Angels care for God-fearing people and keep them from danger
The psalm says: “They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” — that is, as a mother, when her child is learning to walk, watches its every step and, if she sees that it may stumble against something, at once takes it up in her arms, so likewise do the angels hold men; and if they, like children, are given over to the will of God, the holy angels with a mother's care keep them from stumbling against the stone of temptation. The righteous Joseph doubted the purity of the Mother of God and was minded to put Her away privily, but from this injustice an angel delivered him. The angels guard the purity of our souls and together with this guard also our bodily safety from enemies visible and invisible, from dangers open and hidden. Once a great army, sent by the king of Syria to seize the prophet Elisha, laid siege to the city in which the prophet had taken refuge. Seeing the danger that threatened, his disciple was gripped with fear, but his teacher calmed him, and at his prayer the eyes of the disciple were opened and he saw the hosts of angels arrayed for the defence of the prophet (4 Kings 6:17). The history of the Church has preserved for us many instances of the wondrous protection of angels; we shall tell of but a few of them.
Once the blessed Theodore, bishop of Edessa, asked a certain clairvoyant stylite how he knew and distinguished the righteous from sinners. The stylite answered: “If a righteous and God-fearing man passes by my pillar, I see the grace of God and shining angels who go with him on either side, while the demons go far off and dare not draw near him; but if a sinner passes by, I see about him a throng of exulting demons, while his guardian angel follows him at a distance, sorrowing and weeping over his ruin. But when the demons seek to destroy that man utterly, then the guardian angel comes with a fiery sword and drives them away.” Thus do the holy angels keep us from the dangers of the enemy.
These heavenly messengers care not only for the salvation of men's souls, but for their bodily health as well. The paterikon relates how a guardian angel healed a hermit who suffered from a severe pain in the stomach. The angel appeared to the sick man and asked him the cause of his suffering. Then with his finger, as with a sharp knife, he cut open the diseased place, cleansed away the gathered matter, and afterward with his hand healed the wound; thus he healed the hermit and restored to him his bodily health.
Once Abba Isidore led up to a high place Abba Moses, who had grown faint in the struggle with unclean thoughts, and said to him: “Look to the west.” Moses looked and saw there countless demons rushing forth to do battle with men. Abba Isidore said to him again: “Look now to the east.” Abba Moses looked and saw a countless multitude of holy angels clothed with glory. Then Abba Isidore said to him: “Behold those whom the Lord sends to the aid of the saints; but those who are in the west raise up war against us. Yet our helpers are far more.” The vision heartened and calmed the elder, who had been troubled by evil thoughts.
Once the venerable Niphon, after prayer, fell into a slumber and saw a wide field on which stood a multitude of evil spirits, divided according to grievous sins into three hundred and sixty-five regiments. One of them, the blackest Ethiopian, was preparing them for battle: “Look to me and fear nothing, for my strength shall be with you.” The demon gave to each regiment its sorceries and sent them forth upon the earth, to do battle with the Church of Christ.
While the blessed father was looking upon this, he heard a voice: “Niphon, look to the east.” He turned his gaze to the east and saw a clean and beautiful field, on which stood twice as many youths clothed in white as there were demons, likewise made ready for battle. Then there came a man whose face was brighter than the sun, and he said to them: “Thus commands you the Lord of Sabaoth: go into all the earth, help the Christians and guard their life.” The venerable father glorified God, Who so helps His Church.
When the venerable Cyril was building the monastery of Belozersk, those who dwelt nearby, marvelling at the success of the building, held Cyril to be the owner of great riches. These rumours reached a certain covetous landowner. He gathered his servants and went by night to rob the venerable father. Coming to the wall, the evil-plotters saw that near the monastery there walked a great multitude of warriors with drawn swords. The robbers waited until morning for the warriors to fall asleep, but they waited in vain and returned home. The next night they saw yet more warriors and again went away empty-handed. In the morning the landowner sent a servant to the monastery to learn what regiment was stationed there and how long it meant to remain. The servant brought back word that for more than a week there had been in the monastery not only no army, but not so much as one pilgrim. Then the landowner understood that the monastery was guarded by the angels of God, and he repented of his evil design.
Once the venerable Onuphrius the Great, out of love for the solitary life, left the monastery in the Thebaid and went into the desert. Suddenly he saw a ray of light and in fear would have fled back, but the ray of light drew near him and he heard a voice: “Fear not, I am thine angel, appointed by the Lord from thy very birth to keep thee, and I walk with thee always. Now it is commanded me by God to lead thee into the desert. Be perfect and humble of heart before the Lord, serve Him with gladness, and I shall not depart from thee.” The angel went before the venerable Onuphrius. When they had gone a good distance, the saint saw a goodly cave, and the shining ray of the angel vanished.
The first years of his solitude in the desert were full of many trials: by day the scorching sun burned the venerable Onuphrius, and by night he was numb with frost. He fed on the plants of the desert and quenched his thirst with the dew. God, having established His faithful son in his ascetic labour, sent him an angel who brought him bread and water. The angel of the Lord fed him thirty years; after this there grew up by his cave a date palm with sweet fruit, and a spring of cold water sprang forth. The angel communed the venerable Onuphrius of the incorruptible Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. “And not to me alone does the angel come with the divine Communion,” said the holy hermit to the venerable Paphnutius, “but to others also who for God's sake live in the desert and do not see the face of man. Communion from the hands of an angel fills them with unspeakable gladness. And if one of them desires to see a man, the angel takes him up to heaven, that he may see the saints and rejoice; then that man is enlightened in soul and rejoices that he has been counted worthy to see the beauties of heaven, and he forgets all the labours he has borne in the desert. And returning to his place, he serves God yet more diligently and hopes to inherit for ever that which he was counted worthy to see in heaven.”
The parents of the venerable Macarius (in Greek Macarius means blessed) the Great bore the same names as the righteous Abraham and Sarah, and, like them, had no child until old age. Once Abraham, being grievously ill and come to the point of death, saw an angel of the Lord who came forth from the altar, drew near to him and said: “Abraham, Abraham, rise from thy bed.” Abraham answered: “I am sick, my lord, I cannot rise.” Then the heavenly messenger took him kindly by the hand and declared: “God has had mercy on thee — He has taken thy sickness from thee and granted thee His blessing: thy wife Sarah shall bear a son who shall inherit the name of the blessed, shall become a dwelling of the Holy Spirit, shall live upon the earth as an angel, and through him many shall come to God.”
