Archangel Michael

A special image in the Moscow Orthodox tradition is the icon of St. Archangel Michael Archistrategos of the Heavenly Powers. The image refers to the Book of Revelation of St John, but it is not an illustration of its content. In the exhibited icon, Archangel Michael as a winged armed rider with a face as red as the sun, with a cloud beneath his feet. He is the herald of the end of times (Rev. 10,1), galloping on a red winged horse over the abyss from which a dragon, i.e. the thrown-down Satan emerges (Rev. 20, 2–3). A trumpet announcing the Judgement appears at the mouth of the Archangel, with the Gospel, incense and spear in his wide-spread hands (Rev. 8,3), and a cross. There is a rainbow arch stretched between the hands (App. 10, 1–2 i 7–8). In the icon corner, there is the bust of the youthful Christ Emmanuel behind the table which evoke the mystery of the Incarnation and the Salvation Sacrifice of Christ. This type of icon was inspired by older Byzantine and Ruthenian representations of the Archangel as a guide on the path to salvation. The image of the apocalyptic Archangel Michael took shape in the circles of state and church authorities in Moscow in 16th century. The theme might have been developed in the milieu of Metropolitan Macarius during the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible. The icon included a theological and didactic message. After the fall of Byzantium, the state of Moscow was to continue the Christian Constantinople, the Third Rome chosen by God for salvation and spreading of faith. Among other things, the theme was intended to express the idea of the divine election of the Moscow state, whose special guardian was Archangel Michael the Archistrategist, the guide of the Russian empire in the end of times, as the refuge of legitimate Christianity. 

Teresa Bagińska-Żurawska https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9243-3967