May 19 / May 6

The Holy, Righteous and Long-suffering Job

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 pot- sherd scraped 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.

The Holy Martyr Barbarus

Barbarus was a soldier during the reign of Julian the Apostate. When the emperor’s commander Bacchus led the Roman army against the Franks, Barbarus, who was secretly a Christian, was serving in the army. In battle there appeared a certain hero on the side of the Franks, similar to Goliath of old, and he challenged the Romans to send one of their men to come out to do battle. Commander Bacchus advised Barbarus to go. Barbarus prayed in his heart to the Living Lord, went out and defeated that giant. As a result, the Frankish army became confused and fled. Then the commander prepared a great celebration and ordered that sacrifices be offered to the idols. But during the sacrificial offerings, the commander learned that Barbarus was keeping himself apart. When asked why, Barbarus declared that he was a Christian. The commander informed the emperor, and the emperor ordered that Barbarus be subjected to the most severe tortures. But Barbarus endured all with rare courage and composure. During his tortures many miracles occurred, and many soldiers who witnessed this accepted the Christian Faith. Among them was the Commander Bacchus along with Callimachus and Dionysius. All three were beheaded for the name of Christ, and after them Barbarus was also beheaded in the year Their souls took up their habitation in the Kingdom of Christ the Immortal King.

Saint Barbarus the Robber, in Epirus (9th c.)

After having committed many crimes, Barbarus repented and first condemned himself to crawl on all fours for three years and to eat with dogs. He then lived twelve years in the forest without clothes, a roof or food except grass and leaves. Angels revealed to him that his sins were forgiven. Some merchants, traveling through the forest, saw Barbarus from afar, thought that he was an animal and not a man, aimed their arrows at him, and pierced him. Dying, Barbarus begged them to inform the nearest priest about him. The priest arrived and buried him honorably. From his body flowed healing myrrh, which cured various diseases and pains of men.

• Edbert, bishop of Lindisfarne (698).
• Translation of the relics (1238) of Sava I of Serbia (1235).
• Venerable Sinaites of Serbia: Romilus of Ravanica, Romanus of Djunisa, Sisoes of Sinai and Sisojevac, Martyrius of Rukumije, Gregory of Gornjak, Zosimas of Tu- man, and Gregory of Sinai (Mt. Athos) (14th ).
• Micah (1385), disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
• Seraphim of Mt. Dombos (1602).
• Job, abbot and wonderworker of Pochaev (1651).
• Translation of the relics (1675) of Pachomius of Nerekhta (1384).
• (Greek : Martyrs Cyria, Caleria [Valeria], and Marcia, of Caesarea in Pales- tine [304]).

HYMN OF PRAISE

Job the Suffering Servant

Tell me, brother, what you are able to endure,
And I will tell you how much of a man you are.
Job the righteous, rich and all glorious,
Was thrown by Satan onto a dunghill,
And with festering and sores he was covered:
To both dogs and men, a horrifying sight!
Whatever he had, perished in a day,
Save for faith and patience.
But with the weapons of faith and patience
Job overcame terrible Satan.
God looked upon the uneven struggle,
And to the righteous one He imparted victory.
With victory He imparted all other riches,
And put the envious devil to shame.

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