Feast of our righteous forefathers: Abreham, Isaac and Jacob
We have received as an inheritance from the early fathers and doctors of the Church, who were strong in the grace of the Holy Spirit, an order to celebrate the festival of our holy fathers, the patriarchs, our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Father Abraham
As concerning our father Abraham, the head of the fathers, who among the children of men has the ability to describe the virtues and righteousness of this man, who became the father of many nations? He believed on God, blessed be His Name! and was obedient unto Him. He had confidence in the promise of God until he died, and he never doubted in the smallest degree any of the promises of God. At the beginning the angel of God appeared unto him in a vision by night when he was on the island, and said unto him, “Get thee out from thy city, and from thy father’s house, and come unto the land which I will show thee, that is to say the land of Karan (Harran), that thou may dwell therein”; he came to the land of Karan (Harran), which country God showed him.
When his parents died God removed him again to the land of Palestine, and He promised him that he should inherit it; He had confidence in God’s promise until he died and his heart remained unshaken and free from doubt. Moreover, he knew, and believed, that God would give that land to his seed after him. After that God appeared unto him at midday in the form of a man, as he thought, and with Him were two angels, and Abraham thought they were like to all the other men who used to pass along the road every day. He made a meal for them, and God gave him the promise concerning Isaac his son, one year before he got him. Now, at that time the days of Abraham were one hundred years, and his wife Sarah was far advanced in her days. Abraham believed God, and doubted not, and when he got Isaac, God commanded him to circumcise him on the eighth day, on which day he circumcised his son.
Having faith, according to his confidence, there came to him the seed which God promised him. God said to him, “Offer up as a sacrifice to Me thy son Isaac, on the mountain which I will show thee, and that place was Golgotha, where the body of our father Adam was buried,” He neither doubted nor hesitated at the word of God. He took Isaac and laid him on the altar. He knew that God was able to take Isaac away, and yet that Isaac should be to him a seed. Having completed the sacrifice of Isaac in his mind, though not in deed, God showed Abraham’s righteousness and virtues to all succeeding generations. Then the angel of God called him, and told him not to stretch out his hands over the young man, and do him no harm whatsoever. God said to him, “Behold, it is manifest that thou love Me, for you have not spared thy beloved son for My sake. Therefore, I will bless thee with blessing, and I will multiply thee in great number. I will make your seed like the stars of heaven, and like the sand of the sea-shore.” It was even so, and God revealed Abraham’s work from that time and forever. The report of him and his name were heard in all the ends of the earth. It is evident why he was called the “Father of Christ” in the flesh, for He appeared from his seed.
The spiritual fighting of this father, his virtues, his righteousness, his mercy, and his gifts, which were many, were very great. He did not eat every day, but only when travelers came to him and sat at his table. It is evident from this that he sat with God and His angels before he knew Him, though afterwards he knew them. Tribulation and great sorrow came upon him in his days, for he was separated from his father, and from his kinsfolk. he was a wonderer on the earth. After arriving in the land of Egypt, he was afraid of the infidels in the days of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. When Pharaoh, King of Egypt, heard the report of Sarah, he called Abraham and asked him, saying, “Who is this woman who is with thee?” Abraham said, “She is my sister,” Pharaoh took her from him. That night a terrifying angel appeared to Pharaoh, and wanted to kill him. He commanded Pharaoh to send back Sarah to her husband, and said that if he would not do so he would destroy him. Whilst the morning was come Pharaoh called Abraham and said to him, “Why did you say to me ‘This woman is my sister.’ She is thy wife”; He gave her back to him, with gifts, much money, and Hagar her handmaiden also. When Abraham arrived at the age of one hundred and forty-five years, he departed to God, whom he loved. He inherited the Garden of Delight and everlasting life. He left a memorial for good behind him unto the end of the world.
Father Isaac
Our fathers of the Church have commanded us to celebrate the festival of the departure of Abba Isaac, the son of Abraham, the patriarch. This righteous man was produced through the proclamation of God and His angels, by Abraham his father, and Sarah his mother. He finished his fight, and the work of righteousness. He was subject to God, the Most High, and to his father Abraham. It pleased his father to offer him up as a sacrifice to God, but God redeemed him by a goat. We know not whether we are to wonder more at the willingness of his father Abraham to slay him, the child of promise, whom God gave him by Sarah when he was far advanced in years (now God said unto Abraham, “There shall be to your seed,” and yet he spared not Isaac, through natural affection, because of his love for God, the Most High), or whether we are to wonder (and we know not which is more wonderful) at the subjection of this father Isaac, and his consenting to his father Abraham, even to his slaying him and burning him in the fire.
Now Isaac was a child, for the Book of the Law said that his father made him carry the wood to a place afar off, to the top of a mountain, but the Book of the Chronicle of Days said that at that time the days of Isaac were seven and thirty years. This father Isaac submitted to his father Abraham, and he stretched out his neck to the slaughtering knife. The voice of the angel of God came and said to him, “Stretch not out thy hand upon him, and do nothing evil to him.” As his father Abraham was called the “Sacrificer” of his son in his mind, even so was this father Isaac called the “Sacrifice” in his mind. Great tribulation and much sorrow came upon him in his days, and he was a stranger to his country. Abimelech took his wife from him, and when God was wroth with him because of it, he gave her back to him, together with much money and gifts. This father was exceedingly simple in disposition, for the Book of the Law said that when the shepherds quarreled together about a well of water, this father left them, and went and dug other wells. He begot two sons, Esau and Jacob, and he loved Esau because of his strength and might.
When he was far advanced in days, and his eyes were feeble, he called his son Esau and said to him, “I have become old, O my son, go and hunt the wild animals of the desert, so that I may eat, and my soul shall bless thee.” Esau took his weapons, and went out into the desert. Rebecca called Jacob and said to him, “O my son, rise up and kill one of your goats quickly, take it to thy father so that he may eat and bless thee before he death.” Jacob said to her, “I am afraid lest he shall know that I am Jacob, and lest he be angry with me, for though I want to receive his blessing, a curse may come upon me instead of a blessing.” She answered and said to him, “Let your curse be upon me, O my son.” This took place through her by the command of God. Jacob did as his mother commanded him, and he offered food to his father, and he ate and blessed him. This father Abba Isaac arrived at the age of one hundred and eighty years, and he died in peace, and was buried in the grave of his father Abraham, which he bought from the sons of ‘Emor and in which Sarah was buried.
Father Jacob
Holy Church also have commanded us to celebrate the festival of the departure of Jacob the patriarch whom God called “Israel.” This righteous man followed the examples of his father’s Abraham and Isaac in mercy, in giving alms, and in sincerity and humility. His brother Esau hated him because he forestalled him, and bought from him his rights as the firstborn with a meal of lentils; now Esau was the firstborn, and Jacob acted craftily towards him, and received the blessing from his father Isaac. When Esau threatened to kill Jacob, his father Isaac advised him to go to the father of his mother’s brother, and so he went there. He then was betrothed to the daughter of his mother’s brother, and he tended his flocks for seven years, and he married her.
Then he was betrothed to the second daughter of his mother’s brother, served him for seven years, and also married her. His mother’s brother gave him a portion of his flocks, and it came to pass that when he said unto Jacob, “Let your wages be the sheep which are all of one color,” the ewes brought forth only lambs which were all one color. When he said to Jacob, “Let your wages be the sheep which are spotted all over; thus his wages were doubled, and he had many possessions. He returned to the land of his father, and he begot twelve sons. He saw the vision of a ladder on the earth which reached to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. When he woke up he said, “This is the house of God, and the door of heaven”; That place became the Sanctuary in the city of Jerusalem wherein was to be buried the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
After this he saw a second vision, and it seemed as if God were contending with him, and He caused his hip to be benumbed and He called him “Israel”; because of this the Jews do not eat the muscles of the hip. In his days came great tribulation and much sorrow. First of all his sons sold his son Joseph as a slave to the Egyptians. Their father asked them, saying, “Where is your brother Joseph?” They said to him, “The wild beasts have devoured him”; and because of his excessive weeping Jacob’s eyes became blind. Then, there came a great famine in those days, and they found nothing to eat. At length Jacob sent his sons into the land of Egypt to buy grain. They came to Joseph their brother, who had become steward to the King of Egypt, and he knew that they were his brothers, but they did not know that he was their brother Joseph. Joseph made a pretence to them, and said to them, “Depart and invite your father Jacob to come hither.” They invited Jacob, and he came to the land of Egypt and dwelt there for seventeen years. When the time of his death had drawn nigh, he called his twelve sons, and blessed them. He gave Judah sovereignty and made it known that Christ should appear from him, and he blessed him with many words, saying, “The scepter of sovereignty shall not come to an end in Judah, and the rule shall not depart from before his hand until He, to Whom sovereignty belong, shall come, Him for Whom the nations wait.”
After he had blessed him, Joseph brought to him his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, so that he might bless them, and he made the sign over their heads. He laid his right hand upon the head of the younger, and his left hand on the head of the elder. He made his hand to take the form of the Cross, indicating that the firstborn should be abased at the appearance of the Cross. He reached the age of one hundred and forty-six years. He died with the hands of Joseph resting on his eyes. Jacob commanded him to bury him in the grave of his fathers. Joseph mourned for him with a great mourning, and the Egyptians with him. Then he carried him on the chariots of Pharaoh. There were the great nobles of the chariots of Pharaoh and the great nobles of the Egyptians with him. They brought him to the land of Canaan and buried him with his fathers.
Mat their intercession and blessing be with us, Amen!
Source: The Ethiopian Synaxarium pages 723-726