04 — Angels in Scripture

The doctrine of the angels rests on the angels of the Bible. This section reads the great angelophanies of the Old Testament — the three visitors at Mamre, Jacob’s ladder, and the much-debated “Angel of the LORD” — and the angels of the New: Gabriel at the Annunciation, the host over Bethlehem, the angel at the empty tomb, the angels of Acts, and the angelic worship of the Apocalypse. Where the Fathers read a text two ways — above all the christological question of the Angel of the LORD — both readings are reported in their own terms.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Files

• angels-in-the-old-testament.md — Mamre and its Trinitarian reading, Jacob’s ladder, and the Angel of the LORD (the Logos-reading and the created-angel reading among the Fathers).
• angels-in-the-new-testament.md — Gabriel, the Nativity host, the angel at the tomb, the angels of Acts, and the worship of Revelation.

See Also

• The Archangels — Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael in their scriptural appearances
• The Angels in Icons — the Hospitality of Abraham and the Rublev Trinity
• The Holy Trinity — the dogmatic frame for the Trinitarian reading of Mamre