Saint John the Baptist

Kirollos Attalla, Basim Gendi, & Mary Soliman

St. Mary and St. George Coptic Orthodox Church, Tallahassee, FL

n the 26th day of to speak and soon there-

O the blessed
month of Tute
(October 6), it was an-
after prophesized about St
John becoming a prophet
of the Highest.
nounced to Zacharias,
the priest, the birth of St After describing the birth
John the Baptist. of St John, St Luke says
Zacharias was praying that he grew, and “was in
and asking God persis- the wilderness until the
tently to give him a child. day of his showing to Is-
The people of Israel de- rael.” The people of the
spised anyone without a Qumran settlement, which
son and they treated them produced the Dead Sea
with disrespect; they Scrolls, sometime use the
would say that he was term “living in the wilder-
without the blessing that ness” to refer to residing
God had told Adam in in their community at
these words: “Be fruitful Qumran near the Dead
and multiply.” Head of St John on a platter. (Monastery of St Paul) Sea. Accordingly, it has
been suggested that St
But our Lord had compassion on Zacharias and at- John spent some of his early years being educated at
tended to his appeal. While Zacharias was praying in Qumran.
the sanctuary, Archangel Gabriel appeared to him as
it was stated in the Holy Gospel according to St Luke: Although not too much is documented about the child-
“Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing hood and growth of St John, it is well established by
on the right side of the altar of incense” (Luke 1:11). the Holy Gospels as well as the Jewish historian
Archangel Gabriel informed him that he would have Josephus (who wrote after 70 AD), that he was a Jew-
a son. Zacharias replied, asking the angel, “Whereby ish preacher in the time of Pontius Pilate (AD 26-
shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is 36). He called the people to repentance and to a re-
well advanced in years.” The angel told him that he newal of their essential relation with God. The Holy
was sent from God to announce this to him and that it Gospels prove that St John preached near the Jordan
was not apt for him to doubt the Word of God. As a River in the wilderness of Judea. He preached to the
result, Zacharias became mute for challenging the people saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
Word of God. Afterward, Elizabeth conceived a child at hand!” (Matthew 3:3). In the Holy Gospel accord-
according to the promise, which God had announced ing to St Matthew, St John states, “I indeed baptize
to them. you with water unto repentance, but He who is com-
ing after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am
On the day of the newborn’s circumcision, they asked not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy
Zacharias about the child’s name. He asked for a tab- Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). St John spoke of
let and wrote “John.” Zacharias miraculously began One greater than himself who was to come. The Lord

Mighty Arrows Magazine February, 2002 19

Jesus Christ came to be baptized by St John and he learn several points to help us in our daily lives as
said to some of his followers, “This is the Man I spoke Christians.
of.” Because St John knew that he was not worthy of
touching the Lord our God, he humbly refused the First, when Zacharias doubted the Word of God when
Lord Jesus’ requests to baptize Him; “…Jesus an- Archangel Gabriel appeared to him, he became mute
swered and said to him ‘Permit it to be so now, for until the time of St John’s circumcision. If we
thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ constantly have faith in the Lord, nothing is
Then he allowed Him. Then when He had been bap- impossible. For it is written, “If you have faith as a
tized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move
behold the Spirit of God descending like a dove and from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will
alighting upon him. And suddenly the voice came be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20) To have faith
from Heaven saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in in the Lord means to trust Him and to believe what
whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:15-17). the Holy Bible says about Him. We all need to fully
rely and place our undividable trust in God.
During St John’s quest to call all to repentance, he Another thing St John was well known for was his
rebuked King Herod’s actions of divorcing his cur- acts of evangelism. St John prepared the path for his
rent wife to marry his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias. followers to walk in the way of the Lord. We should
St John sternly objected to this and told King Herod try to be like St John the Baptist in the sense of
that “it is not lawful for you to have your brother’s evangelizing. In the Holy Book of Malachi 3:1, it is
wife” (Mark 6:18). Being influenced by Herodias, written, “Behold, I send My messenger. And he will
Herod detained St John and put him into prison dur- prepare the way before Me.” In this verse, God tells
ing a feast that was being held in honor of Herod. On of the messenger (i.e., St John) that is to come and
this occasion, Herodias’ daughter danced for Herod prepare the people to follow the Lord our God. “Pre-
and pleased him. He then promised her anything she pare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert,
may ask for, even as much as half of his kingdom. a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3) God wants us
Herodias’ daughter accordingly took the opinion of to unceasingly preach His word to all—not only by
her mother, “Ask for the head of St John the Baptist mouth, by furthermore by humble actions.
on a platter.” When Herod heard this, he was exceed-
ingly sorry for he feared St John’s spirituality and St John especially was a humble person. When he
acceptance by the people and thus hesitated to harm told his followers about the One who is to come, he
the Saint. Despite this, Herodias’ influence was great said “…but He who is coming after me is mightier
and Herod then commanded his servants to behead than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.” When
St John the Baptist. His head was then put on a plat- the Lord Jesus Christ approached St John to get bap-
ter and given to Herodias. The joy of the people at tized, St John humbly refused. “…John tried to pre-
the feast soon turned into sorrow. It was said that when vent Him, saying ‘I have need to be baptized by You,
the holy head of St John was cut off, it flew into the and are you coming to me?’” (Matthew 3:14). St John
air and cried out saying again, “It is not right to have did not boast, brag, or act proud when the Lord asked
your brother’s wife.” to be baptized. He instead was humble and felt that
By looking at the story of St John the Baptist, we he was not worthy to baptize the Lord Jesus Christ.

20 Mighty Arrows Magazine February, 2002

The Lord Jesus Christ insisted (Matthew 3:15) and have his brother’s wife. Herod did, in fact, get in-
as a son should obey his father, St John did not hesi- timidated by St John and feared him. Herod had a
tate to obey the command of the Lord. whole army to protect him, similarly, St John had
God’s protection. As Christians, we should unques-
In the Holy Bible, it says, “For Herod feared John, tionably place our trust in Him and have confidence
knowing that he was just a holy man, and he pro- that the Lord is our ultimate protector. “Be strong
tected him” (Mark 6:20). When St John talked to and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dis-
Herod, he wasn’t intimidated or afraid. For example, mayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever
St John kept telling Herod that it was not lawful to you go” (Joshua 1:9).

Viruses
Submitted by: Gerges Gad
St Mary Church, Houston, TX
The composition of a virus is relatively simple, and its size machinery. The cellular metabolism becomes so altered it
is extremely small. It cannot even properly be called an helps to produce thousands of new viruses.
organism because it is unable to carry on life processes
outside a living cell of an animal, plant, or bacteria. Yet its In our spiritual life, we are also in danger of being infected
method of entering and “enslaving” a living cell is so with viruses. These “spiritual” viruses are the tiny sins that
ingenious that the virus is humankind’s deadliest enemy and appear “harmless” on the outside, yet once they enter the
resists the most advanced efforts of modern science to person’s life; they enslave it and destroy it. St Paul reminds
eliminate it. us how we were enslaved to sin, yet by obeying the teachings
of the Lord, we were set free. “But God be thanked that
Millions of people throughout the world suffer each year though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the
from viral diseases such as polio, measles, chicken pox, heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered;
mumps, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and having been set free from sin…”(Romans 6:17)
the common cold. Viruses also produce such illnesses as
foot-and-mouth disease in livestock, distemper in dogs, He also gives us the prognosis of allowing sin to dwell in us:
panleukopenia in cats, and hog cholera. “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) We are
warned to beware of the little foxes that destroy the
Viruses are exceedingly small; they range from about 0.02 vineyards (Song of Solomon 2:15). See how these small
to 0.25 microns in diameter (1 micron=0.000039 inch). “harmless” sins work: “But sin, taking opportunity by the
By contrast, the smallest bacteria are about 0.4 micron in commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire.”
size. Outside of a living cell, a virus is a dormant particle. (Romans 7:8) “When desire has conceived, it gives birth
It exhibits none of the characteristics generally associated to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
with life. Unlike bacteria and other microorganisms, viruses (James 1:15)
remain dormant in body fluids. Thus, great numbers of
viruses may be present in a body and yet not produce a We must therefore, be very careful and immunize ourselves
disease because they have not invaded the body’s cells. Once against these viruses through prayer, fasting, reading the
inside a host cell, however, the virus becomes an active entity Holy Bible, and other spiritual exercises. “For sin shall not
capable of taking over the infected cell’s metabolic have dominion over you.” (Romans 6:14)

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