Sunday of the Holy Forefathers - Memorial Day 28.12 N.S. (15.12 art.)

This article is about Christian saints. For the common male ancestor of humans, see Y-chromosomal Adam.

"Adam" Michelangelo

Forefathers

(Greek προπατέρες, προπατως) - in Christianity, the name for the ancestors of Jesus Christ according to the flesh[1]. The forefathers include the Old Testament patriarchs (Greek πατριάρχης - ancestor, forefather), considered as the ancestors of the Jewish people and humanity as a whole. The Church honors ten antediluvian patriarchs, who, according to the Bible, were models of piety and keepers of the promise even before the giving of the Law to Israel and were distinguished by exceptional longevity; right up to Jacob and Joseph, with whose death the patriarchal era of biblical history ended, the patriarchs were characterized by direct communication with God[2]. As the ancestors of Jesus Christ, the forefathers are included in the history of salvation considered by Christian soteriology and in the history of the movement of humanity towards the Kingdom of Heaven[3].

In a broader sense, the forefathers in the Orthodox Church mean all the Old Testament saints, revered as executors of the will of God in sacred history before the New Testament era[3]. At the same time, the holy ancestors of Christ, included in His genealogy, are called holy fathers[4].

Often only three patriarchs are called forefathers - the ancestors of the Jewish people: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They correspond to four foremothers - Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah[5]. In the Jewish tradition, it is Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who are called both patriarchs and fathers (forefathers) (Hebrew: “three forefathers”) [6].

The Orthodox Church dedicates the Week of the Holy Forefathers and the Week of the Holy Fathers

on the eve of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ.

Forefathers[ | ]

Antediluvian forefathers[ | ]

Forefathers Adam, Abel, Seth.
Fresco by Theophanes the Greek in the Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyin Street, Novgorod. 1378 Patriarchs:

1. Adam,
2. Sif,
3. Enos,
4. Cainan,
5. Maleleil,
6. Jared,
7. Enoch,
8. Methuselah,
9. Lamech,
10. Noah.

In the host of forefathers the following are also venerated:

• Righteous Abel, son of Adam[7]
• Righteous Shem, son of Noah[8]
• Righteous Japheth, son of Noah[9]

Post-Flood forefathers[ | ]

Patriarchs:

• Arphaxad son of Shem
• Cainan, son of Arphaxad
• Salah, son of Cainan
• Eber son of Salah
• Peleg, son of Eber
• Raghav, son of Peleg
• Serukh, son of Raghav
• Nahor son of Seruch
• Terah son of Nahor[10]

In the era after the Flood and before the giving of the Law to Moses, among the patriarchs were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, and the latter ended the patriarchal period of biblical history. Also among the forefathers of this era are Melchizedek and Job[11].

Christian tradition sees in the acts of these patriarchs a providential meaning, an Old Testament anticipation of New Testament history: thus, the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham prefigures, according to patristic interpretations, the death on the cross and resurrection of Christ. This pro-educational (typological) interpretation was reflected in Christian hymnography (memory of the Old Testament patriarchs in the services of the Lord's and Theotokos' feasts) and iconography.

The following descendants of Jacob, son of Isaac, are venerated as forefathers included in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church:

Forefather Benjamin. Icon from the forefathers' order of the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Spaso-Evthymius Monastery in Suzdal. Mid-17th century. Now in the collection of the Andrei Rublev Museum

• Reuben
• Simeon
• Levi
• Judas
• Zebulun
• Issachar
• Dan
• Gad
• Asir
• Naphtali
• Joseph
• Benjamin
• Prophet Moses
• High Priest Aaron, brother of Moses
• High Priest Eleazar, son of Aaron
• , companion of Moses
• Simon, great priest
• Joshua
• Varak
• Gideon
• Samson
• Jephthah
• Prophet Samuel
• Jesse, son of Obed
• King-prophet David, son of Jesse
• King Solomon, son of David
• Prophet Nathan
• Prophet Elijah
• Prophet Elisha
• King Hezekiah
• King Josiah, son of Ammon
• Righteous Zerubbabel
• Jesus, son of Josedek
• Nehemiah
• Righteous Zechariah, father of John the Baptist
• John the Baptist[7][11].

Also among the forefathers are four great prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and twelve minor prophets, three young men Ananias, Azariah and Misail[11].

The forefathers also include the righteous godfathers Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Mother of God, and the righteous Joseph, the betrothed of the Mother of God. King David is also called the father of God.

Conversation on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers.

Saint Innocent of Kherson

Wanting to best prepare us for a worthy celebration of the festivities in honor of the Nativity of Christ, the Holy Church, among other means, uses the holy mention of holy persons. This week in the church circle is called the Week of the Holy Forefathers... because...is dedicated to the remembrance...of the holy men who lived before the coming of Christ. The memory is both very decent and very useful... When is it more timely to resurrect in memory all the great men of the Old Testament, who lived in hope of the coming of the Redeemer and who prepared themselves and all of humanity within themselves to meet Him, if not now, when we ourselves, as it were, await the coming in the flesh of the Lord and are preparing ourselves to worthily meet Him?

The Old Testament righteous most often, without a doubt, were transferred in thought to our times - grace and truth (John 1:17); and we, at least occasionally, must place ourselves mentally in their state - nature, law and the canopy, in order to thus nourish and support the universal union of faith and love in Christ, Who “is One yesterday and today and the same and forever” ( Hebrews 13:8).

And poor dwellings in themselves become capable of receiving great kings when they are decorated with elegant images: so the poor dwelling of our soul will be more favorable for the Visitor of souls and hearts if our imagination and memory are filled and decorated with mental images of God’s holy men. Having come under the roof of our soul, the King of Glory, if on nothing else, then will fix His loving gaze on these images. And perhaps from this holy memory something more will happen in some soul: filled with the images of holy men and captivated by their splendor, perhaps it will feel a desire to throw out from itself the unclean images of the world that have hitherto occupied it, and will become jealous of restoration in itself the image of God.

So, instead of any teaching, in this and next weeks, we will take up with you, brethren, the remembrance of the holy men and women of the Old Testament. The task itself is very easy and pleasant for the spirit; one inconvenience is the short time for memory and the large number of remembered faces. Do you spend a lot of time listening to church teachings? Barely a fortieth part of the day, while sometimes almost entire days and nights are spent at the spectacles. Meanwhile, the number of Old Testament righteous people is so great that the Apostle Paul himself did not have enough time to talk about them in detail (Heb. 11; 32). To eliminate this inconvenience, we will divide, firstly, our interview into two parts; now let us remember the holy men, and next week the holy wives of the Old Testament; secondly, when remembering both of them, we will point out to you primarily the most important ones, and in their lives - to what formed the basis of their virtue and distinguished them from all others; thirdly, we invite you to add your own home reflection to what will be briefly said here. Is it a foreign thing for the listener to think about what is being said to him here? On the contrary, this is your constant duty, from non-fulfillment of which the teachings lose their force and do not have time to take root in the minds. So, brothers, let us unite with common strength and move unanimously towards the goal, which is always the same for all of us - the eternal salvation of our sinful souls. But, before we begin to look at the stars, let us raise our thoughts to the Sun of Truth Himself, Christ the King and our God, and let us pray to Him that He may send His light both into the mind of the preacher and into the hearts of those listening.

Door to the altar. From top to bottom, the following 4 compositions are presented: 1. Paradise. Abraham's Bosom. Abraham Isaac Jacob with the souls of people. 2. The creation of Adam and Eve. The first people stand before the Lord. 3. Expulsion from Paradise. Lament for the Lost Paradise. 4. Human death and mourning. A coffin with the deceased and monks are depicted. The literary basis of the plot was the text of the penitential verse “I behold you, the grave,” which the monks performed in memory of the deceased. Museum-Reserve "Kolomenskoye"

The first of the forefathers of Christ and the holy men of the Old Testament is Adam , the forefather according to the flesh and of us all. Through him sin and death entered the world; but he also accepted the first promise of life and salvation; he is also the first example of repentance and justification in Christ. But many of us, remembering the sin of our forefather, remember his repentance very poorly. And why do they remember sin? For unholy murmuring about one's fate, for apologizing for one's crimes, and sometimes for pathetic and insane mockery. No, brothers, our common father according to the flesh is not worthy of such a memory. Great was his fall; but if the chosen one of all did not stand the test, then who among us who were not chosen would not fall in his place? Moreover, no matter how great the sin of Adam, after we have been redeemed by the Son of God, it does not harm us. In Christ we have gained much more than we lost in Adam: now, if we perish, it is entirely of ourselves! Adam is the first to give us an example of how to rise from the fall. Once he ate from the forbidden fruit, and spent nine hundred years in tears and repentance! How many times has he wept for us and our sins, while we ourselves, instead of weeping for our sins, often boast about them! Let us lead our lives like repentant Adam, and flaming weapons will not prevent us from entering the paradise that he lost.

The second, after Adam, the righteous man of the ancient world is Abel - the first dead man in the human race and the first martyr, and therefore the first heir to the restored paradise. It is extremely regrettable that the first death followed at the hands of the brothers, but it is extremely comforting that the first death was holy, martyrdom. The devil could not rejoice at the dust into which he turned the human body; and the earth, cursed by the deeds of man, joyfully accepted this holy dust as the beginning of its sanctification. The innocent blood of Abel, according to the assurance of the apostle, was transformed by the all-sanctifying Blood of the Son of God (Heb. 11: 4).

Forefather Abel

The third wondrous man was Enoch . It is said about him in Scripture that “he walked with God” (Gen. 5; 22, according to the Hebrew original); that is, constantly engaged in the thought of God, he approached God to the point that he entered into some kind of special, constant communication with God, similar, perhaps, to that in which the first man was from time to time in paradise before the fall. Thus, Enoch, outside of paradise, through repentance and faith, achieved what was lost in paradise through frivolity and disobedience. Since this righteous man thought very little about everything present and earthly, then, as if in return for this, the future was revealed to him, the most distant and in extraordinary fullness. According to the testimony of the Apostle Jude, Enoch clearly foresaw even the end of the great struggle between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the Woman - the glorious coming of the Lord to judgment with ten thousand angels (Jude 1:15). Walking in this way always with God, Enoch imperceptibly crossed the line separating the temporal from the eternal, and went so far that it was no longer possible to return back to this life. As a result of this, according to the testimony of Scripture, he was translated into heaven with his flesh (Genesis 5; 24). An event that showed the whole world that the terrible definition of God: “you are earth, and you will go back to earth” (Genesis 3:19), is no longer a definition that cannot be canceled for anyone; that for the mortal descendants of Adam there is another definition - love, by virtue of which the worthy of them have the right to say to death itself: “Where is your sting? And to hell itself: where is your victory? (Hos. 13; 14; 1 Cor. 15; 55).

Noah's Ark. XII century Byzantium

The last, especially noteworthy, righteous man of the first world and the first righteous man of the second world is Noah . He received the lot to be a preacher of truth for his contemporaries mired in wickedness, and for one hundred and twenty years he preached to an obstinate and sinful generation; did not see the fruit of preaching, but he preached, for it was his duty. Noah showed the same constancy and patience in the construction of the ark. When all his contemporaries “ate, drank, married and were given in marriage” (Matthew 24: 37-38), without thinking about the future, Noah was building the ark! Probably, many mocked the work of the righteous man, considering him buiim (stupid), but he built the ark! But the time came when everyone began to cry, many began to curse the birthday, and Noah was serene in his ark. This is how the life of the righteous and the life of peace-loving people always ends: great disasters and especially death fully demonstrate what the difference is between them, and what both mean to God. But a wonderful thing: amid the global flood, Noah was unharmed, saving the whole world in his ark and in his person, but on dry land he almost got drowned himself! I mean the well-known accident with the intemperance of a righteous man, which gave reason to Noah’s son, Ham, not to show respect to his sleeping father, and brought upon the father the bitter necessity of pronouncing a curse on his son (Gen. 9; 20-27). So we need spiritual vigilance over ourselves and for those who have already stood at the height of Ararat!

After Noah until Abraham it is impossible to pass by the silence of Eber , from whom the Jewish people received their name. During his time, the Babylonian pandemonium occurred - the fruit of proud plans, for which the builders were subjected to a confusion of languages, and the human race, hitherto united, was divided into different nations. All turned aside “with the same mind of wickedness” (Wisdom 10:5), and went to build a pillar; but Eber and his tribe remained at home, and thus earned all his descendants the special mercy of God. An instructive example of how much a good ancestor means, and how good it is sometimes not to do what everyone does and approves of!

But, with the spread of idolatry across the entire earth, piety almost became scarce in the very tribe of Eber; it was necessary to illuminate the darkness, and in the firmament of the Church a bright luminary of faith appeared - Abraham . The Apostle Paul himself did not spare praise when he spoke about the faith of Abraham, and called him “the father of those who believe!” (Rom. 4; 11). The greatest title, but well deserved! In Abraham's life, faith is everywhere and everything: he is commanded to leave his home, his native country and go to a land completely unknown to him - he goes! They command that his only begotten son be offered up as a sacrifice, in whom all his hopes, even all the promises of God, he lifts up. If Abraham had been commanded to go to hell himself, he would have gone to hell without thinking. The will of God was everything for Abraham, but his own will meant nothing. The future was everything for him, but the present was nothing! Take note of this, believing souls: this is your father!

Icon of St. Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

As is the root, so are the branches. Isaac is an example of filial obedience to sacrificial death, Jacob is an example of brotherly kindness and patience; but Joseph . In his life, sold by his own brothers, suffering for truth and purity of conscience, but then crowned with glory, becoming the savior of Egypt and his very brothers - in this wonderful life the image of that humiliation and that glorification of our Lord, by which the whole world was saved, was clearly reflected. From what side did the shameless wife attack the young warrior? But a chaste mind knew how to keep the body chaste. “How can I create this evil verb and sin before God?” - said the tempted righteous man (Genesis 39:9), and in the middle of the cave he was unburnt! Also very touching and instructive are the words of Joseph to his brothers when, after the death of their father, fearing his vengeance, they asked for his mercy. “Do not be afraid,” answered Joseph, “for I am God: you have an evil counsel against me, but God has a good counsel for me and for you, so that... many people may feed” (Genesis 50; 19-20).

When remembering suffering and generosity, the thought naturally comes to Job , who, however, probably lived a little later after these times.

The Life of Righteous Job. Mstera, XIX century.

The devil had a lot of trouble with him; all the arrows of hell are exhausted, the earth and heaven are moved; but Job remained unshakable in his trust in Providence. “The Lord is given, the Lord is taken away... blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21), he said, sitting on a rotten spot; and the rot was the throne of a king to him who spoke thus. His friends inspired him with something else, his wife even worse: “say a certain word to the Lord and die” (Job 2:9). But the righteous man did not listen to either his friends or his wife, firmly believing that in heaven there is a “witness” of him, or rather of them, that “there is an everlasting thing that can redeem him and resurrect his skin that suffers this” (Job 19; 25). And she was resurrected! The righteous saw the good of the Lord while still on the land of the living; The Lord “bless the last Job more than the first” (Job 42; 12); and the Holy Church honored his memory by proclaiming Job’s sufferings to this day for our edification on days dedicated to the remembrance of the sufferings of Christ.

Job concludes the patriarchal times, the times of natural law and frequent epiphanies; after that the Church was concentrated in the Jewish people under the Law of Moses.

Prophet Moses. 1590 Solovetsky Monastery

What is noteworthy here is, firstly, Moses , “the god of Pharaoh” (Ex. 7:1), the leader of the Jews, prophet, legislator and miracle worker, who was in charge of everything, but left nothing to his children except his name and deeds. His faith in the invisible and Divine was so great that he would rather agree to “suffer with the people of God in the wilderness” all his life than to “be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” and have the temporary sweetness of sin (Heb. 11: 24-25). And Moses’ love for his neighbors and his people was so ardent that once, when the Lord in anger wanted to destroy the Jewish people and erect a new one for Himself - from Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord and asked to blot out his own name from the book of life, if only the people he led survived (Ex. 32; 10, 32). For such faith and love, the Lord brought Moses closer to Himself as He did not bring any of the prophets closer, talked with him as “with a friend, face to face” (Num. 12: 6-8), showed him His glory in a special way, which is why the face of Moses himself shone with such light that it was impossible to look at him. But who could have expected after this? - and this luminous friend of God, who was later honored to be a participant in the glory of the Savior Himself on Tabor, and he could not lead the people of God into the Promised Land, had to die outside it - in the desert!.. For what is such deprivation? - Because during the miraculous bringing of water from the stone, Moses spoke to the people with Aaron in the language of doubt: “As soon as we bring water out of this stone for you” (Numbers 20: 10-12), and struck “the stone with a rod” more than once, and "twice". The Lord considered this a disparagement of His Name, and Moses did not enter Canaan! After this, indulge in doubts, you who do not want to follow the royal path of faith: the stone is before you, but Canaan is behind you; you will not live in the land of promise; it belongs to those who believe without seeing (John 20; 29). Moses is an obvious witness of how much is demanded from those to whom much is given. The Lord our God is “a jealous God!”.. (Ex. 20; 5).

Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, at the same time serves as an example of how the Lord glorifies those who glorify Him. He dared to stand for the law when the very princes of Israel were servile to lawlessness, and he struck down the crime publicly, when others did not dare to speak against him (Num. 25; 7-13). For this feat, the zealot was granted by God Himself the right of hereditary high priesthood, and the name of Phinehas became the name of all true zealots according to the glory of the God of Israel.

The successor of Moses in the prophecies (Sir. 46: 1) was Joshua . Before him the Jordan dried up and the walls of Jericho fell; at his voice, “the sun stood still straight for Gibeon... and one day was like two” (Joshua 10; 12. Sir. 46; 5), he alone with Caleb, of all those who came out of Egypt, entered the promised land and brought the people of Israel there . This great advantage is deserved by faith and fidelity. When all the spies of the promised land returned with horror from the giants who lived there and confused the people, Jesus and Caleb showed in themselves and instilled in others only the fear of God, convincing each and every one without any doubt to go where God commands. For this very reason they alone crossed the Jordan, “so that,” as Sirach puts it, “all the sons of Israel may see that it is good to follow the Lord” (Sir. 46: 10-13).

The times of the judges of Israel were glorious with many great men; Let's point out two: Gideon and Samson. Gideon for his victory over countless enemies: what gift is more attractive than this to the human heart? But the hero of faith had another, better crown before his intelligent eyes; “I will not prevail over you,” he answered, “and neither will my son prevail over you: let the Lord rule over you” (Judges 8:23). This is not what the heroes of the world do! Today they have a liberator of the fatherland, and tomorrow an oppressor of the freedom of the same fatherland; They work countless miracles of courage, but they cannot create one miracle - self-sacrifice, they cannot because it is not produced by intelligence and wisdom, not by strength and despair, but by faith and holy hope.

Samson is famous for the strength of his body and the powerlessness of his spirit. How hard it is to see the conqueror of the Philistines in the bonds of Delilah! Blindness and slavery of the spirit inevitably follow the dominion of sensuality; but repentance and prayer correct the most severe falls. The repentant Samson struck more enemies with his death than he had struck during his life (Judges 16:30).

The series of judges included Samuel , a prophet from his youth, who anointed the Jews king, first Saul, and then David. What is especially instructive from his life is his farewell to the people upon relinquishing the title of judge. “Report to us,” he said to all the people, “from whom you took food, a bullock, or a donkey, or from whom you took violence, or from whom you oppressed, or from the hand of someone you took a bribe... inform me, and I will return it to you. And speaking to Samuel,” the holy historian testifies, “all the people: you have not offended us, you have violated us, you have oppressed us, you have taken anything from someone else’s hand” (1 Sam. 12: 3-4). You yourself feel, brethren, how good it would be in the world if every judge and ruler could finish his career in the same way as Samuel, beloved by his Lord, ended it! (Sir. 46; 16).

Prophet David. First third of the 17th century. Moscow Kremlin.

Of the pious kings of Israel, there is one instead of all - David . But I don't know how to describe it to you briefly. There is a whole paradise of virtues in David. You yourself constantly hear in church the red songs of this most beautiful of kings: tell me, what pure and sublime thought, what good feeling, what incentives for patience, what consolations are not in these songs? Judge after this, what spiritual wealth was in the very heart of David? But sometimes thorns appeared in this paradise! The fall of David was terrible: but the righteous, “even if he falls, will not be broken.” David rose higher than when he fell. Even now, I think, the devil shudders every time he hears David’s prayer of repentance: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy, and according to the multitude of Your compassions, cleanse my iniquity!” The Church often repeats this prayer, but those of us who need David’s repentance should repeat it even more often.

After David, brothers, you would probably like to hear something about Solomon . And I would like to joyfully remember in front of the students of wisdom about the wisest of kings, whose songs, proverbs, parables and legends (Sir. 47; 19) surprised entire countries and peoples. But, alas, wisdom did not protect the one who was not “faithful to her to death!” (Rev. 2; 10). He who knew everything, from “cedar... to hyssop” (1 Kings 4:33), forgot the God of his fathers! Let us know how strong the inclination towards sensuality is in fallen man, when they do not take measures against it in time, and do not fight against it to the point of blood; and how weak our poor mind is when it leaves the limits of faith and fear of God and begins to philosophize “according to the elements of the world” (Col. 2:8).

The times of the kings of Israel were also the times of the prophets: the wickedness of some encouraged and aggravated the jealousy of others. Great is the face of the prophets , divine are the visions, wonderful are the deeds and life!

Fiery ascent of the prophet Elijah. First half of the 17th century. Museum-Reserve "Kolomenskoye"

Who was not surprised and in awe when hearing the exploits of Elijah ? It is not for nothing that he is depicted with a sword; Elijah’s whole life was a sword for wickedness, and the word was like a “burning light” (Sir. 48: 1). Persecuting and persecuted: persecuting idols and persecuted by idolaters - he finally could not find a place on earth for himself and was taken to heaven by a fiery whirlwind (2 Kings 2; 11). This wondrous fire opened from heaven; but its first and main source was in the heart of Elijah, which for so long and strongly was flaming with holy zeal for the glory of the God of Israel.

No less wonderful is Elisha , who dared to ask and was able to accommodate a special gift even against the one who lived in Elijah (4 Kings 2:9). Numerous miracles of Elisha show that among the people of God, like God Himself, “no verb fails” (Sir. 48; 14). Elisha was not taken to heaven, like Elijah (for what would happen to the earth if it were deprived of the holy dust of all the righteous?), but in the womb of the earth he showed himself to be heavenly, reviving the dead with his bones (2 Kings 3; 21).

The life of the prophets who left us their writings is less known: but their lips no less testify to the greatness of the spirit that rested on them.

Prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jacob. ca. 1497 From the Assumption Cathedral of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery

What is clearer and greater than the predictions of Isaiah ? This is the evangelist of the Old Testament. While pronouncing his prophecies, he seemed to stand in spirit at the very manger and the Cross. You will hear it more than once during the upcoming holidays.

Jeremiah has as many tears and sighs as he has words . This is the prophet of repentance. Whoever wants to arouse in himself sorrow for God should read his lament over the ruins of Jerusalem, which represents every sinful soul.

Ezekiel is full of symbols. Some of them are so clear and striking that even a reasonable youth sees the meaning and power of the prophecy, despite its depth; and some are so significant and mysterious that they can only be fully understood by the Angels. A wondrous prophecy is taken from Ezekiel, read on Holy Saturday at Matins, where, under the image of the revival of dry bones in the field, the resurrection of the dead is predicted (Ezek. 37; 1-28).

Saints Prophet Daniel, King David, King Solomon

There are also many symbols in Daniel , who in his weeks predicted the very time of the appearance of the Messiah (Dan. 9; 24-27). But it is not visions and symbols that should stop us in this “man of desires” (Dan. 10; 11), but the rare circumstance that he was not only a great prophet and wonderworker, but at the same time the head of all the sages of Babylon - a courtier and ruler of the regions. How was he able to combine such diverse positions? Because he always gave his own to everyone: “What is God’s is God’s, what is Caesar’s is Caesar’s.” Was it necessary to reassure the king by explaining the prophetic dream, seen but forgotten, - Daniel put aside sleep and food in order to ask God for the revelation of the secret (Dan. 2; 18). Whether it was necessary to stand up for the honor of the True God Himself, against the foolish command of the Tsar, Daniel put aside all the royal affection and all honors, the very love of life out of love for the truth. Witnesses are the lions, to whom Daniel was thrown as food because he did not want to give up his usual prayer for a few days (only a few days!) (Dan. 14; 31).

Three youths in the fiery furnace

Remembering Daniel, one cannot forget the three youths of Babylon , his colleagues in government labors, and even more so in faith. These youths are very well known to everyone because of their zeal for the glory of the God of Israel, for which they were cast into the fiery furnace, and because of the miracle by which they were saved from death. But few of us know and remember the miraculously beneficial effect that fasting ; and the memory of this is most necessary for our times, when almost universal disdain prevails in relation to the posts of the Church. This is not how the holy youths thought and acted. Not wanting to break the law of their fathers regarding food, they, despite their captivity, refused the luxurious dishes that they wanted to feed them at the court of the king of Babylon. Their commander was afraid that, as a result of this, their faces before the king would not turn out to be “dull” and would bring execution on him. But after ten days of experience, “their faces appeared to be good and stronger in flesh than the youths who eat from the king’s table” (Dan. 1:15). That is, fasting had an effect completely opposite to what peace lovers are so afraid of! He even produced what they are most looking for! Luxury, on the contrary, relaxes the spirit, and of necessity, sooner or later, takes away the vitality of the body itself and shortens life, as countless examples show.

Upon returning from captivity in Babylon, the special instruments of God's Providence for the Church were Nehemiah and Ezra , both examples of true love for the Fatherland. You cannot love your people and country more than they loved; their body was in Babylon, and their spirit was instilled in the ruins of Jerusalem. “For the sake of your face, it’s sad to eat, but bear it with illness?” - the king of Persia once asked Nehemiah. “Why should I not grieve my countenance,” answered Nehemiah, “for the city, the house of my father’s tombs, is desolate, and its gates are burnt with fire” (Neh. 2:2-3). The consequence of these words was the return of many Jews from captivity and the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem.

Ezra , besides similar zeal for Jerusalem and besides good deeds to his fellow tribesmen, whom he cleansed, among other things, from the admixture of paganism (1 Ezra 10; 10-18), is worthy of eternal, worldwide memory for having collected the sacred books of the Old, scattered by captivity of the Testament and brought them into their present form.

After the time of Ezra until the coming of Christ, the Jews no longer had prophets in the proper sense of the word, but from time to time wondrous and holy men continued to appear.

The holy brothers Maccabees, their teacher Eliazar and their mother Solomonia. 1510-1520 Suzdal

Such are the Maccabees , who saved the Fatherland from the yoke of Antiochus and restored the worship of the True God. The exploits of the Maccabees fill two books that bear their name; and Christian heroes do not need the best examples of love for the Fatherland and courage against enemies.

Such is Eleazar , a ninety-year-old old man, “one of the leading scribes.” The tormentors begged him, at least, to “pretend to eat meat like the one ordered by the king,” but contrary to the Law of Moses, meat: “so that by doing this he will be delivered from death” (2 Mac. 6; 18, 21-22); but the godly elder did not want to redeem, or even more so desecrate, his last days with pretense, and instead of the criminal food he tasted martyrdom.

Such, finally, are Zechariah, the father of the Forerunner , the righteous Joseph , to whom the Holy Virgin was betrothed, and Simeon the God-Receiver . But these men, being often mentioned in the Gospel, are very well known to all of us and, one might say, preach for themselves and call for imitation of their virtues.

It is time to put an end to the memory and the word, and to come out from the cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1). Thus, the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews names the host of holy men of the Old Testament; and I don’t know how better and more clearly one could express their moral attitude towards us.

Truly, these are faithful, incorruptible, incessant witnesses, witnesses for us or against us! Do you want to know what they testify to? That everything visible and present is temporary and insignificant, but what is eternal and decisively important for all of us is the invisible and future; that those who seek the city above must live as strangers and strangers to the earth, not according to the customs of this age, but according to the spirit and requirements of this age; that every true believer must prepare his soul for temptation and be faithful and courageous until death; finally, that the salvation of each and every one lies in none other than the promised Savior of the world. All the righteous people of the Old Testament testify to this, testify both in word and especially in life.

But, my brethren, how many of us accept this testimony (John 5:31-34) and heed it? How many people even know about it? The face of the Old Testament righteous appears twice every year in church services before the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, but it is noticed only by altar servers, and perhaps by a small number of zealous temple visitors. For all others, this Divine cloud of witnesses appears and is hidden in the same way as fleeting clouds in the air. So little do we conform to the care of the Church of God for our salvation! She invents different means for this, annually presents them before our eyes, and we don’t even think about them! “It is not proper,” we will say in the words of the apostle, “it is not proper, my beloved brother, for such things to happen!” (James 3; 10). The Church annually devotes the last two weeks before the Feast of the Nativity to the remembrance of the holy men of the Old Testament; we should do the same. Two weeks is enough time to study, not just remember, their lives. Some cannot read the Holy Scriptures themselves: let those who can do so, both for themselves and for others. This will be instead of gold and frankincense for the Lord coming from heaven. If only there was a good desire to correspond to the intention of the Church, and behind the desire a good deed will not be slow to appear. When we want to know about any of the things of life, we will always find out; Why shouldn’t the same be true for spiritual things? Amen.

About the holy women: “Conversation on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers” by St. Innocent of Kherson

Foremother[ | ]

Shuya-Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in a frame with images of foremothers and prophetesses (from the local row of the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kremlin).
The stamps depict 18 women of the Old Testament: Leah, Sarah, Eve, Rebecca, Rachel; Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Abigail; Rahab, Jael, Hannah, Abishanna; The Widow of Sarepta, Judith, Susanna, Esther, the Shunammite In addition to Saint Anna, the following Old Testament wives are revered in the host of forefathers:

• Foremother Eve
• Righteous Sarah, wife of Abraham
• Righteous Rebekah, wife of Isaac
• Righteous Leah, Jacob's first wife
• Righteous Rachel, second wife of Jacob
• Righteous Miriam, sister of Moses
• Righteous Rahab, resident of Jericho
• Righteous Deborah, who judged Israel
• Righteous Jael, who killed Sisera
• Righteous Ruth
• Prophetess Huldama
• Righteous Judith, who killed Holofernes
• Righteous Esther, who delivered the Jewish people from Haman
• Righteous Anna, mother of the prophet Samuel
• Righteous Susanna[11][12]

Links

• from Arphaxad to Jacob	Arfaksad · (Kainan) · Salah · Eber · Peleg · Raghav · Seruch · Nahor · Terah · Abraham · Isaac · Jacob
  from Judah to David	Judah · Perez · Hezrom · Aram · Aminadab · Nahshon · Salmon · Boaz · Obed · Jesse · David

  Faces of holiness in Orthodoxy

  Apostle | Unmercenary | Blessed | Blessed | Godfather | Great Martyr | Confessor | Martyr | Righteous | Forefather | Venerable Martyr | Reverend | Reverend Confessor | Prophet | Equal to the Apostles | Saint | Priest Confessor | Hieromartyr | Stylite | Passion-bearer | Miracle Worker | Holy Fool

Veneration[ | ]

History[ | ]

The veneration of the Old Testament forefathers in the Christian Church has been attested at least since the second half of the 4th century. It is assumed that it dates back to the practice of the Judeo-Christian communities of the first centuries of Christianity and is associated primarily with the Jerusalem Church.

The Old Testament saints are commemorated in the rite of the liturgy in the intercessory prayer before communion: “ May we find mercy and grace with all the saints, forefathers, fathers, patriarchs, prophets who have pleased You from time immemorial...

"(Liturgy of Basil the Great).
Such a commemoration already appears in Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (who died in 386), who wrote: “ Then we remember the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs who died before their death, so that the Lord would accept this sacrifice through their prayers and their intercession
.”

Sunday of the Holy Forefathers[ | ]

The Orthodox Church dedicates the Week of the Holy Forefathers and the Week of the Holy Fathers to the memory of the Old Testament saints and

— days of remembrance with a moving date.
In this case, the word week
is understood as a liturgical term meaning “Sunday.” The Week of the Holy Forefathers is celebrated on the penultimate Sunday before the Nativity of Christ and falls between December 24 (11th on the Julian calendar) to December 30 (17th on the Julian calendar).

On the Sunday of the Saints, the Forefather and on the Sunday of the Saints, the Father Church remembers all the Old Testament patriarchs, from Adam to Joseph the Betrothed, and all the Old Testament righteous people who were justified by faith in the coming Messiah. In the hymns of the church they are listed by name.[1]

In addition to the Week of Saints, the Forefathers are remembered in stichera on the Week of Saints.
Troparion to the forefathers

In the iconostasis[ | ]

In the Orthodox iconostasis, a separate forefathers tier may be dedicated to the forefathers, which, however, is less common than the prophetic tier. The center of the forefather tier is the “Fatherland” icon with God the Father, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit; closest to the center are Adam, Eve and Abel, then other forefathers with scrolls in their hands. Until the 16th century, the Trinity was depicted in the center.[16]

Notes[ | ]

1. ↑ 12
   Forefathers // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
2. Patriarchs // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
3. ↑ 1 2 Zhivov V. M.
   Forefather // Holiness. A brief dictionary of hagiographic terms. - M.: Gnosis, 1994. - P. 78-80.
4. Archpriest Alexander Shargunov. Sunday of the Holy Forefathers
5. Forefathers // Great Russian Encyclopedia: [in 35 volumes] / ch. ed. Yu. S. Osipov. — M.: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2004—2017.
6. Patriarchs
   - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
7. ↑ 12
   Names of saints. The letter a". Calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church
8. Names of saints. Letter "C". Calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church
9. Names of saints. Letter "I". Calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church
10. Igor Tanlevsky.
    Introduction to the Pentateuch. Section 1. Cosmogenesis. Human Prehistory (Chapters 1-11)
11. ↑ 1234
    Sunday of the Holy Forefathers. Menea. December
12. Names of saints. Women's names. Calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church
13. Κυριακή των Προπατόρων. Aπολυτίκιον τῶν Προπατόρων.
14. Festive Menaion. (unspecified)
    (inaccessible link). Access date: February 10, 2014. Archived February 22, 2014.
15. ↑ 12
    Sunday of Saints Forefather
16. T.I. Shvetsova.
    Orthodox iconostasis. Origin, types, spiritual meaning. - pp. 179-182.