Happy name day to all Michael’s, Michelles, Michaelas, Angelos, Angelas Gabriels, Gabriellas and Raphaels who are celebrating their name day today November the 8th.

St Michael  gave the care of their sick, and he was first venerated as a healer in Phrygia (modern-day Turkey).

The earliest and most famous sanctuary to Saint Michael in the ancient Near East was also associated with healing waters. It was the Michaelion built in the early 4th century by Emperor Constantine at Chalcedon, on the site of an earlier Temple called Sosthenion.

A painting of the Archangel slaying a serpent became a major art piece at the Michaelion after Constantine defeated Licinius near there in 324, eventually leading to the standard iconography of Archangel Michael as a warrior saint slaying a dragon. The Michaelion was a magnificent church and in time became a model for hundreds of other churches in Eastern Christianity which spread devotions to the Archangel.