Synaxarion for the Nativity of the Honorable Forerunner John

On the 24th of this month [June], the Nativity of the honorable, 
glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

Verses

Zachariah danced with his wife,

Not with many children, but with one great one.

The mother bore the Forerunner on the twenty-fourth.

He was testified by the Master Christ, that among the sons born of women, he was the greatest of all, and he was more than the Prophets. He even danced in the womb of his mother, and preached to all those on the earth the coming of the Savior. He went to Hades as a forerunner, and he preached the gospel of the coming of the Lord. He became the son by divine message to Zacharias the High Priest and the barren Elizabeth, born by a divine announcement and promise. He also loosed the silence of his father Zachariah when he was born, and he filled the entire world with joy. His Synaxis and feast is celebrated in his most-holy church, found in the place called Phorakion.*

* Phorakion (or Sphorakion) was an area of Constantinople where a church dedicated to the Honorable Forerunner kept the relic of his right hand, and where his Synaxis was celebrated on January 7th.

From the book Synaxaristes for the Twelve Months of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.