Today, Friday August 29th, we commemorate the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. The day is observed with a strict fast to emphasize the solemnity of the day. There are various icons of the Baptist that show his “head on a silver platter,” which is because of the manner in which he was executed. It was Herod the King who granted this the request of Salome, the daughter of Herodias, when she danced for him at his birthday celebration.
In many if not most of these icons, St. John is also depicted with wings. The meaning of the head on the silver platter is clear enough, but have you ever wondered why the Baptist is depicted with wings in our Orthodox iconographic tradition?
The wings indicate that he was a divine messenger sent to precede and announce the entry of the Messiah into human history. He is the one who fulfills the Prophet Isaiah’s words, “A voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” He is the fulfillment of Elijah, who was taken to heaven and would return to announce the Messiah.
In Greek, evangelos (from which we get the words "angel" and "evangelist") literally means “good messenger,” or “the bearer of good news.” This was who John was.
He inaugurates the Gospel, already from his mother's womb when he leaped for joy when his mother Elizabeth was greeted by Mary the Theotokos. He welcomes the coming of Christ, and rejoices in being "the friend of the bridegroom," whom he points out as "the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sin of the world." Going before Jesus "in the spirit and power of Elijah", John bears witness to Christ in his preaching, by his Baptism of conversion, and through his martyrdom.
He is understood as holding a special place among the saints: He is a heavenly man, described as the “Angel of the Desert” (that is, the “messenger” in the wilderness).
The Baptist’s life in the desert, according to tradition, was “angelic” for two main reasons. One of them is quite self-evident: as he proclaimed the coming of the Messiah, he became a messenger of God, a “herald,” just like the angels. But also, the Baptist is the prototype of monastic life: He lived a life of prayer, abstinence, and chastity, disregarding material needs. This has been often referred to as an “angelic” life, and that’s the reason the Baptist is the patron saint of the ascetic life.
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