Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as with the day of the memory of St. Euthemius the Great!

Today let’s continue discussing the Old Testament prophets and fix our attention on the Holy Prophet of God Amos. Of all the prophets who left after their death a written book, Amos is the earliest. He lived in the eighth century B. C. Although he preached in Israel (the northern kingdom), he was originally a simple shepherd from Judea (the southern kingdom) before the Lord God called him to serve as a prophet. In his book the Holy Prophet of God Amos uses quite a few images from the everyday life of a poor country shepherd. This makes his book both colourful and interesting.

It is not by chance that God sent Amos to preach in the northern kingdom of Israel. In those days, Israel was quite wealthy and successful. Its borders were enlarged, neighbours paid tribute, and no one could foresee that in the near future the Assyrians would destroy Israel. The Israelites thought that since they were the chosen people of God, they had nothing to fear and could continue living without any cares. At the same time, there was no justice among the people. The rich abused the poor, society did not live particularly morally, and faith in the true God was tainted with pagan beliefs and customs.

The book of the Holy Prophet of God Amos contains God’s answer to all that was happening in Israel at that time. The book’s nine chapters can be divided into three main parts. The first part contains prophetic words proclaimed against the neighbouring peoples. The second part describes the sins of Israel and condemns the rulers and people of that kingdom. The third part foretells the destruction of the government as well as the people. Although the final lines of the book look into the distant future with hope, we could say that the message of the Holy Prophet Amos is quite terrible and gloomy. The main idea of the prophet is that it is impossible to avoid God’s righteous justice and that sinners, one way or another, sooner or later, will be punished.

Last week we discussed the Prophet Hosea, who lived a short time after Amos and preached to the same Israelite people. We noted that Hosea emphasized the love that God has for His people. When reading the Prophet of God Amos, we hear not about love, but about justice. It is interesting that both of these prophets served the Creator faithfully, despite having very different characters, preaching styles, and worldviews. Today we can admit that we need both approaches. Naturally we must remember the Lord’s righteous judgement and not forget that we will be obliged to give an answer for each of our sinful actions. At the same time, we cannot forget about the Lord’s love for us. If a person forgets about love, there is the danger of falling into despair, whereas if we forget about judgement, we could come to the conclusion that everything will be forgiven and that therefore there is no need to be watchful of one’s actions. Through the prayers of the Holy Prophets Amos and Hosea, may the Lord God free us from both of these extremes.

priest Alexis