Commemorated on August 14
The Prophet Micah,
the 6th of the Twelve Minor Prophets, was descended from the Tribe of Judah and
was a native of the city of Morastha, to the south of Jerusalem, wherefore he
was called a Morasthite. His prophetic service began around the year 778 before
the Birth of Christ and continued for almost 50 years under the kings of Judah
– Joatham, Akhaz, and Righteous Hezekiah (721-691 B.C., Comm. 28 August).
He was a contemporary
of the Prophet Isaiah. His denunciations and predictions were in regard to the
separate kingdoms both of Judah and of Israel. He foresaw the misfortunes,
threatening the kingdom of Israel before its destruction, and to Judah, during
the incursions under the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib. To him belongs a
prophecy about the birth of the Saviour of the world: "And thou,
Bethlehem, house of Euphratha, though small wilt be in the thousands of Judah,
from thee to Me wilt come an eldest, that will be King in Israel, Whose coming
forth is from the beginning of days forever" (Mic. 5: 2). From the words
of the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 26: 18-19), the Jews evidently were afraid to
kill the Prophet Micah. His relics were discovered in the IV Century after the
Birth of Christ at Baraphsatia, through a revelation to the bishop of Eleutheropolis,
Zeuinos.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
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