Righteous Old Testament

Righteous Jesus son of Sirach

Also known as Jesus ben Sira · Sirach · Ecclesiasticus

The wisdom teacher of Jerusalem who composed the book of Ecclesiasticus (the Wisdom of Sirach).

Feast Day

December 14

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Commemorated as

The Holy and Righteous Jesus, Son of Sirach

Life

Jesus, son of Sirach, was a Jewish scribe and sage of Jerusalem in the early second century before Christ, remembered as the author of the wisdom book known as the Wisdom of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus. The Orthodox Church numbers him among the Holy Forefathers, the righteous of the Old Testament who lived before and under the Law in expectation of the coming of Christ.

His Hebrew name is preserved in later manuscripts as Shimon, son of Yeshua (Jesus), son of Eleazar ben Sira. The little that can be said of his life is drawn chiefly from his own book: he was a scholar thoroughly versed in the Law and in the wisdom traditions of Israel, and he is remembered as a teacher who established a school. The Greek text reports that he traveled widely and was often in danger, though it gives no detail of those journeys.

In his own words Read Hide

All wisdom cometh from the Lord, and is with him for ever.

Wisdom of Sirach, 1:1 · King James Version (PD)

Contributions & Legacy

2 contributions Read Hide

The Wisdom of Sirach

His book is a collection of ethical and religious teaching, composed in Hebrew around 180 BC in Jerusalem. Because the author refers to the high priest Simon, son of Onias, in the past tense, and makes no mention of the upheavals that followed under the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, scholars place its composition between roughly 196 and 175 BC. Unlike the Book of Proverbs, which gathers sayings from many hands, the Wisdom of Sirach is presented as the work of a single author who signed his name to it.

The book treats wisdom as inseparable from the fear of the Lord and from faithfulness to the Law of Moses, joining practical counsel on conduct, speech, family, and society to its reverence for God. Its closing chapters, the Praise of the Fathers, celebrate the great ancestors of Israel from Enoch down to the high priest Simon, a survey of the righteous that resonates with the Church's own commemoration of the Forefathers.

Greek Translation and Reception

The book was carried beyond Hebrew-speaking circles by the author's grandson, who translated it into Greek in Egypt. In his prologue he records that he came to Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Euergetes, a date placed around 132 BC, and the translation was completed in the years that followed. This Greek version was preserved within the Septuagint and circulated widely throughout the early Church.

Early Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen cited the book as Scripture. It is received among the Anagignoskomena, the books read in the Orthodox Church alongside the Hebrew canon, and is likewise accepted by the Roman Catholic and other ancient Christian communions. For this enduring place in the life of the Church, its author is honored among the righteous ancestors who prepared the way for Christ.

Works & Further Reading Read Hide

Notable Works

Wisdom of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)

Notes

Among the Holy Forefathers, commemorated on the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ. Author of the deuterocanonical Wisdom of Sirach.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints