When the apostate angels rebelled, what happened to their hierarchy?
In Dante's Inferno, when Dante and his guide Virgil reach the back of the Prince of Evil through a trap door in the center of the earth and then make their way upward through the various circles of purgatory. There, Satan is not the exalted Seraphim angel, the brightest of the heavenly dwellers gazing upon the Magnificence of God any more; rather, he has fled farthest away from the Light and rules his kingdom of terror from the pit of hell, the lowest realm of creation. Although the fallen angels' rebellion from God resulted in utter chaos, their angelic order of being, intelligence and authority remained intact because it is an order of nature; it just inverted to reflect the new power structure. The chart below suggests one view of the reversal of order among the apostate angels when they rebelled against God and in the ages since:
The Kingdom of God (order) The Kingdom of Satan(inverted)
Serve God and heaven Proud about the material world "seeking the ruin of souls"
Seraphim Demons
Cherubim Fallen Archangels
Thrones Fallen Principalities
Serve the universe Rule over earth, air, fire and water
Dominions ( Dominations) Fallen Powers
Virtues Fallen Virtues
Powers Fallen Dominions (Dominations)
Serve humans and the material world Rule over hell
Principalities Fallen Thrones
Archangels Fallen Cherubim
Angels Lucifer and the other Fallen Seraphim
All holy angels serve God and man All apostate angels serve Lucifer
ByFr. Thomas J Euteneuer "Exorcism and the Church Militant" page 31.