The First and Second Finding of the Head of the Forerunner

Sunday Evening Vespers: Blessed is the man.

Lord I have Cried, Tone 8, on 10: Triodion 4 (I have sinned against Thee countless times); Forerunner 6 (Rejoice, O sacred and light-bearing head); G: Forerunner (The divinely preserved head); N: Theotokion in the Menaion (Who doth not call thee blessed).

Entry; O Gladsome Light; Great Prokimenon, Tone 8: Turn not Thy countenance away from Thy servant.

Three readings for the Forerunner from the Menaion.

Vouchsafe, O Lord.

Litany: Let us complete our evening prayer unto the Lord.

Aposticha: Triodion (Stichera and verses, beginning with Throwing off from my unruly mind), G: Forerunner (Like a most precious shrine); N: Theotokion, Tone 2 (O new wonder).

Now lettest Thou Thy servant.

Troparia: Forerunner (The head of the Forerunner); G/N: Resurrectional Theotokion, Tone 4 (The mystery hidden). Litany: Have mercy on us, O God. Prayer of St. Ephraim, with 3 prostrations. Then the usual Dismissal.

Small Compline: Canon and Stichera for St Stephen the Wonderworker (from March 28, Great Friday).

Matins: The usual beginning for daily Matins.

God is the Lord, Tone 4; Troparia: Forerunner (The head of the Forerunner) x2; G/N: Resurrectional Theotokion, Tone 4 (The mystery hidden).

After the Kathismas 4 & 5, Sessional Hymns of the Triodion, no litany. After Kathisma 6, small litany and sessional hymns of the Forerunner (As a divine treasure; G: Freed from the impassable bosom of the earth; N: Theotokion (Never can we, thy servants)).

Polyeleos and Magnification of the Forerunner: We magnify thee, O John, baptizer of the Savior, and we all honor the finding of thy venerable head. Psalm verse: Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord; in His commandments shall he greatly delight.

Small litany.

Sessional hymn of the Forerunner (Like a pearl was the head of the Baptist concealed); G/N: Theotokion (We ever give thee thanks).

Hymns of Ascents, First Antiphon, Tone 4: From my youth.

Prokimenon of the Forerunner, Tone 4: There will I make to spring forth a horn for David, I have prepared a lamp for my Christ.

Matins Gospel: Luke 7:17-30 (§31)

Psalm 50; G: Through the prayers of the Forerunner; N: Through the prayers of the Theotokos; Have mercy on me, O God; Sticheron of the Forerunner (The precious head of the Baptist of Christ). Save, O God, Thy people.

Canon: Odes 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7:

Forerunner (w/Irmos) 8 Holy Great John, Forerunner of the Lord, pray to God for us.

Irmos of the canon of the Forerunner.

Katavasia: I shall open my mouth.

Odes 1, 8, & 9:

Forerunner (w/Irmos) 6 Holy Great John, Forerunner of the Lord, pray to God for us.

Triodion (2 canons) 8 Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.

Irmos of the canon of the Forerunner.

Katavasia: The Irmos of the second Canon of the Triodion.

After Ode 3, Sessional hymn of the Forerunner (Like a treasure laid up in a hiding place); G/N: Theotokion (Mystically receiving in his mind).

After Ode 6, Kontakion (O prophet of God and Forerunner of grace) and Ikos of the Forerunner.

At Ode 9, More honorable.

Exapostilaria: Forerunner (Thy precious and luminous head); G/N: Theotokion (The divinely wise assembly of the faithful).

The Praises (all the verses are read, down to Praise Him for His mighty acts), with 4 stichera of the Forerunner (They most precious head), G: Forerunner (Faithfully receiving); N: Theotokion (O right loving God and Savior). Small Doxology is read; Litany: Let us complete our morning prayer.

Aposticha of the Triodion (Clothed in the filthy garment of my sins) with the usual refrains; G: Forerunner (The precious head of the Baptist of Christ – written after the Matins Gospel); N: Theotokion (The Archangel’s words – See The Common Theotokia: Theotokia in the Eight Tones in the Appendix of the Menaion). It is good to give praise x1; Trisagion prayers; Troparia: Forerunner (The head of the Forerunner); G/N: Resurrectional Theotokion, Tone 4 (The mystery hidden).

Litany: Have mercy on us, O God; followed by the Prayer of St. Ephrem, with 3 Great Prostrations.

No dismissal for Matins, but instead the First Hour is begun.

First Hour with no kathisma. Troparion: Forerunner; Kontakion: Forerunner. At the end, three Great prostrations with the prayer of St. Ephrem. Then immediately (no concluding Trisagion) O Christ, the true Light. Dismissal.

Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours: With Kathismas (7, 8, 9).

At the end of each hour, 3 Great Prostrations, with the prayer of St. Ephrem.

Troparion: Forerunner; Kontakion: Forerunner.

At the 6th Hour, the Troparion of the prophecy; and the prokimena and reading from the Triodion.

Typika: The Typical psalms are not read. The Beatitudes are read quickly, without refrains, and without prostrations. After Remit, pardon, forgive, O God. & Our Father:

In a Temple of the Lord: Kontakion of the Temple; G: Forerunner; N: O Protection of Christians. In a Temple of the Theotokos: Kontakion of the Forerunner; G/N: Temple. In a Temple of a Saint: Kontakion of the Forerunner; G: Temple; N: O Protection of Christians.

The Typica ends as follows: after the Prayer of St. Ephrem with 3 Great Prostrations, then immediately: O All-Holy Trinity. Priest: Wisdom! Choir: It is truly meet. Priest: O Most Holy Theotokos. Choir: More honorable. And the Dismissal as usual.

Vespers with the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: Kathisma 18.
Lord, I have cried, Tone 2, on 10: Triodion 6 (O Loving Father x2; Because the holy martyrs intercede – from the Vespers Aposticha, LTS, p. 133; With grateful souls, and the following two stichera written at Lord, I have cried, LTS, p. 132); Forerunner 4 (Rejoice, O sacred and light-bearing head); G: Forerunner (The divinely preserved head); N: Theotokion (No one who hath recourse to thee – See The Common Theotokia: Theotokia in the Eight Tones in the Appendix of the Menaion).

Entrance with the Gospel; O Gladsome Light; Prokimenon of the Triodion, Tone 4: In God we will boast all the day long, and in Thy name will we give praise in the age to come. Reading: Gen. 6:9-22. Prokimenon of the Triodion, Tone 6: I shall commemorate thy name in every generation and generation. Reading: Prov. 8:1-21.

Let my prayer arise, Prayer of St. Ephrem with three bows. A small litany is not said (as at a Vesperal Liturgy). Prokimenon, Tone 6: The righteous man shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in Him. Epistle: II Cor. 4:6-15 (§176). Alleluia: Tone 4. Gospel: Matt. 11:2-15 (§40); and the rest of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Communion verse: O taste and see. & In everlasting remembrance. At the Dismissal, the Forerunner is commemorated as well as the saint of the coming day, St. Tarasius.