December 29, 2018. + Orthodox Calendar

Orthodox Calendar 2018

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Святые мученики 14000 младенцев от Ирода в Вифлееме избиенные

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Old Style

December 29

Friday

New Style

January 11

33rd Week after Pentecost. Tone 7.

No fast.

The 14,000 Infants (Holy Innocents) slain by Herod at Bethlehem (1st c.). St. Marcellus, abbot, of the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones, Constantinople (485). St. Basiliscus of Turinsk (Siberia) (1824).

St. Thaddeus, confessor, of the Studion (818). St. Mark the Grave-digger, of the Kiev Caves (11th c.). Sts. Theophilus and John, of the Kiev Caves (11th-12th c.). St. Theophilus, abbot, of Luga and Omutch (Pskov), disciple of St. Arsenius of Konevits (ca. 1412). St. Lawrence of Chernigov (1950). St. Job (Knyaginitsky), founder of Manyava Skete (Ukraine) (1621).

St. Trophimus, first bishop of Arles (3rd c.). St. Benjamin, monk, of Nitria in Egypt (392). St. Athenodorus, disciple of St. Pachomius the Great (4th c.). St. Evroult (Ebrulf ), abbot, of Ouche in Normandy (596). St. George, bishop of Nicomedia (9th c.).

Commemoration of all Orthodox Christians who have died from hunger, thirst, the sword, and freezing.

Articles

The Holy Innocents Killed by Herod

Fr. Ernesto Obregon

But Herod was a relative amateur in comparison to those who perform abortions today. What Herod did, he did in a fit of jealous rage, a jealousy not for a woman but to preserve his kingdom. What the Nazis did far surpassed anything that Herod did. But, what the Nazis did, they did by brute force, like rabid dogs who bit everything about them. But, not such for those who perform abortions.

The Holy Infants of Bethlehem

Thus did the terrible prophecy of Jeremiah come true for the mothers of the generations of Benjamin: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more” (Mt. 2:18). Rachael’s grave is in Bethlehem, and she seemed to rise from it that very day to share the sorrow and tears of those mothers. Their sons had died for Christ and in place of Christ, and became the seed and flower of all martyrs to come.

The Massacre of 14,000 Holy Innocent Infants, In Bethlehem and its Borders

Archimandrite Nektarios (Serfes)

Seeing that we are Orthodox Christians by Baptism, let us fulfill the grace that has been poured out upon us every day of our lives remembering that each and every one of us are indeed precious in the sight of our Lord. And as we are precious in Christ our Lord, so too are those who are with child, and those who are about to give birth.

14,000 Infants (the Holy Innocents) slain by Herod at Bethlehem

Herod finally realized that his scheme to find the Child would not be successful, and he ordered that all the male children two years old and younger at Bethlehem and its surroundings be killed. He thought that the divine Infant, Whom he considered a rival, would be among the dead children.