Saint Elizabeth
holding St. John the Forerunner

September 5th
Troparion (Tone 8)
The barren wilderness thou didst make fertile with the streams of thy tears; and by thy deep sighing thou hast given fruit through thy struggles a hundredfold. Accordingly, thou hast become a star for the universe, sparkling with miracles. Therefore, O righteous Mother Elizabeth, intercede with Christ God to save our souls.

St. Elizabeth is the sister of St. Anna, the mother of the Theotokos. She and her husband, Zecharias, a Temple priest, were unable to have children and they were advanced in years. The Archangel Gabriel appeared separately to Elizabeth and Zecharias to let them know that she would bear John who would be the Forerunner of the Messiah. After the Virgin Mary received the Annunciation from Gabriel and was expecting Jesus, she visited Elizabeth. John leapt in her womb for joy in the presence of Christ. When the wicked Herod set out to kill the Christ, he heard of the special circumstances surrounding John's birth and tried to hunt him down as well. Elizabeth took John, who was 18 months old, into the wilderness. They came to a mountain, and she spoke to it and a cave opened in it with a fresh stream and a fruitful date palm sprang up at its mouth. She escaped Herod's men by hiding in the cave. Zacharias was killed in the Temple (Matthew 25:35). Forty days later Elizabeth died in the wilderness. An angel took care of St. John as he grew up.

This icon is by the hand of Nick Papas of Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

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