Breviloquium

Concerning the confirmation of the Angels, moreover, this is to be held: that just as the angels turned away from God were at once made obstinate through impenitence, so those turned toward God were at once confirmed through grace and glory in their will, perfectly illumined in reason according to morning and evening knowledge, perfectly strengthened in virtue, whether imperative or executive,¹ and perfectly ordered in operation, whether contemplative or ministerial; and this according to the threefold hierarchy, namely highest, middle, and lowest.

To the highest belong Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim; to the middle, Dominations, Virtues, and Powers; to the lowest, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. Of these, very many have been sent for ministry² and appointed to the guardianship of human beings, whom they serve by purifying, illumining, and perfecting, according to the command of God's will.

The reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: because, since the Angels, on account of their express likeness and proximity to the first and highest principle, have a deiform intellect³ and immutability after consent through free choice; when divine grace supervened, having turned toward the highest good, since they tended wholly toward God, they were through glory confirmed and perfected alike: therefore, as to will, they were stable and happy; as to reason, perspicacious, so that they knew things not only in their proper genus, but also in the art, and thereby had not only evening knowledge, but also morning, or even daytime knowledge, on account of the fullness and utter purity of that light, in respect of which every creature can deservedly be called darkness.⁴ — As to virtuous excellence, they were perfectly strengthened, whether in commanding or in executing, whether with an assumed body or even without one. — As to operation, they were most perfectly ordered, so that they can no longer be disordered, either by ascending to the contemplation of God or by descending to minister to man; because, since they behold God face to face⁵, wherever they are sent, they run within God. For they are acted upon and act according to the hierarchical order begun in them through nature and consummated through glory, which, stabilizing the mutability of free choice, illumined perspicacity, ordered officiousness, and strengthened virtue, according to the four attributes named above⁶. — The perspicacity of reason in contemplation principally regards either the divine majesty to be venerated, the truth to be understood, or the goodness to be desired; and according to this there are three orders in the first hierarchy, namely Thrones, to whom reverence pertains; Cherubim, to whom wisdom pertains; and Seraphim, to whom benevolence pertains. — To perfect virtuous excellence pertain imperative virtue, executive virtue, and expeditive virtue.⁷ The first pertains to Dominations, the second to Virtues, and the third to Powers, whose task is to repel opposing powers. — To perfect officiousness pertain governing, revealing, and raising up. The first belongs to Principalities, the second to Archangels, and the third to Angels, because they guard those who stand, lest they fall, and help those who have fallen, so that they may rise again. — And thus it is clear that all these are in the Angels according to greater and lesser degrees, descending by stages from the higher to the lowest. But an order should be named from that which it "received more excellently⁸ in the gift."