The holy righteous Job lived 2000-1500 years before the Birth of Christ, in Northern Arabia, in the land of the Avetidians, in the land of the Uts. His life and sufferings are described in the Bible (The Book of Job). It is believed that Job was Abraham's nephew: he was the son of Abraham's brother Nahor. Job was a God-fearing and pious man. He was devoted to the Lord God with all his soul and acted according to His will in everything, avoiding all evil not only in deeds, but also in thoughts. The Lord blessed his earthly existence and endowed the righteous Job with great wealth: he had a lot of cattle and all kinds of possessions.
The seven sons of righteous Job and the three daughters were friendly with each other and gathered for a common meal all together in turn at each of them. Every seven days, the righteous Job offered sacrifices to God for his children, saying, "It may be that one of them has sinned or blasphemed God in his heart." For his justice and honesty, Saint Job was held in high esteem by his fellow citizens and had a great influence on public affairs.
One day, when the Holy Angels appeared before the Throne of God, Satan appeared between them. The Lord God asked Satan if he had seen His servant Job, a righteous man and free from all vice. Satan boldly replied that it was not for nothing that Job was God-fearing - God protected him and multiplied his riches, but if misfortunes were sent upon him, he would cease to bless God. Then the Lord, wanting to show Job's patience and faith, said to Satan: "I place everything that Job has in your hands, but don't touch him." After that, Job suddenly lost all his wealth, and then all his children. The righteous Job turned to God and said: "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, naked I will return to my mother earth. The Lord gave, the Lord took. Blessed be the Name of the Lord!" And Job did not sin before the Lord God, nor did he utter a single foolish word.
When the Angels of God appeared before the Lord again, and Satan was among them, the devil said that Job was righteous as long as he was unharmed. Then the Lord announced: "I'll let you do whatever you want with him, just keep his soul safe." After that, Satan struck the righteous Job with a severe disease – leprosy, which covered him from head to toe. The sufferer was forced to move out of the society of people, sat outside the city on a pile of ashes and scraped his purulent wounds with a clay skull. All his friends and acquaintances left him. His wife was forced to earn her living by working and wandering from house to house. Not only did she not support her husband in patience, but she thought that God was punishing Job for some secret sins, wept, grumbled at God, rebuked her husband, and finally advised the righteous Job to blaspheme God and die. The righteous Job grieved greatly, but even in these sufferings he remained faithful to God. He replied to his wife, "You sound like one of the madmen. Are we really going to accept good things from God, and not accept evil?" And the righteous man has not sinned in any way before God.
After hearing about Job's misfortunes, his three friends came from afar to share his grief. They believed that Job was being punished by God for his sins, and they urged the innocent righteous man to repent. The righteous man replied that he was not suffering for his sins, but that these trials had been sent to him by the Lord according to a Divine will incomprehensible to man. The friends, however, did not believe and continued to believe that the Lord was dealing with Job according to the law of human retribution, punishing him for his sins. In severe spiritual sorrow, the righteous Job turned to God with prayer, asking Him to testify his innocence before them. Then God revealed Himself in a whirlwind and rebuked Job for trying to penetrate the mysteries of the universe and the destinies of God with his mind. The righteous man repented of these thoughts with all his heart and said: "I am insignificant, I renounce and repent in dust and ashes." Then the Lord commanded Job's friends to turn to him and ask him to sacrifice for them, "for," said the Lord, "I will accept only Job's face, so that I may not reject you because you have not spoken about Me as truly as My servant Job." Job offered a sacrifice to God and prayed for his friends, and the Lord accepted his intercession, and also restored the righteous Job to health and gave him twice as much as he had before. Instead of the dead children, Job had seven sons and three daughters, the most beautiful there was on earth. After suffering, Job lived for another 140 years (in total, he lived for 248 years) and saw his offspring until the fourth generation.
Saint Job models the Lord Jesus Christ, who descended to earth, suffered for the salvation of people, and then became famous for His glorious Resurrection.
"I know," said the righteous Job, stricken with leprosy, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day He will raise up my disintegrating skin from the dust, and I will see God in my flesh. I will see Him myself, my eyes, not the eyes of another, will see Him. My heart melts in my breast with this expectation!" (Job 19:25-27).
"Know that there is a judgment in which only he who has true wisdom, the fear of the Lord, and true understanding, the removal from evil, will be justified."
St. John Chrysostom says: "There is no human misfortune that this husband, the hardest of all adamants, would not have endured, having suddenly experienced hunger, poverty, illness, loss of children, and deprivation of wealth, and then, having experienced treachery from his wife, insults from friends, attacks from slaves, turned out to be firmer in everything. of every stone, and moreover before the Law and Grace."

The Church remembers the righteous Job the Long-suffering
19.05.2025, 06:00