The Life of St. John the Forerunner

In the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, while serving in the temple, encountered and angel of the Lord. The angel said "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. Your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son who is to be called John. You will have great joy and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, ... he will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God. He will also go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom if the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:13ff)

Six months later, Gabriel announced to the virgin Mary that she would conceive the son of God and she shall call his name Jesus. Mary soon visited Elizabeth in her home. When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, John leapt in her womb.

Thirty years later, John came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying "'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven it at hand!' For this is he who was spoken of by the prophets of Isaiah, saying 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight.'" Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing all their sins. When John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them "Brood of vipers! Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not say to yourselves ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the tree. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I needed baptize thee with water unto repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, who sandals I am not worthy to carry, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan and was baptized by him. Soon after, John was arrested and placed in prison because he had preached against the adultery of the king Herod who had put away his wife and taken his living brother’s wife. For this John was beheaded. Jesus comforted John’s disciples who came Him asking if John was a prophet. Jesus answered : "A prophet? Yes, I say to thee and more than a prophet.... Assuredly I say to thee, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John.... And if thou art willing to receive it, he is Elias who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

John is honored by the church six times each year.  Our parish commemorates St. John on June 24th, the celebration of his nativity. The Troparion for this feast is as follows:

"O Prophet and Forerunner of Christ God’s coming to us, all we who with longing now extol thee are at a loss to honor thee worthily. For thy mother’s barrenness and thy father’s long silence, by thine all-renowned and hallowed birth were ended, and the Incarnation of the Son of God is preached unto all the world."

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