The Relics of Zechariah the Prophet and Stephen the First Martyr

I will speak first of the relics of the prophet. Caphar-Zechariah is a village in the territory of Eleutheropolis, a city of Palestine. The land of this district was farmed by Calemerus, a serf. He was loyal to the owner, but hard, discontented, and unjust toward the peasants who lived near him. Although he had these faults of character, the prophet stood beside him in a dream and showed himself to him. Pointing out a particular garden, he said to him, “Go and dig in that garden, about three feet from the hedge of the garden that runs along the road to the city of Bitheribis. There you will find two coffins, the inner one of wood, the other of lead. Beside the coffins you will see a glass vessel full of water, and two snakes of moderate size, but tame and completely harmless, so that they seem to be used to being handled.” Calemerus followed the prophet’s directions at the place he had pointed out and set himself eagerly to the task. When the sacred resting place came to light by the signs just described, the divine prophet appeared to him dressed in a white robe, which makes me think that he was a priest. At the prophet’s feet, outside the coffin, lay a child who had been honored with a royal burial. On its head was a golden crown, its feet were shod in golden sandals, and it was dressed in a costly robe. The wise men and priests of the time were greatly puzzled about this child: who he might be, where he came from, and why he had been dressed in this way. It is said that Zechariah, the head of a community of monks at Gerar, found an ancient document written in Hebrew which had not been received among the canonical books. This document stated that after Zechariah the prophet had been put to death by Joash, king of Judah, a terrible calamity soon struck the king’s family. On the seventh day after the prophet’s death, one of the sons of Joash, whom he dearly loved, suddenly died. Judging that this affliction was a special sign of God’s wrath, the king ordered his son to be buried at the prophet’s feet, as a kind of atonement for the crime against him. These are the details I have been able to learn on the subject. [a]

Although the prophet had lain under the earth for so many generations, he appeared whole. His hair was cut close, his nose was straight, his beard of moderate length, his head quite short, and his eyes rather sunken and hidden by the eyebrows. [f]