Egyptian-Hebrew stream·The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)·Book II — Book of Parables (Similitudes)·Chapter XL — The Four Faces Before the Throne
Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel
Around the throne Enoch sees four presences (the four archangels): Michael who blesses; Raphael who heals; Gabriel who casts down to be destroyed; Phanuel set over repentance to hope of inheriting eternal life.
Source context
- Theme
- Four presences before the Head of Days — the four archangelic voices of intercession and praise
- Soul-faculty
- Sentient Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Jewish angelology (Second Temple)The fourfold angelic assembly around the divine throne — Uriel, Raphael, Michael, Gabriel — corresponds structurally to the four-directional guardian schema attested in texts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls' Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, where archangels occupy fixed liturgical stations before the divine presence.
- Zoroastrian Amesha SpentasCross-tradition congruence appears in the Zoroastrian six (or four primary) Amesha Spentas, divine emanations standing in attendance before Ahura Mazda and charged with interceding for specific cosmic and human domains.
- Merkabah mysticismThe Merkabah tradition's depiction of angelic princes (Sar ha-Panim) stationed at the four sides of the divine chariot-throne presents a structural parallel to Enoch XL's four voices arrayed around the Head of Days.
Chapter XL
XL. XLI. 2. The Four Archangels.
CHAPTER XL.
1And after that I saw thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, I saw a multitude beyond number and reckoning, who stood before the Lord of Spirits. 2. And on the four sides of the Lord of Spirits I saw four presences, different from those that sleep not, and I learnt their names: for the angel that went with me made known to me their names, and showed me all the hidden things.
3And I heard the voices of those four presences as they uttered praises before the Lord of glory. 4. The first voice blesses the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever. 5. And the second voice I heard blessing the Elect One and the elect ones who hang upon the Lord of Spirits. 6. And the third voice I heard **pray and intercede** for those who dwell on the earth and **supplicate** in the name of the Lord of Spirits. 7. And I heard the fourth voice fending off the Satans and forbidding them to come before the Lord of Spirits to accuse them who dwell on the earth. 8. After that I asked the angel of peace who went with me, who showed me everything that is hidden: 'Who are these four presences which I have seen and whose words I have heard and written down?' 9. And he said to me: 'This first is Michael, the merciful and long-suffering: and the second, who
is set over all the diseases and all the wounds of the children of men, is Raphael: and the third, who is set over all the powers, is Gabriel: and the fourth, who is set over the repentance unto hope of those who inherit eternal life, is named Phanuel.' And these are the four angels of the Lord of Spirits and the four voices I heard in those days.
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