Prophet John the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord

Prophet John was born to the righteous priest Zechariah, of the course of Abijah, and Righteous Elizabeth, of the line of Aaron — both already advanced in years and childless. While Zechariah was serving in the Temple, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him and announced the birth of a son who would "go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17); for doubting this annunciation Zechariah was struck mute until the day of the infant's naming, when, writing on a tablet "His name is John," he immediately regained his speech (Luke 1:63-64). John was born six months before the Nativity of Christ.

According to church tradition, to save the infant from Herod the Great's slaughter of the innocents, Righteous Elizabeth took refuge with her son in the wilderness, where, according to tradition, a rock miraculously opened to shelter them; Zechariah himself, refusing to disclose his son's whereabouts to Herod's soldiers, was killed between the temple and the altar (the Prophet Zechariah and Righteous Elizabeth are commemorated September 5/18). John grew and became strong in spirit in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel (Luke 1:80).

Around AD 28-29 he began his prophetic ministry on the banks of the Jordan, clothed in a garment of camel's hair and eating locusts and wild honey — deliberately recalling the Prophet Elijah, whose spirit and power he bore. He preached repentance ("Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand") and baptized those who came in the waters of the Jordan as a sign of cleansing from sin, denouncing the Pharisees and Sadducees as a "brood of vipers" for relying on mere descent from Abraham without the fruits of repentance.

When Jesus Christ came to him to be baptized, John at first refused ("I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"), but yielded, "for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." The next day, seeing Jesus approaching, John proclaimed Him "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). During the Baptism itself, "the heavens were opened to Him, and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, 'This is My beloved Son'" (Matt. 3:16-17) — the event of Theophany, revealing all three Persons of the Holy Trinity to the world.

He openly denounced the tetrarch Herod Antipas for unlawfully taking Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for which he was imprisoned in the fortress of Machaerus east of the Jordan. At a banquet for Herod's birthday, Herodias's daughter (per Josephus, Salome) so pleased Herod with her dance that he swore to give her whatever she asked, up to half his kingdom; prompted by her mother, the girl asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. John was beheaded in prison; his disciples came, took the body, and buried it (Matt. 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29).

According to tradition, the prophet's honorable head was subsequently found, hidden, and refound repeatedly over the centuries, giving rise to separate feasts: the First and Second Finding of the Head (4th and 5th centuries) is kept February 24/March 9; the Third Finding (c. 850, from Comana) on May 25/June 7. The translation of the Forerunner's right hand from Malta to Gatchina in 1799 is separately commemorated October 12/25.

The feast of the Beheading itself (August 29/September 11) is not among the Twelve Great Feasts but is one of the Great Feasts outside that number, and is a strict fasting day in memory of the prophet's violent death.