Annotation CXXXV

”And on earth peace to men of good will.” — Luke 2:14

Whether the angels are to be judged on the day of judgment.

Origen, in homily 13 on Luke, writes that the angels — appointed for our guardianship — will be judged on the day of judgment, and will receive rewards and punishments according to the account of the governance [they have] performed. His words run thus: “Since this is so, let us beseech Almighty God that both the angels, and men — the bishops of the churches — may be a help to us; and let us know that both are judged by the Lord on our behalf. But if they shall have been judged, and the fault and sin be found not in their carelessness but in our negligence: we shall be accused and punished. For, while they do all [things] and strive for our salvation, we nonetheless [must] be free from sins. Moreover it frequently happens that, while we labor, they do not fulfill their office, and are in faults.” We have said abundantly about this in Annotation 124 of book 5.