SERAFINO (Heb. iārāph, plur. iērāphim). - The only biblical text in which S. are mentioned is the vision that inaugurates Isaiah’s prophetic ministry: S. surround the throne of God, whom they praise with the thrice-holy cry, “Holy! Holy! Holy!”; one of them symbolically purifies the prophet (Is. 6, 2-7). They are celestial beings, represented in human form with six wings.
Much has been debated concerning the meaning of the name and the nature of these mysterious beings. The Hebrew term, according to the most probable opinion, is connected with the root iārāph, “to burn, to be ardent.” This concept may also be applied to the serpents that kill the rebellious Israelites in the desert (Num. 21, 4-7; Deut. 8, 15); because of their deadly venom, they would be conceived as “breathing fire.” Yet no allusion in Isaiah permits the supposition that the beings seen by him also had some connection with serpents or dragons, or that they were partly theriomorphic, as they were represented
(phot. Anderson)
SERAFINO – Three circles of Angels around Christ the Judge. The first inner circle consists of the S., painted in red. Detail from the Last Judgment by G. di Paolo (15th century) – Siena, Pinacoteca.
the Cherubim (v.) in Babylon. The only possible interpretation is that according to which the S. are angelic creatures, as ancient Judaism had already explained. According to the Book of Enoch (61:10; 71:7), the S., together with the Cherubim and the 'Ophannim, are the spirits who constantly keep watch around the throne of God.
Pseudo-Dionysius (De coelesti hierarchia, 7: PG 3, 205) assigns the S. the most sublime place in the angelic hierarchy: they are the first choir; he therefore attributes to a spirit of an inferior order the symbolic act upon the prophet’s lips (ibid., 13: PG 3, 299-320). St. Gregory the Great (In Evangelia hom., XXXIV, 7: PL 76, 1249) presents the same hierarchical order, which subsequently remained traditional (cf. Dante, Paradiso, XXVIII, 99).
For the theological aspect v.: ANGELI. For art v.: CHERUBINO. – Vedi tav. XXI.