Annotation CXLVII, Whether the angels were created before the world, and whether the heavens emit a vocal sound (Psalm 1:1)

Annotatio CXLVII

”Blessed is the man who hath not walked.” — Psalm 1:1

Ambrose, at the beginning of the preface on the Psalms, says that the Angels existed before this visible world¹ — which most of the Fathers do not approve. He asserts also that the heavens, by their rotation, produce a perpetual sound — which Basil and Epiphanius reject as a fabulous thing, and worthy of laughter. We have written on both assertions in the Censures on the book of Genesis, Annotation 5 and Annotation 105.