by Fr Gabriel-Allan Boyd
In the Divine Liturgy we refer to “thousands of archangels and tens of thousands of angels,” an entire angelic army with “thousands” of military commanders 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?
There’s a peculiar point in the history of the angels that many people don’t know. At one time in heaven, God’s closest and brightest-shining angel, Lucifer (Isaiah 14:11-20), fell away from God to become the devil, dividing heaven by deceiving one-third 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, the 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! ” When we sing these words in the Divine Liturgy, we sing them in imitation of and in participation with that angelic army in their obedience to and glorification of God.
And it’s important for us to be reminded of this catastrophic conflict in the spiritual realms because, the greatest 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 greatest deception is in convincing you that he and his demons aren’t really disrupting your mind, nor sabotaging your soul through the TV shows you watch, and the music & news commentators you listen to, and the things you choose to read. It’s too easy for him to influence each of us toward the prideful and irrational belief that we’re too smart to fall under his sway, and that we too, like him, should be saying “I will…”
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’s command. Because of the fall of the devil and his angels and their deception of humanity into such irrationality, this feast is the celebration of the sobriety and unity of the two-thirds of the angelic powers who stayed loyal to God. It’s a cautionary call for us also to be sober and unified together in seeking to fulfil God’s will. We also rejoice in the constant help and support of the angels and archangels in the war against the dark powers and the evil one.
According to St Gregory of Nyssa, “The angels dwell above and beyond our universe, living in a condition consistent with their bodiless natures—light, clear, agile, unencumbered by space and time, and constantly moving.” Put in another way by St John of Damascus, Angels are a bodiless race, a sort of spirit or immaterial fire, or in the words of the psalmist, David: ‘He made His Angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire’ (Psalms 103:4); and by this He has described their lightness, fervor, enthusiasm, eagerness and strength of mind with which they serve Him. 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 nature, there are nine distinct orders, or ranks of angels—each having a unique role in God’s Kingdom. In his book: “Celestial Hierarchies,” St. Dionysios the Areopagite (one of St Paul’s early converts) lays out these nine ranks of Angels as follows: Godly Thrones, Six-Winged Seraphim, Many-Eyed Cherubim, Dominions, Powers, Authorities, Principalities, Archangels and Angels. Within these nine orders there exists three ranks: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones—Dominions, Authorities, Powers—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 the order stands in the presence of God’s throne, the more it shares in the divine likeness and illumination. God reveals His will to the nearest and highest angelic hierarchy and they, in turn, relay the message 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, thus, all of the angels obey 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 who stand before the throne of God: 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.
Today, as we celebrated the Divine Liturgy, I couldn’t help but notice the several places within where we observe the presence of the angels with us; where we are called to unify ourselves with the angels in their perpetual worship of God; and to be unified with them as they stand in readiness, to be obediently sent by God. Just before the small entrance (where the priest carries the Gospel through the north door to be brought into the sanctuary and placed 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 of our overlapping role and unity with the angelic powers in their worship of and obedience to God in ministry.
So, today, as we celebrate this feast of unity between angels and humans, we remind ourselves that this unity isn’t merely something in the life to come—at the end of times. This is a gathering of the Archangels with the rest of the Angelic Powers *and* with Us. This unity between the angels and us happens here in this world, right now. But, be aware that the angels are working behind the scenes to help direct and guard Christians who struggle in this world, especially in that battle with the dark powers…the one-third of angels who followed the evil one into the way of destruction. The angels care about us like a soldier in battle who’s fighting on behalf the family he’s left behind. The angels rejoice when a sinner returns to God in obedience to Him and thus living in freedom. They bring our prayers before God’s throne. Therefore, there’s a common liturgical work between angels and humans and God. God offers a work on our behalf, for our good, while the angels and humans together also offer a non-stop continuous doxology and worshipful work to God.