From Ur to the Land of Canaan
Abraham originated in Ur of the Chaldees. His father, Terah (also rendered Thare), brought him along with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot from Ur to Haran, where the family settled until Terah's death at the age of 205.
At God's call, Abram set out with Sarai, Lot, and his possessions into the land of Canaan. He journeyed through the land, building altars at Sichem (Shechem) and Bethel. During a famine he traveled into Egypt, where, fearing for his life, he claimed that Sarai was his sister; Pharaoh took her into his household but, on discovering the truth, returned her unharmed.
Abraham and Lot eventually separated because of conflict between their herdsmen: Abram settled near Hebron in the plain of Mamre, while Lot moved toward Sodom. When Elamite forces captured Lot, Abraham gathered his men and rescued him.
The Covenant, the Children, and the Testing
God established a covenant with Abraham, promising that his seed would be as the stars of heaven and that he would possess the land of Canaan. When Sarai remained childless, she gave her Egyptian handmaid Hagar to Abraham, and Hagar bore Ishmael when Abraham was 86.
At the age of 99, God renamed Abram as Abraham, meaning 'father of a multitude,' established the covenant of circumcision, renamed Sarai as Sarah, and promised that she herself would bear a son despite her advanced age. Abraham received a visit from three divine messengers near the oak of Mamre who foretold the birth of Isaac. Isaac was born to Sarah when Abraham was 100, and Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day. Sarah, jealous of Ishmael, had Hagar and her son sent away into the wilderness.
God tested Abraham's faith by commanding him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice in the land of Moriah. As Abraham raised his hand to carry out the command, an angel from heaven stayed him, and a ram was found caught in a thicket and offered in Isaac's place; the angel renewed the promises of Abraham's posterity. This event is read in the Orthodox Church as a foreshadowing of redemption and stands as the supreme image of Abraham's obedience.
Death and Burial
Sarah died at the age of 127 and was buried in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre. Abraham later married Keturah, by whom he had further children.
Abraham died at the age of 175 and was buried by his sons Isaac and Ishmael in the same cave of Machpelah. (Some sources record his age at death as 170; the burial at Machpelah is consistent across the accounts.)
Commemoration and Liturgical Memory
The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates the Righteous Forefather Abraham on October 9 (October 22 on the Julian Calendar), together with his nephew the Righteous Lot, who is regarded as the progenitor of the Moabites and the Ammonites and was himself counted a righteous man living in Sodom.
Abraham is also remembered on the Sunday of the Forefathers, two Sundays before the Nativity, among the ancestors of Jesus Christ. He is invoked in Orthodox prayers for newly married couples and is named in the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great.
