This week it’s seemed like Angels have surrounded almost everything I’ve done.
From the ongoing studies in Year 7 English classes, using the novel “Skellig“, to requests from Year 11 Religious Education groups to begin an enquiry into their chosen topic entitled, “Angels and Demons“… and not forgetting my rather innocently going to the movies to see “I, Frankenstein”, it seems that Angels are everywhere.
Of course, as an Orthodox Christian, I pray daily to the Guardian Angel that most Orthodox believe watches over them. But beyond this, I rarely give much thought to the spiritual beings that are said to serve God and protect those who also seek to serve their Creator.
This week it has been different.
Listening To Children
We live in a very confused spiritual realm, especially those of us who work with secular children in British education. As a High School teacher, working with students ranging from 11 to 16 years of age, the spiritual is all at once suppressed and yet deeply important. Even Her Majesty’s Inspectors, Ofsted, are currently banging the drum for schools to improve (among far too many other things) children’s “social, moral, spiritual, and cultural” (SMSC) learning.
Sitting with Year 11 pupils, three groups of whom have chosen the topic “Angels and Demons” from a list generated by their peers, it’s intriguing to hear their views and questions:
“I don’t believe in God but I do believe in demons”
“Aren’t angels like good ghosts who stay to protect people?”
“Do angels have wings, Sir?”
I work in a school where around 10% of 15-16 year old pupils self-identify as believing in God; the rest fall into a roughly 50% agnostic and 40% atheist split. Yet, and this is intriguing, 80% of them believe in the reality of angels and/or demons. Most would also claim to believe in ghosts and other spiritual phenomena.
And it’s not much different when you talk to adults… agnostics tend towards an unwillingness to deny all spiritual beings. Only the atheists, of whom there are relatively few who are truly committed, would outright reject the invisible.
And, at this stage, I’m not even going to touch on non-Christian religious attitudes.
What DO You Believe?
Many Protestant Christians hold a heavy tension regarding the spiritual beings. They usually fall into two camps on the topic of Demons: believing in them (and seeing them active in all manner of sufferings), or dismissing the demonic as a metaphor. Few, if any, such Protestants would spend much time talking about Angels… except to mention them in the Christmas and Easter stories, and then only in passing.
Roman Catholics, in my admittedly limited experience, also seem to end in either a fearful focus on the demonic (and a general ambivalence towards the angelic), or with a dismissive wave of the hand towards these creatures as metaphor. Guardian Angels seem to be a thing to reassure children about when they have a fear of the dark.
Before I came to Orthodoxy, upon which the end of January marks the first year since my reception into the Church, I was probably an a-typical Protestant. I say this because, unlike the majority around me, I have always believed in Angels and Demons. But I had never prayed to an Angel until I began to use the Orthodox morning prayers.
I have come to realise that, among all this talk about Angels and Demons at school, I have connected to an area of deep belief and concern within my own spiritual journey.
Answering Questions
I’m doing the research, and it’s not just because I know my students will need me to be able to answer their questions with at least a reasonable knowledge of Christian Lore. I’m doing it for myself too.
As with most spiritual questions, I was gratified that a Google search quickly connected me to some useful Orthodox resources. Of particular help was Saint George Greenville’s website post, “What Orthodox Christians Believe About Angels“.
The links at the bottom of the above page have led me to grab (among other useful things) Saint Dionysius the Areogapite’s writings, “The Mystical Theology and The Divine Names“, within which lie notes upon “The Heavenly Hierarchy“.
There are also useful notes at OrthodoxInfo.com: “The Church’s Teachings About Angels“.
Additionally, I’m working through the general mythology that exists within the common media – much of which is derived from Roman Catholic “Angelology”, or affected by Protestant Millennialism. It’s interesting to note that, at least in film and television, Angels are particularly presented as both “goodly warriors” and “coldly aloof”.
All-in-all, there is a great deal to consider. I am grateful to my pupils for raising the topic… and slightly unsettled as I have found myself wading deeper into Angel territory. To my mind, given that the Angels are said to be closer to God than most mortals, it’s a journey towards the Holy… and that, dear friends, is a trip to be made with at least mild trepidation.
May the Holy Guardian Angels walk with us.
