Angelic · Above the choirs · c. 1180 CE
Metatron
Also called Mattatron, The Lesser YHWH, Prince of the Countenance · also recorded as Recording Angel, Chancellor of Heaven, Henoch-Metatron, מטטרון (per Wikidata)
The scribe-angel of the merkavah texts. 3 Enoch identifies him as Enoch himself, taken up and remade: the one being in the tradition promoted from human to highest angel.
Single lineage
Metatron appears in no biblical text. He belongs to Talmudic and Hekhalot literature, where he is the heavenly scribe seated before the throne — a posture so unusual that the Talmud records the heretic Elisha ben Abuyah mistaking it for evidence of two powers in heaven, for which Metatron is punished with sixty lashes of fire. 3 Enoch identifies him with the antediluvian Enoch, taken up and remade. The title 'lesser YHWH' made him permanently controversial, and the rabbinic tradition is careful to bound his authority.
Identity
Where does the name come from?
What the name means
Contested and possibly Greek — *metathronos*, 'beside the throne', or from *metator*, 'guide'. No convincing Hebrew derivation has been found, which is itself notable for so central a figure.
Where it was actually worshipped
None; a figure of the merkavah and Hekhalot literature.
A figure with temples and a figure that only ever existed on a page are different kinds of thing, and the difference is easy to lose once both are entries in a list.
At a glance
Vitals
Vitals
Also known as
- First attested
- Mishneh Torah, Yesodei ha-Torah · c. 1180
- Rank
- Prince of the Presence
- Order
- Above the choirs
- Base of operations
- None; a figure of the merkavah and Hekhalot literature.
- Era
- c. 1180 CE
- Traditions
- Jewish
- Placed in
- The Great Archangels
Traits
- Domain
- The celestial record, the throne, mediation
- Traditional form
- Youth of fire with seventy-two wings and countless eyes
4 attributed
What is it said to do?
Where these powers cluster
The 4 offices attributed to Metatron, grouped by kind. Segment width is the share of powers falling in each category.
A bar dominated by one colour means a specialist; an even spread means a figure the sources credit with almost anything.
- knowledge2
- divination1
- social1
knowledge
- Teaches the Liberal Sciencesno text cited
- Records Deedsno text cited
divination
- Reveals Divine Secretsno text cited
social
- Intercedesno text cited
1 mark
Which marks is it attached to?
A mark a figure carries and a mark used against a figure are opposite claims, so each link says which it is.
1 texts
Which texts say so?
Maimonides' ten-rank scheme conspicuously omits him, part of a broader rationalist trimming of merkavah material.
Connections
What is it connected to?
Placement
Where does it sit in the hierarchies?
Afterwards
What did later readers make of it?
The title 'lesser YHWH' made him permanently controversial, and the Talmudic story of Elisha ben Abuyah mistaking him for a second power is told precisely to bound his authority.
Kept in its own section on purpose. Everything above is what the cited texts say; this is what was built on top of them afterwards, and blending the two is how most popular demonology goes wrong.
Answered from the sources
Common questions
Which texts mention Metatron?
Is Metatron the same as Thoth?
What rank is Metatron?
How else is Metatron spelled?
What is Metatron said to do?
How old is Metatron?
Nearest in the corpus
If Metatron is what you came for, these are next
Chosen by proximity rather than by popularity: the same pantheon first, then the same rank, then the same kind of figure.
Cherubim
Second Choir · First Sphere
Guardians of thresholds and bearers of the throne — four-faced in Ezekiel, flanking the mercy seat in Exodus, and nothing at all like the winged infants of later art.
Dominions
Fourth Choir · Second Sphere
The administrative choir: they regulate the duties of lower angels and never act directly on the created world.
Gabriel
Archangel · Archangels / Chief Princes
The messenger. The angel who explains Daniel's visions, announces two births in Luke, and in Islam delivers the entire Qur'an.
Michael
Archangel · Archangels / Chief Princes
The warring archangel: prince of Israel in Daniel, captain of the host in Revelation, and the only angel the New Testament calls an archangel outright.
Seraphim
First Choir · First Sphere
Six-winged and burning, they attend the throne directly and sing the trisagion. Their name is the Hebrew verb 'to burn'.
Thrones
Third Choir · First Sphere
The wheels of the chariot — rings of fire studded with eyes, on which divine justice is said to be seated.
The book behind Metatron
Every claim on this profile is attributed to one of these. It is public domain, listed oldest first, and each links to a full text where one is freely available.
Mishneh Torah, Yesodei ha-Torah
Moses Maimonides · c. 1180 · Hebrew
Read Mishneh Torah, Yesodei ha-Torah in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Blaisio Ugolino · Wikimedia file page
Corpus last revised 29 August 2026. A reference site’s credibility rests on being maintained, so this is the date the sourced records last changed — not the date the page was rebuilt.