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Objection 1: It would seem that there can be strife or discord among
the angels. For it is written (Job 25:2): "Who maketh peace
in His high places." But strife is opposed to peace. Therefore
among the high angels there is no strife.
Objection 2: Further, where there is perfect charity and just
authority there can be no strife. But all this exists among the
angels. Therefore there is no strife among the angels.
Objection 3: Further, if we say that angels strive for those whom
they guard, one angel must needs take one side, and another angel the
opposite side. But if one side is in the right the other side is in
the wrong. It will follow therefore, that a good angel is a
compounder of wrong; which is unseemly. Therefore there is no strife
among good angels.
On the contrary, It is written (Dan. 10:13): "The prince
of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me one and twenty days." But
this prince of the Persians was the angel deputed to the guardianship
of the kingdom of the Persians. Therefore one good angel resists the
others; and thus there is strife among them.
I answer that, The raising of this question is occasioned by this
passage of Daniel. Jerome explains it by saying that the prince of
the kingdom of the Persians is the angel who opposed the setting free
of the people of Israel, for whom Daniel was praying, his prayers
being offered to God by Gabriel. And this resistance of his may have
been caused by some prince of the demons having led the Jewish captives
in Persia into sin; which sin was an impediment to the efficacy of the
prayer which Daniel put up for that same people.
But according to Gregory (Moral. xvii), the prince of the kingdom
of Persia was a good angel appointed to the guardianship of that
kingdom. To see therefore how one angel can be said to resist
another, we must note that the Divine judgments in regard to various
kingdoms and various men are executed by the angels. Now in their
actions, the angels are ruled by the Divine decree. But it happens
at times in various kingdoms or various men there are contrary merits or
demerits, so that one of them is subject to or placed over another.
As to what is the ordering of Divine wisdom on such matters, the
angels cannot know it unless God reveal it to them: and so they need
to consult Divine wisdom thereupon. Wherefore forasmuch as they
consult the Divine will concerning various contrary and opposing
merits, they are said to resist one another: not that their wills are
in opposition, since they are all of one mind as to the fulfilment of
the Divine decree; but that the things about which they seek knowledge
are in opposition.
From this the answers to the objections are clear.
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