- Cover us beneath the shelter of your ethereal wings . . . deliver us from danger, O Prince of the Powers!

Gabriel is a central figure in the Annunciation (Lk 1.26-38) announcing the Incarnation to Mary and through her, to us. Proklos of Constantinople (d. 464) extended the Eve-Mary Parallel and saw in the figure of Gabriel a counter to the Serpent who decieved Eve in Paradise:

“Come let us behold the spiritual serpent, conversing with the daughter of Eve, invalidating the bill of disobedience.”
- Hom. 4.1

Largely due to his association with the Annunciation, Gabriel is depicted early and often in late antique talismans and devotional images.