Saint John the Baptist

Saint John the Baptist is a significant figure in Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí faith, the Druze faith, and Mandaeism. Here are some key details about him:

**Birth and Death**: He was born in the 1st decade BCE in Judaea, Palestine, near Jerusalem and died between 28–36 CE.

**Role**: John the Baptist was a Jewish prophet of priestly origin who preached the imminence of God’s Final Judgment and baptized those who repented in self-preparation for it³. He is revered in the Christian church as the forerunner of Jesus Christ.

**Baptism of Jesus**: Most biblical scholars agree that John baptized Jesus.

**Death**: 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.

**Feast Day**: His feast day is celebrated on June 24, commemorating his nativity, and on August 29, commemorating his beheading.

John the Baptist is recognized as the start of the Christian era in all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), and each in its own way tries to reconcile John’s precedence in time and Jesus’ acceptance of his message and of a baptism of repentance from his hands³. He is considered a major religious figure and is honored as a saint in many Christian denominations.

(1) John the Baptist - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist.

(2) St. John the Baptist | Facts, Feast Day, & Death | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-John-the-Baptist.

(3) https://bing.com/search?q=Saint+John+the+Baptist.

(4) St John Baptist Church. https://sjbc.org/.

(5) Who Was John the Baptist of the Bible? - Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/john-the-baptist-117707.