The Holy Innocents, Martyrs

And this is the declaration which we have heard from him, and declare unto you: That God is light, and in him there is no darkness. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. ⁸If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. ¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

¹My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just: ²And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

²If it had not been that the Lord was with us, When men rose up against us, ³Perhaps they had swallowed us up alive. When their fury was enkindled against us, ⁴Perhaps the waters had swallowed us up. ⁵Our soul hath passed through a torrent: perhaps our soul had passed through a water insupportable. ⁶Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth. ⁷Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the followers. The snare is broken, and we are delivered. ⁸Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

℟ Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers.

And after they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him. ¹⁴Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod: ¹⁵That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son. ¹⁶Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry; and sending killed all the men children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. ¹⁷Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: ¹⁸A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.