The Holy Angels

By: Mother Alexandra

Narrated by: Kristina Wenger

First published in 1981 and long out of print, The Holy Angels has yet to be surpassed as a comprehensive and comprehensible account of the nature of the angels and their role in our salvation. In layperson's terms, Mother Alexandra presents the essence of everything the church has to teach us about the angels, beginning with the Old Testament, continuing through the New Testament, and concluding with the tradition of the church as expressed in her theology, hymnography, and iconography. For those who long to become better acquainted with these holy servants of God and to understand their role in our lives, this book is a great place to start.

©2019 Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration (P)2020 Ancient Faith Publishing

A Thorough Review of Angels - Both Their History and Roles

“The Holy Angels” is a thoughtful, thorough, well-organized presentation about angels, read with clarity and confidence. Kristina Wenger, whose voice I recognized from her reading of the author’s early life autobiography (“I Live Again”), once again became the voice of the author. I appreciated this continuity as it helped me to appreciate the depth of knowledge, insight, and understanding provided – that the once princess of Romania, who served so many people throughout her life, then chose to serve by sharing a piece of her robust faith.

What’s most memorable to me was the realization of how much I didn’t know (and probably still don’t, because there was a lot of information to glean). I think we make assumptions about angels and their roles in our lives, and/or take them for granted - I have been guilty of paying no attention to them or to the support and accountability that they provide. I think we also neglect to recognize the spiritual side of life – the world unseen that surrounds us. It’s always good to be humbled in recognition that there is so much more to know.

It’s not every day that you listen to a book that makes you want to rewind over and over to hear and fully comprehend all that’s being discussed. This book made me want to purchase the written copy for my own study and quick reference. I appreciated Mother Alexandra’s review of Scripture, as well as the review of extra biblical literature. I appreciate the depth of her presentation of not only scripture, but Apostolic, early church, and church father’s writings as well; there was also discussion of literary and artistic references to angels – again causing a desire to have a written copy of the book so I could use it to reference the pieces of art and the artists that she talked about.

In listening to this book, the only thing lacking is my own ability to remember all that I heard. It is a book I will revisit again, both in the audio and print versions.

Fantastic

This book is fantastic. It is an advanced study of the Holy Angels. I'm definitely going to listen to it again. So good.

Inspirational

In the troubled world, we live in; this was an uplifting read. It is good to be reminded how God uses his heavenly angels to protect and defend his children.

Profound book, annoying reader

I don’t know how else to say it. The reader grates on my nerves. Her reading style is what I’d call “precious” and bordering on the condescending style we take when reading children’s book to young ones. Such an important work to have read in a way that I can’t bare to listen to it.

I still rated it as a 5 because of the book itself. I just suggest reading it if you, like me, need a more mature vocal style, especially for something so profoundly important.

She’s a great reader, but perhaps for inspirational or children’s books. Darn.

a wonderful book on angels

I had the incredible pleasure of getting to listen to The Holy Angels by Mother Alexander. While It was a book I very much wanted to read, I did so not knowing what to expect. I am Latin Rite not orthodox, and Angels are looked at a bit differently in the Latin Rite. However, I can only say good things about this book.

First, the narrator was a great choice for this book. She was easy to listen to and really helped to draw you into the book. I did get the audio book and normally I have trouble with audiobooks, my mind tends to get lost in my own thoughts about what i am listening too, Now, it still happened a little but not nearly as much as normal and it was a great experience.

The book itself breaks every section up very clearly and talks about areas in the Bible that discuss angels, but also talks about the church fathers, theology and just a general chapter on what angels are, which I found extremely helpful. I believe my favorite sections were on angels and the book of revelation and the chapter on angels in the holy liturgies and prayers. There was no section I wished I could just skim through or skip all together.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is orthodox or catholic of any rite. You might enjoy reading it with a Bible by your side and it would make a great book to journal while you read. That said whether you just read or it use it as study or reflection material I do not believe you can go wrong with this book. Mother Alexader wrote a wonderful book.