Raphael (archangel)
| Raphael | |
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Saint Raphael the Archangel by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
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| Archangel, 'Angel of Tobit', Angel of the Trumpet | |
| Venerated in | Judaism, Christianity, Islam |
| Feast | September 29; October 24 (local calendars and by those observing the 1921-1969 General Roman Calendar) |
| Attributes | Archangel holding a bottle or flask; Archangel walking with Tobias; Archangel; young man carrying a fish; young man carrying a staff |
| Patronage | Apothecaries; Ordained marriage; blind people; bodily ills; druggists; eye problems; guardian angels; happy meetings; insanity; lovers; mental illness; nightmares; nurses; pharmacists; physicians; shepherds; sick people; travelers; young people |
Raphael (Standard Hebrew רָפָאֵל, Rāfāʾēl, "It is God who heals", "God Heals", "God, Please Heal") is an archangel of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam who in the Christian tradition performs all manners of healing. In Islam, Raphael is the fourth major angel; in the Muslim tradition, he is known as Israfil. Raphael is mentioned in the Book of Tobit, which is accepted as canonical by Catholics, Orthodox, and some Anglo-Catholics, as useful for public teaching by Anglicans and considered useful and good to read by Lutherans. Raphael is generally associated with the angel mentioned in the Gospel of John as stirring the water at the healing pool of Bethesda. Raphael is also an angel in Mormonism, as he is briefly mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants.
The angels mentioned in the Torah, the older books of the Hebrew Bible, are without names. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish of Tiberias (A.D. 230–270), asserted that all the specific names for the angels were brought back by the Jews from Babylon, and modern commentators would tend to agree.
Raphael is named in several Jewish apocryphal books.
Raphael bound Azazel under a desert called Dudael according to Enoch 10:4–6:
And again the Lord said to Raphael: "Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the fire."
Of archangels in the angelology of post-Exilic Judaism, only Michael, mentioned as archangel (Daniel 12:1), and Gabriel are mentioned by name in canonical books.
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