St.
John, the Forerunner and
Baptist of Christ
July
7th (June 24th old calendar)
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 eighth day after
John’s birth. The kinsfolk of Zacharias and Elizabeth gathered
together on that day for the infant’s circumcision and naming. When
they inquired 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’ 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’ family house in the hills to slay John also. But
Elizabeth hid the child in good 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.
Troparion
Tone 4
O
Prophet and Forerunner of the coming of Christ,/ we honor thee lovingly
but cannot extol thee worthily;/ for by thy birth/ thy mother’s
barrenness and thy father’s dumbness were unloosed;/ and the
Incarnation of the Son of God is proclaimed to the world.
Kontakion
Tone 3
The
formerly barren one today gives birth to the Forerunner of Christ/ Who
is the fulfillment of prophecy./ For the Prophet, Herald and Forerunner
of the Word/ submitted to Him Whom the prophets foretold/ by laying his
hand on Him in the Jordan.
Reproduced
from the website of
www.fatheralexander.org
