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  1. According to the catechisms of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, angels are primarily spiritual beings. In this sense, it is problematic to talk about whether they have a gender. Orthodox Catechism (“Philaret Catechism”): “Angels are disembodied spirits, gifted with intelligence, will and power.” Catholic catechism: “Being purely spiritual creatures, they have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures.”

    Although the names of angels known from the Bible (Michael, Gabriel, etc.) are masculine, in theology angels as spiritual beings are traditionally considered asexual, this is a “common place” in various branches of Christianity. For example, K. Parkhomenko in the book “About angels and demons” writes: “Angels have no gender, have no age.” We read the same thing in R. B. Dekhtyarenko's book “The Biblical Teaching about Angels”: “Angels by their nature are spiritual beings. They have no physical bodies, have no gender, do not die; they are invisible, they are created.”

    The situation is similar in Islam, but there is in some sense the opposite problem. Since the Arabs had a widespread notion of female angels, there is a special passage in the Qur'an (Sura 37, verses 149-150) that explains the fallacy of this notion: “So ask them ,' Does your Lord have daughters and they have sons?' Did We create the angels as women and they saw?” The vast majority of Muslim theologians interpret this in the sense that angels should not be understood as having a gender.

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