Difference between revisions of "Zacharias"

<p> ( Ζαχαρίας , <i> ''''' Zacharı́as ''''' </i> ): Father of John the [[Baptist]] (&nbsp; Luke 1:5 , etc.). He was a priest of the course of [[Abijah]] (which see), of blameless life, who in his old age was still childless. But on one occasion when it was the turn of the course of Abijah to minister in the temple (see [[Temple]] ), [[Zacharias]] was chosen by lot to burn incense. While engaged in this duty he was visited by Gabriel, who announced to him that he should become the father of the precursor of the Messiah. Zacharias received the promise incredulously and was punished by being stricken mute. When, however, the child was born and Zacharias had obeyed the injunction of [[Gabriel]] by insisting on the name John, his powers of speech returned to him. According to &nbsp;Luke 1:67-79 , Zacharias was the author of the hymn Benedictus, which describes God's deliverance of [[Israel]] in language drawn entirely from the Old Testament, and which is unaffected by the later [[Christian]] realization that the [[Kingdom]] is also for Gentiles. </p> <p> Elisabeth, his wife, was of the daughters of Aaron (&nbsp;Luke 1:5 ) and kinswoman of the [[Virgin]] (&nbsp;Luke 1:36; the relationship is altogether obscure). According to &nbsp;Luke 1:42-45 , she was one of those who shared in the secret of the Annunciation. A few manuscripts in &nbsp;Luke 1:46 ascribe the <i> [[Magnificat]] </i> to her, but this seems certainly erroneous. See especially Zahn, <i> Evangelium des [[Lucas]] </i> , 98-101 and 745-751 (1913). </p>

<p> pope from A.D. 741 to 752. He induced the Lombard king Luitprand to restore the cities taken from Rome in 739, to conclude a truce for twenty years, and subsequently to desist from the siege of [[Ravenna]] and restore all the territory taken from the exarchate. He was equally successful in influencing Luitprand's successor, Rachis, as respects the interruption of his conquests, and even received that monarch and his queen and daughter into the number of his clergy (749) after their abdication of the throne. He also consecrated [[Carloman]] to the clerical office (747). He advised the Byzantine emperor Copronymus to replace the images in the churches. Boniface, the apostle to the Germans, found in Zacharias an energetic and able manager of-the interests of Rome, and became his agent in the elevation of the Carlovingian dynasty. Zacharias held a synod in 743 at which fifty-nine bishops were present, and which dealt with questions of discipline. He translated the Dialogues of [[Gregory]] the Great into Greek, and purchased the liberty of many slaves destined by the Venetians for Africa. See Jaff, Regesta Pontificum; Migne, Patrologie, tom. 89; W rtwein and Giles, collections of Boniface's letters, St. Bonij. [[Opera]] (Lond. 1845), vol. 1; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s v. </p>