Uriel

riel, whose name means, “who is the light (fire) of God” has found its way back into more prominence with the reawaken of Kabbalah. Archangel Uriel has a slightly more tenuous place in history. Uriel is the Archangel of Wisdom in all three religions of Abraham. In The Book of Enoch, Uriel assumes a more violent role as the angel of thunder and lightening and terror. It is therefore natural that Uriel is the Archangel who warned Noah and appeared to him after the flood to help heal the earthwith some additional help from Raphael on the latter.

The Book of Enoch is one of the oldest apocryphal Jewish texts in existence, written at least 500 years prior to the Christian era by an unknown Jewish race. It is prophetic in nature and was referred to in the Epistle of Jude. It was rediscovered in 1723 by explorer James Bruce in Ethiopia. The Book of Enoch is part of the canonical scripture of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Uriel Warns Noah Book of Enoch (10: 1-3)

“Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: 'Go to Noah and tell him in my name "Hide thyself!" and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape”

The Book of Enoch also reveals a misogynist side of Uriel when the angel warns of promiscuous sex with women.

Uriel’s Warning about Promiscuous Sex. (Enoch19: 1-3)

And Uriel said to me: 'Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women, and their spirits assuming many different forms are defiling mankind and shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons as gods, (here shall they stand,) till the day of the great judgment in which they shall be judged till they are made an end of. And the women also of the angels who went astray shall become sirens.' And I, Enoch, alone saw the vision, the ends of all things: and no man shall see as I have seen.”

Christianity made Uriel the Archangel of Salvation based on the apocryphal Christian text, “The Revelations (Apocalypse) of Peter,” "And there was a great, ineffable light around them, and the multitude of ineffable and invisible angels blessing them. And when I looked at him, the one who gives praise was revealed."

Before Hell was only the domain of demons and devils, Uriel, along with other angels, made sure the dammed souls stayed there. "And I saw also another place over against that one, very squalid; and it was a place of punishment, and they that were punished and the angels that punished them had their raiment dark, according to the air of the place." Talmudic and other Jewish sources also place Uriel as the guardian to the gates of the Garden of Eden and along with the other three Archangels guarded the body of Abel after Cain killed him.

Uriel, as an Archangel, has been beat up by the early Church. At a council in Rome in 745c.e., the Church removed Uriel, along with seven other Archangels, from the “official” list of Archangels. Pope Zachary was upset that people were over-emphasizing Angels in their devotions. The Pope downgraded them to Saints. If Zachary (left) were around today, I am sure he would be aghast how angels have come once again to the forefront of people’s devotions.

In the now apocryphal, Gospel of Barnabas, Uriel is one of the four Archangels who protect Jesus and his family throughout his life. Jesus’ resurrection and ascension was just another rescue by the four Archangels. “Then God, seeing the danger of his servant, commanded Gabriel, Michael, Rafael, and Uriel, his ministers, to take Jesus out of the world. The holy angels came and took Jesus out by the window that looks toward the South. They bare him and placed him in the third heaven in the company of angels blessing God for evermore.” (Chapter 215)

The Gospel of Barnabas, which is also used in Islamic worship, was part of the canon until the Council of Nicea in 325c.e., which ordered all original Gospels written in Hebrew destroyed. Anyone possessing it was to be killed. In 383c.e., Pope Damasus I (left) rescued copies of the Gospel and placed it in his private library. In 478c.e., Barnabas’ remains were discovered and a handwritten copy was found laid on his breast. It is the longest of the original Gospels considered for inclusion in Christian canon with more than 87,000 words in English and 222 chapters. Barnabas, the Apostle, was a Jewish Christian, one who upheld Jewish law but followed the teachings of Jesus. Barnabas is mentioned throughout the Book of Acts.

Click on Button to go brief profile of the concept of a Guardian Angels and Conclusion.