Elijah, Enoch, Elisha Isaiah, Moses and Jeremiah

 

By Bishop Mettaous

 

􀂙 [Pray to the Lord on our behalf, O perfect man,

the righteous and the just Enoch, that He may

forgive us our sins] Enoch: a Hebrew name, which means ‘consecrated’ or

‘experienced’. The church gives three titles to this great

man: perfect, righteous, pious.

He is Enoch about whom the Holy Bible wrote: “And

Enoch walked with God; and he was not found, for God

took him.” (Gen. 5:24). God took him, meaning he was

taken alive, and he will come back with Elijah, fight the

false Christ and then die.

He lived for 356 years before God took him.

􀂙 [Pray for the Lord on our behalf, O Elijah the

Tishbite and his disciple Elisha, that He may

forgive us our sins]

Elijah: a Hebrew name, which means ‘My God is

Jehovah’, the Greek word for this name is Elias. He is

called the ‘fiery prophet’ because of his zeal for

worshipping the true God, and his hatred to worshipping

the idols, which was common in Israel at the time of the

cruel queen Jezebel. He had a great intimacy with the

Lord, he prayed not to rain and it didn’t for 3 ½ years,

then after killing the prophets of the Baal at Mount

Carmel, he prayed and it rained. Elijah was taken to

heaven alive in a chariot of fire, the church celebrates this

event on 6 Tubah.

Elisha: a Hebrew name which means ‘God is salvation’.

He followed Elijah as a prophet, and the Lord performed

many miracles through him, even after his death, “So it

was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the

tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and

touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his

feet.” (2 Kings 13:21). History records that Elisha’s

body, together with St. John the Baptist’s body were

transferred to Egypt. When St. Makarious – the Bishop

of Edko martyrised – he was buried with them, and at

that time some miracles were performed from their

bodies, some of which were:

A Mute Boy Speaks:

When they were placing St. Makarious’ body next to St.

Elisha and St. John the Baptist, there was a mute boy 12

years old who saw St. Elisha the Prophet and St. John the

Baptist embracing St. Makarious, so the boy spoke and

shouted [Look dad, these two men are embracing the

man who was martyrised, they are telling him: welcome

our brother, come and rest with us in peace]. All the

people present witnessed the miracle and glorified the

Lord.

Healing the Paralysed:

A paralysed person was creeping amongst the crowd

asking for a charity, and accidentally he was pushed on

the bodies, so he immediately stood up and started

running everywhere and glorifying the Lord.

The church celebrates the commemoration of Elisha the

Prophet on 11 Hatour. 􀂙 [Pray for the Lord on our behalf O Moses the

Archprophet and Isaiah and Jeremiah that He

may forgive us our sins]

These three prophets are considered the greatest among

the prophets of Israel concerning the pouring of the spirit

of prophecy on them remarkably. Moses wrote the first

five books of the Old Testament, 187 chapters, Isaiah

wrote his book, 66 chapters and Jeremiah wrote his book

52 chapters and Lamentations 5 chapters.

Moses: A Hebrew name which means ‘taken from

water’. He is the Archprophet who used to talk to God a

lot. Brought up in Pharaoh’s house, he delivered the

children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. He led them

40 years in the wilderness tolerating their murmuring and

weaknesses. He died at the age of 120 years, “Then

Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo,

to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. And

the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as

Dan, all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and

Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western

Sea, the South, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho,

the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. Then the Lord said

to him, "This is the land of which I swore to give

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, "I will give it to

your descendants.' I have caused you to see it with your

eyes, but you shall not cross over there."

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land

of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He

buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite

Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he

died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigour

diminished. And the children of Israel wept for Moses

in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of

weeping and mourning for Moses ended.” (Deut. 34:1-

8).

The church celebrates his commemoration on 8 Tut.

Isaiah: a Hebrew name, which means ‘God Saves’. He

was Isaiah the Son of Amos, who prophesied at the era of

5 kings of Judah about matters concerning Jerusalem, the

glory of eternal life, the birth of Jesus Christ, His

suffering and Crucifixion, as if he could see the entire

incidents in details. That is why he is called the

‘Evangelist Prophet’. Manasseh the king cut his body in

two with a wooden saw, and the church celebrates his

commemoration on 6 Tut.

Jeremiah: a Hebrew name which means ‘God

establishes’. He started his prophecy at the age of 15,

according to the Divine order, “Before I formed you in

the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified

you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer.

1:5). He used to rebuke the people of Jerusalem for

disobeying the Lord. He prophesied about the coming of

Lord Jesus and His sufferings. He was martyred in

Egypt when the Jews stoned him, the church celebrates

his commemoration on 5 Bashans.

||    Pope Shenouda    ||    Father Matta    ||    Bishop Mattaous    ||    Fr. Tadros Malaty    ||    Bishop Moussa    ||    Bishop Alexander    ||    Habib Gerguis    ||    Bishop Angealos    ||    Metropolitan Bishoy    ||