Saint Zacharias. Zechariah is a figure in the New Testament Bible and the Quran, hence venerated in Christianity and Islam.
   In the Bible, he is the father of John the Baptist, a priest of the sons of Aaron in the Gospel of Luke, and the husband of Elizabeth who is a relative of the Virgin Mary. According to the Gospel of Luke, during the reign of king Herod, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the course of Abia, whose wife Elizabeth was also of the priestly family of Aaron.
   The evangelist states that both the parents were righteous before God, since they were blameless in observing the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. When the events related in Luke began, their marriage was still childless, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.
   The duties at the temple in Jerusalem alternated between each of the family lines that had descended from those appointed by king David. Luke states that during the week when it was the duty of Zechariah's family line to serve at the temple of the Lord, the lot for performing the incense offering had fallen to Zechariah.
   The Gospel of Luke states that while Zechariah ministered at the altar of incense, an angel of the Lord appeared and announced to him that his wife would give birth to a son, whom he was to name John, and that this son would be the forerunner of the Lord. Citing their advanced age, Zechariah asked with disb
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