The Lord placed Archangel Michael in chief over the nine angelic ranks. His Hebrew name means "Who is like God." Saint Michael (archangel) has been revered by the Orthodox Church since the most ancient times of mankind, as it has an extraordinary unprecedented spiritual power. Who is Archangel Michael? What feats did you perform?
St. Michael (archangel): first feat
Archangel Michael performed his first feat in heaven, when the once-most heavenly angel of heaven decided to rebel against God and humiliate His glory. Evil created the first apostasy, which carried away many other angels.
Then the servant of God, St. Michael (the archangel), gathered all the angelic ranks and the heavenly army, not succumbing to disastrous example, and called them to fight evil angels in order to overthrow them from heaven, singing a solemn song to the Lord.
Revelation
The Revelation of St. John the Evangelist also describes these events. There was a war in heaven. St. Michael and his angels entered into battle with the dragon and his minions. But the latter did not resist, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon, called Satan, the serpent and the devil, seducing the entire universe, was expelled to the earth with the angels of evil.
Revelation provides consolation for believers to see that the eternal struggle of good and evil will end in the complete victory of the Lamb. Humanity in the fight against the serpent has the highest heavenly patrons and protectors, led by St. Michael.
Jewish people
When the Jewish people became the beloved and chosen of the Lord, here the Holy Church also indicates that the archangel Michael became the guardian of the people of God. In the "Old Testament" of the Prophet Daniel, the Holy Michael also appears to be the patron saint of the Jewish people.
Prayers and Icons
The Church in its prayers and chants calls the archangel Michael the voivode of the heavenly forces disembodied, the first angel, the leader of the angel regiments, the oldest mentor of the heavenly ranks.
On the icons, Michael the Holy is depicted as a warrior with a sword and a shield in his hand, and sometimes with a spear or with a palm branch. He tramples the serpent with his feet. The white banner (banner) on top of the spear means the unshakable purity and fidelity of the angels to their King of Heaven. And the cross, which ends the spear, means that any battle with the kingdom of darkness and evil and victory over them will be committed in the name of the Cross of Christ through selflessness, humility and patience.
Bible stories
The Holy Scriptures describe how St. Michael (the archangel) argued with the devil about the body of Moses. The archangel hid the grave of the great prophet, so that the Jews, who fell into idolatry hour by hour, would not worship him as God.
The Bible also describes how the archangel Michael appeared to Joshua when he took Jericho. Jesus saw a man with a sword in his hand and asked him whether he was a stranger or a stranger, he answered that he was the leader of the army of the Lord, and ordered him to take off his shoes, for the place on which he stood was holy. Jesus did this, he was inspired by the appearance of the holy governor. And then the Lord himself began to speak with Joshua, who taught him how to take the first powerful city in Canaan, which was eventually done.
Temple
Since ancient times, people were deeply convinced of the authenticity of this phenomenon, therefore a monastery was erected on this site in honor of the Holy Archangel Michael. He, the servant of the glory of God and the governor of all, as described in the Holy Scriptures, helped the Israelites in battles and accompanied Moses all the way to the promised land.
On September 6 (19), all Orthodox people celebrate the holiday "In memory of the miracle of the Archangel Michael committed in Koneh."
This story began with the fact that near the city of Hierapolis, in Phrygia, in the area called Herotope, there was the Church of St. Michael, and with it a sacred spring beat. The temple was built by one local resident - the father of a girl who was healed of dumbness. The archangel himself appeared to this man in a dream and told him that his daughter would receive healing if he drinks water from the spring. In connection with this wonderful event, the whole family was baptized at once.
Once disgruntled pagans decided to destroy this holy place. And then they tried to connect the two mountain rivers in one channel, and their course was sent directly to the church of St. Michael. Saint Arkhip, who lived at this church, prayed, and there was the appearance of Archangel Michael. He hit with his rod and opened a crack in the ground, which absorbed all the water, then this place became known as Khony (cleft, hole).
Honoring in Kievan Rus
In Kivenskaya Russia, St. Michael began to be venerated from the first decades of her Baptism. He was depicted on the frescoes of the church walls (on the example of St. Sophia Cathedral). In 1008, the first Mikhailovsky Church was built on the territory of the Vydubychi Monastery .
In 1108-1113 Prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavovich (grandson of Yaroslav the Wise), baptized by Michael at baptism, built in Kiev in honor of his heavenly patron Michael the Golden-domed Cathedral. Since then, the archangel Michael began to be considered the patron saint of Kiev.
Defender of Russia
In Russia, there was also the phenomenon of Archangel Michael. In 1608, the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra was besieged by the Poles. To the archimandrite Joseph, the rector of the laurels, the shining holy governor Michael appeared with a scepter and warned that they had little left to suffer, since the Lord would soon recompense them. And the enemy soon retreated.
The Blessed Virgin Mary became the protector of the Russian cities, together with her army of heaven, led by Archangel Michael. The faith of the Orthodox people in his help is very great, since he is the winner of adversaries, the deliverer from troubles and sorrows, the protector from evil spirits, enemies visible and invisible.
Archangel Michael is prayed at the entrance to a new house, asked to patronize on the throne in the management and salvation of the Russian state.
Cathedral of the Holy Archangel Michael
Celebrate the feast of the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael of God and other ethereal Powers of Heaven on November 8 (21). This date was set a few years at the beginning of the 4th century before the First Ecumenical Council at the Local Laodicean Cathedral. The 35th rule condemned heretical worship of angels as creators of the world, affirming only their Orthodox veneration.
The holiday is celebrated in the ninth month of March (in antiquity, the year began from this month) - in November, in accordance with the number of nine angelic ranks. The eighth day of the month indicates that the future Council of all the Powers of Heaven will be on the Day of Judgment, when the Son of Man and all the holy angels come to earth again.
The Holy Church captures the magnificent historical panorama of the blessed deeds and deeds of the archistratig of all the heavenly forces of the incorporeal St. Michael. He is the very first in the order of the whole angelic army, always acting in the glory of God and in the salvation of mankind.