John Chrysostom, On Herodias's Dance

the wife of Philip his brother. Oh, what a strange affair! John wanted to release his soul, bound by the chain of sin, through reproof, and that man bound the one who was releasing him. But even if John was bound, he spoke out, and being imprisoned, he reproved; for he was fulfilling what was written: And I spoke before kings, and was not ashamed. For John did not fear death, but he feared not to speak the truth.

Herod killed this man; and in killing this man, he committed not just one murder, but many. For one who kills a teacher and benefactor of souls kills not one, but as many as he could have brought to life through his word, had he lived. And when did he kill him? It is a shame to say it, yet the shame is not for the one who says it, but for the one who committed the murder. For when Herod’s birthday was being celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced in their midst, and it pleased him; wherefore he also promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. But she, prompted by her mother, says, "Give me here on a platter the head of John." Oh, most wicked birthday, reeking of a prophet's murder, when he should have been entertaining holy men at his own table. For thus his twisted soul would have been set right. For with the holy you will be holy, and with the crooked you will become crooked. Instead of when he should have provided for widows, had pity on orphans, so that through many and varied prayers he might keep his own life unshaken, but now feasting with wanton men and indecent women, stupefied with much wine, and mocked by licentious women, he destroyed by murder John, the forerunner of the day's dawn; he shattered by murder John, the one who held the torch well, the lamp of faith, the light of the whole world. But by shattering this lamp, Herod darkened himself. For even if his earthen vessel was dissolved into the earth, yet the brilliant lamp of his spirit held high the light of faith for those in Hades. For being a prophet, and knowing that he was about to precede his Lord into Hades, he sends some of his disciples to him, saying: Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another? And he did not ask this, 59.524 being ignorant of him.

For how could he have been ignorant of the Lord, when he pointed him out, saying: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? For how could he have been ignorant, who had also become a spectator of the Spirit's descent from heaven, and a hearer of the Father's voice saying concerning him: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased? But he asks, how? Are you the one who is to come, or another? He did not say, Are you the one who has come; for he had come upon the earth; but, Are you the one who is to come (for it is clear he meant in Hades), or should we expect another?

b. For John said within himself that, Perhaps he wishes an angel

having been empowered to be sent into Hades, to accomplish his own work? Or perhaps he will wish to raise all with a single voice, as he did in the case of Lazarus? For this reason, being unable to judge the Master's counsel, he asks, saying: Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another in Hades? Herod killed this man. And how did he kill him? For, it says, when the birthday was being celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced in their midst. A worthy amusement for such a banquet. For where there is effeminacy and luxury and drunkenness and revelry, nothing is stable, but all things are shaken and unsettled, foreshadowing the madness of Herod. Hear, you lovers of dancers' spectacles, you who attune your own eyes to the much-twisting feet of the dissolute youths, and who enfeeble your own hearts along with their dissolute bodies; hear what a garnish of murder the whirling dance brought forth. But she, prompted by her mother, says: Give me here on a platter the head of John.

τὴν γυναῖκα Φιλίπ που τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ. Ὢ πράγματος ἀλλοκότου. Ἰωάννης τὴν δεδεμένην αὐτοῦ ψυχὴν τῇ σειρᾷ τῆς ἁμαρ τίας διὰ τοῦ ἐλέγχου ἐβούλετο λύειν, κἀκεῖνος τὸν λύοντα ἐδέσμει. Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰ ἐδεσμεῖτο ὁ Ἰωάννης, ἐφθέγγετο, καὶ φυλακιζόμενος ἤλεγχεν· ἐπλήρου γὰρ τὸ γεγραμμέ νον· Καὶ ἐλάλουν ἐναντίον βασιλέων, καὶ οὐκ ᾐσχυ νόμην. Οὐ γὰρ ἐφοβεῖτο τὸν θάνατον ὁ Ἰωάννης, ἀλλ' ἐφοβεῖτο τὴν ἀλήθειαν μὴ λαλῆσαι.

Τοῦτον ἐφόνευσεν ὁ Ἡρώδης· τοῦτον δὲ φονεύσας, οὐχ ἕνα μόνον ἐποίει φό νον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλούς. Ὁ γὰρ διδάσκαλον καὶ ὠφελητὴν ψυχῶν ἀποκτείνας, οὐχ ἕνα ἀποκτείνει, ἀλλὰ τοσούτους, ὅσους ἂν ζῶν διὰ τοῦ λόγου ἠδύνατο ζωοποιῆσαι. Καὶ πότε τοῦτον ἐφόνευσεν; Αἰσχύνη τὸ λέγειν, αἰσχύνη δὲ οὐ τῷ λέγοντι, ἀλλὰ τῷ πεποιηκότι τὸν φόνον. Γενεσίων γὰρ ἀγομένων τοῦ Ἡρώδου, ὠρχήσατο ἡ θυγάτηρ τῆς Ἡρωδιάδος ἐν τῷ μέσῳ, καὶ ἤρεσεν αὐτῷ· ὅθεν καὶ μεθ' ὅρκου ὡμολόγησεν αὐτῇ δοῦναι ὃ ἐὰν αἰτήσηται. Ἡ δὲ προβιβασθεῖσα ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῆς, ∆ός μοι, φησὶν, ἐπὶ πίνακι τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου. Ὢ γενέθλιον κάκιστον, προφήτου ἀποπνέον φόνον, ἀνθ' ὧν ἔδει ἄνδρας ἁγίους εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τράπεζαν φιλοφρονήσασθαι. Οὕτω γὰρ ἂν ἡ ἐστρεβλωμένη ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ διωρθοῦτο. Μετὰ γὰρ ὁσίου ὁσιωθήσῃ, καὶ μετὰ στρεβλοῦ διαστρέ ψεις. Ἀνθ' ὧν ἔδει χήρας οἰκονομῆσαι, ὀρφανοὺς οἰκτεῖ ραι, ἵνα διὰ πολλῶν καὶ ποικίλων εὐχῶν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ζωὴν ἄσειστον διατηρήσῃ, νῦν δὲ μετὰ ἀνδρῶν ἀσελγῶν καὶ γυναικῶν ἀσέμνων εὐωχούμενος, οἴνῳ πολλῷ καρωθεὶς, καὶ ὑπὸ γυναικῶν ἀκολάστων χλευασθεὶς, τὸν πρόδρομον τῆς ἡμέρας ὄρθρον Ἰωάννην τῷ φόνῳ διέλυσε· τὸν κα λῶς δᾳδουχήσαντα, τὴν λαμπάδα τῆς πίστεως, τὸν λύ χνον τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου Ἰωάννην τῷ φόνῳ συν έτριψε. Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν λύχνον συντρίψας ὁ Ἡρώδης, ἑαυτὸν ἐσκότισεν. Ἐκείνου γὰρ εἰ καὶ τὸ ὀστράκινον σκεῦος εἰς γῆν διελύετο, ἀλλ' οὖν γε ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ φεγγοβόλος λαμπὰς τοῖς ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ τὸ τῆς πίστεως φέγγος καλῶς ἐδᾳδούχει. Προφήτης γὰρ ὢν, καὶ εἰδὼς, ὅτι ἔμελλε τὸν Κύριον αὐτοῦ προλαμβάνειν ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ, πέμπει πρὸς αὐτὸν τινὰς τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, λέγων· Σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, ἢ ἕτερον προσδοκῶμεν; Καὶ οὐκ 59.524 ἀγνοῶν αὐτὸν, ἐπυνθάνετο.

Πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἠγνόει τὸν Κύριον, ὁπότε αὐτὸν ἐδείκνυε, λέγων· Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου; πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἠγνόει ὁ καὶ θεατὴς τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβάσεως γεγονὼς, καὶ ἀκουστὴς τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς φωνῆς περὶ αὐτοῦ λεγούσης· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς, εἰς ὃν ηὐδόκησα; Ἀλλὰ πυνθάνεται, πῶς; Σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, ἢ ἕτερος; Οὐκ εἶπε, Σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐλθών· ἦλθε γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· ἀλλὰ, Σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος (δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ), ἢ ἕτερον προσδοκῶμεν;

βʹ. Ἔλεγε γὰρ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὁ Ἰωάννης, ὅτι Μήποτε βούλεται ἄγγελον

ἐνδυναμώσας εἰς τὸν ᾅδην ἐκπέμψαι, τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἔργον ἐπιτελοῦντα; ἢ μήποτε θελήσει τοὺς πάντας μιᾷ φωνῇ ἀναστῆσαι, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Λαζάρου πεποίηκε; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μὴ δυνάμενος κρίνειν τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ ∆εσπότου, πυνθάνεται λέγων· Σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, ἢ ἕτερον προσδοκῶμεν ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ; Τοῦτον ἀπέκτεινεν ὁ Ἡρώδης. Καὶ πῶς ἀπέκτεινε; Γενεσίων γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀγομένων, ὠρχήσατο ἡ θυγάτηρ τῆς Ἡρωδιάδος ἐν τῷ μέσῳ. Ἄξιον παίγνιον τῆς τοιαύτης τραπέζης. Ὅπου γὰρ θρύψις καὶ χλιδὴ καὶ μέθαι καὶ κῶμοι, οὐδὲν βέβαιον, ἀλλὰ πάντα σεσαλευμένα καὶ ἀνάστατα, προμηνύοντα τὴν Ἡρώδου παραφοράν. Ἀκούσατε οἱ φιλοθεάμονες τῶν ὀρχηστῶν, οἱ τοῖς πολυστρόφοις ποσὶ τῶν ἐκλελυμένων μειρακίων τοὺς ἑαυτῶν ὀφθαλμοὺς συνηχοῦντες, καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν καρδίας τοῖς λελυμένοις σώμασιν αὐτῶν συνεκλύοντες· ἀκούσατε, οἷον ὀψώνιον φόνου ἡ πολύγυρος ὄρχησις ἤνθησεν. Ἡ δὲ προβιβασθεῖσα ὑπὸ τῆς μητρός φησι· ∆ός μοι ὧδε ἐπὶ πίνακι τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου.