NATIVITY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST - Dr. Augustin Sokolovski

Today we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist. The Russian, Georgian, Polish, Serbian, and Jerusalem Orthodox churches, as well as those on Mount Athos, follow the Julian calendar in their services. Currently, the Julian calendar is 13 days later astronomically. Therefore, the birth of John the Baptist is celebrated on July 7th, not June 24th, as would be the case if the Julian calendar were also secular and official.

In the case of the birth of the Baptist, this "Orthodox delay" also has its positive aspects. After all, many, especially in Slavic countries, seek to give this day a natural, pagan, and even esoteric connotation. The latter is associated with the summer solstice, which is the same day. Thanks to the Julian calendar, the Orthodox feast of St. John is "late," making its forced paganization impossible.

It is important to remember that the date of John the Baptist's birth is not connected to the course of the sun, but to the birth of Christ. In the Gospel of Luke, the archangel, at the Annunciation, announced to Mary that Elizabeth, the mother of the Forerunner, had already been pregnant for several months.

The Nativity of John the Baptist is one of the four great liturgical feasts of Orthodoxy. Other great feasts include the feasts of Peter and Paul, the Beheading of John, and the Circumcision of the Lord. In the Russian tradition, a fifth great feast is celebrated: the Feast of the Intercession of the Theotokos. However, in Greek Orthodoxy, as well as in the ancient liturgical statutes, this Feast of the Intercession is absent.

Holy Scripture and the Church refer to John as a prophet. Why is he a prophet? First, he foretold the imminent appearance of the Messiah. Second, John pointed out that this Messiah was Jesus. Third, John completed a long line of prophets. According to the New Testament, there can be no prophets in the true Old Testament sense.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, John prefigurated and described the imminent completion of Jesus' messianic mission. John was beheaded on King Herod's birthday. It was an absurd, tragic death. And as the Apostle Mark's ancient liturgy tells us about Jesus, the Lord Himself, the Savior suffered for us "the most horrible and shameful death in the flesh." Let us honor John as the true and final prophet of God, who foretold the coming of the Messiah, the Son of Man, and, most amazing and incomprehensible of all, the death of God on the Cross.