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Angels from a Catholic Perspective - Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) (Latin angelus; Greek aggelos; from the Hebrew for "one going" or "one sent"; messenger). The word is used in Hebrew to denote indifferently either a divine or human messenger. The Septuagint renders it by aggelos which also has both significations. The Latin version, however, distinguishes the divine or spirit-messenger from the human, rendering the original in the one case by angelus and in the other by legatus or more generally by nuntius. In a few passages the Latin version is misleading, the word angelus being used where nuntius would have better expressed the meaning, e.g. Isaiah 18:2; 33:3, 6. It is with the spirit-messenger alone that we are here concerned. We have to discuss:
The angels are represented throughout the Bible as a body
of spiritual beings intermediate between God and men: "You
have made him (man) a little less than the angels"
(Psalm 8:6). They, equally with man, are created beings;
"praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all
His hosts . . . for He spoke and they were made. He commanded
and they were created" (Psalm 148:2, 5: Colossians
1:16, 17). That the angels were created was laid down in
the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). The decree "Firmiter"
against the Albigenses declared both the fact that they
were created and that men were created after them. This
decree was repeated by the Vatican Council, "Dei Filius".
We mention it here because the words: "He that liveth
for ever created all things together" (Ecclesiasticus
18:1) have been held to prove a simultaneous creation of
all things; but it is generally conceded that "together"
(simul) may here mean "equally", in the sense
that all things were "alike" created. They are
spirits; the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says:
"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister
to them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?"
(Heb. i, 14). This function of the angelic host is expressed by the word
"assistance" (Job, i, 6: ii, 1), and our Lord
refers to it as their perpetual occupation (Matt., xviii,
10). More than once we are told of seven angels whose special
function it is thus to "stand before God's throne"
(Tob., xii, 15; Apoc., viii, 2-5). The same thought may
be intended by "the angel of His presence" (Is.,
lxiii, 9) an expression which also occurs in the pseudo-epigraphical
"Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs". Such appearances of angels generally last only so long
as the delivery of their message requires, but frequently
their mission is prolonged, and they are represented as
the constituted guardians of the nations at some particular
crisis, e.g. during the Exodus (Exod., xiv, 19; Baruch,
vi, 6). Similarly it is the common view of the Fathers that
by "the prince of the Kingdom of the Persians"
(Dan., x, 13; x, 21) we are to understand the angel to whom
was entrusted the spiritual care of that kingdom, and we
may perhaps see in the "man of Macedonia" who
appeared to St. Paul at Troas, the guardian angel of that
country (Acts. xvi, 9). The Septuagint (Deut., xxxii, 8),
has preserved for us a fragment of information on this head,
though it is difficult to gauge its exact meaning: "When
the Most High divided the nations, when He scattered the
children of Adam, He established the bounds of the nations
according to the number of the angels of God". How
large a part the ministry of angels played, not merely in
Hebrew theology, but in the religious ideas of other nations
as well, appears from the expression "like to an angel
of God". It is three times used of David (II K., xiv,
17, 20; xiv, 27) and once by Achis of Geth (I K., xxlx,
9). It is even applied by Esther to Assuerus (Esther, xv,
16), and St. Stephen's face is said to have looked "like
the face of an angel" as he stood before the Sanhedrin
(Acts, vi, 15). After Adam's fall Paradise is guarded against our First Parents by cherubim who are clearly God's ministers, though nothing is said of their nature. Only once again do the cherubim figure in the Bible, viz., in Ezechiel's marvellous vision, where they are described at great length (Ezech., i), and are actually called cherub in Ezechiel, x. The Ark was guarded by two cherubim, but we are left to conjecture what they were like. It has been suggested with great probability that we have their counterpart in the winged bulls and lions guarding the Assyrian palaces, and also in the strange winged men with hawks' heads who are depicted on the walls of some of their buildings. The seraphim appear only in the vision of Isaias, vi, 6. Mention has already been made of the mystic seven who stand before God, and we seem to have in them an indication of an inner cordon that surrounds the throne. The term archangel occurs only in St. Jude and I Thess., iv, 15; but St. Paul has furnished us with two other lists of names of the heavenly cohorts. He tells us (Ephes., i, 21) that Christ is raised up "above all principality, and power, and virtue, and dominion"; and, writing to the Colossians (i, 16), he says: "In Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominations, or principalities or powers." It is to be noted that he uses two of these names of the powers of darkness when (ii, 15) he talks of Christ as "despoiling the principalities and powers . . . triumphing over them in Himself". And it is not a little remarkable that only two verses later he warns his readers not to be seduced into any "religion of angels". He seems to put his seal upon a certain lawful angelology, and at the same time to warn them against indulging superstition on the subject. We have a hint of such excesses in the Book of Enoch, wherein, as already stated, the angels play a quite disproportionate part. Similarly Josephus tells us (Be. Jud., II, viii, 7) that the Essenes had to take a vow to preserve the names of the angels. We have already seen how (Daniel 10:12-21) various districts are allotted to various angels who are termed their princes, and the same feature reappears still more markedly in the Apocalyptic "angels of the seven churches", though it is impossible to decide what is the precise signification of the term. These seven Angels of the Churches are generally regarded as being the Bishops occupying these sees. St. Gregory Nazianzen in his address to the Bishops at Constantinople twice terms them "Angels", in the language of the Apocalypse. The treatise "De Coelesti Hierarchia", which is ascribed to St. Denis the Areopagite, and which exercised so strong an influence upon the Scholastics, treats at great length of the hierarchies and orders of the angels. It is generally conceded that this work was not due to St. Denis, but must date some centuries later. Though the doctrine it contains regarding the choirs of angels has been received in the Church with extraordinary unanimity, no proposition touching the angelic hierarchies is binding on our faith. The following passages from St. Gregory the Great (Hom. 34, In Evang.) will give us a clear idea of the view of the Church's doctors on the point: We know on the authority of Scripture that there are nine orders of angels, viz., Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominations, Throne, Cherubim and Seraphim. That there are Angels and Archangels nearly every page of the Bible tell us, and the books of the Prophets talk of Cherubim and Seraphim. St. Paul, too, writing to the Ephesians enumerates four orders when he says: 'above all Principality, and Power, and Virtue, and Domination'; and again, writing to the Colossians he says: 'whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers'. If we now join these two lists together we have five Orders, and adding Angels and Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, we find nine Orders of Angels. St. Thomas (Summa Theologica I:108), following St. Denis
(De Coelesti Hierarchia, vi, vii), divides the angels into
three hierarchies each of which contains three orders. Their
proximity to the Supreme Being serves as the basis of this
division. In the first hierarchy he places the Seraphim,
Cherubim, and Thrones; in the second, the Dominations, Virtues,
and Powers; in the third, the Principalities, Archangels,
and Angels. The only Scriptural names furnished of individual
angels are Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel, names which signify
their respective attributes. Apocryphal Jewish books, such
as the Book of Enoch, supply those of Uriel and Jeremiel,
while many are found in other apocryphal sources, like those
Milton names in "Paradise Lost". (On superstitious
use of such names, see above). The gradual development of Hebrew consciousness on this point is very clearly marked in the inspired writings. The account of the fall of our First Parents (Gen., iii) is couched in such terms that it is impossible to see in it anything more than the acknowledgment of the existence of a principle of evil who was jealous of the human race. The statement (Gen., vi, 1) that the "sons of God" married the daughters of men is explained of the fall of the angels, in Enoch, vi-xi, and codices, D, E F, and A of the Septuagint read frequently, for "sons of God", oi aggeloi tou theou. Unfortunately, codices B and C are defective in Ge., vi, but it is probably that they, too, read oi aggeloi in this passage, for they constantly so render the expression "sons of God"; cf. Job, i, 6; ii, 1; xxxviii, 7; but on the other hand, see Ps., ii, 1; lxxxviii, & (Septuagint). Philo, in commenting on the passage in his treatise "Quod Deus sit immutabilis", i, follows the Septuagint. For Philo's doctrine of Angels, cf. "De Vita Mosis", iii, 2, "De Somniis", VI: "De Incorrupta Manna", i; "De Sacrificis", ii; "De Lege Allegorica", I, 12; III, 73; and for the view of Gen., vi, 1, cf. St. Justin, Apol., ii 5. It should moreover be noted that the Hebrew word nephilim rendered gigantes, in 6:4, may mean "fallen ones". The Fathers generally refer it to the sons of Seth, the chosen stock. In I K., xix, 9, an evil spirit is said to possess Saul, though this is probably a metaphorical expression; more explicit is III B., xxii, 19-23, where a spirit is depicted as appearing in the midst of the heavenly army and offering, at the Lord's invitation, to be a lying spirit in the mouth of Achab's false prophets. We might, with Scholastics, explain this is malum poenae, which is actually caused by God owing to man's fault. A truer exegesis would, however, dwell on the purely imaginative tone of the whole episode; it is not so much the mould in which the message is cast as the actual tenor of that message which is meant to occupy our attention. The picture afforded us in Job, i and ii, is equally imaginative; but Satan, perhaps the earliest individualization of the fallen Angel, is presented as an intruder who is jealous of Job. He is clearly an inferior being to the Deity and can only touch Job with God's permission. How theologic thought advanced as the sum of revelation grew appears from a comparison of II K, xxiv, 1, with I Paral., xxi, 1. Whereas in the former passage David's sin was said to be due to "the wrath of the Lord" which "stirred up David", in the latter we read that "Satan moved David to number Israel". In Job. iv, 18, we seem to find a definite declaration of the fall: "In His angels He found wickedness." The Septuagint of Job contains some instructive passages regarding avenging angels in whom we are perhaps to see fallen spirits, thus xxxiii, 23: "If a thousand death-dealing angels should be (against him) not one of them shall wound him"; and xxxvi, 14: "If their souls should perish in their youth (through rashness) yet their life shall be wounded by the angels"; and xxi, 15: "The riches unjustly accumulated shall be vomited up, an angel shall drag him out of his house;" cf. Prov., xvii, 11; Ps., xxxiv, 5, 6; lxxvii, 49, and especially, Ecclesiasticus, xxxix, 33, a text which, as far as can be gathered from the present state of the manuscript, was in the Hebrew original. In some of these passages, it is true, the angels may be regarded as avengers of God's justice without therefore being evil spirits. In Zach., iii, 1-3, Satan is called the adversary who pleads before the Lord against Jesus the High Priest. Isaias, xiv, and Ezech., xxviii, are for the Fathers the loci classici regarding the fall of Satan (cf. Tertull., adv. Marc., II, x); and Our Lord Himself has given colour to this view by using the imagery of the latter passage when saying to His Apostles: "I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven" (Luke, x, 18). In New Testament times the idea of the two spiritual kingdoms is clearly established. The devil is a fallen angel who in his fall has drawn multitudes of the heavenly host in his train. Our Lord terms him "the Prince of this world" (John xiv, 30); he is the tempter of the human race and tries to involve them in his fall (Matthew, xxv, 41; II Peter, ii, 4: Ephes., vi, 12: II Cor., xi, 14; xii, 7). Christian imagery of the devil as the dragon is mainly derived from the Apocalypse (ix, 11-15; xii, 7-9), where he is termed "the angel of the bottomless pit", "the dragon", "the old serpent", etc., and is represented as having actually been in combat with Archangel Michael. The similarity between scenes such as these and the early Babylonian accounts of the struggle between Merodach and the dragon Tiamat is very striking. Whether we are to trace its origin to vague reminiscences of the mighty saurians which once people the earth is a moot question, but the curious reader may consult Bousett, "The Anti-Christ Legend" (tr. by Keane, London, 1896). The translator has prefixed to it an interesting discussion on the origin of the Babylonian Dragon-Myth. The
Term "Angel" In The Septuagint That a process of evolution in theological thought accompanied the gradual unfolding of God's revelation need hardly be said, but it is especially marked in the various views entertained regarding the person of the Giver of the Law. The Massoretic text as well as the Vulgate of Exod., iii and xix-xx clearly represent the Supreme Being as appearing to Moses in the bush and on Mount Sinai; but the Septuagint version, while agreeing that it was God Himself who gave the Law, yet makes it "the angel of the Lord" who appeared in the bush. By New Testament times the Septuagint view has prevailed, and it is now not merely in the bush that the angel of the Lord, and not God Himself appears, but the angel is also the Giver of the Law (cf. Gal., iii, 19; Heb., ii, 2; Acts, vii, 30). The person of "the angel of the Lord" finds a counterpart in the personification of Wisdom in the Sapiential books and in at least one passage (Zach., iii, 1) it seems to stand for that "Son of Man" whom Daniel (vii, 13) saw brought before "the Ancient of Days". Zacharias says: "And the Lord showed me Jesus the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan stood on His right hand to be His adversary". Tertullian regards many of these passages as preludes to the Incarnation; as the Word of God adumbrating the sublime character in which He is one day to reveal Himself to men (cf. adv, Prax., xvi; adv. Marc., II, 27; III, 9: I, 10, 21, 22). It is possible, then, that in these confused views we can trace vague gropings after certain dogmatic truths regarding the Trinity, reminiscences perhaps of the early revelation of which the Protevangelium in Ge., iii is but a relic. The earlier Fathers, going by the letter of the text, maintained that it was actually God Himself who appeared. he who appeared was called God and acted as God. It was not unnatural then for Tertullian, as we have already seen, to regard such manifestations in the light of preludes to the Incarnation, and most of the Eastern Fathers followed the same line of thought. It was held as recently as 1851 by Vandenbroeck, "Dissertatio Theologica de Theophaniis sub Veteri Testamento" (Louvain). But the great Latins, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and St.
Gregory the Great, held the opposite view, and the Scholastics
as a body followed them. St. Augustine (Sermo vii, de Scripturis,
P. G. V) when treating of the burning bush (Exod., iii)
says: "That the same person who spoke to Moses should
be deemed both the Lord and an angel of the Lord, is very
hard to understand. it is a question which forbids any rash
assertions bug rather demands careful investigation . .
. Some maintain that he is called both the Lord and the
angel of the Lord because he was Christ, indeed the prophet
(Is., ix, 6, Septuagint Version) clearly styles Christ the
'Angel of great Counsel.'" The saint proceeds to show
that such a view is tenable though we must be careful not
to fall into Arianism in stating it. He points out, however,
that if we hold that it was an angel who appeared, we must
explain how he came to be called "the Lord," and
he proceeds to show how this might be: "Elsewhere in
the Bible when a prophet speaks it is yet said to be the
Lord who speaks, not of course because the prophet is the
Lord but because the Lord is in the prophet; and so in the
same way when the Lord condescends to speak through the
mouth of a prophet or an angel, it is the same as when he
speaks by a prophet or apostle, and the angel is correctly
termed an angel if we consider him himself, but equally
correctly is he termed 'the Lord' because God dwells in
him." He concludes: "It is the name of the indweller,
not of the temple." And a little further on: "It
seems to me that we shall most correctly say that our forefathers
recognized the Lord in the angel," and he adduces the
authority of the New Testament writers who clearly so understood
it and yet sometimes allowed the same confusion of terms
(cf. Heb., ii, 2, and Acts, vii, 31-33). The saint discusses
the same question even more elaborately, "In Heptateuchum,"
lib. vii, 54, P. G. III, 558. As an instance of how convinced
some of the Fathers were in holding the opposite view, we
may note Theodoret's words (In Exod.): "The whole passage
(Exod., iii) shows that it was God who appeared to him.
But (Moses) called Him an angel in order to let us know
that it was not God the Father whom he saw -- for whose
angel could the Father be? -- but the Only-begotten Son,
the Angel of great Counsel" (cf. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles.,
I, ii, 7; St. Irenaeus, Haer., iii, 6). But the view propounded
by the Latin Fathers was destined to live in the Church,
and the Scholastics reduced it to a system (cf. St. Thomas,
Quaest., Disp., De Potentia, vi, 8, ad 3am); and for a very
good exposition of both sides of the question, cf. "Revue
biblique," 1894, 232-247. Thus the Bible certainly sanctions the idea of certain
angels being in charge of special districts (cf. Dan., x,
and above). This belief persists in a debased form in the
Arab notion of Genii, or Jinns, who haunt particular spots.
A reference to it is perhaps to be found in Gen., xxxii,
1,2: "Jacob also went on the journey he had begun:
and the angels of God met him: And when he saw then he said:
These are the camps of God, and he called the name of that
place Mahanaim, that is, 'Camps.' " Recent explorations
in the Arab district about Petra have revealed certain precincts
marked off with stones as the abiding-laces of angels, and
the nomad tribes frequent them for prayer and sacrifice.
These places bear a name which corresponds exactly with
the "Mahanaim" of the above passage in Genesis
(cf. Lagrange, Religions Semitques, 184, and Robertson Smith,
Religion of the Semites, 445). Jacob's vision at Bethel
(Gen., xxviii, 12) may perhaps come under the same category.
Suffice it to say that not everything in the Bible is revelation,
and that the object of the inspired writings is not merely
to tell us new truths but also to make clearer certain truths
taught us by nature. The modern view, which tends to regard
everything Babylonian as absolutely primitive and which
seems to think that because critics affix a late date to
the Biblical writings the religion therein contained must
also be late, may be seen in Haag, "Theologie Biblique"
(339). This writer sees in the Biblical angels only primitive
deities debased into demi-gods by the triumphant progress
of Monotheism. In addition to works mentioned above, see St. Thomas, Summa Theol., I, QQ. 50-54 and 106-114; Suarez De Angelis, lib. i-iv. HUGH
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