ARCANGELO. — The term occurs only twice (I Thess. 4:16; with the article: Iud. 9) in the New Testament, in the singular, and designates a. AMARI, MICHELE (v.), called haš-šar hag-gādhōl (“the great prince”) in Dan. 12:1. The prefix ἀρχι, much used in the Hellenistic (and Byzantine) period with terms denoting office or dignity, expresses
the highest rank. Hence ἀρχάγγελος means “the supreme chief of the angels” (cf. Apoc. 12:7 ff.).
Since the Bible speaks of only one a., R. Kraetzschmar and W. Nowack see in it a parallel to the “Angel of Yahweh” (v.): the guardian angel of Israel would subsequently have been replaced by Michele.
Just as other terms (e.g., in the New Testament and the Septuagint, ἀρχιερεύς, ἀρχιδεσμοφύλαξ, ἀρχιεταίρος, ἀρχιεννοῦχος, etc.), formed with ἀρχι, originally signified a single supreme person in his order and were later used in the plural for several colleagues, so ἀρχάγγελος was subsequently extended to designate several heavenly princes.
Filone uses ἀρχάγγελος three times (in the singular): twice it designates the Logos (De conf. ling., 28, 146; Quis rerum dio. heres, 42, 205), and once God (as chief of the spirits, De somnis, I, 25, 157). Christ is therefore presented by the Gnostics, and subsequently by Origene, as a. (J. Barbel, pp. 236–40); cf. Epistola Apostolorum, chs. 13–14. In the Apoc. d’Abramo, 11, Jaoel, the angel “of manifestation” (= of the Presence), is described in a manner similar to the “Son of man” of Apoc. 1:12–16; he even has power over the “four living creatures” of the divine throne (cf. Ez. 1:5–26). Still unique, and with messianic implications, is Metatron, the principal theme of I, III Enoch (ed. by H. Odeberg, 1928); he is the “Prince of the Presence,” God’s viceregent; but he is removed by the glorious “Prince” “Anjel (III Enoch, 16, 5). Metatron is frequently mentioned in the Babylonian Talmūd.
Enoch (v.) in Ethiopic enumerates seven spirits whom it calls a., appointed by God over creation (cf. Fortuna in Dante, Inferno, VII, 68 ff. and 77–96), specifying their dominion (20:7–8): Uriel, Rafael, Raguel, Michael, Sariel (or Saraguel), Gabriel, Remiel (or Jeremiel: IV Eud. 4, 36). These seven a. frequently occur in the magical texts of the first Christian centuries (cf. A. M. Kropp).
The Epistola Apostolorum, around 175, names four a. (Michael, Gabriel, Rafael, Uriel) as companions of the risen Jesus on the journey to the fifth firmament (ed. C. Schmidt, pp. 46–49). Erma alludes to six a. (Pastor, visio 3, 4), as does rabbinic tradition (Targum of Ps.-Jonatan on Deut. 34:6); the midhrātim named four a. (Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Rafael): Numeri Rabbā, 2, 10. The Babylonian Talmud names Sariel, “Prince of the Face” (Bārākhōth, 51a). Clemente Alessandrino speaks eight times of the a. (in the plural), from whom God is separated by holiness (Stromata 6, 7, 37 and Adumbrationes in I Petr., 1, 11 and in I Io. 21, and four times in Excerpta ex Theodoto: ed. Stāhil, II (1906), p. 461; III (1909), pp. 109 ff., 116, 121, 154, 204, 211).
Partially identical with the a. are the “Angels of the Face” (or of the Presence, cf. Mt. 18:10), or “the Faces” (Giubilei 1 ff.; 15; 31), of whom Enoch 40:1–10 gives eight names (Michael, Gabriel, Rafael, Fanel or Fannuel, “face of God”). But clearly distinct categories are the Serafim (v.), the Cherubim (v.), and the Ophāmim (Enoch 61:10), or “Wheels” (Ez. 1:15–21; 10:9–17), which surround the throne of God (cf. Apoc. 4:6–8). S. Vittorino di Pettau (4th cent.) identifies the a. with the “seven spirits who attend the throne of God” and cites Tob. 12:15; Apoc. 1:4 (In Apoc., 8, ed. Haussleiter). B. Allo refers Apoc. 1:4 and 4:5 to the “sevenfold” Holy Spirit; but J. Michl demonstrates that they concern (as do also Apoc. 3:1; 5:6; 8:2; 15:1) seven angelic princes.
The number of seven a. thus gradually came to be accepted (cf. Testamento di Levi, 8:2 ff.; — Ez. 9:2; Tob. 12:15), just as there were seven attendants at the throne of the Eastern sovereigns (Esth. 1:10).
Rationalist critics (H. Gunkel, W. Bousset, H. Gressmann) assert that they represent the seven planets (the association is found in Enoch slavo, 19:2), each of which governs a particular cosmic period. Less crude, but still arbitrary, is the identification of the a. with the Iranian Amela-Spenta (“the holy immortals”), the six higher spirits who surround the throne of Ahura Mazda.
Catholic tradition gave the title of a., besides Michele, also to Gabriele and Raffaele, who are called “angels” in the Bible.
In the Didascalia Apost. (VI, 27, 6: ed. F. X. Funk, I, p. 373), the a. is still unique (= Michele). Besides the passages of Enoch and the Epist. Apost. cited above, Gabriele is often called a. during the first four centuries (the better manuscripts of the Protovangelo di Giacomo; Oracoli sibillini, VIII, 460 [beginning of the 3rd cent.]; s. Efrem, Serno adv. haereticus [Opera graeca, 2, 260]; Teodoreto, in Cant. Cant. praefatio; s. Ambrogio, De virginibus, 2, 2, 10 ff.; Sedulio, Opus Paschale, 2, 3; etc.); Raffaele, on the other hand, only late and rarely (s. Isidoro, Etymolog., VII, 5, 13 ff.; Giorgio Sincello).
It was forbidden to admit other names of angels or a. besides the three biblical ones (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael) at the Councils: Laodicean (ca. 360–65, can. 35), Roman of 745 (actio 3: “Non plus quam trium angelorum nomina cognosci”), and Aquisgranense of 789 (can. 28, 16: “De ignotis angelorum nominibus”); cf. Hefele-Leclercq, I, p. 1017 ff. Nevertheless, s. Isidoro and Giorgio il Sincello place Uriel among the a.
Today the late classification is rightly rejected (already found in the 4th cent. in the Sacramentario di Serapione and in Constitut. Apost., VIII, 12, 8, 27, and cf. VII, 35, 3: ed. Funk, I, pp. 498, 505, 431; II, p. 172), disseminated by pseudo Dionisio (De coelesti Hierarchia 6, 2), which placed the a. in the penultimate position of the angelic hierarchy (v. ANGELO; CORI ANGELICI: it reserved for angels and a. only the office of “messengers” (Gregorio M., Hom. 34 in Evang). The a. is the commander of the heavenly host (Ios. 5:14–15, LXX), and in this sense Michele is called ἀρχιστράτηγος (Enoch slavo, 30:10; Epist. Apostol., Coptic text, in Schmidt, op. cit., p. 49).