28/08/2026
TODAY - THE BEHEADING OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST - STRICT FAST
August 29
This great Forerunner of the Lord, according to the testimony of the Master Christ, was the greatest man to have ever been born of any woman, and the foremost of the Prophets. It was he who leaped for joy in the womb of his mother, and preached Christ to those people living on earth, and to the souls of the dead found in Hades.
He was the son of Zachariah the High Priest and Elizabeth, having been born after it was announced by the Archangel Gabriel. He was beheaded today by Herod Antipas, because he rebuked him for his unlawful mingling with Herodias. It was this great John who was clothed in holiness in the womb of his mother. It was he who had virginity and purity inhabiting his soul, and wholeheartedly loved prudence. It was he who practiced fasting and non-eating, and set himself apart from all contact with people. It was he who dwelled in the desert, and had contact with the wild beasts, and was covered with the hair of a camel, and girded himself at the waist with a leather belt. It was he who had his food prepared and ready like the birds, and was made worthy to exceed the laws of nature, and to baptize the pure and immaculate Christ, Who is beyond all nature. For this reason such a great Saint, having always studied the Law of God, considered all things in the world as second and below to keeping this divine law.
