THE HOLY PROPHET JEREMIAH (MAY 1ST)

The Weeping Prophet and Patriarch, Saint Jeremiah

Edited by Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

In the days when the kingdom of Judah was nearing its fall, and the sins of the people cried out to Heaven, there arose from the priestly town of Anathoth a young man whom God had known before he was formed in the womb, and sanctified before his birth - the Holy Prophet Jeremiah.

Born of the line of Hilkiah, a priest of the tribe of Levi, the Prophet was called from his youth to speak the word of the Lord, not only to kings and princes, but to a stiff-necked and rebellious nation. The Lord said unto him: "Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee…Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee." Thus, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s reign until the exile of Judah, Jeremiah stood as the weeping watchman on the walls of Zion.

In his early ministry, he called for repentance with tears, during the last revival of the Law under Josiah. Yet he saw, beneath the outward reforms, the unchanged hearts of the people. He likened them to a harlot who cleans herself in vain, for her stain remains. Though his words pierced like fire and hammered like iron, they were scorned. The priests rejected him, the prophets contradicted him, and the kings silenced him. He was cast into stocks, beaten, and later imprisoned in the dungeon of the palace. In the end, he was lowered into a pit of mire, where he nearly perished.

Yet Jeremiah did not cease from his office. He prophesied judgment with brokenhearted love, weeping over the desolation of Jerusalem before it came to pass. He cried out: “O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” He saw with sorrow the coming destruction: the sword, the famine, and the chains of Babylon.

But in the midst of wrath, he proclaimed mercy. He foresaw a new covenant, not written on stone but inscribed upon hearts. He spoke of a time when each shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, and sins shall be remembered no more. This vision of restoration, though rejected by his own age, was fulfilled in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant.

Tradition holds that after the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah continued to weep over the ruins, and composed the Lamentations, sung in the Church during Holy Week. He was taken to Egypt against his will, where he rebuked the idolatry of the Jews in exile. For this, he was stoned to death by his own people, and so received the crown of martyrdom. His relics were venerated in Egypt and later, by God’s providence, were taken to Alexandria.

St. Jerome and the Fathers of the Western Church revered him not only as a prophet of judgment but as a figure of Christ, the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief, rejected by His own, yet unceasing in love. His life is a testimony to the cost of fidelity, the loneliness of truth, and the fire of divine vocation.

THE SPIRITUAL LEGACY

The Prophet Jeremiah teaches the Church that true prophecy is not thunder without tears. He bore the burden of a nation’s rebellion not with pride, but with travailing love. His words continue to rebuke the easy religion of false peace, and yet to comfort the brokenhearted with the sure mercies of God.

In the tradition of the Church, Jeremiah stands with Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel as the great prophets who bore witness to Christ before His coming. His vision of the New Covenant prepared the way for the Gospel, and his Lamentations prefigure the sorrows of the Passion. Thus, the Church honors him as a father among the prophets and a martyr for truth.

HYMN TO THE HOLY PROPHET JEREMIAH

O holy and blessed Prophet Jeremiah, 

Herald of the New Covenant and faithful servant of the Most High, 

Intercede for us who dwell in a time of confusion and hardness of heart. 

As thou didst weep for thy people, pray for the Church, that she may be cleansed from all falsehood and idolatry. 

As thou didst foresee the coming of Christ, help us to know Him and love Him more truly. 

Through thy prayers, may we be made faithful in witness, bold in truth, and steadfast in sorrow, until the day when the Lord shall write His law upon every heart. 

COLLECT

O Almighty God, who didst raise up thy servant Jeremiah to cry aloud unto a disobedient people, and to proclaim the coming of thy New Covenant in the midst of sorrow and judgment: Grant us so to heed the call of thy holy prophets, that with penitent hearts and steadfast faith we may embrace thy mercy, and walk in the way of thy commandments; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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