The Orthodox Church celebrates the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Incorporeal Hosts on this day. The Council of Laodicea, in its Canon 35, proscribes: “Christians must not forsake the Church of God, and go away and invoke angels and gather assemblies, which things are forbidden. If, therefore, anyone shall be found engaged in this covert idolatry, let him be anathema; for he has forsaken our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and has gone over to idolatry.” This same Council of Laodicea belongs to the corpus canonum of the Orthodox Church. All we know about it is that it was a regional council and took place in the 4th century, before the Second Ecumenical Council (381). The ruins of Laodicea are located near the city of Denizli in Turkey. Today’s feast came into being in Byzantium at some point after this council. On one hand, this canon provides evidence about the ancient veneration of angels, as found in the Old Testament. On the other, it sets an Orthodox norm expressed in today’s feast, assigned to the ninth day (for the nine heavenly ranks) of the year's ninth month (until the fifth century, March was the first month of the year). It is very difficult for us human beings to relate to reality outside of our experience. The Holy Apostle Paul addresses this issue in his epistle to the Colossians: “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” (2:18). This feast is also the patronal feast of the church of the former St. Job of Pochaev Monastery in Ladomirova, Slovakia, from where brethren came to Jordanville and Munich. Source: Sobor Arkhistratiga Mikhaila. [The Synaxis of St.Michael] Pravoslavie.ru. Priest Vladimir Shmaliy, “Angelity,” [Angelites] Pravoslavnaia entsiklopedia. | 
