Feast of Archangel Saint Raphael
September 7, 2022
Holy Church commemorates the glorious angel Raphael the archangel, the third of the vigilant, holy and heavenly archangels; the dedication of his church, which was built to him on an island outside the city of Alexandria in the days of Saint Theophilus the Archbishop; and the miracle which was made manifest therein and thus took place.
A certain rich woman from the city of Rome came to Saint Theophilus the Archbishop, and with her were her son and a picture of the glorious Archangel Raphael, and much money, which she had inherited from her parents. She cleared away the heap of rubbish, which was in front of the archbishop’s house, and there appeared from beneath it a treasure of gold, even as we have written [in the section for] the eighteenth day of October 28, Saint Abba Theophilus built many churches, and among them was the church, which was on the island outside the city of Alexandria, and was dedicated in the name of the glorious Archangel Raphael); and Abba Theophilus the Archbishop finished the building thereof and consecrated it as it were this day.
Whilst the believers were praying in the church, behold the church trembled, and was rent asunder, and it moved about. They found that the church had been built upon the back of a whale of the whales of the sea, on which a very large mass of sand had heaped itself. Now the whale lay firmly fixed in its place, and the treading of the feet of the people upon it cut it off from the mainland; it was Satan who moved the whale so that he might throw down the church. The believers and the archbishop cried out together, and made supplication to the Lord Christ. They asked for the intercession of the glorious Archangel Raphael. God, the Most High, sent the glorious angel Raphael, and he had mercy on the children of men, and he drove his spear into the while, saying to him, “By the commandment of God stand still, and move not thyself from your place.” The whale stood in his place and moved not. Many signs and wonders were made manifest, and great healings of sick folk took place in that church. This church continued to exist until the time when the Muslims reigned, and then it was destroyed, and the whale moved, and the sea flowed back again and drowned many people who dwelt in that place.
This story was told by John, Archbishop of the city of Constantinople, to Honorius, the righteous emperor. He said to him, “Know, O emperor, that we were sailing in a ship to come to thee, and as we were going along we saw a church, on the island, on the day preceding the Sabbath, we came into port, so that we might receive the Holy Mysteries on the First Day of the week. We found a little monastery by the side of the church, with brethren and monks therein. By the commandment of God, we went to them, and we said to them, ‘O brethren, if you have with you an old manuscript treating of the days of the ancients, give it to us so that we may comfort ourselves therewith.’ They answered and said unto me, ‘Behold, we have many manuscripts in the sanctuary, but we do not know how to translate them.’ I said unto them, ‘Bring them here that I may see them.’ When they brought them to me, I searched through them, and I found that they treated of the mighty deeds and miracles which our Lord Jesus Christ had performed before His disciples, and also of the beginning of the heavens and the earth. They went on] to the end of this world. As I was examining these manuscripts, I found a manuscript which was written by our fathers, the holy Apostles, and which treated of the appointment of the Seven Archangels, and it said: ‘When our Lord Jesus Christ was on the Mount of Olives with His disciples, He revealed to them the mystery of the Godhead.’ The Apostles asked Him, saying, ‘O our Lord and God, we beseech and entreat Thee to tell us about the glory of the honorable angel Raphael, and what day you did appoint him, in what month, whether he is the equal of his fellow archangels, so that we may preach him in the world, that men may celebrate a festival in his honor as they celebrate festivals in honor of his fellow archangels, that men may pray to him in the time of their sorrow and tribulation, so that they may find grace and compassion with you, and his intercession.’
Straightway our Lord Jesus Christ commanded, the seven, and the three archangels, came from the third heaven, Michael, and Gabriel and Raphael with great joy, and they bowed down before our Lord Christ: Our Lord said unto the angel Raphael) ‘Tell the Apostles thy name so that they may know thy great honor.’ Now the Archangel Raphael), a sincere angel, is the third of the archangels, and Michael the archangel is the first of all the angels; and his name means the ‘compassionate.’ Gabriel is the second archangel, and his name mean ‘God and man,’ and it was he who was sent to our holy Lady, the Virgin Mary, to announce the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ from her.” Raphael said, “I make hearts to rejoice, and I am sincere, and good, and merciful to sinners, against whom I never lay information concerning their sins before God; I speak only of my power to save, my sincerity and my love for men. I send angels with the souls of sinners, and I treat them with long-suffering until at length they repent of their sins, and forsake their transgressions, Raphael whom God set over the twenty-three hosts of angels. We praise God the Father, His compassionate Son and the Holy Spirit the Comforter. I am Raphael whom God commanded to give good things to the saints at the Marriage of One Thousand Years in Mount Zion, when our Lord Jesus Christ made them to drink out of the cup, which is filled with honor indeed, as they reclined with Him when He sat on the holy throne. I am Raphael whom God commanded to take up branches of the Tree of Life in my hand, and to give them to Christians on that day of life and joy. I am Raphael under whose hands are kept the treasure houses of the heavens, and I open them and shut them according as God command me. If any man shall do a good deed to another man, who is in tribulation upon earth, for my name’s sake, or shall write a book about my office, or shall remember any of the poor in my name, or shall offer up an offering or incense on the day of my commemoration, which is the third day of Paguemen, whereon God appointed me, and crowned me with the office of the angels, I will bear them and transport them on the chariot of light, until they enter the heavenly Jerusalem. I will place in their souls scented branches with an exceedingly sweet odor, the like of which shall never be found upon the earth. Ask of me, O chosen Apostles, at all times so that I may protect you until you stand before God. Preach you to all men in all the world that they must celebrate my commemoration, and I will make intercession with God on their behalf and I will deliver them from their tribulation, and they shall never see punishment.” Having said these words Raphael bowed low to the Lord.
This glorious angel Raphael, the archangel, has performed many other miracles. Amongst is in the story of Tobit and his son Tobias in scripted in the “Book of Tobit.” Tobit was a man from the tribe of Naphtali, held in captivity in Nineveh, merciful and fearing God. For, when he was in captivity, he did not eat bread in common with the Gentiles, but he guarded himself. He was superintendent of the markets for king Shalmaneser, and he deposited ten talents of silver at Gabelus’s in Media. Tobit devoted himself to burying the dead Jews. He was denounced to king Sennacherib for this, and fled to save himself.
When he was back from his flight, after burying a few dead, he fell asleep outside the walls of his house, and while as was his habit, he kept his eyes open in his sleep, he contracted a white film over them, and from that time he lost sight.
There was in Ecbatana the daughter of Raguel, a relative of Tobit’s, called Sara. The devil Asmodeus would not let her enter into any marriage. For he had already killed seven young men who had taken her as a bride. When, strongly saddened by this, she gave herself over to prayers, God sent the archangel Raphael to help her. So, Tobit, having commanded his son Tobias not to take a wife from elsewhere than from his own tribe and family, gave him the note concerning the ten talents, and told him to go and ask for them. As the son knew neither the way nor the man to whom he had to go, he went out to seek a guide for his journey, and, by God’s providence, he stumbled upon Raphael, who stood outside in the appearance of a man, and he hired him for a price, because he said he knew the way. Therefore, the angel accompanied him, in man’s disguise, saying his name was Azarias.
When they reached the waters of the Tigris, Tobias wanted to go down into them to wash himself, and soon a large fish attacked him. The angel ordered him to catch the fish, cut it into pieces, take out the liver, heart, gall, and keep them. When, later, the boy asked what he thought they would be useful for, he replied: “The liver and heart, when set on fire, put demons to flight; and the gall removes white films from the eyes.” Therefore, thanks to the advice and assistance of the angel, Tobias put the demon to flight with the smoke, and made the angel bind him in the upper part of Egypt; and so he took Sara, Raguel’s daughter, as a wife. While he stayed with his wife, he sent Azarias, as a man, to Media. When Tobias had gotten back the ten talents through him, he returned to his father with him and his wife.
Once he was back, he smeared the fish’s gall on his father’s eyes; when that had been done, scales fell off from them, and soon the old man recovered sight. He was 58 years old when he became blind, and 66 when he recovered sight. Then at last the angel revealed that he was not a man, but an angel sent by God to bring help to them and Sara. When Tobit became old, he ordered his son to depart for Media, because Nineveh, according to what the prophet Jonah had said, was going to be destroyed. And, his strength abandoning him, he died at the age of 158. His son Tobias moved to Media, where, eventually, having buried his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and heard the news of Nineveh’s destruction, he died at the age of 107.
It is meet that we should celebrate Archangel Saint Rapheal’s commemoration at all times, for he makes intercession with God on our behalf.
May the archangel Saint Raphael’s intercession and blessing be with us, Amen!
Source: The Ethiopian Synaxarium pages 733-734 and Athanasius of Alexandria.