Is the Priest Better Than the Angel?
Is the Priest Better Than the Angel?
QUESTION
In a sermon by the priest of our church, I heard him say that the priest is better than the angel. This is because he carries the Body and Blood of the Lord. Is it truly the case that the priest is better than the angel?
ANSWER:
*In this particular point—the sanctification of the holy offerings by the priests—the priest is in a distinctive position. For concerning these holy mysteries it was said: “Things which angels desire to look into” (1 Pet. 1:12).
But in general, the angel is greater than man.
For it was said concerning the nature of man in the Eighth Psalm: “You have made him a little lower than the angels” (Ps. 8:5).
The Apostle used this same expression when speaking about the Lord Christ in His Incarnation, when He “emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7), saying: “You made Him a little lower than the angels,” despite the fact that “You crowned Him with glory and honor… You have put all things in subjection under His feet” (Heb. 2:7–8; Ps. 8:5–6).
*Among the characteristics of the angels by which they surpass human beings are:
1- They are spirits, as it was said about the Lord: “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire” (Ps. 104:4). The angels were not united with matter, as human beings are united with bodies that have instincts and desires, and with the corruption that exists in matter. As it was said concerning man in the resurrection: “It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption… It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:42–44).
As for the angels, they do not have this natural body, nor this humiliation, corruption, and weakness in their nature, and in this they are superior to human beings…
2- The angels have transparency and swiftness of movement. They are able to move from heaven to earth in the blink of an eye in order to carry out the will of God.
3- The angels are exceedingly powerful. The Psalmist said of them: “Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word” (Ps. 103:20).
One angel was able to strike 185,000 from the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35), something that an army of human beings cannot do. And they are workers of miracles, as two angels did when they struck a number of the people of Sodom with blindness (Gen. 19:11, 1).
4- The angel of God was described as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). And it was said of one of them, “The earth was illuminated with his glory” (Rev. 18:1). This description cannot be attained by any human being.
5- Likewise, they are holy (Matt. 25:31). As for us human beings, we have not yet reached this holiness, but we struggle in order to attain some measure of it.
So how can we say that the priest is better than the angel?! This priest who says in the Prayer of Preparation at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy: “You know that I am unprepared and unworthy; grant me to find mercy and grace at this hour.”
And the one who says when offering the Lamb: “May this sacrifice be acceptable before You for my sins and the ignorances of Your people.” See also (Heb. 5:3).
The angels have been crowned with righteousness, in a holy nature, whereas man is under passions like us (James 5:17), just as was said even about the Prophet Elijah…
6- God entrusts the angel with great works, in saving people and preserving them, as it was said: “The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (Ps. 34:7). No human being is able to perform the works of help and protection that the angel of the Lord performs.
7- Also, the priest, in the Prayer of the Divine Liturgy, asks for the intercession of the angels for himself and for the people, and for their help. And he says at the end of the Morning Prayer: “That we may be preserved and guided by their hosts…”
8- I ask the priest—any priest—to be humble and not think that he is better than the angel. For he does not possess the nature of the angel, nor the power of the angel, nor the continual presence in the presence of God like the angel. Nor does he possess the obedience and holiness of the angel.
If God has chosen the priest to serve the Holy Mysteries in the Divine Liturgy, this service requires humility of heart. Let him know that he serves not because of worthiness, but because of an honor and a commission from God, and he does not deserve this.
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