June: Day 15: Teaching 2: Holy Prophet Amos

 

June: Day 15: Teaching 2:
Holy Prophet Amos

(About the Holy Prophets)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Church now remembers the Holy Prophet Amos. Before his call to prophetic service, Amos tended flocks of sheep, as he himself testifies in the book he wrote. He began to prophesy during the reign of Hosea, the King of Judah, and Jeroboam II of Israel. The Israelites at that time had almost forgotten the true God and began to worship idols. Amos often came to the place of pagan gatherings in Bethel and admonished the people, threatening them with the wrath of God. The Book of the Prophet Amos, written in an artless style and rich in comparisons from the life of a shepherd, consists of nine chapters. In the first two chapters, the Prophet predicts various disasters for the neighboring predatory tribes for their cruel actions towards the Israelites. In the last seven chapters he addresses the people of Israel, accuses the rich of luxury and oppression of the poor, rebels against the injustice of judges, deceptions of all kinds and the impenitence of the Jews in all the misfortunes sent by God. He predicts the destruction of Bethel with its altar, the dispersion of Israel among the nations and finally the conversion of all nations to the true God.

II. On the day of remembrance of one of the Prophets of God, Amos, it will not be useless, brethren, to reflect on who the Holy Prophets were and how we should relate to them.

a) Prophets, raised up from among the people of God and inspired by the Spirit of God, appeared as messengers of God. They preached the will of God, admonished and rebuked the wicked kings and people, exhorted them to conversion and repentance, threatened them with disasters, predicted the future fate of not only their own, but also of other neighboring nations, and, most importantly, prophesied about the coming Redeemer of the world, about the newly-blessed kingdom of God and the calling of all the peoples of the earth to it. These God-inspired men are continually praised and glorified by our Holy Church. She has also established in their memory a special general celebration, which she celebrates for them, as heralds of the coming of Christ, in the week before the Nativity of Christ.

b) Let us, brethren, honor and glorify the Holy Prophets of God and pray to them as friends and chosen ones of God. Let us listen to and read their God-inspired writings for our spiritual enlightenment and confirmation in faith. After all, the Christian faith is based on them, and their testimonies confirm the Divine work of our redemption by Jesus Christ. Our Lord Himself, rebuking the unbelief of His disciples, instructed them and explained to them the mystery of redemption by pointing to the prophets. “O foolish,” He said, “and slow of heart, to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not fitting for Christ to suffer this and enter into His glory? “And he began with Moses and all the Prophets, and spoke to them from all the scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:25, 26, 27). Let us emulate their patience and selflessness, following the exhortation of the apostle who says: "Take as an example, my brethren, the prophets who spoke in the name of God, those who endured suffering and patience" (James 5:10). Do you know what the prophets suffered for the cause of God from their own people? Exile, torture, death. "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?" said the first martyr Stephen to the Jews, "and they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One" (Acts 7:52), that is, Christ. Yes! They, as the Apostle Paul states, "were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword" (Heb. 11:37). This is the path of God's chosen ones! Such is the path for all who wish to be saved. "All," says the same Apostle, "who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Tim. 3:12), and "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).

III. Glory to our God forever and ever. Amen. 

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.