Russian icon of the prophet Hosea, 18th century (Iconostasis of Transfiguration Church, Kizhi monastery, Karelia, Russia).

Hosea (, Greek = ?s?e) was the son of Beeri and a prophet in Israel in the 8th century BCE. He is one of the Twelve Prophets of the Jewish Hebrew Bible, also known as the Minor Prophets of the Christian Old Testament.

We know practically nothing about the life or social status of Hosea. According to the Book of Hosea, he married the prostitute Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, at God's command. He lived in the Northern Kingdom in the period 740?725 BCE. In ff., there is a reference to the wars which led to the capture of the kingdom by the Assyrians (ca. 734?732 BCE). It is not certain if he has also experienced the destruction of Samaria, which is foreseen in .

Hosea's family life reflected the "adulterous" relationship which Israel had built with polytheistic gods. His children's names made them like walking prophecies of the fall of the ruling dynasty and the severed covenant with God ? much like the prophet Isaiah a generation later. Hosea is often seen as a "prophet of doom", but underneath his message of destruction is a promise of restoration. The Talmud (Pesachim 87a) claims that he was the greatest prophet of his generation, which included the more famous Isaiah.

Liturgical commemoration

He is commemorated with the other Minor prophets in the Calendar of saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 31. He is commemorated on the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, with a feast day on October 17 (for those churches which follow the Julian Calendar, October 17 currently falls on October 30 of the modern Gregorian Calendar). He is also commemorated on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers (the Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord).

External links

• Prophet Hosea Orthodox icon and synaxarion

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