Orthodox Forge

The Believer and the Heavenly Hosts

Why do some call the archangel Michael “the angel of the resurrection of the Lord Christ”?

Q1160 · The Order of the Heavenly Hosts

The Bible nowhere explicitly mentions the name of the angel who came down from heaven and rolled back the great stone from the door of the tomb. However, in some books of the Church we find the elaboration that this angel was in fact the archangel Michael. For example, in the Fraction for the Resurrection and the Holy Fifty Days, we find: “Michael the archangel descended from heaven and rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb, and proclaimed the glad tidings to the women carrying the spices, saying, ‘Christ is risen from the dead.’” In the Psali Adam for Thomas Sunday, we sing: “Michael spoke to them [the women carrying the spices] and said in gladness: ‘He is not here’ (Mark 16:6).” And in an old veneration for the archangel we sing, “Hail to Michael, the archangel who announced the salvation of the Resurrection. For you have come down from heaven in great luminous glory, and you rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb, and you sat on it in great awe. You spoke to the women with joy, splendor, and spiritual purity, comforting them that Jesus of Nazareth has risen, and is not here.”

Scripture