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Saint John the Baptist and Forerunner of the Lord

Orthodox icon of Saint John the Baptist, the Forerunner, holding a scroll and pointing to Christ

Of all those born of women, the Lord Himself said, none has arisen greater than John the Baptist. He is the bridge between the Old Covenant and the New, the last and greatest of the prophets, the cousin and Forerunner of Christ, the voice crying in the wilderness, and the one who poured the waters of the Jordan over the head of God in the flesh.

In the Orthodox Church we call him the Forerunner, in Ukrainian Predtecha (Предтеча), the one who runs ahead of the King to prepare His path. His icon stands in every Orthodox iconostasis on the right side of the royal doors, directly across from the Mother of God on the left. Together they flank Christ, the two human beings closest to His coming.

This page is for parishioners who want to know Saint John more deeply, and for visitors who wonder why the Orthodox Church holds this stern desert preacher in such tender love.

Why we love the Forerunner

The Forerunner is loved in the Orthodox Church for one reason above all others. He was the friend of the Bridegroom. He did not seek his own glory. When his disciples reported that the crowds were leaving him for Jesus, he answered, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). That single sentence is the spiritual life of every Christian in summary form. We grow in Christ by becoming less in ourselves.

For Ukrainian Orthodox families, Saint John holds an additional place of affection. His Nativity falls in midsummer and was woven into the folk life of Ukraine for many centuries. Every Ukrainian child named Іван or Ivan, every parishioner named John, looks to the Forerunner as their patron. His name is one of the most common Christian names in our parish.

His life in the four Gospels

Saint John is the only saint apart from the Mother of God and Christ Himself whose story is told in all four Gospels. The Church reads from these passages throughout the year.

His annunciation and Nativity (Luke 1)

The first chapter of Saint Luke’s Gospel tells the story of John’s coming into the world. His father Zachariah, a priest of the course of Abijah, was offering incense in the Temple at Jerusalem when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him at the altar of incense and announced that his aged and barren wife Elizabeth, kinswoman of the Virgin Mary, would bear a son. He was to be named John, which means “the Lord is gracious,” and he would go before the face of the Lord in the spirit and power of the prophet Elijah.

Zachariah doubted the message. The Archangel struck him mute until the day the child would be born.

Elizabeth conceived. Six months later the Archangel Gabriel was sent to a young virgin in Nazareth named Mary, the kinswoman of Elizabeth. The Virgin received the announcement of her own conception of the Son of God and traveled into the hill country of Judea to visit her elder cousin. When Mary’s greeting reached Elizabeth’s ears, the unborn John leapt in his mother’s womb for joy. He recognized his Lord before either had drawn a first breath. This meeting of the two mothers is the Visitation, and it is from this scene that we have the Magnificat, the song of the Mother of God.

John was born three months later. When neighbors asked what the child should be named, Zachariah, still mute, asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” His tongue was loosed at once and he prophesied the song we sing in Orthodox Matins as the Benedictus, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.”

His ministry in the desert (all four Gospels)

The boy John grew up and withdrew into the wilderness of Judea by the Jordan River. He clothed himself in camel’s hair and a leather belt, and he ate locusts and wild honey, the food of a man who owes nothing to the comforts of cities. When the appointed hour came, the word of the Lord came to him in the desert, as it had come to the prophets of old, and he went out preaching baptism for the repentance of sins.

The crowds streamed to him from Jerusalem and all Judea, confessing their sins and being baptized in the Jordan. To soldiers he said, do not extort, be content with your wages. To tax collectors he said, collect only what is appointed. To the multitudes he said, share your tunic with the one who has none. To the proud he said, the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

When Christ came to the Jordan from Galilee to be baptized, Saint John recognized Him at once and tried to prevent Him: “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” Christ answered, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Saint John baptized the Lord. As the Lord came up from the water, the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and the voice of the Father was heard: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is the Theophany, the revelation of the Holy Trinity in the Jordan, which we celebrate as one of the Great Feasts on January 6 each year. Saint John’s hand on the head of the Son of God is the central act of this feast.

When his disciples asked him about Jesus, Saint John said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He pointed his own followers toward the Lord. He decreased; Christ increased.

His beheading (Mark 6 and Matthew 14)

Saint John spoke without flattery to the powerful. He rebuked King Herod Antipas for taking his brother’s wife Herodias, telling him plainly, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Herod arrested him and held him in the fortress of Machaerus.

On the king’s birthday Herodias’s daughter Salome danced before the guests. Herod, in his drunken pleasure, swore to give her anything she asked, even to half his kingdom. At her mother’s instruction, the girl asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The king was grieved but, because of his oath and the company at table, he sent the executioner. Saint John was beheaded in the prison. His disciples came, took the body, and laid it in a tomb.

The Lord, when He heard of it, withdrew by boat to a desolate place to mourn His Forerunner and cousin. The crowds followed Him there. He had compassion on them, healed their sick, and fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish.

The three great feasts of the Forerunner

The Orthodox calendar gives Saint John more feast days than any saint apart from the Mother of God. Our parish celebrates the New Calendar (Revised Julian) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, so the dates given here are New Calendar dates.

Nativity of Saint John the Baptist - June 24

Six months before the Nativity of Christ on December 25, the Church celebrates the Nativity of the Forerunner on June 24. The Annunciation of Saint John to Zachariah is set on September 23, six months before the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary on March 25, which is itself nine months before Christmas. The Church’s calendar holds the symmetry of the cousins, the priestly forerunner and the priestly Lord, with quiet precision.

In Ukrainian tradition the feast is Різдво Іоана Предтечі or, in folk parlance, Іван Купала, “John the Bather.” Customs of bathing, of leaping over fires, and of gathering herbs at midsummer are woven around this feast in our heritage. At the heart of all of it is the joy of the birth of the one who would baptize Christ.

The Nativity of the Forerunner is a major feast. Our parish marks it in the bulletin and at Sunday Liturgy nearest the date. If the date falls on a Sunday, the Liturgy is sung in honor of the Forerunner.

Beheading of Saint John the Baptist - August 29

The Beheading of the Forerunner is observed on August 29. It is a feast of solemn character. The Church keeps a strict fast on this day even when it falls outside the regular fasting seasons, in memory of the prophet’s death and as a witness against the drunkenness, lust, and pride of the banquet that took his life. The Orthodox tradition asks the faithful, especially on this day, to refuse meat, wine, and rich food, and to refuse any feast that resembles Herod’s table.

This is one of the most important fast days outside of Great Lent and the other fasting seasons. Our bulletin reminds the parish each year.

Synaxis of Saint John the Baptist - January 7

The day after the Great Feast of the Theophany (January 6, New Calendar), the Church gathers in synaxis to honor the Forerunner. The Greek word synaxis means “gathering.” Just as we gather on November 21 in synaxis before the Archangel Michael and the Bodiless Powers after the great Michaelmas Liturgy, so we gather on January 7 before the Forerunner whose hand rested on the head of Christ in the Jordan.

The hand of the Forerunner, the Holy Right Hand that baptized the Lord, is one of the most precious relics in the Orthodox Church. It is held in the Cetinje Monastery in Montenegro, and small portions are kept in Orthodox churches across the world.

Other days in the year

The Church also commemorates the Conception of Saint John the Forerunner on September 23, the First and Second Findings of the Honorable Head of the Forerunner on February 24, and the Third Finding on May 25. Few saints are remembered so often. Few are loved so well.

Iconography of the Forerunner

Saint John appears in several traditional icon types, each carrying a different aspect of his life.

The icon at the top of this page shows the Forerunner standing in his camel’s hair garment, his face thin and weathered from desert fasting. His right hand is raised in blessing or extended in proclamation. His left hand holds an open scroll on which is written, in Greek or Slavonic, the words of his preaching: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” or “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” His eyes look out at the viewer with the directness of a man who has nothing to lose and nothing to hide.

The Angel of the Desert. A distinctively Orthodox icon type shows Saint John with great wings, like an angel. The Greek word angelos means “messenger,” and the Forerunner is the messenger sent before the face of the Lord. The wings declare his prophetic vocation, not a confusion of nature. The prophet Malachi is quoted by Christ Himself: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You” (Mark 1:2, Malachi 3:1). The icon makes the prophecy visible.

Holding his own head. Many icons of the Forerunner show him standing in the desert holding his own severed head on a platter, the wound of the executioner clearly painted. This is not a horror image; it is a witness. He gave his head for the truth. He stood before the king without flattery and paid with his life. The icon honors him as a martyr and the prototype of every Christian who must one day choose Christ over the comfort of the world.

At the Baptism of the Lord. In every icon of the Theophany, Saint John stands on the bank of the Jordan, hand on the head of the naked Christ, while the dove of the Spirit descends and the Father’s voice sounds from above. His face is full of fear and joy at once. He is touching God.

In the Deesis. The most common image of the Forerunner in our churches is the Deesis (“Supplication”), where Christ enthroned at the center is approached on His right by the Mother of God and on His left by Saint John, both bowing in intercession for the world. This is the position the Forerunner holds in our iconostasis. Look for him to the right of the royal doors as you face the altar, opposite the Mother of God on the left.

When you enter our church, find his icon. Light a candle. Ask his prayers. He stands closer to the throne of Christ than any saint except His own Mother.

Troparion of the Forerunner

The troparion is the short hymn that captures the heart of a feast or a saint’s life. We sing this troparion on the days of the Forerunner.

The memory of the just is celebrated with hymns of praise, but the Lord’s testimony is sufficient for you, O Forerunner; for you have proved to be truly more venerable than the prophets, since you were granted to baptize in the running waters Him whom they proclaimed. Therefore, having endured suffering for the truth with joy, you proclaimed even to those in hades the God who appeared in the flesh, who takes away the sin of the world and grants us great mercy.

Kontakion for the Nativity of the Forerunner

She that once was barren today brings forth Christ’s Forerunner, who is the fulfillment of every prophecy; for in the Jordan, when he laid his hand on Him whom the prophets proclaimed, he was revealed as Prophet, Herald, and Forerunner of the Word of God.

A prayer to the Forerunner

Holy Forerunner of the Lord, baptizer of Christ, voice of one crying in the wilderness, friend of the Bridegroom: stand by us as you stood by Him in the Jordan. Give us the courage you had before Herod, the humility you had before Christ, and the joy you had in His coming. Pray for our priest, our parish, our families, our children, and our sick. Pray for Ukraine and for peace in the world. Help us to decrease, that Christ may increase, until at the last we stand with you and the Mother of God before the throne of the Lamb. Amen.

Come and pray with us

Our parish gathers each Sunday for the Divine Liturgy.

TimeService
9:30 AMHours and Confession
10:00 AMDivine Liturgy (Ukrainian and English)
~11:30 AMCoffee and fellowship in the parish hall

The three feasts of the Forerunner, his Nativity on June 24, his Beheading on August 29, and his Synaxis on January 7, are kept on the Sunday Liturgy nearest each date. Watch the monthly bulletin for details.

St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church 9201 60th St, Pinellas Park, FL 33782 Phone: 727-777-4450

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