Commemoration of the Prophet Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah is the first of the four major prophets of the Old Testament. He was born and spent almost his entire life in the city of Jerusalem, in the eight century B.C.

The Armenian Church commemorates the prophet Isaiah, who is best known for the longest prophetic book in the Old Testament (66 chapters), that bears his name. The Book of Isaiah is considered to be an ocean of wealth, concerned with issues related to God, justice, sin, religion and various social ills. Being an educated and intelligent man, he was the spiritual guide to four kings of Jerusalem, expressing God’s will on many national matters. His book, written in an unsurpassed style and spirit, is the link between the Old and the New Testaments.

Isaiah is also called the “Evangelist Prophet” as he foretells the birth of the Messiah by a virgin and describes the suffering of the Messiah’s church. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus refer to the book of Isaiah. In Chapter 61, the prophet comes forth as a servant sent by the Lord’s Soul “to bring the good news to the poor and to take care of the desperate and hopeless.”  Christ would later read the words of Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth, as He became the realisation of that mission in the world (Luke 4:16-21).

Although it is not recorded in the Bible, it is believed that Isaiah died a martyr’s death by order of the Hebrew king, Manasseh. Relics of the prophet are preserved at Mt. Athos in the Greek Orthodox Khilendaria Monastery in Greece.