Saint John the Baptist in a fresco by the Cretan iconographer, Alexandra Kaouki, in Rethymnon
Patrick Comerford
The Feast of the Epiphany was celebrated yesterday (6 January), and the Epiphany theme continues for the next few weeks, with Sunday’s Gospel reading telling the story of Christ’s baptism in the River Jordan by Saint John the Baptist.
Meanwhile, before this day gets busy, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.
I have been continuing my Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, reflecting in these ways:
1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during Christmas;
2, the day’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
This morning, I am reflecting on Saint John the Baptist and his role in the Epiphany stories.
The Orthodox Church celebrates the Synaxis or Gathering) of Saint John the Baptist on 7 January. On this day too, the Orthodox Church also commemorates the translation of his right hand to the city of Constantinople.
Because Saint John’s main role in his life was played out on the day of Theophany or the Epiphany (6 January), the Orthodox Church from earliest times dedicated the day after the Epiphany to his memory.
Saint John the Baptist occupies a totally unique place by his roles in baptising Christ and in baptising people for repentance. Saint John prepared himself in the wilderness of the desert for 30 years for his great service by a strict life, by fasting, prayer and sympathy for the fate of God’s people.
Saint John was of such moral purity that, in truth, he could be called an angel or messenger as Holy Scripture. He appeared on the banks of the River Jordan, to prepare the people by his preaching to accept the Saviour of the world.
In church hymns, Saint John the Baptist is called a ‘bright morning star,’ whose gleaming outshone the brilliance of all the other stars, announcing the coming dawn of the day of grace, illumined with the light of the spiritual Sun, Jesus Christ.
Saint John differs from all other prophets especially in that he had that privilege of being able, with his hand, to show Christ to the world. Saint John bridges the history of the Biblical Prophets and the era of the New Testament, and bore witness to the Son of God, incarnate in the flesh, and he was a witness of the Theophany of the Trinity at Christ’s Baptism.
The execution of Saint John the Baptist, depicted in a fresco in a church in Georgioupioli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Matthew 4: 12-17, 23-25 (NRSVA):
12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 ‘Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.’
17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
The prayer in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) invites us to pray this morning (7 January 2022):
Let us pray for the National Missionary Society of India and the work they do in the fields of education and medicine.
Yesterday: Balthasar, Melchior and Caspar
Tomorrow: Saint Albert of Cashel
Saint John the Baptist with his mother, Saint Elizabeth, in a stained glass window in Dingle, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org