John the Baptist was born. Diocesan Monastery in the Name of St.

according to the Gospels, the closest predecessor of Jesus Christ, who predicted the coming of the Messiah

6-2 BC e. - OK. 30 AD e.

short biography

John the Baptist, John the Baptist(Hebrew: יוחנן המטביל‏‎, Yochanan ben Zecharya- “son of Zechariah”; Yohanan Ha-Matbil [Hamatwil] - “performing ritual purification with water”; Greek Ιωάννης ο Βαπτιστής - Ioannis o Vaptistis; Ιωάννης ο Πρόδρομος - Ioannis about Prodromos; lat. Io(h)annes Baptista; Arab. يحيى‎, Yaḥyā, يوحنا‎, Yūḥanna; 6-2 BC e. - OK. 30 AD BC) - according to the Gospels: the closest predecessor of Jesus Christ, who predicted the coming of the Messiah, lived in the desert as an ascetic, preached and performed sacred ablutions/immersions for the cleansing of sins and repentance of the Jews, which later became known as the sacrament of baptism, washed (baptized) in the waters of the river Jordan Jesus Christ dipping him into water. He was beheaded at the request of the Jewish queen Herodias and her daughter Salome. Considered a historical figure; its mention in all known manuscripts of Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews is considered by most researchers to be an authentic text, and not a later insertion of Christian scribes.

In Christian ideas, he is the last in a series of prophets - the harbingers of the coming of the Messiah. In Islam, as well as by Mandaeans and Baha'is, it is revered under the name Yahya (Yahya), in Christian Arab churches - under the name Yukhanna.

Nickname

(painting by El Greco)

John wears epithets Baptist And Forerunners according to his two main functions - as the one who baptized Jesus Christ and as the one who came preaching before him in accordance with the Old Testament prophecies.

The name “Forerunner” is not found in the New Testament (more precisely, it is applied to Jesus Christ himself, for example, in Hebrews 6:20). John the Baptist was first called the “Forerunner” by the Gnostic Heracleon (2nd century) in his commentary on the Gospel of John. Then this designation was adopted by Clement of Alexandria and Origen and through them came into widespread use. In Orthodoxy, both epithets are used almost equally often, while in the West, priority remains with the name “Baptist”.

In Orthodoxy the accepted name "Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist Lord John» and the appeal “Baptist of Christ, honest Forerunner, extreme prophet, first martyr, mentor of fasters and hermits, teacher of purity and neighbor of Christ.” In addition, in Rus' he acquired folklore epithets, for example, Ivan the Self-Baptizer, and two holidays dedicated to him received independent nicknames: Ivan Kupala(Christmas day) and Ivan Golovosek(day of execution) - see below (Section Folklore perception).

Gospel story

Birth

The circumstances of John's childhood are known only from Luke's account. John was the son of the priest Zechariah (“from the line of Abia”) and the righteous Elizabeth (descended from the family of Aaron, Luke 1:5), an elderly barren couple. As the Evangelist Luke narrates, the Archangel Gabriel, appearing to his father Zechariah in the Temple, announced the birth of his son, saying “Many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord; He will not drink wine or strong drink, and will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb.”(Luke 1:13-17). Zechariah expressed distrust of the angel, and for this he punished him with muteness.

"The Naming of John the Baptist"
(painting by Rogier van der Weyden. Elizabeth, relieved of her burden, lies in bed, in the foreground Zechariah writes the name of his son)

After the Virgin Mary found out that her relative Elizabeth was pregnant, she came to visit her and “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit"(Luke 1:41). (Thus, John predicted the Messiah to his mother while still in the womb).

According to the Gospel, his birth occurred six months earlier than Jesus (his relative). John's father still remained mute, and when Elizabeth wished to give her son the name John, indicated by the angel, which was unconventional for her family (“Yahweh (God) had mercy”), the relatives demanded that the father confirm it in writing:

He demanded a tablet and wrote: John is his name. And everyone was surprised. And immediately his mouth and his tongue loosened, and he began to speak, blessing God. And there was fear on all those living around them; and they told about all this throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard it laid it on their hearts and said: What will happen to this child? And the hand of the Lord was with him.
(Luke 1:63-66)

The Gospel mentions John's subsequent childhood briefly, saying only that he “he was in the deserts until the day of his appearing to Israel”(Luke 1:80), that is, until a sufficiently adult age. (For an explanation of how John got into the wilderness, see below, section Apocrypha and legends). It is mentioned that John's father, Zechariah, was killed " between the temple and the altar"Herod's servants (Matt. 23:35).

Activity

"The Appearance of Christ to the People"
(painting by A. A. Ivanov. John the Baptist stands on the banks of the Jordan, preaching to the people about the coming Messiah, while Christ appears on a hillock in the distance)

As the Evangelist Luke writes (Luke 3:2-3), in the desert there was “ word of God to John son of Zechariah", after which he went to preach. John led an ascetic lifestyle, wore coarse clothes made of camel hair and girded himself with a leather belt, ate wild honey and locusts (a type of locust, or there is also another opinion about what this word can mean certain type plant foods (http://www.cybercolloids.net/library/carob/carob.jpg). There is evidence that it was something similar to the “horns” (or they themselves) that were used to feed the pigs in the parable of prodigal son. Also, this type of plant food was often the main food of the poorest segments of the population. There was even a saying that no one can truly repent until they try to live on these shoots/fruits. Therefore, it would be quite natural for a preacher of repentance to show this repentance through his life. If we compare nutritional properties locusts and these fruits, then John would not have lived long on locusts and honey, and from these fruits one could even make flour and cakes... (information from the SDA Bible commentary on the 3rd chapter of Matthew) (Mark 1:6). However, if we consider this issue from a religious point of view, then the Bible itself gives an explanation for this: “...For John the Baptist came, neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and say, “He has a demon…” Lk. 7:33).

John began his preaching in 28 or 29 AD. e. (" in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar" - OK. 3:1). He went throughout the surrounding country of Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

John's preaching expressed God's wrath against sinners and calls for repentance, as well as an eschatological message. He reproached the people for being proud of their chosenness (especially the Sadducees and Pharisees), and demanded the restoration of patriarchal norms of social ethics.

John was not an ordinary preacher - he conveyed the will of God to people (Luke 3:2), like the ancient Old Testament prophets, and even more than that, because he was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15). Jesus pointed to John as the coming of the prophet Elijah, who was expected (Matt. 11:14, Matt. 17:12).

The main theme of John's sermons was the call to repentance. John said to the Pharisees who came to him:

...spawn of vipers! who inspired you to flee from future wrath? Produce fruits worthy of repentance and do not think of saying within yourself, “We have Abraham as our father,” for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. Already the ax lies at the root of the trees: every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
(Luke 3:7-9)

Chapter 3 of the Gospel of Luke also contains his teachings addressed to the soldiers ( “Do not offend anyone, do not slander, and be content with your salary”(Luke 3:14)), publicans ( “Do not demand anything more specific to you”(Luke 3:13)) and to all the people ( “Whoever has two coats, give to the poor, and whoever has food, do the same.”(Luke 3:11)). People who came to him were baptized by him in the waters of the Jordan River. Some “they wondered in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ”(Luke 3:15). His followers formed a special community - the “disciples of John”, in which strict asceticism reigned (Matthew 9:14).

Famous words of John:

• I am the voice crying in the wilderness(John 1:23)
• Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand(Matt. 3:2)
• I baptize you with water to repentance(Matt. 3:11)
• Do not demand anything more specific to you(Luke 3:13)

To the priests and Levites who came from Jerusalem and appeared to test him, he replied that he was neither Elijah nor a prophet, but: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: straighten the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Prophecies about the coming of the Messiah

To the question of the Jerusalem Pharisees, John answered: “I baptize in water; but there stands among you [Someone] whom you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, but who stands in front of me. I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandals."(John 1:26-27).

The next day John saw Jesus approaching him and said: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is the one of whom I said: A man comes after me, who stood before me, because He was before me. I didn't know Him; but for this reason He came to baptize in water, so that He might be revealed to Israel.”(John 1:29-31). Then came baptism.

« Epiphany»
(painting by Tintoretto)

Baptism of Jesus Christ

Jesus also came to John, who was near the Jordan River in Bethabara (John 1:28), with the goal of being baptized.

John, who preached a lot about the imminent coming of the Messiah, saw Jesus and was surprised and said: “ I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?" To this Jesus replied that " We must fulfill all righteousness" and received baptism from John. During baptism “The sky was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove, and there was a voice from heaven, saying: You are My Beloved Son; I am well pleased with you!”(Luke 3:21-22).

Thus, with the participation of John, the messianic destiny of Jesus was publicly witnessed. The baptism that took place then is considered by all evangelists as the first event in the social activity of Jesus. After Jesus' baptism “John also baptized at Aenon, near Salem, because there was a lot of water there; and they came [there] and were baptized"(John 3:23). Evangelist John connects the appearance of the first of the twelve apostles with the preaching of John the Baptist: “The next day John and two of his disciples stood again. And when he saw Jesus coming, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. When both disciples heard these words from him, they followed Jesus.”(John 1:35-37). Around 30 AD e. John was arrested and his preaching work ended.

Icon " »

Arrest and death

Among other crimes against righteousness, John denounced the tetrarch of Galilee, Herod Antipas, who took the wife (and at the same time the niece of both) Herodias from his brother Herod Philip and married her, grossly violating Jewish custom. For this, John was imprisoned by the tetrarch, but Herod Antipas did not dare to execute him because of the popularity of the preacher (Matthew 14:3-5, Mark 6:17-20).

According to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, John was arrested while Jesus was in the wilderness, which means that Jesus began his public activities only after John's activities ceased (Matt. 4:12, Mark 1:14 ). While in prison, John heard “about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples to say to Him: Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another?”(Matt. 11:2-3).

Herodias' daughter Salome (not named in the Gospels) on the birthday of Herod Antipas " danced and pleased Herod and those who reclined with him" As a reward for the dance, Herod promised Salome to fulfill any of her requests. She, at the instigation of her mother, who hated John for denouncing her marriage, asked for the head of John the Baptist and “The king was saddened, but for the sake of the oath and those reclining with him, he did not want to refuse her.”(Mark 6:26). A squire (speculator) was sent to John’s prison, who cut off his head and, bringing it on a platter, gave it to Salome, and she “ gave it to her mother" John's body was buried by his disciples, and the death was reported to Jesus (Matt. 14:6-12, Mark 6:21-29).

In memory of these events, a church holiday was established - the Beheading of John the Baptist. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates it on August 29 (September 11). Whatever day of the week this holiday falls on, including Sunday, this day is always Orthodox Church in memory of the great faster John (who ate only locusts and wild honey in the desert) is, according to the Charter, a day of strict fasting; it is forbidden to eat not only meat and dairy foods, but also fish.

Apocrypha and legends

Despite the significance of the figure of John, information about him is not widespread in apocryphal literature. For example, in the “Arabic Gospel of the Savior’s Childhood” the image of John is absent even when describing the baptism of Jesus. However, the apocrypha and legends still add some details to the biography of John:

• The exact place of John's birth is not named in the Gospels. It is believed that John was born in the Jerusalem suburb of Ein Karem (the Franciscan monastery “St. John on the Mountains” is currently built on this site). The legend that calls it the residence of the Zechariah family dates back to the time of Abbot Daniel (1113). Daniel himself received this information from the monk of the Lavra of St. Sava, whose time of testimony precedes the appearance of the crusaders.
• The Gospel of Luke indicates that the place where the Virgin Mary met with righteous Elizabeth took place in the hill country, in the city of Judah (Luke 1:39). It is believed that the city of Judah refers to Ein Karem, and the house in which the meeting took place is the country house of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. Currently, the Franciscan Church of the Visitation is located on this site.
• The Gospels do not indicate why John's father Zacharias was killed. It is traditionally believed that Zechariah was killed in the temple for not telling Herod’s soldiers, who were beating the infants, where his son was hidden.
• The Apocrypha specifies that John escaped death among the thousands of murdered infants in and around Bethlehem during the Massacre of the Innocents, because his mother Elizabeth hid with him in the desert. The story about this is contained in the Proto-Gospel of James:

St. Elizabeth is hiding in the rock. Mosaic, Chora Monastery

John the Baptist in the desert with an angel. Miniature of the Elisavetgrad Gospel.

Elizabeth, hearing that they were looking for John (her son), took him and went to the mountain. And I looked for a place to hide it, but I couldn’t find it. And she cried out with a loud voice, saying: Mountain of God, let the mother and son in, and the mountain opened and let her in. And the light shone for them, and the angel of the Lord was with them, protecting them.

According to legend, the place of this event is located on the territory of the Franciscan monastery John the Baptist in the desert in Moshav Even Sapir, 3 km from Ein Karem. It is believed that John spent his childhood there and was preparing to begin his ministry (Luke 1:80).

• According to the early Byzantine legend, after 5 months the angel orders the righteous Elizabeth to wean the baby from her breast and begin to accustom him to locusts and wild honey. Nothing more is known about his life before his appearance from the desert with a sermon; researchers, filling the gap, suggest that perhaps he could have been in the Essene monastery during this time.
• According to sacred tradition, at the time of the beginning of his sermon, John was 30 years old - a symbolic age of full adulthood, the same as the age of Christ at the beginning of his sermon. This is due to the Old Testament establishment that Levites should begin service only after reaching this age (Num. 4:3).

"Herodias' Revenge"
(painting by Juan Flandes)

• The Gospel of John indicates that Jesus Christ received baptism from John at Bethabara, but its exact location is not determined. It is now believed that Bethavara was located near the monastery of St. John, about 10 km east of Jericho. In this place on the western bank of the Jordan there is Qasr al-Yahud (controlled by Israel), on the eastern - opposite it - Al-Makhtas (Wadi al-Harar) in Jordan.
• According to the “Gospel of the Jews,” Jesus at first did not want to go to John to be baptized, which his mother and brothers asked for, objecting to them: “ What sin have I committed that I should be baptized by it?».
• The “Gospel of the Ebionites” reports that John, having seen the descent of the Holy Spirit at the moment of Jesus’ baptism, himself fell to his knees before Christ “ and said: I pray to You, Lord, baptize me. But Jesus restrained him, saying: everything that must be done must be done.».
• The Epistle of Clement of Rome reports that John was a virgin.
• According to legend, Herodias frantically pierced the prophet’s tongue with needles for several more days, and, having had enough of the mockery, ordered the head of the executed John the Baptist to be buried in the city dump. (For the further fate of the severed head, see below).
• In the Gospel of Nicodemus, John, after his death, addresses the Old Testament righteous in hell with a sermon: “ Then (John) the Baptist came, looking like a hermit, and everyone asked him: “Who are you?” He answered and said: “I am the prophet of the Most High, who preceded His coming for the forgiveness of sins.”" After John's preaching, Jesus' triumphant descent into hell and his victory over death takes place, after which John and other righteous people are taken to heaven. Thus, John became the forerunner of Jesus in the afterlife, just as he was in the earthly world.
• There is a medieval apocrypha, the authorship of which is attributed to the Bishop of Alexandria Eusebius, dedicated to John’s stay in hell and based on the Gospel of Nicodemus ( “About the descent of John the Baptist into hell. Word for Holy Good Friday Holy Week our father Eusebius, Bishop of Alexandria"). It is preserved in the Slavic (Croatian) version. Despite the fact that the name of John is included in the title of the work, very little is said about him, as well as about the descent of Christ into hell. The main theme of the essay is the devil’s story about the unsuccessful struggle with Christ during the years of his earthly existence.

"Position of John the Baptist in the tomb"
Mark of the icon “John the Baptist Angel of the Desert”. The disciples bury the headless body while Herodias admires the head (left corner) and her maid hides it in a cave (right corner)

Attributes of John the Baptist

• camel hair clothing: According to Theophylact of Bulgaria, camel hair was chosen because “ A camel is an animal intermediate between clean and unclean: it is clean because it regurgitates the cud, and unclean because it has uncloven hooves." John, preaching on the border of the Old and New Testaments, wore clothes made of camel's hair, because “ brought to God both the supposedly pure people - the Jews, and the unclean - the pagans».
• leather belt: symbolizes constant work and pacification of carnal passions, since “ skin is part of a dead animal».

Place of burial and relics

An ancient tradition localizes the burial place of the headless body of John in Sebastia (Samaria) next to the grave of the prophet Elisha. Ancient historians: Philostorgius (ca. 368 - ca. 439), Rufinus of Aquileia (ca. 345-410) and Theodoret of Cyrus (ca. 386-457), report that during the reign of Julian the Apostate, around 362, pagans from Sebaste opened and destroyed the tomb of the Baptist, burned his remains - bones and scattered the ashes. If Philostorgius and Theodoret report the complete destruction of the relics of John the Baptist (Philostorgius says that previously, before burning, the bones of John were mixed with the bones of animals), then Rufinus writes that when the pagans collected the bones of John, the Christians mixed with them, and some the bones were secretly hidden, then " the revered relics were sent to their spiritual father Philip. He... through his deacon Julian, the future bishop of this Palestinian city, to the great pontiff, then Athanasius. He, having buried the received relics under the wall of the sanctuary in front of several witnesses, with foresight preserved them to help future generations».

At a later time, in the 10th century, a legend appears (it is recounted by Theodore Daphnopatus) in the “Memorable word on the transfer from Antioch of the venerable and honest hand of the holy, glorious prophet and baptist John”), that the Apostle Luke, returning to his native Antioch, wanted to take the incorruptible body with him, but the Sebastian Christians opposed this and allowed him to take only the right hand with which Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan (Hand of John the Baptist) and from that time, from the 1st century, it was kept in Antioch, in the 10th century, On January 6, 956, it was transferred to Constantinople. He also says that the bishop of Jerusalem, having learned that Julian the Apostate wanted to destroy the body of John, secretly at night replaced the body of John with the body common man, and sent the body of the Baptist for storage to Alexandria. On January 7, 956, on the day of the Council of the Baptist, a holiday was established in honor of the transfer from Antioch of the venerable and honest hand of the holy, glorious prophet and Baptist John to Constantinople; Daphnopatus wrote a canon and stichera for him. This holiday was celebrated in Rus' in the 11th-12th centuries. Later, the celebration of the transfer of the hand disappeared from the calendar of both the Greeks and the Slavs.

Gertgen tot Sint Jans. "The Burning of the Remains of John the Baptist" Julian the Apostate, 1484

The story of Theodore Daphnopatus is repeated by Simeon Metaphrastus (second half of the 10th century), he writes that “ that it was not the Baptist’s body that was burned, but someone else’s, for the Patriarch of Jerusalem, having learned in advance about Julian’s order, secretly took the relics of the Baptist from the tomb and sent them to Alexandria for safekeeping; instead of them he put the bones of one dead man».

The Russian pilgrim Dobrynya Yadrejkovich, who visited Constantinople in 1200, saw the right hand of John the Baptist in the Temple of the Virgin Mary Pharos and testifies in his “Book of the Pilgrim” that by the hand of John the Baptist the emperor was installed as king.

In 1907, N.K. Nikolsky, in the Kiev Prologue of the 16th century, found a legend about the transfer of the finger of John the Baptist from Constantinople to Kyiv and published it in issue 82 of SORYAS. This work says that in the year 6600 (in 1092) under the Grand Duke Vladimir Monomakh (Vladimir Monomakh was Grand Duke from 1113 to 1125), on January 7, a finger of John’s hand was brought and placed in the Church of St. John on Setomli, which was located near the Kupshin Monastery, Karpov A. Yu. put forward the assumption that the transfer of the finger of John took place in 1121, and the Church of John on Setomli was founded in connection with the transfer of a particle of the relics (finger) of St. John the Baptist to Kiev from Constantinople.

Thus, on May 27, 395, these relics ended up in Alexandria, where they were placed in the basilica, shortly before dedicated to John on the site of the Temple of Serapis. The empty tomb at Sebaste, however, continued to be visited by pilgrims, and St. Jerome testifies to the miracles that continued there. Their further fate is unknown. The Coptic Church considers the location of the ashes of John the Baptist to be the monastery of St. Macarius, to which the relic was transferred in the 10th century, then was hidden and discovered only in 1978 during the reconstruction of the monastery.

Head of John the Baptist(San Silvestro in Capite, Rome)

Tomb of John the Baptist in the Umayyad Mosque(Damascus)

« Head of Saint John the Baptist", wooden sculpture, Germany

Two fragments of the relics of John the Baptist (right hand and head) are highly revered shrines of the Christian world. However, these relics are very scattered around the world: the existence of 11 is known index fingers John the Baptist. Regarding the number of relics associated with John the Baptist, researchers have found the following figures: 12 heads, 7 jaws, 4 shoulders, 9 arms and 8 fingers. In addition, objects of worship in the Middle Ages were: left hand(the pilgrims Theodoric and John Phocas report this), as well as the face, hair, brain, part of the ear, and the blood of John the Baptist.

Head of John the Baptist

Islamic tradition places the head of John the Baptist in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, while Catholicism places it in the Roman church of San Silvestro in Capite. In addition, mention is made of a head in the cathedral in Amiens (France), brought from the fourth crusade, and in Turkish Antioch, as well as its location in one of the monasteries of Armenia.

In the tradition of the Orthodox Church, there are legends about three acquisitions of the head of John the Baptist; a separate celebration has been established in honor of each.

According to legend, Herodias did not allow John’s head to be buried along with his body and hid it in her palace, from where it was stolen by a pious servant (whose name was Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward) and buried in an earthenware jug on the Mount of Olives. Years later, the nobleman Innocent decided to build a church on that site and, while digging a ditch, discovered a jug with a relic, which was identified by the signs emanating from it. Before his death, Innocent, fearing that the relic would be desecrated, hid it in his church, which then became dilapidated and destroyed.

During the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great in Jerusalem, the head of John the Baptist was found by two monastic pilgrims who took it with them, but, showing laziness, gave the relic to a potter they met to carry it. According to legend, the saint who appeared ordered the potter to leave the impious monks and take the shrine for safekeeping. Before his death, the potter placed the head in a water-bearing vessel, sealed it and gave it to his sister. Later, the relic ended up in the possession of an Arian priest, who, with the help of healings emanating from it, supported the authority of the Arian doctrine. When his deception was revealed, he hid the chapter in a cave near the city of Emessa. Later, a monastery arose above the cave and in 452, John, who, according to legend, appeared to the archimandrite of the monastery, pointed out the place where his head was hidden. She was found and transferred to Constantinople.

From Constantinople, the head of John the Baptist, during the unrest associated with the exile of John Chrysostom, was transferred to the city of Emessa, and then at the beginning of the 9th century to Comana, where it was hidden during the period of iconoclastic persecutions. After the restoration of icon veneration, according to legend, Patriarch Ignatius, during night prayer, received instructions about the location of the relic. By order of Emperor Michael III, an embassy was sent to Comani, which around 850 found the head of John the Baptist in the place indicated by the patriarch.

From now on church history sacred relic becomes unclear.

Hand of John the Baptist

The right hand of John the Baptist is called his right hand, which, according to legend, he placed on the head of Jesus Christ at the moment of his baptism. Traditionally, the Cetinje Monastery in Montenegro is considered to be the place where the right hand is kept, but the Turks claim that the right hand of John the Baptist is in the Topkapi Palace Museum along with part of the skull. Also, the Coptic monastery of St. Macarius claims that the hand is in his possession.

The relic, generally accepted by Orthodoxy, traces its origins to the Apostle Luke, who, having taken it from Sebastia, transferred it to his native Antioch as a gift to the local Christian community. After the fall of Antioch in the 10th century, the Hand was transported to Chalcedon, and later to Constantinople. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, the arm was transported to the island of Rhodes. When the Turks captured Rhodes in 1522, the shrine was transported to Malta.

The Legend of the Right Hand of John the Baptist
(detail of a 16th century icon)

In 1799, the Order of Malta transferred the Hand to Russia, when Russian Emperor Paul I became the Grand Master of the order. After October revolution the shrine was taken outside the country, and for a long time it was considered lost.

In 1951, Yugoslav security officers requisitioned the right hand from the storage of the State Historical Museum in Cetinje. Until 1993, the right hand was considered lost forever. It was discovered in the Cetinje Monastery in Montenegro, where it is currently kept.

Orthodox tradition connects with the right hand the miracle of the salvation of the Antiochian girl, who was intended to be sacrificed to the serpent. Her father " kissed the holy hand of the Baptist, secretly biting off one joint of the small finger with his teeth, hid it and, having prayed, went out, carrying the joint of the finger with him" The next day he threw the finger of John the Baptist into the mouth of the serpent and he died.

Analysis and historical characteristics

Prophecies and the taking of Elijah's mission

The personality of John the Baptist and the act of his baptism of Jesus became very significant evidence of the messiahship of Christ for Jews, since they saw the fulfillment of prophecies in them.

Elijah the prophet: outwardly depicted as similar to John - a lion's mane of hair, a hair shirt made of camel skin

(Macedonian icon, XIV century)

Thus, the New Testament interpretation (Matt. 11:10; Mark 1:2) refers to John the following Old Testament prophecies:

• “Behold, I send My angel, and he will prepare the way before Me.”(Mal. 3:1);
• “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”(Isa. 40:3).

According to the prophet Malachi (Mal. 4:5-6), the coming Lord's day must be preceded by the appearance of the prophet Elijah. The Christian tradition, believing that Elijah and Enoch will return at the time of the Second Coming of Christ (Rev. 11:3-12), generally transfers the mission of Elijah during the earthly life of Christ (first coming) to John the Baptist. He speaks " in the spirit and power of Elijah"(Luke 1:17).

The image of John the Baptist as a desert ascetic, prophet and accuser was so similar to the idea of ​​Elijah (who was supposed to return before the coming of the Messiah) that John even had to specifically deny his identity with him (John 1:21). Based on John's answers to the Pharisees, one can get some idea of ​​who he considered himself to be - not a prophet or a messiah, but probably a man who “knew that the Jewish teachers of the law had already “drawn a line” by this time, announcing the end of the era when The Lord revealed himself to the prophets (by this time the second part of the Jewish Holy Scripture, the Tanakh - Nevi'im, had already been canonized), and that now people were given only the echo of the Divine voice - Bat-Kol. John the Baptist probably considered himself the translator and interpreter of such a voice, repeating what was once revealed to Isaiah.”

It would appear that Matthew's Gospel retains traces of some of John's uncertainty regarding Jesus' messianic office (Matt. 11:2-3). However, it is not. During Jesus' baptism, John himself testified that Jesus was the Messiah (John 1:34). And the fact that John sent his disciples to Jesus is explained by the fact that John wanted the disciples to see Christ in person, hear preaching, miracles, and believe that Jesus is the expected Messiah. After this, John's disciples had to follow Christ. John did this because, being a prophet, he foresaw his imminent death.

After the execution of John, Christ himself directly points to his forerunner mission: in response to the question of whether Elijah has already come, he says that “Elijah came, and they did to him as they wanted, as it was written about him.”(Mark 9:13); When asked by his disciples about the coming of Elijah, Jesus replies that “Elijah had already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him as they wanted; so the Son of Man will suffer from them. Then the disciples understood that He was speaking to them about John the Baptist."(Matt. 17:12-13); Wed Also: "...he is Elijah who must come"(Matt. 11:14), and also that John "more than a prophet"(Matt. 11:9) and he is the one Malachi promised (Matt. 11:10).

The importance of John's recognition of Christ for people

(wood sculpture, Alonso Cano, 17th century)

According to theologians, the Jewish people around 30 AD. e. revered John much higher than Christ. John spent his entire life in the desert, was the son of a priest, wore unusual clothes, called everyone to baptism and, moreover, was born from a barren mother. Jesus was descended from an ordinary girl (the birth from a Virgin, predicted by the prophets, was not yet known to everyone), was brought up in an ordinary home and wore ordinary clothes.

Jesus, who came to John to be baptized, was perceived by his contemporaries as a simple man, which is why John Chrysostom writes:

That is why, so that such a thought does not become established among the people, immediately after the baptism of Jesus the heavens open, the Spirit descends and together with the Spirit a voice proclaiming the dignity of Jesus as the only begotten.

Ephraim the Syrian believes that through John's baptism Jesus received his priesthood: “ He received the royal dignity of the house of David through birth, since he was born from the house of David, and he received the priesthood of the house of Levi through his second birth in the baptism of the son of Aaron.».

The Gospel of John (John 3:27-36) contains the words of John, clearly indicating his conviction in the messianic dignity of Christ; moreover, John consciously bows before the Son of God who came into the world ( “He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; but he who is from the earth is and speaks as he who is from the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all."(John 3:30-31). In the same place in the Gospel, John applies to Christ and the future Church a well-known Old Testament image, likening the relationship between God and his people to the relationship between loving spouses ( “He who has the bride is the groom, and the friend of the groom, standing and listening to him, rejoices with joy when he hears the voice of the groom. This is my joy fulfilled"(John 3:29)). A number of authors see a contradiction between this passage and a passage from the Synoptic Gospels ( “Are you the One who is to come, or should we expect something else?”(Matt. 11:3)). At the same time, it should be noted that with his question John, convinced of the messianic dignity of Jesus, gave the latter the opportunity to testify about himself.

John's affiliation with religious movements

"John the Baptist Preaching to the People"
(painting by Pieter Bruegel the Younger)

John did not drink wine or intoxicating drinks (Luke 1:15), which may indicate his Naziriteship; however others mandatory features The Nazarite vow, for example, growing long hair (Num. 6:4), is not mentioned in the Gospels.

In my own way religious worldview John was most likely close to the Essenes, in particular, perhaps, members of the Qumran community. They note the similarity of images and personal similarity of John the Baptist with the so-called “Teacher of Justice” - the founder of this sect, known from surviving texts, who could probably serve him personal example. But there are also ideological differences with the Essenes.

For example, he emphasized the division of people into righteous and sinners, but, unlike the Qumranites, he believed that sinners could be saved through repentance. Like the Qumranites, he interpreted a verse from Isaiah (“ Voice in the wilderness…") as a call to retire to the desert, and therefore became a hermit and ascetic himself, but did not demand this from others. Unlike the Qumranites, he did not insist on the need for common property, but spoke about the need to share with those in need. John did not accept the Essenes' approach to limiting the circle of initiates, accused them of causing a schism among the people and offered purification to every Jew who desired it. In addition, unlike the Essenes, he did not require them to transfer their entire fortune to a common treasury and become a member of a religious sect, as well as abandon their usual way of life - he was only interested in spiritual enlightenment. All this attracted a large number of followers to him.

Researchers note that the description of the reasons for the ritual given by Josephus coincides almost word for word with the description of a similar ritual in the Essene manuscripts of the Judean Desert. This closeness of John to the Essenes leads many researchers to believe that “ he belonged to the Essenes for some time and later separated from them for ideological reasons" Among the following signs similarities include the geographical proximity of the place (or places) of John’s preaching and baptism with the habitat of the Qumran community, the same justification of both the Baptist and the Qumranites for their activities in the desert, the coincidence in time of his activities and last decades the existence of that community, as well as their ethnic identity and the similarity of many views, first of all, eschatological ideas and approach not only to ablution, but also to repentance. Most likely, at the beginning of his prophetic activity he was under the influence of the Essenes of a specifically Ebionite persuasion.

Baptism of repentance

Baptism of Christ
(painting by Verrocchio)

John's baptism of repentance was a rite that he performed on those who accepted the news he brought about the approach of the kingdom of heaven. John baptized those who came with the aim of symbolically washing away sin from the body after cleansing the soul through confession and good deeds; " thus, this one-time twila acquired the character of initiation, the beginning of a new life, spiritual renewal on the eve of the end of the world and the imminent coming of the Messiah».

This baptism had parallels in Jewish usage of that era. Firstly, they mention the existence of a similar ritual among ordinary devout Jews. Ablution was carried out in a special religious pool - "mikveh". Similar pools for ritual purification were installed in every wealthy house of the previous period. There were especially many of them in Jerusalem (hundreds of such pools have been excavated by archaeologists. In the aristocratic quarter of Jerusalem, the “Upper City,” such pools are mikvaot- were in every house). In particularly severe cases of ritual impurity, all Jews had to undergo purification in the running water of the river. This Jewish ritual is called twila, from this word the Hebrew nickname of John is derived Hamatwil(“performing ritual purification with water”), which was translated by the Greek Gospel writers as "Baptist".

The Essenes tightened the requirements for the ritual, in contrast to the Orthodox Jews, believing that the need for ritual purification arose not only from touching ritually unclean objects and animals, but also from bad deeds. Therefore, if a person underwent the ritual of immersion in water without repentance, in their opinion, the ritual became a pure formality and did not bring purification; such a concept was a notable innovation. The Qumranite Essenes interpreted this rite of ritual ablution not only as a symbol of repentance for the atonement of sin, but at the same time as a rite of initiation into members of their community.

John's baptism differed from the cleansing washing of proselytes in that it was performed on Jews, and it differed from the daily ritual washing of the Essenes in that it was once and unique.

Execution

"The Execution of John the Baptist"(painting by Caravaggio)

It is believed that John was imprisoned by Herod Antipas in the fortress of Macheron (Arab. El Mashnak- “The Hanging Palace”), the ruins of which are located east of the Dead Sea, on the Moab Highlands. According to Josephus, who mentions this fortress and rejects the story of the dance of Salome (whose name is known precisely from his work), John was arrested and then beheaded for purely political reasons. In his testimony, Josephus makes no mention at all of the messianic expectations that formed a significant part of the preaching of John the Baptist. Many scholars, such as D. Strauss and J. Klausner, did not doubt the connection of John the Baptist with the messianic movements and regarded Josephus's lack of indication of this connection as a deliberate omission in the text intended for the Romans.

Josephus reports that some saw God's punishment for Herod for the execution of John in the fact that in 37 the troops of Herod Antipas were defeated by his father-in-law, the Nabataean king Aretas IV, offended by the dissolution of the marriage of his daughter Phaselis with Antipas for the sake of Herodias. Under the false pretext of Antipas' alleged participation in organizing a conspiracy against Rome, he and his family were exiled by Caligula to Gaul (37 AD), where he died two years later in captivity in complete obscurity and poverty.

The exact date of John's death is not known. Since the Gospels report that the verdict was pronounced after Salome danced at her stepfather's birthday party, it would theoretically be possible to establish an approximate day and month. But the date of birth of Herod Antipas is unknown. The year of John's death is traditionally considered to be before the crucifixion of Christ, and Josephus indicates that this happened before the year 36.

Followers of John the Baptist

The Synoptic Gospels clearly state that John's disciples formed a closed organization, observed fasts (Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33) and had special prayers (Luke 11:1). As the Gospel testifies, two of John’s disciples followed Christ immediately after baptism (one of them is named Andrew, see John 1:35-40), and some, on the contrary, were surprised by the spiritual practice of the twelve apostles (Matthew 9: 14), it is possible that there were later frictions between the followers of both spiritual leaders.

Some of John's disciples (they are called johannites, later this name was borrowed by the Order of Malta) after his execution they did not immediately join the ranks of the early Christians, but for a long time retained the specificity of their community. One of John's followers was a certain Apollos, moved from Alexandria to Ephesus. Here is what is said about this in the Acts of the Apostles: “A certain Jew, named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent man and versed in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. He was instructed in the rudiments of the path of the Lord and, burning in spirit, spoke and taught about the Lord correctly, knowing only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. Hearing him, Aquila and Priscilla accepted him and more accurately explained to him the way of the Lord.”(Acts 18:24-26). Subsequently, Apollos became one of the active Christian preachers “For he powerfully refuted the Jews publicly, proving from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.”(Acts 18:28), was an authoritative teacher of the Christian community in Corinth.

Some authors, in particular the writer Zenon Kosidovsky, believe that “in Hellenic cities various religious groups fiercely competed with each other. Among them were admirers of John the Baptist. During the lifetime of the author of the Acts of the Apostles, this struggle was in full swing.” The basis for such judgments are the disagreements within the Christian Church of Greece described by the Apostle Paul: “It has become known to me about you, my brothers, that there are disputes among you. I mean what you say: “I am Pavlov”; “I am Apollosov”; “I am Kifin”; “And I am Christ’s”(1 Cor. 1:11-12). However, there is no indication in Scripture that disagreements between communities were based on religious rather than organizational contradictions.

The rivalry, however, persisted for a long time. In 350, a Christian writer describes a meeting of John's supporters who did not recognize Jesus as the messiah: “One of John’s disciples spoke and said, referring to John, “He is the Christ, not Jesus.”(“The Revelation of Clement,” chapter 1, verse 60).

It is believed that in subsequent centuries the legacy of the beliefs of the followers of John, who never entered the Christian church, can be traced in the ideas of the Gnostic sect of the Mandaeans, which arose in the 1st century and still survives in Iraq and Iran. The Mandaeans revere John under the name Yahya and (obviously, like the first disciples of the Baptist) recognize him as the Messiah, that is, Jesus Christ, according to their ideas, is an impostor. Researchers note this contradiction: “So, we observe a very significant asymmetry in assessments: John for Christians is the greatest prophet and in general a very respected figure, while Jesus for the Johannites is a false messiah.” The Gospels also testify that some of John the Baptist's contemporaries perceived him as the Messiah (John 1:19-20).

In addition, according to the evidence of the Christian hagiographical work of the 1st third of the 3rd century “Clementine”, or “Conversations” (2:23), the Jewish sect of Hemerobaptists - tovlei shacharit(literally from Hebrew - “ plunging at dawn"). considered John the Baptist as their founder.

John's influence on Jesus

Researchers who do not recognize the divinity of Jesus Christ are trying to understand what role John played in shaping the behavior pattern of Jesus at the beginning of his preaching work.

...despite his originality, Jesus was an imitator of John, at least for a few weeks. Baptism received great importance thanks to John; Jesus felt obliged to do like him: he was baptized, and his disciples were also baptized. John's superiority was too undeniable for Jesus, who was not yet famous, to think of fighting him. He simply wanted to grow stronger in his shadow and considered it necessary, in order to attract the crowd to himself, to use the same external funds, which brought John such amazing success. When Jesus began to preach again after John's imprisonment, the first words usually attributed to him were a repetition of one of the Baptist's common phrases (Matt. 3:2; 4:17).

Ernest Renan

« Christ in the desert»
(Kramskoy I.N., 1872)

Jesus imitates the Baptist, according to I. Jeremias, and “ his manner of deporting himself... Like the Baptist, he - unlike the scribes of that time - preaches in the open air; like the Baptist, he gives his disciples a prayer that should highlight and unite the disciples (Luke 11:1-4)" At the same time, Jesus even received his first disciples from John (the Apostle Andrew and another, not named (John 1:35-39)). Also, Herod, who executed John, learned about Jesus and said: “This is John the Baptist; He rose from the dead, and therefore miracles are done by him.”(Matt. 14:2).

« John the Baptist in the desert»
(Domenico Veneziano, 1445)

Another characteristic feature of the life of the first Christians, according to D. Fluser, was also introduced by Jesus after John: Josephus tells us that the Essenes who went to other Essene communities did not take anything with them, since all such communities had common warehouses with food, clothing, etc., and the envoys received everything they needed. And Jesus also advises the disciples whom he sends to spread the teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven not to take anything with them.

Contradictions in the Image of John

Noting that John had an undoubted influence on Jesus, researchers are making attempts to restore his true meaning for his contemporaries and understand how exactly his image could be adjusted by Christians: what was omitted, added or otherwise emphasized. Such attempts at analysis, due to the fact that they call into question "the authenticity and integrity of the Gospels" sometimes cause a disapproving reaction from believers. From their point of view, the information in the Gospels completely accurately describes the relationship between Jesus Christ and John the Baptist, and the contradictions between the texts of the four evangelists do not matter.

Scientists, including Protestant theologians and experts in Judaic studies, still note some inconsistencies and put forward versions to explain them.

For example, according to the Gospels, John and Jesus are related, since their mothers Mary and Elizabeth are related to each other. But this motive is considered by most researchers to be a late addition with the aim of greater artificial rapprochement of both figures, especially since in the Baptism scene the evangelists describe a meeting of two hitherto unknown people, and not cousins. (Compare, for example, the medieval concept of the Holy Relatives, according to which 5 more apostles turn out to be cousins ​​of Jesus - this trend is explained by the desire of the people's consciousness intermarry favorite characters).

Scientists also point out that, under other circumstances, John could well have missed the target. New Testament and not become a significant saint of Christianity. For example, as Professor D. Fluser put it, he “was one of the amazing personalities among the Jews of the Second Temple period: a Jewish preacher and ascetic, who was listened to by crowds of people who flocked to him in the desert, who “ turned into a Christian saint only because one of those who came to him, listened to him and did as he taught was Jesus of Nazareth“. The new religion begins with the appearance of John the Baptist, since Jesus saw him as his predecessor, and Christianity even inherited him in the use of the most important ritual ceremony - immersion in water."

"Young Jesus Christ and John the Baptist", painting by Matteo Rosselli.
The canvas depicts a meeting of two relatives in their youth, missing from the Gospels, and according to traditional Christian iconography, John is written in a subordinate position to Jesus

The Polish writer Zenon Kosidovsky even writes this:

The whole story of his submission to the new messiah is, apparently, in the nature of a myth, which retrospectively explains and sanctions the presence in Christianity of the rite of baptism.

Contradictions in the Gospels are noticeable, in particular, in the issue of the spread of the rite of Baptism. According to the weather forecasters, the contact between Jesus and the Baptist was limited to only one episode of Baptism. In the presentation of the Gospel of John, the situation is different (John 1:26-31). It speaks of Jesus as a person unknown to the numerous followers of the Baptist, and “it is further reported that Jesus himself performed baptism along with the Baptist (John 3:22 - 4:3) ... thus placing himself on the same level with him , so they are perceived as rivals (John 3:26) ... after Easter, the early Christian community began to baptize - this is easier to explain if Jesus himself already practiced baptism. True, at some point he must have stopped baptizing... Be that as it may, the preaching activity of Jesus and the Baptist cannot in any way be imagined as short. It is easy to understand why the weather forecasters shortened the period of their relationship, limiting it to the episode of Epiphany. The tradition avoided, whenever possible, everything that could be seen as equalization or even subordination Jesus the Baptist,” writes Protestant biblical scholar and doctor of theology I. Jeremias.

Church teacher Ephraim the Syrian points out that Jesus came to John to “ with His baptism put an end to the baptism of John, since He again baptized those who were baptized by John. By this he showed and made it clear that John performed baptism only before His coming, for true baptism was revealed by our Lord, Who made it free from the penalties of the law [that is, freed those receiving baptism from the penalties of the law]».

Another contradiction concerns John's recognition of Christ as the messiah. According to the most ancient of the canonical gospel texts - the Gospel of Matthew - doubting John sent two disciples from prison with a request: “Are you the One?”, while the episode of Baptism tells that during it, this was already clearly made clear to John. There are opinions that the episode with the request was excluded from the Gospel of John in order to save the reputation of the Baptist, who did not dare to recognize Jesus as the chosen one of God. Also, since there is a problem of the historicity of Jesus Christ, attempts to build the most plausible theory about his relationship with John the Baptist (whose historicity is not denied), in any case, at the moment remain only unprovable theories.

Noteworthy are the instructions of Jewish authors who analyze the story of John according to the laws of the Torah and find the following contradictions there: members of the family of the Jewish priest could not bear the names Elizabeth and John; Zechariah could not serve in the temple, suffering from muteness; as well as some other inconsistencies, the reasons for which, however, may be oral distortion of history.

Church veneration

John's birthplace
(St. John Monastery on the Mountains)

John's important position in Christianity is entirely based on the respect that Jesus repeatedly expressed to him, pointing to him as his forerunner. Christ says about him that before John there was no greater spirit among earthly people (but at the same time he is still less than those who will follow the Son of Man); on the other hand, Jesus emphasizes that everything John preached has already been said in the Prophets and the Law:

Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen a greater man than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it by force; For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John
(Matt. 11:11-13)

Thus, John stands at the boundary of the Old and New Testaments, and this, in accordance with the Christian understanding, determines his greatness and at the same time the limitations of this greatness.

John the Baptist (after the Mother of God) became the next most revered saint of Christianity.

The Orthodox idea of ​​John as the most important prayer book for all Christians can be most clearly illustrated by the fact that during the intercession (the intercessory prayer that follows the consecration of the Gifts at the liturgy), his name is remembered immediately after the name of the Mother of God:

Much about the Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed, Glorious Our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, about Saint John the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, about the glorious and all-praised apostles, about the saint (name of the rivers), of whom we commemorate, and about all Your saints, With their prayers visit us, O God" (from the liturgy of John Chrysostom).

According to one church prayer, the prophet John was “ a bright morning star, which in its brilliance surpassed the radiance of all other stars and foreshadowed the morning of a blessed day, illuminated by the spiritual Sun of Christ" Liturgical texts for various holidays dedicated to John the Baptist were written by such famous hymnographers as Andrew of Crete, John of Damascus and Cassia of Constantinople. Andrey Kritsky in " Canon for the Nativity of John the Baptist” gives John the following epithets: limit of the prophets, beginning of the apostles, earthly angel, heavenly man, voice of the word.

In the Orthodox tradition, John the Baptist plays a more important role than in the Catholic one: only to him does it give him the utmost closeness to Jesus - on a par with the Mother of God. The Catholic tradition perceives John as a prophet, a truthful witness of the coming of Christ and a fearless accuser, while Orthodoxy also emphasizes in him the features of an ideal ascetic, hermit and faster, as well as the esotericism of the “angelic rank”. In the West, only the Carmelites showed the greatest attention to these features, who also perceived John as a connecting link between the Old Testament asceticism of Elijah and Christian contemplative monasticism.

Holidays

Nativity of John the Baptist

(Byzantine icon, XIV century)

Based on the Gospel testimony about the 6-month age difference between John and Christ, the church holiday of the Nativity of John turned out to be close to the summer solstice (and the Nativity of Christ - to the winter). Thus, under the sign of Christ the sun begins to increase, and under the sign of John it begins to decrease (according to the words of John himself “ he must increase, but I must decrease" - lat. Illum oportet crescere, me autem minui). Church interpreters, such as James of Voragin, used this solar symbolism as a useful tool to convey theological doctrine, while in folklore the pagan analogies were deeper.

Cartridge

John the Baptist is considered the patron saint of the following places and communities, in particular:

• Florence, Genoa, Jordan, Porto (Portugal) - holiday Festa de São João, Zeitun (Malta Island), Zederhaus, Arganda del Rey, Alsergrund, Steinfeld (Oldenburg)
• French Canada, including Quebec's national holiday - Fête nationale du Québec, Newfoundland - holiday Discovery Day, Puerto Rico and its capital San Juan
• Order of Malta

Many of the cities mentioned above placed the image of John the Baptist on their coats of arms.

In Islam

Muslims revere John as a prophet under the name Yahya (Yahya). According to the Koran, he was the son of the prophet Zakariya. In Sura 19 "Maryam" there is a story about the gospel of Zakaria, similar to that described in Luke: “ O Zakariya, We rejoice you with the news of a boy whose name is Yahya!"(Quran. 19:7). Gabriel, who reported this news, gave Zakariyya a sign: “ so as not to speak to people for three nights [and days] without being speechless"(Quran. 19:10).

Two years after Yahya was born, Allah blessed him: “ O Yahya! Hold fast to the Scripture, and We gave him wisdom in infancy, as well as compassion [for people] from Us and purity, and he was pious, respectful to his parents and was neither proud nor disobedient. Prosperity for him [from Allah] both on the day he was born, and on the day of death, and on the [Judgment] day when he will be resurrected to life"(Quran. 19:12-15).

Similar short story the birth of Yahya is contained in Sura 3 "Imran's Family" The difference is that Jabrail immediately speaks of the future son of Zakariyya as “ a temperate man and a prophet from among the righteous, who will confirm the truth of the word from Allah"(Qur'an 3:39).

Mandaeans

The Mandaean sect, reputedly descended from the “disciples of John,” venerate him under the name of Yahya. According to "Sidra d-Yahya"(Book of John), he was the last and greatest of the prophets. The Mandaeans agree that he baptized Yeshu, but they do not recognize Yeshu as the Savior and honor John as the true messiah. According to the text of the holy book "Ginza Rba"(Great Treasure), John died by the hand of an angel. The angel appeared to him in the form of a three-year-old child who came to be baptized. John recognized him immediately, but baptized him anyway, knowing that as soon as he touched his hand, he would die. This is what happened. An angel later buried John.

Gnostics

For Gnosticism, John the Baptist was the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah. Since Elijah was an Old Testament character, he could not have known the True God (the God of the New Testament). Thus, in Gnostic theology, he was given the opportunity to reincarnate. This was directly in line with Malachi's prediction that Elijah would pass before the attack Lord's day(Mal. 4:5-6).

Folklore perception

According to popular beliefs, John the Baptist heals diseases of the head; in conspiracies and prayers they turn to him with a request for deliverance from evil spirits spoilage, fever, bleeding, scrofula, birthmarks in children, anger of the authorities, diseases of livestock.

Popular fantasy has created a huge number of legends about John the Baptist:

• In etiological legends, John the Baptist appears as the mythical ancestor, the first person whose leg was damaged by the devil, and since then people have had a notch on the front of their leg (Serbian belief).
• Initially, John the Baptist was covered in wool, like a sheep, and only after baptism did the wool fall off him. He first beat those who came to him for baptism with an iron crutch so that “the sins would bounce off,” and then he baptized; John the Baptist was a righteous man and an ascetic: he did not swear, did not eat bread, did not drink wine (Orlov belief).
• According to eschatological legends, John the Baptist will be the first of the saints to descend to earth before the end of the world and will be killed; after his death, Christ will appear and the Last Judgment will come (Nizhny Novgorod belief).

"Ivan Hawk Moth" - Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

January 7 (20) in the folk calendar was called “Ivan the Hawk Moth” or “Winter Wedding Party”. From this day on, families where weddings were planned began to brew beer (mash).

"Ivan Kupala" - Christmas Day

For the folklore tradition, John the Baptist and, more importantly, the holiday of his Nativity, having acquired solar features, merged with pagan mythology and solstice rituals in the holiday “Ivan Kupala”. After the adoption of Christianity among the Eastern and Western Slavs, a whole complex of pagan rituals associated with summer solstice. The very name of the holiday is Ivan Kupala- due to the fact that John the Baptist “bathed” Jesus Christ when he baptized him. Thus, the name “Ivan Kupala” is just Slavic folk version named after John the Baptist.

A number of names and epithets of John the Baptist are associated with Kupala rites: Russian. Herbalist, Serbian Billober, Metlar - with the collection of herbs; Serb. Svitnyak - with lighting fires; Serb. Narukvichar - with the custom of wrapping your hands in red yarn and wearing it until Peter’s Day so that your hands don’t hurt. In Serbian folklore, John receives the epithet " Gamer" - since on his birthday, according to popular belief, the sun stopped three times - played.

Head of John the Baptist, painted tree, Germany

Obretenye

The people reinterpreted the spring finding of the head into the birds finding nests: “On the Finding - bird sweating, finding nests,” “On the Day of the Finding, a bird makes a nest, and a migratory bird flies from Vyriy (warm places),” and also connects it with the approach of spring: “Getting, turn of the weather for spring."

“Ivan Golovosek” - the day of the Beheading

The day of the beheading of John the Baptist (August 29), one of the great holidays in Orthodoxy, was considered by the peasants to be the beginning of autumn: “ From Ivan Fast the man welcomes autumn, the woman begins her Indian summer" It requires strict fasting and refusal to work for the sake of the health of people and livestock. On this day they were careful not to go into the forest, because they believed that then the snakes would go into their holes, underground, for the winter. The Bulgarians believed that Samavils, Samodivs and other evil spirits left water bodies, fields and forests together with snakes.

Beheading is recognized as one of the most dangerous holidays: a child born on this day will be unhappy, and a wound received on this day will not heal (South Slavic belief). On the day of the week on which it fell, whole year They didn’t start any important work (plowing, sowing, didn’t hit the road, didn’t arrange weddings). The Macedonians did not cut clothes on such a day, the Bosnians did not start warping, fearing that everything sewn, woven or tailored would be cut. Serbian women did not comb their hair during the Beheading so that the hair would not “split.”

The ritual of the Feast of the Beheading is largely connected with the prohibitions on anything that resembles a head, blood, a dish, a sword, or chopping off:

But then came the Day of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. The newly appointed priest opens the first memorial book he comes across and finds there not a ruble, but a ten. At first he thought that someone had put it there by mistake. However, in both the other commemoration and the third, there are dozens everywhere. His bewilderment was dispelled by the Father Superior. He explained that this is a local custom. It is based on the fact that on the ten, unlike smaller bills, Lenin’s head is printed separately. And for this reason, it is considered obligatory to transfer exactly tens of the heads of John the Baptist to the Altar on the Day of the Beheading...

Mikhail Ardov. " Little things of archi..., proto... and simply of priestly life»

• According to popular belief, on the day of the Beheading, nothing round should be placed on the table, that is, neither dishes nor plates, since the head of John the Baptist was brought in a dish.
• It was also believed that on this day one should not eat round fruits and vegetables (apples, potatoes, watermelons, onions, turnips).
• In addition, it was forbidden to pick up a knife, sickle, scythe, or ax. Vegetables could not be cut, bread had to be broken. So, for example, according to Belarusian belief, within a year the severed head of John the Baptist almost grows back to its place, but as soon as people begin to cut bread on the day of Ivan the Cutthroat, the head falls away again.
• The southern Slavs strictly observed the ban on red fruits and drinks (for “this is the blood of St. John”), they did not eat black grapes, tomatoes, or red peppers. Belarusians in the Vitebsk region were afraid to cook botvinya, believing that if it was red (“like blood”), then within a year someone’s blood would be shed in the house.
• In Rus' there was a ban on singing songs and dancing on this day, motivated by the fact that “ Herod's daughter begged by dancing and singing to cut off the head of John the Baptist».
• In Belarusian Polesie there is a belief that moon spots are the head of John the Baptist.

However, most of the prohibitions listed above not based on church tradition as such, which at the same time prescribes strict fasting on this day (meat, fish, and dairy foods are not eaten). There is no wedding on this day. Church tradition prescribes on this day to refrain from noisy entertainment.

Iconography

. Orthodox fresco, Gracanica Monastery, unknown Serbian artist, XIV century.

Iconographic canon

In the iconographic originals John is characterized as follows:

“The type is Jewish, middle-aged (that is, 32), very thin in body and face, pale-swarthy body color, black beard, less than average size, divided into strands or tufts, hair black, thick, curly, also divided into strands; the clothes are made of coarse camel hair, like a bag, and the saint is girded with a leather belt.”

On top of (or instead of) clothes made of camel hair, one can wear a woven chiton and himation.

A scroll (“charter”) with one of the following inscriptions is traditionally placed in John’s hands:

• « Repent, the kingdom of heaven is approaching»
• « This is the voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord»
• « Behold, lamb of God, take away the sins of the world. This is the word about Him: the Man who was before me is coming after me, for he was first before me.».

The details of the image of John the Baptist carry different symbolic meanings:

• Scroll in hands indicates the beginning of the sermon.
• Severed head(the second of those present in the picture) - speaks of martyrdom, and in addition is a figurative expression of the Divine gift of foresight.
• Bowl, in which the head lies, is a parallel to the sacrificial cup of the Eucharist: John preceded Christ both by birth and death.
  • Can be replaced by another bowl, in which the Lamb is depicted, in later icons the Child (Infant Christ) is an allusion to his prophetic words about the mission of Jesus, a symbolic image of Christ (Matthew 11:10-11; Luke 7:27-28).
• Tree and ax as an allegory of his sermon: “ Repent, the kingdom of heaven is approaching, for the ax is already lying at the root of the tree: every tree that does not produce the fruit of good is cut off"(Luke 7:24-28). These words echo the preaching of Christ.
• Gorki, against which John is depicted, not only specify the place of asceticism, but are a symbol of an exalted mind and spiritual purification - the heavenly world.

Attributes in Western European painting

In Western painting, John is easily recognized by the following attributes: long hair and beard, clothing made of wool, a book, a long thin cross made of reeds, a baptismal cup, a honeycomb, a lamb, a staff. The index finger of his right hand facing the sky is another motif in the iconography of this saint, who came to the world to preach repentance, which would “clear the way” for the coming appearance of the Messiah. A typical example of such a gesture can be found in a painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

Since the Renaissance, John the Baptist is often depicted no longer as a mature bearded man (according to the Gospels), but as a beautiful youth, which has its source in the traditional love of this period for androgyny and homoeroticism.

Hagiographic stories

• Conception of John the Baptist(kissing Zechariah and Elizabeth). A rare plot, almost similar to the Conception of the Virgin Mary (“The Kiss of Joachim and Anna”).
• Nativity of John the Baptist. The iconography is based on the type of Nativity of Christ. The plot gained great popularity in Dutch painting because, unlike the birth of Jesus (in a manger), it allowed for the depiction of rich everyday interior details. Characteristic details:
  • on the right side of the icon, Zechariah writes the name of his son on a tablet, the gift of speech returns to him, and he begins to prophesy about his son as the Forerunner of the Lord. Additional plots that may also be present (rarely):
  • during the beating of infants by King Herod, Elizabeth takes refuge with John in the mountains;
  • Zechariah is killed in the temple because he did not say where the Forerunner was hidden.
• John the Baptist in the desert- a popular subject in icon painting and rare in the West.

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(icon, 19th century)

• Epiphany. Extremely common in all faiths. The formation of iconography began in the ancient Christian period along with the establishment of the feast of Epiphany in the 2nd century. The main person in the Baptism plot is Jesus Christ, depicted standing deep in the water, in most cases, naked (sometimes with a bandage around his loins, which appeared no earlier than the 12th-13th centuries). The head of Christ is usually bowed as a sign of humility and submission, the right hand is blessing (a symbol of the consecration of the Jordan and the water of baptism). The Forerunner is represented on the left, laying his hand on the head of Christ. On the right are angels, the number of which is not strictly defined. Their draped arms and veils in their hands indicate the real detail of the baptismal ritual: they act as recipients. The sky is often depicted as a segment of a circle, the Holy Spirit is traditionally depicted as a dove. Jordan is depicted between two cliffs; at the bottom of the river, sometimes in icons you can see the personification of the Jordan and the sea in the form of human figures - a rare iconographic detail with ancient roots in the art of the Christian East (for example, images in the Ravenna Orthodox and Arian baptisteries).
• John preaching to the crowd. A rather rare subject in Western European painting, it was loved by landscape artists.
  • John's Sermon to Herod(very rarely).
• Beheading of John the Baptist(a plot common in all faiths).
  • Salome with the head of John the Baptist- an extremely popular plot that allows you to portray a “femme fatale”.
• Honorable head of St. John the Baptist- the subject of icon painting and Western European church sculpture, architectural decoration.
• Finding the Head of John the Baptist- found in icon painting.
• Descent into Hell: John's preaching in hell and John among the other souls brought out by Jesus.

Extra-vital images

Sacra Conversazione(Holy Conversation): John the Baptist and St. Sebastian standing next to the Madonna and Child. Painting by Perugino

Common to both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions is the canon of depicting John standing before Jesus together with the Mother of God in prayer for souls:

• The Last Judgment: John with the Mother of God flanking Christ in heaven
• Deisis: John and the Mother of God stand before Jesus

European tradition

In addition, the Western iconography of John has a large number of independently developed extra-plot options.

• Together with the righteous Elizabeth, his mother, he is depicted as a child.
• Holy relatives: among other children from the descendants of St. Anne.
• Holy Family: John is depicted as a child slightly older than Jesus, along with the Madonna and Jesus; Madonna, Jesus, Joseph, Anna.
  • Worship of the Child together with the Mother of God; together with the Mother of God, Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah. (The scene of the “Adoration of the Christ Child with John the Baptist” probably first appears in the work of Filippo Lippi, 15th century).
  • The Holy Family visits Elizabeth, Zechariah and the newborn John (rare story).
• Babies or young men Jesus and John together.
• Forthcoming Madonna on the throne (Regina Coeli, Regina Angelorum, Maesta, Sacra Conversazione).

Basic Image Types

Desert Angel

Icon by Procopius Chirin

The esoteric component of the image of John the Baptist, his “angelic order” gave rise to the type of iconography “John the Baptist Angel of the Desert”. This type has been spreading since the 13th century in Greek, South Slavic and Russian icon painting. The saint has wide angelic wings - a symbol of the purity of his existence as a desert dweller. In Rus', this type gained popularity in the 16th-17th centuries.

The iconography is based on the following Gospel text: “The glory of Christ reached John, who sent them to ask Christ: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another?” After the departure of the messengers, Christ turned to the people: What did you go into the desert to see? Is it a cane shaken by the wind? ...What did you go to see? Is it a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “Behold, I am sending My angel before You, who will prepare Your way before You.”(Luke 7:17-29)). This text of the Gospel gave reason to depict John the Baptist as a winged angel of the desert, either with a sermon scroll or with a beheaded head - the herald of the coming, exploit and martyrdom of Christ.

Deisis

Triptych of Arbaville, Byzantium, late 10th century

Deisis (Deesis) - one or three icons, having in the center the image of Christ (most often in the iconography of Pantocrator), and to the right and left of him, respectively, the Mother of God and John the Baptist, presented in the traditional gesture of prayerful intercession. The main dogmatic meaning of the Deesis composition is mediatory prayer, intercession for the human race in the face of the formidable Heavenly King and Judge. John the Baptist is depicted full-length, waist-length or head-length, to the right (for the viewer) of the Savior, half-turned towards him with his hands outstretched in prayer. On the other, left side, the Virgin Mary is depicted.

Lamb of God

"John the Baptist with the Lamb", painting by Titian

The Lamb of God is a symbol of John the Baptist, since he addressed this epithet to Jesus. John is often depicted with a cross-staff in his hands, pointing to the inscription Ecce Agnus Dei(“behold the Lamb of God”) or decorated with this inscription. Nearby there may be a symbol of a lamb - a sheep, sometimes with a cross-shaped halo. Thus the inscription and the lamb became generally accepted attributes of John. In addition, the inscriptions may contain another quotation from John - Eg (o…) in Deserto("voice in the wilderness").

John, depicted as an ascetic, is dressed in hair shirt or animal skins; in his hands he can hold a honeycomb, a reed cross with a long thin trunk.

Holy family

"Madonna and Child with John the Baptist", painting by Raphael

It is common to depict John as a child together with the baby Jesus in scenes of the Holy Family. At the same time, John appears older and holds a reed cross in his hands. There is no such plot in the New Testament; it first appears in the art of the Italian Renaissance. The hagiographic rationale was as follows: while the Holy Family, after fleeing to Egypt, lived on the banks of the Nile, Christ’s second cousin John was transported there from the desert by an angel to meet his relatives.

Works

Since John the Baptist is very significant in the hierarchy of Christian saints and follows directly after the Mother of God, over two millennia a huge number of cult works depicting him were created. The most famous paintings depicting John are paintings by Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, El Greco, "Triptych of St. John" Rogier van der Weyden, depiction of the execution of John and Salome with his head by Caravaggio. Fresco cycles from his life were left by Andrea del Sarto, Ghirlandaio and Filippo Lippi.

The oldest icon of John the Baptist dates back to the 4th century, comes from the Sinai Monastery and is currently in the Kiev Museum of Art. Bogdan and Varvara Khanenko (curiously, according to one version she depicts not John, but Elijah). Icons depicting John the Baptist became especially widespread in Rus' during the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible, whose heavenly patron he was. Among domestic works, it is worth noting the icons of Andrei Rublev and Theophan the Greek (from the Deesis rows), the icons of the “Angel of the Desert” by Procopius Chirin and the “Chapter of John the Baptist” by Guriy Nikitin.

Interesting in modern times "The Appearance of Christ to the People" A. Ivanov and statues of Rodin and Michelangelo. Pictorialist Oscar Gustav Rejlander's staged photograph of the severed head of John (1863) caused heated controversy in Victorian England.

In history

• Chesma ( battleship, 1770) - battleship of the Russian Imperial Navy. It had a second name “John the Baptist”, since the Chesma victory was won on the feast of John the Baptist.

In literature

John the Baptist appears rarely in literature, mainly as an episodic character in the story of Jesus or in independent works dedicated to his death due to the dance of Salome, whose colorful figure has long attracted the attention of writers.

• Joost van den Vondel, a large poem of almost four thousand lines of Alexandrian verse (1663)
• Stefan Mallarmé, poem "Herodias"(started in 1864, not completed)
• Gustave Flaubert, story "Herodias"(1877)
• Oscar Wilde, play "Salome"(1891)
• Tolkien, who was, among other things, an expert in Old English literature, read Cunewulf's Christ, a collection of Anglo-Saxon religious poems. There he came across two lines that struck him:

Eala Earendel engia beorhtast
ofer middangeard monnum sent

which translated meant: “Greetings to you, Earendel, brightest angel - sent to people in the Middle Lands.” The Anglo-Saxon dictionary translated the address Earendel as "shining light, ray." For himself, Tolkien suggested that this word should be translated as an appeal to John the Baptist, but believed that originally Earendel- the name of the morning star, that is, Venus. The professor liked the sonorous name, and after a while he used it for his character in poetry "The Journey of Eärendel Evenstar"».

His birth is a manifest testimony to the power of the prayer of his elderly parents and an indication of the upcoming special mission of the future saint of God.

The life of the Prophet John the Baptist is unique and amazing, strict and virtuous.

The life story of the prophet John

The parents of John the Baptist are the righteous and God-fearing Zechariah and Elizabeth, who lived in Hebron. All their lives they begged God to give them a child, but the miracle happened only when they reached old age.

Baby John was born six months earlier than Jesus Christ. The elder priest Zacharias was notified of his upcoming birth during his service in the church.

One day future father I saw an archangel on the right side of the altar. He delivered the cherished message that the prayer of the future parents was heard by God and that Elizabeth would soon give birth to a son, John. He will convert many people to God and become the Forerunner of the Messiah.

But in the church environment this day bears the pagan name “Ivan Kupala”.

Of course, superstitions have long been forgotten, people are having fun, lighting bonfires, weaving wreaths, singing songs, and performing round dances. But among the seemingly simple fun there is the practice of fortune-telling and conspiracies.

Important! Believers should avoid such “pastime” activities. The future is closed to us, and knowing it through fortune telling and other magical sessions is a sin and self-deception.

On the birthday of the Forerunner one should refuse physical labor, it is necessary to say prayer and remember the great preacher, who, with his call to repentance, stirred the hearts of present and future Christians.

Watch a video about the prophet John the Baptist

The Cathedral of John the Baptist in connection with the feast of Epiphany, February 24 - the first and second finding of his head, May 25 - the third finding of his head, October 12 - the feast of the transfer of his right hand from Malta to Gatchina.

The Prophet John the Baptist was the son of the priest Zechariah (from the family of Aaron) and the righteous Elizabeth (from the family of King David). His parents lived near Hebron (in the Highlands), south of Jerusalem. He was a relative of the Lord Jesus Christ on his mother's side and was born six months before the Lord. As Evangelist Luke narrates, the Archangel Gabriel, appearing to his father Zechariah in the temple, announced the birth of his son. And so the pious spouses, deprived of the consolation of having children until old age, finally have a son, whom they asked for in prayers.

By the grace of God, he escaped death among the thousands of murdered infants in and around Bethlehem. Hearing about the murders, Elizabeth took the boy and retired to the desert mountains. Seeing the approaching warriors, she prayed to God for salvation and then the mountain parted, accepted her along with her son and hid her from her pursuers. Not finding them, the warriors inquired about the Forerunner from Zechariah, who was eventually killed. Elizabeth died in the mountains forty days after the murder of her righteous husband, and Saint John was nourished by an angel until he came of age. He grew up in the wild desert, preparing himself for great service by a strict life of fasting and prayer. The Forerunner wore rough clothes secured with a leather belt and ate wild honey and locusts. He remained a desert dweller until the Lord called him at the age of thirty to preach to the Jewish people.

Sermon

Obeying this calling, the prophet John appeared on the banks of the Jordan to prepare the people to receive the expected Messiah (Christ). To the river before the festival of purification in large quantities people gathered for religious ablutions. Here John turned to them, preaching repentance and baptism for the remission of sins. The essence of his preaching was that before receiving external washing, people must be morally cleansed, and thus prepare themselves to receive the Gospel. Of course, John's baptism was not yet the grace-filled sacrament of Christian baptism. Its meaning was spiritual preparation for the future baptism of water and the Holy Spirit.

According to the expression of one church prayer, the Prophet John was a bright morning star, which in its brilliance surpassed the radiance of all other stars and foreshadowed the morning of a blessed day, illuminated by the spiritual Sun of Christ (Mal. 4: 2). When the expectation of the Messiah reached its highest degree, the Savior of the world Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to John to the Jordan to be baptized. The baptism of Christ was accompanied by miraculous phenomena - the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the voice of God the Father from heaven: “This is My beloved Son...”

Having received a revelation about Jesus Christ, the prophet John told the people about Him: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Hearing this, two of John's disciples joined Jesus Christ. These were the apostles John the Theologian and Andrew the First-Called, brother of Simon Peter.

With the baptism of the Savior, the prophet John completed and, as it were, sealed his prophetic ministry. He fearlessly and strictly denounced the vices of both ordinary people and the powerful of this world. For this he soon suffered.

Dungeon

Execution

Baptist of Christ, preacher of repentance, do not despise me who repents, but copulating with the heavenly ones, pray to the Master for me, unworthy, sad, weak and sad, in many the sorrow of the fallen, troubled by the stormy thoughts of my mind. Because I am a den of evil deeds, I have no end to sinful customs, because my mind is nailed down by earthly things. What will I do? We don't know. And to whom shall I resort, that my soul may be saved? Only to you, Saint John, give the same name of grace, for you are before the Lord through the Mother of God, greater than all who were born, for you were deemed worthy to touch the top of King Christ, who takes away sins peace, Lamb of God. Pray to him for my sinful soul, so that from now on, in the first ten hours, I will bear a good burden and accept recompense with the last. To her, the Baptist of Christ, the honest Forerunner, the extreme Prophet, the first martyr in grace, the teacher of fasters and hermits, the teacher of purity and the close friend of Christ! I pray to you, I come running to you: do not deny me from your intercession, but raise me up, cast down by many sins. Renew my soul with repentance, as with the second baptism, since you are the ruler of both: with baptism you wash away ancestral sin, and with repentance you cleanse every bad deed. Cleanse me, defiled by my sins, and force me to enter, even if nothing bad enters, into the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.

After reading this article, you will learn about the Nativity of John the Baptist, his pious life and the beheading of the holy Prophet.

Nativity of John the Baptist - Baptist of Jesus Christ

Archbishop Averky Taushev, www.days.ru

Prophet John the Baptist is the most revered saint after the Virgin Mary. They were installed in his honor next holidays: October 6 - conception, July 7 - Christmas, September 11 - beheading, January 20 - Council of John the Baptist in connection with the feast of Epiphany, March 9 - first and second finding of his head, June 7 - third finding of his head, October 25 - celebration of the transfer of his right hand from Malta to Gatchina (according to the new style).

The Prophet John the Baptist was the son of the priest Zechariah (from the family of Aaron) and righteous Elizabeth(from the line of King David). His parents lived near Hebron (in the Highlands), south of Jerusalem. He was a relative of the Lord Jesus Christ on his mother's side and was born six months before the Lord. As Evangelist Luke narrates, the Archangel Gabriel, appearing to his father Zechariah in the temple, announced the birth of his son. And so the pious spouses, deprived of the consolation of having children until old age, finally have a son, whom they asked for in prayers.

The priests were divided by David into 24 orders, and Abijah was placed at the head of one of them. Zechariah was ranked among this line. His wife Elizabeth also came from a priestly family. Although both of them were distinguished by true righteousness, they were childless, and this was considered by the Jews to be God's punishment for sins. Each series held its service in the temple twice a year for one week, and the priests distributed responsibilities among themselves by lot.

Zechariah’s lot fell to perform incense, for which he entered the second part of the Jerusalem temple, called the Holy Place or Sanctuary, where the altar of incense was located, while all the people prayed in the open part of the temple intended for him - the “Court”. Entering the sanctuary, Zechariah saw an Angel, and fear fell upon him, perhaps. and because, according to Jewish concepts, the appearance of an Angel foreshadowed a close one. The angel reassured him, saying that his prayer had been heard, and his wife would bear him a son, who would be “great before the Lord.”

It is difficult to imagine that Zechariah, being so old with his wife, and even at such a solemn moment of the service, with his righteousness, would pray for the gift of a son. Obviously, he, as one of the few best people of that time, intensely prayed to God for imminent arrival The Kingdom of the Messiah, and it was about this prayer of his that the Angel said that it had been heard. And now his prayer received a high reward: not only was his sorrowful infertility resolved, but his son would be the Forerunner of the Messiah, whose coming he so eagerly awaited.

His son will surpass everyone with his extraordinary strict abstinence and will be filled from birth with the special grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit. He will have to prepare the Jewish people for the coming of the Messiah, which he will do by preaching about repentance and correction of life, turning to God many of the sons of Israel, who only formally worshiped Jehovah, but were far from Him in heart and life. For this, he will be given the spirit and strength of the prophet Elijah, whom he will resemble in his fiery zeal, strict ascetic life, preaching repentance and denunciation of wickedness.

He will have to call the Jews out of the abyss of their moral decline, returning love for children to the hearts of parents, and confirm those who resist the right hand of the Lord in the way of thinking of the righteous. Zechariah did not believe the Angel, since he was too old to hope for offspring, like his wife, and asked the Angel for a sign as proof of the truth of his words. To dispel Zechariah's doubts, the Angel calls his name. He is Gabriel, which means: “the power of God,” the same one who announced to the prophet Daniel about the time of the coming of the Messiah, indicating the dates in “weeks” (Dan. 9:21-27).

For his lack of faith, Zechariah is punished with muteness, and, apparently, at the same time with deafness, since they later explained things to him by signs. Usually the incense did not last long and the people were surprised at Zechariah’s slowness in the sanctuary, but they realized that he had a vision when he began to explain himself with signs. It is remarkable that the dumb Zechariah did not leave his line, but continued his ministry to the end. His wife Elizabeth, after returning home, actually conceived, but hid it for five months, fearing that people might not believe it and ridicule her, but she rejoiced in her soul and thanked God for removing the reproach from her. Conception of St. John the Baptist is celebrated here on September 23, old style.

When Elizabeth was ready to give birth to a son, her neighbors and relatives rejoiced at her joy and on the eighth day gathered to her to perform the rite of circumcision established under Abraham (Gen. 17:11-14) and required by the law of Moses (Lev. 12:3). . Through circumcision, the newborn entered into the company of the chosen people of God, and therefore the day of circumcision was considered a joyful family holiday.

At circumcision, the newborn was given a name, usually in honor of one of his older relatives. Therefore, the mother’s desire to name him John could not but cause general bewilderment. The Evangelist emphasizes this circumstance to us obviously because it is also miraculous: Elizabeth’s desire to name the baby John was the fruit of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They turned to their father for a solution. Having asked for a piece of paper coated with wax, he wrote on it with a stick, which was used for this purpose: “John will be his name,” and everyone was surprised at the extraordinary coincidence of the desire of the mother and the deaf-mute father to name his son by a name that was not in their family. And immediately, according to the Angel’s prediction, Zechariah’s lips opened, and he, in prophetic inspiration, as if already foreseeing the coming of the kingdom of the Messiah, began to glorify God, who had visited His people and created deliverance for them, Who “raised a horn of salvation in the house of David.”

Just as criminals, pursued by vigilantes, fled into Old Testament to the altar of burnt offerings and, grasping its horn, were considered inviolable (1 Kings 2:28), so the entire human race, oppressed by sins and persecuted for this by Divine justice, finds salvation in Christ Jesus. This salvation is not only the deliverance of Israel from its political enemies, as most Jews, especially the scribes and Pharisees, thought at that time, but the fulfillment of God’s covenant given to the Old Testament forefathers, which will enable all faithful Israelis to serve God “with honor and righteousness.”

By “righteousness” here we mean justification by Divine means, through the imputation of Christ’s redemptive merits to man; by “reverence” is the internal correction of a person, achieved with the assistance of grace through the effort of the person himself. Further, Zechariah predicts the future for his son, predicted by the Angel, saying that he will be called a prophet of the Most High and will be the forerunner of the Divine Messiah, and indicates the goals of the service of the Forerunner to prepare people for His coming, to make the people of Israel understand that their salvation consists of nothing otherwise than in the forgiveness of sins. Therefore, Israel should not seek worldly greatness, which was what its spiritual leaders of that time dreamed of, but righteousness and forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins will come “from the gracious mercy of our God, as a result of which the East comes to us from above,” i.e. Messiah-Redeemer, by which name He was also called by the prophets Jeremiah (25:5) and Zechariah (3:8 and 6:12).

According to legend, rumors about the birth of John the Baptist reached the suspicious king Herod, and when the wise men came to Jerusalem asking where the born King of the Jews was, Herod remembered his son Zechariah and, having issued an order to massacre the infants, sent assassins to Jutta. Zechariah was serving in the temple at that time, and Elizabeth disappeared with her son into the desert. Angry that the baby John was not found, Herod sent to Zechariah in the temple to ask where he had hidden his son. Zechariah replied that he now served the Lord God of Israel and did not know where his son was. After threats to take his life, he repeated that he did not know where his son was, and fell under the swords of the murderers between the temple and the altar, as the Lord recalls in His accusatory speech to the Pharisees (Matt. 23:35). We celebrate June 24th.

By the grace of God, he escaped death among the thousands of murdered infants in and around Bethlehem. Saint John grew up in the wild desert, preparing himself for great service through a strict life of fasting and prayer. He wore rough clothes secured with a leather belt and ate wild honey and locusts (a genus of locust). He remained a desert dweller until the Lord called him at the age of thirty to preach to the Jewish people.

Obeying this calling, the prophet John appeared on the banks of the Jordan to prepare the people to receive the expected Messiah (Christ). Before the holiday of purification, people gathered in large numbers to the river for religious ablutions. Here John turned to them, preaching repentance and baptism for the remission of sins. The essence of his preaching was that before receiving external washing, people must be morally cleansed, and thus prepare themselves to receive the Gospel. Of course, John's baptism was not yet the grace-filled sacrament of Christian baptism. Its meaning was spiritual preparation for the future baptism of water and the Holy Spirit.

According to the expression of one church prayer, the Prophet John was a bright morning star, which in its brilliance surpassed the radiance of all other stars and foreshadowed the morning of a blessed day, illuminated by the spiritual Sun of Christ (Mal. 4: 2). When the expectation of the Messiah reached its highest degree, the Savior of the world Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to John to the Jordan to be baptized. The baptism of Christ was accompanied by miraculous phenomena - the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the voice of God the Father from heaven: “This is My beloved Son...”

Having received a revelation about Jesus Christ, the prophet John told the people about Him: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Hearing this, two of John's disciples joined Jesus Christ. They were the apostles John (the Theologian) and Andrew (the First-Called, brother of Simon Peter).

With the baptism of the Savior, the prophet John completed and, as it were, sealed his prophetic ministry. He fearlessly and strictly denounced the vices of both ordinary people and the powerful of this world. For this he soon suffered.

King Herod Antipas (the son of King Herod the Great) ordered the prophet John to be imprisoned for denouncing him for abandoning his lawful wife (the daughter of the Arabian king Aretha) and for illegally cohabiting with Herodias. Herodias was previously married to Herod's brother, Philip.

On his birthday, Herod held a feast, which was attended by many noble guests. Salome, the daughter of the wicked Herodias, with her immodest dancing during the feast, pleased Herod and the guests reclining with him so much that the king promised with an oath to give her everything she asked for, even up to half of his kingdom. The dancer, taught by her mother, asked to be given the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod respected John as a prophet, so he was saddened by such a request. However, he was embarrassed to break the oath he had given and sent a guard to the prison, who cut off John’s head and gave it to the girl, and she took the head to her mother. Herodias, having outraged the cut off holy head of the prophet, threw it into a dirty place. The disciples of John the Baptist buried his body in the Samaritan city of Sebaste. For his crime, Herod received retribution in 38 after R. X.; his troops were defeated by Arethas, who opposed him for dishonoring his daughter, whom he abandoned for Herodias, and the following year the Roman emperor Caligula exiled Herod to prison.

As the legend tells, Evangelist Luke, going around different cities and villages preaching Christ, took from Sebaste to Antioch a particle of the relics of the great prophet - his right hand. In 959, when the Muslims captured Antioch (under Emperor Constantine the Porphyrogenitus), the deacon transferred the hand of the Forerunner from Antioch to Chalcedon, from where it was transported to Constantinople, where it was kept until the conquest of this city by the Turks. Then the right hand of John the Baptist was kept in St. Petersburg in the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the Winter Palace.

The holy head of John the Baptist was found by the pious Joanna and buried in a vessel on the Mount of Olives. Later, one pious ascetic, while digging a ditch for the foundation of the temple, found this treasure and kept it with himself, and before his death, fearing the desecration of the shrine by non-believers, he hid it in the ground in the same place where he found it. During the reign of Constantine the Great, two monks came to Jerusalem to venerate the Holy Sepulcher, and John the Baptist appeared to one of them and pointed out where his head was buried. From that time on, Christians began to celebrate the First Finding of the Head of John the Baptist.

About the prophet John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ said: “Among those born of women there has not arisen a greater (prophet) than John the Baptist.” John the Baptist is glorified by the Church as “an angel, and an apostle, and a martyr, and a prophet, and a candle-bearer, and a friend of Christ, and a seal of the prophets, and an intercessor of old and new grace, and the most honorable and bright voice of the Word among those born.”

The Prophet John the Baptist is the most revered saint after the Virgin Mary. The following holidays were established in his honor: October 6 - conception, July 7 - Christmas, September 11 - beheading, January 20 - Council of John the Baptist in connection with the feast of Epiphany, March 9 - the first and second discovery of his head, June 7 - third discovery his chapter, October 25 is the celebration of the transfer of his right hand from Malta to Gatchina (according to the new style).

The Prophet John the Baptist was the son of the priest Zechariah (from the family of Aaron) and the righteous Elizabeth (from the family of King David). His parents lived near Hebron (in the Highlands), south of Jerusalem. He was a relative of the Lord Jesus Christ on his mother's side and was born six months before the Lord. As Evangelist Luke narrates, the Archangel Gabriel, appearing to his father Zechariah in the temple, announced the birth of his son. And so the pious spouses, deprived of the consolation of having children until old age, finally have a son, whom they asked for in prayers.

By the grace of God, he escaped death among the thousands of murdered infants in and around Bethlehem. Saint John grew up in the wild desert, preparing himself for great service through a strict life of fasting and prayer. He wore rough clothes secured with a leather belt and ate wild honey and locusts (a genus of locust). He remained a desert dweller until the Lord called him at the age of thirty to preach to the Jewish people.

Obeying this calling, the prophet John appeared on the banks of the Jordan to prepare the people to receive the expected Messiah (Christ). Before the holiday of purification, people gathered in large numbers to the river for religious ablutions. Here John turned to them, preaching repentance and baptism for the remission of sins. The essence of his preaching was that before receiving external washing, people must be morally cleansed, and thus prepare themselves to receive the Gospel. Of course, John's baptism was not yet the grace-filled sacrament of Christian baptism. Its meaning was spiritual preparation for the future baptism of water and the Holy Spirit.

According to the expression of one church prayer, the Prophet John was a bright morning star, which in its brilliance surpassed the radiance of all other stars and foreshadowed the morning of a blessed day, illuminated by the spiritual Sun of Christ (Mal. 4: 2). When the expectation of the Messiah reached its highest degree, the Savior of the world Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to John to the Jordan to be baptized. The baptism of Christ was accompanied by miraculous phenomena - the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the voice of God the Father from heaven: “This is My beloved Son...”

Having received a revelation about Jesus Christ, the prophet John told the people about Him: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Hearing this, two of John's disciples joined Jesus Christ. They were the apostles John (the Theologian) and Andrew (the First-Called, brother of Simon Peter).

With the baptism of the Savior, the prophet John completed and, as it were, sealed his prophetic ministry. He fearlessly and strictly denounced the vices of both ordinary people and the powerful of this world. For this he soon suffered.

King Herod Antipas (son of King Herod the Great) ordered the prophet John to be imprisoned for accusing him of abandoning his lawful wife (the daughter of the Arabian king Aretha) and for illegally cohabiting with Herodias. Herodias was previously married to Herod's brother, Philip.

On his birthday, Herod held a feast, which was attended by many noble guests. Salome, the daughter of the wicked Herodias, with her immodest dancing during the feast, pleased Herod and the guests reclining with him so much that the king promised with an oath to give her everything she asked for, even up to half of his kingdom. The dancer, taught by her mother, asked to be given the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod respected John as a prophet, so he was saddened by such a request. However, he was embarrassed to break the oath he had given and sent a guard to the prison, who cut off John’s head and gave it to the girl, and she took the head to her mother. Herodias, having outraged the cut off holy head of the prophet, threw it into a dirty place. The disciples of John the Baptist buried his body in the Samaritan city of Sebaste. For his crime, Herod received retribution in 38 after R. X.; his troops were defeated by Arethas, who opposed him for dishonoring his daughter, whom he abandoned for Herodias, and the following year the Roman emperor Caligula exiled Herod to prison.

As the legend tells, Evangelist Luke, going around different cities and villages preaching Christ, took from Sebaste to Antioch a particle of the relics of the great prophet - his right hand. In 959, when the Muslims captured Antioch (under Emperor Constantine the Porphyrogenitus), the deacon transferred the hand of the Forerunner from Antioch to Chalcedon, from where it was transported to Constantinople, where it was kept until the conquest of this city by the Turks. Then the right hand of John the Baptist was kept in St. Petersburg in the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the Winter Palace.

The holy head of John the Baptist was found by the pious Joanna and buried in a vessel on the Mount of Olives. Later, one pious ascetic, while digging a ditch for the foundation of the temple, found this treasure and kept it with himself, and before his death, fearing the desecration of the shrine by non-believers, he hid it in the ground in the same place where he found it. During the reign of Constantine the Great, two monks came to Jerusalem to venerate the Holy Sepulcher, and John the Baptist appeared to one of them and pointed out where his head was buried. From that time on, Christians began to celebrate the First Finding of the Head of John the Baptist.

About the prophet John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ said: “Among those born of women there has not arisen a greater (prophet) than John the Baptist.” John the Baptist is glorified by the Church as “an angel, and an apostle, and a martyr, and a prophet, and a candle-bearer, and a friend of Christ, and a seal of the prophets, and an intercessor of old and new grace, and the most honorable and bright voice of the Word among those born.”