Description
The Prophet Zachariah was the son of Berechiah, the grandson of Iddo, and lived in the 6th century b.c. His prophetic career began in b.c. 520 in the fourth year of the reign of the Persian King Darius, just sixteen years after the first return of the Israelites from their Babylonian captivity. He was a contemporary of the Prophet Haggai.
The Prophet Zachariah preached repentance and the restoration of worship of God to the children of Israel. Through him God spoke to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. The Lord also revealed to the Prophet many things about the Passion of Christ which would occur over six hundred years later, including this, “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced” (Zech 12:10). In this icon, the Holy Prophet is holding a scroll of one of his prophecies of the Messiah, “Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord” (Zech 6:12).