Holy Prophet Isaiah

Life

This great prophet was of royal descent. He was born in Jerusalem to his father Amos, the brother of Amaziah, King of Judah. By the great grace of God that was in him, Isaiah was deemed worthy to behold the Lord of Sabaoth upon His heavenly throne, surrounded by six-winged Seraphim who unceasingly sing: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth." Isaiah prophesied many things, both to individual persons and to nations. Once he walked completely naked through the streets of Jerusalem for three days, prophesying the imminent fall of Jerusalem to the Assyrian King Sennacherib, and admonishing the king and the leaders of the people not to trust in the help of the Egyptians and Ethiopians — since they too would soon be subjugated by the same Sennacherib — but to trust in the help of God Most High. And this prophecy, like all the rest, was fulfilled to the letter. But his most important prophecies concern the Incarnation of God, the conception by the Most Holy Virgin, John the Forerunner, and many events from the life of Christ. This clairvoyant man, on account of the purity of his heart and his zeal for God, received from on high the gift of wonderworking as well. Thus when besieged Jerusalem was suffering from thirst, he prayed to God, and water flowed from beneath Mount Zion. This water was called Siloam (meaning "sent"); and to this water the Lord later sent the man born blind to wash, that he might receive his sight. In the time of King Manasseh, when Isaiah thundered against the pagan customs of the king and the leaders, comparing that generation to Sodom and Gomorrah, the wrath of the leaders and the people was raised against this great prophet; he was seized, led outside Jerusalem, and sawn in half with a saw. He lived and prophesied seven hundred years before Christ.

From the Hymn of Praise

Blind Stefan sleeps on the Sheep's FieldAnd in restless sleep endures his affliction.His eyes are bloody, his body trembles,Death compared to such a life is surely better.