ARCHANGEL. - The term occurs only twice (I Thess. 4:16; with the article: Jude 9) in the New Testament, in the singular, and designates Michael (v.), called haš-šar hag-gādhōl ("the great prince") in Dan. 12:1. The prefix ἀρχι, much in use in the Hellenistic (and Byzantine) period with terms of office or dignity, expresses the highest rank. Hence ἀρχάγγελος means "the supreme head of the angels" (cf. Apoc. 12:7 ff.).
Since the Bible speaks of only one archangel, R. Kraetzschmar and W. Nowack see in him a parallel to the "Angel of Yahweh" (v.): the tutelary angel of Israel would later have been replaced by Michael.
As with other words (for example, in the New Testament and in the Septuagint, ἀρχιερεύς, ἀρχιδεσμοφύλαξ, ἀρχιεταίρος, ἀρχιεννοῦχος, etc.), formed with ἀρχι, which originally meant a single person supreme in his order, and were later used in the plural for several colleagues, so ἀρχάγγελος was subsequently extended to designate several celestial princes.
Philo uses ἀρχάγγελος three times (in the singular): twice it designates the Logos (De conf. ling., 28, 146; Quis rerum div. heres, 42, 205), once God (as head of the spirits, De somnis, I, 25, 157). Christ is therefore presented by the Gnostics, and later by Origen, as an archangel (J. Barbel, pp. 236-40); cf. Epistola Apostolorum, chaps. 13-14. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, 11, Jaoel, the angel "of the manifestation" (= of the Presence) is described in a manner similar to the "Son of Man" of Apoc. 1:12-16; he has power even over the "four living creatures" of the divine throne (cf. Ez. 1:5-26). Unique still, and with messianic overtones, is Metatron, the principal theme of III Enoch (ed. by H. Odeberg, 1928); he is the "Prince of the Presence," he is the vicar of God; but he is removed from the glorious "Prince" Anjel (III Enoch, 16, 5). Metatron is often mentioned in the Babylonian Talmūd.
The book of Enoch (v.) typically enumerates seven spirits whom it calls archangels, appointed by God over creation (cf. Fortune in Dante, Inferno, VII, 68 ff. and 77-96), specifying their domain (20:7-8): Uriel, Rafael, Raguel, Michael, Sariel (or Saraguel), Gabriel, Remiel (or Jeremiel: IV Esd. 4:36). These seven archangels recur frequently in the magical texts of the first Christian centuries (cf. A. M. Kropp).
The Epistola Apostolorum, around 175, names four archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Rafael, Uriel) as companions of the risen Jesus on the journey to the fifth firmament (ed. C. Schmidt, pp. 46-49). Hermas alludes to six archangels (Pastor, visio 3, 4), as does the rabbinic tradition (Targum of Ps.-Jonathan on Deut. 34:6); the midhrāshim named four archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Rafael): Numeri Rabbā, 2, 10. The Babylonian Talmud names Sariel, "Prince of the Face" (Bārākhōth, 51a). Clement of Alexandria speaks of the archangels eight times (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 4 times in Excerpta ex Theodoto: ed. Stählin, II (1906), p. 461; III (1909), pp. 109 ff., 116, 121, 154, 204, 211).
Partially identical to the archangels are "the Angels of the Face" (or of the Presence, cf. Mt. 18:10) or "the Faces" (Jubilees 1 ff.; 15; 31), of which Enoch 40:1-10 gives the names (Michael, Gabriel, Rafael, Fanel or Fannuel "face of God"). But clearly distinct categories are the Seraphim (v.), the Cherubim (v.) and the Ophāmim (Enoch 61:10) or "Wheels" (Ez. 1:15-21; 10:9-17) that surround the throne of God (cf. Apoc. 4:6-8). St. Victorinus of Pettau (4th cent.) identifies the archangels with the "seven spirits who stand before 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 Holy Spirit "sevenfold"; but J. Michl demonstrates that these (as also Apoc. 3:1; 5:6; 8:2; 15:1) are seven angelic princes.
Thus the number of seven archangels gradually gained acceptance (cf. Testament of Levi, 8:2 ff.; - Ez. 9:2; Tob. 12:15), just as seven were the attendants at the throne of oriental rulers (Esth. 1:10).
Rationalist critics (H. Gunkel, W. Bousset, H. Gressmann) maintain that they represent the seven planets (the connection is in Slavonic Enoch, 19:2), each of which governs a determined cosmic period. Less crude, but still arbitrary, is the identification of the archangels with the Iranian Amela-Spenta ("the Holy Immortals"), the six superior spirits who surround the throne of Ahura Mazda.
Catholic tradition gave the title of archangel, besides to Michael, also to Gabriel and Raphael, called "angels" in the Bible.
In the Didascalia Apost. (VI, 27, 6: ed. F. X. Funk, I, p. 373) the archangel is still only one (= Michael). Besides in the cited passages of Enoch and the Epist. Apost., Gabriel is often called an archangel in the first four centuries (the better codices of the Protoevangelium of James; Sibylline Oracles, VIII, 460 [beginning of the 3rd cent.]; St. Ephrem, Sermo adv. haereticus [Opera graeca, 2, 260]; Theodoret, in Cant. Cant. praefatio; St. Ambrose, De virginibus, 2, 2, 10 ff.; Sedulius, Opus Paschale, 2, 3; etc.); Raphael, on the other hand, only late and rarely (St. Isidore, Etymolog., VII, 5, 13 ff.; George Syncellus).
It was forbidden to admit other names of angels or archangels besides the three biblical ones (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael) in the Councils: Laodicea (ca. 360-65, can. 35), Rome in 745 (actio 3: "Non plus quam trium angelorum nomina cognosci"), Aachen in 789 (can. 28, 16: "De ignotis angelorum nominibus"); cf. Hefele-Leclercq, I, p. 1017 ff. Nevertheless, St. Isidore and George Syncellus place Uriel among the archangels.
Today the late classification is rightly rejected (already in the 4th century in the Sacramentary of Serapion and in Constitut. Apost., VIII, 12, 8, 27, and cf. VII, 35, 3: ed. Funk, I, pp. 498, 505, 431; II, p. 172) popularized by pseudo-Dionysius (De coelesti Hierarchia 6, 2), which placed the archangels in the penultimate position of the angelic hierarchy (v. ANGELO; CORI ANGELICI): only the office of "messengers" was reserved to the angels and archangels (Gregory the Great, Hom. 34 in Evang.). The archangel is the head of the celestial militia (Ios. 5:14-15, LXX) and in this sense Michael is called ἀρχιστράτηγος (Slavonic Enoch, 30:10; Epist. Apostol., Coptic text, in Schmidt, op. cit., p. 49).
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