The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

Picture is from Vespers service for The Beheading for the Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John. 

Troparion — Tone 2

The memory of the righteous is celebrated with hymns of praise, / but the Lord’s testimony is sufficient for you, O Forerunner. / You were shown in truth to be the most honorable of the prophets, / for you were deemed worthy to baptize in the streams of the Jordan Him whom they foretold. / Therefore, having suffered for the truth with joy, / you proclaimed to those in hell God who appeared in the flesh, / who takes away the sin of the world, and grants us great mercy.

Kontakion — Tone 5

The glorious beheading of the Forerunner, / became an act of divine dispensation, / for he preached to those in hell the coming of the Savior. / Let Herodias lament, for she entreated lawless murder, / loving not the law of God, nor eternal life, / but that which is false and temporal.