The martyric death of St. John the Baptist in the 32nd year after the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ was recorded by the Evangelists Matthew and Mark.
After the Baptism of Our Lord, St. John the Baptist was thrown into prison by Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee. (After the death of Herod the Great, the Romans divided Palestine into four parts, each to be ruled by a Roman henchman. Herod Antipas was appointed the ruler of Galilee by the Roman emperor Augustus.) The Prophet of God openly denounced Herod for having abandoned his lawful wife, daughter of Aretas, the Arabian king, and for cohabiting unlawfully with Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his nobles, dignitaries and officers. Salome, Herodias' daughter, danced before the guests and greatly pleased Herod. In gratitude to the maiden, Herod swore that he would give her whatever she asked, even unto one half of his kingdom. Following the advice of her wicked mother, Herodias, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist on a salver. This saddened Herod for he feared the wrath of God which would visit him if he were to murder the prophet whose words he himself had heeded in the past. He was also afraid of the people who loved the Forerunner. But because of his rash promise, made in front of his guests, he felt obliged to order St. John to be beheaded and his head given to Salome. Tradition has it that the mouth of the severed head of the prophet of repentance opened just once more to utter these words: 'Herod, thou shouldst not have the wife of Philip thy brother." Salome took the head on the salver and brought it to her mother. The enraged Herodias took a needle and with it repeatedly stabbed the tongue of the prophet and buried his holy head in an unclean place. But the pious Johanna, wife of Herod's steward Huza placed the head in a clay vessel and interred it on the Mount of Olives where Herod owned a piece of land. The body of St. John was claimed the same night by his disciples and buried in Sebaste, the place where his villainous execution had taken place. Herod continued to rule for a while after the murder of St. John. Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea sent to him Christ, who was bound with ropes, and Herod mocked Him.
God's judgment befell Herod, Herodias and Salome even in their lifetimes. As Salome was crossing the frozen river Sikoris, she fell through the ice and was crushed by it in such a manner that her body floated in the water while her head stayed above ice. As once her feet had danced on the ground now her limbs writhed helplessly in the icy water. Thus she remained until the sharp ice severed her neck. Her headless body was never found; her severed head was brought to Herod and Herodias just as the head of St. John the Baptist had been brought to them as an earlier time. The Arabian king, Aretas, moved his armies against Herod to avenge the shame of his discarded daughter. Having suffered defeat, Herod incurred the wrath of Caesar Gaius Caligula (3741 A.D.) and was exiled, together with Herodias, to Gaul and thence to Spain. Tradition has it that they both perished there in an earthquake.
In order to commemorate the beheading of St. John the Baptist, the Church observes that day as a feast day and prescribes strict fasting as an expression of the sorrow the Christians feel over the violent death of the great Prophet. Since 1769, when Russia was at war with Poland and Turkey, the Russian Church has been commemorating on this day also all soldiers killed on the field of battle.