Holy Prophet Job
Happy is the man who becomes wise – who comes to have understanding (Proverbs 3:13).
We live today in a society where husbands and wives,
mothers and fathers, have been torn from their roots, ripped from
time-honored and theologically-sanctioned values about what it is to be a
man, a woman, a family. The old values and roles, so easily nurtured
in a largely agrarian and patriarchal society, now seem almost
impossible to live in our industrialized cities. The healthy
psychological bonding that used to occur naturally between mothers and
daughters, fathers and sons, is now a rare experience.
As if this were not a difficult enough burden for the
spiritually-minded to bear, we are also now inundated by strange and
sometimes aberrant notions about sexuality and role models. We live in a
culture of increasing “unisex,” perversion, and immorality – on the
job, at home, and sometimes even in the church.
The “women’s liberation movement” was originally an
understandable reaction to irresponsible, heavy-handed, arrogant and
insensitive men; but instead of raising the conscience and morality of
men to the traditional nurturing and moral level of women, it had the
effect of bringing women down to the more animal level of men’s
behavior, while at the same time shattering the “male myth” without
giving in its place a proper sense of what it is to be a man – or, for
our purposes, what it is to be an Orthodox Christian man.
An extraordinarily relevant model for the Orthodox man
today is the Holy Prophet Job in the Old Testament. Indeed, here was a
man “after God’s own heart.” His life gives evidence of certain manly
characteristics by which the Orthodox man can, and should, measure
himself today – providing a program of spiritual growth and struggle
that is without equal.
We think of St. Job primarily in the context of his
trial of faith and the afflictions of his life, for which reason the
Orthodox call him “The Much-suffering.” We forget that he persevered to
the end and found victory over his troubles. We seldom realize that in
order to obtain this victory, he needed certain qualities of character
and soul – the qualities of a true and godly man.
What are those qualities?
He was a man who did not forget God and God’s loving care for him, no matter how terrible the present affliction: God was always with me and the friendship of God protected my home (Job 29:3-4).
The Orthodox man strives never to forget God and His
blessings whether in the past or in the present, and he gives this same
example to his wife and children, especially in times of trial.
The Prophet loved his children and missed them sorely
when he was in exile. He did not see them as an irritating intrusion
into his own “lifestyle.” He rose early to pray and make sacrifice for
them, in order to purify them in case they had sinned. The Orthodox man
prays ardently for his children – both for wisdom in guiding them
aright, and for God’s blessing and grace on them. This is also a model
for a priest, who has many spiritual children.
St. Job was just and fair, both with his children and
with those for whom he had responsibility outside his family. In the
same way, an Orthodox man is a model of justice and even-handedness for
his own children, tempering justice with mercy.
The Prophet Job received respect from old and young.
Orthodox men show respect to their elders, both in the family and at
work, but especially in the Church, and they earn the respect of their
wives and children, doing nothing to kill this respect or to scandalize
them.
The Saint was stable, like a tree whose roots always
have water. An Orthodox man consciously strives to avoid the
restlessness of our mobile society, recognizing the need for children to
have a secure sense of place and stability in their lives.
St. Job was a seeker after God and wisdom: The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
An Orthodox man also strives to serenely rest in God’s providence,
keeping lively his commitment to the Orthodox Faith, and modeling this
for his family according to his strength.
Because of all these spiritual characteristics, St.
Job was able to endure terrible suffering and affliction, as a result of
which the Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life even more than he
had blessed the first. Here, then, is a real example for today’s men,
who are often tempted to retreat into passive self-centeredness in the
face of difficulty and temptation, who are too ready (and encouraged by
society to do so) to jettison job, wife, and children at the slightest
whim or difficulty. Here, then, is a Saint who can inspire in
contemporary man a real manhood rather than a fake masculinity.
Always obey the Lord and you will be happy. If you are stubborn, you will be ruined (Proverbs 28:14).
Father Alexey Young
