After suffering with joy on behalf of the truth, thou didst proclaim even to those in Hades the God Who appeared in the flesh, Who taketh away the sin of the world, and granteth us Great Mercy.
The beheading of the glorious Forerunner was by divine providence, that the coming of the Savior might be preached to those in Hades.
~Apolytikion & Kontakion for the feast*
In the icon of the Resurrection/Anastasis, the central image of the composition is Christ bringing Adam and Eve out from the place of the dead (Hades). Jesus was not only concerned with ministering to those living in the world, but also with ministering those faithful in the grave. That place is now empty. It has been harrowed. Just as St John cried out in the wilderness of the world, he cried out in the wilderness of hades. Just as Christ was incarnate in the world to liberate the perishing, He descended into the grave to liberate the captives.
St John did not take any offers of glory, though Jesus Himself recognized St John as the greatest man born of women--greater even than the Prophet Elijah (Matt. 11). Those who are great in the Kingdom and receive places near the throne of Christ (St John is at Christ's left hand) are those who do not seek their own glory. They seek only the glory of King Jesus.
Like St John, we are each called to be voices in the wilderness--though in our own right. That is, we are not all called to be monastics who eat locust and wild honey and live among the beasts. But we do live in a wild world where there are moments when God calls us to speak a good word... When we're given the heavenly gift to assure someone that God loves them. These are words are as wild as St John's appearance to those who have never heard them.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
* For those who don't recognize the terms: the apolytikion is a dismissal hymn summarizing the feast, and the kontakion is a form of hymn that usually has a narrative and/or biblical theme in Byzantine music. Both of these are categorized as troparion. A troparion is a short hymn in Byzantine music, but they can appear as stanzas within larger musical compositions.
