Holy Archangel Gabriel

Life

This great Archangel of God is celebrated on March 26. On this day, however, his appearances and miracles throughout the entire history of human salvation are glorified and honored. It is held that this celebration was first established on the Holy Mountain in the ninth century, during the reigns of the Emperors Basil and Constantine Porphyrogenitus and Patriarch Nicholas Chrysoberges, on the occasion of this Archangel's appearance in a cell near Karyes, where he inscribed with his finger upon a stone the hymn to the Theotokos, "It Is Truly Meet" (Dostoyno yest). Because of this event the cell was named and is still called the Cell of "It Is Truly Meet." In connection with this, the other appearances of the Archangel Gabriel are also commemorated, such as: his appearance to Moses when he was tending the flock of Jethro, on which occasion he communicated to the great chosen one of God how the world was created and everything else that Moses later wrote down in the Book of Genesis; his appearance to the Prophet Daniel and the revelation of the mystery concerning the future kingdoms and the coming of the Savior; his appearance to Saint Anna and the promise that she would bear a daughter, the most blessed and most pure Virgin Mary; his many appearances to the Holy Virgin while she dwelt in the Temple of Jerusalem; his appearance to Zacharias the high priest and the announcement of the birth of John the Forerunner, and the punishment of the same with muteness because he did not believe his words; his appearance again to the Holy Virgin in Nazareth and the communication of the glad tidings concerning the conception and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ; his appearance to the Righteous Joseph; his appearance to the shepherds near Bethlehem; his appearance to the Lord Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he strengthened the Lord as man before His Passion; his appearance to the Myrrh-bearing Women, and so forth.

From the Hymn of Praise

When holy Julian departed this life,That wondrous shepherd of the flock of Christ,Prince Defensor, his spiritual child,Was at dinner with his nobles,At dinner in the middle of the bright day.