DIAVOLO. — An invisible personal power, mentioned in the Bible, which directs the forces of evil, in opposition to the designs of God and to man’s detriment.
The term is the Greek translation (ὁ διάβολος) of the Hebrew haš-šāṭān (“the adversary”) or Satan (v.); it passed into Christian Latin (the Vulgate diabolus), into the Romance and Germanic languages (Eng. devil, Ger. Teufel), and later into the Slavic languages. It is always in the singular, since it designates “the enemy” par excellence, who combats goodness and life. Διάβολος, “he who disunites” by inspiring hatred or envy, generally means “accuser” (διάβολος, from διάβολος “to accuse” [Lc. 16, 1], is the “accusation,” for the most part calumnious [Plato, Apol., 18d-24a, 33a; Eutyphr., 3b], and may assume the broader sense of “aggression” [Num. 22, 32]) and “calumniator.” In the Septuagint it corresponds to šāṭān (I Par. 21, 1; Iob., 1, 6-12; 2, 1-7; Ps. 108, 6; Zach. 3, 1-2), designating the adversary of God’s servants; but when šāṭān, without the article, indicates a human enemy (I Sam. 29, 4; II Sam. 19, 22; I Reg. 5, 4 [Heb. 18], and cf. 11, 14.23.25), it is translated ἐπίβουλος, “plotter.” Διάβολος translates šār and šōrēr (“enemy”: Haman) in Esth. 7, 4 and 8, 1. Whereas the Vulgate of the Old Testament transliterates satan five times, the Septuagint accepts oṇrā only in I Reg. 11, 14, 23. Διάβολος also occurs in Sap. 2, 24 (origin of “death in the world”) and I Mach. 1, 36.
The invisible enemy was conceived as the spy who accuses men before God and “tempts” them in order to have them condemned (Iob. 1, 6 ff.; I Par. 21, 1; Zach. 3, 1-2). Talmudic and midrashic literature ignores the fall of the angels, which is instead given considerable prominence in apocalyptic literature. The Talmud (Šabbāth jer., 5b) and the Midrash rabbā (on Ex. 21, 7; etc.) present the šāṭān as the “accuser” of men.
In the New Testament, the d. or Satan is the head of the fallen angels or demons (v.), who foment evil and perdition (Mt. 25,41; II Cor. 12,7; II Pt. 2,4; Ind. 6; Apoc. 9,11; 12,7-9).
The term is used there thirty times in this technical sense of enemy of God and of his faithful, except in three cases in which διάβολο (plural) is the attributive “accuser” (I Tim. 3, 11 [detrahentes]; II Tim. 3, 3 and Tit. 2, 3 [criminator]; cf. St. Polycarp, 5, 2). ὁ αἰτανᾶς also occurs thirty-six times (Mt. 4, 1 as diabolos = Mc. 1, 13 as satana; the Vulgate always has satanas and never satan), in addition to the related forms αἰδάλωνες (Mt. 8, 31) and τὸ δαψόνων (sixty-three times, twenty-seven in the singular but thirty-six in the plural; fifty-three times in the Gospels). In Apoc. 12, 9 and 20, 2, the being “called d. and satan” is identified with the dragon (v.); ibid. 12, 10 he is etymologically designated “the accuser (ὁ κατήγορος) of our brethren (= Christians), who accuses them (ὁ κατήγορος) before God day and night.” The eschatological function of the d. is to destroy men at the supreme judgment; the d. is ὁ ἀντίβολος, “the adversary in court” (I Pt. 5, 8). Meanwhile he tempts men and deceives them in order to prevent their union with God; he frustrates God’s ways for the salvation of men (Mt. 13, 19,30). Hence the opposition between “the children of the d.” and “the children of God” (Io. 8, 44, 47 [Judas is d.: 6, 71]; I Io. 3, 8,10), the former carrying out “the works of the d.” (Act. 13, 10), which are summed up in imposture or seduction (Io. 8, 44; I Tim. 4, 2; Apoc. 12, 9; 20, 9; cf. Act. 5, 3-4), whereby sin takes the place of truth and justice (Rom. 1, 25-27; Iac. 5, 19). The Christian must “resist the d.” (Iac. 4, 7; I Pt. 5, 8) with “the full armor” (Eph. 6, 11), since the d. is “the ruler of this world” (Io. 12, 31; 14, 30; 16, 11), “the god of this age” (II Cor. 4, 4).
Among the Fathers, ὁ διάβολος or diabolos (always in the singular, as in the Bible) is the head of the rebellious angels (Tertullian, Apol., 22 ff., and De anim., 35; St. Augustine, Sermo 197 de temp.; etc.); he is the enemy of Christ and of his faithful (St. Ignatius, ed. A. Lelong, Paris 1910, p. xlii); St. Polycarp, 7, 1), and the martyrs withstand his assaults (Passio s. Perpetuae, 3 ff., 10, 18, 20 ff.); cf. Romanos the Melodist (ca. 500), ed. G. Cammelli, Florence 1930, pp. 228-30 (διάβολος is the antichrist, p. 228), 272, 278, where he uses ο διαβόλος in the plural. Whereas d. remains an appellative, ὁ αἰτανᾶς assumes a more sacred meaning and tends to become a proper name (cf. Rom. 16, 20; St. Ignatius, Ad Eph., 13, 1). St. Bonaventure attributes to the demons the office of “accusers” (De ss. Angelis, serm. 5).
The form zabulus (perhaps contaminated by beelzebul) was frequent among the Latins, from St. Cyprian to St. Ildefonsus (eighth century) and down to Orderic Vitalis (twelfth century); cf. C. Du Cange, Glossarium med. et inf. lat., ed. L. Henschel, VI, Paris 1846, p. 929.