My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lore, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 24th of June, Our Holy Orthodox Church
celebrates the Nativity of the Venerable and
Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist
JOHN.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Fourth Tone
O PROPHET and Forerunner of Christ God’s coming tous, all we
who with longing now extol thee are at a loss to honor thee
worthily. For thy mother’s barrenness and father’s long silence,
by thine all-renowned and hallowed birth, were both ended, and
the Incarnation of the Son of God is preached unto all the world.
Kontakion Hymn. Third Tone
She that cone was barren doth "today bring forth Christ’s Forerunner,
John, hte culmination and the crown of all of the Prophets. For when
he, in River Jordan, laid his hand on Him Whom the Prophets preached
aforetime, he was revealed as God the Logo;s [Word's[ forechosen
Six months before his appearing to the Most Holy Virgin Mary in Nazareth, the Great Gabriel, Archangel of the Lord, appeared to Zacharias the High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. Before he revealed the miraculous conception by a virgin who had not known a man, the Archangel revealed the Wondrous conceiving by an old and barren woman. Zacharias was unable at once to believe the words of God's Herald, and for this his tongue was bound in dumbness and remained thus until the 8th day after John's birth. The kinsfolk of Zcharias and Elizabeth gathered together on that day for the infant's circumcision and naming. When they enquired of the father how he wished the child to be called, he, being still dumb, wrote on a slate: "John." At that moment his tongue was loosed and he began to speak. Zacharias's house was on the heights between Bethlehem and Hebron. The news of the Angel's appearing to Zacharias, of his dumbness and of the loosening of his tongue at the exact moment that he wrote 'John,' was carried throughout all Israel, coming to Herod's ears. So, when he sent men to kill all the infants around Bethlehem, he sent men off to Zacharias's family house in the hills, to slay John also. But Elizabeth hid the child n goot time. The king was enraged at this, and sent an executioner to the Temple to kill Zacharias (for it was then his turn to serve in the Temple again). Zacharias was killed between the court and the Temple, and his blood clotted and solidified on the paving slabs, and remained as an enduring witness against Herod. Elizabeth hid herself and the child in a cave, where she soon died. The young John remained in the wilderness alone, in the care of God and His Angels. The child was filled with grace, and waxed strong in the Spirit. His name is a variation of the Hebrew "Johanan," which means "Yah is gracious." [Resources: The Prologue from Ochrid]
Jesus praises Saint John:
"As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitude concerning
John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken
by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft
garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.
But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and
more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written:
‘Behold, I send My messenger
before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way
before You..’
Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not
risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And among the days of John
the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the
violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied
until John… For John came neither eating nor drinking…" [Matthew
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 