Today the church commemorates the beheading of John the Forerunner, Martyr.
Ora pro nobis.
St. John (Yochanan - “YHWH is gracious”) was born roughly six months before his cousin Jesus (Yeshua - “YHWH saves”). The exact year of their births is complicated by several factors: there were multiple calendar systems of that era, uncertainty as to the date of death of Herod the Great (4-1 BC), and placing the dates of the census mentioned in the infancy narratives of Jesus. Today, scholars have a range of 6-1 BC. Most scholars place the year of their birth between 6-4 BC, accepting the date of Herod the Great’s death in 4 BC. Given that Herod ordered the death of all male children in Bethlehem ages two and under suggests that John and Jesus were possibly as old as two years, making the date of their birth closer to 6 BC. We will only know for sure when the Lord returns.
The Beheading of the Prophet, Forerunner of the Lord Jesus his cousin, John the Baptiser, is recounted by the Evangelists Matthew (Mt.14:1-12) and Mark (Mark 6:14-29), who provide accounts about the martyrdom of John the Baptist in the year 31/32 after the Birth of Christ (accepting that Jesus was crucified 32/33 AD).
Following the Baptism of the Lord, Saint John the Baptiser was locked up in prison by Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, the Tetrarch (ruler of one fourth of the Holy Land) and governor of Galilee. (After the death of king Herod the Great, the Romans divided the territory of Israel into four parts, and put a governor in charge of each part. Herod Antipas received Galilee from the emperor Augustus).
The prophet of God John openly denounced Herod Antipas for having left his lawful wife Phasaelis of Nabatea, the daughter of Aretas IV Philopatris, king of the Nabateans, and then cohabiting with Herodias, his full sister and the wife of and full sister of his brother Herod Philip (Luke 3:19-20). On his birthday, Herod Antipas made a feast for dignitaries, the elders, and a thousand chief citizens. Salome, his neice, the daughter of Herod Philip and Herodias, danced before the guests, and Herod Antipas, so filled with lust for her, he swore to give her whatever she would ask, up to half his kingdom.
The vile girl on the advice of her wicked mother Herodias asked that she be given the head of John the Baptiser on a platter. Herod became apprehensive, for he feared the wrath of God for the murder of a prophet, whom earlier he had heeded. He also feared the people, who loved the holy Forerunner. But because of the guests and his careless oath, he gave orders to cut off the head of Saint John and to give it to her.
Salome took the platter with the head of Saint John and gave it to her mother. The frenzied Herodias repeatedly stabbed the tongue of the prophet with a needle and buried his holy head in a unclean place. But the pious Joanna, wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, buried the head of John the Baptiser in an earthen vessel on the Mount of Olives, where Herod had a parcel of land. The holy body of John the Baptist was taken that night by his disciples and buried at Sebastia.
After the murder of Saint John the Baptist (31/31 AD), Herod Antipas continued to govern for a certain time. Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea, later sent Jesus Christ to him, Whom he mocked (Luke 23:7-12).
Phasaelis fled to her father when she discovered her husband intended to divorce her in order to take a new wife, Herodias, mother of Salome. Aretas, enraged at the treatment of his daughter, invaded Herod Antipas' domain and defeated his army, partly because soldiers from the region of Herod Philip the Tetrarch (a third brother) gave assistance to King Aretas. Josephus does not identify these auxiliary troops (he calls them 'fugitives'), but Moses of Chorene identifies them as being the army of King Abgarus of Edessa. Antipas was able to escape only with the help of Roman forces.
Herod Antipas then appealed to Emperor Tiberius, who dispatched the governor of Syria, Lucius Vitellius the Elder, to attack Aretas. Vitellius gathered his legions and moved southward, stopping in Jerusalem for the passover of AD 37, when news of the emperor's death arrived. The invasion of Nabataea was never completed.
Ultimately, the judgment of God came upon Herod, Herodias, and Salome, even during their earthly life. Salome, crossing the River Sikoris in winter, fell through the ice. The ice gave way in such a way that her body was in the water, but her head was trapped above the ice. It was similar to how she once had danced with her feet upon the ground, but now she flailed helplessly in the icy water. Thus she was trapped until that time when the sharp ice cut through her neck. Her corpse was not found, but they brought the head to Herod and Herodias, as once they had brought them the head of Saint John the Baptiser.
After his defeat by Aretas, in 39 AD Herod Antipas was accused by his nephew Agrippa I of conspiracy against the Roman emperor Caligula (37-41 AD), who sent him into exile with Herodias in Gaul, and the to Spain, where, according to Josephus, he died at an unknown date.
In the martyrologies of almost all Churches, only Jesus Christ, Mary, and John have commemorations for both their birth and death.
Almighty God, who gave to your servant John boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
