Who is God singing about? The ancient prophecy of Zephaniah and our timetranslated

Among the twelve “minor” prophets of the Old Testament, the figure of Zephaniah stands apart. If Amos was a shepherd, and Micaiah was a simple villager, then Zephaniah belonged to the highest aristocracy of Judea. His ministry occurred during the time of King Josiah, an era that bears striking resemblance to our own today.

Then the king began a large-scale restoration of the church, the destruction of idols and the restoration of the liturgical charter. Outwardly, everything looked fine, just like in our recent past. Let's remember this spirit of the 1990s: the domes were golden, 10 candidates for 1st place in the seminary, people regularly gathered for the holidays. But the prophet’s discerning gaze saw something different in Judah. He noticed that behind the beautiful façade of state piety there was hidden a cooling of hearts, double-mindedness and lukewarmness.

Motorists know that there is a sudden puncture in a tire, and there is also a microscopic crack through which air escapes unnoticed, day after day. The car drives, the driver is calm, but the pressure drops. The biggest problem in spiritual life is the second option. A person first comes to Christ, burns, reads the Gospel every day, cannot wait for the liturgy... But then he begins to cool down. The fire in the heart goes out...