Palestine
Cosmas Melodus
Cosmas was adopted by the father of St. John of Damascus, and educated by a monk also named Cosmas. Cosmas the younger became Bishop of Maļuma in 735. He is remembered for his poetry in hon... [more]
Eliezer
According to the Bible (Genesis 15:2-3) he was a servant of Abram/Abraham (traditionally ca. 1838-1613 BCE) and probably was adopted by him in accordance with a fairly common middle eastern... [more]
Ephraim and Manasseh
According to the Bible these two sons of the patriarch Joseph and his wife Asenath (daughter of the Egyptian priest Potiphera), were born during his period as governor of Egypt and before t... [more]
Esther
According to the Bible (Esther 2:7), she was orphaned and either adopted or fostered (scholars are unclear about how to interpret the text) by her uncle (or cousin), Mordecai. She is fam... [more]
Jesus Christ
According to the Biblical accounts and orthodox Christian tradition, Jesus was not the biological son of Joseph the Carpenter , but literally the son of God. He was referred to by his cont... [more]
Joseph the Carpenter
The genealogies given for St. Joseph in the Biblical gospels of Luke (chapter 3) and Matthew (chapter 1) appear to contradict each other. According to Matthew his father was Jacob, while... [more]
Mary the Virgin
According to tradition and the apocryphal Gospel of the Birth of Mary, she was placed in the Temple at Jerusalem by her parents at the age of three (see Oblates ) and stayed there until he... [more]
Moses
According to the Bible (Exodus 1-2) Moses was fostered or adopted after his mother, Jochebed, placed him in a basket on the Nile (compare Maui and Romulus and Remus ) to escape an edict ... [more]
Samuel
According to the Bible (1 Samuel 1-2) Samuel was the son of Elkanah and Hannah and was sent to live with the priest Eli in the Temple in Jerusalem when he was a toddler (see Oblates ). He ... [more]
