Thursday, August 29, today, and the Orthodox Church honors the beheading of Saint John the Forerunner and Baptist. It is a day of fasting.
John the Baptist is the last and greatest of the prophets of the Old Testament. He is called “Forerunner” because his preaching and work signaled the coming of Jesus Christ and “Baptist” because he baptized people in the Jordan River and also baptized Jesus Christ.
At the Crossroads of the Old and New Testaments
His teachings were pointed, calling on each person to stop their immorality, baptizing those who made such a decision. According to the Gospel of Luke, he publicly condemned the relationship of the then tetrarch of Galilee, Herod Antipas, with Herodias, the wife of his brother. This resulted in John’s imprisonment and subsequently his beheading.
As a biblical figure, he is considered to be at the crossroads between the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, he is seen as a “Prophet” and messenger of God (Malachi 3:1), and in the New Testament as “Forerunner”. John is mentioned by all four Evangelists.
According to the Evangelist Luke, John was the son of the priest Zechariah and Elizabeth, who was a relative of the Theotokos. Regarding his conception and birth, which occurred six months before the birth of Jesus Christ, the same Evangelist recounts miraculous events.
John’s homeland, according to one tradition, is considered to be Hebron, while according to another opinion, the city is Jutta.
According to the report of the Evangelist Luke, John appears at the age of 30 “by divine command,” “in the wilderness of Judea.”
When Jesus Christ met him, He asked him to baptize Him. At first, he refused, saying that he was not worthy to baptize the Messiah, but that the Messiah should baptize him[5] (Matt. 3:14), however, Christ insisted, and thus Saint John the Forerunner baptized Jesus Christ in the waters of the Jordan River.
John’s words annoyed the Pharisees as well as the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, Herod Antipas, when he confronted him about his unlawful cohabitation with his brother Herod Philip’s wife, Herodias, who imprisoned him for this reason. Herodias, who hated John, urged her daughter Salome to ask for the head of the prophet John on a platter. Thus, the beheading followed.
Read more detailed here.
John the Forerunner and Baptist: The miracle of his birth, his preaching, and his beheading
Other Saints Being Honored
On August 29, Saint Theodora of Aegina and Saint Arcadius the Wonderworker and Bishop of Arsinoe in Cyprus are also honored.
Those celebrating their name day include:
- Arcadius, Arcadia