– detail from Pinturicchio's The Annunciation (1501)
Since this Tuesday (November 8th) is the Synaxis (i.e., “gathering”) of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel (and all the angels), it would be good to go over a few Orthodox facts about angels. Angels are usually disregarded in thought and conversation. If the angels are thought of at all, it is usually in sentimental speech, or littered with maudlin devices like winged and rotund naked infants. Angelology – and yes, that word does exist – is not only deeply interesting, but it is necessary.
The nature of angels
Besides humans, angels are the only other beings in Creation that have “spirit.” Humans have spirit, soul, and body. Animals have souls and bodies. Angels have spirit and soul, but no bodies – hence, they are called “bodiless,” or “incorporeal.” Humans are the only species that have all three – spirit, soul, and body.
That said, angels are not omnipresent (i.e., “everywhere present”) – only God is that. They occupy time and space in a limited way: beyond this, not much more can be said about their locality.
As bodiless, they are not physically perceivable – unless, of course, the Holy Spirit reveals them to human senses, as happens on numerous occasions in Scripture. This is one of the beautiful distinguishing features of the Gospel of Luke and its sequel, the Book of Acts.
Angels are sometimes called, by the Fathers, “second suns.” Their whole nature is simply and completely to reflect the light of God, Who is “the First Sun.” But since God is the only One Who is infinite and eternal, no angel reflects all His light, but only a part.
While humans share one single nature, but are as many persons as there are individuals, angels actually have as many natures as there are individuals. This is simply because of the particular reflection of God’s Light that their whole being is devoted to.
Their devotion and reflection is so complete that they really do not have any distinct nature in and of themselves, apart from the part of the Glory of God that they reflect.
This explains why, in the Old Testament, an appearance of an angel can be (and is often) the actual appearance of God – that is, an “angelophany” can actually be a “theophany.” This is clearly the case in the instance of the Visitation of Abraham, where three angels visit the patriarch. And one is addressed as the Lord Himself.
The assembly of angels
There is a far greater unity of angels than is true of humans. All the angels together are called an “assembly,” even a harmonious choir.
It is such a unity in Christ, and such a clear love for Him, that is made possible by the Incarnation – the death on the Cross, resurrection, and ascension. This is why Jesus told the Sadducees that we will be “like the angels” in heaven. In opposing the Sadducean broken humanity (as evinced by their cynical question about a woman marrying a succession of seven brothers), Jesus described the heavenly humanity as unified and reflective of divinity.
Speaking of the assembly of angels: they are described as “myriad” in number. They are uncountable: “I shall count them and they shall increase in number, more than the sands of the sea” (Psalm 138.18 LXX). They are not “infinite,” as only God is this. But they are beyond human imagination in number. St Basil the Great interpreted the Parable of the Good Shepherd (Matthew 18.12-13), in which the Shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to look for the one lost lamb. St Basil says that the lost lamb represents all of humanity, so thus the ninety-nine, representing the angels, means that angels outnumber humans by a factor of a hundred.
Angels are myriad in number because they are the immediate “executives” of God’s personal and divine action. We see in Scripture that individual angels are assigned to protect and manage different parts of Creation. St Michael, for example, is the guardian of the nation of Israel.
Guardian angels
In fact, the entire angelic order, which Holy Tradition says is the lowest of the nine ranks of the bodiless powers, is composed of “guardian angels.” Jesus speaks directly of these angels in Matthew 18.10: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.”
Every human has a guardian angel, who is in direct communion with God (as are all bodiless powers as “second suns”). The guardian angel is the closest friend, the one who persuades toward prayer and repentance and communion with God, the one who helps protect from spiritual harm.
It seems that guardian angels are appointed for individual persons, and also for groups of people. As mentioned, there are angels appointed for nations. In Revelation, we hear of angels appointed for churches in various cities. We do not know whether there are angels appointed for marriages and families, even extended families, but it wouldn’t be surprising.
The bodiless hierarchy
The nine ranks of the bodiless powers are described by Dionysius the Areopagite (from his On the Heavenly Hierarchies) as follows: 1) Seraphim; 2) Cherubim; 3) Thrones; 4) Dominions; 5) Powers (or Virtues); 6) Authorities; 7) Principalities; 8) Archangels; 9) Angels. There is little revealed to human knowledge about exactly what these ranks mean.
What is known is that the higher the order, the closer the order is to God. The higher order hands down divine enlightenment to the lower.
And here is something crucial. When we speak of heavenly hierarchy, we are speaking of a hierarchy that is entirely different from a worldly hierarchy. Here, in this fallen world, hierarchy means distance, even absence, as in the higher someone is the further away he is from us and the more he doesn’t know and doesn’t care. Hierarchy in this world means power and domination.
That is not at all the case in the heavenly hierarchy. God is everywhere present at all places in the hierarchy. And this hierarchy is a hierarchy of servanthood. The higher levels hand down knowledge of God through the self-sacrifice of kenosis, or self-emptying.
It is through this knowledge of God that the higher bodiless powers act as “agents of Divine Providence.” They are the ones who manage the stability of the physical universe. They may well provide the constants of physics. Through their efforts, the vast arrangements of planets, stars, galaxies and other great structures are sustained.
There is no place in time and space that is devoid of angelic presence. The sheer number of bodiless beings cannot be exaggerated.
All this is done for the purpose of the revelation and glorification of Jesus Christ and the actualization of His Kingdom, as St Paul makes clear repeatedly, and is terrifyingly brought out in the apocalyptic visions of St John’s Revelation.
Demonic mismanagement
This may explain – as some Fathers teach – why bad things happen in Creation. Why are there disorders in the natural realm, catastrophes like hurricanes, earthquakes, and plagues? Not all bad things are produced by human evil. Many are natural catastrophes.
Some Fathers teach that these catastrophes are the result of “demonic mismanagement.” These are the bodiless powers that rebelled against God, joining Lucifer in his rejection of God’s love and providence.
Some of our own hymnody states outright that the devil and his legions rejected God mainly because of God’s plan to create humanity in His own image. It is plain jealousy that motivated the devil to tempt Adam and Eve in Eden.
Add to that the Orthodox emphasis that the entire hierarchy of the faithful bodiless powers are not only devoted to glorifying God in their direct prayer and work, but are – precisely because of this – completely devoted to the salvation of humanity and all Creation.
This devotion to humanity – as the heart of all Creation – is exactly what the devil and the demoniac despised the most. It is possible that the responsibilities assigned to these powers would fall into disrepair if that power would rebel against Providence.
That gives some possible explanation as to how and why natural catastrophes occur.
Angelic glorification in beauty
But far more important is the ongoing life of the faithful angels. They are constantly glorifying God. They suffer no confusion, as we do in the fallen world:: the Divine Light is completely clear to them, and they respond with joy and praise – their work in being “agents of Providence” is exactly that praise.
In the Song of the Three Youths (Daniel 3.58-82), all of creation comes together to glorify God: “bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord, sing and exalt Him forever.”
This is not figurative language: this is to be taken literally. The angels and the entire hierarchy of the bodiless powers lead and inspire the entire Creation – even the inanimate stones – in praise, the whole universe with all of its attributes sings and praises the Lord, with color, light, form, resonance, sparkling luminescence, transparency, fragrance, touch. Music is first and primarily the angelic glorificaton in melody, pitch and harmony, theme and variation, the great crescendo of seemingly disparate themes and chords finally reaching the heights of transcendent resolution.
So there is the visual and the auditory – all these ways are conducted by the Angelic World who behold the glory of God directly and convey it to us. But there is also direct thought. How is it that we are able to think of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth? Where does out philosophy, our wisdom, come from, except through the loving compassionate help from the faithful bodiless powers?
In a deep and mysterious way, human art that is beautiful participates in the angelic art of praise. That which is beautiful in our life – and there is much more of that than we think – is a procession of angelic glorification in beauty.
The angels pray for us, for the world and all Creation. They praise the Holy Trinity with their entire selves: their whole life is glory, and glorification.
And Beauty is the result.
Let us join them, as our Guardian Angels so deeply desire us so to do.
The hardest part
The hardest part of this whole discussion is not the angelic participation in the Creator’s continual action in His creation, and how we might happily think about it. That is indeed difficult, and is the root cause of all the philosophical work of humanity. Many times that work has failed utterly, with horrifying results in human history.
But many times, too, that work has apprehended much glory and beauty. Many – and I’m one of them – will think immediately of the golden legacy of our Holy Tradition. Others, too, will remember the voices of all the Mothers and Fathers of the Church who have called us to listen to our “better angels.”
But, I ask, why do we not listen, as Abraham Lincoln once whispered, to our better angels?
Why do we assume that the Angels are so exiled from our materialistic,secularistized, voluntaristic world? Is it their completel alterity from our constructions that so annoy us?
Why do we not listen, and see, and feel the reverberation of our souls (which is, if we’re honest, exactly what our thought really is)?
How is it possibile that we do not feel their myriad joy of complete self-oupoutring? Their rush to give themselves entirely over to the glory of the Son? Their ecstatic celebration of Life overflowing from the Triune Sun?
Soul, consciousness, this very moment. This here and this now.
Beauty calls you in desire, you and everyone.
Sin is Behovely, but
All shall be well, and
All manner of thing shall be well.
This is what the angels say. This is what the Angels’ Tradition say.
Listen. See. Be seduced by their beauty.
Enter into the communion of the Son.
✾
Comments