Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (Matins)
Hebrews 2:2-10
Luke 10:16-21

"You Shall See Angels"

Thus, does the opening chapter of St. John's Gospel boldly conclude. These are stirring words. Those who heard them spoken would have been electrified. For the ways of the forefathers, the ways of Abraham, strictly forbidden by the governing authorities, were to be restored.

Of course, for the ever-present Bodiless Powers and for their God, the "old ways" (so-called) remained serenely in place. What had changed was the culture. The ways reverently followed in the time of David had been supplanted by Babylonian ways and customs. Thus it had become for all of Judah and, following the Maccabees, for the whole Levant. The Babylonians had been supplanted by the conquering Persians, who worshiped the same god.

The culture changes. Its restless mind and churning passions are always flashing new colors, trends, and fads. But our God does not change. His requirements are always the same.

We are to be His, for He is a jealous God (Exod 20:5, Deut 4:24). And He will accept second-place to no competing lifestyles or personal habits (which He deems idols).

Accordingly, there are no part-time Christians. In fact, there are no degrees of belonging to God. We are either in, or we are out. We are His, or our eyes and heart are everywhere and upon everything else.

This is the life into which we are born. It is raging war in rebellion against God with God always present and His holy ones always watching. The scope of this war is universal. And no quarter is spared. Everyone is affected. Says Kosmas the Aetolian,

The Western monk Thomas Merton summed up his vocation this way:

In the midst of these smoking battlefields, the Lord Jesus issues a decree by way of an angel:

It is fire involving every part of our world, indeed, involving every atom of the universe:

The War in Heaven is memorialized in the Book of Isaiah, the prophet nearest to Jesus' heart:

This is no fable. The descent of the fallen angels to earth is the most consequential fact of our daily life and of our lifetimes. We declare their presence in the opening sentence of our Symbol of Faith. God is the "Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible." This invisible space (so to speak) is populated by the Bodiless Powers whom we call angels and by those malevolent spirits whom we call fallen angels or demons.

The Bodiless Powers are gathered in ranks of nine, in three groups of three:

The Bodiless Powers named in the Bible are the all Archangels: Michael (Daniel, Jude, Revelation), Gabriel (Luke), and Raphael (Tobit). On this, a patronal feast day of the Hermitage, we name the other four: Uriel, Salaphiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel, and Jeremiel. Notice their names all participate in the Name of God: El. The Archangel Gabriel (so important to us) is appropriately named "Strong Man of God." The Name of Michael, Prince of the Heavenly Host, poses a question "Who is like God?" declaring His absolute singularity and an unapproachable supremacy.

All ranks of the angels are men-at-arms. In fact, the meaning of Heavenly Host is army (from the L. hostis which it turn derives from the Indo-European root (g)hosti.) There were no other meanings by the first century. True icons of the angels depict them as soldiers, more splendidly arrayed than centurions or tribunes. Their manner is grave. Their characteristic greeting must allay our fears: "Be not afraid." And their manner of dress reminds us instantly that the world is a place where war rages. Jesus says,

Our God is a Warrior. He is called the "Lord of Hosts" 235 times in the Bible. That is, The primary message of the Bodiless Powers and of their Lord is, either you are with God in this daily struggle, or your are against Him. There is no middle or neutral position.

The war rages but the battlefield is our minds and souls. This is no abstraction, no figure of speech. Our every thought, our every word, is godly .... or it is not. Yes, the evil one tries to flood our minds with indecent thoughts and words, prompting us to indecent action, but these have no effect unless we consent. St. Seraphim of Sarov says, "How esteemed you are by the devil that he has singled you out for such attention! Let it pass! Let it go by!"

We cannot retreat. We cannot hide. For it is we who are the field of engagement. We are the reason the battle rages on. Should we fail to consent to rebellion against God, it would instantly cease.

In the Orthodox Church, we must be baptized right after birth. For baptism is not an intellectual thing. It is not a choice or a decision to be postponed until the age of consent. The Rite of Baptism inducts us into a cosmic resistance. We are declared to be in the ranks of God, and opposed to Satan actually spitting on the ground at the sound of his disgusting name. This is when our Guardian Angel is given. His name says it all: He is a guard, a soldier. And He teaches us to be on our guard.

Mostly, He teaches us goodness and the love of God, which is the place of our most intimate fellowship with our Angel. He moves our hearts by guiding us into thoughts and actions which He knows will flood us with powerful feelings all deepening our love of God.

And this is how we do battle. For love, the only Divine property to be found on earth, is our most powerful weapon. But don't we already know that? Isn't it our love for our spouse that keeps lust in check, that guards against adultery? Isn't it our love of neighbor that guards against envy and covetousness? And isn't our love for the God Who created us and created our beautiful world the thing which precludes any thought of not loving Him, to Whom we owe everything?

God made family as the building block for everything else in the human lifeworld. And family is the school of love. Everyone born into the world know this love. And as we graduate from this first "preparatory" academy, learning the ways of received and giving tender love, God sees that we are ready to enter the Family for which He created the world. We become aware of our birthright to His marvelous Kingdom. And it becomes natural to call Him "our Father."

But is uncontrolled lust and depravity, the rage of egotism, envy of others and covetousness, greed unto rapacity, and the self-centered life how the whole world ends? Let us answer through common experience: we enter that world of compulsion, and immediately we are greeted with the world's signature condition of life: disease, depression, loss of all peace of mind. For these are the tell-tale signs that one is going it alone, that one has abandoned the company of God.

For God cannot bless such life. It is contrary to His nature. The Prodigal Son's Father does not follow him into bar-rooms, into brothels, or into gambling dens. He cannot. But the Father waits faithfully at a roadside, watching, and will shower his estranged son with blessing once he has expressed his regret and confesses what he has done.

But is this really how the world ends? Ask the people of Sodom, where the rape of an angel is planned (Gen 19), where God has been utterly rejected. Or ask mankind living before the Flood, when "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen 6:5). When all decency is lost, God rightly declares, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever" (Gen 6:3). God does not choose the end of the world. The world is ours to lose. And after striving with us till it is no use, He honors our decision not to love Him.

But to those who love Him,

And we shall see Heaven open with God's messengers and guides lighting our path and acquainting us in the ways of Divine love .... and in Divine love requited.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.