War of Heaven

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The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

In Jewish,[1] Christian and Islamic mythology the War of Heaven was a defining moment in the universe, when the Seraph[2] Lucifer led a third of the Angels in an open revolution against God and his loyal angels. The word "Lucifer" means "Morning Star" in Latin.[3]

Contents

[edit] Background to the War

The most common catalyst considered to have driven Lucifer towards his unsuccessful coup was pride at his own beauty and power, being the highest ranking angel in Heaven. Consumed by his pride, he became Satan and attempted to wage war against the Almighty, leading one-third of the angels in Heaven to his side.[citation needed] Ultimately, he was cast down from Heaven and continues to wage war against God and mankind.

[edit] The War

In 1273, Pope John XXI, then Bishop of Tusculum, estimated that the total number of angels who sided with Lucifer's revolt numbered 133,306,668, which would suggest that they were fighting against a force of 266,613,336 angels who remained loyal to God, so that the total number of angels then was 399,920,004, 79,996 short of 400 million.[4] This number was later affirmed by 15th-century scholar Alphonso de Spina.,[4] In his review of opinions on the number of fallen angels, theologian John Gill shows no awareness of the existence of the idea here attributed to Cardinal Pedro Julião and Alfonso de Spina.[5]

Filled with hubris, Lucifer issued a declaration of war stating that "I will ascend to Heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." [6]

In the end, Lucifer and all the angels under his command were thrown out of Heaven as punishment for their insurrection.[7][8] Several millennia afterwards, Jesus Christ said that he had been present and saw Lucifer being thrown down like a flash of lightning.[9]

[edit] Religious interpretations and variations

Lucifer being thrown down from Heaven, as described in John Milton's Paradise Lost. Gustave Doré, 1866
Lucifer being thrown down from Heaven, as described in John Milton's Paradise Lost. Gustave Doré, 1866

The Muslim tradition draws on Quran 7:11-12, which says that Satan was the only angel who refused to submit and that his pride was seen in his insistence that he was better than Mankind, being forged from fire, rather than clay. Some Sufi traditions assert that Lucifer espoused a great love of God – and that he had sworn to never bow to anyone except God. (See section on Persian and Sufi Traditions in article on Lucifer)

According to the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Lucifer fomented the revolution after God rejected his alternative plan of salvation, wherein he had volunteered to take Jesus' place as God's emissary to humanity. Lucifer believed that mortals should have their free will revoked to prevent them from committing sins, to ensure their entry into Heaven.[10][11]

[edit] Similar motif outside monotheism

The fall of superhuman beings punished for opposing a god or gods is a motif found not only in the monotheistic Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions but also in polytheistic cultures such as that of Greece.

Homer's Iliad tells of Hephaestus cast down from the heavenly threshold by Zeus and after a whole day's fall landing on the island of Lemnos with little life left in him.[12]

Hesiod 's Theogony recounts that the gods, after defeating the Titans, hurled them down to Tartarus as far beneath the earth as earth is beneath the sky.[13]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: article Adam, Book of
  2. ^ Source[clarify] are conflicted whether Lucifer was a Seraph, Cherub or even Archangel
  3. ^ Lewis and Short
  4. ^ a b Ashley, R. N. Leonard. "The Complete Book of Devils and Demons", ISBN:1-56980-077-4
  5. ^ A Body of Doctrinal Divinity, book 3, chapter 5, 2b3
  6. ^ Isaiah 14:3-21 attributes this phrase to someone whom Isaiah called "הילל" (Hebrew for "Daystar", for which the Latin term is "lucifer"). The King James Version used the Latin word for the star in 14:12; modern translations such as Young's Literal Translation, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, NRSV, NJB, NIV, English Standard Version, New American Bible, Contemporary English Version, New English Bible, New Living Translation, use the English terms "Daystar", "Shining Star", "Morning Star" etc.; and all translations, including the King James Version, apply the title in question to the king of Babylon (14:4) and says he was a man, not an angel (14:16).
  7. ^ Sources[clarify] differ whether the angels were thrown to Earth, or to Hell
  8. ^ Revelation 12:7-9
  9. ^ Luke 10:18.
  10. ^ LDS Church Bible Dictionary
  11. ^ Moses 4:1
  12. ^ Iliad 1:590-594, translation
  13. ^ lines 718-726, translation

[edit] See also

  • Grigori, another company of angels who fell from God's grace at approximately the time of Noah.
  • Heavenly Host, detailed information on angelic armies.
  • DC Comics character Phantom Stranger's backstory suggests that he was an angel who refused to take sides during the war, and thus was condemned and barred from entering either Heaven or Hell.
  • The Lucifer character from the Vertigo comic books implies that he was searching for freedom from predestination, and was wary about going to war.
  • The War is recounted in Paradise Lost, Book VI.

[edit] External links

[edit] Bibliography

  • Christoph Auffarth, Loren T. Stuckenbruck (Hrsg.): The Fall of the Angels. Brill, Leiden 2004 (Themes in Biblical Narrative, 6), ISBN 90-04-12668-6.
  • Mareike Hartmann: Höllen-Szenarien. Eine Analyse des Höllenverständnisses verschiedener Epochen anhand von Höllendarstellungen. Lit, Münster 2005 (Ästhetik – Theologie – Liturgik, 32), ISBN 3-8258-7681-0.

[edit] Gallery of images of the Fall of the Rebel Angels

The Fall of the Rebel Angels from Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (miniature), c. 1410

Hieronymus Bosch, detail showing the Fall of the Rebel Angels, from a larger painting, c. 1500

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Fall of the Rebel Angels - detail (1562, oil on panel)

Guido Reni, St Michael binding Satan, c. 1636

Luca Giordano, Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels, part of an altar decoration, Naples, 18th century; ivory, wood, gilded copper

William Blake, The Casting of the Rebel Angels into Hell, illustration for Paradise Lost

The Fallen Angel (1877) by Ricardo Bellver (1845-1924)

St Michael's Victory over the Devil, by Jacob Epstein

Fall of the Rebel Angels, in St Francis Church, Neuendettelsau