At 10:40 27/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I've been reading the Ethiopian book of saints (trans. E.A. Wallis Budge),
>and notice that Michael is supposed to be venerated on the 12th of each
>month. Is there a parallel to this practice anywhere else? From reading the
>accounts listed each twelfth day of the month, it looks like Michael is
>venerated because he helps a saint (usually from the Hebrew
>scriptures)fulfill his calling . For instance, on the twelfth of Genbot
>(17th of May), Michael leads Habakkuk to Babylon. I know that the Ethiopian
>orthodox church has many practices that relate to the Hebrew scriptures, so
>the presence of figures such as Habbakuk is not surprising; but I do wonder
>how Michael fits in to the picture, and if the veneration of Michael might
>be related to medieval ecclesial practices in the rest of the world.
>
>The Ethiopian Church has also a very lively interest in angels. In fact it
has two categories of church buildings: those 'built by men' and those
'built by angels'. Those 'built by angels' are in fact cave-churches, hewn
into the rock, as they believe, by angels.
Oriens.
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