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Holy Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Young Men: Ananias, Azarias and Misael 12/30/2013
All four of them came from the royal tribe of Judah. When King Nebuchadnezzar ruined and captured Jerusalem, then Daniel, as a young boy, was taken into captivity together with Jehoiachin, King of Judah, and many other Israelites. Detailed account of his life, his sufferings and his prophecies is found in his book of the Holy Scriptures. Devoted to God with all his being, the holy Daniel was granted the gift of prophecy in his early youth. His renown among the Jews in Babylon began when he denounced the two lascivious and unjust elders, Jewish judges, and delivered from undeserved death the chaste Susannah. And his reputation among the Babylonians even grew greater on the day he interpreted the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. For this the King made Daniel ruler over Babylonia and prefect and kept him at his court. When the King had made a golden idol and placed him in the field, the three young men refused to worship the idol for what they were thrown into burning furnace. But an angel of God appeared to them and drove out the fire and the young men dancing for joy and untouched by the fire chanted in thanksgiving: “Blessed is the Lord of our fathers“. Upon seeing this miracle the King was struck dumb with terror. He told them to come forth and restored them to honourable positions. At the time of King Belshazzar, when one day during a great feast the King had his guests served food and drink in the sacred vessels taken from the Temple of Jerusalem, an invisible hand wrote on the wall: “mene, tekel, peres“. No one except Daniel was able to interpret these words. That night King Belshazzar was slain. For his faith in the living God Daniel was cast into lions’ den on two occasions. The both times God delivered him and preserved his life. He saw God sitting on His throne surrounded by angels, he saw angels, he could foresee the future of people, Empires and the entire humankind, he foretold the time of the coming of the Mesiah on earth. According to Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Daniel and the three young men died by the sword in Babylon in their old age. When Ananias was beheaded, Azarias spread out his clothes and took his holy head; then Misael took Azarias’ head and Daniel took the head of Misael. An angel of God took their bodies in Judea, on Mount of Gabala and laid them under a stone. According to tradition, these four men of God arose at the time of the Crucifixion of Christ and appeared to many and then fell asleep again. Daniel is numbered among the four great Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel). He lived and prophesied half a millennium before Christ.
