Fr. Ted on the Archangels, repentance, and the theology of the demons
Fr. Ted reflects on the feast of the Holy Archangels, presenting the angels as models of eternal obedience to God. Because angels are bodiless spiritual beings who stand constantly in God's presence, their choices are final and unchangeable. The demons are angels who rebelled with full knowledge and can never repent.
Humans, by contrast, live behind a veil of ignorance and receive the grace to repent throughout this life, but after death the opportunity ends because everything becomes clear. The priest recalls a seminary professor's warning that the more a Christian learns God's will through Scripture, the saints, and church attendance, the fewer excuses remain for disobedience.
Knowing the truth and failing to act on it is called "the theology of the demons," since demons believe and know the truth but refuse to obey. Therefore growth in knowledge must be matched by growth in obedience. Fr. Ted calls the faithful to an active spiritual life: coming to church, participating in the Holy Mysteries, receiving Holy Communion with proper preparation, repenting, and continually turning their hearts back to Christ.
He urges them not to take the lifetime given for repentance for granted, because after death the time for repentance has passed. He asks the Holy Archangels to intercede and help the faithful remain faithful to Christ.
Key moments
- 0:00 The feast of the Holy Archangels is celebrated as the church's secondary saints after the Prophet Elias and Saint Theodora, and the Archangels exemplify obedience to the word of God.
- 0:30 Demons are angels who rebelled against God, beginning with Lucifer, so the distinction between angels and demons is obedience versus rebellion.
- 1:01 Angels originally possessed free will, but their choices are eternal and irreversible because they are bodiless spiritual powers always in God's presence and see everything.
- 2:01 Lucifer's fall was eternal because he had no excuse, he knew the full truth and rejected it, and the loyal angels remain loyal forever for the same reason.
- 3:03 Human beings have the grace to repent repeatedly during earthly life because of their ignorance, but after death the soul sees everything and can no longer repent.
- 3:33 The goal is to die oriented toward God like the faithful angels, because a state of rebellion at death becomes permanent separation from God, which is hell.
- 5:41 A seminary professor taught that the more a Christian learns, through Scripture, the saints, and church attendance, the fewer excuses remain for sin, making knowledge a double-edged sword.
- 6:11 Knowing God's will and failing to do it is "the theology of the demons," since demons believe and know the truth but refuse to obey; therefore growth in faith must be matched by growth in obedience.