Holy Prophet Ezekiel — July 21 / August 3 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, July 21 according to the Julian Calendar (August 3 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Prophet Ezekiel, who lived in the sixth century before Christ.

The Holy Prophet Ezekiel was born in the city of Sarir approximately six hundred years before the birth of Christ, during the reign of the Judean King Uzziah. He was the son of the priest Buzi and was himself a priest of the tribe of Levi. According to Jewish tradition, the Prophet Ezekiel was a disciple of the Prophet Jeremiah.

During the reign of King Jehoiachin, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and took a large number of Jews captive to Babylon. Among those deported was the young priest Ezekiel, then thirty years old. In Babylon, on the banks of the river Chebar, Ezekiel received his prophetic calling. There he saw his celebrated vision of the divine chariot — the Merkabah — in which he beheld the likeness of the glory of the Lord, with four living creatures, four wheels, and the firmament above. This profound vision became the foundation of his prophetic ministry.

For twenty-two years Ezekiel prophesied among the Jewish exiles in Babylon. He called the people to repentance, proclaimed the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple as judgment for Israel’s sins, and foretold the future restoration of Israel and the coming of the Messianic age. His celebrated vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37) — in which the bones came to life at the breath of God — became one of the most powerful Old Testament images of resurrection and renewal.

The Prophet Ezekiel was killed by the prince of the Jewish people in Babylon, whom he had rebuked for worshipping idols. He was buried in the land of Maur, in the tomb of Shem and Arphaxad, ancestors of Abraham. His grave became a place of pilgrimage for Jews from distant lands.