This legend was recorded in July 1895 from Andrii Brianyk in Holiatyn, in the former Maramoroš county, and published by Volodymyr Hnatiuk in the first volume of his ethnographic materials from Hungarian Rus'. It belongs to a local Christian apocryphal and demonological storytelling world, joining Lucifer's pride, Saint Michael's victory, the recovery of heavenly vestments, and the fall of the rebel angels.
The story is translated as folk-apocryphal narrative, not as doctrinal exposition. Several dialect words are left visible in the colophon, especially the local angel word and the Black Sea vestment vocabulary.
The original source text is included below for verification.
The Battle of Saint Michael with Lucifer
When the heavenly Lord created his angels, for the first time he appointed a
chief in heaven over the chiefs. Lucifer the light-bearing one, as he is called
in writing, was strong over all the angels. He had six wings and was
six-winged.
And he says to the heavenly God that he is fit to be higher than God. And he
raises his throne higher than God's. And Saint Michael says, "Lord, Lucifer
the light-bearing one has raised his throne higher than yours."
And the Lord God himself says, "Go, holy Michael, and defeat him."
"Ah, Lord, I am not able, for he is stronger than I am."
"Go, Michael, and take hold of his throne by just one leg."
And Michael came, and the Lord gave his incorporeal powers, and Lucifer fell
with his throne near the sea. Defeated, he became black, like the other
hellish devils.
And Saint Michael says, "Lord, what beautiful vestments he has carried off."
And the Lord God himself says, "Go, Michael, after those vestments, and you
will bring them back from the earth, where Lucifer fell to the earth."
And Michael comes to the earth and stands beside Lucifer the light-bearing
one. And Lucifer the light-bearing one says to Michael:
"Why have I become so defeated, Michael? You and I were such comrades!"
And Saint Michael says, "Go, Lucifer, into the Black Sea, and wash yourself
there, and you will no longer be defeated, so black as you are."
And Lucifer wants to leap into the sea in the golden, beautiful vestments.
Saint Michael says, "Throw off the vestments, or you will stain them in the
water." He threw them off, and Saint Michael snatched them up and carried them
up to heaven.
And Lucifer came out of the Black Sea and looked: the vestments were gone. He
became a hellish Hades and set off flying after Michael. He catches Michael
under the clouds; flame shoots from his mouth. Saint Michael says, "Lord, I am
perishing!" The Lord says to Michael:
"Holy Michael, you have a sword on your right side; cut him down." And Michael
drew out his sword, struck Lucifer, and cut three wings from him. And Lucifer
fell to the earth and broke through into the deep depth, into eternal hell.
And Lucifer said to the Lord God, "Lord, I have no angels." And God gave him a
one-year-old rod and said:
"Strike the Black Sea. However many drops spatter from that rod, that many
angels you will have."
But even then he did not listen to God's truth. He struck the sea ten times
with that rod, and however many drops splashed from that rod, that many angels
he had. Then he said, "I am fit to be like holy God."
And Saint Michael says to him, "Then who created you, Lucifer? God created you,
Lucifer, and you are not worthy to be older than God."
But the Lord God defeated him with his heavenly, holy powers. And Lucifer fell
into the great depth, into hell, and his angels fell after him for forty days
and forty nights, just as rain falls on the earth, forever and ever. Amen.
Recorded in July 1895 from Andrii Brianyk in Holiatyn, Maramoroš county.
Hnatiuk's parallel note cites K. J. Erben's Boj archanděla s d'áblem,
Chełchowski's O Lucyperze, and Ivan Franko's notes on creation, Satanail,
and paradise in Apocrypha of the Old Testament.
Colophon
This Good Works Translation was made from Volodymyr Hnatiuk's Етноґрафічні материяли з Угорської Руси. Том I. Лєґенди і новелї, published in Lviv in
1897 as Етноґрафічний збірник, volume III. The translated unit is legend 2,
Борба св. Михайла з Люцифером, printed on pages 3-4.
The English was translated directly from the source-language text, using the
OCR only as a navigation aid and checking the text against source-page images from the scanned PDF. No existing English translation was used as the
base.
Dialect notes: йагнили / йагнельіў is rendered as "angels"; Verkhratsky's
Hungarian-Rus' dialect material gives ягнел as "angel." найташі is rendered
as "comrades," supported by Hnatiuk Vol. VI examples where the word marks close
companions. прут йидноліток is rendered as "one-year-old rod"; Shukhevych's
Hutsul material uses прути однолітків for rods grown in one year. цьаток is
rendered as "drops," while Verkhratsky supports a spot/speck range for цятка.
The line about staining the vestments follows the source's parenthetical
покальаниш and the Black Sea trick context. Адом пекольним is kept as
"hellish Hades" to preserve the source's local Christian-imaginative wording.
Source route: Internet Archive identifier etnohr_03-1; source images checked at IA PDF pages 22-23 /
printed pages 3-4. The underlying 1897 source is public-domain-era under the
Good Works Library's United States operating posture.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican
Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Борба св. Михайла з Люцифером
Ukrainian/Rusyn source text from Volodymyr Hnatiuk's 1897 Етноґрафічні материяли з Угорської Руси. Том I. Лєґенди і новелї, legend 2, printed pages
3-4. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the
English translation above.
- Борба св. Михайла з Люцифером.
Коли Господь небесний сотвориў свої йагнили: перший раз ознаймиў
на небі старшого нат старшого. Луціфер сьвітлоносий (по письменному
сьа писаў) сильний буў над усї йагнили: а маў він шість крил, буў
шестокрилий.
І кажи Богу небесному: шчо годин бити висший від Бога. І піднесе
свій престол виже від божого. І кажи сьвятий Михайіл: Господи,
Луціфер сьвітлоносий вище свій престол підніс від вашого.
І кажи сам Господь Бог: Іди, Михайіле сьвятий, та побіди го.
Йа, Господи, ни годин, бо він сильний май від мене.
Іди, Михайіле, і іми його престол лише за йидну лабу.
І прийшоў Михайіл, і даў Господь свої сили безплотні, і ўпаў
іс престолом Луціфер близь коло морьйа і побідженій стаў чорний, йак
другі чорти пекільні.
І кажи сьвятий Михайіл: Господи, йакі ризи красні поніс.
І кажи сам Господь Бог: Іди, Михайіле, за тими ризами і винесеш
їх назад (із земли, йак ўпаў на землю Луціфер).
І приходить Михайіл на землю і стане коло Луціфера сьвітлоносого.
І кажи Луціфер сьвітлоносий Михайілови:
Шчо йа такий побідженій стаў, Михайіле? тай ми собі такі найташі
були!
І кажи сьвятий Михайіл: Іди, Луціфере, у Чорної море і там сьа
умийиш і не будеш побідженій, такий чорний.
І хоче Луціфер скочити у море ў золотих, красних ризах. Михайіл
сьвятий кажи: Звирж ризи, бо побідиш (покальаниш) у воді. Він звер,
а Михайіл сьвятий ухопиў і поніс на небеса горі.
І вийшоў Луціфер іс Чорного моря і подивиў, но риз не йи. І стаў
Адом пекольним і пустить сьа за Михайілом летіти. І доганять Михайіла
під облаками: с писка йому поломінь шаркат. Кажи сьвятий Михайіл:
Господи, погибаў! Господь кажи Михайілу:
Михайіле сьвятий, на правім боці меч майиш і рубай го. И Михайіл
вихопиў свій меч, утяў Луціфира і віттяў три крила му. І ўпаў
Луціфер на землю і ўпроломив сьа во глубину глубокую, ў пекло вічної.
І казаў Луціфер Господу Богу: Господи, йа йагнилів ни маю.
А Бог даў йому прут йидноліток і сказаў:
Ударь по Чорному морю; кілько бризне цьаток від того прута,
тілько будеш мати йагнельіў.
Ай бо він божу правду і тогди ни послухаў, ай биў 10 рас тим
прутом по морю і кілько від того прута цьаток бризнуло, тілько мав
йагнильіў. Тогди сказаў: Йа годин бути так йако Бог сьвятий.
І кажи му сьвятий Михайіл: Та тко тьа, Луціфере, сотвориў?
Та тебе, Луціфере, Бог сотвориў і недостоїн йись бути старший від
Бога.
Али Господь Бог побідиў го своїми силами небесними, сьвятими.
І ўпаў Луціфер во глубину велику до пекла, а його йагнили за ним
падали за 40 дниў і за 40 ночий так, йак дощ паде на землю, во
віки вікоў, амінь.
Зап. в липні 1895, від Андрія Бряника, в Голятині, Марамороської
столиці.
Паралєлї: K. J. Erben, Vybr. báj. a pov. nár., ст. 3-4: Boj
archanděla s d'áblem. - Chełchowski, Powieści i opowiadania ludowe
z okolic Przasnysza, ч. II, ст. 139-141: O Lucyperze. - Про сотворене
сьвіта, про Сатанаїла, про рай, диви: Др. Іван Франко, Апокріфи
Старозавітні, ст. 7-18 і 325-330 (Памятки українсько-руської мови
і лїтератури, т. I, 1896). - В. Г.
Source Colophon
Source witness: Volodymyr Hnatiuk, Етноґрафічні материяли з Угорської Руси. Том I. Лєґенди і новелї, Lviv, 1897, legend 2, printed pages 3-4. Internet Archive identifier: etnohr_03-1, https://archive.org/details/etnohr_03-1.
The source text was checked against source-page images of IA PDF pages 22 and 23.
IA PDF page 22 contains the end of legend 1 and the opening of this unit; IA
PDF page 23 contains the end of this unit and Hnatiuk's parallel note. This
source transcription is a lightly corrected reading witness and is not a full
diplomatic edition.
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