Malachi Lay
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(messenger of the LORD) (Mal 1:1) — the last of the minor prophets in chronological order. Holy Scripture and tradition give no information concerning his lineage and life. According to common opinion, however, Malachi lived about 400 years before Christ and was a contemporary of Nehemiah. Many of the Jewish rabbis maintained that the writer of the book known under the name of the prophet Malachi was the priest Ezra — such, among others, was the opinion of Jerome. According to Origen, the author of this prophetic book was an incarnate angel. Since he was the last of the Old Testament minor prophets, the rabbis sometimes called him the seal of the prophets.