Icons of Innocence

The Holy Innocents. As a mother I find this icon incredibly moving.

In the middle of today’s homily a baby on the other side of the temple began to cry. A minute later my own toddler began to wail, too. The priest’s voice was not overly loud and it seemed to me that he was completely drowned out by these two wailing children. I quickly exited to calm down my son. When I returned my husband told me that the priest had mentioned that babies are “icons of innocence.” What a beautiful view of young children, and so different from the “beat the sin out of ‘em” viewpoint that I sometimes hear in other Christian circles.

While there may be some differences among individual parishes, overall I really appreciate the way that children are treated in the Orthodox church.