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John the Baptist
(redirected from Saint John the Forerunner)

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John the Baptist
Saint New Testament the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth and the cousin and forerunner of Jesus, whom he baptized. He was beheaded by Herod (Matthew 14:1--2). Feast day: June 24

John the Baptist
prophet who baptized crowds and preached Christ’s coming. [N.T.: Matthew 3:1–13]
See : Baptism

John the Baptist
head presented as gift to Salome. [N.T.: Mark 6:25–28]

John the Baptist 

According to gospel mythology, the closest predecessor of Jesus Christ; he prophesied the coming of the messiah (the Christ).

John the Baptist lived in the wilderness (in imitation of the Old Testament prophet Elijah), denounced the evils of society, and called on people to repent; he baptized Jesus Christ. A reference is made to John the Baptist by Josephus Flavius (first century A.D.) stating that John lived when Galilee was ruled by Herod Antipas (first half of the first century). To please his mistress Herodias, Herod had John the Baptist imprisoned and later ordered him decapitated. John the Baptist has been the subject of many paintings (A. del Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci, P. Brueghel, A.A. Ivanov) and sculptures (Donatello, Rodin). In medieval iconography John the Baptist was one of the three necessary figures for the Deisus (Christ, the mother of god, and John the Baptist).



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