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Though barely referred to in the Bible, the Seraphim are frequently mentioned in poetry, prayers and songs as principal characters in the heavenly hosts e.g. in the Te Deum In the Bible they are first mentioned in Isaiah 6, where he talks of them in his vision of heaven and the throne of God. They appeared as choirs of six winged angels loudly praising God. Their singing was enough to shake the foundations of heaven. They stood to his right and to his left as guardians who were, obviously, amongst his elite servants. A pair of wings adorned their feet, two more we used to shield their eyes from the Almighty's blinding majesty whilst the final pair were used to enable them to fly. The vision continued with one of the angels flying towards Isaiah bearing a live coal which he had taken from the altar. He touched and purified the Prophet's lips with the fiery ember and this ordeal consecrated him and gave him the power to inspire all who heard him speak. The Seraphim are sometimes referred to as the "shining ones" their bodies either glowing or surrounded by flames. Their name is probably derived from the Hebrew verb, saraph, which means to be consumed by fire though there is also a noun, saraph which refers to a flying, fiery serpent (see Numbers: 11). In Isaiah's vision, however, no there is no suggestion that they are snake-like indeed they appear in a human form. The Seraphim also appear twice in the Apocrypha in the book of Enoch (chapters 11 & 21) together with and separate from the Cherubim. These were angels of a different order who were, for example, set to guard the gates of Eden after the expulsion of Adam & Eve.
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