Zechariah (priest)

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Annunciation of the Angel to Zechariah by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1490, fresco in the Tornabuoni Chapel, Florence).

In the Bible, Zechariah (Ζαχαρίας in Greek, Zacharias in KJV, and Zachary in the Douay-Rheims Bible), was the father of John the Baptist, and a relative by marriage of Jesus.

[edit] Biblical account

According to the Gospel of Luke, Zechariah was a Jewish Priest and Pharisee of the line of Abijah, during the reign of King Herod the Great, and husband of Elizabeth, a woman from the priestly family of Aaron. The parentage of John the Baptist is not recorded in the other Gospels. The evangelist states that both the parents were righteous before God, since they were blameless in observing the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. When the events related in Luke commenced, their marriage was still childless, because Elizabeth was barren and, like her husband, was advanced in years (Luke 1:5-7).

The duties at the temple in Jerusalem alternated between each of the families that had descended from those appointed by King David (1 Chronicles 23:1-19). The offering of incense was one of the most solemn parts of the daily worship, and owing to the large number of eligible priests, no priest could hope to perform the task more than once during his lifetime. Luke states that during the week when it was the duty of his family to serve at the temple in Jerusalem, the lot for performing the incense offering had fallen to Zechariah.

Russian icon of the "Annunciation to Zechariah".

The Gospel of Luke states that while Zechariah ministered at the golden altar of incense, an angel of God announced to him that his wife would give birth to a son, whom he was to name John, and that this son would be the forerunner of the long-expected Messiah (Luke 1:12-17). Citing their advanced age, Zechariah asked with disbelief for a sign whereby he would know the truth of this prophecy. In reply, the angel identified himself as the Archangel Gabriel, sent especially by God to make this announcement, and added that because of Zechariah's doubt he would be struck dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things happen. Consequently, when Zechariah went out to the waiting worshippers in the temple's outer courts, he was unable to pronounce the customary blessing (Luke 1:18-22).

On his return home Elizabeth duly conceived. During Elizabeth's pregnancy, her cousin Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and -- though still a virgin -- became pregnant with Jesus. Mary then travelled to visit her cousin Elizabeth to share the good news of Mary's expected child and discovers that her much-older cousin is also expecting the birth of a son who would become John the Baptist

Eight days after Elizabeth gave birth, when their son was to be circumcised according to Jewish tradition, their family members and neighbours assumed that he was to be named after his father, as was the custom. Elizabeth, however, insisted that his name was to be John, and so the family then questioned her husband. As soon as Zechariah had written on a writing tablet: His name is John, he regained the power of speech, and praised God with a prophecy known as the Benedictus (Luke 1:57-79). The child grew up and became strong in spirit, but remained in the desert of Judaea (Luke 3:2-3, cf. Matthew 3:1) until he assumed his ministry (Luke 1:80) that was to earn him the name John the Baptist (sometimes translated Baptizer).

[edit] Other Christian traditions

Origen suggested that the Zechariah mentioned in Matthew 23:35 as having been killed between the temple and the altar may be the father of John the Baptist.^[1] Apocryphal Christian tradition recounts that, at the time of the massacre of the Innocents, when King Herod ordered the slaughter of all males under the age of two in an attempt to prevent the prophesied Messiah from coming to Israel, Zechariah refused to divulge the whereabouts of his son (who was in hiding), and he was therefore murdered by Herod's soldiers. This is also recorded in the Infancy Gospel of James, an apocryphal work from the second century. Since Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, Zechariah might have lived in the same area where Mary's family originated from.

The Roman Catholic Church commemorates him as a saint, along with St. Elizabeth, on 23 September.^[2] He is also venerated as a prophet in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on September 5. The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates the feast day of Zechariah on September 5, together with his wife Elizabeth, who is considered a matriarch. Zechariah and Elizabeth are invoked in several prayers during the Orthodox Mystery of Crowning (Sacrament of Marriage), as the priest blesses the newly-married couple, saying "Thou who didst ... accept Zechariah and Elizabeth, and didst make their offspring the Forerunner..." and "...bless them, O Lord our God, as Thou didst Zechariah and Elizabeth...". On the Greek Orthodox calendar, Zachariah and Elizabeth are also commemorated on 24 June.

[edit] In Islam

Main article: Islamic view of Zechariah

Islam also believes in the historical existence of Zechariah as the father of John the Baptist, and Muslims regard him as one of the Prophets of Islam. In Islam his name is commonly spelled Zakariya, from the Arabic زكريا.

[edit] External links

• Prophet Zachariah the father of St John the Baptist Orthodox icon and synaxarion

This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.

Prophets of Islam in the Qur'an
Adam	Idris	Nuh	Hud	Saleh	Ibrahim	Lut	Ismail	Is'haq	Yaqub	Yusuf	Ayoub
آدم	إدريس	نوح	هود	صالح	إبراهيم	لوط	إسماعيل	إسحاق	يعقوب	يوسف	أيوب
Adam	Enoch	Noah	Eber	Shelah	Abraham	Lot	Ishmael	Isaac	Jacob	Joseph	Job
Shoaib	Musa	Harun	Dhul-Kifl	Daud	Sulayman	Ilyas	Al-Yasa	Yunus	Zakariya	Yahya	Isa	Muhammad
شُعيب	موسى	هارون	ذو الكفل	داود	سليمان	إلياس	إليسع	يونس	زكريا	يحيى	عيسى	مُحمد
Jethro	Moses	Aaron	Ezekiel	David	Solomon	Elijah	Elisha	Jonah	Zechariah	John	Jesus	Paraclete	v • d • e