Prophet Isaiah: Book about Christ, biography, years of life, icon

Part of Isaiah's vision is the cleansing of the Prophet's lips by the application of coal - an Old Testament prototype of the Eucharist

The name of the prophet Isaiah is associated with the most important prophecies about Christ and the New Jerusalem. What else did he prophesy about for the whole 60 years of his life, at what age was he called to serve, and why did the Angel Seraphim, with the help of tongs, put a burning coal from the altar of the Lord into Isaiah’s mouth. And also what is written in the 53rd chapter of the Book of Isaiah, the history of the martyrdom and ascension of the greatest prophet - in our article.

Biblical tradition

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah, who lived in the 8th century BC, according to tradition is recognized as one of the four great prophets and the author of the book named after him.

Scripture says that the Lord sent him to the Jews, giving him the last opportunity to repent of the vices that had overwhelmed them. The weaker God’s people became spiritually, the stronger the voice of the prophet sounded, whose life was like a candle illuminating with its radiance the iniquities committed by the people.

It was during that troubled period in the history of Israel that his prediction sounded clearly and loudly about the coming Mission, who, having spent his earthly life among the Jews, would subsequently lead many fallen pagan nations to the Heavenly Father.

Prophet Isaiah

Saint Isaiah lived seven centuries before the birth of Christ. Isaiah's father, Amos, was of a royal family, but raised his son in piety, purity and simplicity. Having reached adulthood, the future prophet married a certain virgin prophetess. They lived chastely, in the law of God, and had a son, Jasub.

The Lord called Isaiah to serve Himself and the people after some time, to the kingdom of the Judah king Hosea. Once, while in the temple during worship, the prophet had a vision of the Lord, sitting on a throne in Heaven, surrounded by Heavenly Forces - Cherubim (Heavenly being, one of the Angelic Forces in the form of a head surrounded by wings) and Seraphim (they have six wings with which they close from the radiance of God light and glorify God forever). The Prophet humbly appealed to God, saying that he was not worthy to see His glory and talk about it. Then one of the Seraphim touched the lips of the prophet with a burning coal, saying that this is how the Lord cleanses him. (This episode was also rethought by the poet Alexander Pushkin in the poem “We are languishing with spiritual thirst”). God asked the prophet if he would go to the Jews in His name. Isaiah agreed, as if volunteering to serve. He prophesied under several rulers of Judah: Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh, calling to repent of the sin of idolatry and get rid of vices and passions. The Lord revealed to the prophet that those who repented would have mercy from Him, and those who persisted in their malice would receive only punishment and execution from God. The Lord also said that he could destroy the entire people and devastate the lands of Israel, however, just as the fruit of a cut down tree sprouts new shoots, so new pious people will certainly appear among the people.

The holy prophet Isaiah was a miracle worker. This is captured in the Bible: its 2nd book of Kings and 2nd book of Chronicles.

The Prophet brought out a source of water from Mount Zion through prayer. The place where this spring flowed for many centuries was called the Pool of Siloam (“siloam” in Hebrew means “sent from God,” that is, through the prayer of the prophet, God gave water). It was here that the Lord Jesus Christ subsequently sent a man who was born blind and regained his sight after being anointed with the saliva of the Savior to wash.

Also, at the request of Isaiah the prophet, God extended the life of King Hezekiah of Judah by 15 years.

However, the saint himself died a martyr, having been sophisticatedly killed by King Manasseh - he sawed the prophet in half with a wooden saw. His body was buried near the Pool of Siloam. After Christianity gained freedom, the relics of the prophet Isaiah were solemnly transferred by King Theodosius the Younger to Constantinople. They stayed in the Laurentian Church in Blachernae. Today, only the location of the head of Saint Isaiah is known - it resides on Holy Mount Athos in the Hilandar monastery.

Service time

According to the prophet himself, the Lord called him to serve in the year of the death of King Uzziah.

Unfortunately, due to the inconsistency of information about the period of the reign of the kings of Judah in the 3rd and 4th books of Kings, it is impossible to unambiguously determine the time of the beginning of his prophetic activity. Researchers believe that most likely this is the period between 747 and 734 BC.

Since the exact year of the prophet’s death is unknown, scientists believe that his ministry lasted approximately 50-60 years.

Prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jacob

Life of the Prophet

The ascetic was born in 765 BC. in Jerusalem, in a very noble family. Some researchers believe that the prophet came from a privileged dynasty of priests, others that he came from a line of kings.

He received an excellent education and was well versed in the political situation of that time. By character, he was an unusually courageous and brave man, who was not afraid to confront the opinions of the rulers of Judea and military leaders.

During the reign of King Jotham, when the people of Israel enjoyed the peace and prosperity established in the country, he warned the inhabitants to change their usual life, not to tempt the Lord and to be more merciful to each other, predicting that otherwise they would soon be attacked by foreign conquerors.

However, the Jews did not heed his voice, and therefore a few years later, during the reign of King Ahaz, they became dependent on the Assyrians and were even forced to install in their capital a statue of Baal, whom these pagans worshiped.

The prophet was especially close to the court of rulers under Hezekiah, a king who refused to pay tribute to the conquerors and destroyed all the Jerusalem idols. This led to a new Assyrian campaign against Jerusalem. It was at this time that the prophet Isaiah insisted that the king not accept any compromises and rely on God’s help in everything. As a result, as stated in the 2nd book of Kings (19:35), at night “the angel of the Lord smote one hundred and eighty-five thousand” soldiers in the Assyrian camp.

When Hezekiah became seriously ill, through the prayers of the prophet, the Lord extended his years.

Interesting fact

It is known from Scripture that Isaiah had two sons. He gave the eldest the name Shear-yasuv, which meant “the remnant that will return.” With this name the seer symbolically predicted the decline of the power of the state. He named his second son Mager-shelal-khash-baz, which means “hastens plunder,” for he foresaw the imminent conquest of Jerusalem by Assyria. It is also known that the mother of his youngest son was a certain prophetess.

This is a short biography of the greatest prophet.

Orthodox Life

Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) recalled the main law of existence indicated by the prophet Isaiah, the violation of which leads to inevitable retribution.

The holy prophet Isaiah was born around 765 BC in Jerusalem and came from a royal family. The child was raised in the fear of God and in the law of the Lord.

“Isaiah represents a type of fiery religious genius and at the same time a sober, realistic political figure, who with his word, his influence was decisive in the fate of Judea,” wrote Archpriest S. Bulgakov.

Among the amazing prophecies of Isaiah, there is one that stands out especially, which shocks with its bottomless depth. It contains such large-scale and grandiose content, filled with so many meanings, signs, meanings, hidden and spoken directly, that human life and reason are not enough to contain everything that is said.

The prophecy pronounced by Isaiah in the name of the Lord concerns the main law of existence, and for those who fail to fulfill it it sounds like a sentence, like a terrible reminder of inevitable retribution. This is the parable, or sad Song of the Vineyard, set out in the 5th chapter.

The words of the parable were intended for the Jews, with reference to the historical events of those times, but at the same time they are addressed to each of us. These are words that pierce the heart, awaken the mind, breathe new life.

For the first time in the Old Testament, God is shown as a Gardener, a Worker, carefully tending His garden and expecting good fruits from it:

“I will sing to my Beloved the song of my Beloved about His vineyard. My Beloved had a vineyard on the top of a fattened mountain, and He surrounded it with a fence, and cleared it of stones, and planted choice vines in it, and built a tower in the midst of it, and dug a winepress in it, and expected it to bear good grapes. , and he brought wild berries"

In these words, in parallel with the description of all the concerns to protect the vineyard, the wish for good fruiting, there is a sad disappointment from unfulfilled hopes. The vineyard did not bear any good fruit, only wild berries.

This parable speaks about the human soul - the soul of each of us. Despite all the mercies of God, all the efforts and efforts, all His words and advice, we do not obey and continue to act according to our own understanding, forgetting that we are nothing without God, we are powerless without Him, all our attempts and reasoning are ridiculous and meaningless.

Our strength is in His strength, His wisdom, His love.

By severing our relationship with God, we are voluntarily thrown overboard a ship into a stormy sea, exposing ourselves to inevitable death.

We don't realize it, but the Lord knows! That is why there is bitterness in His words and deepest compassion. But He does not want to force us, He gives each person the right to choose: to be with Him or without Him. He wants voluntary love, not due obligation.

And here in the words of the prophet Isaiah sounds the Gardener’s sentence to the disobedient soul:

“Therefore I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be desolate; I will break down its walls, and it will be trampled under foot." .

What does it mean? The Lord will not protect, protect, or comfort someone who does not need Him, who does not listen to His words, who does not repent of their weaknesses and sins.

What is a person without God's protection? Zero. A weak creature. It is as weak and empty as a faded dandelion: any whiff and it will crumble.

What follows are the words of Isaiah himself, they sound like threatening warnings to Judea. The prophet thereby seals, as if with a seal, what was said earlier by the Lord. The words consist of six times “woe”:

“Woe to you who add house to house, adding field to field, as if there is no room left for others, as if you alone were settled on the earth.”

It talks about greed, love of money, thirst for worldly wealth at any cost. And the inevitable punishment for these passions is hunger.

We have before us the first sentence of the prophet, and everything will definitely come true, there is no need to deceive yourself and flatter yourself with the hope that this will happen to anyone, but not to me. What the Lord promised is being fulfilled. If a person is greedy and busy getting rich dishonestly, at the expense of others, then hunger will definitely come to his house, perhaps not the person himself, but his children and grandchildren will starve. The law can only be relaxed through sincere repentance and conscious change.

The second warning tells us:

“Woe to those who look for strong drink from early morning and get hot with wine until late in the evening; and the harp and harp, the tambourine, and the pipe, and wine at their feasts; but they do not consider the works of the Lord, nor do they consider the work of His hands.”

The reminder that debauchery, drunkenness, revelry, and unbridledness will be punished by the most severe captivity with all the accompanying suffering is addressed to the Jewish people, but concerns all people.

Captivity is passions that make a person their hostage, a prisoner, keeping him in their sinful prison without God's light. The life of such a person and his loved ones already on earth turns into hell, accompanied by terrible torment.

He who serves his passions can no longer serve God; he punishes himself with eternal captivity and eternal darkness.

The third proclamation of the holy prophet is:

“Woe to those who drag iniquity upon themselves with ropes of vanity and sin—like the belts of a chariot; who say: “Let Him make haste and hasten His work, so that we may see, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come to fruition, so that we may know!”

It talks about arrogance, justifying one’s sins and neglecting God’s mercies, love, and justice. We are talking about the most terrible thing - ingratitude.

People who demand hourly proof from God of His power and strength, expecting constant miracles, demonstrate self-love and pride. They seem to say: “I’m better, I know everything perfectly well and I’ll figure it out on my own.”

A sad future awaits them. Ingratitude and pride drive people crazy. Many proud people end their lives with insanity to one degree or another. This is a terrible retribution for your self-confidence.

The next warning was:

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who call darkness light and light darkness, who call bitter sweet and sweet bitter!”

This refers to the confusion of the concepts of good and evil, vice and virtue, black and white.

This was a pressing problem more than two thousand years ago, and it is still relevant today. A person does not change, the scenery around him changes. The passions, vices, sins that accompany a person are the same at all times.

Today, most of the media, defending the interests of certain groups, invite us to call black white, evil good.

There is a substitution of ideological and value concepts, the boundaries between vice and virtue are blurred, lies are elevated to the pedestal. When people are disoriented and unprincipled, they are easier to control. Therefore, the majority of those in power strive to raise an unthinking consumer, ready to believe anything and consume everything offered.

These processes also touched upon church topics. There was an attempt to build a “kingdom of distorting mirrors” here too.

Following their passions, church leaders who have fallen away from the truth have offered believers a product whose contents do not correspond to the name: a lie in a bright and fashionable wrapper, which they are unsuccessfully trying with all their might to pass off as a new truth. But the Lord cannot be deceived. And the truth is the same at all times. Their deeds and words will not reveal the wolf in sheep's clothing only to the naive and those who want to be deceived. Violation of commandments cannot be hidden under the guise of decency. Theft and robbery, greed and hypocrisy remain in the eyes of God theft and robbery, greed and hypocrisy, no matter what they are called before people.

Truth cannot be sullied by anything, but it is very difficult, and sometimes impossible, to wash oneself away from lies.

The next call from the lips of the prophet Isaiah sounds like this:

“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and understanding in themselves!”

The author points in these lines to complacency as a path to the spiritual degradation of a person.

A person who does not see his mistakes, does not repent of his sins, and praises himself and his achievements becomes deaf to truth and beauty. He is spiritually reset, all his achievements disappear, fade, he, like a soap bubble, bursts upon contact with the truth: an inflated and useless person.

The more we are given, the more will be asked of us. Having goods or talents is not a reason to boast about them, but a serious responsibility before God, people, and one’s conscience.

And the last warning applies to those who violate earthly laws and justice:

“Woe to those who are brave to drink wine and strong to prepare strong drink, who justify the guilty for gifts and deprive the right of the lawful!”

Violators of earthly laws will also face inevitable retribution for their irresponsible attitude towards their powers and their excess: when the innocent are punished and the guilty continue to commit lawlessness in freedom.

And then he speaks passionately and emotionally about the punishment that will be suffered by all who have violated the laws of the Lord:

“As fire consumes the stubble and the flame consumes the hay, so their root will rot, and their flower will be scattered like dust; because they rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the Lord will be kindled against His people, and He will stretch out His hand against them and smite them...”

A loving God has a clear conscience, a sober mind, and no fears. Even when he happens to fall, he tearfully repents and asks for forgiveness and help from the Heavenly Father, because he realizes that he, sinful and weak, is not able to move in the right and saving direction on his own, without His gracious help, is not able to transform his own life. heart - only in the Light of the Lord and His infinite love is this possible.

We should constantly cry out to the Lord, pray to Him for mercy and softening of our hearts, ask for strength in keeping the commandments of God - and then our life will be a triumph of joy and love, filled with the light of Christ and His gracious mercies.

The happiest person is the one who loves God the most.

Recorded by Natalya Goroshkova

Vision

This event happened to the prophet when he was about 20 years old.

One day, in a vision, he saw the Lord sitting on a majestic throne, surrounded by six-winged Seraphim, chanting: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts! the whole earth is full of His glory!” At this moment the seer felt how unclean and sinful he himself was in comparison with the heavenly inhabitants, and how unclean his lips were, unworthy of praising the Lord.

Then one of the Seraphim, taking a coal from a red-hot brazier with tongs, approached Isaiah and touched his lips with it, saying:

“Behold, this has touched your mouth, and your iniquity is taken away from you, and your sin is purged.”

Archpriest Dimitri Predein explains the symbolism of this vision as follows:

“Coal symbolized the action of divine grace, which is capable of cleansing all human sins.”

Similar words are spoken today by clergy during their communion at the altar:

“Behold, I will touch my lips, and he will take away my iniquities and cleanse my sins.”

Interesting fact

The cleansing of Isaiah's lips is part of the Prophet's vision, an Old Testament prototype of the Eucharist. In addition, it symbolizes the Incarnation of the Lord and heralds the Nativity of Christ.

After this, the Lord asked: “Whom should I send? And who will go for Us?”, meaning that He needs a minister who will convey to the wicked Israeli people His Holy Will about the punishment that is overtaking the Jews. And then the young man volunteered to be that messenger.

From that moment his prophetic ministry began.

Isaiah: salvation sent by God

...And Jesus returned in strength of spirit to Galilee

Yu; and fame about Him spread throughout the surrounding country. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and, as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. They handed him the book of Isaiah the prophet. He opened the book and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; For He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, and He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” And, closing the book and giving it to the servant, he sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

The great prophet Isaiah, who predicted the coming of Christ the Savior, was born approximately 765 years before the event he described. This is the time of the great war of nations. Syria, Phenicia, Egypt and Babylon fought. The Jewish people lived at the crossroads of military roads and were divided into two kingdoms - Judah and Israel. To maintain independence, they were forced to take sides with warring kings, sometimes opposite ones. Constant hunger and fear drove the Jewish people to despair. And at the most critical moments, Isaiah’s prophecies sounded, instilling courage and hope in people.

Arise, people of Israel! The darkness will not always be where it is now thick. The people walking in darkness will see a great light; on those who live in the land of the shadow of death the light will shine. For a child will be born to us - the Son of God will be given to us; dominion on the frame

love Him, and they will call His name Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

***

1826 from the Nativity of Christ. Russian Empire, village of Mikhailovskoye, Pskov province. Here, on his mother’s estate, the poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, exiled from St. Petersburg, lives. Every day he spends a long time at the local temple. Lent is underway, and parems are read there daily and

and from the book of the prophet Isaiah...

In the year of the death of King O

Now I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the edges of His robe filled the whole temple. The Seraphim stood around Him; each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew... And they called to each other and said: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts! the whole earth is full of His glory! And the tops of the gates shook at the voice of those shouting, and the house was filled with incense.

The people listen to the reader in complete silence. The poet listens to the words of the ancient prophet and images of the sun-scorched Palestinian land are born in his imagination. His lips move barely noticeably. The lines form themselves:

We are tormented by spiritual thirst, I dragged myself in the dark desert, - And the six-winged Seraphim appeared to me at a crossroads...

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin

And I said: Woe is me! I'm dead! for I am a man of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Sheba o
fa. Then one of the Seraphim flew to me, and in his hand he had a burning coal, which he took with tongs from the altar, and touched my mouth and said: behold, this has touched your mouth, and your iniquity is taken away from you, and your sin is cleansed...

And he came to my lips, and tore out my sinful tongue, both idle and wicked, and put the sting of a wise serpent into my frozen lips with his bloody right hand.

And he cut my chest with a sword, and took out my trembling heart, and pushed a coal, blazing with fire, into the open chest...

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send? and who will go for Us? And I said: here I am, send me...

I lay like a corpse in the desert, and God’s voice cried out to me:

“Arise, prophet, and see and heed, Be fulfilled by my will, And, going around the seas and lands, Burn the hearts of people with your verb.”

This poem would later be called the best that the poet had written before. Literary scholars will begin to divide his creative heritage into two stages and will begin to count the period of “mature creativity” of the genius of Russian literature.

***

In the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezek of Judah and

and Sennacher
i
m, king of Assyria
and
I, captured all the fortified cities of Judah and besieged Jerusalem.
Hezekiah had no hope left except in God. He tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth
, and went to the Temple. And he sent his servants to Isaiah the prophet so that he would pray for the remnant of the Jewish people. Isaiah answered him:

Thus says the Lord: Hezekiah! Do not be afraid of the words with which the servants of the king of Assyria reviled Me. Behold, I will send a spirit into him, and he will hear the message and return to his land, and I will smite him with the sword in his land.

Suddenly Sennacher and

m received news that Egypt had moved against him and attacked his main forces. The Assyrian king ordered the troops to be withdrawn from Jerusalem, but in parting he ordered to tell Hezekiah that he would return and destroy the city. And again the Jewish king sought God’s intercession and again sent servants to Isaiah. The Prophet stood up for prayer and sent Hezekiah the answer:

Thus says the Lord: Fear not, Hezekiah! Survivor in the house

and the remnant will again take root below and bear fruit above. The king of Assyria will not enter Jerusalem and will not throw arrows there, nor will he approach it with a shield, nor will he build a rampart against it. I will guard this city to save it for My own sake and for the sake of David My servant.

“And the angel of the Lord went out and smote one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of Assyria. And they got up in the morning, and behold, all the bodies were dead.”

That's what the Bible says.
Herod believed
that they were infected with the plague from a horde of mice.
Josephus
also mentioned a sudden outbreak of a deadly disease that decimated the army of the Assyrian king, as a result of which Sennacherib retreated, returned to his land and stayed in Nineveh
, where
he was killed by his own sons in one of the temples.
After the siege of Jerusalem and the victory over Sennacherib, Isaiah began to write down his vision -
an epic poem that described the entire fate of the world from beginning to end and the continuation of the Song of Songs into the life of the next century.
Its main idea is this: the people of Israel will continue to anger God, as a result of which most
of them will die or be scattered. But there will always be a small remnant of the righteous. And from this remnant will come the Virgin, who will give birth to Christ - the Salvation of the whole world.

***

605 BC. Babylonian king Nebuchadon

Sor defeats the army of the Egyptian pharaoh Nekh
ao
and moves towards Phenicia, capturing Jerusalem along the way. The Jewish people are almost completely taken into captivity. The northern kingdom of Israel fell under the blows of the Assyrians back in 722, so the promised land was completely empty. Decades pass. Seventy years later, the new ruler of Persia, Cyrus the Great, reigns in Babylon. Soon the prophet Daniel comes to him.

Listen to me, king! Many years ago the prophet Isaiah lived among my people. He spoke a prophecy about you...

“Thus says the Lord to His anointed Cyrus: I hold you by the right hand, so that I may subdue the nations to you; I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the bronze doors and break the iron bars, so that you may know that I am the Lord God of Israel. For the sake of Jacob My servant and Israel My chosen one, I called you by name, I honored you, although you did not know Me.”

-Interesting! So what does your God want from me, Daniel?

-Let my people go. The Lord says about you: “Cyrus will do all My will and will say to Jerusalem: you will be built! and to the Temple: you will be founded!”

After some time, Cyrus convenes the Babylonian Jews and, having returned the sacred vessels of the Temple to them, releases them. The people return to their native land with rejoicing. Isaiah's prophecies about the imminent birth of the Messiah are on everyone's lips.

Arise, shine, O Jerusalem, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and darkness the nations; and the Lord will shine upon you, and His glory will appear upon you. And nations will come to your light, and kings to the radiance rising above you. Then you will see and rejoice, and your heart will tremble and expand, because the riches of the sea will turn to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you, they will bring gold and incense and proclaim the glory of the Lord.

There are 536 years left until the birth of Christ predicted by the prophet.

Prophecies about Christ

One of the most famous prophecies was uttered during the time of King Ahaz, when the united Syrians and Samaritans were preparing to attack the lands of Israel. In those days, the prophet consoled the inhabitants with the promise of God’s protection and uttered the following words as a sign of the future:

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel.”

(Isa. 7:14)

This prophecy still adorns icons of the prophet, since it is usually written on a scroll that he holds in his hand in his image.

Another famous prophecy about the Redeemer were the words from the 61st chapter of his book:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, for the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach release to the captives and the opening of prison to the prisoners, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

These words were read by the Mission Himself when he taught the Jews in the temple. The Lord then said:

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
(Luke 4:21)

He told a lot about the Savior in chapters 52-53 of his book. It tells about the torment that the Son of God will have to endure for the sins of the people.

ISAIAH

Prophet Isaiah. Mosaic c. Santa Maria del Ammiraglio (Martorana) in Palermo, Sicily. 1146–1151

One of the earliest images of I. - on the mosaic c. San Vitale in Ravenna (546-547), where he is represented as an old man in white robes, with thick gray hair, long locks falling on his shoulders, with a scroll in his hands, with a golden halo. On the mosaic of the catholicon of the VMC monastery. Catherine on Sinai (550-565) I. is depicted in the medallion as a young prophet with a cap of short black curly hair and a bushy beard. Images of the prophets I. and David flank the scene “Healing of two blind men in Jericho” in the Sinope Gospel (Paris. Suppl. gr. 1286. Fol. 29, 6th century); the text on the scroll (Is 35.5), which I. is holding, comments on the scene from the NT. He is shown as young, beardless, wearing a white chiton with a clave on his sleeve and a yellowish-ochre himation. On the miniatures from the Rossano Codex (Archbishop's Museum in Rossano, 6th century), built according to a similar scheme (i.e. on them, as on the miniatures from the Sinope Gospel, the texts on the scrolls in the hands of the prophets are an allusion to the one presented on the same leaf of the New Testament scene), he is twice depicted as young, with brown hair and a very short beard (Fol. 1, 2) and twice as gray-haired, with curly hair and a short curly beard (Fol. 3v, 5).

In later monuments, I. is presented as an old man with long, usually wavy hair, hanging down to his shoulders in strands, with a wide beard tapering downward, wearing a chiton and himation. Often in Byzantine works. art, I.’s tunic has a clav sewn on it, which indicates his noble origin. In Russian In monuments I. was depicted with dark hair touched with gray. The right hand of the prophet is in front of the chest in a nominal blessing or raised upward, as on the mosaic of the dome of Emmanuel in the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice (late 12th century). The attribute of I., according to the iconographic originals, is a spoon, which is found quite rarely on icons (for example, on the icon “Our Lady with the Prophets” of the 1st half of the 15th century from the Accademia Gallery in Venice). However, its more popular attribute is tongs with burning coal, which is associated with the vision of I. Thus, on the icon “Our Lady of Kykkotissa, with the prophets and chosen saints” (1st half of the 12th century, monastery of the Great Martyr Catherine on Sinai) There is a large depiction of a seraphim holding out pincers with burning coal to I. Dr. examples of this iconography are a miniature from the Christian topography of Cosmas Indikoplov (Vat. gr. 699. Fol. 72v, last quarter of the 9th century); icon "Prophet" Isaiah" from the prophetic row of the iconostasis of the Nativity Cathedral of the Novgorod Anthony Monastery (mid-16th century, NGOMZ); folding icon “Praise of the Mother of God” (c. 1471, GMMC).

Prophet Isaiah. The mark of the icon “Our Lady of Kikkotissa, with the prophets and forefathers.” 1st third of the 12th century. (Monastery of the Military Church of Catherine in Sinai)

In the early and middle Byzantium. period I. was often depicted standing frontally. Later on mosaics c. Panagia Parigoritissa in Arta, Greece (c. 1290) and the dome of the monastery of Our Lady of Pammakaristos (Fethiye Cami) in K-pol (c. 1315) it is represented in motion, and in the painting of the Novgorod church. In the Dormition of the Virgin Mary on Volotovo Field (1363), researchers note the extraordinary curvature of the figure, comparing it to a spring. According to the iconography, the image of I. is similar to the images of the prophet. Ezekiel.

In the temple decoration, the image of I. is placed among the images of other prophets in the upper zones of the temple: in the dome (in the painting of the church of the monastery of Our Lady of Periveleptus in Mystras, Greece, 2nd half of the 14th century), in the light drum (on the mosaics: Church of Santa Maria del Ammiraglio (Martorana) in Palermo, Sicily, 1146-1151, Church of Panagia Parigoritissa in Arta, about 1290, Monastery of Our Lady of Pammakaristos (Fethiye Jami) in K-pol, about 1315; frescoes: the Church of the Righteous Joachim and Anna (Kraleva) of the Studenica Monastery, Serbia, 1314, the Church of St. Nikita near Skopje (created before 1316 and renewed in 1483-1484), the Church of the Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates on the Stream in Vel. Novgorod, 1378), on girth arches (in the painting of the Church of the Nativity of Christ on the Red Field near Vel. Novgorod, 90s of the 14th century), in lunettes (on the mosaic of the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, 546-547) . In the lower part of the nave wall - on the mosaic of the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice - together with the prophets David, Solomon and Ezekiel on the sides of the image of the Mother of God, 1st floor. XIII century I. is usually presented in pairs with the prophet. Jeremiah (for example, in the church of San Vitale).

The image of I. is often found in book miniatures, primarily in illustrations of the books of the prophets with commentaries. For example, in the manuscript Vat. gr. 755 (2nd half of the 10th century) there are 3 images of I. (with 4 medallions with chest-length images of the Church Fathers on either side of his figure (L. 1); between the personifications of Night and Dawn (L. 107); in the scene of martyrdom (L. 225)). In a miniature from a manuscript of 1489 (RGB. F. 173/I. No. 20. L. 20 vol.) I. is presented in full-length before the beginning of his book, with a scroll in his left hand.

Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Mosaic c. Panagia Parigoritissa in Arta, Greece. OK. 1290

Full-figure images of I., as a rule, illustrate the Song of I. in the Psalms (for example, in the Paris Psalter of the ca. mid-10th century - Paris. gr. 139. Fol. 435v; in the Bristol Psalter of ca. 1000 - Lond. Brit. Lib. Add. 40731. Fol. 252; in the Psalter, created before 1074 or in the 80s of the 11th century - NLR. Greek. No. 214. Sheet 311 vol.; in the NT with Psalms 30-40- x years of the XIV century - State Historical Museum, Greek No. 407. 504 vol.). Image of I. together with the prophet. David or prophet Ezekiel was included in compositions serving as illustrations to the introductory texts of the Gospels in such manuscripts as the Four Gospels from the Palatine Library in Parma (Parma. Palat. 5. Fol. 5, ca. 1100) and from the National Library of St. Mark in Venice (Marc. gr. Z 540 (=557). Fol. 11v, 2nd quarter of the 12th century). The miniature with the Ascension scene on the frontispiece of the Homilies of Jacob Kokkinovath (Vat. gr. 1162. Fol. 2v and Paris. gr. 1208. Fol. 3v, 2nd quarter of the 12th century) also contains images of the prophets David and I. with scrolls in his hands; text on the scroll I. - Isa 63. 1.

A special place is occupied by the theme of I.’s vision, which is more often found in miniatures, for example. in the Christian topography of Cosmas Indicoplova (Vat. gr. 699. Fol. 72v): Jesus Christ is depicted on a throne surrounded by seraphim, in the lower right corner - I. with an angel bringing tongs with burning coal to his lips. In addition, I.’s vision is presented on the marks of the copper gates in the Assumption (XVI century) and Annunciation (early 16th century) cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin, in the Trinity Cathedral of the Kostroma Ipatievsky Monastery (90s of the 16th century).

Prophet Isaiah in prayer, with the personifications of Night and Dawn. Miniature from the Paris Psalter. X century (Paris. gr. 139. Fol. 435v)

The image of I. appears in the earliest prophetic ranks of Russian high iconostases: for example, from the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery (“Prophets Solomon and Isaiah”, 1425-1427, SPGIACHMZ); from the Transfiguration Cathedral in Kashin (the so-called Kashin rite; “Prophecy Isaiah”, mid-15th century, Russian Museum); from the Assumption Cathedral of the Kirillov Belozersky Monastery (“Prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jonah”, c. 1497, Russian Museum); from the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of Ferapontov Monastery (“Prophets Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah”, ca. 1502, KBMZ); from St. Sophia Cathedral Vel. Novgorod (“Prophecy Isaiah”, 1509, NGOMZ); from c. in honor of the Miracle of Arch. Michael in the Khoneh Chudov Monastery of the Moscow Kremlin (“Prophecy Isaiah”, 1626-1628, GMMK). I. is always depicted close to the center.

I. is represented on icons of different iconography together with the Mother of God and Child and prophets, for example. on the icons “Praise of the Mother of God” (mid-16th century, State Russian Museum), “It is worthy to eat” (mid-16th century, State Historical Museum), etc.

I. is depicted with the tabernacle of the covenant, as, for example, in c. St. Nicholas in Curtea de Arges, Romania (mid-14th century), where I. and Jeremiah approach the tabernacle with gifts; he is also represented as beating together with an angel the army of the Assyrians (in the parekklision of the monastery of Hora (Kahrie-jami) in K-pol, c. 1316-1321).

Prophet Isaiah. Painting c. Spasa on Nereditsa. 1199

On the scroll that I. is holding, a fragment from Isaiah 7.14 is most often written: “Behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel.” This quote is found in most mosaics and frescoes of the 9th-12th centuries: on the unpreserved mosaic of the south. tympanum of Sophia of Poland (2nd half of the 9th century), in the Palatine Chapel (c. 1143-1146), in the c. Santa Maria del Ammiraglio (1146-1151), in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova in Monreale in Sicily (1183-1189), in the churches of Karanlik-Kilise and Elmaly-Kilise (both - 3rd quarter of the 11th century) in Goreme in Cappadocia, in the dome of Emmanuel of the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice (late 12th century), etc. As an exception, on the mosaic of the Daphne monastery (c. 1100) on the scroll I. - the text of Is 4.2, and on mosaic of the pre-altar space of the Cathedral in Montreal - Isa 61. 1, in the monastery of Chora and c. Our Lady of Pammakaristos - Isaiah 19. 1. Very rarely a scroll in the hands of a prophet. I. is collapsed (for example, in the painting of the Assumption Church on Volotovo Field near Vel. Novgorod) or is missing. On the copper gates with scenes of I.'s vision of tradition. A quotation from Isaiah 6.1-8 has been added to the text.

The Virgin Mary with the Child, with the prophets Moses, Isaiah, Jacob, Aaron. Icon. 1651 (monastery of the Great Church of Catherine in Sinai)

In the iconographic original of the Novgorod edition of the con. XVI century on May 9, I. is described as follows: “Like Elijah the prophet. Sed, sankir robe, azure underneath; in the scroll it says: “Those who dwell on the earth will learn the truth” (p. 29). In S. T. Bolshakov’s original, the description of I.’s appearance is placed between the descriptions of the prophets Moses and Nahum: “Sed, like Andrew the Apostle, on top of his robe is game, underneath is cinnabar, writes in a scroll. Behold, the Virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel” (Bolshakov. Iconographic original. P. 11). In the original of G.D. Filimonov, on May 9, it is said about I.: “... in the likeness of old and gray, with braid and hair like Elijah the prophet, prophetic vestments, outer sankir, azure underneath, a scroll in his hand, and in it is written: “Behold, The virgin will conceive in her womb and give birth to a Son, and they will call the name Emmanuel: as we say, God is with us” (Filimonov. Iconographic original. P. 339). In Greek iconographic original - Hieronymus Erminia. Dionysius Furnoagrafiot (c. 1730-1733) - I. is mentioned several times. once. The part “How the Old Testament is Portrayed” describes the scenes “The Vision of the Prophet Isaiah” and “The Prophet Isaiah cut with a saw” (Herminia DF. Part 2. § 105-106. P. 549); in the paragraph about St. the prophets, about their appearance and about the prophecies, he is described as “an old man with a long beard, who says: hear the sky, and teach the earth what the Lord has spoken” (Ibid. § 132. No. 6. P. 562). In the part “How the New Testament is depicted” it is said about it in the chapters “How the feasts of the Theotokos are depicted”: “Isaiah holds a spoon and says on the charter: I have destined the coal-bearing spoon to be Thee, the Pure One, and the Throne of the King” (Ibid. Part 3. Chapter 5. No. 10. P. 557) - and “How the suffering of the martyrs is depicted every month of the whole year”: “The old man was sawed with a wooden saw” (Ibid. Chapter 22. P. 417).

Lit.: Mango C. Materials for the Study of the Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul. Wash., 1962. P. 58-59. (DOS; 8); Gravgaard A.-M. Inscriptions of OT Prophecies in Byzant. Churches: A Cat. Copenhagen, 1979. P. 69-70; Lazarev V.N. About the painting of Sophia of Novgorod // He. Byzantine. and Old Russian art: Sat. Art. M., 1978. S. 142, 144; aka. History of Byzantium. painting. M., 1986. P. 161; Galavaris G. The Illustrations of the Prefaces in Byzantine Gospels. W., 1979; Malkov Yu. G. Frescoes c. Christmas “on the field” in Novgorod and their “prophetic order” // Ancient Novgorod. M., 1983. S. 271-294; Popovich LD Compositional and Theological Concepts in Four Prophets Cycles in Churches Selected from the Period of King Milutin (1282-1321) // Cyrillomethodianum. Thessal., 1984/1985. T. 8/9. P. 288; eadem. Hitherto Unidentified Prophets from Nova Pavlica // Ibid. P. 28-29; Lowden J. Illuminated Prophet Books: A Study of Byzant. Manuscripts of the Major and Minor Prophets. Univ. Park (Penn.); L., 1988; Lelekova O.V. Iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery 1497: Research. and restoration. M., 1988; Pogrebnyak N., prot. Prophets: Iconography and hymnography // Moscow. EV. 2004. No. 11/12. pp. 116-134; Lifshits L. I., Sarabyanov V. D., Tsarevskaya T. Yu. Monumental painting of Novgorod: con. XI - 1st quarter. XII century St. Petersburg, 2004. pp. 304-305.

I. A. Zhuravleva, I. A. Oretskaya

About the New Jerusalem

This amazing prophecy tells of the final triumph of the Creator, of times of universal peace and prosperity for those who walk the path of holiness in their lives.

Isaiah predicts that a time will come when the pagan nations, having accepted the Good News, will stop cruel civil wars and will no longer be at enmity:

“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

(Isa. 2:4)

At the same time, the external environment around spiritually transformed people will also change:

“Then the wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the ox will be together, and a little child will lead them. And the cow will graze with the she-bear, and their cubs will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. And the baby will play in the asp’s hole. and the child will stretch out his hand into the viper’s nest.”

(Isa.11:6-8)

The peoples who have earned the right to enter the New Kingdom will be in joy and will forget what suffering and illness are:

“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will sing; For waters will break out in the desert, and streams in the desert. And the ghost of the waters will turn into a lake, and the thirsty land into springs of water... those redeemed by the Lord will come to Zion with joyful shouting; and everlasting joy will be upon their heads; they will find joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will be removed.”

(Isa. 35:5-7, 10)

He also prophesied about the fall of Jerusalem and the ruin of Judea. He mentioned the great Cyrus, the Persian ruler, who later allowed the Jews to return to their homeland.

This seer also predicted a lot about the fate of other peoples living on earth at that time. For example, he predicted the destruction of the Babylonian kingdom due to the wickedness and arrogance of the Babylonians:

“And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God, like Sodom and Gomorrah, and will never be inhabited, and for generations there will be no inhabitants in it.”

(Isa. 13:19-20)

He also predicted the fall of the Philistine land:

“You will be disintegrated, all the land of the Philistines, for smoke comes from the north, and there is no one left behind in their hordes” (Is. 14:31), and the destruction and dispersion of the Moabites: “Ar-Moab will be devastated and destroyed... My heart weeps for Moab; they flee from it to Zoar, to the third Egla; because the waters of Nimrim have dried up, the meadows have dried up, the grass has burned up, there is no greenery” (Is. 15:1, 5-6), “the greatness of Moab will be humiliated with all the great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and insignificant.” (Isa. 16:14).

Isaiah was the first of the prophets to proclaim that not only the people of God, but also other nations have value in the eyes of the Creator. He predicted that Egypt and Assyria would glorify the Lord in due time :

“And the Lord will reveal Himself in Egypt; and the Egyptians in that day will know the Lord, and will offer sacrifices and gifts, and will make vows to the Lord, and will fulfill... They will turn to the Lord, and He will hear them, and will heal them. And the Egyptians together with the Assyrians will serve the Lord.”

(Isa. 19:21-23)

Prophecies of Isaiah

Prophet Isaiah - prophecies

The soothsayer left behind a book in which he denounces the Jews for their unfaithfulness to God, predicts the wanderings of the Jews and the restoration of Jerusalem, and also prophesies the fate of other nations. In this work you can find facts about many events. The clergy assure that interpretations of Isaiah, when read correctly and consciously, help to understand the meaning of life and various important concepts.

The Book of the Prophet is considered one of the most famous and significant masterpieces of Christianity. It includes certain speeches of the saint, which are systematized. It is considered the main value of people who strive for spiritual perfection. The most important prophecies were made by the prophet Isaiah about the Messiah. He predicted the coming of Christ, and everything was described in great detail. The soothsayer foretold the birth of Jesus and his suffering for the sins of mankind. He made other prophecies, here are some of them:

He described the vision of the New Jerusalem, which symbolizes the Kingdom of God.
He condemned the Jews for their lawlessness and predicted that some of them would be rejected by the Lord and that the believing pagan peoples of Egypt and Assyria would come in their place.
The prophet Isaiah spoke about Syria, and he predicted that the third world war would begin there. He wrote that only ruins would remain of Damascus.

When and how did he die

Tradition tells that the prophet suffered a painful death under Manasseh, the heir of the pious ruler Hezekiah, who ascended the throne in 696 BC. The story of this is recorded in the apocryphal work “The Ascension of Isaiah.”

The apocrypha tells that the seer, knowing about his fate, fled to the mountains. However, the place where he was hiding was revealed by the cunning and envious false prophet Belial (sometimes called Belkira). Isaiah was accused of high treason and blasphemy for predicting troubles for Israel and calling it a second Sodom. The seer was executed: his body was sawed through with a wooden saw.

Interesting fact
The Apocrypha
are

books that were not included in the canon of the New Testament; the Church did not recognize them as inspired
. These include non-canonical texts
on biblical topics, including those that do not contradict the teachings of the Church.

The martyrdom of the righteous man is also described in the apocryphal manuscript “Biographies of the Prophets.”

St. Epiphanius of Cyprus and Svm. Dorotheus of Tire wrote in his writings that initially the honest remains of the prophet were buried under an oak tree at the source of En-Rogel, and later they were moved closer to the royal tombs.

The people living in darkness have seen a great light - the light has shone for those who now live in the land of darkness... For for us a child has been born, a promised son has been given to us, on whose shoulders the government will rest. They will call his name: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Ruler, Creator of the World (9:2, 6).

The messages of the prophet Isaiah are addressed to each of us. Without experiencing an internal spiritual rebirth, we are usually self-sufficient. And only an unexpected meeting with a person of a different type, who has a different understanding of life and his responsibilities to God and people, helps us to comprehend the illusory nature of our spiritual well-being. Until the amazing purity and holiness and greatness of God is revealed to us, we are rarely ready to realize our own spiritual poverty. And if we allow Him to illuminate us with His light, then we certainly begin to feel our own sinfulness and imperfection. We thirst for purification, the love of God transforms us, and we, following the example of the prophet Isaiah, are ready to respond to the call of God in order to follow Him and become a messenger of His righteousness.

In world culture and the spiritual history of mankind, the Book of the Prophet Isaiah is one of the most famous and read. Isaiah, whose name means “Yahweh is my Savior,” is first and foremost a great prophet, and therefore his book is one of the most quoted in the New Testament (after the Psalter). Following Jerome, Christian commentators call the Book of Isaiah the “Gospel” of the Old Testament.

Only scant information has been preserved about the life of Isaiah. It is known that he was the son of Amotz and carried out his ministry in Jerusalem in the second half of the 8th century, and possibly at the beginning of the 7th century. BC. According to Jewish tradition, he came from a royal family, was married, and had two sons (7:3; 8:3, 18). His martyrdom, according to the testimony of some early Christian authors, may be spoken of in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “they... were sawn in two” (Heb. 11:37). Isaiah's prophetic mission is connected with Judea and its capital Jerusalem - it was here that he delivered his fiery sermon-poems.

Isaiah lived in an era of tragic upheaval. He was called to serve during one of the most difficult periods in the history of his people, “in the year of the death of Uzziah the king” (6:1), followed by decades of terrible disasters. Like all the prophets of Ancient Israel, he responded keenly to the political and international events of his time. Therefore, his prophecies (chap. 1–39) should be considered and comprehended in the general context of the history of the Middle East in the second half of the 8th century. BC, when the Assyrian Empire grew and strengthened, conquering more and more lands (including Judea), which ultimately led to the fall and disappearance of most of Israel, the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom, which opposed the union with the pagan empire .

Isaiah was not only the greatest prophet, but also a profound and original poet. The poetics and style of the book are unique, the language is extremely rich, and the form is multifaceted. Prophetic messages, threatening warnings about the judgments of God and denunciations coexist in it with laments and funeral chants, hymns - with satirical songs and reproaches. Like other biblical prophets, Isaiah devoted his poetic gift entirely to the prophetic ministry. His chosen path is a herald of the truth and holiness of God (1:4; 5:16, 24; 8:13; 10:17, 20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:23; 30:11; 31:1; 37 :23ff) left an indelible mark on his entire life and work. In the year of the death of King Uzziah, he had a revelation: the Sovereign Lord, the Holy God of Israel, appeared to him seated “on a high... throne, and the borders of His robe spread throughout the entire Temple” (6:1). He heard the thunderclaps of the six-winged seraphim exclaiming: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is filled with His glory!” - and was stunned by this, crushed by the feeling of his own imperfection. Isaiah heard the call of the Lord to tell the people the terrible news of judgment, to encourage them to return to the Lord and give hope - to indicate that the “Sprout of the Lord” would appear, which would be “the joy and pride of those who survive in Israel” (4:2).

In the prophetic messages of Isaiah, the events of the 8th–6th centuries. BC represent a single process of God's judgment, where great empires are instruments in the hands of God Yahweh, and the ultimate goal is the spiritual renewal and revival of the people. “The judgment of God” is one of the key concepts of Isaiah’s thinking on God. Perhaps the central theme of the first part of the book (chap. 1–39) is connected with it. The prophet, who lived under the Israeli king Pekah and the Judah king Ahaz, saw the iniquities of the earthly rulers: their “pernicious decrees,” deceit, greed, oppression of orphans, the poor, and widows (10:1, 2). He also knew the life of ordinary people who indulged in all sorts of passions: idolatry, money-grubbing, sensual pleasures (3:16). Isaiah was also crushed by the spiritual inferiority of people who had turned away from the Lord—the widespread triumph of hypocrisy, feigned piety, selfishness, and pride. “Look at their faces - everything is clear! - exclaims the prophet. “Sin, as in Sodom, is exposed without hiding anything” (3:9). Isaiah saw the reasons for the impending destruction in the spiritual state of each individual person and the people as a whole. Hence the formidable prophecies, or rather the denunciations of the prophet - the leitmotif of the first part of the book. But, denouncing, the prophet called on the people to return to the Lord - the “eternal stronghold”, to find in Him inner spiritual strength in order to withstand the onslaught of the disasters of the bloody era that befell them: “If you are not strong in faith, you will not stand” (7:9) .

The second part of the book (chap. 40–66) is devoted to the implementation of God's Providence about the return of the exiles to Zion, deliverance from the oppression of Babylon, the restoration of Jerusalem, about Israel as a light for other nations, about the redemptive mission of the “Suffering Servant of God” and the recognition of the supreme power of God Yahweh by all peoples. The prophetic messages in this part of the book are characterized by majestic simplicity and lyricism - they are, above all, messages of hope and consolation. “Comfort my people, comfort them! - says your God. “Speak kindly to Jerusalem, tell her that her struggle is over” (40:1, 2). Chapters 40–55 contain prophecies addressed to the exiles in Babylon, and concern events in the second half of the 6th century. BC, and chapters 56-66 prophetically depict the new life of the delivered people, regenerated and ordered according to the Covenant, the Union with the Lord.

The Prophet seeks to lift a people exhausted by wars and exile from the abyss of despair, with support and encouragement to save them from “paralyzing nostalgia” for the past (43:18). The future is revealed to the Prophet of God: it is not hopeless, but bright: “Truly, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth” (65:17). Moreover, history itself is not predetermined fatally, as it previously seemed, but providential. The Lord God makes history, He has power over the world - “the nations are like drops from a bucket before Him” (40:11–26). Sin will be removed and atoned for, transformation will reach the boundaries of the universe itself, and God's people will receive their desired blessings. “Just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I create, will remain before Me,” declares the Lord, “so will your descendants and your name endure forever” (66:22, 23).

Book of the Prophet Isaiah

The book written by Isaiah is divided into two parts. The first part, including chapters 1-39, is, for the most part, accusatory in nature and condemns the iniquities occurring among the Jews, which will certainly be followed by God's Punishment. The second part of this work contains consolation to people about the coming of the Redeemer - the One who will take upon himself the sins of mankind, and by whose stripes the world will be healed.

This book was of great importance in apostolic times. The New Testament contains more than 60 quotations from her. The Savior Himself addressed her during a visit to the synagogue.

What Isaiah 53 Says

This chapter describes the coming of the Savior, who will come to suffer for the iniquities of the human race.

At the time of Isaiah, the people of Israel were already expecting the coming of the Mission, but they were waiting for the majestic Anointed of the Lord, who would come into the world and become the King of kings. Isaiah also predicted that the One who came would be despised and belittled by people, and that the Jews would not recognize Him when He appeared.

He also foresaw the suffering of the Son of God - His great feat, thanks to which all the sinful ulcers of humanity would be washed away and redemption would occur.

Priest Dimitri Predein says:

“One gets the impression that the prophet Isaiah seemed to have personally seen the suffering of Jesus Christ at the time of His scourging and stay on the Cross. These are amazing, incomparable lines. It was for these lines that the holy fathers called Isaiah the Old Testament evangelist - with such amazing accuracy he describes many features from the life of the Savior.”

Priest Sergius Muravyov, clergyman of the Church of Saints Peter and Fevronia in the village. Strelnya explains:

“The 53rd chapter seems to be an excerpt from the Gospel, it so vividly and accurately describes the sufferings of the Savior on the cross and their inner, deep essence.”

Miracles performed by the famous prophet

Having the gift of performing miracles, Saint Isaiah, filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit, saved the city from thirst during the siege of its enemies. The Prophet prayed at the foot of Zion, and at his request the Lord opened the bowels of the earth, from where a source of spring water gushed out. This spring was called Siloam, which means sent by the Most High. It was with water from this spring that Jesus ordered the young man born blind to wash himself, after which he received his sight.

King Hezekiah fell ill and was very afraid to die, Isaiah prayed for him before God. The Creator, at the request of the prophet, granted the king another 15 years.

Isaiah served the people and kings for 60 years, remaining in communion with God. It was through this saint that the Jews learned about the coming of the Messiah, God and man in one guise. He calls Jesus a sprout from dry ground, a new tribe of the Jewish people, as the Lord spoke about Him. The Savior in the prophecies did not stand out among people in any way, and was sometimes despised by society.

The prophet Isaiah recorded prophecies about the coming of the Messiah

According to the righteous man, the Teacher of Nations, the Founder of the Kingdom on earth, filled with peace and love, will be born of an immaculate Virgin, but will be crucified for the sins of the world, like a sheep, silently went to the cross.

Reverence

In the middle of the 5th century. The honest remains of the righteous man were transferred by order of Emperor Theodosius the Younger to Constantinople, to the church of St. Lawrence, where parishioners received many healings from them. A few years later, the royal spouses Marcian and Pulcheria built a church in honor of the prophet, where they transferred his relics with honor. In the 13th century. Russian pilgrim Anthony of Novgorod wrote that the ark with the miraculous relic “lies under the table” (that is, it was located under the throne).

Interesting fact

Byzantine manuscripts preserved descriptions of 19 healings that took place here. To St. People of different social classes came to Isaiah: noble nobles, monks, fishermen, and plowmen. Suffering people from neighboring provinces also came to him. Parts of the prophet’s venerable remains were also kept in other countries.

An ancient Byzantine manuscript contains the "Praise of Isaiah", attributed to St. John Chrysostom, and Bishop Potamius of Lisbon back in the 4th century. compiled a treatise on his martyrdom.

In Ancient Rus', the apocryphal work “The Ascension of Isaiah” was included in the Assumption collection of the 12th century, kept today in the State Historical Museum. Other Slavic peoples, for example, Bulgarians and Serbs, included it in collections of spiritual readings.

The handwritten Slavic Menaions dating back to the 11th century already contained a service to this saint, common with the martyr. Christopher. Separate 4 stichera, kontakion and sedala were dedicated to the Prophet Isaiah.

Currently, the only church in Russia in honor of this prophet was built in the village. Novoberezansky, Krasnodar region. On the eve of August 1, 2022, the Cross of the central dome was consecrated here. The rector of the parish is Abbot Trifon Alekseev.