The Angel Hierarchy: From Amesha Spentas to Archangels

The Divine Bureaucracy They Borrowed

In modern religion, angels are everywhere:

• Judaism: Angels play crucial roles from Genesis to Kabbalah
• Christianity: Archangels, guardian angels, heavenly hosts
• Islam: Jibril, Mikail, Israfil, Azrael — essential to the faith

But in pre-Exilic Hebrew religion, angels barely existed. They were unnamed messengers — not the elaborate hierarchy of named beings with specific functions that emerged later.

Where did the angel hierarchy come from?

Persia. The angelic structure of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is the Amesha Spentas — renamed and multiplied.

Angels Before Persia

Pre-Exilic Hebrew Angels

In the earliest Hebrew texts, “mal’akh” (מלאך) simply meant “messenger”:

• Genesis 19: Angels visit Lot — they’re unnamed, temporary envoys
• Exodus 3: The “angel of the LORD” in the burning bush — ambiguously identified with YHWH himself
• Judges 13: An angel appears to Samson’s mother — unnamed, messenger function

Key features:

• Unnamed — no Michael, Gabriel, Raphael
• Undifferentiated — no hierarchies or specialized roles
• Rare — not central to the religious system
• Ambiguous — sometimes merged with God himself

What Was Missing

Pre-Exile Judaism had no:

• Named archangels
• Angel hierarchies (seraphim, cherubim as organized ranks)
• Angels with specific cosmic functions
• Angels as intermediaries between God and humans
• Angels in cosmic battle
• Guardian angels

These all appear after Persian contact.

The Amesha Spentas

The Seven Holy Immortals

Zoroastrianism has Amesha Spentas — “Holy Immortals” — divine emanations of Ahura Mazda:

Each Amesha Spenta:

• Has a specific name
• Has a specific domain
• Has a specific function
• Serves Ahura Mazda
• Opposes corresponding demons

The Yazatas

Below the Amesha Spentas are yazatas — “worthy of worship” — divine beings including:

• Mithra — covenants, sun, justice
• Anahita — water, fertility
• Sraosha — obedience, prayer (escorts souls after death)
• Rashnu — justice (weighs souls at Chinvat Bridge)
• Atar — fire

This is a complete divine hierarchy — named beings with specific functions, organized in ranks below the supreme God.

The Jewish Transformation

After the Exile (539 BCE onward)

Suddenly, Jewish texts feature:

Named Angels:

• Michael — prince/warrior (Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1)
• Gabriel — messenger (Daniel 8:16; 9:21)
• Raphael — healing (Tobit 3:17; 12:15)
• Uriel — light/fire (1 Enoch, 4 Ezra)

Hierarchical Structure:

• Archangels (chief angels)
• Seraphim (burning ones)
• Cherubim (throne guardians)
• Ophanim (wheels)
• Regular angels

Specific Functions:

• Recording deeds
• Guarding nations
• Presenting prayers
• Escorting souls
• Cosmic warfare

The Book of Daniel

Daniel (written during the Hellenistic period, but set in Babylon/Persia) introduces:

• Michael as Israel’s guardian prince (Daniel 10:21, 12:1)
• Gabriel as interpreter of visions (Daniel 8:16, 9:21)
• Princes of Persia and Greece — national guardian angels in conflict

This is the Amesha Spentas/yazatas structure with Hebrew names.

Intertestamental Literature

1 Enoch develops massive angelic hierarchies:

• Named archangels
• Angels for stars, weather, seasons
• Watcher angels (fallen)
• Complex bureaucracy

This literature was written during and after Persian influence — and shows elaborate angelology appearing suddenly.

The Name Mapping

Amesha Spentas → Archangels

The exact mapping varies by interpreter, but the structural correspondence is clear:

• Named divine beings
• Specific functions
• Hierarchical organization
• Service to the one God
• Opposition to demons

The Seven Archangels

The Canonical Problem

Different traditions recognize different numbers of archangels:

• Protestantism: Usually 2 (Michael, Gabriel)
• Catholicism: 3 (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael)
• Eastern Orthodoxy: 7 (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Selaphiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel)
• Ethiopian Orthodox: 7 (with some variations)
• 1 Enoch: 7 (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Sariel, Raguel, Remiel)

Why Seven?

Because the Amesha Spentas are seven.

The number seven for chief divine beings is Zoroastrian. When Jews and Christians organized their angel hierarchies, the Zoroastrian template shaped the structure.

Revelation’s “seven spirits before God’s throne” (Revelation 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6) = the Amesha Spentas in Christian disguise.

The Christian Development

New Testament Angels

The New Testament inherits Jewish angelology:

• Gabriel announces to Mary (Luke 1:26)
• Michael wars with the dragon (Revelation 12:7)
• Angels roll away stones, appear at resurrection, etc.

Dionysius and the Hierarchies

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (5th-6th century CE) systematized Christian angelology into nine ranks in three triads:

First Triad (Highest):

1. Seraphim
2. Cherubim
3. Thrones

Second Triad (Middle): 4. Dominions 5. Virtues 6. Powers

Third Triad (Lowest): 7. Principalities 8. Archangels 9. Angels

This elaborate hierarchy owes more to Neoplatonism than to anything in the Bible — but the impulse to organize divine beings into ranked hierarchies with specific functions is Zoroastrian.

The Islamic Inheritance

Angels in Islam

Islam inherits the angel tradition fully:

• Jibril (Gabriel) — brings revelation to Muhammad
• Mikail (Michael) — provides sustenance, controls nature
• Israfil — will blow the trumpet on judgment day
• Azrael (Izra’il) — angel of death
• Kiraman Katibin — recording angels (one on each shoulder)
• Munkar and Nakir — question souls in the grave

The Zoroastrian Echo

Every Islamic angelic function has Zoroastrian precedent:

• Messenger angels (Sraosha carries prayers)
• Nature angels (yazatas for elements)
• Judgment angels (Rashnu weighs souls)
• Recording angels (deeds are recorded in Zoroastrian eschatology)

Islam received Persian angelology via Jewish-Christian mediation.

The Evidence Summary

The transformation is complete and traceable.

Why This Matters

1. The Hierarchy Is Not Original

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam didn’t independently develop angelic hierarchies. They absorbed Zoroastrian structure.

2. The Names Changed, the Structure Didn’t

Whether you call them Amesha Spentas or Archangels, Vohu Manah or Gabriel, the structure is identical: named divine beings with specific functions serving the one God.

3. Every Angel Prayer Is Zoroastrian

When Catholics pray to Michael, when Muslims invoke Jibril, when Jews reference Raphael — they’re invoking Zoroastrian divine beings with Semitic names.

4. The Seven Persists

The number seven for chief divine beings is the Amesha Spenta fingerprint. It appears in:

• Seven archangels traditions
• Seven spirits of Revelation
• Seven heavens
• Countless religious contexts

Seven is Zoroastrian.

Conclusion

Angels are Persian.

The pre-Exile Hebrew religion had messengers — unnamed, undifferentiated, occasional.

The Zoroastrian religion had a complete divine hierarchy — named beings with specific functions, organized in ranks, serving Ahura Mazda.

After the Exile, Jewish religion suddenly had the same thing.

• Michael = Amesha Spenta warrior function
• Gabriel = Amesha Spenta messenger function
• Raphael = Amesha Spenta healing function
• Uriel = Amesha Spenta light function
• Seven archangels = Seven Amesha Spentas

The wings, the halos, the hierarchies, the names, the functions — it’s all Persian wisdom translated into Hebrew, then Greek, then Latin, then every language of the world.

Every angel is an Amesha Spenta in disguise.

Vohu Manah, Asha Vahishta, Spenta Armaiti, Khshathra Vairya, Haurvatat, Ameretat — you know them by other names now. But they were named in Avestan first.

Sources

Zoroastrian Sources

• The Gathas (Yasnas 28-34, 43-51, 53)
• Yasna 1, Yasna 16 (lists of yazatas)
• Boyce, Mary. A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. 1. Brill, 1975

Jewish Angelology

• Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels. Free Press, 1967
• Collins, John J. The Apocalyptic Imagination. Eerdmans, 1998
• 1 Enoch (R.H. Charles translation)

On the Transformation

• Shaked, Shaul. “Iranian Influence on Judaism.” Cambridge History of Judaism
• Mach, Michael. Entwicklungsstadien des jüdischen Engelglaubens. Mohr Siebeck, 1992

Christian Angelology

• Pseudo-Dionysius. Celestial Hierarchy
• Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica, Q. 106-114

At eFireTemple, we remember the true names. Michael was Khshathra Vairya. Gabriel was Vohu Manah. The seven angels are the Seven Amesha Spentas. The hierarchy is Persian.