The Earthly Angels

 

 

Purity, Holiness and Abstaining from sin:

That is why we say in the Divine Liturgy Prayer

"The Holy Angels" we don't say "the Sanctified". The

word "Holy" is more correct…

Truly, Angels had gone through a trial time

period. Satan with his followers fell and were hence

called the evil Angels. But the rest of the Angels

whom didn't fall are the righteous Angels. That is why

in the Book of Revelation we read "And war broke out

in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the

dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but

they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them

in heaven any longer…" (Rv12:7, 8).

 

􀂙 Strength and Obedience are other Attributes

of Angels:

As David the Prophet says about them in

(Ps103:20) "Bless the Lord, you His angels,

who excel in strength, who do His word, Heeding the

voice of His word".

One Angel killed, in the camp of Sennacherib, one

hundred and eighty-five thousand (2Kgs19:35). And

in another time, two Angels struck the men of Sodom

with blindness (Gn19). And another Angel struck

Herod the King, he was eaten by worms and died

(Acts 12:23).

􀂙 Angels are characterized by possessing strength,

by immediate obeying as well, as David says "Who do

His word Heeding the voice of His word" which means

immediately upon hearing His voice. Obedience

without slowing, unhesitating, without arguing

whether it concerns a mission of blessing or a

punishment mission. That is why in our prayers we

say to God "Thy will be done as in Heaven so in

earth" which means as it is done in heaven, let it be

as well done on earth...

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􀂙 Another Attribute of Angels is Beauty:

And so it was said about them sometimes that

they are angels of light (2Cor11:14).

It was also said about Stephen, the First of all

Deacons, during his judicial trial "And all who sat in

the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face

as the face of an angel"(Acts6:15).

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􀂙 Praising God is one of the Angels' Attributes,

and others are characterized By Ministering:

As to serving, there is the Seraphim whom are

standing in front of the Throne saying" Holy, holy,

holy is the Lord of hosts"(Is6).

For that reason, when we speak about Monks who

are devoted to worshipping, we say that they are "in

the Rite of the Seraphim" which means that they are

praising the Lord.

There are also Angels for the service, those whom

the Apostle said about them in (Heb1:14) " Are they

not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for

those who will inherit salvation?" so there are Angels

who are devoted for the ministry.

When we talk now about Monks as being Earthly

Angels, we say that they have two kinds of Angels:

some are for praising, and others are for ministering.

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_Angels of Ministry _

Those, they do righteousness and we call

some of them "Angels of mercy".

􀂙 One example is the Angel who brought food and

drink to Elijah (1Kgs19:5-7), and told him Arise

and eat, because the journey is too great for you.

􀂙 And the Angel who saved Lot and his two

daughters from the fire of Sodom (Gn19).

􀂙 Another Angel got Peter the Apostle out of prison

(Acts12). And an Angel saved Paul the Apostle

from prison (Acts16). Also another Angel got the

Apostles out of prison (Acts5:19).

􀂙 An Angel shut the lions' mouths so that they

won't hurt Daniel the Prophet (Dn6).

􀂙 There are Angels for Annunciation, as the Angels

of the Resurrection. Angel Gabriel brought the

good news to Zacharias the Priest, the birth of his

son John, and annunciated Virgin Mary of the

birth of her son who is Jesus Christ (Lk1).

􀂙 An Angel appeared to Cornelius the centurion"

Your prayers and your alms have come up for a

memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa,

and send for Simon whose surname is Peter... He

will tell you what you must do"(Lk10).

􀂙 Also an Angel was explaining to John what has

been mentioned in the book of Revelation. In this

same book it was mentioned at its beginning that

it is a revelation sent by God " and signified it by

His angel to His servant John" (Rv1:1).

􀂙 One of the marvelous things is that even in social

affaires, when Fr. Abraham sent his servant

Lazarus of Damascus to take a wife for his son

Isaac, he said to him then "God will send His

angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my

son"(Gn24:7).

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􀂙 There are Angels for preservation. As mentioned

in (Ps91:11, 12) "For He shall give His angels

charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In

their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash

your foot against a stone".

􀂙 There is as well a wonderful thing in the story of

the rich man and Lazarus, it is mentioned in

(Lk16:22) "So it was that the beggar died, and

was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom".

So the Angels carry the souls of the Saints. There

isn't any "Angel of death" who carries souls.

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There are Other Angels for Many Other Jobs:

For instance: there is an Angel for delivering a

message, as the Angel who warned the Wise Men

from the East in a dream that they should not return

to Herod, so they departed for their own country

another way (Mt2:12).

Another Angel appeared to Hagar and told her

"Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under

her hand" (Gn16:9).

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Of the Earthly Angels, There are Humans

who were Called as Angels:

As when God said about John the Baptist "Behold,

I send my messenger before your face, who will

prepare your way before You" (Mk1:2). And it was

also mentioned about the Bishops who are the

Ministers of the seven churches in Asia:" the angels of

the seven churches" (Rv1:20).

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_Monks are Earthly Angels_

Monks resemble Angels, whether in regard to

Praising, Service or ministering. They also resemble

them in their righteous deeds as Rescuing,

Annunciation of good news, and paving ways

somehow in front of people as explaining those roads

to them. Preserving people in all their ways, they

resemble Angels in their Purity, Holiness and

Strength.

As we say in the Prayers of Agpeya the book of

hours "Surround us by your holy angels, that, by their

camp, we may be guarded and guided". That is what

Angels of Heaven do…and so we see it in the work of

Ministers (The Earthly Angels), they preserve people

in the paths of the Lord "resembling His Angels".

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􀂙 Monks who are specified for Praising, they are

devoted for continuous praising following God's

commandment (Lk18:1). They resemble Angels in

Praising.

Even the Ministers, the Bishops of some Cities, as

was said about Bishop Abraam the reposed Saint of

Fayoum : that when he used to pray Psalm 50 loudly,

some of the people surrounding him on listening said

that, it took him around two hours praying this Psalm.

As his prayer was with contemplation and deep

understanding, not like the prayers of those who care

for how long a prayer takes not how deep it is…

􀂙 It was also said about St. Arsanious the teacher

of the Kings' sons that he used to be quiet. so one

of the Fathers asked him: “why don't you talk

with us Father?" and the Saint answered "God

knows that I love you, but I can't talk to god and

people at the same time".

So, those Earthly Angels, when they used to be

silent, they not only did that for the sake of refraining

from falling into conversations' sins, but also because

talking to people kept them apart from talking with

God.

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Believe me, even those who are in the Rite

of the Seraphim, they don't stop ministering:

In Chapter 6 of Isaiah Prophet's Book, the

Seraphim were praising God saying Holy, Holy Holy.

Isaiah cried out and said: "Woe is me, for I am

undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I

dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips". So one

of the Seraphim couldn't bear Isaiah's words "Woe is

me, for I am undone" and Isaiah says:

"Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in

his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs

from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and

said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your

iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged" (Is6:6,

7).

And so, those who are in the Rite of the Seraphim

if they are called for a chance to Minister, they hurry

to it, as the word "Then one of the seraphim flew to

me" indicates.

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_Your Job as an Earthly Angel_

You are not demanded to be a Monk, you can

resemble Angels in some of other characteristics:

􀂙 Undoubtedly, Josef the Righteous was an Earthly

Angel. When his master's wife asked him to

commit sin with her, he raised himself apart from

that physical level and said "How then can I do

this great wickedness, and sin against God"

(Gn39:9).

􀂙 Also David the Prophet whom was disturbed by

King Saul who chased him from one wilderness to

another trying, by any means, to kill him. when

Saul was in David's hands and when David's men

urged him to kill Saul, David refused and said "

The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my

master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my

hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the

Lord" (1Sm24:6). By that, he elevated himself

apart from the level of revenge. And he didn't

harm his enemy.

􀂙 The same goes for David when he wept over

Absalom. Though Absalom betrayed him and

didn't respect his fatherhood when he fought him

with an army in order to kill him and also slept

with his concubines. In spite of all that, David

wept and said " O my son Absalom--my son, my

son Absalom--if only I had died in your place!"

(2Sm18:33).

􀂙 St Abraam, He resembled the Angels in His

sympathy with the poor. And so did, to some

extent, the reposed Bishop Sarabamoon Abu

Tarha of Menofeya.

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And you, if you couldn't resemble the Angels in

their Praising and continuous Prayer, and if you

couldn't resemble them in their brightness and their

miraculous strength; so try to imitate them in

rescuing people, in Annunciating good news and in

paving roads for people to reach God.

And then you will be like the Earthly Angels.