Поучение второе на брань святого Архистратига Михаила, Воеводы сил небесных, и ангелов Его с семиглавым змием («Ополчится Ангел Господень вокруг боящихся Господа» (Пс. 33:8), «Приплыли в страну Гадаринскую» (Лк. 8:26), «Михаил и Ангелы его воевали против дракона» (Откр. 12:7))

The long-standing battle between the heavenly spirits and Lucifer, which was in heaven, was renewed on earth, in the country of the Gadarenes, a great listener! War in heaven with the serpent, war on earth with a legion of demons, which is spoken of in this week’s Gospel: “Jesus asked him: “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered into it” (Luke 8:30). For the overthrown serpent, ancient and great, called the devil and Satan, having gathered his demonic legion, attacked the country of the Gadarenes as a bandit and, having entangled one miserable man, tormented him, running through the mountains, deserts, tombs, sitting at the crossroads, so that no one could pass along this path. It is necessary to drive out this overthrown vagabond from here, as once from heaven, and drive him out with the hand of an angel. It is necessary for Michael to go out against him again with a sword and Angels, as before, “Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon.” And when this year the Holy Church unites on one day the twenty-third week of Pentecost, in which the Gospel about the demonic legion is read, with the Council of the Holy Archangel Michael and other disembodied Powers, it seems to bring the council of angels with the demonic legion to war and battle, in which the Creator of Angels and King Jesus Christ, our Lord, as leader, enters the country of the Gadarenes, and behind With him, the commander of the Heavenly Forces enters there with all the angelic regiments, armed against the ancient enemy. So, “they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes. Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon." And now in this world, as in the country of the Gadarenes, according to the promise of Jesus - for the Lord promised to be with us until the end of the age (see Matt. 28:20), - Michael and his Angels, the guardians of the human race, are making war for us against the serpent, cast out from heaven and bringing harm to people. Let us look with our mental eyes at this battle between the angelic council and the demonic legion taking place before us, let us see how strong the troops of both sides are, who are their leaders, what are they armed with for battle, and who is defeating whom? And let this be in honor of God. “We sailed to the country of the Gadarenes. Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon." Today, the Holy Church presents to our mental eyes a double council, a superb listener, a council of angels and a council of demons: the council of angels in the current solemn celebration, the council of demons in gospel history. The angelic cathedral in the most honorable, glorious, angelic Golden-Domed Church, the demonic cathedral in the country of the Gadarenes. Both of these councils, opposed to each other, gathered on the same day for nothing other than war, for battle. It is Michael and his Angels who want to make war with the serpent. What is the reason for this war? No other than us Christians. It's because of us that both sides are fighting. Legion, the council of demons, wants to strike us, from which the apostle warns: “The enemy the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). And the council of angels tries to defend us, according to the command of our Creator: “He commanded His angels to watch over us” (Ps. 90:11). Starting to look closely at this battle between Michael and his Angels and the demonic legion, first of all let’s look at the enemy’s army, at the demonic legion, for we must first recognize, test the opposing regiments and understand their strength, and then strike at them. An enemy army arose in a pagan country, in the western region (for Gadara was subordinate to the Western state, and its inhabitants were idolaters). The convoy of that army is called legion, that is, many demons: “Many demons entered into it” (Luke 8:30). And since the number of the legion is calculated unequally: some consider it to be 5 thousand, others - 6, and others - 11 thousand, or rather, an innumerable number, then here truly is all the power of the demons. This power is great, for if one does a lot of evil, because his strength is strong, then when there are many of them, there is absolutely no healing from them. We can see this legion divided into seven parts, into seven regiments, in accordance with the same place in St. Luke, where he describes the current gospel history. For, telling in chapter eight about the demoniac and the demonic legion, Saint Luke at the beginning of the same chapter (Luke 8:2) mentions Mary Magdalene, from whom Christ cast out seven demons. Saint Theophylact and Saint Gregory the Dvoeslov consider these seven demons to be the chief princes of demons, the leaders and creators of the seven deadly sins. After the story of their expulsion, in the middle of the chapter, the evangelist gives the current story about the possessed and demons, and some think that the same seven demons expelled from Magdalene appeared in another place, in the country of the Gadarenes, but in larger numbers: each prince with his regiment entangled a certain husband, taking revenge for his expulsion from his wife. Having been expelled from his wife, they, like flattering spirits, retreated to another country, attacked the husband, and all seven commanders with their regiments gathered in one possessed man. So, they became a legion, a great army, “because many demons entered into it.” That enemy legion is seven-armed, fighting against us with seven deadly sins. Such is the enemy's strength! Let's also look at our army, at the regiments of holy Angels protecting us, and let's look with our eyes at the youth Elisha. The Lord opened the eyes of the boy, and he saw a mountain full of horses and a chariot of fire all around. What is this? It is the Angel of the Lord who has encamped around those who fear the Lord. The heavenly army stood on the eastern side, in the region of the King of Glory, Michael and his Angels: Michael is the commander of the heavenly forces, his Angels are, firstly, all nine faces of angels, located in three hierarchies; secondly, these are perfect angelic persons, led by Saint Michael, who stand before the Throne of God as friends and companions. And the heavenly commander himself, appointed King of Glory, is not without comrades. Do you know who the comrades of the Holy Archangel Michael, the commander of the heavenly powers are? If you don't know, listen! In addition to the holy Archangel Michael, there are six highest heavenly spirits of angelic nature, six Archangels venerable and worshipful of the Archangel Michael, closest to all the ranks of heaven standing before God in His unapproachable glory. Together with these six, Saint Michael is the seventh, and in the personal septennial calculation he is the first. There is news about these seven highest Angels in the Revelation of St. John the Theologian, in chapter one, where the following is said: “Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and was, and is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His Throne” (Rev. 1:4). And again: “I saw seven angels standing before God” (Rev. 8:2). In the book of Tobi, one of them says: “I am the Angel Raphael, one of the seven who stand before the Lord” (Tob. 12:15). These seven Angels by name and order in their rank are counted as follows: 1) Michael, 2) Gabriel, 3) Raphael, 4) Uriel, 5) Salafiel, 6) Jehudiel, 7) Barachiel. Each of them has its own special highest service with the Lord God. Briefly, these ministries are expressed as follows: Michael is a servant of Divine glory, guardian and defender of the honor of God. Gabriel is the servant of the Divine fortress, the revealer of the hidden mysteries of God. Raphael is a minister of Divine healing, miraculously poured out from above on the weak nature. Uriel is a servant of Divine love, light and fire, illuminating with the knowledge of God and igniting human hearts with Divine love. Salafiel is a minister of Divine prayers, always praying to God for the human race, instructing people in fervent, God-thought and tender prayer and inciting them to this. Jehudiel is a minister of Divine praises and confessions, an assistant in labors and exploits, strengthening those who work in something for the glory of the name of the Lord, interceding and preparing a reward for them from God. Barachiel is a minister of Divine blessings and gifts sent to people by the grace of God. Such are the most significant ministries of the seven highest Angels and Archangels. These seven Archangels closest to the greatness of God rule, by the command of God, all the heavenly ranks and hierarchies. Let us not be afraid of the seven-armed demonic legion and its seven evil princes, having as protectors the seven Archangels with all the Heavenly Powers. There is greater strength with us than with our adversaries. Having looked through the troops of both sides with our mind's eye, let's see where is the battle site where these troops are fighting? The Holy Evangelist Luke indicates the true field and tract of that battle, calling it the Gadarene tract. It is the demonic power on him, united with the entire legion, that blocks the path of Jesus walking there. “They sailed,” he says, “to the country of the Gadarenes, and a man from the city, possessed of demons, met Him with a whole legion (Luke 8:26–27). By Gadara, in a mystical sense, we mean this accursed world, all in evil, of which we are the inhabitants. Gadara, as stated above, was a pagan, idolatrous country. How much in this world, in us, I say, there is so much of this paganism, idolatry! Whatever sin is, God is; whatever sinful passion is, it is an idol; no matter what the intention is for sin, it is idolatry! And the belly is God, says the apostle, and the love of money is an idol, and covetousness is idolatry (see Phil. 3:19)! In the Gadarene country there was a large herd of pigs grazing. God knows how many of Christ's sheep are among us! Are there not more of us among us who, having washed themselves, again climb into the mud (see 2 Pet. 2:22). The Gadarenes were unsociable and unkind. They did not want to lovingly shelter and soothe the desired Guest of Christ the Savior for one day, or, better to say, for one hour: “All the people of the Gadarene neighborhood asked Him to depart from them” (Luke 8:37). What about us? Will Christ the Savior ever spend the night or spend the day in our soul, in our heart, in our thoughts? And if sometimes we receive Him to us for an hour, either by partaking of His Divine Mysteries, or by inclining ourselves to tender prayer, then for how long? Look, here we are again driving Him out of ourselves with our evil sinful habits. The Gadarene country was adjacent to Galilee, or more correctly speaking, it cohabited with it. Galilee is a symbol of slipperiness, impermanence, turnover and a whirlpool like a wheel. But where else, if not in this world, is there more slipperiness, inconstancy, and upheavals! Who can stand firm and hold his place! It is not for nothing that the apostle warns: “If anyone thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). So, this Gadara, this cursed world, serves as a place where there is constant warfare and there is rarely peace, where the spirit always fights against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit (cf. Gal. 5:17), where it happens as on a military field. Our life is a battle, as Saint Job says. Here we will also see that spiritual war, which is waged “not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spirits of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12), and we will see it through the perspective of St. John the Theologian, that is, through the Apocalypse. O Saint John the Theologian! Give us your quick glance, so that we can see everything enough; point with your finger every point. Looking closely at the action of spiritual war, we see a monster, for John’s perspective shows, on the one hand, a seven-headed monster emerging from the depths of the sea: “He stood,” he says, “on the sand of the sea, and saw a beast with seven heads coming out of the sea.” On the other hand, it shows the seven-horned Lamb: “Standed a Lamb as if slain, having seven horns” ( Rev. 13:1, 5:6) They converge on the Gadarene military field and prepare to make war among themselves. Therefore, the Angel, pointing his finger at that infernal hydra to the seven heads of the serpent, says: “They will fight with the Lamb.” But is there any hope that the meek Lamb can fight with this terrible serpent? Angel: “The Lamb will overcome them” (Rev. 17:14). Who won't guess who this seven-headed beast was!? And the interpreters of the Divine Scripture clearly teach that this is Lucifer, who has seven heads, that is, his seven most basic Angels, according to the number of mortal sins, the seven most senior servants, princes, leaders and creators of these seven mortal sins. Who is this seven-horned Lamb? There is no need to feel much about Him: this can be seen from His very wound. “The Lamb that was slain,” - and it is obvious that our Lord, our Sweetest Jesus, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), slain as a sacrifice to propitiate God the Father for our sins, the Lamb who poured out for us from His wounds His Blood and water: water for the washing away of our sins, and blood for our atonement and sanctification, - “This is the Lamb by whose stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5; 1 Pet. 2:24). One would also need to inquire: what are these seven horns on the Lamb? "Having seven horns". And there is no difficulty in this, for the Theologian himself explains this, saying: “A lamb, as it were, slain, having seven horns, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth,” i.e. - according to the understanding of the interpreters of the Divine Scripture - the seven most basic Angels, named by us above, the strongest, bravest princes and leaders of the heavenly warriors, overcomers and drive away the seven-headed prince of darkness and his entire seven-horse demonic legion. The seven strong horns of the Lamb are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, placed in battle against the seven heads of the serpent, which are contrary to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Why are they called horns? Because just as a lamb has seven horns on his forehead, so Christ the Lord, the mental Lamb of God, has these seven Angels, as it were, on his forehead, at the very beginning. They are like horns, the top of all the Heavenly Powers. O verily, the slain Lamb will conquer His enemies with these horns: “The Lamb will conquer them!” And since these seven horns of the Lambs, or the seven chief Archangels of Christ, armed themselves for battle, the Holy Archangel Michael is usually depicted with a sword, as Joshua saw him, and as St. David says about him and others: “Two-edged swords are in their hands” (Ps. 149:6). However, the hand of ancient Christian isographers depicted them each with special weapons, not only with picturesque colors on the icons, but also with the most beautiful mosaics of various colors on the walls of the angelic church in the capital Sicilian city of Palermo, taking as a model the art of the baths, or baths of Diocletian, which are described as follows. Diocletian, the wicked Roman king, the great shedder of Christian blood, built for his voluptuousness stone baths, or baths, the best in craftsmanship of that time. And for this, where and how he could, he took Christians into custody and, under the supervision of strict and merciless bailiffs, forced them to do this work, exhausting them with hard labor every day. Many thousands of Christians carried out this work, carrying stones, carrying slabs and lime onto the walls, and performing all other necessary tasks until they sweat blood. And thus it became suffering for Christians, and bloody suffering, for many there were destroyed and tortured for Christ our God. When this building was completed, it was like a palace, and in these baths that idolater spent his time in luxury. Then, when idolatry died noisily and after many years the holy Christian faith prevailed, Christians, seeing the beauty of that wondrous Diocletian bath and remembering that that building was created by a Christian hand with bloody labor, they, filled with grief, cleaned this bath and, having consecrated it, made a church out of it. They dedicated this church to the name of the seven highest Archangels, or Heavenly Archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salafiel, Jehudiel and Barachiel - and depicted them on the walls of the church in both picturesque and mosaic ways. Imitating this, Palermo, the Sicilian city, having built a glorious church in the name of the same seven highest Angels, depicted them in the same way and likeness. The images of Angels were like this. Saint Michael was depicted trampling Lucifer with his feet, holding a green palm tree in his left hand, and a spear in his right, with a white banner flying at the top and with a crimson cross woven on it. Saint Gabriel is depicted holding in his right hand a lantern with a candle lit inside it, and in his left hand a mirror made of jasper, a green stone mixed in places with crimson. Saint Raphael is depicted holding in his left hand an alabaster, or medicine vessel, and leading with his right hand the youth Tobias, carrying a fish caught in the Tigris River. Saint Uriel is depicted holding a naked sword in his right hand, and a fiery flame blazing downwards in his left. Saint Salafiel is depicted with his face and eyes cast downwards, and his arms bent on his chest, like one praying with tenderness to God. Saint Jehudiel is depicted carrying a golden crown in his right hand, and in his left hand a scourge of three black ropes with three ends. Saint Barachiel is depicted carrying flowers of white roses in the depths of his clothes. All these things serve as signs of their great services to the Lord of hosts and special weapons and forces against the seven-armed legion, led by the seven-headed beast. The seven-headed beast, or serpent, armed with a seven-armed legion against the seven-horned Lamb, Christ our Lord, surrounded by seven most graceful Angels, also armed himself, having collected all his soul-harming weapons, filled with deadly poison, of which the largest and strongest are the following seven, that is, the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, laziness, uncleanness, gluttony, delicacy and wrath, for with these seven weapons he most of all conquers the universe. These are mortal weapons, for if someone is wounded by at least one of them and does not begin healing with holy repentance, he will undoubtedly die in soul forever. Having collected these mortal weapons, the adversary hid them in a certain house he had captured, in a miserable Gadarene habitation, and hid them in a crafty way, as if he were in ambush, so that no one would notice his plans. However, these military tricks of his were discovered by true signs and, as if with a finger, were indicated by the holy evangelists Luke, Mark and Matthew, who describe the current demoniac and the demonic legion. 1. “He cried in the mountains” (Mark 5:5). This is a sign of the first mortal sin - pride. Walking around like a mountain of arrogance, arrogant above everyone, thinking a lot about yourself and at the same time yelling, boasting, being vain - all this is a mortal sin. O enemy! Your place is in the abyss, in the abyss, and not on the mountain! Don’t you know what the Scripture says: “Whatever is high among men is an abomination to God!” (Luke 16:15) 2. “He who lived in the tombs” (Luke 8:27). This is a sign of the second mortal sin - uncleanness, for it, having lost the mercy of God, which revives the human soul, is like a dead corpse stinking in the tomb: “The spiritual wounds of the fornicator have stank and rotted” (Ps. 37:6). 3. “He who did not put on clothes” (Luke 8:27). This is a sign of the third mortal sin - gluttony, greed, drunkenness, which can expose the righteous Noahs. For what in the world can bring a person to nakedness, to squalor, to want, like gluttony and drunkenness! No wonder it is written: “He who loves wine and oil will not become rich” (Proverbs 21:17), “he will be naked.” 4. “No one could avoid this path” (See Matt. 8:28). This is a sign of the fourth deadly sin - delicacy. For, sitting at the crossroads, he broke and robbed. But what robber and robber in the world is greater and worse than a delicacy? For it lives only by doing injustice to its neighbors, breaking, robbing, stealing, taking away, in order to satisfy its insatiable delicacy. But it is difficult for him to get enough, for, as the Scripture says: “Hell and destruction are not satisfied, so the eyes of men are insatiable” (Proverbs 27:20). 5. “I broke the bonds of iron” (Luke 8:29). This is a sign of the fifth mortal sin - anger, rage, cruelty, which will not tear, break, or crush anything! And iron is like straw to her, and chains are like cobwebs! 6. "Beating with a stone". This is a sign of the sixth mortal sin - envy, for it throws stones at one's neighbor, with evil words, from afar, and a hundred miles away, and in a foreign land, shows him to people in a distorted form, condemning, slandering, scolding, humiliating, taking away glory, truly, stoning. 7. “He who did not live in a house” (Luke 8:27). This is a sign of the seventh mortal sin - laziness, laziness to the praise of God! For she does not care about the churches of God, and if she ever accidentally looks there, then with little piety, wanting to quickly hear: “We will go away in peace.” So, having collected all these weapons, explained by the evangelists by the mentioned signs, in one enslaved person, as if hiding them, the seven-headed serpent with his seven-armed legion of seven-part mortal sins blocks the path of the seven-horned Lamb: “He met Him” (Luke 8:27). The meeting is already a military battle: the troops converged, the battle began. Everyone took up their armor, their weapons, and the battle began: “Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon.” The elder head of the serpent comes, the head of pride: “I will ascend to heaven, I will be like the Most High!” (Isa. 14:14). The holy Archangel Michael, the defender of the honor and glory of God, strikes this serpent’s head with a vengeful double-edged sword, sophisticated on the one hand by the knowledge of God, his Creator, and on the other hand by the knowledge of himself and the Creator’s creation. He strikes the serpent with this double sword, exclaiming: “The Lord created us, not we!” (Ps. 99:3) - and immediately brings his victorious banner, the white banner, to the coal blackened by the fire of God's punishment - the head of hell, Lucifer; a white banner as a sign that the angelic nature, which has not fallen away from God, according to Scripture, is the whiteness of eternal life; a banner decorated with a scarlet cross - as a sign that the angelic fall and heavenly ruins will be replenished by holy people, redeemed by the Cross and Blood. He also offers a sign of victory - a palm tree, always green, never withering, as a sign of his eternal presence and non-departure from the Lord God. Fly, proud head of the serpent, to the very abysses of hell! You who ascended to heaven, be cast down to hell (cf. Matt. 11:23; Luke 10:15)! And the corpse, towering on the mountains, fell under the feet of the Archangel. Tread on, O commander of heaven, this asp and basilisk, trample upon the lion and serpent (see Ps. 90:13). Then the second head of the serpent fights, the head of uncleanness and fornication, wanting to swallow the whole world with its mouth, for “all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh” (1 John 2:16), a darkened head, darkening the human mind with vile bodies committed in the darkness of the night, which is why this passion is called in the Ladder a night bird, or an owl. Against this unclean head stands Saint Gabriel, the pure evangelist of the Most Pure Virgin of the Most Pure Conception of Immanuel, armed, as they always do at night, with a bright lantern, driving away the darkness of uncleanness. And as if caught in sin, denouncing, threatening and rewarding with punishment, she immediately appears with a transparent or pure mirror, so that this vile, like a poisonous basilisk, head, seeing her filthiness in the mirror, will die from her own appearance. Lie dead, you stinking beast! All chaste people turn away from your stench, trying to preserve their soul, like a candle in a lantern, not darkened by the darkness of impurity, hourly looking into their pure reflection, like into a mirror, and correcting what requires any correction. Then the third head of the serpent rises up to fight, the head of gluttony, drunkenness, luxury, and she tries to devour and absorb entire cities and places. This is confirmed by the following example from the Patericon. One hermit in the countries of Egypt, taking some of his handicrafts, took them to the capital city of Egypt, Alexandria, to sell them. He walks along the path, approaches the city and, already seeing this city of Alexandria itself, prays to God to let him stay there without temptations and return. And at that time, by the revelation of God, he had the following vision: he saw a great and terrible serpent, so great that with his body he surrounded the entire city of Alexandria, and, as it were, surrounded it with a wall, and turned his head inside the city and, opening his terrible mouth, devoured all people, old and young, secular and spiritual. The hermit stopped in horror, looking at this miracle with fear and fearing that he himself might fall into the serpent’s mouth, and suddenly he heard a voice addressed to him from above: “The serpent you see is the serpent of voluptuousness, and if you want to avoid it, do not enter the city.” Oh, this is the jaws of luxurious, sweet gluttony, which, according to the apostle (see 2 Pet. 2:13), swallows up everyone who indulges in daily satiation, even daily, or even all-night drunkenness, accompanied by everything that later grows in a voluptuous heart. Against this insatiable head of the serpent, the third Angel, Saint Raphael, the minister of Divine healing, comes out with medicine, for from gluttony and drunkenness diseases, not only physical, but also mental, constantly occur, which is why the Lord warns: “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down by gluttony and drunkenness and the cares of this life” (Luke 21:34). This is where a good doctor with an effective medicine is needed. This doctor is Saint Raphael, whose medicine is real destruction for the serpent, and real treatment for people. This doctor places his heart on a burning coal, and the devil runs away without looking back, as it is narrated in the book of Tobias: “That smoke will drive away every generation of demons, either from the husband or from the wife.” And Saint Raphael not only drives away, but also catches up with the devil, and binds him like a captive slave: “Raphael caught the demon and chained him in the desert above Egypt” (see Tob. 6th chapter). By this act he instructs everyone: set your heart on the burning coal of God’s love, and burn the tenderness of your body, prone to passion, with abstinence, and then “mortify your earthly members” (Col. 3:5), be a smoke of fragrance, pure life in God, and then you will truly overthrow, defeat, drive out the devil and be able to bind him so that he no longer harms you. The fourth head of the serpent is fighting, the head of love of money, covetousness, and avarice. And onto this chapter the fourth Angel, Saint Uriel, the servant of Divine Love, draws a sword along with fire. The sword is precisely to hit and kill her, and the fire is to burn her to dust. Both sword and fire are signs of Divine love. Whoever has a heart wounded, as if by a sword, by love, whoever has a heart inflamed, as if by fire, with the desire of God, he can say with the apostle: “I count everything as rubbish, that I may gain Christ; and Who will separate us from the love of God: either danger or a sword? – neither danger nor sword (Phil. 3:8; Rom. 8:35). Then the fifth head of the serpent appears, the head of the enemy’s anger, rage, and cruelty against us, wanting to immediately destroy us all from the world, as this enemy asks in the revelation of the holy martyr Evdokia: “Loosen a little the bonds with which I am bound, and you will see how in the blink of an eye I will destroy the human race on earth and will not even leave its heritage.” Saint Salafiel, who always prays to God for the human race, confronts this serpentine furious head, and with his prayers, as if by a river of fire, drowns the fiery rage of the enemy, and, as if with strong arrows, he stings and kills that head, and teaching each of us to be without anger and kindness towards our neighbors, he exhorts together with David: “Get away from anger and forsake rage” ( Ps. 37:8), - so that we stand up in prayer before God without anger, as Scripture says: “I desire that men in every place say their prayers, lifting up clean hands without anger and doubting” (1 Tim. 2:8). The sixth head of the serpent, the head of envy, is punished by the sixth Angel, Saint Jehudiel, with a red scourge of three ropes. Red, that is, severe punishment; of three ropes, that is, deprivation of God’s grace (this is one rope), eternal bitterness (this is another rope) and endless darkness (this is the third rope). And this envy is envy of human salvation, which consists in the grace of God, sought by a pious heart and awarded an eternal crown in heaven, a golden crown, for enduring the enemy’s envy, by which people are tempted “like gold in a furnace” and become pleasing to God: “He tested them and found them worthy of Himself” (Wis. 3:5). And punishing and killing the demonic envious head, Saint Jehudiel stretches out his right hand with a golden crown, crowning with it those who just as courageously endure envy from visible enemies - from warring friends and neighbors - as from invisible enemies. The seventh chapter of the serpent, the head of laziness, the seventh mortal sin, is mortally struck and killed by Saint Barachiel with the smell of white roses, that is, with the blessings and gifts of God given to people through his hands. About the color of roses, those who study natural sciences say that it serves as a gain for the bees who collect honey from it, and death for the beetles, for they die as soon as they taste this color. The spiritual color of heavenly blessings and gifts of God, formed by the white roses carried by Saint Barachiel in the depths, is true destruction for the devil, for from where the grace of God shines, the devilish power is driven away. But it is a life-giving acquisition for a person, for just as a rose with its scent attracts a bee to collect honey, so this spiritual flower with its power encourages a person to engage in non-slothful exercises in labors and deeds, with which he deserves the sweetness of eternal blessing in heaven, as it is said: “Come, you blessed” (Matthew 25:34). Thus, the seven-headed serpent was defeated by the seven horns of the slain Lamb - the seven noblest Angels standing before God. Thus the forces of the seven-armed legion were destroyed, so the cunning and treachery of the seven deadly sins, these enemy weapons, were destroyed. Rejoice, heavenly commander, holy Archangel Michael with your angels, with your most glorious comrades, and sing with all the heavenly powers the song of victory: “The Lamb has overcome them,” because He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Amen.