This coincidence of thoughts and verbal expressions between the two holy books of the Old and New Testaments, this light of the first Gospel in the Church's understanding, which falls on the first book of the Prophet Moses, is confirmed by the words of the Apostle himself in the same first chapter of his Gospel: "Of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace, for the law was given through Moses; and grace and truth shall come forth through Jesus Christ" (vv. 16-17).

Therefore, there is no need to look for a source for the name "Logos – the Word", which has firmly entered Christianity. Yes, this name-concept is not at all alien to the Old Testament in general. "By the word of the Lord the heavens were created, and by the spirit of His mouth all their host" (Psalm 32:6), says the Psalms, which were in the daily reading of the Jews, whether in the Hebrew text or in the translation of the 70.

But even more clearly for us shines the Lord's farewell conversation with His disciples. "But the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father who sent me" (John 14:24). "All that I have heard from my Father I have told you" (15:15). "All that the Father has is mine" (16:15). This is the main subject of this majestic discourse, as well as the high-priestly prayer of the Lord that followed it.

The Orthodox Church has lovingly accepted the name of the Son of God "the Word" and widely uses it, but always not in its single form, but with one or another of its definitions, attributes: "Who gave birth to God the Word" ("It is truly meet"): "Only-begotten to the Son and Word of God" (hymn at the Liturgy); "To the Almighty, the Word of the Father" (in prayers for the coming sleep).

The Conception of the Forerunner of Christ John

(Luke 1:1-25).

It tells about the appearance of the Angel of the Lord to the priest Zachariah during the service in the temple, who predicted the birth of his son John, who would be great before the Lord, as well as about the punishment of Zachariah with muteness for unbelief and about his conception by his wife Elizabeth.

King Herod, who is mentioned here, was an Edomite by birth, the son of Antipater, who under Hyrcanus, the last of the Maccabean dynasty, took possession of the affairs of Judea. From Rome he received the royal title. Although he was a proselyte, the Jews did not consider him their own, and his reign was precisely the "taking away of the scepter from Judah", after which the Messiah was to appear (see Prophecy Gen. 49:10).

The priests were divided by David into 24 sections, and Abija was placed at the head of one of them. Zechariah was also included in this group. His wife, Elizabeth, also came from a priestly family. Although both of them were distinguished by true righteousness, they were childless, and this was considered by the Jews to be God's punishment for sins. Each section served in the church twice a year for one week, and the priests distributed the duties among themselves by lot. It fell to Zechariah to perform incense, for which purpose he entered the second part of the Jerusalem temple, called the Holy or Sanctuary, where the altar of incense was located, while all the people prayed in a specially designated open part of the temple, or in the Court. Entering the sanctuary, Zacharias saw an angel, and fear fell upon him, since according to Jewish concepts, the appearance of an angel foretold imminent death. The angel calmed Zachariah, saying that his prayer had been heard, and his wife would bear him a son, who would be "great in the sight of the Lord."

It is difficult to imagine that Zachariah, being old, and at such a solemn moment of worship, with all his righteousness, would have prayed for the granting of a son to him. Obviously, he, as one of the best people of that time, prayed to God for the imminent coming of the Kingdom of the Messiah, and it was about this prayer that the Angel said that it was heard. And so his prayer received a high reward: not only was his sorrowful barrenness permitted, but his son would be the Forerunner of the Messiah, whose coming he had so intensely awaited. His son will surpass all in unusually strict abstinence and will be filled from birth with the special grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit. He will have to prepare the Jewish people for the coming of the Messiah, which he will do by preaching about repentance and correction of life, converting to God many of the sons of Israel, who revered Jehovah only formally, but in heart and life were far from Him. For this purpose, the son of Zechariah, John, will be given the spirit and strength of the Prophet Elijah, whom he will resemble in his fiery zeal, strict ascetic life, preaching of repentance and denunciation of impiety. He will have to call the Jews out of the abyss of their moral fall, restoring to the hearts of parents love for children, and those who resist the right hand of the Lord to be confirmed in the way of thinking of the righteous.

Zacharias did not believe the angel, since he, like his wife, was too old to hope for posterity, and asked the angel for some sign to prove the truth of his words. In order to dispel Zechariah's doubts, the angel gives his name: he is Gabriel, which means the power of God, the same one who preached the good news to the prophet Daniel about the time of the coming of the Messiah, indicating the dates in "weeks" (Dan. 9:21-27). For unbelief, the Angel strikes Zachariah with muteness, and at the same time, apparently, with deafness, since they then explain themselves with him by signs. Usually the censing does not last long, and the people began to wonder: why does Zechariah linger in the sanctuary? But as soon as Zachariah appeared and began to show something with gestures, everyone understood that he had a vision. It is remarkable that Zechariah did not abandon his family and continued his ministry to the end. His wife, Elizabeth, after her husband's return home, did indeed conceive a son. For five months she hid this, for fear that people might not believe her, and ridicule her, while she herself rejoiced in her heart and thanked God for removing the reproach from her. The Conception of St. John the Baptist is celebrated on September 23.

Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(Luke 1:26-38).