Interview with His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry for the portal «Orthodox Life».

– Your Beatitude, Archangel Michael of God, according to the teachings of the Church, leads the Heavenly Host, is considered the victor of Satan and is revered as the patron saint of Kievan Rus. About what and how should pray to him correctly?

– When Lucifer, one of the highest Angels, became proud and rebelled against his Creator, the holy Archangel Michael, jealous of the truth of God, threw the proud Lucifer and those angels who were with him from Heavenly circles into darkness and abyss. Since then, there have been light, kind Angels and dark, evil spirits in the world. Bright Angels, by God’s command, protect individuals, tribes and peoples inhabiting the globe, planets and all of God’s creation from evil. And evil spirits – demons – fight against the laws of God’s love and, with the help of lies, try to mislead people, to distance people from God. Precisely because the Archangel Michael will defeat the day and overthrow him from Heaven, people called him the Archangel, that is, the supreme commander of the bright angels.

On the icons, the Archangel is depicted with a sword in his hand, with which he defeats the fallen angel. The image suggests that evil will never defeat good, even though there is a seed of evil in every person.

With the coming into the world of the Son of God, each of us received the strength to suppress evil in ourself and overcome it. Archangel Michael is our first assistant in this.

The Holy Archangel Michael has been the patron saint of Kiev since ancient times. Our ancestors chose and loved him, our God-loving ancestors committed themselves to the prayers and care of the holy Archangel Michael. He protects us from demonic intrigues, from all evil. He is the patron saint and prayer book of our capital – the city of Kiev, and in the person of Kiev – all Ukraine and each of us.

– What we need to do to be worthy of angelic help ourselves?

– We must live according to the commandments of God. When a person lives according to the Laws of God, Angels happily help him/her to prosper spiritually, and if a person lives according to the elements of this world and according to his/her deadly desires, then he/she drives away the help of Angels from him/herself.

Today, unfortunately, dark spirits are successful in the world. Using, as always, lies, they agitate people, teach them to hate, enmity and kill each other.

And our duty is to pray to God first of all for our people, as well as for the whole world and ask that the Lord, by His grace, drive away the power of the enemy from us: those dark and evil spirits that disturb our peace.

We also need to learn to love more. The Lord tells us: «And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same». With these words, the Lord teaches us sacrificial love. Love is that virtue with the help of which a person builds his/her correct relationship with God, his/her Creator, with his/her neighbor and with the world around him/her. And if we try to force ourselves to act in love, then the Angels will be with us, protecting us from evil and strengthening us in our earthly journey.

Interviewed by Natalia Goroshkova