Bird wings?

[Tamsulosin]

Why are angels shown to have bird -like wings?

 

[Momofmyangels]

Since angels are created spirits without bodies, I think the fact that we often see them portrayed with wings is due to the artist’s style or impression. Perhaps since they are God’s messengers, people view them with wings to help them move quickly from one place to another.

 

[JacktheCatholic]

Since angels are created spirits without bodies, I think the fact that we often see them portrayed with wings is due to the artist’s style or impression. Perhaps since they are God’s messengers, people view them with wings to help them move quickly from one place to another.

Sounds like what I figured.

Besides… how else would they move from cloud to cloud.

 

[nickybr38]

Sometimes in the bible when people were confronted with angels they knew IMMEDIATELY what they were facing. Clearly these creatures do not look like ordinary men… but on the same hand sometimes they had to announce themselves before ordinary men realized they were angels of God. It makes me think they can take whatever form they’d like to take to serve the will of God.

As to why they are drawn with wings, I’d imagine someone, sometime saw an angel and relayed the description and from there the wings were born? Also, angels are also described as being in the sky from time to time and the wings would help that mental image… how else would a man-like form hover in the sky?

 

[UponTheAltar]

^^^ What they said!

But, in the Bible some angels have appeared to different people and they have also appeared with wings. It is said that the Cherubim, maybe the seraphim, are basically just a ball of wings that obscure whatever “bodies” they have. Angels are very weird, in a very good way. They, like God, are so foreign to us that we can only comprehend them with what is earthly and known to us.

Read this book, All About The Angels by Fr. Paul O’Sullivan, O.P. It is a culmination of information gathered from many church-approved saints over the centuries who have had experiences with the Angels. Very good book that I trust to be at least mostly accurate. You could probably find it cheaper elsewhere but, this is the first link I found:

marianland.com/angel01.html

 

[JacktheCatholic]

Sometimes in the bible when people were confronted with angels they knew IMMEDIATELY what they were facing. Clearly these creatures do not look like ordinary men… but on the same hand sometimes they had to announce themselves before ordinary men realized they were angels of God. It makes me think they can take whatever form they’d like to take to serve the will of God.

As to why they are drawn with wings, I’d imagine someone, sometime saw an angel and relayed the description and from there the wings were born? Also, angels are also described as being in the sky from time to time and the wings would help that mental image… how else would a man-like form hover in the sky?

One thing stands out to me…

“Do not be afraid”

 

[Apollos]

Why are angels shown to have bird -like wings?

Symbolizes their quickness in obeying God. Also, their ability to be anywhere at any time. Further, it recalls Biblical descriptions of angels (e.g. seraphim are said to have six wings).

Depicting them as children or as androgynous reminds us of their innocence and sexlessness. Depicting fallen angels as ugly reminds us of what happens when we reject the good. In eastern Christian icons, devils are painted without the usual highlights that make them look like they are glowing, because the glory of God does not shine on them. Medieval depictions of demons show them as beastlike, or built up from parts of different animals, or with anatomical features out of place such as mouths where the stomach should be, remind us that they are given to base passions, violate nature, and tempt us to inordinate desires. Modern depictions often have them as suave, handsome, dark, successful, or sexy to emphasize their ability to make bad things seem good to us.

 

[nickybr38]

One thing stands out to me…

“Do not be afraid”

Oh yeah, clearly they are something else to behold. Didn’t people frequently fall to their knees when confronted with an angel? I suspect part of this is because they see the face of God and radiate some of His glory but also that they were frightening to behold.

The other night as I finished that ‘guardian angel’ prayer, I had this striking mental image of my angel standing beside my bed… I remember thinking: YIKES! He’s SCARY! Good thing he’s on my side!!! Haha.

Of course I don’t think that’s what he looks like but it’s nice to have the mental image.

 

[JacktheCatholic]

Oh yeah, clearly they are something else to behold. Didn’t people frequently fall to their knees when confronted with an angel? I suspect part of this is because they see the face of God and radiate some of His glory but also that they were frightening to behold.

The other night as I finished that ‘guardian angel’ prayer, I had this striking mental image of my angel standing beside my bed… I remember thinking: YIKES! He’s SCARY! Good thing he’s on my side!!! Haha.

Of course I don’t think that’s what he looks like but it’s nice to have the mental image.

Good points. I did not consider that they may be seeing a reflection of God the Father.

But they are obviously something that can strike fear into the heart of any man.

 

[GEddie]

… how else would a man-like form hover in the sky?

Not always a manlike form. Sometimes angels are represented as a bodiless head, with wings where the body would otherwise be (somewhat creepy to me, as a bodiless head is a fortiori deathly.) The symbolism, AIUI, is straightforward: head = intellect, and wings = celestiality, as wings are the sort of limbs a being would use to live in the sky.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[patrick457]

Why are angels shown to have bird -like wings?

I think it’s more of an artistic convention (which actually came into being only during the 4th century - prior to that ‘regular’ angels were portrayed as wingless) to portray the swiftness that the Divine messengers carry out their task. St. John Chrysostom also once said: “They manifest a nature’s sublimity. That is why Gabriel is represented with wings. Not that angels have wings, but that you may know that they leave the heights and the most elevated dwelling to approach human nature. Accordingly, the wings attributed to to these powers have no other meaning than to indicate the sublimity of their nature.”

BTW, in some eastern icons St. John the Baptist is portrayed with wings because he is the messenger (“angelos”) who prepared the way of the Lord:

 

[patrick457]

Good points. I did not consider that they may be seeing a reflection of God the Father.

But they are obviously something that can strike fear into the heart of any man.

I agree. When Scripture does describe some angels in detail (i.e. when they are not disguising themselves as regular men) they apparently convey a sort of majesty and ‘otherness’, to the point that they are terrifying and shocking - perhaps a far cry from our conventional Western ‘angels’. The Bible is filled with accounts of men in gleaming white robes, winged human-animals, wheels-inside-wheels that are full of eyes, many-eyed beings with four heads and straight feet with soles like unto a calf (the Israelite conception of the cherubim is quite close to the human-animal guardian genii of Near Eastern art and religion - Egyptian sphinxes, Canaanite winged griffins/sphinxes/men, and the Babylonian/Assyrian winged man-bulls come to mind - who guarded the sacred and even served as thrones, footstools or vehicles for gods and kings), ‘burning ones’ (seraphim) with six wings, and whatnot. So majestic, strange (‘extra-ordinary’ in the original sense), and terrible are their countenance that many a saint or prophet fell to the ground at the sight of them.

 

[patrick457]

Sometimes in the bible when people were confronted with angels they knew IMMEDIATELY what they were facing. Clearly these creatures do not look like ordinary men… but on the same hand sometimes they had to announce themselves before ordinary men realized they were angels of God. It makes me think they can take whatever form they’d like to take to serve the will of God.

I think so too : some angels could appear as regular men (without wings or halos of course; Hebrews talks about inviting angels unawares) while others may opt for a more grander display: gleaming robes, multiple body parts-plus-wings, wheels-with-eyes, bright faces, etc.

As to why they are drawn with wings, I’d imagine someone, sometime saw an angel and relayed the description and from there the wings were born?

 

[jlasserton]

They may look like bird wings, but we are constantly surrounded by the angel image that it has grown so natural looking. If anything, angels use their wings to fly above us so they can look after us and protect us from above.