Feast Day ~ May 9
In the readings which we hear at the Paschal Vigil, we are reminded that the Christian faith did not begin with the birth of Our Lord or His Resurrection, nor with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Christ – and therefore, Christianity – is from before time; He was begotten of his Father before all worlds. And from the creation of this world, as we hear in the first Vigil reading, man was being prepared for the coming of Christ and our redemption.
The setting apart of the Hebrews as a chosen people, their acknowledgment of one God, the giving of the law, the saving of Noah from the flood – all these things were preparations for the coming of Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. We were being prepared to receive God as he took on our human nature so that we could partake of his Divine Nature as before the fall of our first parents.
A major part of this preparation was the preaching of the Prophets whose stories we read in the Old Testament. They were the ones who, through prayer and fasting were able to see more clearly than others God’s will for his people. They were able to see and tell about the consequences of sin and unfaithfulness; they could foretell events in the future; and they knew and taught of God’s mercy and forgiveness. In the Orthodox Church, we hold these Prophets up as saints of the Church, just as we do those who came after our Lord’s earthly life. A feast day was added to the Western Rite calendar on November 8, the octave of All Saints, to celebrate the witness of the Patriarchs and Prophets, but each of these ancestors in the faith have their own place on liturgical calendars. The Prophet Isaiah is celebrated on May 9.
Historical events were the setting for the prophecies of Isaiah, who was born around 720 BC into the royal family of King Uzziah. Shortly after his birth, the northern Kingdom of Israel was overrun by the Assyrians and he warned the southern Kingdom of Judah of the impending danger. He preached that God is active in history, even using the enemies of God’s people (the Persian King Cyrus) to accomplish his will.
Isaiah assured the chosen people that God would send a Messiah – an anointed one – to deliver them from their enemies and bring peace to his people. The prophet described in amazingly clear detail some of the events in the life of Christ. We hear his prophecies read in our liturgies and know their fulfillment in Christ. Jesus’ conception and birth are predicted in chapter 7: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel. [v. 14]; the preaching of St. John the Baptist is predicted in chapter 40: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’ [v. 3].
Our Lord quoted from Isaiah at the beginning of His earthly ministry, saying that the Prophet’s prediction had been fulfilled in Him: The spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives. [61:1]. Our Lord’s suffering is predicted in chapter 50: I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not away my face from the shame and spitting. [v. 6] and chapter 53: Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. [v. 4, 5].
The call of Isaiah to the role of prophet in chapter 6 describes worship in heaven as the angels sing Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory [v. 3], a version of the Sanctus which we sing at every Mass. Most of us are not called by God to be prophets, but we are all called by him to witness to him in the world. Our response to this call should be that of Isaiah the Prophet: Here am I; send me. [v. 8] We give thanks for the work of the holy Prophets in preparing the world for Christ our God.