Celebration of the Cathedral of the Baptist and Baptist of the Lord John (20/01)

In the Orthodox Church, it is established the custom on the next day of the great Lord's and Mother of God holidays to remember those saints who immediately served this sacred event in history.

The day after the Holy Epiphany, the Church conciliarly honors the one who served the cause of Christ's baptism, placing his hand on the head of the Savior. The Holy Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John, the greatest of the prophets, completes the history of the Old Testament Church and opens the era of the New Testament.

The Holy Prophet John testified to the coming to earth of the Only Begotten Son of God, who accepted human flesh. John the Baptist was honored to baptize Him in the waters of the Jordan and testified to the mysterious Appearance of the Most Holy Trinity on the day of the Savior’s Baptism.

The Lord's mother's kindred, the son of the priest Zechariah and the righteous Elizabeth, the Forerunner of the Lord was born six months before Jesus Christ. Archangel Gabriel announced his birth in the temple to the priest Zechariah. Asked by the prayers of a pious couple, deprived of children until old age, the baby John was filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Saved from the death that befell the infants in Bethlehem, he grew up in the wild and ethereal desert, preparing himself for prophetic service through strict fasting, thought and prayer. At the age of about 30, St. John went out to preach repentance on the banks of the Jordan to prepare the people for the reception of the Savior of the world with his sermon.

Saint John the Baptist ended his life as a martyr. He denounced King Herod for lawless cohabitation with Herodias, for which he was imprisoned and beheaded (Matthew 14:1-10). The holy body of John the Baptist was buried by his disciples in the Samarian city of Sevastia, where the atrocity took place.

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