Forefather Forefather Seth

Seth was the third son of Adam and Eve, born, according to Genesis (4:25; 5:3), after Cain killed Abel. His name is interpreted as "granted" or "appointed": Eve regarded his birth as a sign that God had "appointed her another seed instead of Abel." Seth lived 912 years and became the forefather of the godly line of Adam's descendants, set against the ungodly line of Cain; it was in the days of his son Enosh that "men began to call upon the name of the Lord" (Genesis 4:26).

Through Seth descends the entire chain of Old Testament righteous ones — Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah, and ultimately Abraham; the Evangelist Luke includes Seth in the genealogy of Christ (Luke 3:38), tracing it through him back to Adam and to God.

In patristic tradition Seth is venerated as the one who continued Adam's godly life, a teacher of piety to his descendants, and a type of righteous humanity that preserved the true faith before the Flood. The Church numbers Seth among the Old Testament forefathers and commemorates him not on a fixed day but as part of the movable feast of the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers.