Today the term “archon” is often associated with various 1st centuty sects loosely referred to as “Gnostics.”
Many Gnostic doctrines taught that the world was created and ruled by a lesser divinity, the demiurge, and that Christ was an emissary of the remote supreme divine being, esoteric knowledge (gnosis) of whom enabled the redemption of the human spirit.
Of course the “gnostics” and Christians did share a number of beliefs living in the same cultural milieu, and Paul was especially engrossed in the Enochian worldview.
For large sects of Judaism every nation was under the influence of an evil “god”.
Read the early Fathers, they give a picture of the Cosmos as utterly demon-haunted, in need of constant blessing and redemption, and even throughout the Middle Ages the Church was thought to buffer one against ever present evil spirits.
We are at war, all of creation groans in enslavement.
The term simply means first in rank, a ruler, and appears in Greek texts 650 BC.
The first time it’s used to designate *angelic beings in text occurs in the OT LXX Dan 10:13, vaguely around 150 BC….which also contains the first references to the conception of angelic beings who are the Patrons of specific nations on earth.
David Bently Hart says HERE :
“For Paul, the cosmos has been enslaved to death, both by our sin and by the malign governance of those ‘angelic’ or ‘daemonian’ agencies who reign over the earth from the heavens, and who hold spirits in thrall below the earth. These angelic beings, these Archons, whom Paul calls Thrones and Powers and Dominations and Spiritual Forces of Evil in the High Places, are the gods of the nations….Whether fallen, or mutinous, or merely incompetent, these beings stand intractably between us and God. But Christ has conquered them all.”
In Paul the world is said to be ruled by mysterious “powers” or “authorities.” The words used to denote these beings differ from passage to passage. They can be “principalities” (archai), “dominions” or “authorities” (exousiai), “powers” (dynameis), or “lordships” (kyriotetes). Most of these passages specify that these powers are evil, the enemies of Christ and Christians.
In some cases, these passages could simply refer to human political authorities. But in other passages, this is clearly not the case. Ephesians (3:10 and 6:12), for example, specifies that they dwell in the sky. And Colossians (2:8 and 2:20) refers to them as “elemental spirits of the universe.”
It’s extraordinary, but Paul’s letters seem to just take it for granted that the world is ruled by evil spiritual powers of some sort.
The Gospel of Matthew (4:8), the Gospel of Luke (4:6), the Gospel of John (12:31, 14:30, and 16:11) and 1 John (5:19) all say that Satan or a similar being (whom the Gnostics equated with the demiurge, the chief of the archons) is in control of the world. The Gospel of John even specifically calls this being “the archon of this world.”
Specific examples :
In 1 Cor 2:8 the Greek is τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, (ton archonton tou aionos toutou) “the archons/rulers of this age”.
A few verses earlier, 2:6, he says that his proclaimed gospel message is a wisdom “not of this present age nor of the archons of this present transitory age”: οὐ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, (ou tou aionos toutou) οὐδὲ τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου τῶν καταργουμένων (oude ton archonton tou aionos toutou ton katargoumenon).
In 2 Cor 4:4 Paul refers to Satan or some similar being as being ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου (ho theos tou aionos toutou), “the god of this age”, blinding the eyes of unbelievers from understanding the gospel message Paul preaches.
In Galatians 1:3, Paul starts off his letter by speaking of Christ sacrificing himself to save us ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος πονηροῦ: “out of the age of this present evil” or “this present age of evil”.
In Ephesians 2:2 we have the author speaking of the time when the Ephesians were living κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, “according to the age of this world” or “according to this age and world” and κατὰ τὸν ἄρχοντα (archonta) τῆς ἐξουσίας (exousias) τοῦ ἀέρος, “according to the archon of the power of the air” τοῦ πνεύματος (pneumatos) τοῦ νῦν ἐνεργοῦντος ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς τῆς ἀπειθείας, “the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience”.
Add to that the list of “powers” listed in Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers (ἀρχάς, archas), against the authorities (ἐξουσίας, exousias), against the cosmic powers of the this present darkness (τοὺς κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους τούτου, tous kosmokratoras tou skotous toutou), against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, ta pneumatika tes ponerias en tois epouraniois). (NRSV)
These are the fallen “angels” — gods, Elohim. As a result of their rebellion, God portioned the land and turned over those portions to the control of supernatural members of his council (Deut. 32:8–9), 70 nations just as Christ sends out 70 apostles to reclaim them, originally leaving Israel for himself as a remaining plot of holy land to be inhabited by the descendants of Abraham, whom he called for that purpose. But the supernatural guardians of those portions turned, one by one, to evil, causing God to judge and curse them, as recorded in Psalm 82.
These are the disobedient sons of god in the DIVINE COUNCIL Yahweh put in charge of the nations after the Tower of Babel, the Pagan pantheons of gods, who became corrupt after receiving the praise of men.
The word angel means “messenger.” It’s really a job description, according to Michael Heiser, author of the book Angels. Angels deliver messages to people from God and sometimes deliver other things, like dinner (1 Kings 19:5) or death (Isaiah 37:36 for instance).
There are other heavenly creatures such as seraphim and cherubim who have different jobs — throne guardians or heavenly choirs, or the “elohim,” the members of God’s divine council. Jeremiah speaks of standing before “the council of the Lord” (23:18).
So not all angels are heavenly beings. The English word “angel” comes from the Greek angelos. Both angelos and its Hebrew equivalent (mal’āk) refer to messengers, whether they be angelic or human.
The Angelic Hierarchy from St Dionysius the Areopagite’s On the Celestial Hierarchy HERE is as follows :
First Order
1. Seraphim — Fire, “Those who burn” — light and life
2. Cherubim — Fullness of knowledge or wisdom
3. Thrones — Seat of Exaltation
Second Order
4. Dominions — Justice
5. Virtues — Courage, Virility
6. Powers — Order, Harmony
Third Order
7. Principalities — Authority
8. Archangels — Unity
9. Angels — Revelation, messengers
In 1613 Sebastien Michaelis wrote a book, Admirable History, which included a classification of demons as it was told to him by the demon Berith when he was exorcising a nun, according to the author. This classification is based on the Pseudo-Dionysian hierarchies, according to the sins the devil tempts one to commit, and includes the demons’ adversaries (who suffered that temptation without falling).
St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist are the two St. Johns to whom Michaelis refers.
First hierarchy
The first hierarchy includes angels that were Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones.
- Beelzebub was a prince of the Seraphim, just below Lucifer. Beelzebub, along with Lucifer and Leviathan, were the first three angels to fall. He tempts men with pride and is opposed by St. Francis of Assisi.
- Leviathan was also a prince of the Seraphim who tempts people to give into heresy, and is opposed by St. Peter.
- Asmodeus was also a prince of the Seraphim, burning with desire to tempt men into wantonness. He is opposed by St. John the Baptist.
- Berith was a prince of the Cherubim. He tempts men to commit homicide, and to be quarrelsome, contentious, and blasphemous. He is opposed by St. Barnabas.
- Astaroth was a prince of Thrones, who tempts men to be lazy and is opposed by St. Bartholomew.
- Verrine was also a prince of Thrones, just below Astaroth. He tempts men with impatience and is opposed by St. Dominic.
- Gressil was the third prince of Thrones, who tempts men with impurity and is opposed by St. Bernard.
- Soneillon was the fourth prince of Thrones, who tempts men to hate and is opposed by St. Stephen.
Second hierarchy
The second hierarchy includes Powers, Dominions, and Virtues.
- Carreau was a prince of Powers. He tempts men with hardness of heart and is opposed by St. Vincent and Vincent Ferrer.
- Carnivale was also a prince of Powers. He tempts men to obscenity and shamelessness, and is opposed by John the Evangelist.
- Oeillet was a prince of Dominions. He tempts men to break the vow of poverty and is opposed by St. Martin.
- Rosier was the second in the order of Dominions. He tempts men against sexual purity and is opposed by St. Basil.
- Belias was the prince of Virtues. He tempts men with arrogance and women to be vain, raise wanton children, and gossip during mass. He is opposed by St. Francis de Paul.
Third hierarchy
The third hierarchy Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.
- Verrier was the prince of Principalities. He tempts men against the vow of obedience and is opposed by St. Bernard.
- Olivier was the prince of the Archangels. He tempts men with cruelty and mercilessness toward the poor and is opposed by St. Lawrence.
- Luvart was the prince of Angels. At the time of Michaelis’s writing, Luvart was believed to be in the body of a Sister Madeleine.
Many of the names and ranks of these demons appear in the Sabbath litanies of witches, according to Jules Garinet’s Histoire de la magie en France, and Collin De Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal.
The Biblical scholar Luke Timothy Johnson has this to say HERE:
“More cosmically he envisages “powers and principalities” which, though conquered by the death and exaltation of Christ, remain capable of opposing believers, who must continue to do battle “against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12).
Similarly, Peter pictures the Devil as a ravening beast out to destroy unwary believers, and counsels them to “be sober and watch, because your adversary the Devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8).
Luke envisages Satan as the arrogant ruler of a kingdom counter to God’s own, capable of granting great power to those willing to worship him, and commanding a vast army of demonic spirits. John declares that “the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.”
Finally, the Book of Revelation imagines the world caught in a cosmic battle between Christ and Satan, the great beast waging ceaseless war against the saints in unholy alliance with the corrupt power of an empire that buys and sells human lives and brands them with its mark.”
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