Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 13.djvu/217

 62. About the spiritual world. “Angels are incorporeal spirits, endowed with reason, will, and power. They were created before the visible world and before man—; are divided into nine forms—; and the evil angels themselves were created by God as good, but became evil by their own will.” (p. 377.)

And again, as always, there comes a controversy with those who spoke differently of the angels and the demons. Then proofs from Holy Scripture that there are angels of various orders.

“65. By their natures the angels are incorporeal spirits, more perfect than the human soul, but limited.”

They were created after the likeness of God, and have mind and will. Proofs from Holy Scripture.

66. Number and degrees of angels. The celestial hierarchy.

The number of angels is legion, that is, very large. There are various classes of celestial powers. (p. 396.)

There follows a controversy with Origen about the orders of the angels, and it is proved that there are nine classes of them. (p. 397.)

“The angels are divided into nine classes, and these nine into three orders. In the first order are those who are nearer to God, such as thrones, cherubim, and seraphim; in the second order are dominions, principalities, and powers; in the third order are angels, archangels, and beginnings. This division is based partly (a) on Holy Scripture, at least in this respect that in Holy Scripture we meet with the names of all the orders of the angels, as given here—but mainly (b) on Holy Tradition.” (pp. 198 and 199.)

“Of the private opinions the most noteworthy is this, that the division of the angels into nine orders embraces only the names and orders of those that were revealed in the Word of God, but does not embrace many other names and classes of angels which have not been revealed to us