Синаксарь на Рождество святого Иоанна Предтечи и Крестителя Господня

When the unsetting Sun of righteousness - our Savior wanted to shine to the world and had already bowed to the heavens and moved into the purest virgin womb, at that very time the birth of His starlet - St. John the Baptist - should have taken place from the barren one: he, as a herald, had to precede the appearance of the Lord, preaching and saying: “He who is mightier than me is coming after me” (Mark 1:7). And so, when the time had come for Saint Elizabeth to give birth, she gave birth to a son in her old age, from a mature womb, just as Sarah gave birth to Isaac in ancient times. So one miracle precedes another: before the Virgin gives birth to Christ, the tired one in her days gives birth to the Forerunner of Christ, so that those who saw the supernatural birth from an old woman would believe the supernatural birth from an unwedlocked girl and say to themselves: “The almighty Hand of God, who resolved the infertility of the old woman, is able to make the incorruptible Virgin a pure Mother.” That is why the miraculous birth of the Savior of the world is preceded by the miraculous birth of the Forerunner. This had to be in order to prepare the world with one miracle for the perception of another miracle: having seen a mother who had matured in her days, people became more capable of seeing the Ever-Virgin who gave birth to the Son; Having witnessed the wondrous birth from the elderly Elizabeth, they prepared for the news of the “strange” birth of Christ from the Virgin. For in both events, according to the will of Almighty God, to Whom every nature obeys, “the order of birth prevailed over the rules of nature” 4118. When Elizabeth gave birth to the Forerunner of Christ, all her relatives, neighbors and acquaintances, hearing about this birth, rejoiced with her, because the Lord did her great mercy - he took away from her the “reproach of childlessness.” This is how the words of the evangelist of God, Archangel Gabriel, were fulfilled, who said to Zechariah: “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and many will rejoice at his birth” (Luke 1:13–14). Then both the relatives of Zechariah and those who were filled with ardent expectation of the Messiah the Deliverer rejoiced. For although they did not know about the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God that had already taken place, their spirit, inspired by the influence of the Holy Spirit, was mysteriously moved to joy by the very event of the birth of the Forerunner, and they saw in this event some kind of assurance that they would wait for the long-awaited Messiah. On the 8th day after the birth of the Forerunner, priests and relatives of Zechariah came to his house to participate in the rite of circumcision of the baby; at the same time, they wanted to call him by his father’s name - Zacharias. But the baby's mother did not agree to this; having a prophet-husband and having given birth to a prophet-son, Saint Elizabeth was herself filled with the prophetic gift and, according to prophetic foreknowledge, insisted that her son be named by the name that the Angel commanded him to be called: she could not hear about this from her husband, for Zechariah returned from the church to his house, having, as it were, a tied tongue, and could not tell his wife that he had seen the Angel who preached the gospel. to him about the conception of a son and commanded him to name him John. So, guided by the Holy Spirit, the holy mother calls the baby John - prophetically, just as she had previously prophetically known the coming of the Mother of God to her, when she said: “And where is it from me that the Mother of my Lord came to me?” (Luke 1:43). Then the priests and relatives began to ask Zechariah by signs what he would like to name the baby. He asked for a tablet and wrote on it: “His name is John” (Luke 1:63). And immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed from the bonds of dumbness, and he began to speak, glorifying God. Everyone was amazed at so many miracles that they witnessed - they were amazed that the old woman gave birth to a baby, and that the silent father thought about the name of his son in the same way as his mother, and that the dumb man, after writing the name, began to speak and pronounced what was written by hand with his tongue - as if the name of John was the key for the father’s lips, which, after Zechariah wrote this name, opened to glorify God. Listening to Zechariah’s speeches, everyone was amazed and horrified even more and told about everything they had seen and heard throughout the entire mountainous country of Judea, that is, within the holy city of Hebron 4119, in which Zechariah’s house was. This city with its borders, even in the days of Joshua, was separated to the priestly tribe of Aaron. It was 8 hours away from Jerusalem and was located a little further than Bethlehem on an elevated place. It was called the “Mountain City” because of the high mountains on which it was located; at the same time, its borders were called the “highland,” as it is written in the Gospel account of the journey of the Most Holy Theotokos to her relative Elizabeth: “And Mary arose in those days (from Nazareth of Galilee), and with haste went to the mountainous country, to the city of Judah, i.e. to Hebron, and entered the house of Zechariah, and greeted Elizabeth” (Luke 1:39–40). Thus, it was here in Hebron, in the mountain city of the tribe of Judah, in the middle of the mountainous country, that all those amazing and wonderful events that were mentioned above took place. And everyone who heard about these events marveled a lot and thought in bewilderment: “What will happen to this baby?” (Luke 1:66). And the hand of the Lord was with the newborn child, multiplying in him the action of the grace of God and keeping him from the sword of Herod. For rumors of the miraculous birth of John reached Herod, and he marveled at him, saying to himself, “What will this child be like?” When our Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea and the wise men came from the east 4120 and asked about the newborn King of the Jews, then Herod, having sent soldiers to Bethlehem with the command to kill all the male children there, remembered John, the son of Zechariah, about whom he had heard many wonderful things, and began to ponder: “Isn’t he the future king of the Jews.” Therefore, tormented by anger, he planned to kill him too, and for this purpose he deliberately sent assassins to Hebron, to the house of Zechariah. However, the messengers did not find Saint John. When the godless murders of children began in Bethlehem, the voice and cry that was in Bethlehem reached Hebron, which was not far from the city of David; At the same time, they also learned about the reason for the crying in Bethlehem. Saint Elizabeth, having taken the youth John, immediately hastily set off for the highest mountains of the desert (at this time Saint Zechariah was in Jerusalem, fulfilling his assigned turn of ministry). Hiding in the mountains, Saint Elizabeth prayed to God with tears, asking Him to protect her and the youth. And when, from the heights of the mountains, she saw the approaching warriors, she cried out, turning to the stone rock: - Mountain of God! Receive mother and child! And immediately the mountain parted, accepted Elizabeth and the youth John inside and thus hid them from the attacking murderers. So the soldiers, not finding what they were looking for, returned to the one who sent them empty-handed. Then Herod sent his armor bearer to Zechariah in the church to tell him, “Give me your son.” “I now serve the Lord God of Israel, but where my son is now, I don’t know.” Herod was very angry and again sent an armor bearer to Zechariah to tell him that if he did not give up his son, he would die himself. And soldiers came to him, fierce as beasts, ready to carry out the command of the lawless king, and with rage they said to the priest of God: -Where did you hide your son? Give him over to us, for the king ordered us to kill you immediately if you do not give us your son. Zechariah answered this courageously: “You will kill my body, but the Lord will accept my soul.” And immediately the murderers, fulfilling the lawless command, rushed with rage at the saint and killed him between the church and the altar (Matthew 23:35). His shed blood, being absorbed, remained on the marble and became like stone, as evidence of Herod’s crime and his eternal condemnation. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, hidden by God along with John, remained in the parted mountain. In it, by God's command, a cave was formed for them; a spring appeared near her and a date palm full of fruits grew. Every time it was time to eat, the tree bowed down, and when they were satisfied with the fruits, it straightened up again. After 40 days had passed after the murder of Zechariah, Saint Elizabeth reposed in the mentioned cave. From that time on, Saint John was an Angel until he came of age, guarded until the day of his appearance to the people of Israel. Thus the hand of God guarded and covered Saint John, so that he might come before the Face of the Lord, with the spirit and power of Elijah, and prepare the way for Him coming to save the human race. For all this, may Christ be glorified, our God and Savior, with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. The prophet and forerunner of the coming of Christ, it is worthy to praise you, we are perplexed, we honor you with love: the infertility of the one who gave birth and the silence of the father was resolved by your glorious and honest birth, and the incarnation of the Son of God is preached to the world. Before the barrenness of this day, Christ gives birth to the Forerunner, and to her there is the fulfillment of every prophecy; For the prophets preached it, laying their hand on this in the Jordan, and appeared as a prophet, preacher, and forerunner of God’s Word. The expression is taken from the Theotokos dogmatist. Hebron (now called El-Khalil by the Arabs) is a city located in the south of Palestine, one of the most ancient cities in Asia. It was known as an ancient city even in the time of Abraham and, according to Flavius ​​(a Jewish historian who lived at the beginning of the Christian era), around his time it was considered to be already 2300 years old. The city has long been considered sacred by Jews, as it contains the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. In the days of Constantine the Great, a church was erected over the burial cave of Abraham, which was converted by Muslims into a mosque. The city itself lies at an altitude of a thousand feet above Jerusalem, in a deep and narrow valley, surrounded on both sides by mountains. The entire valley and mountain slopes are occupied by orchards - oilseeds, figs, apricots, pomegranates and grapes. Currently, the city has up to 10,000 residents who are engaged in glass making, arable farming, growing orchards and winemaking. In ancient times, the name Magi meant wise people who had knowledge of the secret forces of nature, heavenly bodies, etc. The Magi who came to worship Christ were apparently from Persia. They were astrologers, i.e. served the stars and observed the heavenly bodies. Obviously, they were virtuous people, which is why they were awarded special revelations from God. You might be interested in: