the body and soul.
2. Seraphim and Cherubim referred to the love of God and knowledge.
3. The intermediate five symbolized human feelings (sight, touch, etc.).

Gradually, some of the schemes atrophied, while others were reborn. Wrong, according to theologians, ideas about hierarchy were discarded. In the end, the Areopagite scheme became canonical. It had three spheres in each three groups.

The heavenly hierarchy in Orthodoxy differs little from that in Catholicism.

Spheres of angelic ranks and ranks of angels (descending)

First sphere:

• seraphim;
• cherubs;
• thrones.

Second sphere:

• domination;
• strength;
• authorities.

Third sphere:

• angels;
• archangels;
• start.

Of course, the above scheme has been refined and signed more than once. New interpretations of hierarchies often emerged.

Ranks of the First Sphere

All 9 ranks of angels in Orthodoxy have not departed much from the Catholic canon:

Seraphim (From the Hebrew Saraf - flaming)	Described in the Bible only once: Appears as an angel with three pairs of wings. The upper pair covers the head (in a number of sources it is stated that the seraphim has a bird's head, but such a bright radiance emanates from it that it cannot be seen), the middle pair is flying, the lower one covers the legs. Seraphim worship God and embody his will on Earth. The highest angelic rank
Cherubim (in translation - "like a young man")	Like the seraphim, it has the closest relationship to God. However, it is one step below the seraphim
Throne	As it would not sound rude, but is used by the Almighty as a stool. God sits on them and conducts his Judgment

Second Sphere

Third Sphere

The above table fully answers the question of how many angelic ranks are in the Christian religion. As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the hierarchy of paradise.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” the Bible begins with these words. Under the sky, according to one of the interpretations, is understood not our earthly sky, but the highest Heaven - this is the world of incorporeal beings, which we call the Heavenly Forces or angels, which have their own harmonious hierarchy.

Today we publish an excerpt from the famous Archpriest Konstantin Parkhomenko, who in an accessible form gave an exhaustive interpretation of all existing angelic ranks and noted their relationship, based on the writings of St. Dionysius.

The difference in interpretations

The Bible speaks of eight ranks of Angels, these are: Archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Forces. Where does such a variety of inhabitants of heaven come from? ..

The teachers of the Church thought about this. Origen(III century) suggested that the difference between the Angels in ranks is due to their cooling in love for God. The higher the rank, the more faithful, more obedient to God the Angel is, and vice versa. However, the Orthodox Church rejected this interpretation.

All Angels have the same "temperature" of love for God and jealousy for God.

Saint Augustine(IV century) wrote: “That there are Thrones, Dominations, Principalities and Powers in the heavenly abodes, I unshakably believe, and that they differ from each other, I undoubtedly contain; but what they are and in what exactly they differ from each other, I do not know.

The deepest and most thoughtful work on this subject belongs to the theologian of the 5th century Saint Dionysius the Areopagite. He wrote an essay, which is called “On the Heavenly Hierarchy” and in which the question is clarified - how do the Angels differ from each other.

Dionysius divides all the angels into three triads. In each triad there are three ranks (in total, he gets nine ranks).

1. First triad, closest to God, are Cherubim, Seraphim and Thrones.

2. Second triad: Domination, Force, Power.

3. Finally, third triad: Beginnings, Archangels, Angels.

Saint Dionysius says that the rank of the Angel depends on the position in the heavenly hierarchy, that is, on the proximity to the King of Heaven - God.

The highest angels glorify God, stand before Him. Other Angels, whose rank is lower in the heavenly hierarchy, perform various tasks, for example, they protect people. These are the so-called "service" spirits.

The work of St. Dionysius is a remarkable achievement of Orthodox mysticism, theology and philosophy. For the first time, a harmonious doctrine appears, striving to show the principles of the interaction of God with the world through angelic beings; for the first time, the diversity of the ranks of Angels, which the Bible mentions, is put in order.

However, it should be remembered that classification of angelic ranks in St. Dionysius is not a scientific work - it is rather mystical reflections, material for theological reflections. Angelology Dionysius the Areopagite, for example, cannot be used in the study of biblical angelology, since it comes from other theological settings.

Moreover, it is impossible angelology somehow match with the natural science research of our world, these are completely different dimensions.

However, for the student of theology, the system of St. Dionysius is indispensable, and here is why:

In his work, the Byzantine thinker shows that the closer the Angelic rank is to God, the more he becomes a participant in the blessed Light and grace of God.

Who is from which triad?

Each of triad of angels, writes St. Dionysius, has its own common purpose. The first is purification, the second is enlightenment, and the third is perfection.

First triad, the first three highest ranks - Cherubim, seraphim and Thrones- are in the process of being cleansed of any

impurity of something imperfect. Being close to God, in constant contemplation of the Divine Light, they achieve the highest degree of purity and clarity of their angelic spirit, striving to resemble the Absolute Spirit - God. And there is no limit to this perfection.

No other creature of God can achieve that dizzying degree of purity in which these Angels are. Nobody... except Mary from Nazareth - Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing of her, who carried under her heart, gave birth, swaddled, raised the Savior of the world, as “The most honest Cherubim and the most glorious Seraphim without comparison.”

Second triad - Dominions, Forces, Powers- is constantly enlightened by the light of God's wisdom, and in this there is also no limit for her, for God's wisdom is limitless. This enlightenment is not of a mental nature, but of a contemplative one.

That is, the Angels in awe and amazement contemplate the infinite and perfect wisdom of God.

Finally, the matter last triad - Beginnings, Archangels, Angels- there is improvement. This is a more understandable and concrete form of service. These Angels, joined to God's perfection and to His will, convey this will to us and thus help us to improve.

Interpretation of angelic names

Dionysius the Areopagite emphasizes the fundamental difference in the nature of the Angels that make up different triads. If the angelic nature of the first, highest, triad can be described as light and fire, then in the second, Dionysius notes power and material characteristics, and the third triad is understood functionally, as serving the will of God, turned to the world.

Saint Dionysius determined not only the general ministry of the triads of Angels, but also the specific ministry of each of the nine ranks. To find out what kind of service they carry, the very name of the rank will help us:

1. Yes, name Seraphim worn by the highest angels is translated in Hebrew as "flaming",

2. name Cherub means "an abundance of knowledge or an outpouring of wisdom"(Saint Dionysius).

3. Finally, the name of the third rank of the first triad is Thrones designates the Angels withdrawn from everything earthly, and shows us the desire of these Angels "to cleave unmovingly and firmly to the Lord."

Accordingly, one can understand the properties and qualities of the other two angelic triads.

dominance instruct earthly rulers to wise management.

Forces work miracles and send down the grace of miracles to the saints of God

Authorities have the power to tame the power of the devil. They reflect all our temptations and also have power over the elements of nature.

Beginnings govern the universe, the laws of nature, protect peoples, tribes, countries.

Archangels they proclaim the great and glorious mysteries of God. They are the bearers of the revelation of God.

are present in every person, they inspire spiritual life and keep in everyday life.

Opinion Dionysius the Areopagite should not be taken for granted. In the holy fathers (and even in St. Dionysius himself) we come across the idea that there are many more angelic ranks than nine, their ministries are more diverse than those listed above, but this is not revealed to us. The system of St. Dionysius is only an introduction to angelology, a starting point for further theological research.

Great John of Damascus, who himself greatly appreciated the work of Dionysius, summed up the opinion of the Orthodox Church on this issue as follows:

“Whether they are essentially equal or different from each other, we do not know. But God alone knows who created them, Who knows everything. They differ from each other in light and position; or having a degree according to the light, or participating in the light according to the degree, and enlighten each other because of the superiority of rank or nature. But it is clear that the higher angels communicate both light and knowledge to the lower ones.