What do we know about the archangel Suriel?702

“Suriel” in Hebrew means “God is my Rock.” According to the Coptic Synaxarium it means “the trumpet of God,” since he will sound the trumpet on the last day before God sends

701 “Encomium on the Archangel Raphael by Saint John Chrysostom (incomplete),” in Budge, E. A. Wallis. Miscellaneous Coptic Texts in the Dialect of Upper Egypt (Longman’s and Co., 1915): pp. 1039–1040, amended. Editor’s Note: the authenticity of this text is doubtful.

702 See Nabil Elijah Fanous and Gamal George Antoun, The Holy Angels (Arabic) , 2014; the entry for “Archangel Suriel” at the website of St. Takla Heymanout, Ibrahimia, Alexandria; the Coptic Synaxarium entry for 27 Toba; and the Book of the Holy Psalmody.

his angels to sound their trumpets, making a great sound, before His chosen people gather from the four winds. The Church celebrates his feast on the twenty-seventh of Tobe and calls him the trumpeter of the melody of joy. The Church looks to him as the one who brings more joy to hearts than anything in this vain world.

• a. It was said of him that he accompanied Ezra the scribe, supported him, and revealed hidden mysteries to him. The Synaxarium says that he announced the good news of salvation to Adam and delivered Joseph from the hands of the wife of his master, Potiphar.

• b. It was said of him that he supported the martyrs and saints in their spiritual warfare and helped them to be steadfast in their faith.

• c. The apocryphal book of 2 Esdras (chs. 2–4, NRSV) says that Ezra saw a great multitude on the Temple Mount, praising God; and then he saw a young man who was taller than all. The archangel Suriel explained to him that this is the Son of God (2 Esdras 2:42–47 NRSV).

• d. Ezra complained to the angel about his tribulations, but the angel answered that these are due the evil that dwells in the hearts of Adam and his offspring. When Ezra then complained to him that “our years are few and evil” (2 Esdras 4:33 NRSV) and wanted to know when the world would come to an end, the angel answered, “Do not be in a greater hurry than the Most High … When the number of those like yourselves is completed” (2 Esdras 4:34, 36 NRSV). He told him that the archangel Ananiel is the one who brings peace to the hearts of the martyrs beneath the altar and tells them to them to rest a little while longer, until the number of their fellow martyrs is completed (Rev. 6:11). And he revealed to him the days of tribulation in the last times and impressed upon him how important it is for the people of God to go through the narrow gate.

• e. The angel explained to him that the wicked suffer affliction for seven reasons (2 Esdras 7:80–87 NRSV): they have scorned the law of the Most High; they reject repentance; they see the reward of the saints; they are aware of the torment laid up for them; they see the lives of others being guarded by angels in peace; they see how some of them will cross over into torments; and they shall wither with fear at the prospect of seeing God. On the other hand, the righteous will enjoy seven sources of joy (2 Esdras 7:88–98 NRSV): they strive for victory over sin; they see the wicked wandering in perplexity and the punishment that awaits them; God bears witness of their goodness; the security they now enjoy, guarded by angels, and the glory awaiting them in the last days; they have escaped corruption and will inherit immortality; they know that their faces will shine like the sun and like the light of the stars; and they shall be glad without fear to see the face of God.

In the doxology of the archangel Suriel, we sing, “Let us worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and honor Suriel, the fourth in archangels. Good is the joy of Suriel, which we ascribe to him in the churches, more than the joy of a bridegroom, of this passing world. You know O my beloved, that the joy of this world passes, but the joy of Suriel, endures forever. Intercede on our behalf, O holy archangel, Suriel the trumpeter, that He may forgive us our sins.”