The beheading of Saint John the Baptist is celebrated on August 29, the day on which the Orodox believers fast. Some superstitions are also connected to this holiday.
Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. PHOTO Facebook Sorin Mazilescu
The faithful fast on this day, on the one hand so as not to be like Herod, who, because of the immeasurable feast, demanded that Salomea dance for him and as a reward offered her the head of Saint John the Baptist, and on the other hand, so that their life would be like the one led by Ioan, an ascetic, explains the ethnographic researcher Sorin Mazilescu
In the village world it is said that the day of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist foreshadows Good Friday. As one fasts every Friday, for the crucifixion, so is the fast on this day.
“The beheading of Saint John the Baptist is a celebration with eschatological significance, as are the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Dormition of the Mother of God. Through the Transfiguration we discover the face that man will have united with Christ – a face of glory, and through the Dormition of the Mother of God it is shown that the one who carried Christ moves from corruption to incorruption, while through this celebration it is revealed to us that all those who were not strangers to the repentance prophesied by Saint John the Baptist will reach Heaven“, says Sorin Mazilescu, in a post on Facebook.
For this reason – says the specialist in traditions and folklore – the Holy Fathers ordained as follows: The three holidays should be celebrated in the month of August, the last month of the church year, as a sign that this form of the world will pass, that a new heaven and a new earth will be, as we read in Revelation, chapter 21.
Who was Saint John the Baptist?
Saint John the Baptist was born in the city of Orini, in the family of the priest Zaharia. Elizabeth, his mother, was descended from the tribe of Aaron. The birth of the prophet John happened six months before the birth of Jesus.
His birth was announced by the angel Gabriel to Zacharias, while he was serving in the temple. Because he will not believe what was announced by the angel Gabriel, Zacharias will remain mute until the naming of his son.
“There is a long period in the life of Saint John the Baptist about which we have no information. We know that he retired to the desert, where he led a life of harsh hardships, until the moment when he received the command to start preaching. John’s role was not only to prepare the people for the coming of Christ, but also to reveal to the world the Messiah, the Son of God”explains Sorin Mazilescu.
Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
From the Gospel we know that Herod, at a feast occasioned by the celebration of his birthday, cut off the head of Saint John the Baptist, at the request of Herodias. At that time, Saint John was imprisoned in Herod’s castle at Maherus. John had rebuked Herod for his ungodly life with Herodias, who was his brother’s wife.
“In her hatred of death, Herodias advised Salomea, her daughter, who had danced and pleased the guests and especially Herod, to demand from him the head of the Baptist as a reward. The head of Saint John had, according to Church tradition, a history apart. He was three times lost and three times found. The first and second apparitions are celebrated on February 24, and the third apparition of Saint John the Baptist is celebrated on May 25“, says the ethnographic researcher.
According to tradition, St. Joan, the wife of Herod’s governor, is the one who took the head of St. John the Baptist from the court of Herodias and buried it in Jerusalem, on Mount Eleon, in a clay pot.
It is said that, after a while, a rich and famous owner believed in Christ, and renouncing his social position and all the vanity of this world, he became a monk, taking the name of Innocence.
While he was a monk, he lived at the very place where the head of John the Baptist was buried. Wanting to build himself a cell and a small church, he dug deep and discovered an earthen pot containing a head.
Through divine revelation he found out that it was John the Baptist’s. But when he approached the passage to the eternal, in order not to be found and defiled by the pagans who had multiplied in the area, he took it and hid it again in the ground, in the same place.
The two findings of the honest head of the Baptist
The head of Saint John the Baptist was present here until the time of the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helena, when Saint John the Baptist appeared to two monks and ordered them to dig up his honorable head. This is considered the first finding of the holy head. While the monks were traveling with the holy head in a sack, they met a potter and let him carry the sack. Because of their laziness, Saint John asked the potter to run away from the two monks. Arriving home, the potter enjoyed many blessings due to the presence of the prophet’s head. When he felt his end, the potter put the saint’s head in a reliquary and gave it to his sister.
“The reliquary will end up in the care of Eustace, an Arian monk, who lived in a cave. Many miracles will happen in this cave. Unfortunately, Eustace said that thanks to his powers miracles are present, people not knowing what he hides in his cave. After a while, Eustace, knowing that he will be sent into exile, buries the head of Saint John the Baptist. The cave will be inhabited by some faithful monks, who will build a monastery near it. In the year 452, Archimandrite Marcel, the abbot of that monastery, saw a big fire in the cave near the city of Emesa, during the singing of the psalms. This is how the saint’s head miraculously found out. This is considered the second finding of the holy head of the Baptisti”, says Sorin Mazilescu.
During the struggle against the holy icons, the head of Saint John was buried at Comane, from where it was brought to Constantinople by Saint Ignatius (860), in the time of Emperor Michael. This is the third and last finding of the honest head.
The Little Cross
The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist is popularly called the Little Cross. In the past, people who committed grave sins, stole, killed, robbed, in order to be forgiven, kept a very harsh fast, not passed in the Orthodox calendar, called from the Cross to the Cross, i.e. from August 29 to September 14, when the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is celebrated.
Superstitions
In memory of the blood shed by Saint John the Baptist (Sântion or Sântion de toamnm as it is popularly called), tradition requires not to consume red wine, nor food and cooked dishes, which have the same color: watermelon, red peppers, tomato sauce , and red meat, not so much, given that it is a fasting day.
In the village world it is also said that no round fruit or cabbage is eaten on this day, because the prophet’s head was cut off on the cabbage.
Besides, nothing is cut with a knife, everything is broken by hand.
It is said that from this day the cold of autumn begins.
