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.
Gothic Hymn unto the Archangel Michael
Gothic Hymn unto the Archangel Michael
(translated from the Greek language)
Michael! Exalted, powerful Prince of the Heavens!
Who carriest aloft one golden shimmer
Of Christ, the King,
Holy is thy name, O Michael,
Who art like unto God.
As companion of the Thrones
Thou art the foundation stone
Of the Heavenly Firmament.
Thou standest in the castle of the Kyriotetes
And risest high amongst the Dynameis.
Amidst the Exusiai and Archai
As a radiant light thou appearest.
Into the Cherubim's sacred chorus
The cleansing fire thou carriest.
By thy holy spear supported,
Over the Seraphim thou rulest.
Thou, as the eldest, art the rightful leader
Of all the hosts of Heaven.
Thou appearest gleaming, in the course of the ages,
In the fourfold row of the Elders.
In the fourth globe, thou art the Priest
Of the guiding spirits
Whose number is twice times four.
Thou abidest close to the Creator's Throne,
Where thou rightfully dwellest.
Thou art the countenance
Of the ninefold ordered
Ranks of the angels,
And of the noble structure
Of the myriad heavenly hosts
Ever sounding the praise
Of the thrice holy Trinity.
Eternally thou coverest
The Highest Deity's countenance and feet
And ever inclinest thyself
Before Its three aspects.
Thou art the Companion
Of Uriel and Gabriel and Raphael,
Who cover with six blazing flames
The Deity since the World's beginnings.
Mayest thou remain to the end of time
United with that which is needful.
As the Creator's creature
Thou servest Him faithfully.
Lifted up to the heights,
The lower heaven thou dost not forsake,
While the rebel who fled
In the abyss of hell is chastised.
Thus thou dost harbor the highest of virtues,
And gloriously gleameth thy strength.
Thou rulest the dark hosts of the demons
And shalt be the judge
Of Satan and his angels.
Thou wast sent from Heaven
To save and purify the Hebrew people,
And hast fulfilled in splendor
The exalted Daniel's prophecies:
That thou wouldst fight
At the side of the faithful.
Therefore we pray thee,
Exalted warrior
And glorious victor:
Do unto us who have been reborn through baptism
What thou hast once bestowed
On the Mystery Schools:
Ward thou off the arrows
And the demons' pernicious ire.
Destroy the sores, drive out the plague,
From disaster protect us.
Place in every soul
Salvation, peace, and glowing faith.
For behold! After one year's passing
Until we shall be
To sing Halleluja in praise of thy dignity.
Michael, thou most radiant helper
Of the threefold Sun-Deity!
Thou proven leader!
With the Host of the angels on high
Full of exultation thou singest:
Holy art Thou, O Father,
Holy, thou sacred Logos
Who wast there from the beginning,
And holy the Spirit
In Its might and Its glory,
In Its Divine Being and strength.
Michael, Prince of angels,
Of fire is fashioned thy form,
And wondrous thy beauty.
Without bodily sheaths
Through the expanse of the world thou wanderest
To fulfill the All-Creator's commands.
In thy strength thou showest thyself mighty,
And erectest in thy Temple a source of healing,
Which is honored in the Name of thy Glory.
O Lord! Who, as it is written,
Makest thy angels to winds
And thy servants to flames of fire:
Thou hast appointed as foremost leader
Amidst thy hosts
The Archangel Michael.
He follows thy beckoning, O Logos,
And sounds in reverence
The threefold holy song of praise
Exulting the revelation of Thy glory.
(translated from the Greek language)
Michael! Exalted, powerful Prince of the Heavens!
Who carriest aloft one golden shimmer
Of Christ, the King,
Holy is thy name, O Michael,
Who art like unto God.
As companion of the Thrones
Thou art the foundation stone
Of the Heavenly Firmament.
Thou standest in the castle of the Kyriotetes
And risest high amongst the Dynameis.
Amidst the Exusiai and Archai
As a radiant light thou appearest.
Into the Cherubim's sacred chorus
The cleansing fire thou carriest.
By thy holy spear supported,
Over the Seraphim thou rulest.
Thou, as the eldest, art the rightful leader
Of all the hosts of Heaven.
Thou appearest gleaming, in the course of the ages,
In the fourfold row of the Elders.
In the fourth globe, thou art the Priest
Of the guiding spirits
Whose number is twice times four.
Thou abidest close to the Creator's Throne,
Where thou rightfully dwellest.
Thou art the countenance
Of the ninefold ordered
Ranks of the angels,
And of the noble structure
Of the myriad heavenly hosts
Ever sounding the praise
Of the thrice holy Trinity.
Eternally thou coverest
The Highest Deity's countenance and feet
And ever inclinest thyself
Before Its three aspects.
Thou art the Companion
Of Uriel and Gabriel and Raphael,
Who cover with six blazing flames
The Deity since the World's beginnings.
Mayest thou remain to the end of time
United with that which is needful.
As the Creator's creature
Thou servest Him faithfully.
Lifted up to the heights,
The lower heaven thou dost not forsake,
While the rebel who fled
In the abyss of hell is chastised.
Thus thou dost harbor the highest of virtues,
And gloriously gleameth thy strength.
Thou rulest the dark hosts of the demons
And shalt be the judge
Of Satan and his angels.
Thou wast sent from Heaven
To save and purify the Hebrew people,
And hast fulfilled in splendor
The exalted Daniel's prophecies:
That thou wouldst fight
At the side of the faithful.
Therefore we pray thee,
Exalted warrior
And glorious victor:
Do unto us who have been reborn through baptism
What thou hast once bestowed
On the Mystery Schools:
Ward thou off the arrows
And the demons' pernicious ire.
Destroy the sores, drive out the plague,
From disaster protect us.
Place in every soul
Salvation, peace, and glowing faith.
For behold! After one year's passing
Until we shall be
To sing Halleluja in praise of thy dignity.
Michael, thou most radiant helper
Of the threefold Sun-Deity!
Thou proven leader!
With the Host of the angels on high
Full of exultation thou singest:
Holy art Thou, O Father,
Holy, thou sacred Logos
Who wast there from the beginning,
And holy the Spirit
In Its might and Its glory,
In Its Divine Being and strength.
Michael, Prince of angels,
Of fire is fashioned thy form,
And wondrous thy beauty.
Without bodily sheaths
Through the expanse of the world thou wanderest
To fulfill the All-Creator's commands.
In thy strength thou showest thyself mighty,
And erectest in thy Temple a source of healing,
Which is honored in the Name of thy Glory.
O Lord! Who, as it is written,
Makest thy angels to winds
And thy servants to flames of fire:
Thou hast appointed as foremost leader
Amidst thy hosts
The Archangel Michael.
He follows thy beckoning, O Logos,
And sounds in reverence
The threefold holy song of praise
Exulting the revelation of Thy glory.
Michael - Greek Hymn from the Middle Ages
Michael
Thou art the leader
Of the non-embodied Angels
And beholdest as the bearer of rites
And as Initiate
The divine, gleaming radiance.
Help us, Michael,
Our leader!
Forever and ever we pay homage to thee
And worship the Holy Trinity.
Thou art the leader
Of the non-embodied Angels
And beholdest as the bearer of rites
And as Initiate
The divine, gleaming radiance.
Help us, Michael,
Our leader!
Forever and ever we pay homage to thee
And worship the Holy Trinity.
Michael in the Ancient Orient -- Michael as Indra
He Who, at once after birth, was gifted with power of thinking; He Who, in His spirit-might, protected the Gods; He Who, in breathing, shakes the Universe through the power of His manhood: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who slew the dragon and let the seven rivers stream on; He Who freed the cows from the dungeon of Vala; He Who, as the invincible warrior, created fire between the stones: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who made fast the swaying earth; He Who calmed the restless mountains;
He Who expanded the sphere of the air; He Who hurled down the Heavens: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who performed these heroic deeds; He Who subdued the primeval savages; He Who, like unto a winning player, acquires the enemy's riches: This, ye people, is Indra.
He about Whom they ask: Where is He, the mighty One? He of Whom it is said: He destroys the enemy's riches like unto the winner in a dice-game; He in Whom ye believe: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who invigorates the poor and miserable; He Who hearkens to the singer and prayerful one; He Who helps to press out the Soma juice; He Who joins together the stones of the Soma press: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Whose beckoning makes horses and oxen, warriors and chariots serve Him; He Who created the Sun and the Dawn; He Who lets stream the waters:
This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who by the gathering armies is called on; He Who is asked for help by the enemies in opposing camps; He Who is called upon by both the chariot-driver and the warrior: This, ye people, is Indra.
He without Whom there is no victory; He Whom all the warriors implore for help; He Who can master all things; He Who can move the immovable: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who slays the wicked when they least expect it; He Who forgiveth not the haughtiness of the haughty; He Who slays the demon: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who, after forty years, found the Sambara (an evil magician and robber) dwelling in the mountains; He Who slew the dragon swollen with power; He Who subdued the demon lying before Him: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who, in the shape of a bull using seven rains, let the seven rivers stream on; He Who hurled, with His thunderbolt, the heaven-storming Rauhina into the abyss: This, ye people, is Indra.
Heaven and earth bow down before Him; the mountains tremble before His impetuous will; the renowned Soma drinker, Who, with the thunderbolt under His arm, carries the thunderbolt in His hand: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who helps the one pressing out the Soma; He Who helps the one who brings sacrifices and sings songs of praise; He Who is invigorated by the Brahman (the strength of piety, of prayer, of the Sacred Word), by the Soma and by the sacrifices of humans: This, ye people, is Indra.
Thou Who procurest, if need be with force, great riches for the one pressing out the Soma: Thou art the truthful One. We desire, Oh Indra, to be ever Thy friends and, as righteous men, speak words of Wisdom.
-From the Rigveda
He Who slew the dragon and let the seven rivers stream on; He Who freed the cows from the dungeon of Vala; He Who, as the invincible warrior, created fire between the stones: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who made fast the swaying earth; He Who calmed the restless mountains;
He Who expanded the sphere of the air; He Who hurled down the Heavens: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who performed these heroic deeds; He Who subdued the primeval savages; He Who, like unto a winning player, acquires the enemy's riches: This, ye people, is Indra.
He about Whom they ask: Where is He, the mighty One? He of Whom it is said: He destroys the enemy's riches like unto the winner in a dice-game; He in Whom ye believe: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who invigorates the poor and miserable; He Who hearkens to the singer and prayerful one; He Who helps to press out the Soma juice; He Who joins together the stones of the Soma press: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Whose beckoning makes horses and oxen, warriors and chariots serve Him; He Who created the Sun and the Dawn; He Who lets stream the waters:
This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who by the gathering armies is called on; He Who is asked for help by the enemies in opposing camps; He Who is called upon by both the chariot-driver and the warrior: This, ye people, is Indra.
He without Whom there is no victory; He Whom all the warriors implore for help; He Who can master all things; He Who can move the immovable: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who slays the wicked when they least expect it; He Who forgiveth not the haughtiness of the haughty; He Who slays the demon: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who, after forty years, found the Sambara (an evil magician and robber) dwelling in the mountains; He Who slew the dragon swollen with power; He Who subdued the demon lying before Him: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who, in the shape of a bull using seven rains, let the seven rivers stream on; He Who hurled, with His thunderbolt, the heaven-storming Rauhina into the abyss: This, ye people, is Indra.
Heaven and earth bow down before Him; the mountains tremble before His impetuous will; the renowned Soma drinker, Who, with the thunderbolt under His arm, carries the thunderbolt in His hand: This, ye people, is Indra.
He Who helps the one pressing out the Soma; He Who helps the one who brings sacrifices and sings songs of praise; He Who is invigorated by the Brahman (the strength of piety, of prayer, of the Sacred Word), by the Soma and by the sacrifices of humans: This, ye people, is Indra.
Thou Who procurest, if need be with force, great riches for the one pressing out the Soma: Thou art the truthful One. We desire, Oh Indra, to be ever Thy friends and, as righteous men, speak words of Wisdom.
-From the Rigveda
The Bhagadvad-Gita as Reflection of Michael's Battle in Heaven
The Bhagadvad-Gita describes the battle between two armies. Arjuna talks with his chariot-driver, through whose form Krishna is revealed. Arjuna says: "I cannot fight against those who are related to me through their blood."
Thereupon answers Krishna: "Do not look at that which appears in time.
Look at the eternal, which is immortal and remains untouched by death and birth. All mortals must die. That which has been born must also die. Thus, by slaying the mortal, you aid the eternal world order. Ere you slay your relatives, they have already been slain by Me, Who am Eternity. You but perform the outer deed."
Then Krishna reveals Himself to Arjuna as the eternal Being Who is as One in manifold men. This story mirrors the battle in Heaven. For, as Rudolf Steiner has told us, this battle originated in the higher Hierarchies, in the Hierarchy of the Cherubim, for the reason that a part of these Beings wanted to remain in the realm of eternal duration, while another part of these Beings descended into the stream of becoming. This is mirrored by the talk between Krishna and Arjuna. Lucifer's fall was the consequence of the descent of a part of the highest Hierarchies.
The traditions pointing to Michael as the one who brought about Lucifer's fall prove that Michael transforms the evil connected with this fall into good. He does so by transforming, in the head of man, the light of Lucifer into the wisdom-light through which men -- and with them all other creatures and beings -- can find again the path to eternity.
Thereupon answers Krishna: "Do not look at that which appears in time.
Look at the eternal, which is immortal and remains untouched by death and birth. All mortals must die. That which has been born must also die. Thus, by slaying the mortal, you aid the eternal world order. Ere you slay your relatives, they have already been slain by Me, Who am Eternity. You but perform the outer deed."
Then Krishna reveals Himself to Arjuna as the eternal Being Who is as One in manifold men. This story mirrors the battle in Heaven. For, as Rudolf Steiner has told us, this battle originated in the higher Hierarchies, in the Hierarchy of the Cherubim, for the reason that a part of these Beings wanted to remain in the realm of eternal duration, while another part of these Beings descended into the stream of becoming. This is mirrored by the talk between Krishna and Arjuna. Lucifer's fall was the consequence of the descent of a part of the highest Hierarchies.
The traditions pointing to Michael as the one who brought about Lucifer's fall prove that Michael transforms the evil connected with this fall into good. He does so by transforming, in the head of man, the light of Lucifer into the wisdom-light through which men -- and with them all other creatures and beings -- can find again the path to eternity.
