The Fall of the Angels…
The “pure spirits” were tested at once after their creation, and from there chose either heaven or hell. Remember that the angels were created with a great deal more knowledge then any human being could ever naturally attain. When an angel sins, it sees consequence of its actions, as well as the horrors of hell, and yet chooses damnation willingly. The demons embraced sin and rejected God. The angels embraced God and rejected sin. We must never feel sorry for the fallen angels, for they actively and wholeheartedly chose their sin with full knowledge of the consequences.
Once an angel chooses to sin, it can never repent. The nature of angelic decision making is so absolute that nothing can change its mind... Their choice is once and for all time… The “pure spirits” who chose to follow God are now confirmed in glory we now call angels, while those “pure spirits” who have chosen to reject God are now “confirmed in sin”, and we call them demons.
According to traditional accounts of the story of Satan, he was created to be the greatest creature in existence according to the order of nature. Lucifer, or Satan, would be at the top of the choir of Seraphim, and would have been second only to God. His natural knowledge and beauty that God created him with would be unsurpassed by any other creature-- ever. Do not forget that angelic knowledge is passed down the hierarchy, and Satan himself was at the top of that same hierarchy. The same reasoning that led Lucifer to rebel would, in my opinion, be passed down to each subsequent angel, thus all of the angels underwent the same great temptation from the same original Tempter (hence the title given to the Devil). Each angel heard both the voice of God, and the voice of Satan. Each angel had to then decide for himself which voice to follow. If we ever think that our guardian angels don’t understand our temptations, we can rest assured that they do.
Once the fall of the angels takes place, the holy angels enter into heaven and are confirmed in glory. The demons then turn to vent their anger on mankind. From the fall, a new order emerges—the order of grace. The lowly archangel, Michael, is elevated through grace above the other choirs to the rank of the highest angel. One legend states that whereas Satan was the first to say, “Non servium” (I will not serve); it was St. Michael who stepped forward first to say, “Servium” (I will serve). The love that Michael had for God, from the dawn of his creation, was unsurpassed by any other angel. Michael, whose name means, “Who is like God”, showed his readiness to serve the Lord at any cost and thereby earned the title “Prince of the Heavenly Hosts”. He is the leader of the heavenly army of angels and is at the head of the angelic hierarchy in the order of grace. Part of Satan’s seething hatred for God’s beloved is seeped in the way that God elevates the lowly and loves the unworthy. A last noteworthy point on the name “Michael” is the double meaning of the saying. One way, “Who is like God”, is meant to describe the person of St. Michael who reflects God, and when read another way posses a rhetorical question to the listener that cuts through pride and arrogance as the only answer is, “No one, not even me”. This second reading seems to me to be both a slap in the face to Satan, as well as a statement of humility on the part of St. Michael.
There are many traditions about the fall of the angels. No one can be certain of what exactly took place during the angelic test, but we can be sure of a few truths concerning it. First, there was a test in which each angel decided for himself whether or not to follow God. Secondly, there was a reward and punishment for each angel corresponding to its decision. Thirdly, the holy angels cannot lose heaven as their reward, nor can the demons escape hell. Fourthly, God uses all of the angels and demons to accomplish His Will, as we will see later.
There are two accounts of the Fall that I would like to describe here. The first is a composite from the Fathers of the Church and the second is a summary of what Father Amorth has put forth in his book, which he claims to have received from the demon himself. These two “legends” are not incompatible or irreconcilable to each other, as far as I can see, but I am presenting them as two because they come from different sources.
The basic story of Satan’s Fall, according to the Fathers of the Church, is that the angels were tested following their creation. In this account, they were made privy to the knowledge of Adam’s Fall (which had not yet happened) and they were shown a vision of the plan of salvation. Satan and some of the other angels objected to God’s plan, rejecting His leadership and authority.
