Zechariah was a person in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Book of Zechariah The Book of Zechariah is a Jewish text attributed to Zechariah, a Hebrew prophet of the late 6th century BC. In the Hebrew Bible, the text is included as part of the Twelve Minor Prophets, itself a part of the second division of that work. In ...

, the eleventh of the Twelve Minor Prophets.

Prophet

The Book of Zechariah introduces him as the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. The

Book of Ezra The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible which formerly included the Book of Nehemiah in a single book, commonly distinguished in scholarship as Ezra–Nehemiah. The two became separated with the first printed Mikraot Gedolot, rabbinic bib ...

names Zechariah as the son of Iddo, but it is likely that Berechiah was Zechariah's father and Iddo his grandfather. Targum Lamentations 2:20 names this Zechariah son of Iddo, as does the book of Matthew 23:35. This is not the same person as Iddo the Seer, who lived during the reigns of

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

Rehoboam Rehoboam (; , , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the Kingdom of Judah after the split of the united Kingdom of Israel. He was a son of and the successor to Solomon and a grandson of David. In the account of I Ki ...

, and Abijah, and is most likely the Iddo mentioned in Ezra 8:17. His name means " Yah remembers". Zechariah's prophetical career probably began in the second year of

Darius the Great Darius I ( ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of West A ...

, king of the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...

(520 BCE). His greatest concern appears to have been with the building of the

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

. He features in chapters 1–8 of the book of Zechariah but he does not appear in the remaining chapters of the book (chapters 9–14).

Liturgical commemoration

On the

Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar The Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar describes and dictates the rhythm of the life of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Passages of Holy Scripture, saints and events for commemoration are associated with each date, as are many times special rule ...

, his feast day is 8 February. He is commemorated in the

calendar of saints The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

of the

Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...

on the Tuesday after the fifth Sunday of

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...

''Domar: the calendrical and liturgical cycle of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church'', Armenian Orthodox Theological Research Institute, 2003 and, with the other Minor Prophets, on 31 July. The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

honors him with a feast day assigned to 6 September.

Notes

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zechariah Book of Ezra people category:Book of Zechariah people 6th-century BCE Jews 6th-century BC religious leaders Ancient apocalypticists Angelic visionaries Christian saints from the Old Testament