A Prophet or an Apostle?
The church begins its calendar by a procession for the martyrs, the Cross bearers. The following day, we celebrate the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, who was a unique personality in many aspects, and his uniqueness made him a wonderful model for all believers. He is considered one of the righteous men of the Old Testament, as he prophesied about the coming of Our lord Jesus Christ, just before Our Lord started His service. At the same time, he is considered one of the righteous men of the New Testament, as he was witnessing the beginning of Christ’s ministry and baptized Him!
St. Cyril the Great, says on the tongue of Christ: [A Prophet? Yes, I also say as well as you. For he is a saint and a prophet: no, he even surpasses the dignity of a prophet; for not only did he announce before that I am coming, but pointed Me out close at hand, saying? ” Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
St. John considers himself blessed because the holy men of the Old Testament consider him one of them, as he prophesied about the Lamb of God, and the holy men of the New Testament accept him among them, as he saw the Incarnate Son of God, spoke to him and believed in Him.
* The prophet is the one, who prophesizes about what is coming, but the apostle is the one who announces what had already happened. St. John prophesized and at the same time, he saw the Lamb of God, so he became the greatest of all prophets.
St. Jacob of Serugh
St. John does not need a testimony from a human or an angel, as the Lord Himself testified that he was the greatest among those born of women (Matthew 11:11), He also called him, the burning and shinning lamp, that witnesses to the truth. David the prophet called him: “I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.” (Psalm 132:17).
Comparing him to the Fathers of the Old Testament
He is righteous like Noah, and loved by God like Abraham, slaughtered like Abel, and has the beauty of Enoch.
He is beloved like Isaac, and meek and chaste like Jacob. Imprisoned like Joseph and zealous like Elijah.
Great like Moses and is not less than Elisha. He is a priest like the famous Melchizedek. A priest greater than Aron, Eliezer, and Samuel. He is a Nazirite of the Lord better than Samson. Selected and sanctified in the womb like Jeremiah. Glorious and great in prophecy like Isaiah.
Chosen like David and more beautiful than Josiah. Pure like Hosea and rebukes the kings more than Micah.
He understands the mysteries like Ezekiel and Daniel, his fasting was accepted like the fasting of the sons of Ananias.
He resembles all of them, because all beauty was in him, and he was the greatest of them all.
He is righteous like one of them and saintly like another, meek as the third, honorable like the fourth, a virgin like the fifth and pure as the sixth. From one of them, he learnt fasting and ascetism and from another, he learnt humility and perfection.
Resembles one in prophecy and ascetism and resembles the other in zeal and poverty. You see his beauty in all the victorious ones, and there is no one greater than him among them. (Matthew 11:11).
Look to the heavens when Elijah ascended and to the sea when Jonah descended.
Whether they ascended or descended, none of them is highly esteemed as John the Baptist.
It was said: There was no one greater than him, search now and compare him with every great one.
St. Jacob of Serugh
John Did Not Do Visible Miracles
St. Jacob of Serugh, highlighted two points in the life of St. John the Baptist:
Firstly: Since his childhood and till the age of thirty, he was hiding in the wilderness; the Spirit was raising him away from family affairs or the Jewish community affairs, even those related to the service in the temple, as he was the son of Zacharias the high priest. This justified by the fact that the Spirit, since his childhood, guided him to his inner being. During this period, he never visited Jerusalem or the Temple, not even once!
Secondly: He did not do a single miracle, yet when he left the wilderness people hastened to him from Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the regions around the Jordan. (Matthew 3:5).
John’s rank was not known to our world, because he did no miracles or any earthly acts.
His goal was to heal the spirit, and by his hidden beauty, he resembled Melchizedek.
He did not want to have any visible powers, as he was focused on clothing souls with light.
He had hidden beauty, and the world did not know who he is until it heard that he is the greatest among all born of women.
* The Spirit brought him up, since his childhood in the new life, and all the beauty he had, came from inside.
St. Jacob of Serugh
The Lord Jesus Christ came to build His kingdom within us, He desired to make John the Baptist, a voice crying in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3), and the angel that prepares the way before him (Malachi 3:1). This preparation requires that John would not be bothered by any of his surroundings but focuses on his inner self. The second thing is that he should not boast about miracles but rather invites people to discover the need for renewal of the human nature and its sanctification through the Cross to prepare it for the eternal wedding.
His stay in the wilderness was not a waste of time, nor was his lack of doing miracles, a weakness.
God completed the salvation on the Cross, He resurrected and ascended to the heavens and invites us not to bother with our belongings, but rather to focus on our spirits, not asking for miracles, but for the work of god within us.
We should not marvel when the apostle says, “Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.” (1Corinthians 14:22).
St. basil the Great, talked several times about: “Look after yourself”, and in one of his sermons, “Know Yourself,” he says, “We ourselves are something, but what we have or surround us, is something else.”
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Prepared by: Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Translated By: Michael Stefanos – Mary F. A. – Andre Ghobrial
Designed by: Emad Roushdy