Archangel Saint Uriel
Archangel Saint Uriel is one of the vigilant holy angels who was sent from the Lord to Prophet Ezra to console, show the symbols and reveal to him all mysteries which will take place in the later days. When Ezra was troubled, while he was in captivity, distressed, greatly sorrowful about the captivity of the people and when he saw the idol worshipping Babylonians put the Israelites under cruel and bitter servitude as Ezra himself has said.
In the thirtieth year after the fall of our country, when I was in Babylon, I, Sutuʾel, who is named Ezra thought and was terrified, while in my bed and my face was open, and my mind was lifted to my heart, for I saw the destruction of Zion and the pleasure of the inhabitants of Babylon. My soul was severely troubled. I started speaking with the Most High about a terrifying matter, saying, ‘Oh Lord, have you not spoken when you formerly created the earth, and you alone ordered the dust of the earth and it brought forth Adam in a mortal flesh? He is the work of your hands and you breathed into him the spirit of life. He became man in front of you. You had him dwell in the paradise that your right hand planted before the earth existed. You instructed him with a righteous order, but he revolted against you. Then you brought death upon him and his child. Nations, peoples, tribes and endless groups were born from him and they were procreated. All the nations went according to their demeanour and erred before you and denied you. However, you did not reject them. Also, you brought at different times, flood on the earth and on those who were in the world, and you destroyed them. Their punishment was equal to that of Adam. As you brought death on Adam, likewise, flood on them. You spared for yourself one with his family; all the righteous came from among them and from them.
Then, they started to multiply and fill the land in which they were living. Their children became many; nations and many people were born from them. Again, they started to sin greatly as before. When they sinned before you, you chose one of them whose name was Abraham. You loved him and you revealed to him alone the end of the world, at night when you two were alone. You made for him an everlasting covenant that you would never forsake his seeds which came out of Egypt. You brought them to Mount Sinai. You lowered the heavens, shook the earth, and stirred the world, made the ocean to tremble, and stirred the sea. Your glory passed through four gates, which are of fire, earthquake, wind, and ice to give the law to the seed of Jacob and the commandment to the tribes of Israel. But you did not remove from them the evil mind in order for them to perform the fruit of your law (appear) on them. For Adam wore formerly an evil heart and was defeated, not he alone but all who were born from him. Thus፣ the disease became permanent together with your law in the people’s heart together with the evil root. What was good disappeared and evil remained.
Ages passed and the time was completed. You raised up for yourself a servant whose name was David and you told him to build your city in your name so that they may bring into it your offering. Not many times and years passed before all inhabitants of the earth erred, performing nothing good, as Adam and all his descendants had done. For they, too, had worn the evil heart. You delivered your city into the hands of your enemies. At that time, I said in my heart, ‘Are the deeds of the inhabitants of Babylon any better than us, better to take the city of Zion?’ After this, we came here in Babylon and I saw countless sins, and my soul saw many deniers during these thirty years. My heart was amazed by this and seeing how you tolerated the sinners and how you spared the ungodly and forsook your people but kept your enemy. You have not told anyone how the end of this path will be. Is Babylon really better than Zion in behavior? Or have you recognized other people than Israel? Or what people have you as Jacob, by your law, whose reward and the fruit of his labour have not appeared? You have travelled among nations and you found them happy without minding your law and commandment.
Now therefore weigh in a balance our sins and those of the inhabitants of the world; in which it will be found which way the turn of the scale will incline. When have the inhabitants of the world not sinned before you? Or what people have kept strictly your commandment? No perfect people is found on earth’. The angel named Uriel that has been sent to me, answered and said to me, ‘Admire with your heart so that you may receive counsel of the glory of the Most High.’ Then I said, ‘Yes, my Lord.’ He replied to me, ‘I have been sent to you to show you three ways and I will set three similitudes before you. If you can solve one of them for me, I also will show you the way you desire to know, and tell you why the heart is.’ I said, ‘Speak on, my Lord.’ He said to me, ‘Go, weigh fire on a scale and measure the wind in a measure, or call back the day that has passed.’ I answered him and said, ‘Who of those born of women can do this thing as you asked me?’ He said to me, ‘If I had asked you, saying, “How many dwellings are in the heart of the sea, or how many fountains are there in the ocean, or how many are the roads to Sheol, or which are the roads to paradise?’, you would say to me, “I did not go down into the ocean, | I never went down to Sheol, and I never ascended into heaven.” Now I have not asked other than fire, wind, and the passed day. And, behold, you cannot comprehend, and you did not reply to me about these things.’ And he said to me, ‘If you cannot comprehend the order of the way of the Most High, a couptible mind cannot comprehend the way of the incorrupt.’
Then when I heard this, I fell on my face and said to him, ‘It would be better for us not to be created than created and live in our sins; and to suffer but not understand why we suffer.’ He answered me and said, ‘Trees and desert plants came together and made a plan and said, “Come, let us go and wage war against the sea that we may have it retreat before us, and make us another country for trees.” In like manner, the waves of the sea made a plan and said, “Come, let us go and wage war against the trees of the desert and make us another country for the sea.” But the plan of the trees was in vain, and the fire came and consumed it; likewise the plan of the sea and its waves, for the sand stood firm and stopped them. If now you know judgment, which of them would you undertake to justify and which to condemn?’ I answered and said to him, ‘Both were wrong and both had thought vainly, for the land has been assigned to the trees, and to the sea firmed has been assigned to carry its waves.’ He answered me and said to me, ‘You have judged fairly, but why do you not judge so in your own case? For as the earth is assigned to the tree and the sea to the waves, so also those who dwell upon earth can understand only what is on earth, but not what is in the heavens and above the heavens.’ Then I answered and said to him, ‘Oh Lord, why then is the mind, by which we comprehend, given to us? For I did not wish to enquire about his highest ways, but about those things which happen to us at all times, as Israel has been given over to the Gentiles and the people love to sinful people and the law of our fathers has been abandoned and our written covenant no longer exists. We pass from the word like locusts, and our life is like a wisp of smoke and we are not worthy to obtain mercy. But what we do to his holy appointed on us? It is about this that I have asked you.’ He answered me and said to me, ‘If you are present and alive, you will see it in its time, for it is hastening to pass.
The world is unable to carry the hope of the righteous because the world is full of agony and infirmities. For evil, about which you asked me has been sown but its harvest is not yet at hand, nor is the crop of this country, where the evil has been sown, to be reaped. For the grain of seed in Adam’s heart has produced the seed of sin and has multiplied up to this time. It will be produced until the time of harvesting. Ponder now for yourself, if this much fruit of sin was produced from a grain of a wicked seed. When a grain of seed was produced, how much good (would be produced) if it did produce a fruit which has no end. Then I answered and said to him, ‘How long and when will this great thing take place, as our time is short and evil?’ He answered me and said to me, ‘You do not hasten more than the Most High. You hasten for yourself, but the Highest does for many. Thus the souls of the | righteous, in their chambers, ask, saying, “How long are we to remain here? When will come the harvest of our reward?”’ The angel Uriel answered him, saying to him, ‘As the number of those like you is completed, the world was weighed with a scale, and he measured the sea with | a measure, and he will neither keep silent nor wake up until what is given to him by measure is fulfilled.’ Then I answered him, saying to him, ‘Oh Lord, my Lord, behold, we all are filled with sin. Is it perhaps on account of us that the time of harvest is hindered for the righteous, on account of the sins of those who dwell on earth?’ He said to me, ‘Go and ask a pregnant woman, when her nine months have been completed, if her womb can keep the child created within her any longer.’
Then I said, ‘She cannot, oh Lord.’ He said to me, ‘Sheol, and the chambers of the | souls of the righteous are also like the womb. For just as a womb hastens to give birth due to its pain, likewise, the earth hastens for its womb to give back those things that were committed to her since the creation of the world. At that time, they will tell you what you desire to know.’ I answered to him, saying to him, ‘If I have found favour in your sight, and if you regulate what I can do, please tell me, is this concerning the long time that has passed or about that which is yet to come? I know that which has passed, but I do not know what is yet to come.’ He said to me, ‘Stand up at the right side in solidarity, and I will show you the interpretation of the symbol.’ So I stood up and, behold, a caldron was flaming and passed before me, and the flame had gone and the smoke remained. After this a cloud, full of water, passed before me and a rainstorm poured down heavily.
When the rainstorm had passed, drizzle remained. He said to me, ‘Think about it yourself as the rain is more than the drizzle and smoke of fire, in the same manner, the measure will be more, whereas the drizzle and the smoke were remained.’ Then I beseeched him and said to him, ‘Will I ever live until these days?’ He answered me, saying to me, ‘Concerning the signs about which you asked me, I can tell you only a part. As for your life, I was not set to tell you, nor do I know. As for the signs, behold, the days will come and a great terror will grip those who live on earth, the country of righteousness will be hidden, the country of the faith will be barren and violence will increase more than what you saw and heard. Corruption will reign on the country you now see. The country will be corrupt and destroyed, and the land will be desert. If the Most High grants you life you shall see the land.’
After three months, when the sun will be troubled and suddenly gives lit at night and the moon during the day, blood will drip from wood, and stone will howl; nations will be troubled, and the stars will fall. Someone, whom many never suspected, will reign; and all will heed his words. His voice will reach to many countries. Dense fire will be sent out and the wild beasts will roam beyond their haunts. Then a sign will be born of women and the sweet water will be found sour and friends will suddenly fight each one. At that time, wisdom will be vanished and counsel will withdraw into its chamber and at many will see it, but they will not find it. Rebellion and foolishness will increase on earth. A country will ask its neighbor, “Has righteousness, or anyone who does right, passed through you?” It will answer, “No.” At that time man will hope but he will not be found; he will marry but he will not be happy; he will labour and toil but his ways will not prosper. I came to tell you this sign. But if you pray again, and weep as you do now, and fast double for seven days, you shall hear yet greater things.’
Then I awoke, and my mind and body shuddered extremely and my soul was so tled that I fainted. The angel who came and talked with me held me, set me on my feet and strengthened me. Now, on the second night, Phaltiel, a chief officer of who came to me and said to me, ‘Where are you from? And why is your face so sad? Or do you not know that you are entrusted with Israel in the land they were exiled? Rise therefore and eat some bread which is there so that you may not forsake , like a shepherd who leaves his flock in the clutches (lit. hands) of wicked wolves.’ I said to him, ‘Depart from me and do not come near until after seven days; then you may come to me and I will tell you something.’ He left me, and I fasted seven days, saddened while weeping, as the angel Uriel had commanded me. Then, after seven days, my mind and thoughts troubled me extremely again. Then the spirit of wisdom lifted my soul. I began once more to speak in the presence of the Most High. I said, ‘Oh Lord, my Lord, of all the trees of the earth and of all its plants, you chose one vine; of all the lands of the world, you chose one land for yourself; of all the oceans, you filled for yourself one river; of all the cities that have been built, you consecrated Zion for yourself; of all the birds that have been created, you sanctified one dove for yourself; of all the flocks that have been fashioned, you chose one lamb for yourself; and of all the multitude of nations, you chose one people whom you taught the law and gave it to the same people you loved more than others. But now, oh Lord, why have you given over the only one to the many and dishonoured the only one root more than the other roots, and scattered your only one more than the many? And they have trod down those who trust in your law who are enemies of your order. If you really hate your people, it is better that you punish them by your hands.’
When I had spoken these words, the angel had come to me the other night was sent to me. He said to me, ‘Listen to me, and I will tell you; pay attention to me, and I will repeat it before you.’ ‘Speak on, my Lord’, I said. He said to me, ‘Is this really strange to Israel? Or have you loved Israel more than his creator? I said, ‘No, Lord, but I spoke because it worried me and tired my entire soul at all times, while I strive to find out the way of the Most High and to know the trace of his judgment.’ He said to me, ‘You cannot.’ I said to him, ‘Why, oh Lord? Why then was I born? Why has not my mother’s womb become a grave for me, that I might not see the suffering of Jacob and the toil of the people of Israel?’ He said to me, ‘The number of the years was not yet complete. Gather for me the flowers that are scattered and make the withered grass bloom again for me and open the closed chambers, and bring forth for me the souls that are locked up in them, and show me the faces of those whom never saw, and caused me to hear their voice. At that time, I will tell you about their suffering that it found them in the right way.’ I said, ‘Oh Lord, my Lord, who is able to know this knowledge other than he whose place is not with men? As for me, I am foolish and lowly; how can I answer to you concerning what you are asking of me?’ Listen, oh people of the Lord, how the Lord spoke to Prophet Ezra his concealed mystery, coming to him in the likeness of the angel Uriel, as the Son spoke to Moses formerly his mystery appearing in the likeness of the Angel of the Presence, as it is written in the book of Jubilees. As he appeared to Joshua in Jericho in the likeness of an angel with a sharp sword in his hand. Joshua said to him, ‘Are you one of us | or of our enemy?’ He replied to him, ‘I am the commander of (the host of) the Lord.’ Joshua fell on his face to the ground and bowed to him. He the Son appeared to Our Lady, the twofold Virgin Mary, in the likeness of the angel Saint Gabriel to announce her his incarnation; he was called Gabriel in the Gospel of Luke.
Our Lord said to his disciples in the Book of the Covenant, ‘At that time, I appeared to Mary in the likeness of the Archangel Gabriel and spoke to her and she believed; she smiled in her mind and accepted. Then I, the Word, entered into her and became flesh. I became a messenger | for myself in the likeness of an angel.’ To Ezra, the prophet and priest, too the Lord appeared in the likeness of Uriel the angel and told him the mysteries he works at different times, as Ezra himself had said, ‘The angel who had come to me the previous night said to me, “As you are unable to do one of the things that have been mentioned, so you are unable to find out my judgment and the meaning of love for I am tolerant to my people.” I said, ‘My Lord, you tolerated them and what should they who were before us or those who were after us, have done?’ He said to me, ‘I made my judgment like a ring lest those who were behind be delayed or those who came first hasten.’ I said to him, ‘Could you not then perhaps have created at once together those who preceded, those 10 who followed, and those who exist at present so that you may show your judgement once?’ He said to me, ‘A work does not hasten more than its worker; as for the world, it could not endure those which are created under it.’ I said to him, ‘and how would you, oh Lord, revive those whom you created together all at once? If you revive them all at once, A will the world endure? If it cannot now, it might not be able to endure it at once with those at present.’ He said to me, ‘Now have the womb of a woman agree: say to it, “Why do you bear ten (children)” Now ask if she can bear all ten at one time. Can she not, only annually? As the womb which never can, so also I ordained about the old.’ I asked him, saying to him, ‘Now that you have given me the way, for me to speak before you, behold you say to me, your mother is minor but she is old. He answered and said to me, ‘Ask the one that bore a child and she will tell you: say to her, “Why are not those whom bore now become powerful like the former ones?” she shall say to you, “This one was born in the strength of youth and the other was born in the old womb. But you yourself know that you are inferior in power against those who preceded you. Those who succeed you will be inferior to you likewise, the one who is created, lived as if the power of his youth is passed away.”’ Likewise, Uriel the angel was sent to Prophet Ezra.
When he saw the suffering of Zion he was sad and sorrowful; when he saw the majestic glory of Zion, he trembled and was afraid. He called in a loud voice and said, ‘You are Uriel who came to me before. Why did you do to me like this, that I may enter into this serious enquiry, and my end enter into this corruption and my prayer appear ridiculous?’ While I was speaking like this, behold, the angel who had come to me formerly came to me and found me lying down like a corpse, and my mind was not with me. He held me by my right hand and strengthened me. He set me up straight on my feet. He replied and said to me, ‘What happened to you? Why are you terrified? Why is not your mind with you?’ I said to him, ‘Because you have rejected me and forsaken me. I went out into the desert as you told me. Behold, I saw what I cannot understand.’ He said to me, ‘Stand up. Now, I will tell you like a man.’ I said to him, ‘Speak on, oh Lord; but do not forsake me, for I have seen what I have not seen before and heard what I have not I heard (before) and what I do not know. But my mind forgot and my soul is dreaming. Now, I beseech you, my Lord, tell your servant the interpretation of this (vision).’ He answered to me and said to me, ‘Listen to me and I will tell you about what you are afraid of, because what the Lord the Most High has revealed to you is a hidden mystery. For he has seen your righteousness how you grieved much for your people and how you are deeply distressed for Zion. This, then, is the matter: you saw a woman be who was mourning so much and whom you consoled. What you saw was not really a woman but what will be your city. Since she told you of the sickness of her son, this woman whom you saw is Zion, although you see it as a city being built. What she said to you, “I have been barren | for thirty years”, it is because the world was without offering for thirty years.
After thirty years, Solomon built a city and offered offerings. It is at that time that the barren (one) gave birth. What she told you, that she conceived him with much labour, is how Jerusalem has been. What she said to you, “My son died on the day he entered into his bridal chamber, and this great pain found me”, is because of the fall of Jerusalem.’ Now you saw how she had to console her children and you began consoling her in her pain. Now because the Most High saw you being sorrowful about her (Zion) with all your soul and you suffered, with all your heart on her account, he showed you the light of her glory and the beauty of her dignity. Therefore, I told you to live in the desert where no house is built for I knew all that the Lord has to tell you. Therefore I bade you to come here where there is no foundation of righteousness, for no building, the work of human being, could be in the place the Most High has to show you.
Therefore, do not be afraid and let not your heart be terrified, but go in and see its light and the strength of her building. Hear with your own ears as much as you can hear, for have brought out of many and you are named before the Most High as (only) few.’ This is the great angel Uriel, one of the seven archangels sent from the Lord to Ezra the prophet and priest, and informed him the hidden mystery which will be revealed in its time. The Archangel Uriel is great and honoured whose greatness was told by the mouth of Ezra the prophet and priest. By Enoch whom the Lord concealed from the face of death when he pleased him. Enoch said about the Archangel Uriel and other archangels, when the giants ate people because of the treachery of men they cried out, and their voice reached heaven. At that time, Michael Uriel, and Gabriel visited from heaven and saw the enormous blood spilled down on the earth and all the iniquity that was being done on the earth and they saved the people from the injustice of the giants and they destroyed the giants by the command of the Lord. This is Uriel the archangel who told Enoch my of the government of the stars. When Enoch saw the place of awful damnation of the angels as Enoch himself has said, ‘Uriel said to me, “The spirits of the angels who associated with the women will stand here until the day of great judgment where they will be punished until they end.” Again Enoch said about the honourable Archangel Uriel, ‘Uriel is one of the holy angels, because he is of thunder and tremors.’ The honourable angel Uriel is named ‘the angel of the thunder’ because he causes the a praise of the Most High to be called out with a great and marvellous voice. He is named ‘the angel of tremors’ because Saint Uriel is majestic who makes the daemons trembles. Again, Enoch said, when he saw the place of joy for the righteous, and the place of judgment for the sinners, ‘At that 5 time, I said about that land, “What is the purpose of this blessed A 179ra land whose entirety is full of trees and of this accursed valley in the middle of them?”
At that time, one of the holy angels, who was with me, answered and said to me, “This accursed valley is for those who are cursed forever. All who utter with their mouths against the Lord words that are not fitting will be gathered together here. Those who will say evil things against the praise of his glory, they gather them here and their punishment will be here. In the last days, there will be the manifestation of the right judgment upon them before the righteous. The merciful will bless the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King forever. The time of their judgment, they will bless him on account of his mercy, as he will have shared with them at that time. They blessed the Lord of Glory, as I announced and they proclaimed him as it fits his greatness.” Again Enoch said about the Archangel Uriel, ‘I saw the ends of the earth on which heaven rests, and I saw the gates of heaven opened. I saw how the stars of heaven come out. I counted (the windows) through which they come, and wrote down all their outlets, each one individually according to their number and their names, according to their constellations and their positions, their times, and their months, as the holy angel Uriel, who was with me, showed me everything to write down. he also wrote down their names for me, and their orders and their | associations. Again Enoch said about the Archangel Uriel in the book of the revolutions of the light of heavens each is arranged as it is in its grouping each is according to its autoirtiy and its time. Each is arranged to its name and its place of origin and according to its month which Uriel, the holy angel who is with me and is their guide showed me.
All their regulations are exactly as he showed me and as would happen every year until the new creation that will last forever, will be created. Again Enoch said about Uriel, the archangel, ‘His words are true and his measured reckoning is exact, because Uriel himself showed me about the lights of the months and the days, and Uriel breathed on me which the power of all ordered creatures of the world to me heavenly power which has authority over night and day on the heaven so that he may shine the light, sun, moon and all the stars. All heavenly powers which rotate in their orbits on men.’ Now, see the greatness of Archangel Uriel to whom the Lord gave the power over the lights of heaven to show the hidden mysteries of the lights of heaven to Enoch. Enoch said, ‘Saint Uriel breathed on me what the Lord of the whole created world ordered for me.’ Saint Uriel, the archangel, breathed on Enoch that he may receive knowledge over knowledge to see mysteries. For the great Archangel Uriel is a priest; and all the archangels are priests like him. And all priests are servants of the mystery of the holy a Church who are on earth. If priests observe the memorial of the archangels who serve as priests in heaven, their priesthood on earth will be more blessed by the heavenly archangel.
Therefore, all of you Christians, men and women, observe (the memorial) of Saint Uriel the archangel, the great priest by going to church and offering sacrifice, by praying regularly with much tears which cleans sinners clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, releasing prisoners, consoling the sorrowful, and by giving the offences of your friends who offended you, so that Satan, who wants to destroy the faithful, may be ashamed. Do the commemoration of the angel Uriel, the priest and great archangel; for the priests, in order for your priesthood to be sanctified and your sacrifices to be accepted; for the monks and nuns, in order for your monkhood to be sanctified; for the virgins, in order for their virginity to be kept; for the laity, in order for your souls and bodies to be sanctified and in order for your children and all your deeds to be blessed by the intercession of this honoured angel, archangel, and great priest who breathed on Enoch to receive wisdom over wisdom and to be filled with the spirit of prophecy. Our Lord, too, breathed on his disciples, saying, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit, whose so ever sins you remit, they are remitted to them; and whose so ever sins you retain, they are retained.’ Breathing on the laity is not possible for others but for priests and Uriel the archangel breathed on Enoch because he is a priest. You should not think that observing the feast of the great Archangel Uriel is a simple matter.
Observe his feast today with pleasure so that he may be pleased with you. It is not only he who will be pleased, but the Lord will also be pleased when you honour his holy angels. Our Lady Mary, the twofold Virgin, will be pleased when you love her servants with all the angels of her Son, who are her servants. She will visit you today on her feast to cover you with the scarlet of her mercy, to protect you with the strength of her power, to save you from the mouth of the wolf and have you enter into the paradise of pleasure. Likewise, may she have our father Zacharias enter into the place of pleasure and happiness together with all his brothers, the children of this tabernacle, forever and ever, amen!
Source: Homily of the Archangel Uriel