SAINT RAPHAEL SARA'S ANGEL

Saint Raphael Patron Saint for Marriage those looking for spouse


" By waiting and by calm, you shall be saved, in quiet, and in trust your strength lies."
Isaiah 30 : 15


Eastern Wisdom
Since the birth of Jesus , God's law changed. The commandments of God through Jesus Christ have been given to us to keep us happy, this is the law of
the school of love. This is especially taught by the
teachings of the Orthodox Catholic Fathers.

In the Orthodox church there is reverence of and the carrying of the Holy books and the Icons and in the temple. In difficult times though distant from Rome, they have always remained close through their faithfulness to the See of Peter, and the Prayers of the Eastern Church represent an outstanding
example of what Christian wisdom has offered to the people.

In the Orthodox faith, the Kontakion is a prayer. It came to signify a hymn in
several Strophies (stanzas) sung at an early point in the Divine Liturgy, whether it is referring to Christ ,
the Mother of God or to a saint, is sung.


Prayer

Mary Mother of God~Theotokos
Awed by thy beauty
of thy virginity and the exceeding radiance of thy purity, Gabriel called out unto thee,
O Theotokos: What worthy hymn of praise can I offer unto thee?
What shall I name thee?
I am in doubt and stand in awe, wherefore as commanded I cry to thee
Rejoice O full of Grace.

Prayer of Angel Gabriel:

Kontakion :Rejoice O unwedded bride
Beholding herself in purity!

Mary, the holy one courageously said to Gabriel:
Your strange voice seems almost unbelievable to my soul
for how do you speak of birth giving without seed? And she cried aloud Allelluia.


Guardian Angels

The Fathers of the Holy Orthodox Church
taught us that there are guardian angels of
churches, countries, nations and individuals. (Rev. 2)

Regarding the functions attributed to Raphael we have little more than his declaration to Tobias (Tob., xii) that when the latter was occupied in his works of mercy and charity, he (Raphael) offered his prayer to the Lord, that he was sent by the Lord to heal him of his blindness and to deliver Sara, his son's wife, from the devil. The Jewish category of the archangels is recognized in the New Testament (I Thess., IV, 15; Jude, 9), but only Gabriel and Michael are mentioned by name. Many commentators, however, identify Raphael with the "angel of the Lord" mentioned in John, v. This conjecture is based both on the significance of the name and on the healing role attributed to Raphael in the Book of Tobias. The Church assigns the feast of St. Raphael to October 24 The hymns of the Office recall the healing power of the archangel and his victory over the demon. The lessons of the first Nocturn and the Antiphons of the entire Office are taken from the Book of Tobias, and the lessons of the second and third Nocturns from the works of St. Augustine, viz. for the second Nocturn a sermon on Tobias (sermon I on the fifteenth Sunday), and for the third, a homily on the opening verses of John v. The Epistle of the Mass is taken from the twelfth chapter of Tobias, and the Gospel from John, v, 1-4, referring to the pool called Probatica, where the multitude of the infirm lay awaiting the moving of the water, for "an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under". Thus the conjecture of the commentators referred to above is confirmed by the official Liturgy of the Church.
JAMES F. DRISCOLL
CATHOLIC COM



Says St. Gregory the Theologian: "Some of those intelligences are standing before the great God, and others cooperate in holding the whole world."

And St. John of Damascene said:: "They are powerful, and ready to accomplish the will of God, and they appear anywhere and instantly, according to their subtle nature, wherever God orders them." The angels of the Lord do not want to be worshipped. When an angel showed St. John the new Paradise in Heaven with all its marvels, St. John fell at the feet of the angel to worship him. But the angel did not allow that, saying: Do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God (Rev. 22:8-9). Yes, we worship God alone.



The Guardian Angels
In ancient times, Michael the Archangel was considered as the guardian angel of the people of Israel.
Joshua saw him at Jericho, and heard him saying that he was the captain of the Lord's host (Joshua 5:14-15).
serfes.org