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biography
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John the Baptist, St
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| biography:
| Prophetic and ascetic figure referred to in the New Testament Gospels and in Josephus's Antiquities, the son of a priest named Zechariah; roughly contemporary with Jesus of Nazareth. A story of his birth to Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary the mother of Jesus, is recorded in Luke 1. He baptized Jesus and others at the R Jordan, but his baptism seemed mainly to symbolize a warning of the coming judgment of God and the consequent need for repentance. He was executed by Herod Antipas, but the circumstances differ in the accounts of Josephus and the Gospels. He is treated in the New Testament as the forerunner of Christ, and sometimes as a returned Elijah (Matt 11.13–14). Feast day 24 June. |
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