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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
