Chapter 5: On angels

2. The word angel is the name of a function, not of a nature; for they are always spirits, but are called angels when they are sent.

3. And the license of painters makes wings for them in order to denote their swift passage in every direction, just as also in the fables of the poets the winds are said to have wings on account of their velocity....

4. The sacred writings testify that there are nine orders of angels, namely, angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, virtues, principalities, powers, cherubim and seraphim. And we shall explain by derivation why the names of these functions were so applied.

5. Angels are so called because they are sent down from heaven to carry messages to men....

6. Archangels in the Greek tongue means _summi nuntii_ in the Latin. For they who carry small or trifling messages are called angels; and they who announce the most important things are called archangels.... Archangels are so called because they hold the leadership among angels.... For they are leaders and chiefs under whose control services are assigned to each and every angel.

17. Certain functions of angels by which signs and wonders are done in the world are called virtues, on account of which the virtues are named.

18. Those are powers to whom hostile virtues are subject, and they are called by the name of powers because evil spirits are constrained by their power not to harm the world as much as they desire.

19. Principalities are those who are in command of the hosts of the angels. And they have received the name of principality because they send the subordinate angels here and there to do the divine service....

20. Dominions are they who are in charge even of the virtues and principalities, and they are called dominions because they rule the rest of the hosts of the angels.

21. Thrones are the hosts of angels who in the Latin are called _sedes_; and they are called thrones because the creator presides over them, and through them accomplishes his decisions.

22. Cherubim ... are the higher hosts of angels who, being placed nearer, are fuller of the divine wisdom than the rest....

24. The seraphim in like manner are a multitude of angels, and the word is translated from the Hebrew into the Latin as _ardentes_ or _incendentes_, and they are called _ardentes_ because between them and God no other angels stand, and therefore the nearer they stand in his presence the more they are lighted by the brightness of divine light.

25. And they veil the face and feet of God sitting on his throne, and therefore the rest of the throng of angels are not able to see fully the essence of God, since the seraphim cover him.

28. To each and every one, as has been said before, his proper duties are appointed, and it is agreed that they obtained these according to merit at the beginning of the world. That angels have charge over both places and men, an angel testifies through the prophet, saying: “Princeps regni Persarum mihi restitit” (Dan. x. 13).

29. Whence it is evident that there is no place that angels have not charge of. They have charge also over the beginnings of all works.

30. Such is the order or classification of the angels who after the fall of the wicked stood in celestial strength. For after the apostate angels fell, these were established in the continuance of eternal blessedness.

32. As to the two seraphim that are read of in Isaiah, they show in a figure the meaning of the Old and the New Testament. But as to their covering the face and feet of God, it is because we cannot know the past before the universe, nor the future after the universe, but according to their testimony we contemplate only the intervening time.

Chapter 6. On men who received prophetic names.

1. Most of the men of early times have the origin of their names in appropriate causes. And their names have been given in such a prophetic way that they are in harmony with either their future or their antecedent causes.

2. However we shall now examine merely their literal meaning in history, without touching on the inner meaning of the spirit.

Chapter 11. On martyrs.

4. There are two kinds of martyrs, one in open suffering, the other in the hidden virtue of the spirit. For many, enduring the lyings-in-wait of the enemy and resisting all carnal desires, have become martyrs even in time of peace, because they have sacrificed themselves in their heart to the omnipotent God, and if they had lived in time of persecution, they could have been martyrs in reality.

Chapter 12. On the clergy.

4. The order of bishops is four-fold, namely, patriarchs, archbishops, metropolitans, and bishops.

5. Patriarch in the Greek tongue means highest of the fathers, because he holds the first, that is, the Apostolic place, and he is honored by such a name because he holds the highest office, as for example, the patriarch of Rome, Antioch or Alexandria.