| Saint Uriel the Archangel | |
|---|---|
Mosaic of St. Uriel by James Powell and Sons, at St John’s Church, Boreham, Wiltshire. |
|
| Saint Archangel | |
| Honored in | Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodoxy, Folk Catholicism, Oriental Orthodoxy |
| Feast | September 29 (Western), November 8 (Eastern) |
| Attributes | Flaming sword, Fire in palm |
| Patronage | Sacrament of Confirmation, poetry |
Uriel (אוּרִיאֵל "El/God is my light]", Auriel/Oriel (God is my light) 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 Urial,[1] Nuriel, Uryan, Jeremiel, Vretil, Sariel, Suriel, Puruel, Phanuel, Jehoel, Jacob, Ezrail/Azrael and Israfil/Raphael.
Contents |
The angels mentioned in the older books of the Hebrew Bible are without names. Indeed, rabbi Simeon ben Lakish of Tiberias (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 the seven Archangels in the angelology of post-Exilic Judaism, only two, Gabriel, and Michael, are mentioned by name in the Scriptures consistently recognised by both the post-Jamnia Jewish tradition and the books common to both the Catholic biblical canon and the smaller Protestant one. Raphael features prominently in the deuterocanonical book Tobit (initially accepted by both the Jewish and Christian canons, but removed from the Jewish canon in late antiquity and rejected by the Protestant reformers in the 17th century). The Book of Tobit is accepted as scriptural by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox Church.
Where a fourth archangel is added to the named three, to represent the four cardinal points, Uriel is generally the fourth.[2] 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. However, the Book of Enoch clearly distinguishes the two Angels; Uriel means 'the Light of God' while Phanuel means "the Face of God." Uriel is the third angel listed in the Testament of Solomon, the fourth being Sabrael.
Uriel also appears in the Second Book of Esdras[3] (found in the Apocrypha section of many bibles, and sometimes called Esdras IV in Catholic versions, which makes up part of the apocalyptic literature of 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, and Arphugitonos. The last five listed only appear in this book and nowhere else in apocryphal or apocalyptic works.
In Christian apocryphal gospels Uriel plays a role, differing between sources, in the rescue of Jesus' cousin John the Baptist from the Massacre of the Innocents ordered by King Herod. He carries John and his mother Saint Elizabeth to join the Holy Family after their Flight into Egypt. Their reunion is depicted in Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks.
Uriel is often identified as a cherub and angel of repentance.[4] He "stands at the Gate of Eden with a fiery sword,"[5] or as the angel who "watches over thunder and terror."[6] 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. Uriel is depicted as the destroyer of the hosts of Sennacherib.
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 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 the Eastern Orthodox Church, Uriel is commemorated together with the other archangels and angels with a feast day of the "Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers" on November 8 of the liturgical calendar (for those churches which follow the Julian Calendar, November 8 falls on November 21 of the modern Gregorian Calendar). In addition, every Monday throughout the year is dedicated to the angels.
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[7] 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 the first half of the 11th century Bulgarian followers of the dualist heresy called Bogomilism who lived in the dukedom of Ahtum in present day Banat invoked Uriel in rituals. This is witnessed by Gerard Sagredo, Roman Catholic bishop of the area after 1028.
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).[8]
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, Jehoel, Zagagel, Akatriel, Metatron, Yefefiah, 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 that 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.
The Book of Enoch, which presents itself as written by Enoch, mentions Uriel in many of the component books. In Chapter IX which is part of "The Book of the Watchers" (2nd century BCE) 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.
After judgment has been brought on the Nephilim and the fallen ones including the two main leaders Samyaza and Azazel, Uriel discusses their fates.
Uriel then acts as a guide for Enoch for the rest of the Book of Watchers. He fulfills this capacity in many of the other books that make up 1 Enoch.
In the traditions and hagiography of the Episcopal and other Anglican churches, Uriel is mentioned as an archangel. He is also recognized as the Patron Saint of the Sacrament of Confirmation. He is celebrated in the Anglican liturgical calendars on the Feast of the Archangels.[9][10][11][12]
The Anglican intercessional prayer to Saint Uriel the Archangel is as follows;
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 Haydn's Creation, Uriel (tenor) is one of the three angelic narrators (with Gabriel (soprano) and Raphael (bass).
In Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem "Uriel", regarded as a poetic summary of many strains of thought in Emerson's early philosophy, 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, to Uriel, "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, A Wrinkle In Time, Uriel is a fictional planet of the galaxy Messier 101 with mountains and beautiful flowers.
In L'Engle's novel Many Waters, Uriel is a character, one of the Seraphim.
In Dean Koontz's book Hideaway, Uriel speaks and acts through Hatch, one of the book's protagonists, to battle the demon Vassago, who "hitched a ride" with Jeremy Nyebern after he was reanimated.
In Katherine Kurtz's series of novels Chronicles of the Deryni, Uriel is the angel of death, escorting souls across the line of life to the afterlife.
In Clive Barker's novel Weaveworld, the Scourge declares its eternal name as Uriel. The major character Shadwell recognizes learning "...of all the angels and archangels by heart: and amongst the mighty Uriel was of the mightiest. The archangel of salvation; called by some the flame of God." and "Uriel had been the angel left to stand guard at the gates of Eden."
In the apocrypha of White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade series, Uriel is the last of the angels sent to Cain, after Cain rejects the offers of redemption from Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Uriel tells Cain of Golconda, and that it is the last road of redemption open to Cain and his "children".
In Jim Butcher's novel, Small Favor, Uriel is a subtle but powerful player in the war with the Black Council and the Fallen/Denarians. Called the "Watchman", he only reveals himself to the book's protagonist, Harry Dresden, as a janitor named "Jake". In the novel, Harry receives the power of soulfire and believes that it came from Uriel. He is also referred to as Heaven's "spook". Uriel also appears at the end of Jim Butcher's novella The Warrior, which was released as a part of the anthology, Mean Streets. Uriel appears again in Changes, when Harry Dresden asks him for help, after being paralyzed from the waist down. Uriel tells him that he cannot help him, and that he is limited to what he has already done. He also tells Harry that Maggie is indeed his daughter, something that he hadn't been entirely sure of. In Ghost Story, Uriel uses his influence to offer Harry the opportunity to come back to Earth as a spirit to find out the identity of his killer. This is not revealed until close to the end of the book, when Uriel also shows Harry that his friends and family will be okay in his absence. He also shows how Harry was unduly influenced to take up the mantle of the Winter Knight and redresses this imbalance by telling him that Mab, the Winter Queen cannot change who he is. Unlike his appearances in Small Favor and The Warrior, Uriel's form in Changes and Ghost Story is that of a young man with blond hair, rather than an old janitor.
In Angelglass by David Barnett, Uriel meddles in Earth's affairs and is cast down to see if he can "improve" the course of history by personal intervention.
In William J. Clark's novel, Winning the Lottery, Uriel is the guardian angel of the narrator, and later of his wife and children. He and the other three archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, play an active role in various plot elements, and become a common thread in an attempt to open a dialog between the Western and the Muslim worlds.