Ezekiel was the son of a priest from the town of Sarir. He was taken into captivity in Babylon with King Jehoiachim and many other Israelites. Ezekiel prophesied for twenty-seven years in captivity. He was a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah. While Jeremiah taught and prophesied in Jerusalem, so Ezekiel taught and prophesied in Babylon. The prophecies of Jeremiah were known in Babylon, and the prophecies of Ezekiel were known in Jerusalem. Both of these holy men agreed in their respective prophecies, and both were mistreated and tortured by the unbelieving Jewish people. St. Ezekiel had fearful and unheard-of visions. By the river Chebar, Ezekiel saw the heavens opened, and a cloud and fire and lightening, and four wild creatures like molten copper [Ezekiel 1:4]. One creature had the face of a man, the second the face of a lion, the third the face of a calf [ox], and the fourth the face of an eagle [Ezekiel 1:10]. The face of the man signified the Lord Incarnate as a man; the face of the lion, His divinity; the face of the calf, His sacrifice; and the face of an eagle, His Resurrection and Ascension. Another time, he was shown a vision of the resurrection of the dead. The prophet saw a valley full of dry, dead bones, and when the Spirit of God descended upon them they came to life and rose to their feet [Ezekiel 37:1-10]. He also saw the most terrible destruction of Jerusalem, when the wrath of God slew all but those who had been marked with the Greek letter Tau [Ezekiel 9: 1-7]–which corresponds to our letter “T,” which is also the sign of the Cross. The malice of the Jews did not spare even this holy man. Infuriated at him for having rebuked them, the Jews tied him to the tails of horses and tore him apart. He was buried in the same sepulchre as Shem, the Son of Noah.