August: Day 29: Teaching 1: The Beheading of John the Baptist

August: Day 29: Teaching 1:
The Beheading of John the Baptist
 
(Why is the Beheading of John the Baptist Remembered So Reverently?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ, who preceded His birth, had to precede His saving death by his own death, so that as on earth he preached the coming of the Lord, proclaiming: "There comes One after me who is mightier than I" (Mark 1:7), so also in hades he might proclaim to the souls contained there that the expected Messiah had already appeared in the world. This is how it was fulfilled: 

Herod, called Antipas, the son of the elder Herod, who killed the children of Bethlehem, was married to the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia; but, seduced by the beauty of Herodias, the wife of Philip, his brother, with her consent, he drove away his first lawful wife and took Herodias. Such lawlessness could not be tolerated by the zealot of God's law, the denouncer of sins and preacher of repentance, Saint John the Baptist. He began to denounce Herod before everyone, saying: "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." But Herod, not tolerating the denunciation, commanded that John be thrown into prison in chains. Herodias, however, was most furious against the holy denouncer. She wanted to kill him immediately, but she could not, because Herod, who knew John as a righteous and holy man, did not want to hand him over to be killed, fearing not so much God as that the people, who revered John as a prophet, would cause an uprising because of his murder. As a result of this, Saint John remained in prison for quite a long time. 

Herod's birthday arrived. On this day, Herod entertained his princes, military leaders, and the elders of all Galilee with a great feast, and Herodias's daughter entertained them with her dancing. Having pleased Herod and his guests, the dancer, at the instigation of her evil mother, demanded as a reward the head of Saint John the Baptist; and Herod, who had sworn before that to give her whatever she asked, even up to half his kingdom, forgot both the holiness of John and his respect for him, and ordered the guard to cut off the head of Saint John and bring it on a platter. They say that when the head was brought, still dripping with blood, to the horror of all present at the feast, it uttered its former accusatory words: “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife!” But the dancer fearlessly accepted the Saint's head and carried it to her mother. Herodias was not ashamed to mock the head of the Forerunner: she pricked its tongue with a needle, and fearing that her accuser would rise again when they put his head to the corpse, she buried it in the palace, in some dishonorable place. The decapitated body was taken from prison by his disciples that same night and buried in Sebaste.

For this lawless murder, to which Herod later added the insult to the Lord Himself during His sufferings, when "he reproached Him with his soldiers and mocked Him, clothed Him in a bright robe, and returned Him to Pilate" (Luke 23:11), God's punishment was not slow in befalling the lawless ones. The Arabian king Aretas, avenging the dishonor inflicted on his daughter, rose up in war against Herod, defeated him, and defeated his army so that Herod himself barely escaped. Then the Roman emperor deprived Herod of all power and all his riches and, together with the adulteress and her daughter, sent him into exile, first to Lyons in Gaul, then to Ilerda, a city in Spain, where they ended their lives in misery. The first to perish was the dancer. When she was crossing the river Segre on ice in winter, the ice broke under her and she sank into the water up to her neck, so that the ice squeezed her and she hung in the water, hanging with her head on the ice. Then she who had once danced on the ground, not reaching the bottom of the river, had to dance as if in the water. Finally, the sharp ice completely cut off her neck. The headless corpse was carried away by the water, and only the head of the dead woman was brought to Herod and Herodias. Of Herod and Herodias they say that both of them were swallowed up alive by the earth.

Saint John was the Forerunner of Christ both in his life and after his death, “he brought good news to those in hades of God manifested in the flesh.” Later, when hades was destroyed at the resurrection of Christ, he, together with all the other righteous, was led out of there by Christ and was granted many crowns in heaven, as a virgin, as a hermit, as a teacher and preacher of repentance, as a prophet, Forerunner, Baptist, and finally as a martyr.

II. We now solemnly remember with reverence and awe the beheading of the honorable head of the Honorable, Glorious, Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John. Why is the beheading of John so honorable, so important and dear to all?

Because of the truth he suffered, because of the truth his head was cut off; for the truth is dear to all, because in it is the salvation of all.

What would be on earth if truth were not observed among people, if truth were not so guarded and respected? Then no one would be able to live on earth. A society of unrighteous and deceitful people cannot exist for long: they will be destroyed by themselves, or they will destroy each other. Where truth is not observed, the end of everything is near, and an unjust acquisition is always dust. Where truth is not guarded, everything soon perishes, and a lawless life is near death. What would the earth be without the sun? A dark, cold, dead desert. And without truth it would be even worse on earth. Truth is more necessary for people than the sun. And therefore the greatest benefit to the human race is done by the one who establishes truth on earth.

That is why the beheading of John the Baptist is honorable, important, and dear to all: he, teaching people the truth, teaching the truth, proved with his head that the truth is worthy of all respect, and the truth should be most precious to everyone; by his sufferings he forced others to love the truth and honor the truth. If he had stopped telling Herod that it was unworthy of him to have his brother's wife as his wife, then many might have thought that they too could live in a similar way. By his martyrdom everyone was convinced that Herod's lawless life was truly lawlessness; thus, the truth triumphs even when a righteous man dies for the truth. It especially triumphs when a righteous man dies for it: blood shed for the truth is the most eloquent sermon about the truth.

The Saints suffer and die, if only to teach everyone to love the truth and keep the truth; and we, brethren, at least will live by truth and justice, so that we can force others to love the truth and honor the truth.

III. Let us, brethren, love the truth and preserve the truth for ourselves and for others. Untruth is of no use to anyone, and lawlessness is destructive to all. Honoring the beheading of John the Baptist, let us honor the truth which he so desired to establish.  

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.