I share this in celebration of the feast of of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, a patron Saint of Freemasonry. I hope you enjoy the prayer of my faith tradition concerning St. John the Baptist, and secondly hope each reader will take a little time to read about him especially in one of the four gospels of the Holy Bible.
Fraternallyβ¦
Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent, boldly rebuke vice, patiently suffer for the sake of truth, and proclaim the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Hello Fathers,
Is today (The Nativity of St John the Baptist) mandatory in the U.S.? Also, what is considered and what constitutes a solemnity, a feast, a memorial, or a Holy Day of Obligation?
Edit: I also realized that memorials are also something we celebrate, but to my knowledge, there isnβt many of those.
Happy Birthday Ezio!
One of my strange interests involves the christian religion with its traditions and festivities, especially the ones related to saints. I find the cult of saints to be a super interesting part of this religion, and the traditions related to them.
Today I found out it's the day of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, one of the most (if not THE most) important prophets who announces the coming of Christ and even baptizes him in the Jordan river. Saint John the Baptist is considered to be a stort of "predecessor" to Christ (without divine nature, of course) and consequently so he is revered as one of the most important saints, even "the first" of the saints.
Also, John and Chirst were cousins, related by blood, since John's mom, Elisabeth, was Mary's cousin.
Now let's talk about Assassin's Creed and Ezio.
Yesterday night I finished (for, like, the millionth time) AC Brotherhood, and we all know that the ending sequence is set in a hidden temple of the Isu under the Colosseum. Here, while we play as Desmond exploring the temple, Juno talks to us, saying that Desmond has been waited for so long, he's the one, etc. ect. And I thought: wow it's a bit like Christ. But I didn't think that much of it.
Today I found out is the day of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist and I also remembered is Ezio's birthday.
I started to see a link between the two.
In AC2 is clearer: when Ezio enters the hidden temple under the Vatican, he encounters Juno; but the latter doesn't talk to him directly, but through him, to Desmond. Juno says to Ezio, basically telling him to shut up, that he's the Prophet, and his mission is done; then proceedes to talk to us/Desmond.
Not to mention the fact that all the plot of AC2 revolves around the quest to find this Prophet that, of course, is our dear Ezio, as we know and as I've just said.
Now I'll link the dots.
Ezio and Saint John the Baptist are born on the same day, June 24th.
They are both Prophets to a sort of messianic saviour: Ezio to Desmond, John to Christ.
They are related by blood to that messianic saviour: Ezio is Desmond's ancestor, John was Chirst's cousin.
Maybe UBI didn't think this through and this could be a mere coincidence, but the links are many and we know AC is full of details.
Luckily, unlike the Baptist, Ezio doesn't die in martyrdom!
Again, Buon Compleanno, Ezio.
Today those of us using the Old Calendar celebrate the Nativity of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist, John! This is the day when Elizabeth, the cousin of the Theotokos, gave birth to St. John the Forerunner, six months before the Nativity of our own Lord.
While the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner is not one of the 12 Great Feasts, it is still counted as a great feast in the liturgical tradition of the Church.
Troparion: Prophet and Forerunner of the coming of Christ, / although we cannot praise you worthily, / we honor you in love at your nativity, / for by it you ended your fatherβs silence and your motherβs barrenness, / proclaiming to the world the incarnation of the Son of God!
Kontakion: Today the formerly barren woman gives birth to Christβs Forerunner, / who is the fulfillment of every prophecy; / for in the Jordan, / when he laid his hand on the One foretold by the prophets, / he was revealed as Prophet, Herald, and Forerunner of God the Word.
https://preview.redd.it/rmdclhre9g951.jpg?width=294&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f652ac3a28318386f72d28903ad99ce492b971f7
The icon for the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner is simple. It shows Elizabeth wrapped similar to the Theotokos in the icon of the Nativity of Our Lord. St. John is wrapped up in swaddling clothes, similar to Jesus is in the icon of the Nativity of Our Lord, and the midwife is standing above a jar of water, this parallels the midwives in the icon of the Nativity of our Lord, these parallels are because St. John's ministry was to lead the way for the coming of Our Lord, and point the way to him. And so, in the icon of the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner, it mirrors the icon of the Nativity of Our Lord to show that St. John points to Our Lord.
This is the meaning of the Troparion when it says, "we honor you in love at your nativity, / for by it you ended your fatherβs silence and your motherβs barrenness, / proclaiming to the world the incarnation of the Son of God!" Because even in his Nativity, he pointed the way to Our Lord.
The only differences in the icon is Zechariah who is writing the name of the child to be John, in accordance with the word spoken by the angel, and the red streamer above which means that this event takes place inside.
That's right, go to church on a Monday, you cowards!
