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 In the study of Angels, many have a fascination with the "fallen" angels.
Myth and legend have taken the concept of these angels and created many horror stories. Movies and books have been created
to give us all a sense of fear and loathing about the fallen.
When we talk about the Fallen Angels, we must first
consider the legend of the Watchers. This legend has been passed down through generations to create one myth of "fallen" angels.
We then have to go back
to the legend of The War In Heaven. Many religions have this concept in their teachings.
There are several accounts
of what happened to cause the War in Heaven, but the generally accepted one involves the creation of humanity.
God
desired that all angels in heaven bow down to humanity, (as in to serve and protect mankind), and Lucifer refused. He wasn't
the only one, and this became a major bone of contention among the angels. *Note* A good example of how this story might go,
read Memnoch, The Devil by Anne Rice.
At the same time as Lucifer disobeying God in heaven, the Watchers, angels who were evidently something different than the being of pure living fire that most of their companions were, went
down to earth on a mission from God to teach human beings certain tasks.
As legend states, these angels saw that the
women of earth were beautiful and became lustful for them. They mated with them, and as a result were cast from heaven. A
great war rose up. The heavenly host was victorious, and Satan, (or the Hebrew ha-Satan, the adversary), and his followers
were tossed out of heaven and into hell, a place of eternal fire and torment.
Milton's Paradise Lost describes Satan's
new home as a place of constant despair for the evil one and his companions. They spend a time bewailing their lost heaven,
a place of infinite beauty and happiness. It is this despair that Milton insists drives Satan to plot against God for the
rest of time, and for that, he must escape the gates of hell, guarded by Sin and Death. Sin, who was Satan's lover in heaven
and once an angel herself, releases Satan. That is only the beginning of what has been a long-standing relationship between
the devil and humankind.
FACT:
Originally, in the old testament, the name satan is a word for an office, and
the angel investing that office is not apostate or fallen. He becomes this way in the new testament when he emerges as Satan(capital
S), the enemy of God. Originally ha-satan was a great angel, Chief of Seraphim, and head of the order of virtues. Through
a misleading of Isaiah 14:12 he has been identified with Lucifer.
Lucifer, on the other hand, is called "light-giver".
He is equated with Satan. This is the scripture which gives the misrepresentation:
"How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning," an apostrophe which applied to Nebuchadnezzer, king of Babylon. It should be pointed out that
the authors of the books of the OT knew nothing of fallen or evil angels, and do not mention them, although, at times, the
Lord "put no trust," in his angels and "charged them with folly," which indicates that angels were not all that they should
be. The name Lucifer was applied to Satan by St. Jerome and other church fathers. Lucifer connotes star, and applies (or originally
meant to apply) to the morning or evening star (venus).
Another name still is Los. The agent of divine providence,
"the laborer of ages." Since his fall, he has spent 6000 years trying to give form to the world :"I am that shadowy Prophet
who, 6000 years ago/Fell from my station in the Eternal bosom."
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