1Thus says the Lord: Comfort, comfort my people, says God. Priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem. Comfort her, because her humiliation has been completed; for her has sin has been abolished, because she has received from the Lord’s hand double for her sins. A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every valley will be filled and every mountain and hill made low; what is crooked will become straight, and the rough ways will be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Go up onto a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Sion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem. Lift it up, do not be afraid. I the Lord God, I, the God of Israel, will hearken and will not forsake them; but I will open rivers from the mountains and springs in the middle of plains. I will turn the wilderness into water meadows and the thirsty earth with water courses. Let the heavens rejoice from on high and let the clouds rain justice. Let the earth sprout and blossom with mercy and justice. Announce a voice of gladness to the end of the earth and let this be heard: Say that the Lord has delivered his servant Jacob. And if they thirst through deserts, he will bring water for them from a rock. Rejoice you barren who have never given birth, break out and shout, you who have never known birth pangs, for the children of the deserted are more than those of her who has a husband.
Composite 9 - Malachi 3, 4 (Vespers)
1Thus says the Lord Almighty: See, I am sending my Angel, my messenger, before your face, who will prepare your way before you. And the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple. And who will endure the day of his entrance? And who will withstand at his appearing? Because he will enter like fire in a smelting furnace and like the lye of launderers. And he will come to you in judgement; and he will be a swift witness against the wicked and against adulteresses and against those swear falsely in his name and those who do not fear him, says the Lord Almighty. Because I am the Lord your God, and I have not changed and you, children of Jacob, have perverted the laws and not kept them. Therefore turn back to me and I will turn back to you, says the Lord Almighty. And all the nations will call you blessed and you will know that I am the Lord who discern between just and lawless on the day on which I make a peculiar possession of those who love me. Know then and remember the law of Moses my servant, as I gave him commandment on Horeb, to all Israel ordinances and judgements. And see, I will send you Elias the Thesbite, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes; he will turn again the heart of father to son and of a man to his neighbour, lest when I come I smite the earth grievously, says the Lord Almighty, God the Holy One of Israel.
Composite 3 - Wisdom of Solomon 4, 5 (Vespers)
1A just man if he comes to his end will be at rest. A just man who dies will condemn the ungodly who are alive; for they will see the end of a just man and will not understand what they counselled concerning him. For the Lord will break the ungodly, render them voiceless and cast them headlong, and he will shake them from the foundations and they will be utterly worsted in sorrow, and their memory shall perish. They shall come with fear at the accounting of their sins, and their iniquities will convict them to their face. Then the just will stand with much boldness in the face of those who afflicted him and made his toils of no account. When they see this they will be troubled with great fear and will be amazed at the wonder of his salvation. For they will say as they repent and with anguish they will groan and say: Is this he whom we fools once made a laughing stock and a byword of reproach? We reckoned his life folly and his end dishonour. How has he been numbered among the children of God and his lot with the Saints? Therefore we have erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousness has not shone on us and the sun has not dawned on us. We have been filled with paths of lawlessness and destruction and journeyed through trackless paths, but have not known the way of the Lord.
Matthew 14.1-13
(Matins Gospel)
1At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus,
2and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptizer. He is risen from the dead. That is why these powers work in him.”
3For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
4For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
5When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.
6But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced among them and pleased Herod.
7Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.
8She, being prompted by her mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.”
9The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given,
10and he sent and beheaded John in the prison.
11His head was brought on a platter and given to the young lady; and she brought it to her mother.
12His disciples came, took the body, and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
13Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place apart. When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.
2 Corinthians 4.13-18 (Epistle)
13But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” We also believe, and therefore we also speak,
14knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also through Jesus, and will present us with you.
15For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
16Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day.
17For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,
18while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Acts 13.25-33
(Epistle, Forerunner)
25As John was fulfilling his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
26“Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you.
27For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn’t know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.
28Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed.
29When they had fulfilled all things that were written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
30But God raised him from the dead,
31and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people.
32We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers,
33that God has fulfilled this to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your father.’
Matthew 24.27-33, 42-51 (Gospel)
27For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
28For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures gather together.
29“But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;
30and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
31He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
32“Now from the fig tree learn this parable: When its branch has now become tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near.
33Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors.
42Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.
43But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
44Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.
45“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?
46Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.
47Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.
48But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’
49and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,
50the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it and in an hour when he doesn’t know it,
51and will cut him in pieces and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.
Mark 6.14-30
(Gospel, Forerunner)
14King Herod heard this, for his name had become known, and he said, “John the Baptizer has risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.”
15But others said, “He is Elijah.” Others said, “He is a prophet, or like one of the prophets.”
16But Herod, when he heard this, said, “This is John, whom I beheaded. He has risen from the dead.”
17For Herod himself had sent out and arrested John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for he had married her.
18For John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
19Herodias set herself against him and desired to kill him, but she couldn’t,
20for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he did many things, and he heard him gladly.
21Then a convenient day came when Herod on his birthday made a supper for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee.
22When the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those sitting with him. The king said to the young lady, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”
23He swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.”
24She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” She said, “The head of John the Baptizer.”
25She came in immediately with haste to the king and requested, “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptizer on a platter.”
26The king was exceedingly sorry, but for the sake of his oaths and of his dinner guests, he didn’t wish to refuse her.
27Immediately the king sent out a soldier of his guard and commanded to bring John’s head; and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
28and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the young lady; and the young lady gave it to her mother.
29When his disciples heard this, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb.
30The apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus, and they told him all things, whatever they had done, and whatever they had taught.
Commemorations
The Beheading of the Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
The story is told in the Gospels, and cannot be told better here. Today is kept as a strict fast day, on whatever day of the week it falls. Because the holy Forerunner’s head was brought to Herod on a platter, it is a pious custom not to eat anything from a plate or platter today.
Our Holy Mother Theodora of Salonica (879)
“A wealthy and devout woman, she lived on the island of Aegina, but, when the Arabs over-ran the island, she moved to Salonica. There, she gave her only daughter to a monastery, where she received the monastic name Theopista. Her husband Theodorinus died very soon, and then Theodora became a nun. She was a great ascetic. She often heard angelic singing, and would say to her sisters: ‘Don’t you hear how wonderfully the angels are singing in heavenly light?’ She entered into rest in 879, and a healing myrrh flowed from her body, which gave healing to many.