Beheading of St John the Baptist

This is the only feast of the year on which a strict fast is kept. The Church remembers neither a victory nor a miracle, but a murder — and still calls the day a feast.

John the Baptist had rebuked the ruler Herod Antipas for leaving his wife to live with Herodias, his brother's wife. For that rebuke Herodias hated the prophet. At a banquet her daughter Salome danced so well that the king promised to grant her whatever she asked. Her mother told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Herod had listened to the prophet before and respected him, but he would not break an oath sworn before his guests, and he ordered the Forerunner executed.

Why this is a feast

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh answered the question like this:

We are used to hearing the word "celebrate" as joy, but it also means "to be left without work" — and one can be left without work because joy floods the soul and ordinary business no longer matters, or because one's hands have dropped in grief or horror. Today's feast is of that second kind.

A day of abstinence and sobriety

On this day the Church calls for abstinence of body and of mind alike, because it is intemperance that stands at the root of every sin. The tragedy at Herod's banquet did not begin with the sword but with a promise made over wine: a passion and a moment's weakness brought about what could not be undone. For that reason prayers for those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction are served on 11 September; at St Alexius Cathedral such a moleben follows the liturgy.

How it is kept

11 September (29 August on the old calendar). The strict fast holds even when the feast falls on a Saturday or Sunday: fish is not allowed. Many folk customs cling to the day — cutting nothing round, touching no knife; the Church treats these as superstitions and warns against them. The point of the day lies elsewhere: in sobriety of mind, and in remembering where intemperance leads.

The memory of the righteous is celebrated with hymns of praise, but the Lord's testimony suffices for you, O Forerunner; for you were shown to be truly more honourable than the prophets, since you were granted to baptise in the waters Him whom you preached. Therefore, having suffered for the truth with joy, you proclaimed to those in hell God made manifest in the flesh, who takes away the sin of the world and grants us great mercy.