Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

The Inner World

The Civil World

The Natural World

Figures

Gabriel

Angels

Citation Formats

General Reference

APA Style

BibTeX

The angel who arrives to say what is going to happen. Gabriel is named in the book of Daniel, where he interprets visions; in the gospel of Luke, where he announces the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus; and in the Quran as Jibril, whom Islamic tradition holds to have conveyed the revelation to Muhammad. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all know him, and none of them treats him as a god. He is a created being with an errand, and the title archangel that everyone uses for him was given to him by tradition rather than by the texts he appears in.

Facts
Attestation
Historicity
Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 2
Traditions Revering This Figure
Judaism 3
Traditions Revering This Figure
Christianity 3
Traditions Revering This Figure
Islam 3
Position Profile
Key Text
Islamic tradition holds that he revealed the Quran to Muhammad in stages over twenty three years, appearing first at Mount Hira in 610 CE with the command to recite, the encounter that opened Muhammad's prophetic mission. 1
Identity
Also Known As
Jibril 1
Gender
Beyond gender 2
Beyond gender: the tradition holds the angels to be created beings without sex
Prophetic Role
The angel of revelation: Islamic tradition holds that he conveyed the Quran to Muhammad 1
Attributions
Tradition
Islam, where tradition holds he delivered the Quran to Muhammad verse by verse over some twenty three years, appearing to him first in the cave of Hira on Jabal al-Nour outside Mecca. 1
Origins
Origin of the Name
Hebrew Gavriel, read as God is my strength 2
Cult
Attributes and Iconography
Western Christian art conventionally shows him carrying a lily, a symbol of the purity of the Annunciation he announces to Mary, or a herald's trumpet, and dressed in the same winged, robed form given to other archangels rather than any iconography distinct to him alone. 2
Veneration
Feast Day
The Roman Catholic calendar marked him with Michael and Raphael on 29 September until the 1969 reform gave him his own date of 24 March, the day before the Annunciation he is credited with announcing; Eastern Orthodox calendars commemorate him separately on 26 March, the day after their own celebration of the Annunciation. 2
Learn More
Named in Three Scriptures

Gabriel is one of only two angels named in the Hebrew Bible, and the errand is always the same. He arrives to say what is going to happen.

Daniel

He appears in the book of Daniel, sent to explain the vision of the ram and the goat and later the seventy weeks. He is described as having the appearance of a man, and Daniel is terrified of him. Nothing in the text calls him an archangel.

Luke

In the gospel of Luke he appears twice in the opening chapter. He tells the priest Zechariah in the sanctuary that his wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and strikes him mute for doubting it. Six months later he is sent to Nazareth to tell Mary that she will bear Jesus. The second of these scenes, the Annunciation, is among the most painted moments in European art, which is why most people picturing Gabriel are in fact picturing Luke chapter 1.

The Quran

In the Quran he is Jibril, named in sura 2 and again in sura 66, in both places in a setting of support and revelation. Islamic tradition holds that he is the angel who conveyed the Quran to Muhammad across some twenty-three years, and most commentators identify him with the Trustworthy Spirit and the Holy Spirit named elsewhere in the text.

The same errand

Three scriptures, three languages, and roughly a thousand years between the first and the last, and in each of them Gabriel does one thing. He delivers something the hearer did not ask for and cannot refuse. He is never worshipped, never a god, and never acts on his own account.

Archangel by Tradition, Not by Text

The title everyone uses for Gabriel is not in the books he appears in. It was given to him later, and following who gave it is a short lesson in how a tradition builds ranks for its unseen beings.

What the texts say

The New Testament uses the word archangel twice, and neither time of Gabriel. The letter of Jude names Michael the archangel, and 1 Thessalonians mentions the voice of an archangel without a name. Daniel calls Gabriel a man in appearance. The rank is an inference, and a reasonable one, but an inference.

Where the rank comes from

The Jewish apocalyptic literature of the Second Temple period supplies it. 1 Enoch lists a small group of chief angels standing before the throne, Gabriel among them, and later Jewish and Christian writers settle on four or on seven, with Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel the names that recur. Rabbinic and later mystical literature keeps Gabriel in that company.

The name

Gavriel in Hebrew is read as God is my strength, from the root for strength or a strong man together with the divine name El. The reading is old and is not seriously contested.

Feasts

The Roman calendar kept a separate feast of Gabriel on 24 March, the day before the Annunciation, until the revision of 1969 joined Michael, Gabriel and Raphael in one celebration on 29 September. Eastern Christian practice commemorates the bodiless powers together on 8 November and keeps its own commemorations of Gabriel besides.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Axion Estin, Hymns & Liturgical Texts

Athonite tradition holds that the Archangel Gabriel taught the opening verses to a monk on Mount Athos.

Source A History of Byzantine Music and HymnographyEgon Wellesz
John the Baptist, Figures

Gabriel announces the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah in Luke chapter 1.

Mary, Figures

Gabriel announces the birth of Jesus to Mary in Luke chapter 1.

Michael the Archangel, Figures

The two angels named in the Hebrew Bible, and paired in the later four-archangel schemes.

Morse Fragment with the Archangel Gabriel, accession 1999.520 (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Sources

This source names Gabriel directly: "for "Morse Fragment with the Archangel Gabriel," a gilded copper fragment, French, ca."

Source Morse Fragment with the Archangel Gabriel, accession 1999.520 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Muhammad, Figures

Islamic tradition holds that Jibril conveyed the Quran to Muhammad.

The 22 Archangels Oracle (Penguin Random House listing), Sources

This source names Gabriel directly: "to named archangels including Michael, Gabriel and Amethyst."

Source The 22 Archangels Oracle (Penguin Random House listing)Kyle Gray and Jennifer Hawkyard
The Annunciation, Religious Events

The Annunciation is Gabriel's errand to Mary.

The First Revelation to Muhammad, Religious Events

Islamic tradition identifies the angel of the first revelation as Jibril.

The Russian Orthodox Mission Reaches Alaska, Spread Events

This source names Gabriel directly: "sent at the request of Metropolitan Gabriel of Saint Petersburg, left Saint Petersburg in December 1793 and reached Kodiak Island in September 1794, founding the first organised Russian Orthodox..."

Source Memory Eternal: Tlingit Culture and Russian Orthodox Christianity through Two CenturiesSergei Kan
Zeven Aartsengelen (Rijksmuseum, attributed to Hieronymus Wierix), Sacred Art & Iconography

This source names Gabriel directly: "left to right as Rafael, Uriel, Gabriel, Michael, Selaphiel, Jehudiel and Barachiel, with the Trinity and the four evangelists' symbols above and saints including Mary, Peter, Paul, John the Baptist..."

Source Zeven aartsengelen, Rijksmuseum (Hieronymus Wierix)
Zeven aartsengelen, Rijksmuseum (Hieronymus Wierix), Sources

This source names Gabriel directly: "shown, left to right: Rafael, Uriel, Gabriel, Michael, Selaphiel, Jehudiel and Barachiel, with the Trinity and the symbols of the four evangelists above them and saints including Mary, Peter, Paul..."

Source Zeven aartsengelen, Rijksmuseum (Hieronymus Wierix)

Belongs to Tradition

Christianity, Religions

Depicted In

Morse Fragment with the Archangel Gabriel (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999.520), Sacred Art & Iconography

The Met's own title for this morse fragment names the subject outright, "the Archangel Gabriel," a direct identification rather than a bare thematic tag.

Source Morse Fragment with the Archangel Gabriel, accession 1999.520 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Sources
1. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition
P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W. P. Heinrichs (eds.), Brill, 2005View the Source
2. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition
F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005View the Source
3. The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
John Bowker (ed.), Oxford University Press, 1997View the Source
Morse Fragment with the Archangel Gabriel, accession 1999.520 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Metropolitan Museum of ArtDepicted In: Morse Fragment with the Archangel Gabriel (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999.520), accession 1999.520View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.