Raphael
(
Standard Hebrew רָפָאֵל,
Rāp̄āʾēl, "It is God who heals", "God Heals", "God, Please Heal",
Arabic: رافائيل,
Rāfāʾīl) is the name of an
archangel of
Judaism and
Christianity who performs all manner of healing and another one of
Islam.
Raphael in Christianity
The name of the angel Raphael appears only in the
Deuterocanonical Book of Tobit. The Book of Tobit is considered canonical by Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Raphael first appears disguised in human form as the travelling companion of the younger Tobias, calling himself "Azarias the son of the great Ananias". During the adventurous course of the journey the archangel's protective influence is shown in many ways including the binding of the demon in the desert of upper Egypt. After the return and the healing of the blindness of the elder Tobit, Azarias makes himself known as "the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord" Tobit 12:15. Compare the unnamed angels in John's Revelation 8:2. Christian churches following Catholic teachings (
Roman,
Oriental,
Orthodox,
Anglican, etc) venerate and patronize him as
Saint Raphael the Archangel.
Regarding the healing powers attributed to Raphael,
[1] we have little more than his declaration to Tobit (
Tobit, 12) that he was sent by the Lord to heal him of his blindness and to deliver Sarah, his daughter-in-law, from the demon prince(Asmodeus) that was the
serial killer of her husbands.
[2] Among Catholics, he is considered the
patron saint of
medical workers and
matchmakers, travellers and may be petitioned by them or those needing their services.
[3]
Vectorial representation of Archangel Raphael atop a fish.
The feast day of Raphael was included for the first time in the
General Roman Calendar in the year 1921, for celebration on October 24. With the reform of the
Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints in 1969, this feast was transferred to September 29 for celebration together with
Saint Michael and
Saint Gabriel.
[4] The
Church of England has also adopted the September 29 date for celebrating "Michael and All Angels".
[5] Some
traditionalist Catholics continue to observe versions of the
General Roman Calendar of the 1921-1969 period.
Raphael has made only a light impression on Catholic geography: Saint Raphaël,
France and Saint Raphaël,
Quebec,
Canada; San Rafaels in
Argentina,
Bolivia,
Colombia,
Costa Rica,
Chile,
Mexico,
Trinidad and Tobago,
Peru, the
Philippines and in
Venezuela as San Rafael de Mohán and San Rafael de Orituco. In the United States, San Rafaels inherited from Mexico survive in
California (where besides the city there are
San Rafael Mountains), in
New Mexico, and in
Utah, where the
San Rafael River flows seasonally in the
San Rafael Desert. The Archangel lends his name to St. Raphael's Cathedral, the seat of the
Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, of which he is the patron saint.
In the
New Testament, only the archangels Gabriel and Michael are mentioned by name Luke 1:9-26, Jude 1:9. John 5:1-4 refers to the pool at
Bethesda, where the multitude of the infirm lay awaiting the moving of the water, for "an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under". Because of the healing role assigned to Raphael, this particular angel is generally associated with the archangel.
Raphael is sometimes shown (usually on medallions) as standing atop a large
fish or holding a caught fish at the end of a line. This is a reference to
Book of Tobit (Tobias), where he told Tobias to catch a fish, and then uses the gallbladder to heal Tobit's eyes, and to drive away Asmodeus by burning the heart and liver.
[6]
Raphael in Islam
Main article:
Israfel
Seen in this 16th century Islamic miniature is Raphael, along with
Michael, and
Gabriel, accompanying
Muhammad to
Mecca. According to the
Hadith, Raphael (Israfil in Arabic) is the Angel responsible for signaling the coming of Judgment Day by blowing the horn (namely Sûr) and sending out a "Blast of Truth". Unlike Gabriel (Jibrail) and Michael (Mikail), this archangel was not mentioned by name in the
Quran.
The horn (sûr) will be blown two times. The first blow of the Sûr signals the beginning of the Judgment Day and with the second blow, all the souls are gathered somewhere between heaven and hell, and interrogated for their good deeds and sins.
According to Sufi narrations as reported by As-Suyuti and others, from the pious predecessors or early Muslim generations, the Ghawth or Qutb, who is regarded amongst the mankind as the highest person in the rank of siddiqun ( the saints ), is someone who has the heart that resembles that of Archangel Israfil, signifying the loftiness of this angel. The next that comes in rank are those of the saints who are known as the Umdah or Awtad , where amongst them the highest ones have their hearts resemble to that of Angel Mikael or Michael, and the rest of the lower ranking saints having the heart of Jibreel or Gabriel, and that of the previous prophets before the Prophet Muhammad. The earth is believed to always have on its surface one from the Qutb, 4 from the Awtad, 40 from the
Abdal, and 300 from the Nukhaba, and because of whom Allah blesses the entire earth, and when one of them passes away from a higher rank, he/she is succeeded by a saint from a lower one, who is in turn elevated to his/her rank to fill his/her place. It is believed that the Day of Judgement does not take place until Allah casts death all together upon all of these saintly categories, and only in that state of their absence will the day of Judgement be commenced with Angel Israfil blowing his trumpet.
Raphael in Paradise Lost
Main article:
Paradise LostThe angel Raphael, as well as many other prominent angels appear in
John Milton's
Paradise Lost, in which he is assigned by God to re-warn Adam concerning the sin of eating of the
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He also expounds to Adam the war in heaven in which the Archangel
Lucifer fell and became
Satan, and the creation of the
Earth.
btw, dslr pic quality may b better than those 3. but the effect n the feelings given whn u look at the pic is real different haha.
Polaroids have certain ISO in its self only.. so mostly can be taken during day time, picture will be good quality..
But in my conclusion for all those camera lah.. each camera create their own effect and way of picture quality.
I like to pretend that my art has nothing to do with me.
Roy Lichtenstein