Shem

Holy Righteous Shem was the eldest son of Noah, forefather of a numerous people, and was kept safe in the ark with his wife and the rest of his household in the time of the flood.

The Book of Genesis says that Shem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood; afterwards he lived five hundred years and died at the age of six hundred, and, if the chronology of the time is reckoned rightly, he lived into the time of the birth of Isaac. His sons were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. The respect that Shem and Japheth showed their father brought them his blessing, while Ham, for his want of reverence, remained under a curse: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers. Blessed be the God of Shem." Christ Himself descended according to the flesh from this line, among which He spent all His earthly life and accomplished the work of our salvation.

The five sons of Shem settled the fairest lands of the East, and the languages of those peoples are still called Semitic, among them Hebrew, Chaldean, Syriac, Arabic and Ethiopic. The Holy Righteous Shem is commemorated on the Sundays before the Nativity: on 27 December, a movable date, on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, and on 3 January, a movable date, on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers, in the new style.