Heavenly Hosts
Extra-Biblical Angels
The books outside the canon that describe the unseen world — and what may honestly be drawn from each.
Alongside the Scriptures the Church inherited a library of other books — Jewish apocalypses such as the Book of Enoch, early Christian works such as the Shepherd of Hermas and the Gospel of Nicodemus, and later Eastern Christian writings such as the Testament of Adam. None was numbered among the Scriptures, though one or two sit close enough to the edge that the answer differs by language and tradition. They shaped how the early Church spoke of the angels, the fall, the descent into Hades and the age to come. Each is gathered here by the book — its own story, the beings drawn from it, and the register every claim actually rests on —catalogued for study, never for veneration.
Apocryphal · Second TempleThe Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)c. 3rd century BC – 1st century ADA Second Temple Jewish apocalypse attributed to Enoch, the seventh from Adam — the fullest ancient witness to the Watchers, the giants, and the named angels of the heavenly court.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Apostolic FathersThe Shepherd of Hermasc. early–mid 2nd century AD (Rome)An early Christian book of visions, commandments, and parables, revealed to Hermas by an angel of repentance in the form of a shepherd — once read almost as Scripture, and rich in its angelology.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Second Temple2 Enoch (The Book of the Secrets of Enoch)Disputed — commonly placed c. 1st century ADA heavenly-ascent apocalypse attributed to Enoch and preserved for centuries by Slavic Christian scribes — the fullest ancient account of the ascent through the heavens, the silent Grigori, the rebel Satanail, and Enoch's transformation before the throne.Explore the book →Second Temple · Ethiopian canonThe Book of JubileesMid-2nd century BCA Second Temple retelling of Genesis and early Exodus, dictated to Moses at Sinai by an Angel of the Presence — the fullest ancient account of the angels made on the first day, of the Watchers and the origin of demons, and of Mastema.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Early Jewish apocalypseThe Apocalypse of AbrahamLate 1st to early 2nd century ADAn early Jewish apocalypse in which the birds of prey at Abraham's covenant sacrifice turn out to be Azazel — and the angel Yahoel, who bears the divine Name, stands beside Abraham as heavenly priest to drive him off.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Early Jewish-ChristianThe Ascension of Isaiah1st to early 2nd century ADAn early Jewish-Christian apocalypse in two halves — the sawing in two of the prophet Isaiah, and his ascent through seven heavens to see the Beloved descend in disguise through the territory of the hostile powers, and return in glory.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Tradition cited in JudeThe Assumption of Moses (Testament of Moses)Early 1st century ADAn incomplete Jewish testament of Moses to Joshua — and the lost book behind Jude 9, where the Archangel Michael disputes with the devil over the body of Moses. The manuscript breaks off before Moses dies, so the famous scene is precisely the part we no longer have.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Early ChristianThe Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate)Composite — the Acts of Pilate principally 4th century ADThe Christian apocryphon behind the Harrowing of Hades — Pilate's court, and then the argument between Satan and Hades, the shattered gates, and Christ taking Adam by the hand.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Jewish-ChristianThe Testaments of the Twelve PatriarchsSecond Temple traditions; the Greek collection shaped in Christian transmissionTwelve farewell discourses in the mouths of Jacob's sons — and the section's fullest ancient account of the passions as spiritual warfare, in which envy, anger and lust are the ground Beliar actually fights on.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Jewish, probably EgyptianThe Testament of AbrahamProbably late 1st or early 2nd century ADAbraham will not die, so God sends the Archangel Michael to persuade him — and before the end Abraham is carried above the earth to see the two gates, the weighing of souls, and Death himself. Not to be confused with the Apocalypse of Abraham.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Adamic literatureThe Life of Adam and Eve (Apocalypse of Moses)Jewish traditions, probably 1st century AD; the versions laterNot one book but a family of them — where Eve retells the fall in her own words, Seth is sent to Paradise for the oil of mercy, angels bury Adam, and Satan explains that he fell because he would not bow to a creature made of clay.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Syriac ChristianThe Testament of AdamComposite — Syriac Christian, roughly 3rd century onwardA Syriac Christian work in three parts, attributed to Adam and addressed to Seth — an hour-by-hour account of the whole creation at prayer, a prophecy of Christ, and one of the earliest Christian attempts to set the angelic orders in rank.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Coptic ChristianThe Testament of IsaacChristian; Coptic transmission, the surviving form probably 2nd–3rd century onwardThe middle book of the Abraham–Isaac–Jacob cycle: an angel announces Isaac's death, Isaac instructs Jacob, and is then shown the punishments of sinners and Paradise before the angels carry his soul away. Preserved above all in Egypt.Explore the book →Canonical boundary text · in the Slavonic Bibles4 Ezra (2 Esdras 3–14)c. AD 100, after the destruction of JerusalemA Jewish apocalypse written after Jerusalem burned, in which Ezra argues with the angel Uriel about the justice of God — and the one work in this section that is printed in some Orthodox Bibles and absent from others.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Jewish, Syriac transmission2 Baruch (The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch)Late 1st or early 2nd century AD, after the destruction of JerusalemThe companion of 4 Ezra: a Jewish apocalypse written after Jerusalem fell, in which the angel Ramiel interprets Baruch's visions of history, resurrection, and the age to come — and Leviathan and Behemoth are served at the messianic feast.Explore the book →Apocryphal · Greek and Slavonic3 Baruch (The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch)Probably 1st–3rd century AD; Jewish core with Christian redactionBaruch is taken up through the heavens and shown the builders of Babel, a dragon that devours the wicked, the phoenix that shields the earth from the sun, and Michael carrying a bowl to receive the virtues of humanity.Explore the book →
16 books are catalogued here. Most of the beings they name belong to the books alone; 3 of them hold a record among the Heavenly Hosts.