29th of August, the Beheading of the Glorious, Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist JOHN. “Precious in the sight of Lord is the death of HIs saints.”

This was Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee, the son of Herod the Great. This man had a lawful wife, the daughter of Arethas (or Aretas), the king of Arabia (that is, Arabia Petraea, which had the famous Nabatean stone city of Petra as its capital. This is the Aretas mentioned by Saint Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:32). Without any cause, and against every commandment of the Law, he put her away and took to himself Herodias, the wife of his deceased brother Philip, to whom Herodias had borne a daughter, Salome. He would not desist from this unlawful union even when John, the Preacher of repentance, the bold and austere accuser of the lawless, censured him, and told him, “it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife” (Mark 6:18). Thus Herod, besides his other unholy acts, added ye this, that he apprehended John and shut him in prison; and perhaps he would have killed him straightway, had he not feared the people, who had extreme reverence for John. Certainly, in the beginning, he himself had great reverence for this just and holy man. But finally, being pierced with the sting of a mad lust for the woman Herodias, he laid his defiled hands on the teacher of purity on the very day he was celebrating his birthday. When Salome, Herodias’ daughter, had danced in order to please him and those who were supping with him, he promised her–with an oath more foolish than any foolishness–that he would give her anything she asked, even unto the half of his kingdom. And she, consulting with her mother, straightway asked for the head of John the Baptist in a charger. Hence this transgressor of the Law, fulfilled this godless promise and filled his loathsome banquet with the blood of the Prophet. So it was that that All-Venerable head, revered by the Angels, was given as a price for an abominable dance, and became the plaything of the dissolute daughter of a debauched mother. As for the body of the divine Baptist, it was taken up by his disciples and placed in a tomb (Mark 6:21-29).

Aftermath

The Evangelist Luke reports that Herod the Tetrarch heard of all the things being done by Jesus. “Herod was thoroughly at a loss, because it was said by some that ‘John hath been raised from the dead,’ and by some that ‘Elias did appear,’ and by others that ‘some one of the ancient Prophets hath rise.’ And Herod said, ‘I beheaded John, but who is this about whom I hear such things?’ And he was seeking to see Him (Luke 9:7-9). The Evangelist Mark also records that Herod the king heard of Jesus, for His name became publicly known. And Herod was saying, “John, the one who baptized, was raised fro dead, and on this account works of power energize him.” Others were saying, “It is Elias.” But others were saying, “It is a Prophet, or as one of the Prophets.” But after Herod heard hereof, he said, “it is John, whom I beheaded; he was raised from the dead” (Mark 6:16).

Epilogue

Blessed Theophylact observes from all the foregoing that “these things may also be understood in a spiritual sense. Herod represents the fleshly and superficial Jewish people. He married a woman, ‘false and shameless glory,’ and even today her daughter, ‘erroneous knowledge of the Scriptures,’ dances and moves among the Jewish people, beguiling them. For they think that they know Scriptures, but they do not. For they decapitated John, the speaker of prophecy, not accepting the Head of all prophecy, Christ. Though they have the word of the Prophets, yet they possess the word without its Head, which is Christ.”

We read in The Great Synaxaristes, for the 24th of February, the Feast of the Finding of the Head of the Forerunner, that despite the fact that Herodias mocked that Honorable head, she still refused to have it buried with the Baptist’s body. She feared that John could then rise from the dead and resume denouncing her. She was determined to keep the head separate from the body. The disciples of the Baptist took up his sacred head and interred it by night at Sevasti, a city of Samaria. As for the precious head of the Forerunner, Herodias had it buried on the palace grounds in an unclean place. One of the women of her household, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, was privy to the hiding place. The righteous Joanna, together with many other women, had been ministering to Jesus from her possessions. She, later, would prove her devotion and valor. She was one of the myrrh-bearers who sent to the Sepulcher and then related to the eleven disciples the things that she had seen. Her heart was filled with sorrow at the murder of the holy Prophet John. She grieved upon hearing Herodias’ words of mockery addressed to the precious relic of his head. She reverently, thereupon, by night, went and retrieved the head. She placed it reverently within an earthenware vessel. She then took it to the Mount of Olives, on the grounds of Herod’s estates. [Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

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