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]…
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Angels in Coptic Magic I: Introduction
For this year’s first blog post, we start a new series looking at angels in Coptic Magic. As an introduction, this first post provides a brief discussion of the concept of angels and their importance in various ritual and literary traditions, as well as an overview of the main groups of angels found in Coptic magical texts. The following posts in this series will focus on specific groups of angels and individual angels, discussing their roles, names, and descriptions. In the world of Late Antique and early Medieval Egypt, which was predominantly Christian from the fourth to the ninth centuries, angels can be defined as incorporeal beings made of fire…