In the Orthodox Church, it is customary, on the day following the Great Feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God, to remember those saints who participated directly in the sacred event. So, on the day following the Theophany of the Lord, the Church honours the one who participated directly in the Baptism of Christ, placing his own hand upon the head of the Savior.
St. John was the son of the Prophet Zacharias and Elizabeth, who was a cousin of the Virgin Mary. St. John is known as the “Forerunner” and “Baptist.” He is called the Forerunner because he preceded Christ and taught repentance, which prepared men for Jesus’ teaching and His ministry.
According to Holy Tradition, he was the first to recognise Christ as the Messiah as early as when they were both still in their mothers’ wombs. It is said that the Virgin Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth and when they embraced John leapt in his mother’s womb.
According to the New Testament, John was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded by Herod Antipas around AD 30 after John rebuked him for divorcing his wife Phasaelis and then unlawfully wedding Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod Philip I.