Word on the birth of the holy prophet, Forerunner of the Baptist

St. Theodore the Studite is the author of an extensive book of praise (πανηγυρική βίβλος). Only 12 sermons from this collection have survived to this day, including “The Sermon on the Birth of the Holy Prophet the Forerunner of the Baptist” (11 chapters). The essay is a conversation on the Gospel reading about the birth of St. John the Baptist. St. Theodore explains it verse by verse, and at the end says a prayer to the Forerunner for his intercession before God for the people and for the brethren of the monastery. In his word, the author calls the prophet John the Baptist the greatest of those born of women, based on the Gospel words of Christ Himself, and emphasizes his unique position between Law and Grace. St. Theodore describes in detail the miraculous circumstances of John's birth from elderly and barren parents. Particular attention is paid to the Gospel narrative about the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to the righteous Zechariah in the church and the subsequent numbness of St. Zechariah, which is interpreted not as unbelief, but as a thirst for a sign and a symbolic cessation of legal service. The joyful leap of a baby in the womb of rights. Elizabeth's greeting of the Mother of God is revealed as John's first conscious prophecy about the incarnate Word of God. The work also contains a theological digression regarding the veneration of icons, where St. Theodore substantiates the possibility and necessity of depicting angels and Christ, contrasting them with the indescribable Divine essence. The speech ends with a solemn enumeration of the many praiseworthy titles of prophet. John the Baptist, from the “lamp of ineffable Light” to the “herald of the spotless Lamb”, and a call for his heavenly intercession. 1. If our word were like a polyphonic nightingale, singing euphoniously in the spring, then it would hardly be able to sing the great voice of truth that is being born now; but since our word is tongue-tied and very silent, how will it sing the great glory of the prophets, how will it glorify the praise of the apostles, how will it praise the miracle of the martyrs? And one should pay attention to the fact that in relation to other saints, one extols the other with praise - the highest is the highest, the lowest is the lowest, but Jesus Christ Himself, God and the truth, puts him now glorified above the others, for he says: the pain of John the Baptist is not raised in those born of women (Matthew 11:11). If such excellent praise was expressed to the great Forerunner from the divine Word, then how can he need our weak word, zealous listeners? - Not at all. Therefore, only by fulfilling the duty of obedience and the commandment of our fathers will we show our boldness in order to be sanctified through one remembrance of the Forerunner. 2. So, we will celebrate this day, we will celebrate the feast of birth, not only we who live here, but also the entire surrounding country of the mental Jordan (that is, all believers who have been baptized). Let's take a closer look at the wondrous miracle, think about what happened to Zechariah, and understand what happened to Elizabeth. The great Forerunner did not come from unknown parents, but on the contrary from very famous and glorious ones, so that through this he would be marked by God. For his father is Aaron, both in gray hair and in dignity, clothed in priestly robes, such as: a breastplate (breastplate), amices, a skirt, a fringed tunic, a turban and a belt - clothes decorated with gold and stones, hyacinth and fine linen. In this form he entered the Holy of Holies for daily sacred services. His mother was similar to Sarah in her glory and even surpassed her, as a relative of the Mother of God, for she, barren, gave birth, according to the promise, not to Isaac, called the servant of God, but to John, who was the beloved friend of the Lord. O barren womb that gave birth to such a son! O barren field that produced such a harvest! Therefore, we should not hesitate to apply to her the following words of the great-voiced Isaiah: the barren one who does not give birth rejoices, the barren woman who does not give birth shouts and cries (Is. 54:1), for from the barren womb you brought forth a cry of purity, a rose of spiritual fragrance, a meadow of beneficial abstinence, the daylight of the appearance of Christ - John, God’s chosen heavenly warrior kingdom, the beautiful guide of the Church of Christ, the unceasing witness of the truth - John, the loud messenger of repentance, the angel of the Lord in the flesh, who showed people the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world... And I could not embrace all his virtues, even if I added more names, for he who is called greater than all the anointed of God has many names and many virtues. 3. Of course, the birth of the forefather Isaac is also revered, who, having conceived and given birth in old age, Sarah said: who will tell Abraham that Sarah feeds the boy with milk (Gen. 21:7)? Therefore, a great feast was arranged on the day of his weaning. We also honor the birthday of Sampson, born of Manoah, according to the promise, also from a barren mother: he, says Scripture (Judges 13:14), did not drink wine or strong drink and did not eat anything unclean, and began to save Israel from the hand of foreigners. In addition to all these - in order to keep silent about others - the birthday of the seer Samuel, whom the famous Anna bore to her husband Elkanah, was also honored, dedicating him to God from the womb. But all these men, beloved, did not achieve the greatness of John: for some lived before the written law, others - after. John, the son of Zechariah and the wondrous Elizabeth, the flower that precedes the coming of Christ, flourished in the middle between law and grace. For a mental dawn shone in him, heralding the rising of the Sun of Truth, a warrior appeared, opening the procession of the King of all, a bride-guide came, announcing the approach of the Bridegroom. In addition, the men named prophesied or worked miracles only by birth; John, in his mother’s womb, was filled with the Holy Spirit and appeared as a wonderworker. 4. Therefore, it seems to me fitting to represent the greatness of the Forerunner in the following image. Just as an ordinary king, leaving the royal chambers, has as his predecessors lictors and staff-bearers, and then ipates, iparchs and taxiarchs and some high dignitary, behind whom the king himself immediately appears, shining with gold and shiny stones: this is how one should think about the true and one universal King, Christ our Lord. For He, who was to enter the universe with flesh, was preceded by the patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - then Moses, the seer of God, Aaron and Samuel, and the whole group of prophets; Finally John appeared, and immediately behind him the Lord Christ, about whom John says: He who came after me was before me, as he was before me (John 1:15) - and the last in order is the highest in dignity, according to comparison. Thus, the great Forerunner is higher than the prophets, and the apostles, and all others, according to the word of the true Word of Christ: he is higher than the prophets, as he follows them, and the apostles, as he precedes (them). – But let’s open the gospel story and listen to what Gabriel announced to Zechariah. 5. The Gospel says that an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right hand of the altar of incense, and was attacked with fear (Luke 1:11-12). How terrible this vision of an angel is, and in what a terrible place it happened! For the Scripture says: How terrible is this place: this is not, but the house of God (Gen. 28:17). And it is not surprising that, being righteous, the priest was embarrassed and fear attacked him when Daniel, the man of desires, was amazed at the vision of the angel, fell on his face and was struck by the incomparable radiance of the angelic superiority (Dan. 10:8). An angel of the Lord appeared to him, they say. What do semi-Christians who do not portray angels answer us to this? If angels appear to a person, then of course they are depicted, and, moreover, not otherwise than they appear; They appear in the same form in which the cherubim, later installed in the purification, were shown to Moses on Mount Sinai. And if a being that does not have flesh and image is described in accordance with the image shown, then how can we not describe a being that is carnal and figurative, subject to perception by sight and touch, and three dimensions, i.e. the face of the Savior - how not to describe to prove the reality of His invisible incarnation? And let not the crazy think that we are also depicting the Divinity, for which there is no expression, no representation, no position, no image, no place, no quantity, no quality, or anything else related to methods of description. For even in the description of Christ, while depicting a simple man, we do not at all depict His immaterial and invisible soul together with the body, for this is impossible; but we give to each nature of Christ what belongs to it: not to the describable - the indescribable, but to the describable - the describable, as the voice of truth inspires us. But let us return again to our subject. 6. The angel spoke to him: Do not be afraid, Zechariah, your prayer was quickly heard (Luke 1:13). Immediately the angel eliminated the fear with a proclamation, because an angelic vision first produces fear and then removes the cause of fear, whereas exactly the opposite happens with the appearance of demons. Do not be afraid, says Zechariah, your prayer has already been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son (Luke 1:13). Oh, longed-for, God-given command! Oh, the much-desired promise brought by the angel! What Zechariah desired was fulfilled; what he prayed for was accomplished; I found what I was looking for, namely, the change from barrenness, the perception of happiness, not according to the law of nature, but through the power of prayer. For barrenness was not the punishment of a curse - let it not be! - but a sign of a great sacrament, since I think that Zechariah, when he indulged in fervent prayers to God for the resolution of infertility, he probably heard the following: the time had not yet been fulfilled, the days of the coming of Christ had not yet shortened; then expect the birth of a baby, Zechariah, when the Hope of the nations comes, then expect the end of barrenness when the Hope of all the ends of the earth comes. When the time came, he heard the following: accept what you longed for through Gabriel’s prediction, so that your youth may be renewed like an eagle; Know your wife, your prayer will soon be answered, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John (Luke 1:13). This is how he called the name, which means, according to word production, from above descending. 7. And Zechariah's speech to the angel. So, Zechariah boldly talks with him as with a fellow servant. By this I mean this: for I am old and my wife is tired in her days (Luke 1:18). The usual paternal interpretation accuses the priest of unbelief. The present word, spoken not for accusation, but for testing, shows that Zechariah experienced the same thing as the great Thomas: for it is not plausible that he, being a prophet and knowing the divine, at the same time did not know that God can renew nature and restore youth to old age, show a way out of difficult circumstances, as He did with Abraham and Sarah, and with the Shunammite, as happened with his other various miracles. But since news of the fulfillment of great and unexpected hopes, suddenly heard, usually confuses the soul, Zechariah, not inclined to unbelief, but urged to fulfillment, as if intoxicated with joy, immediately calls out and says: By what reason do I understand this? Do not confuse me, do not lead me into doubt, give me a sign, give me a pledge, as God once gave Abraham circumcision as a sign that he would be the father of many nations and kings would come from his loins, or as before Noah, as a sign that he would no longer bring a flood to the earth, gave a rainbow in the cloud; or finally, how God gave Moses a rod turned into a serpent, and then again turned into its former state - as a sign that the Egyptians would believe that Jehovah had appeared to him. 8. And the angel answered and said to him: Behold, you were silent and unable to speak, but you did not believe my words (it should be added, on the basis of what was silent, simply and without investigation), which would come to pass in their time (Luke 1:20). Thus, Zechariah received a sign consistent with the matter - namely, the silence of the voice as evidence of the living and personal voice that was to be born to him. And closing his lips, he praised the baby given to him with inaudible sounds, for he had gone out and was unable to speak to them, and understood that he saw a vision in the church, and was mindful of it, and remained silent (Luke 1:22), - on the one hand, so as not to be asked, since he would not be able to resist talking about the vision, and on the other hand, so that, having renounced external feelings and being completely in Having concentrated his vision on himself, he became deaf to the words beating the air. There is nothing incredible that the prophet’s father also indicated the work of his son’s prophecy: perhaps this is a sign of the cessation of legal ministry due to the announcement of grace-filled ministry through the birth of John. - But, leaving extraneous things as not related to the present day and inaccessible to our forces, let us again move on to what is most necessary. 9 . And when Elizabeth heard Mary kissing, the baby leaped in her womb (Luke 1:41). Oh, John, blessed child, vigilant baby! You who are yet in the womb, how are you in the world? Not perfect, how did you become perfect? Six months old, how did you become multi-temporary? How did one without consciousness become sensible, and one who does not speak become eloquent? Tell us, imprisoned in the life-giving land of the mother’s womb, who has not yet experienced the power of sight, who has not yet perceived noise by hearing, who has not yet made a single articulate sound, who has not yet experienced the movement of legs, who is not yet familiar with the quality of laughter - tell me, how do you see, how do you hear, how do you theologize, how do you leap, how do you rejoice? Answer us, answer us, O wonderful one! “Greatness,” he says, is a mystery taking place and this action is alien to human perception. Truly I renew nature for the sake of Him who renews what is above nature. Being a baby in the womb, I look, because I see the Sun of righteousness carried in the womb; I listen, for I hear the voice of the great Word being born; I cry, for I recognize the incarnate only begotten Son of the Father; I play because I notice the Creator of all things made human; I rejoice, for I think about the incarnate Redeemer of the world. I foretell to you the beginning of God’s entry into the world and His fleshly coming; I precede His appearance and, as it were, begin His glorification for you. Receive the psalm (in the words of the prophet David) and give the tympanum, the psalter is red with a harp (Psalm 80:3). Sing to Him, sing to Him, show off all His wonders (Psalm 104:2). 10. But have you, John, really risen above the earth and penetrated into heaven? Have you really risen above the angelic and primordial beings? And how did you become familiar with the rank and dignity of those whose nature you did not perceive, and what was unknown and not revealed to them from time immemorial, you, as if coming from God, announced to us even at a time when you yourself needed the help of a midwife? To this John answers: I did not hover in the air, I did not fly on the clouds, I did not ascend into heaven, I did not rise above fiery and incorporeal forces - do not assume this - but He who is above all and abiding in the Father’s bosom with the Holy Spirit, secretly from all His fiery servants, as if ascending to another heaven, in the womb of the Ever-Virgin Mary revealed Himself to me and taught me all this. So, I am the forerunner of the Child: for a Child was born to us, a Son, and given to us, according to the word of the great Isaiah (9:6), the eternal God; I was born from a barren womb, for the virgin birth will soon come... Oh, a supernatural thing! Oh, an extraordinary miracle! For the unborn child is now preaching the gospel to us! And how much Elizabeth’s son reveals to us through theology! May all under heaven leap, may the Church glorify the forefeast, celebrating the anticipation of the Nativity of Christ, and may everything be filled with joy, accepting the one who points to the coming of the King of all. 11. But, oh, blessed John, among the great, the greatest prophet, the first among the apostles, the most excellent of the martyrs, the most excellent martyr, the patron of the desert adorned by God, the beloved friend of the most beautiful Bridegroom, the prepared lamp of the ineffable Light, the faithful herald of the spotless Lamb, the most noble of those who heard the voice of the Father, the foretold Baptist of Christ, bold denouncer of Herod's debauchery, harbinger of life for those in hell, the trumpet of the universe indicated by God - and now sound for us from heaven your most sacred prayers, and be merciful to the people who sing your praises, and to your smallest flock, together with my excellent father; accept my present bold word, offered to you not as a sacrifice, but as a due from an indecent slave, with reverence and love. To Christ be glory, honor and worship, with the Almighty Father and the All-Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. 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