John the Baptist a prophet who foretold the coming of the Messiah in the person of Jesus, whom he later baptised. St John the Baptist is usually called St John the Forerunner, a title used also in the West (Precursor in Latin). This title indicates that the purpose of his ministry was to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus Christ. John known as a prophet – the greatest and last prophet of the “Old Testament”, who specifically announced the coming of the Messiah, Who was Jesus. Also, he preached in the wilderness, baptized Jesus Christ, and finally was beheaded on the orders of Herod for censuring the King. In icon John holds a cross – the cross of martyrdom – and is turned to Christ in supplication, holding a scroll bearing the words: Seest Thou what suffer those who censure, O Word of God, the faults of the unclean. Not being able to bear censure, Lo Herod cut off my head, O Saviour. Therefore Icons of this dispensation of God exist too in order to instruct and inspire the faithful to reverence of John. As the hymns sung on August the 29th proclaim: The glorious beheading of the Forerunner, became an act of divine dispensation, for he preached to those in hell the coming of the Savior. Let Herodias lament, for she entreated lawless murder, loving not the law of God, nor eternal life, but that which is false and temporal. The important position of John in Christianity entirely based on the respect, which has repeatedly expressed Jesus to him, pointing to him as his Forerunner, Christ says about it, that before John was not a great spirit of earthly people (but it is still less those who go after the Son of Man); On the other hand, Jesus points out that all of what John was preaching, said in the Law and the Prophets. John the Baptist (after Mary) was the next most honored saints of Christianity. The Orthodox view of John as the most important prayer book for all Christians is most clearly can be illustrated by the fact that at the time of intercession (intercessory prayer, following the consecration in the Liturgy) his name is commemorated immediately after the name of God.
Exact size: 30,5x27x2
Weight: 1,17 kg
Price estimated. Icon written under the order
