Zechariah (priest)

Zechariah
Annunciation of the Angel to Zechariah by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1490, fresco in the Tornabuoni Chapel, Florence)
Priest, Prophet, Guardian of Mary, Devotee
Born	1st century BC Hebron (Joshua 21:11), the Levant
Died	1st century BC (or early AD) Jerusalem (Matthew 23:35), the Levant
Venerated in	Christianity Islam
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Feast	September 5 – Eastern Orthodox September 5 – Lutheran September 23 – Roman Catholic

Zechariah (זכריה in Hebrew ; "remember God"; Ζαχαρίας in Greek, Zacharias in KJV, Zachary in the Douay-Rheims Bible; زكريّا in Arabic, Zakariyyāʾ) is a figure in the Bible and the Quran. In the Bible, he is the father of John the Baptist, a priest of the sons of Aaron, a prophet in Luke 1:67–79, and the husband of Elizabeth who is a relative of the Virgin Mary.

According to the Gospel of Luke, during the reign of king Herod, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the course of Abia, whose wife Elizabeth was also of the priestly family of Aaron. The evangelist states that both the parents were righteous before God, since they were "blameless" in observing the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. When the events related in Luke began, their marriage was still childless, because Elizabeth was "barren", and they were both "well advanced in years" (Luke 1:5–7).

The duties at the temple in Jerusalem alternated between each of the family lines that had descended from those appointed by king David (1st Chronicles 24:1–19). Luke states that during the week when it was the duty of Zechariah's family line to serve at "the temple of the Lord", the lot for performing the incense offering had fallen to Zechariah (Luke 1:8–11).