Raguel (Akrasiel, Raguhel, Rasuil, Rufael, Suryan)

Archangel assigned to watch over the good behavior of other angels. Raguel means “friend of God.” In the ENOCH books, Raguel is the archangel who transports Enoch to the HEAVENS —a task also attrib- uted to the angel Anafiel. 1 Enoch describes him as one of four great archangels who watch, along with Michael, Raphael, and Suriel, and one of the holy angels “who take vengeance for the world and for the luminaries.” Enoch calls Raguel the Angel of the Earth. He also is a guardian of the second heaven, ruled by the archangel Raphael, which is a penal colony where fallen angels await judgment. There, Raguel is instru- mental in meting out justice to erring angels. The Revelation of John tells of God calling upon the services of Raguel in the Judgment, after the separation of the sheep from the goats: “Then shall He send the angel Raguel saying: go sound the trumpet for the angels of cold and snow and ice and bring them together every kind of wrath upon them that stand on the left.” In 745, Pope Zachary, at a church council, repro- bated Raguel, Uriel, Tubuel, Inias, Sabaoc, and Simiel. Pope Zachary termed Raguel as a DEMON “who passed himself off as a saint,” a curious sentence to give an angel whose job it is to make sure other angels do not fall from grace. Raguel was thrown out of the saints’ calendar.