Angels are spirits without bodies, who possess superior intelligence, gigantic strength, and surpassing holiness. They enjoy an intimate relationship to God as His special adopted children, contemplating, loving, and praising Him in heaven. Some of them are frequently sent as messengers to men from on high. In many religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it is believed that between God and mankind there are intermediary beings, called angels. They are bodiless entities that perform certain tasks for God and are commonly thought of as the messengers of God.
Angels are good spirits, unlike their counterparts the demons.
They are usually portrayed as having a human form, being dressed in long, white clothes, surrounded by a bright light and with long, swanlike wings. They were portrayed thus by artist, often on Church command, to alert the faithful that angels are more than human. In the early stages of mankind, the belief in spirits was universal. The primitive man believed that there were no good or bad spirits. A spirit simply had powers, called mana, with which it could do either good or evil.