Description
Taxiarchis is known as one of the patron saints of the Greek Aegean island Lesvos. Many children, both boys and girls, are named after this saint, taking the baptismal names of Taxiarchis (male) or Taxiarchoula (female), for example, or Michalis and Michaela (male and female, respectively).
On the 8th of November the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast day of the Synaxis of the Taxiarchs and Archangels Michael and Gabriel, along with Raphael, and of the other bodiless and heavenly orders, the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Authorities, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.
The word synaxis means the gathering of believers to celebrate a feast or to make a remembrance of a saint. This feast also has a special meaning; it is the gathering of the humans with the angels, “their union, their gathering, and standing in fear in front of the Creator.”(1) Because of the fall of the devil and his angels, this feast is the celebration of the “sobriety and unity” of the rest of the angelic powers who stayed loyal to God. “We celebrate also the contribution of the angels and archangels and their help and support in the war against the dark powers and the devil.”