Angeloi

Angeloi, from the Greek ἄγγελος (angelos) meaning "messenger," is the Greek plural form used to denote messengers in classical and later contexts. In ancient Greek, angelos described human or divine messengers and heralds who carried messages between gods and people or between rulers and their subjects.

The term gained specialized religious significance in early Judaism and Christianity through the translation of Hebrew malak as angelos in the Septuagint and New Testament writings, where angelos refers to spiritual beings acting as messengers, guardians, or agents of God.

In Christian theology and iconography, angeloi encompasses a broad class of heavenly beings, including archangels, seraphim, and cherubim in some traditions, though the exact hierarchy varies by denomination. The use of angeloi in Greek-language liturgy and ecclesiastical literature reflects both reverence for spiritual beings and a terminology that returns to the original Greek sense of messengers.

In modern Greek, angelos (singular) is the common word for "angel," and angeloi remains the standard plural form in religious texts or scholarly discussion. The term also appears in literary and artistic contexts to denote divine messengers or symbolic messengers of fate, often without implying a specific ontological status.

See also: Angel, Malakh, Angelology, Gabriel, Archangel.