Would Belief In Guardian Angels Justify Prayer To Angels?

Since the Biblical and early patristic evidence is against prayer to the dead and angels, advocates of the practice often try to give an appearance of defending it by defending something vaguely similar. Evidence for prayers for the dead will be cited as if it's evidence for prayers to the dead. If the dead or angels are involved in affairs on earth in some manner, then it's suggested that receiving prayers from us is part of that involvement.

Origen gives us an example of how misleading that sort of argumentation can be. He held a high view of the role of angels in human life:

"Angels [according to Origen] are ambassadors with God on behalf of human beings. Origen envisaged the angels as mediators between God and humans. In this capacity the angels travel incessantly, up and down as on Jacob's ladder, in order to present to God our wishes, thoughts, intentions, and prayers (HomLev 9.8). Moreover, our guardian angel adds to our prayers those of his own in order to render them more efficacious (PEuch 11). When the angels return to earth, loaded with divine benefactions, they offer them to us in compensation for our respective merits (CCels 5.4)." (Johan Leemans, in John McGuckin, ed., The Westminster Handbook To Origen [Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004], p. 53)

But notice that all of those concepts can be maintained without a belief in prayer to angels. In fact, Origen emphatically denied that Christians should pray to any being other than God (ibid., pp. 38, 176; Against Celsus, 5:4-5, 5:11, 8:26; On Prayer, 10). He initially went so far as to deny that we can pray to Jesus. He thought that prayer should be directed only to the Father. He later allowed prayer to Jesus as well. He continued to deny that prayer should ever be directed to angels or any other created beings, however, as reflected in the passages cited above from Against Celsus, a document written shortly before Origen's death.

One can hold a high view of the role of angels in human affairs, even viewing them as presenting our prayers to God or involved in our prayers in some other way, without believing in prayer to angels. The same is true of deceased humans. It's not enough for advocates of prayer to the dead and angels to argue for a concept like guardian angels or intercession on our behalf by angels or the dead. Those who want to argue for prayer to the dead and angels should do so by arguing for prayer to the dead and angels, not something vaguely similar.