Angelic · Second Sphere · c. 500 CE
Virtues
Also called Strongholds, Dynamis, Malakim
The choir of miracles and of the movement of the heavens; traditionally the angels present at the Ascension.
Well sourced
The choir of miracles, and the one whose office is hardest to separate from the rank above it. Dionysius assigns them the unwavering strength by which the divine likeness is received and passed on, which in later tradition becomes responsibility for signs and wonders and for the motion of the heavens. The association with the Ascension comes from the two figures in white who address the disciples in Acts, identified as virtues only by inference. Gregory the Great swapped this rank with the principalities, and the corpus carries both orderings because the disagreement is older than any attempt to settle it.
Identity
Where does the name come from?
Where it was actually worshipped
No site of its own. Angels are venerated in the liturgy — a feast day, a dedication, a name in a prayer — rather than housed at a place the way a god is.
A figure with temples and a figure that only ever existed on a page are different kinds of thing, and the difference is easy to lose once both are entries in a list.
At a glance
Vitals
Vitals
Also known as
- Rank
- Fifth Choir
- Order
- Second Sphere
- Base of operations
- No site of its own. Angels are venerated in the liturgy — a feast day, a dedication, a name in a prayer — rather than housed at a place the way a god is.
- Era
- c. 500 CE
- Traditions
- Christian
- Placed in
- The Nine ChoirsThe Ten Ranks
Traits
- Domain
- Miracles, grace, the motion of the celestial bodies
- Sphere
- Second
2 attributed
What is it said to do?
Where these powers cluster
The 2 offices attributed to Virtues, grouped by kind. Segment width is the share of powers falling in each category.
A bar dominated by one colour means a specialist; an even spread means a figure the sources credit with almost anything.
- material2
3 texts
Which texts say so?
When these texts were written
Each dot is one of the 3 texts that names Virtues, placed at that text's approximate date.
A wide spread means the figure was carried across many centuries and traditions; a tight cluster means a single period produced the whole record.
3 texts spanning roughly 770 years
An unshakable courage in all godlike activity, never failing through weakness.
One of the nine orders as Gregory enumerates them, named for the office it performs rather than for its rank in contemplation.
Placed among the nine orders and assigned a degree of illumination, in the question on the angelic hierarchies (I, q. 108).
Connections
What is it connected to?
Commands Powers
the Virtues stand immediately above the Powers within the second triad, and illuminate them. The claim is transmission of light and knowledge, not command in any military sense.
Commanded by Dominions
the Dominions stand immediately above the Virtues within the second triad, and illuminate them. The claim is transmission of light and knowledge, not command in any military sense.
Placement
Where does it sit in the hierarchies?
Answered from the sources
Common questions
Which texts mention Virtues?
What rank is Virtues?
How else is Virtues spelled?
What is Virtues said to do?
How old is Virtues?
Nearest in the corpus
If Virtues is what you came for, these are next
Chosen by proximity rather than by popularity: the same pantheon first, then the same rank, then the same kind of figure.
Cherubim
Second Choir · First Sphere
Guardians of thresholds and bearers of the throne — four-faced in Ezekiel, flanking the mercy seat in Exodus, and nothing at all like the winged infants of later art.
Dominions
Fourth Choir · Second Sphere
The administrative choir: they regulate the duties of lower angels and never act directly on the created world.
Gabriel
Archangel · Archangels / Chief Princes
The messenger. The angel who explains Daniel's visions, announces two births in Luke, and in Islam delivers the entire Qur'an.
Michael
Archangel · Archangels / Chief Princes
The warring archangel: prince of Israel in Daniel, captain of the host in Revelation, and the only angel the New Testament calls an archangel outright.
Seraphim
First Choir · First Sphere
Six-winged and burning, they attend the throne directly and sing the trisagion. Their name is the Hebrew verb 'to burn'.
Thrones
Third Choir · First Sphere
The wheels of the chariot — rings of fire studded with eyes, on which divine justice is said to be seated.
The books behind Virtues
Every claim on this profile is attributed to one of these. They are public domain, listed oldest first, and each links to a full text where one is freely available.
De Coelesti Hierarchia (The Celestial Hierarchy)
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite · c. 500 CE · Greek
Read De Coelesti Hierarchia (The Celestial Hierarchy) in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Unknown author · Wikimedia file page
Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 34
Gregory the Great · c. 590 CE · Latin
Read Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 34 in full ↗Cover: CC0 · British Library · Wikimedia file page
Summa Theologiae, Treatise on the Angels
Thomas Aquinas; tr. Fathers of the English Dominican Province · c. 1265-1274 · Latin
Read Summa Theologiae, Treatise on the Angels in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Wikimedia file page
Corpus last revised 29 August 2026. A reference site’s credibility rests on being maintained, so this is the date the sourced records last changed — not the date the page was rebuilt.