Tomorrow, the Eastern Churches will celebrate “Jonah’s Passover,” which is preceded by a three-day fast (beginning on Monday and ending today), known as “The Fast of the People of Nineveh” or “The Fast of Jonah.”
The story of Jonah the Prophet is a story of an entire people’s repentance. They lived in sin, vice, and corruption for a long time. However, the merciful God sent them Jonah, calling them to repentance. Their hearts were touched, from the eldest to the youngest, and they returned to God, fasting and humbling themselvesexpressing deep remorse for their indulgence in evil. This story has a dedicated book of four chapters in the Bible, namely “The Book of Jonah.” The Coptic Orthodox Church recognized this fast and added it to its fasts in the tenth century AD during the papacy of Pope Abraham the Syrian (known as “IbnZar’a”), the sixty-second patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (976-979 AD). The Church arranged it two weeks before the start of the Great Lent, as an invitation to repentance, which is the path back to God, and to remind us of God’s love and mercy for humankind.
Jonah the Prophet is one of the prophets of Israel (the Northern Kingdom, 825-784 BC), and he was a contemporary of the Prophet Amos. It is said in Jewish tradition that Jonah the Prophet is the son of the widow whom the Prophet Elijah raised from the dead in the city of Zarephath of Sidon. The word “Jonah” or “Yona” in Hebrew means “dove.”
Nineveh, which was described as “the great city,” was built on the eastern bank of the Khosr River; a tributary of the Tigris River. Its Babylonian people worshipped the goddess Ishtar, and it became the capital of the most powerful and greatest global power at that time, the Assyrian Empire. With the reign of King Shalmaneser and the construction of his palace in Nineveh in 1270 BC, Nineveh became known for its wealth, greatness, and beauty. The Assyrian kings brought spoils to it, and considered the entire ancient world as subservient to it.
After a long time of the people of Nineveh indulging in evil, and God’s patience awaiting them, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”” (Jonah 1:1-2, 3:3-4 NKJ). And all the sinful people hastened to accept Jonah’s call: “So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? (Jonah 3:5-9 NKJ). Thus, the repentance of the people of Nineveh was not merely verbal, but they repented with all their hearts, in acts of humility and contrition, which God saw and accepted their repentance and had mercy on them.
In the Book of Jonah, we see the compassionate God, the Shepherd of all His creation, who is concerned about their eternal salvation: “Then the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not have pity on Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?'” (Jonah 4:10-11 NKJ). Indeed, God has compassion on all, sending them messages that attract them to repentance for their salvation: He sent repentance to the people of Nineveh, and to Jonah the prophet himself who fled from His presence, and to the ship’s crew who went through the turmoil of the sea; and He still sends today for every person to repent.
The story of the Book of Jonah is a divine call, valid for all times, for everyone to repent before the fearful and just Day of Judgment comes. As one of the holy fathers mentioned, repentance is not related to time, but to the state of the heart; it does not need a long time, but requires a heart that is remorseful for its evil deeds, seeking to change its direction, forsaking its sins with true sincerity, and longing to return to God; it is the journey back to heaven, to the love of God.
Many happy returns to all of you, stories of “beautiful Egypt” are still endless….
G. Bishop Ermia The General Bishop
President of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
العربية
