2025

On Friday | August 29

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The Readings from the Regular Cycle

The Epistle

Friday of the 12th Week

The reading is from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians.

2 Cor. 7:10 – 16

Brethren, godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves guiltless in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong, nor on account of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your zeal for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his mind has been set at rest by you all. For if I have expressed to him some pride in you, I was not put to shame; but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting before Titus has proved true. And his heart goes out all the more to you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, and the fear and trembling with which you received him. I rejoice, because I have perfect confidence in you. [RSV]

The Gospel

Friday of the 12th Week of Matthew

The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Mark.

Mk. 2:18 – 22

At that time, John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh wineskins.” [RSV]

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The Readings for the Commemoration

2025

August 29

Commemoration of the Beheading of the Holy Forerunner

The Readings from Vespers the Previous Evening

From Menaion - - -

Is 40:1 – 5, 9; 41:17b – 18; 45:8; 48:20b – 21a; 54:1

Thus says the Lord: “Comfort, yes, comfort My people,” says God. “O priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem, comfort her, for her humiliation is ended, her sin is pardoned; for she received from the Lord’s hand double for her sins.” The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill humbled; the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places into plains. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God; for the Lord has spoken.” O you who bring good tidings to Zion, go into the high mountain; O you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God.” I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. But I will open rivers in the mountain and fountains in the midst of the plains. I will make the desert into marsh-meadows, and the dry land into aqueducts. Let heaven above be glad, and let the clouds sprinkle righteousness. Let the earth bring forth mercy and righteousness together. Proclaim a voice of gladness and let it become well known. Proclaim it to the end of the earth, and say, “The Lord delivered His servant Jacob.” If they shall thirst, He will lead them through the desert, and water shall flow from the rock for them. Be glad, O barren woman who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in travail, for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman. [SAAS]

Mal 3:1a, 2, 3a, 5a, 5c, 6a, 7b, 12a, 17, 18b, 24, 22 – 23

Thus says the Lord Almighty: “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me, and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come into His temple, but who can endure the day of His coming? And who can withstand His appearance? For He enters like a refiner’s fire and as soap in one’s wash. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver and gold. And I will draw near to you in judgment, a swift witness against sorcerers, adulterers, those who swear falsely by My name, and those who do not fear Me,” says the Lord Almighty. “For I am the Lord your God; I have not changed. But you, O sons of Jacob, you have turned away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “And all nations will call you blessed. They shall be mine,” says the Lord Almighty, “in the day that I make them My possession, and I will choose them as a man chooses his own son who serves him. Then you shall return, and you will discern between the righteous and the wicked. Be in remembrance of the Law of Moses My servant as I commanded him, with its statutes and judgments, at Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And he will turn the heart of the father to his son, and a man’s heart to his neighbor, lest I come and strike the earth completely,” says the Lord Almighty, God, the Holy One of Israel. [SAAS]

WSol 4:7a, 16a, 17a, 19b-20; 5:1 – 7

But though a righteous man may die before his time, he shall be at rest. But a righteous man who is dead shall condemn the ungodly who are living. For they will see the end of the wise man, but will not understand what the Lord purposed for him, because He will dash them headlong and speechless to the ground and shake them from the foundations. They shall be left dry and barren to the very end; they shall be in pain, and their memory shall perish. They will come with dread in the day of reckoning for their sins, and their lawless deeds will convict them to their face. Then the righteous man will stand with confidence in the presence of those who afflict him; and those who reject his labors, when they see him, will be shaken with dreadful fear; and they shall be amazed at his unexpected salvation. They will speak among themselves with regret, and in anguish of spirit they will groan and say, “This is the man whom we fools once held in derision and made a byword of disgrace. We considered his life to be madness and his death as without honor. How has he been numbered among the sons of God? and how is his portion among the saints? Therefore we went astray from the way of truth, for the light of righteousness did not shine on us, and the sun did not rise upon us. We were satisfied with the paths of lawlessness, and we traveled through impassable deserts; but the way of the Lord we have not known. [SAAS]

The Epistle

For the Forerunner.

The reading is from the Acts of the Apostles.

Acts 13:25 – 33

In those days, as John was finishing his course, he said, “What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.” Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you that fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him. Though they could charge him with nothing deserving death, yet they asked Pilate to have him killed. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead; and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus. [RSV]

The Gospel

For the Forerunner.

The reading is from the holy Gospel according to Mark.

Mk. 6:14 – 30

At that time, King Herod heard about the fame of Jesus, for his name had become known. He said, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; that is why these powers are at work in him.” But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” For Herod had sent and seized John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; because he had married her. For John said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he was much perplexed; and yet he heard him gladly. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias’ daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will grant it.” And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” And she went out, and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the baptizer.” And she came in immediately with haste to the king, and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” And the king was exceedingly sorry; but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard and gave orders to bring his head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb. The apostles returned to Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. [RSV]

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Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.

Synaxarion

From the Menaion.

On August 29 we commemorate the beheading of the precious Head of the glorious Prophet and Forerunner Saint John the Baptist.

By the intercessions of Your Forerunner, O Christ, have mercy and save us. Amen.

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Fasting Rule

Strict: Refrain from meat, fish, oil, dairy, and eggs.

It is a major feast.