The Weekly Festal Cycle
The Second Day (Deutera-Monday)
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
The Second Day (Deutera-Monday)
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
The Second Day (Deutera-Monday) is dedicated by our Church to the angels, who were created by God before the formation of creation and man. In other words, we know from Holy Scripture and the tradition of our Church that God first created the invisible world, the angels, then He created the sensible world and finally man, who is made up of the invisible and the sensible, and is the summary of the whole creation.
In the book of Job it is written: "When the stars were born, all my angels sang praises with a loud voice" (Job 37:7), which means that when God created the stars, the sun and the moon, then the angels sang hymns to Him. That is, the angels were the first creation of God, and they do not have bodies, that is why they are called incorporeal, they consist only of mind and are called noetic beings.
We celebrate these angels every Monday and the Apolytikion we chant is: "Commanders of the Heavenly Hosts, we implore you that by your prayers you will encircle us, unworthy as we are, with the protection of the wings of your immaterial glory, and guard us who fall down before you and fervently cry: Deliver us from dangers, for you are the taxiarchs of the Powers above."
In this Apolytikion, there is talk about the commanders of the noetic "army" of heaven, whom we unworthy ones entreat to protect us with the wings of their heavenly glory, because they share in the glory of God, to guard us and to redeem us from the various dangers, because they are taxiarchs of the Powers of heaven.
The holy hymnographer likens them to a heavenly army. As in the earthly army there are gradations, so there are gradations in the angels, in the heavenly army.
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians praises Christ who, as the Son of God, is "begotten of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" and all beings came into being through Him "those in the heavens and those on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers" and He is "the head of the body of the Church" (Col. 1:13-18).
And the Apostle Paul writes this, because at that time in Colossae there were some who followed the "religion of the angels", that is, they worshiped the angels, ignoring Christ, who is the creator of the angels. These people, following the "religion of angels", immersed themselves in false visions and were proud of their minds that were enslaved to sin, and were not united to Christ, who is the head of the Church and the creator of the angels (Col. 2:18-19).
Saint Dionysios the Areopagite, disciple of the Apostle Paul, in one of his famous treatises titled "On the Celestial Hierarchy", classifies the heavenly minds, the angels, into three triads, which, as he writes, are three hierarchies and in each hierarchy there are three orders of heavenly minds.
To the first hierarchy belong the Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim, who are closest to the Triune God; to the second hierarchy, after the first, belong the Dominions, Powers and Authorities, who are in the middle; and to the third hierarchy, which is closest to us are the Principalities, the Archangels and the Angels.
Thus, the highest triad of hierarchies serves God and initiates the next triad of angels and from there the glory is transferred to the lower triad of angels who are near us, for this reason the archangel Gabriel served the mystery of the incarnation of the Son and Word of God, and the angels praised His birth and served the whole work of His divine economy.
We see this strongly in the book of Revelation, in which the Evangelist John describes the heavenly Divine Liturgy that he saw, in which the angels sang "Alleluia" to Christ (Rev. 19:1-3).
In fact, in the Divine Liturgy held in the Sacred Temples, the chanters chant the hymn of the angels, as the Prophet Isaiah heard it: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth, heaven and earth are filled with Your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest."
In the Divine Liturgy of the Sacred Chrysostom, the Priest thanks God, because he is made worthy to perform this Divine Liturgy, "even though thousands of archangels and tens of thousands of angels stand around You, the Cherubim and Seraphim, six-winged, many-eyed, soaring aloft upon their wings, singing the triumphal hymn, exclaiming, proclaiming, and saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth..." etc.
In the Divine Liturgy of Basil the Great, and in fact in the prayer which the Priest addresses to God, it is written that "angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, powers, and the many eyed Cherubim. Round about You stand the Seraphim, one with six wings and the other with six wings; with two they cover their faces; with two they cover their feet; with two they fly," and sing the trisagion hymn.
Of course, the angels are invisible beings, they do not have material bodies, but what the saints see as a body is the glory of God that surrounds them and their constant mobility, and, of course, their appearance in this form belongs to the so-called symbolic theology.
We celebrate these invisible spirits, the angels, every Monday, because they ministered the mystery of the divine economy, they glorify God and serve us for our salvation, especially the guardian angel that each of us has. That is why in the Exapostilarion of Monday we sing: "As God You have adorned the sky with stars, and through Your angels all the earth is illuminated, Creator of all things, save those who sing Your hymns."
Source: Delivered on Sunday 21 July. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
In the book of Job it is written: "When the stars were born, all my angels sang praises with a loud voice" (Job 37:7), which means that when God created the stars, the sun and the moon, then the angels sang hymns to Him. That is, the angels were the first creation of God, and they do not have bodies, that is why they are called incorporeal, they consist only of mind and are called noetic beings.
We celebrate these angels every Monday and the Apolytikion we chant is: "Commanders of the Heavenly Hosts, we implore you that by your prayers you will encircle us, unworthy as we are, with the protection of the wings of your immaterial glory, and guard us who fall down before you and fervently cry: Deliver us from dangers, for you are the taxiarchs of the Powers above."
In this Apolytikion, there is talk about the commanders of the noetic "army" of heaven, whom we unworthy ones entreat to protect us with the wings of their heavenly glory, because they share in the glory of God, to guard us and to redeem us from the various dangers, because they are taxiarchs of the Powers of heaven.
The holy hymnographer likens them to a heavenly army. As in the earthly army there are gradations, so there are gradations in the angels, in the heavenly army.
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians praises Christ who, as the Son of God, is "begotten of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" and all beings came into being through Him "those in the heavens and those on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers" and He is "the head of the body of the Church" (Col. 1:13-18).
And the Apostle Paul writes this, because at that time in Colossae there were some who followed the "religion of the angels", that is, they worshiped the angels, ignoring Christ, who is the creator of the angels. These people, following the "religion of angels", immersed themselves in false visions and were proud of their minds that were enslaved to sin, and were not united to Christ, who is the head of the Church and the creator of the angels (Col. 2:18-19).
Saint Dionysios the Areopagite, disciple of the Apostle Paul, in one of his famous treatises titled "On the Celestial Hierarchy", classifies the heavenly minds, the angels, into three triads, which, as he writes, are three hierarchies and in each hierarchy there are three orders of heavenly minds.
To the first hierarchy belong the Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim, who are closest to the Triune God; to the second hierarchy, after the first, belong the Dominions, Powers and Authorities, who are in the middle; and to the third hierarchy, which is closest to us are the Principalities, the Archangels and the Angels.
Thus, the highest triad of hierarchies serves God and initiates the next triad of angels and from there the glory is transferred to the lower triad of angels who are near us, for this reason the archangel Gabriel served the mystery of the incarnation of the Son and Word of God, and the angels praised His birth and served the whole work of His divine economy.
We see this strongly in the book of Revelation, in which the Evangelist John describes the heavenly Divine Liturgy that he saw, in which the angels sang "Alleluia" to Christ (Rev. 19:1-3).
In fact, in the Divine Liturgy held in the Sacred Temples, the chanters chant the hymn of the angels, as the Prophet Isaiah heard it: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth, heaven and earth are filled with Your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest."
In the Divine Liturgy of the Sacred Chrysostom, the Priest thanks God, because he is made worthy to perform this Divine Liturgy, "even though thousands of archangels and tens of thousands of angels stand around You, the Cherubim and Seraphim, six-winged, many-eyed, soaring aloft upon their wings, singing the triumphal hymn, exclaiming, proclaiming, and saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth..." etc.
In the Divine Liturgy of Basil the Great, and in fact in the prayer which the Priest addresses to God, it is written that "angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, powers, and the many eyed Cherubim. Round about You stand the Seraphim, one with six wings and the other with six wings; with two they cover their faces; with two they cover their feet; with two they fly," and sing the trisagion hymn.
Of course, the angels are invisible beings, they do not have material bodies, but what the saints see as a body is the glory of God that surrounds them and their constant mobility, and, of course, their appearance in this form belongs to the so-called symbolic theology.
We celebrate these invisible spirits, the angels, every Monday, because they ministered the mystery of the divine economy, they glorify God and serve us for our salvation, especially the guardian angel that each of us has. That is why in the Exapostilarion of Monday we sing: "As God You have adorned the sky with stars, and through Your angels all the earth is illuminated, Creator of all things, save those who sing Your hymns."
Source: Delivered on Sunday 21 July. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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