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Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
The preeminence in ecclesiastical history of St. John the Baptist is such tat the custom of setting aside the day of his death as the one day of the year on which he is commemorated just isn't quite enough for the prefiguration of Jesus Christ. There is no excess to the adulation accorded to this might saint of Christianity, so that even if events and episodes in his various feast days seem to overlap each other, they bear repetition. This cousin of the Messiah was much too important to the cause of Christianity to merit but one day of 365 during the year.
The primary date of honoring St. John the Baptist falls appropriately in the first month of the year on the day following the glorious Epiphany, marking the baptism of the Messiah in the waters of the Jordan River. As mentioned elsewhere, the terse statement of God about his Son in the words: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" is the brief summation of what Christianity is all about. Although these words were never uttered, one can hear another appropriate remark about St. John when he was referred to as a nephew 'in whom I am well pleased.'
Unlike the Prophet Samuel who anointed Saul and David as kings of Israel, St. John anointed in baptism, with the holy waters of the Jordan, the King of Kings. He went on with his missionary work although his immortality was assured when he stepped out of the river with Jesus Christ. And for this, as for the many who were to follow to a lesser degree, he paid with is life. The temporal end of the Baptist came in ignominious fashion, a contrast to his greatness which is the mystery of God; will that baffles the three-dimensional mind of mortals.
The infamous dance of Salome to a satanic rhythm, the demonic Herod Antipas who ordered the death of St. John in answer to a whim, and the severed head of the Baptist form a tableau etched in every Christian min. It is a memory that needs no chronological reminder, but comes to the fore with the prodding of any atrocity committed against mankind, Christian of otherwise. Nevertheless, the senseless execution of this mighty servant of God in placed on the church calendar on August 29 to stir the awareness of Christians everywhere that mortality will never die because of saints such as John the Baptist.
The perpetrators of the vile execution of the noble John and those who had a part in it were to meet with misfortunes they had hardly bargained for. To begin with, the arch villain, Herod, together with his unlawful wife, Herodia, fell into disfavor with Emperor Caligula, himself a debased monarch. They were exiled to what is now Lyons, France, then a remote outpost of the Roman Empire where they seem to have vanished from the pages of history, but where it is certain that their final days were anything but pleasant.
The unbelievable wicked Salome came to a violent and which she could not have caused for her greatest enemy, let alone envision for herself. According to the church historian Nikephoros Kallistos in his book, Ecclesiastical History, it is said her end came in a frozen area well north of Palestine. As Salome was crossing a frozen lake, the seemingly solid ice suddenly gave way. As she plunged feet first into the icy water, the eddy created by her sudden immersion brought the ice crashing about her neck; and a crushing piece of ice with an extremely sharp edge decapitated her. She went to the depths "unknelled, uncoffined and unknown" in the words of Byron.
It is just as well that there are other commemorative dates on the Greek calendar, otherwise too many of the faithful would recall St. John on this date which would be like recalling "The Headless Horseman as the only thing written by Washington Irving. All of the feast days devoted to St. John (January 7, May 25, June 24, and August 29) demonstrate the love of Orthodoxy for St. John the Baptist as one of the greatest of saints.
The preeminence in ecclesiastical history of St. John the Baptist is such tat the custom of setting aside the day of his death as the one day of the year on which he is commemorated just isn't quite enough for the prefiguration of Jesus Christ. There is no excess to the adulation accorded to this might saint of Christianity, so that even if events and episodes in his various feast days seem to overlap each other, they bear repetition. This cousin of the Messiah was much too important to the cause of Christianity to merit but one day of 365 during the year.
The primary date of honoring St. John the Baptist falls appropriately in the first month of the year on the day following the glorious Epiphany, marking the baptism of the Messiah in the waters of the Jordan River. As mentioned elsewhere, the terse statement of God about his Son in the words: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" is the brief summation of what Christianity is all about. Although these words were never uttered, one can hear another appropriate remark about St. John when he was referred to as a nephew 'in whom I am well pleased.'
Unlike the Prophet Samuel who anointed Saul and David as kings of Israel, St. John anointed in baptism, with the holy waters of the Jordan, the King of Kings. He went on with his missionary work although his immortality was assured when he stepped out of the river with Jesus Christ. And for this, as for the many who were to follow to a lesser degree, he paid with is life. The temporal end of the Baptist came in ignominious fashion, a contrast to his greatness which is the mystery of God; will that baffles the three-dimensional mind of mortals.
The infamous dance of Salome to a satanic rhythm, the demonic Herod Antipas who ordered the death of St. John in answer to a whim, and the severed head of the Baptist form a tableau etched in every Christian min. It is a memory that needs no chronological reminder, but comes to the fore with the prodding of any atrocity committed against mankind, Christian of otherwise. Nevertheless, the senseless execution of this mighty servant of God in placed on the church calendar on August 29 to stir the awareness of Christians everywhere that mortality will never die because of saints such as John the Baptist.
The perpetrators of the vile execution of the noble John and those who had a part in it were to meet with misfortunes they had hardly bargained for. To begin with, the arch villain, Herod, together with his unlawful wife, Herodia, fell into disfavor with Emperor Caligula, himself a debased monarch. They were exiled to what is now Lyons, France, then a remote outpost of the Roman Empire where they seem to have vanished from the pages of history, but where it is certain that their final days were anything but pleasant.
The unbelievable wicked Salome came to a violent and which she could not have caused for her greatest enemy, let alone envision for herself. According to the church historian Nikephoros Kallistos in his book, Ecclesiastical History, it is said her end came in a frozen area well north of Palestine. As Salome was crossing a frozen lake, the seemingly solid ice suddenly gave way. As she plunged feet first into the icy water, the eddy created by her sudden immersion brought the ice crashing about her neck; and a crushing piece of ice with an extremely sharp edge decapitated her. She went to the depths "unknelled, uncoffined and unknown" in the words of Byron.
It is just as well that there are other commemorative dates on the Greek calendar, otherwise too many of the faithful would recall St. John on this date which would be like recalling "The Headless Horseman as the only thing written by Washington Irving. All of the feast days devoted to St. John (January 7, May 25, June 24, and August 29) demonstrate the love of Orthodoxy for St. John the Baptist as one of the greatest of saints.
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