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Pilgrimage in the Holy Land

St John Phocas, tr. Stewart, 1889

Chapter 12

At a distance of one day’s journey from hence stands the city of Sebaste,¹ which Herod the Tetrarch restored in honour of Cæsar; wherein Herod the lesser cut off the venerable head of John the Baptist, than whom there was none greater among those born of women, in the very midst of a feast. In the midst of this city is the prison into which he was cast because of his reproofs of Herodias, and wherein he was beheaded. This prison is subterranean, and twenty steps lead down to it; in the midst of it is an altar standing upon the place where he was beheaded by the soldier.² On the right-hand of this altar is a coffin, wherein is placed the body of the holy Zacharias, the father of the Forerunner; and on the left-hand is another coffin, wherein lies the body of the holy Elizabeth, his mother. On each side of the prison are stored up the remains of various saints and of the disciples of the Forerunner. Above the prison stands a church, wherein have been placed two coffins, wrought of white marble, whereof the one on the right-hand contains the dust of the burned body³ of the venerable Forerunner, the other the body of the prophet Elisæus; and above, in a golden vessel, the left hand of the Forerunner, itself also covered everywhere with gold. In the midst of the upper part of the city stands a hill, upon which in ancient times stood Herod’s palace, where the feast took place, and where that wicked damsel danced and received the sacred head of the Baptist as the reward for her dancing. At the present day, however, the place has become a Roman monastery. The church of this monastery is covered by a vault. On the left side of the altar is a little cell, in the midst of which is a medallion of marble, lying at the bottom of a very deep excavation, wherein was made the discovery of the sacred head of the Forerunner, revered by angels, which had been buried in that place by Herodias.

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