The Holy Innocents are the male children of Bethlehem and its surrounding region whom King Herod ordered killed in his attempt to destroy the newborn Christ. By tradition the Orthodox Church numbers them at 14,000 and venerates them as the first martyrs for Christ, commemorating them on December 29, within the festal season of the Nativity.
According to the account, Magi from the East followed a star foretelling the birth of the King of the Jews and came seeking the Child. Herod, troubled by the prospect of a rival, directed them to report back to him; but, warned by God in a dream, the Magi returned to their own country by another way without informing him. Finding himself deceived, Herod ordered the killing of all the male children two years old and younger in Bethlehem and its surroundings, reasoning that the Child he feared would be among them.
The children, though they died without preaching or confession, are honored as martyrs because they suffered death on Christ's account. Orthodox tradition speaks of them as baptized in the blood of their own martyrdom. Their commemoration falls among the days that follow the feast of the Nativity, joining the newborn Christ to the first to die for him.
