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The Angel Moroni () is, in Mormonism, an angel that visited Joseph Smith on numerous occasions, beginning on September 21, 1823. According to Smith, the angel was the guardian of the golden plates, which Latter Day Saints believe were the source material for the Book of Mormon, buried in a hill near Smith's home in western New York. Moroni is an important figure in the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, and is featured prominently in Mormon architecture and art. Three Witnesses besides Smith also reported that they saw Moroni in visions in 1829, as did several other witnesses who each said they had their own vision. Moroni is thought by Latter Day Saints to be the same person as a Book of Mormon prophet-warrior named Moroni, who was the last to write in the golden plates. The book states that Moroni buried them before he died after a great battle between two pre-Columbian civilizations. After he died, he became an angel, and was tasked with guarding the golden plates, and with eventually directing Smith to their location in the 1820s. According to Smith, he returned the golden plates to Moroni after they were translated and as of 1838 the angel Moroni still had the plates in his possession.〔Joseph Smith–History, (1:60 ), Pearl of Great Price.〕 ==Angel's name and identity== There have been two conflicting accounts as to the name of the angel. Initially, Smith merely referred to "an angel" without identifying its name. Thus, in an 1831 letter from Lucy Mack Smith to her brother, she discusses Moroni as the person who buried the plates, but does not identify him as the unnamed "holy angel" that gave Smith the means to translate the golden plates.〔.〕 In Smith's 1832 history, he said he was visited by "an angel of the Lord", who mentioned the Book of Mormon prophet "Moroni" as the last engraver of the golden plates; however, Smith's account did not say whether or not the angel was referring to ''himself'' as Moroni.〔.〕 In 1835, Smith identified the angel ''as'' Moroni: in 1835, while preparing the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, he made additions to an earlier revelation regarding sacramental wine, and indicated a number of angels that would come to the earth after the Second Coming and drink wine with Smith and Oliver Cowdery.〔.〕 Among those angels, the revelation listed "Moroni, whom I have sent unto you to reveal the book of Mormon, containing the fulness of my everlasting gospel; to whom I have committed the keys of the record of the stick of Ephraim".〔 Around this time, Cowdery was writing a history of Smith in which he identified the angel as the prophet Moroni from the Book of Mormon.〔.〕 In July 1838, Smith wrote an article for the church periodical ''Elders' Journal'', in the form of questions and answers, that stated the following: :"Question 4th. How, and where did you obtain the book of Mormon? :"Answer. Moroni, the person who deposited the plates, from whence the book of Mormon was translated, in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, as a resurrected being, appeared unto me, and told me where they were; and gave me directions how to obtain them."〔.〕 However, on May 2, 1838, a few months before Smith's statement in ''Elders' Journal'', Smith began dictating a church history that included a detailed account of his visits from the angel.〔.〕 In this text, Smith identified the angel as "Nephi", which is the name of the Book of Mormon's first narrator.〔.〕 Smith's 1838 identification as "Nephi" was left unchanged when the 1838 history was published in 1842 in ''Times and Seasons'', which Smith edited himself, and in ''Millennial Star''.〔.〕 In the latter, an editorial referred to the 1823 vision and praised "the glorious ministry and message of the angel Nephi".〔.〕 After Smith's death, the identification as "Nephi" was repeated when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) published its first edition of the Pearl of Great Price.〔.〕 It was also repeated in 1853 when Smith's mother Lucy Mack Smith published a history of her son.〔.〕 As a further complication, Mary Whitmer, mother to one of the Three Witnesses and four of the Eight Witnesses, said she had a vision of the golden plates, shown to her by an angel whom she always called "Brother Nephi",〔.〕 who may or may not have been the same angel to which Smith referred. Nevertheless, based on Smith's other statements that the angel was "Moroni," and based on both prior and later publications, most Latter Day Saints view Smith's 1838 identification of the angel as Nephi as a mistake, perhaps on the part of the transcriber or a later editor.〔See FAIR Wiki, ("Nephi or Moroni" ).〕 In the version of Smith's 1838 history published by the LDS Church, as well as the portion canonized by that denomination as the Pearl of Great Price, the name "Nephi" has been changed by editors to read "Moroni".〔(Joseph Smith–History 1:27 ).〕 The Community of Christ publishes the original story, including the identification of "Nephi", but indicates "Moroni" in a footnote. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Angel Moroni」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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