Today the Orthodox Church remembers the Holy Innocent Children killed by Herod.  Fellow blogger, David, has some good thoughts this day relating to abortion.

I find today's icon to be one of the more disturbing ones I've come across.  A lot of activity happening and very little of it good.   Here is what the OCA website says about today:

"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."

 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.

Over most of the Nativity Fast the Orthodox church has been remembering all those OT prophets who awaited the Incarnation.  Yesterday it was the Prophet Haggai.  Today the Church celebrates and remembers the Sunday of the Forefathers (and Foremothers), which is always two Sundays before Christmas .

On this day we remember all who waited for the Messiah but never saw Him.  Those like Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Hannah, Samson, Abraham, Sarah and even Deborah.   Most especially we remember Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, & Misail (known in the Bible by their Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.)  Here is what the  Greek Orthodox website says:

"As for the Three Children, Ananias ("Yah is gracious"), Misael ("Who is what God is?), and Azarias ("Yah is keeper"), since they refused to offer adoration to Nabuchodonosor's image, they were cast into the furnace of fire. They were preserved unharmed amidst the flames - even their hair was untouched - by the descent of the Angel of the Lord, that is, the Son of God. Walking about in the furnace, as though in the midst of dew, they sang the universal hymn of praise to God, which is found in the Seventh and Eighth Odes of the Holy Psalter. And coming forth therefrom, without even the smell of the fire on their clothes (Dan. 3), they prefigured in themselves the Virgin's incorrupt giving of birth; for she, on receiving the Fire of the Godhead within her womb, was not burned, but remained virgin, even as she was before giving birth.Therefore the Church celebrates the Three Children and Daniel on this day, on the Sunday of the Forefathers, and on the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ, since they prefigured and proclaimed His Incarnation. Furthermore, they were of the tribe of Judah, wherefrom, Christ sprang forth according to the flesh. The holy Three Children completed their lives full of days; as for the Prophet Daniel, he lived until the reign of Cyrus, King of Persia, whom he also petitioned that his nation be allowed to return to Jerusalem and that the Temple be raised up again, and his request was granted. He reposed in Peace, having lived about eighty-eight years. His prophetical book, which is divided into twelve chapters, is ranked fourth among the greater Prophets. "

Let us offer praise to the fathers,

Who shone forth before and during the Law;

With righteous minds they served the Lord and Master

Who shone forth from the Virgin,

And now they delight in the unending Light.

 Let us hear the divine words of those who cry aloud,

Telling of the coming of the Christ.

For behold, He is born in a cave of an unwedded Maiden

And His awesome birth is foretold to the Weise Men

By the suddenly appearing star.

matins of the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers