Prophet Isaiah

Isaiah, son of Amoz, prophesied in Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Called in a majestic vision of the Lord enthroned in the Temple, his lips cleansed by a burning coal from the altar, he answered, 'Here am I; send me.' He counseled kings amid the Assyrian crisis, denounced injustice and empty worship, and proclaimed the holiness of God with unmatched poetic power. Because of his clear prophecies of the Messiah, the virgin bearing Immanuel, the child upon whom the government rests, and the Suffering Servant wounded for our transgressions, the Church calls him the Old Testament evangelist. According to tradition, he was martyred under the impious King Manasseh by being sawn asunder, a fate alluded to in the Epistle to the Hebrews. His book is read extensively in the services of Great Lent.