On November 27th, 2022, the 8,000th article was added to the SuccuWiki!

Fallen Angel: Difference between revisions

From SuccuWiki - The Wiki of the Succubi
Jump to navigation Jump to search
mNo edit summary
 
(10 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[Category:Definitions]]
[[Category:Deities, Spirits, and Mythic Beings]]
[[File:AngelCaido.jpg|thumb|Statue of the Fallen Angel, Retiro Park (Madrid, Spain)]]
A '''Fallen Angel''' is a wicked or rebellious angel that has been cast out of [[heaven]]. The term "fallen angel" does not appear in the Bible, but it is used of angels who [[sin]]ned, such as those referred to in 2 Peter 2:4, "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment ..."; of angels cast down to the earth in the War in Heaven; of [[Satan]];<ref name="Davidson, 111">Davidson 1994, p. 111</ref> [[demon]]s,<ref>Douglas 2011, p. 350</ref> or of certain Watchers.<ref name="Reed, 1">Reed 2005, p. 1</ref> The term has become popular in fictional literature regarding angels.


Mention of angels who descended to Mount Hermon (not "fell" to Earth) is found in the Book of Enoch, which the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church accept as canonical, as well as in various pseudepigrapha.


[[Image:AngelCaido.jpg|200px|thumb|Statue of the Fallen Angel, Retiro Park (Madrid, Spain).]]
In most Christian traditions, a '''fallen angel''' is an [[Angel (Classical)|angel]] that has been exiled or banished from [[Heaven]]. Often such banishment is a punishment for disobeying or rebelling against [[God]]. The best-known fallen angel is [[Satan]]. [[Lucifer]] rebelled and was cast out of Heaven and fell to Earth for his offense, after the fall he became known only as Satan. According to some traditions, fallen angels will roam the Earth until Judgment Day, when they will be banished to [[Hell]].


== Origin of the term ==
==Second Temple Period Judaism==
{{Disputed-section|date=August 2008}}
===Sons of God===
The origin of the term lies in the Hebrew word for "giant". The Hebrew word translated as "giants" here is [[nephilim]], a plural, which itself derives from the root word [http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=05307 Naphal], which means ''to fall''.{{Syn|date=July 2008}} The apocryphal [[Book of Enoch]] explains that a group of rebellious angels "left their first estate" (heaven, or the sky) and came down (fell) to Earth to [[marriage|marry]] human women and have children with them. Jude makes mention of these angels in the New Testament: {{cquote|[[Jude 1:6]] And the angels which '''kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,''' he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.}} Due to the disastrous results of this forbidden intermingling, many have come to view the word "fallen" as denoting a fall from grace{{Fact|date=May 2007}}, though it seems that the original meaning was simply to descend from the heavens.
In the period immediately preceding the composition of the New Testament, some sects of Judaism identified the "sons of God" (בני האלהים) of  Genesis 6:1–4 with fallen angels.<ref>Gregory A. Boyd, ''God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict'' (InterVarsity Press 1997 ISBN 9780830818853), p. 138</ref> Some scholars consider it most likely that this Jewish tradition of fallen angels predates, even in written form, the composition of Gen 6:1–4.<ref>Lester L. Grabbe, ''A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period'' (Continuum 2004 ISBN 9780567043528), p. 344</ref><ref>Matthew Black, ''The Book of Enoch or I Enoch: A New English Edition with Commentary and Textual Notes'' (Brill 1985 ISBN 9789004071001), p. 14</ref> Lester L. Grabbe calls the story of the sexual intercourse of angels with women "an old myth in Judaism".<ref>Grabbe 2004, p. 101</ref> Indeed, until the mid-2nd century AD, Jewish writing (such as midrashim) can be taken to identify the "sons of God" of Gen 6:1 and 4 as angels.<ref>George J. Brooke, ''Exegesis at Qumran: 4Q Florilegium in Its Jewish Context'' (Continuum 1985 ISBN 9780905774770), p. 31</ref> By the 3rd century, there is evidence that some early Christians accepted this Jewish Enochic pseudepigraphy and the application of the angelic descent myth to the "sons of God" passage in Genesis 6:1–4.<ref>Reed 2005, pp. 14, 15</ref> Its presence not only in the East but also in the Latin-speaking West is attested by the polemic of Augustine of Hippo (354–430) against the motif of giants born of the union between fallen angels and human women.<ref>Heinz Schreckenberg, Kurt Schubert, ''Jewish Historiography and Iconography in Early and Medieval Christianity'' (Van Gorcum, 1992, ISBN 9789023226536), p. 253</ref> Rabbinic Judaism and Christian authorities rejected the tradition.<ref>Reed 2005, p. 218</ref> Those who adopted the tradition viewed the "sons of God" as fallen angels who married human women and by unnatural union begot the [[Nephilim]].<ref>Douglas 2011, p. 1384</ref>


The distinction of [[Goodness and evil|good and bad]] angels constantly appears in the Bible,{{Fact|date=July 2008}} but it is instructive to note that there is no sign of any [[dualism]] or conflict between two equal principles, one good and the other evil.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} The conflict depicted is rather the battle waged on earth between [[Kingdom of God|the Kingdom of God]] and the Kingdom of the Evil One, but the latter's inferiority is always supposed. The existence, then, of this inferior, and therefore created, spirit, has to be explained.{{Fact|date=July 2008}}
===Watchers, "Grigori"===
The reference to heavenly beings called "Watchers" originates in Daniel 4, in which there are three mentions, twice in the singular (v. 13, 23), once in the plural (v. 17), of  "watchers, holy ones". The Greek word for watchers is {{lang|grc|ἐγρήγοροι}} ''egrḗgoroi'', pl. of ''egrḗgoros'', literally "wakeful".<ref>[http://perseus.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.20:3:109.LSJ ἐγρήγορος]. Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. ''A Greek-English Lexicon'' revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940. p. 474. Available online at the Perseus Project Texts Loaded under PhiloLogic (ARTFL project) at the University of Chicago.</ref> Note that, beginning by AD 150, the Greek letter eta (η) was itacized to sound the same as iota (ι), and the Old Slavonic alphabets, both Cyrillic and Glagolitic, made no phonetic distinction between the letters they derived from Greek η and ι.<ref>W. Sidney Allen, ''Vox Graeca: a guide to the pronunciation of classical Greek (third edition, Cambridge University Press 1987 ISBN 0-521-33555-8), pp. 74-75</ref> The Greek term was transcribed in the Jewish pseudepigraphon Second Book of Enoch (''Slavonic Enoch'') as ''Grigori'', referring to the same beings as those called Watchers of the (First) Book of Enoch.<ref>Andrei A. Orlov, ''Dark Mirrors: Azazel and Satanael in Early Jewish Demonology'' (SUNY Press 2011 ISBN 978-1-43843951-8), p. 164</ref>


The gradual development of Hebrew language consciousness on this point is very clearly marked in the inspired writings. The account of the fall of the [[Adam and Eve|First Parents]] (Genesis 3) is couched in such terms that it is difficult to see in it anything more than the acknowledgment of the existence of a principle of evil who was jealous of the human race.{{Fact|date=July 2008}}  
===First Enoch===
A Jewish story of angels coming down to earth rather than being cast down, referred to as the story of angelic descent,<ref>Reed 2005, p. 14,15</ref> is found chiefly in the Jewish pseudepigraphic ''Book of Enoch'', 6-9 and the Qumran ''Book of Giants'' and perhaps in Genesis 6:1-4.<ref name=Grabbe>Lester L. Grabbe, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=DO6kT5RPuxgC&pg=PA101#v=snippet&q=full-blown%20story&f=false An Introduction to First Century Judaism: Jewish Religion and History in the Second Temple Period]'' (Continuum International Publishing Group 1996 ISBN 9780567085061), p. 101</ref> These Watchers became "enamored" with human women ([http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/bep/bep02.htm 1 Enoch 7.2]),<ref name=" Laurence">{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/bep/bep02.htm |last=Laurence |first=Richard |title=The Book of Enoch the Prophet|year=1883}}</ref> and had intercourse with them. The offspring of these unions, and the knowledge they were given, corrupted human beings and the earth ([http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/bep/bep02.htm 1 Enoch 10.11-12]).<ref name=" Laurence"/>  A number of apocryphal works, including 1 Enoch [http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/bep/bep02.htm (10.4)]<ref name=" Laurence"/> link this transgression with the ''Great Deluge''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biblica|year=1977|publisher=St. Martin's Press|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=seUuwJOfETMC&pg=PA586#v=onepage&q=2%20enoch%2018%3A3&f=false|edition=Vol. 58|page=586}}</ref> This myth was adopted by early Christianity, but abandoned by Rabbinic Judaism and later Christianity.<ref name="Reed2">Reed 2005, p. 2</ref> During the period immediately before the rise of Christianity, the intercourse between these Watchers and human women was often seen as the first fall of the angels.<ref>Gregory A. Boyd, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Hj791_BeAF0C&pg=PA138#v=onepage&q=first%20fall&f=false God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict]'', InterVarsity Press 1997 ISBN 9780830818853, p.138</ref>


The statement (Genesis 6:1) that the "[[Sons of God]]" married the daughters of men is explained of the fall of the angels, in [[Book of Enoch|Enoch]] 6-9, and codices, D, E F, and A of the [[Septuagint]] read frequently, for "sons of God", ''oi aggeloi tou theou''. Unfortunately, codices B and C are defective in Ge., vi, but it is probably that they, too, read ''oi aggeloi'' in this passage, for they constantly so render the expression "sons of God"; cf. Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7; but on the other hand, see Psalms 2:1; 85; & (Septuagint). [[Philo]], in commenting on the passage in his treatise "Quod Deus sit immutabilis", i, follows the Septuagint. For Philo's doctrine of Angels, cf. "De Vita Mosis", iii, 2, "De Somniis", VI: "De Incorrupta Manna", i; "De Sacrificis", ii; "De Lege Allegorica", I, 12; III, 73; and for the view of Genesis 6:1, cf. St. Justin, Apol., ii 5.{{Fact|date=July 2008}}
===Slavonic Enoch===
The Slavonic Second Book of Enoch is problematic as evidence for Jewish belief as it has been heavily redacted by Christian transmission. For example the passage dealing specifically with the fall is regarded as a Christian change to the text by the editor of the modern standard edition:


==Job 1-2==
{{quotation|2 Enoch 29:3 "Here Satanail was hurled from the height together with his angels" - a probable Christian interpolation according to Charlesworth's ''Old Testament Pseudepigrapha''}}
The picture afforded us in Job 1-2 is equally imaginative; but Satan, perhaps the earliest individualization of the fallen Angel, is presented as an intruder who is jealous of Job. He can be seen as clearly an inferior being to the Deity and can only touch Job with God's permission, or as the ultimate embodiment of pride, as per his believed characteristics, trying to prove God's summation of Job's character and faith is flawed. By playing within the limitations God Himself has set Satan affords himself the opportunity to attempt to cause Job to curse the Lord and thereby, in effect, prove God wrong in order to prove himself to be correct, and therefore superior to God, but he fails. How theologic thought advanced as the sum of revelation grew appears from a comparison of II Kings 24:1, with I Paral., xxi, 1.


Whereas in the former passage David's sin was said to be due to "the wrath of the Lord" which "stirred up David", in the latter we read that "Satan moved David to number Israel". In Job. iv, 18, we seem to find a definite declaration of the fall: "In his angels he found wickedness." The Septuagint of Job contains some instructive passages regarding [[Danite|avenging angels]] in whom we are perhaps to see fallen spirits, thus xxxiii, 23: "If a thousand death-dealing angels should be (against him) not one of them shall wound him"; and xxxvi, 14: "If their souls should perish in their youth (through rashness) yet their life shall be wounded by the angels"; and xxi, 15: "The riches unjustly accumulated shall be vomited up, an angel shall drag him out of his house;" cf. Prov., xvii, 11; Ps., xxxiv, 5, 6; lxxvii, 49, and especially, Ecclesiasticus, xxxix, 33, a text which, as far as can be gathered from the present state of the manuscript, was in the Hebrew original.  
The text refers to "the Grigori, who with their prince Satanail rejected the Lord of light". The Grigori are identified with the Watchers of 1 Enoch.<ref name = "Orlov,164">Orlov 2011, p. 164</ref><ref>Anderson 2000, p. 64: "In 2 Enoch 18:3... the fall of Satan and his angels is talked of in terms of the Watchers (Grigori) story, and connected with Genesis 6:1–4."</ref> The Grigori who "went down on to earth from the Lord's throne", married women and "befouled the earth with their deeds", resulting in confinement under earth [http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe125.htm (2 Enoch 18:1-7)] In the longer recension of 2 Enoch,  chapter 29 refers to angels who were "thrown out from the height" when their leader tried to become equal in rank with the Lord's power ([http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe136.htm 2 Enoch 29:1-4]).


In some of these passages, it is true, the angels may be regarded as avengers of God's justice without therefore being evil spirits. In Zach., iii, 1-3, Satan is called the adversary who pleads before the Lord against Jesus the High Priest. Isaias, xiv, and Ezech., xxviii, are for the Fathers the loci classici regarding the fall of Satan (cf. Tertull., adv. Marc., II, x); and Jesus Himself has given colour to this view by using the imagery of the latter passage when saying to His Apostles: "I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven" (Luke 10:18).
Most sources quote 2 Enoch as stating that those who descended to earth were three,<ref>[http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=grigori+%22three+of+them+went%22 Sources presenting one version of 2 Enoch] and [http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=%22three+of+them+descended%22+Grigori sources using a different version]</ref> but Andrei A. Orlov, while quoting 2 Enoch as saying that ''three'' went down to the earth,<ref>Andrei A. Orlov, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=H5pbK3uXL5cC&pg=PA93#v=onepage&q=%22three%20of%20them%20descended%22&f=false Dark Mirrors]'' SUNY Press 2011 ISBN 9781438439518, p.93</ref> remarks in a footnote that some manuscripts put them at 200 or even 200 myriads.<ref name = "Orlov,164"/> In ''The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalypic Literature and Testaments'' edited by James H. Charlesworth, manuscript J, taken as the best representative of the longer recension, has "and ''three of them'' descended" (p.&nbsp;130), while manuscript A, taken as the best representative of the shorter recension, has "and ''they'' descended", which might indicate that all the Grigori descended, or 200 princes of them, or 200 princes and 200 followers, since it follows the phrase "These are the Grigori, 200 princes of whom turned aside, 200 walking in their train" (p.&nbsp;131).


==New Testament==
Chapter 29, referring to the second day of creation, before the creation of human beings, says that "one from out the order of angels"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=%22equal+in+rank+to+my+power%22 |title=Most sources |publisher=Google.com |date= }}</ref> or, according to other versions of 2 Enoch, "one of the order of archangels"<ref>Marc Michael Epstein, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=bzINIM23-TcC&pg=PA141#v=onepage&q=%22an%20impossible%20idea%22&f=false Dreams of Subversion in Medieval Jewish Art and Literature]'' Penn State University Press 1997 ISBN 9780271016054, p. 141
In [[New Testament]] times, the idea of the two spiritual kingdoms is clearly established. The devil is a fallen angel who in his fall has drawn multitudes of the heavenly host in his train. Jesus terms him "the Prince of this world" (John xiv, 30); he is the tempter of the human race and tries to involve them in his fall ([[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew 25:41]]; [[Second Epistle of Peter|2 Peter]] 2:4; Ephesians 6:12; [[Second Epistle to the Corinthians|2 Corinthians]] 11:14; 12:7). Christian imagery of the devil as the dragon is mainly derived from the Apocalypse (ix, 11-15; xii, 7-9), where he is termed  "the dragon", "the old serpent", etc., and is represented as having actually been in combat with [[Michael (archangel)|Archangel Michael]]. Also, an image is given him as a "roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (as seen in II Peter)" gives context, and substance of his role as the tempter of the inhabitants of the earth. The similarity between scenes such as these and the early Babylonian accounts of the struggle between Merodach and the dragon Tiamat is very striking. Whether we are to trace its origin to vague reminiscences of the mighty saurians which once people the earth is a moot question, but the curious reader may consult Bousett, "The [[Antichrist|Anti-Christ]] Legend" (tr. by Keane, London, 1896). The translator has prefixed to it an interesting discussion on the origin of the Babylonian Dragon-Myth.
*and [http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=%22Order+of+the+archangels+deviated%22 other sources]</ref> or "one of the ranks of the archangels"<ref name=Hastings>James Hastings, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ynjtxhjj4QkC&pg=PA409#v=onepage&q=%22ranks%20of%20the%20archangels%22&f=false A Dictionary of the Bible]'' 1898 edition reproduced 2004 by the University Press of the Pacific ISBN 9781410217288, vol. 4, p. 409</ref> "conceived an impossible thought, to place his throne higher than the clouds above the earth, that he might become equal in rank to [the Lord's] power. And [the Lord] threw him out from the height with his angels, and he was flying in the air continuously above the bottomless." In this chapter the name "Satanail" is mentioned only in a heading added in a single manuscript,<ref>James H. Charlesworth, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z8cyt_SM7voC&pg=PA149#v=onepage&q=%22Satanail%20is%20present%22&f=false Old Testament Pseudepigrapha-set]'' Hendrickson 2010 ISBN 9781598564891, p. 149</ref><ref>Robert Charles Branden, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=35PmB5TYh_YC&pg=PA30#v=onepage&q=%22heading%20in%20a%20later%20manuscript%22&f=false Satanic Conflict and the Plot of Matthew]'' Peter Lang 2006 ISBN 9780820479163, p. 30</ref> the ''GIM khlyudov'' manuscript,<ref>Charlesworth 2011, pp. 149, 92</ref> which is a representative of the longer recension and was used in the English translation by R.H. Charles.


== Reasons for their fall ==
===Satan===
{{Original research|date=July 2008}}
The Hebrew Bible personifies [[Satan]] as a character in only three places, always inferior to God's power: it portrays him as an accuser (Zechariah 3:1-2), a seducer (1 Chronicles 21:1), or a heavenly persecutor (Job 2:1).  It uses the Hebrew word, which means "adversary", elsewhere to speak of human opponents or some evil influence,<ref name=ODJR/> and does not say that [[Satan]] is an angel, nor that he is fallen.<ref name=ODJR/> However, the ''Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion'' states that Satan appears in Jewish pseudepigrapha, especially apocalypses, as "ruler of a demonic host, influencing events throughout the world, cast out of heaven as a fallen angel", and ascribes the idea of Satan as a fallen angel to a misinterpretation of Isaiah 14:12.<ref name=ODJR/>
[[Image:GustaveDoreParadiseLostSatanProfile.jpg|thumb|[[Gustave Doré]]'s depiction of [[Satan]] from [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'']]


There are a number of different [[belief]]s regarding the origins and motivations of fallen angels. Many focus on issues of [[free will]], [[lust]], [[pride]], or the incomprehensibility of the acts of God.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} 


=== Consequences of free will ===
==Christianity==
It is generally accepted by most Christians that the fallen angels were cast out of Heaven because of actions taken against God. These actions were enabled because the angels were granted free will. Generally, these actions included active rebellion, doubt in God's motives or plans, or a rejection of the system of Heaven. Pride is often involved, especially in cases where an angel believed itself to hold more authority than God. (Lucifer being the prime example among these).
In Christianity, Satan is often seen as the leader of the fallen angels.<ref>{{cite book|last=Packer|first=J.I.|title=Concise theology : a guide to historic Christian beliefs|year=2001|publisher=Tyndale House|location=Carol Stream, Ill.|isbn=0842339604|chapter=Satan: Fallen angels have a leader|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=rXmOrt8mVJkC&pg=PT70#v=onepage&q=satan%20fallen%20angel&f=false}}</ref> The New Testament mentions Satan 36 times in 33 verses, and the Book of Revelation tells of "that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world," being thrown down to the earth together with his angels.<ref>Revelation 12:9</ref> Luke 10:18 has Jesus say: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." While the New Testament thus mentions Satan falling from Heaven, it never says that he was an angel, only that he  masquerades as one, in 2 Corinthians 11:14. However, the concept of fallen angels is not foreign to the New Testament; both 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6 refer to angels who have sinned against God and await punishment on Judgement Day.


====Origen====
===A Dragon and His Angels===
Origen, a father of the early Christian Church, believed that God had created all angels to be equal and free. However, in possessing the power of free will, some of them began to move further away from God of their own volition.
In the New Testament, Revelation 12:3–14 speaks of a great red dragon whose tail swept a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. In verses 7–9, after defeat in a War in Heaven in which the dragon and his angels fought against Michael and his angels, "the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the [[devil]] and [[Satan]], the deceiver of the whole world - he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."<ref>Revelation 12:9</ref>


Origen states metaphorically that, although some angels fell and became human or [[demon]]ic, all hope is not lost. He theorizes that by practicing virtue, men and demons can again become angels. While considered an early Father of the Church, Origen was deemed a heretic as a result of some of his writings and teachings, which did not conform to accepted scripture or tradition. Mainly, his concept of Apocatastasis, the belief that all beings (human beings, fallen angels, demons, and Satan) will return to God through God's love and mercy, was deemed unacceptable at that time. His excommunication was posthumously reversed.
===Fall of Lucifer===
The ''fall of Lucifer'' finds its earliest identification with a fallen angel in Origen, based on an interpretation of Isaiah 14:1–17, which describes a king of Babylon as a fallen ''morning star'' (in Hebrew, הילל ). When this description was interpreted as regarding an angel, not a human king, the image of the fallen morning star or angel was applied to [[Satan]] both in Jewish pseudepigrapha<ref name=ODJR>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=hKAaJXvUaUoC&pg=PA651&dq=Oxford+Dictionary+Jewish+Religion+Satan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7ZKcU_mZEeig7AbY-oGwBQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Oxford%20Dictionary%20Jewish%20Religion%20Satan&f=false |editor=Adele Berlin |editor2=Maxine Grossman |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780199730049 |page=651 |accessdate=2012-07-03}}</ref> and by early Christian writers,<ref>Charlesworth 2010, p. 149</ref><ref>Schwartz 2004, p. 108</ref> following the transfer of the Lucifer myth to Satan in the pre-Christian century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10177-lucifer |title="Lucifer" |publisher=Jewish Encyclopedia |date= |accessdate=2014-03-11}}</ref> Origen and other Christian writers linked the fallen morning star of Isaiah 14:12 to Jesus' statement in Luke 10:18, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" and to the mention of a fall of Satan in Revelation 12:8–9.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ldDLYd2AuAsC&pg=PA320#v=onepage&q=%22fathers,%20linking%20this%20passage%22&f=false |author=John N. Oswalt, |chapter=The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39 |title=The International Commentary on the Old Testament |publisher=Eerdmans |year=1986 |isbn=9780802825292 |page=320 |accessdate=2012-07-03}}</ref> In Latin-speaking Christianity, the Latin word ''lucifer'', employed in the late 4th-century AD Vulgate to translate הילל, gave rise to the name "Lucifer" for the person believed to be referred to in the text.


==== Lust ====
===Christian Interpretation of Ezekiel 28===
The following comes from a series of ancient texts referenced in the Bible called "The Three Books of Enoch", a set of books found in the Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament.
Indeed, Christian tradition has applied to Satan not only the image of the morning star in Isaiah 14:12, but also the denouncing in Ezekiel 28:11-19 of the king of Tyre, who is spoken of as having been a "cherub". Rabbinic literature saw these two passages as in some ways parallel, even if it perhaps did not associate them with Satan, and the episode of the fall of Satan appears not only in writings of the early Christian Fathers and in (Christian?) apocryphal and pseudepigraphic works, but also in rabbinic sources.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=smxPS7QRR5MC&pg=PA78&dq=Patmore+pseudepigraphic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=i1mcU5iNMKeP7Abh54DADg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Patmore%20pseudepigraphic&f=false Hector M. Patmore, ''Adam, Satan, and the King of Tyre'' (BRILL 2012 ISBN 978-9-00420722-6), pp. 76–78]</ref> However, "no modern evangelical commentary on Isaiah or Ezekiel sees Isaiah 14 or Ezekiel 28 as providing information about the fall of Satan".<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=TBFAAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA246&dq=Petersen+modern+evangelical+commentary&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XGScU7T6IorQ7AaxyYHQDw&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Petersen%20modern%20evangelical%20commentary&f=false Paul Peterson, Ross Cole (editors), ''Hermeneutics, Intertextuality and the Contemporary Meaning of Scripture'' (Avondale Academic Press 2013 ISBN 978-1-92181799-1), p. 246]</ref>


According to these books, it is because of lust that some angels fell from Heaven. God asked the "Watchers" (Grigori), a select group of angels, to assist the Archangels in the creation of Eden. Those Grigori who descended to Earth saw the daughters of men and became enchanted with them. Consequently, the Grigori began to reveal to man some of the secrets of Heaven, such as astrology and the vanity of enhancing the face and body with perfumes and cosmetics. The Grigori then fell in love with human women. According to the text, some of the Grigori even took wives and created offspring, giants known as the [[Nephilim]]. This made God so angry that he cursed those Grigori who had betrayed Him, threw them out of Heaven, made them mortal and transformed them into demons. God sent the Great Flood to cleanse the Earth of the wanton killing and destruction perpetrated by the Nephilim. Notable angels who fell in this account are Semyazza, [[Samael]], Azazel, and [[Lucifer]].


==== Pride ====
==Religious Views==
This belief involves [[Lucifer]]'s revolution against God, well known amongst Christians. Pride, the gravest of the seven deadly sins, eventually led to the expulsion from Heaven of certain beings, up to and including the highest orders of angels. Lucifer, who himself succumbed to pride, was the first and mightiest angel to be created. With intelligence, radiance, beauty, and power unmatched among all of the angels in Heaven, Lucifer was second in majesty only to God Himself.
===Judaism===
The concept of fallen angels is first found in Judaism among texts of the Second Temple era, being applied in particular to [[Azazel]]<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=hKAaJXvUaUoC&pg=PA94#v=onepage&q=%22Azazel%20is%20conceived%22&f=false |editor=Adele |editor=Berlin |editor2=Maxine |editor2=Grossman |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780199730049 |page=94 |accessdate=2012-07-03}}</ref> and [[Satan]].<ref name=ODJR/> However, from the Middle Ages certain Jewish scholars, both rationalist and traditionalist, rejected belief in rebel or fallen angels, since they considered evil as simply the absence of good or at least as not absolute.<ref>Bamberger 2006, pp. 148, 149</ref>


Unfortunately, Lucifer became ambitious and self-centered, eventually deciding to prove his power by raising his throne to the height of God's throne. Other angels did not approve of Lucifer's plan; they did not want a lower being trying symbolically to become the equal of God. When Lucifer enacted his scheme, he was instantly hurled out of Heaven.
===Christianity===
Christians adopted the concept of fallen angels mainly based on their interpretations of the Book of Revelation Chapter 12.<ref name="Davidson, 111"/>


Catholic theologians have speculated that the incarnation of Christ was revealed to the angels. The idea that all of [[Heaven]] must bow before Christ, formed in part from the lesser nature of humanity, motivated the prideful actions of Lucifer (cf. Suarez, De Angelis, lib. VII, xiii).
In Catholicism, the Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of "the fall of the angels" not in spatial terms but as a radical and irrevocable rejection of God and his reign by some angels who, though created as good beings, freely chose evil, their sin being unforgivable because of the irrevocable character of their choice, not because of any defect in the infinite divine mercy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1C.HTM |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church, "The Fall of the Angels" (391-395) |publisher=Vatican.va |date= |accessdate=2012-07-03}}</ref>


According to the Book of Enoch, Johnalyn was known as the prettiest of God's angels that did not betray Him. She became most well known for the inspiration of Eve. As God made Adam in his own image God made Eve in the image of Johnalyn.
In 19th-century Universalism, Universalists such as Thomas Allin (1891)<ref>{{Cite book| last = Allin | first = Thomas  | authorlink =  | coauthors =  | title = Christ Triumphant or Universalism Asserted as the Hope of the Gospel on the Authority of Reason, the Fathers, and Holy Scripture | publisher =  | year = 1891 | location =  | pages =  | url = http://www.tlchrist.info/tallin.htm | doi =  | id =  | isbn = }}</ref> claimed that Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Gregory of Nyssa taught that even the Devil and fallen angels will eventually be saved.<ref>Itter on Clement, Crouzel & Norris on Origen, etc.</ref>


==== Modern Catholic view ====
In Unitarianism, Joseph Priestley suggested that the passages refer to Korah.<ref>''The theological and miscellaneous works of Joseph Priestley, Vol.2''</ref> William Graham (1772) suggested that it referred to the spies in Canaan.<ref>William Graham, ''An enquiry into the scripture meaning of the word Satan, and its synonimous terms, the devil, or the adversary, and the wicked one. Wherein the notions concerning devils or demons are brought...'' MA 8vo. is. 6d. Johnson. 1772</ref> These passages are generally held today to be commentary, either positive or neutral or negative, on Jewish traditions concerning Enoch circulating in the Early Church.<ref>''The Jewish apocalyptic heritage in early Christianity'' p 66 ed. James C. VanderKam, William Adler - 1996 "... who would not bring forth fruit to God. since the angels that sinned had commingled with them. ... 206 The translation is from Bauckham, "The Fall of the Angels', 320. 207 'Enoch says that the angels who transgressed taught mankind "</ref>


According to the Catecism of the Catholic Church, Angels were all created good but some turned bad on their own. Angels don't need faith as they already have the knowledge of celestial things. Due to their angelic nature, repentance is not possible and their sins are irreversible.
===Islam===
The Quran mentions angels (''malak'' ملاك) around ninety times, usually in the plural and referring to obedient angels.


Venerable Sor María de Jesús de Agreda (1602&ndash;1665+), expressed in a book titled "La Mistica Ciudad de Dios" what is the modern common Catholic interpretation. In the beginning of times, when God separated daylight from darkness, He also separated the good from the bad in the Heavens: God revealed his Trinitary nature to the Angels, He also showed them He would incarnate and all the Angels were to revere and adore Him as God and human.
The Quran states that Satan was a jinni (as in Islam, angels cannot disobey God) and he is mentioned with the angels in verses (2:34,<ref>Iblis became Satan:  "Behold! We said to the Angels, 'Bow down to Adam': they bowed down except Iblis. He was One of the Jinns, beings born of Fire, making Iblis think he was superior to a being born of Earth, and he broke the Command of his Lord. ...(Koran, 18:50)"</ref> 7:11, 15:29, 17:61, 18:50, 20:116, 38:71) prior to his fall. Satan (also called ''[[Iblis]]'' and in Greek ''diabolos'', "the devil") rebelled and was banished on earth, and he vowed to create mischief on earth after being given respite by God till the Day of Judgment, according to verses (80–85:38).<ref>Jeffrey Burton Russell ''Lucifer, the Devil in the Middle Ages'', chapter 'The Muslim Devil' p. 55</ref> In Islamic terminology, jinn, like humans, have the capacity to choose whether to obey God or disobey him, which means they have free will.


Lucifer was the first angel to rebel against God (Isaiah 14) and with him he took one third of the celestial host. Lucifer was the most beautiful angel, so beautiful indeed that he envied God and wanted to receive all His praises: he didn't accept the idea of bowing before Jesus and hated being inferior to any human, including His Holy Mother. As a punishment God didn't remove the powers from the Devil but decided to punish and humiliate him by stating that through His Holy Mother, which he failed to respect and praise, his head would be crushed and he would be defeated and annihilated.
Harut and Marut (Arabic: هاروت وماروت) are two angels sent to test the people of Babylon. That there are fallen angels is not in the Quran, <ref>مصباح المنير في تهذيب تفسير إبن كثير Ismāʻīl ibn ʻUmar Ibn Kathīr, Shaykh Safiur Rahman Al Mubarakpuri, Ṣafī al-Raḥmān Mubārakfūrī / The Meaning And Explanation Of The Glorious Qur'an: 1-203 Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman "The Story of Harut and Marut, and the Explanation that They were Angels <nowiki>God said</nowiki>, (And such things that came down at Babylon to the two angels, Harut and Marut, but neither of these two (angels) taught anyone (such things) till they.."</ref><ref>Jan Knappert, ''Islamic legends: histories of the heroes, saints and prophets of Islam '' 1985 p. 59 "Harut and Marut - When the Prophet Idris (sometimes identified with Enoch) entered Paradise after his long life on earth, it is said that he was met by two naughty angels, whose names were Azaya or 'Uzza and 'Aza'il."</ref> (Quran 2:30), and the Quran explicitly states that angels have no free will (Quran 16:50), but are servants of God, (Quran 21:26).


Then came the battle related by Saint John (Apoc. 12) between St. Michael the Archangel and His Angels, and Lucifer and his angels.


=== Bowing to mankind ===
==Influence==
According to the Quran, when God created man, He wanted his angels and Lucifer to acknowledge man by bowing down to him, but Lucifer did not obey. Islam does not hold Lucifer to be a fallen angel because it maintains that Lucifer is one among many of Allah's creations, and that [[Iblis]] is made out of fire as are the Jinn. These Jinns are divided into two groups, one being that which follows the Islamic teachings, the other which follows Lucifer.
In literature, John Milton's ''Paradise Lost'' (7.131–134, etc.), refers to Satan as being "brighter once amidst the host of Angels, than the sun amidst the stars".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.online-literature.com/view.php/paradiselost/7?term=lucifer |title=Online-Literature.com |publisher=Online-Literature.com |date= |accessdate=2012-07-03}}</ref>


: We created you and then formed you and then We said to the Angels, "Prostrate before Adam" and they prostrated except for Iblis. He was not among those who prostrated. God said, "What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you?" He (Iblis) replied, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and You created him from clay". God said, "Descend from heaven. It is not for you to be arrogant in it. So get out! You are one of the abased."
 
: Surah 7 (al-A`raf), 11–13


A later mention of this idea can be found in "Vita Adae et Evae", an apocryphal text which most scholars agree was written somewhere near the end of the 10th century AD.
==Footnotes==
<references/>


: XIII: The devil replied, 'Adam, what dost thou tell me?  It is for thy sake that I have been hurled from that place. When thou wast formed, I was hurled out of the presence of God and banished from the company of the angels. When God blew into thee the breath of life and thy face and likeness was made in the image of God, Michael also brought thee and made (us) worship thee in the sight of God; and God the Lord spake: Here is Adam. I have made thee in our image and likeness.'


: XIV: And Michael went out and called all the angels saying: 'Worship the image of God as the Lord God hath commanded.'  And Michael himself worshipped first; then he called me and said: 'Worship the image of God the Lord.'  And I answered, 'I have no (need) to worship Adam.'  And since Michael kept urging me to worship, I said to him, 'Why dost thou urge me? I will not worship an inferior and younger being. I am his senior in the Creation, before he was made was I already made. It is his duty to worship me.'
==References==
* {{cite book|last=Anderson|first=ed. by Gary|title=Literature on Adam and Eve|year=2000|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=9004116001|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Bamberger|first=Bernard J.|title=Fallen angels : soldiers of satan's realm|year=2006|publisher=Jewish Publ. Soc. of America|location=Philadelphia, Pa.|isbn=0827607970|edition=first paperback |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Charlesworth|first=edited by James H.|title=The Old Testament pseudepigrapha|year=2010|publisher=Hendrickson|location=Peabody, Mass.|isbn=1598564919|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Davidson|first=Gustav|title=A dictionary of angels: including the fallen angels|year=1994|publisher=Free Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-02-907052-9|edition=1st Free Press pbk. |page=111|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=DDD|first=Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter W. van der Horst,|title=Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible (DDD)|year=1998|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=9004111190|edition=2., extensively rev. |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Douglas |year=2011 |title=Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary|first=James D. with Merrill Chapin Tenney, Moisés Silva (editors)|publisher=Zondervan|location=Grand Rapids, Mich.|isbn=9780310229834 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5gg4BifSJH8C |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Orlov|first=Andrei A.|title=Dark mirrors: Azazel and Satanael in early Jewish demonology|year=2011|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany|isbn=1438439512|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Platt|first=Rutherford H.|title=Forgotten Books of Eden|year=2004|publisher=Forgotten Books|isbn=1605060976|edition=Reprint|page=239|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Reed|first=Annette Yoshiko|title=Fallen angels and the history of Judaism and Christianity : the reception of Enochic literature|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-521-85378-1|edition=1. publ.|page=1|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Schwartz|first=Howard|title=Tree of souls: The mythology of Judaism|year=2004|publisher=Oxford U Pr |location=New York|isbn=0195086791|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Wright|first=Archie T.|title=The origin of evil spirits the reception of Genesis 6.1-4 in early Jewish literature|year=2004|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|location=Tübingen|isbn=3161486560|ref=harv}}


: XV: When the angels who were under me heard this, they refused to worship him. And Michael saith, 'Worship the image of God, but if thou wilt not worship him, the Lord God will be wroth with thee.'  And I said, 'If He be wroth with me, I will set my seat above the stars of heaven and will be like the Highest.'


: Anon. ''Vita Adae et Evae'', 13&ndash;15. [http://www.unicorngarden.com/adameve.htm]
==Further Reading==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last=Ashley|first=Leonard R.N.|title=The complete book of devils and demons|publisher=Skyhorse Pub.|location=New York|isbn=1616083336}}


==== Disobedience to God as per the Quran====
According to the  islamic version of the story that states that Lucifer was the angel who loved God the most in fact he was the leader of angels. At the time of the angels' creation, God told them to bow to no one but Him.


However, God created mankind the first being Adam, whom he considered superior to the angels, and commanded the angels to bow before the new figure. Lucifer refused, because he considered himself superior to man. By the Quran it is said that Allah ordered the angels to make a body of clay and when it was complete he breathed life into the it. Then he commanded the angels to bow to Adam (Adam) but Lucifer ([[Iblis]]) refused and retorted to Allah that "I have made this human by my hands and he is of clay and I of fire then why should I bow to him ?". This disobedience enraged Allah and Lucifer was out casted from heaven and he was mishapen and made hideous. The Shiites interpretation of the matter is very similar to that of the Sunni's however there is one difference in which Shiites state that the reason God ordered the angels and iblis to bow down to Adam lies within his offspring. Adam was to hold the purity of the Prophet Mohammad and Ahli Bayteh (his family), which Shi'ites believe are God's greatest creation. Lucifer however disobeyed God's commands and asked Allah to give him the power and chance to deceive man to prove to Allah that man can be deceived and be unfaithful and follow the path of gods they create themselves or change the code provided be Allah. So in this way Lucifer first planted the seed of doubt in Adams heart and made Adam eat a forbidden fruit. It was then that Allah created the universe and sent Adam to earth for by disobeying Allah he had forfeited his right to reside in heaven and since then man has been deceived by Lucifer into creating other gods or changing and misshaping the code of life sent by allah through his prophets (main are Moosa (Moses) whose teachings were misshapen and Jews were born, Eisa (Jesus) whose teaching were in the form of the book called as ingeel (pronounced as In-Jee-l) which was misshapen and changed by the church to give birth to the monopolized religion of Christianity, and finally there was Mohammad who was the last prophet sent by Allah to bring human on the right path of Islam and it was through him that Quran was sent down earth by Allah through the Arc angel Gabriel (Gibraeel - pronounced as JIB-RAA-EEl), in parts called as WAHI's, who used to come down to earth and teach the Quran by heart to Mohammad who in turn had it written down by those who could read and write as he himself was uneducated and could not read and write.
==External Links==
 
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_angel The original source of this article at Wikipedia]
==See also==
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01476d.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Angels], see section "The Evil Angels"
*[[List of demons]]
*[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=24&letter=F&search=Fallen%20angel JewishEncyclopedia: Fall of Angels]
 
==Source==
*[[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Angels|"Angels"]], ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', 1913.
*http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01476d.htm
 
== Bibliography ==
<div class="references-small">
* Ashley, Leonard. ''The Complete Book of Devils and Demons'' Barricade Books. ISBN 1-56980-077-4
* Bamberger, Bernard Jacob, (March 15, 2006). Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan's Realm, 300pp. ISBN 0-8276-0797-0
* Davidson, Gustav, 1994. A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels. Free Press. ISBN 0-02-907052-X
</div>
 
==External links==
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_angel The original source of this entry on Wikipedia]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04764a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=24&letter=F&search=Fallen%20angel Jewish Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.deliriumsrealm.com/ A Gallery of Demons]
* [http://www.occultopedia.com Occultopedia]
* [http://demons.monstrous.com Demons and Devils]
* [http://www.whiterosesgarden.com White Rose's Garden]
* [http://www.paradoxbrown.com Bible Study Guide on Demons and Fallen Angels]

Latest revision as of 10:24, 20 October 2014

Statue of the Fallen Angel, Retiro Park (Madrid, Spain)

A Fallen Angel is a wicked or rebellious angel that has been cast out of heaven. The term "fallen angel" does not appear in the Bible, but it is used of angels who sinned, such as those referred to in 2 Peter 2:4, "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment ..."; of angels cast down to the earth in the War in Heaven; of Satan;[1] demons,[2] or of certain Watchers.[3] The term has become popular in fictional literature regarding angels.

Mention of angels who descended to Mount Hermon (not "fell" to Earth) is found in the Book of Enoch, which the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church accept as canonical, as well as in various pseudepigrapha.


Second Temple Period Judaism

Sons of God

In the period immediately preceding the composition of the New Testament, some sects of Judaism identified the "sons of God" (בני האלהים) of Genesis 6:1–4 with fallen angels.[4] Some scholars consider it most likely that this Jewish tradition of fallen angels predates, even in written form, the composition of Gen 6:1–4.[5][6] Lester L. Grabbe calls the story of the sexual intercourse of angels with women "an old myth in Judaism".[7] Indeed, until the mid-2nd century AD, Jewish writing (such as midrashim) can be taken to identify the "sons of God" of Gen 6:1 and 4 as angels.[8] By the 3rd century, there is evidence that some early Christians accepted this Jewish Enochic pseudepigraphy and the application of the angelic descent myth to the "sons of God" passage in Genesis 6:1–4.[9] Its presence not only in the East but also in the Latin-speaking West is attested by the polemic of Augustine of Hippo (354–430) against the motif of giants born of the union between fallen angels and human women.[10] Rabbinic Judaism and Christian authorities rejected the tradition.[11] Those who adopted the tradition viewed the "sons of God" as fallen angels who married human women and by unnatural union begot the Nephilim.[12]

Watchers, "Grigori"

The reference to heavenly beings called "Watchers" originates in Daniel 4, in which there are three mentions, twice in the singular (v. 13, 23), once in the plural (v. 17), of "watchers, holy ones". The Greek word for watchers is ἐγρήγοροι egrḗgoroi, pl. of egrḗgoros, literally "wakeful".[13] Note that, beginning by AD 150, the Greek letter eta (η) was itacized to sound the same as iota (ι), and the Old Slavonic alphabets, both Cyrillic and Glagolitic, made no phonetic distinction between the letters they derived from Greek η and ι.[14] The Greek term was transcribed in the Jewish pseudepigraphon Second Book of Enoch (Slavonic Enoch) as Grigori, referring to the same beings as those called Watchers of the (First) Book of Enoch.[15]

First Enoch

A Jewish story of angels coming down to earth rather than being cast down, referred to as the story of angelic descent,[16] is found chiefly in the Jewish pseudepigraphic Book of Enoch, 6-9 and the Qumran Book of Giants and perhaps in Genesis 6:1-4.[17] These Watchers became "enamored" with human women (1 Enoch 7.2),[18] and had intercourse with them. The offspring of these unions, and the knowledge they were given, corrupted human beings and the earth (1 Enoch 10.11-12).[18] A number of apocryphal works, including 1 Enoch (10.4)[18] link this transgression with the Great Deluge.[19] This myth was adopted by early Christianity, but abandoned by Rabbinic Judaism and later Christianity.[20] During the period immediately before the rise of Christianity, the intercourse between these Watchers and human women was often seen as the first fall of the angels.[21]

Slavonic Enoch

The Slavonic Second Book of Enoch is problematic as evidence for Jewish belief as it has been heavily redacted by Christian transmission. For example the passage dealing specifically with the fall is regarded as a Christian change to the text by the editor of the modern standard edition:

2 Enoch 29:3 "Here Satanail was hurled from the height together with his angels" - a probable Christian interpolation according to Charlesworth's Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

The text refers to "the Grigori, who with their prince Satanail rejected the Lord of light". The Grigori are identified with the Watchers of 1 Enoch.[22][23] The Grigori who "went down on to earth from the Lord's throne", married women and "befouled the earth with their deeds", resulting in confinement under earth (2 Enoch 18:1-7) In the longer recension of 2 Enoch, chapter 29 refers to angels who were "thrown out from the height" when their leader tried to become equal in rank with the Lord's power (2 Enoch 29:1-4).

Most sources quote 2 Enoch as stating that those who descended to earth were three,[24] but Andrei A. Orlov, while quoting 2 Enoch as saying that three went down to the earth,[25] remarks in a footnote that some manuscripts put them at 200 or even 200 myriads.[22] In The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalypic Literature and Testaments edited by James H. Charlesworth, manuscript J, taken as the best representative of the longer recension, has "and three of them descended" (p. 130), while manuscript A, taken as the best representative of the shorter recension, has "and they descended", which might indicate that all the Grigori descended, or 200 princes of them, or 200 princes and 200 followers, since it follows the phrase "These are the Grigori, 200 princes of whom turned aside, 200 walking in their train" (p. 131).

Chapter 29, referring to the second day of creation, before the creation of human beings, says that "one from out the order of angels"[26] or, according to other versions of 2 Enoch, "one of the order of archangels"[27] or "one of the ranks of the archangels"[28] "conceived an impossible thought, to place his throne higher than the clouds above the earth, that he might become equal in rank to [the Lord's] power. And [the Lord] threw him out from the height with his angels, and he was flying in the air continuously above the bottomless." In this chapter the name "Satanail" is mentioned only in a heading added in a single manuscript,[29][30] the GIM khlyudov manuscript,[31] which is a representative of the longer recension and was used in the English translation by R.H. Charles.

Satan

The Hebrew Bible personifies Satan as a character in only three places, always inferior to God's power: it portrays him as an accuser (Zechariah 3:1-2), a seducer (1 Chronicles 21:1), or a heavenly persecutor (Job 2:1). It uses the Hebrew word, which means "adversary", elsewhere to speak of human opponents or some evil influence,[32] and does not say that Satan is an angel, nor that he is fallen.[32] However, the Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion states that Satan appears in Jewish pseudepigrapha, especially apocalypses, as "ruler of a demonic host, influencing events throughout the world, cast out of heaven as a fallen angel", and ascribes the idea of Satan as a fallen angel to a misinterpretation of Isaiah 14:12.[32]


Christianity

In Christianity, Satan is often seen as the leader of the fallen angels.[33] The New Testament mentions Satan 36 times in 33 verses, and the Book of Revelation tells of "that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world," being thrown down to the earth together with his angels.[34] Luke 10:18 has Jesus say: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." While the New Testament thus mentions Satan falling from Heaven, it never says that he was an angel, only that he masquerades as one, in 2 Corinthians 11:14. However, the concept of fallen angels is not foreign to the New Testament; both 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6 refer to angels who have sinned against God and await punishment on Judgement Day.

A Dragon and His Angels

In the New Testament, Revelation 12:3–14 speaks of a great red dragon whose tail swept a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. In verses 7–9, after defeat in a War in Heaven in which the dragon and his angels fought against Michael and his angels, "the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world - he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."[35]

Fall of Lucifer

The fall of Lucifer finds its earliest identification with a fallen angel in Origen, based on an interpretation of Isaiah 14:1–17, which describes a king of Babylon as a fallen morning star (in Hebrew, הילל ). When this description was interpreted as regarding an angel, not a human king, the image of the fallen morning star or angel was applied to Satan both in Jewish pseudepigrapha[32] and by early Christian writers,[36][37] following the transfer of the Lucifer myth to Satan in the pre-Christian century.[38] Origen and other Christian writers linked the fallen morning star of Isaiah 14:12 to Jesus' statement in Luke 10:18, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" and to the mention of a fall of Satan in Revelation 12:8–9.[39] In Latin-speaking Christianity, the Latin word lucifer, employed in the late 4th-century AD Vulgate to translate הילל, gave rise to the name "Lucifer" for the person believed to be referred to in the text.

Christian Interpretation of Ezekiel 28

Indeed, Christian tradition has applied to Satan not only the image of the morning star in Isaiah 14:12, but also the denouncing in Ezekiel 28:11-19 of the king of Tyre, who is spoken of as having been a "cherub". Rabbinic literature saw these two passages as in some ways parallel, even if it perhaps did not associate them with Satan, and the episode of the fall of Satan appears not only in writings of the early Christian Fathers and in (Christian?) apocryphal and pseudepigraphic works, but also in rabbinic sources.[40] However, "no modern evangelical commentary on Isaiah or Ezekiel sees Isaiah 14 or Ezekiel 28 as providing information about the fall of Satan".[41]


Religious Views

Judaism

The concept of fallen angels is first found in Judaism among texts of the Second Temple era, being applied in particular to Azazel[42] and Satan.[32] However, from the Middle Ages certain Jewish scholars, both rationalist and traditionalist, rejected belief in rebel or fallen angels, since they considered evil as simply the absence of good or at least as not absolute.[43]

Christianity

Christians adopted the concept of fallen angels mainly based on their interpretations of the Book of Revelation Chapter 12.[1]

In Catholicism, the Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of "the fall of the angels" not in spatial terms but as a radical and irrevocable rejection of God and his reign by some angels who, though created as good beings, freely chose evil, their sin being unforgivable because of the irrevocable character of their choice, not because of any defect in the infinite divine mercy.[44]

In 19th-century Universalism, Universalists such as Thomas Allin (1891)[45] claimed that Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Gregory of Nyssa taught that even the Devil and fallen angels will eventually be saved.[46]

In Unitarianism, Joseph Priestley suggested that the passages refer to Korah.[47] William Graham (1772) suggested that it referred to the spies in Canaan.[48] These passages are generally held today to be commentary, either positive or neutral or negative, on Jewish traditions concerning Enoch circulating in the Early Church.[49]

Islam

The Quran mentions angels (malak ملاك) around ninety times, usually in the plural and referring to obedient angels.

The Quran states that Satan was a jinni (as in Islam, angels cannot disobey God) and he is mentioned with the angels in verses (2:34,[50] 7:11, 15:29, 17:61, 18:50, 20:116, 38:71) prior to his fall. Satan (also called Iblis and in Greek diabolos, "the devil") rebelled and was banished on earth, and he vowed to create mischief on earth after being given respite by God till the Day of Judgment, according to verses (80–85:38).[51] In Islamic terminology, jinn, like humans, have the capacity to choose whether to obey God or disobey him, which means they have free will.

Harut and Marut (Arabic: هاروت وماروت) are two angels sent to test the people of Babylon. That there are fallen angels is not in the Quran, [52][53] (Quran 2:30), and the Quran explicitly states that angels have no free will (Quran 16:50), but are servants of God, (Quran 21:26).


Influence

In literature, John Milton's Paradise Lost (7.131–134, etc.), refers to Satan as being "brighter once amidst the host of Angels, than the sun amidst the stars".[54]


Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Davidson 1994, p. 111
  2. ↑ Douglas 2011, p. 350
  3. ↑ Reed 2005, p. 1
  4. ↑ Gregory A. Boyd, God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict (InterVarsity Press 1997 ISBN 9780830818853), p. 138
  5. ↑ Lester L. Grabbe, A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period (Continuum 2004 ISBN 9780567043528), p. 344
  6. ↑ Matthew Black, The Book of Enoch or I Enoch: A New English Edition with Commentary and Textual Notes (Brill 1985 ISBN 9789004071001), p. 14
  7. ↑ Grabbe 2004, p. 101
  8. ↑ George J. Brooke, Exegesis at Qumran: 4Q Florilegium in Its Jewish Context (Continuum 1985 ISBN 9780905774770), p. 31
  9. ↑ Reed 2005, pp. 14, 15
  10. ↑ Heinz Schreckenberg, Kurt Schubert, Jewish Historiography and Iconography in Early and Medieval Christianity (Van Gorcum, 1992, ISBN 9789023226536), p. 253
  11. ↑ Reed 2005, p. 218
  12. ↑ Douglas 2011, p. 1384
  13. ↑ ἐγρήγορος. Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940. p. 474. Available online at the Perseus Project Texts Loaded under PhiloLogic (ARTFL project) at the University of Chicago.
  14. ↑ W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca: a guide to the pronunciation of classical Greek (third edition, Cambridge University Press 1987 ISBN 0-521-33555-8), pp. 74-75
  15. ↑ Andrei A. Orlov, Dark Mirrors: Azazel and Satanael in Early Jewish Demonology (SUNY Press 2011 ISBN 978-1-43843951-8), p. 164
  16. ↑ Reed 2005, p. 14,15
  17. ↑ Lester L. Grabbe, An Introduction to First Century Judaism: Jewish Religion and History in the Second Temple Period (Continuum International Publishing Group 1996 ISBN 9780567085061), p. 101
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Laurence, Richard (1883). "The Book of Enoch the Prophet". http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/bep/bep02.htm. 
  19. ↑ (1977) Biblica, Vol. 58, St. Martin's Press.
  20. ↑ Reed 2005, p. 2
  21. ↑ Gregory A. Boyd, God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict, InterVarsity Press 1997 ISBN 9780830818853, p.138
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Orlov 2011, p. 164
  23. ↑ Anderson 2000, p. 64: "In 2 Enoch 18:3... the fall of Satan and his angels is talked of in terms of the Watchers (Grigori) story, and connected with Genesis 6:1–4."
  24. ↑ Sources presenting one version of 2 Enoch and sources using a different version
  25. ↑ Andrei A. Orlov, Dark Mirrors SUNY Press 2011 ISBN 9781438439518, p.93
  26. ↑ "Most sources". Google.com. http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=%22equal+in+rank+to+my+power%22. 
  27. ↑ Marc Michael Epstein, Dreams of Subversion in Medieval Jewish Art and Literature Penn State University Press 1997 ISBN 9780271016054, p. 141
  28. ↑ James Hastings, A Dictionary of the Bible 1898 edition reproduced 2004 by the University Press of the Pacific ISBN 9781410217288, vol. 4, p. 409
  29. ↑ James H. Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha-set Hendrickson 2010 ISBN 9781598564891, p. 149
  30. ↑ Robert Charles Branden, Satanic Conflict and the Plot of Matthew Peter Lang 2006 ISBN 9780820479163, p. 30
  31. ↑ Charlesworth 2011, pp. 149, 92
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 (2011) Adele Berlin The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2012-07-03.
  33. ↑ Packer, J.I. (2001). “Satan: Fallen angels have a leader”, Concise theology : a guide to historic Christian beliefs. Carol Stream, Ill.: Tyndale House.
  34. ↑ Revelation 12:9
  35. ↑ Revelation 12:9
  36. ↑ Charlesworth 2010, p. 149
  37. ↑ Schwartz 2004, p. 108
  38. ↑ ""Lucifer"". Jewish Encyclopedia. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10177-lucifer. Retrieved 2014-03-11. 
  39. ↑ John N. Oswalt, (1986). “The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39”, The International Commentary on the Old Testament. Eerdmans. Retrieved on 2012-07-03.
  40. ↑ Hector M. Patmore, Adam, Satan, and the King of Tyre (BRILL 2012 ISBN 978-9-00420722-6), pp. 76–78
  41. ↑ Paul Peterson, Ross Cole (editors), Hermeneutics, Intertextuality and the Contemporary Meaning of Scripture (Avondale Academic Press 2013 ISBN 978-1-92181799-1), p. 246
  42. ↑ (2011) Berlin The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2012-07-03.
  43. ↑ Bamberger 2006, pp. 148, 149
  44. ↑ "Catechism of the Catholic Church, "The Fall of the Angels" (391-395)". Vatican.va. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1C.HTM. Retrieved 2012-07-03. 
  45. ↑ Allin, Thomas (1891). Christ Triumphant or Universalism Asserted as the Hope of the Gospel on the Authority of Reason, the Fathers, and Holy Scripture.
  46. ↑ Itter on Clement, Crouzel & Norris on Origen, etc.
  47. ↑ The theological and miscellaneous works of Joseph Priestley, Vol.2
  48. ↑ William Graham, An enquiry into the scripture meaning of the word Satan, and its synonimous terms, the devil, or the adversary, and the wicked one. Wherein the notions concerning devils or demons are brought... MA 8vo. is. 6d. Johnson. 1772
  49. ↑ The Jewish apocalyptic heritage in early Christianity p 66 ed. James C. VanderKam, William Adler - 1996 "... who would not bring forth fruit to God. since the angels that sinned had commingled with them. ... 206 The translation is from Bauckham, "The Fall of the Angels', 320. 207 'Enoch says that the angels who transgressed taught mankind "
  50. ↑ Iblis became Satan: "Behold! We said to the Angels, 'Bow down to Adam': they bowed down except Iblis. He was One of the Jinns, beings born of Fire, making Iblis think he was superior to a being born of Earth, and he broke the Command of his Lord. ...(Koran, 18:50)"
  51. ↑ Jeffrey Burton Russell Lucifer, the Devil in the Middle Ages, chapter 'The Muslim Devil' p. 55
  52. ↑ مصباح المنير في تهذيب تفسير إبن كثير Ismāʻīl ibn ʻUmar Ibn Kathīr, Shaykh Safiur Rahman Al Mubarakpuri, Ṣafī al-Raḥmān Mubārakfūrī / The Meaning And Explanation Of The Glorious Qur'an: 1-203 Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman "The Story of Harut and Marut, and the Explanation that They were Angels God said, (And such things that came down at Babylon to the two angels, Harut and Marut, but neither of these two (angels) taught anyone (such things) till they.."
  53. ↑ Jan Knappert, Islamic legends: histories of the heroes, saints and prophets of Islam 1985 p. 59 "Harut and Marut - When the Prophet Idris (sometimes identified with Enoch) entered Paradise after his long life on earth, it is said that he was met by two naughty angels, whose names were Azaya or 'Uzza and 'Aza'il."
  54. ↑ "Online-Literature.com". Online-Literature.com. http://www.online-literature.com/view.php/paradiselost/7?term=lucifer. Retrieved 2012-07-03. 


References

  • Anderson, ed. by Gary (2000). Literature on Adam and Eve. Leiden: Brill.
  • Bamberger, Bernard J. (2006). Fallen angels : soldiers of satan's realm, first paperback, Philadelphia, Pa.: Jewish Publ. Soc. of America.
  • Charlesworth, edited by James H. (2010). The Old Testament pseudepigrapha. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson.
  • Davidson, Gustav (1994). A dictionary of angels: including the fallen angels, 1st Free Press pbk., New York: Free Press.
  • DDD, Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter W. van der Horst, (1998). Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible (DDD), 2., extensively rev., Leiden: Brill.
  • Douglas, James D. with Merrill Chapin Tenney, Moisés Silva (editors) (2011). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan.
  • Orlov, Andrei A. (2011). Dark mirrors: Azazel and Satanael in early Jewish demonology. Albany: State University of New York Press.
  • Platt, Rutherford H. (2004). Forgotten Books of Eden, Reprint, Forgotten Books.
  • Reed, Annette Yoshiko (2005). Fallen angels and the history of Judaism and Christianity : the reception of Enochic literature, 1. publ., Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge University Press.
  • Schwartz, Howard (2004). Tree of souls: The mythology of Judaism. New York: Oxford U Pr.
  • Wright, Archie T. (2004). The origin of evil spirits the reception of Genesis 6.1-4 in early Jewish literature. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.


Further Reading

  • Ashley, Leonard R.N.. The complete book of devils and demons. New York: Skyhorse Pub..


External Links

Retrieved from "http://succubus.net/wiki/index.php?title=Fallen_Angel&oldid=30375"