Introduction

Although it is one of the shortest books of the Old Testament, the Book of Jonah has a very important place in the Church's liturgical year.  The "Fast of Nineveh" or "Jonah's Fast" comprises three days of fasting, followed by the Feast of Jonah itself.  This liturgical celebration of the Coptic Orthodox Church is set just a few days after Epiphany and two weeks before Great Lent.  The Church's positioning the fast in this liturgical sequence has a mystical significance. During the service of Matins on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of that week, the entire Book of Jonah is read.  Why indeed should the Church devote so much attention to such a short book written by such an obscure prophet?  (In fact, all we know about Jonah himself comes just from his book and a single reference to him in 2Kings 14:25.)  Succinctly put, the Church sees within this book's simple story an icon of Christ symbolically represented.

How could such a "cute" story about an unwilling prophet who gets swallowed by a fish when he tries to escape doing God's will carry such a profound meaning?  Unlike other prophetic books, the Book of Jonah does not contain "words of prophecy," as such, but rather it tells a tale of Jonah's personal encounter with the Lord.  Using a story motif, Jonah's prophecy speaks to us not with words but with symbols.  Reading these symbols spiritually, we behold the mystery of salvation in Christ exemplified in imagistic types.  Indeed, it is no wonder that this book also portrays a unique instance in the Old Testament of God's love and concern not just for His own people, Israel, but for a nation of Gentiles who were actually Israel's enemies.  Here again we find an archetype of Christ's mission of salvation extending beyond Israel to embrace the whole world, all the enemies of God.

This booklet is a simple commentary upon the Book of Jonah in light of the Church's liturgical and spiritual understanding of it and its use during the Fast of Nineveh.  To that purpose, we ask our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us the blessings of this great prophet through the intercession of our Mother, the blessed Virgin Mary.  Amen.