The Beheading of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John

14th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST — Tone 5. THE BE-

HEADING OF THE HOLY GLORIOUS PROPHET, FORE-

RUNNER, AND BAPTIST JOHN. August 29th, 2010

gratitude to the girl, he swore to give her whatever she would ask,

up to half his kingdom.

The vile girl on the advice of her wicked mother Herodias asked

that she be given the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod

became apprehensive, for he feared the wrath of God for the mur-

der of a prophet, whom earlier he had heeded. He also feared the

people, who loved the holy Forerunner. But because of the guests

and his careless oath, he gave orders to cut off the head of St John

and to give it to Salome.

According to Tradition, the mouth of the dead preacher of repen-

tance once more opened and proclaimed: "Herod, you should not

have the wife of your brother Philip." Salome took the platter

with the head of St John and gave it to her mother. The frenzied

Herodias repeatedly stabbed the tongue of the prophet with a nee-

dle and buried his holy head in a unclean place. But the pious

Joanna, wife of Herod's steward Chuza, buried the head of John

the Baptist in an earthen vessel on the Mount of Olives, where

Herod had a parcel of land. (The Uncovering of the Venerable

Head is celebrated (February 24). The holy body of John the Bap-

tist was taken that night by his disciples and buried at Sebastia,

there where the wicked deed had been done.

The judgment of God came upon Herod, Herodias and Salome,

even during their earthly life. Salome, crossing the River Sikoris

in winter, fell through the ice. The ice gave way in such a way

that her body was in the water, but her head was trapped above

the ice. It was similar to how she once had danced with her feet

upon the ground, but now she flailed helplessly in the icy water.

Thus she was trapped until that time when the sharp ice cut

through her neck.

Her corpse was not found, but they brought the head to Herod

and Herodias, as once they had brought them the head of St John

the Baptist. The Arab king Aretas, in revenge for the disrespect

shown his daughter, made war against Herod. The defeated

Herod suffered the wrath of the Roman emperor Caius Caligua

(37-41) and was exiled with Herodias first to Gaul, and then to

Spain.

The Beheading of St John the Baptist, a Feast day estab-

lished by the Church, is also a strict fast day because of

the grief of Christians at the violent death of the saint. In

some Orthodox cultures pious people will not eat food

from a flat plate, use a knife, or eat food that is round in

shape on this day.

The Beheading of the Prophet, Forerunner of the Lord, John the

Baptist: The Evangelists Matthew (Mt.14:1-12) and Mark (Mark

6:14-29) provide accounts about the martyric end of John the

Baptist in the year 32 after the Birth of Christ.

Following the Baptism of the Lord, St John the Baptist was

locked up in prison by Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch (ruler of one

fourth of the Holy Land) and governor of Galilee. (After the

death of king Herod the Great, the Romans divided the territory

of Palestine into four parts, and put a governor in charge of each

part. Herod Antipas received Galilee from the emperor Augus-

tus).

The prophet of God John openly denounced Herod for

having left his lawful wife, the daughter of the Arabian

king Aretas, and then instead cohabiting with Herodias,

the wife of his brother Philip (Luke 3:19-20). On his

birthday, Herod made a feast for dignitaries, the elders

and a thousand chief citizens. Salome, the daughter of

Herod, danced before the guests and charmed Herod. In

2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4 (Epistle)

21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and

has anointed us is God,

22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our

hearts as a guarantee.

23 Moreover I call God as witness against my soul, that

to spare you I came no more to Corinth.

24 Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are

fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand.

1 But I determined this within myself, that I would not

come again to you in sorrow.

2 For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who

makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?

3 And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came,

I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to

have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy

of you all.

4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote

to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved,

but that you might know the love which I have so abun-

dantly for you.

Acts 13:25-32 (Epistle, Forerunner)

25 And as John was finishing his course, he said, 'Who

do you think I am? I am not He. But behold, there comes

One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to

loose.'

26 Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham,

and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this

salvation has been sent.

27 For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers,

because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the

Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them

in condemning Him.

28 And though they found no cause for death in Him,

they asked Pilate that He should be put to death.

29 Now when they had fulfilled all that was written con-

cerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid

Him in a tomb.

30 But God raised Him from the dead.

31 He was seen for many days by those who came up

with Him from Galilee to Jeru-

salem, who are His witnesses to

the people.

32 And we declare to you

glad tidings-that promise which

was made to the fathers.

Tone 5 Troparion (Resurrection)

Let us, the faithful, praise and worship the Word, co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, born for our salvation from the Virgin; for He willed to be lifted up on the Cross in the flesh, to endure death, and to raise the dead//

by His glorious Resurrection.

Tone 2 Troparion (John the Baptist) The memory of the righteous is celebrated with hymns of praise, but the Lord’s testimony is sufficient for you, O Forerunner. You were shown in truth to be the most honor-able of the Prophets, for you were deemed worthy to baptize in the steams of the Jordan Him

Whom they foretold. Therefore, having suffered for the truth with joy, you proclaimed to those in hell God Who ap-peared in the flesh,//

Who takes away the sin of the world and grants us great mercy.

Tone 5 Kontakion (Resurrection)

You descended into hell, O my Savior, shattering its gates as Almighty, resurrecting the dead as Creator, and destroying the sting of death. You have delivered Adam from the curse, O Lover of Man,//

and we cry to You: “O Lord, save us!”

Tone 5 Kontakion (John the Baptist) The glorious beheading of the Forerunner became an act of divine dispensation, for he preached to those in hell the coming of the Savior. Let Herodias lament, for she entreated lawless murder, loving not the Law of God, nor eternal life,//

but that which is false and temporal.

Bread and Wine in the Church

At a recent parish council meeting (August 9)

some concerns were raised about the practice of dis-

tributing bread and wine in the church at the time of

Holy Communion. It seems that at the time of Com-

munion many are taking it upon themselves to distrib-

ute blessed bread to others in the church. Additionally,

people are being asked whether they are going to

Communion or not. This can give the impression that

you are being watched as to whether or not you are

going to Communion. The concerns raised

were that it is very disorderly, crumbs are

being spread everywhere, and that there is a

lot of inquiring as to whether one is going

to Communion or not. This was raised by

one person on the council, and echoed by

others, and all at the meeting agreed that

this is a problem. I must confess to having

been completely unaware of all this (I am

after all, rather occupied at that time with

giving the Holy Body and Blood of Christ

to people).

Brothers and sisters, this is not

good! First of all, I must state – in spite of

perhaps good intentions, nobody should be watching

their neighbor at the Divine Liturgy. And by no means

should anyone be inquiring of anyone else as to

whether or not they are planning on taking Holy Com-

munion. This is the holiest of events and casual con-

versation about it is entirely inappropriate. Also, we

are there to worship God, and our focus should be on

God, and paying attention to the service, not on our

neighbor. Nobody wants to feel like they are being

watched at church. Even if it is well-intentioned, it is

misguided. Of course there are exceptions, if you no-

tice your neighbor having a problem while in church–

you should certainly help him. But if your focus is not

on God, or the service – you will notice many things

about your neighbor that you shouldn’t be noticing!

In order to clear up confusion, let me point out

that the practice of distributing blessed bread and wine

at the time of Communion is a uniquely Russian Or-

thodox practice (the Greeks, Serbians, Antiochians,

Romanians, etc. do not usually have this practice.)

This is called in Russian “zapivka”, and ironically is

not at all intended for those not going to Communion.

In fact, in the Russian practice it is only for those who

take Communion, and just for the purpose of washing

down the Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This prac-

tice harkens back to the days when taking Communion

was rare and the handful of people who were partaking

would go over to a side table and drink a cup of wine

and eat some blessed bread after taking Communion.

Nowadays, thank God, more people are taking

Communion (as they should!), but confusion seems to

reign with regard to the ‘zapivka’! In fact, it is a real

question whether we need this practice at all. At the

OCA Northeast Ohio deanery meeting on August 12, I

discussed this practice with all the clergy present

(there were about ten priests there). Some of them

have discontinued the zapivka in their parishes, find-

ing it to not be a beneficial practice. At any

rate, it is confused with the bread distributed at

the end of Divine Liturgy (called ‘antidoron’).

Perhaps a little discussion on the origin and

meaning of these practices is in order. Before

the liturgy begins, the priest is busy preparing

the Holy gifts for the liturgy in a special ser-

vice called the liturgy of preparation or the

“proskomedia”. The cube of bread which will

be consecrated as the Body of Christ is cut out

and particles are cut out in remembrance of the

Blessed Virgin Mary, all the saints, and the

living and departed whom the priest is praying

for. This results in leftover bread that has been

used to prepare the gifts for the liturgy. This is not

Holy Communion, but it is blessed. Therefore, it be-

came the practice from the early days of the Church to

distribute this bread at the end of the liturgy to the

people. Frankly, it was nothing more than the distribu-

tion of leftovers!

In the early days of the Church, such was the

devotion that many people would rather die than miss

church on Sunday. Many did die. In the days of the

hostile Roman Empire many Christians would be

caught by the authorities going to church on Sunday

morning and would be tortured and killed for it! Yet,

the Christians kept going to church all the same. To

them it was a chance every weekend to partake of life,

to (really) eat of the tree of life. It was a chance to par-

ticipate in the worship going on in Heaven, a chance

for fellowship with their Lord, a chance to give back

to him by honoring Him by being present at the ser-

vice in honor of the Most Holy Trinity, a chance to eat

and drink at the Lord’s Table – an honor greater than

any other on earth. They loved God more than all else,

and would not even think of missing church or Holy

Communion. Brothers and sisters let us be inspired by

the martyrs! Let us follow their example. We skip

church all too often, often for trivial reasons. We miss

August 29 Kisha-Wise, Frishkorn, Gates, Mathewson

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Holy Assumption

Orthodox Church

Schedule:

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Saturday

Great Vespers 5 pm

Confessions following vespers

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Hours 9:10 AM

Divine Liturgy 9:30 AM

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CONFESSIONS Fr. Stacey can hear Confessions after all Saturday

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Communion with a very light attitude. Yet we do so to

the peril of our souls! We ought to have more care for

our salvation. No matter what our problems, if we

truly realized that we need God more than all else, that

we need Him more than even the air we breathe, that

He is the ultimate answer to life itself, and to all our

problems – that in Him alone is Life – we would never

even think of skipping Holy Communion! No matter

how tired you are, how much you need the sleep, no

matter how much you have to do before going back to

work on Monday, you need God more! And He has

promised to bless those who prioritize Him! Brothers

and sisters, we need to look at it in reverse. We need

to ask ourselves “Can I really afford to miss church

and Holy Communion?” I determined years ago that I

need God’s blessing in my life above all else. Without

his blessing all of my problems are worse or multi-

plied. And without his blessing all my happiness is

shallow and meaningless. Without his blessing noth-

ing works out in my life! True Joy is found only in God. How many of us struggle with financial prob-

lems, health problems, marital problems, or stress

problems. Or if we don’t have many problems, then

we should go to church and thank God!

The devotion of the early Christians unfortu-

nately did not last. Times changed. By the end of the

4th century after Christ the Roman Empire had become

Christian and Christianity was enforced by law. Every

‘good citizen’ was absolutely expected to be in church

on Sunday. Many were there for reasons other than

love for God. Many were not very devout Christians

but went to church because it was the law. People

started the practice of attending church but not taking

Communion. Part of this was a legitimate shying away

from the holy things. Holy Communion is most holy

and if I was living in sin but required to be at church I

wouldn’t take Holy Communion lest I “eat and drink

damnation to myself” (1 Corinthians 11:29) . The

bread distributed at the end of the liturgy began to be

called “antidoron” meaning “instead of the gifts!” It

became quite acceptable to not take Communion and

take antidoron instead. Although this became a normal

practice, it is not a good one! The Church Fathers and

the Saints constantly condemned this practice. They

argued that the blessed bread (antidoron) was not in

any way meant to be a substitute for Holy Commun-

ion. Holy Communion was the bread of eternal life

and the cup of everlasting salvation – whoever par-

takes of this – his sins are forgiven, he will abide in

Christ, and live eternally! Not at all so with the

blessed bread! They are not to be compared! Not only

so, but the Fathers and Saints said that instead of stay-

ing away from Holy Communion because of our sins,

we should repent, go to the sacrament of Confession,

and amend our lives and take Holy Communion for

the forgiveness of those sins and life everlasting! Holy

Communion is the remedy, the medicine for sin. Ab-

senting oneself from Communion for any length of

time is, according to the Fathers, to place one’s salva-

tion in peril.

To add to the confusion, in addition to the dis-

tribution of blessed bread (antidoron) at the end of the

liturgy, centuries later the Russian Orthodox Church

added the practice of those who went to Communion

to take blessed bread and wine at the time of Com-

munion (zapivka). This practice is not usual in other

Orthodox Churches. Frankly, at Holy Assumption

from what I have been told, it sounds like both the

zapivka and antidoron have been hopelessly confused

with each other. While your concern for your neighbor

is good, it is misguided. We simply should not be tak-

ing blessed bread to others at the time of Holy Com-

munion. As your pastor, and with the urging and

agreement of the parish council, I ask you to please

stop this practice. Even at the end of the liturgy, with

the antidoron, people are encouraged to come up and

venerate the cross and take some for themselves. If

you are there with a friend who is uncomfortable to

come up – then it is good to take some to him, or to

take some home for a sick friend, someone in a nurs-

ing home, etc. You should only be taking blessed

bread to those people whom you are responsible for,

like your guests or your children. The church greeters

will worry about bringing blessed bread to visitors. At

any rate the better approach is to invite the person to

come up with you to venerate the cross and take some

blessed bread for himself.

Brothers and sisters, “let all things be done de-

cently and in order.” (1 Corinthians 14:40) The bread

is blessed and with the current practice even children

are grabbing handfuls and crumbs are being spread all

over the church. Blessed bread is

supposed to be treated with respect

and care. It is better to take one

piece, shake off the crumbs, and then

eat it being careful not to drop

crumbs because the bread is blessed.

It is right to treat holy things with

care, and to behave respectfully in

the Church. May our Lord send us

His help, that as a Church we may

strive to be ever the more pleasing to

Him. Glory to his name, to the Father