Prophet Jeremiah

7th - 6th c. BC

Also known as Jeremias

One of the great prophets of the Old Testament, of priestly family from Anathoth, who called Judah to repentance before the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and suffered much for his witness.

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Commemorated as

The Holy Prophet Jeremiah

Life

The Prophet Jeremiah is one of the four great prophets of the Old Testament, remembered for his long and sorrowful ministry to the kingdom of Judah in the decades surrounding the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem. He was the son of the priest Helkiah (Hilkiah) and came from a priestly family of Anathoth, a village near Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin. His prophesying, which began in the reign of King Josiah and continued under several of Josiah's successors, called Judah to repentance and foretold the destruction of the city and the Temple as the consequence of the people's idolatry and faithlessness.

According to the synaxarion, Jeremiah was called to prophetic service while still young, and labored for many years amid mockery, imprisonment, and physical abuse. He warned of the coming subjugation to Babylon, performed symbolic acts such as wearing a wooden and then an iron yoke, and was cast into a miry pit by those who hated his message. After the fall of Jerusalem he lamented over the ruined city, and by tradition was carried down into Egypt by Jews fleeing the Babylonians, where he met a violent death. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on May 1.

In his own wordsReadHide

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.

Jeremiah, 15:16 · King James Version (PD)

Kontakion & Troparion2 hymnsReadHide

KontakionTone 3

Cleansing your radiant heart through the Spirit,
O great Prophet and Martyr,
glorious Jeremiah,
you received from on high the gift of prophecy.
You cried out with a great voice to the nations:
This is our God, and there is none other beside Him
Who became incarnate and appeared on earth.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

TroparionTone 2

Celebrating the memory
of Your Prophet Jeremiah, O Lord,
for his sake, we entreat You to save our souls.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline5 momentsReadHide

7th c. BCBirth at AnathothJeremiah was born into a priestly family at Anathoth near Jerusalem, in the land of Benjamin, the son of the priest Helkiah (Hilkiah).
7th c. BCCall to prophecyBy tradition Jeremiah was called to the prophetic office while still young — the synaxarion places his calling at the age of fifteen — when the Lord revealed that he had been chosen as a prophet even before his birth.
7th-6th c. BCMinistry to JudahJeremiah prophesied through the reign of King Josiah and his successors, denouncing idolatry, standing at the city gates and the entrance of the Temple, and foretelling the Babylonian invasion. He was mocked, beaten, imprisoned, and cast into a pit, from which the official Habdemelek (Ebed-Melech) rescued him.
c. 587 BCFall of JerusalemJerusalem fell to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and the Temple was destroyed. Jeremiah remained amid the ruins of the city and lamented the disaster.
6th c. BCExile to Egypt and deathBy tradition Jeremiah was taken down into Egypt by Jews who had fled there, to Tahpanhes (called Daphnae in Greek), where he continued to prophesy and was put to death, the tradition relating that he was stoned.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributionsReadHide

A prophet of priestly family

Jeremiah belonged to a priestly house of Anathoth, a town in the territory of Benjamin a short distance from Jerusalem. His father is named in the scriptural and synaxarion accounts as Helkiah (Hilkiah), a priest. This priestly background placed Jeremiah close to the worship of the Temple even as his message turned increasingly against the false confidence the people placed in the Temple while abandoning the covenant.

The Orthodox tradition reckons his life roughly six hundred years before the birth of Christ, in the seventh and sixth centuries BC. His ministry is associated with the reign of King Josiah of Judah and continued under Josiah's successors, spanning the turbulent final decades of the kingdom before its destruction.

The ministry and its sufferings

Jeremiah's preaching warned Judah that its idolatry and unfaithfulness would bring the judgment of subjugation to Babylon. To make the warning vivid, the tradition relates that he wore first a wooden yoke and then an iron one, carrying it among the people as a sign of the bondage to come. His message was deeply unpopular, and he endured mockery, beating, and imprisonment.

Among the trials recounted of him, the prophet's enemies cast him into a pit — described in the synaxarion as filled with mire and foul creatures — where he nearly perished. He was drawn out through the intervention of the God-fearing court official Habdemelek (the Ebed-Melech of Scripture), only to be confined again. When Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, the prophet was released and remained near the ruined city in mourning.

Egypt, death, and later traditions

After the catastrophe, according to the tradition, Jeremiah was carried into Egypt by Jews who fled the Babylonians, settling at Tahpanhes, a place known in Greek as Daphnae. There, the synaxarion relates, he continued to prophesy and was at last put to death by stoning; the Church keeps his memory on the first of May.

Several traditions cluster around the prophet beyond the events of his life. One, drawing on the Second Book of Maccabees, holds that Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant with the Tablets of the Law in a cave to preserve them from the invaders. Another tradition relates that, long after his death, his relics were transferred to Alexandria. The Books of Jeremiah and of Lamentations are ascribed to him in the scriptural and liturgical tradition.

Member ofReadHide

Synaxis of the Holy Forefathers and Foremothers

Synaxis

Companions3 figuresShowHide

Jeremiah's faithful scribe and companion, who recorded his prophecies

Prophet Baruch

A great prophet of the same generation, ministering among the Babylonian exiles

Prophet Ezekiel

A contemporary among the prophets of Judah.

Prophet Zephaniah

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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints