Uriel

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For other uses, see Uriel (disambiguation).

Uriel (אוּרִיאֵל "Flame of God", Auriel/Oriel (light of god) Standard Hebrew Uriʾel, Tiberian Hebrew ʾÛrîʾēl) is one of the archangels of post-Exilic Rabbinic tradition, and also of certain Christian traditions. His name may have analogies with Uriah. In apocryphal, kabbalistic and occult works Uriel has been equated or confused with Nuriel, Uryan, Jeremiel, Vretil, Sariel, Suriel, Puruel, Phanuel, Jehoel, Jacob, Ezrail/Azrael and Israfil/Raphael.

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The angels mentioned in the older books of the Hebrew Bible are without names. Indeed, rabbi Simeon ben Lakish of Tiberias (AD 230–270), asserted that all the specific names for the angels were brought back by the Jews from Babylon, and some modern commentators would tend to agree. Of seven archangels in the angelology of post-Exilic Judaism, only three, Gabriel, Michael and Raphael, are mentioned by name in the scriptures that gradually became accepted as canonical.

Where a fourth archangel is added to the named three, to represent the four cardinal points, Uriel is generally the fourth (Jewish Encyclopedia). Uriel is listed as the fourth angel in Christian Gnostics (under the name Phanuel), by Gregory the Great, and in the angelology of Pseudo-Dionysius. Uriel is the third angel listed in the Testament of Solomon, the fourth being Sabrael.

Uriel also appears in the Second Book of Esdras, an apocryphal addition in the tradition of apocalyptic literature made to Esdras, in which the prophet Ezra asks God a series of questions, and Uriel is sent by God to instruct him. According to the Revelation of Esdras, the angels that will rule at the end of the world are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Gabuthelon, Beburos, Zebuleon, Aker, Arphugitonos. The last five listed only appear in this book and nowhere else in apocryphal or apocalyptic works.

Uriel is often identified as a cherub and angel of repentance[1]. He "stands at the Gate of Eden with a fiery sword," [2] or as the angel who "watches over thunder and terror."[3] In the Apocalypse of Peter he appears as the Angel of Repentance, who is graphically represented as being as pitiless as any demon. In the Life of Adam and Eve, Uriel is regarded as the spirit (i.e., one of the cherubs) of the third chapter of Genesis. He is also identified as one of the angels who helped bury Adam and Abel in Paradise.

Stemming from medieval Jewish mystical traditions, Uriel has also become the Angel of Sunday (Jewish Encyclopedia), the Angel of Poetry, and one of the Holy Sephiroth. It was Uriel who wrestled Jacob at Peniel and Uriel is depicted as the destroyer of the hosts of Sennacherib.

The prayer of Jospeth in the Legends of the Jews reads "Jacob - ”When I was coming from Mesopotamia of Syria, Uriel, the angel of God, came forth and spoke: ‘I have come down to earth to make my dwelling among men, and I am called Jacob by name.’”"

He checked the doors of Egypt for lamb's blood during the plague. He also holds the key to the Pit during the End Times and led Abraham to the West.

In modern and only marginally Christian angelology, Uriel is identified variously as a seraph, cherub, regent of the sun, flame of God, angel of the Divine Presence, presider over Tartarus (hell), archangel of salvation, and, in later scriptures, identified with Phanuel "face of God." He is often depicted carrying a book or a papyrus scroll representing wisdom. Uriel is a patron of the Arts.

In Thomas Heywood's Hierarchy of Blessed Angels (1635), Uriel is described as an Angel of the Earth. Heywood's list is actually of the Angels of the Four Winds: Uriel (south), Michael (east), Raphael (west) (serving also a governor of the south, with Uriel), and Gabriel (north). He is also listed as an Angel of the four winds in the medieval Jewish Book of the Angel Raziel[4] which lists him as Usiel (Uzziel); according to it, this book was inscribed on a sapphire stone and handed down from Seraph to Metatron and then to Adam.

At the Council of Rome of 745, Pope St. Zachary, intending to clarify the Church's teaching on the subject of angels and curb a tendency toward angel worship, condemned obsession with angelic intervention and angelolatry, but reaffirmed the approval of the practice of the reverence of angels. This synod struck many angels' names from the list of those eligible for veneration in the Church of Rome, including Uriel. Only the reverence of the archangels mentioned in the recognized Catholic canon of scriptures, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, remained licit.

In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's translation of The Golden Legend, Uriel is one of the angels of the seven planets. Uriel is the angel of Mars. He is also listed as such in Benjamin Camfield's A Theological Discourse of Angels (1678)[5].

Possibly Uriel's highest position is that of an Angel of Presence, Prince of Presence, Angel of the Face, Angel of Sanctification, Angel of Glory. A Prince of the Presence is an angel who is allowed to enter the presence of God. Uriel along with Suriel, Jehol, Zagagel, Akatriel, Metatron, Yefefiah, Satanel, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Nathanel (Zathael) holds this position. The Angel of His Presence title is often taken to mean Shekinah but it and the other terms mentioned are also often used as alternate names for the angel Metatron. R. H. Charles comments in his translation of The Book Of Enoch says in later Judaism "we find Uriel instead of Phanuel" as one of the four angels of the presence.

A scriptural reference to an angel of presence is found in Isaiah 63:9 —

In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

In the Sibylline Oracles, Uriel, along with Samiel, Aziel, and Araquiel (a fallen angel in 1 Enoch), leads men's souls to judgment.

The Book of Ceremonial Magic discusses Ablati, Josta, Agla and Caila as the four words spoken by God to Moses.[6] These words are used in a magical rite to conjure Uriel. This information also appears in the book the Greater Key of Solomon; the Book of Ceremonial Magic uses the Greater Key of Solomon as a foundation which would explain this.

[edit] Uriel in 1 Enoch

Main article: Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch, which is said to be written by Enoch, ancestor of Noah, mentions Uriel in many of the component books. In Chapter IX which is part of "The Book of the Watchers" (2nd century BC) only four Angels are mentioned by name these are Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel. However the later Chapter XX lists the name and function of seven archangels these are "Uriel, one of the holy angels, who is over the world and over Tartarus", Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqâêl, Gabriel, and Remiel.

The Book of the Watchers as a whole tells us that Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel were present before God to testify on behalf of Humankind. They wish to ask for divine intervention during the reign of the Fallen Gregori (Fallen Watchers). These fallen take human wives and produced half-angel, half-human offspring called the Nephilim. Uriel is responsible for contacting Noah about the upcoming Great Flood.

Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: "<Go to Noah> and tell him in my name 'Hide thyself!' and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it."

After judgement has been brought on the Nephilim and the fallen ones including the two main leaders Samyaza and Azazel Uriel discusses their fates.

"And Uriel said to me: 'Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women, and their spirits assuming many different forms are defiling mankind and shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons 'as gods', (here shall they stand,) till 'the day of' the great judgement in which they shall be judged till they are made an end of. And the women also of the angels who went astray shall become sirens.' And I, Enoch, alone saw the vision, the ends of all things: and no man shall see as I have seen."

Uriel then acts as a guide for Enoch for the rest of the Book of Watchers he fulfils this capacity in many of the other books that make up 1 Enoch.

[edit] Uriel in literature

In Milton's Paradise Lost Book III, Uriel, in charge of the Orb of the Sun, serves as the eyes of God, but unwittingly steers Satan towards the newly-created earth. He also fills the role of fourth cardinal point (see above). Milton describes him as the "sharpest sighted spirit in all of Heaven.". He is also responsible along with Raphael for defeating Adramelech.

In Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem Uriel, Uriel is a young god in Paradise, who upsets the world of gods by proclaiming relativism and the eternal return.

In George Eliot's Middlemarch, ch. XLI, Uriel is mentioned "watching the progress of planetary history from the sun, the one result would be just as much of a coincidence as the other".

In Madeleine L'Engle's book, Many Waters, Uriel is one of the Seraphim who help the protagonists, Sandy and Dennys, return to their own time after being transported to the time of Noah's Ark.

In Madeleine L'Engle's book, A Wrinkle In Time, Uriel is a fictional planet of the galaxy Messier 101 with mountains and beautiful flowers.

[edit] Uriel in the occult

Modern occultists sometimes associate Uriel with the color green or brown, the direction North, the element Earth, and the Suit of Coins (or Pentacles) of the Tarot in traditions.

[edit] Uriel in popular culture

  • The 1930 construction of Mundelein College's main building, "The Skyscraper," included massive Art Deco statues of Uriel and Jophiel, now part of Loyola University's Lakeshore campus.
  • In the 1995 film adaptation of Dean Koontz's novel Hideaway, Uriel battles a demon in the end sequence.
  • In Phillippa Gregory's book, The Queen's Fool, Uriel appears to the main character in a vision.
  • In the role-playing game In Nomine, Uriel was the Archangel of Purity, recalled to Heaven for overzealous persecution
  • In the First Person Shooter game Quake 3 Arena, Uriel was a playable character who assumed the form of a flesh decayed gargoyle.
  • Uriel appears in episode 904 of South Park, Best Friends Forever.
  • Uriel is a supporting character in the DC Comics series Lucifer written by Mike Carey, where the stoic angel eventually becomes the leader of the Angelic Hosts for want of anyone of higher rank. He is shown as one of the wisest and most noble characters of the series, willing to work with his former foes without comment and concentrate on the problems of the present, as well as being a great warrior.
  • Two supposed angels of this name have appeared in Marvel Comics; the first, with the alternate form Uri-El, is a chained entity sent to Earth to slay demons, and appeared in the twelve-issue series Blaze; the second, a being who is the benign counterpart of Mephisto, appeared as part of the origin of Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch)
  • In Kaori Yuki's manga series Angel Sanctuary, Uriel is the Angel of Death and one of the Great Four Elemental Angels, Elemental Angel of Earth. He is also the Hellgate Keeper at the Universe Tree, Yggdrasil, which is located in Hades.
  • In Clive Barker's novel Weaveworld, Uriel has gone mad with loneliness waiting by the gates of Paradise for a God that has forgotten him.
  • In the Atlus game Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Uriel, as well as Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, appear as optional enemies and/or obtainable party members.
  • An archangel called Uriel is the main villain of the manga Bastard!!.
  • Uriel is the first name of the Emperor of Tamriel in the computer game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and his name could possibly be a reference to the "Flame of God"-interpretation, as his bloodline are responsible for lighting fires in the realm to block out forces of evil.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Book of Adam and Eve
  2. ^ Abbot Anscar Vonier, 1964. 'The Teaching of the Catholic Church'
  3. ^ 1 Enoch?
  4. ^ Sepher Rezial Hemelach
  5. ^ Canfield, A Theological Discourse of Angels, Wherein Their Existence, Nature, Number, Order and Offices, are modestly treated of...
  6. ^ Grimoire

[edit] Further reading

  • Bamberger, Bernard Jacob, (March 15, 2006). Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan's Realm. Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0-8276-0797-0
  • Briggs, Constance Victoria, 1997. The Encyclopaedia of Angels : An A-to-Z Guide with Nearly 4,000 Entries. Plume. ISBN 0-452-27921-6.
  • Bunson, Matthew, (1996). Angels A to Z : A Who's Who of the Heavenly Host. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-88537-9.
  • Cruz, Joan C. 1999. Angels and Devils. Tan Books & Publishers. ISBN 0-89555-638-3.
  • Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels. Free Press. ISBN 0-02-907052-X
  • Guiley, Rosemary, 1996. Encyclopaedia of Angels. ISBN 0-8160-2988-1
  • The Book Of Enoch translated by R. H. Charles D.LITT., D.D. with an introduction by W. O. E. OESTERLEY, D.D., Charles. H. R, 1917
  • Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882. The Golden Legend
  • Heywood, Thomas, 1634-1635. The Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels
  • Waite, Arthur Edward, 1913. The Book of Ceremonial Magic Second Edition of The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

Portal:Saints
 Saints Portal
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