Hierarchy of angels

The Assumption of the Virgin by Francesco Botticini (1475-76) at the National Gallery London, shows three hierarchies and nine orders of angels, each with different characteristics.

A hierarchy (Greek ἱεραρχία hierarchia, from ἱερός, hieros, "holy" and ἀρχή, archē, "leadership, rule", from the 17th century onwards the Latin hierarchia, "order of consecration") generally refers to a system of elements or beings that are superior or subordinate to one another according to a certain hierarchy.

Spiritual hierarchies

According to the Christian view, nine choirs of angels, arranged in three hierarchies, form the community of cosmic intelligences. The Kabbalists also refer to them as Separate Intellects (Hebrew שכלים נפרדים Sechalim nifradim), since they keep themselves completely separate from matter. In anthroposophy, the hierarchies refer to the spiritual beings involved in the development of the world, arranged according to their degree of development. Above them stands the Trinity as the highest source of divine creative power. The hierarchies have advanced in their spiritual development to the human being and have an essential share in his development as well as in the development of the earth. According to their degree of spiritual maturity they can be classified into different groups. In anthroposophical language, the hierarchies are often referred to collectively when the entities mentioned are meant as a whole.

Angelology

Angelology (from Greek ἄγγελος angelos "messenger", λόγος logos "word, teaching"), the doctrine of the angelic hierarchies ("angels" here as a generic term for spiritual beings, not in the narrower sense for the Angeloi), goes back in Christianity to the writing on the "Heavenly Hierarchies"[4] by Dionysius Areopagita. Dionysius is mentioned in the New Testament as the first bishop of Athens (Acts of Luke Acts 17:34 LUT). However, since the teachings bearing his name were not written down until the early 6th century, conventional research assumes that an unknown author of that time was the originator. This author used the name of Dionysius Areopagita merely as a pseudonym (hence also called "Pseudo-Dionysius").

According to Rudolf Steiner, the transmitted contents actually go back to the Dionysius Areopagita mentioned in the Bible:

„The doctrine of the gods was first brought into a system by the disciple of the Apostle Paul, Dionysius the Areopagite. But it was not written down until the 6th century. Scholars therefore deny the existence of Dionysius Areopagita and speak of the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius, as if ancient traditions had only been compiled in the 6th century. The true facts can only be ascertained by reading the Akashic Chronicle. The Akashic Chronicle, however, teaches that Dionysius really lived in Athens, that he was initiated by Paul and received from him the commission to establish the doctrine of the higher spiritual beings and to give it to special initiates. Certain high teachings were never written down at that time, but only propagated through oral tradition. The doctrine of the gods was also given in this way by Dionysius to his disciples and passed on by them in turn. The direct disciple was then deliberately called Dionysius again, so that the last to write down the doctrine of the gods was one in this series, all of whom were called Dionysius.

This doctrine of the gods, as given by Dionysius, comprises three times three members of the divine entities....

Above the seraphim then stand divine entities of such sublimity that human comprehension is insufficient to comprehend them. After the third stage comes the fourth hierarchy: man, as the tenth in the whole series.“ (Lit.:GA 93a, p. 97f)

Gregory the Great (c. 540 - 604) adopted the doctrine of angels for the Church.[1] From the 7th century onwards, the doctrine spread, above all through Isidore of Seville, who devotes an entire chapter to angels in his Etymologiae.[2] In the 9th century, at the court of Charles the Bald, Johannes Scotus Eriugena translated the Greek writings of Dionysius into Latin[3], as a result of which they subsequently became more and more widespread. In Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy", Beatrice explains the nine choirs of angels in detail in Canto XXVIII of the Paradiso.

Literature

• Rudolf Steiner: Grundelemente der Esoterik, GA 93a (1976), S 97f., Berlin, 8. Oktober 1905
• Rudolf Steiner: Das Johannes-Evangelium, GA 103 (1995), ISBN 3-7274-1030-2 Template:Vorträge
• Rudolf Steiner: Die Geheimnisse der biblischen Schöpfungsgeschichte, GA 122 (1984), ISBN 3-7274-1220-8 Template:Vorträge
• Rudolf Steiner: Lehrerkonferenzen, Bd. I, GA 300a