The Holy Prophet Jeremiah
Commemorated on May 1
The Holy Prophet
Jeremiah, one of the four great Old Testament prophets, was son of the
priest Helkiah from the city of Anathoth near Jerusalem, and he lived 600 years
before the Birth of Christ, under the Israelite king Josiah and four of his
successors. He was called to prophetic service in his 15th year of life, when
the Lord revealed to him, that even before his birth the Lord had assigned him
to be a prophet. Jeremiah refused, pointing to his own youthfulness and lack of
skill at speaking, but the Lord promised to be always with him and to watch
over him. He touched the mouth of the chosen one and said: "Lo I do put
Mine words into thy mouth, I do entrust unto thee from this day the fate of
nations and kingdoms. By thine prophetic word wilt they fall and rise up"
(Jer. 1: 9-10). And from that time Jeremiah prophesied for twenty-three years,
denouncing the Jews for abandoning the True God and worshipping idols,
predicting for them woes and devastating wars. He stood by the gates of the
city, and at the entrance to the Temple, everywhere where the people gathered,
and he exhorted them with imprecations and often with tears. But the people
answered him with mockery and abuse, and they even tried to kill him.
Depicting the slavery
to the king of Babylon impending for the Jews, Jeremiah at the command of God
put on his own neck at first a wooden, and then an iron yoke, and thus he went
about among the people. Enraged at the dire predictions of the prophet, the
Jewish elders threw the Prophet Jeremiah into an imprisoning pit, filled with
horrid slimy creatures, where he all but died. Through the intercession of the
God-fearing royal-official Habdemelek, the prophet was pulled out of the pit
but he did not cease with the prophecies, and for this he was carted off to
prison. Under the Jewish king Zedekiah his prophesy was fulfilled:
Nebuchadnezzar came, made slaughter of the nation, carried off a remnant into
captivity, and Jerusalem was pillaged and destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar released
the prophet from prison and permitted him to live where he wanted. The prophet
remained at the ruins of Jerusalem and bewailed the misfortune of his
fatherland. According to tradition, the Prophet Jeremiah took the Ark of the
Covenant with the Law‑Tablets and hid it in one of the caves of Mount
Nabath (Nebo), such that the Jews were no more able to find it (2 Mac. 2).
Afterwards a new Ark of the Covenant was fashioned, but it lacked in the glory
of the first.
Among the Jews
remaining in their fatherland there soon arose internecine clashes: the viceroy
of Nebuchadnezzar, Hodoliah, was murdered, and the Jews, fearing the wrath of
Babylon, decided to flee into Egypt. The Prophet Jeremiah disagreed with their
intention, predicting that the punishment which they feared, would befall them
in Egypt. But the Jews would not hearken to the prophet, and taking him by
force with them, they went into Egypt and settled in the city of Tathnis. And
there the prophet lived for four years and was respected by the Egyptians,
since with his prayer he killed crocodiles and other nasty creatures infesting
these parts. But when he began to prophesy, that the king of Babylon would
invade the land of Egypt and annihilate the Jews settled in it, the Jews then
murdered the Prophet Jeremiah. In that very same year the prophesy of the saint
was fulfilled. There exists a tradition, that 250 years later Alexander the
Great of Macedonia transported the relics of the holy Prophet Jeremiah to
Alexandria.
The Prophet Jeremiah
wrote his Book of "Prophesies" ("Jeremiah"), and also the
Book of "Lamentations", – about the Desolation of Jerusalem and the
Exile. The times in which he lived and prophesied are spoken of in the 4th (2nd)
Book of Kings (Ch. 23-25) and in the 2nd Book of Chronicles (36: 12) and in 2
Maccabbees (Ch. 2).
In the Gospel of
Matthew it points out, that the betrayal of Judas was foretold by the Prophet
Jeremiah: "And they took thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him on Whom
the sons of Israel had set a price, and they gave them over for the potter's
field, as did say the Lord unto me" (Mt. 27: 9-10).
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
