I bring to mankind, from God, I counsel you to forgive those While you still can, |
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And now I beseech you not to pray to me
for I am only a messenger of the Lord.
Pray only to God.
The Archangel Uriel
is often named as one of the
seven archangels who stand before God.
Of all the Heavenly Host,
Uriel is one of the most important angels,
along with Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.
All the information about the Archangel Uriel
is not supported in any way by Scripture.
What we know of Uriel comes entirely from
legend, tales and angelic lore.
Nevertheless,
Uriel is truly a formidable angel!
Uriel has been named as both a member
of the seraphim and of the cherubim.
Uriel has held many titles including:
Prince of the Sun
Angel of the Presence
Archangel of Salvation
Patron of Prophecy
and Master of Tartarus, that part of Heaven
where the Watchers await judgment.
In the First Book of Enoch, it is written than
Uriel is the Angel with dominion over
thunder and terror.
Uriel was sent to Noah
to give Noah warning of the coming Flood.
Uriel is well known to have two predominate characteristics:
his sharpness of mind and eye,
and his total, objective, and impersonal
fulfillment of the Divine Will.
In the Apocalypse of Saint Peter,
a very early writing, Hell was not yet the
exclusive domain of devils and demons.
It was under the control of a group of
fearsome punishing angels
(angels of destruction, wrath, and vengeance),
and Uriel, as their leader, was much feared.
Also in the Apocalypse of Saint Peter
is a description of Uriel’s pitiless treatment
of damned souls.
As another aspect of his righteousness,
Uriel is named as the angel placed in the
Garden of Eden by the Lord
to prevent any from entering.
At this post, Uriel wields a flaming sword.
Uriel is said to have given the Qabalah to humanity.
After having always been accepted as
one of the seven great archangels of the
Christian Church, Uriel was removed from the ranks
of the Church’s recognized angels
at a council in Rome in 745 under Pope Zachary.
It is said the council took this drastic step
because it had grown alarmed at the rampant
and excessive zeal with which many of the faithful
were revering angels.
Although stripped of his rank as an archangel,
Uriel was honored by the Church as a saint,
under the name Saint Uriel.
As an angel, Uriel bore the symbols of a scroll and a book.
As a saint, Uriel has the symbol of an open hand
bearing a flame.
In The Book of Adam and Eve,
Uriel presides over repentance.
Uriel is said to have disclosed the mysteries of the
heavenly arcana to Ezra; interpreted prophecies,
and led Abraham out of Ur.
Dryden, in The State of Innocence, depicts Uriel as
descending from Heaven in a chariot
drawn by white horses.
It is thought by many that Uriel is probably
the dark angel who wrestled with Jacob.
In the Prayer of Joseph, part of the pseudepigrapha,
Uriel states:
"I have come down to earth to make my dwelling
among men, and I am called Jacob by name."
The exact meaning of this statement is not clear,
however it suggests that Uriel may have become Jacob,
thus making him the first angel of record to
become a mortal.
Uriel has been identified as one of the angels
who helped bury Adam and Abel in Paradise.
Various Hebrew sources relate the story that
when Cain killed Abel and tried to bury the corpse,
the earth spewed it up again and cried:
"I will receive no other body
until the clay that was fashioned into Adam
has been restored to me!"
At this Cain fled, and Michael, Gabriel, Uriel
and Raphael placed the corpse upon a rock,
where it remained many years without corrupting.
When Adam died, these same archangels buried both
bodies at Hebron, side by side, in the very field
from which God had taken Adam’s dust.
In a section of the Dead Sea Scrolls called the
Gospel of Barnabas, Uriel is identified as
one of the four leaders of the
"War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness."
The War itself is described in great detail in another
of the Dead Sea Scrolls called
The Triumph of God.
In this story, humans are warriors and are given
exact instructions about who is to fight where,
with what weapons.
There are four subdivisions, and each is to
have the name of his archangel inscribed on his shield.