Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist
Before his martyrdom, St. John the Baptist lived a life of profound humility, detachment, and prayer.
St. John Chrysostom said of John the Baptist:
“For he so lived as though he were in heaven: and having got above the necessities of nature, he travelled as it were a new way, spending all his time in hymns and prayers, and holding intercourse with none among men, but with God alone continually.
For he did not so much as see any of his fellow-servants, neither was he seen by any one of them; he fed not on milk, he enjoyed not the comfort of bed, or roof, or market, or any other of the things of men; and yet he was at once mild and earnest.
Hear, for example, how considerately he reasons with his own disciples, courageously with the people of the Jews, how openly with the king. For this cause He said also, “There hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist.”
St. John the Baptist resisted temptations of pride, which accompany any great feats, by focusing on God alone.
On this feast of the beheading of St. John the Baptist, we ask his intercession, that we, too, may decrease, so that Christ may increase.
Amen.
