Iconography of the Angels and Other Bodiless Powers
Talk of God, of
Jesus, and of the Saints may diminish, but the subject of angels always manages
to capture popular imagination. They have a commonly understood form (a person
with halo and wings) and so are not too abstract, yet they are ethereal enough
to remain mysterious. These conditions are ripe for idle speculation.
In Orthodoxy,
however, the purpose and even form of the angels are not the result of
imagination, but revelation. Their depiction in icons reflects this revealed
teaching of who the angels are.
What are
Angels?
The word angel,
used throughout the Bible, comes from the Greek word meaning messenger. The
name reflects the nature of angels with regards to humans and God: i.e. they
are messengers from God, sent to us. They are sometimes described as Bodiless
Powers: bodiless meaning they are purely spirit, rather than material, and
power meaning they have their own will and intellect, rather than being an
aspect of God. This last part is important: angels are spirits, and “God is
spirit” (John 4:24), but angels are still created beings in their own right. St
John of Damascus sums up the angels’ spirit nature by writing: Now, compared
with us, the angel is said to be incorporeal (bodiless) and immaterial,
although in comparison with God, Who alone is incomparable, everything proves
to be gross and material – for only the Divinity is truly immaterial and
incorporeal. (from Exact Exposition)
There are many
other articles on line which deal with the orthodox teaching on angels, and I
include a few links below, including The Celestial Hierarchy,
attributed to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who puts forward the most detailed
and influential teachings on angels. The above is enough of an introduction to
the subject here, which is specifically angels in iconography.
Iconography of
the Angels and Other Bodiless Powers
In The
Celestial Hierarchy, St Dionysius derives nine ranks (or angelic choirs)
from Scripture into which the angels fit. Listing the nine ranks here is not
important, as not all of the different ranks are commonly depicted in icons. In
addition, whilst no Church Father denies Dionysius’ classification – and many
affirm it – other Church Fathers admit that the nine ranks may only be those
that have been revealed to us, and not be a “complete” list.
The reason for
bringing up the angelic ranks is to say that angels and bodiless powers are
catch-all terms for heavenly beings which are quite different from each other
in terms of role and appearance. The role of an angel is defined by its
proximity to the throne of God, and it is the proximity to the throne of God
that forms a natural hierarchy. Now onto the different appearances of angels
revealed in this hierarchy.
The Seraphim:
On Fire for God
The form,
function and position of the Seraphim were revealed to the prophet Isaiah who ‘saw
the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe
filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he
covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one
cried to another and said: “ Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The
whole earth is full of His glory!”‘ (Is 6:1-3).
The name given,
seraphim, is Hebrew and means “burning ones” (plural; the singular form is
seraph). They are the closest to the throne of God, and as such are flame-like, “For
our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb 12:29); “His throne was a
flame of fire” (Dan 7:9); “the appearance of the Lord was like
a blazing fire” (Ex 24:17). The seraphim, then, are usually painted in
icons in red, signifying this flame. The six wings are arranged in a particular
way: two pointing down (covering the feet), two up (covering the face), and two
outstretched (in order to fly). They are also frequently found surrounding
images of Christ in glory. In the 14th century fresco by Theophanes, the Seraph
is shown holding a flabellum or hagion ripidion (lit.
“sacred fan”) upon which are the words “holy, holy, holy” in
Greek: the same thrice-holy hymn used in Isiah’s description of these angels.
As a side-note,
these “sacred fans” are still ceremonially used in the Divine Liturgy today, to
protect the body and blood of Christ and as a sign of honour (think of
Cleopatra reclining whilst a flunky next to her waves a huge fan). Often these
Liturgical fans have an image of a seraph on them, to remind us that God is
indeed present in the chalice; the same God who is surrounded by the seraphim who
fly about Him.
The Cherubim:
Many-eyed
The first
record of man’s interaction with an angel of God comes in the Book of Genesis,
after Adam’s temptation and fall. Driven from Eden by God, Adam and Eve are
prevented from returning by cherubim placed to guard the gates with a flaming
sword (Gen 3:24 – see also this mosaic of the scene). So much for
the post-Renaissance inspired image of the cherub as a cute baby with wings!
In Hebrew,
Cherubim means “great understanding” or “effusion of wisdom”, and are so
described because of their closeness to God: the Lord is described as dwelling
“between the Cherubim” (2 Sam 6:2). Because of
their proximity to God, and the description of them guarding Eden with “flaming
sword”, the cherubim are, like the seraphim, often depicted in a fiery red.
Nevertheless, they can also be depicted in greens or blues; the former is the
colour of the Holy Spirit and spiritual growth, the latter the colour of the
heavenly realms. The cherubim are also often shown as all-seeing with numerous
eyes on their wings, relating to the aforementioned “effusion of wisdom” revealed
by their name.
It is worth
noting that in the Old Testament figures of cherubim decorated the sanctuary,
by the decree of God Himself. A pair of cherubim made by gold was ordered to be
placed on the mercy seat and between them the Lord spoke to his people (Exodus
25:17-22), and figures of cherubim were woven on the veils of the tabanacle.
Therefore a revealed image of the cherubim has been passed on to Christians,
which is still used today.
An image of the
cherub not passed on from the ancient Christian faith is that of a young,
chubby, infant with tiny white wings. This image crops up in Italy during the
Renaissance and is wrongly named a cherub, spreading throughout Europe, and
even influencing a minority of Orthodox icons in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In fact, these chubby winged babies are actually called putti.
In the Orthodox
tradition, both seraphim and cherubim are characterized by their proximity to
the throne of God. In the Divine Liturgy, the priest at
one point prays: We also thank You for this liturgy which You are pleased to
accept from our hands, even though You are surrounded by thousands of
Archangels and tens of thousands of Angels, by the Cherubim and Seraphim,
six-winged, many-eyed, soaring with their wings…
Who are
“six-winged and many-eyed”, the cherubim or the seraphim? Orthodox iconography
reveals to us: both! Seraphim are also sometimes shown with many eyes on their
wings, whilst cherubim can sometimes be shown fiery-red and “six-winged” but
without eyes (for practical purposes). This is because the meaning of the
fiery-red colour and the multiple eyes signify something which is true of both
seraphim and cherubim. Inscriptions on icons reveal whether a seraphim or
cherubim is being depicted.
The Thrones or
Ophanim: Shimmering Wheels
The thrones are
described as “God-bearing” since on them, as on intellectual thrones (as writes
St Maximus the Confessor) God intellectually resides. They are not God-bearing
by nature, but by the grace of God; therefore, like all the names of the celestial
bodies, Throne describes this particular rank of angel’s function more than its
nature.
As for their
curious appearance, this was revealed to Ezekiel who saw: One wheel upon the
earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels
and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one
likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the
middle of a wheel… As for their rings, they were so high that they were
dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. (From Ezekiel
Chapter 1)
The “living
creatures” Ezekiel described are a type of angelic being – sometimes thought to
be a type of cherubim, but commonly known in Orthodoxy as the Tetramorph. The
tetramorph is also shown in the icon surrounding Christ at the top of this
post. As for the “wheels”, in Hebrew these are “Ophanim”, another name for the
Thrones. These angelic beings are rarer in iconography than the seraphim and
cherubim, but where they are shown they are usually the “colour of beryl”
(white, with highlights of the already oft-mentioned “fiery red”), many-eyed,
and with wings to denote their swiftness; they are also shown at or around the
feet of Christ (in the icon at the top of this page they are shown around a
footstool).
Angels and
Archangels: the Heralds of God
The fiery
ministers of God described above are common enough in Orthodox hymnography and
iconography and their form is well-known, yet their appearance is not that
which immediately comes to mind when we hear the word angel. We tend to think
first of a winged-man, and this form comes from what has been revealed to us
regarding the Angels and Archangels.
Although all
the bodiless powers are known as angels (because they are all messengers), the
name is specifically given to the “ministering spirits” at the bottom of the
celestial hierarchy, i.e. those closest to Man. These angels appear throughout
Scripture – indeed throughout history – to people, to bring messages from God,
to guide us, and even to protect us. With so many recorded manifestations, a
general appearance of an angel is formed: a youthful man, often with a
light-bearing countenance, frequently wearing white robes.
St John
Damascene says that the angels “do not appear exactly as they are to
the just and to them that God wills them to appear to. On the contrary, they
appear under such a different form as can be seen by those who behold them” (Exact
Exposition).
Therefore we
can say that the revealed image of the angel, like the name, tells us more
about their role than their nature. As Dionysius writes, they are depicted “under
the likeness of men, on account of the intellectual faculty, and their having
powers of looking upwards, and their straight and erect form..” and “the
figures of manhood and youth denote the perpetual bloom and vigour of life”.
And so, whilst angels themselves are not divided into “male” and “female”, they
always appear in Scripture and in Icons as young (beardless) men. Statues and
images of angels as young women with wings appear only much
later in churches, and are not based in Christian tradition.
“The shining
and glowing raiment”, continues Dionysius, “signifies the Divine
likeness after the image of fire, and their enlightening, in consequence of
their repose in Heaven, where is the Light, and their complete illuminating
intelligibly, and their being illuminated intellectually.”
In all the
divine revelations of angels as young men, they are never described as having
wings. Indeed, the earliest depictions of angels in the first centuries of the
Church show them as wingless young men in white robes. Nevertheless, it is now
common to show angels with wings. The wings can be understood in the same way
as halos. Halos on Christ and the Saints (and also on angels) are not
photo-realistic, but symbolize the holiness of the subject, a holiness which is
undeniably real. The wings of the angel symbolizes swiftness and “the
lightness of the wings denotes their being in no respect earthly, but undefiled
and lightly raised to the sublime” (St Dionysius, The
Celestial Hierarchy). The wings also indicate the relationship of these
beings with the Heavenly ranks of the Seraphim and Cherubim, which in Divine
revelation are indeed shown with wings.
The
Divinely-revealed appearance of the Heavenly Powers is to be found in the
meaning of their names, their descriptions in holy Scripture, and their
depictions in iconography. It can be seen from the above that for all the vivid
appearances of angels to men, such revelations only show us how these beings
relate to us, and how they can bring us closer to God. Beyond this, looking at
their innate nature, little has been revealed. And as Dionysius says in the
conclusion to “The Celestial Hierarchy”, anything regarding the
Heavenly that hasn’t been revealed by God can only be “honoured by
silence”.
We are left,
then, with distinct forms and images of the Heavenly Powers which teach us that
around God and around us are innumerable created spirits which reveal the
things of God to us, guide us, and protect us from harm. Recognizing the need
for all the divine help we can get, Christians direct honour and supplication
to the divinely-revealed images of the angels.
Source: https://iconreader.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/the-divinely-revealed-appearance-of-angels-in-icons/
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