What do we call the devil and why?

October 18, 2018
Name Tag

There are three common names by which most people describe the font of all evil: the devil, Satan and Lucifer; each of these names comes to English from a different language.  The name "devil" comes from the Greek word diabolos, which literally means "one who throws things around" in the sense of creating the chaos for which he is so infamous.  The name "Satan" comes from the Hebrew verb to accuse and is variously translated as "the accuser," "the tempter," the persecutor," "the calumniator" or "the adversary."  Not ironically, the Church, taking her cue from the Gospel of John, calls the Holy Spirit, "the Advocate," (i.e., defense lawyer) in order to remind us that the depredations and accusations of our principle enemy are always met with a more powerful  Divine Person who takes our side when we are accused or attacked.

"Lucifer" is a name that derives from Latin and means "light bearer," commonly understood as his God-given name before he fell from grace.  This name is cited in St. Jerome's Vulgate translation of the Bible in Isaiah 14:12-15.  This potent creature has always been considered by the tradition of the Church as one of the most powerful angels that God created.  Theology speculaters that his name was "Light-Bearer," understanding him to be a Seraphim angel, the highest order of the angelic hierarchy. St. Thomas Aquinas quotes Pope St. Gregory in saying that Lucifer was "set over all the hosts of angels, surpassed them in brightness, and was by comparison, the most illustrious of them all." Lucifer's fall from grace did not deprive him of his natural powers but rather corrupted those powers for the perverse work of undermining God's plan of salvation for men.

There are many references to this wretched being in the Bible.  The New Testament alone refers to this origin of all wickedness nearly three hundred times to warn us of his presence and work.  He is described in Rev 12:9 as "huge dragon, the ancient serpent, known as the devil or Satan, the seducer of the whole world." However, the devil's most serious indictment came from our Blessed Lord Himself, who called him "a liar and the father of lies," and "a murderer from the beginning" (Jn 8:44).

By Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, "Exorcism and the Church  Militant" page 19.