Righteous Righteous Zacharias, Father of John the Forerunner

Righteous Zacharias was an Old Testament–era priest of the course of Abijah who served in the Jerusalem Temple, husband of righteous Elizabeth (sister of St. Anna, mother of the Theotokos), and father of the Prophet John the Baptist/Forerunner. According to Luke 1:5-25, 57-79, though elderly and childless, Zacharias was visited by the Archangel Gabriel while offering incense in the sanctuary and told his wife would bear a son; doubting the message, he was struck mute until the child's birth, when he confirmed the name "John" in writing.

Church tradition holds Zacharias was later killed between the sanctuary and the altar for refusing to reveal where Elizabeth had hidden infant John from Herod's soldiers — an event some early Fathers identified with the murder of a different Old Testament Zacharias, son of Jehoiada, recorded in 2 Chronicles 24:20-22, possibly referenced by Christ in Matthew 23:35 — a disputed identification. He is distinct from Zacharias the Minor Prophet (feast Feb 8/21 O.S./N.S.).

The principal commemoration of Zacharias, father of the Forerunner, is September 5 O.S. / 18 N.S., often celebrated jointly with righteous Elizabeth.