Old Testament era (c. 2000 B.C., by tradition)
Nephew of Abraham who lived in Sodom and was rescued before its destruction, remembered as righteous amid a corrupt city.
The Righteous Forefather Lot
Lot was the nephew of the patriarch Abraham and a figure of the Old Testament who is venerated in the Orthodox Church as a righteous forefather. According to Genesis, he was the son of Haran, grandson of Terah, and born in Ur of the Chaldees (in present-day Iraq). He accompanied Abraham on his migration from Ur toward Canaan and, during a famine, traveled with him into Egypt.
Lot is remembered above all as a righteous man who dwelt in the corrupt city of Sodom yet was rescued from its destruction. The New Testament (2 Peter 2:7-8) calls him righteous and describes him as vexed in his soul day by day by the lawless conduct of those around him. The Orthodox Church regards Lot as the progenitor of the Moabites and the Ammonites.
He is commemorated on October 9 together with the Righteous Forefather Abraham.
Lot was the son of Haran and grandson of Terah, making him the nephew of the patriarch Abraham (Abram). He is described as the progenitor of two peoples: through his sons Moab and Ben-Ammi he became the ancestor of the Moabites and the Ammonites respectively.
The Orthodox Church venerates Lot as a holy forefather, a progenitor among the patriarchs. His feast day is October 9, shared with the Righteous Forefather Abraham. The OCA listing notes that Abraham and his nephew Lot lived around 2000 B.C., describing Lot as a righteous man living in the midst of a corrupt city.
No separate act of glorification exists for Lot; as an Old Testament forefather he has been venerated since antiquity rather than formally glorified as a modern saint.
The New Testament gives Lot lasting prominence: 2 Peter 2:7-8 explicitly calls him righteous and notes that his righteous soul was vexed from day to day by the lawless deeds of the Sodomites. Jesus referred to the 'days of Lot' as a parallel to a future judgment and gave the warning, 'Remember Lot's wife.' The Church fathers Ambrose and John Chrysostom wrote sympathetically about Lot's actions.
The alleged tomb of Lot is located at Bani Na'im, a Palestinian town near Hebron.
The Monastery of Saint Lot stands near the Dead Sea in Jordan, on a steep slope overlooking the southeastern shore and the modern town of Safi (ancient Zoar). Byzantine Christians identified a natural cave at the site as the refuge where Lot and his daughters sheltered after the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19:24-25), and a nearby rock formation is venerated as Lot's wife turned to a pillar of salt.
Archaeological work reveals Bronze Age occupation followed by Nabataean pottery from the first centuries BC/AD, with the bulk of findings dating to the early Byzantine period (c. 5th-7th centuries). Two mosaic inscriptions record construction in April 606 AD and renovation in May 691 AD. The monastery featured an 18-by-17-meter basilical church, a water reservoir, and a hostel complex. Communal tombs housed monks and pilgrims, at least one of African origin (corroborated by Coptic coins and pottery). Greek mosaic inscriptions named church officials including Bishop Iakovos, Abbot Sozomenos, and the presbyters Christoforos and Zenos, alongside named pilgrims. The site remained in use through the early Abbasid period (late 8th-9th centuries), indicating continued Christian and Muslim veneration. The Monastery of Saint Lot was added to UNESCO's World Heritage Tentative List on June 18, 2001, in the Cultural category.