Everything about Gabriel totally explained
In
Abrahamic religions,
Gabriel (
גַּבְרִיאֵל,
Standard Hebrew,
Latin Gabrielus,
Greek Γαβριήλ,
Tiberian Hebrew,
Arabic جبريل
Jibrīl or
Jibrail, literally "Master, of God", for example, a Master, who is "of God") is an
angel who is thought to serve as a messenger from
God ("angel" literally translates to "messenger" from the
Koine Greek; an "arch" angel is a "primary" or "chief" messenger). He first appears in the
Book of Daniel in the
Hebrew Bible.
Christians and
Muslims believe him to have foretold the births of
John the Baptist and
Jesus to the
Virgin Mary, and
Muslims further believe he was the medium through which God revealed the
Qur'an to
Muhammad. Muslims also believe he sent a message to most
prophets, if not all, revealing their obligation.
In Biblical tradition, he's sometimes regarded as the
angel of death or one of God's messengers. In Islam, Gabriel is one of God's chief messengers but other above-mentioned titles are not given to him (for example, the angel of death is
Azrael).In Modern Times Gabriel is regarded as the patron saint of emergency dispatchers.
In the
Christian Tradition, he's known as one of the four (
Catholicism only recognizes three, while there are seven in the
Eastern Orthodox Church)
archangels. In
Islam, he's called the chief of the four favoured angels and the spirit of truth, and in some views Gabriel is the same as the
Holy Spirit. Gabriel also finds mention in the writings of the
Bahá'í Faith, most notably in
Bahá'u'lláh's mystical work
The Seven Valleys.
Gabriel is also one of the only angels to be sometimes portrayed in art and literature as female.
Judaic references
History and the Hebrew Bible
The name Gabriel first appears in the
Book of Daniel. The setting of the story is the
Babylonian captivity: the Jewish leader
Daniel ponders the meanings of several visions he's experienced in exile, when Gabriel appears to him with a message about the "
End of Days":
- "…And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, who called, and said:' Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.' So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was terrified, and fell upon my face; but he said to me: 'Understand, son of man; for the vision belongs to the time of the end…"
Talmud
In the
Talmud, Gabriel appears as the destroyer of the hosts of
Sennacherib in
Sanhedrin 95b, armed "with a sharpened
scythe which has been ready since
Creation." The archangel is also attributed as the one who showed
Joseph the way, the one who prevented
Queen Vashti from appearing naked before
King Ahasuerus and his guests, and as one of the angels who buried
Moses. In Talmud
Yoma 77a, however, it's stated that Gabriel once fell into disgrace "for not obeying a command exactly as given, I remained for a while outside the heavenly Curtain." During this 21 day period, the
guardian angel of
Persia,
Dobiel, acted as Gabriel's proxy.
The Talmud described him as the only angel who can speak
Syriac and
Chaldee.
Gabriel is also, according to Judaism, the voice that told
Noah to gather the
animals before the great flood; the invisible force that prevented
Abraham from slaying
Isaac; the invisible force that wrestled with
Jacob; and the voice of the
burning bush.
Christian references
Canonical New Testament
In the
Gospel of Luke, Gabriel reveals to the Jewish Pharisee and Priest
Zechariah that
John the Baptist will be born to Zechariah's wife
Elizabeth and visits Elizabeth's cousin
Mary to reveal that she'll give birth to
Jesus. Gabriel's visit to Mary is often called "The
Annunciation", an event that's celebrated on
March 25 in the
Eastern Orthodox and
Catholic churches. It is also commemorated as the "First Joyful Mystery" of the
rosary.
According to later legend, he's also the unidentified angel in the
Book of Revelation (the
Apocalypse of
John) who blows the final
trumpet announcing
Judgment Day .
Pseudepigraphy
The
Book of Enoch places the archangel Gabriel as "The Left Hand of God", or seated on the left side of God's throne with
Metatron. Gabriel is the ruler of the
Cherubim and
Seraphim surrounding the throne of the Almighty.
Alternate: However, people have long thought that he was "God's Right Hand" upon the Earth, as if he switches roles in the transition from Heaven to Earth.
Feast Days
Western Christianity (
Roman Catholics and
Anglicans) celebrate
St. Gabriel the Archangel, along with
St. Michael and
St. Raphael, on
29 September. His feast was for the first time introduced into the
Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1921 for celebration on
24 March and transferred to
29 September in 1969.
Traditionalist Catholics still
commemorate him on
24 March, following this tradition of 48 years' duration.
The
Eastern Orthodox Church and those
Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the
Byzantine Rite celebrate his
feast day on
8 November (for those churches which follow the traditional
Julian Calendar, 8 November currently falls on
21 November of the modern
Gregorian Calendar). Eastern Orthodox commemorate him, not only on his November feast, but also on two other days:
26 March (8 April) is the "
Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel" and celebrates his role in the Annunciation.
13 July (26 July) is also known as the "Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel", and celebrates all the appearances and miracles attributed to Gabriel throughout history. The feast was first established on
Mount Athos when, in the ninth century, during the reign of
Emperor Basil II and the Empress Constantina Porphyrogenitus, while
Nicholas Chrysoverges was
Patriarch of Constantinople, the Archangel appeared in a cell near
Karyes, where he wrote with his finger on a stone tablet the hymn to the
Theotokos, "It is truly meet..." (see
Axion Estin).
Latter-Day Saint view
In
Latter-day Saint theology, Gabriel lived in this mortal life as the patriarch
Noah. Gabriel and Noah are regarded as the same individual; Noah being his mortal name and Gabriel being his heavenly name. See also:
Noah,
Michael (archangel) ~
Adam
In Islam
The
Arabic name for Gabriel is
Jibril,
Jibrīl,
Jibreel,
Jabrilæ or
Djibril (جبريل, جبرائيل,, [dʒibrɛ̈ʔiːl], or [dʒibriːl])
Muslims believe Gabriel to have been the
angel who revealed the
Qur'an to the
prophet Muhammad.
Gabriel's physical appearance is described in the
Hadith :
Narrated By Abu Ishaq-Ash-Shaibani: I asked Zir bin Hubaish regarding the Statement of God: "And was at a distance Of but two bow-lengths Or (even) nearer; So did (God) convey The Inspiration to His slave (Gabriel) and then he (Gabriel) Conveyed (that to Muhammad). On that, Zir said, "Ibn Mas'ud informed us that the Prophet had seen Gabriel having 600 wings."
Gabriel is regarded with the exact same respect by Muslims as all of the Prophets, and upon saying his name or referring to him a Muslim repeats: "upon him be peace".
Gabriel's primary tasks are to bring messages from God to His messengers. As in Christianity, Gabriel is said to be the angel that informed
Mary (Arabic
Maryam) of how she'd conceive Jesus (
Isa):
She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her Our Ruh [angelJibrael (Gabriel)], and he appeared before her in the form of a man in all respects. She said: "Verily! I seek refuge with the Most Beneficent (God) from you, if you do fear God." (The angel) said: "I am only a Messenger from your Lord, (to announce) to you the gift of a righteous son." She said: "How can I've a son, when no man has touched me, nor am I unchaste?" He said: "So (it will be), your Lord said: 'That is easy for Me (God): And (We wish) to appoint him as a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us (God), and it's a matter (already) decreed, (by God).' "
(Quran, )
Muslims believe Gabriel to have accompanied
Muhammad in his
ascension to the heavens, where Muhammad also is said to have met previous messengers of God, and was informed about the
Islamic prayer (Bukhari ). Muslims also believe that Gabriel descends to Earth on the night of
Laylat al-Qadr ("The Night of Great Value"), a night in the last ten days of the holy month of
Ramadan in the
Islamic calendar which is believed to be the night in which the Quran was first revealed.
Art
In chronological order (to see each item, follow the link in the footnote):
Archangel Gabriel (Triptych), early 10th century, Benaki Museum
The Archangel Gabriel, Pisan, c. 1325/1350, National Gallery of Art
The Archangel Gabriel, Masolino da Panicale, c. 1420/30, National Gallery of Art
Justice between the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, Jacobello del Fiore, 1421
Merode Altarpiece (Triptych), Robert Campin, c. 1425, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Angel Gabriel, Agostino di Duccio, c. 1450
Annunciation, Leonardo Da Vinci, c. 1475
The Angel Gabriel, Neroccio d'Landi, c. 1490
The Angel Gabriel, late 15th-early 16th century, Flemish, National Gallery of Art
The Angel Gabriel, Ferrari Gaudenzio, 1511, National Gallery, London
Gabriel delivering the AnnunciationEl Greco, 1575 (pictured above)
Go Down Death, Aaron Douglas, 1934
Popular culture
The eccentric English hagiographer and antiquarian, Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924), wrote a Basque Christmas carol, Gabriel's Message, which was probably based on the 13th or 14th century Latin chant Angelus Ad Virginem which itself is based on the Biblical account of the Annunciation in the New Testament Gospel of Luke.
In his epic poem Paradise Lost, John Milton made Gabriel chief of the angelic guards placed over Paradise.
In an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series), entitled A Passage for Trumpet, Trumpet player Joey Crown (played by Jack Klugman) makes a decision to live or die with the help of a trumpet player who later turns out to be the angel Gabriel.
In, Dr. McCoy quipped that just once he'd like to transport down to a primitive planet and say, "Behold, I'm the Archangel Gabriel!"
In Constantine, Tilda Swinton portrays Gabriel as an androgyne.
In the Shin Megami Tensei series of video games, Gabriel is portrayed as the only female Seraph and, in the second installment, stands apart from the other Seraphim when their goals diverge from God's.
In The Prophecy trilogy, the angel Gabriel Christopher Walken is jealous of humans for being God's favorites and wishes to kill them all. In the second one he's banished to be a human and it causes him to change his opinion of them. After helping Danyael out through the third movie he's granted a second chance as an angel and ascends to Heaven once again.
In Piers Anthony's "Incarnations of Immortality" series, books three and eight (For Love of Evil and And Eternity) Gabriel is the mightiest of Angel's, Heaven's "number two". He creates the deal with Parry (Satan, the Incarnation of Evil) concerning Niobe, Luna, Orlene and the status of the Incarnation of Good.
In 2007, the Australian film Gabriel tells the story of an 'Arc' Angel who fights to bring light back to purgatory - a place where darkness rules - and save the souls of the city's inhabitants. Actor Andy Whitfield portrays the title role.
The film Van Helsing refers to the lead character, Van Helsing, as 'the left hand of God'. The antagonist, Count Vladimis Draguelia, for example Count Dracula, refers to Van Helsing as 'Gabriel', to which Van Helsing responds 'how do you know me?'.
In the adult anime series of Jiburiru - The Devil Angel, Jiburiru's romanized name, Jibril, is the same as the Arabic name of the archangel Gabriel. This series tells the story about three girls whom lose virginity to the lover whom she cares from and transform into an heroic angels as a help of Luvriel to defeat the demons from hell. As Meimi is jealous of Rika, she becomes an dark maid-like devil from Asmo. Later in the second series, Meimi's devil form was later a clone. Although, there are two forms in the series, one is the heaven form and the other one is a hell form. Rika and Hikari also have hell forms later in the series, but were being master-minded by demons.
In the RPG In Nomine, Gabriel is primarliar portrayed as female (has not used her male form in centuries). She is the archangel of Fire and hold up the ideals of punishing the wicked. Her main enemy is Belial, Demon prince of Fire.Further Information
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