Icon of the Archangel Michael, late 10th–first half of 11th century, silver-gilt, gold cloisonné enamel, stones, pearls (now missing), glass, 44 x 36 cm, likely made in Constantinople (Treasury of the Basilica of San Marco, Venice)
Dear Reader:
Please join us for a 12 week study during the Michaelmas Season 2023. We will turn to legends about St. Michael which take us back in time and to different phases of the development of the consciousness of humanity. St. Michael is being portrayed in these legends in different ways and with differing task. Please feel free and encouraged to join the conversation by posting in the comments section (see below).
With greetings and the hope for courage for the Michaelmas Season 2023 --- Conrad Rehbach
Please join us for a 12 week study during the Michaelmas Season 2023. We will turn to legends about St. Michael which take us back in time and to different phases of the development of the consciousness of humanity. St. Michael is being portrayed in these legends in different ways and with differing task. Please feel free and encouraged to join the conversation by posting in the comments section (see below).
With greetings and the hope for courage for the Michaelmas Season 2023 --- Conrad Rehbach
Study Material for the Michaelmas Study 2023 (Week 1)
The Feast of Saint Michael from The Golden Legend
The Feast of Saint Michael from The Golden Legend
There followeth the feast of Saint Michael the archangel, and first the exposition of his name.
Michael is expounded sometimes as God. And oft-times, as Saint Gregory saith, when a thing of marvellous virtue is done, Michael is sent forth, so that he, by the deed and the name, be given to understand that none may do that God may do, and therefore be attributed to him many things of marvellous virtue. For like as Daniel witnesseth, he shall arise and address in the time of Antichrist against him, and shall stand as a defender and keeper for them that be chosen. He also fought with the dragon and his angels and, casting them out of heaven, had a great victory. He also had a great plea and altercation with the devil for the body of Moses, because he would not show it; for the children of Israel should have adored and worshipped it. He received the souls of saints and brought them into the paradise of exultation and joy. He was prince of the synagogue of the Jews, but now he is established of our Lord, prince of the church of Jesu Christ. And as it is said, he made the plagues of Egypt, he departed and divided the Red Sea, he led the people of Israel by the desert and set them in the land of promission, he is had among the company of holy angels as bannerer, and, bearing the sign of our Lord, he shall slay by the commandment of God, right puissantly, Antichrist that shall be in the Mount of Olivet. And dead men shall arise at the voice of this same archangel. And he shall show at the day of judgment the cross, the spear, the nails and the crown of thorns of Jesu Christ.
There followeth the feast of Saint Michael the archangel, and first the exposition of his name.
Michael is expounded sometimes as God. And oft-times, as Saint Gregory saith, when a thing of marvellous virtue is done, Michael is sent forth, so that he, by the deed and the name, be given to understand that none may do that God may do, and therefore be attributed to him many things of marvellous virtue. For like as Daniel witnesseth, he shall arise and address in the time of Antichrist against him, and shall stand as a defender and keeper for them that be chosen. He also fought with the dragon and his angels and, casting them out of heaven, had a great victory. He also had a great plea and altercation with the devil for the body of Moses, because he would not show it; for the children of Israel should have adored and worshipped it. He received the souls of saints and brought them into the paradise of exultation and joy. He was prince of the synagogue of the Jews, but now he is established of our Lord, prince of the church of Jesu Christ. And as it is said, he made the plagues of Egypt, he departed and divided the Red Sea, he led the people of Israel by the desert and set them in the land of promission, he is had among the company of holy angels as bannerer, and, bearing the sign of our Lord, he shall slay by the commandment of God, right puissantly, Antichrist that shall be in the Mount of Olivet. And dead men shall arise at the voice of this same archangel. And he shall show at the day of judgment the cross, the spear, the nails and the crown of thorns of Jesu Christ.
Michael Legends / From a Speech by Pico Della Mirandola
Michael Legends / From a Speech by Pico Della Mirandola
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) is, after Marsilio Ficino, the best known philosopher of the Renaissance: his Oration on the Dignity of Man is better known than any other philosophical text of the fifteenth century. Pico was also remarkably original—indeed, idiosyncratic. The deliberately esoteric and aggressively recondite character of his thought may help explain why Renaissance philosophy has had so small a place, until recently, in the canonical history of the discipline as accepted by Anglophone philosophers. More ...
If we be permitted to speak in dark and veiled words, of the Mysteries - insofar as permitted by the weakness of man whose head has been sheathed in darkness since the Fall and whose glance is obscured through passion and death - I exhort you to call unto Raphael, the heavenly physician. He will bestow Health upon you by means of his dialectics, which affect us like a salubrious herb. And then will the Archangel Gabriel endow us with Divine Force, guiding us through the wonders of nature and showing how God's omnipotence is at work within them. After this pilgrimage through the sphere of philosophy, he hands us to Michael, the highest priest, whose grace will give unto us the priesthood of Theology, like unto a crown fashioned of precious stones.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) is, after Marsilio Ficino, the best known philosopher of the Renaissance: his Oration on the Dignity of Man is better known than any other philosophical text of the fifteenth century. Pico was also remarkably original—indeed, idiosyncratic. The deliberately esoteric and aggressively recondite character of his thought may help explain why Renaissance philosophy has had so small a place, until recently, in the canonical history of the discipline as accepted by Anglophone philosophers. More ...
If we be permitted to speak in dark and veiled words, of the Mysteries - insofar as permitted by the weakness of man whose head has been sheathed in darkness since the Fall and whose glance is obscured through passion and death - I exhort you to call unto Raphael, the heavenly physician. He will bestow Health upon you by means of his dialectics, which affect us like a salubrious herb. And then will the Archangel Gabriel endow us with Divine Force, guiding us through the wonders of nature and showing how God's omnipotence is at work within them. After this pilgrimage through the sphere of philosophy, he hands us to Michael, the highest priest, whose grace will give unto us the priesthood of Theology, like unto a crown fashioned of precious stones.