St. Michael and the Bodiless Powers
Day of St. Michael and all the Bodiless Powers of Heaven. Talk a bit about Angels, and especially about those who fell. Very little is known (and far less is known dogmatically), but what we do know is amazing and testifies to the wonder of this world and power, majesty, and love of the God who created it.
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Example: angels are powerful. single-minded. awesome…. but still our beloved
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Assigned to us as guardians. Assigned to nations as protectors. we are not the center of their world: God is. But love compels them to care for us.
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Note the juxtaposition: they are mighty, but they choose to serve the lesser out of compassion. We have a lot to learn from their example.
Do you see how this speaks to the power and love of God? They are following the example that He Himself set for them. Perfectly powerful. Perfectly righteous. Completely flawless in intent and in action. But (Philippians 2:6) instead of choosing to celebrate perfection and righteousness simply by surrounding Himself with it:
HE COMES TO SERVE PEOPLE WHO HAVE REJECTED RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHO HAVE REJECTED HIM. WHO NEITHER RESPECT HIM NOR APPRECIATE HIS EFFORTS.
Like Him, the angels give up what seems to be their natural reward. They leave the glorious throne of the Most High for what? To care for people who reject truth and sacrifice at every turn.
There were angels – Satan and his allies – who saw God’s example (His willingness to humble Himself for beings that were so utterly undeserving) as humiliating and refused to follow suit. Satan set himself up as the judge and ruler of the world (Isaiah 14). He knew a way that was better than God’s, a way that would recognize greatness with respect and crown glory with dignity.
But he was wrong. The world is not built on a foundation of pride and judgment. It is built on the foundation of love. And love is more powerful than any other way.
He and those like him saw no need to protect the weak or help the poor, and so they set themselves up for defeat: for not only is love the greatest power, it is also the only source of immortality:
Here we have the most high God judging those angels and gods that would reject a way of sacrificial love (paraphrased for clarity):
God presides in the great assembly; He renders judgment among the gods (elohim): “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. “[You] ‘gods’ know nothing, [you] understand nothing. [You] walk about in darkness; [and as a result] all the foundations of the earth are shaken. “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ But [because you have rejected the way of righteousness] you will die like mere mortals; and like one of the rulers [Shining Ones?] you fall.” Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance. [Psalm 81].
That account from the Prophet David is expanded by the one given in Isaiah (14:9-15);
The realm of the dead below is all astir
to meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—
all those who were leaders in the world;
it makes them rise from their thrones—
all those who were kings over the nations.
They will all respond,
they will say to you,
“You also have become weak, as we are;
you have become like us.”
All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
along with the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread out beneath you
and worms cover you.
to meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—
all those who were leaders in the world;
it makes them rise from their thrones—
all those who were kings over the nations.
They will all respond,
they will say to you,
“You also have become weak, as we are;
you have become like us.”
All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
along with the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread out beneath you
and worms cover you.
How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.
Another, perhaps more familiar verse from Revelation, summarizes the various accounts of the result of Satan’s rebellion scattered throughout the scriptures:
Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Revelation 12: 7-9).
Satan and his kind refused to sacrifice themselves for those they considered unworthy of their attention. They tried to create a different order, one based on a more logical way of doing things; a meritocracy where the lower paid homage to the greater and the greater simply basked in the glow of their own splendor. There would be no need for humility because there was nothing below one’s self worthy of action.
But this is not God’s way. And all those who follow him reject such pride and continually sacrifice themselves for those around them, regardless of their perceived worth or merit.
But Satan still has his followers. I don’t mean that they have pentagrams inscribed on their altars or offer blood sacrifices to the devil. Some may, but most are believe in him and his way in the same way true Christians believe in Christ and follow His Way.
It is amazing how many – even of those who call themselves Christian – build their relationships – their families, their friendships, even their parishes – not on God’s way, but on the Satanic way. They always consider the worth of the person in need before deciding to help them; they stretch out their hands only to those who are like themselves, or to those would could offer something in return at some future date for their aid; less concerned about the need of the person than the cost to themselves. Satan rules such people as surely as if 666 were marked on their foreheads. The greatest blasphemy is when this occurs in our parishes: when we refuse to open our doors to serve the stranger; when we refuse to humble ourselves to heal petty schisms; when we use our pulpits and our positions to puff ourselves up and defame our enemies; when we come forward to receive harboring ill will towards those around us – even towards our priests! People who act in this way can call themselves what they will, but they have united themselves not to the Christ who gave Himself for the least of these, but to Satan who serves only his own pride and those that will do the same.
God did not spare the angels who chose this way; He judged them and cast them out. Do you think those who reject humility, who reject love, who embrace the ways of the fallen sons of god will be spared?
Reject Satan and all His works. Unite yourself to Christ. Accept the protection and guidance of those people and angels who serve His will. Do this not only because Christ did it first: do it because love compels you.
Christ did not only suffer for us to show us how such things should be done; He suffered so that we would have the strength to do the same. True Christians do not imitate Christ so much as they are empowered and ennobled by Him. They are less imitations of Christ and more Christ Himself: Him in them, them in Him. The body of Christ with Him at its head, with all – angels and men – doing the will of the one who sent Him.
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[see ccel.org, bibleindex.org, (for Patristic exegesis) and the “Divine Council” (for and example of a linguistic text criticism approach) for more on Psalm 81. A quick look at the different English translations of the Psalm at BibleGateway will show that there are many ways to translate this Psalm. Orthodoxy does not have a single interpretation – several are deemed useful for our salvation; these range from the chastised “sons of god” being the bad Israelites or pagans to having them be Christian sinners to having them be disobedient gods/angels]
