On December 29, 2023, according to the Orthodox calendar, the Holy 14 thousand infant martyrs killed by Herod in Bethlehem are honored.
These innocent Jewish babies suffered for the baby Jesus at the behest of King Herod of Judea, who was afraid that the newborn would take away his kingdom.
God’s judgment – according to the ecclesiastical writers – reached Herod through terrible diseases that ended his life for the illegal slaughter of the innocent
These innocent Jewish babies suffered because of the beginningless Christ Child – Son of God by order of the Jewish king Herod.
When he saw himself mocked by the wise men, who worshiped the Christ Child, but did not return to him, but went away to their own country, Herod became very angry, and, fearing lest the new-born King of the Jews should take away his kingdom, commanded to kill all the infants in Bethlehem and all its borders from two years old and below. Then what was said by the prophet Jeremiah came true:
“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and wailing and a great cry. Rachel wept for her children, and would not be comforted because they were gone” (Matt. 2:17-18).
Thus the cruel Herod sacrificed thousands of infants to his unbridled lust for power, not knowing that Jesus Christ was born to establish a kingdom not of earthly rule, but of eternal salvation;
that all the wiles of men are powerless and in vain for the almighty providence of God, who powerfully and unobstructed arranges the salvation of the world;
that the life of Herod himself, who presumptuously took care of himself, would last no more than a year, and that his fate depended on God!
God’s judgment – in the words of the church writers – reached Herod through terrible diseases that ended his life for the illegal slaughter of the innocent.
The infant martyrs entered the Kingdom of Heaven not through the door of St. Baptism, but through martyrdom for Jesus Christ, which he himself called “baptism” (Mark 10:10). And with this baptism, in case of need, the sacrament of water baptism itself is replaced.
