Daniel the Old Testament prophet brief biography. Prophet Daniel

The Holy Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Youths Ananias, Azariah and Misail. 600 years BC Jerusalem was conquered by the king of Babylon; the temple erected by Solomon was destroyed, and many of the people of Israel were taken into captivity.

Among the captives were noble young men Daniel, Ananias, Azariah and Misail. The King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, ordered that they be taught Chaldean wisdom and raised in luxury at his court. But they, keeping the commandments of their faith, refused excesses and led a strict lifestyle; They ate only vegetables and water. The Lord gave them wisdom, and Saint Daniel the gift of insight and interpretation of dreams.

The Holy Prophet Daniel, sacredly preserving faith in the One God and trusting in His all-powerful help, surpassed all the Chaldean astrologers and magi with his wisdom and was brought closer to King Nebuchadnezzar. One day Nebuchadnezzar saw a strange dream that amazed him, but when he woke up, he forgot what he had seen. The Babylonian sages were powerless to find out what the king dreamed. Then the holy prophet Daniel glorified before everyone the power of the true God, who revealed to him not only the content of the dream, but also its prophetic meaning. After this, Daniel was elevated by the king to the rank of commander of Babylon.

Soon, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered the erection of his image - a huge statue to which divine honors were to be given. For refusing to do this, three youths - Ananias, Azariah and Misail - were thrown into a flaming furnace. The flame rose 49 cubits above the furnace, scorching the Chaldeans standing nearby, and the holy youths walked in the midst of the flames, offering prayer to the Lord and chanting Him (). The Angel of the Lord, appearing, cooled the flame, and the youths remained unharmed. The king, seeing this, ordered them to go out and turned to the true God.

Under King Belshazzar, Saint Daniel interpreted the mysterious inscription (“Mene, Takel, Peres”) that appeared on the wall of the palace during a feast, foreshadowing the fall of the Babylonian kingdom.

Under the Persian king Darius, Saint Daniel, at the slander of his enemies, was thrown into a den with hungry lions, but they did not touch him, and he remained unharmed. King Darius rejoiced over Daniel and commanded throughout his kingdom to worship the God of Daniel, “because He is the Living and Ever-Bearing God, and His kingdom is indestructible, and His dominion is endless.”

The Holy Prophet Daniel deeply grieved for his people, who were suffering just punishment for many sins and iniquities, for the transgression of God’s commandments - the heavy captivity of Babylon and the destruction of Jerusalem: “Incline, O my God, Thy ear and hear, open Thy eyes and look at our desolations and to the city upon which Thy Name is named; for we present our supplications before Thee, trusting not in our righteousness, but in Thy great mercy" (). The fate of the people of Israel and the fate of the whole world was revealed to the holy prophet, who atoned for the iniquities of his people with righteous life and prayer.

When interpreting the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, the prophet Daniel announced successive kingdoms and the greatness of the last Kingdom - the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ (). The prophetic vision of seventy weeks () told the world the signs of the First and Second Comings of the Lord Jesus Christ and related events (). Saint Daniel interceded for his people before Darius' successor, King Cyrus, who highly valued him, and declared freedom to the captives.

Daniel himself and his friends Ananias, Azariah and Misail lived to a ripe old age and died in captivity. According to testimony (June 9), Saints Ananias, Azariah and Misail were beheaded by order of the Persian king Cambyses.

Prophet Daniel is one of the amazing Old Testament prophets, called in the Bible “the man of desires.” He pleased God so much with his righteous life, burning spirit and humility that the Lord gave him the mind to see the secret meaning of the events of the present, past and future. The Prophet Daniel was honored with God's revelation about the coming Savior, the fate of the people of Israel and about the last times - something that the Lord subsequently revealed only to His beloved disciple John the Theologian.

The holy prophet spent most of his life in Babylonian captivity, where he became famous for his wisdom and insight, and was close to the rulers. Daniel was subject to many trials, but God always helped His chosen one, so that even hungry fierce lions could not cause him any harm.

In 2015, the publishing house of the Sretensky Monastery published the life of St. John of Damascus, outlined for children by Irina Sudakova: “John, Saint of Damascus.”

We present to your attention the first chapter from the Life of the Prophet Daniel.

Mysterious words: mene, tekel, fares

When Nebuchadnezzar died, the kingdom of Babylon began to lose its power. In a short time there were four kings in it. The last Babylonian ruler from the descendants of Nebuchadnezzar was Belshazzar. He was a convinced pagan and, moreover, a very frivolous person. He did not attach any importance to the miracles shown to Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar surrounded himself with nobles who pleased him in everything. And Daniel by that time was removed from the royal court.

One day Belshazzar held a great feast and had fun with his nobles. During the feast, the king remembered the precious vessels brought to Babylon from Judea by Nebuchadnezzar. These were sacred vessels from the Jerusalem Temple. They were intended only for worship. But Belshazzar ordered these vessels to be brought and wine poured into them, and together with his guests he began to drink from them. At the same time, the king praised his idols.

For such blasphemy, God's judgment followed: a hand suddenly appeared in the air, writing some incomprehensible words on the wall. Belshazzar's face changed, he trembled with horror and shouted that the magicians, sages and fortune-tellers should be brought to him immediately. But not one of those who appeared could even read the words written on the wall.

Then the queen, Belshazzar’s mother, entered the banquet chamber.

“There is a man in your kingdom named Daniel.” He has the spirit of the Holy God,” she said. “He was the chief sage at the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel can interpret the mysterious and explain dreams. Order to call him, and he will reveal to you the meaning of these mysterious words.

When Daniel was brought before Belshazzar, the king addressed the prophet with the following speech:

“I heard about you, Daniil, that you can solve mysteries.” If you can read and explain what is written here, then a purple robe will be given to you, and a golden chain will be around your neck, and you will be the third ruler in my kingdom.

Daniel answered the king:

“Let your gifts remain with you, and give the honors to someone else, and I will read to you what is written and explain the meaning.” Because you insulted the Almighty, these words were written: mene, tekel, fares. “Mene” means God has numbered the time of your kingdom and put an end to it. “Tekel” weighed you and found you very light. “Phares” means God divided your kingdom and gave it to the Medes and Persians.

The prophet's words came true very quickly. That same night, the troops of the Medes and Persians, led by the Persian king Cyrus, invaded the city of Babylon and took possession of it. Belshazzar was killed. This is how the “golden” Babylonian kingdom fell. Its place was taken by the Medo-Persian kingdom - “silver”, as Daniel predicted to King Nebuchadnezzar.

Promised land

At the royal school

The king's extraordinary dream

Friends of the Prophet Daniel in the Babylonian Furnace

Mysterious words: mene, tekel, fares

Prophet Daniel in the den of wild lions

Revelations of God

In his early youth, taken away from his native Jerusalem, he was a captive in a foreign Babylonian land. However, this did not prevent him from faithfully and devotedly serving the one God, in Whom he preserved faith in his heart. The Lord gave him grace-filled gifts - “ high spirit, knowledge and intelligence, capable of explaining dreams, interpreting the mysterious and resolving knots "(Dan.5:12). Daniel was a true prophet of God; he saw many prophetic visions and God revealed many secrets to him.

Inspirationally and sublimely he glorified the Creator of the Universe both in word and with his whole life. " Blessed be the name of the Lord from everlasting to everlasting! For with Him is wisdom and power; he changes times and years, deposes kings and installs kings; gives wisdom to the wise and understanding to the understanding; He reveals the deep and hidden, He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. I praise and magnify You, God of my fathers, that You have given me wisdom and strength... "(Dan.2:20-23)

Many secrets were revealed to the prophet Daniel, and the greatest secret is about the coming of the Messiah, and about His Kingdom, Which will have no end...” I saw in the night visions, behold, like the Son of Man walked with the clouds of heaven, came to the Ancient of Days and was brought to Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all nations, nations, and languages ​​should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and His kingdom will not be destroyed. "(Dan.7:13,14).

The prophet Daniel came from a noble family. During the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 606 BC, young Daniel, along with other Jews, was taken into Babylonian captivity. There, 15-year-old Daniel and other most capable young men were sent to school to prepare for service at the royal court.

Prophet Daniel in the lion's den

Three of his friends studied with Daniel: Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. For several years they studied the local language and various Chaldean sciences. Upon entering school, these three young men were renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. However, with the adoption of pagan names, the young men did not betray the faith of their fathers. Fearing that they would be defiled by pagan food, they begged their teacher to give them food not from the royal table, sprinkled with blood sacrificed to idols, but simple, vegetable food.

The teacher agreed, on the condition that after ten days of eating plant foods, he would check their health and well-being. At the end of the trial period, these young men turned out to be healthier than others who ate meat from the royal table, and the teacher allowed them to eat food at their own discretion. For their devotion to the true faith, the Lord rewarded the young men with success in the sciences, and the Babylonian king, who was present at the exam, found that they were smarter than his Babylonian sages.

After finishing his studies, Daniel and three friends were assigned to serve at the royal court and remained here in the rank of court dignitary throughout the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and his five successors. After the conquest of Babylon, he became an adviser to the kings Darius of Media and Cyrus of Persia.

God gave Daniel the ability to understand the meaning of visions and dreams, and he demonstrated this ability by explaining to Nebuchadnezzar two of his dreams that greatly confused the king (Dan. 1 and 4). In his first dream, Nebuchadnezzar saw a huge and terrible image made of four metals. A stone rolled down the mountain, smashed the image into dust and itself grew into a large mountain. Daniel explained to the king that the image symbolized the four pagan kingdoms that were to succeed each other, starting with Babylon and ending with Rome. The mysterious stone that crushed the idol symbolized the Messiah, and the resulting mountain symbolized His eternal Kingdom (Church).

In his book (bearing his name), the prophet Daniel talks about the feat of his three friends who refused to bow to the golden idol (Marduk), for which, by order of King Nebuchadnezzar, they were thrown into a fiery furnace. But the angel of God kept them unharmed in the fire.

Details about the activities of the prophet Daniel during the 7 years of the reign of the three successors of Nebuchadnezzar have not been preserved. The murderer of Lavosoardach, Nabodid, made his son Belshazzar his co-ruler. In the first year of Belshazzar, Daniel had a vision of four kingdoms, after which he saw God in the form of the “Ancient of Days” and the “Son of Man” coming to him, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ.

When interpreting the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, the prophet Daniel announced successive kingdoms and the greatness of the last Kingdom - the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ (Dan. 2 :44). Prophetic vision of the seventy weeks (Dan. 9 :24-27) told the world the signs of the First and Second Comings of the Lord Jesus Christ and the events associated with them (Dan. 12 :1-12). Saint Daniel interceded for his people before Darius’s successor, King Cyrus, who highly valued him, and declared freedom to the captives. Daniel himself and his friends Ananias, Azariah and Misail lived to a ripe old age and died in captivity. According to the testimony of Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Saints Ananias, Azarias and Misail were beheaded by order of the Persian king Cambyses.

In his book, the prophet Daniel recorded several prophetic visions relating to the end of the world and the second coming of Christ. In its content, his book has much in common with the Revelation of the Evangelist John the Theologian, placed at the very end of the Bible.

Under Daniel, during the reign of Belshazzar, the Median king Darius conquered Babylon (539 BC). Then Belshazzar died, as Daniel predicted to him, explaining the meaning of the inscription on the wall made by a mysterious hand: “Mene tekel upharsin” (you are insignificant, and your kingdom will be divided by the Medes and Persians) (Dan. 5:25).

Under Darius of Media, Daniel occupied an important government post. Jealous of Daniel, the pagan nobles slandered him before Darius and ensured that Daniel was thrown to the lions. But God kept his prophet unharmed. Having examined the matter, Darius ordered the slanderers of Daniel to be subjected to the same execution, and the lions instantly tore them to pieces. A little later, Daniel received the revelation of the 70 weeks, which indicates the time of the first coming of the Messiah and the establishment of his Kingdom (Church) (See Dan. 9).

During the reign of Cyrus, Daniel remained in the same court rank. Not without his participation, in 536, King Cyrus issued a decree on the release of Jews from captivity. According to legend, the prophet Daniel showed Cyrus a prediction about him in the book of the prophet Isaiah, who lived two hundred years before (Is. 44, 28-45; 13). Struck by this prophecy, the king recognized the power of Jehovah over himself and commanded the Jews to build a temple in His honor in Jerusalem (Ezra 1). Under the same king, Daniel was again saved from death, which threatened him for killing the dragon, idolized by the pagans.

In the third year of the reign of Cyrus in Babylon, Daniel was honored to receive a revelation about the further fate of the people of God and the four pagan empires (Dan. 10-12). Daniel's predictions about persecution of faith refer to the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes and, at the same time, to the coming of the Antichrist. Nothing is known about the subsequent fate of the prophet Daniel, except that he died in old age. His prophetic book consists of 14 chapters. The Lord Jesus Christ twice referred to the prophecies of Daniel in his conversations with the Jews.

DANIEL AND THE THREE YOUTHS
Troparion, tone 2

In the oil of faith of correction: / in a fountain of flame, as on the water of repose, / the three holy youths rejoiced, / and the prophet Daniel, / a shepherd lion, as he appeared to sheep. / Through those prayers, O Christ God, / save our souls.

Kontakion to the Youths, tone 6

The inscribed image is not more honorable, / but having defended himself by the Indescribable Being, he was blessed, / in the struggle of fire he became glorified; / standing in the midst of the unbearable flame, / call on God: / hasten, O Generous One, / and strive, as the Merciful, to help us, / as you can.

Kontakion to the Prophet, tone 3

Your pure heart, illuminated by the Spirit, / prophecies became the brightest friend: / see, as if real, existing far away, / you tamed the lions, you were thrown into the ditch. / For this reason we honor you, blessed prophet, glorious Daniel.

Susanna and the elders

Chapter 13 of the book of the prophet Daniel

There lived a husband in Babylon named Joachim.

And he took a wife named Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah, very beautiful and fearing God.

Her parents were righteous and taught their daughter the law of Moses.

Joachim was very rich, and he had a garden near his house; and the Jews came to him, because he was the most honorable of all.

And two elders of the people were appointed judges that year, about whom the Lord said that iniquity came out of Babylon from the elders-judges who seemed to rule the people.

They constantly visited Joachim’s house, and everyone who had controversial matters came to them.

When the people left around noon, Susanna entered her husband's garden for a walk.

And both elders saw her coming and walking every day, and lust for her was born in them,

and they perverted their minds and turned away their eyes, so as not to look at heaven and remember righteous judgments.

Both of them were wounded by lust for her, but did not reveal their pain to each other,

because they were ashamed to declare their lust, that they wanted to copulate with her.

And they diligently kept watch every day to see her, and said to each other:

“Let’s go home, because it’s lunch time,” and, leaving, they dispersed from each other,

and, returning, they came to the same place, and when they asked each other about the reason for this, they confessed their lust, and then together they appointed a time when they could find her alone.

And it came to pass, as they were waiting for an opportune day, that Susanna came in, just as yesterday and the day before, with only two maids, and wanted to wash herself in the garden, because it was hot.

And there was no one there except two elders who hid and guarded her.

And she said to the maids, Bring me oil and soap, and shut the doors of the garden, so that I may wash myself.

They did as she said: they locked the doors of the garden and went out through the side doors to bring what they were ordered to do, and did not see the elders because they were hiding.

And so, when the maids left, the two elders stood up and ran to her and said:

Behold, the doors of the garden are locked and no one sees us, and we lust for you, so agree with us and stay with us.

If it is not so, then we will testify against you that there was a young man with you, and that is why you sent your maidservants away from you.

Then Susanna moaned and said: I feel cramped everywhere; for if I do this, death is mine, and if I do not, I will not escape from your hands.

It is better for me not to do this and to fall into your hands than to sin before the Lord.

and one ran and opened the doors of the garden.

When those in the house heard a scream in the garden, they jumped out the side doors to see what had happened to her.

And when the elders said their words, her servants were extremely ashamed, because nothing like that had ever been said about Susanna.

And it happened the next day, when the people gathered to Joachim her husband, both elders came, full of lawless intent against Susanna, to put her to death.

And they said before the people, Send for Susanna the daughter of Hilkiah, the wife of Joachim. And they sent it.

And she came, and her parents, and her children, and all her relatives.

Susanna was very gentle and beautiful in face,

and these lawless people ordered to open her face, since it was closed, in order to be satisfied with her beauty.

The relatives and everyone who looked at her cried.

And both elders, standing in the midst of the people, put their hands on her head.

She looked at the sky in tears, for her heart trusted in the Lord.

And the elders said: As we were walking through the garden alone, this one came in with two maidservants and shut the doors of the garden, and sent the maidens away;

and the young man who was hiding there came to her and lay with her.

We were in the corner of the garden and seeing such lawlessness, we ran at them,

and they saw them copulating, and they could not hold him back, because he was stronger than us and, opening the doors, jumped out.

But we grabbed this one and interrogated: who was this young man? but she didn't want to tell us. We bear witness to this.

And the assembly believed them, as elders of the people and judges, and condemned her to death.

You know that they falsely testified against me, and now I am dying without having done anything that these people maliciously invented against me.

And when she was led to death, God aroused the holy spirit of a young man named Daniel,

Then all the people turned to him and said, “What is this word that you have spoken?”

Then he, standing in the midst of them, said: Are you so foolish, sons of Israel, that without examining and knowing the truth, you condemned the daughter of Israel?

Return to court, for these have testified falsely against her.

And immediately all the people returned, and the elders said to them: Sit down among us and tell us, because God has given you the eldership.

And Daniel said to them: Separate them far from each other, and I will question them.

When they were separated from one another, he called one of them and said to him: he who has grown old in evil days! now your sins which you committed before have been revealed,

carrying out unjust judgments, condemning the innocent and justifying the guilty, while the Lord says: “Thou shalt not put to death the innocent and the righteous.”

So, if you saw this, tell me, under what tree did you see them talking to each other? He said: under mastic.

Daniel said: Surely, you lied on your head; for behold, the Angel of God, having received a decision from God, will cut you in half.

Having removed him, he ordered another to be brought and said to him: the tribe of Canaan, not Judah! beauty has deceived you, and lust has corrupted your heart.

This is what you did to the daughters of Israel, and they had fellowship with you out of fear; but the daughter of Judah did not tolerate your iniquity.

So tell me: under what tree did you find them talking to each other? He said: under the green oak tree.

Daniel said to him: Indeed, you have lied on your own head; for the Angel of God with a sword is waiting to cut you in half, to destroy you.

and they rebelled against the two elders, because Daniel rebuked them with their mouth that they had testified falsely;

and they dealt with them as they had plotted against their neighbors, according to the law of Moses, and killed them; and innocent blood was saved that day.

Hilkiah and his wife glorified God for their daughter Susanna with Joachim her husband and all her relatives, because no shameful deed was found in her.

And Daniel became great before the people from that day forward.

The prophet Daniel came from a noble family. During the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 606 BC, young Daniel, along with other Jews, was taken into Babylonian captivity. There, 15-year-old Daniel and other most capable young men were sent to school to prepare for service at the royal court.

Three of his friends studied with Daniel: Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. For several years they studied the local language and various Chaldean sciences. Upon entering school, these three young men were renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. However, with the adoption of pagan names, the young men did not betray the faith of their fathers. Fearing that they would be defiled by pagan food, they begged their teacher to give them food not from the royal table, sprinkled with blood sacrificed to idols, but simple, vegetable food. The teacher agreed, on the condition that after ten days of eating plant foods, he would check their health and well-being. At the end of the trial period, these young men turned out to be healthier than others who ate meat from the royal table, and the teacher allowed them to eat food at their own discretion. For their devotion to the true faith, the Lord rewarded the young men with success in the sciences, and the Babylonian king, who was present at the exam, found that they were smarter than his Babylonian sages.

After finishing his studies, Daniel and three friends were assigned to serve at the royal court and remained here in the rank of court dignitary throughout the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and his five successors. After the conquest of Babylon, he became an adviser to the kings Darius of Media and Cyrus of Persia.

God gave Daniel the ability to understand the meaning of visions and dreams, and he demonstrated this ability by explaining to Nebuchadnezzar two of his dreams that greatly confused the king (Dan. 1 and 4). In his first dream, Nebuchadnezzar saw a huge and terrible image made of four metals. A stone rolled down the mountain, smashed the image into dust and itself grew into a large mountain. Daniel explained to the king that the image symbolized the four pagan kingdoms that were to succeed each other, starting with Babylon and ending with Rome. The mysterious stone that crushed the idol symbolized the Messiah, and the resulting mountain symbolized His eternal Kingdom (Church).

In his book (bearing his name), the prophet Daniel talks about the feat of his three friends who refused to bow to the golden idol (Marduk), for which, by order of King Nebuchadnezzar, they were thrown into a fiery furnace. But the angel of God kept them unharmed in the fire.

Details about the activities of the prophet Daniel during the 7 years of the reign of the three successors of Nebuchadnezzar have not been preserved. The murderer of Lavosoardach, Nabodid, made his son Belshazzar his co-ruler. In the first year of Belshazzar, Daniel had a vision of four kingdoms, after which he saw God in the form of the “Ancient of Days” and the “Son of Man” coming to him, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In his book, the prophet Daniel recorded several prophetic visions relating to the end of the world and the second coming of Christ. In its content, his book has much in common with the Revelation of the Evangelist John the Theologian, placed at the very end of the Bible.

Under Daniel, during the reign of Belshazzar, the Median king Darius conquered Babylon (539 BC). Then Belshazzar died, as Daniel predicted to him, explaining the meaning of the inscription on the wall made by a mysterious hand: “Mene tekel upharsin” (you are insignificant, and your kingdom will be divided by the Medes and Persians) (Dan. 5:25).

Under Darius of Media, Daniel occupied an important government post. Jealous of Daniel, the pagan nobles slandered him before Darius and ensured that Daniel was thrown to the lions. But God kept his prophet unharmed. Having examined the matter, Darius ordered the slanderers of Daniel to be subjected to the same execution, and the lions instantly tore them to pieces. A little later, Daniel received the revelation of the 70 weeks, which indicates the time of the first coming of the Messiah and the establishment of his Kingdom (Church) (See Dan. 9).

During the reign of Cyrus, Daniel remained in the same court rank. Not without his participation, in 536, King Cyrus issued a decree on the release of Jews from captivity. According to legend, the prophet Daniel showed Cyrus a prediction about him in the book of the prophet Isaiah, who lived two hundred years before (Is. 44, 28-45; 13). Struck by this prophecy, the king recognized the power of Jehovah over himself and commanded the Jews to build a temple in His honor in Jerusalem (Ezra 1). Under the same king, Daniel was again saved from death, which threatened him for killing the dragon, idolized by the pagans.

In the third year of the reign of Cyrus in Babylon, Daniel was honored to receive a revelation about the further fate of the people of God and the four pagan empires (Dan. 10-12). Daniel's predictions about persecution of faith refer to the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes and, at the same time, to the coming of the Antichrist. Nothing is known about the subsequent fate of the prophet Daniel, except that he died in old age. His prophetic book consists of 14 chapters. The Lord Jesus Christ twice referred to the prophecies of Daniel in his conversations with the Jews.

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Often depicted in the lions' den

Bible Book of Daniel

The authorship of Daniel belongs to the book that has come down to our time under his name - The Book of the Prophet Daniel.

Summary of the book

Five Kings of Daniel and their interpretation

John Chrysostom clarifies that the words: “teared away from the mountain.” “indicate free action without coercion,” which emphasizes the voluntary decision of the Lord Jesus Christ to come into the world to save people;

“And he filled the whole earth” (Dan. 2:35) - this is about the Gospel, which spread to all ends of the world. St. John Chrysostom also offers an allegorical interpretation of the destruction of kingdoms by the Stone, symbolizing Christ the Savior: the destroyed kingdoms are pride (of the Macedonians) and dominion (of the Romans).

The Bible says that Daniel and other Jews in Babylon did not abandon the faith of their fathers, for which they were often oppressed. But in each case they were miraculously saved. Thus, for refusing to bow to the idol, three of Daniel’s friends, the Jews Ananias, Mishael and Azariah (who received the names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego respectively in captivity), were thrown into the oven, but were miraculously saved. Daniel himself was thrown into a pit of lions to be torn to pieces (under the Persians), but was miraculously saved (Dan.).

Death and burial of Daniel

It is believed that Daniel lived to an old age (according to some sources, up to 100 years old) and was buried in a tomb in the city of Susa. However, his graves are also shown in Kirkuk and Samarkand. The grave in Samarkand is a crypt about 18 meters long. Legend has it that the crypt is constantly growing. [ ] The saint is revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims. The latter call the saint buried in it Daniyar. Next to the grave is a 500-year-old pistachio tree, which, after several years of dead wood, suddenly sprouted green shoots in the 2000s. It is also believed that the remains of the saint were brought to Samarkand from a military campaign in Asia Minor by Tamerlane. Terrorists blew up another Iraqi grave attributed to Daniel.

It is also reported that when the troops of the Muslim righteous caliph Umar took the city of Tustar (modern Shushter), they discovered the tomb of Daniel there. By order of the Caliph, his remains were reburied at night, away from human eyes, to protect them from further worship of him.

Jewish tradition does not classify Daniel as a prophet because he did not speak directly to God. The Bible says that Daniel spoke to “the angels of the Lord,” but not to the Lord himself.

At the same time, Daniel is highly revered by the Christian church in view of his prediction of the date of the coming of the Messiah into the world and his appearance in the Jerusalem Temple, to which, according to the testimony of the New Testament, Jesus Christ referred. Interpretations of the book of Daniel were written by Saints Hippolytus of Rome and John Chrysostom.

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Notes

Sources

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• // Orthodox Encyclopedia. Volume XIV. - M.: Church and Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia", 2007. - P. 8-44. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-89572-024-0
• - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia

Literature

• Archimandrite Theodore (Bukharev). Holy Prophet Daniel. Essay on his century, prophetic ministry and St. books. M. 1864.
• In the book of the holy prophet Daniel. Add. to creativity Holy Father. 1871.1 −146 s
• John (Smirnov). Holy Prophet Daniel. Ryazan, 1879.
• Razumovsky. Holy Prophet Daniel. St. Petersburg 1891.
• Lesotsky. Holy Prophet Daniel. Kyiv. 1897
• A. Rozhdestvensky. Revelation to Daniel about the seventy weeks. St. Petersburg 1896
• P. Yungerov. A private historical-critical introduction to the sacred Old Testament books. Vol. second. pp. 87-110. Kazan. 1907.
• Weinberg J. Introduction to Tanach. Part 4. Scriptures. M.-Jerusalem, 2005. Chapter X. Book of Daniel. P.219-251. (in notes: Weinberg 2005)
• Shchedrovitsky D.V. Prophecies of the Book of Daniel. 597 BC e. - 2240 AD e. / Ed. 3rd, ster. - M.: Oklik, 2010. - 280 pp. - ISBN 978-5-91349-003-2.
• Hamd ibn Nasir ibn Usman Al Muammar.= Abdussalam ibn Barjis Al Abd al-Karim. - Riyadh: Dar al-Asima, 1988. - 182 p.

Links

• - historical and analytical article
• Dmitry Shchedrovitsky

Passage characterizing Daniel (the prophet)

In contrast to Kutuzov, at the same time, in an event even more important than the retreat of the army without a fight, in the abandonment of Moscow and its burning, Rostopchin, who appears to us as the leader of this event, acted completely differently.
This event - the abandonment of Moscow and its burning - was as inevitable as the retreat of the troops without a fight for Moscow after the Battle of Borodino.
Every Russian person, not on the basis of conclusions, but on the basis of the feeling that lies in us and lay in our fathers, could have predicted what happened.
Starting from Smolensk, in all the cities and villages of the Russian land, without the participation of Count Rastopchin and his posters, the same thing happened that happened in Moscow. The people blithely waited for the enemy, did not rebel, did not worry, did not tear anyone to pieces, but calmly waited for their fate, feeling the strength in themselves in the most difficult moment to find what they had to do. And as soon as the enemy approached, the richest elements of the population left, leaving their property; the poorest remained and set fire and destroyed what was left.
The consciousness that it will be so, and will always be so, lay and lies in the soul of the Russian person. And this consciousness and, moreover, the premonition that Moscow would be taken, lay in the Russian Moscow society of the 12th year. Those who began to leave Moscow back in July and early August showed that they were expecting this. Those who left with what they could seize, leaving their houses and half their property, acted this way due to that latent patriotism, which is expressed not by phrases, not by killing children to save the fatherland, etc. by unnatural actions, but which is expressed imperceptibly, simply, organically and therefore always produces the most powerful results.
“It is a shame to run from danger; only cowards are fleeing Moscow,” they were told. Rastopchin in his posters inspired them that leaving Moscow was shameful. They were ashamed to be called cowards, they were ashamed to go, but they still went, knowing that it was necessary. Why were they going? It cannot be assumed that Rastopchin frightened them with the horrors that Napoleon produced in the conquered lands. They left, and the first to leave were rich, educated people who knew very well that Vienna and Berlin remained intact and that there, during their occupation by Napoleon, the inhabitants had fun with the charming Frenchmen, whom Russian men and especially ladies loved so much at that time.
They traveled because for the Russian people there could be no question: whether it would be good or bad under the rule of the French in Moscow. It was impossible to be under French control: that was the worst thing. They left before the Battle of Borodino, and even faster after the Battle of Borodino, despite appeals for protection, despite statements by the commander-in-chief of Moscow about his intention to raise Iverskaya and go to fight, and to the balloons that were supposed to destroy the French, and despite all that nonsense that Rastopchin talked about in his posters. They knew that the army had to fight, and that if it couldn’t, then they couldn’t go to the Three Mountains with the young ladies and servants to fight Napoleon, but that they had to leave, no matter how sorry it was to leave their property to destruction. They left and did not think about the majestic significance of this huge, rich capital, abandoned by the inhabitants and, obviously, burned (a large abandoned wooden city had to burn); they left each for themselves, and at the same time, only because they left, that magnificent event took place, which will forever remain the best glory of the Russian people. That lady who, back in June, with her araps and firecrackers, rose from Moscow to the Saratov village, with a vague consciousness that she was not Bonaparte’s servant, and with fear that she would not be stopped on the orders of Count Rastopchin, did simply and truly that great the case that saved Russia. Count Rostopchin, who either shamed those who were leaving, then took away public places, then gave out useless weapons to drunken rabble, then raised images, then forbade Augustine to take out relics and icons, then seized all the private carts that were in Moscow, then one hundred and thirty-six carts carried away a balloon made by Leppich, either hinting that he would burn Moscow, or telling how he burned down his house and wrote a proclamation to the French, where he solemnly reproached them for ruining his orphanage; either accepted the glory of burning Moscow, then renounced it, then ordered the people to catch all the spies and bring them to him, then reproached the people for this, then expelled all the French from Moscow, then left Madame Aubert Chalmet in the city, who formed the center of the entire French Moscow population , and without much guilt he ordered the old venerable postal director Klyucharyov to be captured and taken into exile; either he gathered people to the Three Mountains to fight the French, then, in order to get rid of these people, he gave them a person to kill and he himself left for the back gate; either he said that he would not survive the misfortune of Moscow, or he wrote poems in French in albums about his participation in this matter - this man did not understand the significance of the event that was taking place, but just wanted to do something himself, to surprise someone, to do something patriotically heroic and, like a boy, he frolicked over the majestic and inevitable event of the abandonment and burning of Moscow and tried with his small hand to either encourage or delay the flow of the huge stream of people that carried him away with it.

Helen, having returned with the court from Vilna to St. Petersburg, was in a difficult situation.
In St. Petersburg, Helen enjoyed the special patronage of a nobleman who occupied one of the highest positions in the state. In Vilna, she became close to a young foreign prince. When she returned to St. Petersburg, the prince and the nobleman were both in St. Petersburg, both were claiming their rights, and Helen was faced with a new task in her career: to maintain her close relationship with both without offending either.
What would have seemed difficult and even impossible for another woman never made Countess Bezukhova think twice about it, and it was not without reason that she apparently enjoyed the reputation of being the smartest woman. If she began to hide her actions, to extricate herself from an awkward situation by cunning, she would thereby ruin her case, recognizing herself as guilty; but Helen, on the contrary, immediately, like a truly great person who can do whatever she wants, put herself in the position of rightness, in which she sincerely believed, and all others in the position of guilt.
The first time a young foreign person allowed himself to reproach her, she, proudly raising her beautiful head and turning half a turn to him, firmly said:
- Voila l"egoisme et la cruaute des hommes! Je ne m"attendais pas autre chose. Za femme se sacrifie pour vous, elle souffre, et voila sa recompense. Quel droit avez vous, Monseigneur, de me demander compte de mes amities, de mes affections? C"est un homme qui a ete plus qu"un pere pour moi. [This is the selfishness and cruelty of men! I didn't expect anything better. The woman sacrifices herself to you; she suffers, and this is her reward. Your Highness, what right do you have to demand from me an account of my affections and friendly feelings? This is a man who was more than a father to me.]