A hierarchy of merit – or demerit The hierarchy of angels, Origen says, must be arranged according to the merit of each angel. Likewise, the hierarchy of demons must be arranged according to the wickedness of each demon. All we need to know to demonstrate the impartiality and righteousness of God is this: that, as the Apostle Paul declares, “there is no partiality with him” (Eph. 6:9), but instead he disposes everything according to the deserts and moral progress of each... Read more
Angels are holy because of the Spirit Though Scripture does not explicitly mention the creation of angels, we know from our own case (says St. Basil) that their holiness comes from the Holy Spirit, not from their own nature. The pure, intelligent powers that live above this world are called holy because they get their holiness from the grace given by the Holy Spirit. Thus there is no mention of the creation of the heavenly powers, because the historian of creation has... Read more
This week we have two titles to give away! One lucky winner will receive a copy of Pillar & Bulwark by Marcus Grodi and sponsored by the Coming Home Network (you can read the review here) and will receive one copy of Works of Love Are Works of Peace: Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity by Michael Collopy and sponsored by Ignatius Press (you can read the review here). I use Rafflecopter to run my giveaways which makes it simple for you and... Read more
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... Read more
Review by Pete Socks Ignatius Press has recently released a softcover photobook tribute to the life of soon-to-be saint Mother Teresa. Works of Love Are Works of Peace: Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity is a project that was four years in the making and containing some 180 photographs taken over a ten-year period by photographer Michael Collopy. It was also a project that received Mother Teresa’s blessing. As Mother Teresa herself states in the forward; “Let us pray... Read more
Myriads of myriads The number of angels is simply unimaginable, says the speculative philosopher Dionysius the Areopagite. Only the angels themselves—and God, of course can understand how many angels there are. I believe this is also worth thinking about: the tradition of Scripture tells us that there are thousands of thousands of angels, and myriads of myriads. They multiply up to the very limits of our numbers—and beyond. This shows clearly that we could never count the ranks of the heavenly be-... Read more
Review by Michele Craig “I do believe that Christ is calling all of His children home to the Church, but I also believe He does this according to His own schedule, His own timetable. Conversion is always a work of grace, in which God opens our hearts and minds to His truth; it is not merely an intellectual awakening to new information.” So says one of the main characters, Father Bourque, in Marcus Grodi’s novel Pillar & Bulwark. Pillar &... Read more
How many kinds of angels are there? We commonly mention nine kinds of angels, but Origen, the first great system– atic theologian of Christianity, speculates that there might be more orders we don’t know about. There may well be angels whose roles we can’t understand until we reach Heaven. In Holy Scripture, we find numerous names of certain orders and offices, not only of holy beings, but also of those of the opposite type. There are certain holy angels of God... Read more
The orders of angels St. John of Damascus summarizes the teaching of Dionysius the Areopagite, who wrote a treatise in very difficult neo-Platonic language on the angelic pow– ers. Here we have the traditional names of the orders of angels, as gathered from the brief mentions of heavenly powers in different places in Scripture. Dionysius the Areopagite—that most holy, sacred, and gifted theolo- gian—says that all theology (meaning Holy Scripture) has nine different names for the heavenly beings. That divine teacher... Read more
Stephen P. White is a fellow in the Catholic Studies Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His work focuses on the application of Catholic social teaching to contemporary political and cultural issues. His writing has appeared in outlets such as the National Review Online, Huffington Post, America Magazine, and The Catholic Herald (UK). He is a regular contributor at CatholicVote.org. Since 2005, he has been coordinator of an annual seminar on Catholic social thought in Krakow, Poland. Recently Stephen and I discussed his... Read more
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