Holy Forefather Jacob.

He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother Esau, Jacob's paternal grandparents are Abraham and Sarah and his maternal grandfather is Bethuel, whose wife is not mentioned.

He is said to have bought Esau's birthright and, with his mother's help, deceived his aging father to bless him instead of Esau. This episode, while revealing Jacob's cunning nature, was part of God's providential plan to establish the covenant line through him rather than through Esau.

Jacob has a dream in which God confirms Jacob as the recipient of the Abrahamic covenant, blessing, and promise—of descendants, land, and divine presence/relationship. This message is accompanied by a vision of a Ladder to Heaven with angels descending and ascending on it. The ladder which Jacob saw is symbolic of the Theotokos, by whom the Lord Jesus Christ would be born and through whom all people would be blessed forever. She became the link connecting heaven and earth, to make possible the condescension and incarnation of the Word of God and His ascension again as God-man.

He saw God face to face and wrestled with him until the breaking of day, and God called him Israel. He had 12 sons and received from an angel of the Lord the name Israel, which means "Warrior of God". This renaming marked the culmination of Jacob's spiritual transformation from supplanter to one who struggles victoriously with God.

He suffered many sorrows and tribulations, such as the selling of Joseph his son as a servant to the Egyptians, the loss of his sight, the severe famine, and others as mentioned in the Holy Bible. His son Joseph then rose to power and became the second man in Egypt after the Pharaoh, and he tried until he was able to bring his father Jacob to Egypt, where he stayed for seventeen years. When his departure drew near he called his twelve sons and blessed them. When he blessed Judah, he said, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people." This blessing is understood as a messianic prophecy fulfilled in Christ.

Jacob's legacy is foundational to both Jewish and Christian identity. Jacob is regarded as a key patriarch because his progeny establish the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Like his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham, the Patriarch Jacob is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as a model of faithfulness and patient waiting for God's Salvation.

On August 21/September 3, the Church commemorates the Old Testament Patriarchs and Forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are commemorated on the Sunday of the Forefathers, two Sundays before Christmas. They are commemorated on the Sunday of the Forefathers, two Sundays before Christmas. In the Orthodox tradition, Jacob's ladder and his wrestling with the angel remain powerful symbols of spiritual ascent and the soul's struggle to attain communion with God.

Holy Forefather Jacob is one of the three great patriarchs of Old Testament Israel, venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church as a righteous forefather and ancestor of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Jacob, also called Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch who is considered the traditional ancestor of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. In the Hebrew Bible he is the grandson of Abraham and Sarah and the son of Isaac and Rebekah. After dying in Egypt at the age of 147, he is supposed to have been buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron.

Jacob's life was marked by a series of profound encounters with God that transformed his character and destiny. The most noteworthy episodes in his life include his birth along with his twin Esau, his acquisition of the birthright from his father, his vision in a dream of a ladder to heaven, his labors to obtain marriages with Rachel and Leah, his supernatural wrestling encounter, and his role in the story of his son Joseph. He returned with his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and God blessed him with twelve sons.

In Orthodox theological understanding, Jacob's experiences carry profound spiritual significance. The Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite see Jacob's dream as a prophecy of the incarnation of the Logos, whereby Jacob's ladder is understood as a symbol of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), who, according to Eastern Orthodox theology, united heaven and earth in her womb. The angel with whom he wrestled changed his name to Israel, which Philo interpreted as "the one who sees God". The name Jacob he interpreted as "athlete" in the sense of "ascetic", one who strives actively to renounce the pleasures of earthly life in order to win God.