Same entry in ps.-
Zonaras.
The term
a)sw/maton could refer to any incorporeal being. As such, it formed an important element in early patristic arguments against Docetism (on which see web address 1). A liturgical festival is observed on November 8 in honor of the Bodiless Spirits. The celebration in Constantinople honored the entire Heavenly Host and the important archangels Michael and Gabriel. The Eucharist of the Bodiless Spirits commemorated Michael's elevation to the command of God's "army". The title of "archistrategos" (Field Marshal) designated Michael's appointment as a replacement for the fallen Lucifer; cf.
sigma 1147. The Byzantine liturgy adopted the festival from the Coptic Church which, by the sixth century, had designated the twelfth of Hidar (Nov. 8) as a special universal feast day in honor of the "archistrategos." As was customary for important ferial stations in Constantinople, a sunrise procession made its way from Hagia Sophia to the Forum. After offering prayers, the worshippers went on to the Sophian harbor. A Michaeline church built by Justin I (518-527) stood there in the Addan quarter. According to the partial service preserved in tenth-century manuscripts, a particular troparion ushered the officiants into the sanctuary: "You, Michael, who offer to the Sovereign the triumphant hymn, the unceasing praise of glory, great captain of the heavenly army and the first at the side of God, do not stop praying for our souls." The celebrants also read an abridged version of a Coptic text in which Michael, at the fall of Lucifer, led the remaining angels in hymns of praise to God, glorifying the triumph of light over darkness. The unabridged Coptic text claimed itself as a teaching of Christ delivered to the Apostles during the days between the Resurrection and the Ascension. The original recounted Michael's battle with Satan, his victory over evil, and his "investiture" as "archistrategos." The Gospel reading consisted of
Luke 10.16-21, the Mission of the Seventy. Jesus said to the disciples: "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you."
Hebrews 2.2-10 formed the epistolary lection (God "did not subject the coming world . . . to angels").