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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput IX: De angelorum conditione quid secundum diuina testimonia sentiendum sit.

Nunc, quoniam de sanctae ciuitatis exortu dicere institui et prius quod ad sanctos angelos adtinet dicendum putaui, quae huius ciuitatis et magna pars est et eo beatior, quod numquam peregrinata, quae hinc diuina testimonia subpetant, quantum satis uidebitur, deo largiente explicare curabo. ubi de mundi constitutione sacrae litterae loquuntur, non euidenter dicitur, utrum uel quo ordine creati sint angeli; sed si praetermissi non sunt, uel caeli nomine, ubi dictum est: in principio fecit deus caelum et terram, uel potius lucis huius, de qua loquor, significati sunt. non autem esse praetermissos hinc existimo, quod scriptum est, requieuisse deum in die septimo ab omnibus operibus suis quae fecit, cum liber ipse ita sit exorsus: in principio fecit deus caelum et terram, ut ante caelum et terram nihil aliud fecisse uideatur. cum ergo a caelo et terra coeperit, atque ipsa terra, quam primitus fecit, sicut scriptura consequenter eloquitur, inuisibilis et incomposita nondumque luce facta utique tenebrae fuerint super abyssum, id est super quandam terrae et aquae indistinctam confusionem - ubi enim lux non est, tenebrae sint necesse est - , deinde si omnia creando disposita sunt, quae per sex dies consummata narrantur: quomodo angeli praetermitterentur, tamquam non essent in operibus dei, a quibus in die septimo requieuit? opus autem dei esse angelos hic quidem etsi non praetermissum, non tamen euidenter expressum est; sed alibi hoc sancta scriptura clarissima uoce testatur. nam et in hymno trium in camino uirorum cum praedictum esset: benedicite omnia opera domini dominum, in executione eorundem operum etiam angeli nominati sunt; et in psalmo canitur: laudate dominum de caelis, laudate eum in excelsis; laudate eum omnes angeli eius, laudate eum omnes uirtutes eius; laudate eum sol et luna, laudate eum omnes stellae et lumen; laudate eum caeli caelorum, et aquae, quae super caelos sunt, laudent nomen domini; quoniam ipse dixit, et facta sunt; ipse mandauit, et creata sunt. etiam hic apertissime a deo factos esse angelos diuinitus dictum est, cum eis inter cetera caelestia commemoratis infertur ad omnia: ipse dixit, et facta sunt. quis porro audebit opinari post omnia ista, quae sex diebus enumerata sunt, angelos factos? sed etsi quisquam ita desipit, redarguit istam uanitatem illa scriptura paris auctoritatis, ubi deus dicit: quando facta sunt sidera, laudauerunt me uoce magna omnes angeli mei. iam ergo erant angeli, quando facta sunt sidera. facta sunt autem quarto die. numquidnam ergo die tertio factos esse dicemus? absit. in promptu est enim, quid illo die factum sit. ab aquis utique terra discreta est et distinctas sui generis species duo ista elementa sumpserunt et produxit terra quidquid ei radicitus inhaeret. numquidnam secundo? ne hoc quidem. tunc enim firmamentum factum est inter aquas superiores et inferiores caelumque appellatum est; in quo firmamento quarto die facta sunt sidera. nimirum ergo si ad istorum dierum opera dei pertinent angeli, ipsi sunt illa lux, quae diei nomen accepit, cuius unitas et commendaretur, non est dictus dies primus, sed dies unus. nec alius est dies secundus aut tertius aut ceteri; sed idem ipse unus ad inplendum senarium uel septenarium numerum repetitus est propter senariam uel septenariam cognitionem; senariam scilicet operum, quae fecit deus, et septenariam quietis dei. cum enim dixit deus: fiat lux, et facta est lux, si recte in hac luce creatio intellegitur angelorum, profecto facti sunt participes lucis aeternae, quod est ipsa incommutabilis sapientia dei, per quam facta sunt omnia, quem dicimus unigenitum dei filium; ut ea luce inluminati, qua creati, fierent lux et uocarentur dies participatione incommutabilis lucis et diei, quod est uerbum dei, per quod et ipsi et omnia facta sunt. lumen quippe uerum, quod inluminat omnem hominem uenientem in hunc mundum, hoc inluminat et omnem angelum mundum, ut sit lux non in se ipso, sed in deo; a quo si auertitur angelus, fit inmundus; sicut sunt omnes, qui uocantur inmundi spiritus, nec iam lux in domino, sed in se ipsis tenebrae, priuati participatione lucis aeternae. mali enim nulla natura est; sed amissio boni mali nomen accepit.

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The City of God

Chapter 9.--What the Scriptures Teach Us to Believe Concerning the Creation of the Angels.

At present, since I have undertaken to treat of the origin of the holy city, and first of the holy angels, who constitute a large part of this city, and indeed the more blessed part, since they have never been expatriated, I will give myself to the task of explaining, by God's help, and as far as seems suitable, the Scriptures which relate to this point. Where Scripture speaks of the world's creation, it is not plainly said whether or when the angels were created; but if mention of them is made, it is implicitly under the name of "heaven," when it is said, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," or perhaps rather under the name of "light," of which presently. But that they were wholly omitted, I am unable to believe, because it is written that God on the seventh day rested from all His works which He made; and this very book itself begins, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," so that before heaven and earth God seems to have made nothing. Since, therefore, He began with the heavens and the earth,--and the earth itself, as Scripture adds, was at first invisible and formless, light not being as yet made, and darkness covering the face of the deep (that is to say, covering an undefined chaos of earth and sea, for where light is not, darkness must needs be),--and then when all things, which are recorded to have been completed in six days, were created and arranged, how should the angels be omitted, as if they were not among the works of God, from which on the seventh day He rested? Yet, though the fact that the angels are the work of God is not omitted here, it is indeed not explicitly mentioned; but elsewhere Holy Scripture asserts it in the clearest manner. For in the Hymn of the Three Children in the Furnace it was said, "O all ye works of the Lord bless ye the Lord;" ¹ and among these works mentioned afterwards in detail, the angels are named. And in the psalm it is said, "Praise ye the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights. Praise ye Him, all His angels; praise ye Him, all His hosts. Praise ye Him, sun and moon; praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise Him, ye heaven of heavens; and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord; for He commanded, and they were created." ² Here the angels are most expressly and by divine authority said to have been made by God, for of them among the other heavenly things it is said, "He commanded, and they were created." Who, then, will be bold enough to suggest that the angels were made after the six days' creation? If any one is so foolish, his folly is disposed of by a scripture of like authority, where God says, "When the stars were made, the angels praised me with a loud voice." ³ The angels therefore existed before the stars; and the stars were made the fourth day. Shall we then say that they were made the third day? Far from it; for we know what was made that day. The earth was separated from the water, and each element took its own distinct form, and the earth produced all that grows on it. On the second day, then? Not even on this; for on it the firmament was made between the waters above and beneath, and was called "Heaven," in which firmament the stars were made on the fourth day. There is no question, then, that if the angels are included in the works of God during these six days, they are that light which was called "Day," and whose unity Scripture signalizes by calling that day not the "first day," but "one day." ⁴ For the second day, the third, and the rest are not other days; but the same "one" day is repeated to complete the number six or seven, so that there should be knowledge both of God's works and of His rest. For when God said, "Let there be light, and there was light," if we are justified in understanding in this light the creation of the angels, then certainly they were created partakers of the eternal light which is the unchangeable Wisdom of God, by which all things were made, and whom we call the only-begotten Son of God; so that they, being illumined by the Light that created them, might themselves become light and be called "Day," in participation of that unchangeable Light and Day which is the Word of God, by whom both themselves and all else were made. "The true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," ⁵ --this Light lighteth also every pure angel, that he may be light not in himself, but in God; from whom if an angel turn away, he becomes impure, as are all those who are called unclean spirits, and are no longer light in the Lord, but darkness in themselves, being deprived of the participation of Light eternal. For evil has no positive nature; but the loss of good has received the name "evil." ⁶