Orthodox Feast of the Holy Innocents, December 29

Orthodox Church in America ^

[Kolokotronis]

Troparion - Tone 1

We beseech You, O Lord of mankind To accept in supplication The suffering which Your saints endured for Your sake, O Lord, And heal all our infirmities.

Kontakion - Tone 8

When the King was born in Bethlehem, the Magi came from the East. Having been led by a star from on High, they brought Him gifts. But in exceeding wrath, Herod harvested the infants as sorrowing wheat; The rule of his kingdom has come to an end.

Synaxarion:

14,000 Holy Infants were killed by King Herod in Bethlehem. When the time came for the Incarnation of the Son of God and His Birth of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Magi in the East beheld a new star in the heavens, foretelling the Nativity of the King of the Jews. They journeyed immediately to Jerusalem to worship the Child, and the star showed them the way. Having worshipped the divine Infant, they did not return to Jerusalem to Herod, as he had ordered them, but being warned by God in a dream, they went back to their country by another way. 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.

The murdered infants thus became the first martyrs for Christ. The rage of Herod fell also on Simeon the God-Receiver (February 3), who declared before everyone in the Temple that the Messiah had been born. When the holy Elder died, Herod would not give permission for him to be properly buried. On the orders of King Herod, the holy prophet and priest Zachariah was also killed. He was murdered in Jerusalem between the Temple and the altar (Mt 23:35) because he would not tell the whereabouts of his son John, the future Baptist of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The wrath of God soon fell upon Herod himself: a horrid condition struck him down and he died, eaten by worms while still alive. Before his death, the impious king murdered the chief priests and scribes of the Jews, and also his brother, and his sister and her husband, and also his own wife Mariam, and three of his sons, and seventy men of wisdom who were members of the Sanhedrin. He initiated this bloodbath so that the day of his death would not be one of rejoicing, but one of mourning.

[Kolokotronis]

Holy Innocents ping.

[lightman]

Kindly explain the icon, particularly the figures in the upper corners.

[Kolokotronis]

"Kindly explain the icon, particularly the figures in the upper corners."

At the upper right Christ, the Most Holy Theotokos and +Joseph are depicted in the Egyptian desert; on the upper left is an image of +Zacharius the Priest and father of +John the Baptist being killed in the temple on the orders of Herod when he was unable to find +John who was hidden in the desert by his mother +Elizabeth. I think the mother and child in the cave represent the Most Holy Theotokos and Christ before they fled from Herod's men who were coming to get them as shown by the soldier approaching with a sword in his hand. The rest of the icon, I think, is pretty self explanatory. Herod is on the lower left and the rest of the icon depicts the slaughter of the little boys.

Time, as we understand it, in a lineal sense, doesn't necessarily have any meaning in an icon because icons depict a heavenly reality.

[lightman]

Thank you so much. The murder of +Zacharius had me the most puzzled. In the Western calendar Holy Innocents is celebrated December 28, the martyrdom of +Thomas of Canterbury who was murdered in the cathedral is on December 29. I did not think a uniquely Western feast would have been written in that corner.

Time, as we understand it, in a lineal sense, doesn't necessarily have any meaning in an icon because icons depict a heavenly reality.

Likewise the timelessness of the Liturgy!

[Kolokotronis]

" Likewise the timelessness of the Liturgy!"

Exactly right!

[Agrarian]

I'm pretty sure that the woman and child in the cave are St. Elizabeth and John the Baptist. After Zechariah was murdered, they fled to the desert, pursued by Herod's soldiers. As I recall, the story is that God caused a cave or cleft to be opened in a mountain, and then closed it after them so the soldiers couldn't get at them.

They then lived in the desert after that. I think that St. Elizabeth died there, and St John didn't leave the desert until he returned to proclaim the ministry of Christ. That's as I recall the story.

I think the figures in the upper right hand are also St. Elizabeth and St. John in the desert, but at a later age. The figure to the right of them is the angel who cared for them in the desert. I don't see a nimbus around the child's head, as would be for Christ, nor is the woman in the traditional colors and design of robe for the Theotokos.

The upper left is indeed St. Zechariah being killed in the temple. As I recall, the impious soldiers pursued him into the Holy of Holies and killed him as he clung to the altar and prayed.

Great icon. I've never seen this before. This is a good day to remember all of the infants sacrificed on the altar of abortion in this country.

[lightman]

There are some excellent meditations, poems, and artworks posted on the companion thread posted by Salvation: www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1548166/posts

[Kolokotronis]

You may well be right that the woman and the child in the cave are +Elizabeth and +John. I've heard the story you refer to. I also have been told that +Elizabeth died only 40 days after her husband, so she wouldn't have been around when +John was standing up I am quite sure, though, that the figures at the top right are Christ, Panagia and +Joseph. If you look closely you will see there is a halo around Christ's head there. Iconographically, an angel would have had wings and the figure of the man at the top right has no wings. You are correct though that +John was cared for by an angel in the desert.

[sionnsar]

We celebrated Holy Innocents yesterday. Why the day's difference?

[Kolokotronis]

"We celebrated Holy Innocents yesterday. Why the day's difference?"

The West got confused?

[sionnsar]

LOL!

[Agrarian]

I'm working on a small laptop screen while away from home, so I will trust your view of the upper right-hand figures. I thought I imagined a wing to the right of the male figure's head, and I can't see the halo well enough to see a cross behind the child's head.

In any event, you are right that tradition says that St. John pretty much grew up in the desert alone, which would make that interpretation problematic. In western art there are depictions of the child St. John standing next to Elizabeth in the desert, but I've not seen that in Eastern iconography before.