John the Baptist

John the Baptist (Ancient Greek: Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστής, Ioannēs ho baptistēs or Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτίζων, Ioannēs ho baptizōn, known as the prophet Yahya in the Qur'an ) was a Jewish itinerant preacher in the early first century AD and is revered as a major religious figure along with Christianity, also in Islam, the Bahá'í Faith, and Mandaeism. He is called a prophet by all of these traditions, and honoured as a saint in many Christian traditions.

John used baptism as the central sacrament of his messianic movement. Most scholars agree that John baptized Jesus. Scholars generally believe Jesus was a follower or disciple of John and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus' early followers had previously been followers of John. John the Baptist is also mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus. Some scholars maintain that John was influenced by the semi-ascetic Essenes, who expected an apocalypse and practiced rituals corresponding strongly with baptism, although no direct evidence substantiates this.

Church of Saint John the Baptist, Nesebar

The Church of St. John the Baptist is a cruciform church located in Nessebar, Bulgaria.

Description

The Church of St. John the Baptist is a domed cruciform church, built of undressed stone. It is one of the best preserved churches in Nessebar. It is 12 meters long and 10 meters wide. The structure of the church consists of two cylindrical vaults which intersect in the center of the composition. The masonry is crushed stone and pebbles and the facades were probably smoothly plastered. It was built in the 11th century. It has no narthex. The altar space consists of three semi-circular apses. Four massive pillars support the dome and form the cross. Inside the church the walls are smooth and unbroken. The exterior is simple without decorative niches and ceramic plaques, typical of the ornamental style. Bricks were used as a decorative element over the entrance, in the jagged cornices and around the windows.

Some frescoes in the church have been preserved dating from later periods. The faded portraits of the donor and his contemporaries on the southern wall and the fragments beneath the dome date from the 14th century and the others are from the 16th and 17th centuries.

John

John is a common English name and surname:

John may also refer to:

People with the given name

Religious figures

Saint John

Saint John or St. John usually refers to John the Apostle of the Bible.

Saint John may also refer to:

People

Ein Karem

Coordinates: 31°45′55″N 35°8′58″E / 31.76528°N 35.14944°E / 31.76528; 35.14944

Ein Karem (Hebrew: עַיִן כרֶם, lit. “Spring of the Vineyard”, and Arabic: عين كارم‎ - ‘Ein Kārem or ′Ayn Karim) (also Ain Karem) is an ancient village of the Jerusalem District and now a neighbourhood in southwest Jerusalem. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on July 16, 1948.

According to Christian tradition, John the Baptist was born in Ein Karem, leading to the establishment of many churches and monasteries. In 2010 the neighborhood had a population of 2,000. It attracts three million visitors a year, one-third of them pilgrims from around the world.

History

Antiquity

A spring that provides water to the village of Ein Karem stimulated settlement there from an early time. Pottery has been found nearby dating to the Middle Bronze Age. For the Israelite age it could be identified as the location of Beth HaKerem (Jeremiah 6:1; Nehemiah 3:14), where the traditional name comes from. A reservoir here was mentioned in the copper scroll. A well-preserved mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath, indicates there was a Jewish settlement in the Second Temple period along with some other discoveries such as handful of graves, bits of a wall, an olive press and another suspected mikveh under the Church of St. John the Baptist. It was recorded during the Islamic conquest and again, under the name St. Jeehan de Bois, during the Crusades. Ottoman tax registers from 1596 showed a population of 29 Muslim families.