Written by: Catechist Branislav Ilić, Editor of the “Kinonia” Portal
In the joy of the sacred commemorations of the holy and glorious Prophet Elijah the God-seer, and of the holy Prophet Ezekiel, it is an opportune moment to reflect on this important theme. St. Elijah the God-seer, miracle-worker, and zealous defender of the faith of God, was of the tribe of Aaron, from the town of Tishbe. At his birth a miracle was manifested: his father, Sabach, saw angels of God around the child, wrapping him in fire and giving him flames to eat. This was a wondrous foreshadowing of Elijah’s fiery character and his power like unto fire. Just as his birth was marked by miraculous signs, so too was his prophetic ministry characterized by wonders. The holy Prophet Elijah entered into a great conflict with the king of Israel, Ahab, and his wicked wife Jezebel. Ahab and Jezebel worshiped idols and sought to turn the people away from serving the true God. Since Jezebel was a Syrian, she persuaded her husband to erect a temple to the Syrian god Baal, and to appoint many priests in service of that false god. Through mighty miracles, the holy Prophet Elijah demonstrated the power and authority of God: he closed the heavens, so that there was no rain for three years and six months; he called down fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice to the Lord, while the priests of Baal could do no such thing; he miraculously multiplied flour and oil in the house of the widow of Zarephath and raised her dead son. Elijah was deemed worthy to converse with God on Mount Horeb and to hear the voice of the Lord in a gentle breeze. Before his death, he appointed Elisha as his successor in the prophetic ministry. At the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor, Elijah appeared together with Moses. The holy Prophet Elijah is called the second Forerunner of the coming of the Lord, for according to the testimony of the Book of Revelation, before the Second Coming of the Lord, he will come again to restrain the power of Satan (Rev. 11).
The holy Prophet Ezekiel was the son of a priest from the city of Sarira and a contemporary of the holy Prophet Jeremiah, who prophesied in Jerusalem. Ezekiel, while living in Babylonian captivity, prophesied for twenty-seven years. At Matins on Holy and Great Saturday, after the Great Doxology and procession, we hear the reading of Ezekiel’s vision of the resurrection of the dry bones. This prophet suffered a martyr’s death and was buried in the same grave where Shem, the son of Noah, was laid to rest.
In biblical history, men chosen by God for a particular prophetic ministry played an essential role. Such men in the Old Testament were called “prophets” (Judg. 6:8), “men of God” (2 Kings 4:9), and “seers” (1 Sam. 9:9; 2 Sam. 24:11). It is important to stress that a prophet is not necessarily one who merely knows and foretells the future, even though many prophets did proclaim future events. The essential and primary task of the prophet is to reveal to the people the will of God, which he comes to know through a special revelation from above. Unlike a person simply educated in religious matters, who knows about God from books, the prophets communed directly with God within the framework of divine revelation, and declared to the people what God commanded them to declare.
The prophets played a vital role in the social and political life of their times, offering counsel and foretelling the future in the name of God. Their preaching was often accompanied by symbolic actions, which helped the people to better grasp and understand the words proclaimed. At times, miracles were performed through the word of the prophets. While preaching, prophets often foretold calamities for their people, and at the same time they themselves could experience deep sorrow (see Isa. 6:11; 22:4; Jer. 8:21–22). Frequently, they were persecuted by their compatriots, as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself pointed out (see Matt. 23:29–35).
The major prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The group of minor prophets includes Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
Many of the prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah. Their prophetic words contain references to specific events that were fulfilled in the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ: His birth from the Virgin, the place of His Nativity, the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, the appearance of the Forerunner, the Savior’s public ministry and the signs He performed, Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, Judas’s betrayal of the Teacher for thirty pieces of silver, the unjust trial of Christ and the pronouncement of the harshest sentence, His sufferings and their redemptive meaning, the piercing of the Savior’s hands and feet, Christ’s crucifixion between thieves, the dividing of His garments, the offering of vinegar to drink, the piercing of His life-giving side from which blood and water flowed, His burial in a new tomb, Christ’s glorious resurrection from the dead, His Ascension into heaven, His sitting at the right hand of God the Father, the sending down of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the preaching of the apostles, the enlightenment of the Gentiles, and the spread of the Church to the ends of the earth.
The deeds and words of the prophets could carry not only a direct meaning, but also a figurative one. They could apply to the people and events contemporary to the prophets, while also pointing to future times—for example, to events connected with the coming Saviour.
The Holy Scripture of the New Testament testifies that God spoke through the prophets. Thus the Apostle Peter writes: “No prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). In the Nicene Creed we confess our faith in the Holy Spirit, “who spoke through the prophets.”
The Bible also speaks of false prophets who, not being called and sent by God, prophesied according to their own judgment and thus brought harm to people, leading them away from the true path (see Jer. 14:14; 28:15; Matt. 7:15; 24:11). In the Christian world, at the time of the apostles, there were many such false prophets. One of the marks that indicated a so-called “prophet” was the failure to bring to pass what he had proclaimed in the name of the Lord (Deut. 18:21–22).
At the juncture between the Old and New Testaments, the prophetic ministry was fulfilled by St. John the Baptist, who was the last prophet of the Old Covenant and the first apostle of the New (see Matt. 11:9). His father, the high priest Zechariah, prophesied concerning the coming messianic age and the ministry of his son as the Forerunner of the Messiah (see Luke 1:67–79). A prophetess was Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, who is mentioned in the Gospel narrative of the encounter of the Infant Jesus Christ in the temple with the righteous Simeon (see Luke 2:36–38). The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is called a Prophet (see Acts 3:22–26), for He revealed to humankind the will of God the Father.
On the day of Holy Pentecost, the Apostle Peter bore witness to the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel: “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on My male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out My Spirit, and they shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17–18; cf. Joel 2:28–29).
In the early Church, there were also prophets (see Acts 11:27; 13:1; Eph. 4:11). They were numerous and often travelled among the communities, serving the Lord (see Eph. 4:11–12). St. John Chrysostom observes: “In general, at that time there were far more prophets than in the Old Testament, for this gift was not given to ten, twenty, fifty, or a hundred (individuals), but this grace was poured out abundantly, and every Church had many prophets.” In Caesarea, the Evangelist Philip, one of the seven deacons of the Jerusalem Church, had “four virgin daughters who prophesied” (Acts 21:9).
Just as in the Old Testament, the prophets also foretold future events—for example, the prophet Agabus foretold a famine in the Roman Empire (see Acts 11:28) and the imprisonment of the Apostle Paul in Jerusalem (see Acts 21:10–11). They also performed symbolic actions to depict upcoming events (Agabus took Paul’s belt and bound his own hands and feet; see Acts 21:11). The Apostle Paul frequently spoke of prophets and prophecy in his epistles (see 1 Cor. 11:4–5; 12:28–29; 14:1ff.; Rom. 12:6; Eph. 2:20; 3:5; 4:11; 1 Thess. 5:20; 1 Tim. 1:18; 4:14). Paul himself, as an apostle, possessed all the spiritual gifts necessary for carrying out his apostolic ministry, including the charism of prophecy (see Acts 13:1), though he never called himself a prophet. At the same time, certain passages in his epistles are clearly prophetic in nature (see Rom. 11:25–27; 1 Cor. 15:51–52; 1 Thess. 4:15–17; 2 Thess. 2:1–12; 2 Tim. 3:1–5).
The early Christian text known as the Didache also mentions prophets. According to this source, prophets were given the right to celebrate the Mystery of the Eucharist. Moreover, this work provides criteria for discerning true from false prophets. According to its words, a true prophet “keeps to the ways of the Lord,” fulfills what he teaches others, does not demand material reward, does not eat from the table of the poor, and does not remain too long in a community.
St. Theophan the Recluse explains: “To prophesy means, by the movement of the Spirit of God, to speak to the faithful for their edification, in a language they can understand. Its subject may be dogma, moral teaching, consolation, prayerful praise, or prophecy itself.” At the same time, prophets did not receive any fundamentally new revelation that contradicted what had been proclaimed by the Apostles of Christ. The Apostle Paul warned: “If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:9). The difference between prophets and teachers, as St. John Chrysostom explains, is that “the one who prophesies speaks everything from the Spirit, while the one who teaches sometimes speaks from his own mind.” The prophetic gift, moreover, is subject to the free will and conscious exercise of the prophet (see 1 Cor. 14:29–33).
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, the great Father of the Church of the late second century, wrote about many Christians of his time who possessed “prophetic gifts, and gifts of speaking in various tongues, uncovering the secrets of the human heart for edification, and expounding the mysteries of God.” Gradually, however, the prophetic ministry became rare in the Church.
Throughout the liturgical year, we celebrate the holy prophets. In the hymnography composed to the glory of God and in honour of the prophets, the Church poet gives thanks to God, for through His prophets He proclaimed salvation to His people. This modest reflection on the role and significance of the holy prophets began with a consideration of the person of the holy Prophet Elijah, and it is therefore fitting to crown all that has been said with the words of the troparion of this prophet: “An angel in the flesh, the foundation of the prophets, the second forerunner of the coming of Christ, glorious Elijah, who sent down grace from on high upon Elisha to drive away sicknesses and to cleanse lepers. Therefore he pours forth healing upon those who honour him.”