BEHEADING OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST

August 29th / September 11th

Posted by Hello

BEHEADING OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST
ST THEODORA OF THESSALONICA

Troparion of St John the Baptist Tone 2
The memory of the just is celebrated with hymns of praise/ but the Lord's testimony is enough for thee, O Forerunner,/ for thou wast shown to be more wonderful than the Prophets/ since thou wast granted to baptize in the running waters / Him Whom thou didst proclaim./ Then having endured great suffering for the Truth,/ Thou didst rejoice to bring, even to those in hell/ the good tidings that God Who had appeared in the flesh/ takes away the sin of the world/ and grants us the great mercy.

Troparion of St Theodora Tone 4
Thou didst deny thyself, O Theodora, and take up thy cross as an ascetic./ Wherefore thou didst find rest in the light and joy of heaven./ Pray to Christ our God for those who honour thee.

Kontakion of St John the Baptist Tone 5
The beheading of the glorious Forerunner/ was a divine dispensation/ that the coming of the Savior might be preached to those in hell./ Lament then, Herodias,/ that thou didst demand a murder/ despising the law of God and eternal life.

Kontakion of St Theodora Tone 8
Fragrant myrrh streams from thy relics like the river of Eden;/ it sanctifies thy city and all the world, O Theodora./ Wherefore the faithful cry to thee: Rejoice.

+ + +

1. THE BEHEADING OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST [ST. MATTHEW 14:1-12]

Herod Antipas, son of the elder Herod, who was the slayer of the children of Bethlehem at the time of the birth of the Lord Jesus, was ruler of Galilee at the time when John the Baptist was preaching. This Herod was married to the daughter of Aretas, an Arabian prince. But Herod, an evil sprout of an evil root, put away his lawful wife and unlawfully took unto himself Herodias as his concubine, the wife of his brother Philip, who was still living. John the Baptist stood up against this lawlessness and strongly denounced Herod who then cast John into prison. At the time of a banquet in his court in Sebastia in Galilee Salome, the daughter of Herodias and Philip, danced before the guests. The drunken Herod was so taken by this dance that he promised Salome that he would give her whatever she asked of him, even though it be half of his kingdom. Being persuaded by her mother, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist. Herod gave the order and John was beheaded in prison and his head brought to him on a platter. John's disciples took the body of their teacher by night and honorably buried it and Herodias pierced the tongue of John with a needle in many places and buried the head in an unclean place. What later happened to John the Baptist's head can be read on February 24. However, God's punishment quickly befell this group of evil doers. Prince Aretas, in order to cleanse his daughter's honor, attacked Herod with his army and defeated him. The defeated Herod was sentenced by the Roman Caesar, Caligula, to exile at first to Gaul and later to Spain. As exiles, Herod and Herodias lived in poverty and humiliation until the earth opened up and swallowed them. Salome died an evil death on the Sikaris (Sula) river. The death of St. John occurred before the Pascha [Passover] but its celebration on August 29 was established because, on that day, a church which had been built over his grave in Sebastia by Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena was consecrated. In this church the relics of John's disciples, Eliseus and Audius, were also placed.

HYMN OF PRAISE

SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

O Saint John, wonderful Baptizer,

Of the Savior, you were the glorious Forerunner,

You, with your purity, touched human souls

And, as an awesome trumpet, from the Jordan resounded

From sleep and idle vices, awakening men,

When the axe was near to the root.

To you I bow, to you I pray:

Every temptation, help me to resist.

Prophet most powerful, to you I bow,

And before you kneel and before you I weep:

From your heart, grant me the strength of a lion,

From your spirit, grant me angelic whiteness.

Grant me your strength that by practice to attain

To God be submissive and to rule over myself,

To baptize by fasting, to purify by all-night vigils,

To sweeten by prayer and heavenly vision,

And to every martyrdom, walk without fear

With your courage and with a strong faith.

O Saint John, God's chosen one,

And glorious martyr for supreme justice,

You, of whom the godless armies are afraid

To my prayers, do not turn a deaf ear,

But, strengthen me by your prayers,

That as a true candle before the Lord, I stand.


+ + +

2. VENERABLE THEODORA OF THESSALONICA

As the wife of a wealthy and devout man, they lived on the island of Aegina. But when the Arabs menaced Aegina, they settled in Thessalonica. There they gave up their one and only daughter to a convent who, in monasticism, received the name of Theopista. Soon after, Theodora's husband died and she also became a nun. She was a great ascetic. She often heard angelic singing and often spoke to the sisters: "Do you not hear how beautifully the angels sing in the heavenly sanctuary?" She died at the age of seventy-five in the year 879 A.D. From her relics flowed healing myrrh by which many were healed.

Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich

The Prologue from Ohrid