When is the feast of the beheading of John the Baptist celebrated? Day of the martyrdom of John the Baptist

History contains information about the personalities of people who are most directly connected with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The holy prophet John, also called the Baptist and Forerunner, played a special role in the earthly life of the Messiah and, accordingly, in the fulfillment of the Lord’s will regarding the future Savior of mankind. Many religious dates are dedicated to the memory of this person. One of them acquired the name, and falls annually on January 20.

Holiday information

The honoring of John the Baptist is performed by the Orthodox Church on the day after Holy Epiphany. There is such a custom in the Christian tradition: to remember, glorifying, at the end of the great holiday, those persons who served most importantly the implementation of such an important preceding event. The Holy Prophet John the Baptist became the central figure of the date of January 20 due to the witnessing of the coming to the earthly world of the Son of God in human form.

The religious holiday on January 20 is called the Cathedral of the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John due to the fact that it unites the believing people in churches on this day to praise the great prophet, because “cathedral” means “common.” The services held on January 20 within the walls of churches that were erected in honor of John the Baptist himself take on special solemnity. There are such churches in our country, and they are also in the capital.

For example, the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist on Presnya, located, by the way, in M. Predtechensky Lane, where the temple icon “Nativity of John the Baptist” and the revered image of the saint “Angel of the Desert” are kept. Also in Moscow is the St. John the Baptist Monastery. Within the walls of the monastery, believers can venerate the ancient miraculous icon John the Baptist and parts of his relics.

Childhood and youth of the prophet John the Baptist

Saint John the Baptist, in whose honor a great Christian holiday was established on one of the January days, was born six months earlier than Jesus Christ. His parents, the clergyman Zechariah and the righteous Elizabeth, could not have children for a long time. They prayed for a long time to Heaven to send them a baby. God heeded these ardent requests: one day a good messenger, the Archangel Gabriel, appeared to Zechariah right in the temple and told him about coming soon he has a son named John. By that time, Elisaveta was no longer young, so she hid her pregnancy from others for five months. But having received support from the Virgin Mary, who was her distant relative, she stopped hiding.

The baby John, who was born, was greeted joyfully not only by his parents, but also by the latter’s friends and relatives. When the Nativity of Christ happened, he miraculously did not end up among the Bethlehem babies killed by King Herod the Great. True, John’s parents took care of this in advance: Elizabeth was hiding with her son in the desert near Hebron.

Zechariah, having refused to reveal the whereabouts of his wife and child to the king, alas, did not escape death. Thus, “from a young age,” Saint John grew up in solitude. He led an ascetic lifestyle, praying and fasting. The clothes of the boy, later the young man, consisted of something made of camel hair, the food was locust insects and wild honey.

Sermon

This is how the holy ascetic lived until his thirtieth birthday. And then he came into the world with one goal: to prepare fertile soil for sowing the seeds of the Christian faith in the hearts of people, for the people to accept the Savior of all mankind. The prophet John chose the preaching of repentance as his weapon. The ascetic began it in 29 AD. This was the 15th year of the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius.

The subject of John the Baptist's sermon was to call sinners to reconsider their entire unrighteous lives, to morally cleanse their souls and accept baptism in order to receive God's forgiveness for what they had done. This sermon was imbued with the wrath of God. To implement it, John needed to walk around the cities and outskirts of the Jordanian country. He addressed his gracious speeches to the people on the river bank, when the people flocked here on the eve of the pagan festival of purification.

Baptism of the Son of God

Jesus was the first to come to John the Baptist for the purpose of being baptized. Of course, God ordered this so that, looking at Christ, people would follow his example. At the moment of the ceremony, the Prophet saw a miracle - the descent of the Holy Spirit on a young man in the form of a dove, accompanied by a voice from heaven: “This is My beloved Son...”

John the Baptist, having received such a revelation about Jesus, said to the people: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” These words had an effect on two people - the apostles Andrew the First-Called and John the Theologian. Both of them joined their Teacher and received holy Baptism.

Based on the above, it becomes clear why the prophet John is called both the Forerunner and the Baptist. On the one hand, the holy ascetic, as mentioned earlier, preached to the people, announcing the coming of the earthly Messiah to the world. On the other hand, the prophet is revered by the Christian Church as the person who baptized Jesus. In church hymns there is a beautiful symbolic expression referring to the saint: “bright morning star.” This is exactly how John the Baptist appeared in the lives of people who believed in God.

Death and veneration of a saint

The ascetic of piety, the prophet John the Baptist, who baptized the Son of God himself, suffered for his beliefs, for the fact that without fear he pointed out to people their sins and vices. He became a victim of King Herod Antipas, the son of the bloodthirsty Herod the Great, the killer of the Bethlehem babies. The ruler ordered the righteous man to be thrown into prison because of the exposure of his cohabitation with Herodias, the wife of Philip’s brother. He ordered the prophet’s head to be cut off to please the daughter of his mistress Salome, and, according to legend, the lips of the already dead John uttered the phrase: “Herod, you should not have the wife of your brother Philip.” This is how the king’s adultery was publicly exposed.

The daughter of Herodias took the head of the righteous man to her mother, and out of anger she pricked the ascetic’s tongue with a needle and buried the head in an unclean place. However, the holy head did not lie there for long. Pious Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, reburied the shrine on the Mount of Olives, placing it in an earthen vessel. The disciples of John the Baptist took the holy body of the Teacher and buried them in Sebastia.

It must be said that God severely punished the wicked for what they did to the prophet. Salome fell through the ice and, hanging, lost her head. Last people They discovered and brought the girl and Herod to her mother. Herodias' father, the Arabian king Arethas, went to war against Herod, who later became a victim of the wrath of Caius Caligula, the Roman emperor. As a result, he was exiled with his mistress, first to Gaul, then to Spain. Eventually, the ground opened up beneath them and swallowed them both.

What to pray to Saint John the Baptist for

Prayer to John the Baptist helps with head diseases and any headaches in general. It also changes the way of thinking, instructs on the true path, and leads to repentance. Even after his death, John the Baptist remains a faithful helper for Christians, their guiding star.

The Cathedral of John the Baptist in connection with the feast of Epiphany, February 24 - the first and second finding of his head, May 25 - the third finding of his head, October 12 - the feast of the transfer of his right hand from Malta to Gatchina.

The Prophet John the Baptist was the son of the priest Zechariah (from the family of Aaron) and the righteous Elizabeth (from the family of King David). His parents lived near Hebron (in the Highlands), south of Jerusalem. He was a relative of the Lord Jesus Christ on his mother's side and was born six months before the Lord. As Evangelist Luke narrates, the Archangel Gabriel, appearing to his father Zechariah in the temple, announced the birth of his son. And so the pious spouses, deprived of the consolation of having children until old age, finally have a son, whom they asked for in prayers.

By the grace of God, he escaped death among the thousands of murdered infants in and around Bethlehem. Hearing about the murders, Elizabeth took the boy and retired to the desert mountains. Seeing the approaching warriors, she prayed to God for salvation and then the mountain parted, accepted her along with her son and hid her from her pursuers. Not finding them, the warriors inquired about the Forerunner from Zechariah, who was eventually killed. Elizabeth died in the mountains forty days after the murder of her righteous husband, and Saint John was nourished by an angel until he came of age. He grew up in the wild desert, preparing himself for great service by a strict life of fasting and prayer. The Forerunner wore rough clothes secured with a leather belt and ate wild honey and locusts. He remained a desert dweller until the Lord called him at the age of thirty to preach to the Jewish people.

Sermon

Obeying this calling, the prophet John appeared on the banks of the Jordan to prepare the people to receive the expected Messiah (Christ). To the river before the festival of purification in large quantities people gathered for religious ablutions. Here John turned to them, preaching repentance and baptism for the remission of sins. The essence of his preaching was that before receiving external washing, people must be morally cleansed, and thus prepare themselves to receive the Gospel. Of course, John's baptism was not yet the grace-filled sacrament of Christian baptism. Its meaning was spiritual preparation for the future baptism of water and the Holy Spirit.

According to the expression of one church prayer, the Prophet John was a bright morning star, which in its brilliance surpassed the radiance of all other stars and foreshadowed the morning of a blessed day, illuminated by the spiritual Sun of Christ (Mal. 4: 2). When the expectation of the Messiah reached highest degree, the Savior of the world Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to John at the Jordan to be baptized. The baptism of Christ was accompanied miraculous phenomena- the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the voice of God the Father from heaven: “This is My beloved Son...”

Having received a revelation about Jesus Christ, the prophet John told the people about Him: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Hearing this, two of John's disciples joined Jesus Christ. These were the apostles John the Theologian and Andrew the First-Called, brother of Simon Peter.

With the baptism of the Savior, the prophet John completed and, as it were, sealed his prophetic ministry. He fearlessly and strictly denounced vices as ordinary people, so powerful of the world this. For this he soon suffered.

Dungeon

Execution

Baptist of Christ, preacher of repentance, do not despise me who repents, but uniting with the heavenly ones, pray to the Master for me, unworthy, sad, weak and sad, in many ways the troubles of the one who has fallen, burdened by the stormy thoughts of my mind. Because I am a den of evil deeds, I have no end to sinful customs, because my mind is nailed down by earthly things. What will I do? We don't know. And to whom shall I resort, that my soul may be saved? Only to you, Saint John, give the same name of grace, for you are before the Lord according to the Mother of God, greater than all who were born, for you were deemed worthy to touch the top of King Christ, who takes away sins Ra, Lamb of God. Pray to him for my sinful soul, so that from now on, in the first ten hours, I will bear a good burden and accept recompense with the last. To her, the Baptist of Christ, the honest Forerunner, the extreme Prophet, the first martyr in grace, the teacher of fasters and hermits, the teacher of purity and the close friend of Christ! I pray to you, I come running to you: do not deny me from your intercession, but raise me up, cast down by many sins. Renew my soul with repentance, as with the second baptism, since you are the ruler of both: with baptism you wash away ancestral sin, and with repentance you cleanse every bad deed. Cleanse me, defiled by my sins, and force me to enter, even if nothing bad enters, into the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.

Day martyrdom John the Baptist of the Lord in 32 after the Nativity of Christ is remembered Orthodox Church September 11 (according to the civil calendar) is called the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist. On this day, strict fasting is established as an expression of Christian grief over the violent death of the great prophet.

The preaching of John the Baptist was short-lived. Having prepared people to accept the Savior, he ended his life with martyrdom. Shortly after the baptism of the Lord, John was put in prison by the Galilean king Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, who gave the order to massacre the Bethlehem infants.

The king had a legitimate wife, the daughter of the Arabian king Arefa. Herod left her and cohabited with Herodias, his brother's wife. The Prophet John repeatedly denounced him, but the king did not dare to harm him, since he revered John the Baptist as a prophet and was afraid of the people's anger.

On his birthday, Herod arranged a rich feast, at which Salome, the daughter of Herodias, danced in front of the guests. She pleased Herod so much 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 on a platter. Herod was saddened: he feared the wrath of God, but could not break his careless oath.

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

God's wrath fell on those who decided to destroy the prophet. Salome crossed the river in winter and fell through the ice. Her head, cut off by a sharp ice floe, was brought to Herod and Herodias, just as the head of St. John the Baptist, but her body was never found.

The Arabian king Arefa moved his troops against Herod and defeated him. The Roman emperor, in anger, exiled Herod along with Herodias to Spain, where they died.

Many years after the execution of St. 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 from the miracles and signs that took place. But before his death, fearing that the shrine would be desecrated by the Gentiles, he again hid it in the same place.

Many more years have passed. During the days of Emperor Constantine, St. appeared twice to two monks who came to worship in Jerusalem. John the Baptist indicated the location of his honest head. Having dug up the shrine, the monks put it in a bag made of camel hair 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 down from generation to generation in a sealed vessel, until the priest Eustathius, infected with the Arian heresy, took possession of it. Using the miraculous power emanating from the head, he seduced many people into heresy. When his blasphemy was discovered, he fled, burying the shrine in a cave near Emessa, 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, the archimandrite of the monastery of St. John showed in a vision the place where his head was hidden, and it was found again. The shrine was moved 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 9.

Around 850, when unrest arose in Constantinople associated with the exile of St. John Chrysostom, head of St. John the Baptist was taken back to Emessa, and from there, during a Saracen raid, to Comana, where later, during the iconoclastic persecutions, she was again hidden. After the restoration of icon veneration, Patriarch Ignatius at night during prayer was shown the place where the venerable head was kept. The shrine was again found and transferred to the court church; part of it is kept on Mount Athos. Feast of the Third Finding of the Head of St. John the Baptist is celebrated by the Church on June 7.

September 11 is the day when many prayers will be answered and the most sincere requests will be fulfilled. Find out what you can ask the saint for on this day.

On the day of John the Baptist, prayers for well-being in the family and deliverance from illnesses will be especially useful. In order for prayers to be heard, it is necessary to be in a certain state of mind.

Who is John the Baptist?

On September 11, Orthodox Christians celebrate the day of John the Baptist, the prophet who predicted the coming of Jesus Christ to Earth and baptized him in the Jordan River. John's life was short-lived and ended tragically: his head was cut off on the orders of King Antipas because the prophet exposed the king's criminal relationship with his brother's wife Herodias. The severed head continued to expose the king’s sin, so it was thrown into a latrine. But the prophet’s disciples removed the head and buried it with honors. John's head was found and lost again several times. Now no one knows where she is. Both dates of the discovery of the head of John the Baptist are revered by the Orthodox Church.

What do they pray to John the Baptist for?

They pray to the Holy Great Martyr for the correction of those who have committed sin;
about insight and the cure of blindness;
about the passing of headaches;
about the churching of non-believers;
about those serving sentences in prison;

Prayers to John the Baptist

On the day of the death of the Prophet John, Orthodox Christians around the world turn to him in prayer.

The necessary state of peace for turning to the saint is best achieved in the evening. Good helpers to escape from the bustle of everyday life there will be church candle, burning in the twilight, incense and silence. Prayers for the granting of health, deliverance from illnesses and forgiveness of sins are better and more sincere among women, because they live with feelings and hearts. Prayers for protection and help in difficulties are good to say for men, who themselves are protectors and the basis of an Orthodox family.

Prayer for forgiveness of sinners and protection

“Christ, Baptist, prophet of the Forerunner, first great martyr, instructing and protecting fasting people and hermits, teaching purity and closest friend of Christ! I pray to you, and I come to you: do not leave me without your help, do not push me away, fallen and having committed a great sin; wash my soul with tears of repentance, as if with a second baptism; Cleanse me, defiled by sin, and help me to enter, for even the insignificant one enters, into the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen".

This prayer should be read in a state of complete mental peace and tranquility. Don't be angry with yourself or the one you are praying for: as they say, do not judge and you will not be judged. If you are asking not for yourself, but for someone close to you, then instead of the pronouns “me”, “mine”, say the name of the one for whom you are praying, for example: “my son, Daniel”, “my husband, Alexander”.

About getting rid of headaches

“The first Baptist, who led from darkness to the light of God, the first to proclaim the path of salvation, the denouncer of the unfaithful and the guardian of purity, the unshakable pillar, teaching piety and instructing in faith, pray to John, Shepherd and Creator, to grant peace to the world and to our souls to know great mercy.”

If you sincerely ask for the whole world and those living in it, grace will touch the one asking, cleansing his soul and saving him from illness. This prayer is best read by the light of a lamp or candle, moving away from your own pain and wishing peace and deliverance to all people. You can also ask for relief from headaches of any person by mentioning his name in prayer separately and specifically.

Prayer for those serving sentences in prison

“John, great saint of God! I stand before the throne of our Shepherd and God Jesus Christ, having a great request to Him. We, sinners and unworthy, resort to you as to our powerful representative and merciful intercessor. Pray to our God that He may turn away from us His anger, deserved by our deeds, and forgetting our countless sins, turn us to the path of repentance and confirm us in the righteous faith. us. Protect our lives with your prayers, and ask for help in all good things. Through your intercession, deliver us from all enemies, visible and invisible, shelter and protect us. Just as we will live a quiet and silent life in piety and purity, and having passed through temporary life, we will achieve eternal peace and be honored Kingdom of Heaven Christ our God. To Him all glory is due, together with the Father and His Most Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen".

Faith has always given us hope in the most difficult times, and prayers passed down from generation to generation carry the power to heal and find the right solutions. But besides prayers, there are other ways to protect yourself from trouble. For example, about the ritual « Trouble Trap » you can read the link. We wish you peace in your soul, and do not forget to press the buttons and

11.09.2016 05:09

If you want to find peace in your soul, prayer to the great martyr John the Baptist will help you get rid of...

The Prophet John the Baptist is the most revered saint after the Virgin Mary. The following holidays were established in his honor: October 6 - conception, July 7 - Christmas, September 11 - beheading, January 20 - Council of John the Baptist in connection with the feast of Epiphany, March 9 - the first and second discovery of his head, June 7 - third discovery his chapter, October 25 is the celebration of the transfer of his right hand from Malta to Gatchina (according to the new style).

By the grace of God, he escaped death among the thousands of murdered infants in and around Bethlehem. Saint John grew up in the wild desert, preparing himself for great service through a strict life of fasting and prayer. He wore rough clothes secured with a leather belt and ate wild honey and locusts (a genus of locust). He remained a desert dweller until the Lord called him at the age of thirty to preach to the Jewish people.

Obeying this calling, the prophet John appeared on the banks of the Jordan to prepare the people to receive the expected Messiah (Christ). Before the holiday of purification, people gathered in large numbers to the river for religious ablutions. Here John turned to them, preaching repentance and baptism for the remission of sins. The essence of his preaching was that before receiving external washing, people must be morally cleansed, and thus prepare themselves to receive the Gospel. Of course, John's baptism was not yet the grace-filled sacrament of Christian baptism. Its meaning was spiritual preparation for the future baptism of water and the Holy Spirit.

According to the expression of one church prayer, the Prophet John was a bright morning star, which in its brilliance surpassed the radiance of all other stars and foreshadowed the morning of a blessed day, illuminated by the spiritual Sun of Christ (Mal. 4: 2). When the expectation of the Messiah reached its highest degree, the Savior of the world Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to John to the Jordan to be baptized. The baptism of Christ was accompanied by miraculous phenomena - the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the voice of God the Father from heaven: “This is My beloved Son...”

Having received a revelation about Jesus Christ, the prophet John told the people about Him: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Hearing this, two of John's disciples joined Jesus Christ. They were the apostles John (the Theologian) and Andrew (the First-Called, brother of Simon Peter).

With the baptism of the Savior, the prophet John completed and, as it were, sealed his prophetic ministry. He fearlessly and strictly denounced the vices of both ordinary people and the powerful of this world. For this he soon suffered.

King Herod Antipas (son of King Herod the Great) ordered the prophet John to be imprisoned for accusing him of abandoning his lawful wife (the daughter of the Arabian king Aretha) and for illegally cohabiting with Herodias. Herodias was previously married to Herod's brother, Philip.

On his birthday, Herod held a feast, which was attended by many noble guests. Salome, the daughter of the wicked Herodias, with her immodest dancing during the feast, pleased Herod and the guests reclining with him so much that the king promised with an oath to give her everything she asked for, even up to half of his kingdom. The dancer, taught by her mother, asked to be given the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod respected John as a prophet, so he was saddened by such a request. However, he was embarrassed to break the oath he had given and sent a guard to the prison, who cut off John’s head and gave it to the girl, and she took the head to her mother. Herodias, having outraged the cut off holy head of the prophet, threw it into a dirty place. The disciples of John the Baptist buried his body in the Samaritan city of Sebaste. For his crime, Herod received retribution in 38 after R. X.; his troops were defeated by Arethas, who opposed him for dishonoring his daughter, whom he abandoned for Herodias, and in next year The Roman Emperor Caligula exiled Herod to prison.

As the legend tells, Evangelist Luke, going around different cities and villages preaching Christ, took from Sebaste to Antioch a particle of the relics of the great prophet - his right hand. In 959, when the Muslims captured Antioch (under Emperor Constantine the Porphyrogenitus), the deacon transferred the hand of the Forerunner from Antioch to Chalcedon, from where it was transported to Constantinople, where it was kept until the conquest of this city by the Turks. After right hand John the Baptist was kept in St. Petersburg in the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the Winter Palace.

The holy head of John the Baptist was found by the pious Joanna and buried in a vessel on the Mount of Olives. Later, one pious ascetic, while digging a ditch for the foundation of the temple, found this treasure and kept it with himself, and before his death, fearing the desecration of the shrine by non-believers, he hid it in the ground in the same place where he found it. During the reign of Constantine the Great, two monks came to Jerusalem to venerate the Holy Sepulcher, and John the Baptist appeared to one of them and pointed out where his head was buried. From that time on, Christians began to celebrate the First Finding of the Head of John the Baptist.

About the prophet John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ said: “Among those born of women there has not arisen a greater (prophet) than John the Baptist.” John the Baptist is glorified by the Church as “an angel, and an apostle, and a martyr, and a prophet, and a candle-bearer, and a friend of Christ, and a seal of the prophets, and an intercessor of old and new grace, and the most honorable and bright voice of the Word among those born.”