In the calendar of Orthodox holidays there is a fairly large number of days on which the church calls to honor the memory of certain saints, prophets or martyrs. One of these dates is August 3, when the day of remembrance of the ancient Jewish prophet Ezekiel is celebrated.
Ezekiel or Ychezkel, which translates as “Jehovah will strengthen”, is one of the prophets revered in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. His tomb is located in the southeast of Iraq, in the town of Al-Kifl on the Euphrates River and is one of the places of worship of believers. Up to five thousand Jews visited this place to honor the memory of Ezekiel on the days of the Jewish Passover - Pesach. However, under the rule of Saddam Hussein, access to the tomb was closed. In various religions, the day of remembrance of the prophet Ezekiel is also celebrated, although on different days. For example, Lutherans do it on July 21, and the Armenian Apostolic Church - on August 28. In the list of Orthodox holidays, the day of honoring the memory of Ezekiel is assigned to August 3 according to the new style.
The Day of Remembrance of the Prophet Ezekiel is not one of the great holidays, therefore Orthodox priests are much less limited in the choice of forms in which they remind parishioners of this saint. For example, to honor his memory on this day during the Divine Liturgy, the priest reads a special prayer - the troparion. Ezekiel's troparion sounds like this:
“More prophetic than God Ezekiel, the pre-ripe Spirit-closed gate
and the Carpenter, in these exodus, the One who spoke to God, Pray to him, pray
let him open the door of his mercy
and he will save the souls of those who piously sing your memory."
It can be accompanied by a kontakion or troparion, which in an 8-voice church chant can sound the second and fourth voices. These are smaller chants, revealing the essence of the saint's deeds. Ezekiel's kontakion sounds like this:
“God appeared as a prophet,
Ezekiel is more wonderful
Thou hast proclaimed the incarnation of the Lord to all, This Lamb and Creator, Son of God, appearing forever."
The holy prophet Ezekiel was born about 622 BC in Judea. He was the son of a priest and became a priest himself, and at the age of 25 he was taken to the Babylonian kingdom during the second invasion of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Five years later, he saw several prophetic visions, seven of which are described in the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel. One of them - the prophecy about the resurrection of the dead - is read in the Orthodox Church at Matins on Great Saturday. Due to the large volume of this book and the importance of the texts it contains, the author is classified as a "great prophet."
