The Beheading of the Honourable and Glorious Prophet and Baptist John

The Beheading of the honourable and glorious Prophet and Baptist John. Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, threw John the Baptist into prison. The holy prophet had openly denounced Herod for casting off his lawful wife, the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia, and for living unlawfully with Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip (Luke 3:19–20).

On his birthday Herod made a supper for his nobles, elders and captains. Salome, the daughter of Herodias, danced before the guests and greatly pleased Herod. The charmed ruler promised the girl with an oath to give her whatever she asked, even to half of his kingdom. The shameless dancer, at the prompting of her wicked mother Herodias, asked for the head of John the Baptist on a dish. Herod was grieved: he feared God’s wrath for killing the prophet whom he himself had formerly listened to. He feared the people too, who loved the Forerunner of the Lord; but he would not break the oath he had rashly sworn before his guests, and he ordered the saint to be beheaded and the head brought to Salome. According to tradition, the severed head of the preacher of repentance opened its lips once more and said: “Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have the wife of thy brother Philip.” Salome took the dish to her mother. The frenzied Herodias pricked the prophet’s tongue with a needle and buried the holy head in an unclean place. But the pious Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, dug up the holy thing, placed it in an earthen vessel and buried it on the Mount of Olives, on one of Herod’s estates. The holy body of John the Baptist was committed to the earth that same night by his disciples in Sebastia, where the crime had been committed. After the murder of Saint John Herod went on ruling for some time. From the Gospel it is clear that Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, sent Jesus Christ to him in bonds, and that Herod and his men mocked Him (Luke 23:7–12).

God’s judgement came upon Herod, Herodias and Salome during their earthly life. In winter, as Salome was crossing the river Sicoris, the ice broke under her and she fell through. The ice gripped her so that her body hung down in the water while her head remained above the ice. So she hung until the sharp ice cut through her neck. Her body was never found, and her head, like that of Saint John the Baptist long before, was brought to Herod and Herodias. Aretas, king of Arabia, to avenge the dishonour of his daughter, marched against Herod. Herod was defeated. The enraged Gaius Caligula (37–41) seized him and exiled him with Herodias first to Gaul and then to Spain, where they were swallowed up in the earth, which suddenly opened.