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Summary
- An archangel is a chief angel: the Greek archangelos adds “chief” to angelos, “messenger,” and the word comes only twice in the Bible (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Jude 9). Archangels share the created nature of every angel and are set apart by rank and task.
- Paul names no archangel, but Jude names Michael, the only one Scripture calls an archangel. Scripture calls Gabriel and Raphael angels, and their title of archangel comes from the Catholic and Orthodox churches; Raphael appears only in Bibles that include Tobit.
- The Catholic Church names three archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, and keeps their feast on 29 September, the day the Church of England keeps as Michael and All Angels.
- The Orthodox Church in America names eight for its feast on 8 November, which the Russian Orthodox Church keeps on 21 November of the civil calendar, and the book of 1 Enoch lists seven “holy angels who watch.”
- In the nine orders of angels set out around the year 500 by a writer using the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, archangels are the eighth order, one rank above the angels, though that list comes from tradition rather than from Scripture.
- Christians differ over whether to ask angels for help. Catholic and Orthodox Christians ask for their help and intercession, while churches that hold the Westminster Confession pray to God alone.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, King James Version: Genesis 19:1; Isaiah 6:2; Daniel 9:21; 10:13, 21; 12:1; Matthew 18:10; Luke 1:19, 26–27; Colossians 1:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Hebrews 1:14; Jude 9; Revelation 8:2; 12:7; 22:8–9, via BibleGateway; KJV keyword search for “archangel” on BibleGateway. Douay-Rheims Bible (1899 American edition): Tobit 12:15, via BibleGateway. King James Version Apocrypha: 2 Esdras 4:36, eBible.org. Revised Standard Version: 2 Esdras 4:36, BibleGateway.
- Strong’s Greek 743, archaggelos, with Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, and Strong’s Greek 32, aggelos, Bible Hub (743) and Bible Hub (32).
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 120 (the canon of Scripture) and 328–336 (the angels, with footnote 203 citing St. Basil, Adv. Eunomium III), vatican.va (120) and vatican.va (328–336).
- Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines (December 2001), 213–217, “The Holy Angels,” vatican.va.
- Orthodox Church in America, “Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers” (November 8), Lives of the Saints, oca.org.
- Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church (a parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow), Orthodox calendar for November 21, 2026 / November 8, 2026, holytrinityorthodox.com.
- Orthodox Church in America, “Canon of Scripture,” Questions and Answers, oca.org.
- Church of England, Articles of Religion, Article VI, Book of Common Prayer, churchofengland.org.
- Church of England, Book of Common Prayer (1662), “Saint Michael and All Angels”: Collect, Epistle and Gospel, churchofengland.org.
- Church of England, Common Worship: “Michael and All Angels” (collect and lectionary) and the Calendar, festival page and calendar.
- The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapters 1.3 and 21.2, as published by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, opc.org.
- The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch), chapters 9, 20 and 40, translated by R. H. Charles, pseudepigrapha.com.
- Bruk Ayele Asale, 1 Enoch in Jude and in the EOTC “Canon,” doctoral thesis abstract, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2015, UKZN ResearchSpace.
- Matthue Roth, “Gabriel,” My Jewish Learning (2009), on the Bedtime Shema, myjewishlearning.com.
- Dionysius the (Pseudo-)Areopagite, The Celestial Hierarchy, chapters 5, 6 and 9, translated by John Parker (1899), tertullian.org.
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, q. 108, a. 6; I, q. 113, a. 3; III, q. 30, a. 2, translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province (1920), New Advent: I q. 108, I q. 113, III q. 30.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1909–1912), “Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite,” “Pope St. Gregory I (‘the Great’)” and “St. Thomas Aquinas,” New Advent: Dionysius, Gregory, Aquinas.
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