Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers of Heaven
A day when the faithful are highly encouraged to participate in the Divine Liturgy. Abstinence from meat and foods that contain meat.
Read
Hebrews 2:2-10; Luke 10:16-21
The hymns at Vespers for the feast of Archangel explore the Trisagion
“Holy are You, O Father. * Holy are You, O co-eternal Word. * Holy are You, O Holy Spirit. * You are the one glory, the one kingdom, and one nature; * You are the one Divinity and Power.” (First Stichera at Psalm 140).
In explicating the hymn, we are also reminded that this is a reference to Isaiah 6:3, where the prophet is snatched up to heaven and granted a vision of the throne of God. Before his seat, they sing the thrice-holy hymn.
In the liturgy, we are granted not just Isaiah’s vision, but participation in the heavenly angelic worship. We not only spectators but actively engaged in singing the thrice-holy hymn. This privilege also reminds us of the intimacy we have with God when we sing this hymn in church, recited it in our morning and evening prayers, or throughout our day. This prayer is the same prayer prayed in heaven. With this closeness in mind, why shouldn’t we unload our sorrows, joys, complaints, and wonders in our prayers as we utter the thrice-holy hymn, so that God may hear them and respond?
Indeed, while we have angelic worship, we have more than the angels could ever conceive. The angels cannot see the face of God and live. We are told that the cherubim hide their face with their wings. But because of the incarnation, God is revealed in human flesh, we can have an eye to eye, skin to skin relationship with him, in a way that the angels could never have. We can become like the angels, which doesn’t mean disembodied, but simply to become a servant of the Lord, permeated with his flaming fire. This is what we pray at every vespers at Psalm 103: “You make your angels spirits, and your ministers a flaming fire.” What the angel has in virtue of his creation, total interpenetration with God, for us takes a lifetime. Like a fire burning through wet wood, it takes a while to catch, but soon enough all is shot through with the heat and light of the original flame.