Elizabeth (Biblical person)

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St. Elizabeth
statue of Saint Elizabeth in the parish church of Memmelsdorf near Bamberg, Franconia in northern Bavaria (Germany)
Righteous
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Eastern Orthodox Anglican Lutheran
Feast	November 5
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Saint Elizabeth, also spelled Elisabeth or Elisheva (Hebrew אֱלִישֶׁבַע / אֱלִישָׁבַע "My God is an oath", Standard Hebrew Elišévaʿ / Elišávaʿ, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĔlîšéḇaʿ / ʾĔlîšāḇaʿ) (Arabic: إشاع) was the mother of St. John the Baptist and the wife of St. Zachary/Zacharias, according to the New Testament and the Quran.

[edit] Relation to Mary

In Luke 1:36 Elizabeth is described as a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Greek word used is συγγενίς, which can refer to various forms of kinship.^[1] According to the Catholic Encyclopedia their relation is given by St. Hippolytus, according to whom they are cousins; the mother of Elizabeth, Sobe and the mother of Mary, Saint Anne are sisters ^[2]. The mother of Mary is also known from another source, the infancy Gospel of James.

Some translations of this verse states their relations as relative ^{[3] [4]} , kinswoman ^[5] or 'of your family' ^[6] , others such as the King James, states that they are cousins ^[7]

[edit] In The Bible

According to the Gospel of Luke, Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron the priest (Luke 1:5). She and her husband Zechariah were "righteous before God, living blamelessly" (1:6), but childless. Zechariah was visited by the angel Gabriel, who told him his wife would have a son who "will be great in the sight of the Lord" (1:15).

The pregnant Elizabeth was visited by her relative (1:36), who was pregnant with Jesus:

And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost and she cried out with a loud voice:

"Blessed are thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." (1:41-42)

Elizabeth is not mentioned in the New Testament outside of the Gospel of Luke. Some modern sceptical scholars argue that she is a fictional character and that Luke invented the notion that Jesus and John the Baptist were related.^[who?] However, their critics have pointed out such a claim is impossible to prove and that it would be ludicrous to dismiss a character like Elizabeth solely on the basis that she is mentioned in only one of the four Biblical gospels.^[who?] There are several female characters who are mentioned in only one of the gospels - including Mary, the wife of Cleopas, Saint Joanna and the female disciple, Susanna. Some theologians^[who?] have suggested that Elizabeth is included in Luke's nativity account because his version of events deliberately focuses more upon the personal experience of the Virgin Mary during her pregnancy than Matthew's account (the two other gospels, Mark and John, do not include an account of Jesus's birth and instead start their narratives at the beginning of his ministry.) Elizabeth is also mentioned in several books of the Apocrypha, most prominently in the Protevangelion of James, in which the birth of her son and the subsequent murder of her husband are chronicled.

[edit] Sainthood

Elizabeth is revered as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church on November 5, and in the Orthodox and Anglican traditions on September 5, on the same day with her husband St. Zachary/Zechariah. She is commemorated as a matriarch in the Calendar of Saints (September 5) of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and Zechariah is commemorated as a prophet.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Visitation (Christian)

[edit] Notes and references