Andrei A. Orlov (Marquette University)

The Pteromorphic Angelology of the Apocalypse of Abraham

Introduction

In the Apocalypse of Abraham, a Jewish work composed in the early centuries of the Common Era, God invites Abraham on the celestial journey to receive heavenly and eschatological secrets. To secure Abraham’s celestial tour, the Deity appoints Yahoel to be his angelus interpres. The pseudepigraphon describes the patriarch’s angelic guide as a glorious creature whose body is reminiscent of sapphire¹ and whose face looks like chrysolite.² Scholars have previously noted that the peculiar imagery used in the depiction of Yahoel’s physique recalls portrayals of the anthropomorphic Glory of God, Kavod.³ Such transference of the Kavod imagery to angelic figures is not uncommon in the Jewish apocalyptic and early mystical accounts where the principal angels or the exalted patriarchs and prophets are often portrayed as representations or even measures (Shi^cur Qomah) of the glorious anthropomorphic extent of God.⁴ What is, however, unusual and even puzzling in the tradition found in the Apocalypse of Abraham is that the work’s authors seem to depart from the familiar anthropomorphic descriptions of angels by seeking to portray Yahoel as a pteromorphic creature who possesses the body of a griffin. This departure from the traditional angelic imagery does not appear coincidental. It has been previously observed that, despite the Apocalypse of Abraham authors’ reliance on Ezekilean imagery in their descriptions of the celestial realm, they shun the book’s explicit anthropomorphic references.⁵ Instead of depicting God in the form of a glorious anthropomorphic extent enthroned in heaven, the Slavonic apocalypse persistently portrays the manifestations of the Deity as a formless voice coming in a stream of fire.⁶

In view of some anti-anthropomorphic tendencies detected in the Slavonic pseudepigraphon, it is possible that its authors’ agenda might go beyond the distinctive noncorporeal depictions of the Deity and encompass the imagery of other celestial beings found in the book. The purpose of this paper is to explore the anti-anthropomorphic features of the angelological developments in the Apocalypse of Abraham.

Yahoel, the Bird of Heaven

One of the possible clues to understanding the mysteries of the text’s angelology might lie in the rather cryptic conceptual developments surrounding the figure of Abraham’s celestial guide, Yahoel. This angelic character first appears in chapter 10 as “the namesake of the mediation of God’s ineffable name.”⁷ The close association of the chief angelic protagonist with the office of mediation of the divine Name does not seem coincidental in light of the work’s engagement of the aural symbolism in its depiction of the Deity as the divine Sound or Voice driven by the authors’ aforementioned anti-anthropomorphic tendency to find a viable alternative to the visionary Kavod paradigm.⁸ It is this divine Voice that in chapter 10 appoints the angel Yahoel as a celestial guide of the exalted patriarch. Apocalypse of Abraham 11:2-3 unveils further features of the angel’s unique identity by providing a depiction of his physique:

The appearance of the griffin’s (ногуего)⁹ body was like sapphire, and the likeness of his face like chrisolite, and the hair of his head like snow, and a turban on his head like the appearance of the bow in the clouds, and the closing of his garments [like] purple, and a golden staff [was] in his right hand.¹⁰

The Slavonic word “ногуего,” used in the description of Yahoel’s body, has puzzled scholars for a long time. It can be translated as “his leg” (ногу его), but this rendering does not fit in the larger context of Yahoel’s description. Previous translators therefore preferred to drop the puzzling word and translated the first sentence of Yahoel’s description as “the appearance of his body was like the sapphire.”¹¹ Recently Alexander Kulik offered a hypothesis that the Slavonic term “ногуего” might derive from the Slavonic “ногъ” or “ногуи” - “a griffin.”¹² Kulik proposes that the whole phrase can be translated as “the appearance of the griffin’s (ногуева) body” and thus refers to the eagle-like body of Yahoel. He further suggests that Yahoel might be even a composite creature, a man-bird, since he is depicted in Apoc. Ab. 10:4 as the angel who is sent to Abraham in “the likeness of a man.” Kulik argues that since Yahoel has “hair on his head” and also hands—since he is able to hold a golden staff—it appears that “only the torso of Yahoel must be of griffin-like appearance, while his head is like that of a man.”¹³ To provide evidence of such puzzling angelic imagery, Kulik points to some examples of “griffin-like” angels in the Hekhalot writings.

Kulik’s hypothesis about the pteromorphic features of Yahoel has been recently supported by Basil Lourié who provides references to the tradition of transporting angels in the form of griffins.¹⁴ Both Kulik’s and Lourié’s findings are important for understanding Yahoel imagery. It should be mentioned, however, that while some Jewish visionary accounts indeed contain references to the psychopomps and some other angelic servants possessing pteromorphic physique, the primary angels in the apocalyptic and Merkabah materials are usually depicted as anthropomorphic creatures. Further, as has been already mentioned, these primary angels often serve as representations or even “mirrors” of the anthropomorphic glory of God.¹⁵ The tendency of the Apocalypse of Abraham to depict the primary angel in the form of a bird looks quite unusual in this respect. What is even more intriguing is that in the case of the angel Yahoel and his composite ptero-anthropomorphic corporeality one can possibly witness polemical interaction with the anthropomorphic traditions of the divine Glory. Also it appears that the remnants of the underlying anthropomorphic traditions are not entirely abandoned by the authors of the Slavonic apocalypse and can be clearly detected in the text. Drawing on the account offered in Apoc. Ab. 10:4 that God sent Yahoel to Abraham “in the likeness of a man,”¹⁶ Fossum observes that “the mention of human likeness is a constant trait in the representation of the Glory.”¹⁷ He further notes that other depictions of Yahoel bring to memory various traditions of the divine Glory as well. Thus, for example, Apoc. Ab. 11:2-3 tells that Yahoel’s body was “like sapphire, and the likeness of his face like chrysolite, and the hair of his head like snow, and a turban on his head like the appearance of the bow in the clouds, and the closing garments [like] purple, and a golden staff [was] in his right hand.”¹⁸ Fossum suggests that

... this description contains adaptations of various portraits of the Glory. The radiant appearance of the body of the Glory is mentioned already in Ez. i.27. In the Book of Daniel, the angel Gabriel, who is represented as the Glory, is in one place described in the following way: “His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like gleam of burning bronze ...” (x.6). In the Shi^cur Qomah texts, there is frequent reference to the shining appearance of the body of the Glory, and chrysolite is even used expressly to describe it: “His body is like chrysolite. His light breaks tremendously from the darkness [...]” ... The rainbow-like appearance of Yahoel’s turban is reminiscent of Ez. i.28, which says that “the appearance of the brightness round about” the Glory was “like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain.”¹⁹

It is noteworthy that in the Apocalypse of Abraham these spectacular features of the anthropomorphic divine Glory became applied to the composite creature that combines anthropomorphic and pteromorphic features, which clearly demonstrates the polemical character of the text’s angelology.

The Turtledove and the Pigeon: Pteromorphic Psychopomps

Suggestions about Yahoel’s possession of a griffin body deserve careful attention since in the Apocalypse of Abraham pteromorphic imagery appears to be applied to other angelic beings as well. Another example can be found in chapters 12 and 13 where Yahoel conveys to Abraham the following instructions about the sacrifices:

And he said to me, “Slaughter and cut all this, putting together the two halves, one against the other. But do not cut the birds. And give them [halves] to the two men whom I shall show you standing beside you, since they are the altar on the mountain, to offer sacrifice to the Eternal One. The turtledove and the pigeon you will give me, and I shall ascend (возиду) in order to show to you [the inhabited world] on the wings of two birds....” And I did everything according to the angel’s command. And I gave to the angels who had come to us the divided parts of the animals. And the angel took the two birds. (Apoc. Ab. 12:8-13:1)²⁰

Although this description appears to rely on the Abrahamic traditions found in Genesis,²¹ it also contains some important additions to the biblical narrative.²² Thus, the birds that in the Genesis account serve merely as sacrificial objects appear to have some angelic functions in the Apocalypse of Abraham. Yahoel, who requests two birds from Abraham, mentions that later the birds will serve as the psychopomps of the visionary and his celestial guide. Yahoel’s prediction about the birds is fulfilled in Apoc. Ab. 15:2-4 where the seer and his angelic guide are depicted as traveling on the wings of the pigeon and the turtledove:

And the angel took me with his right hand and set me on the right wing of the pigeon and he himself sat on the left wing of the turtledove, since they both were neither slaughtered nor divided. And he carried me up to the edge of the fiery flame. And we ascended <like great winds to the heaven which was fixed on the expanses....> (Apoc. Ab. 15:2-4).²³

In view of the established tradition of angelic psychopomps in the apocalyptic accounts it appears that the pigeon and turtledove here fulfill functions traditionally performed by angels.

Fallen Angel Azazel, the Impure Bird

Another important feature in the text’s angelology providing further support for the hypothesis about the pteromorphic, eagle-like body of Yahoel and for the general polemical tendency of the text against anthropomorphic portrayals of celestial beings is that the negative angelic protagonist in the text, the fallen angel Azazel, is also depicted as a pteromorphic creature—an impure bird (Slav. птица нечистая).²⁴ Azazel first appears in chapter 13 that deals with the story of the patriarch’s offering of animal sacrifices to God. Like in the case of the sacrificial birds refashioned into angelic psychopomps, the authors of the apocalypse again try to expand here the details of the biblical story of Abraham’s sacrifices that refers to the birds of prey coming down on the carcasses of the patriarch’s offerings. Thus, Gen 15:11 informs that the birds of prey came down on Abraham’s sacrifices and he drove them away. In the Slavonic apocalypse, however, the reference to the birds of pray becomes appropriated into the book’s angelology. The Apocalypse of Abraham 13:2-6 reads:

And I waited for [the time of] the evening offering. And an impure bird (птица нечистая) flew down on the carcasses, and I drove it away. And an impure bird spoke to me and said, “What are you doing, Abraham, on the holy heights, where no one eats or drinks, nor is there upon them food of men. But these will all be consumed by fire and they will burn you up. Leave the man who is with you and flee! Since if you ascend to the height, they will destroy you.” And it came to pass when I saw the bird speaking I said to the angel, “What is this my lord?” And he said, “This is iniquity, this is Azazel!”²⁵

It is intriguing that later in chapter 23 dealing with the story of the fall of the protoplasts, Azazel is described as a composite creature—a serpent with human hands and feet and with wings on his shoulders:

And I saw there a man very great in height and terrible in breadth, incomparable in aspect, entwined with a woman who was also equal to the man in aspect and size. And they were standing under a tree of Eden, and the fruit of the tree was like the appearance of a bunch of grapes of vine. And behind the tree was standing, as it were, a serpent in form, but having hands and feet like a man, and wings on its shoulders: six on the right side and six on the left. And he was holding in his hands the grapes of the tree and feeding the two whom I saw entwined with each other (Apok. Ab. 23:5-8).²⁶

Since this description is given in the middle of the Adamic story, it is not entirely clear whether this composite physique represents Azazel’s permanent form or whether it is just a temporal manifestation acquired during the deception of the protoplasts. It is possible that here the authors of the Slavonic apocalypse are drawing on the cluster of traditions reflected in the Primary Adam Books where the tempter uses the serpent’s form as a proxy in his deception of Adam and Eve. It is interesting, though, that the pteromorphic features of the negative protagonist are reaffirmed in the description found in the Slavonic apocalypse that portrays Azazel as a winged creature.

Along with Adamic motifs, the descriptions of Azazel found in the Apocalypse appear to provide some hints that the text’s authors were cognizant of the broader traditions about Asael/Azazel found in the Enochic materials. Scholars have previously noted that some details in the story of the punishment of Asael/Azazel found in 1 Enoch 10,²⁷ where the fallen angel is tied as a sacrificial animal and thrown into the hole in the desert, are reminiscent of the scapegoat ritual with its release of the sacrificial animal into the wilderness. Here one might have one of the first attempts of the angelological reinterpretation of the scapegoat myth. The authors of the Slavonic apocalypse, who are also reinterpreting the Azazel story in angelological terms, appear to be familiar with the early Enochic developments. Some Enochic motifs appear in chapters 13 and 14 where Yahoel delivers a lengthy speech condemning Azazel and instructing Abraham how to deal with the “impure bird.”

In Yahoel’s discourse one can find several peculiar details pertaining to the anti-hero story that seem to provide some allusions to the Enochic traditions about the Watcher Asael and his angelic companions who according to the Enochic myth decided to abandon their celestial abode and descend on earth. Apoc. Ab. 13:8 says the following about Azazel: “Since you have chosen it [earth] to be your dwelling place of your impurity.”²⁸ The passage refers to the voluntary descent of the anti-hero on earth which might hint to the Enochic provenance of the tradition. In contrast to the Enochic mythology of evil, the Adamic etiology, reflected in the Primary Adam Books, insists that their negative protagonist, Satan, did not descend of his own accord but rather was forcefully deposed by the Deity into the lower realms after refusing to venerate Adam.²⁹

The reference to the impurity is also intriguing in view of the defiling nature of the Watchers’ activities on earth. Further, there also seems to be a hint about Asael/Azazel’s punishment in the abyss. In Apoc. Ab. 14:5, Yahoel offers the patriarch the following incantation to battle Azazel: “Say to him, ‘May you be the fire brand of the furnace of the earth! Go, Azazel, into the untrodden parts of the earth....’”³⁰ Here one might have an allusion to the aforementioned tradition from 1 Enoch 10, when the place of Azazel’s punishment is situated in the fiery abyss. Similar to 1 Enoch, the Slavonic apocalypse authors seem to combine here traditions about the scapegoat and the fallen angel by referring to the wilderness motif in the form of “untrodden parts of the earth.”

There is also a possible allusion to the Watcher Azazel’s participation in the procreation of the race of the Giants. In Apoc. Ab. 14:6, Yahoel teaches Abraham the following protective formula against the “impure bird”: “Say to him ... since your inheritance are those who are with you, with men born with the stars and clouds, and their portion is in you, and they come into being through your being....”³¹ The reference to human beings “born with the stars” is intriguing since the Animal Apocalypse of 1 Enoch conveys the descent of the Watchers through the peculiar imagery of the stars falling from heaven and subsequently depicts the Watchers as participants in the procreation of the new race of the Giants.

In concluding this section of the study it should be noted that the aforementioned parallels demonstrate that in their re-interpretation of Azazel’s figure the authors of the Slavonic apocalypse seem to rely on some angelological understanding of Azazel’s figure found in the Enochic materials. Yet, while the Enochic tradition envisions Azazel and his angelic companions as anthropomorphic creatures able to seduce women of the earth to procreate the new race of the Giants, the Apocalypse of Abraham insists on the pteromorphic physique of the fallen angel. As in the case with Yahoel and the pteromorphic psychopomps, the peculiar imagery used for depicting Azazel signals the authors’ reluctance to identify unambiguously the celestial beings with the traditional human-like appearance which seems to reflect the pseudepigraphon’s anti-anthropomorphic tendency.

Invisible Angels

The anti-anthropomorphic thrust of the pseudepigraphon’s angelology seems also to be reflected in the text’s insistence on the invisibility of certain classes of angelic beings. The reader encounters this trend already in the beginning of the apocalyptic section of the work, in the cryptic statement of Yahoel that follows immediately the description of his unusual bird-like physique. There the angel reveals to Abraham that his strange composite body is just a temporal manifestation which will not last long and that he will become invisible soon:

And he said, “Let my appearance not frighten you, nor my speech trouble your soul! Come with me and I shall go with you, visible until the sacrifice, but after the sacrifice invisible (невидим) forever” (Apoc. Ab. 11:4).³²

This deconstruction of the visible form of the primary angel and insistence on his eternal incorporeality seem to reveal some persistent, deliberate motifs deeply connected with the notion of God’s own incorporeality. It unveils the striking contrast with the visual ideology of the Merkabah tradition where the body of the primary angel is often envisioned as God’s Shi^cur Qomah - the measurement and the visual reaffirmation of the Deity’s own anthropomorphic corporeality. Yet, in the Apocalypse of Abraham one can see a quite different picture.

It does not appear coincidental that, as the story unfolds and the visionary progresses in his celestial journey to the upper firmaments and the abode of the bodiless Deity, the references to the incorporeal or “spiritual” angels occur more and more often. In fact, the idea of the incorporeality of the angelic hosts inhabiting the upper firmaments looms large in the Apocalypse of Abraham. Thus, according to Apoc. Ab. 19:6-7 in the upper firmaments the seer beholds

... a multitude of incorporeal (бесплотное множество) spiritual (духовныхъ) angels, carrying out the orders of the fiery angels who were on the eighth firmament .... And behold, neither on this expanse was there any other power of other form, but only the spiritual angels.... (Apoc. Ab. 19:6-7).³³

Yet here again, as in the previous descriptions, one can see the transitional nature of the pseudepigraphon’s angelology, since with a new incorporal understanding of the celestial retinue these new angelological developments also preserve some anthropomorphic details of the Kavod paradigm. Thus in addition to insisting on the incorporeality of angelic beings, the authors occasionally designate celestial servants—for example, the angels who received the sacrifices from Abraham—as “men.” This once again appears to indicate the fluidity of angelic imagery in the Slavonic apocalypse which in many ways stays on the threshold of the Kavod and Shem traditions, sharing both conceptual worlds.

Conclusion

Almost twenty years ago Christopher Rowland suggested that the tendency to spiritualize angelic beings and depict them as bodiless and pure spirits in the Apocalypse of Abraham might be part of the authors’ polemical stand against the anthropomorphic understanding of God.³⁴ There seems to be no coincidence that these anti-anthropomorphic developments took place in the pseudepigraphon written in the name of the hero of the faith known in Jewish lore for his fight against the idolatrous statues.

That the authors’ choice of the hero is purposive can be seen already in the first eight chapters of the pseudepigraphon which take the form of midrashic elaboration of the early years of Abraham who is depicted as a fighter with the idolatrous practices of his father Terah. Well aware of the broader extra-biblical context of Abraham’s biography, the authors of the apocalypse are appropriating the patriarch’s story for their anticorporeal agenda.³⁵ In depictions of the idol Bar-Eshath (“the Son of Fire”) and some other anthropomorphic statues whose features are strikingly reminiscent of the corporeal portrayals of the Deity in Ezekiel and some other biblical and pseudepigraphical accounts, one can detect a subtle polemics with the divine body traditions.

It has been previously proposed that the authors of the Abrahamic pseudepigrapha directed their polemics beyond the classical theomorphic and angelomorphic depictions found in the Book of Ezekiel and possibly targeted the afterlife of these anthropomorphic developments as they were manifested in the Enochic tradition. In this respect, it is no coincidence that in the Apocalypse of Abraham many peculiar Enochic “iconic” portrayals of God and angels became reinterpreted in the new anti-anthropomorphic way. Of course, the iconoclastic story of Abraham was the ideal literary playground for such deconstructions. The anti-anthropomorphic polemical potential of Abraham’s story is not limited solely to the Apocalypse of Abraham but also includes other pseudepigrapha circulated in the name of the patriarch.

Philip Munoa observes that the Testament of Abraham exhibits anti-anthropomorphic tendencies in highlighting God’s invisibility, repeatedly emphasizing his unseen (a)o&ratov) nature.³⁶ It appears that the Testament of Abraham is even more radical and denies the visionary the possibility of close contact with the Deity. While in the Apocalypse of Abraham the visionary has access to the Deity through the audible revelations of the voice of God speaking in the fire, in the Testament of Abraham this audible aspect of divine revelation appears to diminish.³⁷ Munoa stresses that in the Testament of Abraham Abraham never hears the voice of God while alive but only after death (T. Ab. 20:13-14), and even then without certainty.³⁸

In light of the aforementioned developments detected in the Abrahamic pseudepigrapha, the repeated tendency to challenge the traditional anthropomorphic portrayals of celestial beings with the alternative pteromorphic depictions found in the Apocalypse of Abraham does not appear coincidental. Yet along with insistence on the invisibility of some classes of angelic beings and the Deity himself, the dynamics of the patriarch’s celestial trip unavoidably require the protagonist’s interaction with other characters of the story. The authors of the apocalypse therefore cannot keep the angelic figures of the narrative completely invisible as the story unfolds and the plot requires the interaction between the visionary and other characters of the celestial realm. In this context pteromorphic angelic imagery seems to serve as a useful device for sustaining the anti-anthropomorphic agenda of the pseudepigraphon without interrupting the dynamics of the patriarch’s celestial trip.