Every time the Armenian Apostolic Church solemnly celebrates the Nativity of John the Baptist, who announced the coming of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist was the son of the priest Zacharias and Elizabeth. He was related to Jesus on his mother's side and had been born six months before Jesus. As the evangelist Luke relates, the archangel Gabriel came to his father, Zacharias, in the temple and proclaimed the birth of a son, but Zacharias did not believe, for which he was punished with mute and remained dumb until the godly couple finally had a son, whom they asked for through their prayers. John the Baptist, who was to baptize the Savior of all mankind, recognized and rejoiced at Christ's coming to the world before he was born. The Gospel testifies that when Our Lady Mary visited Elizabeth, the Baptist's mother, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed: "And whence it is to me that the Mother of my Lord has come to me. For when the voice of your greeting reach