Six months before he appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nazareth, Archangel Gabriel appeared in the Jerusalem Temple to High Priest Zacharias and announced to him that his childless old wife, Elizabeth, would conceive a son. Zacharias suspected it, so his tongue was tied until the eighth day after the birth of his son, when he wrote that his name was John. Word of this miracle spread throughout Israel and reached Herod, who, when he sent to kill the children in Bethlehem, also sent to kill John. Elizabeth hid her son, so Herod got angry and sent to kill Zacharias in the temple. Jelisaveta hid with Jovan in a cave, where she soon came to rest. And the newlywed John remained in the desert alone, in the care of God and His angels.