The first kekragarion (psalm verse) of Vespers calls Michael “the most radiant attendant of the thrice-sun divine nature.”

The first kekragarion (psalm verse) of Vespers calls Michael “the most radiant attendant of the thrice-sun divine nature.”

Michael is the ruler and revealer of the Lord’s power and energies, especially those that come forth in sudden action, or the divine operations that are destructive to sinners and enemies. Like a catapult he strikes evil, yet at the same time he appears unexpectedly as a helper to those who are passing through the most difficult turns in the history of their life, moments terribly unbearable. For this reason we call him “the most radiant attendant.”

The adjective “most radiant” (phaidrotatos) indicates his brightness, his luminosity, and the joy he brings to human beings. Michael does not inspire terror; on the contrary, he brings cheerfulness. He stands unceasingly before God, filled with light and joy, showing that the attendant of God, whether man or angel, cannot possibly be melancholy, depressed, or afflicted. If anyone has even the slightest sense of the Godhead, his whole being is immediately transformed, his face and his soul alike.

Michael stands before God in order to fulfill the commands of the Creator of all things; that is, to represent God before humankind and to minister to them. He provides for the hungry, the thirsty, and the shipwrecked. For Michael to hasten and be at our side requires no long procedure, only a nod from God.

Gabriel, as his hymns say, is “the one who reveals to us a divine and truly great mystery.” He reveals Christ in all the scenes of Holy Scripture and of daily life. Gabriel discloses to us the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and of the Holy Trinity, especially the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. When God desires to lift our heart or our contemplation toward Himself, He employs Gabriel, the angel of contemplation; he fills us with every spiritual aspiration.

Especially in the fifth and sixth kekragaria, the hymnographer calls him “the intercessor of our souls,” because he is the foremost ambassador of the person who seeks God. The search for God takes place through the awareness, the certainty, and the experience of communion and participation in the life of God. Likewise, for anyone to come to know and love God, a divinely inspired participation is necessary. In this communion and participation in God, Gabriel, the great Archistrategos, is the one who helps above all. This is what the fourth kekragarion declares:

“The pre-eternal Mind brought forth a second light, Gabriel, who, through divine participations, illumines all the inhabited world.”

These two Archangels, Michael and Gabriel, Gabriel meaning "God and man", stand at the center of today’s feast, together with all the other noetic beings.

~ Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra