The Prophet and Baptist of the Lord is one of the most revered saints in the Orthodox Church. People turn to John the Forerunner, whose prayer always very soon reaches the hearing of God, in various everyday troubles. However, especially often pilgrims who suffer from headaches and mental illness seek his help.
Saint's christmas
We can learn about the life of John the Baptist only from the gospel text. The holy saint of God was born at the beginning of the first century AD in a pious Christian family. His parents were the righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth. The Christmas of the great New Testament prophet was foreshadowed by one wonderful event.
The priest Zacharias was already in old age, when the archangel Gabriel came down to him during the service and announced the imminent arrival of his son. The father of the future preacher of Christ doubted the words of the heavenly messenger. For this, the Lord punished him with dumbness.
Soon Elizabeth was really able to conceive a son. When the woman was already in the last months of pregnancy, the Most Holy Virgin herself visited her house, which was her distant relative. This meeting was described in detail by the Evangelist Luke.
According to the latter, the baby Elizabeth, having heard only the greeting of the Virgin, "joyfully leaped in the womb."
Name spelling
The son of Elizabeth was born six months earlier than the Savior. On the eighth day, following the precept of Jewish law, the parents carried the baby to the Jerusalem temple, where he was to be named. Elizabeth, following the command of the Spirit of God, called the born firstborn John. Relatives present at the temple were surprised, since no one in their family ever bore such a name. However, the nearby father, picking up a wooden tablet, wrote the word "John" on it. At that very moment, Zechariah again became speechless and began to praise the merciful Lord. The Holy Prophet announced to all those gathered in the temple about the imminent coming of the Messiah into the world. The announcement of the appearance of the Savior will be entrusted to John the Baptist himself. The prayer of the righteous can lead many people to heartfelt repentance and confession of their sins.
On that very day, news of the miraculous birth of a baby went all over Hebron. Many residents believed that little John was the future ruler of the Jewish people.
And in the house of the parents of the baby, joy was finally able to settle. At that time, families who could not have children were despised by people. The Jews believed that dishonesty flourished in their homes, for which the Lord would certainly punish childlessness.
Death of zachariah
But very soon, Zachariah and Elizabeth had to endure a new test. King Herod, who ruled in Judea at that time, having learned from the wise men who came to him about the birth of the long-awaited Messiah, ordered to kill all the newly born babies. The moan and cry of the unhappy mothers were able to reach the home of little John. To save her only child from the brutal reprisal, Elizabeth hastened to take refuge in the Hebron Mountains. Zachariah remained in the city and continued to perform services. When the servants of the Herodites reached Hebron, they first looked into the Temple of Jerusalem. Seeing Zachariah, they began to demand that he give out the place of shelter for his son. But the holy righteous only meekly said that he was not afraid of death at the hands of the wicked. The latter, having heard such an answer, immediately killed the parent of the Forerunner. Zachariah fell between the altar and the altar, and his blood became stone in eternal reminder of the crime committed by Herod.
Escape to the Hebron Mountains
The soldiers, leaving the body of the holy prophet in the temple, hastened in search of the remaining members of his family. Very soon, they discovered the righteous Elizabeth with a baby near one of the mountains. The saint, seeing the murderers of her husband, according to Church Tradition, cried out grief for help, and she, parting, hid her and John from the eyes of the soldiers. Forty days after the death of the holy prophet, Elizabeth herself also died. But this time the mercy of God was shown to little John the Baptist, whose prayer in the near future was to lead to the salvation of the Jews. Father and mother were replaced by the angel of the Lord, who brought him drink and water every day.
Baptism of the savior
The first time the prophet John appeared to people in the desert. His appearance was a real event for the Jewish people. The holy saint of God proclaimed to people about the imminent coming of Christ, before which every mortal was bound to bear the fruits of sincere repentance. His sermon was so deep and sincere that people from all over the country came to listen to her. Listening to the fervent speeches of the prophet of God, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, they discovered in themselves more and more sins, which they were in a hurry to confess before the Forerunner. Finally, the time came to come to him and the Savior Himself, who, like the rest of the people, chose the holy righteous person to be Baptists.
The execution of the prophet
John was always a true zealot for the piety of Christ and never bowed even to the powers that be. Upon learning that the young ruler of the country Herod illegally cohabits with Herodias, the wife of his brother, he immediately hastened to expose him to all the people. A wife full of fury decided at all costs to destroy the saint of God, whom even the king himself was afraid of. To do this, she sent to one of the festivities hosted by Herod, her daughter Salome. The latter performed a dance before the ruler, which pleased him very much. Herod promised to fulfill any of her requests, and the girl immediately announced the bloody desire of her mother. The upset king ordered the decapitation of John the Baptist.
The body of the prophet was buried by his disciples. Subsequently, the head of the saint appeared three times to pilgrims. The prayer to John the Baptist helped in due time to protect many shrines from destruction, including the relics of the very saint of God. During the persecution of the church of Christ, the head of the prophet miraculously disappeared, and then appeared again, thus avoiding reproach from unholy hands.
Prayer to John the Forerunner from a headache
During his life, the holy righteous repeatedly showed his help to people. However, even upon death, the Baptist of the Lord continues to participate in the dispensation of many human destinies. Perhaps none of the saints, except the Virgin, stands as close to the Lord as St. John the Baptist. His prayer helps to get rid of many bodily ailments. People suffering from frequent incessant migraines, first of all try to turn to the saint of God. More than a thousand testimonies have already been collected of the miraculous intercession of the Baptist.
Prayer to John the Baptist from a headache once helped a twenty-year-old parishioner of the Moscow stavropegial John the Baptist monastery to get rid of constant migraine. Another, even more miraculous event, occurred in the same monastery in 2002. One woman had a brain tumor. She had to undergo a severe operation with trepanation of the skull. Then the patient, still far from the faith, came to the locally revered image of the saint. After prayers at the icon of the Baptist, she again passed the examination. No tumor was detected. Doctors shrugged their hands only in bewilderment.
Prayer to John the Baptist the Forerunner in spiritual ailments
However, the saint is resorted to not only during bodily diseases. Prayer to John the Forerunner to calm the soul is the surest remedy for the sudden despondency and anxiety that arose.
One woman who was baptized at a young age dreamed of bringing her children to the temple. Her daughter was soon able to gain faith. But the son stubbornly did not want to go to church. Then the woman, desperate to change something, went for help to her confessor. The latter, after hearing her, advised every day to turn to John the Baptist. The prayer of the holy saint soon helped bring his son to the walls of the temple. The young man gained faith and was baptized.
The holy saint of the Lord is always in a hurry to respond to any prayer request. But people who turn to him for help need to remember what the God’s prophet first taught during his lifetime. St. John appealed primarily to repentance. Indeed, only through the sacrament of confession can an Orthodox Christian unite with the Lord and become a real member of the Christ Church.