Herein we continue, from part 1, part 2, considering info on Angels in Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD). The fuller complete result consists of quotations of those sections within the text that refer to Angels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Devil, Satan, demons, serpent and dragon. The point is not to elucidate these references but to provide relevant partial quotations and citations. See my section on Angels here, Cherubim and Seraphim here, Satan here and Demons here.
Angels in Augustine of Hippo’s The City of God, Book V.
Chapter 9 They are referable either to God, or to Angels, or to men, or to animals of whatever description, if indeed those instinctive movements of animals devoid of reason, by which, in accordance with their own nature, they seek or shun various things, are to be called wills. And when I speak of the wills of Angels, I mean either the wills of good Angels, whom we call the Angels of God, or of the wicked Angels, whom we call the Angels of the devil, or demons. Also by the wills of men I mean the wills either of the good or of the wicked.
Chapter 10 Therefore, whatsoever a man suffers contrary to his own will, he ought not to attribute to the will of men, or of Angels, or of any created spirit, but rather to His will who gives power to wills.
Chapter 11 …given to the good and to the evil, being in common with stones, vegetable life in common with trees, sensuous life in common with brutes, intellectual life in common with Angels alone; from whom is every mode, every species, every order; from whom are measure, number, weight…who also to the irrational soul has given memory, sense, appetite, but to the rational soul, in addition to these, has given intelligence and will; who has not left, not to speak of heaven and Earth, Angels and men, but not even the entrails of the smallest and most contemptible animal.
Chapter 14 …the Good Master, who was also the physician of minds, “If any one shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven, and before the Angels of God,” amidst maledictions and reproaches, and most grievous persecutions and cruel punishments, were not deterred from the preaching of human salvation by the noise of human indignation.
Chapter 17 …as that city in which it has been promised us to reign as far surpasses this one as heaven is distant from the Earth, as eternal life surpasses temporal joy, solid glory empty praise, or the society of Angels the society of mortals, or the glory of Him who made the sun and moon the light of the sun and moon, the citizens of so great a country may not seem to themselves to have done anything very great, if, in order to obtain it, they have done some good works or endured some evils.
Chapter 18 …they may distribute to each one according to his need, and that no one may say that anything is his own, but that all things may be their common possession — ought they not to understand that they should not vaunt themselves, because they do that to obtain the society of Angels, when those men did nearly the same thing to preserve the glory of the Romans?
Chapter 19 And, at the same time, they understand how far they are short of that perfection of righteousness which exists in the society of those holy Angels for which they are striving to fit themselves.
In the next segment, we will consider more on Angels in Augustine of Hippo.
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