My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 26th of March, the Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates
the Synaxis of the Archangel GABRIEL, who rendered service in
the ANNUNCIATION of the divine, supernatural, and ineffable
Mystery of the Incarnation of JESUS CHRIST.
GABRIEL, the most holy and divine, Archangel, is commemorated today on March 26th. He was chosen by God to announce the gladsome tidings of the Virgin (Luke 1:26). Thus, we glorify the Mother of God and Venerate the Lord’s Messenger who contributed to the mystery OF OUR SALVATION. Today’s Synaxis, celebrated the day after the Annunciation of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, is not the only day we honor the Archangel Gabriel. He is also commemorated on the 8th of November at the Synaxis of the ARCHANGELS and the rest of the bodiless and heavenly ranks. His memory is also celebrated at his other Synaxis on the 13th of July, as well as when he chanted "IT IS TRULY MEET (Gk. Axion Estin) on Mount Athos, on the 11th of June. A SYNAXIS, literally "ASSEMBLY," is a feast or commemorative service usually associated with the Mystery celebrated the previous day. The term SYNAXIS also refers both to the ASSEMBLY for the Eucharist and to the shrine or church where teh Divine Office takes place.
The Archangel is one of the BODILESS HOST or the INCORPOREALS. In the strict sense of the word, the term "incorporeal" IS APPLIED ONLY TO GOD. Saint John of Damascus discusses the Angelic host, writing: "GOD BROUGHT THE ANGELS OUT OF NOTHING INTO BEING AND CREATED THEM AFTER HIS OWN IMAGE, AN INCORPOREAL RACE, A SORT OF SPIRIT OR IMMATERIAL FIRE. In the words of the divine David, we read: "He maketh His Angels spirits, and His liturgists a flame of fire" (cf. Psalm 103:5). Saint Gregory the Theologian has described their lightness and the ardor, and heat, and keenness and sharpness with which they hunger for God and serve Him, and how they are BORNE TO THE REGIONS ABOVE AND ARE QUITE DELIVERED FROM ALL MATERIAL THOUGHT. AN ANGEL, THEN, IS AN INTELLIGENT ESSENCE, IN PERPETUAL MOTION, WITH A FREE WILL, INCORPOREAL, MINISTERING TO GOD, HAVING OBTAINED BY GRACE AN IMMORTAL ESSENCE. All that we can understand is this: THAT IT IS INCORPOREAL and IMMATERIAL. But all that is compared with God, Who ALONE IS INCOMPARABLE, we find to be dense and material. For, in reality, only the Deity is immaterial and incorporeal. The Angel’s nature, then, is rational, and intelligent, and endowed with free will-UNCHANGEABLE IN WILL OR SUBJECT TO FICKLENESS. For all is created is changeable, and ONLY THAT WHICH IS UNCREATED IS UNCHANGEABLE. Also all that is rational is endowed with FREE WILL. As it is, then, rational and intelligent, it is endowed with freewill: and as it is created, it is changeable, having power either to abide or to progress in goodness, or to turn toward evil. It is not susceptible of repentance because it is incorporeal. For it is owing to the weakness of his body that man comes to have REPENTANCE. IT IS IMMORTAL, NOT BY NATURE BUT BY GRACE. FOR ALL THAT HAS HAD BEGINNING COMES ALSO TO ITS NATURAL END. BUT GOD ALONE IS ETERNAL, OR RATHER, HE TRANSCENDS THE ETERNAL: FOR HE, THE CREATOR OF TIMES, IS NOT UNDER THE DOMINION OF TIME, BUT ABOVE TIME.
"The Angels are secondary intelligent lights derived from that first Light which is without beginning, for they have THE POWER OF ILLUMINATION: THEY HAVE NO NEED OF TONGUE OR HEARING, BUT WITHOUT UTTERING WORDS THEY COMMUNICATE TO EACH OTHER THEIR OWN THOUGHTS AND COUNSELS. THROUGH THE LOGOS/WORD, THEREFORE, ALL THE ANGELS WERE CREATED, AND THROUGH THE SANCTIFICATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WERE THEY BROUGHT TO PERFECTION, SHARING EACH IN PROPORTION TO HIS WORTH AND RANK IN BRIGHTNESS AND GRACE. They are circumscribed: for when they are in the heavens, they are not on the earth; and when they are sent by God down to the earth, they do not remain in the heavens. They are not hemmed in by walls and doors, and bars and seals, FOR THEY ARE QUITE UNLIMITED. By the word "unlimited," again, I explain: for it is not as they really are that they reveal themselves to the worthy men to whom God wishes them to appear, but IN A CHANGED FORM WHICH THE BEHOLDERS ARE CAPABLE OF SEEING. For that alone is naturally and strictly unlimited which is uncreated For every created thing IS LIMITED BY GOD WHO CREATED IT.
"Further, apart from their essence, they receive the sanctification from the Spirit. Through the Divine Grace they prophesy. They have no need of marriage for they are immortal. Seeing that they are minds, they are in mental places, and are not circumscribed after the fashion of a body. For THEY HAVE NOT A BODILY FORM BY NATURE, NOR ARE THEY TENDED IN THREE DIMENSIONS. BUT TO WHATEVER POST THEY MAY BE ASSIGNED, THERE THEY ARE PRESENT AFTER THE MANNER OF A MIND AND ENERGIZE, AND CANNOT BE PRESENT AND ENERGIZE IN VARIOUS PLACES AT THE SAME TIME. Whether they are equals in essence or differ from one another we know not. God, their Creator, Who knows all things, alone knows. BUT THEY DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER IN BRIGHTNESS AND POSITION, WHETHER IT IS THAT THEIR POSITION IS DEPENDENT ON THEIR BRIGHTNESS, OR THEIR BRIGHTNESS ON THEIR POSITION. Furthermore, they impart brightness to one another, because they excel one another in rank and nature. And clearly the higher share their brightness and knowledge with the lower.
"They are mighty and prompt to fulfill the will of the Deity, and their nature is endowed with such celerity that wherever the Divine glance bids them, there they are straightway found. THEY ARE THE GUARDIANS OF THE DIVISIONS OF THE EARTH. THEY ARE SET OVER NATIONS AND REGIONS, ALLOTTED TO THEM BY THEIR CREATOR. THEY GOVERN ALL OUR AFFAIRS AND BRING US SUCCOR. AND THE REASON, SURELY, IS BECAUSE THEY ARE SET OVER US BY THE DIVINE WILL AND COMMAND, AND THEY ARE EVER IN THE VICINITY OF GOD.
"With difficulty THEY ARE MOVED TO EVIL, yet they are not absolutely immoveable. But now they are altogether immoveable, not by nature but by GRACE AND BY THEIR NEARNESS TO THE ONLY GOOD. THEY BEHOLD GOD ACCORDING TO THEIR CAPACITY, AND THIS IS THEIR FOOD. THEY ARE ABOVE US FOR THEY ARE INCORPOREAL, AND ARE FREE OF ALL BODILY PASSION, YET ARE NOT PASSIONLESS; FOR THE DEITY ALONE IS PASSIONLESS. They take different forms at the bidding of their Master, God, and thus REVEAL THEMSELVES TOMEN AND UNVEIL THE DIVINE MYSTERIES TO THEM. THEY HAVE HEAVEN FOR THEIR DWELLING PLACE, AND HAVE ONE DUTY, TO SING GOD’S PRAISE AND CARRY OUT HIS DIVINE WILL. [ Resources: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]
(To be continued)
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 