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The Martyrdom of Zacharias the Prophet .

The Martyrdom of Zacharias the Prophet .

On this day St . Zacharias, the priest, was martyred by the hand of Herod the King . When theangel Gabriel announced to him the birth of John his Son, he did not believe his word and theangel made him dumb, unable to speak until the child was born . (Luke 1: 18-22) When theynamed the child, he asked for a writing table and wrote that his name would be John . Then hespoke, and praised God . (Luke 1:63-79) The Holy Gospel gave testimony concerning him, that heand his wife were righteous, walking in the Law of God without blemish .When our Lord Christ was born, and the wise men came to worship Him, Herod was troubled andfeared for his kingdom . Therefore, he gave the order to slay all the children of Bethlehem, fromtwo years old and under, so he would kill the Lord Christ among them . The angel of Godappeared to Joseph in a dream saying, "Take the child and flee to Egypt ." St . Joseph took thechild Jesus and St . Mary, His mother, and went to Egypt as the angel of the Lord had told him .15But John's mother took him and fled to the mountain were she dwelt, bringing him up for sixyears . After her departure to heaven, the child remained in the desert till the day of his appearanceto Israel . (Luke 1: 80)It was said that during the slaughter of the children, Herod thought that John was the Christ . Herequested John from his father, Zacharias, who said, "I do not know where the child is ." Theythreatened to kill him, but he did not heed . Herod ordered his soldiers to slay him .It was also said that when Herod sought John to slay him, Zacharias escaped with him to thetemple and put him on the altar and when they caught up with him, he told the soldiers, "Fromhere I accepted him from the Lord," and thereupon the angel of God snatched away the child, andtook him to the desert Zifana . When they did not find the child, they slew Zacharias between thetemple and the altar . (Matthew 23:35)Zacharias the priest, son of Bar-a-chi-as, is not Zacharias the prophet, who was one of the twelveminor prophets . Zacharias the prophet was not martyred but died and his body was found withoutdecay .His prayers be with us . Amen .