Explanation of the icon of John the Baptist. Where is the honest head of John the Baptist kept? Prayers before the image and help
On September 11, the Church celebrates the Beheading of the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John. The day of the martyrdom of “the greatest of those born of women” is described by the evangelists Matthew (Matthew 14:1-12) and Mark (Mark 6:14-29). What happened to Herod next? Where is the head of the saint today? Why does fasting on this day mean becoming freer from slavery to pleasure?
After the death of Herod the Great, the Romans divided the territory of Palestine into four parts, appointing a ruler from among their proteges to each of them. Herod Antipas received Galilee under his control from Emperor Augustus. John the Baptist denounced the Tetrarch for the fact that he, having left his legitimate wife (the daughter of the Arabian king Arethas), illegally cohabited with Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. For this, Herod imprisoned the saint. Some historians argue that Herod did this not so much out of anger at John the Baptist, but because he wanted to protect him from his beloved, knowing her vindictive nature. Herodias was extremely angry with the prophet.
The beheading of John the Baptist occurred during a feast in honor of Herod's birthday, which was attended by nobles, elders and commanders. Herodias' daughter Salome (Salome) danced in front of the guests, thereby winning over Herod, who vowed to give her everything she asked for - even half of his kingdom. At the suggestion of her mother Herodias, who had the opportunity to take revenge on Saint John and get rid of reproaches and accusations forever, Salome asked to give her the head of John the Baptist and bring it on a platter. Herod was embarrassed because he feared the wrath of God for killing the prophet, as well as the wrath of the people, since the Forerunner was loved by the inhabitants of Galilee. At the same time, it is known from the Gospels that Herod listened to Saint John in many ways and acted according to his words - but, as St. writes. John Chrysostom, the ruler “reigned over pleasures, or rather, was a slave to pleasures.” Chrysostom believes that, most likely, Herod covered himself with an oath as a plausible pretext - in fact, the true reason for his action was the fear of losing Herodias.
And he keeps his oath, given in the presence of distinguished guests: he gives the appropriate order - and the Beheading of John the Baptist occurs. There is a legend according to which the lips of the dead head of the prophet continued to denounce the ruler: “Herod, you should not have the wife of your brother Philip.” After this, Salome, in a rage, pricked the prophet’s tongue with a needle and buried the head of the Baptist in an unclean place.
Herod continued to rule for some time after the Beheading of John the Baptist - the gospel story testifies that Pontius Pilate sent Jesus Christ bound to him (Luke 23:7-12).
The further fate of Herod and Herodias was sad. The lovers were afraid that Saint John would rise from the dead, and Herod, when he began to preach Jesus Christ, was horrified by this, saying: “This is John the Baptist; he rose from the dead, and therefore miracles are done by him.”
As time passed after the Beheading of John the Baptist, Salome, crossing the Sikoris River on ice in winter, fell under the water and the ice squeezed her in such a way that her head was on the surface and her body was in the icy water. She tried in vain to get out, but she did not succeed - this continued until sharp blocks cut her neck. Salome's body was not found, but the head was brought to Herod and Herodias, just as the head of John the Baptist was once brought. The beheading of John the Baptist also affected the fate of Herod himself - in revenge for the dishonor of his daughter, the Arabian king Arefa sent his troops against him. Herod was defeated and for this reason angered the Roman emperor Caligula. He was exiled with Herodias to prison in Gaul, and then to Spain.
After the Beheading of John the Baptist, his disciples buried the body of the saint in the Samaritan city of Sebastia. The holy head of John the Baptist was found and buried in a vessel on the Mount of Olives. Subsequent events developed as follows: one ascetic was digging a ditch for the foundation of a temple, found a shrine and kept it with him. And before his death, fearing that the shrine might be desecrated, he hid it in the ground in the same place where he found it.
In the year 452, the prophet indicated in a vision the place where his head was hidden - and it was again found, after which it was transferred to Emessa, then to Constantinople. In memory of this, another holiday was established, inextricably linked with the Beheading of John the Baptist - the discovery of his venerable head. The feast of the first and second miraculous discovery is celebrated by the Church on March 8 (February 24, old style).
During the time of iconoclastic persecution, the head was taken to Komani (Abkhazia), known as the place of exile and death of St. John Chrysostom, and hidden in the ground. After the restoration of icon veneration of St. Patriarch Ignatius at night during prayer was shown the place where the honest chapter was kept. Thus the shrine was found again. This event is celebrated on June 7 (May 25) as the Third Finding of the Head of St. John the Baptist 
John the Baptist. Artist of Andrei Rublev's circle. Around 1420. From the Nikolo-Pesnoshsky Monastery near Dmitrov.
Day of strict fasting
Beheading of St. John the Baptist is celebrated on September 11 (August 29). Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh in one of his sermons interprets the fact that the Beheading of a saint (that is, violent murder) is precisely a holiday:
“Today we celebrate the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist... We are accustomed to understanding the word “celebrate” as joy, but it also means “to remain idle,” and you can remain idle, because joy will overwhelm your soul and you no longer care about ordinary things, but this may happen because one’s hands have given up from grief or horror. And this is today’s holiday: what will you take up in the face of what we heard about today in the Gospel?”
Therefore, on the day of Beheading, a strict fast is provided, during which meat, dairy products, and fish are not eaten. “We will not be accomplices of Herod’s gluttony,” says the Typikon. The charter explains how to properly treat this holiday:
“Shall we eat meat or other delicious food? But the Baptist lived in a waterless and grassless desert - he ate neither bread nor had any other food. Do we drink wine? But he did not drink wine or any other worldly drink. His table and bed were the earth, he ate only locusts (carob pods, according to other sources - a type of edible locust) and wild honey. Instead of a bowl, there are handfuls of water flowing from a stone. Therefore, let us spend this day in fasting and prayer.”
Fasting on the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist was most likely established along with the holiday, the beginning of which dates back to the first times of the Christian Church. The antiquity of fasting on this day is confirmed by the charter of the Jerusalem monastery of St. Savva the Sanctified. It says that fasting on the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist “was bequeathed by the ancient holy fathers.”
Not eating round things is a superstition
Regarding the feast of the Beheading of the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John, there are a lot of superstitions that have nothing to do with the essence of the revered event. For example, that on this day you can’t put anything round on the table (no dishes, no plates), you can’t eat round-shaped food (that is, potatoes, onions, apples, watermelons), or use chopping and cutting objects. For example, according to the Belarusian belief associated with the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist, within a year the saint’s head almost grows back, but as soon as people start cutting bread on this day, it will fall away again. On the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist, the southern Slavs strictly observed the ban on red fruits and drinks, since it was believed that “this is the blood of St. John.” Therefore, on this day they did not eat black grapes, tomatoes and red peppers.
Of course, these superstitions spread (and sometimes still spread) among people with little church and have no basis in the traditions of the Church regarding the day of celebration of the Beheading of John the Baptist.
Where is the head of St. John the Baptist
There are several shrines in the world directly related to the events of the Beheading of John the Baptist. These are particles of the head of St. John the Baptist: the front part of the head is in the Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Amiens (Italy), part of the head is kept in the Lavra of St. Athanasius the Great on Athos, and the tomb of the prophet with part of his head is in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. At the site of the discovery of the head of John the Baptist - Eleon, Mount of the Ascension in Jerusalem - on the territory of the Russian Spaso-Voznesensky Monastery, a chapel was built in memory of this event, and the location of the discovery is marked by a recess in the mosaic floor.
In Moscow, particles of the relics of St. John the Baptist are located in several churches. For example, in the St. John the Baptist Convent and the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in Vinogradovo.
Troparion of the holiday, tone 2:The memory of the righteous is with praise, but the testimony of the Lord, the Forerunner, is sufficient for you: for you have shown that you are truly and most honorable of the prophets, as if you were worthy to baptize the Preached One in the streams. Moreover, having suffered for the truth, rejoicing, you preached the gospel to those in hell of God revealed in the flesh, taking away the sin of the world and giving us great mercy.
Kontakion, tone 5:The glorious beheading of the forerunner, a certain Divine sight, and the coming of the Savior was preached to those in hell; Let Herodia weep, having asked for lawless murder: for he did not love the law of God, nor the living age, but a feigned, temporary one.
Greatness
We magnify you, John the Baptist of the Savior, and honor all your honorable heads.
John the Baptist is the most famous and beloved saint of God, who is also revered as the Most Pure Virgin Mary. This explains why this saint has several days of veneration: on the seventh of January, the twenty-fourth of February, the twenty-fifth of May, the twenty-fourth of June, the twenty-ninth of August, the twenty-third of September, and the twelfth of October.
Prayer to John the Baptist
In most cases, the prayer to St. John the Baptist is said for:
Understanding your unworthy deeds and their occurrence;
Enlightenment of the lost;
Appeal to the Lord of unbelievers, unbaptized and community members;
To support people serving sentences;
To receive forgiveness of sins;
For a good harvest.
Warm prayers to the divine image of the Forerunner will help strengthen faith and provide help in difficult times.
John the Prophet, the Baptist is considered a holy harbinger and Savior, whose birth marked a new stage in the development of Christianity. The Genesis of John has become a model for all believers, because in it the mercy of the Lord constantly prevailed over the unclean, in order to tell the world about the power of religion, and thanks to which all difficulties are overcome in achieving the set goal, leading to goodness and patience.
Holy face of John the Baptist
There are a lot of icons of the Baptist in the Christian world, but the original of the holy image of John the Baptist has the following unique features:
A man of Jewish appearance, middle-aged, rather thin built, slightly dark, with a small black beard braided in a braid and thick wavy black hair;
His clothes were made of rather coarse material - camel wool, and he girded himself with a leather belt;
In most cases, the Baptist is depicted not in full height, but from the waist up, and always facing the person who addressed him;
John is depicted with one hand raised, blessing the worshiper, and in the other, holding a parchment containing a sacred prayer leading to confession;
And on one shoulder he holds a long cane, which is the purpose of living in a deserted wasteland and carries the meaning of a vision of the Heavenly Savior.
The face of John the Baptist is considered a model of Christian life, filled with patience and repentance, from which every Orthodox believer should take an example in order to understand the Lord's Word and recognize his holy mercy.
Miracles performed by the icon of John the Baptist
One woman shared several stories of miraculous deliverances from illnesses through prayers in front of the icon of John the Prophet. In two cases, she was prescribed surgery on the head.
“In the winter in January, I slipped and fell painfully and hit my head on the ground. Having done the necessary tests, they told me the result: damage to the frontal bone was discovered, the bone marrow was not protected by anything and, in addition, a concussion. This diagnosis was given in two hospitals: in the First City and Fiftieth Clinics . I was scheduled for an operation, but I refused to go to the hospital. At the end of January, I went to the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, friends from this temple recommended that I pray in front of the icon of John the Baptist with a crown. In the monastery they told me that this face was only recently revealed. returned home here. With great effort, I approached the monastery church. I said a petition in front of the icon and bowed before it and the crown, because I did not know that I had to put it on myself. And immediately after that I felt much better. on their own, the next morning they took a computer X-ray of my head. And the result shocked everyone; there was no trace of any cracks in the frontal bone.
The second time John the Baptist came to my aid was in April of the year 2000. When my chronic sinusitis worsened, and the usual treatment did not help, I had two punctures in my sinuses, I took a double dose of antibiotics, but the result was zero, and I was prescribed treatment through surgery. Before the day of the operation, I decided to visit the Monastery of St. John the Baptist again to pray at the holy relics of John the Baptist. I pronounced an akathist to the monk, and bowed to the face with the crown. The next morning the operation was canceled because the examination results showed that the operation was not required.
In the summer of 2002, a girl came and told the nun of the monastery about her miraculous recovery: “I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and I was scheduled for an operation to cut out this tumor, the operation had to involve cutting the skull. I honestly admit that I have never believed in the Lord. However, I decided that I had nothing to lose and, following the advice of my friends, I went to the monastery and bowed before the miraculous image of the Holy Baptist. The next day I took tests before the upcoming operation, and they showed the incredible - the tumor did not disappear.
The meaning of prayer in front of the icon of John the Baptist
The Messenger of the Lord John is truly known as the supplicant and protector of all mankind. He appears before the Almighty for all believers who offer him prayers.
It is believed that every second day of the week is the Saint’s day, and on this day it is recommended to offer a chant dedicated to this saint; it is even allowed to read not the entire text, but only part of it. And the Holy Seer Baptist will always protect you.
The chant dedicated to John the Baptist is considered one of the most powerful prayers. The Baptist is not an ordinary Saint, but one to whom prayers are offered immediately after the Most High and the Heavenly Guardians. The most famous of the prayer appeals with the help of which people turn to John the Baptist for help is considered to be the akathist.
An akathist is a fairly powerful holy text that can help Christians at any time. When a hurricane is raging inside you and you want to find peace of mind and compassion, then a chant dedicated to John the Baptist will come to your aid.
First, believers offer prayers to Jesus Christ, because he is the most important of the saints. Next they offer petitions to the Virgin Mary and the Heavenly Protectors. And after them, in importance, comes the prayer to the Forerunner. The Akathist to John the Baptist strengthens faith in the Almighty, supports during difficult times and helps to find a way out of even the most hopeless cases and gives peace and tranquility.
Requests to a miraculous icon can grant believers spiritual healing, and this in itself is a miracle. Most often, people ask John that the garden would produce good fruit in the summer and autumn, and that sinners would comprehend their actions, understand their wrongness, and begin to think about correcting them.
Another prayer to John the Baptist is said:
In cases of non-believers turning to the Lord in communion;
To establish spiritual contact between the unbaptized and the Almighty (then you must urgently be baptized in the temple);
For terrible headaches;
To obtain spiritual harmony and God's mercy;
To return to the true path and purify thoughts.
Days of veneration of the memory of John the Baptist
In the Christian calendar, the saint’s commemoration days are as follows:
October 6;
July 7;
September 11 - beheading;
January 20 - Church of St. John the Baptist in connection with the Feast of Epiphany;
March 9 - the first and second discovery of his head;
June 7 - the third discovery of his head;
October 25 is the celebration of the transfer of his right hand from Malta to Gatchina (according to the new style).
We also remind you that our will help you find many other Orthodox goods, and even buy !
With the head of John the Baptist in his hands. Amiens, France
I will not bore you with a large number of facts relating to the first and second acquisition, and will immediately move on to the moment of the third acquisition of the head of the Baptist. During the period of iconoclastic persecution, it was decided to hide the head of John the Baptist - and at the beginning of the 9th century it was transported to Komani (a city located not far from modern Sukhumi).
There are several sources indicating that in 842 the head of the Baptist was transferred from Comana to Constantinople. Also preserved is the testimony of the pilgrim Anthony that in 1200 the head of the Baptist was already divided - he saw only the front part.
Then comes the Fourth Crusade, during which Constantinople was captured. In one of the ruined palaces, the Catholic clergyman Vallon de Sarton finds the front part of the shrine on a silver platter, covered with convex crystal glass. He has to sell the dish in order to get to Picardy, where in 1204 he transports the head of the Baptist.
Since then, the shrine has been constantly located in the main city of Picardy, Amiens - and the magnificent Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens is built here as a kind of precious ark to store the head, which immediately becomes a famous and revered shrine of France. Kings pilgrimage to her - Saint Louis, his son Philip the Brave - and others. Miracles come from her: there is a known case of the city of Amiens being healed from the plague in the 17th century through prayers before the head of John the Baptist. Also, the French even developed a tradition of making peace near the shrine.
In 1958, a large pathological examination of the relic was carried out, which was carried out by famous professors of anatomy, pharmacy, surgery, and dentistry. Experts have found that this part of the head is much more ancient than the bone of a medieval man. The face type itself was defined as Mediterranean. It was also established that the age of the person to whom this part of the head belonged was between 25 and 40 years. In addition, the mark from the blow with a dagger was clearly visible on the head. And as you know, when the head of the Baptist went to Herodias, she, being in a state of possessed rage, pierced the head with a dagger.
We cannot state with certainty the authenticity of one or another part of the head of St. John the Baptist, but so far not a single fact has been found on the front part of the shrine located in Amiens that would contradict the fact that it could belong to John the Baptist.
By the way, Saint Demetrius of Rostov also mentions the presence of the head of John the Baptist in Amiens in his Lives, which means that already in the 17th century, Orthodox pilgrimages were also made to the Amiens chapter.
Icon of John the Baptist- the most revered in the Orthodox Church after the icon of the Mother of God. It is no coincidence that the widely circulated Deesis icon shows the prophet John the Baptist standing on a par with the Holy Virgin Mary. The image of John the Baptist depicts the prophet as he was described in historical chronicles: an adult man with a very thin face and body, wearing coarse clothes made of camel’s hair, belted with a leather belt, and holding an open scroll in his hands. The “charter” scroll with a quotation from the Gospel serves as a reminder that the prophet John the Baptist, with his sermons, called the people to baptism through moral cleansing from the filth of sin, thereby serving as a harbinger of the teachings of Christ. For this, in the Orthodox tradition, the prophet is often called John the Baptist, the Baptist of the Lord (Forerunner - He Who Was Before).
Sometimes in the image of John the Baptist one can see the waters of the Jordan River, where the Forerunner baptized Jesus Christ, and the scene of the beheading of the prophet, which ended his earthly life.
The icon of John the Baptist helps when praying to it in cases of epilepsy, headaches, and head injuries.
The childhood of the Holy Prophet John the Baptist is known from the Gospel of Luke. Father is the priest Zacharias, mother is Elizabeth, a relative of the Virgin Mary, descended from the family of King David. Righteous Elizabeth was barren, and the attempts of an elderly couple to have a child were in vain. One day, in the Jerusalem Temple, a priest appeared to Zechariah. Archangel Gabriel and announced to him about the birth of a son, who “many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord.” But Zechariah did not believe the good news, and Gabriel punished the priest with muteness.
Six months later, in Nazareth, the Archangel Gabriel appeared before the Virgin Mary and informed her that she would give birth to the Son of the Most High from the Holy Spirit, and spoke about the miracle of conception that occurred with her barren relative Elizabeth. Mary joyfully hurried to Hebron, to Elizabeth, and was next to her until the birth.
The relatives wanted to give the newborn the name Zacharias, but Elizabeth opposed and named her son John (given by God, God's grace). Surprised relatives demanded that priest Zachariah give written consent to this name. “His name is John,” the priest wrote on the tablet, and immediately “his mouth and his tongue were loosened, and he began to speak, blessing God.”
Soon after the birth of Jesus, King Herod ordered the slaughter of all the small children in the lands of Bethlehem, angry at the wise men who did not inform him of the whereabouts of the Baby. Mary and Jesus fled to Egypt, John the Baptist's mother Elizabeth, fearing revenge from Herod, hid with the baby in the desert. The priest Zechariah, the father of the prophet John the Baptist, died while serving in the temple, refusing to reveal the whereabouts of his son to Herod's servants. Saint John the Baptist remained to live in the desert, and stayed there, eating wild honey and locusts, dressing in simple clothes made of coarse camel hair, belted with a simple leather belt. John the Baptist spent all this time in incessant prayer, preparing himself for the main task of his life. When the prophet John the Baptist turned 30 years old, the voice of God commanded him to go and preach “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” in the country of Jordan and prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. John the Baptist baptized the people who came to him in the sacred waters of the Jordan River, calling on people to morally cleanse themselves even before religious immersion in the water. So strong was the influence of St. John the Baptist on the minds and sentiments of the people that many thought that he was Christ. A large number of disciples gathered around John the Baptist who shared his beliefs. Among his students were the future apostles Andrew the First-Called and John the Theologian.
More and more people believed in the coming of the Messiah, and finally, Jesus Christ himself appeared to the righteous prophet John the Baptist to receive baptism from his hands. John the Baptist was greatly surprised by the Savior’s decision to accept baptism from his own hands. “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” he said to Jesus, but he only answered that whatever should happen, let it happen. So Saint John the Baptist baptized Jesus. After the baptismal ceremony, the Savior offered a prayer, and a miracle happened - the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus Christ in the form of a dove and the Voice of God was heard: “You are My Beloved Son; I am well pleased with you!”
Being a pious, pure and intolerant man of any unrighteousness, the prophet John the Baptist, even after the baptism of Jesus Christ, continued to expose human sins, for which he paid with his life. One of the most powerful enemies of the prophet John the Baptist was King Herod Antipas, whom the preacher constantly branded for the fact that, in violation of Jewish customs, he took Herodias as his wife, the wife of Herod Philip, his brother. Angry, King Herod Antipas ordered St. John the Baptist to be imprisoned. Antipas was so afraid of the people's anger that for a long time he could not decide to execute the righteous man John the Baptist, beloved by ordinary people. But on the birthday of Herod Antipas, Salome, the daughter of Herodias, pleased the birthday boy so much with her immodest dance that the king promised to fulfill any of her wishes. Taught by her evil and vindictive mother, Salome ordered the head of John the Baptist to be brought to her. King Herod Antipas sent the executioner to prison and he cut off the head of the Prophet Forerunner and brought it on a platter to Salome, who gave it to Herodias. Herodias violated the head of the righteous man and for several days, in fumes and a frenzy of hatred, she pierced his tongue with needles, which spoke only the truth in his life. The body of the Holy Righteous John the Baptist was buried by his disciples. Then, on the orders of the same Herodias, the head of John the Baptist was buried in the city dump. Over the course of ten centuries, historical manuscripts record three times the miraculous discovery of the head of the righteous Saint John the Baptist.
Herod was punished for his act - a few years later, King Arefa (father of Phazela, Antipas’s first and legal wife) completely defeated Antipas’ troops, thereby taking revenge on the dishonest and treacherous king. Caligula, accusing Herod Antipas of organizing a conspiracy against the Roman emperor, exiled the former ruler of Galilee to Gaul, where he died two years later in oblivion and poverty.
The Holy Prophet John the Baptist, thanks to his unshakable faith, his selfless service to God and his entire righteous, pure life, has rightfully earned an undeniably important place in the Christian church.
The icon of John the Baptist and prayer to the image of the Baptist help people in craft professions: coopers, furriers, weavers, tailors, tanners, peasants and farmers.
The icon of the Beheading of John the Baptist is based on a gospel story. Saint John lived in the desert, wore hair wool, ate wild honey and insects, and preached the Kingdom of Heaven. He is famous for baptizing the Savior Himself in the waters of the Jordan River, dipping Him into the water three times. Christ loved St. John (who, by the way, was his cousin) and called him the greatest of men. At that time, King Herod was the ruler of Galilee. The Gospel says that Herod left his wife and cohabited with his brother's wife, Herodias. The saint openly denounced Herod for committing the sin of prodigy, called on him to leave Herodias and return to his lawful wife, for which he was captured and imprisoned. One day the king gave a luxurious feast. Herodias' daughter Salome danced, and Herod really liked her dance, and for this he promised her to fulfill any desire. At the instigation of Herodias, who hated the saint, Salome asked the king for the head of the saint. Herod was afraid of the people's anger, but he could not take back his word given in front of witnesses. The head of the Holy Baptist of the Lord was cut off.
The icon of the Beheading of John the Baptist depicts precisely this moment - the holy head of the prophet on a banquet platter. The Orthodox icon is a reminder to us of the deepest fall to which sinful passions can lead a person.
How does the icon of the Beheading of John the Baptist help?
The Orthodox Church never tires of reminding us that when we pray in front of an image, we are not addressing the icon, but directly the one who is depicted on it. The holy icon of the Beheading of John the Baptist, although it is a visual embodiment of one of the most sorrowful events in the history of Christianity, depicts the Baptist of the Lord John. They pray to the saint for various needs, primarily for the granting of repentance and purity, for strengthening faith, for fortitude and deliverance from fear of vain, worldly events. This saint is popularly considered the patron saint of artisans, peasants, and farmers. Before the icon of the Beheading of John the Baptist, it is advised to pray for a headache.
Is it possible to keep the icon of the Beheading of John the Baptist at home?
Not a single church holiday and not a single icon is covered in such a huge number of myths as the Beheading of John the Baptist. Some say that on this day you cannot eat apples and anything that is round in shape, others say that you cannot cook borscht on this day.
Sometimes the opinion is expressed that the Orthodox icon of the Beheading of John the Baptist should not be kept at home. All these, of course, are empty superstitions that have nothing to do with the Christian faith. In the Orthodox Church there are absolutely no prohibitions regarding this image. If you wish, you can buy it for home prayer in an icon shop or online store.
It is also not forbidden to embroider the Russian Orthodox icon of the Beheading of John the Baptist with beads or using other techniques; on the contrary, while embroidering, it is recommended to simultaneously pray to the saint and ask for his intercession before God.