![]() |
|
|
found at: www.soros.org.mk
EULOGY OF THE INCORPOREAL MIHAIL AND GABRIEL
COMPOSED BY CLIMENT THE BISHOP
Holiday lovers, the holy flash of incorporeal forces surpass reason
and mind and warm the World with rays ever so bright. That is not corporeal
nature, but unsensitive nature that shines with the rays of reason from the
divinity itself. Around the throne of God they gather flickering their wings and
hiding their faces singing holy songs to God: "The world, world, world, God
Allmighty, is full with your glory!"
Happily deceased with divine light, ones are called to the thrones
where the strength and power of the holy trinity lies, while others become
cherubs and seraphs, six-winged and four-rayed, with many eyes, friends of
strength and power, and friends of the lordship. Others are angels and
archangels, numerous army, each in its row leading forward in their order. They
always represent the glory of God, while others are sent to secular posts; some
for punishment and revenge, others to trace the path of believers to salvation
and joy, as He did long ago when He showed Moses in Mount Sinai the divine
blackberry that flickered in flames but never burnt out. That same Moses saw a
shadow in the Mount made by an angel cherub by throwing shodow on both sides of
the altar and appeared before him while he was praying to God and uttering:
"Lord, if I am in grace then show yourself to me clearly so that I can see you
and know that I am in grace". God answered: "All right, I will fulfill your
wish. You have found grace in me". And Moses said: "Show me, my Lord, your glory
so that I can see that I have found grace in you". God answered: "You cannot see
my image because humans cannot see my image and remain alive. But, stand next to
this stone and I will cover it with my hand when passing by so that you can see
my back, but you will not be able to see my face". And them when Moses saw the
back of God's glory, his face became bright from the sunlight. He covered his
face with a rag and that was how he talked to the people because they could not
look at his face because of the light. Thus, prophet Isaiah, whose word was
heard all over said: "I saw God on a throne high, and seraphs stood around Him,
each with six wings, and they all sang holy songs saying: "World, world, world,
God Allmighty, let all the Earth feel His glory". Then, the same Isaiah said:
"When Ezekiel was sick, the Jewish czar, the Assyrian czar went against him. He
wanted to takeover the city. The czar was sad because of the war that was
threatening and he prayed to God saying: "Remember, Lord, I went in front of You
with the truth and with a calm heart and I committed good deeds in Your name".
God answered him: "Do not fear, he will not enter your city, neither will he
throw one arrow or spear because I will protect and save the city for myself,
for David, my servant". And so the angel of God came down and killed 185 000 men
from the Assyrian army and in the morning when they woke up they found them
dead.
Such is the power of those incorporeal divine servants. They have the
great archstratig Mihail for their commander who is in charge of the incorporeal
forces. One angel was in charge of creation and supervisor of order and he was
neither cunning nor evil, but gentle when created by God. And thus full with
gentleness, he changed from gentle into evil and thought that he could confront
his Creator and God. But, archstratig Mihail could not stand his violence and
severeness and threw him on Earth together with his incorporeal titles and the
leftsovers that he called angels. He became their commander and because he was
evil he was deprived from God's light. They became suseptible to curses and were
transformed into rageful angels of beauty tormented for times to come. Evil
cannot mix with divine gentleness, as evangelist John said in his prophecy: "War
began in heavan and archangel Mihail and all his troops fought the dragon and
stripped off his title". So said Judas, the holy apostle, Jacob's brother. He
said that the great archangel Mihail, when he was fighting the evil, was
forbidden to utter blasphemy judgement against him, but he said: "Let God forbid
that, you trash!"
All with a title belonging to a legion feasting with holiness and
divine beauty and with desire and willingness to keep their legion with
gentleness where each of them have been given a different gift should have such
a zeal towards God and their Maker. God gave all wonders and welfare to human
beings with the great archstratigs. For ones it means victory over the
competitiors, for others gentle news about the joys of the Earth.
Appraisals
cannot be uttered by words, neither can reason express them with dignity. But,
inspite of all limitations, as much as we can achieve, sending them our hopes,
let us all reflect their unexpressed grace and their struggle against all harms.
With these archstratigs God filled the heavans with miracles and decorated the
Earth with wanders. They take care of the heavanly army, each in its order,
preserving the four ends of the Earth, the horisons of the seas, on God's
command, without spilling over the edges, human's nature remains untouched by
all the passions, the rage disappears from the banished destroying the illusion
of the idols from the roots and decorating the church splendidly when sending
holy harmoniuos songs to God. They got rid of all heretics and true faith
started to flourish by wedding true confessioners. They can get rid of all harms
and cure all sicknesses.
We
bow to them unanimously and joyfully and appraise them in our songs singing:
"Rejoice, archstratig Mihail, you are the first commander by order of the
incorporeal forces, rejoice, archstratig Gabriel, the first informer of joyful
news, rejoice, archstratig Mihail, the first scipterbearer of the indivisible
Trinity, rejoice, archstratig Gabriel, the true servant of eternal trinity
light, rejoice, archstratig Mihail, illuminated with the rays of eternal
brightness that throws light over the whole world, rejoice, oh, Gabriel, for
making the universe joyful and for wedding Zaharie's old age with the gentle
news of John the Baptist and for making sterile nature fertile, rejoice,
archstratig Mihail, for winning the master of darkness for which you stand with
dignity next to the throne of God, rejoice, archstratig Gabriel, the bringer of
news about God's corpeal being, rejoice, arhstratig Mihail, for being under the
eternal light of the divinity of the sun, rejoice, archstratig Gabriel, for the
eternal word of the light of the Father, holy news-bringer, your voice was heard
all over the Earth, and your news brought joy to the pure and innocent Mother of
God who concieved without semen but just with God's ray.
Rejoice,
all you passionate fighters of all who found refuge under your roof because by
guiding the mortals with your faith you took them through hell and demolished
the tombstones informing the bringers of peace about the joy of resurection.
When you won the forces of hell in the graves you called out: "Open the door,
dukes, to let the Emperor of Glory in!", and they were frozen with fear and
falling down as dead they said: "Who is that Emperor of Glory?" Again the
incorporeal archtratigs with incorporeal forces answered: "God virtuous and
strong, God strong in combat - he is the Emperor of glory".
Everywhere
in the commission of God, enemies emerged with the speed of lightning. Those
were defeated, and the loyal were rejoicing. When you appeared on the grave, you
honoured the disciples of your God. One sat next to the heard, the other next to
the feet where the body of Jesus Christ laid and you said: "Why are looking for
the living among the dead, he's not here, he got up as it was written". And when
God ascended the sky, standing in front of the apostles you said: "Why are you
standing and staring in the sky? Jesus who ascended the sky will be back again
the way you saw him going in the sky!" That is how one should honour God, our
Maker.
The
whole universe is lit by them, the image of a prophet is filled with spiritual
grace and fulfills the prophecy. The patriarchs and all just people are wedded
with them, they enable the apostle images to send holy songs to God, with them
the many martyrs with beautiful wreaths are immensely happy.
With
them the inhabitants of the deserts, with nearly dead passion for life, ended
their lives, with them the graves will open at the last day and the dead bodies
will raise alive from the holy voice. The devil himself with all his rages will
be tied and thrown into eternal pain by them and the compassionate God will save
us. So, glory be to Him, to his eternal Father and to his Gentle Ghost, now and
forever more, amen.
link:
http://www.soros.org.mk/konkurs/038/drevni/pohvalno_slovo.htm
found at: www.scancoo.com/sqs_Angels2
text found at:
www.wordiq.comThe Purpose of
Angels In the Bible, angels are the medium of God's power; they exist to
execute God's will. Angels reveal themselves to individuals as well as to the
whole nation, in order to announce events, either good or bad, affecting them.
Angels foretold to Abraham the birth of Isaac, to Manoah the birth of Samson,
and to Abraham the destruction of Sodom. Guardian angels were mentioned, but
not, as was later the case, as guardian spirits of individuals and nations. God
sent an angel to protect the Hebrew people after their exodus from Egypt, to
lead them to the promised land, and to destroy the hostile tribes in their way
(Ex. xxiii. 20, Num. xx. 16). In Judges (ii. 1) an angel of the
Lord—unless here and in the preceding instances (compare Isa. xlii. 19, Ḥag. i.
13, Mal. iii. 1) a human messenger of God is meant—addressed the whole people,
swearing to bring them to the promised land. An angel brought Elijah meat and
drink (I Kings, xix. 5); and as God watched over Jacob, so is every pious person
protected by an angel who cares for him in all his ways (Ps. xxxiv. 7, xci. 11).
There are angels militant, one of whom smites in one night the whole Assyrian
army of 185,000 men (II Kings, xix. 35); messengers go forth from God "in ships
to make the careless Ethiopians afraid" (Ezek. xxx. 9); the enemy is scattered
before the angel like chaff (Ps. xxxv. 5, 6). Avenging angels are
mentioned, such as the one in II Sam. xxiv. 15, who annihilates thousands. It
would seem that the pestilence was personified, and that the "evil angels"
mentioned in Ps. lxxviii. 49 are to be regarded as personifications of this
kind. "Evil" is here to be taken in the causative sense, as "producing evil";
for, as stated above, angels are generally considered to be by nature beneficent
to man. They glorify God, whence the term "glorifying angels" (Ps. xxix. 1,
ciii. 20, cxlviii. 2; compare Isa. vi. 2 et seq.). They constitute God's
court, sitting in council with him (I Kings, xxii. 19; Job, i. 6, ii. 1); hence
they are called His "council of the holy ones" (Ps. lxxxix. 7, R. V.; A. V.
"assembly of the saints"). They accompany God as His attendants when He appears
to man (Deut. xxxiii. 2; Job, xxxviii. 7). This conception was developed after
the Exile; and in Zechariah angels of various shapes are delegated "to walk to
and fro through the earth" in order to find out and report what happens (Zech.
vi. 7). In the prophetic books angels appear as representatives of the
prophetic spirit, and bring to the prophets God's word. Thus the prophet Haggai
was called God's messenger (angel); and it is known that "Malachi" is not a real
name, but means "messenger" or "angel." It is noteworthy that in I Kings, xiii.
18, an angel brought the divine word to the prophet. In some places it
is inferred that angels existed before the Creation (Gen. i. 26; Job, xxxviii.
7). The earlier Biblical writings did not speculate about them; simply regarding
them, in their relations to man, as God's agents. Consequently, they did not
individualize or denominate them; and in Judges, xiii. 18, and Gen. xxxii. 30,
the angels, when questioned, refuse to give their names. In Daniel, however,
there occur the names Michael and Gabriel. Michael is Israel's representative in
heaven, where other nations—the Persians, for instance—were also represented by
angelic princes. More than three hundred years before the Book of Daniel was
written, Zechariah graded the angels according to their rank, but did not name
them. The notion of the seven eyes (Zech. iii. 9, iv. 10) may have been affected
by the representation of the seven archangels and also possibly by the seven
amshaspands of Zoroastrianism (compare Ezek. ix. 2). link: www.wordiq.com/definition/Angel#Appearance_of_Angels
 11th century. Revetment between 1108 -
1120.
Together with the icon "
Mother of God", make
up the composition "Annunciation"111.5 x 67 cm. Tempera on board. Revetment of
gilded silver. From the church of the Mother of God Peribleptos (St. Clement’s)
Ohrid. Today - Icon Gallery, Ohrid. Iconography: The basis of the synopsis has the text of Luke
the Evangelist (Luke 1:26-38). The composition "Annunciation" is made of two
distinctive panels-icons. On the first is portrayed Archangel Gabriel in full
length and in movement, indicated through the slightly lifted right foot and
lifted arm, with which the Archangel is blessing.
The Mother of God on the monumental composition is portrayed seated on a low
throne without a back. She holds a purple knot in her left hand and a spindle in
her right. With her head slightly bowed she reveals the relationship with
Archangel Gabriel, who tells her the good news.
Origin: It is not known to which church or religious institution these
icons belonged. Their dimensions indicate a large building where they may have
been placed on the iconostasis. In the 11th century in Ohrid such
buildings were the church St. Sophia or the archiepiscopal residence.
link: http://www.soros.org.mk/konkurs/019/eng/i02.htm
found at: daskalos.org
The Archangelic Orders
"Angels transcend every religion, every philosophy, every creed. In fact angels have no religion as we know it... their existence precedes every religious system that has ever existed on earth." St. Thomas Aquinas
 GABRIEL, or in the ancient Egyptian language pronunciation, Kha-Vir-El, Ga or Ka denotes desire, sentiment, and expressed love. Bir or Vir indicates element. Gabriel's �light is sky-blue in many different shades, and he is the ruler of water and the liquids. Gabriel is the steward of the entire physical kingdom and gives us the body's various fluids.� Color - shades of brilliantly azureOur Archangels are logoic and Holy Spiritual Beings, who build, govern over and project themselves into the universes. Within Absolute Beingness are Orders of Archangels, Holy Monadic Beings, each Order containing myriad upon myriad of Beings of the same kind. We know of the existence of twelve Archangelic Orders: Thrones, Authorities, Dominions Principalities, Overlords, Seraphims and Cherabims together with other named and unnamed. They possess Total Wisdom, Love, Power and Absolute Self-awareness. Angels are elementals of Archangels.
No one has ever spoken in detail of the kind of vibrations of the Archangels who belong to the higher echelons of the Orders. Few have come close enough to these Orders to attune to them. Human language, in any case, proves inadequate to describe their splendor.
When a human being descends into the worlds of separation, an Archangel of the Thrones accompanies him as his Guardian Archangel. Even if we are unaware of his presence, our Guardian Archangel, with whom we are egofied, is always caring for us.
Link: http://daskalos.org/Archangels_Angels.htm#GABRIEL
The Initial
R
with the
Annunciation
from a German
Gradual
ca. 1300
Probably made at the
convent
of Sankt Katharinenthal, Lake Constance
Tempera and gold leaf on
parchment; 4
x 3 1/16 in. (10.2 x 7.8 cm)
link:
www.godsnewreligion.com
|
 t.
Gabriel; name
means "God Conquers/ the might of God" Patron of the sacrament of
Baptism,
Archangel of the Annunciation and the Incarnation's triumph over sin
&
death, his lilies represent the new purity of the soul through
Baptism,
his banner, Our Lady's universal motherhood.
Heavenly Father, through
the
salutation of the Archangel Gabriel, may we honor the Incarnation of
Your
Divine Son. Through his faithful intercessions may we strive always to
imitate the holy virtues of the Mother of our Savior and respond to
our
Father, "Be it done unto me according to Thy Word". Archangel Gabriel,
please praise our Father for the gift of His Son, praying, one day by
His
grace, through His Mother, we may all be one fold, one Church, one
Shepherd. Amen - adapted from
the
chaplet of St. Gabriel
Oh holy St. Gabriel come to our aid
with
your legion of angels! Help us to become good servants of Our Lord!
Help
us to regain and preserve our Baptismal purity that we may become His
worthy servants. Through your intercessions help our souls become
havens
of peace where Our Lord and Our Lady love to come and rest. Amen.
Link:
http://www.the7archangel
s.com/st_gabriel.htm
|
Archangel Gabriel at the
Antiphonitis Greek Orthodox Church before the destruction by Turkish
antiquities
smugglers.
The Angel
Gabriel
According to the Bible, there are seven
archangels
who "stand in the presence of God". (Tobit 12:15). Four of these are
named at various places in the Bible or Apocrypha- Michael, Uriel,
Raphael, and Gabriel. Gabriel first appears in the book of Daniel
when
he explains to Daniel the vision of the ram and the he-goat and the
prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.
In the book of Revelation, the seven angels in turn
blow
their trumpets. When the last trumpet sounds, Voices from heaven
proclaim;" The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of
our
Lord and of his Christ- And he shall reign for ever and ever."
Although
not directly stated in the Bible, according to legend it is
Gabriel's
trumpet that will announce the end of time.
Gabriel is best known as the angel of the
ANNUNCIATION. It was Gabriel who announced to Elizabeth that
she
is to give birth to John the Baptist (Luke 1:19), and who tells the
Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of the Messiah (Luke
1:26).
The Annunciation is one of the most commonly
depicted
scenes in Western Christian Art. Gabriel is usually shown kneeling
before the Virgin, holding a lily (signifying purity) in his hand.
Often
there is in the background a walled garden or other enclosure
signifying
virginity. The Holy Spirit may be seen in the form of a dove.
|
found
at:
http://www.christthesaviour.org
Orthodox
Christian Church Of Christ The Saviour
The
Archangel Michael
The Holy Archangel Michael
and all the Bodiless
Powers
of
Heaven (November 8)
The angels of God have been
commemorated by men from the earliest times, but this commemoration
often
degenerates into the divinization of angels (IV Kings 23:5; A.V. II
Kings). Heretics always wove fantasies round the angels. Some of them
saw
the angels as gods and others, if they did not so regard them, took
them
to be the creators of the whole visible world. The local Council in
Laodicea, that was held in the fourth century, rejected in its 35th
Canon
the worship of angels as gods, and established the proper veneration
of
them. In the time of Pope Sylvester of Rome and the Alexandrian
Patriarch
Alexander, in the fourth century, this Feast of the Archangel Michael
and
the other heavenly powers was instituted, to be celebrated in
November.
Why in November? Because November is the ninth month after March, and
it
is thought that the world was created in the month of March. The ninth
month after March was chosen because of the nine orders of angels that
were the first created beings. St Dionysius the Areopagite, writes of
these nine orders in his book, "Celestial Hierarchies." These orders
are
as follows: six‑winged Seraphim, many‑eyed Cherubim, godly
Thrones,
Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels and
Angels.
In Mother Alexandra's book,
"The
Holy Angels," these nine orders are further divided into three
hierarchies. The third level includes Michael with the Principalities,
Archangels, and Angels. Their special domain is the earth. they
execute
God's will, are continuous guardians of the children of men, and
messengers of God. The holy angels are "more than the bearers of
divine
messages and the guides of men: they are bearers of the very Name and
Power of God . they are flashes of the light and strength of the
Almighty
Lord."
The leader of the whole
angelic
army is the Archangel Michael. He is mentioned by name four times in
Scripture: twice in Dan (10:13 ff. and 12:1), where he is represented
a
the helper of the Chosen People, once in Jude (v.9), disputing with
the
devil over the body of Moses, and once in Rev. (12:7-9), fighting the
dragon. In Joshua 5:13-15, a "man" with a drawn sword in his hand
appeared
before Joshua, identifying himself as the "commander of the army of
the
Lord."
By tradition, the Archangel
Michael also represents the "cherubs and the fiery sword that turns
about
to keep the way of the tree of life" from Adam and Eve after God had
expelled them from the "Garden of Delight" (Gen. 3:25. Since the
sanctuary
represents the Kingdom of Life, the movement from the sanctuary is
always
out through this door, while the door with the Archangel Gabriel
represents our return to Paradise, because he announced to the Virgin
the
Good News that Immanuel was to come: God with us.
Archangel Michael also plays
an
important part in the apocryphal literature, e.g. in the "Assumption
of
Moses," in "Enoch," and in the "Ascension of Isaiah," where he appears
as
"the great captain" "who is set over the best part of mankind." In
connection with the scriptural and apocryphal passages he was early
regarded in the Church as the helper of Christian armies against the
heathen, and as a protector of individual Christians against the
devil,
especially at the hour of death, when he conducts the souls to God.
His
cult originated in Phrygia, where he was chiefly venerated as a
healer,
and many hot springs were dedicated to him both in Greece and
Asia.
When Satan, Lucifer, fell away
from God, and carried half the angels with him to destruction, then
Michael arose and cried to the un-fallen angels: "Let us give heed!
Let us
stand aright; let us stand with fear!" and the whole angelic army sang
aloud: "Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are
full of
Thy glory!" Among the angels there rules a perfect unity of mind, of
soul
and of love; of total obedience of the lesser powers to the greater
and of
all to the holy will of God. Each nation has its guardian angel, as
does
each individual Christian. We must keep in mind that, whatever we do,
openly or in secret, we do in the presence of our guardian angel and
that,
on the Day of Judgment, a great multitude of the holy angels of heaven
will be gathered around the throne of Christ, and the thoughts, words
and
deeds of every man will be laid bare before them. May God have mercy
on us
and save us at the prayers of the holy Archangel Michael and all the
bodiless powers of heaven. Amen.
The
Archangel
Gabriel
The Other
Bodiless
Powers Commemorated
That the angels are constantly
involved in this world is testified to, clearly and unmistakably, in
Holy
Scripture. Both from the Scriptures and from Holy Tradition, the
Orthodox
Church has learned the names of the seven leaders of the heavenly
powers:
Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salathiel, Jegudiel and Barachiel
(and
to these is sometimes added an eighth, Jeremiel).
- "Michael" in Hebrew means "Who is like
God?" or "Who is equal to God?" St Michael was depicted in the
earliest
Christian times as a leader, bearing a spear in his right hand with
which he attacks Lucifer, Satan, and holding in his left hand a
branch
of green palm. At the top of the spear is a plaited braid with a red
Cross. On our icons, Michael and Gabriel have lightening bolts
streaming
from their heads, signifying the speed with which they move from one
place to another. The Archangel Michael is considered especially to
be
the guardian of the Orthodox faith and a fighter against heresy.
- "Gabriel" means "man of God" or "power
of
God." He is the herald of the mysteries of God, especially the
mystery
of the Incarnation and all those that are linked with it.
- Raphael" means "God's healing," or
"God
the Healer" (Tobias 3:17; 12:15).
- "Uriel" means "fire" or "light of God"
(II
Esdras 4:1; 5:20)
- "Salathiel" means "one who prays to
God"
(I1 Esdras 5:16).
- "Jegudiel" means "one who glorifies
God."
- "Barachiel" means "the blessing of
God."
- "Jeremiel" means "God's exaltation."
He is
venerated as an inspirer and awakener of those higher thoughts that
raise a man God‑ward.
- Composite of the
Prologue, ODCC, and Mother Alexandra, The Holy
Angels.
Troparion Tone IV
Supreme commanders of the
heavenly
armies, we, the unworthy, do ever entreat you, that by your prayers ye
surround us with the protection of the wings of your immaterial glory,
preserving us that earnestly fall down before you and cry aloud:
Deliver
us from misfortunes, in that ye are the leaders of the hosts on
high.
Kontakion Tone II
O ye chief commanders of God,
ministers of glory divine, captains of the angels and instructors of
men:
beg ye great mercy and that which is profitable for us, for ye are the
supreme commanders of the bodiless
hosts. |
Link: http://www.christ
thesaviour.org/St-Michael-etal.htm
|
| |
Posts
