The fundamental contribution of the present work is represented in the mapping of St Michael's churches on the Eastern Adriatic in the period between the 6th and the 12th century. By mapping and analyzing the said churches, the present work has secured the following: it distinguishes from a chronological point of view between the confirmed and probable churches on the one hand and the less probable, unconfirmed and poorly researched churches on the other. Thus, the work offers a basis for the interpretation of the meaning(s) of the cult of St Michael in distinct contexts. Therefore, in the said timeframe on the Easter Adriatic one can distinguish between four basic roles attributed to St Michael that were present from the cultic inception in the ancient Jewish context, through the early Christian purging of the 'pagan' elements, to the cultic establishment in the Christian East and West: St Michael as archistrategos or the protector and the custodian, St Michael as psychopomp or the soulmate of the faithful departed, St Michael as custos civitatis and St Michael as the apocalyptic warrior. The present work distinguishes between the function of a particular Michaeline church on the one hand (memorial or private, Benedictine monastic, urban), that can be recognized directly by observing its typology and its pertaining context, and the semantic aspect of the cult on the other. In particular, St Michael’s cult has, by far, the most dedications in the Benedictine context where is showcases various semantic aspects: archistrategos, psychopomp and apocalyptic warrior. Moreover, a significantly increased number of churches were dedicated to St Michael in the 11th and 12th centuries in comparison with the earlier periods encompassed by the present work. Despite the importance of the Benedictines in the dissemination of the Archangel’s cult in the early Middle Ages, the present work has shifted the focus from a purely Benedictine perspective and has included the private (memorial) and the urban context in the interpretation of the cultic semantics. The present research thus offers a bird’s-eye view of the development of St Michael’s cult on the Eastern Adriatic from the 6th to 12th centuries and aims to provide the impetus to further, more particular and detailed research of the cultic development in specific, narrower geographic areas and ecclesiastical/political contexts.