By Fr. George Dorbarakis
The holy hymnographer John of Damascus, with strong faith and knowledge of the entire Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, opens our eyes to see mentally the spiritual world of angels and archangels, as well as the other incorporeal heavenly powers. That is, to see that creation of God, which preceded the rest of created creation and man, a creation that is in absolute obedience to the will of God and in constant glorification of His holy name. However, he emphasizes par excellence the position and work of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. And for Michael, he presents the triple characterization, as he does in every reference to him, such as in his well-known miracle at Chonae, of being Parastatis ("supporter" or "one who stands by"), Protostatis ("the one who stands first or in front"), and Prostatis ("protector"), namely that Saint Michael is “the parastatis of the most bright three-sunned divinity,” “the protostatis of the angelic brigades,” and of course “our prostatis,” “walking with us at all times and protecting us all from every evil circumstance.” As for Saint Gabriel, he reminds us that he was the one who “revealed to us a divine and truly great mystery”: “that the incorporeal God should be incarnated in a Virgin’s womb and become man in order to save man,” and even before that “to bring the joyful news of the birth of a child to Zechariah the priest,” so that “the voice of the Word, John, would be born.”
However, the purpose of the feast of the Synaxis of the Angelic Powers, according to the Holy Hymnographer, is not only the knowledge of this spiritual world and the expression of our gratitude for their many and varied benefits towards the human race. What is paramount for him, therefore, is our practice, which indeed pleases them and which is none other than our repentance: to turn away from sin and to live according to the will of God. For "they constantly intercede for our salvation and rejoice in our repentance." From this point of view, the main purpose of their feast is to challenge our will to imitate them: that we too may live, as much as possible, as saints in the world, mortifying within ourselves every sinful movement. “Let us who are on earth imitate their holiness as much as possible, mortifying every member of the flesh.” And as the poet says: “Let us envy the life of the angels, and let us raise our wings high, and with them let us ascend incorporeally, praising and exalting the Lord for all eternity.”
Leaving aside the most important points of the inspiration of the holy poet, we will point out something that is directly related to the crisis we are going through as a society and a nation. In the second reading of the evening of the feast, taken from the Old Testament book of Judges (chap. 6:11-24), we read about how the judge Gideon was called by an angel of the Lord, in order to save his nation that was suffering from the constant attacks of the Midianites. The angel came and sat under an oak tree, seeing the young Gideon, who was also preparing to flee, due to the dominance of the enemies of Israel. He then appeared to him, telling him that the Lord, who is the almighty God, is with him. Gideon expresses the logical question: "If the Lord is with us, why then have all these evils come upon us? And where are all His wonders, which our fathers told us about, that He did to bring us out of Egypt? So now God has made us pass over and delivered us into the hands of the land of Midian." The angel does not give an immediate answer to Gideon's concern. But he does give him the solution: "You will go with the power of God and save Israel from the hands of Midian. Behold, I have assigned you this mission." Gideon does not "surrender" easily. Again he is surprised: "But my own family is very small in the tribe of Manasseh and I am the least in my father's house." The angel leaves him no other leeway: "The Lord will be with you and you will strike Midian as if he were a man." And after Gideon is convinced that the call is indeed from God, "testing" the angel and with a sign, he is convinced and indeed with God's help and with a plan beyond simple logic, he defeats the Midianites.
Why do we say that the incident is also related to our crisis? For the understandable reason that we too are suffering from forces that afflict us and lead us, like the Israelites then, to misery. And while it seems that God is not with us, that is, in a way that He has abandoned us, He has probably begun to work out our salvation through His angels, but in a way that the human mind cannot comprehend. Who could have imagined that the solution would come to the Israelites then, about 1100 years BC, from a young lad, but having the power of God? The same may be true now: the solution will probably come from where we least expect it. We do not know what this is, but two things seem certain: first, that what will save us is, for now, something that no one even suspects – like the salvation of the world that came through an infant in the most obscure village of Judea; second, that our salvation is not going to come from those in high places, from the powers that seem to have the power. After all, the word of God constantly proclaims: “Do not put your trust in princes, in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
