This Little Plush Angel
is about 6 inches tall. These Angel Ornaments are made of a sparkly, fuzzy, cloth material. Her body is a red fuzzy material with a blue sparkly dress and white lace trim at the cuffs and hem. She has white sparkly soft angel wings and a halo made of silver tinsel stars. In this Unique Christmas Ornaments left hand is a small silver cloth star. She looks as if she is singing Christmas carols from the expression on her face. For hair she has shiny strings coming down to about her shoulders. Select to see a complete listing of our Christmas Decorations Ideas.
A Cherub.
A cherub is an angel of great knowledge and a symbol of heavenly wisdom or justice. The plural of cherub is cherubim. The cherubim rank just below the order of angels called the seraphim. In art the cherubim are usually represented by children’s heads, with one, two or three pairs of wings. In the earliest religious paintings they have thoughtful and intelligent faces. The early painters also followed strict rules for color schemes when representing cherubim. In a picture of angels in circles, called a “Glory of Angels”, the second circle, that of the cherubim, was always blue. This color stood for light and knowledge. The inner circle, that of the seraphim, was red. Later artists painted the angels with more freedom. Such paintings as the Sistine Madonna by Raphael and “Coronation of the virgin” by Perugino show this change. In the Raphael picture, the Madonna stands on clouds made up of heads of many cherubim. At the base of the picture rest two cherubim which are noted for the serious beauty of their faces. In the Perugino picture, the floating cherubim have wings of various colors. Another painting by Perugino, “Assumption of the virgin”, also contains famous cherubim. Select this link to view our Unique Christmas Gifts.
Angels in Religion.
According to many religions an angel is a spiritual being created by God. The word angel comes from a Greek word meaning messenger or one who is sent. According to religious tradition, angels live in heaven and act as God’s servants and as messengers between God and human beings. They also serve as guardians of individuals and nations. Angels traditionally are pictured as having a human body and wings. Poets and artists have portrayed angels as symbols of innocence or virtue. In some religions, legends tell of bright, powerful spirits that appear in dreams and visions and protect people or tribes. In Hinduism and Buddhism, many major gods are accompanied by a band or court of spiritual beings. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam developed the most elaborate doctrines about angels. These religions recognize an order of beings in which angels rank above human beings but under God. God is all powerful and the human is sometimes portrayed as in Gods image. The concept of angels with a human body and wings began in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, and in Christianity. Later tradition refers to many archangels, angels of high rank, including Saint Michael. Select this link to view our Angel Ornaments.
Christian doctrine regarding angels reached full development during a AD 1100’s and 1200’s especially in the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas believed angels were necessary to fill the gap between God and human beings. He taught that countless numbers of angels existed and that they were immortal. According to Aquinas, angels knew everything except what depended on human choice and what was known only to God. The Islamic belief in angels resembles that of Judaism and Christianity. These three faiths place angels near God and give special duties to some. Select this link to view our Unique Angel Gifts.
