11 sep-teab-rya Church idle Usek-no-ve-tion of the head of the Pro-ro-ka, Pred-te-chi and Cross-te-la Gos-pod-nya Ioan- on the. Day of mu-ch-no-ch-death-death "ve-li-chai-she-go from born-den-ny-na-mi" opi-san evan-ge-li-st-mi Mat-fe -em () and Mark-com (). What happened to Iro-dom after all? Where does the head of the saint go this day? Why to fast on this day means to become free from the slavery of pleasure?

After the death of Iro-da Ve-li-ko-go, the Romans in de li-li ter-ri-to-riu Pa-les-sti-ny on four-you-re parts, meaning in each of them the right-to-see-te-la from their sta-len-niks. Herod An-ti-pa received from im-pe-ra-to-ra Av-gu-sta Ga-li-ley to his control. John the Baptist ob-li-chal Chet-ve-ro-power-ni-ka is that he, having left his lawful wife (daughter of araviy-sko-go -rya Are-phy), illegally co-living with Iro-di-a-doy, the same of his own brother Philip-pa. For this, Herod hooked the saint in the dark. Some is-to-ri-ki assert that Herod did not do this so much because of the evil on John of the Cross, how much something that wished to protect him from his beloved, knowing her vengeful disposition. Iro-di-a-yes would-la through-you-tea-but angry at the pro-ro-ka.

The truncation of the head of John the Pred-te-chi was carried out during the feast in honor of the day of the birth of Iro-da, on which sut-va-li vel-mo-zhi, old-rei-shi-ny and you-sya-che-na-chal-ni-ki. The daughter of Iro-di-a-dy Sa-lo-miya (Sa-lo-meya) tan-tse-va-la before go-sty-mi, ras-po-lo-is alive by that very be Iro-yes, who-ry swore to give her everything that she didn’t ask for - even if it’s the same and lo-wi-well of his own king- state. On-th-in-ru-her mother-te-ri Iro-di-a-dy, who-swarm appeared to be able to take revenge on Saint John well, and all-where from-ba-vit-Xia from reproaches and ob-li-che-niy, Sa-lo-mea in-pro-forces to give her the voice of John-on-the-Cross -te-la and bring it to the dish. Herod was embarrassed, because he was afraid of the wrath of God for the murder of the pro-ro-ka, as well as the native The pre-te-cha was lyu-bim zhi-te-la-mi Ga-li-lei. At the same time, it is known from the Gospel-heli that Herod in many ways heard Saint John and understood his words - but, as St. ... John Evil-to-mouth, the sovereign "the kingdom was over the pleasure of pleasure, rather, was the servant of pleasure." Evil-then-lips are-la-ha-e, that, most likely of all, the oath-howl Herod covered himself, as a blah-seeming pre-lo-gom - on the very the same de-le, the true reason for his approach was the fear of losing Iro-di-a-du.

And he keeps his oath, given in the presence of you-with-guests: he gives a co-answer with -kaz - and pro-ex-go-dit Usek-no-ve-tion of the head of John the Pred-te-chi. Su-che-stu-is a pre-donation, according to the mouth of the dead head-you pro-ro-ka, as before, pro-du-zha- whether to ob-li-cha-vi-te-la: "Herod, you should not have the same Philip, your brother." After this, Sa-lo-miya, in furiousness, used-ko-lo-la language pro-ro-ka needle and for-ko-pa-la to the head of the Cross-sti-te-la in unclean place.

Herod continued to rule for some time after Usek-no-ve-nia of the head of John Pred-te-chi - Evangelical is-to-riya -de-ts-is that Pon-ty Pi-lat sent to him the connection of Jesus Christ ().

Dal-nei-shaya fate-ba Iro-da and Iro-di-a-dy lay in the sadness. Lub-no-ki bo-I-hoped that St.John would rise from the dead, and Herod, when he began to tell Jesus Christ, was horrified -nul-sya this-mu, ska-zav: “this is John the Baptist; he resurrected from the dead, and in that way chu-de-sa de la-yut-Xia them. "

After the passage of time after Usek-no-ve-nia of the head of John Pred-te-chi, Sa-lo-miya, ne-re-go-dya zi-my ice the river Si-ko-rice, pro-wa-li-las under the water and the ice handed it over in such a way that the go-lo-va na-ho-di-las on on-top-no-sti, and body - in ice-noy water. She was in vain, but she tried to get out, but she didn’t succeed - so she lasted until then, until the sharp gla -re-for-whether her neck. The body of Sa-lo-mi did not go, but the go-lo-woo brought Iro-do with Iro-di-a-do, like-but-mo, like sometime when -whether to the head-vu John-na Pred-te-chi. Truncated the head-you of John the Forerunner-chi was fired at and on the fate of Iro-da - in the off-place for the devil stee his own do-che-ri, the Arabian king Are-fa sent his troops against him. Herod sang in a rage and, for this reason, rage-raged the Roman im-pe-ra-to-ra Ka-li-gu-lu. He was co-sent together with Iro-di-a-doy for something to Gaul, and then to Isa-pa-nia.

After Usek-no-ve-nia, the head of John the Pred-te-chi, his disciples, rowed the body of the holy one in Sa-maryan-go -ro-de Se-va-sti. The Holy Head John-on-the-Cross-te-la was-la-nay-de-na and in-gre-be-na in the co-su-de on the Yele-on-sky go-re. After-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-v-d-v-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-r-z: one in-motion-nick ko-pal ditch for os-no-va -ya temple, found the saint-you-nyu and kept it with him. And before his death, fearing that saint-you-nya might be in-ru-g-na, he hid her in the ground in the same place , where and about-na-ru-lived.

In 452, the pro-rock indicated in the vi-de-nii the place where his head was covered - and she was again ob-re-te-na, after that it was transferred to Emes-su, then to Kon-stan-ti-no-pol. In the memory of this, another holiday is established, inextricably co-wired with the Ussek-no-ve-ne-it, the head of John-on the Pred-te- chi - about-re-te-nie of his honest head-you. Feast of the first and second chu-des-no-go ob-re-te-niya from-me-cha-et-Xia Tser-ko-vyu March 8 (February 24- ra-la old-ro-th style).

At the time of the iko-no-bor-che-skikh go-not-ny heads-wa-la you-ve-ze-na in Ko-man-ny (Ab-ha-ziya), from the West -nom as a place of exile and end of St. John-on Evil-to-mouth, and hide-ta-na in the earth. After the resurrection of the iko-no-after-reading of St. pat-ri-ar-hu Ig-na-tiyu no-ch'yu at the time of mo-lit-you were-lo pointed out the place where the honorable head is kept. That-kim-ra-zom saint-you-nya was-la about-re-te-na again. This event is celebrated on June 7 (May 25) as the Third Ob-re-te-tion of the head of St. Ioan-na Pred-te-chi

Strictly a hundred day

Truncate the head of St. Ioan-na Pred-te-chi from-me-cha-et-sya 11 sep-tyab-rya (29 aug-g-hundred). Mit-ro-po-lit Su-rozh-skiy An-to-niy in one of the pro-po-ve-dei so tract-tu-e the fact that Usek-no-ve-nie head-you are th-th (that is, violent murder) - is-la-e-sya-but-no-one:

“Today we celebrate the day of Usek-no-ve-nia of the head of John the Pre-te-chi ... no-mother as joy, but it also means "to remain without de-la", and without de-la, you can remain, for something that will overwhelm -shu-joy and already de-la is no longer up to the usual things, but maybe it happens because of the fact that the hands fell from grief or from horror- sa. And here is such a day-long holiday: what are you taking in front of the face of that which we have heard of this day in the Evangelist -liya? "

Therefore, on the day of Usek-no-ve-nia, a strict fast is foreseen, at the time of something-ro-go it is not consumed in writing me -so, milk products-you, fish-ba. “We will not be with-general-no-ka-mi-in-ugo-diya Iro-da,” - go-rit-ti-pi-kon. The charter is clear, how is it right to relate to this holiday:

“Boo-dem eat me-so or some other exquisite food? And the Baptist lived in a waterless and grassless wilderness - he did not eat bread, he did not have any other food. Wee-but do we drink? And he did not drink any wine or any other drink of the world. His hundred-and-bed and his bed were-la-earth, he tasted only ak-ri-dy (pod-ki rozh-to-de-re-va, according to other sources ni-kam - a genus of edible sa-ran-chi) and wild honey. Instead of a hundred cha-shi - when-pot-no water, te-ku-shi from the stone. That is why we will spend this day in post and prayer. "

Fasting on the day of Usek-no-ve-nia of the head-you John-on Pred-te-chi usta-nov-len, ve-ro-yat-most of all, together with the holiday, for- cha-lo ko-to-ro-go from-but-sit-Xia to the first time-me-us of the christi-an-sky Church. The antiquity of a hundred on this day is confirmed by the mouth of the Jeru-sa-lim-sko-th mon-na-st-rya St. Sav-you Osvyaschen-no-go. It says that the fast on the day of Usek-no-ve-nia of the head of John the Pred-te-chi “for-ve-shchan by the ancient saints of the mi ".

Do not eat circle-loe - sue-ve-rie

Relatively-si-tel-but-ni-ka Usek-no-ve-nia head-you Pro-ro-ka, Pred-te-chi and Cross-sti-te-la Gos-pod-nya Ioan- on the essence of the sue-beliefs that have no relation to the essence in-chi-ta-e-my-life ... For example, that on this day it is impossible to put on the table no-thing round-lo-go (no dishes, no ta-re-lok), you cannot eat a round-loy forms (that is - kar-to-fel, onion, yab-lo-ki, ar-bu-zy), use-to-use ru-by-by and cut you. For example, according to white-Russian-by-faith, connected with the day Usek-no-ve-nia of the head of John the Pred-te-chi, in the course of the go-da go-lo-va saintly, almost pri-ras-ta-it-back-but, but how only people on this day begin-nut re -to eat bread - again from-pa-children. In the southern Slavs, on the day of Usek-no-ve-nia, the head of John Pred-te-chi was strictly con-sno-dal-sya-pret on red fruits and pit-ki, since it was believed that "this is the blood of St. John." That is why on this day they did not eat black vi-no-gra-da, po-mi-do-ditch and red pepper.

Ra-zu-me-e-sya, these super-beliefs of ras-pro-country-nyal-were (and sometimes-ra-pro-country-nya-are-sya sometimes still) amid-de- dei small-tserkov-ny and do not have any os-no-va-nia in tra-di-tsi-yakh Tserk-vi from-no-si-tel-but of the day id-no-va-nia Usek-no-ve-nia of the head of John-na Pred-te-chi.

Where is the head of St. Ioan-na Pred-te-chi

In the world of existence, there are several saints who are not directly connected with the life of the world Usek-no-ve-nia of the head John-na Pred-te-chi. These are parts of the head-you of St.John-on-the-Cross-te-la: the front part of the head-you goes to the ka-to-li-che- skom ka-fed-ral-nom so-bo-re Pre-saint Bo-go-ro-di-tsy in go-ro-de Amie-na (Italy), part of the head-you temple-nit- sya in the Lav-re of the saint-te-la Afa-na-sia Ve-li-ko-go on Athos, and the coffin-no-tsa pro-ro-ka with part of its head-you dit-sya in the mosque Omai-i-dov in Da-mas-ke. At the site of the ob-re-te-nia, the head-you of John-on-the-cross-te-la - Hele-on, the Go-ry of the Non-seeding in Jeru-sa-li-me - on ter -ri-to-rii rus-sko Spa-so-Voz-not-sen-sko-mo-na-st-rya-str-e-na cha-sov-nya in memory of this co-existence, and the place of the ob-re-te-niya is from-me-but-but-de-ni-em in the mo-za-ich-n-lu.

In Moscow, parts of St. Ioan-na Pred-te-chi na-ho-dyat-Xia in several temples. For example, in the Ioan-no-Pred-te-chen-feminine mo-na-st-re and the temple of the Vla-di-mir-i-kon of God-zhi-ma-te -ri in Vi-no-gra-do-in.

Pod-go-to-vil: Dmitry Bo-ri-sov

Beheading of John the Baptist- a holiday that the Orthodox Church honors and celebrates on September 11 (August 29, old style).

The Holy Church honors John the Forerunner above all the saints after the Mother of God.

The beheading of John the Baptist: how it was

The Gospels of Matthew (Matthew 14: 1-12) and Mark (Mark 6: 14-29) narrate about the martyrdom of the Forerunner of the Lord in the year 32 after the Nativity of Christ. However, the Holy Tradition of the Apostolic Church has preserved some of the details of these events that took place shortly before the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ.

After the death of Herod the Great, the Romans divided the territory of Palestine into four parts and, in each part, appointed their protégé as ruler. Herod Antipas received from Emperor Augustus to rule Galilee. He had a legal wife, the daughter of the Arabian king Arefa. Herod left her and cohabited with Herodias, the wife of his brother. The Prophet John repeatedly denounced him, but the king did not dare to harm him, as he venerated John the Baptist as a prophet and was afraid of the people's anger. Nevertheless, Saint John the Baptist was thrown into prison by King Herod (Luke 3, 19-20).

On his birthday, Herod made a rich feast, at which Salome, the daughter of Herodias, danced in front of the guests. She so pleased Herod with this that he swore before the guests to give her whatever she asked. Salome went to her mother for advice. Herodias taught her daughter to ask for the head of St. John the Baptist. Herod was saddened: he was afraid of the wrath of God for the murder of the prophet, but he could not break a careless oath.

John the Baptist's head was cut off and given to Salome. According to legend, the head continued to denounce Herod and Herodias. Furious Herodias pierced the tongue of the prophet with a pin and buried her head in an unclean place. But Joanna, the wife of the royal housekeeper Khuza, secretly took the holy head, put it in a vessel and buried it on the Mount of Olives, in one of Herod's estates. The body of St. John the Baptist was taken by his disciples and buried.

God's wrath fell upon those who decided to destroy the prophet. Salome crossed the Sikoris River in winter and fell through the ice. She hung her body in the water, and her head was above the ice. Just as she once danced with her feet on the ground, now, like a dancer, she made helpless movements in the icy water. So she hung until the sharp ice cut her neck. Her head, cut off by a sharp ice floe, was brought to Herod and Herodias, as they once brought them the head of John the Baptist, but her body was never found. The Arabian king Aref, in revenge for the dishonor of his daughter - the wife of Herod the four-ruler - moved his troops against the wicked king and defeated him. The Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Caligula (37-41) in anger exiled Herod along with Herodias to prison in Gaul, and then to Spain. There they were swallowed up by the open earth.

The first finding of the head of John the Baptist

Many years after the execution of John the Baptist, when the land in which the vessel with the holy head of the Forerunner rested, became the property of the pious nobleman Innocent, this vessel was found during the construction of the church, Innocent learned about the greatness of the shrine by the miracles and signs that happened during this time. But before his death, fearing that the shrine would not be desecrated by the Gentiles, he again hid it in the same place.

Many years passed, the church built by Innocent fell into disrepair. During the reign of the emperor Constantine the Great, two monks who came to worship in Jerusalem twice appeared Saint John the Baptist and indicated the location of his venerable head. Having dug up the shrine, the monks put it in a sack of camel wool and went home, but on the way they met an unfamiliar potter, who was entrusted with carrying the precious burden. Then the Forerunner himself appeared to the potter and ordered him to flee from the careless monks along with the burden. In the potter's family, the honest head was kept and passed on from generation to generation in a sealed vessel, until the priest Eustathius, infected with the heresy of Arianism, took possession of it. Using the miraculous power emanating from the head, he seduced many people into heresy. When his blasphemy was revealed, he fled, burying the relic in a cave near Emesa, hoping to later take it back again. But God did not allow this. Pious monks settled in the cave, and a monastery arose.

In 452 St. John pointed out in a vision to the archimandrite of the monastery Marcellus the place of hiding his head, and it was regained. The shrine was transferred to Emessa, and then to Constantinople. The feast of the first and second miraculous finding of the head of John the Baptist is celebrated by the Church on March 8 (February 24, old style).

The third finding of the honest head of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John was about 850. When unrest arose in Constantinople connected with the exile of St. John Chrysostom, the head of St. John the Baptist was carried off to Emesa, and from there, during the Saracens' raid (circa 810-820), to Comana, where it was hidden later, during the iconoclastic times. persecution. After the restoration of the veneration of icons to Patriarch Ignatius (847-857) at night, during prayer, the place where the honest chapter was kept was indicated. The shrine was found again in the place indicated by the patriarch, around 850. Later, the chapter was again transferred to Constantinople and here on May 25 was placed in the court church, part of the holy chapter is located on Athos. Feast of the third discovery of the head of St. John the Baptist - June 7 (May 25, old style).

In memory of the beheading of St. John the Baptist, the Church established a feast and strict fasting, as an expression of the grief of Christians about the violent death of the great Prophet.

Icons of the Beheading of John the Baptist

Pictures with the plot of the Beheading of John the Baptist

John the Baptist before Herod. Mattia Preti. 1665

Gustav Moreau. Salome

Jacopo da Ponte. Beheading of John the Baptist

Giovanni Batista Tiepolo. Beheading of John the Baptist

Pierre Cecile Puvis de Chavannes. Beheading of John the Baptist. 1869

Revenge of Herodias. Painting by Juan Flandes

The beheading of John the Baptist. Caravaggio. 1608

Salome. Lucas Cranach the Elder. OK. 1530

Guido Reni. Salome with the head of John the Baptist

Prayers for the feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist

Chants of the feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist performed by the choir of the church of St. Nicholas in Kuznetskaya Sloboda (Moscow)

Verse: From the depths I cried to You, Lord, * Lord, hear my voice.

Verse: Let Thy ears be * listening to the voice of my prayer.

On Christmas Day, creating cold Herod, a filthy dancer, the oath is being fulfilled:
Forerunner bo head, cut off, like food, worn on a platter reclining.
Oh, the feast is disgusting, unrepentant of deeds and murders!
But we are the Baptist, as if in those born by wives is great, worthy of honor, we please.

Verse: If the lawlessness is nazrishi, Lord, Lord, who will stand * as you have cleansing.

Oh, the feast, full of blood!

If you did swear, but you didn’t swear for good: I’d better get a lie to get my life, if I’ve already told the head of the Forerunner, cut it off.
But we are the Baptist, as if in those born by wives is great, worthy of honor, we please.

Verse: And for the sake of Thy patience, O Lord, my soul suffer for Thy word * my soul trusts in the Lord.

The dance is a disciple of the all-evil devil and your head, the Forerunner, is taken from you.
Oh, the feast, full of blood!
Better not to swear, Irode is lawless, a lie inside.
If you did swear, but you didn’t swear for good: I’d rather lie to receive my life,
cut off the head of the Forerunner. But we are the Baptist, as if in those born by wives is great, worthy of honor, we please.

Verse: From the guard of the morning to the night, from the guard of the morning * let Israel trust in the Lord.

But we are the Baptist, as if in those born by wives is great, worthy of honor, we please.

Verse: as the Lord has mercy and much deliverance from Him * and that He will deliver Israel from all his iniquities.

It is not befitting, O Herod, to condemn the adultery of an accuser, for the sake of satanicism and incitement to violent fornication by death.
Do not befit the honorable head of a most lawless wife for the sake of an oath of dancing to betray the poor.
Oh, how dare thou commit such a murder!
Why did the nasty dancer not scorch, in the middle of a feast on a platter wearing this?
But we are the Baptist, as if in those born by wives is great, worthy of honor, we please.

Verse: Praise the Lord, all nations * praise Him, all people.

The Baptist is truncated and Herod is confused.
With prayers, Lord, Thy Forerunner, give peace to our souls.

Verse: As if his mercy was established on us * and the truth of the Lord abides forever.

Paki Herodia is mad, Paki is embarrassed.
Oh, the dancing is flattering and the feast with flattery!
The Baptist is truncated and Herod is confused. With prayers, Lord, Thy Forerunner, give peace to our souls.

Sermon of His Beatitude Volodymyr, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine (in Ukrainian)

Icon of John the Baptist- the most revered in the Orthodox Church after the icon of the Mother of God. It is no coincidence that the widespread icon of the Deesis order shows the prophet John the Baptist standing on a par with the Holy Virgin Mary. The image of John the Baptist depicts the prophet as he was described in historical chronicles: a very thin face and body, an adult man in rough clothes made of camel hair, girded with a leather belt, in his hands an open scroll. The scroll - "charter" with a quote from the Gospel serves as a reminder that the prophet John the Baptist with his sermons called the people to baptism through moral cleansing from the filth of sin, thereby serving as a harbinger of the teaching of Christ. For this, in the Orthodox tradition, the prophet is often called John the Baptist, the Baptist of the Lord (the Forerunner is the One Who Was Before).

Sometimes in the image of the image of John the Baptist, one can see the waters of the Jordan River, where the Forerunner baptized Jesus Christ, and the scene of the beheading of the prophet, which ended his earthly life.

The icon of John the Baptist helps when praying to her in cases of epilepsy, headache, head injuries.

The childhood of the Holy Prophet John the Baptist is known from the Gospel of Luke. Father - priest Zachariah, mother - Elizabeth, a relative of the Virgin Mary, descended from the family of King David. Righteous Elizabeth was barren, the attempts of an elderly couple to have a child were in vain. Once in the Jerusalem temple, the priest Zechariah appeared Archangel Gabriel and he announced to him the birth of a son, who "many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord." But Zechariah did not believe the good news, and Gabriel punished the priest with dumbness.

Six months later, the archangel Gabriel appeared in Nazareth before the Virgin Mary and told her that she would give birth to the Son of the Most High from the Holy Spirit, and told about the miracle of conception that took place with her barren relative Elizabeth. Mary happily hurried to Hebron, to Elizabeth, and until the very birth was by her side.

The relatives wanted to give the newborn the name Zachariah, but Elizabeth resisted and named her son John (given by God, God's grace). Surprised relatives demanded that the priest Zachariah give written consent to this name. "John is his name," the priest wrote on the tablet, and immediately "his mouth and his tongue were opened, and he began to speak, blessing God."

Soon after the birth of Jesus, King Herod ordered to kill all the little children in the lands of Bethlehem, angry at the wise men who did not inform him of the whereabouts of the Child. Mary and Jesus fled to Egypt, the mother of John the Baptist Elizabeth, fearing revenge from Herod, hid with the baby in the wilderness. The priest Zechariah, the father of the prophet John the Baptist, died while serving in the temple, refusing to give the whereabouts of his son to the servants of Herod. Saint John the Baptist remained to live in the desert, and was there, feeding on wild honey and locusts, dressing in simple clothes made of coarse camel hair, belted with a simple leather belt. All this time, John the Baptist spent in constant prayer, preparing himself for the main task of his life. Upon completion of the 30th birthday, the prophet John the Baptist received the voice of God telling him to go to the Jordanian country to preach "the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" and prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. The people who came to him were baptized by John the Baptist in the sacred waters of the Jordan River, urging people to morally cleanse themselves even before religious immersion in water. So strong was the influence of St. John the Baptist on the minds and moods of the people that many thought that he was Christ. Around John the Baptist gathered a large number of disciples who shared his beliefs. Among his disciples were the future apostles Andrew the First-Called and John the Theologian.

More and more people believed in the coming of the Messiah, and finally, Jesus Christ himself appeared to the righteous prophet John the Forerunner to receive baptism from his hands. John the Baptist was greatly surprised by the Savior's decision to accept baptism from his own hands. “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” - he said to Jesus, but he only answered that everything that should happen - let it happen. So St. John the Baptist baptized Jesus. After the rite of baptism, the Savior offered up a prayer, and a miracle happened - the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus Christ in the guise of a dove and the Voice of God was heard: "You are My Beloved Son; I am well pleased with you!"

Being a devout man, pure and intolerant of any unrighteousness, the prophet John the Baptist, even after the baptism of Jesus Christ, continued to denounce human sins, for which he paid with his life. One of the most powerful enemies of the prophet John the Baptist was Tsar Herod Antipas, whom the preacher constantly condemned for the fact that he, in violation of Jewish customs, took Herodias, the wife of Herod Philip, his brother, as his wife. Angered, Tsar Herod Antipas ordered to imprison Saint John the Baptist. Antipas was so afraid of the people's anger that for a long time he could not decide to execute the righteous John the Baptist, beloved by ordinary people. But on the birthday of Herod Antipas, Salome, the daughter of Herodias, with her immodest dance pleased the birthday boy so much that the king promised to fulfill her every wish. Taught by the vicious and vengeful mother, Salome ordered to bring her the head of John the Baptist. Tsar Herod Antipas sent the executioner to prison and he cut off the head of the Forerunner prophet and brought it on a platter to Salome, who gave it to Herodias. Herodias outraged the head of the righteous man and for several days in a child and a frenzy of hatred pierced his tongue with needles, which uttered only the truth in her life. The body of the Holy Righteous John the Baptist was buried by his disciples. Then, by order of the same Herodias, the head of John the Baptist was buried in the city dump. In historical manuscripts over ten centuries, the miraculous finding of the head of the righteous Saint John the Baptist is three times captured.

For his deed, Herod was punished - after a few years the king Aref (father of Fazela - the first and lawful wife of Antipas) utterly defeated the troops of Antipas, thereby revenging himself on the dishonest and treacherous king. Caligula, accusing Herod Antipas of organizing a conspiracy against the Roman emperor, exiled the former ruler of Galilee to Gaul, where he died two years later in oblivion and poverty.

The Holy Prophet John the Baptist, thanks to his indestructible faith, his selfless service to God and all his righteous, pure life, has rightfully earned an undeniable important place in the Christian church.

The icon of John the Baptist and prayer to the image of the Forerunner help people of handicraft professions: coopers, furriers, weavers, tailors, tanners, peasants and farmers.

MOSCOW, June 7- RIA Novosti, Alexey Mikheev. The last prophet of the Old Testament, John the Forerunner, predicted the coming into the world of Jesus Christ and baptized him in the Jordan River. But then, by order of King Herod, John's head was cut off, and since then both Muslims and Christians and scientists argue about where exactly she is. Today the Orthodox Church celebrates its third acquisition. About the history of the shrine - in the material of RIA Novosti.

Church archaeologists have a joke: "Ten heads of John the Baptist are known in the world, but only three of them are genuine." Indeed, Muslim Damascus, Catholic Amiens and Rome, Orthodox Athos and even Armenian Gandzasar are fighting for the right to possess the "most correct" shrine. The finding (miraculous finding) of the head of the prophet by the Christian church canon is recorded as many as three times.

Resurrected and became Christ

Saint John denounced the king of Galilee Herod for the fact that he demonstratively married his niece Herodias, who at that time was already married to his brother. Adultery was considered among the Jews one of the most terrible sins punishable by painful death. John's rebuke infuriated Herodias. According to the Gospel story, her daughter Salome on the birthday of the ruler "danced and pleased Herod and those reclining with him," and he promised to fulfill any of her requests. After consulting with her mother, Salome asked for the head of the prophet, and the king fulfilled his oath. Humanly, Herodias did not allow to bury her trophy and simply buried it near the palace - according to some sources, having previously outraged. The body was secretly taken away and buried by the saint's disciples.

And then the detective begins. The pious wife of one of the king's servants witnessed how Herodias treated the prophet's head, dug it up and reburied it on the Mount of Olives. And when rumors about the preaching and miracles of Jesus reached the royal court, Herod, just in case, decided to check whether John's head was in place and, not finding it, was confident in his guess that Christ was the resurrected John the Baptist.

Potter and heretic

And now, years later, a Christian nobleman builds a church on the mountain and discovers a vessel with a relic. All his life he carefully keeps the found head of the saint, and before his death he hides it in the temple that he built. But the years go by, the church decays, collapses, and the head of John the Baptist is again considered lost.

And after many years two itinerant monks find her, put her in a sack and take her with them, but on the way, being tired, they allow a completely unfamiliar potter to carry the sack. And then, according to the legend, the Forerunner himself appears to him and orders him to leave the careless monks, taking the shrine with him. Before his death, the potter bequeathed to transfer the relic to a pious Christian, but after passing through many hands, she ended up with a completely impious person - the heretic Eustathius walked around the world and healed the sick with the shrine, passing off a miracle as his own. And when the deception was revealed, he buried the head of the prophet in a cave.

To the west!

In 452, the relic was found by monks and solemnly transferred to the imperial capital - Constantinople. However, during the iconoclastic persecution, when by order of the authorities thousands of shrines were destroyed, the head of the prophet was secretly taken to the territory of modern Abkhazia. And she comes back almost four centuries later - since then, Christians celebrate this day as "The third finding of the honest head of John the Baptist."

"This is where the story about the head of St. John usually ends, because further history is connected with the Catholic West. After returning to Constantinople, the relic was placed in the court church, but part of it somehow ended up nearby, in the Studios Forerunner Monastery, where it was back in 1200 year saw the pilgrim Anthony, of which there is written evidence. However, already in 1204 it was transferred by the crusaders to Amiens in northern France ", - says the rector of the Resurrection Church in Rabat (Morocco), priest Maxim Massalitin.

In addition, the lives of the saints mention three more places where parts of the relics fell - Athos, Italy and a certain "Ugrovlachian monastery" somewhere on the territory of modern Romania.

Everything is explained simply - on April 13, 1204, the crusaders captured and plundered Constantinople. Canon Vallon de Sarton of Pikinia found in the ruins of one of the palaces a case containing a silver dish with the Greek inscription "John the Baptist". On it, under a glass cover, were the remains of a human head without a lower jaw and with a small hole above the left eyebrow - according to legend, Herodias in their hearts struck a powerful blow to the severed head of the saint. De Sarton solemnly transferred the shrine to Picardy. Later she will be placed in a specially built cathedral in Amiens.

Extra jaw, or How to rob a saint

In 1789, a revolution takes place in France. Throughout the country, relics are confiscated from churches, and all more or less precious church utensils are confiscated by the state. The Revolutionary Convention removes all decorations from the head of St. John the Baptist, and orders her to be sent to the cemetery. However, the mayor of the city, Louis-Alexander Lekuve, secretly returns to the treasury and, risking his life, takes the shrine to his home. And after the end of the revolutionary persecution of the church, the head of St. John in 1816 was returned to the Cathedral of Amiens. Later, a missing jaw is found in Verdun, but an authoritative commission recognizes it as a much later artifact.

“This is the end of the modern chronicle of the head of John the Baptist. Many Orthodox come to France, but not everyone knows how many shrines are still kept in the French land, despite the outrage of revolutions and oblivion of the Christian past. John the Baptist celebrates not only Orthodox prayer services, but also liturgies, "says Father Maxim.

However, in Damascus, inside one of the three main shrines of the Islamic world, the Umayyad Mosque, there is the burial of the Prophet Yahya - this is how the Muslims call John the Baptist. They stumbled upon it by accident during the construction, and local Christians assured the Caliph that this was the ancient tomb of the prophet. Before the outbreak of war in 2011, the white marble tomb attracted thousands of pilgrims from all over the Middle East. Inside it, you could throw a note, a photograph, or "donate to the prophet" money. In Syria, they are piously sure: the head of the prophet who baptized Christ is inside.

"O Yahya! Hold fast to the Scriptures - We gave him wisdom in infancy, as well as compassion from Us and purity. He was pious, respectful to his parents and was neither proud nor disobedient" - this is how the Qur'an describes the last prophet of the Old Testament.

In the meantime, daily prayers to the saint at his honest head are served in the Church of St. Sylvester in Rome, and in the Great Lavra of Athos, and even in Nagorno-Karabakh - the head of the Baptist of Christ, cut off at a drunken feast, has become one of the world's main shrines.

© Christie "s Images Ltd "The Mother of God with the Child Christ and St. John the Baptist". Sandro Botticelli

Sacred Tradition tells us that after the beheading of St. John the Baptist, the wicked Herodias did not allow her to be buried together with the body of the saint, but having outraged her, she buried her near her palace. The body was secretly taken away and buried by the saint's disciples. The wife of King Herod's attendant knew where Herodias had buried the head. And she decided to reburial her on the Mount of Olives in one of Herod's estates.

When rumors reached the royal palace about the preaching of Jesus and the miracles performed by him, Herod, along with his wife Herodias, went to check whether the head of John the Baptist was in place. Not finding her, they began to think that Jesus Christ is the resurrected John the Baptist. The Holy Gospel testifies to this error of theirs (Matt. 14, 2).

Jerusalem. The first finding of the head of John the Baptist

Many years later, during the reign of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine, his mother Saint Helena renewed the Jerusalem shrines. Many pilgrims began to flock to the Holy Land, including two monks from the East who came to worship the Honorable Cross and the Holy Sepulcher. It was to them that Saint John entrusted him to find his head. We only know that he appeared to them in a dream, and that after finding the head in the place indicated by him, they decided to return back. However, the will of God was different. On the way, they met a poor potter from the Syrian city of Emesa, who, due to poverty, had to go in search of work in a neighboring country. The monks, finding a companion for themselves, through negligence or laziness, entrusted him to carry a bag with a shrine. And he carried himself until Saint John the Baptist, who appeared to him, ordered him to leave the negligent monks and flee from them along with the bag entrusted to him.

For the sake of the head of John the Baptist, the Lord blessed the potter's house with every contentment. The potter lived his whole life, remembering what and to whom he owed, was not proud and gave alms abundantly, and shortly before his death he handed the head of the saint to his sister, commanding him to pass it on to God-fearing and virtuous Christians.

The head of the saint, passing for a long time from one person to another, fell into the hands of Hieromonk Eustathius, a supporter of the Arian heresy. The sick people who turned to him received healing, not knowing that the reason for this was not the imaginary piety of Eustathius, but the grace that came from the head hidden by him. Soon, Eustathius's cunning was revealed, and he was expelled from Emesa. And around the cave where the hieromonk lived and in which the head of John the Baptist was buried, a monastery was formed.

Emesa and Constantinople. The second and third gains of the honest chapter

After many years, the second acquisition of the head of St. John took place. This is known from the description of the Archimandrite of the Emesos monastery Markellus, as well as from the life of the Monk Matrona (the day of her memory - November 9), written by the Monk Simeon Metaphrast. According to the description of the first, the chapter was revealed to him on February 18, 452. A week later, Bishop Uranius of Emesa began to venerate her, and on February 26 of the same year she was transferred to the newly created church in honor of St. John. This event is celebrated on February 24 along with the celebration of the first acquisition of the honest head.

After some time, the head of the Forerunner John was transferred to Constantinople, where it was located until iconoclastic times. Pious Christians, leaving Constantinople, secretly took with them the head of John the Baptist, and then hid her in Komani (near Sukhumi), the city in which St. John Chrysostom once died while in exile (407). After the VII Ecumenical Council (787), which restored the Orthodox veneration of icons, the head of St. John the Baptist was returned to the Byzantine capital around 850. The church celebrates this event on May 25 as the third finding of an honest head.

Fourth Crusade and Journey to the West

The story of the third acquisition usually ends with the story of the head of St. John. This is due to the fact that its further history is associated with the Catholic West. If we turn to the lives of the saints, set out according to the guidance of the Four Menaus of St. Demetrius of Rostov, then at the end of the description of the discoveries of the head of the Holy Forerunner we will find a footnote in small print, and therefore often overlooked by readers. But for us, who quite unexpectedly found the head of the Baptist in France a few years ago, this footnote upon returning to our homeland was a real discovery. Below we would like to tell you about the next “finding” of the head of John the Baptist in the far West.

So, in the footnote we can read that after 850, part of the chapter of St. John ended up in P e tre in the Prodrom monastery, and the other part in the Studio Forerunner monastery. In this monastery, the top of the head was seen by the pilgrim Anthony as early as 1200. However, already in 1204, it was transferred by the crusaders to Amiens in northern France. In addition, the footnote indicates three other locations of the head particles: the Athos monastery of Dionysius, the Ugrovlachian monastery of Kaluya and the church of Pope Sylvester in Rome, to which the particle of the relics was transferred from Amiens.

The history of the appearance of the head of St. John in France is not much different from the history of many other greatest shrines of Christianity.

On April 13, 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, the troops of the Western knights captured the capital of the Roman Empire - Constantinople. The city was devastated and plundered.

According to Western tradition, Canon Vallon de Sarton of Pikinia found a case in the ruins of one of the palaces, which contained a silver dish. On it, under a glass cover, the remains of a human face were hidden, only the lower jaw was missing. A small hole was visible above the left eyebrow, probably pierced by a dagger strike.

On a platter, the canon discovered an inscription in Greek confirming that he was the owner of the relics of St. John the Baptist. In addition, the presence of a hole above the eyebrow was consistent with the event mentioned by Saint Jerome. According to his testimony, Herodias, in a fit of anger, struck with a dagger on the severed head of the saint.

Vallon de Sarton decided to deliver the head of the Holy Forerunner to Picardy, in northern France.

On December 17, 1206, on the third Sunday of the Nativity Lent, the Catholic Bishop of the city of Amiens, Richard of Gerbera, solemnly met the holy relics of John the Baptist at the gates of the city. Probably, the bishop was confident in the authenticity of the relics, which was easier to verify then, as they say, "in hot pursuit." From this time on, the veneration of the head of St. John begins in Amiens and throughout Picardy.

In 1220, the Bishop of Amiens laid the foundation stone for a new cathedral, which, after many additions, will become the most magnificent building of the Gothic style in Europe in the future. The main shrine of the city was also transferred to this cathedral: the front part of the head of St. John.

Gradually Amiens becomes a place of pilgrimage not only for ordinary Christians, but also for French kings, princes and princesses. The first to venerate the chapter in 1264 was King Louis IX of France, nicknamed the Saint. Then his son came - Philip III the Bold, Charles VI, and also Charles VII, who donated a lot to decorate the relics.

In 1604, Pope Clement VIII, wishing to enrich the Church of the Baptist in Rome (Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano), asked the canons of Amiens for a particle of the relics of St. John.

The salvation of the head during the revolutionary atrocities

After the revolution of 1789, inventories of church property and the seizure of relics took place throughout France.

The reliquary with the head of the Holy Forerunner remained in the cathedral until November 1793, when it was demanded by representatives of the Convention. They removed all the jewels from the relics, and the relics of Saint John were ordered to be sent to the cemetery. But the will of the revolutionary leadership was not carried out. Upon their departure, the mayor of the city, Louis-Alexander Lekuve, secretly returned to the treasury and, on pain of death, took the relics to his house. Thus, this shrine was preserved. A few years later, the former mayor handed it over for preservation to the Abbot Lejohn. And after the end of the revolutionary persecution, the head of St. John was returned to the Cathedral of Amiens in 1816 and has been there ever since.

At the end of the 19th century, historical science, not without the participation of church leaders, recognized that in the Middle Ages there were many cases of forgery of relics. Due to the general mistrust, the veneration of the Amiens shrine began to gradually fade.

The head of St. John today

A new surge of interest in the relics of John the Baptist occurred in the middle of the 20th century, namely in 1958. The abbot of the Amiens Cathedral informed the church authorities that in the east of France, in Verdun, a lower jaw, presumably of St. John the Baptist, has been preserved since the 17th century. He wanted to compare the two parts. With the blessing of the Bishop of Amiens, a commission of qualified medical experts was established.

The study of the relics lasted for several months and took place in two stages: the first - in Amiens, the second - in Paris. Upon completion of the work, the conclusions of the commission were collected in a document signed by all of its members. On the first chapter of the document, which is devoted to the research carried out in Amiens, the following conclusions were made:

• Comparison of the object called Verdun with the object from Amiens revealed their anatomical incompatibility, which no doubt confirms their different origins.
• In terms of chronology, the object called Verdun is less ancient than Amiens. In appearance and weight, it resembles the "bones of the Middle Ages."
• The obverse, called the head of John the Baptist of Amiens, is a very ancient object - older than the “bones of the Middle Ages”. On the other hand, it appears to be less ancient than the human bones of the Mesolithic, which allows its age to be dated between 500 BC. and A.D. 1000
• The age of the person cannot be specified due to the lack of teeth. But, based on the fact that the alveoli (dental sockets) are fully developed and that some of the edges are slightly worn out, it can be assumed that we are talking about an adult person (between 25-40 years).
• The general characteristics of the head due to the lack of elements can be determined, but with a large tolerance. The face type is Caucasian (which means neither Negroid nor Mongoloid). The small size of the Amiens object and the development of the lower eye arches suggest that it might correspond to a racial type called "Mediterranean" (the type to which modern Bedouins belong).

This concludes the modern chronicle of the head of John the Baptist. Unfortunately, few believers resort to the help of such a lamp of grace as the honest head of St. John, "the first martyr in grace." Many Orthodox come to France, but not everyone knows how many shrines are still contained in the French land, despite the outrage of revolutions and oblivion of the heritage of the Christian past.

It is gratifying that in recent years Orthodox pilgrims have been increasingly visiting Amiens. Now, with the participation of the Pilgrimage Center of the Korsun Diocese, the head of St. John the Baptist celebrates not only Orthodox prayer services, but also liturgies.