The existence of the
angels was denied by the Sadducees, materialism and rationalism in all times. Modern rationalists explain
the angels as personification of the Divine tributes and activities, or see in the Jewish Christian doctrine of the angels traces of an original polytheism or a borrowing from the Babylonian and Persian legends. However, the 4th Lateran and Vatican I Councils affirm: simul ab initio temporis utranque de nihils condidit cresturam, spiritualem et corporalem angelicam videlicet et mundanam, that in the beginning of time God has created from nothing both spiritual and corporeal
creation, that is, angelic and mundane.
The Sacred Scriptures, even in its oldest book, corroborate the existence of the angels who glorify God and His messengers and servants, transmit His commands to the mankind. The creation of the angels is indirectly attested in Exodus 20:11: In six days the Lord made
heaven and earth and the sea, and all things that are in them, and directly in Colossians 1:16: For in Him ( Christ ) were all things created in heaven and earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominations, or principalities or powers.
Tradition is unanimous from the very beginning. The early Christians apologists in refuting the reproach of atheism also mention the existence of the angels. The first monograph on the angels was composed about 500 AD by Pseudo- Dionysius Areopagita which was entitled: The Celestial Hierarchy. Among the Church Fathers, St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great occupied themselves minutely with the angelology. The liturgy of the Church also offers many times.