The Creatures

The talk addresses the nature of creatures and their classification (inert matter, moving matter, animals, angels, humans) and the relationship between matter and spirit, clarifying the uniqueness of the human spirit and its immortality.

Main ideas

1. Everything other than God is a creature, and there is no difference between those who are born and other creatures because our origin is created.

2. Matter can be inert or moving with non-volitional motion governed by God’s laws, while living beings have a soul, consciousness, and will.

3. Humans and angels are distinguished by having a rational and free spirit; this freedom is a gift from God accompanied by responsibility and accountability.

4. Some beings have immortality (angels and humans as regards the spirit), whereas the animal soul dies with the body.

5. Angels have ranks and orders (Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones/Chairs, Principalities, Powers…) and each rank has its nature and symbolic meanings: Seraphim symbolize divine love aflame, Cherubim symbolize knowledge.

6. The fall of Satan and some angels was due to pride and knowledge that puffs up, while being inflamed by the fire of divine love does not lead to falling.

7. The story of Isaiah and the Seraphim highlights God’s mercy and the angels’ worship, their mediating action in atoning and symbolically healing sin, where a Seraph touched a coal to the prophet’s lips and his sin was declared forgiven.

8. Angels promptly obey and execute God’s command; they are powerful servants but subject to God’s absolute will, and there is a spiritual struggle between the forces of good and evil as described in the apostolic letters.

Spiritual and educational lessons (from a Coptic Orthodox perspective)

• The freedom God gave to man is a fruit of love, yet it is always linked to responsibility and judgment; therefore God provided salvation and was willing to incarnate and die if freedom led to that consequence.

• Divine love (symbolized by fire in the Seraphim) preserves from falling and moves one to service and sacrifice for the salvation of souls.

• Knowledge, whether scientific or spiritual, if not accompanied by humility and love, can lead to pride and fall (as in the case of Satan and as a cautionary note regarding Origen).

• The call to true spiritual life requires the subjection of the body to the spirit and the subjection of the human spirit to the Spirit of God; then the person becomes “like the angels” in obedience and purity.

Conclusion

The summary is a call to reconcile freedom, love, and responsibility: to use freedom for loving God and people, to pursue humility and holiness, and to be inspired by the angels’ swift obedience and the fire of love in serving to save souls.

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