Zechariah, father of John the Baptist
Zechariah was a Jewish priest mentioned in the New Testament and as a prophet in Quran, and venerated in Christianity and Islam. In the Bible, he is the father of John the Baptist, a priest of the sons of Aaron in the Gospel of Luke, and the husband of Elizabeth who is a relative of the Virgin Mary. In the Quran, his story is mentioned in the initial verse of surah Maryam.
Biblical account
According to the Gospel of Luke, during the reign of king Herod, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the course of Abia, whose wife Elizabeth was also of the priestly family of Aaron. 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 began, their marriage was still childless, because Elizabeth was "barren", and they were both "well advanced in years".The duties at the temple in Jerusalem alternated between each of the family lines that had descended from those appointed by King David. Luke states that during the week when it was the duty of Zechariah's family line to serve at "the temple of the Lord", the lot for performing the incense offering had fallen to Zechariah.
The Gospel of Luke states that while Zechariah ministered at the altar of incense, an angel of the Lord appeared and 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 Lord. 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 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 shall be performed". Consequently, when he went out to the waiting worshippers in the temple's outer courts, he was unable to speak the customary blessing. The time this occurred, according to theologian Adam C. English, "is September 24, based on computations from the Jewish calendar in accordance with Leviticus 23 regarding the Day of Atonement."File:Cappella Tornabuoni, Zacharias Writes Down the Name of his Son 01.jpg|thumb|left|Domenico Ghirlandaio's fresco Zechariah Writes Down the Name of His Son After returning to his house in "Hebron, in the hill country of Judah", his wife Elizabeth conceived. After Elizabeth completed her fifth month of pregnancy, her relative Mary was visited by the same angel, Gabriel. While still a virgin, Gabriel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 'How will this be,' Mary asked the angel, 'since I am a virgin?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.'"
Mary then traveled to visit her relative Elizabeth, having been told by the angel that Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy. Mary remained about three months before she returned to her own house.
Elizabeth gave birth, and on the eighth day, when their son was to be circumcised according to the commandment, her neighbours and relatives assumed that he was to be named after his father. Elizabeth, however, insisted that his name was to be John; so the family then questioned her husband. As soon as Zechariah had written on a writing table: "His name is John", he regained the power of speech, and blessed "the Lord God of Israel" with a prophecy known as the Benedictus or "Song of Zechariah".
The child grew up and "waxed strong in spirit", but remained in the deserts of Judæa until he assumed the ministry that was to earn him the name "John the Baptist".
Other Christian traditions
Identification with Zechariah from Matthew
suggested that the Zechariah mentioned in as having been killed between the temple and the altar may be the father of John the Baptist.Death
The Gospel of James, a 2nd-century apocryphal work, 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 account is also present in subsequent Eastern Orthodox tradition.Commemoration
The Catholic Church commemorates him as a saint, along with Elizabeth, on September 23 as it is believed that his temple duty before John the Baptist's conception took place on the Day of Atonement. He is also venerated as a prophet in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on 5 September. The Armenian Apostolic Church venerates him on September 5th as well, along with his wife Elizabeth. The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates the feast day of Zechariah on September 5, together with Elizabeth, who is considered a matriarch. Zechariah and Elizabeth are invoked in several prayers during the Orthodox Mystery of Crowning, 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...". In the Greek Orthodox calendar, Zechariah and Elizabeth are also commemorated on June 24.Relics veneration
claims to house the relics of Zechariah, entombed alongside those of Athanasius of Alexandria. Armenians believe that the Gandzasar monastery in Nagorno-Karabakh contains his relics; however, his relics were also kept in the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople, where they were brought by the praefectus urbi Ursus on 4 September, 415.His relics uncovering is commemorated by Greek Orthodox Church on 11 February, and on 1 December occurs commemoration of his, James and Simeon relics translation in 351, and 25 May is commemoration of their relics discover also in 351.