[000:00:23;00] dear brothers and sisters, today we are celebrating the great feast of the nativity of the prophet john the baptist and baptist of the lord, according to the word of the lord jesus christ himself , john the baptist did not rise again from those born of women, and indeed john the baptist is the first among all the saints after the most holy theotokos. why is st. john called the prophet of the forerunner and baptists , because in his sermons

to the people and calls to repentance, he predicted the coming of the savior of the world , our lord jesus christ, he directly spoke about it, the one following me is stronger than me. i am not worthy to carry his shoes. he will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire. according to ancient biblical prophecy, the coming of the world of the savior was to be preceded by one who, by his labors, prepares the hearts of people for the acceptance of the saving christ, the gospel of this previous or, as the church says , the forerunner and st. john became his sincere and strict word of preaching , as well as the ascetic way of life, the forerunner burned out the hearts of people, encouraged them to come to the realization his sins will be filled with the desire for god

to live according to the commandments. john was the last prophet who predicted the coming of a mission that would deliver the people of israel, and before starting his preaching, john lived in the wilderness for many years and prepared for his ministry by fasting and prayer. he wore coarse clothes, ate bitter honey of wild bees and locusts, when he was 30 years old, the lord commanded him to come out of the wilderness and preach the coming. christ john came to the jordan river where he began to speak to the people repentance and performed ablution, penitent in her waters. it was not sacraments, there were baptisms. how would we know it now, but it was his prototype, the people heeded the prophecy of john the baptist and many were baptized in

jordan for the remission of sins. remembering today the event of the nativity of the great prophet of god john, one cannot but think about the pious way of life of his parents. this thought is very important. especially these days. today, among many young people, the creation of a family. it is by no means a top priority. entering the path of family life. many people don't see it as they want to take the school of work, patience and forgiveness of pain rather than give. the result is broken families. children growing up without a father or mother? the example of zechariah or the advice of the parents of st. john the baptist shows us that the basis of a strong family is non-material well-being and an unearthly enterprise, and a strong inner

spiritual core, which is based on a sincere belief in god only in this case, all the difficulties of adversity that inevitably occur on the path of family life becomes insurmountable. we see that the life of the righteous parents. saint john the baptist was filled with difficulties and sorrows. their family for a long time, remained childless, the absence of children in the family was considered in the odessa society of that time as a punishment for some grave sin. but zechariah or the council led a righteous life, observed the law of moses , it was especially difficult for them to bear the burden of undeserved human censure, because zechariah was a priest, that the matter of people's attitudes towards him was even more demanding and somehow. no

disposition more onerous, however, despite in spite of all censures and ridicule, the righteous family continued to abide in prayers and good deeds, but in modern families. even with much less serious problems. some people immediately think about the destruction of the family, falsely assuming that it is better waiting for them somewhere else. where they are not. but the reason is that the dinner of such people is primarily in their hearts, so wherever such a person runs away, he will bring there all the same sorrows and problems. saints zechariah or council is an example of a real family, a fortress that is indestructible by worldly worries in today's society, there is a naive opinion that

those who decide to start a family should find some very suitable person in this situation, the phrase my soulmate is not understood quite right . the holy scripture really speaks of a husband and wife as one flesh. two halves of one whole, but such unity is an unfortunate case, and the result of the long mutual work of the spouses on themselves is the cultivation of such virtues as the ability to forgive, give in, support each other , help the result of god's blessing for human diligence. on the maternal line , john the baptist was a relative of jesus christ and was born for 6 months. before him

, the father of john zacharias, during the service, was honored with the appearance of the archangel gabriel, who announced to him the future birth of his son. but looking at your advanced age. zechariah doubted the possibility of what the archangel said, therefore, for his unbelief, he was deprived of the opportunity to speak until the birth of john and here. we can also emphasize an important lesson for ourselves . spiritual doubts happen to everyone. even righteous people like zechariah, but a real christian overcomes doubts with the firmness of faith. they get bogged down in them, not immersed, preaching repentance, and he forerunner immersed the repentant water of the jordan river and the seas not a man, but the waters of the river symbolized the purification of his soul and the insight of his spiritual eyes. a purified

and spiritually enlightened person was ready to quickly accept the good news of the gospel , which was then preached by the lord, jesus christ, because of such a washing or, in church slavonic, baptism, coming to cana of people. they began to call him the baptizers. st. john the forerunner, performing baptism in the waters of the jordan repentance, and it is surprising that the lord himself, jesus christ, came to the prophet and asked him for baptism, this astounded the ascetic, because christ had no sin and did not need repentant washing. moreover, it was pointed out to him from above that christ is the lamb of god who will take upon himself the sins of the whole world, the mission that

the israeli people were waiting for, but the baptism of christ on the jordan was the fulfillment of ancient prophecies and the beginning of his preaching ministry, so saint john obediently complied with the request, gentlemen. dear brothers and sisters, today on the day of the nativity of the greatest prophet, we turn to him with a prayer to the baptist of the savior john, pray to god for us, but at the same time we are inspired by the example of his active service, not only in word, but also in the deed of our ascetic life, we also remember the righteous zechariah or council, who have truly shown love for god and the spirit for a friend, to the best of our strength , circumstances, and we will glorify god not only with a word of prayer, but and our daily good deeds, which

often testify to our faith in christ much better than words . the united states is putting scorched earth in ukraine, the states are ready to supply kiev