In Christian mythology, as well as in Jewish and Islamic mythology,
Angels are any race of supernatural beings who mediate between the supreme God and mortals.
However, in most other mythologies of the world, they are any race of guardian spirits of good and
helping nature.The word angel came from the Greek word angelos, which means “messenger,”
known in Persian mythology, as angaros, which means “courier.”
and known in Hebrew mythology, as malakh, which also means messenger.In Greek mythology, all
household and tutelary spirits are called Daemons, which the Romans call Geniuses.
Under these Daimons, spirits of purely goodwill, of purely helping nature, who mediate between
mortals and the divine, are called Angelos or Angeloi, the Angels, the messengers.Being
messengers, one of the main duties of an angel is to move back and forth between different realms,
carrying out the will of God, be it to help or punish humans, as well as to bring prayers to the
heavens and return with answers of the divine. Irrespective of what they are called in any
culture, Angels minister over all things living, both in the natural world and in the vast cosmos.
The angels of Christian and Islamic lore, are heavily borrowed from Jewish lore,
Jewish mythology which in turn borrowed from the mythologies of the Babylonians,
Egyptians, Persians, Sumerians, and other cultures the Jews had contact with.
These spirits from the stories of various cultures were passed into Judaism,
and then into Christianity and Islam.Angels exist in a celestial realm and are countless in number,
appearing as beings of brilliant light and fire, wonderful to behold, many a times with wings
and sometimes without. They are shapeshifters who can assume various forms,
most often that of humans, and are invoked by their sacred names and symbols. These are
characters equally shared with demons, since many of the demons are angels, although fallen ones.
The Jews say there are 9 groups of angels, categorized under Hierarchies, from the lowest
rank to the highest. They are the order of angels, the archangels, the principalities, the order of
powers, the order of virtues, the dominions, the order of thrones, the cherubim, and the seraphim.