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In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran.
In the Book of Daniel, Gabriel appears to the prophet Daniel to explain his visions. The archangel also appears in the Book of Enoch and other ancient Jewish writings not preserved in Hebrew. Alongside the archangel Michael, Gabriel is described as the guardian angel of the Israelites, defending them against the angels of the other peoples.
In the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel appears to Zechariah foretelling the birth of John the Baptist. Gabriel later appears to the Virgin Mary to announce that she would conceive and bear Jesus through a virgin birth. Many Christian traditions – including Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic Church, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism – revere Gabriel as a saint.
Islam regards Gabriel as an archangel sent by God to various prophets, including Muhammad. The first five verses of the Al-Alaq, the 96th chapter of the Quran, are believed by Muslims to have been the first verses Revelation by Gabriel to Muhammad.
In his work, the four homilies on the Missus Est", Saint Bernard (1090–1153 AD) interpreted Gabriel's name as "the strength of God", and his symbolic function in the gospel story as announcement of the strength or virtue of Christ, both as the strength of God incarnate and as the strength given by God to the timorous people who would bring into the world a fearful and troublesome event. "Therefore it was an opportune choice that designated Gabriel for the work he had to accomplish, or rather, because he was to accomplish it therefore he was called Gabriel."Saint Bernard, Four homilies on the Missus Est [1], first homily, paragraph 2.
Though he is not specifically named, the "man clothed with linen" mentioned in chapters 9 and 10 of the Book of Ezekiel is interpreted as Gabriel in Yoma 77a of the Talmud.
In particular, there are many references to Gabriel in the Book of Enoch. According to the book, Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel complain to God about the many wrongs perpetrated by Azazel and Samyaza (especially the fact that they revealed "eternal secrets" and sins to mankind and defiled themselves with women who later gave birth to Nephilim). As a result, God decides to destroy the Earth (which has been corrupted by the , led by Azazel and Samyaza) and all of its inhabitants except for Noah. He sends Gabriel and the other archangels to go after the fallen angels and cast them into the darkness until Last Judgment. In Chapter 20, Gabriel is listed as one of seven holy angels (Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sariel, Gabriel, and Remiel) who watch. In Chapter 40, Gabriel is listed as one of four presences (Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel) who stand on the four sides of God. These four archangels will be the ones to cast the fallen angels into the abyss of condemnation on Judgment Day. The final reference to Gabriel in the Book of Enoch is found in Chapter 71: "And that Head of Days came with Michael and Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel, thousands and ten thousands of angels without number."
The Book of Enoch is not considered to be Biblical canon scripture by most Jewish or Christian church bodies, although it is part of the biblical canon used by the Beta Israel, as well as the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches.
Shimon ben Lakish (an Amoraim of the third century) concluded that the angelic names of Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel came out of the Babylonian exile (Gen. Rab. 48:9). Alongside the archangel Michael, Gabriel is described as the guardian angel of Israel, defending the Israelites against the angels of the other nations.
According to Jewish mythology, in the Garden of Eden there is a tree of life or the "tree of souls" that blossoms and produces new souls, which fall into the Guf, the treasury of souls. Gabriel reaches into the treasury and takes out the first soul that comes into his hand.
Gabriel appears again in of Chapter 1 of the Gospel of Luke, this time to Annunciation to Mary.() While in the first passage the angel identifies himself as Gabriel, in the second passage it is the author of Luke who identifies the angel as Gabriel.
The only other named angels in the New Testament are Michael (in and ) and Abaddon (in ).
In Gnosticism, angels are portrayed as belonging to a pantheon of spiritual beings involved in the creation of the world. According to one ancient Gnostic manuscript, the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, Gabriel is a divine being and inhabitant of the pleroma that existed before the demiurge. There is also a reference to Gabriel in Chapter 17 of the Gospel of Judas, a Gnostic text dated to 280 AD.
One of the oldest out-of-print sources placing the feast on 18 March, first published in 1608, is Flos sanctorum: historia general de la vida y hechos de Jesu-Christo ... y de los santos de que reza y haze fiesta la Iglesia Catholica ... by the Spanish writer Alonso de Villegas; a newer edition of this book was published in 1794. Another source published in Ireland in 1886 the Irish Ecclesiastical Record also mentions 18 March.
The Feast of Saint Gabriel was included by Pope Benedict XV in the General Roman Calendar in 1921, for celebration on 24 March. Butler's Lives of the Saints, vol. 1, edited by Herbert Thurston and Donald Attwater, Christian Classics, 1981 . In 1969, the day was officially transferred to 29 September for celebration in conjunction with the feast of the archangels Ss. Michael and Raphael. Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 119. Today, the 29 September date (known as Michaelmas) has been adopted by not only the Catholic Church, but also the Church of England, the Lutheranism, the Anglican Communion, and the Western Orthodox churches.
The Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches that follow the Byzantine Rite celebrate the Michaelmas (Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers) on 8 November. For those churches that follow the traditional Julian Calendar, 8 November currently falls on 21 November of the modern Gregorian Calendar, a difference of 13 days. Eastern Orthodox commemorate Gabriel not only at the Feast of the Archangels, but also on two other days:
Saint Gabriel the Archangel is commemorated on the vigil of the Feast of the Annunciation by Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate and Western Rite in the ROCOR.
The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates Gabriel's feast on 13 Paoni, 22 Koiak, and 26 Paoni. One medieval Coptic work, the Investiture of the Archangel Gabriel, attributes the feast day of 22 Koiak to the day Gabriel was given the rank of archangel in heaven.
The Ethiopian Church celebrates Gabriel's feast on 18 December (in the Ethiopian calendar), with a sizeable number of its believers making a pilgrimage to a church dedicated to "Saint Gabriel" in Kulubi and Wonkshet on that day.Nega Mezlekia, Notes from the Hyena's Belly: An Ethiopian Childhood (New York: Picador, 2000), p. 266. .
The earliest known identification of Gabriel as a trumpeter comes from the "Hymn for Protection in the Night", attributed to the Armenian Saint Nerses IV the Gracious (1102 – 1173):
The sound of Gabriel's trumpet on the last night, make us worthy to hear, and to stand on your right hand among the sheep with lanterns of inextinguishable light; to be like the five wise virgins, so that with the bridegroom in the bride chamber we, his spiritual brides may enter into glory.
A 1455 Armenian manuscript shows Gabriel sounding his trumpet as the dead climb out of their graves.Walters MS 543, fol. 14.
Another example occurs in John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667):Milton, Paradise Lost, XI.72ff
Betwixt these rockie pillars Gabriel sat Chief of the Angelic guards (IV.545f) ... He ended, and the Son gave signal high To the bright minister that watch'd, he blew His trumpet, heard in Oreb since perhaps When God descended, and perhaps once more To sound at general doom. (XI.72ff).
It is unclear whether Milton was inspired by the Armenian works, though they presumably have a common source.
The image of Gabriel's trumpet blast to announce the end of time was taken up in Evangelicalism, where it became widespread, notably in Spirituals.The widespread understanding of Gabriel's horn as a symbol of the end of time in U.S. Southern culture, is apparent from its appearance in the University of Texas's school spirit song, The Eyes of Texas (1903): eyes of Texas are upon you, until Gabriel blows his horn." Likewise in Marc Connelly's play based on negro spirituals, The Green Pastures (1930), Gabriel has his beloved trumpet constantly with him, and the Lord has to warn him not to blow it too soon.
Tafsir (Exegetical Quranic literature) narrates that Muhammad saw the archangel Gabriel in his full angelic splendor only twice, the first time being when he received his first revelation. Islamic tradition holds that Gabriel was sent to numerous pre-Islamic Biblical prophets with revelation and divine injunctions, including Adam, whom Muslims believe was consoled by Gabriel sometime after the Fall, too. He is known by many names in Islam, such as "keeper of holiness".von Hammer-Purgstall, Josef. 1852 2010. Die Geisterlehre der Moslimen ''The. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. In Hadith traditions, Jibril is said to have six hundred wings.
In Islam, the tree of souls is referred to as the Sidrat al-Muntaha (and is identified as a Ziziphus spina-christi).
Muslims also revere Gabriel for several events that predate what they regard as the first revelation narrated in the Quran. Muslims believe that Gabriel was the angel who informed Zechariah of the Nativity of John the Baptist, as well as Mary about the future nativity of Jesus; and that Gabriel was one of three angels who had earlier informed Abraham of the birth of Isaac (). (2025). 9789960892269, Darussalam. ISBN 9789960892269 Gabriel also makes a famous appearance in the Hadith of Gabriel, in which he questions Muhammad on the core tenets of Islam.
Gabriel is also believed to have delivered punishment from God to the Sodomites by leveling the entire city of Sodom with the tip of his wing. According to a Hadith narrated by Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, which is compiled by al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, Gabriel has the ability to regulate feeling or perception in humans, particularly happiness or sadness.
Moreover, he is believed to have further encouraged Muhammad to wage war and attack the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. Another appearance of Gabriel in Islamic religious texts were found in numerous Hadiths during the Battle of Hunayn, where the Gabriel stood next to Muhammad. Gabriel is also said to have fought Iblis, when the latter tempted ʿĪsā (Jesus).Islam Issa Milton in the Arab-Muslim World Taylor & Francis 2016 ISBN 978-1-317-09592-7 page 111 Ibn Barrajan regards Gabriel to be an angel created from fire, like Iblis, thus settling Gabriel symbolically into the head of opposition to the leader of the devils.Gallorini, L. (2025). The Functions of Angels in Sufi Literature (Vol. 218). Brill. p. 125
Other Islamic texts and some apocryphal literature also supported Gabriel's role as a celestial warrior.Burge, Stephen. 2015. Angels in Islam: Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti's al-Haba'ik fi akhbar al-mala'ik. Routledge. p. 204. Though alternate theories exist, whether the occurrence of the Holy Spirit in the Quran refers to Gabriel or not, remains an issue of scholarly debate. However, a clear distinction between apocryphal and Quranic references to Gabriel is that the former doesn't designate him as the Holy Spirit in the First Book of Enoch, which narrates the story of Gabriel defeating the Nephilim.
Yazdânism and Yarsanism share many elements with Yazidism, including seven secondary divine manifestations, emanationism and the incarnation of the archangel Gabriel ( Pir Benjamin in Yarsanism).
Mandaeism venerate Ptahil as the "Fourth Life" (the third of three emanations from the First Life). Ptahil is an uthra, identified with Gabriel, who creates the poorly made material world with the help of Ruha, a sinful and fallen female ruler who inhabits the World of Darkness. Ruha and Ptahil's roles in creation vary, with each gaining control when the other's power subsides. According to Brikha Nasoraia, the creation of tibil occurs by Hayyi Rabbi command, but is delegated to Ptahil (a subservient emanation or uthra) with the assistance of Gabriel and others.
The Military Order of Saint Gabriel was established to recognize "individuals who have made significant contributions to the U.S. Army Public Affairs community and practice". The medallion depicts St. Gabriel sounding a trumpet, while the obverse displays the Army Public Affairs emblem.
Other traditions
The Yazidis worship Seven Archangels, including Jabra'il (Gabriel), Mikha'il (Michael), Rapha'il (Raphael), Dedra'il, Azrael, Shamka'il, and Azazil, who are Emanationism with which God entrusted the world. Other angels in Yazidism include Israfil, Nekir and Nukir. The Yazidis associate Gabriel with Tawûsî Melek (the "Peacock Angel").
Art, entertainment, and media
Angels are described as pure spirits. The lack of a defined form allows artists wide latitude in depicting them. Amelia R. Brown draws comparisons in Byzantine iconography between portrayals of angels and the conventions used to depict court eunuchs. Mainly from the Caucasus, they tended to have light eyes, hair, and skin; and those "castrated in childhood developed a distinctive skeletal structure, lacked full masculine musculature, body hair and beards ..." As officials, they would wear a white tunic decorated with gold. Brown suggests that "Byzantine artists drew, consciously or not, on this iconography of the court eunuch".Brown, Amelia. Painting the Bodiless: Angels and Eunuchs in Byzantine Art and Culture, University of Queensland (2007) Some recent popular works on angels consider Gabriel to be female or androgynous.
Painting and sculpture
Gabriel is most often portrayed in the context of the Annunciation. In 2008, a 16th-century drawing by Lucas van Leyden of the Netherlands was discovered. George R. Goldner, chairman of the department of prints and drawings at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, suggested that the sketch was for a stained glass window. "The fact that the archangel is an ordinary-looking person and not an idealized boy is typical of the artist", said Goldner.Vogel, Carol. 25 July 2008. " Angels Appear, and Museums Rejoice" New York Times.
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(2025). 9781578592128, Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9781578592128
Categories: Angels In The Book Of Enoch, Archangels In Judaism, Archangels In Christianity, Archangels In Islam, Archangels, Book Of Daniel People, Book Of Ezekiel, Christian Saints From The New Testament, Christian Saints From The Old Testament, Individual Angels, Mythological Musical Instruments, People In The Gospel Of Luke, Quranic Figures, Western Rite Orthodoxy, Yazidi Mythology
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