alhoon wrote:
Out of curiosity, what does that say?
And when we have this image of angels as the cute little kids?
Also, you said that Angels are at end, warriors. That took me by surprise. I thought Angels were mainly ... messengers.
As for the "don't be afraid": If I turned my head now and saw a person, even a very normal one, even a non-threatening one like a kid, even a familiar one like my sister or a friend, standing next to me, I would be afraid since the door is locked and I haven't heard anyone getting in anyway. To the point that person's "don't be afraid" would take seconds to register. Now, if that person had wings, was bathed in light or even wore weird clothes, I would be running and ignoring "don't be afraid!" pleas
Ἄγγελος (angels) in Classical and Koine Greek is basicaly translated as "messenger" but not in the modern sense that messenger only brings words that we have. In the Ancient Near East it would be someone empowered by their lord/emperor/king to do and act on their behalf. So the message could be diplomatic, as in words, but it could just as easily be to destroy the city, pillage it, and take everyone into captivity. The "message" then would be any extension of the will of its lord.
As for how they appear, the literature seems to talk about not so much "white" clothes but more in the sense of "brilliant as lightning" and wreathed in power and purity and righteousness of such unyielding power that they are immediately mistaken for a deity themselves. The presence of one, fiery sword in hand, is enough to turn the most pious or the most brave into weeping ninnies begging for mercy.
As for the medieval angelology, it is very much based on earlier Talmudic Jewish work and heavily influenced by Plato's view of the world, which kind of saw angels as demiurges in that they were given a portion of divine power but weren't fully divine and so they could interact directly with the imperfect world whereas the Divine couldn't without either sullying itself with our filth or destroying us because He is too perfect and powerful, depending on whom theologically/philosophically you read. This thinking also necessitated a series of orders and types of angels, with certain numbers and portfolios and aspects. It all got pretty confusing.
As for the cherubs (little kid angels) that you see today, it is mainly an art history thing. Basically, the כְּרוּבִים (cherubim, in plural form) were six winged angels of bad-assness, guarders of Paradise and the throne-room of God, the very tippy-top of the angel hierarchy. But, there was a folk-religious superstition that started to take hold in the late medieval period that when people died, they became angels, which has a certain appeal to it, I suppose, and goes a long way to explain the many and varied angels they would hear about at the time in the eyes of the common folk, but no Christian sect has ever really taught this.
Basically, with that in mind in the mind of the laity, you begin to have during the Renaissance a huge interest in the Roman and Greek myths, and inspiration from them begins to make their way into artwork commissioned in the day, which was predominantly religious. So, inspired by a being such a Cupid, (but not limited to him) and with that in mind, artists began painting children as angels aiding various Biblical figures, and that became hugely popular with the high death rate (and plagues) of the time, which saw huge numbers of infant mortality. Some even had their own children's face plastered after their deaths so that they could be painted as cherubs later.
But let's face it, they are cute so they have endured, as has the whole "We turn into angels when we die" thing.
