Q 01/05

The word 'angel' comes from the Greek angelos, which literally means what?

A) Guardian

B) Winged one

C) Servant

D) Messenger

Answer · why

D) Messenger

Its earliest form is Mycenaean a-ke-ro in Linear B, and it may itself be a loan word related to the Persian mounted courier, the angaros.

Q 02/05

How many orders of angels are there in Pseudo-Dionysius's 6th-century hierarchy?

A) Seven

B) Twelve

C) Nine

D) Three

Answer · why

C) Nine

They are arranged in three spheres of three; the author claimed to be a convert of St Paul, a fiction exposed by Erasmus a thousand years later.

Q 03/05

How many wings do the seraphim have in Isaiah's vision of the throne of God?

A) Two

B) Four

C) Twelve

D) Six

Answer · why

D) Six

Two cover the face, two the feet and two are for flying, while they cry 'holy, holy, holy'; the Hebrew saraph means 'burning'.

Q 04/05

In Ezekiel's vision, a cherub has four faces: a human, a lion, an eagle and which other creature?

A) A horse

B) A serpent

C) An ox

D) A ram

Answer · why

C) An ox

Cherubim also guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden in Genesis, a long way from the chubby babies of Renaissance art.

Q 05/05

Which archangel tells Mary she will bear a son in the Gospel of Luke?

A) Gabriel

B) Michael

C) Raphael

D) Uriel

Answer · why

A) Gabriel

He had already announced John the Baptist's birth to Zechariah, and Muslims believe he delivered the first Quranic verses to Muhammad.