Homily on the Synaxis of the Holy Archangel Michael and the Other Heavenly Bodiless Powers
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1960)
(Delivered in 1960)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters, today we solemnly honor all the Heavenly Bodiless Powers headed by the Archangel Michael. From the word of God we know that before the visible material world with its inhabitant, man, the Lord created the invisible, spiritual world, the world of pure incorporeal Angels, who outnumbered people by several times. The Holy Prophet Moses, narrating the creation of the world, says: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). By heaven the Holy Fathers interpret it to mean not only the firmament, but also the spiritual, angelic world, the abode of the incorporeal Angels, surpassing man in their strength, power and wisdom, who were created by God, like man, for blessedness, for the glorification of the name of God. They, like the purest and most holy spirits, constantly contemplating the Face of the Heavenly Father, incessantly glorify His ineffable greatness and from the Throne of His grace are sent down to earth into the lower world to the suffering man.
The Holy Apostle John the Theologian says that during one of his visions he heard the voice of many Angels around the Throne of God (Rev. 5:11). What kind of voice this is, incessantly glorifying God, is explained to us by the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah, who saw how the Seraphim stood around the Throne of God and, calling out to one another, said: "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory" (Is. 6:3)!
The Holy Apostle Paul, in the Epistle read today, with a feeling of gratitude to God for His love for man that surpasses all understanding, quotes the following words of the Holy Psalmist David: "What is man, that You are mindful of him? or the son of man, that You visit him? You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands" (Heb. 2:6-7). The Lord so loved man that He appointed His angels to guard him in all his ways. The Psalmist depicts this attitude of the Lord to the human race for us in the following words: "He will give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone" (Ps. 90:11-12). How comforting this is for a man who, both in the external world and in his own heart, is subject to a thousandfold attacks of evil and powerful enemies! These comforting words apply to each of us who have hope through faith in the Divine Redeemer to inherit eternal salvation, for the Apostle Paul clearly says: "Are not all (the angels) ministering spirits, sent forth to serve those that shall inherit salvation" (Heb. 1:14)? Consequently, we all have Guardian Angels, mighty in strength and ever ready to help us.
According to the teaching of the Divine Scripture, Angels are bodiless, spiritual beings; consequently, their very communication with us must be only spiritual, that is, they can directly act only on our spiritual nature and through it extend their beneficial actions to our entire bodily organism and to all types of our activity. The service of Angels to man begins from the time of our rebirth from water and the Spirit. The pure soul of the newly baptized is received by the Guardian Angel under His care, carefully guarding it from all dangers and nurturing it, until the newly baptized person is strengthened in purpose and clearly distinguishes good from evil.
An infant comes into the world weak, it requires not only maternal care, but also higher help, therefore God the Provider appoints a Guardian Angel for it. The Guardian Angel overshadows and comforts the child with its immaterial wings, as a precious creation of God, entrusted to its care. An infant has a rational soul, in purity and innocence close to the spirits of the incorporeal, therefore the Guardian Angel remains with the soul of the infant constantly. That is why amazingly wise words often come from the mouths of children, as if prophetic, or some kind of warnings, or peace, or they speak of God and paradise, of Heaven with such amazing wisdom. All this is an echo of what the Angel mysteriously inspires in the child.
Gradually growing from strength to strength, the baby becomes a teenager. Having reached this age, he begins to get carried away by amusements, games, and here special parental supervision is required, but it is not always there. And at this time the Guardian Angel warns against trouble and danger. Where can an orphan child find protection if not in the Guardian Angel?
Likewise, having come to the age of knowing good and evil, although we are guided by our own reason, it cannot be said that we do not then need the guidance and protection of the Holy Angels. On the contrary, our life becomes more complex and our concerns more varied, therefore we experience an even greater need for angelic care. Our whole life must be a constant vigilance, because the slightest moral drowsiness, inattention to ourselves, absent-mindedness, and infatuation with pleasure give the enemy the opportunity to throw sinful thoughts and feelings into us, even with our best inclinations and most beautiful intentions.
The Apostle Peter says: "Be sober, be vigilant; for your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet. 5:8). But is it easy for a person, amidst the needs, vanity and entertainment of the world, to constantly remain in a tense state of wakefulness? We all from time to time give in to drowsiness, moral torpor. But we all have our Guardian Angels, our friends and heavenly patrons, on guard. On the path of life we often hear their voice: “Beware, where are you going? Turn back!” They awaken our dormant conscience and guard us, so that we do not stumble over the stones of temptation, correct the shortcomings of our damaged nature, cleansing our thoughts and feelings from sinful impurity, and provide opportunities for the improvement of our best qualities and gifts.
When, in the midst of a dissipated and wicked life, you suddenly feel disgust for sin and, under the influence of bright thoughts, you have a desire to change your way of life, this means that the Guardian Angel, having seized a convenient moment, presented sin before your inner eyes in all its fullness and vileness. Even our sleep itself is guarded by the Guardian Angel. The Guardian Angel also assists us in performing our prayer to God, awakening in us feelings of tenderness. The Venerable John Climacus says: “If you feel sweetness or compunction at some word of your prayer, dwell on it; for then our Guardian Angel is praying with us.”
The ministry of the Holy Angels is not limited to this life alone. They will accompany us as we enter the afterlife. When we leave this life of wandering, when neither friends nor relatives can help us, our Guardian Angel will be very necessary to us. He will not leave us then, abandoned by all. We cannot fully imagine our position in the other world, unknown to us, the horror that will overwhelm us when we realize the vices and sins we have committed, and when we think that we must soon appear before the Face of God Himself, the Righteous Judge. Thus, our Guardian Angels are always with us, accompanying us everywhere, unless we ourselves drive them away with our sinful life. In such a case, they retreat from us and complain, and their place is taken by our enemy, the devil.
“As smoke drives away bees and stench drives away doves,” says Saint Basil the Great, “so our Guardian Angel is driven away by much-lamented and stinking sin.” Once, the Holy Hierarch of Christ, Nephon, saw a young man standing at the gates of a house and weeping, and asked him: “Why are you standing here and weeping?” The young man answered: “I am an Angel sent by the Lord to protect a man who has been staying for several days in this indecent house. I am standing here because I cannot get close to the sinner, I am weeping because I am losing hope of leading him to the path of repentance.” An Angel once said to Saint Pachomios the Great: “Whoever has become dead to God and virtue through his evil life stinks a thousand times worse than a dead body, so that we can in no way stand next to him or pass by him.”
Why do we often fall, suffer disasters and do not receive help from the Angels, and what is needed for the Guardian Angels to protect us on the paths of our life? The influence of Angels on a person is spiritual, that is, on the spiritual nature. Therefore, the more a person lives in the spiritual world, the more he follows in his actions not carnal desires, but the suggestion of the mind and conscience enlightened by the Gospel teaching, the more capable he is of close communication with the Heavenly Powers and the more he enjoys their heavenly patronage and help. But we, for the most part, live not according to the spirit, but according to the flesh. Clinging with all our hearts to sensual objects, running after phantoms of pleasure, spending most of our time among the vanity and distraction of the world, we very rarely rise in our thoughts to the spiritual world. This is the reason why we do not receive help from the Angels.
Pious people vividly felt the closeness of their Guardian Angels and their help in all the paths of their lives. The service of Angels to people is attested in both the Old and New Testaments. Belief in the existence of Angels existed not only in the Christian world, but also in all ancient religions - among the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, and Mohammedans. All the more should we, Christians, believe in the existence of Angels, and not only believe, but also call upon them in our prayers and imitate them as best we can in our earthly life, so that after leaving this world we may be honored to sing and glorify together with them the God worshiped in Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.