[60] The description of John is possibly taken directly from Mark ("clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey"), along with the proclamation that one was coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit "and fire".

[64] The Gospel of Luke adds an account of John's infancy, introducing him as the miraculous son of Zechariah, an old priest, and his wife Elizabeth, who was past menopause and therefore unable to have children.

[69] On the basis of this account, the Catholic as well as the Anglican and Lutheran liturgical calendars placed the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist on 24 June, six months before Christmas.

The Book of Acts portrays some disciples of John becoming followers of Jesus,[75] a development not reported by the gospels except for the early case of Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

In Mark and Luke, Jesus himself sees the heavens open and hears a voice address him personally, saying, "You are my dearly loved son; you bring me great joy".

Other writers say that it was interred in Herod's palace at Jerusalem; there it was found during the reign of Constantine, and thence secretly taken to Emesa (modern Homs, in Syria), where it was concealed, the place remaining unknown for years, until it was manifested by revelation in 452,[97] an event celebrated in the Orthodox Church as the Third Finding.

A fourth claim is made by the Residenz Museum in Munich, Germany, which keeps a reliquary containing what the Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria believed to be the head of Saint John.

[99] According to the Christian Arab Ibn Butlan, the church of Cassian in Antioch held the right arm of John the Baptist until it was smuggled to Chalcedon and later to Constantinople.

[100] An Orthodox Christian monastery in Cetinje, Montenegro, and the Catholic Cathedral of Siena, in Italy, both claim to have John the Baptist's right arm and hand, with which he baptised Jesus.

In Luke 1:17 the role of John is referred to as being "to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches will often have an icon of Saint John the Baptist in a place of honor on the iconostasis, and he is frequently mentioned during the Divine Services.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that modern revelation confirms the biblical account of John and also makes known additional events in his ministry.

When his father refused to disclose his hiding place, and being the officiating high priest at the Temple that year, was slain by Herod's order, between the porch and the altar, as Jesus said.

[166]: 108  Scholars such as Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, Jorunn J. Buckley, and Şinasi Gündüz believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John's original disciples.

James F. McGrath writes "In the first half of the 20th century, the Mandaeans received significant attention from New Testament scholars who thought that their high view of John the Baptist might mean they were the descendants of his disciples.

Jesus answered by indicating his miracle works and teachings which themselves gave evidence of his identity: "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor".

"For the early church it would have been something of an embarrassment to say that Jesus, who was in their minds superior to John the Baptist, had been baptized by him, and thereby proclaimed some sort of subordination to him, some sort of disciple relationship to him..."[202] Barbara Thiering questions the dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls and suggests that the Teacher of Righteousness (leader of the Essenes) preached coming fiery judgment, said "the axe is laid to the roots of the tree", called people "vipers", practised baptism and lived in the wilderness of Judea.

[19][212] After the earliest images showing the Baptism of the Lord follow ones with St John shown as an ascetic wearing camel hair, with a staff and scroll inscribed (in Western art) "Ecce Agnus Dei", or bearing a book or dish with a lamb on it.

[214] Major works depicting St John the Baptist can be found in the Florence Baptistery, including the mosaics on the vault, the bronze doors by Andrea Pisano, and the great silver altar[215] now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.

[218][219] His birth, which unlike the Nativity of Jesus allowed a relatively wealthy domestic interior to be shown, became increasingly popular as a subject in the late Middle Ages,[214] with depictions by Jan van Eyck in the Turin-Milan Hours and Ghirlandaio in the Tornabuoni Chapel being among the best known.

His execution, a church feast-day, was often shown, and by the 15th century scenes such as the dance of Salome became popular; sometimes, as in an engraving by Israhel van Meckenem, the interest of the artist is clearly in showing the life of Herod's court, given contemporary dress, as much as the martyrdom of the saint.

[220] The execution was usually by a swordsman, with John kneeling in prayer, Salome often standing by with an empty platter, and Herod and Herodias at table in a cut-through view of a building in the background.

[222] The isolated motif of the severed head, often on its platter, was a frequent image, often in sculpture, from the late Middle Ages onwards,[223] known as Ioannes in disco (Latin for "John on a plate").

[225] Leonardo da Vinci's two versions of the Virgin of the Rocks were influential in establishing a Renaissance fashion for variations on the Madonna and Child which included John.

Often he is accompanied by a lamb, especially in the many Early Netherlandish paintings which needed this attribute as he wore normal clothes, or a red robe over a not very clearly indicated camel skin.

Artistic interest enjoyed a considerable revival at the end of the 19th century with Symbolist painters such as Gustave Moreau and Puvis de Chavannes (National Gallery, London).

[242][243] Christian festivals associated with Saint John the Baptist and Forerunner are celebrated at various days by different denominations and are dedicated to his conception, birth, and death, as well as in correlation to the baptism of Jesus.

An article from June 2004 in The Guardian remarked that "Porto's Festa de São João is one of Europe's liveliest street festivals, yet it is relatively unknown outside the country".

The names "San Juan Bautista" and "Puerto Rico" were eventually used in reference to both city and island, leading to a reversal in terminology by most inhabitants largely due to a cartographic error.

[253] Calamba, Laguna, Calumpit, Bulacan, Balayan, and Lian in Batangas, Sipocot, and San Fernando in Camarines Sur, Daet, Camarines Norte, San Juan, Metro Manila, Tabuelan, Cebu, Jimenez, Misamis Occidental, Badiangan, Banate, Dingle, Igbaras, and Sara in Iloilo and the oldest in Taytay Rizal are among several places in the Philippines that venerate John as the town or city patron.