Vretiel (Pravuil, Vrevoil)

Archangel who records all of God’s deeds and who is “swifter in wisdom than the other archangels.” The etymology of “Vretiel” is unknown and unexplained. As an archangel, he resembles Uriel, but as a scribe he is probably derived from Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing and MAGIC and scribe to the god Osiris (and the equivalent of the Greek Hermes). Vretiel is mentioned in 2 ENOCH . In 22:10–11 God instructs him to bring out the books from God’s storehouses and a pen for “speed-writing” and give them to Enoch. Vretiel hurries away to do God’s bid- ding and returns with the books and pen so that Enoch can record what God wishes him to. Vretiel instructs Enoch for 30 days and 30 nights without ceasing his talking. Enoch writes it down in 366 books. Vretiel is sometimes identified as the “man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his side” in Ezekiel 9:2.