ANGELS OVER KYIV

 

Angles have been reported over Kyiv, a city which is dedicated to the Archangel Michael.  The city’s association with St. Michael goes back to the medieval era, when the saint  was featured on the seals of the grand princes of Kievan Rus.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk  spoke in a video message  March 4 in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. 

 “We perceive today that the Archangel Michael together with the whole Heavenly Host is fighting for Ukraine. So many people from throughout Ukraine are turning to me saying that they saw luminous angels over the land of Ukraine.”

 The capital’s coat of arms depicts the Archangel holding a flaming sword and a shield, and a sculpture of the saint stands atop the Lach Gates at Independence Square.

Sightings of angels have been reported in previous wars. A famous example is the Angel of Mons, which was said to have protected British soldiers during World War I’s Battle of Mons in Belgium in 1914.

 Yesterday the Archbishop spoke of  the threat  of disaster when a fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, the largest of its kind in Europe.

“This is not only becoming a humanitarian catastrophe before our very eyes. It is an irreversible attack on God’s creation that for decades, for centuries, will be impossible to correct. Ukraine already experienced Chernobyl. Now it stands on the threshold of a new atomic threat that can be 10 times worse.”

 “Today we pray: O Archangel Michael and all the Powers of Heaven, fight for Ukraine! Cast down that devil who is attacking us and killing us, bringing devastation and death!”

Icon of St. Michael: Oleksandr Ivolha who lives in Ontario, Canada, originally from Lviv, Ukraine.