By Bishop Gregorios of Mesaoria
The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist is the feast day that our Holy Orthodox Church celebrates the birth of John the Baptist today, on June 24. The memory of Saint Panagiotis the New Martyr is also celebrated today.
It is known that, according to the Orthodox tradition, the nativity of the saints is considered the day of their resting, because this day is the day of their depart in heaven. So, they are born in the Kingdom of God. An exception is only the nativity of Jesus Christ, the Most Holy Lady Theotokos and John the Baptist, for their birth is a link in the chain of the divine economy (i.e. the philanthropy of God) for the salvation of the world.
John the Baptist, for whom the Prophet Isaiah had written that it would be a voice crying out in the wilderness and prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah, was born in a miraculous way by elderly parents, Zechariah, a Jewish priest, and Elizabeth, who were without children and both were beyond the age of child-bearing.
His birth, as well as the name of the infant, was announced to Zechariah by an angel while he was in the temple. As recounted in Luke 1:39–57, at the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to his mother Elizabeth, John, sensing the presence of his Jesus, upon the arrival of Mary, leaped in the womb of his mother.
SOURCE: Church of Cyprus