by Fr Gabriel-Allan Boyd
In every Divine Liturgy, we refer to “thousands of archangels and tens of thousands of angels,” an entire angelic army with “thousands” of military-commanders (archangels) standing at the ready before God’s presence. But why are they there and what do they do? What do they have to do with any of us, and why should we care?
After the creation of the angels, there’s a peculiar point in their story that many people don’t know. At one time in heaven, God’s closest and most brilliant angel, Lucifer (Isaiah 14:11-20), pridefully rebelled against God to become what we now know as “the devil” (the divider), stealing one-third of the other angels (Revelation 12:4 & 9) to join him in revolt against God. In his rebellion, Isaiah notes five times where Lucifer tells God, “I will…” As that happened, our beloved Archangel Michael stood forth in leadership crying out out to the remaining two-thirds of Angels still loyal to God, “Let us attend! Let us stand aright; let us stand in awe! ” And that entire Angelic army devotedly replied, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of the heavenly hosts; heaven and earth are full of Your glory! ” Of course, we also sing these words in the Divine Liturgy, re-directing ourselves to join that angelic army in their obedience to God and their glorification of Him.
We do this because it’s important to remind ourselves of that catastrophic conflict that’s always happening in the spiritual realms—because—the worst fraud of all is that the devil continues convincing people that he and his demons don’t really exist. And if you do believe that he exists, his second worst con-job is when he convinces us that he and his demons aren’t really disrupting our minds, nor sabotaging our souls through the TV shows we watch, and the music & news commentators we listen to, and the things we choose for our minds and hearts to absorb. The evil-one easily tempts us to embrace his same prideful and irrational belief that that we should be honoring our own will and appetites above all else.
Thus, the feast of the Archangels, on November 8, has a special meaning for us because it also highlights Christians gathering together with the angels—uniting with them to stand in awe before our Creator, ready for the Lord to give us His command. Because of the fall of devil and his angels’ and their deceit against humanity, this Sunday’s feast is our celebration of the clear-headedness and unity of the two-thirds of the angelic powers who stayed loyal to God. It’s a cautionary call for us to also be alert—unifying together in seeking to fulfil God’s will. We also rejoice in the angels and archangels constant help and support in foiling the evil one’s attacks.
The Church describes the mystery of the angelic powers with awesome complexity. St Gregory of Nyssa said that, “The angels dwell above and beyond our universe...living in a condition consistent with their bodiless natures—light, clear, agile, unfettered by space and time, and constantly moving.” St John of Damascus said that, “Angels are a bodiless race, a sort of spirit or immaterial fire.” And the psalmist, David, said, “He made His Angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire” (Psalms 103:4). So, in this, we get a sense of several things held in balance—their lightness and their awesomeness, their intensely burning fervor for God and their joyfully enthusiastic eagerness to carry out His will, and the strength of mind with which they serve God. And, according to the Apostle Paul, all the Angels are ministering spirits, “sent forth to minister to those inheriting salvation” (Heb.1:14).
Although all of the Angels have the exact, same spiritual/bodiless nature, there are nine distinct orders, or ranks of angels—each having a unique role in God’s Kingdom. St. Dionysios the Areopagite (one of St Paul’s early converts) wrote a book called, “Celestial Hierarchies,” where he described nine ranks of Angels. 1.) Godly Thrones; 2.) Six-Winged Seraphim; 3.) Many-Eyed Cherubim; 4.) Dominions; 5.) Powers; 6.) Authorities; 7.) Principalities; 8.) Archangels; and 9.) Angels. Within these nine orders there are three ranks: A.) Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones; B.) Dominions, Authorities, Powers; and C.) Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. And together, they form a hierarchy of angelic beings, serving in varying degrees of nearness to God’s throne. The closer each order stands to God’s throne, the more it shares in God’s divine likeness and illumination. God reveals His will to the nearest and highest angelic hierarchy and they, in turn, impart the message of God’s will to the other ranks of angels. And since the powers who are further from God offer their obedience to those who are closer to Him, all of the angels fulfill God’s holy will. Although we don’t know how many thousands of Archangels there are, we do know the names of their seven leaders (commanders) who stand in the presence before God’s throne: Michael (meaning – “Who is like God? ”); Gabriel (meaning – “God Almighty is my Strength”); Raphael (meaning – “God Heals”); Uriel (meaning – “God is my Light”); Selathiel (meaning – “God’s Prayer ”); Jegudiel (meaning – “God’s Praise”); and Barachiel (meaning – “God’s Blessings”). Since the bodiless powers are spiritual, they can only be perceived by us through the eye of our soul.
When we celebrate the Divine Liturgy, try to notice the several places where we observe the angels’ presence with us; where we’re called to unify ourselves with the angels in their continuous worship of God; and to be unified with them as they stand ready to obey wherever God sends them. Just before the small entrance (when the priest carries the Gospel through the left side door into the nave, and then placed back on the altar), there is the prayer said quietly by the priest called the “Prayer of Entrance.” In that prayer the priest observes, “Master, Lord our God, Who has established the orders and hosts of angels and archangels in heaven to minister to Your glory, grant that holy angels may enter with us, that together we may celebrate and glorify Your goodness.” Then later, as we sing the Trisagion Hymn (the Thrice Holy Hymn about the Holiness of the Trinity), we acknowledge the presence of the angelic powers through the priest’s prayers, “O Holy God, Who is resting among the holy ones, praised by the Seraphim with the thrice-holy voice, glorified by the Cherubim, and worshiped by every celestial power… We thank You for this Liturgy, which You have deigned to receive from our hands, 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,” Then the priest implores us to join with the other angels as the Archangel Michael sends out the general command “Let us attend! Let us stand aright; let us stand in awe! ” And everyone joins with the angelic hosts in responding to Michael, “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.” And again, in the priest’s prayers, he emphasizes that we are declaring the holiness of God “together with these blessed powers” of the angelic hosts. We’re constantly being reminded throughout the liturgy that our role overlaps with theirs in their worship of and obedience to God in ministry.
So, this Sunday, as we celebrate this harmony between all of the angels and we humans, let’s remind ourselves that this unity isn’t just something at the end of time—merely in heaven. This gathering of Archangels, Angelic Powers, and us happens here in this world, right now. But, be aware that all these angels are working behind the scenes to help, direct, and guard each of us, when—in Christ—we struggle against the demonic work in this world. They’re helping us, especially, in fending off the attacks of those dark powers. They bring our prayers before God’s throne and they remind us that, like them, we’re also sent into the world with the message of God’s good news. So, there’s a shared ministry between angels and humans with God. God offers this way-of-being on our behalf, for our good—for angels and humans to offer together a non-stop continuous worship to God, and to unify all creation with Him.