BEFORE BECOMING SATAN, LUCIFER WAS A CHERUBY

From Sacred Scripture (Ezekiel 28:13-15) it seems that before turning against God and becoming Satan, which means “Adversary”, Lucifer was a cherub. According to Diogini, the cherubs are the intermediate order belonging to the first celestial hierarchy, subject only to the seraphim (The Celestial Hierarchy VI, II). However, the first name that was attributed to the prevaricating angel, Lucifer which means “Bearer of light”, indicated his being in charge of all the angelic hosts. It is in fact the higher angels who enlighten the lower angels regarding the divine mysteries. In his writings St. Thomas Aquinas explains that the term cherub means “fullness of science”, while the term seraph means “fiery”. It is therefore clear that the cherub indicates knowledge, which can be together with mortal sin, while the seraph indicates the intense warmth of charity, which is not compatible with mortal sin. Therefore Lucifer, despite being in charge of all the angelic hosts, was not called a seraph, but a cherub (Sum Theological I, q 63, a 7). The ministry of prince of all the celestial hosts was then entrusted to the archangel Michael, from the Hebrew מִיכָאֵל (transliterated: Mika’el), which means “Who is like God?”, Meaning that “no one is like God” (1 Samuel 2:2; Job 40:9; Isaiah 42:8; Psalms 35:10; 145:3; Micah 7:18). The archangel is in fact in charge of defending the dominion of the Almighty (Daniel 12:1). When Lucifer turned against God, Michael immediately opposed him and cast him out of heaven (Revelation 12:7-9; Luke 10:18). Lucifer comes from the Latin Lucifer, which translates the Hebrew הִילֵּל (transliterated: Helel) that we find in the passage from Isaiah 14:12-15, a satire that according to some theologians originally targeted a deceased Assyrian ruler, Sargon II. The fall from heaven of a morning star (Helel, from which Lucifer [Isaiah 14:12]) is interpreted by the patristic tradition as the fall of the prevaricating angel.