Beheading of John the Baptist

The gospel story

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke tell the story. Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea under Roman authority. He had John imprisoned because John had spoken against him, both for divorcing his first wife, a daughter of the Nabataean king Aretas, and for taking Herodias, his brother's wife. At Herod's birthday feast, Herodias's daughter danced for the guests. Herod, the worse for drink, promised her whatever she asked. Her mother told her to ask for John's head on a platter. Herod agreed, and John was beheaded in the prison.

A second account

The Jewish historian Josephus gives another reason for the killing. He says Herod feared John's influence over the crowds and thought it might lead to a rebellion, so he had him put to death. Josephus adds that many Jewish people believed Herod's later defeat in battle by Aretas, his father-in-law, was God's punishment for the way he had treated John. No source gives an exact day for the death. Writers place the arrest in 27 AD and the killing around 28 or 29 AD. Josephus says it happened at Machaerus, a hilltop fortress above the Dead Sea, in what is now Jordan.

Feasts of the head

Alongside the main day, Eastern Christians keep three other feasts about the head of John the Baptist. The First and Second Findings of the Head fall on 24 February. Church tradition says his disciples buried his body at Sebastia, but Herodias took the head and hid it in a dung heap. A woman named Joanna later moved it to the Mount of Olives, where it stayed hidden for centuries. It was said to be found in the fourth century and again in 452. The Third Finding is kept on 25 May, after the head was said to be taken to Comana and later back to Constantinople.

Relics and shrines

John is said to have been buried at Sebastia, near Nablus. Writers of the fourth century record that the shrine there was desecrated under Julian and the bones partly burned, yet pilgrims kept visiting it and Jerome reported miracles worked there. The tomb today stands inside the Nabi Yahya Mosque. Many places claim parts of his head: a reliquary in Munich, the Topkapı Palace Museum, a church in Rome called San Silvestro in Capite, a church in Jerusalem, and a monastery on Mount Athos. A relic carried to Amiens in France turned that cathedral into a major pilgrimage site.

How Beheading of John the Baptist is kept

Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox, Byzantine Catholic and several Oriental Orthodox churches all keep the feast. On the day the Gospel account of the beheading is read in church. It is a day of strict fasting, not of feasting. In some cultures people set aside flat plates and knives, and avoid round food. Pilgrims visit shrines that hold relics of John, and the right hand said to have baptised Jesus is remembered on 7 January.

When and where

Most churches keep it on 29 August, the day used by Catholics, Lutherans, most Anglicans, and the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches. Where the Julian calendar is followed, that day falls on 11 September in the Gregorian calendar. The Armenian Apostolic Church keeps it in Easter week, and several Oriental Orthodox churches on 7 January.

The day belongs to churches spread across the world. It is strongly kept in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Serbia, which follow the Julian date, and in Ethiopia, Armenia, Syria and India, where Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches have their own days. In the West it is kept by Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans, and it travels with those communities wherever they have settled.

What Beheading of John the Baptist means

The day honours a martyr: a man killed for telling a ruler what he did not want to hear. That is why it is kept as a fast and not as a joyful feast. The strictness reaches into small things in some places, where knives, flat plates and round food are set aside on 29 August. For the churches that hold them, the relics said to be John's keep his memory tied to particular buildings and to the pilgrims who travel to them.

Questions people ask about Beheading of John the Baptist

See also

Holy SaturdayThe closing day of Holy Week, a Saturday of waiting, fasting and vigil before EasterDormition of the Mother of GodA major feast in Eastern Christianity marking the death and heavenly ascent of Mary.Saint Nicholas DayThe feast day of Saint Nicholas, kept in Advent with gifts, shoes and church servicesSlavaAn annual Serbian family feast honouring their patron saint with blessed bread and wine

Good reading and sources

• Beheading of John the Baptist on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.