Lighting the lighter of the saints 43rd "The Holy Angels" 26.03.2025

Your Eminence, my reverend
fathers and brothers, greetings!

We are in the blessed period
of Great Lent, which, 

while ascetic and mournful,
also brings us great joy

and blessings 
through the many services 

in which the faithful have
the opportunity to participate, 

as well as through its small 
and large feasts.

Last Sunday we celebrated 

the great feast of the Adoration of the Cross, 

and yesterday 
was the glorious day 

of the Annunciation 
of the Theotokos.

Today is the Synaxis 
of the Archangel Gabriel 

and the day 
after the Annunciation, 

and our Metropolitan has chosen 
a rather interesting topic 

for tonight's dialogue gathering: 

"The Holy Angels." 

The heavenly and bodiless creations, 

which were created before
the creation of the visible world, 

as mentioned
in the Old Testament 
in the Book of Job.

The Heavenly Powers

are commonly referred to as Angels, 

a name derived from the verb αγγέλλω, 

meaning "to announce.

"In other words, they are messengers.

 Because, apart from being spirits 

who glorify God by singing ceaselessly 

"Holy, holy, holy Lord Sabbaoth" 

and other hymns of praise, 

they are also co-workers 

with humans for our salvation.

 They are sent by God to announce His holy will to us,

to protect us, to enlighten us, 

and to strengthen us in our spiritual struggle.

 "All are ministering spirits
 sent forth to minister

 for those who will inherit salvation.

" As the Apostle Paul 
divinely points out 

in his letter to the Hebrews.

 And as immaterial spirits, 

they are extremely swift
 in their movements.

 That is, they can instantly 
be anywhere.

 That is why they are 
depicted with wings.

 They can take human form when necessary 

and are not limited
 by material obstacles.

 Every nation, every city and village, 

and every church 
has its guardian angel.

 But every Christian personally 

receives a guardian angel 
from God 

at the time of baptism, 
who protects them,

 strengthens and guides them 
on God's path 

throughout their life, 

and takes their soul 
at the moment of death

 to lead it to God 
for the first judgment, 

but also to give an account

 of how much 
they helped that soul.

 And our Holy Church 

has established beautiful prayers and supplications

 to our guardian angel.

 For example, the petition in the Completion Litany:

 "Angel of peace, faithful guide,

 a guardian of our souls and bodies, we ask of the Lord." 

The last prayer of the Small Compline 

and the supplicatory canon

 to the guardian angel
 in the Great Horologion.

 And we should invoke our guardian angel 

as often as we can

 and strive not to embitter 
and sadden him 

with our sinful deeds.

 Nor should we shame him
 at the hour of judgment

 for our unrepentance.

 I will not dwell any longer 
on the beautiful text 

of Father Photios that we have.

Your Eminence, 
the floor is yours.

Good evening to you all, 

that Panagia has made us worthy 

after the great feast of the Her Annunciation,

 to speak about the holy Angels, 

since one who served 

the mystery of the Annunciation is an angel, 

and indeed an Archangel, 

and more specifically
 the Archangel Gabriel.

 Today, March 26, 

we celebrate the Archangel Gabriel precisely 

because he served and ministered to the mystery, 

the greatest mystery 
of the mysteries 

of the Incarnation 
of the Son and Word of God.

 And so, through the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, 

the Son and Word of God 

became perfect God
 and perfect man.

 And because, as much as we like to talk 

about the safety of the holy angels,

 this mystery of the Incarnation of Christ the Savior

 is very important,

 I will recite as a starting point this reading, 

which unfortunately is not read in our period 

on the feast day 
of the Annunciation.

 This is called the Synaxarion.

 When you go to the morning services 
on feast days, at Matins, 

you hear the chanter
 reading and saying 

"On this day we commemorate our holy

 and God-bearing father" 

and says the name of the saint being celebrated, 

this is called a synaxarion.

 But it is called a synaxarion 
because immediately 

after the announcement 

of the name of the saint being celebrated,

 there is usually a short text 

referring to the life of the saint being celebrated.

Here we are now, on the 25th.

 The synaxarion 

of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary says, 

"On the 25th of this month."

 That is how it is read.

 Not like a newspaper.

 It is read in a solemn tone, with a little music.

 But not with any at all.

 Everything in the Church has its measure.

 First, it is read what feast we are celebrating, 

then there are verses,

 usually two, sometimes three, 

which are in very ancient Greek.

 But for someone who is learning ancient Greek, 

these two or three verses encapsulate the entire feast, 

the entire meaning of the feast.

 What a great crime the prime ministers committed.

 Georgios Rallis did it in Greece, 

and the rest of us Greeks
 in the rest of Hellenism

 and Romiosyne followed suit,

 not knowing the language of our fathers, our saints!

Now there is an effort here in the Metropolis, 

and I say this because 
it is something 

that makes me very happy, 

by our Protosyngellos, Father Fotios Ioakeim, 

who is very knowledgeable in the ancient Greek language, 

especially in ecclesiastical language, 

which is not particularly difficult, 

and has been teaching 
since October 

grammer leassons
 in ancient Greek.

 He started with 25 students, 

I asked him 
the day before yesterday, 

he told me, 
15 have dropped out.

 I told him, if you have 5 left, say a big thank God!

 And that's how we started 

with Marios and Yannis in Byzantine music.

 With 2-3, 
and now they have 23.

 That's how you start.

 Because every beginning 
is difficult, 

as my late mother 
used to say.

 But we must give these few the opportunity 

to learn more Greek.

 Not to mention 
that we will need it 

in a few years for computers and artificial intelligence.

 It will have such an infinite memory 

that only the ancient Greek language 

will be able to accurately guide 

these little robots called AI, 

which are artificial intelligence.

 We return after this digression, and I ask you, 

because we will continue
 the lessons

 in ancient Greek
 in the new year, 

which always begins
 in the Church in September, 

to take an interest, 

especially the younger clergy.

 It is not possible for lay people and priests

 to be concerned 
only with their own children.

 That is not possible.

 We must train teachers,
 but not just a few.

 Today's teachers know a little about every subject

 and nothing about any.

 We must specialize.

 Those who have a voice in Byzantine music, 

those who are interested in the ancient Greek language, 

especially ecclesiastical Greek.

And let us all love
 the Divine Liturgy

 that houses the Divine Liturgy

 and the synaxaria and the architecture

 and the music and the hymns and the ancients.

 The Divine Liturgy is the ark.

 Just as Noah once had the ark,

 we Orthodox Christians have the Divine Liturgy, 

within which all that is good 

is saved from the flood of the new era, 

from the flood of sin and ignorance.

 Where you find educated people who are distorted, 

ministries that offer nothing but education.

 So you understand that our responsibility 

towards the new generation is very great, 

and I am glad that the new generation, with technology, 

can be tempted and sin with what they see and hear,

 and be corrupted and depraved, 

but new technology has many possibilities for us

 to teach the new generation 

what the Divine Liturgy saves in modern ways.

 However, we need teachers 

who have the gift of communication.

 This is true.

 That is why I am glad that in our Metropolis, 

despite its small size,

 we have people who can teach this quality, 

whether it be ancient Greek, Byzantine music, 

theology, hagiography, or history.

 Even quantum physics, 

which also has its value

 in the crazy quantum era 
we live in.

 Now let us turn to the essentials of our faith.

In Matins, the Synaxarion
 is always read in a solemn tone,

 as I described earlier,

 by the reader whose job
 it is to read it.

 "On the 25th of this month, the Annunciation 

of our Most Holy Lady,

 the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary." 

It tells you 
what we are celebrating,

 it defines the feast.

 Then there are the verses 

that contain all the vitamins, that is, 

the meaning of the feast.

 What does it say here 
on March 25?

 "The Angel announced the Son to the Virgin,

 the Father's greatest Angel of the Council." 

And then a sentence 
in Homeric language.
 
"The Angel spoke to Mary on the fifth day." 

And then there is the Synaxarion in simpler Greek, 

but not newer.

 The Greek 
of the 10th century.

 These were usually written by a saint, 

Saint Symeon the Translator,

 who lived in the 10th century.

 And he says 
what we celebrate 

on the feast 
of the Annunciation.

@

 "The philanthropic and merciful God, who always cares for the human race, as a loving Father," seeing "the work of His hands," His creation, the human being who came forth from His hands, "enslaved and tyrannized by the devil, and subjected to the passions of dishonor, and subject to idolatry, He decided to send His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem it from the hands of the devil.

 God saw, he says, that his creation, man, was being tormented by the devil, so this creature that was being tormented by the devil and led by the devil into the passions of dishonor, of the flesh, he means, but what else?

 And idolatry.
 So God Himself had a plan.
 "I have decided to send forth His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ" the second person of the Holy Trinity to redeem us from the hands of the devil "Since he wanted to deceive, not only Satan, but also the heavenly powers themselves," here he says something very powerful that few have understood correctly.
 Because, he says, God wanted to "deceive," to trick, whatever he does, he does it secretly, that is, in secret "Since he wanted to deceive, not only Satan," who is the enemy of humans, but even these heavenly Powers, nor the angels, so that they would not notice "one of the Archangels, Gabriel the glorious, confided the Mystery," the Triune God entrusted His mystery only, only, only to the Archangel Gabriel.
 Not to Michael, nor to anyone else, only to Gabriel "he predestined to be born and the Holy Virgin pure as worthy of such goodness.

" How beautifully he speaks of our Lady!
 She was worthy, he says.
 Of such a blessing, of such goodness!
 "And the Angel came into a city of Nazareth, and said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.
 And she said, 'How can this be?
 And he said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
 The Holy Spirit will come upon you, he tells her, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
 "And she said," our Lady.
 "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.
" She had to agree, herself, without any distrust or coercion.
 While you see in the case of the conception of St.
 John the Baptist when Gabriel announced again to the father of John the Baptist that you will give birth to a son and name him John, he says, but I am old, is it possible for me to have a child?
 He put logic first.
 And the prophet Zechariah, even though he was a prophet, received his punishment.
 He should have shown more trust.
 And he tells him, "You will be silent until your wife, the elderly Elizabeth, gives birth to a child who will be named John.
" Whereas here, with the Virgin Mary, she asked her question, exhausting her logical nature by asking him.
 "How will this be for me?
" The Virgin Mary was a 14-year-old girl at the time.
 And immediately the archangel Gabriel said what we know and hear.
 "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
" And the Virgin Mary said.
 "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.
" Here it is written according to his word, "And immediately after the words of the Archangel and hers," but how beautifully it is written!
 At the same time that he said the words, the greeting, "Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you," but also as soon as the Virgin Mary said to him, "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word," the recitation of the Annunciation was accepted, and at that moment the conception of the perfect God and perfect man Jesus Christ took place.
 And remember when we read the Salutations.
 How do we begin?

 "The angel, the foremost of the heavenly host, was sent from heaven to say to the Mother of God, 'Hail;' and with the incorporeal voice, seeing you incarnate, Lord, he stood in awe and cried out to her thus:"
You see?

 What the hymnographer wrote here is also mentioned in the synaxarion.
 "And with an incorporeal voice.
" Why is the voice incorporeal?

 Because the Archangel is incorporeal.
 At that moment, the conception took place, the great mystery, which no one noticed.
 When did the angels realize that the One who was born was perfect God and perfect man?

 Nine months later.
 Where?

 In Bethlehem.
 That is why it says there that a multitude of holy angels sang "glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.
" Let me repeat, "And at the word of the Archangel and hers," the agreement was made, "she conceived in her immaculate womb the Son and Word of God.
" And here he begins and explains in two lines.
 Who is this Son and Word of God whom she conceived in her immaculate, pure womb, that is, in the womb of the Theotokos, the Mother of Light?

 "His wisdom is his essence and power, through his shadow and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
" That it is wisdom which, now, the wisdom of God the Father, the Word of God the Father, became incarnate.
 It took on substance, it became flesh, it became tangible, to put it simply.
 To eat and drink Him, to see Him in icons, to hear His Word in the Holy Gospel.
 This is what becoming flesh means for us in practice.
 "From then on, the Mysteries of the Word of God were accomplished carefully, for our salvation and redemption.
" And how beautifully it ends.
 "To Him be the glory and the power forever and ever.
 Amen.
" 
A man of God once told me that when you give speeches or sermons and you feel that you are at peace, it means that those who listen to you will also be at peace.
 If you are moved, they will be moved too.
 If you believe in what you are saying at that moment, those who listen to you will believe more.
 In other words, whatever energy comes from the person saying it, the same energy, often much more so if one of you is humble and not selfish and angry, then you realize that a form of conception.
 How did we describe it before?

 "And with the incorporeal voice, seeing you incarnate, Lord," together with the voice of Neophytos here, more faith, more energy, more power is captured within you.
 That is why such speeches must be made everywhere.
 But, but, but.
 The one who makes you believe, fast.
 He himself feels that, I am empty, but that little faith that my Church, my mother, my father gave me, calls upon the Holy Spirit and comes into me and through me "God is with us.
" God is with you.
 And you, with your prayers, strengthen and reassure me, who may be much weaker than you, much more sinful than you.
 This is the Church.
 A communion, a communication of energy, of grace.
 
Now, to explore deeper into the specific topic of the holy Angels that we have chosen, let me explain why I chose this topic today.
 We could talk about Great Lent, we could talk about repentance, which is the period of repentance par excellence, we could talk about the Resurrection and how to live Easter.
 There are many things you can do during Great Lent.
 However, my contact with contemporary people has shown me that fear prevails.
 Not only among young children, but also among adults.
 In other words, all the news we hear, all the impressions we get, are that at any moment we will go bankrupt, there may be a world war, volcanoes may erupt, there may be earthquakes, plagues, floods, famine.

Yesterday, a new European Union directive was issued.
 It says that all European Union citizens should stock up on supplies for 72 hours.
 And that doctor I've told you about before, who watches the news and sends me the most noteworthy stories so I don't have to tire myself out searching the internet, sends them to me in a package.
 And he tells you, don't tire yourself, Your Eminence, it's better to pray and study, and we will send you the news that is important.
 Among the four or five items he sent me yesterday was this news item.
 And he wrote below, remember, Your Eminence, how many people mocked you when you said, take some supplies for the house.
 Now it has become a European directive.

All this, however, even the prophetic word that I was one of the first to serve faithfully, I would say, and at a cost, but people are not all ready to hear prophecies, European directives on food shortages, earthquakes, and floods.
 The first feeling that prevails is fear.
 And St.
 John of the Ladder says, as we have said before, what is fear?

 Fear, he says, is a lack of inner knowledge.
 In other words, your heart does not inform you of what God has in store for you.
 You may have heard it a hundred times from your grandmother, you may even say it to your husband when he comes home at the end of every month and counts the money that is running out.
 But you are human.
 "Your lips say one thing, but your heart says another.
" I experience this too, not just you.
 I preach one thing, but I feel another, and I think another.
 So I thought to myself, Neophytos, let them say everything else, because those people who come or watch and listen to the homilies are usually people of the church.
 They will find someone, and thank God, there are very good speakers on the websites.
 Some talk about repentance, others about prayer, Father Evangelos does his crazy things but also says nice things about catechism.
 You should speak, I say, about something that will take away people's fear.
 When fear comes, put something in front of the fear that will erase it.
 Because many people, including archbishops and spiritual leaders, tell me that if there is one thing missing in our days, it is courage.
 But is it permissible to be a Christian and be fearful?

 Tell me.
 Is there anything more contradictory?

 To say, "I await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come," and as soon as someone tells you that you will go hungry, "Oh, let's fill the refrigerator.
" But is that possible?

 Or as soon as they tell you about Satan.
 Stop, stop, stop, I'm afraid, I won't sleep tonight.
 But son, he is the enemy and he was defeated.
 That's why he was crucified, that's why he was resurrected.
 So that Satan would be defeated.
 And you're afraid of Satan?

 Then how will they go to Saint Kypriano to perform exorcisms?

 How, when you hear Satan screaming there?

So I say, give weapons to Orthodox Christians to manage their fears and phobias.
 Now what will the poor unbaptized, the misguided, the agnostics, and the atheists do?

 I really feel sorry for them.
 With everything that is happening and everything that will happen.
 The father of Kyprianos Papaioannou from Avgorou said one of the children who was in Tempi, whom we knew and who was revealed to us by people of God, because God allowed him to be among these martyrs and witnesses, and Kyprianos Papaioannou, a child who kept his purity and his fiancée in order to become a priest, who learned Byzantine music, who learned ancient Greek in order to serve his priesthood with as many skills as possible.
 When he arrived, he says, and got on the train of death, he remembered what his father, Father Christodoulos, had told him: "My son, when you go on a journey, take this rule with you, a small pocket notebook.
 It is a prayer to the holy Archangels, and read it.
 He asks him, "Why, Father?

" Because Kyprianos was also a modern child of our time.
 He tells him, "We older people grew up with a beautiful little song.
 "I fall down and cross myself, I have an angel by my side, I consider myself a friend of God and I fear no one.
" We, he tells him, didn't know much.
 There was no internet, nor were there many religious books in our time, and even less so in the time of our parents and grandparents, who lived through British rule and, some of them, even Turkish rule.
 We, he tells him, grew up with simple prayers.
 Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, Holy Mother of God, save me, Cross of Christ, save me and protect me.
 And especially with this, he tells him.
 With love for the holy Angels and Archangels.

He got on the train, just like the other children.
 The train, which I do not call the train of death but the train of eternity, because these children, through this ordeal, now enjoy and rejoice in eternal life.
 But those who tortured them will answer to God.
 I pray for the justice of men to come to their senses and build better railways.
 And his father says that he was reading the canon, the prayer to the holy angels, and at that moment, just before the explosion, he saw Christ, he says.
 And Christ said to him, Kypriano, something very, very serious is about to happen here where you are.
 Do you want me to send my Archangels to save you so that nothing happens to you, or do you want to be in My glory from now on?

" And the young man, without thinking, says to him, "My Christ, am I worthy now to experience this, to see You?

" To see You and talk to You?

 Yes, my child, He says.
 If you choose me, He says, you will experience much more joy.
 With You, my Christ!
 He said.
 He forgot everything.
 And that he was 20 years old, and that he would live with his fiancée and get married and have children and become a priest.
 As soon as he saw Christ, he saw his goal.
 With You, my Christ, he says.
 And when the explosion happened, who came before him and saved his body and did not dismember it?

 Saint Marina.
 You see?

 That is what faith in eternal life means.
 It may seem extreme to you.
 Some who hear these things think they are exaggerated.
 They are not exaggerated at all.
 And if it is excessive, our faith is not convenient.
 It is excessive because it believes in the impossible, it believes in the irrational because it loves the Word, Christ who conquered death, who conquered Satan, who conquered our sin.

The holy Angels, as you can see from these examples, are functional spirits sent by God to serve His will on earth; in heaven, they are functional spirits.
 Like our chanters, they participate in the Divine Liturgy in the same way as we have described.
 I have said this many times, in the central aisle here in the church of Akaki, the Heavenly Divine Liturgy.
 If you look at who is officiating, who participate in this Heavenly Divine Liturgy, if you see who is officiating, who is participating in this Divine Liturgy, it is mainly various angelic Powers.
 And of course, in this Heavenly Divine Liturgy, all the people of God, like Kypriano, whom I mentioned earlier, and others who are in the light of Christ and are not damned in the outer darkness, also participate in this Divine Liturgy, which is primarily an Angelic Divine Liturgy.

Angels are therefore functional spirits, spirits that serve humans, and of course these same spirits enjoy the energy, grace, and light of the Triune God.
 Angels were created before the creation of humans and the visible world.
 That is, before the sun, the planets, the galaxies, the trees, and the birds came into being.
 There was a first creation of the invisible world.
 When we say the "Creed," how does it begin?

 "I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
" So there is also the invisible world that God created.
 In fact, in the Book of Job, one of the many books of the Old Testament, it says, "When you created the stars, the angels saw you.
 The angels glorified you, which means that angels existed to glorify Him.
 Think about it, every time God said, "Let there be light; and there was light.
" What joy the angels felt!
 Then He said, "Let there be the heavens.
" And the Heavens were created, that is, the sky, was made.
 What joy for the angels!
 Think of the joy the angels felt at the last creation, which is us, the miserable ones.
 We are very close to their creation, but with some differences.

What are the differences between us and angels?

 Angels belong to the invisible world and creation, and we could say that they have no material form, but Romanides says, the great theologian of the 20th century, says that it is not very orthodox to say that they have no material form.
 And St.
 John of Damascus says that, in relation to God, angels are material beings.
 In relation to us, who have bodies, flesh, angels, he says, could be said to be immaterial.
 So it depends on what you compare the angel to.
 If it is to God, then it also has a form of body.
 If it is in relation to us, they do not have a body like we do.

Because I really like simplicity, and especially the simplicity of saints, listen to a modern saint whom many of us here knew, Gerontissa Galaktia.
 This is what she told me on July 14, 2016.
 The women who served her wrote these things down, and whatever they heard on the phone, they recorded, and that is how the book of Gerontissa Galaktia was created.
 From the diary that was recorded either by Father Antonios or by the women who cooked and served there as myrrh-bearers to this great saint of Orthodoxy.
 I met her by phone in January 2016, and we met in person in June, but I continued the phone calls with her.
 On July 14, she said she addressed her caregivers, whom I call myrrh-bearers.
 When they asked her about the angels, listen to what she said.
 "The angels are coming.
 What wonderful company!
" Why should Galaktia fear Satan?

 She saw him, she treated him like a cat, like a dog.
 This woman was courageous.
 We should take her as our role model.
 We should not be afraid of anything.

"The angels are coming.
 What wonderful company!
 They speak to you with movements.
" There is no voice because they are immaterial.
 That is why it says "with an immaterial voice" in the Salutations.
 "The heart understands, and then you can say a lot from the one thing they will give you.
" How beautiful this is!
 That is, the angel can give you a sign, say something to your heart mentally, not with words.
 And that one thing can be full of information, a lot of information, a lot of meaning, a lot of grace, a lot of joy.
 From that one thing, you can write a book.
 Like this.
 I remember, and I forget everything she told me when I asked her about the uncreated light of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit of the Triune God, I told her, I read, I read, St.
 Iakovos told me that he saw it, Saint Evmenios, what exactly is it, I asked her.
 Because she was so simple, I thought she would give me a simple answer.
 And what did she say?

 She gave me the most theological answer I have ever heard or read.
 And thank God, I have read two libraries in my life.
 And she tells me, it is a light full of information because our God is the God of knowledge.
 Out of my joy at receiving such an answer, I hung up the phone and called her back and said, I'm sorry.
 Yes, I understand, she says, you were very happy with what you heard.
 Where else can you find that?

 Do you hear?

 So God gives you one thing, and that one thing has a thousand and one things inside it.
 She continues.

"The angels are always watching over us.
 But they are also strict!
 They cannot tolerate the blasphemies and obscenities that people commit.
 They leave, they depart.
 There are some who justify them within human weakness and intercede for us.
" You see strictness and leniency.
 That is what a saint is.
 Neither strictness alone nor leniency alone.
 "The angels help us to repent.
" What could be more sublime, what could be more sublime to say to your holy angel, my holy angel, I took you from the moment I was baptized, but I am human too.
 "I wear flesh and dwell in the world.
" I dwell in the world, I too have flesh, you see, I have desires, I have falls, help me to repent.
 Do not say to him, why me.
 Who are you?

 Christ wants repentance from me.
 Angels are sinless.
 And when did angels become sinless?

 God waited for them, let them be angels.
 Until the day He rose.
 Do you hear?

 Until then, until the Resurrection, even angels and archangels could fall like Lucifer, who became a demon, Satan.
 And why, with His Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, did God give angels the opportunity to stabilize themselves, so that there would be no danger of them becoming demons, of sinning?

 The reason, he says, is that although the angels could have fallen with Christ's Resurrection and Ascension, they became incorruptible.
 That is, they do not change and have acquired what is called incorruptibility.
 They cannot become demons.
 They remain angels forever, enjoying the glory of God and serving people.
 Because, he says, the angels saw Christ's humiliation with their own eyes.
 But when I read this, I was very, very happy!

Let us leave a little bit from Gerontissa for a moment and turn to the Fathers.
 These are from St.
 Nektarios, which I will read to you now.
 Properties of angels.
 "Angels were not created in an infantile state, but remain as they were created from the beginning.
 This unchanging characteristic of angels refers to their constitution and construction and not to their free will.
 Because as created beings, they are created because God created them.
 Everything that is created is made.
 And their minds are free and changeable.
 Thus, angels have the ability to become more and more perfect through their participation in the grace of the Holy Spirit.
" 
This light that I told you about, which Galaktia told me about, is full of information.
 Think about it, constantly being in front of this light and it being full of flashes, flashes, flashes, and full of information.
 And depending on your desire, your longing, your position, because angels also have ranks, which we will discuss later, that is how much of this information you receive.
 That is, depending on the vessel that the angelic substance has, it is how much it is filled with information from God, with knowledge of God, with the glory of God.
 "Thus, angels have the ability to become more and more perfect through their participation in the grace of the Holy Spirit.
 Their sanctification also derives from this participation.
 In other words, they are holy not by nature, but through their communion with the Holy Spirit.
 Their sanctification is a gift, and it is maintained with care and diligence.
" Think about it, if angels are careful and diligent, how much more should we be, who are inconsistent every minute.
 "Those angels who did not follow Lucifer in his fall received the gift of perfect steadfastness and immobility towards evil.
 And when did they receive it?

" Saint John of Damascus says after the Resurrection and Ascension.
 And they learned, that's what moved me.
 "And they learned in practice the way that leads to the likeness of God, which is not pride, but humility.
" But do you know what it means to see your Creator and be an angel, to become a tiny, tiny child in Bethlehem?

 And to be born of a 14- or 15-year-old girl?

 Think of the surprise, the wonder, the joy!
 But on the other hand, how much they learned from this humility.
 When I see a God becoming an infant in a cave, He who created the universe, the whole world.
 Think of the angels who had the perception.
 We cannot comprehend it.
 We must find someone of God who lives this in order to feel it and be humbled.

So think about it, angels, seeing Him afterwards.
 First He becomes an infant in Bethlehem, then at the age of 12 He goes to the temple to teach the Jews, and the Jews don't even beat up the 12-year-old Christ.
 Then they saw Him being mocked when He turned 30, obeying Joseph, the guardian of the Virgin Mary.
 Joseph would call out to Him, "Jesus, come here and help me cut this wood.
 Blessed be He.
 What did Christ do for 30 years that is not written in the Gospel?

 He obeyed His father, His theoretical father, right?

 Joseph, the guardian of the Virgin Mary, and the Virgin Mary.
 The perfect God and the perfect man obeyed.
 And then, so that we too might learn this lesson of humility, all these mysteries that we are experiencing these days and will continue to experience take place.
 A God who is arrested, beaten, crucified, stripped naked, dies for us, descends into Hades for us, rises again for us, ascends into heaven for us.
 What are all these things?

 Are they not lessons in humility?

 This is how we should live Easter.
 This is what the angels experienced from the time of Bethlehem onwards.
 Christ's earthly life was a great lesson in humility and simplicity.
 And St.
 John of Damascus says, "And especially after the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, they became immovable in evil, immovable not by nature, but by the grace of the only good.
" Because God gave it to them as a gift.
 That is what it means here.
 "Their immobility in evil and their steadfastness in virtue does not mean that their free will disappears, but that it is purified by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Now let me finish with Galaktia.
 "They help us to repent," says Saint Galaktia with her simplicity and wisdom.
 "But in some sins, they turn their faces away.
 They cannot in any way stand within them.
 These are not found even in animals.

Sometimes they appear as humans and speak as humans.
" Even with a human voice.
 "But they are bodiless.
" And listen to the last thing on this subject.
 "God gave them something, and they make it a body.
" How beautiful this is!
 What I told you, in relation to God they have a body, in relation to us they are bodiless.
 And it says, "Something, God gave them, and they make it a body.
" He gave them the ability to appear to us in a physical form, which is actually a spiritual body.
 It passes through walls and is not limited by time or space.
 However, they are not saints, they are not omnipresent.
 When I see an angel, I see it at that moment, and it is not in heaven.
 It is in Evrychou.
 But they move at lightning speed.
 And so, as soon as someone in New York calls them, "Come, my holy angel, help me," they leave Solea at lightning speed and go to New York.
 In the blink of an eye.
 That is why they are depicted with wings.
 Not because they have wings in heaven.
 They don't need them.
 They are depicted with wings to show their agility, that they move very quickly.

And the saints say something that is nice to say, unknown to many.
 What is the time of the angels who move quickly?

 It is not our time, when, in order to come from Evrychou, the deacon who is driving tells me, "Come on, my lord, hurry up, we need half an hour to get to Akaki.
" The time of the angels is eternity.
 The ages.
 What do we say in the Doxastika?

 "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages.
" Have we ever thought about what we hear all the time, what we say many times, "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages," what does that mean, "and forever and ever"?

 It is the "time" of the angels.
 The "time" of God.
 Before our time, God, he says, created the ages.
 Why?

 To put the angels in them.
 And Saint Evmenios told me, "and unto the ages of ages.
" That eternity will never end.
 When you die, your soul will continue to exist, to feel.
 And to make me feel it, to live it more, he would tell me, and in the endless ages of ages.

Earlier, I told you about the humility of the holy angels.
 With the Resurrection of Christ the Savior, a gift was given to the angels, who learned their lesson from Christ through the Cross and the Resurrection and became humble.
 In other words, it was not just a gift.
 And the holy angels, by constantly watching the God-man Christ on earth, all that God experienced during His 33 years on earth, were His best disciples.
 And in the Divine Liturgy we say "those who mystically represent the Cherubim.
" St.
 Iakovos saw the angels in the Divine Liturgy helping him when he grew old, when he had a pacemaker put in, he felt that they were holding him up so that he could come out and say "May the Lord God remember you all.
" Saint Evmenios recounts one of the most remarkable incidents I have heard from contemporary saints, when, he says, he lost his courage one day while praying and saying to Christ: My Christ, please save all Orthodox Christians.
 And God, he tells me, was pleased that I prayed like that.
 Let them be sinners, save them all, my dear.
 And God rejoiced!
 When I saw that He rejoiced, I said to Him, don't You save Catholics and Protestants and atheists too?

 They are people too, they may be misguided, but they are people.
 "They wear the flesh and dwell in the world.
" Save them too, my Christ.
 And God was pleased!
 Then when I saw that He was pleased, I said to Him, my Christ, do you not also save the idolaters, the Hindus, the Buddhists, the atheists?

 And God was pleased!
 I took courage, He says to me, and I say to Him, I want you to save all those who were born from Adam and Eve through Judas and the devil?

 That's what He said to me.
 Not the devil.
 And the devil.
 In Cretan.
 And God was saddened.
 Was He saddened?

 I ask Him.
 He was saddened.
 I ask Him, why was He saddened?

 Because God wants to save both the devil and Judas.
 And they, He says, have no trace of good will.
 And there is one thing God cannot do.
 He cannot interfere with our will, with our free will.
 Where does our freedom lie?

 Within our soul, in our free will.
 Free will is a vital force.
 It is where man chooses good from evil, or unfortunately the opposite.
 Evil from good.
 We alone are punished for what we choose in our lives, and this happens every moment.
 That is why, however, we can repent every moment, because for a moment we chose evil, the demonic, or for a period of our lives.
 There is repentance.
 But only as long as we live on earth.
 With the Resurrection of Christ, just as the angels were fixed in goodness, so he was fixed in evil.
 This is terrible, terrible.
 Satan is now fixed in evil.
 We said, we know how Satan came to be.
 They were angels too.
 Indeed, it says that Lucifer was the protector of all humanity, of the whole earth.
 What does this mean?

 That other planets also have guardian angels.
 The guardian angel of Earth was Lucifer, who had an entire battalion and said, "I can become God myself.
 I don't need you, Triune God.
" And just by thinking this, he fell.
 And it says in Revelation specifically that he took a third of the angelic forces with him.

Listen to what it says in Revelation.
 "It was Lucifer who first chose evil and rejected good.
 He was the first to turn away from God's goodness.
 God's condemnation, in His righteous judgment, was immediate.
 The prophet Isaiah says, "Now you shall go down to Abysse, to the foundations of the earth.
" As soon as he thought about and wanted to do these things, immediately—alas!
—he fell into hell.
 He fell from his position and light became darkness.
 And in his fall, his apostasy, he led many angels astray, as symbolically depicted by theologian John in the Book of Revelation: "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven (i.
e.
, the angels), and cast them to the earth.
" Do you understand why this bothers us?

 They are among us.
 At most, it is like the atmosphere.
 How dangerous it is for airplanes in the air.
 I remind you of what it says in the Supplication.
 "Gas clouds the crowds.
" They are gases, that is, they are found in the air.
 And when we give them rights, especially with our unrepentance, not so much with our sin, but with our unrepentance, not repenting.
 This means denying the Holy Spirit.
 Not repenting.
 Then they descend to earth from the air.
 "All these fallen angels became the order of the devil.
"
Now, what I am about to read to you, by the grace of God, I have experienced.
 On rare occasions, we had to perform exorcisms.
 Do you know how jealous temptation is of us humans?

 Do you know why it envies us?

 Because Christ and the Virgin Mary love us very much.
 And while we make mistakes, we sin, He constantly gives us opportunities as long as we repent, to become His children and children of the Virgin Mary again.
 And the holy angel we received at the time of our baptism may be distanced for the moment.
 But as soon as he sees that we are beginning, note the verb, beginning to repent, he comes close to us again, he embraces us again.
 To help us maintain our repentance and take it where?

 To our spiritual father to confess.
 How helpful angels are!
 Oh, if only we could see this!
 We would make huge icons of them, especially in children's rooms.
 Let our children grow up seeing their guardian angel.

Now let's look at the opposite.
 Kaimenos Satan?

 Do you know what "Kaimenos" means in Cypriot?

 Burnt.
 That's what it means.
 Kaimenos comes from burnt.
 Since he is burnt, that is why he is completely black.
 What I am reading to you now are the words of Saint Gerontissa Galaktia.

Gerontissa.
 "Oh, oh, oh, light, light, light.
" The Holy Trinity.
 "Different from this light.
 Angels sing.
 Joy, euphoria, celebration.
 As if you were in a blossoming orchard.
 The Kaimeni, the damned see the joys of the righteous and languish even more.
" Those who go to hell see the righteous in the next life.
 While the righteous do not see the damned so as not to grieve.
 "Where there is no pain, no sorrow, no lamentation, but eternal life.
" Alas.
 If my mother goes to Heaven and sees that one of her children has been damned, is that a joy?

 Tell me.
 While God does not allow the righteous to see anything that causes them sorrow.
 While they see us as long as we live, but still they see us without sorrow.
 Why?

 Because most of their power of existence lies in the glory of God.
 When they see us doing something wrong, they don't feel sorry for us, they don't feel sad for us.
 They pray for us.
 That is how we should do it too.
 Not as soon as I see my child doing something that is not in accordance with God's law, I get upset.
 Get upset only a little at first, just enough to humble your ego, that you were not a good teacher to your child, and the rest turn into prayer.
 And tell the holy angel.
 My holy angel, take care of my son Yiannis.
 I can't do it.
 Saint Porphyrios said this.
 Don't talk to your children, he says, especially from adolescence onwards.
 Don't talk to them too much about God.
 Talk to God about your child.
 And listen carefully to what he said.
 When you talk to God about your son Yiannis, our God will send an angel to enlighten Yiannis to do good.
 Do you hear how Orthodox pedagogy works?

 Not with pur, pur, pur.
 The father, mother, priest, and bishop work together with the angels.
 Let us bring angels into our lives and the lives of our children.
 And it is not just our children and us.
 It is a passion we Cypriots have.
 Child worship.
 Our homeland?

 Did you know that there are people who pray at night for Greece, for Cyprus, for Russia, for the Orthodox countries to resist the new era, which is a demonic era?

Satan, says Saint Galaktia, sees that Christ has raised the human body to heaven and goes mad with jealousy and wickedness.
 He says to you, "Make way, and now they will sit and reign where I used to sit.
 And he rages with his evil.
 And he found a way to prevent people from going there.
" To Paradise, that is, to the light above.
 "He puts them there and they become corrupt" and they defile "their bodies with many kinds" of sins.
 How important it is to take care of our bodies, to cleanse them of thoughts, desires, and actions.
 "Satan makes them become like him.
" One of the things she did when young people came to her little house with their hair in spikes, when she was well and able to get up, was to take them to the sink and pour water over their heads.
 And when the young people protested, "Why are you doing this?

" She would say, "Because, my child, when I see those evil devils, their hair is like yours, spiky.
 And he makes you do your hair to look like him.

Or the other thing another saint told me.
 The craze we've had in recent years, and when I say recent, I mean the last 100 years, of shortening our names.
 Kyriaki, Kia.
 Margarita, Rita.
 Kitsa.
 Eleni, Elenitsa, Nitsa.
 Panagiotis, Giotis.
 Neophytos, Fytos.
 Make sense of it.
 And he said, I heard it with my own ears at Osio David.
 I'm putting up, guys.
 Whatever name you are baptized with, I will cut it in half and ruin it.
 Do you hear me?

 Our baptismal name is sanctified.
 That is why I see some of our priests who want to hear the name when they commune.
 And especially in our times, it is necessary, fathers, you know.
 So that non-Orthodox people don't come.
 You can tell from the name if someone is Orthodox.
 But on the other hand, they insist.
 I hear Father Phoebus, who goes with me on Sundays.
 When they say Rita, your baptismal name.
 Margarita.
 The servant of God Margarita.
 You say whatever you’re baptize.
 That is a canon.

Because, he says, "Satan became abnormal and changed, from an angel he became a devil.
 So he tempts people and they become abnormal.
" They become abnormal.
 In all dimensions.
 Not just unnatural carnal sodomy.
 Even the simple things, the external appearance.
 Men looking like women, women looking like men, hair being spiky, our names being half-hearted.
 In our relationships, we are hated.
 Everything that he has, that is.

As for angels, listen to what he says.
 "Angels are something else.
 They are bodiless.
 Lights within the great light.
 Sometimes, however, they take human form and come to us.
 They speak to us, they help us.
 We have Christ within us," say the Orthodox, "our Virgin Mary, the heavenly Powers.
 Angels are bodiless.
 They are light.
 But not like the Great Light of God.
 They pass through the Great Light and shine.
 They also appear as humans.
 But they come in large numbers, they come in swarms.
 Every person has a guardian angel.
 Depending on your actions, he may send you"—pay attention to this—"a second angel.
 When people do ungodly deeds, the angels leave.
"
There was a girl who wanted to get married.
 Her name was Fotini.
 The Elder addressed Fotini and said to her, "My dear Fotini, you will ask the archangel for your husband.
 He will send you the right person for you child.
 Be sure, and you will understand then from a strong signal in your heart.
 Not in your brain.
 It will be calmness, certainty, determination, love.
 It will be all of these things together.
 You won't be able to explain it, but you will experience it.
" Think about it, this person, Saint Galaktia, lived among us five years ago and filled the place with miracles.

Here she says something about me.
 I will read it to gain courage, to lift my spirits a little, because yesterday three people told me that I had gained weight and I felt sad.
 In 2016.
 "Convey my love and respect to Bishop Neophytos.
 Tell him that I love him very much and wish him well.
 May his forehead always shine.
 This is my humble and motherly wish for him.
" And listen to what she says about you now.
 "Continue to show young people the wonders of the rosary.
" That is, of the prayer.
 "Continue your noble struggle.
 Fear nothing.
" And to take away my fear, what does she say to me?

 "Don't be afraid of anything.
 You are under the protection of Our Lady, the heavenly Powers, the archangel Michael, the giant protangelos.
 And you have your relatives with you.
" She meant my mother, my grandmother, my father.
 Those who are in Heaven.
 Do you understand?

 So it's not just the saints and angels.
 What a wonderful thing it is to have a relative close to the glory of God, together with the angels, praying for you!
 What a beautiful thing!

Now, to conclude, let us return to Galatia, which made a revelation to us, which some theologians are entitled to question.
 But as Romanidis says, we learned to speak with what we were told or read from the god-bearers, from the saints.
 Some children went to see her.
 "May you have, my children, the blessing of the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
 Of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Cross, and all the heavenly Powers.
" And listen as she names the archangels from the few times we have the names of the seven archangels.
 "Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel.
" We know these from the Old Testament and the New Testament.
 And he added three more that I haven't read anywhere else.
 "Thalael, Ramel, Phanuel, and all the rest.
 They are millions.
 Inconceivable things, my children, great, awesome things.
 Uriel guards the abyss.
" And the day before yesterday they sent me a liturgy, written by Brother Charalambos Bouzias, about the archangel Uriel from Greece, from a monastery.
 
To conclude, we should mention that angels are divided into nine orders.
 That is why we celebrate the Synaxis of All Heavenly Powers on November 8.
 Of course, Archangel Michael and Archangel Gabriel are celebrated, but they are the Archangels, the highest of the highest.
 In fact, Galaktia described how she saw them.
 Gabriel is said to be the Archangel of the Virgin Mary.
 He served her in Solomon's temple when her mother took her there at the age of three.
 Who brought her food and ate in the Holy of Holies?

 The Archangel Gabriel.
 Who led the magi from Persia to Bethlehem?

 The Archangel Gabriel, who took the form of a star.
 We have said many times that the star was not one of the stars in the sky.
 It was a star-like angel, the Archangel Gabriel.
 Who told the shepherds that the Son of God was born and became flesh for us?

 The Archangel Gabriel.
 Who said "Hail, full of grace" to the Virgin Mary, whom we celebrated yesterday and celebrate again today?

 The Archangel Gabriel.
 Therefore, the Archangel Gabriel is considered the Archangel par excellence of our Virgin Mary.
 The Archangel Gabriel was described by Gerontissa Galaktia as light-colored when he appears.
 Pay attention to this.
 When he appears.
 It does not mean that this is his nature.
 Since he is bodiless.
 But when he appears, you perceive him, apart from hearing in your heart that this is Gabriel, that he is fair-skinned, white.

In contrast, she says, the other Archangel of Justice, Michael, is great, appearing very tall and very large.
 He, she says, is a little dark-skinned, dark-haired, and stern.
 And he is the one who helps souls separated from the body to ascend to heaven in God's justice.
 In contrast to Gabriel, who is charitable and compassionate, and whose name, according to some Fathers, means God and man and philanthropist.
 The Cypriots, like the Greeks in general, loved the Archangel Michael most of all.
 There are more churches, but very few are dedicated to Gabriel.
 Why is this?

 Because the ancient Greek-speaking Romanian Fathers believed that, just as the Archangel Michael was the protector of the Jewish people and demonstrated this in many ways, both during the exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land and in the Old Testament, he appears more frequently the Archangel Michael.
 When, he says, they crucified Jesus Christ, he left the Jews for his own sake and took over the Church.
 The entire Church, wherever there is a Church.
 And we Greeks, who want everything to be ours, said that the Archangel of Hellenism and Romiosyne is Archangel Michael.
 In short, he moved in with us.
 Can I tell you something?

 I like this, wanting perfection.
 But let us tell him.
 If the Russians repent, go to the Russians; if the Bulgarians repent, go to the Bulgarians.
 It's not just for us.
 But every person, even those nations that are not baptized, have their angel.
 It's not just individuals who have angels.

The Holy Altars also have angels.
 The Holy Altars that we have consecrated have angels.
 A priest who had the habit of lighting the candle of the Holy Altar every night in his village told me this.
 Behind the Holy Altar, we have the ever-burning lamp that never goes out.
 Even if everything else goes out, we must keep this one lit.
 We had, she tells me, a wedding in Nicosia.
 We went to the wedding, it was a relative of ours, we stayed, we stayed, we stayed, we returned to our village at midnight.
 I said to Presvytera, I'm going to light the candle in our church.
 Stay here, father, it’s one night, it's midnight, where are you going to run in the middle of the night?

 No, it's not possible, he tells her, I won't sleep tonight.
 And the kind priest went, and as soon as I opened the door, he tells me, I saw that there was light inside.
 And not just the light of a candle.
 The curtain was glowing.
 Lord have mercy, did someone light a fire?

 How could it be glowing like that inside?

 We were away.
 The oil lamp was out.
 And I went in through the side door, he says, and what did I see?

 Next to the Holy Table stood an angel.
 I've never seen an angel before, my lord, he tells me, it was my first time.
 Out of fear, I jumped up and went to the door.
 And he called out to me.
 Come back, Father.
 And I went back.
 And he says, "Do you know how many years I have been here watching you priests when you celebrate the liturgy?

 And I catch your prayers and lift them up to heaven.
 I have been here for 335 years.
 Since the consecration of this Holy Altar.
 Do you hear me?

 Like your baby when it was baptized.
 "The angel of the Lord went before him all the days of his life," and so does the Holy Altar.
 It is baptized, it is anointed.
 This signifies its consecration.
 And it receives a guardian angel.
 That is why when we go to the occupied territories and see that the Church may have been destroyed, without icons, without doors, without windows, perhaps even the walls have fallen, leaving only ruins.
 And you go and as soon as you say "Christ is Risen" “The Ypermachos," we sing something, whether the place smells good or you feel grace, peace.
 Even though everywhere else is Turkey.
 You feel there Romiosyne, grace, energy, the power of God.
 And you say, why?

 We left, the Church was destroyed as an architectural structure, as a temple.
 But the angel is there, waiting for Christians to return one day and rebuild the church.

In Saranti, next to Panagia tou Arakas in Lagoudera, we experienced this miracle.
 Saint Helen appeared twice, the church in Saranti is dedicated to Saint Constantine and Saint Helen, to a very good woman who had imigrated from the villages of Pitsilia.
 And she says to her, "Alexandra, did you baptize your babies?

" "Yes, my saint, I baptized them.
" (She is her mother, we have a witness, we cannot lie).
 She says to me, why don't you take care of my Holy Altar Table?

 But what Holy Altar Table?

 In Saranti.
 The woman came, she had a serious illness at the time and she got better.
 Help me, she says, and I'll help you.
 Saint Helen made the bargain.
 And she came and found me.
 First she went to the late priest, Father Stylianos, and said to him, Father, I saw Saint Helen.
 She wants us to perfume her Holy Altar, it is unconsecrated.
 The poor priest says to her, "Come on, my daughter, which one of you believes in dreams?

" The following year, Saint Helen appeared to her again and said, "The bishop will come to Vespers.
 Tell him this.
 I also saw a kind lady crying during the procession.
 She came up to me at the end and told me this.
 I saw Saint Helen and she told me to tell you to check if the Holy Table is consecrated.
 I tell her, wait until the crowd leaves, stay inside the church and we'll check.
 We looked, we lifted the clothes of the Holy Table.
 Meanwhile, the 16th-century church, 400 years old, with frescoes inside.
 Father Stylianos was right, in essence.
 I lifted the clothes, we looked underneath to see if there was a foundation.
 The central pillar underneath is called a foundation.
 There was a structure, but it did not touch the table.
 It seems that they started it at some point and did not finish it, or someone destroyed it.
 So we set a date for the consecration, Alexandra took charge and collected some money, and we went and held the consecration.
 How moving!
 As soon as the deacon said "let us approach," after we cleaned the Holy Table just like your babies, we baptized it and then we had to put Holy Myrrh.
 And as soon as the deacon said "let us be attentive," I poured the holy oil in a cross shape and said "alleluia, alleluia, alleluia," which is what the angels say in heaven.
 But as soon as I said "alleluia," the whole valley of Pitsilia, the whole village, smelled it!
 Usually, you can smell it a little bit, come on, the congregation.
 Everyone who was outside because the church is small, what is that smell, what is it?

 I tell them, it is the Holy Spirit and Saint Helen, and they are delighted.
 You see how much, how much, how much the saints, the angels want our fellowship and communication.
 To conclude.
 The holy angels are 9 Orders.
 9 Classes.
 The apostle Paul revealed them to us, not all of them, but some of them.
 But also Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, an Athenian theologian and disciple of Saint Paul the Apostle, in a beautiful and highly theological book entitled "On the Heavenly Hierarchy.
" He says.
 The Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary below, the Mother of God, the Mother of Light, and then, very close to the throne of the Triune Godhead, are the many-eyed Cherubim, the six-winged Seraphim, and the Thrones.
 The first triad of Angelic Powers.
 The intermediate triad below the first three are Dominions, Powers, and Authorities.
 And below the middle order of the Heavenly Hierarchy are the Angels, Archangels, and Principalities.
 And indeed, the light is transmitted.
 That is, it descends upon us, according to St.
 Dionysius, through the Theotokos.
 That is why we say in the Matins service, "Let us magnify the Theotokos and Mother of Light, honoring her with hymns.
" Consider that a human being, the Virgin Mary, is more honorable than the Cherubim, more glorious than the Seraphim.
 She is above the angels, above the Cherubim and the Seraphim.
 A human being, the Virgin Mary!
 And those crazy English women want to become priests.
 Well, the Virgin Mary is in the highest position of all people, of all angels, and you lack the priesthood?

 All the lesbians went and became priests.
 And we go and have dialogues with them.
 But what dialogue can we have with those who are misguided and do not honor the Virgin Mary?

 Our honor for the Virgin Mary is such that it is underestimated.
 Let my mother come now, let her be holy before God, and tell me, ordain me, make me a priest.
 The light, the Triune, Uncreated Light, is transmitted.
 It reaches us from the Virgin Mary, up there, in the first orders of Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones.
 What you see above, the wheels with eyes, are the Thrones.
 That is why the iconographer placed them there.
 To be touched by the glory of the Virgin Mary.
 Everything has a reality in heaven that is reflected in the frescoes, even in the church architecture, in the psalters, in the temple itself.
 I mean the Holy Altar.
 From above to below, the light reaches us from the Heavenly higher Powers to the lower ones.
 May God grant us this Light too!
 
We have a few questions, two or three, and then anyone who wants to ask a question can do so.

Why do we doubt the existence of holy angels and why don't we see them as the saints saw them, as you have described to us many times with Saint Iakovos the Tsalikis, Gerontissa Galaktia, and others?

 It's simple.
 Because we don't have the eyes of Iakovos the Tsalikis and the eyes of Galaktia.
 That's it.
 Saint Iakovos said that as soon as the first illumination of the Uncreated Light comes, the first thing a person sees when the eyes of their heart opens, that is, when they finish purifying their passions and enter the stage of enlightenment, the first thing they see is their angel.
 And they recognize that this is the angel they received when they were baptized.
 And they converse with him.
 The reason is that we are not students of humility.
 If we celebrate Easter and our concern is when the black curtains will fall so that I can be moved, and when the Crucified One will appear and the lights will go out so that I can be moved, and when the priest will throw the Laurel into the "Anasta O Theos" so that I can be moved.
 Sorry, but that's not Easter.
 That's theatrical emotion.
 Easter is about humbling myself.
 A lesson in humility, to see my sinfulness within me, that is, my wretchedness.
 When a person does not work in this way, that is, when his goal is not humility, humility will not come through meditation, but as St.
 Justin Popovich said, humble me, Lord, humble me through Your humility by studying Christ and begging Him to humble us through His humility.
 And what is the humility of our Christ?

 His Cross, His Passion.
 Let us read the Gospel, especially during this period.
 I have read at least the first Gospel of the Testament, the one called Holy Thursday.
 It is very important.
 Or the Psalter.
 So that we can slowly gather our minds in humility, repentance, self-accusation, and not in judging other people.
 That is why we cannot see angels.
 But we can feel them.
 When you feel joy, when you feel compassion, when you feel the urge to pray especially for those who have hurt you, who have wronged you.
 What is this?

 It is God visiting you through the holy angels.

My name is Maria, I am married and I have a one-year-old boy.
 I am writing to you from Heraklion, Crete.
 My questions are as follows: Is our guardian angel with us all day and night, or are there times when we are unprotected?

 Do guardian angels communicate with each other, mine, my husband's, and our baby's?

Especially my husband's.

Can I pray to the baby's guardian angel on his behalf?

 Thank you very much for your answers and for enlightening us.

Of course, the guardian angel is always with us, day and night, because for angels there is no day or night.
 As we said, they exist in another time that moves in eternity; there are no hours when we are unguarded.
 Even when we sin, the angel does not leave us; he does not abandon us.
 Now, if we renounce our faith and become Buddhists, Muslims, Satanists, or magicians, I am sorry to say that the angel will leave; he cannot stay.
 If we insist on doing things that Saint Galaktia said were abnormal, sodomy, unnatural, the angel will leave.
 So you can see how the departure of a guardian angel from us shows how susceptible we are to demonism.
 Some people ask, why do some people become possessed?

 When we commit grave sins of the flesh, when we go to magicians, when we reject Christ's love and tell Him to leave.
 I want to sin.
 Christ will leave and the angel will leave.
 But the other one will come.

Do guardian angels communicate with each other?

That's a very good question!
 Very, very good!
 Saint Porphyrios used to say it all the time.
 Say it.
 If it's about your husband and you can't agree with him.
 Don't talk to him all the time.
 After you have talked to him once, twice, three times and you still cannot agree, talk to his angel and celebrate a few holidays when the angels celebrate, like today, like in November, as we said, in September.
 And ask your angel to go to his angel to enlighten him.
 The same goes for our children, our friends, and our enemies.
 They all have a guardian angel.
 I can ask my angel to go and enlighten the angel of Dimitris, with whom I have a problem.

Can I pray to the baby's guardian angel on his behalf?

If the baby is baptized, yes.
 If it is unbaptized, cross it, ask your angel, that is, the mother, to cover the child, and baptize the child as soon as possible so that it may have a guardian angel.

In the sacrament of marriage, we hear the phrase, "May the angel of the Lord go before them all the days of their lives.
" Does this phrase mean that the couple's guardian angel leaves and is replaced by a common angel for both of them?

 If so, why does this happen and what happens to the previous angel?

Please, I will not answer.
 Here he has the angels fighting.
 Angels work together.
 They do not fight, you leave so I can sit down.
 We often transfer our own human situations to God, the saints, and the angels.
 That's not how it is.
 The priest says it very nicely here, two people can become one body but they remain two souls.
 So everyone has their own angel.
 How wonderful it would be if you could say to your wife Marina, to her angel, "Please, my holy angel, enlighten Marina, since she does not listen to me.
" Then we would see if you are right.
 You may not be right.
 
Monasteries have their own angels, as do churches and our homes.
 There are also houses that have become magical or where many abortions have taken place, causing the guardian angel to leave.
 I recently had a case in a remote village in Cyprus.
 People would come and see the spirits of two children.
 Both dead and demonic spirits.
 They didn't attack them, but they were afraid when they saw them.
 And we told them that something must have happened in the past, either in that house or in a previous house that was damaged there.
 We sent a priest to read and reread prayers, the people confessed, and they communed.
 Now there is peace and quiet.
 They also went to the local bishop.
 Do you know what the local bishop said?

 I don't believe in this nonsense.
 And they came here and we helped the people, and now every little thing they bake, every little thing they make, they send us something too.
 "Pleasure after profit.
"
I mean that we cannot deny the actions of the spiritual world, whether they are angels, saints, or our loved ones who have passed away and are now in heaven.
 Probably angels.
 Ultimately, it seems from all that we have said that angels are the ones who are closest to us.
 I was an orphan from the age of eight.
 But my late father, Nikolas, taught us because the Church of Archangel Michael in Pano Zodia was next to us, my son, my daughter, my sister, I am leaving and I say to him.
 "My dear Arkatzelo, take care of my wife and children.
" My mother said to him.
 Nikolas, don't go out at night to water the fields.
 I am a young woman, we have a young daughter, we have four little girls in this house.
 Are you going to be away all night?

 I'm going to water the plants, my wife.
 Since it is very hot, let us water at night when there is no evaporation.
 That is why they went to the orchards at night.
 Don't worry, my wife.
 I'm leaving, but I'm sending Arkatzelo with you to watch over you.
 He passed on to us.
 Our father is gone, but we have the Archangel Michael.
 Our father died at my age, when he was 63.
 I was eight.
 We have the Archangel, my mother continued to tell us.
 Our father is missing in heaven, but we have the Archangel.
 Now, if you come to where I sleep, it's my bed, where the foot of the bed is, there's a two-and-a-half-meter Archangel Michael.
 I didn't make it.
 They sent it to me from Agrinio as a gift.
 When they heard some speeches about how much I love the Archangel, they went and found an old door and painted Archangel Michael on it.
 And I put it there.
 I sleep and wake up with the Archangel!
 That's what I told you at the beginning.

"I fall down and cross myself, I have an angel by my side, I consider myself a servant of God and I fear no one.
" But this requires a daily relationship, daily repetition.
 It is no coincidence that the Evening Prayer, which we normally say every day and night, ends with a blessing to the guardian angel.
 This is no coincidence.
 Because fear lurks in our hearts.
 Would you like to ask something?

 Shall I read the prayer to the guardian angel that we recite at Vespers?

 It is very short, so you can learn it by heart.

 Holy Angel, protector of my wretched soul and my troubled life, do not abandon me, a sinner, nor turn away from me because of my excesses, do not give way to the evil demon, to dominate me with the power of this mortal body, hold my weak and trembling hand, and lead me on the path of salvation.
 Yes, holy Angel of God, guardian and protector of my wretched soul and body, forgive me for everything I have done to you throughout my life, and whatever I have sinned today, cover me in this night, and protect me from all evil influences, so that I may not provoke God to anger by any sin, and intercede for me before the Lord, that He may support me in His fear, and make me worthy to be a servant of His goodness.
 Amen.

Translation into modern Greek.

Holy Angel, you who are the guardian (protector) of my wretched soul and my miserable life, do not abandon me, a sinner, nor turn away from me because of my sloth.
 Do not allow the evil demon to dominate me by tormenting my mortal body.
 Hold my weary and paralyzed hand and lead me on the path to salvation.
 Yes, holy Angel of God, you who are the guardian and protector of my wretched soul and my wretched body, forgive me for all those things with which I have grieved you throughout my life, and for all those sins I have committed today.
 Cover me this night and protect me from every influence of the adversary devil, so that I may not provoke God with any sin.
 And at the same time, he prayed to the Lord on my behalf, asking Him to strengthen me in divine fear (=respect) and make me a servant worthy of His goodness.
 Amen.

I now remember a child with low intelligence, who also had autism.
 His parents brought him to me and I was left alone with him, but the child did not want to talk.
 But he wanted only me to talk.
 I talked and talked and talked until I got tired of talking.
 I asked him, "Are you listening to me?

" "Everything," he said.
 "Everything.
" I asked him, "Did you like anything I told you?

" Yes, he tells me.
 That I have an angel and I will be in constant communication with him.
 Thank you!
 Until now, I thought I was alone.
 Do you hear me?

 With autism.
 And when we went outside and I gave him to his parents, they asked me, did you talk to him?

 I told them, very well.
 He'll tell you in the car.
 That's right.

The holy angels.
 I'll give you a beautiful icon that we have in the Holy Altar of Saint Nikiforos in Peristerona.
 It was painted by the distinguished iconographer Adamos Adamou and depicts the Holy Cross, In front of the Holy Cross is the Holy Sepulchre with Christ's shroud and the sudarium that was on His head and remained in the tomb when He rose from the dead.
 The two great Archangels Michael and Gabriel are on the left and right, paying their respects, that is, showing reverence to the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Cross.
 Standing upright on the right and left are the spear that pierced Christ's side and the sponge with which the wicked Jews gave him vinegar to drink while our Lord was living on the cross.
 On the left and right, the supreme powers that I described to you earlier, the six-winged Seraphim and the many-eyed Cherubim, are revered.
 On the left and right, lower down, symbolically, are the sun and the moon.
 Behind, behind, please study it and learn it by heart.
 These are some prayers.
 Personally, I try to say them with a rosary whenever I can, every day if possible.
 The first prayer is to Archangel Michael.
 Great Archangel of the Lord Michael, protect us.
 Then another rosary to the other Archangel celebrated today.
 Great Archangel of the Lord Gabriel, enlighten us.
 I chose "enlighten" because, as we said, he is the one who enlightened the magi, the shepherds, and our Lady.
 He is the angel who constantly transmitted enlightenment, that is, information from God.
 The third, which is absolutely essential, is that we may not read the prayer I read to you earlier, but with a rosary, say it 30 times, 50 times, 100 times.
 Holy guardian angel, cover me, protect me.
 You see?

 Here we speak more tenderly to our angel.
 He is my angel, my friend.
 He will accompany me in this life and in eternity.
 Should I not speak to him every day?

 Should I know everyone else and speak to them, but not speak to my angel?

 Holy guardian angel, protect me, keep me safe.
 And something related to this period with the Great Compline.
 "Lord of Powers, have mercy on us.
" When it says "Lord of Powers," it means You who are Lord of the holy angels.
 I will give each of you one of these icons.

May we have a happy Easter and remain inseparable!

We will have a beautiful vigil for those who wish to come next Wednesday leading into Thursday of the Great Canon here at St.
 Iakovos.
 All the faithful are welcome.