Talk 5

By the words of the Creed—I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible—we confess and declare that God created the visible and invisible world, that He holds all things created in His power and governs all things; or more briefly: we confess God as Creator and Providence of the world. Therefore, let us first speak of God as the Creator of the world, and then of God as the Providence of the world.

When it is said, brothers, that God created the world; this means: a) that it was created by God, worshipped in the Holy Trinity—that is, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus in the Creed itself, God the Father is called Creator; of the Son of God it is said that through Him all things came to be—by whom all things were made—and the Holy Spirit is called Life-giver; b) He created it by a single word or command: He spoke, and they came to be; He commanded, and they were created; c) He created it, or in other words: brought it from absolute non-being into being; d) He created it by His goodness alone, but certainly not by necessity of any kind: because the self-sufficient and all-blessed God is in need of no one and nothing; e) that from the time of creation began time, or the sequence of one thing after another, and before the creation of the world there was no time; before that there was only eternity, ever constant, having neither beginning nor end—or rather, there was only the eternal God in the Holy Trinity.

God first of all created the spiritual world—the rational and divine powers of heaven, or the Orders of Angels; then the visible world that we see, and finally man, who in his soul belongs to the spiritual world and in his body to the material world; for which reason he is called a microcosm. Therefore, first of all, brothers, we shall speak of the creation of the Angels, and namely, we shall say that they truly exist and were created before the visible world: about their nature, number, and degrees.

Do Angels exist? There are people who have the misfortune of denying the invisible world, the whole world of spirits, contrary to the clear testimonies of Holy Scripture and the testimonies of holy men, who themselves on earth became like to the heavenly powers in the holiness of their lives and love of God, and lived in fellowship with them. To whom should we believe more? As in all else, so especially in this matter, surely to Holy Scripture and to the Saints of God. That Angels exist is beyond all doubt.

Let us understand why some people say there are no Angels. It is because they do not see proof of their existence; and they simply refuse to believe: they want to see everything, touch it—in short, to test it; and since they cannot see or touch Angels, they deny them. These are people who are guided even in faith by their lower nature—by their senses. But in this very case, the very blindness of such people somehow proves that Angels truly exist. Thus, a blind man does not see the sun, moon, and stars that adorn the sky and illuminate the earth; but this non-seeing only proves that he is blind. The heavenly bodies shine regardless of whether he sees them or not. Likewise, the existence of Angels does not depend, of course, on whether we see them with the eye of faith, or—because we are unwilling to rise above the dust from which we are made and see nothing beyond the earth—for this very reason do not notice the signs of the existence not only of bright spirits, but perhaps of much else as well. There are some people whose spiritual eyes are so darkened that they do not even believe in the spiritual Sun, which illuminates and gives life to all. But this, brothers, is a grievous sickness of the soul, spiritual blindness. Let us ask about Angels from holy and pious people: and they will prove to us as clearly as day the existence of the spiritual world.

However, those who wish to be assured from the visible that the invisible world of spirits exists, will not lack assurance from this side either: it is only necessary to be attentive. From man down to the blade of grass—everything testifies to the invisible. That which thinks and feels in us is invisible. And in general, everything that we call the life of visible creatures, animals and plants, is precisely what is invisible: for the visible withers, dries up, decays, and is destroyed, when the invisible leaves it. If the invisible, the spiritual, constitutes the life of all things even here on earth: shall we think there is no special, vast invisible world, purely spiritual?

Holy Scripture decisively assures us, brothers, of the existence of a special world of spirits. Whoever has read or heard the books of the Old and New Testament can have a true and clear understanding of Angels as servants of the King of heaven. We will point to several examples. For instance: Angels are guests together with the Lord at Abraham’s home; Angels save Lot from the perishing Sodom; the Patriarch Jacob encounters bands of Angels on his way and in a dream sees them ascending and descending to the earth; the Archangel of the strength of the Lord appears to Joshua and commands the miraculous conquest of Jericho; Isaiah sees the Seraphim surrounding the throne of the Lord, and from one of them receives fiery purification; the Prophet Daniel sees thousands upon thousands serving the Ancient of Days and myriads of myriads standing before Him. An Angel announces the birthless conception of the Savior; a whole army of Angels sing the birth of the Savior; and so on. Thus, the existence of Angels is undoubted.

When were the Angels created? They were created before the visible world: there is an indication of this in the Book of Job. In it, it is said that when the stars were created, already the Angels of God praised Him, thus they existed before the creation of the world. When the stars were created, says the Lord, My Angels praised Me with a loud voice. The Creator of the Angels is the Son of God, through whom all things were created. This is testified to by the holy Apostle Paul. “Through Him,” says he—through the Son of God—“all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers”—that is, all Orders of Angels—“all things were created through Him and for Him.”

As for the nature of Angels: they are, as we have already said in part above—spirits, purely incorporeal, greater than us in strength and power. Thus, for example, one Angel in a single night once destroyed one hundred eighty-five thousand soldiers of the Assyrian army; and similarly—in understanding and will they are more perfect than us: because they constantly walk in the light of God’s face. If Angels are depicted in icons as winged men, it is, brothers, because they appeared as men on earth to people, so that people would not fear them, seeing their own nature and form in them; but in reality they have no flesh, and therefore no bodily members: neither head nor tongue nor wings nor hands nor feet, nothing bodily; therefore they are called in Holy Scripture everywhere spirits—just as the Lord God is called Spirit, although He is the Spirit, more perfect than any created spirit. If in Holy Scripture mention is made of the tongue of Angels, of their praises to the Lord: this is spoken in human fashion, so that we may understand in some measure the praises of the Angels. In reality they do not praise God with voice or tongue as we do, but spiritually, in an intellectual manner. The holy Church speaks of their praises thus: “With bodiless lips and rational mouths, the angelic orders offer ceaseless songs to Your unapproachable Godhead, O Lord.” For now this is enough about the Angels.

Let us glorify and thank the Lord, who created the entire world, including us, solely out of His goodness, and let us learn never to become forgetful in life, remembering that we have been called to life from absolute nothingness, and we have nothing either in ourselves or around us that is our own, but everything is God’s. Sometimes people dare to reject some truth revealed in Holy Scripture, some rule of Christian faith and life. Ah! If only they would remember that they themselves were only recently called from nothingness and are not far from that nothingness. For example, they say: “I exist, I live; but Angels do not exist.” But let us count the years of our life and ask ourselves: what were we before others began to count days, months, and years, and then we ourselves—the years of our life? We were nothing, or rather: we did not exist. What will we be after our body is separated from our soul? The body will return to dust—that is, to the senses, again will be nothing—and the soul will be in the invisible place of departed spirits. What does our earthly life mean? A few years ago we did not exist, and a few years from now we will not exist again. This is a fleeting shadow of life. There, in heaven, will be our life. No, it is easier to agree that we do not exist on earth, or walk upon it like a phantom (Ps 38:7), than to agree that Angels do not exist. We in our very life, from our sins, decay both spiritually and physically: and can decay be called life? Meanwhile the Angels, as pure spirits, by their nature are incorruptible and immortal. Of them, after the Lord God, it ought to be said that they live. Yes, they live without doubt and unceasingly glorify their Creator, whom we are not able to glorify as we ought. Both they and we have the same purpose—to glorify the Creator.

Let us learn from them to offer constant glory and thanksgiving to the Creator of the world for His infinite goodness toward His creatures, for bringing them to life and blessedness. Amen.