Raguel (angel)

Raguel (also Raguil, Rasuil, Rufael, Raquel, Reuel, and Akrasiel) is an angel mainly of the Judaic traditions. He is the Angel of Justice. His name's meaning is considered to be "Friend of God".

Raguel is referred to as the archangel of justice, fairness, harmony, vengeance and redemption. In the Book of Enoch, cap. XXIII, Raguel is one of the seven angels who watch, His number is 6, and his function is to take vengeance on the world of the luminaries who have transgressed God's laws.[1]

Raguel's duties have remained the same across Jewish and Christian mythologies. Much like a sheriff or constable Raguel's purpose has always been to keep fallen angels and demons in check, delivering heinous judgment upon any that over-steps their Elohim-prescribed boundaries. He has been known to destroy wicked spirits, and cast fallen angels into Tartarus/Gehenna.

Raguel is not mentioned in the canonical writings of the Bible. In 2 Enoch, when the patriarch Enoch visited heaven as a mortal, it was Raguel who carried him to and from the mortal world, along with the angel Sariel or Samuil.

In the Council of Rome of 745, pope St. Zachary condemned the worship of non-Biblical angels, among them Raguel.[2]

Possible historical references to a similar figure from other cultures can be found in Babylonian culture as "Rag" (some translations say Ragumu), and in Sumerian as "Rig" which means to talk or speech. Thus, these similar characters represented balance in those cultures as well.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/boe026.htm
  2. ↑ Cesare Baronio, Annales ecclesiastici, p. 517 (paragraphs 35-36)
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