Archangel Michael, the supreme commander of the heavenly hosts is the heavenly patron saint of one of the sketes of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery. On the day commemorating his miracle that took place in Chonae the skete’s church celebrated its patronal feast.

In the 4th century in Phrygia, there was a temple in the name of the Archangel Michael. The faithful from among the locals converted a great number of people to the salvific faith. Angry pagans intended to destroy the temple, directing at it a stream of water formed by the joining of two mountain rivers into one channel. Through the prayers of a pious man Archippus, the flow was stopped by Archangel Michael himself, as he, with a blow of his staff, had opened a wide gap in the mountain and commanded the waters to rush there. The place where the miracle took place was called Chonae, and it means “hole” or “cleft”.

On the eve and on the memorable day, the All-Night Vigil, the water-blessing prayer service with the paraklesis and the Divine Liturgy were celebrated in the church of the Archangelsky skete dedicated to this event. Hegumen Sergia (Konkova) prayed at the service along with the sisters of the monastery. At the end of the Divine Liturgy, there was a procession around the church.