On the Death of Children and the Slaughter of the Innocents (St. Paisios the Athonite)

"Having in mind that God will reward in Heaven whoever goes through trials and knowing what awaits them in the next life, this makes them able to 'endure' the pain.

Herod allowed so many crimes to be committed. He slaughtered fourteen thousand infants and how many parents, who did not let the soldiers kill their children, killed them too! The barbarian
soldiers, in order to look better to their leaders, cut the children into pieces.

Why Did Christ at His Birth Allow Infants to be Slaughtered Because of Him? (St. Photios the Great)

By Saint Photios, Patriarch of Constantinople

(Amphilochia, Question 26)

Why did Christ at His birth allow infants to be slaughtered because of Him?

Your bewilderment is beautiful and compassionate, and perhaps the answer will be no worse, but even with a softer judgment. It was necessary for Herod's villainy to become clear and obvious to everyone, and therefore, if he showed it to people who had reached the age of maturity, then nothing would prevent the tribe of flatterers and henchmen from inventing some reasons that would make a criminal murder look more acceptable, and killed by the perpetrators of considerable evils, saying that it was not proper for the king to leave crimes unpunished. When applied to infants, even the most shameless lie can neither conceive nor invent anything like that, and in all things open and unreasonable misanthropy and unsurpassed villainy of the mind, language, and hand are exposed.

St. Gregory of Nyssa on the Massacre of the Innocents

 

 By St. Gregory of Nyssa

(Excerpt from his Homily on the Nativity of Christ)

But let us now gaze upon the celestial wonders. For behold, not only do Prophets and Angels announce the glad tidings of this joy to us; the heavens, too, proclaim the glory of the gospel through their own marvels. Christ “sprang out of Judah” for us, as the Apostle says, but the Jews are not illumined by Him Who thus sprang forth.

The Magi were strangers to the promise of the Covenants and without a share in the blessing of the Fathers; yet they surpass the people of Israel in knowledge, for they recognized the heavenly luminary and were not ignorant of the King in the cave. The Magi bring Him gifts, but the Jews plot against Him. The former worship Him, but the latter persecute Him. The former rejoice at finding Him Whom they were seeking. The latter are perturbed at the birth of Him Who was announced. For, when the Magi “saw the star” over the place where the Child was,” “they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” “When Herod...had heard” the report, “he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”

Kollyva Art in Honor of the Holy Innocents

 

The kollyva art photographed here was done in honor of the Holy Innocents at the Monastery of the Prophet Elias in Erythres. Kollyva art is a monastic practice that goes back many years in which a Saint or a Church Feast is depicted to honor them. This particular kollyva art was offered by the monks to the nuns at the nearby Monastery of Holy Infants in Thebes for their feast in 2018. It depicts the Birth of Christ up top with the gruesome slaughter of an infant below as Rachel weeps for the dead children, with four slaughtered infants ascending to heaven as first martyrs on Christ's behalf. An interesting side note is the use of a wooden semantron as an elbow rest as the monks perform their task.

The Only Monastery in the Orthodox World Dedicated to the Holy Innocents

 

The Sacred Monastery of the Holy Infants was established in the year 2000 with the blessing of the then Metropolitan Hieronymos of Thebes and Levadeia (currently the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece). It is located between Oinoi of Attica and Panakto of Thebes. The katholikon of the Monastery was consecrated by Archbishop Hieronymos on the 17th of November 2007. There are currently a total of five nuns in the Monastery. Next to the katholikon is a cemetery exclusively for infants who died prematurely. There is also a playground for children.

 

Holy Innocents Resource Page

14,000 Holy Infants (Feast Day - December 29)

Synaxarion of the Holy Infants Massacred by Herod 

 

December: Day 29: Teaching 1: Massacre of the 14,000 Holy Infants Slain for the Sake of Christ

 

The Cruelty of Herod Toward the Infants and the Manner of his Death (Eusebius of Caesarea) 

 

St. Gregory of Nyssa on the Massacre of the Innocents  

 

Sermon on the Feast of the Holy Innocents (St. Caesarius of Arles) 

 

Why Did Christ at His Birth Allow Infants to be Slaughtered Because of Him? (St. Photios the Great)

 

First Homily on the Second Day of the Nativity of the Lord (Archpriest Rodion Putyatin)

 

Sins That Cry Out To Heaven (Archpriest Rodion Putyatin)

 

Homily Two on the Sunday After the Nativity of Christ (St. John of Kronstadt) 

 

Homily on the Second Day of Christmas (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

The Fourteen Thousand Holy Children of Bethlehem (St. Nikolai Velimirovich) 

 

King Herod's Slaughter of the Innocent Infants (St. Nikolai Velimirovich) 

 

On the Death of Children and the Slaughter of the Innocents (St. Paisios the Athonite)

 

Homily on the Protomartyr Stephen and the Slaughter of the Infants (Metr. Nikodemos of Patras)

14,000 Infants (Holy Innocents) Slain by Herod in Bethlehem

The Cave With the Relics of the Holy Innocents in Bethlehem    

 

How Many of the Holy Innocents Were Massacred? 

 

The Slaughter of the Innocents by Herod and the Symbolism of the 14,000 Infants 

 

The Slaughter of the Innocents: Historical Fact or Legendary Fiction? 

 

Why Did Rachel Weep For the Holy Children of Bethlehem? 

 

Macrobius and the Slaughter of the Innocents 

 

An Orthodox Response To the Death of the Innocent 

 

"Massacre of the Innocents" (a silent film from the 1910's) 

 

Hilarion Alfeyev's Christmas Oratorio 24: Rachel's Lament (video)

 

The Only Monastery in the Orthodox World Dedicated to the Holy Innocents

  

Kollyva Art in Honor of the Holy Innocents