Changes

Our father among the saints [[saint]]s '''Job''' ( + 1607) was the first [[Patriarch]] of Moscow and All Russia. He is commemorated by the Church on [[June 19]] and [[April 5]].

St Job was born into the family of pious tradesmen in Staritsa near Tver in the 1530s. His baptismal [[baptism]]al name was John. As a teenager, John knew most of the [[Bible|biblical ]] texts by heart and strove to become a [[monk]]. His father, however, insisted on his [[marriage]]. Once, John asked his father's permission to see his confessor in the Uspensky [[Monastery]] in their native town of Staritsa (Tver Oblast). Upon his arrival, John immediately took [[monasticism|monastic ]] vows and assumed the name of Job. He spent fifteen years in the cloister and finally became its [[abbot]] in 1566 with the help of [[Ivan IV of Russia|Ivan the Terrible]], who had made Staritsa his residence in times of the Oprichnina(secret police).

In 1571, Job was transferred to Moscow and appointed abbot of the [[Simonov Monastery(Moscow)|Simonov Monastery]]. In 1575, he became the abbot of the Novospassky Monastery. In 1581, Job was appointed [[bishop]] of Kolomna.

Realizing the necessity of strengthening the [[ecclesiology|ecclesiastic]] authority in [[Church of Russia|Russia]], Godunov managed to persuade the [[Patriarch]] of [[Constantinople]] [[Jeremias II Tranos of Constantinople|Jeremias II]] to establish a [[patriarchate]] in Russia. On [[January 26]], 1589, Job was elected the first Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. He exercised all his influence and played a major part in Boris Godunov's ascending to the Russian throne.

Job did not approve, however, Godunov's proposal to open a university in Moscow with foreign professors because he believed their influence and non-[[Orthodoxy|Orthodox]] faith would cause "heterodoxy" and endanger the authority of the Russian Church. Under Job's supervision, the Russians corrected books for [[Liturgy|divine service]] and prepared them for publishing.

He assisted in glorification of some of the Russian [[saint]]s, ordering the celebration of the memory of [[Basil the Blessed|Basil Fool for Christ]] in 1588, as well as that of Joseph Volotsky and others. Job also favored the construction of new [[cathedral]]s and monasteries and Christian missionary activities in the recently conquered Astrakhan Khanate and Siberia. After the mysterious death of tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich in 1591, Jove accepted the non-criminal noncriminal version of his demise, supporting Boris Godunov every step of the way.

Job was known as a harsh critic of False Dmitriy I , and he tried to persuade the people of Moscow to remain loyal to the deceased tsar. The armed supporters of the impostor burst into the Cathedral of the Dormition , and a boyar named P.F.Basmanov declared Job a traitor. Job was sent into exile to his monastery in Staritsa, where he went completely blind and finally died a very sick man in 1607.

In 1652, Job's [[relicrelics]]s were transferred to the Cathedral of the [[Dormition Cathedral (Moscow Kremlin)|Dormition ]] of the Moscow Kremlin, where they remain to this day. Patriarch Job was [[canonisationcanonization|glorified]] as a [[saint]] by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1989.