On September 11, 2023, on the day of the commemoration of the Beheading of the Holy Prophet John the Baptist, His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir, surrounded by an assembly of priests and deacons, celebrated the Holy and Divine Liturgy at the Metropolitan Cathedral “Nativity of the Lord” in the municipality of Chisinau, in the presence of the faithful who came to listen to the wisdom of the Gospel and to receive spiritual nourishment and edification.
During the Divine Liturgy, the subdeacon Veaceslav Bumbac, a graduate of the Moscow Academy of Theology, class of 2021, was ordained by His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir as a deacon.
Throughout the Orthodox world, including in our country, St. John the Baptist is highly honored among Christians, as evidenced by the widespread use of his name among the faithful, as well as the large number of Christians present on this day at holy services in holy places.
On this occasion, in today’s sermon delivered by the Cathedral Dean and Metropolitan Secretary protopriest Vadim Cheibas, with the blessing of the First Hierarch, it was pointed out that the Orthodox Church has ordained that this feast should be honoured by fasting on any day of the week, in memory of the most austere faster and zealous preacher of repentance. On this day we should not only refrain from eating certain foods, but also keep a deeper, spiritual fast, and no noisy manifestations are allowed. Let this day be a feast of meditation and let us see what we can do to put into practice the words spoken by the Holy Prophet and Forerunner John the Baptist.
At the same time, the Metropolitan Secretary said that each of the faithful must know that in the person of the Lord’s Forerunner they have a great intercessor before the Righteous Judge, to whom we must pray with great love and trust.
St. John the Baptist, in the history of the Church, is recorded as the last great prophet of the Old Testament, the one who made the transition to the New Testament period.
He died as a martyr, beheaded, at the command of King Herod. In Scripture, St John is portrayed as a great ascetic, dressed in a camel’s hair robe, eating locusts and wild honey.
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