Prophet Obadiah (Abdia)
Prophet Obadiah is one out of nine Saints celebrated this day in the orthodox Calendar- we have Martyr Barlaam of Caesarea, in Cappadocia,Venerable Barlaam, Abbot of the Kiev Near Caves,Finding of the relics of Monastic Martyr Adrian of Poshekhonsk, Yaroslavl,Martyr Azes of Isauria and 150 soldiers with him,Martyr Heliodorus in Pamphylia,Venerable Hilarion the Wonderworker, Monk of Thessalonica,Repose of Saint Philaret (Drozdov), Metropolitan of Moscow,and the “Consolation in Afflictions and Sorrows” Icon of the Mother of God,
Obadiah [or Abdia] was the fourth of the Twelve Minor Prophets and lived in the ninth century B.C. He was from Betharam, near Sichem, and he was the steward of the impious Israelite King Ahab. In those days, the entire nation of Israel had moved away from the true God and began to offer sacrifices to Baal, but Obadiah secretly served the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
When Ahab’s wife, the impious and dissolute Jezebel, hunted down all the prophets of the Lord (because of her quarrel with the Prophet Elias), Obadiah gave them shelter and food (3/1 Kgs 18:3 ff). Ahab’s successor King Okhoziah [Ahaziah] sent three detachments of soldiers to arrest the holy Prophet Elias (July 20). One of these detachments was headed by the holy Prophet Obadiah. Through the prayer of the Prophet Elias, two of the detachments were consumed by heavenly fire, but Obadiah and his detachment were spared by the Lord (4/2 Kgs 1).
Obadiah resigned from military service and became a follower of the Prophet Elias from that point forwards. Later, he received the gift of prophecy. The God-inspired work of the Prophet Obadiah is the fourth of the Bible’s Twelve Minor Prophets Books, and it contains prophecies about the eventual salvation of the Gentiles (Vs. 15) and the coming of the Saviour from Sion (Vs. 17). Obadiah, whose name means “servant (or worshipper) of the Lord,” was laid to rest at Samaria.
In iconography, the Prophet Obadiah is depicted as a grey-haired old man with a rounded beard. His scroll reads: “In that day, saith the Lord, I shall destroy the wise men out of Idumea.”(Obadiah 8). [ paraphrased from Prophet Obadiah (Abdia) – Orthodox Church in America (oca.org)]
Image of Obadiah : unknown, U., (unknown) Holy Prophet Obadiah Feast Day November 19th. [ONLINE]. Available at: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VE0qqmZAm80/XdRGAg5cIvI/AAAAAAABPt4/GaHtkTMp01MSdrzGfHKm7gYpJ1rp-W1PgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/obadiah5.png [Accessed 19 November 2021].
