Собор святого Иоанна, Предтечи и Крестителя Господня

On the next day of the feast of St. Epiphany The Church from the very first times celebrates the council of the honest and glorious prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John. And it was quite fitting to honor with a special celebration the one who served the sacrament of Divine baptism, laying his hand on the head of the Lord. So, immediately after the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Baptist is collectively venerated and glorified with hymns. The very word “cathedral” means that people gather in church to perform divine services in honor and praise of the now glorified great Forerunner and Baptist John. Such a council, although it was and is being held in all the churches of the universe, is celebrated with special solemnity in churches dedicated to the name of the Baptist, as it was before in his church at the Jordan, where he baptized Christ, and in Sebaste 301, where he was buried after the death of Herod 302, and in Antioch, where his right hand was originally brought by the holy evangelist Luke, and in Constantinople, where later the same holy hand was transferred from Antioch, and where we especially solemnly celebrated the Council of the Baptist, since his hand was transferred to the very eve of Holy Epiphany, when the consecration of water takes place: it seemed that then the Baptist himself arrived invisibly for the consecration of the water, and there was great joy for the kings and all the people. That is why the Council of the Baptist was celebrated with great triumph on the next day of the Epiphany of the Lord and continued to be celebrated in the following time. And with spiritual joy we celebrate the council of this great Forerunner and Baptist John, praying to him that he would ask the Lord Christ for us to gather us in the church of the triumphant in the eternal church not made by hands in heaven, and where we could hear the voice of those celebrating and celebrate the celebration in honor of the eternal appearance of God. There we can be saturated with Christ with the vision of the face of God, clearly showing Himself to His saints, and glorify with all the heavenly faces the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever, amen! Sebastia is the main city of Samaria. This city received this name after it was presented by Augustus to Herod the Great, who completely restored and decorated it and, in gratitude to Augustus, called it Sebaste, or Sebastia, which means the city of Augustus. Of course, Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, ruled Galilee and Pariah with the title of tetrarch, that is, tetrarch, ruler over the fourth part of Palestine. He had a legitimate wife, the daughter of the Arabian king Arethas, but he rejected her and took his wife from Philip, his brother, Herodias. The Holy Forerunner of the Lord John denounced Herod for this lawless marriage. For this, Herod imprisoned him in the fortress of Maherunt, located near the Dead Sea on the border with Arabia. Here the evil Herodias, taking advantage of the opportunity that presented itself during the feast, asked Herod through her daughter Salome for the head of John the Baptist, and the lawless king, in the middle of the feast, ordered the head of the Forerunner to be cut off, which was done. This chapter was taken to Herodias, who, in evil joy, cut off the tongue of the Forerunner, and the body was thrown outside the walls of the fortress and found here by the disciples of the Baptist, who honorably carried it to Sebastia and buried it here. You might be interested in: