Tuesday, 29 December 2026

Holy Innocents Slain by Herod

Tuesday of the 31st week after Pentecost

261 days after Pascha · Tone 5 · Liturgy · No Fast (Fast Free)

Saints commemorated

Holy Innocents of Bethlehem slain by Herod

When the wise men from the East had come to Jerusalem seeking the new-born King of the Jews and had departed by another way, King Herod, perceiving that he had been mocked of the Magi, was exceedingly wroth. Resolved to destroy the Christ Child whose birth he feared as a rival to his throne, he sent forth and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem and all its borders, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

Tradition, following the synaxarion of Constantinople and the chant of the holy hymnographers, numbers these children at fourteen thousand. The infants, slaughtered by the sword in their mothers' arms, became the first martyrs to shed their blood for Christ, though they had not yet been able to confess Him with their lips. The Church honours them as a "harvest of first-fruits" offered to God before the harvest of His apostles and saints, and sees in them the fulfilment of the prophecy of Jeremiah: "In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."

Among the slain Christian tradition counts also the small son of the priest Zachariah, who, when Zachariah refused to reveal where his son John, the future Forerunner, was hidden, was put to death between the temple and the altar. The Holy Family, warned by an angel, fled into Egypt and so escaped the slaughter, until the death of Herod brought them back into the Holy Land.

Saint Benjamin of Nitria

Saint Benjamin was an ascetic of the Egyptian desert, dwelling in the celebrated monastic settlement of Nitria during the late fourth and early fifth centuries. From his youth he gave himself to fasting, prayer and the eradication of the passions, and through long struggle he received from God the gift of healing. Multitudes flocked to him from far and near, and he laid his hands on the sick and they were made whole. In the last year of his life he was afflicted with a great and painful dropsy, which swelled his body to many times its natural size, so that he could neither walk nor lie at ease. Yet even in this condition he continued to heal others by laying his hands upon them, and his face was filled with peace. He used to say to those who came to comfort him, "Pray rather that the inner man may have no need of healing." So he reposed in peace around the year 392, glorified by God as a great wonderworker of the desert.

Saint Thaddeus the Confessor of the Studite Monastery

Saint Thaddeus was a Scythian by birth, taken captive in his youth and sold as a slave to the family of the noble Theodore the Studite. Recognising his piety, Theodore baptized him and afterwards received him into the great Monastery of Stoudios in Constantinople, where Thaddeus became a fervent disciple of his master and a zealous defender of the holy icons. When the iconoclast persecution flared again under the emperor Leo V the Armenian (813 to 820), Thaddeus was arrested with other monks of the Studite community and pressed to trample upon a holy icon laid before him on the ground. Refusing with horror to commit such an act, he was beaten with cudgels until his body was a single wound, and then dragged by the legs through the streets of the city and thrown out beyond the walls. There he lay for three days, still alive, before he gave up his soul to God around the year 818. His confession is commemorated each year on this day, together with the other saints who suffered for the veneration of icons.

Venerable Marcellus, Abbot of the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones

He was born to a wealthy family in Syria at the beginning of the fifth century. Early in life he saw the futility of worldly things, gave away all of his wealth, and went to Ephesus, where he earned his living as a scribe. There he was schooled in the virtues by his fellow-worker Promotus, a slave who distributed most of his earnings to the poor; after the day’s work was done, Promotus would take Marcellus to pray all night in the churches and monasteries.

Marcellus heard of the Saint Alexander the Unsleeping (February 25), who had settled near Constantinople with about thirty disciples, who made it their discipline to send up prayer and praise to God at every hour of the day and night. The monastery aroused the resentment of some more worldly monasteries, and the brethren were forced to flee to Bithynia. It was there that Marcellus joined them and took the monastic habit.

After the death of St Alexander and his successor, Marcellus was elected Abbot of the monastery against his will. Under his direction the Monastery of the Unsleeping Ones became a beacon of sanctity, with monks flocking to it from every corner of the Empire. The practice of never-ceasing service to God spread throughout the Empire, in both the West and the East. The monks were divided into three companies according to the language they spoke: Greek, Latin, or Syriac; each company took its turn celebrating the services in its particular language, and thus every hour of the day was given over to God’s glory. The monastery not only grew but give birth to others: The famed Studion Monastery in Constantinople was founded by monks from Marcellus’ monastery.

Saint Marcellus took part in the Council of Chalcedon, defending Orthodoxy against the Monophysite heresy both at the Council and in the years that followed. His generosity and contempt for worldly wealth were known to all: anyone who came to the monastery in need received alms, but God always replenished the funds so that more could be given. When Marcellus inherited his family’s fortune upon his brother’s death, he kept none of it either for himself or even for his monastery, but distributed it to poorer communities and to the needy.

Saint Marcellus reposed in peace around 484, having lived the ascetical life for some sixty years.

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Hebrews — Hebrews 12.25-26, 13.22-25

²⁵See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: ²⁶Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. ²²And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words. ²³Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. ²⁴Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. ²⁵Grace be with you all. Amen.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Mark — Mark 11.11-23

¹¹And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

¹²And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: ¹³And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. ¹⁴And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

¹⁵And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; ¹⁶And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. ¹⁷And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. ¹⁸And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. ¹⁹And when even was come, he went out of the city.

²⁰And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. ²¹And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. ²²And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. ²³For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.