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Beheading of John the Baptist

The beheading of John the Baptist, also known as the decollation of Saint John the Baptist or the beheading of the Forerunner, is a biblical event commemorated as a holy day by various Christian churches. According to the New Testament, Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee under the Roman Empire, had imprisoned John the Baptist because he had publicly reproved Herod for divorcing his first wife and unlawfully taking his sister-in-law (his brother's wife) as his second wife Herodias. He then ordered him to be killed by beheading.

This article is about the biblical event and its liturgical commemoration. For other uses, see Beheading of John the Baptist (disambiguation).

Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

29 August (Translation of Relic)

The severed head of Saint John the Baptist on a round silver platter, often held by Salome or Herod Antipas

As a non-Biblical source, Jewish historian Josephus also recounts that Herod had John imprisoned and killed, stating, however, that the real reason Herod had for doing so was "the great influence John had over the people", which might persuade John "to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise)". Josephus further states that many of the Jews believed that the military disaster that later on fell upon Herod was God's punishment for his unrighteous behavior towards John.[1]

Feast day[edit]

The liturgical commemoration of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist is almost as old as that commemorating his birth, which is one of the oldest feasts, if not the oldest, introduced into both the Eastern and Western liturgies to honour a saint.


The Roman Catholic Church celebrates the feast on 29 August, as does the Lutheran Church. Many other churches of the Anglican Communion do so as well, including the Church of England, though some designate it a commemoration rather than a feast day.[6]


The Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches also celebrate this feast on 29 August. This date in the Julian Calendar, used by the Russian, Macedonian, Serbian and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches, corresponds in the twenty-first century to 11 September in the Gregorian Calendar. The day is always observed with strict fasting, and in some cultures, the pious will not eat food from a flat plate, use a knife, or eat round food on this day.


The Armenian Apostolic Church commemorates the Decollation of St. John on the Saturday of Easter Week, while the Syriac Orthodox, Indian Orthodox, and Syro-Malankara Catholic Churches commemorate his death on 7 January.

First and Second Finding of the Head of St. John the Baptist (24 February). According to , after the execution of John the Baptist, his disciples buried his body at Sebastia, except for his head, which Herodias took and buried it in a dung heap. Later, Saint Joanna, who was married to Herod's steward,[7] secretly took his head and buried it on the Mount of Olives, where it remained hidden for centuries.

church tradition

There are two other related feasts observed by Eastern Christians:

In medieval times, it was rumored that the had possession of the head, and multiple records from their Inquisition in the early 14th century make reference to some form of head veneration.[12]

Knights Templar

During the Crusaders' in 1204, Wallo or Walo(n) de Sarton, canon of Picquigny in Picardy, discovered a half-ball of transparent crystal on a silver plate that contained front facial bones of the skull without mandible. The Greek lettering around the plate indicated that the bones were from John the Baptist but he could not read Greek and so went from monastery to monastery trying to get information. Walon sold the plate in order to pay for his voyage back home, brought the relic and gave it to the bishop at Amiens. This made the Amiens Cathedral a major pilgrimage site in France, and was the main impetus for building the magnificent Gothic cathedral that still stands.[13][14]

looting of Constantinople

At the beginning of the 17th century there was some confusion about whose relics were venerated in the : some claimed they were bones of St. John, the martyr of Rome, and the others that they were the Baptist's. Pope Clement VIII, to remove all reasonable doubt, requested that the canons of Amiens provide a particle of the relics of St John for the basilica. In 1604, he was given a part of parietal bone that was inserted into a wax skull, and is still kept in the basilica.[15][16] The Roman Catholic tradition holds that the bone on display in San Silvestro in Capite is a true relic of John the Baptist.[17]

Basilica of Saint Sylvester the First

The of St John's skull is said to be kept at the Topkapı Palace Museum together with parts of the right hand.[18]

occipital bone

The of John the Baptist in Jerusalem displays a purported fragment of the Skull of John the Baptist.

Eastern Orthodox Church

A reliquary at the Residenz in Munich, Germany, is labeled as containing what previous Bavarian rulers thought was the skull of John the Baptist.

[19]

It is also believed by some that a piece of his skull is held at the skete Prodromos on Mount Athos.

Romanian

tradition maintains that the head of Saint John the Baptist was interred in the once-called Basilica of Saint John the Baptist in Damascus, now the Umayyad Mosque. Pope John Paul II visited the Mosque during his visit to Syria in 2001.

Islamic

, Donatello, 1427

Herod's Banquet

, Giovanni di Paolo, 1455–1460, Art Institute of Chicago

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

, Titian, c. 1515, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome

Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist

, Caravaggio, c. 1607–1610, National Gallery, London

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

, Caravaggio, c. 1609, Palacio Real, Madrid

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

, Caravaggio, 1608, Valletta Co-Cathedral, Malta

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

, Bartholomeus Strobel, c. 1630–43, Prado

Feast of Herod with the Beheading of St John the Baptist

Scenes from the events around the death of John were an extremely common subject in the treatment of John the Baptist in art, initially most often in small predella scenes, and later as a subject for larger independent works. The following list does not attempt completeness but begins with works with their own articles, then includes many of the best-known depictions in chronological order (to see each work, follow the link through the footnote):[31]


With articles

Chronology of Jesus

Messengers from John the Baptist

Friedrich Justus Knecht (1910). . A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture. B. Herder.

"John the Baptist is put to Death" 

Icon and Synaxarion of the feast (Eastern Orthodox)

Beheading of the Forerunner

from The Golden Legend (1275)

The Decollation of Saint John Baptist

from the Prologue from Ochrid

Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

First and Second Finding of the Head of the Forerunner

Third Finding of the Head of the Forerunner

Archived 24 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Synaxis of John the Forerunner – accounts of various relics

January 7