The Prophet Enoch + Commemorated on December 15 (The Sunday of the Forefathers - the second Sunday before Christmas)
The Patriarch Enoch is the son of Jared, the great-great-great-great grandson of Adam, and the father of Methuselah. He is not to be confused with Enoch the son of Cain
Enoch did not taste death. He lived 365 years and then ascended into Heaven, since it is written "for God took him" (Gen. 5:24).
The New Testament contains three references to Enoch. The first is a brief mention in one of the genealogies of the ancestors of Jesus by Luke (Luke 3:37). The second mention is in Hebrews 11:5 which says, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." This suggests he did not experience the mortal death ascribed to Adam's other descendants which is consistent with Genesis 5:24, which says, "And Enoch walked with God: and he [was] not; for God took him."
The third mention is in the Epistle of Jude (1:14-15) where the author attributes to "Enoch, the Seventh from Adam" a passage unknown in the Old Testament. The quotation is believed by most modern scholars to be taken from 1 Enoch 1:9 which exists in Greek, in Ethiopic as part of the Ethiopian Orthodox canon and also in Aramaic among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church includes the Book of Enoch in their canons. This text describes Enoch's ascent into heaven. This book is not accepted in the Eastern Orthodox Canon but is considered as an apocryphal text. According to prophecies of the holy Fathers, God will send Elijah and Enoch before coming of the Antichrist to bear witness for Christ on the earth and to strengthen the faithful.
+
The Sunday that falls between December 11-17 is known as the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers. These are the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, who lived before the Law and under the Law, especially the Patriarch Abraham, to whom God said, “In thy seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3, 22:18).
Troparion — Tone 2
By faith You justified the Forefathers, when through them You betrothed Yourself beforehand to the Church of the Gentiles. The saints boast in glory, that from their seed there is a glorious fruit: she who bore You without seed. By their prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.
Kontakion — Tone 6
You did not worship the graven image, O thrice-blessed youths, but shielded by the ineffable Essence, you were glorified in your trial by fire. In the midst of the unbearable fire you called upon God, crying: "Hasten, O compassionate One. and in Your mercy, come to our aid, for You can do so if You will."
+
By the hand of Petros Angelis
