The Hierarchy of Angels
The nine choirs, where the idea comes from, and how much of it is doctrine
The hierarchy of angels is the traditional arrangement of the angelic host into nine choirs in three groups: seraphim, cherubim, and thrones; dominions, virtues, and powers; principalities, archangels, and angels. The names are drawn from Scripture, but the ordering into nine is a theological tradition rather than a defined doctrine of the Church.
Quick Summary
- Nine choirs, arranged in three groups of three
- The names come from Scripture; the ordering comes from tradition
- Popularised by a sixth-century writer known as Pseudo-Dionysius
- The Church teaches that angels exist and are personal beings, not that the nine-fold order is binding
- Only three angels are named in Scripture: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael
Full Explanation
The nine choirs are usually listed in three groups of three. First seraphim, cherubim, and thrones. Then dominions, virtues, and powers. Then principalities, archangels, and angels. The individual names are genuinely biblical. Isaiah sees the seraphim above the throne. Cherubim guard Eden and overshadow the Ark. Paul, writing to the Colossians, sweeps up "thrones or dominions or principalities or powers" in a single line, and to the Ephesians he names principalities and powers again as what Christians actually contend with. What Scripture never does is arrange these terms into a ranked system. Paul is not publishing an organisational chart; he is saying that whatever these powers are, Christ made them and Christ outranks them. The arrangement into nine comes from a treatise called The Celestial Hierarchy, written around the sixth century by an author who signed himself Dionysius the Areopagite, the Athenian converted by Paul in Acts. He almost certainly was not, which is why scholars now call him Pseudo-Dionysius. The mistaken attribution gave the work enormous authority for a thousand years, and Aquinas engaged with it seriously. The scheme is beautiful, it is old, and it is theology rather than revelation. So how much is binding? The Church teaches that angels exist, that they are personal beings with intelligence and will, that they are pure spirit without bodies, and that they serve God and are sent to serve us. Augustine put the useful distinction plainly: angel is the name of an office, not of a nature. What they are is spirit. Angel describes what they are sent to do. The nine-fold hierarchy is not in that category. A Catholic is entirely free to find it illuminating and entirely free to be unconvinced by the details. What is not optional is the reality behind it: that creation is larger than what can be measured, that it is populated by beings who serve God, and that some of them are assigned to you. For most people the practical part is the bottom of the list rather than the top. The seraphim are magnificent and remote. The angel actually mentioned in connection with your own life is the guardian, and that is the one worth praying to tonight.
What the Bible Says
For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.
Four of the nine choir names appear here in one sentence, and Paul lists them to make a point about Christ rather than about angels: whatever ranks exist, every one of them is created and none of them is a rival.
Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
The only place in Scripture where seraphim appear. Note what they do with four of their six wings: they cover themselves. Even the highest choir is described as shielding itself in God’s presence.
Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
The plainest statement in the New Testament about what angels are for. The question is rhetorical, and the answer is that they are sent, and that they are sent on our account.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
The same vocabulary of ranks is used here for what opposes us. Paul is not describing a second hierarchy so much as making clear that the conflict is real and that its scale is not human.
What the Catechism Says
CCC 328The Catechism states that the existence of the purely spiritual beings Scripture calls angels is a truth of faith, attested by both Scripture and unanimous tradition.
CCC 329Quoting Augustine, the Catechism distinguishes what angels are from what they do: their nature is spirit, and the word angel names the office of being sent.
CCC 336The Catechism teaches that human life is surrounded from beginning to end by the watchful care and intercession of angels, which is the basis of devotion to a guardian angel.
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