{"id":4053,"date":"2016-12-03T00:52:10","date_gmt":"2016-12-03T00:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/the-commemoration-of-the-festival-of-the-twenty-four-priests-of-heaven\/"},"modified":"2016-12-03T00:52:10","modified_gmt":"2016-12-03T00:52:10","slug":"the-commemoration-of-the-festival-of-the-twenty-four-priests-of-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/the-commemoration-of-the-festival-of-the-twenty-four-priests-of-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"The Commemoration of the Festival of the Twenty four Priests of heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"
December 03, 2016<\/i><\/b><\/span> <\/div>\n

\"68677_306954779413269_1699992149_n.jpg\"The twenty-four Priests of heaven are a class of priestly angels positioned in the fifth rank of angelic <\/span>hierarchy and perform priestly duties without rest. (Rev. 4:4, 10, 11) They have been cleansing, praying and seek mercy for mankind as they had cleansed Isaiah with live coal from the altar.  (Isa. 6:1-7).<\/span> <\/p>\n

They are also called Seraphim from the Hebrew word ‘seraph’ or ‘seraphim’ (plural) – meaning ‘burners’. They fly around the Throne of God crying "Holy, Holy, Holy” and are six-winged angles; with two wings they cover their faces, with another two they cover their feet, and the last two they use to fly. (Isa. 6:2-3) 
<\/span>The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewaido church has been built churches dedicated to them and celebrates their feast each year on Hidar 24 (December 3). <\/span> <\/p>\n

The Ethiopic Synaxarium records the description of the Twenty four Priests of Heaven as follows:<\/span> <\/p>\n

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit One God, Amen. <\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n

On this day is commemorated the festival of the Twenty  Four  Priests of heaven, who are round about the throne of God, who are priests indeed, and who are beings of the spirit and have no bodies.  They are exalted above all the saints and the spiritual hosts.  <\/span> <\/p>\n

They are saints with God and they make intercession on behalf of the race of men, and they bring unto Him the prayers of the saints like incense in the censers in their hands. Alms and oblations cannot ascend to God except through them even as Saint John the evangelist says in the Vision of the Apocalypse, “I saw the place of Twenty Four elders round about Him, and they were sitting on twenty four thrones; and on their heads were twenty four crowns, and in their hands were twenty four censers containing sweet-smelling incense, which is the prayers of the saints who dwell upon earth, and which they make to rise up before God, the Sustainer of the Universe.” <\/span> <\/p>\n

 And he also says, “And I heard Four Beasts praising and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord [God] of Hosts, the heavens and the earth are filled full of the holiness of Thy glory”.   And straightway the twenty four priests of heaven fell down with their faces to the ground, and they took off their crowns, and they said unto Him, Glory, and honor, and thanks are fitting for Thee.  And when a command went forth from God they fell down again with their faces to the ground, saying, Glory, and power, and judgment, and righteousness belong to our God” (Rev. 4:4). <\/span> <\/p>\n

 And because the father of the Church have found statements about these Twenty Four Priests of heaven in the Holy Scriptures, and have seen stories told of them by the Apostles and in their Canon, saying that they are nigh unto God, they have ordered and ruled, saying, “The name of him that celebrates their commemoration shall be revealed upon earth.  And they shall entreat God on his behalf to forgive him all his sins.”  Therefore, Church fathers tell the people to honor the festival of the commemoration of the Twenty Four Priests of heaven.  <\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/span>Salutation to you, O priests of the Law.<\/span> Their intercession be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen<\/span><\/i> <\/p>\n

Source: Ethiopic Synaxarium – (<\/i><\/span>Translation of Sir E. A. Wallis Budge <\/i>on December 3). <\/i> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 03, 2016<\/i><\/b><\/span> <\/div>\n

\"68677_306954779413269_1699992149_n.jpg\"The twenty-four Priests of heaven are a class of priestly angels positioned in the fifth rank of angelic <\/span>hierarchy and perform priestly duties without rest. (Rev. 4:4, 10, 11) They have been cleansing, praying and seek mercy for mankind as they had cleansed Isaiah with live coal from the altar.  (Isa. 6:1-7).<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fasts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}