Cathedral of the Archangel Gabriel

The Cathedral of the Archangel Gabriel marks the date of honoring the memory of the angel Gabriel, the Lord’s assistant in notifying people about important events Actually, “cathedral” means a meeting in a temple for prayer According to the Holy Scriptures, there are seven archangels of God Their heavenly life is little known to people, but they descend to earth to convey God’s messages to believers or to warn them about the future One such angel is Gabriel, whose name translates as “God’s warrior” or “power of God” In icons, Gabriel is depicted as a young man with wings behind his back In his hands is often drawn a blooming branch of a date palm from paradise, or a candle in a lantern and a stone with a mirror surface The Archangel descended from heaven to Moses, taught him to read and write, warned about the global flood, about the division of human speech, and helped in writing the book of Genesis Gabriel told the prophet Daniel about the fate of the people and rulers, about the arrival of Jesus Christ in the world, about the end of the world Saint Zechariah learned from him about the conception of Saint John, the last prophet telling about the arrival of the Messiah into the world Gabriel also informed the righteous couple, Anna and Joachim, about their conception of the girl Mary It was she who in the future became the Mother of God; the archangel himself took care of her in the temple When Mary grew up and got married, Gabriel came down to her to tell her the good news of pregnancy, leading to the birth of Jesus Christ The heavenly messenger appeared before Jesus Christ and strengthened him with support when he stood in prayer before his final suffering And after his death, an angel notified the myrrh-bearing women about the resurrection of the Messiah These messages served as a reason to call Gabriel the messenger of miraculous events In prayers to him, Christians ask for pregnancy and its successful progress, and for help in the event of adopting a child