The archangel Sealtiel has several names, such as Saint Sealtiel, Saint Selaphiel, or Selatiel. In Aramaic the archangels's name is pronounced Tzelathiel, which translated means "The Prayer of God". The archangel is occasionally linked with Salathiel, who is referenced in the Second Book of Esdras. Salathiel was one of the kings of Judah, and is a somewhat disputed or controversial member of the Davidic Dynasty. Whether or not the archangel Sealtiel was originally created out of an ancient mistranslation of the Salathiel references, remains unknown within theological circles. The angel does not have any Old Testament scriptural backing, and New Testament references are completely noncanonical. The archangel seems to have slipped into Christian practices many centuries ago, and is simply carried forward and recognized within some denominations of the Christian church likely out of duty to honor the older past traditions.
Within the Eastern Orthodox church the archangel Sealtiel is recognized and celebrated as the official patron saint of prayer. The angel can be seen in many ancient and contemporary religious icons within the church. These works of art usually depict the angel looking very humble, with his eyes looking down, and both arms crossed over his chest. According to tradition the angel's purpose is to teach Christian followers how to gain the deep focus and concentration required in thoughtful prayer. Eastern Orthodox followers are taught to pray to the archangel for assistance in reaching a more divine level of connectedness with God, or what is known as divine prayer. How often the archangel is prayed to or celebrated in this fashion within the church is unknown, as there is some evidence that would suggest that the practice is seen as being extremely archaic, even by a number of fairly strict traditionalists or puritans.
Due in large part to Sealtiel's lack of scriptural backing, he isn't particularly well known outside of the Eastern Orthodox church. Knowledge of the angel's existence within Protestant or Anglican circles is fairly slim, and the angel is entirely unrecognized by both Judaism and Islam. Within the Catholic church, the angel's existence is primarily confined to extremely old iconography and sculpture, where he is usually shown holding a water gourd and two fish tied to a long string or rope. Catholic tradition towards the angel is pretty loose at best, with few followers even knowing who the archangel is. The fact that the archangel does exist within both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox church, obviously indicates that the angel as been around for many centuries, and very likely well beyond the East West Schism. Sadly the archangel does seem to be slowly fading away within Catholic practices and traditions, unless a revival of some sort is launched.
For those of you who have had the pleasure of seeing Eastern Orthodox Iconography art, then you know it's extremely beautiful to look at. The existing iconography art pieces that feature the archangel Sealtiel, are also equally beautiful. I have seen bright and colorful contemporary works where the angel is hovering in the clouds, while standing in the traditional stance of humility with his arms cross in front of his chest. The particular artwork that I saw was part of a Nativity scene, where all seven of the archangels recognized by the Orthodox church hovered in the sky around the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. If I can get copyright access to these paintings of Sealtiel, then I will post them here online for our viewers to check out. I would like to thank you all for reading through this article. I know it's not as thick as some of the others, however Sealtiel is a archangel difficult to pin down. We will publish addition details about Sealtiel in the future.
