Let us stand aright, let us stand in fear!
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In today’s Gospel reading, the Lord explains to us the sacramental hierarchical structure of the struggle of the loving obedience in the Church: “He who hears you (in reference to the Apostles i.e. Bishops of today) hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” (Luke 10:16).
It is interesting that the Holy Church has determined precisely this Gospel reading, which refers to obedience, as the most appropriate reading for today, when we celebrate the Holy Archangel Michael.
The Church of God wants to tell us that obedience to God and loving devotion towards God, makes even an ordinary angel – an archangel, and, that disobedience and self-love can turn an archangel into a demon. The same applies to people, and we have seen it many times before.
The fight against absolute pride, against the evil spirits of the underworld, takes place with absolute humility, i.e. with absolute obedience. The Lord Christ showed us this by personal example, He established it, and gave us the strength for the struggle of absolute obedience: “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2, 8) Certainly, absolute obedience was not beneficial to Him, but it is a necessity to us.
“Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’ And He said to them, ‘I saw satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.’” (Luke 10: 17-20).
In other words, Christ tells them: “Do not rejoice in My gifts, in the newfound glory, and in the dominion over the demons; but rejoice because of Me, rejoice because of the communion with Me and rejoice because My Heavenly Father made you His children by grace, My brothers (and sisters). For to have all the gifts of this world, if you do not have Me, you have nothing and you are nothing.” Yes, because we are dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father devotedly and nothing else, and our joy comes from our adoption, from the fact that we are God’s children, and not from having authority for some expulsion of some miserable demons; and that is all.
Because of that simple faith and trust in God and obedience, ordinary and unknown people became apostles, became martyrs, became venerable, became fools for the sake of Christ, became teachers of the Church and became children of God, by grace. But the important thing is that they did not ask for it; for them it was enough and a great honour only this; to serve the only true God – the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And let us not forget: no matter the consequences, whatever they may be, that they would endure because of their service to God.
Also, because of that simple faith and trust in God together with obedience, the ordinary and unknown angel Michael became the Archangel, the first angel to God. Some time ago, in the critical moment of the general fall of the angels deceived by the brightest and closest angel to God, and now the proud and dark arch-demon, that ordinary but obedient angel stood in the middle of Heaven and said: “Let us stand aright, let us stand with fear! “- thereby calling on the other angels in that instant, to remain with love and obedience in the established order of God, their Creator.
The ordinary angel Michael with this act had no intention to become a head angel and had no intention to become more famous than other angels – May God keep us safe from such blasphemy and shameful thought! – his desire was that he had to sacrifice himself for God: out of love for Him, and only for the fulfilment of His will and in His glory; and that was all. But because of the faithfulness and love he displayed, in just one moment, God gave him the greatest glory the angelic world could possess — he became an archangel, a head, and a leader of all angels. Eosphorus, the brightest angel until then, faded before the light with which at that moment Archangel Michael illuminated, and all angelic ranks and the whole angelic army saw another light, another “landmark”, which they had to follow.
Do you think that the status of being an ordinary angel or archangel is important to Michael? No, he only serves his God faithfully, not paying attention to the rank he has, and that is all that matters to him; and that is it. To do this, fanaticism is required: You serve your God no matter what the consequences or the glory which comes out of it.
Now, this basic and essential secret of our Christian struggle, the act of obedience, not everyone wants to discover and know: In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes (simple). Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.”
When He speaks of the wise and prudent, the God-Man Christ means of those who reject the struggle of obedience and humility and rely only on their nous and wisdom. And when He speaks of the simple, he thinks of those who simply, as children of God, for the sake of healing their minds, hearts and souls, though reasonable and wise, consider themselves unreasonable and unwise, and until the moment of discovering the place of their heart, they abide in the struggle (endeavour) of absolute obedience, fulfilling in practice, with simple faith and trust in God, the words of Christ: “He who hears you, hears Me .” Only concrete and absolute obedience is an endeavour of true ascetic love put in practice, without which, on the other hand, graceful love cannot be achieved …
Because of the intercession of the Holy Archangel Michael, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us!
Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
21.11.2021 09:55)
