The Fallen Hosts

With several movies about the final battle between the divine and the diabolical coming out in the near future, it’s time to take a look at the specifics of who the fallen angels were, when the conflict happened, and some popular misconceptions about the official story on these beings who rebelled against the one that made them.

According to several texts on biblical translations, there is a strong feeling that the “war in heaven” happened some time between the writing of the Old Testament and the New Testament.  By the time the New Testament came about there were several references to new concepts, such as this war between light and darkness that had taken place.  However, in the Old Testament, the references are often oblique and ambiguous meaning they could be interpreted in several ways.  Some say the battle happened because of Lucifer, who was previously the primary archangel and rebelled against his creator by seducing Eve into consuming forbidden fruit.  Others say the serpent was not Lucifer at all, but rather a construct that was sent there independently in order to allow the first two humans to exercise free will.

So the fallen angels can be categorized into two groups.  There were those who sided with Satan during the war between Heaven and Earth, during which they created massive war machines that assisted them in gaining the upper hand, and there were those who remained relatively neutral, but turned their back on their posts.  This second group were known as the Grigori, who came to Earth and with human women created a hybrid race known as the Nephilim according to the Biblical Apocrypha.

Of course there is the theory that these fallen angels were actually physical beings that came to Earth.  The story of the Nephilim is integral to many ancient astronaut theories, as they actually seem very similar in several regards to the reports of modern genetic tampering by mysterious beings from another plane of existence.

So the fallen angels rebelled, but does this mean they’re irredeemable forever?  According to the tradition of Gregory of Nyssa, there is an understanding that the angels will not be forgiven for this age or the next, but there is an understanding that one day eventually they too will be saved.  It’s unknown if there is a decided upon thing that must happen first, though Armageddon is largely considered to be one of them.

And there are several famous fallen angels.  Baraquiel, or Baraqel was considered to be the 9th Watcher who kept track of the leaders in the rebellion.  His name, which means “Lightning of God” is mentioned in the Book of Enoch.  He’s also credited with teaching mankind astrology in the early days of Yered.  Rosier is commonly seen as presiding over the concepts of tainted love and seduction.  His name is synonymous with the Rose bushes whose thorns draw blood if handled without care.  Marcochias, the demon with the form of a man, but the visage of a wolf, the wings of a gryphon, and the tail of a serpent, is thought to be a powerful conjuror and a Marquis in hell, commanding thirty legions of demonic soldiers.

The concept of fallen angels is an important one that follows many other traditions in western religion of having the inverse proportion where all concepts can be explored on the sides of both good and evil.