On Mikhailov Day, Alexy II will head the service in the Arkhangelsk Cathedral of the Kremlin

Today, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates a great holiday - the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael and other heavenly forces of the ethereal, which is also known as Mikhailov's day.

The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II will perform this morning the Divine Liturgy in the Arkhangelsk Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, RIA Novosti was informed in the department of external church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate .

For the first time, this holiday was established at the beginning of the 4th century at a local Laudician cathedral, which took place several years before the I Ecumenical Council. The Laodician Cathedral condemned the worship of angels as creators and rulers of the world and approved the forms and principles of their veneration, preserved in the Christian tradition to the present day. In 787, the seventh Ecumenical Council, held in Nicaeus, finally determined the Christian doctrine of angels and introduced this holiday to the church calendar .

The holiday takes place in November, since this is the ninth month of March (from which the year began in antiquity), and nine is the number of angelic ranks.

The veneration of the angels - the ethereal heavenly forces led by the Archangel Michael - has entered into Christian practice from the first centuries. At the same time, early Christian ideas about the angels relied, first of all, on the Old Testament tradition. In the books of the Old Testament, the Angels are called the messengers, the sons of God, the saints, etc. In the New Testament, they act as the messengers of God, guards and guardians, the judgment of God's judgment and consist under Christ-Sudy. Angels also announce the main events of salvation - the Christmas and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Subsequently, the Christian doctrine of angels acquired a clearer structure. In the essay "On the Heavenly Hierarchy" St. Dionysia Areopagita (V - VI centuries) Angels are divided into three categories (hierarchies), which, in turn, are also divided into three groups (faces). The first hierarchy includes seraphims, cherubs and thrones; to the second - domination, strength and power; To the third - began, archangels and angels. From the host of angels, the Christian tradition especially distinguishes three archangels and revere them as the leaders of all the ethereal forces: Michael - the heavenly military leader ( Greek ) and the guardian of all believers in Christ; Gabriel - the forerunner of God; And Rafail , an angel-healer. According to Christian doctrine to each person from the moment of his baptism, God puts a special guardian angel to help in good deeds.

Holy Archangel Michael was set over all the nine ranks. His name is translated from Jewish means "who is God." According to the Bible, Mikhail fell from the sky of an elaborate Dennitsa with other fallen spirits. And to the rest of the angelic forces, he exclaimed: "We will become good before our creator and will not conceive the objectionable to God!" According to the legend of the church, captured in the service of the Archangel Michael, he took part in many Old Testament events. During the exit of the Israelis from Egypt, he led them in the form of a pillars of a cloud during the day and a pillar of fiery night. Through Him was the power of the Lord, destroying the Egyptians and Pharaoh, pursuing the Israelis.

Since ancient times, the Archangel Michael has been glorified by his miracles in Rus'. Many monasteries, cathedral, palace and Posad temples are dedicated to him. In ancient Kyiv, the Archangel Cathedral was erected immediately by the adoption of Christianity and a monastery was arranged. In Rus', perhaps, there was no city where there would not be a temple or a chapel dedicated to the archistratig Mikhail. One of the most important temples of Moscow is also dedicated to him - the Temple of the Sacifier in the Kremlin.