‘So what is little Ezekiel’s role in Nativity ? ‘ asked one of my church
friend. ‘Not sure if he will actually participate, but as of now he wants to be
a Angel with wings ‘ I replied . “Angels ! But Angels are suppose to be Girls
and not boys !’ exclaimed my friend J
Knowing that my friend was much ‘learned’ person in terms of bible and
theology, while I have never been to Sunday school or catechism classes , I did
not want to show off my knowledge (limited) and ask her if she has come across
any ‘Female’ Angel’s name in Bible. The fact is all the prominent angels
(Gabriel, Michael, Raphael) are usually visualised as males.
When you hear the word Doctor, Engineer, Scientist, Athlete, Wrestler,
Music Director /conductor ,Plumber, Chef , Police, Terrorist which image comes
first Male or Female ? Again when you think of Nurse, Teacher, Dancer, Helper, HR
person or Angel which image come first ? Which ever comes first in your mind
does not mean that the other image is not relevant or does not exist J
Yesterday Ezekiel did his part of Angel in the Nativity scene and was
all excited about it. Let the children do what they want to before they get the ‘enlightenment / gyaan’ of
what girls or boys are generally expected to do by people who themselves were
never curious to question or find answer. :)
In the early stage, the Christian
concept of an angel characterized
the angel as a messenger of God. Later came identification of individual
angelic messengers: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel. Then, in the space
of little more than two centuries (from the 3rd to the 5th) the image of angels
took on definite characteristics both in theology and in art. According to St. Augustine, " 'Angel' is the name of their
office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is
'spirit'; if you seek the name of their office, it is 'angel': from what they
are, 'spirit', from what they do, 'angel'."[
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