Yohanan Elixir

John the Baptist, named Yohanan which means “grace of God”, is a central figure in the New Testament. His birth, foretold by the Angel Gabriel to his father Zechariah, was a miracle because his parents, Zechariah and Elisheva, were old and childless due to Elisheva’s sterility. Gabriel announced that Yohanan would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb and that he would bring many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. Zechariah, sceptical about this announcement, became mute until the birth of his son. When Yohanan was born, Zechariah’s speech was restored and he blessed God. This marked the beginning of a new spiritual era, symbolised by the transition of the priesthood from the era of the ram to that of the era of the fish, a transition that would be reflected in the practices and symbols of the first Christians.

As an adult, Yohanan lived as an ascetic in the Judean desert, eating locusts and wild honey. Dressed in camel skin and a leather belt, he preached the imminent coming of Christ and baptised crowds in the River Jordan, a symbolic act of purification and spiritual renewal. Yohanan’s baptism of Jesus marks a turning point in Jesus’ public life, with the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. A prophet with a piercing gaze, Yohanan was not afraid to denounce injustice, particularly that of King Herod, which led to his imprisonment and eventual beheading on the orders of Salome, Herodias’ daughter. His courage and dedication to the truth make him an emblematic figure of the transition between the Old and New Testaments.