Job the Hermit of Rasca

Job was a hermit of the sixteenth century, a monk of Rașca Monastery, teacher and guide of Archbishop John the Saint of Rașca. He is named in the Romanian Paterikon and venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization; the sources available to us give no day of commemoration.

He struggled first in the Rașca community, surpassing all in obedience and zeal. Then he became a disciple of a known hermit of the nearby Pleșu Mountain and lived in the wilderness for almost thirty years. In a short time he became the most renowned hermit around Rașca, a teacher of prayer, a guide of souls and a father to many hermits.

The Paterikon says he foretold the devastation of Rașca Monastery and the dispersal of the monks, which took place in 1574, when the Turks plundered the monasteries and villages of Moldavia, including the treasures of Rașca. Then all the monks, among them John of Rașca, withdrew into the mountain to Job and struggled together for some years, enduring many dangers, until the land grew quiet. Archbishop John the Saint often came to him for a word of benefit and did many things according to his counsel.

Job passed to eternal rest toward the end of the sixteenth century and was buried by his disciples in the wilderness, in a place still called Job's Clearing, popularly Iova.