Feast of the Holy Innocents 28th December 2018. St Paul’s Athens
Rev Canon L W Doolan
Most of the details surrounding the birth of Jesus come from St. Luke’s gospel. However Matthew gives some additional material such as the visit of the Magi to the Christ-child; the Flight into Egypt, a much ignored little piece of information but of course the subject of much icon interest and not surprisingly of great importance to Coptic Christians in Egypt; and the story that we recount today – namely the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents.
Herod the Great was a wily man, and a brittle ruler – he felt vulnerable under the Roman authorities, and was jealous of his own powers. He seeks to trick the Wise Men into telling him where they find the child Messiah. They are wise before the event and being warned in a dream, the place of so much human wisdom, they return back to their mysterious homes by a different route.
Also by a dream, and not for the first time, Joseph leads his wife and child to Egypt for safety. They remained there until this crafty fox Herod had died.