Martyr
Martyr, Youth Misael (Mishael) of Babylon
VII—VI вв. до Р.Х.
Also known as: Мисаил, один из трёх отроков вавилонских, Мисах (тронное имя)
Martyr Misael (Meshach) — one of the Three Holy Youths of Babylon (Ananias, Azarias, Misael), companions of the Prophet Daniel, miraculously delivered by an angel from a fiery furnace under King Nebuchadnezzar.
Visually confirmed: the image contains the classic iconography of the Three Youths in the fiery furnace — an angel above the three youths, King Nebuchadnezzar on his throne.
Saint Misael, together with Daniel, Ananias, and Azarias, was among the noble Judean youths led into Babylonian captivity (c. 600 BC) and educated in Chaldean wisdom at Nebuchadnezzar's court; he received the throne-name Meshach. When the youths refused to worship the golden idol erected by the king, they were cast into a superheated furnace; an angel of the Lord kept them unharmed, and they sang a hymn of praise to God (which became the basis of the 7th and 8th biblical canticles of Matins).
The commemoration of the three youths and the Prophet Daniel is kept jointly; in Russian tradition a special liturgical drama — the "Furnace Play" (Пещное действо) — was performed on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers before the Nativity of Christ in honor of this event.
Their feast is kept on December 17/30.