nection between the Fallen Angels and Satan. The former are suffering imprisonment in darkness till the final judgment: the latter was apparently able to confront the archangel on equal terms, when contending for the body of Moses. So the continued activity and even the authority of Satan and his angels in this world are asserted both in the O.T., as in Job i. 6 and Zech. iii. 1, 2, and in the N.T. as in James iv. 7, 1 P. v. 8, Eph. 6, 11, 12 (we have to stand against the wiles of the devil, . . . our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but) πρὸς τὰς ἀρχάς, πρὸς τὰς ἐξουσίας, πρὸς τοὺς κοσµοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, πρὸς τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρα- νίοις, see Lightfoot on Col. ii. 15. In 2 Cor. iv. 4 Satan is spoken of as the god, in John xii. 31 and xvi. 11 as the prince of this world. He is the tempter and accuser of the brethren, and did not shrink even from assailing the Son of God Himself (Mt. iv. 3).
The above account of the Fall of the Angels was that usually ac- cepted, with slight variations, both among Jews and Christians till towards the close of the fourth century A.D.
Julius Africanus is said to be the only one of the ante-Nicene Fathers who enunciated the view which afterwards prevailed, vzz., that ‘‘the sons of God were the descendants of Seth, and the daughters -of men descendants of Cain’’.1 See the quotation in Routh, Rel. Sacr. ii. p. 241, where he also gives the alternative explanation εἰ δὲ éw ἀγγέλων νοοῖτο τοῦτο, τοὺς περὶ μαγείας καὶ γοητείας . . . ἐσχολακότας συνιέναι χρὴ τῶν μετεώρων ταῖς γυναιξὶ τὴν γνῶσιν δεδωκέναι. Eusebius (Pr. Εν. v. 4, 11, 12) still keeps to the old view and compares the narrative of Gen. 6 to the stories of the Titans and Giants of Greek mythology. So Lactantius, Div. Inst. ii. 14: ‘‘ Deus ne fraudibus suis diabolus, cui ab initio terrae dederat potestatem, vel corrumperet vel disperderet homines, quod in exordio rerum fecerat, misit angelos ad tutelam cultumque generis humani... Itaque illos cum hominibus com- morantes dominator ille terrae fallacissimus consuetudine ipsa paul- latim ad vitia pellexit et mulierum congressibus inquinavit . . . sic eos diabolus ex angelis Dei suos fecit satellites,” etc. So Sulpicius Severus (Chron. i. 2): ‘‘ Angeli quibus caelum sedes erat, speciosarum forma virginum capti... maturae suae originisque degeneres . . . matri- moniis se mortalibus miscuerunt.” Julian, like Celsus, used this belief as a ground for attacking Christianity. Cyril of Alexandria, in his reply (ix. p. 296) repudiates the belief as altogether unworthy, and injurious to morality, since men plead the angels’ sin as excuse for their own, and adopts the interpretation of ‘‘ sons of God”’ previously
It is also found in the apocryphal Conflict of Adam and Eve of uncertain date, -on which see the art. ‘‘ Adam, Books of,” in the D. of Christ. Biog. i. 36 foll.