And can the suffering of John the Baptist now be compared with the glory that shone upon him from beyond the grave? "John's mortal vessel was thrown to the ground," says Chrysostom, "but the unflickering lamp of his spirit shone with the bright light of faith and those who are in hell."

After his death, John the Baptist, having descended into hell, preached to the righteous of the Old Testament the coming deliverance from their bonds by the appearance of Christ the Savior. He descended from hell with Christ after the Resurrection of Christ and was vouchsafed many crowns in heaven as a virgin, as a desert dweller, as a preacher of repentance, as a prophet, as Christ's Forerunner and Baptist, and, finally, as a martyr. The headless body of the righteous man was buried with honor by his disciples near Samaria together with the prophets Elisha and Obadiah.

His blessed head, having endured reproach from the mad Herodias, in time appeared in glory, and the light of this glory could no longer eclipse anything in the world. And the Church sings:

"Herod the fool cuts off the head of the Forerunner, but Christ makes him as the Baptist, the head of the Church, with the radiance and preaching of the Saviour who came into the world..."

And the wicked family reaped the fruits of their lawless life and their abominable evil deed against the righteous of God. Herod, tormented by his criminal conscience, saw the head of John the Baptist at his refectory during the rest of his life and heard a menacing voice denouncing him: "You must not have the wife of Philip your brother."

Salome, who at the instigation of her mother asked mercy for herself in the murder of the prophet, died in the waters of the river, falling through the ice. Her neck was sawn by fragments of ice, on which she hung, performing with her feet in the water the terrible dance begun at a mad feast.

Herod and Herodias, according to tradition, were swallowed up by the living earth. The earth was opened, and hell parted, having received their souls. And their bitter memory as lawless and murderers is preserved only in connection with the eternal memory of the righteous man, which is alive to this day.

And the example of the life of the holy prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord teaches us how to live, pleasing God, how to be saved in the world of sin. He teaches us to always thirst for the appearance of the Lord and Savior in our personal lives. He teaches us always and in everything to desire the knowledge of God's will for us.

To this day, John the Baptist preaches to us that the first step on the path of our encounter with the Lord is repentance and cleansing from the defilement of sin. Let us repent and produce worthy fruits of repentance.

In memory of the holy Prophet and Forerunner John, in remembrance of his martyrdom, the Church from the first times of Christianity ranked this day among the great feasts, for the martyrdom of the righteous became the gateway to eternal glory and joy. The Church decreed that this day should be celebrated with a strict fast in order to curb human passions, which were the cause of such grave sins, and also in memory of the great faster, who fasted all his life.

And another feature of the present day is the special commemoration of all the soldiers who laid down their lives for the faith and the Fatherland, all those killed on the battlefields, as if they were followers of the martyrdom of the holy Prophet John, who gave his whole life without reserve for the Word of Truth, for faith, for people.

And the last thing that today's feast reveals to us and what we need to inscribe on the tablets of our hearts. Divine truth leads a person who leaves the earth to "his place," to a place corresponding to his manifest desires and secret aspirations. After death, a person connects with the values that his heart on earth has chosen and loved. Already on earth, both heaven and hell begin in a person. Let us pray to the Forerunner of Christ, John, to become for us the Forerunner on the path to Christ, delivering us from the terrible specter of evil, which so often reminds us of itself by sins that invade our lives.

"Let us beseech the Forerunner to have mercy on the Trinity, to deliver us from the passions of dishonor."