Prophets
Dear Children of God, how are you? How is school and spiritual life? How are you doing at your school and home with your family? Are you attending Churches at holidays and on Sabbath (Saturdays and Sundays)? How are you spending your leisure (free) time? Hope you are using them for valuable things such as reading, studying, helping your parents as well as your elderlies. Children, it also important to help poor and elderly people around the Churches and on the streets by feeding and clothing them. Then, God will also be happy about us and we would become His children. Ok, good!
Children, today we will teach you about Prophets who are servants of God. Prophet is “a person who conveys messages from the God to people, including occasionally foretelling future events.” We call the male “Prophet” and the female “Prophetess.” They have the power of Holy Spirit upon themselves that makes them speak the word of God and foretell (tell) the future (what comes another day, month or year/years).
Here it is important to know about Prophecy to understand more about prophets. Prophecy is the revelation (show) of the divine (power of God) (2 Peter 1:20,21). “Revelation comes mostly by dreams or visions and was communicated first to the prophets and by them to the children of men. (Numbers 12:6).”
Children, in the doctrine (teaching) of our Holy Orthodox Church, it is taught there was an era (years) called “Prophet’s Era.” Particularly, these years happened (took place) before the birth of Our and Savior Lord Jesus Christ. “Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.” (Acts 3:24) These words affirms about the existence of prophets in different years.
The prophets who lived in those years foretold many prophecies especially about Holy Mother of Saint Mary to be pregnant of the Holy Son and give birth to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His work on earth.
Lord Jesus has told the Saint Apostles about the prophets saying “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did. not hear it.” (Matthew 13:16) You see children, prophets wished to see the Lord, hear His teaching and preaching but had died many years before He was born.
Dear Children, Prophets are categorized (grouped) into Major and Minor Prophets.
Major Prophets
These are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
Minor Prophets
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The Minor Prophets are also called The Twelve.
However, these are not the only prophets known and in scripted in the Holy Bible. There were many prophets who lived in the “Era of Fathers and Era of Kings.” For instance, Samuel, Elias and Elisha are to be mentioned.
The Holy Prophet has also told about Female Prophetess which are Prophet Moses’s sister Mary, (Exodus 15:20), Deborah, Sepidot’s wife (Judges 4:4), Heldana who was who lived in the reign of Josiah (2 kings 22:14), Prophetess Hanna (Luke 2:32), the four virgin daughters of Philip.
Alongside their prophecy telling, prophets fasted throughout their lives in the hope of the prophecy to be fulfilled. This was the Lords word, “I will be born from your heir and save you.” This fast is amongst the seven chronical fast called “The Fast of Prophets.” It takes places from Hidar 15 until Tahesas 29.
The fast is named after the prophets because they fasted hoping the Lord’s coming down from heaven, be born and saving mankind. And we fast this fast saying “Lord has come down from heaven, has been born and saved us.”
Farewell children, we have seen about the prophets, their work and prophecies. We hope you understand our lesson and keep in it in your heart.
May the Lord’s mercy and blessing be upon us, Amen!