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An angel watching over two children.

Three angels, in a picture made in about 1420 by the Russian, Andrej Rublev.

Wounded Angel, Hugo Simberg, 1903, voted Finland's "national painting" during 2006

In many mythologies and religions, an angel is a good spirit. The word angel comes from the Greek word angelos which means "messenger". Angels appear frequently in the Old Testament, the New Testament, Qur'an and Aqdas.

Different references to angels throughout the Bible suggest different kinds and ranks of angels, such as seraphs (Hebrew plural: seraphim) or cherubs (Hebrew plural: cherubim). This resulted in medieval theologians outlining a hierarchy of such divine messengers, including not only cherubs and seraphs, but also archangels, powers, principalities, dominions and thrones.