In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, on the nineteenth of June, they celebrate the feast of the glorious Archangel Michael. The reason for their celebration is as follows:
In the city of Alexandria, there was a great synagogue built by Queen Aclaebatra, the daughter of King Ptolemy, in the name of the star Zuhal, and every year on the nineteenth day of June, the people gathered in that synagogue and held a great festival.
They continued to do this to that idol until the time of Abba Alexander, which was in the fourth century, after the three hundred years of grace. When Abba Alexander was appointed bishop of the city of Alexandria, and when the righteous Constantine reigned, because the Christian religion had spread, he wanted to destroy that idol, but the wicked people prevented him. And they said to him: "We are accustomed to celebrating this festival in this place. Behold, eighteen popes have passed before you, and they have not changed this custom."
But Abba Alexander rebuked them; he taught them. He exposed their error and said to them: "This idol is neither harmful nor beneficial. And whoever worships it worships demons. If you listen to my advice, I will make this festival for you as it was before; that is, that we break the idol, bless the synagogue, and name it a church in the name of the glorious angel, the archangel Michael. We will also celebrate this great festival. And let the cows and sheep that are slaughtered be food for the poor and the hungry, and for the needy in the name of the glorious angel. For he is worthy of God, and he intercedes for us. ” Having said this, he pleased them with this good advice; and they obeyed him.
After this, they renovated that synagogue and built a church in the name of this glorious angel, the archangel Michael. And they celebrated it on this day. And it is well known. It remained until the time of the Muslims, and then they destroyed it. This festival was established; it remains until today.
Again, on this day, God appointed the Archangel Michael with great honor over all the angels in his family. This glorious angel is honored and prays and intercedes before our Lord for the children of men and for all creation. The miracles of this glorious Archangel Michael are many. One of them is this:
There was a man who feared God. He celebrated the feast of the holy archangel Michael on the nineteenth day of every month, especially in the months of June and November. And there was a rich man who was not merciful to his neighbor and hated and despised this God-fearing man when he celebrated the feast of the holy archangel Michael. He also mocked him for his compassion for the poor. As his death and earthly life drew near, the God-fearing ordered his wife to celebrate the feast of the glorious angel Michael and to give alms. After this, he rested and was buried.
And his wife was pregnant. And the time came for her to give birth, and she travailed in pain. And being in great anguish, she prayed, saying, "O angel of God, have mercy on me, for thou hast great power in him: pray for me before God." And when she had said this, a light shone in her house. And she was delivered of her trouble; and the wife gave birth to a beautiful son. And the angel of God, Saint Michael, descended from heaven and blessed the child, saying, "God has decreed that this child will inherit all the wealth and possessions of this ruthless rich man."
The rich man went to his house, and opened the door to his master, and heard this from the angel. When he heard this, he was filled with great sorrow. He began to look for a reason to kill the child. But the Lord was watching over him. After this, the rich man prepared a reason and said to her, "Give me your son, so that he will serve me. I will bring him up while I visit and teach him. I will give you twenty shekels of gold for Bethlehem." When she heard this from the rich man, she was very happy about her misfortune. She gave him her son. He gave her twenty pieces of gold and took her son. He was happy, saying, "My wish has been fulfilled."
A box appeared, the same height as the child, and he put the child in the box and closed it. They carried him to the sea and threw him into the sea. It was not given to him by the will of the king, but by the will of the king, and he reached the port of a country twenty days' journey away from that country, and it floated on the sea. There was a man who was stationed in the sea and guarded it, and he saw the box floating on his life, and he took it out of the sea and took it to his house. He began to think about how to open this box. As he thought about this, our Lord put the idea in his mind to go to the sea. He immediately got up and went to the sea and found a man fishing.
He said to the fisherman, “Throw your net in my name, and I will give you the price of whatever fish you catch.” The fisherman did as he was told. At that moment, a large fish was caught. He took the price and went home. He slaughtered it to fry for dinner. He found the key in his stomach. He thought to himself, “Can this key open this box?” And when he put it in, the box opened quickly. And he found this little boy inside. He was very happy because he had no child. And he thanked our Lord. And he raised the child well. And the child grew up and became a man.
After many years, the rich man got up and went to that country. At evening, he arrived at the gate of the shepherd. The rich man said to the shepherd, “Can I find lodging with you until tomorrow? I will pay you the rent.” The shepherd said, “You can stay as you say.” The rich man stayed there. When dinner was near, he called the child “Baharan.” The rich man heard him and asked, “Is this your son?” The shepherd said, “Yes; he is my son, whom God gave me, for I found him at sea when he was a little boy.” The rich man said, “When did you find him?” He replied, "Twenty years ago." Then he realized that he had thrown him into the sea and was very sad.
The next day, when he set out on his journey, he made up a devilish excuse and said to the shepherd, "I want you to give me your son so that I can send him to a country called Egalit, because I have something I have forgotten to do at home. I will give you twenty ounces of gold as reward." The boy's father was pleased with the money and gave him his son Bahran. He ordered him, “My son Bahran, come to this noble man to send you home about this matter; you will return home in peace.”
Then the rich man wrote a letter to his steward, saying, “When you read this letter, kill the one who brought it and throw it into a pit. Let no one know.” He wrote a sign between them, sealed it, and gave it to Bahran. He also gave him provisions for his journey. And the sea arose and he began his journey. As he was traveling and saw that there was still a day's journey left, Michael, the archangel, appeared to him, riding on a white horse, in the form of a king and said to him, "Young man, what is this that you are holding?" He said, "It is a letter from a rich man to deliver to his house in a certain country." He said, "Show me the letter." And he was afraid and gave it to him.
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