18. The Nine Choirs

It is not precisely an article of faith that there are just nine choirs of angels, no more, no less, and yet in the face of the great unanimity of the Fathers on this point, it would be rash to think otherwise.

As for the arrangement of the choirs in the different hierarchies, there is indeed a certain discrepancy, but the order in which they have been given in the preceding chapter is that which is followed by Saint Denis (Dionysius) of the Pseudo-Areopagite, the great authority of our subject, as well as by Saint John Damascene, Saint Thomas, and Suarez, if not by the majority of modern theologians. We shall consider them in that order one by one.

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