On December 29, 2023, in accordance with the Orthodox calendar, the Holy 14 thousand toddler martyrs killed by Herod in Bethlehem are honored.
These harmless Jewish infants suffered for the child Jesus on the behest of King Herod of Judea, who was afraid that the new child would take away his kingdom.
God’s judgment – in accordance with the ecclesiastical writers – reached Herod by way of horrible illnesses that ended his life for the unlawful slaughter of the harmless
These harmless Jewish infants suffered due to the beginningless Christ Baby – Son of God by order of the Jewish king Herod.
When he noticed himself mocked by the sensible males, who worshiped the Christ Baby, however didn’t return to him, however went away to their very own nation, Herod grew to become very offended, and, fearing lest the new-born King of the Jews ought to take away his kingdom, commanded to kill all of the infants in Bethlehem and all its borders from two years previous and beneath. Then what was mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah got here true:
“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and wailing and an ideal cry. Rachel wept for her kids, and wouldn’t be comforted as a result of they have been gone” (Matt. 2:17-18).
Thus the merciless Herod sacrificed hundreds of infants to his unbridled lust for energy, not figuring out that Jesus Christ was born to determine a kingdom not of earthly rule, however of everlasting salvation;
that each one the wiles of males are powerless and in useless for the almighty windfall of God, who powerfully and unobstructed arranges the salvation of the world;
that the lifetime of Herod himself, who presumptuously took care of himself, would final not more than a yr, and that his destiny trusted God!
God’s judgment – within the phrases of the church writers – reached Herod by way of horrible illnesses that ended his life for the unlawful slaughter of the harmless.
The toddler martyrs entered the Kingdom of Heaven not by way of the door of St. Baptism, however by way of martyrdom for Jesus Christ, which he himself known as “baptism” (Mark 10:10). And with this baptism, in case of want, the sacrament of water baptism itself is changed.
