Feast of the Beheading of the Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

September 11th on the Civil Calendar corresponds to August 29th on the Church Calendar. On this date the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of the Beheading of the Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John.

A life of St. John the Baptist can be read here. The Gospel Reading, Troparion and Kontakion for the Feast can also be found here. In addition a Homily on this Feast by St. Justin Popovic can be read here.

On the morning of September 11th 2001 many Orthodox Christians in the United States were in Church for the Divine Liturgy held in honor of this Feast. In particular, the ROCOR parish in Washington D.C. is named after St. John the Baptist. In fact the Feast of the Beheading is their Patronal Feast Day.

On that morning much of the Parish was in the Church celebrating the Liturgy when the Pentagon was attacked. I have been told that there were indeed parishioners present who worked at the Pentagon. They had taken that morning off to attend the service and thus were not at their desks when the plane hit.