Baruch

The holy Prophet Baruch (the name means "blessed") lived in the seventh century before Christ. He was the son of Neriah, of a prominent family in the kingdom of Judah, and the disciple, friend and divinely inspired secretary of the Prophet Jeremiah.

When Jeremiah was imprisoned, Baruch wrote down the prophecies that he dictated (Jeremiah 36:4) and was told to read them to the people. King Jehoiakim, informed of this, took no profit from the warnings and threw the scroll into the fire. Baruch was imprisoned too, because the Jews hated him for his love of truth and his courageous words. When the Jews fled to Egypt for fear of the king of Babylon, he went with Jeremiah. Rabbinic tradition says that he returned to Babylon after witnessing Jeremiah's death by stoning and burying his body.

The book of Baruch clearly foretells the Incarnation of the Lord in the words "This is our God... Afterward He showed Himself upon earth, and conversed with men" (Baruch 3:36-38), read on the eve of the Nativity. Saint John Chrysostom points out that Baruch was the first to say that God would become man while remaining God. His words are quoted in the services of Palm Sunday, Theophany and the Transfiguration. He also prophesied the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity and the desolation of Babylon. In icons he is shown as an old man with a rounded beard. His book is accepted by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, but not by Protestants. His feast is 28 September.