In Ecclesiastical Art literal renderings of the descriptions contained in
the Old Testament and the Apocalypse are not of unfrequent use. A more
lengthened reference to these great Hebrew symbolic beings will not be
considered out of place, as there is great doubt and uncertainty as to
their forms.
These mystic symbolic beings were familiar to all the patriarchs--from
Adam, who gazed upon them in Paradise, and against whom on his expulsion
they stood with flaming sword, turning every way to bar his return--to
Moses, who trembled before it on Mount Sinai; while to the Priests and
Levites, the custodians of the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle, the
cherubim remained the sacred guardians in the Holy of Holies of the
palladium of the national faith and liberties during the brightest and, as
it has been termed, the most heroic period of Jewish history.
[Illustration: Angel crest of Tuite, Bart. co. Tip.]
Josephus, the more effectually to excite respect for the great Hebrew
symbol in the minds of his readers, purposely throws over it the veil of
obscurity. He says: "The cherubim are winged creatures, but the form of
them does not resemble that of any living creature seen by man." In the
works of Philo Judæus there is an express dissertation upon the cherubim.
The learned Brochart and many others have attempted to elucidate the
subject to little purpose. The ambiguity which always accompanies a
written description of objects with which we are imperfectly acquainted
applies with greater force to this mysterious being combining so many
apparently conflicting attributes.
To the prophetic vision of Ezekiel, the description of which, in the
opinion of competent critics, excels in grandeur of idea and energy of
expression the most celebrated writers of ancient and modern times, the
reader is referred, as it supplies at first hand almost all that can be
known concerning the fearful form of the cherubim.
The four living creatures that support the throne of God exhibited to
Ezekiel a fourfold aspect; they had each the face of _a man_, the face of
_a lion_, and the face of _an ox_; they also had the face of _an eagle_.
They had each four wings; they had the hands of a man under their wings.
"Two wings of every one were joined one to the other, and two covered
their bodies." They were accompanied by wheels which "went upon their four
sides, and they turned not when they went"; "and their whole body, and
their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and their wheels were full
of eyes"; "and the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of
a flash of lightning." Such is a concise description of their appearance
as set forth in Ezekiel (chap. i.).
"This wonderful and mysterious hieroglyph must be considered as a striking
and expressive emblem of the guardian vigilance of providence, all-seeing
and omniscient; while the number of wings exhibit to us direct symbols of
that powerful, that all-pervading spirit which, while it darts through
nature at a glance, is everywhere present to protect and defend us"
(Dideron).
So attached were the Jews to this celestial symbol that when Solomon
erected that stupendous temple which continued the glory and boast of the
Hebrew nation for so many ages, we are told (1 Kings, vi. 29, viii. 6, 7),
he carved all the walls of the house round about with the sculptured
figures of the cherubim, and on each side of the ark was a cherub of gold
plated upon olive wood fifteen feet high, with their faces to the light,
their expanded wings embracing the whole space of the sacred enclosure,
serving as a visible sign or symbol of God's immediate presence, whence
the saying of David, "God sitteth between the cherubim" (Ps. xcix. 1). In
this place God perpetually resided in the form of a bright cloud or
shining luminous body, termed "shechinah," whence the divine oracles were
audibly delivered.
Milton gives the following description of the Seraph Raphael:
"At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise
He lights, and to his proper shape returns
A seraph wing'd; six wings he wore to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad came mantling o'er his breast
With regal ornament: the middle pair
Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold
And colours dipped in heaven; the third, his feet
Shadows from either heel with feather'd mail
Sky tinctured grain. Like Maia's son he stood
And shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance fill'd
The circuit wide."
_Paradise Lost_, Book v.
The _cherub_ is traditionally regarded as a celestial spirit which in the
hierarchy is placed next in order to the seraphim. All the several
descriptions which the Scripture gives us of cherubim differ from one
another, as they are described in the shapes of men, eagles, oxen, lions,
and in a composition of all these figures put together. The hieroglyphical
representations in the embroidery upon the curtains of the tabernacle were
called by Moses (Ex. xxvi. 1) "cherubim of cunning work" (Calmet).
The _seraphim_ are regarded as an order of angels distinguished for
fervent zeal and religious ardour. The word means "burning," _i.e._, with
Divine Love.
The seraphim are described by Isaiah (vi. 1-3): "I saw also the Lord
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the
temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he
covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he
did fly. And one cried to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord
of Hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." And in Revelation (iv.
6): "Round about the throne were four beasts full of eyes before and
behind, and the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a
calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was
like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about
him, and they were full of eyes within." It will be noticed that these
descriptions differ from that of Ezekiel, not only in the number of wings,
but also in the individuality of each beast being separate and
independent, not compounded of the four.
[Illustration: Tetramorph.]
Several forms of these mystical creatures, says Audsley, have been devised
by the early mediæval artists; those which display the entire forms of
_the man_, _the lion_, _the ox_, and _the eagle_, all winged and invested
with the nimbus, appear to have been most frequently made use of. They are
to be met with formed of the _heads of the mystical creatures_ on bodies
or half-bodies of _winged human figures_; at other times we find them
comprised in the heads and wings only of the four symbolic creatures.
Sometimes they are found united and forming one mysterious being called
the _Tetramorph_ with four heads and numerous wings covered with eyes, the
feet resting on wheels, which are also winged. The example is taken from a
Byzantine mosaic in the convent of Vatopedi, on Mount Athos.
Pugin's "Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume" says the
cherubim are frequently represented of a bright red colour to set forth
the intensity of divine love, and usually standing upon wheels, in
reference to the vision of the prophet Ezekiel.
Cherubim and seraphim seem always vested in the alb or tunic, and a scarf
tied in a knot round the neck.