Oct 5, 2017

October 5 - Adult Ed Course on the Angels, Session 1: Who are the angels?

Session 1 of our adult ed series on the angels.

OBJECTIVES FOR SESSION 1: WHO ARE THE ANGELS?

1) To understand that angels are each their own species, and therefore have great diversity.
2) To recognize that angels know some but not all things, and not the hidden thoughts of men or the future.
3) To understand something of the way that angels are “within time” – aeviternity and discrete time

4) To appreciate the multitude of the angelic host





Listen online [here]!







 A Course on the Angels: Session 1, Who are the Angels?
Fr Ryan Erlenbush


I. Overview of the course, and methodology

II. What does “angel” mean? Messengers of God
A. Angel denotes their office, not their nature
B. The nine choirs, brief overview

III. The angelic spirits, and the question of their “nature”
A. Angels are pure spirits
B. Each angel is its own species
C. What could distinguish one angel from another?
D. Why there is not “male” or “female” with the angels

IV. Angels according to their nature: Intellectual powers
A. Angels have knowledge of many things
B. By their nature alone, angels do not know all created things
C. By their nature alone, angels do not know future things
D. By their nature alone, angels do not know the mysteries of the faith
E. Angels know without “discursive” reasoning, but all at once

V. Angels according to their nature: Free will
A. Angels have free will
B. Angels chose to love or to reject love when they were first created
C. The free will of the angels is fixed forever after they make this choice for or against God
D. Angels have no error regarding natural knowledge, neither do they have any passion

VI. Time and the angels
A. Angels are not eternal, they were created
B. Angels will exist forever, like the human soul
C. Angels are not “outside of time,” but neither are they bound by physical time
D. Time and thought in the angels – eternity, aeviterinty, discrete time, continuous time
E. Angelic motion

VII. Are there many angels?
A. Diversity among material things, compared to diversity among spiritual realities
B. Perfection in the multitude of the angels
C. The witness of Scripture
D. That the “choirs” are not to strictly “classify” the angels – each is its own order

VII. The life of grace in the angels
A. As rational creatures, they are called by God to the life of grace
B. By God’s grace, many further truths are revealed to them
C. The angels and men are to make up one society in the life of grace







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A Course on the Angels: Session 1, Who are the Angels?
Fr Ryan Erlenbush


I. Overview of the course, and methodology
We will look to Sacred Scripture, to the Liturgy, to the Lives of the Saints, and to the writings of St Thomas Aquinas “the Angelic Doctor” “the Angel of the Schools”.
We can know a great deal about angels even from philosophy alone, however the real basis for angelology is faith and reason studying the Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers of the Church.

NOTE: I do not expect that we will get through everything in this first session, because this will be an overview of all that we will cover and lay a foundation for all the rest – so, we will surely be picking up with this outline next week again, and also referring to points from this first session throughout the whole course.

II. What does “angel” mean? Messengers of God
A. Angel denotes their office, not their nature
St. Augustine: “The Angels are spirits, but it is not because they are spirits that they are Angels. They become Angels when they are sent, for the name Angel refers to their office not to their nature. You as the name of this nature, it is spirit; you ask its office, it is that of an Angel [i.e. messenger]. In as far as he exists, an Angel is a spirit; in as far as he acts, he is an Angel.” (CCC 322)
St Gregory the Great: “It must be realized that "Angel" is the name of their office, not of their nature. For the holy spirits of the heavenly homeland are always spirits, but they cannot always be called Angels; they are Angels only when they are announcing something. […] Those who announce less important things are called Angels, and those who announce the highest things are called Archangels.” (Office of Readings, Feast of St Michael)

B. The nine choirs, brief overview
Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones; Dominions, Virtues, Powers; Principalities, Archangels, Angels.
And yet, we call them all by the name “angels” as referring to all in reference to the ministry which some perform and in which they are revealed to us.

III. The angelic spirits, and the question of their “nature”
A. Angels are pure spirits
“The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls "angels" is a truth of faith.”  (CCC 328)
The Catechism calls them “purely spiritual creatures” (CCC 330)

B. Each angel is its own species
St Thomas Aquinas: “Such things as agree in species but differ in number, agree in form, but are distinguished materially. If, therefore, the angels be not composed of matter and form, as was said above, it follows that it is impossible for two angels to be of one species.” (ST I, q.50, a.4)

C. What could distinguish one angel from another?
Material things are distinguished by matter. Even human beings, our souls are distinguished by association to our bodies (even when separated from the body). But, for angels, the only thing which could distinguish is different types of souls, which means different natures.

D. Why there is not “male” or “female” with the angels
Even as they have no bodies, neither are they male or female. Indeed, each angel is the fullness and perfection of his own species! Each angel is perfect, on a natural level, in itself.

IV. Angels according to their nature: Intellectual powers
A. Angels have knowledge of many things
Their knowledge is not infinite (they are creatures), however they know much more than human beings. By their nature, the angelic mind is far greater than the human. Angels know not by sense experience but through “intelligible species” being given to their souls. They know by looking at themselves – whereas humans know only by experience of the outside world.
B. By their nature alone, angels do not know all created things
C. By their nature alone, angels do not know future things
Angels cannot know that which comes from human free choice, how much less do they know what proceeds from God’s free will. But they can make certain predictions about the future and they know a great many things which proceed according to natural law.
D. By their nature alone, angels do not know the mysteries of the faith
They do not have control over God’s free will – so they do not know the mysteries of the faith unless God reveals them.
E. Angels know without “discursive” reasoning, but all at once

V. Angels according to their nature: Free will
This will all be discussed much more when considering the creation and the fall of the angels.
A. Angels have free will
B. Angels chose to love or to reject love when they were first created
C. The free will of the angels is fixed forever after they make this choice for or against God
D. Angels have no error regarding natural knowledge, neither do they have any passion

VI. Time and the angels
A. Angels are not eternal, they were created
B. Angels will exist forever, like the human soul
C. Angels are not “outside of time,” but neither are they bound by physical time
D. Time and thought in the angels – eternity, aeviterinty, discrete time, continuous time
St Thomas: "Spiritual creatures, as regards successive affections and intelligences, are measured by time (not by continuous time, however, such as solar time, but by discrete time) .... But as regards their nature, they are measured by aeviternity, and as regards the vision of glory, they have a share of eternity."
Thus aeviternity is the measure of an immutable thing, which in its operations, however, is connected with change. Hence aeviternity has not in itself either before or after, as stated in the second opinion; but before and after are compatible with it.
Bannez: There are three kinds of angelic operations. (i) There are those angelic operations that are connatural to the angel and unceasing. These are measured by aeviternity -- the angel's natural knowledge of himself, of God. (2) Then there are those immanent angelic operations that are not permanent but successive. These are measured by angelic discrete time. This time refers to the number of angelic thoughts. Thus one angelic thought constitutes one angelic moment, and it can last for several years of our continuous solar time. [Something like contemplation for the saints]. (3) There is finally, the virtually transitive operation of the angel by which he locally moves bodies. It is measured terminatively by our continuous time.
E. Angelic motion
Obviously, the angels do not move through space but are present in a place when acting upon it and then are present in another place by acting upon it. However, no angel is truly restricted to space. Yet, two angels cannot be in one place, nor can one angel be in two places – since an angel can only act as the complete agent upon on object at one time.


VII. Are there many angels?
A. Diversity among material things, compared to diversity among spiritual realities
There is a greater diversity between difference substances than many individuals of one substance. An ant and a horse, compared to one million ants.
Furthermore, greater diversity is possible among spiritual realities, even as the diversity of thoughts is far greater than the diversity of material objects (compare thinking about a piece of clay).
B. Perfection in the multitude of the angels
There is a perfection in the multitude of angels that doesn’t exist by multiplying material things. Each angel shows forth another aspect of God’s perfection.
C. The witness of Scripture
Daniel 7:10,  “Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.”
Revelation 5:11, “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the ancients; and the number of them was thousands of thousands.”
D. That the “choirs” are not to strictly “classify” the angels – each is its own order
“The secrets which are revealed to us in those traditional names [of the angelic hierarchies] are just the few hints given to us of the glorious variety in God’s spiritual world. To make of those names categories and exclusive partitions would be contrary to the intentions of the Spirit who whispered the great secrets. We are expected to multiply, not to divide, in our thoughts of the heavenly citizens. We should not divide them into classes, but we should be ready for endless varieties of spiritual splendours. […] Did we know more clearly, then we should really see that every angel is in himself an order.” (Anscar Vonier)

VII. The life of grace in the angels
A. As rational creatures, they are called by God to the life of grace
B. By God’s grace, many further truths are revealed to them
C. The angels and men are to make up one society in the life of grace
                                                                                                                                     

OBJECTIVES FOR SESSION 1: WHO ARE THE ANGELS?

1) To understand that angels are each their own species, and therefore have great diversity.
2) To recognize that angels know some but not all things, and not the hidden thoughts of men or the future.
3) To understand something of the way that angels are “within time” – aeviternity and discrete time

4) To appreciate the multitude of the angelic host