NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

June 24

The day on which a saint is usually honored by the Orthodox Church is that day on which he departed the earthly life for the spiritual kingdom of heaven. But exceptions are made to include the day of birth on three significant occasions, only one of which honors the birthday of a saint. First and foremost is the celebration of the birth of Christ on December 25^th, which marks the joyous season known as Christmas, which in turn brings the euphoria known as the Christmas spirit. The second birthday observance is that of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Savior, and the third is reserved for St. John the Baptist, the prefiguration of Jesus Christ.

To the Western sector of Christianity, a person’s birthday takes precedence over the so-called nameday which honors the saint for whom one has been named. In some sectors of the Western area and , indeed, in some parts of the Orthodox Church outside of Greece, a "nameday" not only occasions little celebration, but is often completely ignored. The classical Greek tradition calls for a celebration, both joyous and solemn, on the day when a person’s namesake is honored with a feast day. So important is this day to both lay and clergy that a birthday is sometimes not even casually observed, and elderly Greeks regard it as a milestone in their approach to eternity.

The importance of St. John the Baptist is underscored with observances in his name not only on the exceptional birthday, but on the three discoveries of his relics. St. Paul is considered the mightiest figure in Christianity, but even in his chance encounter with the Messiah on the road to Damascus was of divine design, he did not bear the close kinship in the holy family of St. John whose birth was ordained by God and whose eschatological mission was part of the divine plan to pave the way for the Son of God. There is ample mention of the great St. John the Baptist to be found in the New Testament, indicating the importance of the man who baptized the Son of God.

According to Holy Scripture (Luke 1:5), St. John the Baptist was born on June 24 in the days of King Herod of Judea. He was the son of Zacharias, an elderly priest "of the division of Abijah" and his wife, Elizabeth, whose fertility has been restored by an act of God calculated to sanctify the birth of a child worthy of becoming the forerunner of Jesus Christ. The parents were of humble stock from the mountain regions of the province of Judah who construed the birth of their son John by divine intervention as a clear link between the son of a Hebrew priest and the Son of God.

According to the New Testament account found in Matthew, Luke, and John, the mission of repentance was not a solitary effort of one man as seen by some, but that of John and his disciples who assisted him when he was imprisoned. Like the Savior who was to follow, the presence of St. John was not felt until a scant year or so before Christ before Christ began His mission at the age of thirty, at which time the Roman Empire was ruled by the Emperor Tiberius.

John’s public life was not first expressed in any of the urban centers of his day, but in the remote and primitive hillside considered a wilderness even then. He chose to issue his first call for repentance near the River Jordan, an area sparsely inhabited until his voice thundered across reaches that inexorably attracted pilgrims in search of spiritual help in an age of darkness and oppression.

He addressed himself to the humblest and soon enough found himself in the presence of masses of people. He spoke to them of the urgency of the need for preparation for the life to come in another kingdom reserved for those whose sins had been cleansed by genuine contrition. In so doing, he was preparing for the greatest single act for which he was born, the baptism of Jesus Christ whom he looked upon as the true Son of God.

The far reaching effects of John Messianic preaching were not overlooked by the Messiah in His own mission which lasted a scant three years. The several St. Johns who were to follow the Baptist are in keeping with the extreme popularity of the name so revered that the original has a birthday celebration on the calendar of the Orthodox Church in one of the most pleasant months of the year.

Taken from "Orthodox Saints, Volume Four" by George Poulos