Homily One on the Beheading of John the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1960)
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1960)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters, today's Gospel reading presents us with a terrible picture, it tells of the death of the greatest Prophet, recognized by the Savior Himself as greater than all those born of women. Everything in this gloomy picture bears the imprint of something terrible, indescribable. This unfortunate woman presiding at the table, this mad dance and this noisy applause of the feasters - and then suddenly this head, steaming with warm blood, brought on a platter and given by the executioner to the young girl, who, in turn, gives it to her mother; this hellish mixture of hatred and mad joy, dancing and murder, blood and lust - all this makes the heart tremble and fills it with horror.
Reading the Holy Scriptures, and especially the biographies of the greatest righteous men, God's saints, on earth, one involuntarily wonders within oneself: why is it so? The majority of people, and almost all of them, find a calm, quiet existence on earth, receive various pleasures in life, consolation in their sorrows, but for them - God's chosen ones, faithful and firm - such a terrible life, full of torment and persecution, and often such a terrible end.
Look at the death they die: the Prophet Isaiah was sawn to pieces by order of Manasseh, Zechariah was killed at the altar, Stephen was stoned, the Apostle James was beheaded, the Apostle Peter was crucified, the Apostle Paul was beheaded with a sword - these are just a few of the countless number of those who ended their lives as martyrs. And how many there were in all - only the Lord knows! But of all the kinds of martyrdom, the most terrible is probably the death of John the Baptist.
Imagine Herod's palace, glittering with lights, full of life, where a feast is going on and merriment is flaring up, and underneath it, a dark, damp dungeon where silence reigns, from which, it seems, there is no exit at all to the light, to freedom. A man languishes in this dungeon. Now, in the middle of the night, the heavy steps of a rough, merciless warrior are heard descending. The dull sound of a sword falling heavily is heard, and it is all over. Was he caught in a dream or was he praying? Could he utter a last word? The only answer is a dead, sepulchral silence.
In this way perished the one whom Jesus Christ Himself called the greatest Prophet. And if one were to look at the picture of such a death, having no other hope than this mortal visible world, one could exclaim: “Vanity, vanity!”, one could become disillusioned with life. But we are consoled by the bright hope that the righteous never die, death is impossible for those who have served God with all the strength of their soul and heart. They live forever. The Forerunner of the Lord speaks to us even now, and his voice is still powerful in denouncing the wicked: "It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife" (Mark 6:18). With the Lord no good deed remains unrewarded. And if the smallest, invisible, modest self-denial is prepared for a reward, then what can be said about the martyrdom of John the Baptist? His work is laid in the foundation of the Church, and the Church herself owes her existence to such pillars as this greatest of those born of women.
Only with such selflessness of the servants and saints of God could the Church be born and grow. When we see some huge building, we certainly assume that it has a reliable foundation, because this building cannot stand and hold without a foundation. Although this foundation is not visible, but without these hidden stones the building would collapse at the first breath of wind and the first sign of a storm. And if now the Christian Church exists in the world, if there is still a refuge from all earthly sorrows, a shelter in which the soul breaks free from the tight earthly bonds, a spiritual homeland where they believe, hope and love, then this is only because at the foundation of all this lie countless feats of selflessness, unknown deaths, unrecognized sufferings, silent self-sacrifices that no one can count. When a fortress is taken, hundreds of besiegers fall into the surrounding ditches, but it is over their corpses that the triumphant winner will walk. And thanks to these heroic martyrs for the holy great idea of goodness and truth, for the faith of Christ, faith in the future triumph of truth becomes possible for us.
But there is no need, dear ones, to doubt that this sad event took place according to a special secret order of God and was allowed for an extraordinary, most exalted and beneficial purpose. The glorious beheading of the Forerunner was a certain Divine providence: that the coming of the Savior might be proclaimed to those in Hades. Not only the living on earth awaited the Savior of the world, but also the dead, whose number was much greater in comparison with the living. Someone had to proclaim to them the coming of the Conqueror of death and Hades. And for this great work, by the Providence of God, John the Baptist was chosen, who had previously foretold the appearance of the Savior on earth.
Herod and Herodias, not knowing the ways of God, carried out the secret decree of God's Providence, although their guilt is not lessened by this, for they acted according to their own insane will for the sake of satisfying their passions. God's ways are inscrutable. Saint John had already had many crowns for his exploits, and now he was given a new crown - martyrdom - and at the same time a new commission - to be the Forerunner and herald of the Savior in Hades for all who were awaiting His coming there. And therefore, when those reclining looked at the head of the Prophet lying on a platter, Saint John was already standing in heavenly glory before the host of the righteous and announced to them the coming of Christ the Savior, Whom they had been awaiting from the ages. But no one knew this, and of course, many tears were shed and many bewilderments and disappointments were expressed about his death: is there God’s Providence after this and is it worth living righteously after this, when a pious life does not receive any reward, when John was beheaded in prison by Herod?
And let his zeal for the truth of God warn us, dear brothers and sisters, who look upon the holy death of the righteous man, from iniquities similar to those of which he was the denouncer, and let it inspire our souls to speak the truth, to love the truth and to stand for the truth of God, perhaps even until death, for this great reward is prepared from the Lord in the future life: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:10). Let us pray today to Saint John the Baptist, that he may bless our earthly path with his intercession, so that we too may be granted eternal and ever-blessed life by the Lord. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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