The saint library

Saint Hananiah

Righteous youth
Babylon
Feast day: December 17

Group icon of the Three Holy Youths: Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael. Image source: Holy Metropolis of Oropos and Phyle — Iconological Synaxarion

A life of faith

Hananiah was one of Daniel’s three companions taken into captivity in Babylon, together with Azariah and Mishael. He was given the Babylonian name Shadrach. The received biblical account remembers the three youths refusing to worship the king’s statue and being cast into a furnace, where God preserved them.

The Eastern Orthodox Church remembers saints in prayer and commemoration. Their lives offer examples for Christians learning to live their faith.

A reflection

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