Enosh

The righteous Enosh (in Romanian Enos) was the son of Seth and grandson of Adam and Eve. In his time, according to Scripture, men began to call upon the name of the Lord. His story is in the Book of Genesis and in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke. The Church honours him as a righteous man and a forefather of the Lord.

In Scripture

The name Enosh means "man," "mortal." The Book of Genesis (4:26) says: "To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord." The Hebrew text and that of the Septuagint differ in the ages; in both, Enosh lived nine hundred and five years. According to the Hebrew text, Seth was a hundred and five when Enosh was born, and Enosh was ninety when he fathered Kenan. According to the Septuagint these ages are a hundred more: Seth was two hundred and five, and Enosh a hundred and ninety. Enosh had other sons and daughters as well (Genesis 5:6-11). The Gospel of Luke (3:38) names him in the line of the ancestors of the Lord: "the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God." His name also appears in Chronicles (1 Chronicles 1:1).

The calling on the name of the Lord

The words about calling on the name of the Lord have been interpreted in several ways. Some Fathers saw in them the beginning of public worship, of common prayer, at a time when the descendants of Cain built cities and drew away from God, while the descendants of Seth, later called "sons of God," kept the faith. Saint John Chrysostom and other Fathers say that the line of Seth, beginning with Enosh, lived in piety. Others interpret that Enosh hoped in the Lord. In Jewish tradition it is also said that in his time idolatry began, because men began to give the name of God to creatures. Opinions are thus different, and Scripture says only a few words.

Veneration

The Orthodox Church commemorates him among the ancestors of the Lord, on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, before the Nativity of the Lord. No details are preserved of his life, death or tomb. Jewish and Islamic tradition also mention him. Through Enosh the line of believers from whom the Lord was born runs from Adam to Noah, to Abraham and to David.