By Fr. George Dorbarakis
The honorable and venerable head, revered even by the angels, was first found — according to the good pleasure and revelation of Saint John the Forerunner — by two monks in the house of Herod, when they had come to Jerusalem to venerate the life-giving tomb of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. From these monks a certain potter received it and carried it to the city of Emesa. Because the potter felt joy and happiness in his heart through it, he honored it greatly. Then, as he was about to die, he entrusted it to his sister, giving the command not to move it or open it, but only to honor it. After the woman’s death, many received the head in succession, one after another. Finally, the head of the Forerunner came into the possession of a certain monk and presbyter, Eustathios, who belonged to the heresy of the Arians. He was driven out by the Orthodox from the cave in which he dwelt, because he exploited the healings that occurred through the honorable head, claiming that they were due to his heretical faith. Therefore, by divine providence, as he fled he left behind the head of the divine Forerunner in the cave. It remained hidden there until the time of Marcellus, who was archimandrite, during the reign of Valentinian the Younger and the episcopate of Uranios of Emesa. At that time, since many revelations were made concerning it, it was found in a jar and was brought into the Church by Bishop Uranios, performing many healings and miracles.
Once again, the finding of the honorable head of the Forerunner gives our Church the occasion to emphasize his exalted position among all the saints. We believers are reminded that he was the one who “proclaimed the saving coming of Christ the Savior, perceived the descent of the Holy Spirit who dwelt upon Him at the Lord’s baptism, and mediated between the Old and the New Grace” (Vespers sticheron); that he was the one who, “when Herod transgressed the law, rebuked him, and therefore the coward, like a madman, cut off his head” (Matins kathisma); that he was the one who “sealed the Old Testament and became the end of the prophets, while preparing the way for the New” (Ode 4); and finally that he was the one who “appeared with the power and spirit of the Prophet Elijah as an unshakable tower” (Ode 5), and was praised by the Lord “as the greatest among all men” (Ode 7).
But beyond these things: today the hymnography of our Church explains why the Lord willed to reveal him from his place hidden in the earth for many years. The explanation given is twofold: first, to proclaim repentance anew to mankind; second, to become a healing for them through his many miracles. In other words, the finding of the head of the honorable Forerunner is understood within the framework of Christ’s benefaction toward His faithful people. It is His gift to the Church, because He both wishes to console it in this world with the healings granted through the head of John, and to help it once again find the true path of life — which is none other than the path of repentance and sanctification. The many references of the Hymnographer to these points may be summed up, we might say, in the verses of the Synaxarion:
“From the earth the Forerunner reveals his venerable head, again exhorting us to bear fruits worthy of repentance. O Forerunner, you who once baptized the multitudes in the springs of waters, now that you have appeared from the earth, baptize them in the springs of miracles.”
But, as we said, the Hymnographer’s references are exceedingly numerous. He cannot make any reference to Saint John without feeling the need to speak of the Forerunner’s primary work: the preaching of repentance. Yet he adapts this work to the realities of his own time — and of every time, however modern it may be:
“The Forerunner was sent as the voice of one crying in the wilderness of human hearts, grafting into them the pious faith in the Son of God, the true God” (Ode 8).
And for the Holy Hymnographer it is self-evident that in speaking of repentance we speak of the path of human sanctification, which leads to man becoming a dwelling place of the Triune God. That is where repentance and sanctification lead — not merely to becoming a “good person” — but to becoming a manifestation of Him, a living presence of the Kingdom of God in the world. Many “good” people, according to what our saints tell us, will find themselves in hell — that is, in a negative relationship with God.
“Prepare,” says the Forerunner even now (as his head is revealed), “the way of the Lord through holiness; for He will come with the Father and the Spirit and will dwell eternally in our hearts” (Ode 8).
It is thus more than clear that the finding of the head of the honorable Forerunner functions above all as an introduction and awakening to the period into which we shall enter in a few days: Great Lent. There is no better preparation for it — a season of fasting and self-restraint, of spiritual awakening and compunction — than what the towering personality of Saint John sets before us. And this is precisely what the Church’s hymnography also emphasizes:
“Your honorable head shone forth resplendently from the hidden recesses of the earth, O Forerunner John… We beseech you to grant us deliverance from the troubles of our life and to help us complete fruitfully the season of self-restraint through your intercessions” (Exapostilarion of Matins).
And in the Praises we read:
“Your all-venerable head opened the gateways of self-restraint, O most praised one, and set before all the sweetest delight of the divine gifts. Partaking of these gifts with faith, we sweeten the harshness of the fast.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
