Prophet
Prophet Prophet Habakkuk
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Prophet Habakkuk — eighth of the Twelve Minor Prophets, who questioned God about the triumph of wickedness and the coming Babylonian invasion, author of "the righteous shall live by faith," miraculously transported by an angel to feed the Prophet Daniel in the lions' den.
CRITICAL: date corrected from "December 18/31" (unsupported by any source) to the correct December 2/15, widely attested (Patriarchia.ru, Drevo, numerous Orthodox calendars).
Habakkuk, by tradition of the tribe of Simeon (called "son of the Levite Jesus" in the apocryphal "Bel and the Dragon"), lived in the 7th century BC, prophesying, per church tradition, under the wicked kings Manasseh and Amon of Judah. The central theme of his book is a bold dialogue with God: the prophet asks why wickedness triumphs, and why the Lord would use the even more wicked Babylonians (Chaldeans) to punish Judah; God answers that the righteous will live by faith, while the proud will fall (Habakkuk 2:4) — words quoted three times in the New Testament (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38) as the foundation of the doctrine of justification by faith.
Habakkuk foretold the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, the Babylonian captivity, and the eventual return of the exiles. By the tradition of the apocryphal "Bel and the Dragon," while carrying food to reapers in a field, an angel of the Lord seized him by the hair and miraculously transported him to Babylon, setting him over the lions' den where the Prophet Daniel, imprisoned a second time, languished without food, so that he could feed him, then returned him home. By tradition he returned to his homeland after the war with Babylon ended and died there in old age; his relics were discovered during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II (408–450).