Dear in Christ Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord!

The past two weeks we briefly discussed the Holy Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Today, let’s focus our attention on the Holy Prophet of God Ezekiel. Saint Ezekiel was the younger contemporary of Jeremiah, was from the priestly line, and about ten years before the fall of Jerusalem was led away into Babylonian exile. In Babylon, on the banks of the river Chebar, Saint Ezekiel received a vision from God in which he was called to service as a prophet. According to Church tradition, the holy prophet was killed by a certain Jew who was displeased with his prophetic message and was buried by his pious countrymen not far from modern-day Baghdad.

The Holy Prophet of God Ezekiel is a link connecting the former world of the Israelite people, in which all Jews lived in the Promised Land and whose religious life was centred on the temple in Jerusalem, and a new world, in which the Jews were scattered throughout the whole world and whose religious life could not be so focused on the Temple for the simple reason that not all Jews could visit Jerusalem. Although Ezekiel preached in the land of the Chaldeans, he was very well informed as to the events taking place in Jerusalem. Perhaps the Lord God Himself revealed to the prophet news of events transpiring in Palestine, or the information was transmitted by natural means, i.e. by letters quickly delivered to the Jews in captivity.

Finding himself far from the Temple (where, for example, Jeremiah delivered many of his sermons), as well as from the majority of the Jews, the Prophet Ezekiel was compelled to preach through the written word, which sets him apart from the other prophets. This resulted in his book being very coherent and following a strict chronological order, which cannot be said about the other prophetic books of the Old Testament. The prophecy of Saint Ezekiel abounds with detailed, vivid, and strange visions and symbolic actions. The first half of his book applies to the time before the destruction of the Temple and contains foreboding denunciations of the Jewish nation for their idol worship. The main idea of this part of the book is consonant with the message of the Prophet Jeremiah. The second half of the book of the Holy Prophet of God Ezekiel is consolatory. Here the saint prophecies about the afflictions that would befall the enemies of the Jewish people, as well as about the future return of the Jews to the Promised Land and the resumption of divine services in the renewed Temple. Of course, all this came to be after the fall of the Babylonian Kingdom, when some of the Jews returned to their land, the temple was rebuilt, and sacrifices were once more made. Although this is all so, we should understand that the prophecies of Saint Ezekiel have an apocalyptic character to them, and that often his words apply better to the end of times, rather than to the new Jewish government. Remember that wonderful reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel about the dry bones that we hear on the evening of Great Friday, which so clearly speaks about the general resurrection of the human race.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, as is the case with the Book of Jeremiah, the Book of the Holy Prophet Ezekiel is always and for all Christians relevant. Although after the catastrophe of the 6th century B. C. the Jews did return to their land and for some time set up for themselves their own government, this happy moment in time was short-lived. Wars, disasters, new conquerors, and exile continued to visit the Jews. Of course, the same thing happens with all nations and with each individual person. Happiness and good fortune here on earth are fleeting things. Therefore it behooves us to hear the foreboding words of the first part of the message of Ezekiel and repent of our sins, and also to await happiness and God’s mercy not here on earth, but in the future eternal Kingdom of Christ.

priest Alexis