Biography
John the Baptist, he is John the Forerunner, respected by Christians as the predecessor of Jesus Christ. In Orthodoxy - the second most important thing after the Holy Mother of God. In the name of John, many temples are consecrated in Russia and in the world. Muslims, Mandy and Bahai are called the Prophet Yahya, Arab Christian - Yuhann. As a historical personality appears in the "Jewish antiquities" of Joseph Flavia.
On icons is depicted with the following attributes: cut-off head (second in the picture), a scroll in hands, a bowl, a thin cross from the cane. Dressed holy in baggy clothes from the rude wool, subsidened by a wide leather belt, less often in woven chiton or harmatic. Honeycomb, lamb, a shepherd staff addressed to the sky, an index finger of the right hand addressed to these features. Catholics are popular with the statues of the Baptist.
Childhood and youth
The facts of the biography of John the Baptist of the theologians draw out of the four canonical gospels, apocryphas and lion literature. About the childhood of John tells the evangelist of Luka.
John was born in the family of the high priest of Zechariah and Righteousness Elizabeth, the far relative of the future of Our Lady. The upcoming appearance of a child at the fruitless elderly couple predicted Archangel Gabriel, visiting the future Father in the temple, Gabriel ordered to give the boy an unusual name for the family. Zechariah did not believe the messenger, for which he deprived the Zharya Dara's speech. Lack of priest lasted before the birth of a child.
To prophesy the child began in the maternal abdomen. When Maria came to visit to Elisabeth, the baby was hammered, and Elizaveta felt grace. That is, John rejoiced a meeting with the Messiah before those surrounding noticed the pregnancy of immaculate Virgin. At the place of the country house of Zechariah, where future mothers met, the church of the visit was built.
In Ein-Karem, the suburb of Jerusalem, where the Prophet was born, built the monastery of the Order of Franciscans ("Saint John in the mountains"). Mute Zechariah confirmed in writing in writing the desire to give his son the name John, specified by the angel, after which he could say again.
According to Scripture, the forerunner was born for half a year before the Savior. Based on this information, the date of celebration of the Christmas of John the Forerunner is calculated - June 24 for the Julian calendar in Orthodoxy. The people are known as the day of Ivan Kupala. From the point of view of solar symbolism: Jesus Christmas is celebrated after the winter solstice, when the day becomes longer, and John - after the summer, when the day is shortened.
In order to save the child from the hands of the servants of King Herod, exterminating children, the mother left him from the city to the Desert, where John and lived before adult, preparing for future ministry. It is assumed that the secret place was the monastery of Esseev - the secret Jewish sect. High Priest Zharya killed Herod's soldiers at his workplace.
Christian ministry
In the desert with young John, God spoke, after which John went to preach, the beginning of the journey is considered to be 28 or 29 years old. The Prophet was ascetic, dressed in the shaghatu tunic from camel wool, rejected by a ray leather belt, was fed by honey of wild bees and acrides, did not drink wine. In the sermons urged sinners to be worried about God's wrath and repent. I reproached Saddukeev and Pharisees in hypocrisy and Gordin.
Warriors the Prophet urged to be content with the salary, not to offend civilians; Solari - not to demand anything among the population in excess of the law; The rich is to share food and clothing with the poor. The symbol of repentance and purification of John prescribed a ritual bathing in the jets of the Jordan River, called baptism. A circle of followers gathered around the baptist. Pupils of John imitated asceticism of the teacher and assumed that John and there are predicted Savior.
When the delegation of priests arrived from Jerusalem to check this version, John denied it. He called himself the voice of the wilderness, which calls people to the update. He predicted the fast arrival of the Messiah, but I was surprised at the meeting with the native Jesus who came to be baptized, because he considered himself unworthy even to tie the straps of the Savior's shoes.
Jesus insisted that he should be executed by God, and adopted baptism in Jordan. By fulfilling a ritual, the baptist put the right hand on the Makushka of Christ, in connection with which the siblings of the Holy later honored. Baptism was accompanied by miracles who opened people Messianism Jesus: the pigeon flew from heaven and sounded a voice, called Jesus his beloved son and blessing him.
After the signs to the Savior, the first two apostles were joined, formerly among the students of John the Forerunners. When Jesus was in reflections in the desert, John arrested. Saint John in Orthodoxy is considered the most important prayerman for all Christians.
Akathist to the forerunner read to understand their sins and their causes, unbelievers, assistance to prisoners. The author of the old prayer compared the forerunner with the morning star, eclipping the radiance of other stars, which foreshadows the morning of the sunny day.
Death
The Prophet John Surgo did the crime of rulers by calling for those reassuring. In particular, the immoral behavior of Tetrarch Galilee Herod Antipa, married to the Iodiad, his niece, condemned the immoral behavior of Tetrarch. Krasavitsa Iodiada Antipa beat off his only siblonal brother, Herod Philip. John came to the palace of Tiran and right in front of the guests in the feast room, the concerns about the gross violation of Jewish laws.
Tetrarch did not repent, but, on the contrary, the prophet arrested and planted into the dungeon. What to do with him next, remained not clear: the execution of such a person known in the people of the Person could cause the population of Galilee. But the accusatory speech accepted Herod's wife. A publicly offended woman was craving for revenge, which he made with his daughter Salome.
At the celebration in honor of the birthday of Herod, Antipa Salome so beautifully danced that the Herod in front of the guests promised to make anyone her desire. Inscrewed by Mother, Salome asked John's head as a gift. Sent into prison, the squire chopped off the prophet head and gave a girlfriend a crooked gift on a silver dish. Salome's head handed over to the Iodiade, and the body of the servant gave the disciples of the Baptist.
In memory of these events, the day of the care of the head of John the Forerunner is noted. In the Orthodox Church, this is a day of strict post. In a folk tradition, advent covered near the customs and superstitions: it is forbidden to work with sharp objects, there are round vegetables and fruits, cut bread. The students buried the decapitated body of John the Forerunner in Sevastia, near the tomb of the prophet Elisha, but after with the body of the saint began to occur wonders.
At about 362, the pagans opened and defeated the burial, burned bones and scattered as dust. However, Christians managed to save part of the relics. In the 10th century, Theodore Daphnopath told Christians that the Apostle Luke wanted to take away the body into Antioch, but the sevaists allowed us to take only the right hand of the saint. Later, the unprecedented Dance of John the Baptist moved to Constantinople, in honor of which the corresponding holiday was established, now is not popular.
The Herodian hid the head of the prophet in the palace rest, but the servant stole the relic and buried in the clay jug on the slope of the Eleon Mountain. A few years later, with the digging of the Rib, the jug found the servants of Velmazby Innokentia and the relic was identified. This event is celebrated by the parishioners of the ROC on February 24 by the old style. In front of the death of Innocent, the shrine was well hidden.
In the years when the Emperor Konstantin Great ruled in Jerusalem, two pilgrims accidentally found the chapter, but the lazy was commissioned to bear the relic. The fellow traveler (by profession the pottery) left the monks and became the keeper of the shrine. After his death, a jug with a miraculous head moved to the custodian sister. Later, the relic went to the Arian priest, who hid the chapter in the cave near the hemessees.
In 452, Archimandrite of the nearby monastery appeared in the dream of John and pointed out the place of concealment of the chapter. Relic found and moved to Constantinople. The second acquisition of the chapter is celebrated simultaneously with the first. During the riots in Konstantinople, the shrine was sent to storage to the city of Emezs, then hid in Komanna during the iconological persecution.
Embassy of Emperor Mikhail III in 850, guided by the insights of the Patriarch of Ignatius, found the head of the saint in Komanah. It was the third acquisition, the noted RPC on May 25 in the Julian calendar. For each holiday, its canon has been developed - the order and list of prayers read during the solemn services of the priests.
The relic is not yet known, and now the twelve churches claim the title of owner of the genuine head of John the Baptist. Also in the Christian world there are seven jaws (in addition to the heads), eleven index fingers, nine hands and four shoulders. All these relics are revered in authentic and commit wonderful healing.
Memory
- 1663 - Poem Yost Van Den Vontela "John Baptist"
- 1770 - Built linear ship of the Russian Imperial Fleet "Chesma", who had the second name "John the Baptist"
- 1864 - Poem Stephen Mallarme "Irodada"
- 1877 - Gustava's story Flaubert "Irodada"
- 1891 - Oscar Wilde Piece "Salome"
Orthodox holidays
- September 23 (October 6) - conception of John the Forerunner
- June 24 (July 7) - Christmas of John the Forerunner
- August 29 (September 11) - Condition of Head of John the Forerunner
- 7 (January 20) - Cathedral of John the Baptist
- February 24 (March 8) in the leap year, February 24 (March 9) in the newogenous - the first and second acquisition of the head of John the Forerunner
- May 25 (June 7) - the third acquisition of the head of John the Forerunner
- 12 (October 25) - Transponde John Preports