Orthodox Calendar

Friday, March 9, 2029
1st and 2nd Finding Honorable Head of St John the Baptist

Lenten Fast — Abstain from meat, fish, dairy, eggs, wine, and oil

Service Notes

  • Presanctified Liturgy

Scripture Readings

Commemorations

Scripture Readings

Luke 7.17-30 (Matins Gospel, Forerunner)

17This report went out concerning him in the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.

18The disciples of John told him about all these things. 19John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?” 20When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?’”

21In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight. 22Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 23Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”

24When John’s messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed and live delicately are in kings’ courts. 26But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet. 27This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

28“For I tell you, among those who are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in God’s Kingdom is greater than he.”

29When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism. 30But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.

Isaiah 13.2-13 (6th Hour)

2Lift up a standard on the mountain of the plain, exalt the voice to them, beckon with the hand, open the gates, you⌃ rulers. 3I give command, and I bring them: giants are coming to fulfil my wrath, rejoicing at the same time and insulting. 4A voice of many nations on the mountains, even like to that of many nations; a voice of kings and nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts has given command to a warlike nation, 5to come from a land afar off, from the utmost foundation of heaven; the Lord and his warriors are coming to destroy all the world. 6Howl you⌃, for the day of the Lord is near, and destruction from God shall arrive. 7Therefore every hand shall become powerless, and every soul of man shall be dismayed. 8The elders shall be troubled, and pangs shall seize them, as of a woman in travail: and they shall mourn one to another, and shall be amazed, and shall change their countenance as a flame. 9For behold! the day of the Lord is coming which can’t be escaped, a day of wrath and anger, to make the world desolate, and to destroy sinners out of it. 10For the stars of heaven, and Orion, and all the host of heaven, shall not give their light; and it shall be dark at sunrise, and the moon shall not give her light. 11And I will command evils for the whole world, and will visit their sins on the ungodly: and I will destroy the pride of transgressors, and will bring low the pride of the haughty. 12And they that are left shall be more precious than gold tried in the fire; and a man shall be more precious than the stone that is in Suphir. 13For the heaven shall be enraged, and the earth shall be shaken from her foundation, because of the fierce anger of the Lord of hosts, in the day in which his wrath shall come on.

Genesis 8.4-21 (Vespers)

4And the water continued to decrease until the tenth month. 5And in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the heads of the mountains were seen. 6And it came to pass after forty days Noe opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7And he sent forth a raven; and it went forth and returned not until the water was dried from off the earth. 8And he sent a dove after it to see if the water had ceased from off the earth. 9And the dove not having found rest for her feet, returned to him into the ark, because the water was on all the face of the earth, and he stretched out his hand and took her, and brought her to himself into the ark. 10And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove from the ark. 11And the dove returned to him in the evening, and had a leaf of olive, a sprig in her mouth; and Noe knew that the water had ceased from off the earth. 12And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him again any more. 13And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year of the life of Noe, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water subsided from off the earth, and Noe opened the covering of the ark which he had made, and he saw that the water had subsided from the face of the earth. 14And in the second month the earth was dried, on the twenty-seventh day of the month. 15And the Lord God spoke to Noe, saying, 16Come out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons, and your sons' wives with you. 17And all the wild beasts as many as are with you, and all flesh both of birds and beasts, and every reptile moving upon the earth, bring forth with you: and increase you⌃ and multiply upon the earth. 18And Noe came forth, and his wife and his sons, and his sons' wives with him. 19And all the wild beasts and all the cattle and every bird, and every reptile creeping upon the earth after their kind, came forth out of the ark. 20And Noe built an altar to the Lord, and took of all clean beasts, and of all clean birds, and offered a whole burnt offering upon the altar. 21And the Lord God smelled a smell of sweetness, and the Lord God having considered, said, I will not any more curse the earth, because of the works of men, because the imagination of man is intently bent upon evil things from his youth, I will not therefore any more strike all living flesh as I have done.

Proverbs 10.31-11.12 (Vespers)

31The mouth of the righteous drops wisdom: but the tongue of the unjust shall perish. 32The lips of just men drop grace: but the mouth of the ungodly is perverse.

1False balances are an abomination before the Lord: but a just weight is acceptable to him. 2Wherever pride enters, there will be also disgrace: but the mouth of the lowly meditates wisdom. 3When a just man dies he leaves regret: but the destruction of the ungodly is speedy, and causes joy. 4Possessions will not profit in a day of wrath, but righteousness will deliver from death. 5Righteousness traces out blameless paths: but ungodliness encounters unjust dealing. 6The righteousness of upright men delivers them: but transgressors are caught in their own destruction. 7At the death of a just man his hope does not perish: but the boast of the ungodly perishes. 8A righteous man escapes from a snare, and the ungodly man is delivered up in his place. 9In the mouth of ungodly men is a snare to citizens: but the understanding of righteous men is prosperous. 10In the prosperity of righteous men a city prospers: but by the mouth of ungodly men it is overthrown. 11At the blessing of the upright a city shall be exalted. 12A man void of understanding sneers at his fellow citizens: but a sensible man is quiet.

2 Corinthians 4.6-15 (Epistle, Forerunner)

6seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. 8We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; 9pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh. 12So then death works in us, but life in you.

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.

Matthew 11.2-15 (Gospel, Forerunner)

2Now when John heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3and said to him, “Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?”

4Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”

7As these went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8But what did you go out to see? A man in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet. 10For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 11Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. 12From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. 13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come. 15He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Commemorations

First (4th c.) and Second (9th c.) Findings of the Precious Head of St John the Baptist

After the Forerunner was beheaded at the order of Herod and his illicit wife Herodias, his head was discarded in what the Synaxarion calls “an unseemly location,” presumably a privy. According to some, it was secretly recovered by Joanna, one of the Myrrhbearing women, and given honorable burial near Jerusalem. There it was found, through a revelation of the Forerunner, by two monks who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the tomb of our Savior (the first finding). Putting the head in a bag, the monks returned home. On the way, they met an indigent potter from Emesa. That night the Forerunner appeared to the poor man and instructed him to make off with the relic. He returned with it to Emesa and immediately began to prosper in his business. Just before he died, he put the holy relic in a chest, which he left to his sister with these instructions: never to open it without instructions from the one hidden inside it; and to pass it on to a pious man beloved of God. Thus the Head of the Baptist passed through many generations, eventually being concealed in a cave near a monastery founded during the reign of Marcian (450-457), whose abbot was the godly Marcellus.

The blessed Forerunner appeared several times to Marcellus, embracing him and once even giving him a pot of honey. The Baptist ordered Marcellus to follow a star which led him to the cave and came to rest in front of a niche in the wall. Marcellus dug there and came upon a marble slab, under which was a large jar containing the precious Head. The holy relic was taken with rejoicing to the cathedral in Emesa,where it worked many wonders. In the reign of Michael III (842-867), it was taken to Constantinople. It was at this translation that the present Feast was instituted.

The version given here is that of St Symeon Metaphrastes. Other sources give substantially different accounts.

The Prologue observes: “It is important and interesting to note that, while he was alive, John did not work a single miracle (Jn 10:41), but to his relics was given the blessed power of working miracles.”

Saint Aethelberht (Ethelbert), first Christian King of Kent (616)

In 597, a party of forty missionary monks, led by St Augustine of Canterbury (May 28), was sent to Britain by the holy Pope Gregory the Great, to bring the blessed Gospel of Jesus Christ to the English people. Aethelberht, who had been King of Kent for thirty-six years, received the monks favorably, allowed them to preach in his kingdom, and invited them to establish their headquarters in Canterbury, his capital city, which already contained a small, ruined church dedicated to St Martin of Tours in Roman times.

The king himself was converted and received holy Baptism at the hands of St Augustine; a crowd of his subjects followed his example. When St Augustine was consecrated bishop, Aethelberht allowed him to be made Archbishop of Canterbury and gave his own palace to serve as a monastery. The king worked steadily for the conversion of the neighboring kindoms, and in 604 established an episcopal see in London. Unlike some Christian rulers, he refused to see anyone converted forcibly.

Saint Aethelberht reposed in peace in 616, after reigning for fifty-six years. He was buried in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, which he had established. Many miracles were worked at his tomb, where a lamp was kept lit perpetually until the monastery was disbanded by the Protestants in 1538.