The Angelic Powers: Hebrews 2:2-10, especially vs. 2: "...the word spoken through angels proved steadfast...." Orthodox Christians are the blessed recipients of what has been called "the timeless universal (Catholic) culture passed on by the holy fathers and mothers of the Orthodox Church through personal discipleship and obedience." As blessed recipients, Faithful Orthodox Christians are able to reject the contemporary disdain for the immaterial and the spiritual, and to celebrate this Feast honoring the bodiless powers who labor within the saving economy of God.
The dominant secular culture of the West, with no apprehension of spiritual truth and being narrowly materialist in its outlook, opposes the profound Orthodox ethos,. As a result, numerous men and women relegate all discussion of the invisible, bodiless powers to the realm of individual piety. How blessed we are, Beloved of the Lord, to celebrate our dependency upon the invisible hosts of heaven as taught in the rich Scriptural and Liturgical texts of the Church! Let us renew our understanding of the holy angels and their gifts to us.
Today's reading is an excellent starting point, for herein St. Paul teaches that the relationship between God and His People under the Old Covenant was administered by the angels (vs. 2). The classic portrayal of angelic ministry may be found in the Rublev icon reflecting the Genesis account of the three Visitors Who appeared to Abraham "as he sat by the door of his tent at noon" (Gen. 18:1 LXX), these angels foreshadowing the Persons of the Godhead.
God also appeared with His angels in other theophanies such as the giving of the Mosaic Law: "The Lord is come from Sinai, and has appeared from Seir to us...with the ten thousands of Holy Ones; on His right hand were His angels with Him" (Dt. 33:2 LXX). Many of the Judges and Prophets received revelations from God through angels - as say, Gideon (Jdgs. 6).
The Prophet Gad foretold a pestilence that would befall the nation because of King David's sins, but by the prayers of the Prophet and the King, the hand of the angel who brought the pestilence was halted after one day (2 Sam. 24:13-17). The Prophet Isaiah saw God's deliverance of Jerusalem carried out by an angel against the Assyrians (Is. 37:33-38).
To herald the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Theotokos. Gabriel was the messenger of the coming King (Lk. 1:11-20, 26-38; Mt. 1:20-24), and now, in the present age of the Church, God has given dominion to His Only-Begotten, Who for a time was made "a little lower than angels" (Heb. 2:7). Through the Christian centuries, the Church has recorded appearances by angels with special messages and miracles for individuals and communities of the Faithful in Christ. Of course, until the Lord returns, "we do not yet see all things put under Him" (Heb. 2:8).
As, anciently, the angels were revealed to Isaiah as the leaders of the heavenly worship (Is. 6:1-4), so under the New Covenant, appreciation of angelic leadership in worship has enlarged (Rev. 4:6; 5:11), for the Church understands that the angels are close to us during our earthly worship, and especially during the Divine Liturgy where we "mystically represent the Cherubim" as we "sing to the life-giving Trinity" with all the Heavenly Powers. The icons on the "Deacon doors" constantly remind us that the angels are aiding us in worship.
Finally, we should note that angels serve the Faithful as holy guardians, protecting our souls and bodies. Above all, they pray to God for us, that He would grant us the grace of repentance, forgiving us all our offenses, ever encompassing "us with the shadow of [their] immaterial glory, and preserving us who kneel and cry ceaselessly" to our angelic guardians:
Deliver us from oppressions, since ye are the princes of the ranks of dominions on high.