Pretty young men with two wings is an image of angels strongly romanticized by medieval literature. In their natural form, angels have from two to several hundred wings. For example, the prophet Muhammad saw Jabrail (Angel Gabriel) in his natural form with 600 wings.
Angels are creatures created by God, they consist of divine light and are essentially programs responsible for one or another part of the world order. Most angels do not have their own will and carry out the will of God. With the exception of that third of the angels who were cast into the abyss, led by Satanail, they were reborn into demons.
All 9 ranks of angels that control the universe
Starting from the lower levels, these are: Angels, Archangels, Beginnings, then Powers, Forces, Dominions, and finally those closest to God are Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim.
They all control our world, the movement of the planets, the ebb and flow, the winds. Not a single blade of grass in the world moves without the guidance of angels, powers and thrones. So, the hierarchy of angels consists of 9 ranks, and 3 groups of 3 types of entities.
Ezekiel: The rims of these wheels are high and terrible and move before the sacred animals.
1st triad
- Angels are the closest beings to us, therefore they are the most similar to us. They often act as messengers, and guardian angels are distinguished from them, which every person has. Angels are incorporeal, asexual beings, but they can appear to people in the form of a man with wings behind his back. Obey the Archangels
- Archangels are the highest angels who control the soms of angels. Also, 4 of them are well known to us, they control the elements and cardinal points. These are Rafael, Gabriel, Mikael and Uriel
- The beginnings are beings similar to angels, but responsible for controlling the universe, the movement of the planets, weather, waters and lands. They are not yet Forces but Beginnings. They also control the spiritual principles of a person – the desire for knowledge, spiritual growth
2nd triad
- Authorities – manage the lower triad of angels, educate and train them. But their main task is to keep our universe intact, to protect from evil and the Devil
- Forces – as the name suggests, they govern all the forces in the universe. For a person, they manifest themselves in the form of the power of clairvoyance, the power
of prediction. No miracle can be done without them - Dominions – manage the Forces and Dominations, are also responsible for power on earth and human rulers, govern peace and war.
3rd triad
- Thrones are creatures close to God. They never appear in front of people and do not interfere in their lives. But they carry out the Judgment of God and express its providence. The third triad no longer governs the physical world. But broadcasts the Will of God
- Cherubim – the second to God after the seraphim and express the wisdom of God. Unfortunately, we cannot imagine their appearance in our dimension, but if simplified, this is a four-winged four-armed creature with 4 heads. Bull, eagle, lion and man.
- Seraphim – the first close to God. These are pure beings of the spirit – the original fire. They emit such a bright light that even angels cannot see them. They are the light, truth and love of God.
Namely Angels, Forces, Beginnings – make water flow, fire burn and earth rotate – they fulfill the will and thought of God, being in a clear hierarchy to each other. Only one angel did not obey the will of God – Lucifer and was overthrown with his minions.
This hierarchy of angels has quite strong differences in Judaism and Islam.
The angels that appear to people usually belong to the lower triad, but the prophet Ezekiel managed to see angels close to God, this is how he describes them
Before Ezekiel, the heavens opened up, and four deities appeared. Each of them had four faces: the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of a calf and the face of an eagle, four arms and four wings. It was as if a fire was blazing between the animals, they shone, and it seemed that they were moving quickly each in their own direction. Below, under each animal, there was a wheel. And it seemed that each wheel was a wheel within a wheel. The rims of the wheels were full of eyes. Above the heads of the animals was a kind of throne resembling a crystal. And on this throne sat a man, from him a radiance spread.
Ezekiel describes a 4-winged, 4-faced Cherubim, under which is a wheel in a wheel with a rim of a thousand eyes, and above which is the Throne of God. Interestingly, the cherub moved in 4 directions at the same time. Even now it is difficult to comprehend what the Old Testament prophet really describes.
Similar creatures are described by St. John the Apostle in his “Apocalypse”, only his creatures already have 6 wings and they are called Seraphim.
Each of the Seraphim had six wings: two of them covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
If the Cherubim are the wheels of God, then the Seraphim, according to the assurance of the Prophet Isaiah, are the closest angels to God. They are made of pure light, they burn, they move with lightning speed, and they constantly praise God.
Even simple, ordinary Angels are not human-like, they are huge in size and can have up to a hundred wings. They come to a person in a form close to him, so as not to frighten or shock. Jesus Christ mentioned the existence of angels many times, confirming their reality. In total, angels are mentioned more than 300 times in the Bible.
Some of the angels, led by Azrael (according to other sources, led by Samael) are assigned to collect the souls of dying people. They are called the Angels of Death.
To summarize: Angels are multi-winged, most often four-faced or wheel-shaped creatures with many eyes, they surpass people in strength and stand on the step between God and man. The prophet John, for example, revered these creatures so much that he began to worship them as Gods. In the 4th century, the Laodian Council even had to ban the cult of angels.
Angels are genderless and their physical body doesn’t really matter. Since they are beings of the supraphysical, spiritual world, they acquire a physical form only when they come to people (Angelos – from the Greek “messenger”).
We know their appearance in the non-material world only from the description of the prophets and usually they appear as flaming, many-winged, many-faced, many-eyed creatures. However, it seems that a person in the non-material world will not look quite ordinary.
