On January 11, the Orthodox Church commemorates the 14,000 infant martyrs who perished by order of King Herod in Bethlehem and its surroundings. According to the church calendar, this feast is not observed with particular attention or splendor, although it has a serious foundation: the event that became the basis of the celebration is described in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt. 22:1-18). According to Greek and Ethiopian legends, the number of slain infants reached 14,000. In the vicinity of Bethlehem, caves are still pointed out where, according to local traditions, mothers hid from Herod's soldiers and where they perished together with their children. From the new year, alongside the traditional grand celebration of the Nativity of Christ, the Volyn Eparchial Administration of the Kyiv Patriarchate is establishing a tradition of more zealous veneration of the memory of innocently slain infants for several reasons. The most important is the presence in Lutsk of a particle of their relics. They were transferred to the eparchy in the summer of 2004 together with particles of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. Agapit of the Caves. On the eve, January 10, His Grace Bishop Michael of Lutsk and Volyn with local clergy solemnly brought the reliquary with the particle of the relics into the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the city of Lutsk and celebrated the festive All-Night Vigil. On the day of the feast, Vladyka Michael, concelebrating with the clergy, served the Divine Liturgy and addressed the faithful with a sermon, in which, in particular, it was stated: "Today we reflect on life and death. Is what happened 2,000 years ago not repeating itself today? Are children not perishing today? Yes. But today the participants in the tragedy are different. First of all, it is the immoral world, which in its existence does not value life, it is modern society with its millions of abortions, suicides and other perversions." After the Divine Liturgy, a press conference was held, conducted by the press secretary of the Volyn Eparchy, Archpriest Vitaliy Sobko. The priest told journalists the history and peculiarities of the veneration of the Bethlehem infant martyrs. It was also stated that the eparchial administration considers it necessary to focus the attention of the church and secular community on this significant and instructive event, which preceded the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, since it is capable even today of being relevant and inspiring useful reflections and deeds. First of all, it is about the fact that the extraordinary hardness of heart manifested in Herod's destruction of the Bethlehem children is characteristic not only of him and his time. Both then and now, this phenomenon reveals to us the full depth of corruption, the full spiritual poverty of humanity's existence without God. In the image of Herod we see familiar outlines of the modern world. It is worth recalling at least the painful problem of today: the cynical destruction of millions of children still in their mothers' wombs with the consent of their own mothers. The Volyn Eparchial Administration considers the appearance in Lutsk of a particle of the relics of the Bethlehem infant martyrs a significant event and expresses the hope that in time this feast in Volyn will be adorned not only by a solemn divine service in the cathedral church, but will also become a day of repentance for child-killing mothers and all who have ever committed grave sins.