Angels and Death: Soul Guides to Judgement Bringers
- EPOCH
- 19 hours ago
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Ellen Walkingshaw │ Nottingham University
When you next go to a graveyard, pay attention to the angels. You will likely find a flock: grand statues, engravings on headstones, offerings on graves and memorials with phrases like ‘with the angels now’ and ‘our angel’. Angels have long been tied to death in several cultures and religions, particularly Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, often dwelling in the boundaries between the mortal world and the afterlife. They usually function as messengers, a role woven into their name: the modern English word ‘angel’ originates from the Greek angelos, which means messenger, and was used as a translation in the Septuagint for the Hebrew maleakh or malak. As an extension of this messenger role, angels have traditionally been responsible for the souls’ transition to the afterlife, a journey which begins with the ‘reaping’ of the soul from the body.
The Reaping of the Soul
‘When a sick person is about to die, the Angel of Death stands above his head, with his sword drawn in his hand, and a drop of poison hanging on the edge of the sword. Once the sick person sees him, he trembles and thereby opens his mouth; and the Angel of Death throws the drop of poison into his mouth. From this drop of poison the sick person dies […]’. Avodah Zarah 20b:1-2, The William Davidson Talmud.
The idea of an Angel of Death is intertwined with other personifications of death, such as the Grim Reaper. The above extract is from a tractate of the Talmud, a central text in Jewish theology compiled between the third and sixth centuries CE. The text features an example of a more violent Angel of Death, carrying a sword reminiscent of the later Grim Reaper’s scythe. There are instances in the Hebrew Bible where God sends ‘a destroying angel’ after his enemies, such as in 1 Chronicles 21 where ‘God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it’. However, the concept of a specific Angel of Death was a later Jewish development. A similar figure can also be found in Islamic tradition under the name Izra’il or Azra’il. According to the exegesis of eleventh-century Iranian scholar Al-Ghazālī, biological death is caused by the Angel of Death stabbing the dying with ‘a spear rubbed in a fiery poison’, while four other angels pull out the person’s soul from their hands and feet.
The Jewish Talmud sometimes names the Angel of Death Sammael and identifies him with Satan, however for the most part the Angel of Death is a more ambiguous figure, following pre-ordained divine orders specifying who is to die. In one Rabbinical story, a Rabbi tried to delay his own death by tricking the Angel of Death into giving him his ‘slaughtering knife’, then refusing to give it back, causing God to intercede. In another Talmudic narrative, the Angel of Death instructed his agent to bring him Miriam the hairdresser, but was mistakenly brought a different Miriam, who was a childminder. Instead of rectifying the error, the Angel of Death decided to let her count towards his quota regardless. Narratives such as this lead on to discussions about the inevitability and unfairness of death, using dialogues with the Angel of Death to expand on these topics. The Angel of Death is not generally viewed as evil, but is instead reflective of the inherent mystery of death.
The Journey to the Afterlife
After the moment of death, many religions assign a ‘psychopomp’, a guide that leads the soul to the afterlife. This does not always have to be an angel: the god Hermes was well-established as a psychopomp in Greek culture, and though he was often referred to as an angeloi, this referred more generally to his job as a messenger. The psychopomp role was also assigned to daimones, who bore many similarities to Jewish, and later Christian, angels. There is no consistent definition of daimones in ancient Greek writings, however, like angels, they occupied a status between mortals and gods, and often served as intermediaries, as well as individual or national guardians. In the fourth century BCE, Plato argued in Phaedo that a ‘daimon in charge of the deceased person’s soul guides it in Hades’. Later, Plutarch understood daimones as souls themselves, guiding the recently departed in their journey to the afterlife.
The Christian New Testament likewise mentions angels acting as psychopomps for the deceased. In Luke 16:22, Jesus tells the story of a rich man and the beggar Lazarus. When both die, Lazarus is ‘carried away by the angels to be with Abraham’, while the rich man watches from his torment in Hades. Lazarus’s angelic escorts serve as a reflection of his morality and a symbol of divine approval. There are several early examples of Christians praying for angelic aid for the dead: in The Life of Macrina, fourth-century Christian theologian Gregory of Nyssa recounted his sister Macrina praying just before her death for an angel to lead her to heaven, and a fifth-century Alexandrian grave inscription requested that the deceased be aided in his heavenly ascent by archangel Michael. Several Roman catacomb inscriptions, dating to the fourth century, mention angels taking away the living to the afterlife, sometimes rather aggressively. For the most part, however, the angel escorts mentioned during this period appear as benevolent, or at minimum neutral, guides between heaven and earth.
By the medieval period, angels were an established part of death rites. They were frequently called upon to prevent souls from being stolen by demons through commendations such as the Subvenite and Suscipiat, which may date back as far as the fifth century. These prayers, spoken at several times throughout the process of death including at the deathbed and as the body was carried into the church, frequently referenced psychopomp angels, praying ‘meet him ye angels of the Lord, receiving his soul, offering it in the sight of the Most High’ and ‘may the angels conduct thee into Abraham’s bosom’. Similar themes can be found in fifteenth century Ars modiendi or The Art of Dying, Christian Latin texts written in the wake of the Black Death. The mass deaths caused by the plague forced many to reckon with the implications of sudden death, where one’s soul may be stolen away by the devil preventing it from spending the afterlife in heaven. In response, these texts emphasised the importance of ‘a good death’, one which was prepared for and attended by angels who could fight against the devil and his demons.
Even in the Early Modern period, during which Protestant reformers were more hesitant about appealing to angels due to their associations with Catholicism, similar appeals continued. For example, a sixteenth century hymn, composed by Protestant reformer Martin Schalling and often sung at funerals, includes the line ‘Ah Lord, let your dear angels/ at my last end carry my soul/ to Abraham's bosom’. These prayers may be spoken by a loved one or family member, providing them with some agency in the deceased’s journey to the afterlife.
The emphasis on angels protecting souls from demons lessened with the increasing romanticisation of death in the nineteenth century. The increased quality of health and palliative care in Europe, along with longer life expectancy, contributed to a gentler perception of death which coincided with the increased popularity of angels in graveyards alongside hearts, doves, or flowers. Child death in particular became a convention in nineteenth-century literature, with angels featuring heavily in children’s deathbed scenes. In Lassie and her Guardian Angel by Charlotte Dean, the protagonist Lassie is taken to heaven by a psychopomp angel bearing a ‘tiny harp and a crown of lilies’, and in Adelaide Ane Proctor’s poem The Angel’s Story, an angel greets the dying child and confesses to once having been an orphaned child themselves. It is also common in these stories for children to be cared for by angels, often in a parental manner, therefore providing grieving parents with a source of comfort.
Judgement Day
‘The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’. Matthew 13:41-42, The Bible (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised).
The angels’ job does not end upon delivering souls to the afterlife, however. When the apocalypse comes, angels are called upon to deliver further judgement. The angel Michael is first named in the Hebrew Bible, in the book of Daniel, where Michael is referred to as ‘the great prince’ who will arise after a ‘time of anguish’, following which ‘many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt’. Michael plays a similar role in the originally Jewish and later Christian Greek Apocalypse of Baruch where he serves as a ‘commander’ over angels who are responsible for presenting to him the deeds of mortals, which he then brings before God. Michael then instructs the angels accordingly to either bring reward or punishment ‘with the sword and with death’.
While angels are not ultimately responsible for judgement, they were frequently called upon to report on mortal doings. According to a translation of a passage in the Qur’an by Dr Mustafa Khattab, all humans are constantly observed by ‘two recording-angels—one sitting to the right, and the other to the left—note everything, not a word does a person utter without having a vigilant observer ready to write it down‘. On the Day of Resurrection, these ‘recording-angels’ will be tasked with bringing forward each person’s record of deeds, so that their fate can be decided. Allah is ultimately responsible for judging these deeds, but the angels may also assist in the interrogation.
Angels are also responsible for separating the righteous from the sinners in the New Testament, both in Matthew, and famously in the apocalyptic book of Revelation. Angels initiate the End of the World through blowing seven trumpets. Michael also returns here, fighting and defeating the great dragon, Satan. The concept that the apocalypse was imminent was present from the very origins of Christianity and was a significant motivator for its spread. By the medieval period, angels had become synonymous with the Last Judgement, their depiction in church architecture constantly reminding largely illiterate churchgoers that they must repent before it was too late.
It is unsurprising then that angel imagery became popular again during the First World War, which felt to many like the End of the World. Following the Battle of Mons in Belgium in 1914, it became widely believed that angels had aided British troops during the battle. There was debate surrounding the truth of this claim, referred to as ‘The Angels of Mons’, particularly as Arthur Machen, a novelist and occultist, published a very similar fictional story titled The Bowman, soon after the battle. This concept of warrior angels bears clear similarities to the militarised angels in John Milton’s 1667 Paradise Lost, in which angels were summoned by God to observe the Judgement process but also perform other duties such as performing ‘night watches in warlike Parade’. There was also resurgence in angel memorials from 1890 to the 1930s, with the ‘angel of Victory’ forming a popular subcategory. This angel often bears a sword and a laurel wreath, which were often associated with the Greek goddess of Victory, Nike. Other memorials, such as ‘The Response’ in the grounds of St Thomas’ Church, Newcastle (unveiled 1923), feature angels blowing trumpets and leading battalions, recalling their duty of announcing the apocalypse. The Angel of Death image is also present in war memorials presenting angels tending to dying soldiers, such as the Stalybridge War Memorial.
Angels are multifaceted beings, both comforting and combative, but eternally present when death finally comes for us all.
Further Reading:
Peter Stanford, Angels: A Visible and Invisible History (Hodder & Stoughton, 2020).
David Albert Jones, Angels: A History (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
Bart D. Ehrman, Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife (S.L.: Simon & Schuster, 2021).
Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang, Heaven: A History (New Haven; London: Yale Nota Bene, 2001).
Valery Rees, From Gabriel to Lucifer: a Cultural History of Angels (London I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd Tauris Academic Studies, 2013).
Ellen is a PhD candidate in Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, following her MA in Folklore Studies from the University of Hertfordshire and her BA in Theology and Religion from the University of Oxford. Her current research focuses on angels and ideas of death as manifested through material culture, building on wider research interests in folk religion and the social relationships between humans and the supernatural.
