Tobias is the central figure of the Book of Tobit, a son of the righteous Israelite Tobit of the tribe of Naphtali, who lived in exile at Nineveh in Assyria following the deportation of the northern kingdom. The book is preserved in the Septuagint and is reckoned among the deuterocanonical writings (the Anagignoskomena) received by the Eastern Orthodox Church; it is absent from the Jewish Masoretic Text, though fragmentary Aramaic and Hebrew copies were recovered at Qumran.
The narrative recounts how Tobit, blinded after a life devoted to almsgiving and to the burial of slain Israelites, sent Tobias on a journey to the distant city of Rhages in Media to recover silver he had deposited there. Unknown to Tobias, his appointed companion was the Archangel Raphael in human form, who guided him, secured his marriage to Sarah, and was the instrument of healing for both Tobit and Sarah. In the Eastern Orthodox calendar Tobias is numbered among the Holy Forefathers, the Old Testament ancestors and righteous commemorated in the weeks before the Nativity of Christ.
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Old Testament era (Assyrian captivity)Sent on the journey to MediaTobit, blind and aged, sent his son Tobias to the city of Rhages in Media to recover ten silver talents he had deposited with a kinsman. Tobias sought a guide and was joined by a companion who was, unknown to him, the Archangel Raphael in human disguise, presenting himself as the kinsman Azariah.
On the journeyThe fish in the riverTraveling toward Media, Tobias took a great fish from the river. At Raphael's instruction he kept its heart, liver, and gall, for the angel told him that the burnt heart and liver could drive out a demon and that the gall could cure blindness.
At EcbatanaMarriage to Sarah and the binding of AsmodeusTobias came to Sarah, a kinswoman afflicted by the demon Asmodeus, who had slain her seven previous suitors on their wedding nights. Following Raphael's counsel, Tobias burned the fish's heart and liver; the demon was driven off and bound by Raphael, and the marriage was safely consummated. Tobias inherited Sarah's substantial wealth.
Return to NinevehThe healing of Tobit and the revelation of RaphaelTobias and Sarah returned to Nineveh, where Tobias applied the fish's gall to his father's eyes and restored his sight. Raphael then disclosed his identity as one of the holy angels and ascended, having charged Tobit and Tobias to bless God, declare his deeds, pray, fast, and give alms.
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Place among the Anagignoskomena
The Book of Tobit comprises fourteen chapters and was probably composed originally in Aramaic, a conclusion supported by the four fragmentary Aramaic copies found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran. It is transmitted within the Septuagint and is received as deuterocanonical (Anagignoskomena, 'things that are read') by the Eastern Orthodox Church, and likewise by the Catholic and other ancient Christian traditions, while the Protestant reception classes it among the Apocrypha and the Jewish Masoretic Text omits it.
The book functioned as instruction for the Jewish diaspora, commending piety, almsgiving, fidelity to kin, and trust that God hears the prayers of the afflicted. Its account of Sarah's seven husbands is sometimes connected to the question put to Christ by the Sadducees concerning a woman married successively to seven brothers.
Commemoration among the Forefathers
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition Tobias is venerated as one of the Holy Forefathers, the Old Testament patriarchs, prophets, and righteous remembered in the preparation for the Nativity of Christ. The Sunday of the Holy Forefathers falls on the second Sunday before Christmas, between December 11 and 17, and commemorates the ancestors of Christ who lived before and under the Law as the spiritual lineage leading to the Incarnation.
Within this body of righteous figures Tobias is associated with his father Tobit and with the ministry of the Archangel Raphael, whose name signifies 'God heals.'
Notes
Among the Holy Forefathers, commemorated on the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ. From the Book of Tobit (Anagignoskomena).
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints
