Death Angel

“The Death of the Gravedigger” by Carlos Schwabe

" Death and the Sculptor ", bronze - sculpture by Daniel Chester French in the Forest Hills Cemetery , Boston , 1893rd

Death Angel. Photo by Paolo Monti , Venice, 1951.

An angel of death or angel of death is called an angel who brings people to death, accompanies the dead into the afterlife or receives them there and possibly judges them. In the Koran an angel of death is explicitly mentioned ( sura 32 : 11), who is identified as Azrael in the Islamic tradition . Munkar and Nakir receive and question the dead. In the translation of the Hope-for-All Bible, the words “the Corruptor” in 1 Corinthians 10:10 HFA are translated as “his [God's] angel of death” ( ὀλοθρευτής , cf. Ex 12.23 LXX ).

Emergence

The idea of an angel of death in the Christian sphere probably stems from the medieval tradition of viewing every influence of God on the world, including death, as mediated by an angel. In particular, this relates to the angel who slew all the firstborn among the Egyptians on the Passover night ( Ex 12.27 EU ), although there is no mention of an angel in the Bible text and even explicitly in the Haggadah , which is read on Seder evening it is pointed out that God Himself intervened, "no messenger or angel, no messenger or seraph". The Angel of Death may also appear in the second book of Samuel, but he is not called that there. This angel brings the plague over the kingdom of David ( 2 Sam 24: 13-25 EU ).

Uses

Most peoples have the image of a supernatural being as a companion to the deceased into the afterlife. With the Greeks it is Hermes and Charon , in the Roman belief it is the genius of the deceased, with the Teutons it is the Valkyries . In the Christian tradition, angels are seen as companions into the hereafter. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells how angels carry Lazarus into Abraham's bosom after his death ( Lk 16.22 EU ). This is included in the Latin antiphon In paradisum , an element of the Catholic and partly also Protestant liturgy of death. Later this companion function is often ascribed to the archangels Michael or Raphael , the latter also having a judging function.

In the literary tradition, the term “angel of death” is often used as the personification of death. An encounter with the angel of death or a sighting of the same then stand for danger to life or a near death experience .

In a figurative sense, those who carry out so-called active euthanasia (cf. also Michela Murgias Accabadora ) or murderers are referred to as angels of death, the latter especially when they come from medical professions such as For example, the concentration camp doctor Josef Mengele , the Argentine junta officer Alfredo Astiz or the " Angel of Death von Lainz ".

swell

Heinrich Krauss : Small lexicon of angels - From Ariel to Zebaoth (= Beck'sche series. Vol. 1411). C. H. Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-45951-X .
Julia Cresswell: The Angel Compendium. About the nature and work of the angels (= Kailash ). Hugendubel, Kreuzlingen / Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7205-6013-9 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Angel of Death - explanations of meanings, origins of words, synonyms, translations

Angel of death . In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm : German Dictionary . Hirzel, Leipzig 1854–1961 ( woerterbuchnetz.de , University of Trier). with examples of literary use

Individual evidence

↑ Ursula Spuler-Stegemann: The 101 most important questions - Islam . CHBeck 2017 edition 4 ISBN 978-3-406-70981-4 page 61
↑ Passover. The Haggadah in German with instructions. In: chabad.org. Chabad , accessed August 15, 2017.

[1] Ursula Spuler-Stegemann: The 101 most important questions - Islam . CHBeck 2017 edition 4 ISBN 978-3-406-70981-4 page 61

[2] Passover. The Haggadah in German with instructions. In: chabad.org. Chabad , accessed August 15, 2017.