John the Baptist Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Christianity=== The [[Gospel]]s describe John the Baptist as having had a specific role ordained by [[God in Christianity|God]] as forerunner or precursor of [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]], who was the foretold [[Messiah]]. The New Testament Gospels speak of this role. In Luke 1:17 the role of John is referred to as being "to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|1:17}}</ref> In Luke 1:76 as "thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways"<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|1:76}}</ref> and in Luke 1:77 as being "To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins."<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|1:77}}</ref> There are several passages within the [[Old Testament]] which are interpreted by Christians as being [[prophecy|prophetic]] of John the Baptist in this role. These include a passage in the [[Book of Malachi]] that refers to a prophet who would "prepare the way of the Lord": {{blockquote|Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the {{LORD}} of hosts.|Malachi 3:1<ref>{{bibleverse|Malachi|3:1|NRSV}}</ref>}} Also at the end of the next chapter in Malachi 4:5–6 it says, {{blockquote|Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the {{LORD}}: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.}} The Jews of Jesus' day expected Elijah to come before the Messiah; indeed, some present day Jews continue to await Elijah's coming as well, as in the Cup of Elijah the Prophet in the [[Passover Seder]]. This is why the disciples ask Jesus in Matthew 17:10, "Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?"<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|17:10}}</ref> The disciples are then told by Jesus that Elijah came in the person of John the Baptist, {{blockquote|Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.|Matthew 17:11–13 (see also 11:14: "...if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who was to come.")}} These passages are applied to John in the [[Synoptic Gospels]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|3:3}} </ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|1:2–3}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|1:16–17}}</ref> But where Matthew specifically identifies John the Baptist as Elijah's spiritual successor,<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew 11.14, 17.13|multi=yes}}</ref> the gospels of Mark and Luke are silent on the matter. The [[Gospel of John]] states that John the Baptist denied that he was Elijah. {{blockquote|Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not deny, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ." They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No."|John 1:19–21}} ====Influence on Paul==== Many scholars believe there was contact between the early church in the [[Apostolic Age]] and what is called the "[[Qumran]]-[[Essene]] community".<ref name=EDSS>{{Cite encyclopedia| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-508450-4| title = Paul, Letters of| encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls| date = 2008| doi = 10.1093/acref/9780195084504.001.0001| editor1-last = Schiffman| editor1-first = Lawrence H| editor2-last = Vanderkam| editor2-first = James C}}{{subscription required|[[OUP]]}}</ref> The [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] were found at Qumran, which the majority of historians and archaeologists identify as an Essene settlement.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-506512-1| title = Essenes | encyclopedia = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East| date = 2011| doi = 10.1093/acref/9780195065121.001.0001}}{{subscription required|[[OUP]]}}</ref> John the Baptist is thought to have been either an Essene or "associated" with the community at Khirbet Qumran. According to the [[Book of Acts]], Paul met some "disciples of John" in [[Ephesus]].<ref>{{bibleref|Acts|19:1–7|NRSV}}</ref> ====Catholic Church==== [[File:Cappella tornabuoni, 12, Nascita di san giovanni battista.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|''The Birth of John the Baptist'', a fresco in the [[Tornabuoni Chapel]] in [[Florence]]]] The [[Catholic Church]] commemorates Saint John the Baptist on two feast days: * 24 June – [[Nativity of Saint John the Baptist]] * 29 August – [[Beheading of Saint John the Baptist]] According to [[Frederick George Holweck|Frederick Holweck]], at the [[Visitation (Christianity)|Visitation]] of the Blessed Virgin Mary to his mother Elizabeth, as recounted in Luke 1:39–57, John, sensing the presence of his Jesus, upon the arrival of Mary, leaped in the womb of his mother; he was then cleansed from original sin and filled with the grace of God.<ref>{{citation-attribution|1=[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15480a.htm Holweck, Frederick. "Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 23 December 2018}}</ref> In her ''Treatise of Prayer'', Saint [[Catherine of Siena]] includes a brief altercation with the [[Devil in Christianity|Devil]] regarding her fight due to the Devil attempting to lure her with [[vanity]] and [[flattery]]. Speaking in the first person, Catherine responds to the Devil with the following words: {{blockquote|[...] humiliation of yourself, and you answered the Devil with these words: "Wretch that I am! John the Baptist never sinned and was sanctified in his mother's womb. And I have committed so many sins [...]"|[[Catherine of Siena]], ''A Treatise of Prayer'', 1370.<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/catherine/dialog.iv.iv.ii.html Treatise of Prayer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123154819/https://www.ccel.org/ccel/catherine/dialog.iv.iv.ii.html |date=23 January 2022 }}. Retrieved 1-15-2012.</ref><ref>[http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/dialogue/diag51.php The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408164219/http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/dialogue/diag51.php |date=8 April 2022 }}. Retrieved 1-15-2012</ref>|title=|source=}} ====Eastern Christianity==== <!-- a number of articles redirect here --> [[File:Meister von Gracanica (I) 001.jpg|thumb|[[Serbo-Byzantine architecture|Serbo-Byzantine]] fresco from [[Gračanica Monastery]], [[Kosovo]], {{c.|1235}}]] The [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] faithful believe that John was the last of the [[Old Testament]] [[prophet]]s, thus serving as a bridge between that period of [[revelation]] and the [[New Covenant]]. They also teach that, following his death, John descended into [[Christian views on Hades|Hades]] and there once more preached that Jesus the Messiah was coming, so he was the Forerunner of Christ in death as he had been in life. Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches will often have an [[icon]] of Saint John the Baptist in a place of honor on the [[iconostasis]], and he is frequently mentioned during the [[Divine Services]]. Every Tuesday throughout the year is dedicated to his memory. The Eastern Orthodox Church remembers Saint John the Forerunner on six separate feast days, listed here in order in which they occur during the [[liturgical year|church year]] (which begins on 1 September): * 23 September – {{interlanguage link|Conception of the Honorable Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John|ru|Зачатие Иоанна Предтечи}}<ref>In late antiquity this feast in some churches marked the beginning of the [[Ecclesiastical Year]]; see Archbishop Peter (L'Huiller) of New York and New Jersey, "[http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/peter_archbishop_liturgical_matters.htm Liturgical Matters: "The Lukan Jump"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630055836/http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/peter_archbishop_liturgical_matters.htm |date=30 June 2017 }}", in: ''Newspaper of the Diocese of New York and New Jersey'', Fall 1992.</ref> * 12 October – [[Translation]] from [[Sovereign Military Order of Malta|Malta]] to [[Gatchina]]: of [[True Cross|a Particle of the Life Giving Cross]], [[Our Lady of Philermos|the Filersk Icon of the Mother of God]], and the [[relic]] of the {{Interlanguage link|Right Hand of John the Baptist|ru|Десница Иоанна Крестителя}} * 7 January – {{Interlanguage link|Synaxis of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John|ru|Собор Иоанна Предтечи}}. This is his main feast day, immediately after [[Epiphany (feast)|Theophany]] on 6 January (7 January also commemorates the transfer of the relic of the right hand of John the Baptist from [[Antioch]] to [[Constantinople]] in 956) * 24 February – {{Interlanguage link|First and second finding of the Honorable Head of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist of the Lord, John|ru|Обретение главы Иоанна Предтечи}} * 25 May – {{Interlanguage link|Third Finding of the Honorable Head of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John|ru|Обретение главы Иоанна Предтечи}} * 24 June – [[Nativity of Saint John the Baptist#In Eastern Christianity|Nativity of Saint John the Forerunner]]<!--- Adapt if & when separate article is created ---> * 29 August – The [[Beheading of John the Baptist|Beheading of Saint John the Forerunner]]<!--- Adapt if & when separate article is created --->, a day of strict fast and abstinence from meat and dairy products and foods containing meat or dairy products In addition to the above, 5 September is the commemoration of [[Zechariah (New Testament figure)|Zacharias]] and [[Elizabeth (Biblical person)|Elizabeth]], Saint John's parents. The [[Russian Orthodox Church]] observes 12 October as the Transfer of the Right Hand of the Forerunner from [[Malta]] to [[Gatchina]] (1799). ====Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints==== [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] teaches that modern revelation confirms the biblical account of John and also makes known additional events in his ministry. According to this belief, John was "ordained by the angel of God" when he was eight days old "to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews" and to prepare a people for the Lord. Latter-day Saints also believe that "he was baptized while yet in his childhood."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/84?lang=eng|title=Doctrine and Covenants 84:27–28|publisher=churchofjesuschrist.org|access-date=14 February 2010|archive-date=20 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620141649/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/84?lang=eng|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Joseph Smith]] said: "Let us come into New Testament times – so many are ever praising the Lord and His apostles. We will commence with John the Baptist. When Herod's edict went forth to destroy the young children, John was about six months older than Jesus, and came under this hellish edict, and Zecharias caused his mother to take him into the mountains, where he was raised on locusts and wild honey. When his father refused to disclose his hiding place, and being the officiating high priest at the Temple that year, was slain by Herod's order, between the porch and the altar, as Jesus said."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boap.org/LDS/Joseph-Smith/Teachings/T5.html |title=Section Five: 1842–1843 |access-date=15 May 2014 |archive-date=10 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610161206/http://www.boap.org/LDS/Joseph-Smith/Teachings/T5.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{sourcetext|source=Teaching of The Prophet Joseph Smith Section Five 1842–43, p. 261}}</ref> The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teaches that John the Baptist appeared on the banks of the [[Susquehanna River]] near [[Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania]], as a resurrected being to [[Joseph Smith]] and [[Oliver Cowdery]] on 15 May 1829, and ordained them to the [[Aaronic priesthood (LDS Church)|Aaronic priesthood]].<ref>[D&C 13]; D&C 27:7–8</ref><ref>Joseph Smith History 1:68–72</ref> According to the Church's dispensational view of religious history, John's ministry has operated in three dispensations: he was the last of the prophets under the law of Moses; he was the first of the New Testament prophets; and he was sent to restore the Aaronic priesthood in our day (the [[dispensation of the fulness of times]]). Latter-day Saints believe John's ministry was foretold by two prophets whose teachings are included in the [[Book of Mormon]]: [[Lehi (Book of Mormon)|Lehi]]<ref>{{sourcetext|source=Book of Mormon|version=1981|book=1 Nephi|chapter=10|verse=7|range=–10}}</ref> and his son [[Nephi, son of Lehi|Nephi]].<ref>{{sourcetext|source=Book of Mormon|version=1981|book=1 Nephi|chapter=11|verse=27}}</ref><ref>{{sourcetext|source=Book of Mormon|version=1981|book=2 Nephi|chapter=31|verse=4|range=–18}}</ref> ====Unification Church==== The [[Unification Church]] teaches that [[God]] intended John to help Jesus during his public ministry in Judea. In particular, John should have done everything in his power to persuade the Jewish people that Jesus was the Messiah. He was to become Jesus' main disciple and John's disciples were to become Jesus' disciples. Unfortunately, John did not follow Jesus and continued his own way of baptizing people. Moreover, John also denied that he was Elijah when queried by several Jewish leaders,<ref>{{bibleverse|John|1:21|NKJV}}</ref> contradicting Jesus who stated John is Elijah who was to come.<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|11:14|NKJV}}</ref> Many Jews therefore could not accept Jesus as the Messiah because John denied being Elijah, as the prophet's appearance was a prerequisite for the Messiah's arrival as stated in Malachi 4:5.<ref>{{bibleverse|Malachi|4:5|NKJV}}</ref> According to the Unification Church, "John the Baptist was in the position of representing Elijah's physical body, making himself identical with Elijah from the standpoint of their mission." According to Matthew 11:11, Jesus stated "there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist."<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|11:11|NKJV}}</ref> However, in referring to John's blocking the way of the Jews' understanding of him as the Messiah, Jesus said "yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." John's failure to follow Jesus became the chief obstacle to the fulfillment of Jesus' mission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unification.net/dp96/dp96-1-4.html |title=Exposition of the Divine Principle, 1996 Translation, Chapter 4 |publisher=unification.net |access-date=1 July 2018 |archive-date=17 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617175131/http://www.unification.net/dp96/dp96-1-4.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Divine Principle – PART I – CHAPTER 4. ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH|url=https://www.unification.net/dp73/dp73-1-4.html#1|access-date=23 July 2020|website=www.unification.net|archive-date=22 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200122005539/http://www.unification.net/dp73/dp73-1-4.html#1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>5. The Fact That Jesus of Nazareth Was Not Accepted as Messiah Was Not Due to the People's Lack Of Faith In God. https://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Publications/Other-Pub/Uc-jewsh.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120111754/https://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Publications/Other-Pub/Uc-jewsh.htm |date=20 November 2018 }}</ref> ====Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism==== Among the early Judeo-Christian Gnostics the [[Ebionites]] held that John, along with Jesus and [[James the Just]] – all of whom they revered – were vegetarians.<ref name="Verheyden">J Verheyden, ''Epiphanius on the Ebionites'', in ''The image of the Judaeo-Christians in ancient Jewish and Christian literature'', eds Peter J. Tomson, Doris Lambers-Petry, {{ISBN|3-16-148094-5}}, p. 188 "The vegetarianism of John the Baptist and of Jesus is an important issue too in the Ebionite interpretation of the Christian life. "</ref><ref>[[Robert Eisenman]] (1997), ''[[James the Brother of Jesus (book)|James the Brother of Jesus]]'', p. 240 – "John (unlike Jesus) was both a '[[Rechabite]]' or 'Nazarite' and vegetarian", p. 264 – "One suggestion is that John ate 'carobs'; there have been others. Epiphanius, in preserving what he calls 'the Ebionite Gospel', rails against the passage there claiming that John ate 'wild honey' and 'manna-like vegetarian cakes dipped in oil. ... John would have been one of those wilderness-dwelling, vegetable-eating persons", p. 326 – "They [the Nazerini] ate nothing but wild fruit milk and honey – probably the same food that John the Baptist also ate.", p. 367 – "We have already seen how in some traditions 'carobs' were said to have been the true composition of John's food.", p. 403 – "his [John's] diet was stems, roots and fruits. Like James and the other Nazirites/Rechabites, he is presented as a vegetarian ..".</ref><ref>[[James Tabor]], ''[[The Jesus Dynasty]]'' p. 134 and footnotes p. 335, p. 134 – "The Greek New Testament gospels says John's diet consisted of "locusts and wild honey" but an ancient Hebrew version of Matthew insists that "locusts" is a mistake in Greek for a related Hebrew word that means a cake of some type, made from a desert plant, similar to the "manna" that the ancient Israelites ate in the desert on the days of Moses.(ref 9) Jesus describes John as "neither eating nor drinking," or "neither eating bread nor drinking wine." Such phrases indicate the lifestyle of one who is strictly vegetarian, avoids even bread since it has to be processed from grain, and shuns all alcohol.(ref 10) The idea is that one would eat only what grows naturally.(ref 11) It was a way of avoiding all refinements of civilization."</ref><ref name="Ehrman 2003 on Gospel of the Ebionites">{{Cite book|author=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lostchristianiti00ehrm/page/102 102, 103]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-19-514183-2|url=https://archive.org/details/lostchristianiti00ehrm/page/102}} p. 102 – "Probably the most interesting of the changes from the familiar New Testament accounts of Jesus comes in the Gospel of the Ebionites description of John the Baptist, who, evidently, like his successor Jesus, maintained a strictly vegetarian cuisine."</ref><ref>James A. Kelhoffer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uzTcB8yMnrcC&q=The+diet+of+John+the+Baptist:+%22Locusts+and+wild+honey%22+in+synoptic+and+patristic+interpretation ''The Diet of John the Baptist''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406111305/https://books.google.com/books?id=uzTcB8yMnrcC&q=The+diet+of+John+the+Baptist:+%22Locusts+and+wild+honey%22+in+synoptic+and+patristic+interpretation |date=6 April 2023 }}, {{ISBN|978-3-16-148460-5}}, pp. 19–21</ref><ref name="Mead 2007">{{cite book|author=G.R.S. Mead|title=Gnostic John the Baptizer: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book|page=104|publisher=Forgotten Books|year=2007|isbn=978-1-60506-210-5|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/gno/gjb/gjb-3.htm|access-date=17 April 2011|archive-date=13 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200313222252/http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/gno/gjb/gjb-3.htm|url-status=live}} p. 104 – "And when he had been brought to Archelaus and the doctors of the Law had assembled, they asked him who he is and where he has been until then. And to this he made answer and spake: ''I am pure; [for] the Spirit of God hath led me on, and [I live on] cane and roots and tree-food.''"</ref> [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] records that this group had amended their [[Gospel of Matthew]] – known today as the [[Gospel of the Ebionites]] – to change where John eats "locusts" to read "honey cakes" or "[[manna]]".<ref>Tabor (2006) ''Jesus Dynasty'' p. 334 (note 9) – "''The Gospel of the Ebionites'' as quoted by the 4th-century writer Epiphanius. The Greek word for locusts (''akris'') is very similar to the Greek word for "honey cake" (''ekris'') that is used for the "manna" that the Israelites ate in the desert in the days of Moses (Exodus 16:32)" & p. 335 (note 11) – "There is an old Russian (Slavic) version of Josephus's ''Antiquities'' that describes John the Baptizer as living on 'roots and fruits of the tree' and insists that he never touches bread, even at Passover."</ref><ref name="Ehrman 2003 Gospel of the Ebionites translation">{{Cite book|author=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament|page=[https://archive.org/details/lostscripturesbo00ehrm/page/13 13]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-19-514182-5|url=https://archive.org/details/lostscripturesbo00ehrm/page/13}} p. 13 – Referring to Epiphanius' quotation from the ''Gospel of the Ebionites'' in ''Panarion'' 30.13, "And his food, it says, was wild honey whose taste was of ''manna'', as cake in oil".</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page