The Holy Prophet Zachary, Father of the Forerunner and His Wife, the Holy and Venerable Elizabeth.
He was the father of St. John the
Forerunner. Zacharias was the son of Barachias, from the lineage of
Abia, of the sons of Aaron. Zacharias was a high priest who held the
eighth degree of service in the Temple at Jerusalem. His wife
Elizabeth was the daughter of Sophia and sister of St. Anna, who was
the mother of the Holy Theotokos. During the reign of King Herod the
child-slayer, Zacharias was serving one day at the Temple of
Jerusalem according to his turn. An angel of God appeared to him in
the sanctuary, and Zacharias had great fear. The angel said to him:
Fear not, Zacharias (Luke 1:13), and announced that Elizabeth would
bear a son, in answer to their prayers. But both Zacharias and
Elizabeth were old. When Zacharias doubted the words of the heavenly
herald, the angel said: I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of
God (Luke 1:19). Zacharias was struck dumb from that hour, and could
not speak until his son was born and he had written on a tablet: His
name is John (Luke 1:63). Then his speech returned, and he magnified
God. Some time later, when the Lord Jesus had been born and Herod
began to slaughter the children of Bethlehem, he sent men to find and
kill the son of Zacharias-for Herod had heard all that had happened
to Zacharias, and how John had been born. Upon seeing the soldiers
coming, Elizabeth took John into her arms-he was a year and a half
old at that time-fled from the house with him, and ran to a rocky and
desolate place. When she saw the soldiers following her, she cried
out to the mountain: ``O mountain of God, receive a mother with her
child!'' and the rock opened and hid the mother and child. Then
Herod, enraged that the child John had not been slain, ordered that
Zacharias be slain before the altar. The blood of Zacharias was
spilled on the marble and dried solid as stone, and remained as a
witness to Herod's evil deed. In the place where Elizabeth hid with
John a cave opened, water flowed out of it, and a fruit-bearing palm
grew, all by the power of God. Forty days after the death of
Zacharias, the blessed Elizabeth died. The child John remained in the
wilderness, fed by an angel and protected by God's providence, until
the day he appeared at the Jordan.
Respectfully Taken From the:
"The Prologue of Ohrid"
by St. Nikolai of Zica, Serbia(Velimirovic)
He was the father of St. John the Forerunner. Zacharias was the son of Barachias, from the lineage of Abia, of the sons of Aaron. Zacharias was a high priest who held the eighth degree of service in the Temple at Jerusalem. becoming an angel therapist
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