Traditional depictions of Angels?

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Christianus_Dei

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In the Bible, Cherubim are dipicted with four wings, faces of ox, eagle, man, and lion, hooves, and eye-loaded wheels that follow them. Seraphim are depicted as having six wings. I was wondering, are there traditional depictions of the other Choirs, the Virtues, Dominations, Powers, etc…
 
In the Bible, Cherubim are dipicted with four wings, faces of ox, eagle, man, and lion, hooves, and eye-loaded wheels that follow them. Seraphim are depicted as having six wings. I was wondering, are there traditional depictions of the other Choirs, the Virtues, Dominations, Powers, etc…
Book of Revelation, chapter 4 (King James Version): “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.”

This is not a general depiction of the order of the Cherubim, it is a vision with a specific meaning (I’m not sure what the meaning is; the book of Revelation is difficult to interpret). Note, there is a similar passage in the book of the prophet Ezekiel. I think in Ezekiel the beings have four wings rather than six.

In any case, angels don’t have bodies, they are beings of pure spirit, so they don’t really have wings or faces. They are depicted as having human form because man is the only rational/spiritual creature that we can visually depict; they are depicted as having wings to suggest their intellectual and spiritual freedom which they enjoy being in God’s presence. That is my best attempt to explain it anyway.
 
In any case, angels don’t have bodies, they are beings of pure spirit, so they don’t really have wings or faces. They are depicted as having human form because man is the only rational/spiritual creature that we can visually depict; they are depicted as having wings to suggest their intellectual and spiritual freedom which they enjoy being in God’s presence. That is my best attempt to explain it anyway.
I consider it as what they would appear to be if in physical form, or rather, a physical representation of what they are like. In Ezekiel, it feels like he’s trying to describe it, but isn’t entirely sure how, or that’s how I remember it.
 
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