Some days ago I flipped through a manga on angels and devils (not Angel Sanctury) and suddenly got curious about this genre since the names are intrigueing. I never knew angels are ranked, devils as well. List some names and see if you've heard of them: Dominions,Saraphim, Cherubim. The right term to use is 'Angel Hierachy' in Angelogy. Angels are roughly divided into 3 choirs of different powers and duties. The so-called 'Fallen Angels' usually come from the group called 'Powers' who run errands between Heaven and Hell. More stories here.
Opposed to Angelogy, you have Demonology. Ironically, the word 'demon' seems to have its root in 'devios' (Indo-Eurasion root), meaning 'celestial', pertaining to sky and heaven. When did the word start to synomize 'evil'?
I guess it's only in manga drawing you see angels with 3 wings... I googled 'angel 3 wings' and the first hit I have is an entry from online Wikipedia on the manga 'Angel Sanctury'. I remembered it was once ET sama's favourite fav.
pic of day : angel and devil
7 comments:
It probably has something to do with the spread of christianity. I think demons were associated with divine spirits who were slightly chaotic or malevolent (more like the way demons are portrayed in Japanese culture). For some reason, Judeo-Christian belief associated them with "fallen angels" and generally evil immortal spirits who don't have the favor of God. Or, at least that's what it seems like when I look at it.
After all, Satan means "adversary," and in Judiasm, it was actually an angel under God's service who constantly tested mankind.
Of course, being an atheist, I don't believe in any of it, but it has interested me a lot too.
Enlightening!I agree it all has to do with religious context which I'm totally unfamiliar with. They say the angels closest to God may not resemble human-bird forms. I wonder how they're portrayed... and although I'm an atheist, I think it'll be really nice to see a real angel (with wings, not the nonhuman shapeless God's advisors whatever...)
Because of the harsher enviornment that the Jewish people came from, I think it left less room for a moral ambiguity for spirits. They were either good or evil....
The bird forms...I think those mainly appeared during the middle ages in Europe. Originally people thought of angels as humanoid messengers. Europeans are the ones that came up with the complex classifications of angel hierarchy. Probably from both their Roman background (in love with heirarchy) and complex European animism with demonic spirits.
A movie you might like is "Constantine." It deals with this sort of thing. It does have an angel with wings in it...although that angel isn't perfect....
Romans in love with hierarchy - lol. How true. I watched Constantine and honestly was quite lost throughout the entire movie. All the theories about keeping a delicate balance between angels and devils are interesting though, and I was fascinated by that chair which took Constantine to hell...
zhu, this pic is meant to be mine!!!!!!!! two ducks!!!!!!!
borrowed your pic!
kkk just take it
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