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HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF ST. ARCHANGEL MICHAEL (Sunday 21 November)
Today, dear brethren, we celebrate the glorious feast of the
lightning-like
Archangel Michael and all the heavenly bodiless powers. On this day let
us
talk of the boundless world of the angels; of their nature, of their
hierarchy, and of the infinite mercy of God which has added us,
Orthodox
Christians, to this angelic host and has a formed a single Church made
of
angels and men; and subsequently of our responsibility to venerate them
in
a worthy manner and try to emulate them as our future compatriots in
the
celestial homeland; for which we earnestly pray to God, our common
Creator.
St. Cyril of Alexandria says: If our earth, which serves as a focal
point
between two worlds, carries upon itself such a countless multitude of
people and various other creatures, then how many times greater is the
number of denizens inhabiting the immaterial heaven, which is so
immense
and incomprehensible to the mind?
The angels have a spiritual, immaterial, subtle, and immortal nature,
free
of all corruptibility, but limited, not like that of the Lord Himself,
the
Spirit existing everywhere and unique, without beginning and
all-encompassing. He brought forth the angels from nothingness into
being,
sanctified them with His word, and for their stead-fasted-ness against
evil
confirmed them in the Holy Spirit (i.e. they can no longer fall into
sin);
their nature is full of wondrous, ever-shining light, holiness,
goodness,
beauty, wisdom, power, immortality, and an ardent love for their
Creator,
for each other, and for mankind, over whose salvation they rejoice, and
whom they wish to have as their eternal compatriots in the kingdom of
eternal light and incorruptibility, peace and joy. St. Dionysius the
Areopagite, a disciple of the Apostle Paul who had been raised by the
Holy
Spirit to the third heaven, heard from him the mysterious teaching on
the
angelic world, recorded it, and passed it on to the Church.
The angelic world is divided into nine orders, and these are divided
into
three ranks each. The leading radiant angels (Michael and Gabriel), as
the
shining dawn of the Most-holy Trinity, stand directly before the fiery
throne of God, are illuminated by His light, and pass on the
illumination
and the knowledge of God's mysteries to the lower ranks, and the lower
ranks are ruled by the higher ones. This heavenly citizenry, this
universal, holy, radiant, and blessed assembly of celestial denizens is
known as the heavenly hierarchy.
Let us contemplate with wonder God's all-benevolent and wise
providence,
His immeasurable bounty, which has destined us for eternal
co-habitation
and bliss with the angels in our future homeland, and which established
a
single Church composed of radiant and incorruptible angels, and chosen
and
worthy humans. What humanly indescribable bliss awaits Christians who
are
loyal to God, if they remain true to their Christian calling to the
very
end. In order for us to be worthy of eternal co-existence and blissful
life
with the angels in heaven, we must honor them, follow their example of
holiness, modesty, love, absolute loyalty to God, and loftiness of
thought;
and we must live in abstinence, prayer, fasting, charity, compassion
for
one another, and ardent mutual love.
The holy divinely-inspired observers of God's mysteries and angelic
visions
? the prophets and the evangelists ? saw the angels constantly turning
to
one another and with one accord singing the praises of the Holy
Trinity.
This teaches us, too, to treat each other with ardent love and to live
in
concord, earnestly serving our mutual Creator.
Glory to God's immeasurable bounty, which prepared for us an eternal
kingdom, a kingdom of radiant light, peace, and immovable bliss,
together
with the countless hosts of angels!
Let us use the small amount of time that we have here on earth to
progress
in Christian virtue in order to inherit that boundless rapture, and may
the
Lord grant it to us by the prayers of the Most-pure Theotokos and the
intercession of the honorable celestial bodiless powers, especially the
radiant, lightning-like Michael and Gabriel, and our holy guardian
angels.
Amen.
St. John of Kronstadt (http://www.holy-transfiguration.org/
+About Monastic Holy Orders: a basic
+Society of St. Jude Thaddeus (SSJt.)
+Orthodox Order of Friars Minor (OOFM)
+Servants (In Service) to Christ (SC)
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