11 September Friday
Old Style — 29 AugustToday
Beheading of St John the Baptist
The 15th week after Pentecost. Friday
The Beheading of St John the Baptist›
Commemoration
Tap a name to open the life
1 of 2 names — the rest are in Georgian only
All the lives for this day — 2Readings
At Vespers: 1) Isa 40:1–3, 9; 41:17–18; 45:8; 48:20–21; 54:1; 2) Mal 3:1–3, 5–7, 12, 18, 17; 4:4–6; 3) Wis 4:7, 16–17, 19–20; 5:1–7
At Matins: Mt 14:1–13 (§57)
For the Forerunner: Acts 13:25–32 (§33); Mk 6:14–30 (§24)
The tone and the day's psalms
What is a tone?
A tone is not a psalm number. It is the mode in which that week's resurrection hymns are sung — the whole week's Vespers, Matins and Liturgy are set in one tone.
There are eight tones, and they change each week. The cycle opens with the first tone on Thomas Sunday after Pascha and returns to the first every eight weeks; Bright Week itself has no tone of its own. A new tone begins on Saturday evening, with the new church week.
The Psalter is divided into twenty kathismata and, by the usual rule, is read through once a week. Appointed for this day:
- At Matins · kathisma 19Psalms 134–142›
- At Matins · kathisma 20Psalms 143–150›
- At Vespers · kathisma 18Psalms 119–133›
This is the usual rule. In Great Lent the Psalter is read twice a week, and the kathismata are divided differently.
Word of the day
If you do not want to suffer evil, do not wish to do it either. The first unfailingly follows the second. “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7).
Icons of the day's saints — from our shop
All icons →For every day — candles and incense
Candles and incense →Icon: The Beheading of St John the Baptist · Public domain





