Asa was the third king of the Kingdom of Judah, remembered in the scriptural account for purging his realm of idolatry and for trusting in God when confronted by an overwhelming army. He succeeded his father Abijah and was in turn succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat, standing within the Davidic dynastic line traced in the Gospel of Matthew as an ancestor of Christ according to the flesh (Matthew 1:7-8).
In the Orthodox Church Asa is numbered among the Holy Forefathers, the Old Testament ancestors of Christ commemorated together on the Sunday before the Nativity. His individual veneration is not clearly attested; he is honored chiefly within this collective remembrance of the kings and forefathers of Israel.
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LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power.
Early reignReforms and purging of idolatryEncouraged by the prophet Azariah son of Oded to keep the Mosaic law, Asa removed foreign religions and idols from Judah. He deposed even his own grandmother Maacah, the queen mother, for her worship of Asherah and for making an Asherah pole. By his fifteenth year the reform was complete and marked by a great assembly at the Temple in Jerusalem.
Tenth year of his reignVictory over ZerahAsa defeated the Ethiopian (Cushite) chieftain Zerah, who advanced against Judah with a far larger host. The scriptural narrative presents the victory as the fruit of Asa's reliance on God rather than on the strength of his own smaller army.
Thirty-sixth year of his reignAlliance with Aram and the rebuke of HananiWhen Baasha of Israel attacked Judah and fortified Ramah near Jerusalem, Asa bribed Ben-Hadad I of Aram-Damascus to break his treaty with Baasha, forcing Baasha's withdrawal. The prophet Hanani rebuked Asa for relying on the king of Syria instead of on divine help; Asa imprisoned the prophet and oppressed some of the people.
Final yearsIllness and deathIn his thirty-ninth year Asa fell ill with a severe disease in his feet but sought the help of physicians rather than the Lord (2 Chronicles 16:12). He made his son Jehoshaphat coregent, died about two years later, and was buried in Jerusalem in a grave he had prepared for himself.
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Among the Holy Forefathers
The Sunday of the Holy Forefathers is kept on the Sunday that falls between December 11 and 17, the second Sunday before the Nativity, within the Nativity Fast. It honors the Old Testament ancestors of Christ together: the patriarchs and matriarchs, the prophets, and the kings of Judah of the Davidic line, emphasizing those who lived before the Law and under the Law and the promise given to Abraham, that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
The liturgical focus of the day rests on the genealogy of Christ according to the flesh and on the faithfulness of the forefathers that prepared the way for the Incarnation. These ancestors and mothers are venerated as a collective body rather than through separate individual commemorations, and it is within this shared remembrance that King Asa is honored as a forebear of Christ.
Among the Holy Forefathers, commemorated on the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ. Ancestor of Christ (Matt 1:7-8). Individual veneration is not clearly attested; flagged for clergy review.
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints
