Saint Zacharias

Many Years our Dear Zacharias!

Today we commemorate Saints Zacharias and Elizabeth. Our son, Zach, came to us through foster care when he was three years old and he very quickly connected with the name Zacharias even before we started calling him by the name. One of our favorite young Zach stories is a time when he was pointing at the icons grandma had just sent him and his younger brother, Chris. He pointed to his and said, "That's my icon! Saint Zacharias!" Then pointing to his brother's icon, Saint Christopher, he said, "That's Chris' icon. Saint Chris-arias!" We adopted Zach (and his two brothers) two years ago.

Today Les read the story of Saints Zacharias and Elizabeth from our Orthodox children's bible after dinner. Saints Zacharias and Elizabeth were the parents of Saint John the Baptist. Elizabeth was barren for many, many years. An angel came to Zacharias and told him his wife would give birth to a son and to name the child John, but Zacharias did not believe the angel. Elizabeth was well beyond the years of child-bearing and because of his disbelief, he was made mute and he could not speak. For many months, Zacharias was unable to say even a single word. After Saint John was born, there was some confusion on what to name the baby. Everyone turned to Zacharias to ask him his opinion and he signaled for a writing tablet and wrote - "His name is John." Immediately, he was able to speak again for the first time since initially learning his wife would have a baby. (Luke 1:5-23; Luke 1:57-80)

All of us listened and then Les asked the kids questions about the story. It is our goal to read or tell the story of our children's patron saints to them every year on their name day. We hope that by doing so, our children will learn examples of how to live their life for Christ and apply it to their own lives today.