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Beheading of the Forerunner The life of John the Baptist combines the most important advantages: from his mother’s womb he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he lived as a saint. a virgin and died a martyr. Being the Forerunner of the Savior by his conception and birth, John was His Forerunner in preaching the gospel. The high service of the Forerunner, which preceded the service of the Son of God to the salvation of the world, was foretold from ancient times by the prophets, according to whose prophecy John was an Angel, a messenger sent before the coming of the great and enlightened day of the Lord, to arrange the heart of man to be sincere (Mal. III, I, IV, 5); there was a voice crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make right the paths of our God (Exodus 40:3; Mark 1:2–3); the voice that preceded God the Word. Like the ancient prophets, the ministry of the Forerunner was foreshadowed by an angel before the birth of John, and by Zechariah after his birth, saying that he would come before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways (Luke 1:17, 76–77). Called to prepare the way for the Savior, the Forerunner lived in the desert before his preaching in order to raise himself to the perfect self-sacrifice that is necessary for a preacher of the truth; wore clothes made of camel's hair and girded himself with a leather belt. His food was locusts and wild honey. Having about 30 years of age from birth, John was sent from God to testify about the light, that all may have faith in Him (John 1:7). Appearing in the Judean desert and passing through the entire Jordanian country, the Forerunner preached repentance and the approach of the kingdom of Christ (Matthew 3:2), the kingdom of grace and truth (John 1:17). The power of John's preaching was so powerful that all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Judea and all the surrounding areas of Jordan came to him to listen to his teachings and to be baptized; Pharisees and Sadducees, tax collectors and soldiers (Mark 1:5, Luke 3:7–14). When everyone was thinking about John: is he the Christ (Luke 3:15), and some of the Jews sent priests and Levites to John, and asked him: who are you (John 1:19), the Forerunner gave clear testimony about the Savior: I baptize with water: but in the midst of you stands, whom you do not know. He is the one who comes for me, who was before me: but I am not worthy of Him, that I may loose the thong of His shoe (John 1:26–27). The one you baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. The spade is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:11-12). When Jesus Christ came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized, John publicly confessed Him as the Lamb of God, pointing to Him and saying: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. After the baptism of the Savior, the Forerunner again publicly confessed Him as the Son and Lamb of God, testifying that the Savior, whom he did not know before, he recognized by a special revelation of God, by the descent of the Holy Spirit on Him in the form of a dove and by the voice of God the Father. I have seen, says the Forerunner, about Jesus Christ, and testified that this is the Son of God. The next day, when John again saw Jesus walking, he announced to his disciples: Behold the Lamb of God. Two of John's disciples, at the direction of their teacher, followed Christ (John 1:29–37). Subsequently, John and more than once testified to his disciples and people about the Savior, that He is coming from above, from heaven, above all (John 3:31). So John came before the face of the Lord, preparing the way for Him and letting people understand salvation in the remission of their sins (Luke 1:76-77); and therefore is called the Forerunner of Christ the Savior. John baptized those who confessed their sins in the Jordan, which is why he is called the Baptist. John accomplished the work of his great prophetic ministry in such a way that, according to the Lord, he is the greatest of all those born of women: he was a lamp of grief and light: the Jews rejoiced at the hour of his light (John V:35). John came in the righteous way (Matthew 21:32). Everyone revered John as a Prophet, a righteous and holy man. Some, seeing the great miracles of Jesus Christ, considered Him to be the Forerunner (Matthew 16:14), and the enemies of Christ were afraid to say that the baptism of John was from men (Matthew 21:26). The Forerunner of the Lord, who preceded Him with His birth and preaching, had to precede His voluntary suffering, death and descent into hell, with His suffering, death and descent into hell to preach the Gospel and to the souls of the forefathers in hell, about the appearance of the long-awaited Messiah in the world. Christ suffered for human sins: thus His Forerunner, according to Herod’s iniquity, preceded the Savior with His martyr’s death. Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, the son of the elder Herod, who killed his relatives and the children of Bethlehem, the evil root of the evil branch, the tetrarch of Galilee, first married the daughter of Aretha, the king of Arabia, but, seduced by the beauty of Herodias, the wife of Philip, his brother, he unlawfully left his first wife and married his brother. Even then, Herod should not have accepted her as his wife if Philip had died, because she had a daughter: and the law of Moses commanded to take as a wife only that brother’s widow who remained childless after her husband (Deut. 25:5, Matt. 22:24–25). Herod’s iniquity was all the more grave because Philip, according to history, was alive. The zealot of the law, the denouncer of human iniquities, the preacher of repentance and the kingdom of Christ, St. John the Forerunner of the Lord, and denounced Herod before everyone: you are not worthy to have the wife of your brother Philip. Indignant at the accuser, Herod ordered to imprison him in chains and the fortress of Maherunt, near the Arabian border. Herodias especially burned with rage at him and wanted to immediately destroy him, but she could not, because Herod himself kept the prisoner from his wife, who breathed malice and murder against him. Herod, considering John a righteous and holy man, whom he had previously listened to with pleasure, I, listening to his words, did a lot of good, was afraid to put him to death. However, he was afraid not so much of God as of the people, because everyone revered John as a prophet (Matthew 14:5. Mark 6:18–20). So, wanting to stop the righteous lips of the accuser, Herod tormented him in prison. “By denouncing John, says Chrysostom, he wanted to loose the soul of Herod, bound by sin; and Herod binds the one who wanted to loose it. But the bound John did not stop speaking, and the prisoner continued to reprove and teach.” John was kept in custody for a long time; His disciples gathered to him. Teaching them to live a virtuous and pious life, he did not cease to testify to them about the Messiah who had come into the world, and in order to confirm them in saving faith in Him, he sent them to ask the Lord: are you the one who is coming, or someone else (Matthew 11: 2-3). In the 32nd year A.D., on the birthday of Herod, the great herald and eyewitness of the coming of Christ and preacher of truth suffered the beheading of his head. Herod's niece, the daughter of the wicked Herodias, by her dancing during a feast in front of a meeting of nobles, captains and elders, pleased Herod and his guests so much that he promised with an oath to give her everything she asked, even up to half the kingdom. The dancer, at the instigation of her mother, asked to be given the head of the Baptist on a platter. Having great respect for him, but for the sake of the oath, although it was wrong, and for the sake of his guests, he did not want to refuse the lawless demand. The severed head of the accuser was brought on a platter and served to the girl, and she handed it to her mother. This shameless woman stabbed her tongue with a needle, which exposed her wickedness (Matthew 14:6–12; Mark 6:21–29). In 38, Herod's entire army was defeated in a war with Aretha for dishonoring his daughter. The Jews attributed this defeat to God's punishment for the death of St. The Forerunner, whom Herod ordered to be beheaded in prison for the sake of Herodias. In 39, Herod Antipas was exiled by Caligula to prison in Gaul, and then to Spain. In memory of the beheading of the venerable head of the Forerunner, the Church established a holiday on August 29. Its beginning probably dates back to ancient times, when John's disciples still lived, who buried the body of their great teacher (Matthew 14:12) in Sebaste, the city of Samaria, and probably commemorated him. In the 3rd century, a church was built over the tomb of the prophet martyr in his name, which is mentioned in the writings of the holy martyr Cyprian. Thus, in the 3rd century, believers were going to celebrate a church holiday in honor of the Forerunner, who suffered for the truth. In 362, the pagans, at the command of Julian the apostate and persecutor of Christians, tore open the coffin for desecration and burned the bones of the prophet Elisha and John the Baptist, which were probably the object of reverence for pious Christians, who during this digging acquired precious parts of St. relics of the Baptist and transported them for better protection to Alexandria to St. Athanasius of Alexandria. A monument to the special reverence of Christians for St. John the Baptist is served by the teachings that in the 4th century, on the day of his beheading, the shepherds said, for example. Ambrose of Milan, John Chrysostom, Augustine. In the 7th century St. Andrew of Crete, in VΙΙΙ-th John of Damascus and Herman of Constantinople wrote many hymns, which are now correct. The Church glorifies the suffering and death of the Baptist. The Day of the Beheading of the Forerunner is a great and timely holiday, although not the twelfth. For the lively participation of believers in the suffering and death of the Baptist, as a great faster, the holiday is combined with fasting. The standard day of the Beheading was appointed in the Russian Church, perhaps because in 1530 on this day Tsarevich John, the son of Tsar John Vasilyevich, was born, and “there was great joy in Moscow about the sovereign joy, about the birth of a sovereign son, and people all over the earth rejoiced.” The Church, in its hymns and stories on the day of the Beheading of the Forerunner, glorifies him as a priest of repentance and the kingdom of God, the most honest of the prophets, because in the streams of baptism he was honored with the Preached One. “What shall we call thee prophet, the Church cries; whether an angel, an apostle, or a martyr; as a prophet preaching the Lamb of God, the revealed Christ; as an angel was born and as you lived without flesh; the apostle, as he taught languages; martyr, because your head has been cut off.” St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, says: “St. John, both in his life and after his death, became the Forerunner of Christ. Having preceded the descent into hell, the good news there was given to those who had appeared to God in the flesh, and the saint was made glad. forefathers: with them from there, after the destruction of hell at the resurrection of Christ, he was brought forth, and was honored with many crowns in the kingdom of heaven, as a virgin, as a desert dweller, as a teacher and preacher of repentance, as a prophet, as a forerunner and baptizer, and as a martyr.” St. John the Baptist, according to the testimony of the Lord Himself, was a lamp of burning and shining (John 5:35); “He fulfilled what was said in the Scripture: the verbs before the kings and were not ashamed. John was not afraid of death, but he was afraid of telling lies.” Thus, a true Christian and citizen must be a constant sacrifice of love for God and neighbor. The lamp of grief and illumination is exhausted: in such spiritual combustion and illumination lies our true life and Godly sacrifice. Using an example of the oath with which Herod bound himself illegally and, out of false shame, not daring to break it, ordered the Forerunner to be beheaded, the Church inspires: “it is better not to swear (to Herod), even if he swore, but did not swear for good: it would be better to retreat from her and save his life, rather than behead the true head of the Forerunner.” If you have sworn, and it turns out that fulfilling the oath is illegal, then it is better to break it than to fulfill the unlawful oath. † Suffering of St. Anastasia St. Anastasius was born in the Strumnitsa diocese, in the village of Rodovichi 286. Good parents taught him St. faith, and in order for him to be able to earn his own bread by honest craft, they sent him to learn weapons skills and he learned this skill. - In the 20th year he happened to visit his teacher in Solun; the master had several Turkish clothes that he wanted to sell off without paying customs duties. The gunsmith persuaded the former student to put on one dress and go out of town in this dress: “in this dress you are a pure Turk,” the master said. The student dissuaded himself, feeling the danger of the assignment: but out of good nature, out of desire to do a service for the teacher, he agreed to carry out his assignment. The Kharaj collectors stop him and ask for teskere - a written form about the payment of Kharaj. Anastasy replied that he was a Turk. The collectors demanded that they read the salevat, a Mohammedan prayer. This unexpected demand confused the young man. He was silent. The collectors push him to their boss. He, having interrogated Anastasy, invites him to hang out. The young man was too far away to agree to such a proposal. After listening to his answers, the official took him to the chief collector. This one first tried to seduce with promises of rewards for agreeing to accept Mohammedanism, then he turned to threats. The young man was adamant. He admitted his civil mistake, but never agreed to change St. faith. The collector informed the mufti (the highest cleric of Mohammedanism) about the new case and asked for his advice. He answered: “You have a sword in one hand, the law in the other; use whatever you want." “This meant that, according to the law, the collector could issue the teskere with the payment of the duty, but then, according to the mufti’s court, he was not a follower of Mohammed, armed with a sword. What is this? The Mufti not only does not want to recognize the rights of truth and love for humanity, but he demands merciless violence and death itself, if only the Christian would be a confessor of the Alkoran. What is alcoran? A collection of fables most offensive to common sense 287. So rely on human meaning, left without the revelation of the divine! Having received the mufti's answer, the head of the kharaj escorted Anastasy to the local mullah, and with him five tours, which should testify that the Christian blasphemed the Mohammedan faith, that is, slander. The mullah tried with his eloquence to persuade the young man to convert to Mohammedanism, but failed. After severe beatings, he ordered Anastasius to be chained to the Vandals and thrown into prison. - During the second interrogation, the same failure of eloquence, the same torture and prison. Anastasius calmly endured canings, heavy shackles and the stench of prison. And for the third time they bring the confessor to the mullah and again the confessor listens to flattering promises and terrible threats. Anastasius remained firm. To the accusations of witnesses in blasphemy against Mohammed, he replied that he did not blaspheme Mohammed, but in his conscience he recognizes the blasphemy shown as a correct assessment of Mohammed and therefore does not accept his law. – Deceived in his hopes, the mullah sends Anastasia to Musselim. He used every means to persuade the young man to become Mohammedan. What didn't he do? What did he not say to force the young man to become Mohammedan? Finally, he offered him a pair of pistols in a silver frame, velvet clothes and a place for a suitcase with him. The young man, enlightened by the grace of Christ, remained as before. Earthly happiness, he thought, with pangs of conscience is bad happiness; and it’s even more terrible to go there with a bad conscience. What is the faith of the Mohammedans? It’s bad, this has long been known. No matter how much you wash, you cannot wash your soul with water. Christ the Son of God is the Savior of the world. This means it is a blessed lot to suffer for the pure and holy faith. And he rejected the deceptive offers. The irritated musselim began to commit violence. He severely beat Anastasia; then they lock the sufferer in prison, put stocks on his hands and feet, and weigh his neck down with a chain; sharp cane needles are driven into his nails; The inhumans tortured the young man all day. More than once Musselim called him to himself and forced him to accept Mohammedanism. The sufferer was unshakable. “I am a Christian,” he said, “I will not give up my faith.” The mayor ordered Anastasia to be hanged outside the city; at the same time, he secretly instructed his people to persuade Anastasius on the way. Death, which was in sight, did not change the thoughts of the sufferer. Going to execution, tormented and exhausted, he fell on the road and gave up his spirit to the Lord, August 29, 1794. About his martyrdom - Christian Martyrs of the East 240-244. According to the Alkoran, God, as a consolation to Adam and Eve, sent from heaven an ark with images of all the prophets, including Mohammed, and this ark traveled with the Israelites in the desert and is kept in the Temple of Solomon (Sura. 2). Abraham sacrificed not Isaac, but Ishmael, with whom he later traveled to Mecca and built the Kaaba church (Suras 3, and 37). Solomon was deprived of his kingdom for 40 days for a crime, but then traveled to Mecca on a carpet; and Solomon sent a letter to the Daritsa of Sheba with the bird Gugud, convincing her to accept the Mohammedan law (Sur. 27. 34. 38). Rev. The Virgin Mary was the sister of Aaron and Mariamne (Sur. 19). Jesus Christ made likenesses of birds and animals from clay (Sur. 3 and 6). Fables in faces! Otherwise: if you don’t like it, don’t listen, but don’t interfere with lying, even if Mohammed is sometimes an ignorant ignoramus.