SYNAXIS OF THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL

In the Creed, the Church, as a Society of Believers, professes its faith in the One God, Creator of Heaven and Earth. By Heaven, the Fathers of the Church understood the angelic forces, whose memory the Church celebrates on this November day.

Under “earth” the words of the Symbol designate our visible world - the place of man’s wandering and salvation. A world in which, to the amazement of the Angels, the Lord Himself lived among us in Christ Jesus. Therefore, there is no salvation outside the world.

In the original Greek, the word “creator” from the Creed is literally translated as artist or poet. Created in the image of God, man is called to cultivate within himself the likeness of God. To be a poet, creator, artist, like God the Creator Himself.

Everyone is called and obliged to create a work of art. And this work of art is our human life. Called to be beautiful and unique, spiritual, in everything like the Most Beautiful of the sons of men - the Lord Jesus Christ and His Angels. This is how life should go.

A Christian has no right to stand still, he must create every day, in the language of modern times, he must come up with an improved copy of himself. The ability to change oneself for the better by the power of God is one of the dimensions of the image of God, according to which, according to Scripture, the Lord created man.

Angelic nature lacks the ability to create. For Angels are God’s bureaucrats. They do His will. Or they resist it, as the demon world does. Angels cannot fall away from God, but demons cannot repent and return to the Creator. For repentance is creativity. Angelic powers are deprived of creative ability. If this creativity on the part of a person does not occur, the path of meaninglessness is very close, it is not far.

Finally, in this very date, which according to the Church calendar falls on the 8th day, there is a special symbolism of eternity, to which, according to Scripture and the ideas of metaphysics, angelic powers belong. And if we remember that the church year begins in September, then it becomes obvious that November, this third month of the church calendar, by its very number indicates the calling of the angels to glorify the Triune God with the words: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord.”

The ancient Christian holiday in honor of all saints on November 1 has not been preserved in Orthodoxy. In turn, All Angels’ Day, which is supposed to be celebrated on the eighth day after All Saints’ Day to commemorate eternity, symbolized by the number eight, is little known in the Christian West. These two holidays form a remarkable pair, the apotheosis of liturgical celebration in honor of angelic and human holiness. All Saints’ Day and All Angels’ Day - let’s remember this as a play on words, as a magnificent commemorative combination. The first of November is a sign of beginnings and a sign of time, and on the eighth day, in honor of the Angels, comes the Day of Eternity. In Churches that follow the Julian calendar in worship, this is November 21.

1 In his famous song “Angel,” Till Lindemann sings, “God knows I don’t want to be an Angel.” The feast of all heavenly incorporeal powers is a day when one can test whether being an angel is truly good or bad, interesting or boring, as our great contemporary and poet apparently believes. Just as Seraphim of Sarov addressed those who came to him as “my joy,” let us try today to address each other like this: “Hello, Angel Natasha; hello, Angel Peter; hello, Angel Masha; and all the many blessed names we have.” Angel, angel, angel—let us try to act and behave on this day as befits teddy bears.

2 Scripture and Tradition speak of the existence of nine angelic ranks. According to pious tradition, they are commemorated only once a year during the Proskomedia. It is said that this is an Athonite tradition. The fact is that there is a theological dispute about whether angels are members of the Church. The Orthodox proskomedia is a very physical, material liturgical service, when pieces of bread are taken out for the living and the dead by name, to be then immersed in the Blood of Christ for the remission of sins. In a similar way, bread is taken out in memory and honor of the saints. In the Russian Orthodox tradition, such a particle is not taken out for angels, since they are incorporeal. But there is a custom of taking out a particle in honor of the angels on the feast day of the Angelic Powers. In the extended version of the feast’s glorification, the angelic hierarchy is also listed by rank: Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Powers, Virtues, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim, Seraphim. Let us memorize them in order to honor this magnificent creation of God.

3 The date of the Synaxis of Archangel Michael and all incorporeal forces was chosen for a reason. November is the third month of the church year. Angels sing, “Holy, holy, holy.” Their ministry is to glorify the Holy Trinity. The number eight, as in the Bible and in mathematics, symbolizes eternity. Angels are citizens of the future age, where there is no time; they are children of eternity.

4 In 1999, at the Moscow Theological Seminary, on this day I was tonsured (created) as a reader, and my grandfather, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War who came to faith and was baptized at the age of 83, and, thanks to this, miraculously lived to be 97 and a half years old, and died on the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus, was named Mikhail. Each of us has something connected with this date, the Synaxis of Incorporeal Powers. Let us search the treasury of our memory and find something related to the Day of Angels.

5 Perhaps, at the beginning of creation, the angels believed that humans were things Angels are God’s bureaucrats. As such, they carried out punishments, destroyed cities, and meticulously punished sinners. They accompanied the righteous, sometimes appearing to them. But even this rare phenomenon was so severe that the biblical people came up with the axiom: “It is impossible to remain alive after seeing God.” In the Old Testament, angels treated people as things, as objects. With the incarnation, the coming of God into the world, it turned out that things were not so simple for them either. They had to begin to show obedience to people and truly humble themselves. This is mentioned in the Apostolic Reading for the Day from the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Lord truly set people apart from the angels. The meaning of this is extraordinarily profound. We do not have enough time to recall how great Orthodox theologians, such as St. Gregory Palamas (1296-1359), taught that humans, unlike angels, possess creative ability, or creativity, as we would say today, as well as, surprisingly and paradoxically, a body and physicality, and, most importantly, something that angels simply do not have: the ability to repent! Demons envy humans for their ability to reform and repent, and they become increasingly malicious, for there is nothing worse and more dangerous than envy. Incidentally, Till Lindemann also sings about this in one of his songs of the same name: “Jealousy”.

6 There is also a belief that humans were “invented” by God to replace the fallen angels. Therefore, as if few are saved, there is a “precise number,” numerus clausus, of those who will be predestined and worthy of the Kingdom. We do not know if this is true or not, but we can use these theological insights for our moral edification.

6 There is also an opinion that humans were “invented” by God to replace the number of fallen angels. Therefore, those who are saved are few; moreover, there is a “precise closed number,” a numerus clausus, of those who will be predestined for the Kingdom. We do not know whether this is true or not, but we can use these theological intuitions for our edification.

7 According to Scripture, angels are not material, but they are not infinite. Mysteriously, they occupy a specific location. “Lord, our God, grant that holy angels may enter with us,” says the priest’s prayer at the Small Entrance with the Gospel during the Divine Liturgy. Nowadays, very few people go to church. There are various reasons for this. Among them, there is one that is truly angelic. For if the churches were overflowing with people, there would simply not be enough room for the angels.