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| Archangel Michael Trampling the Devil Underfoot Simon Ushakov (1676) |
“Ye that excel in strength.”
~Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)
Service and strength, God’s Angels and Archangels;
His Seraphs fires, and lamps His Cherubim:
Glory to God from the highest and from the lowest,
Glory to God in everlasting hymn
From all His creatures.
Princes that serve, and Powers that work His pleasure,
Heights that soar to’ard Him, Depths that sink to’ard Him:
Flames fire out-flaming, chill beside His Essence;
Insight all-probing, save where scant and dim
To’ard its Creator.
Sacred and free exultant in God’s pleasure,
His will their solace, thus they wait on Him;
And shout their shout of ecstasy eternal,
And trim their splendours that they burn not dim
To’ard their Creator.
Wherefore with Angels, wherefore with Archangels,
With lofty Cherubs, loftier Seraphim,
We laud and magnify our God Almighty,
And veil our faces rendering love to Him
With all His creatures.
This is beautiful. Did you know that in the Orthodox Church the day for commemorating the Archangels Gabriel and Michael as well as all the other angels is coming up on October 8? (I'm not sure what denomination you are... but thought I'd share since your post is so timely with that day coming up) :)
ReplyDeleteWe're Anglican -- today for all Western Christians who observe the liturgical calendar it's the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels. It's interesting seeing how the Eastern and Western calendars are sometimes the same, sometimes different.
DeleteI realized that I goofed about the date - it's actually November 8 rather than October (for some reason I had October stick in my head). I hadn't been aware that the angels were commemorated in the West though... I agree that it's interesting to note the similarities and differences.
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