Herein we continued, from part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19, part 20, part 21, part 22, a series regarding paranormal entities in text generally termed the Apocrypha, Deutero Canonical, Pseudepigrapha, Gnostic Texts, etc. (see my article on the Apocrypha here). The quotations are of those sections within the text that refer to Angels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Devil, Satan, demons, serpent and dragon. The point is not to elucidate these references but to provide relevant partial quotations and citations.
Angels in the apocryphal texts Tales of the Patriarchs, Fragments of a Zadokite Work aka The Damascus Document, Narrative of Joseph of Arimathaea and History of Joseph the Carpenter.
Tales of the Patriarchs – 2nd century AD
Col 15 And he should come between… Four Angels… between all nations. And they will all worship and be dumbfounded… I will honestly explain to you. And I, Noah woke up from my sleep and the Sun. [ellipses in original]
Fragments of a Zadokite Work aka The Damascus Document – 10th to 12th century AD
2:4-5 And power and might and great fury with flames of fire [therein are all the Angels of destruction] for them who turned aside out of the way, and abhorred the statute, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape of them.
20:2 And on the day on which the man imposes it upon himself to return to the law of Moses the Angel of Mastema will depart from him if he make good his word.
Narrative of Joseph of Arimathaea –
3 I see Thee, Christ, adored by myriads of myriads of Angels…[Jesus has] come down into the world to be made flesh, and to be nailed to a cross, in order that I might save Adam, whom I fashioned,–to my Archangelic powers, the gatekeepers of paradise, to the officers of my Father.
5 After I had beheld these things, as I was going into Galilee with Jesus and the robber, Jesus was transfigured, and was not as formerly, before He was crucified, but was altogether light; and Angels always ministered to Him, and Jesus spoke with them.
Report of Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judaea Sent to Rome to Tiberius Caesar (second Greek form) – 150-255 AD
And as lightnings come on in winter, so majestic men of indescribable splendour of dress and of glory appeared in the air, and an innumerable multitude of Angels crying out, and saying: Glory in the highest to God, and on Earth peace, among men goodwill: come up out of Hades, ye who have been kept in slavery in the underground regions of Hades.
History of Joseph the Carpenter – 6th to 7th century AD
1 Verily the Saviour diligently inquires into the inheritance which is due, and is the administrator of justice. And the Angels will cast down their enemies, and will fight for them in the day of conflict.
6 But at mid-day there appeared to him in a dream the prince of the Angels, the holy Gabriel…Having thus spoken, the Angel departed from him. And Joseph rose from his sleep, and did as the Angel of the Lord had said to him; and Mary abode with him.
12 And as his body was verging on dissolution, an Angel of the Lord informed him that his death was now close at hand.
13 …the great Michael, the prince of Thy holy Angels…Thy holy Angel be present with his help to my soul and body…And let not the face of the Angel, appointed my guardian from the day of my birth.
17 Thou art altogether my God; Thou art my Lord, as the Angel has told me times without number…behold, there appeared to me in my rest Angels of the Lord.
22 O Father of all mercy…send Michael, the prince of Thine Angels, and Gabriel, the herald of light, and all the light of Thine Angels.
23 And the Angels preserved his soul from the demons of darkness which were in the way, and praised God even until they conducted it into the dwelling-place of the pious.
25 And as soon as I had finished it, and pronounced the amen, a great multitude of Angels came up.
In the next segment, we will consider Avenging of the Saviour and Book of John the Evangelist aka Interrogatio Iohannis.