Atkinson, The Passions and the Homilies from Leabhar Breac (1887), pp. 208–220 — two homilies from the Leabhar Breac: XV, on almsgiving; XVI, on the host of the angels. Translated into modern British English. The editor’s note “Editor omits corresponding Latin passage” marks places where a parallel Latin text exists which he did not print.

¹ “When you do alms, sound not a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the assemblies and in the congregations, seeking to be honoured by men. Truly I say to you,” says Jesus, “they have received their reward. But you, O righteous man, when you do alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does; that your alms may be in secret, and your heavenly Father who sees every secret and every hidden thing shall give you the reward of your almsgiving.”

² Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, Saviour of all the world, God and man in the unity of one person — it is He who uttered these words for the instruction of His apostles and His disciples and every righteous one in the Church, concerning the right manner of giving alms: that there be no boasting in proclaiming it, and that it be not for the praise of men that the alms is given, but for reward from the heavenly Father who sees the secrets and the hidings of the human mind — when He says here, “When you do alms.”

³ Matthew the son of Alpheus, the renowned and eminent Hebrew sage — it is he who wrote these words in the body of the Gospel, and left them in memory with the Church. The unity and affinity of this declaration — it is the side that agrees with Jesus to the very point that He said: “O men,” says Jesus, “take heed that you do not your righteousness before men, to seek your praise from them”; and it is after the track of those words that the Saviour here says, “When you do alms.”

⁴ For almsgiving is the third part of righteousness; for the three parts of righteousness are almsgiving and fasting and prayer. And there are two parts in almsgiving itself: that is, alms to a man himself and alms to his neighbour. For whoever desires to give in due order, it is from himself he ought to begin; for he who is evil and unprofitable to himself, to whom else can he be good or profitable? There are then two parts in the alms to a man himself: alms to his soul and alms to his body. Alms to his soul first — that is, that a man should not yield up his soul to sins and vices, but should restrain it and offer it to the Lord by fulfilling His commandments. Alms to his body — that is, that he should not wear out his body more than is needful, as the apostle Paul declares it in his book, saying: “It is right,” says the apostle, “that the body be offered and restrained; but yet it is not right to exercise upon it outrage or violence or breaking, save as becomes; for the body is an honourable vessel of the Lord, wherein eternal life is promised to the saints and to the righteous.”

⁵ There are then two parts in the alms that is given to the neighbour: alms to his soul and alms to his body. As a man teaches himself, so let him teach his neighbour; and as a man corrects himself, so let him correct his neighbour; and as a man preserves his own holiness and chastity, so let him preserve the holiness and chastity and virginity and continence of his fellow man and his neighbour. If a man himself is penitent, let him enjoin and exhort his neighbour to be penitent and apostolic also. And that alms is better in truth than the alms to the body; for it is far better alms that the soul, which was made in the image and likeness of God, be satisfied with the spiritual satisfactions of divine teaching, and loosed from the bonds of crimes and sins and transgressions, than that the body, made of the clay of the earth, be helped and delivered from the earthly necessities in which it is; and it is far more glorious to reckon the soul delivered from sins and from the pains and torments of hell, than the body satisfied and amended of its lack of the various kinds of food.

⁶ There are moreover many parts in the alms that is given to the neighbour’s body. For there are six parts in that alms — namely: food to the poor, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, kindness and hospitality to those in want, visitation of the sick, humility and service to those who are in prison. For it is great unprofitableness in a brother not to help the other brother, since we all have one Father — the heavenly Father. Therefore for that commandment John wrote this testimony, saying: “Whoever,” says the apostle, “shall have the riches of this world and shall see his brother in poverty and in want, and does not mercy on him, it is manifest that the love of God dwels not in him in truth.”

⁷ To that true alms that is done for the sake of the neighbour’s body, Jesus Christ here gives commandment when He says, “When you do alms” — which is as much as to say “when you shall bestow it.” And Jesus does not say to whom in particular the alms is to be given; but it is to the deacons and to the priests that tithes and firstfruits were given among the people of the law — and fittingly, for it is they who were ever in service and attendance in the temple on behalf of the people. But according to the teaching of the New Testament, it is to the poor assuredly that the alms is to be given; nor let it be for an earthly requital that anyone gives his alms. Let him mark what Jesus commands in another place in the Gospel, saying openly: “O man,” says Jesus, “when you make a feast, call not to you your friends nor your brethren nor your rich kinsfolk, lest they also call you in return and that be your reward; but when you make a feast, call to you the poor and the weak and every sort of the wretched and the afflicted, and you shall find your reward — for they have nothing wherewith to make you requital of your alms; but it shall be given you by the Lord of the elements, the reward of your alms, at the resurrection of the righteous.”

⁸ And it is without refusal and without any delay that the alms is to be given, as Solomon plainly declares in his book, saying: “O man,” says Solomon, “say not to the poor man, ‘Arise to-day and come again to-morning and I will give you my alms then,’ but give at once, if you can.” And it is cheerfully and readily that the alms is to be given; for the patient Job declares it in his book, saying: “I have never denied the poor,” says Job, “the thing they asked of me, nor have I ever put them off long without giving them alms.”

⁹ It is right then to give alms for love of humanity, even to the sinner who is in poverty; for whoso gives alms to the poor sinner, if he gives it to him not for his sin but for his humanity, it is certain and sure and sure moreover that it is not a sinner he satisfies therein but a righteous one — and fittingly, for it is not for his sin they love him but for the common human nature he shares. And though a man give not his alms to a particular poor man, yet he shall find his reward, provided only he gives it lovingly and willingly to some other. It is right also to give alms even to an enemy, if he be in want of what he needs, as Solomon commands, saying plainly: “O man,” says Solomon, “if your enemy be in hunger, give him food; or if he be thirsty, give him drink.” Meet it is to understand this of material satisfaction — satisfaction of food and drink; meet it is also to understand it of the spiritual satisfaction, namely divine teaching.

¹⁰ “When you do alms, sound not a trumpet”: that is, let not vainglory or pride seize upon your mind, even in your thought of the good deed you do — as if this were what He said: “boast not nor be proud of the good work you have done.” “As the hypocrites do”: the hypocrite is he who shows himself outwardly to men as good, while he is evil within; for whoso desires to take on him an appearance other than he is, is a hypocrite — for he pretends to be good though in truth he is not so; for it is for this he does all his good works — for the praise of men. It is then that they do their alms in assemblies and congregations to seek honour from men; it is from that it is manifest that he is a hypocrite in truth, whoso does any good work for the praise of men. For it is not the work itself that is praiseworthy with God, but the intention for which it is done.

¹¹ For the sake of that praise which men covet, the holy Job wrote this testimony in his book, saying: “Brief and transitory is the praise of the impious; the joy of the hypocrite is like a flash and a crackling for the space of one hour; though the pride of the impious reach to the clouds of heaven, yet shall he be cast down and brought to nothing at last, like refuse in a dunghill.” “Truly I say to you,” says Jesus, “they have received their reward”: that is, their praise from men — for it was for that praise they did their good works; that is, they received their own praise and not God’s praise, whereas it was God’s praise they ought to have sought, and not their own praise for the good works they did. For the Saviour Jesus sought not His own praise but God’s, saying: “For it is not my own glory,” says Jesus, “that I seek, but the glory of the heavenly Father who sent me.” “They have received their reward” — that is, those people did not do their good works for anything else but for praise from men. For it is not that it is evil for a man to be praised of men for his good deed; but what is evil is this first — if for that a man does his good work, for praise from men, and not for reward from the heavenly Father. For it is not his own praise he ought to seek, but God’s praise for the good work he does; yet there is no harm in it if he be praised by men for his good work, for those who see the virtues he practises will take example by his good deeds.

¹² “But you, O righteous man, when you do alms, let not your left know what your right does”: that is, let there be no confusion in you, in the confluence of your mind and your right to covet human praise — the mystery of the left hand — for the spoiling of the right work, the mystery of the right hand; for this is what the fulfilling of the divine teaching through the giving of alms requires. “That your alms may be in secret”: and why should the alms be in secret save that it be in the confluence of the secrecy of the mind that manifests it not outwardly to men by words or by any other signs?

¹³ There are moreover three parts in almsgiving: alms that is given outwardly only, like the alms of the hypocrites; another alms that is given within only, like the alms of the poor; the third alms — the alms that is given both within and without, like the alms of the righteous; and it is that alms Jesus commands here, saying: “That your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees every secret and every hidden thing shall give you the reward of your alms” — that is, He shall give you the heavenly kingdom after the judgement of doom.

¹⁴ It is fitting then to know that a multitude in the Old Testament and in the New pleased the Lord through alms and through offerings. Abel first, the first righteous man and the first martyr — it is through his alms and his offerings that he pleased God and the Lord of the elements, as Moses the son of Amram son of Kohath son of Levi son of Melchi declares it openly in Genesis in the law, saying: “It was for his alms and his frequent offerings that God was pleased with Abel the son of Adam.” And the patient Job — it is through his alms and his many frequent offerings that he pleased God, as he himself says in his book: “From the time I was a youth,” says Job, “I was merciful and kind to the poor and to the Lord’s needy; and I used to do them kindness and pity as though I were a father to them, and they were sons to me.” And Cornelius the centurion — it was for his alms and his frequent offerings that the grace of the Holy Spirit merited to come upon him, even before he was baptised at all. And the apostle Paul — he bore alms and offerings with him from the land of the Greeks to Jerusalem, and it was for that he distributed them to the poor and to the needy of the Lord. It is manifest then that a multitude in the Old Testament and the New, when they took hold of almsgiving, prospered. But whoever does not mercy and compassion here upon the poor and upon the needy of the Lord besides, shall endure pains and torments there — as the apostle James declares, saying: “There shall be,” says the apostle James, “judgement without any mercy there for those who do not kindness or pity here upon the poor.”

¹⁵ For the goods we give to the Lord’s poor are not found from ourselves, but from the Lord of the elements they were given us for our endurance and our own profit, both body and soul; and moreover to satisfy the poor and the needy and the wretched of them. This then it behoves us — that we should not claim ownership of the goods that were given us all in common. It is vain for men to imagine they have a single right of ownership over the goods that were given to them by God for His own service and for the service of all besides in common; for when those people bestow not their own goods on the poor, it is then they slay them; and the number of the poor whom those people slay every day is the number of the poor who could have been satisfied and succoured from the goods of the rich themselves. For when we bestow alms and offerings on the poor and on the needy of the Lord, it is not from our own goods that we give to them but from their own proper goods. Therefore it is from the proper goods of the man himself that the alms is to be given — as Solomon the son of David declares in his book, saying: “It is from the proper goods of the man himself,” says Solomon, “that the alms ought to be given.”

¹⁶ And let those who do kindness and mercy here upon the poor mark the pleasant word the Saviour speaks to them in another place in the Gospel, saying: “Blessed,” says Jesus, “are those who do charity and mercy here upon the poor, for they shall find mercy and pity and compassion from the Lord of the elements in the judgement of doom. For whoever does not the charity, he does not any virtue; but he who does the charity does all good things and all virtues and good deeds.” And let no one suppose that it is to the poor man he gives the alms he bestows with his hand; for though it is the poor man who asks the alms, yet it is the Lord who answers for it: “O man,” says He, “to the poor you give your alms, but it is the Lord who answers for it with you, and it is He who shall give you the requital of it.” For the bosom of the poor to-day — it is that which is the treasury wherein the jewels and treasures of the Lord are stored there. And to declare that, Solomon wrote this testimony in his book, saying: “To the Lord,” says Solomon, “he gives his alms who gives to the poor, and it is He who will give him his reward.”

¹⁷ But let those who give not alms and offerings to the poor and to the needy of the Lord here mark the stern and bitter rebuke the Saviour Jesus will speak to them in the judgement of doom, saying: “For I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was in want of the shelter of a guest-house and you gave me no lodging at all; I was naked moreover and in need of clothing, and you gave me no garment nor any covering about me; I was in sickness and in disease, and you came not to visit me nor to comfort me nor to relieve me; I was in prison, and you came not at all to visit me there nor to deliver me out” — and this is what He shall say to them in dismissing them and denying them: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his evil household and his rout — where they shall have wailing and gnashing of teeth and streaming of eyes; where they shall have the fulness of every evil and the want of every good; where death shall be craved from the impious and shall not be found.” This is what the Lord shall say to His saints and to His righteous in calling them to Himself to the heavenly kingdom: “Come, you blessed, and possess the kingdom of my Father prepared for you from the beginning of the world.”

¹⁸ And those people shall be — that is, the folk of charity and mercy — in the unity of noble patriarchs and prophets; in the unity of virgins and holy virgins and pilgrims and penitents and holy martyrs of the great sovereign Lord of the elements; in the unity of the apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God; in the unity of the Church of both places, heavenly and earthly; in the unity of the nine orders of heaven that transgressed not; in the unity of the Godhead and the manhood of the Son of God — in the unity that is nobler than every unity, in the unity of the holy, noble, worshipful, almighty Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

¹⁹ We beseech the mercy of almighty God that we may all reach that unity, that we may merit it, that we may dwell therein, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sixteen. on the Host of the Angels #

¹ “Milia milium ministrabant ei et decies milies et centena milia astabant ei” — “A thousand of thousands of angels were ministering to the Lord, and the tens of thousands and the hundreds of thousands stood ever in His presence.”

² The Holy Spirit — the Spirit that is nobler than every spirit, the third person of the noble Godhead, co-eternal and co-luminous with the Father and with the Son — it is He who revealed these mysteries to Daniel the prophet. To the prophet in whom the word had grown to the point that the Lord said this saying: “O Daniel, O man of the pure desire, give heed to the pure mysteries I shall reveal to you.” For it was fitting that the man of the pure desire should be spoken to by Daniel — because of the greatness with which he had longed to know the mysteries and secrets of God, through the wearing down and restraining of his body in fasting and in abstinence.

³ One of the secret mysteries shown to Daniel by God is the thing preached here: “A thousand of thousands ministering to God.” The joining and affinity of this narration is the side Daniel has: where he said before in his book: “I saw,” says Daniel, “many kingly seats set in the presence, and a noble Ancient sat there upon His kingly seat; His garment was shining like snow; the hair of His head like pure wool; His kingly seat a flame of fire, and the wheels of His chariot burning; a fiery and most swift river ran before Him.” And it is after the track of those words that the prophet Daniel recounts this discourse, saying: “There ministered to the noble King,” says Daniel, “thousands upon thousands of angels watching over His creatures. And there stood before Him ever the tens of thousands and the hundreds of thousands.” These are the thousands and these the myriads of whom the prophet sang, saying: “Innumerable and numberless,” says the prophet, “is the angelic host that ever rejoices round the Lord.” And in narrating that multitude Daniel wrote this holy little verse, saying: “They ministered to the noble King,” says Daniel, “thousands upon thousands of angels for the governance of His creatures.”

⁴ Not that he fixed that number to make the household of heaven definite — but because human speech could not express a number greater than that count. For the holy Gregory, the man of the divine grace, narrates in expounding the words of the prophet that the number of the angelic host is definite before God and indefinite before men; therefore Gregory then says: “supernorum civium numerus infinitus et finitus exprimitur, ut qui est numerabilis Deo esse nobis innumerabilis demonstretur” — “the household of heaven is definite and indefinite: it is definite on the side of God, and indefinite on the side of men.” And the same Gregory says that far greater is the company of the angels who do ministry and obedience to God than the company that stands in the presence of God’s face.

⁵ For there are two orders among the angels — “stantes et ministrantes”: a company that is ever at rest, and a company that is ever in attendance on God. For the “stantes” are those who stand before God’s face in their holiness and in their own righteousness, without moving at all, but in their contemplation ever of the Lord, as the holy scripture promises — as it is in the scripture: “that it is the Lord they ever desire to see.” The “ministrantes,” moreover, are the angels that come to minister between God and men: the one time they come to strengthen the saints and the righteous, another time to execute vengeance upon the kings and the peoples and the cities that live unrighteously in their various sins; and yet another time the angels come to work wonders and miracles in the saints and in the righteous.

⁶ There are moreover nine orders and nine degrees among the angels of heaven, as the scripture reckons: Seraphim, that is the first order — “ardentes,” the burning ones, because they burn with the love of the Lord through being ever in the presence of God without ceasing. Cherubim, the second order — whose name is interpreted “multitudo scientiae,” multitude of knowledge and wisdom; for it is they who are the fountain of the wisdom of the Godhead. Throni, the third order — “sedes” is their name, the seats and kingly thrones of the King; for it is of them that the Lord bears His just judgements upon every man in the world. Dominationes, the fourth order — “dominations” and lordships exercising rule over men; and they rule and govern the five orders that are below them. Principatus, the fifth order — “principalities” for the guiding of deeds; for they are the noble leaders of the noble spirits appointed to the authority of the divine ministry over their subjects. Potestates, the sixth order — “powers” for the governing of men; it is that order which restrains the assaults and vexations and plagues of the evil spirits, that is, of the demons, so that they are not suffered to hurt men nor to rage against them as they desire. Virtutes, the seventh order — “virtues”; it is they who are the spirits through whom wonders and miracles are wrought in the saints and in the righteous. Archangeli, the eighth order — whose name is interpreted “summi nuntii,” supreme messengers; for it is they who tell the great wonders and the renowned tidings to men. Angeli, the ninth order — “messengers,” because they announce God’s will and every proper mission to the seed of Adam by the Lord’s command.

⁷ And that noble assembly of the household of heaven is not named for proper names; for though the angels are named by names with us, it is from the ministries for which they are sent to men that they received those names — as is Gabriel, that is “fortitudo Dei”: like Gabriel, which is as much as “the strength of God”; for it was a great strength and a great power to the world, the thing he announced — the conception of Christ and His birth. Raphael, whose name is interpreted “medicina Dei,” the healing of God: it is he who went to Tobias for the help and the healing he gave to the eyes of Tobit. And Michael — of whom the Church of God celebrates the feast and the commemoration on this day to-day — “qui sicut Deus” is interpreted, which is as much as “he who is like to God”; and it was not a name without aptness and without reason for him, since Michael is like to God in many ways: to that Michael are shown these five victories — his being a valiant warrior at the casting-down of the proud demons by the Lord’s word, and at routing them into hell from the upper places to the depths; and it is he who fights against the devil on behalf of the soul of every believing man when it goes out of the body; it is he who will set forth the plea in the presence of God on behalf of the saints and the righteous on the day of doom; it is he who shall fight at the end of the world against Antichrist on mount Sion, and shall take victory and triumph over him; and it is he who governs together with the saints without end and without limit in the heavenly day after victory and triumph.

⁸ It is then that there is celebrated by the Christians the feast of the holy Michael on the third of the Kalends of October — which is to-day — etc. At that season a church was consecrated on earth to this archangel in remembrance and in memory of the great miracles he wrought in that time. That church of Michael is, as the writings relate, in the cave in the mount of “Garganus” — in the district named Campania; and many signs preceded the consecration of the church in that place. For the beginning of the fame of Michael’s name in this present world was the strong combat he made with the dragon in that place: a demon had fashioned himself in the shape of an immense dragon, and went and lived in the cave in the top of mount Garganus, and wrought destruction there by plagues and pestilences on the cattle and the crops and the beasts of the districts and the region. The peasants and the heathens were terrified at that thing, and they supposed the dragon in which the demon was to be a god, so that they might bring it offerings and alms. But the wise and the Christians and the faithful besought help from God with tears to the Lord, with fastings and with prayers; and they prayed that Michael the archangel might come to their aid. After that, then, it was revealed to them there that they should come the next day to the mount. When they came to the mount they saw the archangel Michael: he had divided the dragon into nine parts, with the choice of ten oxen in every part of it, when it was brought to be burned — so that the name of God and of Michael was magnified through that wonder.

⁹ There was moreover a certain rich man on the mount — Garganus was that man’s name, and it is from him the mount was named, mount Garganus. It was in the city named Sipontum he lived. Once upon a time a bull was wanting from Garganus’s herds; so Garganus went with his servants to seek it, and found it at the door of the cave in the top of the mount. Then Garganus shot an arrow at the beast, for he was angry at its loss; but it came back to himself behind — the arrow returned and wounded himself, while it availed not at all against the beast till it was slain. That thing was a great wonder to Garganus’s companions. Then the matter was made known to the bishop of the city; he enjoined that they should all fast, men and boys and women, that God might reveal to them what sign had occurred in that place. When the three-day fast was finished, Michael appeared to the noble bishop of the city of Sipontum in a vision, and Michael said to the bishop that it was he who caused the arrow to turn back from the beast upon Garganus who had slain it; and Michael said that the place was to be his dwelling on earth. Then it became a custom for the people of the city to make prayer in that place to God and to Michael. There were two doors in the cave, the one on the south-east, another on the south-west; and the men dared not enter the cave, but used to pray at the doors of the cave.

¹⁰ That was the season and time when believing peoples — the Beneventani by name — came to fight against the heathens; and Sipontini was the name of those others. The Christians were in fasting and in abstinence before the battle, beseeching God that Michael the archangel might come to their aid. And when the Christians went to fight against their enemies, the archangel Michael appeared to them, and all mount Garganus was shaken, and there came darkness over it and thunder and lightnings; whereupon the heathens fled back after defeat was inflicted on them — and it was but few of them escaped, by reason of the fires and the lightnings and the monsters: seven hundred of them alone the lightning burned, besides those slain otherwise and devoured by beasts and birds. And the Christians went with victory and with thanksgiving to God, and were in the cave of the archangel Michael, and found little footprints in the soil at the door of the south-east of the cave — whereby they knew it was Michael the archangel who had shown the signs and tokens of his presence there.

¹¹ After that a church and an altar were set in the place, and offerings were made there to God and to Michael. The name of that church is Aposania or Appodonia — that is, “the footprints,” for the sake of the footprints or marks that were in it. But they had a doubt whether it was lawful for them to enter the place and to consecrate it. This is the counsel they then took: they built a church to the apostle Peter over against the cave on the east, and set two altars in it — an altar to Mary and another altar to John Baptist. Then they sent messengers from them to the abbot of Rome — Sylvester was his name, the thirtieth abbot from Peter — to ask what they should do about the consecration of the church. This was the counsel of Sylvester, primate of the Romans, to them: that they should fast, both of them — the successor of Peter with the people of Rome, and the inhabitants of the city of Sipontum. Then on the last night of their fast Michael appeared to the bishop of the city of Sipontum and said to him: “What need for you to consecrate the church? For I have myself already consecrated it. Go into it only the next day,” says Michael, “with masses and with offerings, and pray the Lord for my soul” — and he said that they should make no ornamentation of gold or of silver in the church, but that purity of heart and mind and constancy of prayer should be made in it. Then the archangel went into it in the form of a shining bird, and measured length and breadth and height of its church, and left the print of his finger on the stone — and it still remains.

¹² And he commanded the people to fulfil the precept and teaching of Moses’ law and the teaching of the Gospel. There are three columns that support that church, and drops trickle beside the middle column at every season; a vessel of glass with chains of silver is set under that water, and it is distributed to the peoples for the bearing of healings. Another drop trickles beside the eastern column till it fills another vessel of glass — it is that water which is distributed for the sacrifice and the offering. And yet another drop trickles beside the western column out of the mound wherewith the church shelters itself on the north, and a vessel of glass is filled thereby; and the devout among the people go, after receiving Christ’s body and blood, to taste that most pleasant liquor — and that liquor heals every disease and every sickness. There is moreover another wonder there: however great the rain and the shower, those drops increase not; and however great the drought, they fail not. And no one dares enter that cave by night, but it is by sunset and by sunrise that prayer is made therein, with hymns and with psalms and with offerings to the Lord of the elements.

¹³ Three offerings are required to be made on the feasts of the saints and the righteous: the first offering is the celebration and preaching of God’s word; the second offering is the offering of the body of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God and of His blood, on behalf of the Christian people; the third offering is the giving of food and clothing to the poor and to the needy of the great Lord of the elements. And whoever does these offerings in the name of the holy Michael the archangel, Michael shall be his helper throughout his life, and on the day of doom at the resurrection of the saints and the righteous and of all the people of the world in common.

¹⁴ This is the reason why Michael is called archangel: for when God made the world, He appointed a chief over each of His various creatures — Lucifer over the demons, the sun over the stars, mount Sion over the mountains, the river Jordan over the rivers, the vine over the trees, the dove over the birds, the lion over the beasts, the eagle over the great beasts, Christ over men. And Michael the archangel was set then in pre-eminence and in abbacy over the angels of heaven: this archangel is he who rehearses in God’s presence the intercessions the saints make to Him; this is the archangel of archangels, and the star above the stars, and the shining fire; this is he who is in wailing and in intercession for the souls that are in hell — for when the household of hell see the face of the holy Michael the archangel, this is what they say: “O Michael, you are our chief; O Michael, you are our king; O Michael, it is you that ever toil on our behalf.” And this is the answer Michael gives them: “I am ever beseeching the Lord,” says Michael, “on behalf of the souls of men.”

¹⁵ This is the archangel by whose voice the human race shall arise from the dust of the earth on the day of doom, when there shall be given to each what he deserves: then shall the impious be hurled into the everlasting fire — where they shall have torment of thirst and hunger, cold and heat, and fire unquenchable for ever and ever; where they shall have the fulness of every evil and the want of every good. And then shall the unrighteous be overthrown after many years — and not for the diminishing of their pain, as the learned would teach, but for the increasing of their pains. But the saints and the righteous shall reign in the eternal life after their help through Michael the archangel, and shall shine like the sun in the heavenly kingdom — where they shall be in the unity of noble patriarchs and apostles, in the unity of angels and archangels, in the unity that is noblest of every unity, in the unity of the most excellent holy Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

¹⁶ We beseech God’s mercy through the intercession of the holy Michael the archangel; may we all reach that unity; may we merit it, may we dwell therein, for ever and ever. Amen.

[The editor’s note: “For XVII., see Appendix” — no XVII. is found in the translation section; he may have meant the homily on the Transfiguration which occurs between XVI. and XVIII. in the manuscript (107a–b).]