Angels.

Angels. My first recollection of angels came from two distinct sources - a big-eyed “precious moments” figurine my grandma had on her nightstand, and a childrens’ Bible depiction of the angel wrestling Jacob in Genesis 32; neither of these are probably great depictions, but here we are. The word itself means “messenger,” and they’re at the very bottom of the hierarchy we accept in the Church, that established by pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite around the 4th or 5th century AD (NB: he shouldn’t be confused with the actual Dionysius the Aeropagite, baptized by St. Paul and numbered among the 70, and whose legitimate works are really worth your looking into). So by cobbling together some passages from Colossians 1 and Ephesians 6, “pseudo-Dino” (forgive me) constructed 3 choirs/hierarchies of what he called the “Celestial Hierarchy.” In descending order they are the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Powers, Dominions, Principalities, Virtues, Archangels, and Angels. We hear about all of these in several troparia, kontakia, akathists, and of course in the Agni Partheni which is sung following each Divine Liturgy, i.e., the part where the Theotokos is praised as being more glorious than all of these. But more often than not, it’s the archangels, angels, cherubim, and seraphim that we hear most about in the Divine Liturgy; the Archangels Michael and Gabriel are depicted on the deacon’s doors, guarding the entry into the Altar. The six-winged Seraphim (from the Hebrew, “flaming”) can be seen in the Panagia icon above the bishop’s throne and inside above the royal doors, and a few other places around the temple. The cherubim “great understanding/ wisdom,” were set upon the ark of the covenant, and of course the cherubic hymn preceding the Great Entrance represents them, between whom the Lord dwells and makes His triumphal entrance into the Altar. When you were made a catechumen, your guardian angel was attached to you - do some reading and/or speaking with your sponsor or spiritual father and find out more about this!