Righteous Esther

Righteous Esther, born Hadassah, was a Jewish orphan raised by her cousin (and adoptive father) Mordecai in Susa, the Persian capital, during the Babylonian exile. When King Ahasuerus (Xerxes/Artaxerxes) deposed Queen Vashti and sought a new consort among the maidens of the kingdom, Esther was chosen and became queen, concealing her Jewish origin at Mordecai's counsel. The king's chief courtier, Haman the Agagite, secured a royal decree to exterminate all Jews in the empire after Mordecai refused to bow to him. Mordecai persuaded Esther to intercede for her people despite the mortal danger of approaching the king unsummoned. Esther fasted, then appeared before Ahasuerus and, through a series of banquets, exposed Haman's treachery; Haman was hanged on the very gallows he had built for Mordecai, and the decree against the Jews was reversed by a counter-decree. This deliverance is commemorated by the Jewish feast of Purim. Esther is venerated by the Church as a righteous woman who lived in the world according to God's commandments, showing courageous intercession for her people; together with the other Old Testament forefathers and foremothers she is commemorated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers preceding the Nativity of Christ.