In the iconographic type known as the deësis (supplication), Christ sits enthroned in the center, flanked by saints who approach him in prayer on behalf of the world. Chief among these saints, at Christ’s right hand and left, are the Mother of God and Saint John the Forerunner, whose nativity we celebrate today. The Theotokos has an incomparable role in our salvation as God’s own true mother; Saint John plays many roles in the divine economy. As the Church’s standard formula puts it, he is Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist.
These many aspect of Saint John’s ministry can perhaps be summed up under a title that the Forerunner gives himself: the friend of the Bridegroom. Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom, for he has the Bride, the Church. Saint John is his best man, as it were: the one who stands, and hears, and decreases. He is thus a special example for clergy and all who participate in various ministries in our parishes and institutions. Christian ministry must never call attention to the minister; the minister must strive to decrease, to become transparent to Christ, to be a witness at the espousals of the Lamb and his Bride, the Church, his faithful people whom we serve.