Nathan of Gaza (1643–1680) -  Nathan became famous as a prophet for the false messiah, Shabbetai Tzvi. After 1665, his followers began to call him buzina kaddisha, or “the holy lamp,” believing he brought the light of the Messiah with him. Nathan of Gaza convinced hundreds of thousands that Tzvi would liberate Palestine, the historical homeland of all Jews, from Turkish rule. After Tzvi converted to Islam under threat of execution, Nathan continued to write impassioned defenses of Tzvi, maintaining that Tzvi was the Messiah even after Tzvi's death in 1676. Retiring from public life, Nathan declared that Tzvi was only in hiding and would soon appear to carry out God's original blueprint for paradise. Nathan died four years later in 1680 in Skopje, Macedonia. His few remaining followers maintained his grave as the final resting place of a saint. The grave remained intact until it was destroyed in World War II.