Angels in the early church · Sophia Scriptura

1 Clement 34.5Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Serve God's will as the angels do.
1 Clement 34.6Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The angels cry “Holy, holy, holy.”
1 Clement 36.3Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The angels are God's servants.
Ascension of Isaiah 6.13Anonymous · late 1st–2nd century
Ascension of Isaiah 7.2Anonymous · late 1st–2nd century
Ascension of Isaiah 7.21Anonymous · late 1st–2nd century
Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 6.2.1 (36.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Two angels accompany each person, one good and one evil.
Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 6.2.3 (36.3)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The angel of righteousness speaks of purity and virtue.
Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 6.2.4 (36.4)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The angel of wickedness is known by anger and bitterness.
Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 6.2.6 (36.6)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Depart from the evil angel and trust the righteous one.
Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 6.2.9 (36.9)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Follow the good angel; renounce the evil one.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 6.2.1 (62.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · He is the angel of luxury and deceit.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 6.3.2 (63.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · He is the angel of punishment, a righteous angel.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 8.3.3 (69.3)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The great angel is Michael, guardian of the people.
Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3.4.1 (12.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The six builders are the first-created angels.
Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3.4.2 (12.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The stone-bearers are also angels; all will rejoice when the tower is complete.
Papias, Fr. 7Papias of Hierapolis · ca. 110-140 · Papias taught that God gave some angels rule over the earth, but their order came to nothing (they fell).
Epistle of the Apostles 13Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ tells how he came down from the Father through the heavens, appearing to the angels as one of them.
Second Apology 4Justin Martyr · ca. 150–160 · God entrusted the world to angels, some of whom fell by lust for women and fathered the demons, who enslaved mankind and are the gods of the poets.
Sentences of Sextus 32Anonymous · 2nd-early 3rd cent. · An angel is God's minister to man; for he does not minister to no one: so precious is man with God.
Sentence 32 (Greek)Anonymous · 2nd-early 3rd cent. · An angel is God's servant toward human beings, and toward no one else; so a human being is more precious to God than an angel.
Dialogue with Trypho 56.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho holds that God appeared first, and the three men were angels.
Dialogue with Trypho 56.9Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho concedes only that not all three were angels.
Dialogue with Trypho 56.10Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The Jews hold that the one who appeared to Abraham was God himself.
Dialogue with Trypho 56.13Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · One of Trypho's companions suggests the Lord in Sodom was one of the angels.
Dialogue with Trypho 58.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Moses calls the one who appeared to the patriarchs God, Angel, and Lord.
Dialogue with Trypho 59.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The angel in the bush declares himself the God of Abraham.
Dialogue with Trypho 60.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho holds that an angel appeared and God spoke.
Dialogue with Trypho 60.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Exod 3:2–4: the angel of the Lord and the Lord are the same.
Dialogue with Trypho 60.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · In each case the “angel” is also Lord and God, serving the Father.
Dialogue with Trypho 79.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho objects that fallen angels are a blasphemous idea.
A Plea for the Christians 10Athenagoras · ca. 176–180 · Christians worship one God, together with his Son, the eternal Word, and the Holy Spirit, distinct in order yet one in power; there are also angels who serve God.
A Plea for the Christians 24Athenagoras · ca. 176–180 · As there are Father, Son, and Spirit, so there are angels; some angels fell, among them the ruler of matter and those who lusted after women and fathered the giants.
Adumbrations on 1 Peter, paragraph 4Clement of Alexandria · original ca. 200; Latin translation 6th century · On 1 Pet 3:20–22: God saves even through correction; the angels, powers and virtues subjected to Christ are three orders.
Adumbrations on Jude, paragraph 1Clement of Alexandria · original ca. 200; Latin translation 6th century · On Jude: Jude, brother of the Lord through Joseph, humbly calls himself servant; the ungodly were foreknown for judgment; the images of clouds, trees, waves and wandering stars describe unbelievers and apostates; Enoch is approved as a prophet.
Adumbrations on Jude, paragraph 2Clement of Alexandria · original ca. 200; Latin translation 6th century · On Jude 24: the presence of God's glory means before the angels; the ‘Power’ at whose right hand the Son of Man sits means the holy angels; and Jesus' answer ‘You say’ confessed the truth of their words.
Adumbrations on 1 John, paragraph 4Clement of Alexandria · original ca. 200; Latin translation 6th century · On 1 John 2:1–3: Christ and the Spirit are Paracletes; the first-created powers work through lower angels, as with Moses and Samuel; Christ is the propitiation for the whole world, saving all, some through punishments.
Fragment 59 (on the seven spirits of Rev 4:5)Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd-early 3rd century
Against Heresies 3.10.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The angels at the Nativity announced the birth of the Savior in David's city and glorified the one Creator, refuting the Gnostic account.
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 9Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 18Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
Prophetic Extracts 51.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · “The heavens” in Ps 19 has several senses, including the first-created angels through whom the covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses were given.
Prophetic Extracts 51.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The first-created angels, moved by the Lord, declared God's covenants through the angels near the prophets.
Prophetic Extracts 56.6Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The saved will be ranked with the sun's angels and in time rule the days, as each angel advances to a higher office, rising to the first abode.
Prophetic Extracts 57.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The first-created angels are the “thrones,” because God rests in them, as he does in believers.
Prophetic Extracts 57.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Those far above every power are the perfected, raised into the nature of the highest angels.
Prophetic Extracts 57.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Those who become angels are taught for a thousand years, then teach others, rising by periods to higher rank.
Excerpts from Theodotus 10.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The seven first-created angels are equal.
Excerpts from Theodotus 12.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Angels are purified intellectual fire; intellectual light is a higher state, into which angels long to look,
Miscellanies 6.17.157Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Many goods in life, like health and wealth, come from God's providence through human effort; good people's thoughts are inspired by God with the help of angels, who are assigned to nations, cities, and perhaps individuals.
Miscellanies 7.12.78Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The one who knows shares others' sufferings, gives even from his own need, lives as a stranger on earth ready for death, does everything in holiness whether eating, drinking, or marrying, and prays together with the angels and saints.
Apology 22Tertullian · ca. 197 · Demons, fallen angels, cause disease and madness, steal knowledge of the future from the prophets, and work false marvels so that idols are worshiped instead of the true God.
On the Dress of Women 1.2Tertullian · ca. 197–206 · The fallen angels of Genesis 6 taught women jewelry, dyes, and cosmetics; Christians, who will judge those angels, should not covet their gifts.
On Baptism 5Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Pagan washings and demonic haunting of waters are imitations of God's work; the angel stirring the pool of Bethesda foreshadowed the angel of baptism, which restores man to God's likeness and Spirit.
Heads against Gaius, fragment IV (on Rev 9:14-15)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200-235 · Against Gaius, Hippolytus interprets the four angels bound at the Euphrates as the angels of four nations, held back by the Word until the Antichrist comes.
Arabic commentary on the Apocalypse, fragment 7 (on Rev 12, 10)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200-235 · The commentator reports that Hippolytus took the heavenly voice to come from the angels.
Commentary on the Song of Songs, Armenian fragment (Song 1:5-5:1)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · A long running commentary on Song 1:5–4:16 preserved in Armenian: the black and beautiful bride is humanity renewed by Christ, the watchmen are angels, the breasts are knowledge and sight, and the spices are the manifold good deeds of the righteous.
Commentary on Daniel 2.31Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · The fire spared the youths but burned the Chaldeans outside, while the angel made the furnace like a dewy wind.
Commentary on Daniel 3.9Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · The felling of the tree is Nebuchadnezzar's overthrow by his own forces; the 'holy one' is the Word announcing the Father's decree to the angels who rule the nations.
Commentary on Daniel 4.27-28Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Gabriel's interpretation of the vision (Dan 8:15–27) confirms the reading of the beasts; Hippolytus then turns to the seventy weeks, beginning with Daniel's prayer of confession (Dan 9:1–7).
Commentary on Daniel 4.30Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 9:23–25: angels are swift as birds; the first seven of the seventy weeks (49 years) end with the return from exile under Joshua son of Jozadak, the 'anointed prince', a type of Christ the true King and Priest.
Commentary on Daniel 4.40Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 10:19–21: the Word who strengthens Daniel fights the prince of Persia, who opposed the people's return, with Michael, the angel set over Israel, who also met Moses at the lodging place.
On the Flesh of Christ 3Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Birth was neither impossible nor dangerous for God: he can become man and remain God, as angels took real bodies and the Spirit a real dove's body without ceasing to be what they were.
On the Flesh of Christ 6Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Apelles granted Christ real flesh taken from the stars, but not birth; yet angels took flesh without birth because they did not come to die, whereas Christ came to die and so had to be born.
On the Flesh of Christ 14Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Christ did not take an angel's nature: he came to save man, not angels, and though called “the angel of great counsel” he is the Lord himself, not a messenger like the prophets.
Against Marcion 3.9Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The angels who ate with Abraham had real, though unborn, flesh; only Christ needed to be born, since only he was to die; so they give Marcion no precedent for a phantom Christ.
On the Veiling of Virgins 7Tertullian · ca. 208–213 · All Paul's reasons for veiling women apply equally or more to virgins: the man as head, the shame of a shorn head, woman as man's glory, and above all the angels, who fell through desire for the daughters of men, that is, for virgins.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 36Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · Christ's answer to the Sadducees about the woman with seven husbands confirms a real resurrection of the flesh, which will then be changed and made like the angels.
On First Principles 1.5.3Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Origen asks whether the holy and the hostile powers hold their rank by nature or by merit, and concludes that in every creature rank follows its own movements, not the privilege of its creation.
On First Principles 1.8.1Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The angels receive their offices, such as healing, war and prayer, according to the merits they showed before the world was framed, by God's just judgment.
On First Principles 1.8.4Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Every rank of rational beings, good or evil, is held by merit; the second order has given itself to wickedness, the third is human souls, some of whom rise to the angels; transmigration into animals is rejected.
On First Principles 2.10.7Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The unfaithful steward “cut in two” may mean the withdrawal of the Spirit's gift, the separation of the better part of the soul, or the withdrawal of one's guardian angel.
On First Principles 3.2.1Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Scripture shows hostile powers inciting human beings to sin, from the serpent in Eden to the rulers who crucified the Lord, so that simpler believers think all sin comes from them.
On First Principles 3.2.4Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Thoughts arise from ourselves, from hostile powers, or from God and the angels, as Scripture, Hermas and Barnabas attest; but in every case we remain free to accept or reject them.
On First Principles 4.3.14Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The divine meaning lies hidden in the humble letter, and no created mind, not even the highest powers, can fully grasp God's ways; only the Son and the Spirit, figured by Isaiah's two seraphim, know the beginning and end of all things.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 817Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Joshua 2–6: the number four signifies affliction; circumcision and the Sabbath were useful for a time, not good in themselves; the stone knife is Christ; Michael, the chief captain; the trumpets of the last day.
Fragments on the Song of Songs, chapter 3Origen · ca. 220-254 · Comments on Song of Songs 3:1–6 read the bride's night search as the soul seeking the deeper things of the Word, beyond the world and beyond the ministering angels.
Fragments on the Song of Songs, chapter 6Origen · ca. 220-254 · Comments on Song of Songs 6:4–13 read the queens, concubines, and maidens as ranks of souls sharing in the Word, and the bride's descent to the nut garden as the soul's fall into this toilsome life.
Fragments on Genesis, column 83Origen · ca. 220-254 · God wrote the heavens as a book for angels and holy souls to read, to display his foreknowledge and to guide the angels' ministry; evil powers act by their own choice.
Fragments on Luke, column 317Origen · ca. 220-254 · The angel came down to Zacharias's level and calmed his fear, and Zacharias's silence is read as the silence of prophecy among the former people of God.
Fragments on Luke, column 347Origen · ca. 220-254 · The moonstruck boy pictures souls whose virtue waxes and wanes like the moon, healed only by the faith that moves mountains; the Son of Man is handed over by the Father, by Judas and by the devil.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 165Origen · ca. 220-254 · Wisdom "rejoices" over the destruction of sin in the converted, all people stand between angels and demons, and the evil counsel that forsook its youth is the devil.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 205Origen · ca. 220-254 · Knowledge ends the demons' assaults and joins us to the angels, while the impure lose even their guardian angel, as Saul did; those who blaspheme the Creator are false witnesses.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 247Origen · ca. 220-254 · Whoever shares with the thief, the devil, hates his own soul; sins must be confessed; the angels set over the nations lead us; the valiant woman of Prov 31 is the soul that conquers the enemy and spins the threads of contemplation.
PG 12:1267 (Ps 23 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 23 LXX (24):4–10: clean hands and a pure heart, seeking the face of God, and the gates of the virtues.
Fragment 7Julius Africanus · after 221 · On Gen 6–8: the ‘sons of God’ are most likely Seth's descendants marrying Cain's, though if angels are meant they taught magic and astrology and fathered the giants; then the flood, the ark, and its resting on Ararat, whose two supposed sites Africanus says he visited.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.26.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · From Elohim and Eden come twelve paternal angels, among them Baruch.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.26.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The twenty-four angels together are the paradise “planted in Eden.”
Refutation of All Heresies 5.26.11Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Eden's twelve angels form four groups, the four rivers of paradise, and rule the world.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.4.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Contents: Menander taught that angels made the world.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.6.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Contents: Carpocrates also said angels made the world.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.28.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Saturnilus of Antioch taught one unknown Father who made the angels and powers.
Commentary on John 1.75Origen · ca. 230–248 · Angels too, God's ministers, are evangelists.
Commentary on John 1.76Origen · ca. 230–248 · At Christ's birth an angel announced the good news to the shepherds, and the heavenly army praised God.
Commentary on John 1.218Origen · ca. 230–248 · Scripture shows Christ appearing as an angel, as at the burning bush and in Isaiah's “Angel of great counsel.”
Commentary on John 2.144Origen · ca. 230–248 · Another view: all beings made in God's image are “men,” since Scripture calls angels men.
Commentary on John 2.145Origen · ca. 230–248 · “Angel” names a function, as with prophets called angels, while the nature may be human.
Commentary on John 2.146Origen · ca. 230–248 · Names like thrones and dominions are ranks, not natures; their subject is man in this broad sense.
Commentary on John 2.186Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen conjectures that John was one of the holy angels sent as Christ's forerunner.
Commentary on John 2.187Origen · ca. 230–248 · Some angels may have imitated Christ by taking bodies to serve humans, as John's leaping in the womb suggests.
Commentary on John 2.188Origen · ca. 230–248 · The apocryphal Prayer of Joseph teaches that some angels came down into human nature.
Commentary on John 2.189Origen · ca. 230–248 · In the Prayer of Joseph, Jacob calls himself Israel, an angel of God and firstborn of all living beings.
Commentary on John 2.190Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Prayer of Joseph retells Jacob's wrestling as a contest between the angel Israel and the angel Uriel.
Commentary on John 2.192Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only deeds before this life explain God's justice toward Esau; so John may well have been an angel who took a body.
Commentary on John 10.40Origen · ca. 230–248 · The brothers may be powers that came down with Christ, of lower rank than the disciples, going to benefit the fruitful.
Commentary on John 10.177Origen · ca. 230–248 · The branches lift Scripture above the earth; the crowds are angels preparing and following the Word's coming in us.
Commentary on John 10.187Origen · ca. 230–248 · Their being sent back may hint at a mystery: saints becoming angels, sent in the next age to serve others.
Commentary on John 10.269Origen · ca. 230–248 · Angels of various ranks, prefigured by Solomon's overseers and workers, will manage this heavenly temple.
Commentary on John 13.214Origen · ca. 230–248 · Angels too are fed; Abraham set bread before the three visitors.
Commentary on John 13.326Origen · ca. 230–248 · Perhaps angels appointed over human birth are the sowers, and the apostles reap in those whom Christ's coming has made ready.
Commentary on John 13.327Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks whether the angels' task of joining souls to bodies is a laborious one.
Commentary on John 13.329Origen · ca. 230–248 · Answer: as the law given through angels was God's word, so God may form people through angels.
Commentary on John 13.330Origen · ca. 230–248 · Tentatively: those who are God's own portion are formed by God, others by the angels to whom they were allotted.
Commentary on John 13.331Origen · ca. 230–248 · On this view “Let us make man” and “Let us go down” are addressed by God to the angels who share in the work.
Commentary on John 13.332Origen · ca. 230–248 · Offered without decision: each person belongs to the portion of some angel, as Deut 32:8–9 suggests.
Commentary on John 13.333Origen · ca. 230–248 · Each angel labors over its portion, but at Christ's coming people from every portion are brought into his inheritance through the preachers of the gospel.
Commentary on John 13.412Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen suggests some angelic rulers, struck by Christ's divinity, turned to him, as humans repent.
Commentary on John 13.413Origen · ca. 230–248 · Why should beings of purer nature be unable to turn to Christ? Origen thinks some rulers changed for the better, so that some cities and nations were more open to him.
Commentary on John 20.161Origen · ca. 230–248 · Some spiritual powers may have come from God without being sent, and sinned by it.
Commentary on John 28.66Origen · ca. 230–248 · Whom did Jesus tell to unbind Lazarus? Perhaps angels.
Commentary on John 28.132Origen · ca. 230–248 · Perhaps Balaam spoke from an angel rather than from God, as the story of the donkey suggests.
Commentary on John 28.133Origen · ca. 230–248 · The angel tells Balaam to speak only what the angel says.
Commentary on John 32.198Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus sends both men and angels as his apostles.
Commentary on John 32.199Origen · ca. 230–248 · Angels too may be called “apostles,” since they are sent.
Commentary on John 32.200Origen · ca. 230–248 · Whoever is sent is an apostle of the sender, angels included.
On Prayer 6.4Origen · ca. 233–234 · God foresees how each person will pray and orders in advance whether and how to answer, even which angel to send to help each one.
On Prayer 11.3Origen · ca. 233–234 · Angels who ministered to Jesus on earth still serve him in gathering and building the church, as the angels of the churches in Revelation show.
On Prayer 11.4Origen · ca. 233–234 · The angels help those who pray, much as God may bring a physician to a sick man who prays, or a generous rich man to a poor man in need.
On Prayer 11.5Origen · ca. 233–234 · God, who numbers every hair, brings angels to help those who pray; each believer's guardian angel prays and works with him.
On Prayer 27.10Origen · ca. 233–234 · The daily bread is also the tree of life and the wisdom of God, the food of the angels, which the psalm calls “the bread of angels.”
On Prayer 27.11Origen · ca. 233–234 · Abraham's meal for the three visitors may figure how saints can nourish even angels with spiritual food, as Christ promises to dine with whoever opens the door to him.
On Prayer 28.3Origen · ca. 233–234 · Above all we owe God wholehearted love, Christ the price of our redemption, the Holy Spirit fruit that does not grieve him, our guardian angels their due, and the watching world a worthy performance.
On Prayer 31.5Origen · ca. 233–234 · Prayer in the assembly of believers is especially valuable, because angels, the power of Christ, and the spirits of the saints, living and departed, are present with the church.
Homily on Luke 3Origen · ca. 233–250 · Divine beings are seen only when they choose to appear and only by the pure in heart, as Christ in the flesh was truly seen only by his disciples.
Homily on Luke 12Origen · ca. 233–250 · The shepherds who receive the angel’s news stand for the church’s pastors and for the angels set over nations, who could do little for their charges until Christ came.
Homily on Luke 13Origen · ca. 233–250 · The angels’ hymn shows that the guardian angels, unable to heal humanity themselves, rejoice at the coming of the true Physician; each church has a visible and an invisible bishop; the ass at the manger stands for the Gentiles who know the Lord.
Homily on Luke 23Origen · ca. 233–250 · The axe at the root signifies the cutting off of unbelieving Israel; the two tunics are the old and new man; and the tax collectors point to the powers who will examine souls after death, while angels too are present in the church and are taught by its preaching.
Homily on Luke 35Origen · ca. 233–250 · The parable of the adversary on the way is read of the demon who accompanies each person, the angelic rulers of nations, Christ the judge, and the prison after death where debts of sin must be paid unless forgiven, so we must free ourselves from the adversary while still on the way.
Exhortation to Martyrdom 18Origen · 235 · The whole world and the angels watch the martyrs' contest; those who deny will hear the taunts of Isaiah 14 from the powers of Hades.
Address of Thanksgiving 4Gregory Thaumaturgus · ca. 238–245 · Only the Word can thank the Father worthily; Gregory thanks Origen, and his guardian angel who led him to Origen.
On the Witch of Endor 7Origen · ca. 240 · The medium saw “gods” coming up, perhaps other holy souls or angels with Samuel; the saints go wherever souls need salvation, and John the Baptist went to Hades before Christ to announce him, his question from prison meaning “Will you come even to Hades?”
Homilies on Exodus 8.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Origen counts “no other gods” and “no idol” as two commandments; “you shall have no other gods” does not deny that beings called gods exist (the angels set over the nations) but forbids them to God's people, who are Israel in spirit.
Homilies on Ezekiel 1.7Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · Many heavens were opened so that the angels, following Christ’s descent, might come down to serve the salvation of believers.
Homilies on Ezekiel 1.15Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · The cherubim are those full of knowledge whom God rules, and the four faces stand for all creation subject to Christ: heavenly, earthly, infernal, and what is above the heavens.
Homilies on Ezekiel 4.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · Ezekiel’s “sinful land” leads Origen to suggest tentatively that the earth itself is a living being, capable of good and evil and subject to judgment, and also that the land is the soul.
Homilies on Ezekiel 6.8Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · God raised Jerusalem from her blood and adorned her youth; her “breasts” and “time” require allegory, and the “time of those who turn aside” is the age when angels of God or of Satan come to the soul.
Homilies on Ezekiel 13.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · The prince of Tyre lamented by Ezekiel is not a man but one of the angelic princes set over the nations, like the princes in Daniel; these powers, not human persecutors, are the Church’s real enemies.
Homilies on Joshua 1.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The land promised to Joshua’s soldiers figures the places of the fallen angels, which Christians win in heaven by conquering the devil.
Homilies on Joshua 6.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The prince of the Lord’s army who appears to Joshua at Jericho, and whom Joshua worships, is Christ, the commander of all the heavenly powers.
Homilies on Joshua 9.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Joshua could not literally have written all Deuteronomy on the altar stones; Christ writes the law of the Gospel in a believer’s heart at baptism, before the angels, the true “Israel” who see God.
Homilies on Joshua 20.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Even when the lists of names in Joshua are not understood, hearing Scripture benefits the soul: as pagan incantations act through names, the words of Scripture strengthen the angelic powers within and around us and drive away the demons.
Homilies on Joshua 23.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Lots are cast among the heavenly powers too: by God’s hidden judgment the angels received the nations, guardian angels their souls, and other powers the governance of nature, according to merit.
Homilies on Judges 3.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Othniel, filled with the Spirit, figures the angels sent to help the saved and is a model for the church's judges, who judge souls.
Homilies on Judges 3.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Ehud's right-handed deed shows that God sends heavenly powers, as at the exodus and against Sennacherib, to free those who cry to him in tearful repentance.
Homilies on Judges 6.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The "leaders" who help at the beginning are the angels who guide beginners; once trained, Christians must fight by their own will, armed with the armour of God.
Homilies on Judges 8.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The fleece first wet, then dry, figures Israel once alone receiving God's word and now dry, while the nations receive the dew of Christ; Gideon also models testing a vision.
Homilies on Leviticus 9.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The 'ready man' who leads the scapegoat away is like the angels who carry each person to the destiny chosen by his own life, as with Lazarus and the rich man.
Homilies on Numbers 3.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The Levites camped around the tabernacle point to the heavenly orders of Hebrews 12, and Origen urges his hearers to climb as high among them as they can.
Homilies on Numbers 5.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The furnishings of the tabernacle stand for different kinds of saints, whom angels carry toward the promised rest, as Psalm 91 says of the righteous.
Homilies on Numbers 11.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Spiritually, the firstfruits are outstanding believers, like Cornelius, whom angels, apostles, and teachers offer to Christ the high priest from the field of human hearts.
Homilies on Numbers 11.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Each angel will bring the souls in its care to the judgment and offer the best as firstfruits; nations and churches have their angels, and Christ himself is the firstfruits of firstfruits offered to God.
Homilies on Numbers 11.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · As God once divided the nations among the angels and kept Israel as his own portion, so at the resurrection he will divide humanity again, and believers should strive to be the Lord's portion rather than the portion of demons.
Homilies on Numbers 20.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Shittim (“refutation”) marks Israel’s fall into immorality and idolatry; Origen applies “things sacrificed to idols” to pagan doctrines, Solomon’s many wives to many philosophies, and Baal-peor to every sin as consecration to a demon, but insists that the guardian angels and the Father, Son, and Spirit care more for our salvation than the demons for our ruin.
Homilies on Numbers 20.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The exposure of the princes for the people’s sin shows that leaders and teachers must answer for those in their care, and, at a deeper level, that the guardian angels too will be examined at the judgment for the sins of those entrusted to them.
Homilies on Numbers 24.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The laws on women’s vows under father or husband are read of souls under the care of guardian angels, who share responsibility for rash vows they fail to restrain; the perfect, “a perfect man,” are free in their vows, and God himself guides them.
Homilies on Numbers 25.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Eleazar speaks only to “men of valour,” those who strive in the contest of self-control and study of God’s word; in this life’s war the angels watch what spoils each brings back, and our dwelling hereafter will be assigned according to the work tested by fire.
Homilies on Jeremiah 10.6Origen · ca. 240 · The earth that mourns over human wickedness is the angel set over the earth, just as angels are set over water, air, fire, sun, moon, and stars, and they rejoice or mourn over our deeds.
Homilies on Jeremiah 10.8Origen · ca. 240 · Christ's earthly inheritance turned against him like a lion and was handed to the “beasts,” the hostile powers; if we too neglect God's law we face the same, but repentance brings us under the care of holy angels.
Homilies on Jeremiah 13.1Origen · ca. 240 · As no one dares pity someone condemned by the emperor, so the angels do not intercede for Jerusalem, condemned by God for killing Christ.
Homilies on Jeremiah 16.4Origen · ca. 240 · Moses saw God in the angel of the burning bush; those who stay on the “mountains” and lay up treasure in heaven, unlike the rich fool, will be taken to rest; they need not hide from God as Adam did, nor go out from his face like Cain.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 2.133Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The church, like Eve, was once deceived and ungodly; for the individual soul, the mother's sons are the guardian angels who fight for those still infants in Christ.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.227Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The vines are the Churches, whose 'own fragrance' shows the soul's free choice restored by grace; or the angelic powers; or the verse foretells the Church's call at the resurrection.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.236Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Angels help the soul discern and expel evil thoughts while they are small, as Judas failed to do with his love of money; applied to the Church, teachers must refute heresies at their beginning.
On the Singleness of Clerics 28Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · Even angels fell through women; clerics who cannot bear separation from women are ruled by the insatiable lust of the eyes, which Scripture condemns.
Against Celsus 1.60Origen · ca. 248 · At Christ's birth the angels' praise broke the power of the magi's demons; guided by Balaam's prophecy of the star, the magi came to worship a greater power, with gifts fit for a king, a mortal, and God.
Against Celsus 4.8Origen · ca. 248 · Why Christ came at a particular time is a deep mystery, tied to God's allotment of the nations to angels and of Israel to himself, and to his later gift of all nations to the Son.
Against Celsus 4.29Origen · ca. 248 · Christians know that angels and heavenly powers surpass humans, though the righteous hope to become like angels and like God; if anyone says “after God come we,” it can only mean rational and virtuous beings.
Against Celsus 4.80Origen · ca. 248 · Scripture shows the first humans guided by God's voice and angels until they could manage on their own; God did not subject humans to beasts but gave them the understanding to master them.
Against Celsus 5.2Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus's claim that no god or son of God ever comes down would also rule out Apollo and Asclepius, whom pagans believe visit earth, or reduce them to demons.
Against Celsus 5.4Origen · ca. 248 · Christians believe in angels who carry prayers up and blessings down, and who are sometimes called 'gods' in Scripture, but prayer and worship go to God alone through Christ the High Priest.
Against Celsus 5.5Origen · ca. 248 · Angels need not be invoked; prayer goes to God through the Son, and the angels favor those who imitate them; 'demons,' unlike 'angels,' always means evil powers.
Against Celsus 5.8Origen · ca. 248 · Worship of heaven and angels is not Judaism but a violation of it, as Jeremiah, Stephen in Acts, and Paul in Colossians show.
Against Celsus 5.29Origen · ca. 248 · The allotting of lands to gods, half-remembered in Greek and Egyptian lore, is taught truly by Moses: God divided the nations among his angels at Babel but kept Israel as his own portion; the deeper meaning is a mystery not to be exposed.
Against Celsus 5.30Origen · ca. 248 · Origen reads Babel as a hidden account of souls that leave the 'east' of divine light, build pridefully with material things, and are handed over, according to their guilt, to angels who assign them languages and lands.
Against Celsus 5.48Origen · ca. 248 · Jewish circumcision on the eighth day differs even from Ishmaelite practice; Origen suggests, from Zipporah's story, that it guarded against a hostile angel whose power Christ destroyed by his own circumcision, so Christians need not be circumcised.
Against Celsus 5.53Origen · ca. 248 · Origen will answer briefly: Christ is not merely an angel but, as Isaiah says, the 'angel of great counsel' who announced God's plan for humanity, and no Christian claims he was the only messenger ever sent.
Against Celsus 5.55Origen · ca. 248 · Origen mentions an earlier interpreter who read the 'sons of God' and 'daughters of men' of Genesis 6 as souls desiring bodies, and mocks Celsus's claim that hot springs are fallen angels' tears, since tears are salty.
Against Celsus 5.57Origen · ca. 248 · Greek philosophers like Chrysippus, Plutarch, and Numenius report supernatural appearances and are believed; Christians who would rather die than lie about God deserve at least equal credence when they report angels.
Against Celsus 5.58Origen · ca. 248 · It is more fitting that a servant angel, not the risen Lord himself, rolled away the stone; the other angels Celsus mentions do nothing for his case, since Christ alone came to turn all humanity from sin and gave God's kingdom to the church.
Against Celsus 8.31Origen · ca. 248 · Food, water, and air are managed by God's angels, not by demons; if demons have any part, it is as executioners of famine and plague, permitted by God to turn sinners back and to test the faithful.
Against Celsus 8.32Origen · ca. 248 · Evil angels may carry out God's judgments, which are hard to fathom; but Christians who eat and drink to God's glory with thanksgiving share their table with God's angels, not with demons.
Against Celsus 8.34Origen · ca. 248 · Christians offer first-fruits and prayers to the Creator through Jesus the high priest, and have the friendship of countless angels who help those who pray; demons have power only over the wicked, not over those armed with God's armour.
Against Celsus 8.36Origen · ca. 248 · God's angels do not harm those who insult them; demons harm only those who submit to them, while the true Christian is guarded by his angel, who carries his prayers to God through Christ the high priest.
Against Celsus 8.57Origen · ca. 248 · Christians show proper gratitude not to demons but to God, whose gifts fill them, and their eucharistic bread is a symbol of that thanksgiving; they honour but do not worship the angels who oversee nature.
Against Celsus 8.64Origen · ca. 248 · Winning God's favour brings with it the favour of all his angels and holy spirits, who pray alongside Christians and help them against the demons, as Jesus destroyed demons and healed the oppressed.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 50Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · On Christ's coming on the clouds, Origen weighs literal, combined, and spiritual readings, suggesting living and rational clouds and the Word's daily coming in Scripture; the angels gather the elect, living and dead, from earth and from successive heavens.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 64Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The midnight cry is the angels rousing the senses; the wise could not spare their oil because they had enough teaching for their own lives but not to teach others, so the foolish must go to the teachers, and those who put off learning until death are shut out.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 102Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Jesus told Peter to sheathe his sword because he wants his disciples peaceable, armed only with the sword of the Spirit; Christians must not use the sword for military service or private revenge; he could have had legions of angels, who need him more than he them, but chose to suffer as Scripture foretold.
Commentary on Matthew 10.12Origen · ca. 246–248 · The net is Scripture, woven of law, prophets, Gospels and apostles, cast into the sea of human life, which angels will draw ashore at the end to separate good and bad.
Commentary on Matthew 10.13Origen · ca. 246–248 · Saved humans are not therefore above all angels; the church on earth contains the wicked until the angels separate them, and the bad will go into the furnace of which Ezekiel speaks.
Commentary on Matthew 12.30Origen · ca. 246–248 · To beginners the Word has the form of a servant, but to the perfect he comes in glory with his angels, the words of the prophets; at Christ’s judgment seat the perfect have their sins wiped out, apostates lose their former good deeds, and those in between receive both.
Commentary on Matthew 13.5Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen takes the boy's father as his guardian angel, the dumb and deaf spirit as irrational impulses, and explains faith like a mustard seed that removes mountains.
Commentary on Matthew 13.26Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen explains smallness and greatness of soul as matters of free choice, and suggests that the little ones are cared for by angels while the perfect are cared for by the Lord himself.
Commentary on Matthew 13.27Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen asks whether the guardian angels of the little ones take charge of them from their baptism or from their birth, and cites texts that favour birth.
Commentary on Matthew 13.28Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen sets out views on when guardian angels take charge (from baptism, or even an angel converted along with its human charge), and answers an objection from Acts 12 about Peter's angel.
Commentary on Matthew 14.21Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen applies the law of divorce to the soul and its guardian angel, citing the Shepherd of Hermas on souls that fall from Michael to the angels of luxury, punishment, and repentance.
Commentary on Matthew 15.6Origen · ca. 246–248 · The children brought to Jesus are also the spiritually immature in the church; the evangelists’ silence about who brought them may point to angels, and Jesus’ touch and prayer protect those he touches.
Commentary on Matthew 15.7Origen · ca. 246–248 · The disciples who rebuke those bringing children may stand for those who despise simple teachers of simple believers; Christ himself became a child, and Paul became like a nurse.
Commentary on Matthew 15.27Origen · ca. 246–248 · The first and last may be angels and men: fallen angels, including the devil, become last, while believers renewed in baptism become first; the parable of the labourers that follows shows that both first and last are saved.
Commentary on Matthew 17.2Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen suggests that the question concerned the many orders of good and hostile “authorities,” a hidden teaching that Jesus would have explained, with examples from the exodus onward, had his questioners been worthy.
Commentary on Matthew 17.30Origen · ca. 246–248 · The Sadducees’ fable of seven brothers assumed that the risen keep male and female bodies; Jesus answered that the risen neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels, and Origen leaves aside the question whether some angels were once human.
Commentary on Romans 1.18Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Against Marcion, God's 'giving up' of sinners to their desires is explained: the soul between flesh and spirit, helped by good or evil angels, freely chooses, and the virtues withdraw from the soul that chooses the flesh.
Commentary on Romans 3.6Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · The law that 'speaks to those in the law' and brings the knowledge of sin is the natural law given to every rational being, including angels, from the age of discernment; Christ is not under law but is the law, the perfect are a law to themselves, and the law is good because it reveals sin as medicine reveals sickness.
Commentary on Romans 8.9Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Israel has stumbled but not fallen beyond recovery, as the devil has; its trespass enriches the world and the Gentiles, God turning even sins to others' profit, and Israel's coming to faith at the end will complete the fullness of the Lord's portion.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 8.1Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The church's prayers and the seven trumpets mean the archangels sent to strike the Antichrist's kingdom, as the Gospel foretells.
On the Making of the World 10Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The twenty-four elders of Revelation are the angels of the twenty-four hours of day and night.
Res. 1.37Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · The narrator explains that the devil was an angel entrusted with governing matter who fell through pride and envy, and closes with lines of verse against the serpent and Error.
Res. 1.48Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · The narrator explains that Scripture calls the world's renewal 'passing away', and that the risen will be 'as angels' in incorruption without ceasing to be men, since each order of creatures keeps its own nature.
Res. 1.51Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Christ's answer to the Sadducees shows that the risen will be 'as angels' in not marrying, not in lacking flesh; 'resurrection' itself means the rising of what has fallen, the body.
Sang. 7Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · In Psalm 19 the heavens are the angels, who announced Christ, the Glory of God, and the firmament is the church, which proclaims his life and works.
Homilies 8.13Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter explains that the angels, once human, fell into intercourse with women, lost their fiery nature, and could not return to heaven.
Recognitions 1.27Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter recounts the creation: the world as one house divided by the firmament into an upper region for angels and a lower one for men.
Recognitions 1.29Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter tells of the righteous men who fell through desire for women, the giants born of them, and the flood from which Noah was saved.
Recognitions 2.42Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter explains that angels of the nations and holy men are called gods only in a derived sense, while Christ is God of the princes and the Creator alone is true God.
Prophetic Extracts 1.2Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · On the tower of Babel, Eusebius argues that the Lord who “came down” was neither an angel nor the Father but the divine Word.
Prophetic Extracts 1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius lists God's appearances to Abraham and argues that the Lord who appeared at Mamre was neither an angel nor the unseen Father but the Word of God, against those who separate the God of the Old Testament from the Father of Christ.
Prophetic Extracts 1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius argues that the Lord who spoke to Hagar through an angel was the Word, who appeared in person to the patriarchs but through angels to lesser persons.
Prophetic Extracts 1.9Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius argues that at the burning bush and at Sinai the Lord, the Word, spoke to Moses through an angel and angels, whereas he had appeared in person to the patriarchs.
Divine Institutes 1.7.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Apollo's oracle at Colophon described God as self-existent and called the lesser beings angels.
Divine Institutes 1.7.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God is not lonely, for he has ministers, the angels.
Divine Institutes 1.7.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God's ministers are not gods and do not wish to be worshipped as gods.
Divine Institutes 1.7.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christians count God's ministers as innumerable, but they must not be called gods.
Divine Institutes 1.7.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Apollo's own oracle says God's ministers should be called angels, not gods.
Divine Institutes 2.14.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God sent angels to guard mankind, forbidding them to be defiled by earthly things.
Divine Institutes 2.16.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God needs no name, and angels refuse to be called gods.
Divine Institutes 2.16.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Angels are like a governor's attendants, not co-rulers.
Divine Institutes 2.16.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God alone rules all things; angels simply obey.
Divine Institutes 4.8.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Scripture calls the Son God's Word and the angels God's spirits.
Divine Institutes 4.8.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The angels came forth as silent breaths, created for service.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.15.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The spiritual powers are countless to us but known to God.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.15.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Daniel's myriads of angels show they are numbered by God but countless to us.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.15.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Psalm 104 describes God making his angels spirits and flame.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.15.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Angels are spiritual beings, called fire and spirit figuratively, ruled by the Sun of righteousness and the Holy Spirit.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.15.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Christians honor the angels but worship the one God, as the Son himself commands.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.16.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The good angels serve God and receive light from the Son and Spirit.
Preparation for the Gospel 9.21.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Jacob wrestles with an angel and is renamed Israel.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.26.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Plato speaks of good and evil powers.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.26.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The good powers are God’s spirits and ministers.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.26.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Plato’s “possessions of the gods” paraphrases Deut 32:8.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.13.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Clement: Plato’s fiery punishers in the Myth of Er are Scripture’s angels.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.13.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Clement: Plato knew of hell’s fires and of guardian angels.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.13.54Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Archilochus, Orpheus, and Phocylides echo Scripture on God’s power and on good and evil angels.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.15.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Hebrews teach that angels are created, and that demons came from their fall.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.15.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Created spirits, depending on God for being and virtue, are not gods.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.15.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Created spirits are not gods; they can fall through free neglect of the good.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 22.10Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The devil lured the angels to sin with women, and they lost their angelic nature.
On the Deaths of the Persecutors 46.3Lactantius · ca. 314–315 · An angel told Licinius in a dream to pray with his army to the highest God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.3.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ taught about angels, to be honored in due measure while worship belongs to God alone.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.6.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God set angels as shepherds over humanity, with his Word over all.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.6.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word’s own portion is the heavenly powers and the God-loving souls called Jacob and Israel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.7.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses taught that the Most High divided the nations among the angels and took Jacob as the Lord’s portion.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.7.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In Deuteronomy the Most High is the Father and the Lord is his Word, Christ, to whom the God-fearing are allotted while the nations are given to angels.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The angels of the nations recognized Christ as their Lord and served him, as the Gospels record.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · He was not an angel: Scripture gives him the divine four-letter name and distinguishes him from the angels who went to Sodom.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · When Jacob met angels, he called the place Camps.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jacob and Scripture carefully distinguish angels from God himself.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · At the Red Sea Scripture distinguishes the angel from the Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.25.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ came as fire, and his chariots are the angels and apostles through whom he traversed the world.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah, before foretelling the virgin birth, sees the Lord enthroned among the seraphim.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The seraphim may be angels or else prophets and apostles, since the name is interpreted “beginning of their mouth.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The seraphim may also be angelic powers, since the name also means “burnings.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus is laid in a manger, and an angel appears to the shepherds.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The angel announces the birth of the Savior in David's city.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The heavenly host praises God, and the shepherds decide to go to Bethlehem.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 91:11–13 (LXX 90): angels will guard him, and he will trample the asp and the dragon.
Letter 2.7Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony explains that angels, demons, and saints all come from one Creator and received their names from their works, and urges self-knowledge and mutual love, since to know oneself is to know all.
On the Witch of Endor 20Eustathius of Antioch · ca. 324–337 · Eustathius ridicules Origen's suggestion that the souls of other prophets and angels came up with Samuel, arguing that this puts the saints under a demon's power and that angels stand before God, while only Christ descended to Hades and freed its captives.
Theophany 1.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 1.74Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 1.77Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 1.2Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Angels and heavenly lights honour God, and the sun, moon and stars serve as torch-bearers at the gate of his palace.
Demonstration 3.14Aphrahat · 337-345 · Daniel's three-week fast was heard; Gabriel, who presents prayers, and Michael, Israel's prince who fought for Israel throughout its history, came to his aid.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.20.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Moses did not mention the creation of angels, though later prophets spoke of them.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.20.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Moses knew of the angels but kept silent about their creation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Moses likewise omitted the angels because his hearers were not ready.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · In a deeper sense the mountains and hills hint at the angelic powers.
Oration I Against the Arians 55Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius reads Heb 1:1–4 as referring to the time of the incarnation and argues that “better” marks a difference of nature between the Son and the angels, not a comparison within one kind.
Oration II Against the Arians 23Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Scripture never ranks the Son above other creatures by degree but calls him the only Son; creatures refuse worship, but the Son receives it from angels, nations, and disciples.
Oration II Against the Arians 49Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Creatures, even the angelic powers, come into being together by kinds; the Word, who is “before all” and alone Son, is therefore not the first of creatures but their creator, like none of them.
Oration III Against the Arians 12Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · No one prays for gifts from God and an angel together, but from the Father and the Son; the “angel” Jacob invoked with God (Gen 48:16) was the Word, the “angel of great counsel.”
Oration III Against the Arians 13Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Deliverance and blessing come from God alone, so the “angel” Jacob joined with God was the Word; every gift is from the Father through the Son, as light shines through its radiance.
Oration III Against the Arians 14Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Angels only minister and announce; those who saw angels knew they had not seen God; but whoever sees and hears the Son sees and hears the Father.
Letter 7Ammonas · ca. 340-360 · As Jacob received his fathers’ blessing and saw the angels, so Ammonas prays that his obedient disciples may receive the fathers’ blessing and be kept from the Evil One.
Canon 35Anonymous · ca. 343–381 · Christians who leave the church to invoke angels in separate gatherings are anathematized as idolaters.
Catechetical Lecture 6.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Angels see God only as far as they can; only the Son and the Spirit know the Father fully, so no human need be ashamed to confess ignorance.
Catechetical Lecture 10.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son born in Bethlehem is Lord of all, served by the angels at his birth, flight into Egypt and resurrection, as the day's reading from 1 Corinthians 8 says.
Catechetical Lecture 11.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · No creature, neither earth, sun, heavens nor the highest angels, knows how the Father begot the Son.
Long recension, Trallians 5Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius holds back the deeper mysteries of the heavenly orders, since he is not yet perfected.
Long recension, Trallians 8Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius describes deacons as imitators of the angels, then urges the Trallians to meekness, forgiveness, and conduct that gives the Gentiles no occasion for blasphemy.
Commentary on Matthew 18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary treats becoming like children, the millstone and stumbling blocks (applied to the Jews’ rejection of Christ), the angels of the little ones, the lost sheep as humanity and the ninety-nine as the angels, correction of a brother, binding and loosing, and unlimited forgiveness.
On the Trinity 4.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The same one who spoke to Hagar as angel speaks to Abraham as God about Ishmael, showing that the angel is God born from God.
On the Trinity 4.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Moses' song calls the angels and sons of God to worship God, and his blessing of Joseph names him who appeared in the bush; the Son is God, distinct from the Father.
On the Trinity 5.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “Angel” names an office, not a nature; the Son is called angel as sent by the Father, yet is true God by birth from him.
Letters to Serapion 1.10Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · The “thunder” of Amos is the gospel word; Athanasius names his opponents “Tropici” for their figurative exegesis, and rejects their claim from 1 Tim 5:21 that the Spirit is an angel.
Letters to Serapion 1.11Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Scripture never calls the Spirit an angel; Zechariah’s speaking angel is distinct from God’s Spirit, and baptism joins us to Father and Son in the Spirit, not in a creature.
Letters to Serapion 1.12Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Moses refused to be led by an angel and was given God’s own Spirit instead; so the Spirit is above creation and belongs to God’s Godhead.
Letters to Serapion 1.13Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Paul’s naming of angels after Christ no more makes the Spirit an angel than Exodus naming Moses after God makes Moses divine; the Triad is one and indivisible.
Letters to Serapion 1.25Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Unlike changeable creatures and angels, who can fall and are present only where sent, the Spirit is unchangeable and fills all things, and so is proper to God.
Letters to Serapion 1.27Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Creatures partake of the Spirit and can fall, while the Spirit is partaken of and is one, not many; so he is of the same essence as the Son and the Father.
Homilies on the Psalms 32.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil explains that on earth God's mercy works without judgment, since Christ came to save, while at the judgment there will be no judgment without mercy.
Homilies on the Psalms 33.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil expounds Ps 34:1–7: blessing God at all times, even in affliction; praise as the soul's continual thought of God; boasting only in the Lord; the meek magnifying God together in quiet contemplation; affliction proving the saints; enlightenment of those who come to Christ the true light; voluntary poverty, of which Christ is the model; and the angel who guards the God-fearing.
Homilies on the Psalms 33.11Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 34:15–16 Basil explains God's “eyes” and “ears” as the angelic powers that oversee and hear the righteous, and his “face” as Christ's manifest coming in judgment, to be seen by the righteous after the resurrection.
Homilies on the Psalms 45.7Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 46:8–9 Basil teaches that God's works can be seen only by those who first come near to him, as the Father calls with open arms; Christ made peace through the cross, and as commander of the angelic hosts he wounds no enemy but breaks their weapons and strips their defenses for their own good.
On the Holy Spirit 6Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · Unlike any creature, the Holy Spirit is uncircumscribed: he dwelt at once in apostles scattered across the world, and he sanctifies angels as well as men.
On the Holy Spirit 7Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · Angels are holy only by sharing in the Trinity, so they are of a different substance from the Holy Spirit who sanctifies them.
On the Holy Spirit 12Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · The language of pouring out marks the Spirit as received by many and therefore unchangeable and uncreated, whereas every creature, angels included, is changeable.
On the Holy Spirit 13Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · Since angels are changeable creatures and ministering spirits, while the Holy Spirit is distributed by God's will to all, the Spirit is neither a corporeal nor an incorporeal creature.
On the Holy Spirit 56Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · "Spirit" also names angels and, with a qualifying word, evil spirits and demons.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God’s chariot of ten thousands, like Daniel’s vision, is the host of angels through whom the law was given at Sinai in the mediator’s hand.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.1.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Since even a human witness restrains sin, Christians should fear to sin before the angels who see God daily and before the devil who accuses sinners.
Tractates on the Psalms 124.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The mountains around Jerusalem are the saints and angels who guard the church, rising above the earth and rejoicing in God.
Tractates on the Psalms 124.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Angels and saints guard the church, but the Lord himself, present everywhere by his Spirit, surrounds his people against the spiritual powers that assail them.
Tractates on the Psalms 129.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'eyes' and 'ears' of God may also be understood as the angels, who serve and carry prayers not because God needs them but because we are weak.
Tractates on the Psalms 134.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Scripture calls men gods (Ps 82, John 10, Moses) and, by implication, the heavenly powers; above all these is our God.
Tractates on the Psalms 134.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The winds from God's treasuries are the angels, ministering spirits sent to guard weak humanity against the powers of darkness.
Tractates on the Psalms 137.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist sings before the angels, who watch and guard the faithful, as Elisha's servant saw the angelic host around them.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God's 'bowing the heavens' is not a bodily motion but the heavenly host's service at Christ's incarnation, from the annunciation to the angels ministering after the temptation.
Commentary on Ephesians 3.10Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Through the church, the members of Christ, the manifold wisdom of God in the mystery of Christ is made known even to the heavenly powers.
Oration 6.12Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Agreement about God is the strongest bond of concord; God and the angels are at peace, and the devil works through faction.
Oration 42.9Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · God calls his growing people to enter his gates, and bids the guardian angels of the churches clear the way to the churches here and to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Oration 45.5Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · God's overflowing goodness first created the angels through the Word and Spirit; they are hard to move towards evil but not immovable, as Lucifer's fall shows.
Tractates 2.13.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno interprets the angels ascending and descending Jacob's ladder as righteous and backsliding people, or as angels serving Christ.
Against Eunomius 3.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil opens Book 3: Eunomius claims the saints taught that the Spirit is third in dignity and order and infers on his own that he is third in nature; Basil answers that rank does not imply a different nature, as the ranks of angels show.
Hexaemeron 1.5Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · Before the visible world God made the invisible, intelligible creation; the visible world and time began together; and "beginning" has several senses.
Hexaemeron 3.9Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · Basil rejects the allegory that the waters above and below the firmament are good and evil powers: water means water, and all creation, even the abyss, praises God.
Homilies 2.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Fasting is fitting for every rank, age and condition, and Christ's soldiers, armed differently from the world's, are strengthened not by food but by doctrine.
Homilies 13.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Basil urges self-examination: the baptismal seal marks Christ's own; delaying baptism to enjoy sin is folly, since self-control in old age is mere incapacity and death may come with a fever.
Commentary on Ephesians 3:10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Through the church even the spiritual powers learn the mystery of the one God in Christ, the King of glory of Psalm 24, who conquered death.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:16Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The 'body' with Christ as head includes the whole ordered hierarchy of angelic powers, distinct in nature yet united in confessing the Creator.
Question 45, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Unlike Babel’s “let us go down,” addressed to angels, “let us make man in our image” cannot be addressed to angels, since God and angels share no common image; the same God spoke and made.
Question 113, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Since David sent servants against rebels and Michael defeated the devil, it seems an angel could have conquered Satan.
Letter 21.40Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome argues from the apostles' indignation and the parable of the laborers that envy can touch even the righteous, since only God is perfectly righteous.
Letter 73.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome reports that Origen and Didymus made Melchizedek an angel, while most other Fathers held him to be a Canaanite king and priest.
Letter 75.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome urges Theodora to rejoice that Lucinius reigns with Christ, and teaches that in the resurrection people remain human, 'like' the angels.
Letter 92.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus lists doctrines ascribed to Origen (the Son inferior to the Father, the end of Christ's kingdom, the devil's restoration, prayer to the Father alone, a non-lasting resurrection body, angels fallen into their offices) for which his books were condemned.
Letter 98.12Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus rejects Origen's view that the angelic ranks earned their names by merit after creation, citing Colossians 1:16.
Letter 100.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus urges those keeping the Pascha to prepare by fasting and knowledge of the Scriptures for the heavenly feast with the angels, where only the fully mature and properly clothed enter.
Letter 110.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine asks Jerome how the devil could have been blessed if angels foreknow their future, and repeats Jerome's wish to meet.
Letter 120.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains that the guards, struck down with terror at the angel and the earthquake, could not prevent the disciples from entering the tomb.
On the Holy Spirit 13.29Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Paul names the angels in a charge only as witnesses; the Spirit, as Lord of life, is named with the Father and the Son for a different reason.
On the Holy Spirit 16.38Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · In the creation of the angels the Father is the principal cause, the Son the creator, and the Spirit the one who perfects and sanctifies them.
Ancoratus 16.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Angels do not search God's depths; the saying about the day is introduced.
Ancoratus 17.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Angels may fall short, but not the Son or the Spirit.
Ancoratus 22.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Angels do not know the appointed times, but the Son shares the Father's authority.
Ancoratus 22.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Angels are created; Father, Son, and Spirit are uncreated.
Ancoratus 22.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Angels know the day in neither sense, for they have not yet been sent to reap.
Ancoratus 25.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Song also covers Cherubim and Seraphim.
Ancoratus 25.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Even the highest angels are among the works that bless God.
Ancoratus 26.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The angels glorify the Trinity with the threefold Holy.
Ancoratus 29.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · At Mamre one of the three was God, the others angels.
Ancoratus 29.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Angels worship the Son, showing one kingdom of Father and Son.
Ancoratus 37.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The angel's “strengthening” fulfills Moses' song, not a need of Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 14.2.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Sadducees deny resurrection, angels, and the Spirit.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 22.1.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Menander, Simon's disciple, taught that angels made the world.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 23.1.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Satornilus: an unknown Father, and seven angels who made and divided the world.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.1.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The powers produce successive heavens and angels.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.2.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Basilides made the God of the Jews one of the lower angels.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.16.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They call Christ a created archangel-like being.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.4.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Angels are God's ministering spirits.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.34.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The four angels stand for the four nations on the Euphrates.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.34.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Deuteronomy shows the nations are set under angels.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.34.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The angels restrain the nations until God's judgment.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.34.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The angels will be released for judgment.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.41.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Aglaophon inferred bodiless resurrection from being like angels.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.43.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Being like angels means not marrying, not lacking flesh.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.35.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · All the orders of angels praise God with the threefold Holy.
Life of Paul the Hermit 14Jerome · ca. 375–379 · Hurrying back, Antony sees Paul's soul carried up among angels, prophets and apostles, and laments.
On Virgins 1.9Ambrose · ca. 377 · Ambrose urges the virgin to seek Christ, the flower found in enclosed gardens, using verses of the Song of Songs; Christ, white and ruddy, divine and human, seals the virgin, angels guard her, and her sober life keeps her from the causes of sin.
On the Christian Faith 3.13Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues from Matt 25:31 and Luke 9:26 that the majesty of the Father and of the Son is one, while the angels only attend it.
On the Christian Faith 4.1Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Opening the fourth book, Ambrose describes Christ’s triumphant ascension, with the angels asking “Who is this King of glory?” (Ps 24), and concludes that the ascending Son is the Lord of hosts and almighty.
On the Christian Faith 5.6Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that the request of James and John for seats beside Christ was impossible for any creature, since even angels and the Seraphim stand before God, and that Christ’s “not mine to give” was said according to his humanity.
On Noah 8Ambrose · ca. 378-384 · The giants of Genesis were born of angels and women, and are a figure of people who care for the body and neglect the soul.
On the Making of Man 17Gregory of Nyssa · 379 · Had man not sinned, humanity would have multiplied in some angelic way without marriage, as the resurrection life shows; God, foreseeing the fall, added the animal mode of reproduction.
Psalm 33Apollinaris of Laodicea · uncertain (fourth to sixth century) · Paraphrases of Psalms 33 and 34 of the Septuagint (Psalms 34 and 35), which run together in the scan: the Lord whose angel guards the righteous, and a plea that God take up shield and sword against false witnesses.
Theological Oration 2 (Or. 28), On the Doctrine of God 31Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Even the angels, pure intelligible beings who serve and praise God, surpass human understanding, how much more the Trinity itself.
On the Lord's Prayer 1165Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · Because human nature, weakened by sin, cannot return to the good unaided, we pray “Thy will be done”; “as in heaven, so on earth” refers to the two kinds of rational beings, angels in heaven and humans on earth, perhaps so joined that the human body may share at last in heaven.
On the Lord's Prayer 1167Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · In heaven God’s will is done without hindrance because the angels are free of vice; we pray that our life be cleansed so that his will may be done in us too; and the next petition, for daily bread, shows how embodied people can approach angelic freedom from need by contentment with little.
Book of Heresies 108.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The giants were men like Nimrod, not offspring of angels.
Book of Heresies 133.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Angels guide the stars, showing Christ's goodness to all.
Eleven Tractates 1.37Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · A message is judged by whether it confesses Christ, as Joshua tested the angel and as the angel refused John's worship.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 16Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus answers that God never called an angel his Son, and commands the angels to worship Christ.
On the Life of Moses 337Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · Pagan philosophy may be a spouse to the life of virtue once its errors (transmigration, a material God, eternal matter, fate) are “circumcised”; Aaron’s coming to meet Moses figures the guardian angel given to each person, who is opposed by an evil demon.
On the Life of Moses 339Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · Each person chooses between the guardian angel and the demon; when he turns to the good, the angel, his “brother,” meets him. Gregory explains his method: not every detail of the history must fit the spiritual sense, as the objection about Aaron shows.
On the Life of Moses 383Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The furnishings of the heavenly tabernacle signify the angelic powers created in Christ who lift souls to virtue; the cherubim, the seven lamps of the Spirit, the mercy seat (Christ), and the altar of praise are interpreted in turn.
On the Life of Moses 395Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The brothers, friends, and neighbours to be slain are the sinful thoughts that grow with us; Aaron who made the calf is the false “brother,” as distinct from the angelic brother; the earrings given up for the idol are the law removed from our hearing, as the serpent did in Eden.
Exposition of Psalm 118 1.9.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · If shame before a human witness can stop a sinner, how much more the thought that angels are everywhere present.
Exposition of Psalm 118 1.10.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Whoever believed that God and his angels witness every thought would fear to sin even in secret.
Exposition of Psalm 118 4.8.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The “angels of God” of Genesis 6 were men living like angels who fell for women’s beauty and became flesh.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.14.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Even angels need zeal, as Christ’s rebuke of lukewarm Laodicea shows.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.22.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · God’s hand may also mean his host of angels sent to aid the heirs of salvation.
Letter 53.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Fortunatus, Alypius, and Augustine answer a Donatist presbyter who claimed an angel told him to write to Generosus, citing Paul's curse on any other gospel.
Letter 94.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paulinus asks Augustine how angels and the blessed speak, whether “tongues of angels” means literal organs or kinds of speech.
Letter 102.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Allegorical interpretations of pagan rites point to creatures, not the Creator; sacrifice is owed to God alone, and holy angels and men refuse it.
Letter 158.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Evodius suggests that souls may keep a subtle body, citing angels, Samuel, Moses at the Transfiguration, and an apocryphal Moses writing, and that the soul may take bodily heat with it.
Letter 162.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The workings of mental images are mysterious, especially in prophecy, where an angel "spoke in" the prophet, and in angelic appearances in dreams.
Homilies on Matthew 4.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The angel told Mary before the conception, lest she despair, and Joseph after his suspicion, so that the angel's knowledge of his secret thoughts would prove the message divine; Matthew and Luke do not conflict.
Homilies on Matthew 47.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ spoke to the crowds only in parables, as the psalm foretold, to rouse them to ask; the disciples ask privately about the tares, and he explains it as the end of the age, when the angels will gather the wicked out of his kingdom.
Homilies on Matthew 59.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Cutting off the hand or eye means cutting off harmful friends, which shows that wickedness is of the will; Christ commands honor for the humble, whose angels see the Father’s face, and teaches by the parable of the lost sheep that the Father wills none of them to perish.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.2.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Angels and the heavenly host praise God in song.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.58.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The saints who wandered in deserts were not forsaken; Jacob saw the camps of angels.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.58.7Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Elisha, surrounded by Syrians, was protected by heaven's army.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.61.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The just are fed with the bread of angels and the water of refreshment.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.43.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Mystically, the "neighbors far off" are the guardian angels, who wait God's time to help.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.32.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · A guardian angel protects man unless God permits a contest.
On Free Choice of the Will 3.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–395 · God made both the highest spirits, whose sin would disturb the universe and who hold it together, and lower rational souls, whose sin does not diminish its order; the fallen soul rules its mortal body only within the laws of the universe.
On Free Choice of the Will 3.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–395 · The highest spirits abstain from sin freely; yet even if all angels had sinned, God could rule the universe by himself or create others, so he is to be praised in every case.
On True Religion 55Augustine of Hippo · ca. 389–391 · Augustine closes by urging his readers to worship no creature, neither phantoms, works, beasts, the dead, demons, elements, heavenly bodies, nor even angels, but the one God, the Trinity of one substance, to whom true religion binds us.
Homily 3Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 390–394 · Expounding Song 1:9–14, Gregory interprets the bride's likeness to the mare that overthrew Pharaoh's chariots, the turtledove cheeks and necklaces as virtues, the 'likenesses of gold' as the limits of all language about God, and the myrrh, nard and henna cluster as Christ dwelling in the purified soul.
Homily 8Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 390–394 · On Song 4:8–9 Gregory teaches that the soul's ascent to God never ends, since each good attained is the beginning of a higher one, and reads the angels' praise of the bride as their wonder at God's manifold wisdom shown through the church.
Sermon 6.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God appeared to Moses not in his own substance but through a creature, an angel, as Acts 7:30 explains; God speaks through the angel as through a prophet.
Sermon 7.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Two orthodox views exist on who spoke to Moses; the first is that it was Christ, called "Angel of great counsel" because he was sent with a message.
Sermon 7.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The second view: the speaker was a created angel called Lord because God spoke in him, as in prophets; this better fits the three visitors of Abraham, the two at Sodom, and the New Testament's statements that the Law came through angels.
Sermon 66.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s testimony to John is explained in two ways: Christ, less in time, is greater in majesty, or the least of the angels is greater than John.
Sermon 255.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The carnal soul fears a heaven without food or marriage, but such desires are like a sick man’s cravings, which health removes; immortality will remove them all, and God will be all in all.
Sermon 291.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Gabriel came to Zechariah, the father, for John, and to Mary, not Joseph, for Christ; Zechariah had not prayed for a son, since he did not believe the promise, but for the people awaiting the Christ whom John would announce.
Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis 3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 393 · Augustine explores the senses of “in the beginning” (time, or the Son as Beginning), whether angels and time preceded heaven and earth, and whether “heaven and earth” means the whole creation or formless matter, affirming only that every creature, time included, has a beginning.
Against Jovinianus 2.28Jerome · 393 · Jerome rejects Jovinian's reading of the "many dwellings" as churches and argues from the priesthood, Ezekiel, and the angelic orders that there are ranks in heaven.
Against Adimantus, a Disciple of Mani 9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 394 · Augustine answers the claim that Old Testament theophanies contradict John 1:18: the Son, the Word, made the Father known through angels and visible creatures, while God himself is seen only by the pure in heart.
Historia monachorum, chapter 10Rufinus of Aquileia · Greek original ca. 394-395; Rufinus's Latin ca. 404-406 · Copres tells how Syrus, Isaiah and Paul were carried miraculously upstream to visit Anuph, a confessor who told them of his visions and died three days later.
Historia monachorum, chapter 32Rufinus of Aquileia · Greek original ca. 394-395; Rufinus's Latin ca. 404-406 · Piammon of Diolcos, who saw an angel record the names of worthy communicants, did penance with those omitted until they were reconciled, and was healed by the angel of the altar.
Life of Saint Martin 21Sulpicius Severus · ca. 396–397 · Martin sees angels and the devil in every disguise; the devil boasts of killing a man, and Martin sends the brothers to find him.
Confessions 12.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The heaven of heaven, an intellectual creation cleaving to God, and formless matter are both outside the days and times.
Confessions 12.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The heaven of heaven is God's house, a pure created mind that clings to God without change.
Confessions 12.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The objectors grant that there is a spiritual creation, God's house, which cleaves to him without change though it was made.
Confessions 12.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The created wisdom, the heavenly city, was made before time, but the Creator's eternity precedes it.
Confessions 12.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · God's house is not the Selfsame but never turns from God's face; Augustine longs to be carried back to it.
Confessions 13.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The angels above the firmament read God's will directly; we read it in Scripture until we see God as he is.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains that sin is failing to restrain delight in what is unlawful, and places man between beasts that cannot sin and angels that will not.
On the Nature of the Good 33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399 · The evil angels became evil by sinning; they are kept for the last judgment and meanwhile are confined in the lower, murky air, which Scripture also calls heaven.
On the Trinity 2.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine notes that Lot addresses the two angels both as 'lords' and as 'Lord,' and suggests that they may signify the Son and the Holy Spirit, since they said they were sent.
On the Trinity 2.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine discusses the burning bush, where the 'angel of the Lord' speaks as God, and leaves open whether an angel bore the person of the Son, the Spirit, the Father, or the Trinity, or whether a creature was formed for the occasion.
On the Trinity 3.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine turns to the second question, whether theophanies were made through creatures formed for the purpose or through angels, leaving aside how angels assume or transform bodies, and affirms that God's will reaches through spiritual creatures to all visible effects.
On the Trinity 3.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that neither evil nor good angels are creators: God alone creates, having placed hidden 'seeds' in the elements which angels, men or animals can only bring to light, as Jacob's rods affected the colors of the flocks without his creating them.
On the Trinity 3.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine distinguishes God, who alone creates from the inmost causes, from angels and men, who only apply outward causes to the 'seeds' God placed in the world; evil angels can do this only as far as God permits, which is why Pharaoh's magicians failed at the gnats.
On the Trinity 3.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that miracles and signs, whether done by angels or by men, can bear the person of God, illustrates this with prophets, Jacob's stone, Moses' rod and the bread of the sacrament, admits he cannot know how angels do these things, and affirms that God, being unchangeable, is still less visible.
On the Trinity 3.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine concludes from Hebrews, Acts and Galatians that the Old Testament theophanies and even the giving of the Law were done through angels speaking or acting in the person of God, never through God's own substance, and leaves for the next book the difference between these and the sendings of the Son and the Spirit.
Commentary on Daniel 4, scholion 10Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Polychronius explains the word 'watcher' as an angel.
Commentary on Daniel 6, scholion 22Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Daniel attributes his deliverance to God's angel.
Commentary on Daniel 7, scholion 3Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The sea is the turmoil of life, and the four winds are the angels over the four empires.
Commentary on Daniel 7, scholion 34Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The attending hosts show God as Lord of the angels.
Commentary on Daniel 8, scholion 21Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The commander is the nation's guardian angel.
Commentary on Daniel 8, scholion 28Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · A holy angel spoke; Phelmoni is explained as an angel's name.
Commentary on Daniel 8, scholion 32Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · A figure like a man appeared, and Gabriel was commanded to explain the vision.
Commentary on Daniel 9, scholion 18Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Gabriel came swiftly while Daniel was still praying.
Commentary on Daniel 10, scholion 17Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The angel was sent by God; Daniel stood but was still afraid.
Commentary on Daniel 10, scholion 19Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Polychronius argues that the prince of Persia is not a demon but the angel set over Persia, who argued that the sinful Jews did not deserve release.
Commentary on Daniel 10, scholion 21Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Michael supported Gabriel against the Persian angel's case.
Commentary on Daniel 10, scholion 28Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Gabriel confirms that the prince of Persia opposed him.
Commentary on Daniel 12, scholion 1Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Michael's rising is the angelic help behind Judas Maccabee's victories.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 30Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Every person has a guardian angel; angels not yet assigned to a person serve in other ministries, and the guardians accompany soul and body in life and the soul after death.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 142–143Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Angels who appeared in God's rank, like men such as judges, were called gods for the sake of a task entrusted to them, and ceased to be so called when it was done; a further, garbled question about man called God is begun.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 2.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine proposes that each work exists first in the Word, then in the knowledge of the angels (the first light), and then in its own kind, which explains the threefold formula “God said,” “so it was done,” “God made.”
Literal Commentary on Genesis 3.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine reconciles the philosophers’ view of demons as airy beings with Genesis, and suggests the fallen angels were thrust down into the murky lower air as a prison until the judgment.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 4.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine proposes that if the first light is spiritual, evening is its knowledge of creatures in their own nature and morning its turning to praise God and to know in the Word the next creature to be made.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 4.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Knowledge of things in the Word of God is day, knowledge of them in their own nature is evening; so too the life of the faithful is day compared with unbelief but night compared with the vision of God.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 4.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · The angels know all creation first in the Word of God (day) and then in itself (evening), and at once refer it to God's praise (morning); were they to turn to themselves, they would fall like the devil.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 4.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Even if the angels know all at once, they still contemplate the Creator, know creation, and praise God, and so have day, evening, and morning together.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 4.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Even without intervals of time, angelic knowledge follows an order of causes: things are known first in the Word, then made in their nature and known in themselves, then referred to God's praise.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 4.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine concludes Book 4: the first day is the angelic creation, present to all God's works in an order of knowledge, and the seventh day means that God, before his angels, rests in himself, needing none of his works.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 5.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · God needs no messengers to know; the angels, who are the first day, knew the mystery of Christ hidden from the ages, and God is said to know when he makes things known.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 7.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Placing the soul's causal reason in the angelic “day” would make angels the parents of souls, which is hard to say, and placing it in a bodily creature is harder still.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 8.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · The holy angels, contemplating God's unchanging truth, carry out his commands in time among lower things; God's providence governs natures and wills.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 8.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Bodies are helped from within by God and from without by bodily means; angels are helped only inwardly by God's truth and love, but they help other creatures outwardly through visions and bodies.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 9.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · God brought the animals to Adam not as hunters drive game or by a voice, but through angels who move animals by sights and appetites, as he commanded the whale and the worm in Jonah.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 9.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Only God, the Trinity, creates natures; angels may have served in Adam's sleep and the removal of the rib, as farmers and physicians serve nature, but the woman herself was made by God alone.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 11.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · If the devil once lived happily among the angels, why did he not foreknow his fall? Augustine weighs the view that he belonged to a lower order of angels in the world.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 11.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine finds no scriptural ground for two classes of good angels and leans to the view that the devil fell from the first moment of his creation.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 11.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine leaves the time and manner of the devil's fall open but holds firmly that the fallen angels are kept for judgment and that the eternal life of the holy angels, and ours, is certain.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 12.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Images shown by a good spirit always signify something; even people joking—fake astrologers and a dancer mimicking the possessed—have foretold true events; how angels communicate such images is hard to know.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 12.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Within spiritual vision there are excellent, divine images shown by angels, compared with which ordinary dream images are as earth to heaven.
Apology against Rufinus 1.23Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome defends his comment on Eph 1:21: ranks and advancement among angels, like grades of clergy among men, do not mean angels turning into demons or men as Origen taught.
Apology against Rufinus 1.29Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome explains that his words about wives becoming men meant beginning now the chastity of the angelic life, not abolishing the sexes or bodies in the resurrection.
Apology against Jerome 1.38Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 401 · Rufinus quotes further passages of Jerome's Ephesians commentary, on stars not being clean, the soul made before the body, and angels and souls as the sheep and the lost sheep.
Apology against Jerome 1.39Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 401 · Rufinus argues that Jerome's commentary makes souls and angels one nature to be reunited in one flock, the very view of the "little women" he ridicules, and mocks Jerome's claim that Paul only hinted at it.
Dialogues 1.17Sulpicius Severus · ca. 404–406 · Postumianus visits Antony’s monasteries, the place of Paul the first hermit, the Red Sea, and Sinai, where a naked hermit avoided men to be visited by angels; along the Nile thousands of monks live under obedience.
Dialogues 2.13Sulpicius Severus · ca. 404–406 · Gallus and Sulpicius heard voices in Martin’s cell; Martin admitted that Agnes, Thecla, and Mary visited him, and Peter and Paul; he named demons as Jupiter and Mercury; an angel told him the decisions of the synod of Nîmes.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · 'Nothing' in John 1:3 is not something: sin and idols were not made through the Word, but every creature from angel to worm was, and the Word became a 'worm' for our sake.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The invisible things God made through the Word, angels and the soul, are still more wonderful than the visible: the soul animates the body, orders human society, and will do far more in the resurrection body.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John the Baptist, though greatest of those born of women, declared himself unworthy to loose Christ's sandal, which shows Christ to be above all men and angels.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 110.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · That Christ died for humans and not for fallen angels shows God's mercy, not human superiority; by grace, as members of Christ, we will be made equal to the holy angels.
City of God 8.25Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine teaches that we come near the good angels not through demons but by likeness of will and faith in the God who makes both them and us happy.
City of God 9.19Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine notes that Scripture and common usage speak of good and bad angels but never of good demons, so he will use the name 'angels' for the good spirits.
City of God 9.22Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine contrasts the demons' conjectural knowledge of temporal things with the angels' sure knowledge of all things in the Word of God, whom they enjoy in love.
City of God 9.23Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine allows the Platonists to call the blessed immortals 'gods' as Scripture calls angels and even men gods, but insists that such beings are not mediators and want worship given only to the one God.
City of God 10.7Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine teaches that the holy angels, fellow citizens of the one city of God, wish us to sacrifice only to God, as the law they ministered commands.
City of God 10.15Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine explains that the law commanding worship of the one God was delivered by angels, through whom the invisible God spoke in visible signs and human words.
City of God 10.16Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine argues that the angels who command sacrifice to the one God, and confirm it with greater miracles, must be believed rather than those who demand worship for themselves.
City of God 10.19Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine explains that visible sacrifices are signs of the invisible sacrifice of ourselves, and that holy angels and apostles refused the honor due to God.
City of God 10.26Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine presses Porphyry, who distinguished angels announcing the Father's will from those serving theurgists, to admit openly that the latter are demons.
City of God 11.7Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The light and the evenings and mornings of the first days may signify the angels' knowledge of creatures, dim in itself and bright when referred to the Creator.
City of God 11.9Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The angels were created as the light of the first day, enlightened by the eternal Word; those who turned away became darkness, for evil is only the loss of good.
City of God 11.11Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The angels who fell cannot have shared the holy angels' full happiness, which includes certainty of its eternity.
City of God 11.13Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The holy angels are certain of their eternal happiness; the fallen ones never had that certainty, and the devil fell from the truth rather than being evil by nature, against the Manichees.
City of God 11.16Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Creatures are ranked by nature above one another, but human valuation follows use, and in rational beings the will decides: good men rank above evil angels.
City of God 11.19Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · God's dividing of light from darkness on the first day may signify his separation of the holy from the fallen angels, whose fall he foreknew.
City of God 11.20Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Scripture approves the light before the division on the first day but not after, so that the angelic darkness is not called good.
City of God 11.29Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The holy angels know God and all creatures in the Word as in a “day” knowledge, more clearly than in the creatures themselves, their “evening” knowledge.
City of God 11.31Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The seventh day's rest, which has no evening, signifies fullness; seven stands for the whole and for the Holy Spirit, and rest belongs to perfect knowledge, as the angels enjoy it.
City of God 11.32Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · If some place the angels' creation before heaven and earth, Augustine will not dispute it, gladly noting the Trinity in Genesis 1:1–2, provided the angels' secure happiness is held.
City of God 11.33Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The holy and fallen angels form two contrary societies, fittingly called light and darkness, whether or not Moses meant this in Genesis 1.
City of God 11.34Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine notes views that the waters above the firmament are angels, rejects the claim that the waters were uncreated, and closes the book on the two angelic societies.
City of God 12.1Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Good and evil angels share one good nature; they differ only by will, the good cleaving to God and the evil turning from him, and their fault itself shows how good that nature is.
City of God 12.9Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The good angels' good will was made by God with them, by grace; the fallen either received less grace or the good were helped further; both angels and saints form one city of God, whose human part begins from one man.
City of God 12.16Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine tentatively discusses how God can always have been Lord without any creature being coeternal with him, concluding that such questions exceed his powers and counseling sober restraint.
City of God 12.25Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Against Plato's lesser gods as makers of mortal creatures, Augustine holds that only God creates any nature; angels who assist are no more creators than farmers are of crops.
City of God 12.26Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Only God gives natures and their inner forms; angels, farmers, the earth, and mothers are not creators, as Rome and Alexandria are credited to their kings rather than their builders.
City of God 13.22Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Risen bodies will need no food but may eat, as the angels did with Abraham and Tobit and as the risen Christ did; they will be spiritual yet remain true bodies.
City of God 15.23Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine argues that the 'angels of God' who married the daughters of men (Gen 6) were men of Seth's line, not spirits, and rejects the Enoch literature's account of giants as apocryphal.
City of God 16.5Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · God's 'coming down' to Babel means a visible act of his presence, perhaps through angels, who work as his fellow workers.
City of God 16.6Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · God speaks to angels not with sound but by his unchangeable reason; 'Let us make man' refers to the Trinity, and Gen 11:6 is a threatening question.
City of God 16.29Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The three visitors at Mamre were angels in whom Abraham recognized the Lord, as Lot did in the two at Sodom; they renewed the twofold promise.
City of God 19.9Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine says that friendship with the holy angels, though free from death and corruption, is obscured in this life by demons who disguise themselves as angels of light, into whose power the pagan philosophers fell.
City of God 22.1Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine introduces the last book on the eternal blessedness of the city of God, founded by God, who allowed angels and men free choice and gathers a people by grace to restore the number of the fallen angels.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine uses Paul's thorn in the flesh to show that even the apostle lacked angelic perfection and needed a remedy against pride.
Prayers 1–30Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · A litany in which the cherubim, the seven chief angels, the sun, moon and stars, the air and weather, the earth and the ocean each praise God, and the congregation answers with Amen and Alleluia.
On Care for the Dead 18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–422 · The dead may learn of earthly things from those who die after them, from angels, or by revelation, and Scripture shows some of the dead sent to the living, such as Samuel and Moses.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · The proud angels fell, but the rest, not bound by any inherited guilt, remained faithful and received certain knowledge of their eternal security.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 58Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Augustine confesses ignorance of the ranks of angels and of whether the heavenly bodies belong to their society.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 59Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · How angels appear, whether in tangible bodies, inward visions, or dreams, is a hard question that may be discussed modestly but need not be settled.
Retractations 1.10Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Reviewing On Music, Augustine clarifies statements on bodily numbers, the resurrection body, and beauty, and says he cannot affirm, as Plato did, that the world is a living being with a soul.
The Conferences 6.16John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Even angels are changeable, as the fall of some shows; those who stand do so by grace and effort, not by nature, and only God is unchangeably good.
The Conferences 7.13John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Only the Trinity can penetrate a soul, for only God is incorporeal; angels and souls have subtle bodies of their own, and God alone sees the heart.
The Conferences 8.2John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Germanus asks where the ranks of hostile powers came from, and whether God created them for this purpose.
The Conferences 8.7John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · God created the angels before the visible world, since they praised him at the creation of the stars; Christ is the true “beginning” in whom all things, including all ranks of angels, were made.
The Conferences 8.8John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Ezekiel's prince of Tyre and Isaiah's Lucifer describe the fall of angelic princes, who drew a third of the stars with them; the fallen powers either keep their former ranks or have formed rival ranks according to their wickedness.
The Conferences 8.13John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Hostile powers are set over nations and fight one another, as the prince of Persia and the prince of Greece in Daniel oppose Gabriel and Michael.
The Conferences 8.15John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · The names of the good angelic orders describe their offices: messengers, rulers of angels, dominions, principalities, and thrones on which God's majesty rests.
The Conferences 8.17John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Each person has a good and a bad angel, as Scripture and the Shepherd of Hermas teach; the adversary who sought Job had always lain in wait for him.
The Conferences 8.21John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Spirits cannot have intercourse with women; the “sons of God” of Gen 6 were the righteous descendants of Seth, who married the daughters of Cain's line and were corrupted, turning Adam's natural wisdom to magic, which Ham preserved through the flood; their offspring were the violent giants.
Part 13Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author rejects the argument that the angels' eating at Abraham's table shows that Christ's Godhead could eat without flesh, arguing that the angels only appeared to eat, while Christ truly ate in his flesh.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.12Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Christ's poverty in the manger reveals the wealth of his Godhead; the magi and the angels worshipped one and the same God; the star was an angelic power, not a real star.
Against Five Heresies 4Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Against the Jews (and the Sabellians and Arians) the preacher reads the angel-theophanies of Exodus 23, Genesis 19, Exodus 3, and Joshua 5 as appearances of the Son, and Isaiah’s words on God’s begetting and the word that goes out from his mouth.