For the second post in this series, we look into one of the most prominent groups of angels in Coptic magical texts, namely the Twenty-Four Presbyters. Their name, from the Greek presbuteros, means “priest”. In the Christian Egyptian and affiliated traditions (such as the Ethiopian and Nubian Churches), they were understood as the angelic priests who carry out the divine liturgy in the Church of the Firstborn in heaven. In the Bible, they first appear in the vision of heaven from Revelation 4.4–11: Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four presbyters. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads … [they]…
