The following is a litany written in a primarily Catholic style that includes adorations of and supplications to the four archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, originally composed by Michael Lux in 2012 for spiritual work within the Johannite gnostic Christian community. Since his original website no longer exists, I have replicated the litany below with his permission; my thanks and appreciation go out to him for allowing me to share it. Although similar in nature to the Catholic Litany to the Holy Angels, this litany calls on all four archangels traditionally reckoned as well as one’s guardian angel, rather than as a litany to the three named angels of the Bible and all the angelic powers of Heaven generally. Additionally, instead of the usual oremus at the end of the litany, this uses a more ecclesiastically-appropriate version of the Hermetic Prayer of Thanskgiving.

Note that, as a litany (the word for which comes from the Greek λιτή or “supplication”), this is originally designed to be a prayer with a leader and a congregation who responds. In the following litany, the leader’s section is in plaintext, and the response from the congregation is in bold. The same request is often repeated multiple times in a structured form; in the following litany, such a supplication is first identified in bold at the start of a stanza of the litany, then repeated at the ellipses that follow until a new supplication is made.

Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us. Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world…

God the Holy Ghost…

Holy Trinity, one God… Holy Wisdom, pray for us.

Holy Bride of the Word made manifest…

Holy mediator between us and the Word… Holy Raphael, Archangel of the Most High, pray for us.

Holy Raphael, guardian of the light arising…

Holy Raphael, guardian of the whirling air and tempest…

Holy Raphael, terror of demons…

Holy Raphael, guide of travelers…

Holy Raphael, sure guide in the paths of virtue and sanctification…

Holy Raphael, whom the Scriptures praise: Raphael, the holy angel of the Lord, was sent to cure, Saint Raphael, our advocate… Holy Michael, Archangel of the Most High, pray for us.

Holy Michael, guardian of the light increasing…

Holy Michael, guardian of fire and leader of the Hosts of Heaven…

Holy Michael, standard-bearer of God’s armies…

Holy Michael, defender of those who hope in God…

Holy Michael, standing at the right of the Altar of Incense…

Holy Michael, thrust into Hell the eternal Adversary… Holy Gabriel, Archangel of the Most High, pray for us.

Holy Gabriel, guardian of the light descending…

Holy Gabriel, guardian of the watery depths…

Holy Gabriel, ambassador of the Lord…

Holy Gabriel, first adorer of the Divine Word…

Holy Gabriel, who foretold the greatness of the Christ…

Holy Gabriel, whom the Scriptures praise as the angel sent by God to the Theotokos… Holy Uriel, Archangel of the Most High, pray for us.

Holy Uriel, guardian of the light returning…

Holy Uriel, guardian of the Gates of Paradise…

Holy Uriel, who bringest all at last unto the Heavenly City…

Holy Uriel, companion of all who offer up their lives in the defense of others…

Holy Uriel, bringer of light to those experiencing interior darkness…

Holy Uriel, who plants the germ of the Sacred Flame in the hearts of all… Holy Guardian Angel, be our constant guide and companion.

Holy Guardian Angel, intercede on our behalf to God the Father.

Holy Guardian Angel, spare us from fear and need and want, now and at the hour of our deaths. From all evil, o Lord, deliver us, o Lord.

From all sin and occasion of sin…

From anger, and hatred, and every evil will…

From attachment, fear, and delusion…

From the chains and snares of the archons…

From lightning and tempest…

From the scourge of earthquakes…

From plague, famine and war…

By the mystery of Thy Emanation…

Through Thy coming forth into being…

Through Thy incarnation into the world of matter…

Through Thy Christening and Fasting in the desert…

Through Thy triumph over the cross of the elements…

Through Thy holy Resurrection and Ascension…

Through Thy Sacred Union in the Bridal Chamber…

Through the descent of the Holy Spirit…

Through the manifestation of the Sacred Flame… Holy Lord, have mercy on us.

Holy and Mighty One…

Holy and Immortal…

At this point, the leader is to recite the Our Father silently or otherwise inaudibly by the congregation, with all continuing aloud with:

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. We give thanks to You! Every soul and heart is lifted up to You, undisturbed name, honored with the name “God” and praised with the name “Father”, for to everyone and everything comes the parental kindness and affection and love, and any teaching there may be that is sweet and plain, giving us mind, speech, and knowledge: mind, so that we may understand You; speech, so that we may expound You; knowledge, so that we may know You. We rejoice, having been illuminated by Your knowledge. We rejoice because You have shown us Yourself. We rejoice because while we were in the body, You have made us divine through Your knowledge. The thanksgiving of one who attains to You is one thing: that we know You. We have known You, intellectual light. Life of life, we have known You. Womb of every creature, we have known You. Womb pregnant with the nature of the Father, we have known You. Eternal permanence of the begetting Father, thus have we worshiped Your goodness. There is one petition that we ask: we would be preserved in knowledge. And there is one protection that we desire: that we not stumble in this kind of life. Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Note that the order of invocations in the litany as given above suggests Raphael for the East, Michael for the South, Gabriel for the West, and Uriel for the North using the common modern associations; those of an older or more occult bent may reorder the invocations with the order Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel instead (see this 2012 post and this 2013 post on directional correspondences). For instance, to use the zodiacal correspondences for the directions, the order and respective supplications would then become:

Holy Michael, Archangel of the Most High, pray for us.

Holy Michael, guardian of the light arising…

Holy Michael, guardian of fire and leader of the Hosts of Heaven…

… Holy Uriel, Archangel of the Most High, pray for us.

Holy Uriel, guardian of the light increasing…

Holy Uriel, guardian of the Gates of Paradise…

… Holy Raphael, Archangel of the Most High, pray for us.

Holy Raphael, guardian of the light descending…

Holy Raphael, guardian of the whirling air and tempest…

… Holy Gabriel, Archangel of the Most High, pray for us.

Holy Gabriel, guardian of the light returning…

Holy Gabriel, guardian of the watery depths…

…

When prayed individually on one’s own instead of as a leader with a congregation, the devotee should recite each supplication as directed above, with the exception of the first paragraph where the responses are simply a full repetition of what the leader would speak. Thus, on one’s own, the litany above would start as follows:

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us. God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world…

God the Holy Ghost…

Holy Trinity, one God…

…

As a ritual unto itself, the devotee may have an altar covered with a white cloth, if desired, on top of which are placed a green candle, a blue candle, a white candle, a red candle, and a yellow candle (or white candles placed in appropriately-colored candle holders). The white candle symbolizes the pure light of God, and the colored candles represent the angels Uriel, Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael respectively; for a private devotional altar or shrine, icons for the archangels may be placed behind their respective candles, and a crucifix behind the white central candle. Following gnostic eschatology to work up from manifest immanence to unmanifest transcendence, the colored candles would be lit at the beginning of their respective angel’s invocations, with the white candle being reserved for last starting at the supplication “From all evil, deliver us, o Lord” or at the beginning of the final thanksgiving (“We give thanks to You…”). Alternatively, taking a spiritually top-down approach, the devotee may start with the white candle at the beginning of the litany, proceeding to light the four colored candles at the usual times. Note that the candles should be arranged such that, facing the altar from the side of the congregation (or from the perspective of the individual when praying on their own), the first archangel supplicated is placed at the right, with the subsequent angelic candles placed to the left in order. Should one change the directional correspondences of the angels, the order of the candles on the shrine should likewise change to reflect the change in structure, and the “guardian of the light” supplication should change accordingly. Incense may be added to the ritual if desired; frankincense or church incense is best.

In addition to the practice of lighting candles on an altar or instead of such a practice entirely, one may instead face the direction associated with that archangel, proceeding clockwise from East. In this case, the prayer would begin facing the East, continuing to face East for the first set of archangelic supplications, then turning clockwise to the South for the second, to the West for the third, to the North for the fourth, then resuming to the East from the supplications to one’s guardian angel. Note that the direction correspondences here and for the candlelit altar layout given above are designed from the perspective of a devotee in the northern hemisphere; for devotees in the southern hemisphere, the order should be counterclockwise going East, North, West, South, and East with the other changes applied as given above.