In the celestial hierarchy, what is the highest order of angels?
Cherub in the angelic hierarchy, following the seraphim. Cherubim are regarded in traditional Christian angelology as angels of the second highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy. "De Coelesti Hierarchia" (ca. 5th century) lists them alongside Seraphim and Thrones. In Western art, cherubim became associated with the putto and the Greco-Roman god Cupid/Eros, with depictions as small, plump, winged boys. Artistic representations of cherubim in Early Christian and Byzantine art sometimes diverged from scriptural descriptions. The earliest known depiction of the tetramorph cherubim is the 5th-6th century apse mosaic found in the Thessalonian Church of Hosios David. This mosaic is an
Hierarchy of angels ten ranks of angels. The most influential Christian angelic hierarchy was that put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 4th or 5th century in his book "De Coelesti Hierarchia" ("On the Celestial Hierarchy"). Dionysius described nine levels of spiritual beings which he grouped into three orders: During the Middle Ages, various schemes were proposed, some drawing on and expanding on Pseudo-Dionysius, others suggesting completely different classifications. Pseudo-Dionysius ("On the Celestial Hierarchy") and Thomas Aquinas ("Summa Theologiae") drew on passages from the New Testament, specifically Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16, to develop a schema of three Hierarchies, Spheres or Triads