Apps

Gabriel — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Intertestamental literature

Gabriel is not referred to as an archangel in the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. However, a wealth of Jewish literature was written during the Second Temple period (516 BC–70 AD). Much of the literature produced during this intertestamental period was of the apocalyptic genre. The names and ranks of angels and demons were greatly expanded in this literature, and each had particular duties and status before God. Gabriel was first referred to as an archangel in these texts.

In particular, there are many references to Gabriel in the Book of Enoch. According to the book, Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel complain to God about the many wrongs perpetrated by Azazel and Samyaza (especially the fact that they revealed "eternal secrets" and sins to mankind and defiled themselves with women who later gave birth to giant offspring). As a result, God decides to destroy the Earth (which has been corrupted by the fallen angels, led by Azazel and Samyaza) and all of its inhabitants except for Noah. He sends Gabriel and the other archangels to go after the fallen angels and cast them into the darkness until the day of their judgment. In Chapter 20, Gabriel is listed as one of seven holy angels (Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqâêl, Gabriel, and Remiel) who watch. In Chapter 40, Gabriel is listed as one of four presences (Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel) who stand on the four sides of God. These four archangels will be the ones to cast the fallen angels into the abyss of condemnation on Judgment Day. The final reference to Gabriel in the Book of Enoch is found in Chapter 71: "And that Head of Days came with Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel, thousands and ten thousands of angels without number."

The Book of Enoch is not considered to be canonical scripture by most Jewish or Christian church bodies, although it is part of the biblical canon used by the Ethiopian Jewish community, as well as the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches.

Feast day

The feast day of Saint Gabriel the Archangel was exclusively celebrated on 18 March according to many sources dating between 1588 and 1921; unusually, a source published in 1856 has the feast celebrated on 7 April for unknown reasons (a parenthetical note states that the day is normally celebrated on 18 March). Writer Elizabeth Drayson mentions the feast being celebrated on 18 March 1588 in her 2013 book "The Lead Books of Granada".

One of the oldest out-of-print sources placing the feast on 18 March, first published in 1608, is Flos sanctorum: historia general de la vida y hechos de Jesu-Christo ... y de los santos de que reza y haze fiesta la Iglesia Catholica ... by the Spanish writer Alonso de Villegas; a newer edition of this book was published in 1794. Another source published in Ireland in 1886 the Irish Ecclesiastical Record also mentions 18 March.

The Feast of Saint Gabriel was included by Pope Benedict XV in the General Roman Calendar in 1921, for celebration on 24 March. In 1969, the day was officially transferred to 29 September for celebration in conjunction with the feast of the archangels Ss. Michael and Raphael. Today, the 29 September date (known as Michaelmas) has been adopted by not only the Catholic Church, but also the Church of England, the Lutheran churches, the Anglican Communion, and the Western Orthodox churches.

The Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches that follow the Byzantine Rite celebrate the Feast of the Archangels (Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers) on 8 November. For those churches that follow the traditional Julian Calendar, 8 November currently falls on 21 November of the modern Gregorian Calendar, a difference of 13 days. Eastern Orthodox commemorate Gabriel not only at the Feast of the Archangels, but also on two other days:

26 March, the "Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel" and celebrates his role in the Annunciation

13 July, also known as the "Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel", which celebrates all the appearances and miracles attributed to Gabriel throughout history. The feast was first established on Mount Athos when, in the 9th century, during the reign of Emperor Basil II and Empress Constantina Porphyrogenitus and while Nicholas Chrysoverges was Patriarch of Constantinople, Gabriel 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 ...".

Saint Gabriel the Archangel is commemorated on the vigil of the Feast of the Annunciation by Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate and Western Rite in the ROCOR.

The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates Gabriel's feast on 13 Paoni, 22 Koiak, and 26 Paoni. One medieval Coptic work, the Investiture of the Archangel Gabriel, attributes the feast day of 22 Koiak to the day Gabriel was given the rank of archangel in heaven.

The Ethiopian Church celebrates Gabriel's feast on 18 December (in the Ethiopian calendar), with a sizeable number of its believers making a pilgrimage to a church dedicated to "Saint Gabriel" in Kulubi and Wonkshet on that day.

As a warrior

Gabriel is believed to have helped Muhammad overcome his adversaries significantly against an ifrit during the Night Journey. Gabriel is also believed to have helped Muhammad overcome his adversaries during the Battle of Badr, where according to scholars and clerics of Islam, the various hadiths, both authentics and inauthentics, has mentioned that Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and thousands of best angels from third level of heaven, all came to the battle of Badr by impersonating the appearance of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, a Companion of the Prophet and bodyguard of the prophet. This is deemed as Zubayr's honor according to Islamic belief. Meanwhile, Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri has recorded in his historiography works of Quran and Hadith revelation in Prophetic biography, that Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas testified he saw two unidentified warriors clad in white had protected Muhammad during the Battle of Uhud, that later being confirmed by Muhammad those two unidentified warriors were Jibril and Michael in disguise.

Moreover, he is believed to have further encouraged Muhammad to wage war and attack the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. Another appearance of Gabriel in Islamic religious texts were found in numerous Hadiths during the Battle of Hunayn, where the Gabriel stood next to Muhammad. Gabriel is also said to have fought Iblis, when the latter tempted ʿĪsā (Jesus). Ibn Barrajan regards Gabriel to be an angel created from fire, like Iblis, thus settling Gabriel symbolically into the head of opposition to the leader of the devils.

Other Islamic texts and some apocryphal literature also supported Gabriel's role as a celestial warrior. Though alternate theories exist, whether the occurrence of the Holy Spirit in the Quran refers to Gabriel or not, remains an issue of scholarly debate. However, a clear distinction between apocryphal and Quranic references to Gabriel is that the former doesn't designate him as the Holy Spirit in the First Book of Enoch, which narrates the story of Gabriel defeating the Nephilim.