The Beaheading of St. John the Baptist -
The Beheading (Decollation or Decapitation) of Saint John the Baptist, the Forerunner of the Lord, is a holy day observed by various Churches which follow liturgical traditions. The day commemorates the martyrdom by beheading of Saint John the Baptist, on the orders of Herod Antipas through the vengeful request of his begrudged daughter Salome.
St. John was a righteous and courageous man who devoted himself to the proper proclamation of the word of God, unlike Herod who lived an immoral life (Matt. 14: 3,4) filled with a worldly ambition (Matt. 14:5). St. John was also very boldly outspoken. He called the religious leaders of his day a bunch of snakes and told them, they were going to hell took courage (Matt. 3:7-12, Lk. 3:7-9). King Herod (i.e. Antipas) had a lot of respect for John, as John was a righteous and holy man and used to enjoy hearing him speak. However, when John spoke out against the incest of Herod taking his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias, John incurred the wrath of Herodias. Since Herodias was the granddaughter of Simeon, the High Priest, her incest with Herod Antipas created a national scandal. Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him. Herod considered John a just and holy man, and even protected him from Herodias. To please Herodias, Herod had John imprisoned (Mk. 6:17-20). The background for Herod’s marriage to Herodias goes back a generation. Herod Antipas had married the daughter of the Nabatean king (Aretas IV). However, in about 23 AD he divorced her in order to marry Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip. He publicly criticized and censured, Herod the Tetrarch (the son of his father’s murderer) for the incest of marrying his brother Philip’s wife. John did not mince words, and it was reported to Herod, that John said, he had no right to live with Herodias his wife, for he had stolen her from his brother Philip Herodias (Matt. 14:3-4). John the Baptist criticized this marriage as being incest, with the result that John languished in prison for about a year before his death and later beheaded (Matt. 14:3-12; Mk. 6:17-29; Lk. 4:19-20).
John’s criticism of Herod and Herodias seethed with Herodias and she sought an opportunity for revenge. An opportune time came for Herodias when Herod gave a feast on his birthday for his nobles, high officers and chief men of Galilee. Herodias had her daughter, named Salome perform a dance for Herod, where the type of dance was most likely explicit and lewd. The dance pleased Herod and those with him, and, in his drunkenness, Herod made an oath that he may not have made otherwise. He said, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you, up to half my kingdom” (Mark 6: 21-23).
Salome went to ask her mother what she should ask for, and Herodias told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist, at once, on a platter. Herod was exceedingly sorry that he had made those oaths, but because of his guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately Herod sent an executioner to the prison to behead John and to bring the head to the daughter on a platter. The banquet was being held at the castle of Machaerus, which was located northeast of the Dead Sea, and the dungeon where John was being kept was a rock-hewn cell in the cliffs below the banquet hall. The daughter then gave John’s head to her mother. (Mk. 6: 24-28).
Centuries later, a well-known government official left his position in the world to become a monk. He took the name “Innocent”, and settled on the Mount of Olives at the spot where Joanna had buried John’s head. As he was digging down to build himself a cell, he found the earthen vessel containing John’s head. It was revealed to him at that time what this discovery meant, and John’s head was later taken to Constantinople in the 9th Century. According to tradition, many miracles have been attributed to John’s head, while no miracles were attributed to John while he was alive (Jn. 10: 41).
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