Righteous Job the Long-Suffering (6 May)

The righteous Job (whose name means “persecuted”), God’s faithful servant, was the perfect image of every virtue. The son of Zarah and Bossorha (Job 42), Job was a fifth-generation descendent of Abraham. He was a truthful, righteous, patient and pious man who abstained from every evil thing. Job was very rich and blessed by God in all things, as was no other son of Ausis (his country, which lay between Idoumea and Arabia). However, divine condescension permitted him to be tested.

Job lost his children, his wealth, his glory, and every consolation all at once. His entire body became a terrible wound covered with boils. Yet he remained steadfast and patient in the face of his misfortune for seven years, always giving thanks to God.

Later, God restored his former prosperity, and he had twice as much as before. Job lived for 170 years after his misfortune, completing his earthly life in 1350 B.C. at the age of 240. Some authorities say that Job’s afflictions lasted only one year, and that afterwards he lived for 140 years, reaching the age of 210.

Job’s explanations are among the most poetic writings in the Old Testament book which bears his name. It is one of the most edifying portions of Holy Scripture. Job teaches us that we must endure life’s adversities patiently and with trust in God. As Saint Anthony the Great (January 17) says, without temptations, it is impossible for the faithful to be saved.

The Orthodox Church reads the book of Job, the first of the seven wisdom books of the Old Testament, during Holy Week, drawing a parallel between Job and Christ as righteous men who suffered through no fault of their own. God allowed Satan to afflict Job so that his faithfulness would be proven. Christ, the only sinless one, suffered voluntarily for our sins. The Septuagint text of Job 42:17 says that Job “will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up.” This passage is read on Great and Holy Friday, when the composite Gospel at Vespers speaks of the tombs being opened at the moment the Savior died on the Cross, and the bodies of the saints were raised, and they appeared to many after Christ’s Resurrection (Mt.27:52).

This faithful servant of God, the most perfect icon of all virtue, and especially of patience, was the son of Zare and Bosorra, and was the fifth from Abraham. He was true, blameless, just, devout, and abstained from every evil thing. He was very wealthy and blessed by God in all things, as was none other of the inhabitants of the land of Ausis, his homeland, which lies between Idumea and Arabia. But by divine permission, that he might be tried, he was suddenly deprived of his children, wealth, glory, and every consolation, and was covered with grievous sores over all his body. Some say that he endured courageously in this unparalleled calamity for seven whole years. Then, by divine blessing, he was restored again to a prosperity even more illustrious than the first. Having lived after his affliction for 170 years, he reposed full of days at the age of 240, in the year 1350 B.C. Others say that his affliction lasted only one year, and that he lived thereafter 140 years, living 210 years altogether.

Job was a descendant of Esau the grandson of Abraham and lived in Arabia about two thousand years before Christ. His father’s name was Zareth, and his mother’s name was Bosora. However, his full name was Jobab. Job was an honorable, God-fearing man and very wealthy. In the seventy-ninth year of his life, God permitted difficult temptations to befall him through Satan, as is written in detail in the Book of Job. In one day, Job lost all his enormous estates, his sons and his daughters. After that, a terrible disease befell him, and his entire body was covered with sores from head to foot. He lay on the rubbish heap outside the town and with a potsherd scrapped away the pus from his wounds. Job did not murmur against God, but patiently endured all his sufferings to the end. That is why God restored his health, gave him greater riches than before, and bestowed upon him seven sons and three daughters, as many as he had previously had. He lived for a total of 248 years, always glorifying and praising God. Job is considered the model of patient endurance of every suffering that God sends upon us, and a type of the suffering of the Lord Jesus.

Apolytikion of Prophet Job

First Tone

On beholding the riches of Job’s virtues, the enemy of the righteous contrived to despoil them; and though he cast down the tower of the Saint’s body, he could not plunder the wealth of his spirit, for he found the soul of that blameless one to be fully armed; but as for me, he hath stripped me and led me captive away. Hasten, then, before the end, rescue me from the wily one, O Saviour, and save me.

Kontakion of Prophet Job

Plagal of the Fourth Tone

Thou wast shown forth as blameless, true, God-fearing, just, and sanctified, O thou much-suffering Prophet, all-glorious servant of God, most righteous Job; by thy valiant endurance and thy patience thou gavest instruction to the world. For this cause we all honour and praise thine all-holy memory.

Source: oca.org / goarch.org / westserbdio.org