The word archangel never appears in the Hebrew Bible
Christians often speak of seven archangels, yet the Old Testament never uses the word, and the New Testament uses it only twice, both times for Michael. The number seven comes mostly from a line in the Book of Tobit, and churches today still disagree about who the seven actually are.
In Tobit, a book in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but classed as Apocrypha by Protestants, the angel Raphael reveals himself as one of seven who stand in God's presence. Revelation echoes this with seven angels given trumpets and seven who pour out bowls of wrath. Only three angels are named in the Bibles most Catholics and Protestants read: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. A fourth, Uriel, appears in 2 Esdras, which several Orthodox churches accept. Every other name comes from tradition.
Much of that tradition flows from the Book of Enoch, whose opening section, the Book of the Watchers, dates to the third century BC. It names four angels who plead for humanity against rebel spirits, and later chapters add more. Popular among early Jews and Christians, the book lost standing and by the seventh century had been dropped from every Christian canon except that of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Scholars trace the naming of angels to the Babylonian exile, when Jewish writers such as Daniel and Ezekiel reworked Mesopotamian star lore into heavenly beings serving Israel's God.
The resulting lists vary widely. Ethiopian tradition adds Raguel, Phanuel and Remiel to the core four, while Coptic Christians include figures such as Zadkiel and Ananiel. Eastern Orthodox churches honour eight on a feast in November, including Barachiel and Jegudiel. An eighth- or ninth-century Spanish talisman even invokes a set with names found nowhere else.
Rome has been more cautious. Three nineteenth-century popes refused to authorise devotion to the supposed names of all seven, and a 2001 Vatican directory discourages naming angels beyond the three found in scripture. Lutherans and Anglicans mark Michael, Gabriel and Raphael on 29 September, the feast known as Michaelmas, and most other Protestant churches recognise only Michael and Gabriel.
Source: Seven Archangels
