Dist. 9, Art. 1, Q. 6
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/2/d/9/q/bon-sent-II-d9-a1-q6
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### Question VI. *Whether the prelacy of the Angels is done away with after the judgment.*

Sixthly it is asked concerning the orders of the Angels as to the doing-away of prelacy; and the question is whether the prelacy which is in one order with respect to another order is done away with after the judgment. And that it is so, [thus] it seems.

1. *The fundamenta.* In the First [Epistle] to the Corinthians, chapter fifteen: *When he shall have done away with all Principality and Power and Virtue*: therefore on the day of judgment the Principalities and the Powers and the Virtues will be done away with.

2. Likewise, above, in distinction six, in the chapter: *And just as among the good:* «As long as the world lasts, Angels are set over Angels, demons over demons, men over men; but in the future all prelacy will be done away with».

3. Likewise, the names of the orders are taken from the offices of ministering, as for the most part, especially in those who are subjected: therefore when the ministry shall cease, subjection will cease, therefore prelacy too will cease.

4. Likewise, the prelacy of one order over another order is according to the act of illuminating and of purging and of perfecting; but after the judgment there will be a state in the completion of knowledge and of grace: therefore there will no longer be illumination, purgation, and perfection: therefore neither will there be any prelacy among the orders.

**To the opposite:**
*To the opposite.* 1. The precellence of one order over another order is according to the greaterness and the lesserness of nature and of grace: therefore if the quantity of grace in the angelic spirits is not changed, the precellence of one order over another order is not removed nor done away with.

2. Likewise, the Angels, as soon as they were confirmed, were made blessed with a perfect beatitude, therefore nothing remained in them which was *in part*; and the prelacy of one order over another order was in them: therefore it was not *in part*. But nothing is done away with except *what is in part*: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, *beauty* consists in order, and order in the precellence of one over another, and precellence posits the prelacy of one order over another order: therefore if prelacy is taken away from the angelic spirits, beauty too is taken away.

4. Likewise, just as the highest order is named from that which is inseparable from it, so also the middle and the lowest [orders]; but a Seraph never ceases to be a Seraph: therefore neither does a Principality cease to be a Principality, therefore it will never cease to have principality: therefore the order of prelacy will not cease there.

### Conclusion

> The prelacy of the Angels will be done away with after the judgment, not by reason of the excess in gifts, but by reason of the presiding in influencing and commanding.

**I respond:** For the understanding of the foregoing it must be noted, *A thing is preferred in three ways.* that a thing is said to be preferred to another in three ways: either by the manner of one *exceeding* alone, as gold is preferred to silver; or by the manner of one *exceeding and influencing*, as the heavenly nature is preferred to an element; or by the manner of one *commanding*, as a master is preferred to a servant. — *Three things in prelacy.* But for the formal account of a perfect prelacy these three things concur: that the one who is preferred should be born to exceed the one to whom he is preferred, and to influence him in some manner, and to preside over him. — In this manner there is now prelacy, which is regarded between one order and another order in the angelic hierarchies, and also in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. For among the Angels the order which is preferred to [another] order *exceeds* it in natural and in gratuitous [endowments], and in a certain manner *influences* it by purging, illuminating, and perfecting, and also enjoins the ministries that are to be completed.

When therefore it is asked whether the prelacy of one order over another order ceases; it must be said that, if it is understood of prelacy as to the first condition — *First conclusion.* namely by reason of *excess* — it will not be done away with, but will remain, because one order will exceed another order both in gratuitous and in natural [endowments], thus after the judgment, just as also now. But if it is understood by reason of the two following [conditions] — namely by reason of presiding in influencing and *Second conclusion.* commanding — then it will cease and be done away with; because the illumination which an Angel is said to receive from an Angel, and the command, if there is any there, is regarded by comparison to us, to whom they minister, not by comparison to God, in whom they rest and are perfectly illumined in the completion of beatitude. — And along this path proceed the arguments and the authorities which show that after the judgment the prelacy of one order over another order will cease. *To fundamenta 1 and 2.* For thus the Master and the Apostle say that God will do away with prelacy by doing away with Power and Principality. For when the ministry shall be removed, subjection and command will be removed.

*Solution of the opposing [arguments].* 1. To that, then, which is objected — that the prelacy of one order over another order is regarded in the precellence of natural and of gratuitous [endowments] — it must be said that this is not the whole cause; and so, if one argues from this, he argues from an insufficient [ground].

2. To that which is objected — that the Angels were perfectly beatified — it must be said that, although as to the part of the contemplative power they have attained a perfect beatitude, and from that part there is nothing in them which is *in part*, they are nevertheless still wayfarers by reason of ministry. For as to that power, as was said above, they are in a state of meriting; and therefore they still have something which will be done away with after the day of judgment.

3. To that which is objected — that beauty consists in order — it must be said that this is true; for just as beauty will not be taken away from the Angels, so also order will not be taken away. But from this it does not follow that prelacy is not taken away; because prelacy not only includes in itself *precellence*, but also *presidence*, which regards more the indigence of the way than the beauty and perfection of the fatherland; and therefore, when it is taken away, beauty is not diminished.

4. To that which is objected — that to be a Principality is just as inseparable from the order of Angels as to be a Seraph — it must be said that a Principality, insofar as it names an order, does not denote an actual presiding, but a gift of grace or [something] given, according to which an Angel is born to preside over others; and this can remain when the actual prelacy has been removed. And therefore it does not follow: *it ceases to have principality, therefore it ceases to be a Principality*, because *principality* does not denote an act, but a habit or a state.

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