Is it possible for Jesus to save the soul of an unborn child, still in the womb? According to the testimony of ancient Orthodox Christian iconography and the Church’s tradition regarding multiple infant saints throughout history, the answer is an encouraging yes.
Some readers may find this unsurprising. It may seem natural to say, "Of course unborn babies can be saved. They are innocent!" But for other people, an optimistic answer is by no means an obvious one. Some have taught that infants are guilty2 of sin from the point of conception, and that unbaptized babies are excluded from heaven.3 Understandably, such assumptions have been troubling to many.
To help answer this very practical question, we will take a brief look at the Orthodox Church’s views regarding baptism and circumcision. Then we will consider multiple infants throughout history who have been sanctified and made holy, even prior to participation in any such sacrament. We will consider the experiences of multiple blessed infants:
King David’s infant son (born to Bathsheba)
St. John the Baptist
Saint George, Bishop of Amastris on the Black Sea
St. Theodora of Thessalonica & Her Saintly Abbess, Anna
St. Lazaros, Wonderworker of Mount Galesion Near Ephesus
We will also consider testimony from two holy elders who have made a significant impact in the Orthodox Church today:
Elder Paisius of Sihla (Romania)
Elder Ephraim of Arizona
New Testament Baptism & Old Testament Circumcision
Since the coming of Christ, the standard door of entry into the Church has always been baptism. Jesus said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). Throughout history, Orthodox Christian saints have consistently interpreted Christ’s statement as a requirement for water baptism. Also, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). As a result, throughout most of Christian history, it has been considered important to baptize infants, so that they can be formally received into the arms of the Church. Of course, it is not possible to baptize a child until after he has been born.
What about infants who lived under the Old Testament, during the centuries prior to Christ’s incarnation? According to St. Bede the Venerable, "what baptism in the faith of Christ now does, was at that time done by circumcision on the eighth day,"4 He said, "circumcision offered the same help of a health-giving treatment against the wound of original sin that now, in the time of revealed grace, baptism [does]."5
Indeed, St. Bede draws a direct connection between John 3:5 and Genesis 17:14. Just as the Lord indicates water baptism as the method for salvation in the Gospel of John, He indicates circumcision as the method of salvation in Genesis 17. St. Bede draws the parallel:
"For he who now says 'unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God,' [John 3:5] said 'The male, whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he hath broken my covenant' [Genesis 17:14]."6
Neither in John 3:5, nor in Genesis 17:14, did the Lord mention any exceptions. And according to this commentary from the Venerable Bede, an OT infant dying before circumcision is parallel to a NT infant dying before baptism. Does God make exceptions in such cases, or are these infants without hope?
What does all of this mean for unborn children? Is it possible for them to receive salvation from Christ?
King David’s Infant Son (~1000 B.C.)
Having been found guilty of both adultery and murder, King David repented of his sin, and God forgave him. The prophet Nathan told David, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."7
However, David’s adultery had led to the birth of a son, and the child was very sick, near to the point of death. King David wept and prayed and cried out for the Lord to spare his son, but after seven days, the infant died.
After the death of the child, David did not continue weeping and crying out. He bathed, changed clothes, worshiped the Lord, and then he got something to eat.8 When his servants asked him why, he said:
“While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether [b]the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”9
Knowing that the Lord had already forgiven his sins, David knew that when the time would come for him to die, he would go to the place of the righteous. He knew that he had salvation, and that he would eventually have a place in heaven. So when he speaks of his son who had died, and he says, “I shall go to him,” he is acknowledging that his infant son has already gone to be with the righteous.
Only being seven days old at his death, his son had not yet had the opportunity to be circumcised. Israelite boys were not circumcised until they were eight days old. Nevertheless, the Prophet David had no reason to believe that his son would go to the place of the wicked. He knew his son was innocent, and that he would be reunited with his son after death.
Elsewhere in Scripture, when David’s adult son Absalom rebelled against him and eventually went to his death, David responded much differently. When Absalom died in sin, David was inconsolable. He wept and cried out, mourning the terrible realization that his son was dead, and that he would never see him again:
Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: “O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!”10
Why did King David weep for the death of Absalom, but not for the death of his infant son born to Bathsheba? St. Ambrose of Milan explains the reason. It is because David’s sons had gone to two different destinations after their deaths.
Here are the words of St. Ambrose:
But that same David, that the difference of his actions may not perhaps disturb those who cling to the words of Scripture; that same David, I say, who had not wept for the innocent infant, wept for [Absalom] when dead. For at the last, when he was wailing and mourning, he said, O my son Absalom, my son Absalom! . . . The wicked is wept over, not the innocent. What is the cause? What is the reason? . . . He wept for those who were dead, but did not think that he ought to weep for the dead infant, for he thought that they were lost to him, but hoped that the latter would rise again.11
His circumcised son Absalom had died in sin and had been lost to him forever, but his uncircumcised infant son had gone to rest in peace with the righteous, and he would one day rejoice in the resurrection.
St. John the Baptist (1st century)
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the above icon is worth an entire book on the topic of infant salvation. If unborn children can have halos, then unborn children can be saved, and they can be the friends of God. This icon dates back to the 14th century in Cyprus.12 It depicts the story found in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, where the Blessed Virgin Mary meets with her cousin Elizabeth. Both saints have holy children in their wombs.
The icon depicts two unborn children. Baby Jesus is shown in the womb of Mary, and St. John the Baptist is shown in Elizabeth’s womb. At this point in time, the two children had received neither circumcision nor baptism. Nevertheless, both infants are depicted with halos, representing their holiness and sanctity.
Little John had not yet been born, and he is already rejoicing at the presence of baby Jesus and His mother Mary. John’s mother Elizabeth said, "the babe leaped in my womb for joy".13 As recorded in the Gospel of Luke, the infant John was "filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb".14
St. Ambrose of Milan, in his Commentary on Saint Luke's Gospel, discusses the complete holiness which John the Baptist experienced before birth:
"Saint John, even before he was born and while still in his mother's womb, gave signs of the wonderful grace that he had received from the Spirit... grace is not limited by time nor age — it is not extinguished by death nor shut out by our mother's womb... He who possesses the Spirit of grace wants for nothing, and whoever receives the Holy Spirit has in full measure the greatest of virtues... you cannot have the Spirit without virtue nor virtue without the Spirit." (St. Ambrose of Milan, Commentary on Saint Luke’s Gospel, p. 20)
Of course, it is impossible to be a child of the devil, a child of wrath, guilty of sin, and at the same time to have “in full measure the greatest of virtues.” The infant John had been neither circumcised nor baptized, yet he was saved while still in the womb. He was a holy infant, and he rejoiced in the presence of the Lord.
Saint George, Bishop of Amastris on the Black Sea (+805)
Saint George was born in Paphlagonia on the Black Sea in the year 750. He was the son of pious parents, Theodosios and Megethousa. After completing his primary studies in his homeland, he left for a mountain, where he found an old ascetic who taught him about the solitary life and tonsured him a monk. In 788, the Bishop of Amastris fell asleep in the Lord, and George was elected as the Bishop of that city.
St. George was like a lamp which is not placed under a bushel, but put on a lampstand, so that it gives light to all those in the house. He instructed his flock, beautified several churches, defended widows and orphans, and fed the poor. In all things, he was an example of a God-pleasing life. By the power of his prayers he drove away the Saracens who were ravaging the countryside near Amastris. He also rescued some Amastrian merchants who had been wrongfully condemned to death in the city of Trebizond. He also composed several Canons in honor of the Saints. He went to the Lord peacefully in 805. He performed many miracles, both during his lifetime, and after his blessed repose.15
In the Life of George of Amastris,16 it is written: “Nor is it fitting to neglect the divine wonders that were worked before the birth of the saint; how he was chosen from above, and how he had his name not from men, nor on account of men, but rather was anointed and dedicated a priest before being born from the womb (πρὶν ἐκ μητρῴων ἐκσπασθῆναι λαγόνων).” The same vita states that his mother was carrying a “holy babe” in her womb.17
While St. George was still in his mother’s womb, he was holy — not sinful, guilty, or under the wrath of God, for the two states are mutually exclusive. If his mother was carring a holy babe in her womb, then her child was neither estranged from the Lord, nor at emnity with Him.
In this account of the saint’s life, a direct parallel is drawn between Megethousa, the mother of St. George of Amastris, and Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist (also known as St. John the Forerunner):
"When his holy mother was pregnant, like Elizabeth, she carried one like the Forerunner"18
St. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in utero,19 and by all indications, so was St. George of Amastris. So if iconographers were ever to make an icon depicting St. George in his mother’s womb, it would be fitting to show his halo, just as they do in icons of the infant John.
St. Theodora of Thessalonica (+892) and Anna, her Saintly Abbess
Saint Theodora of Thessalonica was born to Christian parents on the island of Aegina. Loving Christ from a young age, she forsook worldly pursuits. In adulthood, she was married and soon gave birth to a daughter. She dedicated her daughter to serve God in a monastery, and after her husband's death, she herself became a nun in the same monastery.
Regarding the other sisters as being worthy of all honor, she was obedient to all, especially to the Abbess. By her labors of obedience, fasting and prayer, she so pleased God that she received the gift of working miracles, not only during her lifetime, but also after her death. Saint Theodora was a model of a pure and blameless life for the nuns.20
In the ninth–century vita of St. Theodora of Thessalonica, her abbess Anna is given high praise as a saintly woman:
When the blessed Theodora was in her sixty-eighth year, the great confessor Anna, who from childhood had donned the holy monastic habit and by the grace of God lived a blameless life, found repose in the death that is owed to the righteous.21
According to the vita, the Devil makes one last effort to tempt Anna before her repose, but she quotes from Holy Scripture and successfully defeats him.
It is then written:
And thus the Devil shamelessly lay in wait for [Anna] up to the time of her death, although she reconciled herself to the [Lord] from the time she was in her mother’s womb through her monastic office and had directed her entire life in a manner pleasing to God.22
According to the Life of Saint Theodora of Thessalonica, her holy abbess, Anna, had not only followed the Lord since childhood, she had been at peace with the Lord from the time she was in her mother’s womb.23
St. Lazaros, Wonderworker of Mount Galesion Near Ephesus (+1053)
Saint Lazaros the Wonderworker was born in Lydia, in the city of Magnesium. An educated young man who loved God, Lazarus became a monk at the monastery of Saint Savva. Ordained to the holy priesthood by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Saint Lazarus returned to his native country and settled near Ephesus, on desolate Mount Galesius. Here he saw a wondrous vision: a fiery pillar, rising up to the heavens, was encircled by angels singing, “Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered.”
On the place where the saint beheld this vision, he built a church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ and took upon himself the feat of pillar-dwelling. Monks soon began to flock to the great ascetic, thirsting for spiritual nourishment by the divinely-inspired words and blessed example of the saint, and a monastery was established there. He reposed in the year 1053, and was glorified by many miracles after his death.24
In the Life of Lazaros of Mount Galesion, we are told of miraculous events surrounding the birth of this extraordinary saint:
When Lazaros emerged from his mother’s womb, a light at once shone forth miraculously from heaven and filled the whole interior of the house with an indescribable flash of lightening. Indeed, the people who were there could not stand the brilliance of this light and, leaving the mother with the baby, rushed out of the house and stood somewhere nearby in great fear and trembling. They waited for a little while and then, after that terrible light had gone away, went back into the house again. When the midwife approached the woman who had just given birth, she found the baby standing upright; he was facing east and had his hands pressed tightly to his chest in the form of the cross. The midwife who delivered him recounted this herself. She was the wife of the great Leontios, the monk who, in turn told me these things and [all] the rest about Lazaros’ childhood and what happened to him up to his departure from his own country for the Holy Land. So when his parents and those who were there saw these things (as well as what they learned from hearsay), they were filled with wonder and amazement and from then on began to guess the future well enough and to say that they expected to see something great and auspicious in connection with the child.25
When there is a flash of light from heaven, and a newborn infant miraculously stands on his feet, faces east, and makes the sign of the cross, one receives the distinct impression that the child is holy, and that the infant’s relationship with God must be a positive one. Even though this tiny child had not yet had the opportunity to receive baptism, he was already close to the Lord and beloved of God.
God’s Saving Grace in the Womb
Thankfully, these saints did not die before they were born. With the exception of King David’s infant son, all of them lived into adulthood. After John the Baptist was born, he was circumcised according to the Old Testament commandment. The remaining saints — St. George of Amastris, St. Lazaros of Mount Galesius, and St. Theodora’s saintly abbess, Anna — were born centuries after Christ, and they all received holy baptism as infants.
The important thing to understand is that these children were not sinful prior to baptism, and the timing of their baptism was not a barrier for God’s saving activity. He wasn’t forced to wait until after these infants were born and baptized, in order to give them salvation and genuine holiness. The Spirit moves where it wills, and in many cases it moves with little children, for of such is the kingdom of God.26
Miscarriages & Victims of Abortion
If all children were blessed with the opportunity of being born, then this present study might seem moot. Why concern ourselves with the spiritual state of children in the womb? Just wait until they are born, baptize them, and raise them as Christians.
Sadly, there are hundreds of millions of innocent children who die in the womb, and are never allowed to see the light of day. Some of these are because of unintentional miscarriages. The great majority are the result of abortion — the unspeakable sin of prenatal infantide which cries out to heaven for vengeance.
What is the fate of such tiny children? If they cannot be born, and therefore cannot be baptized, what kind of hope can we have for them?
If King David’s uncircumcised infant son could be saved, if John the Baptist could be filled with the Holy Spirit before he was born, if St. Theodora’s saintly abbess was at peace with the Lord from the time she was in her mother’s womb, and if St. Lazaros was a faithful servant of God even from the moment of his birth, then is it possible for God to have mercy on unborn children today, and to grant them holiness even while they are in their mother’s wombs?
Elder Paisius of Sihla (Romania) provides a helpful answer:
"I believe that these infants are martyrs. They will complete the number of the martyrs in the last times, as the Apocalypse says. In dying through abortion they receive the baptism of blood, but the Church does not commemorate them in her prayers in order not to encourage abortions, which for the parents is an act of infanticide."27
Elder Ephraim of Arizona goes into more detail:
"I am not sure if you are aware of the fact that these embryos, these infants, these beings do not cease to exist once they are aborted. On the contrary! Each embryo is a complete human being, especially with respect to the soul. These children live in the other world, and, as you can understand, many millions of children now comprise an entire army in Heaven. All of them protest. Their innocent blood cries out to God that they were killed unjustly, that they did not receive Holy Baptism, that they did not [formally] become Orthodox Christians. Who is responsible for this? It is self-explanatory and does not have to be spelled out. When this blood is spilled, God's computer documents the crime. How will this blood be washed away? When someone becomes dirty, how is he cleansed? Only with clean water. Likewise, water is needed in this case as well. It must flow forth continuously from two faucets, which are the two eyes. Internal repentance should be externalized with a lifelong, never-ending stream of tears."28
Abortion is a grave sin, and God will hold the culprits accountable. The mothers who procure abortions, and the doctors who perform them, will have to answer to God. Meanwhile, the victims of abortion are innocent. And God desires to save all men, including the ones who are still in the womb.
What is the condition of our soul at the moment we are conceived in the womb, when we first receive our soul from the Lord? Do we begin life with a soul that is pure? Or do we enter this world with a soul that is already defiled by sin?
St. John of Karpathos answers this question for us in the Philokalia:
"If you wish to be called wise, intelligent and the friend of God, strive to present your soul to the Lord in the same state as you received it from Him: pure, innocent, completely undefiled. Then you will be crowned in heaven and the angels will call you blessed."29
Within the womb, when a little child is first conceived and receives his soul from the Lord, the Lord provides the little one with a soul that is pure and undefiled — not guilty of anything.30 Even before you realize the tiny infant has come into existence, Christ already knows the child, and cares for the child.
We should pray for little ones, and we should baptize them after they are born. As for the time prior to that, when they are still in the womb, we should never worry. The Lord loves little children even more than we do, and there is no obstacle that ties the hands of God, keeping Him from sanctifying and saving even His tiniest creation.
1 This 14th century icon is from an Orthodox church in Cyprus. The icon is well loved and many subsequent copies have been made. This particular icon was documented in Davies, E. 2010. ‘Byzantine attitudes towards foetuses, newborn babies and infants: a multidisciplinary approach.’ Rosetta 8: 1-41. https://web.archive.org/web/20180409214325/http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue8/davies-foetus.pdf
2 Sample quotes from St. Augustine, claiming that infants inherit the guilt of Adam’s sin:
· “That infants are born under the guilt of this offense is believed by the whole Church” — (Letter 166, Treatise on the Origin of the Human Soul, Chapter 7.21)
· “It remains, therefore, that [unbaptized infants] are held bound by original sin alone,
and for this alone they go to damnation” — (The Gift of Perseverance, 9, 23)
· “Even of believing husbands and wives are born guilty persons... on account of original sin” — (Treatise against Two Letters of the Pelagians, chap. 11)
· “The fault of our nature remains in our offspring so deeply impressed as to make it [our offspring] guilty” — (On Original Sin, chap. 44)
· “Inasmuch as infants are not held bound by any sins of their own actual life, it is the guilt of original sin which is healed in them by the grace of Him Who saves them by the laver of regeneration [i.e., in Baptism]” — (On the Baptism of Infants, chap. 24)
· “Until, then, this remission of sins takes place in the offspring, they have within them the law of sin in such manner, that it is really imputed to them as sin; in other words, with that law there is attaching to them its sentence of guilt, which holds them debtors to eternal condemnation” — (On Marriage and Concupiscence, chap. 37).
3 Sample quotes from St. Augustine and his followers, claiming that unbaptized infants burn in hell:
· St. Augustine of Hippo (+430) — "Our Lord will come to judge the quick and the dead, and he will make two sides — the right and the left. To those on the left hand he will say, 'Depart into everlasting fire'; to those on the right, 'Come, receive the kingdom'. He calls one 'the kingdom', the other 'the condemnation of the devil'. There is no middle place where you can put infants; . . . so that when you confess the infant will not be in the kingdom, you must acknowledge he will be in everlasting fire." (De Verbis Apostoli, serm. 14)
· St. Prosper of Aquitaine (+455) — “Consider also the case of the whole multitude of children. In none of them do you find deserts, neither past nor future, only the sin in which the whole human race is born unto damnation. We speak now of children before the use of reason and before they are able to make any use of their free will. Some are regenerated in baptism and pass on to eternal happiness, others are not reborn and go to unending misery.” (The call of all nations, Book 1, Chapter 16)
· St. Avitus of Vienne (+518) - "And a case more dreadful than all of these occurs when envious death snatches away a tender child who lacks baptism and who must be borne under that harsh sentence to Hell. Such a child, when it ceases to be the child of its mother, becomes the son of damnation, and its sad parents wish unborn the limbs to which they gave life only to see them consigned to the flames." (The Poems of Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus, Poem 6, 171-216)
· St. Fulgentius of Ruspe (+533) — “Hold most firmly and never doubt that, not only adults with the use of reason but also children who either begin to live in the womb of their mothers and who die there or, already born from their mothers, pass from this world without the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, which is given in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, must be punished with the endless penalty of eternal fire. Even if they have no sin from their own actions, still, by their carnal conception and birth, they have contracted the damnation of Original Sin.” (To Peter on the faith, 70)
· St. Fulgentius of Ruspe (+533) — “For sometimes a child is born to believers, even to those who (as we have already said) are solicitous with godly faith and love for the redemption of their child, but he dies before he is washed by the sacred water of baptism . . . In fact, if one takes the will of the parents into consideration, the Christian parents earnestly desired that their child be baptized and hastened eagerly to have it done, but their child was prevented by death from being baptized and was assigned to the eternal fires.” (The truth about predestination and grace, 27)
· St. Gregory the Dialogist (+604) — "For there be some that are withdrawn from the present light, before they attain to shew forth the good or evil deserts of an active life. And whereas the Sacraments of salvation [baptism] do not free them from the sin of their birth, at the same time that here they never did aright by their own act; There they are brought to torment. And these have one wound, viz. to be born in corruption, and another, to die in the flesh. But forasmuch as after death there also follows, death eternal, by a secret and righteous judgment ‘wounds are multiplied to them without cause.’ For they even receive everlasting torments, who never sinned by their own will." (Exposition on the book of blessed Job, Volume 1, Book IX, Chapter 32)
· Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham (+1010) — "I never read about whether a dead pregnant woman should be cut open or not. It is said, however, that Caesar was first cut from his mother's womb, and therefore was called Caesar; and we have heard that some infants were likewise taken from their dead mothers and baptized. And what is more true, we saw and knew that a man lived to old age, who was descended from his dead mother. And therefore they should be cut open more deliberately and cautiously, so that the baptized may escape hell and inherit the heavenly kingdom." (Letter from Ælfric of Eynsham to Wulfstan, archbishop of York, [cf. https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/flor.28.003, footnote #32] )
4 Bede, Libri quatuor in principium Genesis usque ad nativitatem Isaac et eiectionemeiectionem Ismahelis adnotationum, 4, ed. C. W. Jones (CCSL 118A; Turnhout: Brepols, Γ967), p. 206: 'Quod enim nunc facit baptismum in fide Christi, hoc fecit ex illo tempore circumcisio in die octaua'; translation from Calvin B. Kendall, Bede: On Genesis (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2008), p. 284. — Cited in: O'Brien, Conor. Bede's Theology of Circumcision, Its Sources and Significance. The Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Vol. 67, Pt 2, October 2016. — https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flw122
5 Bede, Homeliae evangelii, 1.11, ed. David Hurst (CCSL 122; Turnhout: Brepols, 1955), p. 74: 'idem salutiferae curationis auxilium circumcisio in lege contra originalis peccati uulnus agebat quod nunc baptisma agere reuelatae gratiae tempore consueuit'; translation from Lawrence T. Martin and David Hurst, Bede the Venerable: Homilies on the Gospels, vol. 1 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1991), pp. 104-5. — Cited in: O'Brien, Conor. Bede's Theology of Circumcision, Its Sources and Significance. The Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Vol. 67, Pt 2, October 2016. — https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flw122
6 Bede, In Lucae evangelium expositio, 1, ed. David Hurst (CCSL 120; Turnhout: Brepols, i960), p. 56: 'Qui enim nunc dicit, Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et spiritu sancto,sancto, non potest introire in regnum Dei, ipse tunc dicebat, Masculus cuius praeputiipraeputii caro circumcisa non fuerit peribit anima ilia de populo suo quia pactum pactum meum irritum fecit'; my translation (drawing upon Douay Rheims for the biblical verses). Also Bede, Homeliae, 1.11, ed. Hurst, p. 74: 'Qui enim nunc per euangelium suum terribiliter ac salubriter clamat, Nisi quis renatus ... , ipse dudum per legem suam clamabat, Masculus cuius ...'. — Cited in: O'Brien, Conor. Bede's Theology of Circumcision, Its Sources and Significance. The Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Vol. 67, Pt 2, October 2016. — https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flw122
7 2 Samuel 12:13 (2 Kingdoms 12 in the Orthodox Study Bible)
8 2 Samuel 12:20
9 2 Samuel 12:22-23
10 2 Samuel 18:33 (2 Kingdoms 18:33 in the Orthodox Study Bible)
11 St. Ambrose of Milan. On the Death of Satyrus (Book II). Translated by H. de Romestin, E. de Romestin and H.T.F. Duckworth. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 10. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1896.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/34032.htm>.
12 This 14th century icon is from an Orthodox church in Cyprus. The icon is well loved and many subsequent copies have been made. This particular icon was documented in Davies, E. 2010. ‘Byzantine attitudes towards foetuses, newborn babies and infants: a multidisciplinary approach.’ Rosetta 8: 1-41. https://web.archive.org/web/20180409214325/http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue8/davies-foetus.pdf
13 Luke 1:44
14 Luke 1:15
15 This brief overview of his life can be found here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2001/02/21/100577-saint-george-bishop-of-amastris-on-the-black-sea
16 An English translation of his life is available here: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2018/02/life-of-saint-george-of-amastris.html
17 Vita of George of Amastris, ed., V. Vasil’evskij, Russko–vizantijskie issledovanija, 2, St. Petersburg, 1893: 1– 73. trans., D. Jenkins, ‘The Life of Saint George of Amastris’. Cited in: Davies, E. 2010. ‘Byzantine attitudes towards foetuses, newborn babies and infants: a multidisciplinary approach.’ Rosetta 8: 1-41. https://web.archive.org/web/20180409214325/http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue8/davies-foetus.pdf
18 https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2018/02/life-of-saint-george-of-amastris.html — This particular site translates the title of John the Baptist as "precursor" instead of "forerunner". While the two words are nearly synonymous, this is not the best translation. In English, John the Baptist is often called "The Forerunner" but never "The Precursor", so in this paper the translation has been corrected to reflect standard English usage.
19 Luke 1:15, 1:44
20 This brief overview of her life can be found here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2023/04/05/101005-venerable-theodora-of-thessalonica
21 Life of St. Theodora of Thessalonike. p. 196. https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/10715937/7-life-of-st-theodora-of-thessalonike-dumbarton-oaks
22 Vita of Theodora of Thessalonike, ed., E. Kurtz, Des Klerikers Gregorios Bericht über Leben, Wundertatn und Translation der heiligen Theodora von Thessalonich. Petersburg, 1902. Available online: www.doaks.org (24/11/09). trans., A.– M. Talbot, Holy Women of Byzantium, ed., A.– M. Talbot, Washington DC, 1996: 159–237. Cited in: Davies, E. 2010. ‘Byzantine attitudes towards foetuses, newborn babies and infants: a multidisciplinary approach.’ Rosetta 8: 1-41. https://web.archive.org/web/20180409214325/http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue8/davies-foetus.pdf
23 Some skeptics might wish to assign such language to the category of hyperbole, imagining that devotion to the Lord is not possible for a child still in the womb. Such readers are encouraged to remember Luke 1:44, where an unborn infant leaps for joy at the presence of the Lord.
24 This brief overview of his life can be found here: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/11/07/103232-venerable-lazarus-wonderworker-of-mount-galesius-near-ephesus
25 Vita of Lazaros of Mount Galesion, Acta Sanctorum , Nov. 3, Brussels, 1910: 508–88. trans. R.P.H. Greenfield, An Eleventh Century Pillar Saint: The Life of Lazaros of Mt. Galesion, Washington DC, 2000. Cited in: Davies, E. 2010. ‘Byzantine attitudes towards foetuses, newborn babies and infants: a multidisciplinary approach.’ Rosetta 8: 1-41. https://web.archive.org/web/20180409214325/http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue8/davies-foetus.pdf
26 Luke 18:16
27 https://www.orthodoxprolife.org/contemporary-saints-and-elders/elder-paisius-of-sihla
28 https://www.orthodoxprolife.org/contemporary-saints-and-elders/elder-ephraim-of-arizona
29 St. John of Karpathos. Texts for the Monks of India, Text 89. Philokalia. B#22, Vol. 1.
30 Sample statements from Orthodox saints, testifying to the sinlessness of infants:
· St. Aristides of Athens (+134) — "And when a child has been born to one of them, they give thanks to God; and if moreover it happen to die in childhood, they give thanks to God the more, as for one who has passed through the world without sins." - (Apology, Chapter XV)
· St. Athenagoras of Athens (+190) — "Although all human beings who die are resurrected, not all those resurrected are judged. If justice in the judgment were the only cause of the resurrection, it would follow, of course, that those who have not sinned nor done good, namely quite young children, would not be resurrected." (On the Resurrection, 14)
· St. Irenaeus of Lyons (+202) — "Who were those who were saved and received the inheritance? Those, obviously, who believed in God and kept their love for him, such as Caleb and Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun, and innocent children, who have no sense of evil. Who are those now who are saved and receive eternal life? Is it not those who love God and believe his promises and "in malice have become little children"? (Against Heresies 4.28.3)
· St. Methodius of Olympus (+311) — "the tender and innocent age of babes and sucklings hath obtained the first place in raising to God with thankful confession the hymn... “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” - (Oration on the Palms, I)
· St. Cyril of Jerusalem (+386) - "For you do not sin because you were born that way . . . And learn this also, that the soul, before it came into this world, had committed no sin, but having come in sinless, we now sin of our free-will." (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, IV.18-19)
· St. Gregory of Nyssa (+395) - "Whereas the innocent babe has no such plague before its soul’s eyes obscuring its measure of light, and so it continues to exist in that natural life; it does not need the soundness which comes from purgation, because it never admitted the plague into its soul at all . . . Certainly, in comparison with one who has lived all his life in sin, not only the innocent babe but even one who has never come into the world at all will be blessed." - (On Infants' Early Death, Para. 3-4)
· St. John Chrysostom (+407) - "You have seen how numerous are the gifts of baptism. Although many men think that the only gift it confers is the remission of sins, we have counted its honors to the number of ten. It is on this account that we baptize even infants, although they are sinless, that they may be given the further gifts of sanctification, justice, filial adoption, and inheritance, that they may be brothers and members of Christ, and become dwelling places for the Spirit." - (Catecheses in Augustine, Against Julian, 1:6:21)
· St. Basil the Great (+379 AD) - "The origin and root of sin is what is in our own control and our free will." - (IV Homiletical, Homily IX) — "If the origin of our virtues and of our vices is not in ourselves, but is the fatal consequence of our birth, it is useless for legislators to prescribe for us what we ought to do, and what we ought to avoid; it is useless for judges to honour virtue and to punish vice... since from the moment that man does not act with freedom, there is neither reward for justice, nor punishment for sin. Under the reign of necessity and of fatality there is no place for merit, the first condition of all righteous judgment." - (Hexaemeron, Homily VI, Chapter VII)
The thousands of infants slaughtered by King Herod are now in Paradise.
I was in church this morning thinking this very topic, concluding that even if children are considered as being conceived in sin they are not sinners since they lack free will, and thus have no enmity with God.