The Archangel Gabriel
Gabriel is supposedly one of the seven archangels who stand in the presence of God. He has a role not only in Christianity but also in Islam and Judaism, although these different religions tell us different things about him. Like all other angels, Gabriel acts as a messenger. His name means 'A master who is of God'. He is sometimes regarded as the angel of death and sometimes as the angel of mercy.
In Judaism
Gabriel appears in the Book of Daniel. He appears in a vision seen by Daniel, the leader of the Jews during their exile in Babylon, and foretells the end of the world.
And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, who called, and said:' Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.' So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was terrified, and fell upon my face; but he said to me: 'Understand, son of man; for the vision belongs to the time of the end...
- Daniel 8:15-17
Gabriel also appears in the Talmud, a collection of discussions between Rabbis about Jewish laws, traditions and history. He acts as Joseph's guide (the Joseph who had the prophetic dreams and - allegedly - a coat of many colours) and he helps to bury the prophet Moses, amongst other things. The Talmud also contains a verse which suggests that Gabriel was once punished:
...for not obeying a command exactly as given, I remained for a while outside the heavenly Curtain.
- Talmud Yoma 77a
Judaism also has Gabriel as the voice that told Noah to gather the animals before the flood, the messenger that stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son, the angel that wrestled with Jacob and the voice of the burning bush.
In Christianity
In Christian traditions, Gabriel acts as an important messenger. He appears to Zechariah to announce that John the Baptist will be born to his wife, and he announces to Mary that she will give birth to Jesus. His visit to Mary, known as The Annunciation in the Gospel of Luke, is celebrated on March 25th in the Roman Catholic church and is the 'First Joyful Mystery' of the rosary.
Gabriel may also have visited Joseph who, upon learning of Mary's pregnancy, wished to end his engagement to her. He changed his mind when an 'angel of the Lord' appeared to him in a dream and told him that Mary's pregnancy was caused by the Holy Spirit.
The Book of Enoch (an apocryphal book which was not included in the Bible) calls Gabriel The Left Hand of God and places him on the left side of God's throne, along with the angel/archangel Metatron. He is supposedly the ruler of the Cherubim that surround God's throne.
In Mormon beliefs, Gabriel came to earth and lived as Noah.
In Islam
In Arabic, Gabriel's name is translated as Jibril (or various other spellings). He is the angel who revealed the Qu'ran to the prophet Muhammad. In this account, the archangel appears with 600 wings. He acts as a messenger from God and was the one who told Maryam (Mary) of her coming son, Isa (Jesus).
Muslims believe that the archangel also accompanied Muhammad to Heaven and that he descends to earth on the 'Night of Destiny', a particular night during the last ten days of Ramadan (a holy month in the Islamic calendar during which Muslims usually fast during the daytime).
Gabriel is regarded as one of God's favoured angels, one who can speak all languages. He supposedly has a horse named Haizum, given to him by God. The horse responds only to Gabriel and can travel anywhere on any plane. Gabriel is treated with the same respect as the Prophets in Islam, hence 'peace be upon him' is often added after his name when he is mentioned.
In New Age Religions
Gabriel is often associated with the colours blue, silver and white, the directions West and/or North and the element of Water. He is identified as the angel of truth, hope, resurrection, mercy, death and revelation, amongst other things (sources vary). He is the ruler of the First Heaven and is variously claimed to be a prince of the Cherubim, the Virtues, the Powers or the Archangels (different levels of the angelic hierarchy).
In Art
Gabriel is often portrayed as a beautiful youth, sometimes of ambiguous gender (as angels are supposed to be genderless/androgynous).
The Fanlisting
I decided to make a fanlisting for Gabriel primarily because I'm interested in angels and angelology as a whole, but also because of the different ways in which Gabriel is portrayed in art and fiction. He is a character in my own story and I did a lot of research before planning out his character, during which I got to know quite a bit about his role in different religions. I suppose I've grown quite fond of him ^^
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