The angels earned their roles in the hierarchy; Angels: Day 014

The angels earned their roles in the hierarchy

Origen, speculating about the different orders of angels, believes that each angel earned its place in the order, rather than being assigned it from the beginning. Like us, he says, the angels were assigned their work in the world according to their particular virtues.

We must not suppose that it is just an accident that a particular office is assigned to a particular angel—as curing and healing are to Raphael, for example, or the conduct of wars to Gabriel; or attending to the prayers and supplications of mortals to Michael. We should not imagine that they obtained these offices in any other way than by their own merits, and by the zeal and excellent qualities each one of them displayed before this world was formed; so that afterwards in the order of archangels, this or that office was assigned to each one, while others deserved to be enrolled in the order of angels, and to act under this or that arch- angel, or that leader or head of an order.

All these things were disposed, as I have said, not indiscriminately and hap- hazardly, but by a very appropriate and fair decision of God, who arranged them according to merits, in accordance with his own approval and judgment. In this way the church of the Ephesians was to be entrusted to one angel; the church of the Smyrnæans to another; one angel was to be Peter’s, another Paul’s; and so on through every one of the little ones that are in the Church—for of the angels that daily behold the face of God, this or that one must be assigned to each one of them; and there must also be some angel that encamps round about them that fear God.

We must assuredly believe that all these things do not happen by accident or chance, or because the angels were created that way. If we thought so, the Cre- ator might be accused of partiality. But we must believe that they were conferred by God, the just and impartial Ruler of all things, according to the merits, good qualities, and mental strength of each individual spirit. –Origen, De Principiis, 1.8.1

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

By their roles, the angels teach me the importance of service. Do I serve according

to my role in the Church?

CLOSING PRAYER

Lord, I wish to do your will, according to the sacred order you have established for me as for the angels, in the Church as in Heaven.

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