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[[Image:Elizabeth.jpg|frame|right|The Righteous Elizabeth]]
The Orthodox Church remembers the Righteous '''Elizabeth''' as the mother of the holy Prophet, St [[John the Baptist]] on [[September 5]].
When King Herod heard from the Magi about the birth of the Messiah, he decided to kill all the infants up to two years old at Bethlehem and the surrounding area, hoping that the new-born Messiah would be among them. The king knew about John's unusual birth and he wanted to kill him, fearing that John was the foretold King of the Jews. But Elizabeth hid herself and the infant in the hills. The murderers searched everywhere for John. Elizabeth, when she saw her pursuers, began to implore God for their safety, and immediately the hill opened up and concealed her and the infant from their pursuers.
In these tragic days St Zachariah was taking his turn at the services in the Temple. Soldiers sent by Herod tried in vain to learn from him Zachariah the whereabouts of Zachariah’s his son. Then, by command of Herod, they murdered this holy prophet Zachariah, having stabbed him between the temple and the altar ([[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 23: 35). Elizabeth died forty days after her husband, and St John, preserved by the Lord, dwelt in the wilderness until the day of his appearance to the nation of Israel.
On the Greek calendar, Sts Zachariah and Elizabeth are also commemorated on [[June 24]], the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist.