HISTORY 

The word angel comes from the Greek, angelos, meaning messenger.  It is usually taken to mean an intermediary between God and man.  Angels are arranged into nine orders or choirs, according to their importance or nearness to God, with the most important mentioned first. These orders are:

As you can see, although it is commonly believed that archangels are the highest order, they are in fact higher only than angels.  The three archangels mentioned in the Bible are Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, and the two in the Apocrypha are Uriel and Jeremiel.