"Massacre of the Innocents" actual topic Runet in these New Year / Christmas days. However, not because in Christianity these days there is a commemoration of babies killed 2000 years ago by order of the Jewish king Herod the Great. The reason for the popularity is more likely in the so-called "Dima Yakovlev law", adopted by the State Duma of the Russian Federation and depriving Russian orphanages of hope for a minimal chance to escape from vicious circle between the orphanage, the prison and the nursing home. Many in RuNet compare this law with the notorious "beating of babies", and the President, who signed this law, with King Herod.
"Then Herod, seeing himself ridiculed by the magi, became very angry, and sent to beat all the babies in Bethlehem and all its limits, from two years old and below, according to the time that he found out from the magi." [Matt. 2:16]
What actually happened to babies in Judea during the reign of Herod the Great? What was the fault of the children before the king? Church tradition tells of a thousanddead babies: in the Byzantine tradition, the figure is 14 thousand, in Syrian - 64 thousand, and in general fantasy is found - 144 thousand. It is unlikely that so many people have ever lived in Bethlehem.
First of all, it should be noted that apart from the Evangelist Matthew, no one else describes this episode. Moreover, the most reliable source of the events of that time, a contemporary of the author of the Gospel, the famous Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (~ 37 - 100 AD), who wrote his books for the Romans and did not hide his hatred of Herod, did not skimp on black colors for the king, nowhere mentioned this terrible event. Nothing about this was said by their other contemporary, the Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher and religious thinker, Philo of Alexandria (~ 25 BC - 50 AD), who left detailed description the life of Herod. How did Matthew learn about the "massacre of the innocents", and did it even happen?
The question may seem strange. After all, the "Massacre of the Innocents" is usually all, or almost all, that most people have ever heard of Herod the Great, and the popularity of this story and its vitality is evidenced by great amount works of art dedicated to this event. "Massacre of the Innocents" has become one of the main subjects of Christmas paintings, theatrical performances and stories. At the same time, the king himself is a person in the highest degree extraordinary and contradictory, remained as if on the sidelines.
But it was not for nothing that the descendants called King Herod the Great. He is an extraordinary figure. Herod was a king equally great, both in righteous deeds and in atrocities. This is one of the most educated and active monarchs of his time, who expanded the borders of his state and gave him economic prosperity and peace for decades. A builder king who has built more than all his predecessors since David and Solomon; successful politician, skillfully maneuvering duringthe succession of the Roman emperors, whose protege he was; a villain who did not stop before the execution of most of the members of the Sanhedrin in order to overcome the resistance of the priestly class; cruelly and ruthlessly dealt with all real and possible opponents, among whom were wives, sons, relatives and local nobility; a victim of his manic suspicion and an executioner, whose name has become a symbol of villainy and cruelty for centuries.
The subjects did not favor their king, the most incredible rumors about him circulated, and the royal cruelty was no secret to anyone. Josephus describes it this way last days this Eastern despot:
He ordered to gather the most noble men from all places of Judea and lock them up in the so-called hippodrome (the stadium); then he called his sister Salome and her husband Alexa to him and said to them: “I know that the Jews will celebrate my death as a jubilee celebration; however, both mourning and a brilliant funeral procession can be arranged for me, if you only wish to do my will. As soon as I die, then you will encircle those imprisoned with soldiers and order them to be cut down as soon as possible, so that the whole of Judea and every family, against their will, would cry over my death " . [I. Flavius, "The Jewish War",I-33:6]
For the first time in Herod's reign, his will was not done.
Before the army learned of his death, his sister Salome, together with her husband, released all the prisoners whom the king ordered to be killed, declaring that he had changed his mind and now let everyone go to their homeland . [ibid.,I-33:8]
Against this background, the "Massacre of the Innocents" does not look like a big exaggeration, but the truth of this event is highly doubted by many biblical scholars. The data on the time of the birth of Jesus Christ are too contradictory, and it was precisely because of him that Herod gave his order "beat up all the babies in Bethlehem ". The Magi, or magicians, as they are called in the original Greek text, came to the country of the "baby Jesus" to bow to the "King of the Jews" who was born here, thereby arousing extreme irritation of the real king of Judea, Herod. At the same time, they did not tell Herod the exact location of the baby, indicating only the city of Bethlehem.It was natural to assume the reaction of the villain - to cut out all the babies in that region. "Cleansing" - as they would write today on the Internet.
To confirm such a logical conclusion, the author of the Gospel added references to the "classics". The idea to refer to authorities was not born on the Internet, and not even in the reports of the Politburo. To make the stories told look more convincing, the authors of the New Testament tried to show that events are developing in direct accordance with the Old Testament prophecies. The Evangelist Matthew adhered to this rule, describing the grief of families in which Herod killed babies, referring to Old Testament prophet Jeremiah.
Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah came true, who says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and sobbing and a great cry. Rachel weeps for her children and does not want to be comforted, for they are not." [Matt. 2:17-18]
In addition, there is a clear analogy with the Old Testament legend about the birth of Moses. According to biblical legend, the pharaoh, frightened rapid growth the number of descendants of Jacob who settled in Egypt, ordered to kill all Jewish male children, but Moses, as you know, managed to be saved. An example quite worthy of the son of God, Jesus.
Massacre of the Innocents by King Herod
The Massacre of the Innocents described in Matthew may be another clue to the year of birth, but this means that Jesus must have been born in 4 B.C.E. e., the year of the death of Herod.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, magicians from the east came to Jerusalem and said: Where is the King of the Jews who has been born? for we have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him. On hearing this, King Herod was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matt. 2:1-3)
The gospel further relates that Herod ordered the killing of all male children from newborn to two years of age as a precautionary measure, and that the Holy Family escaped the threat by hastily fleeing to Egypt. This story should be classified as a legend. Its similarity with ancient myths, for example, about the birth of Oedipus, is too obvious. It is written about Moses that he also miraculously escaped the fate prepared for him by the evil Pharaoh. The murder of innocent children in Bethlehem was seen as the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah:
Among the well-known historical chronicles there is not a single record of the mass extermination of babies in Bethlehem by order of the suspicious Herod. Any such event would no doubt have been recorded by the historians of the time, especially Josephus, who detailed Herod and his crimes. It is also surprising that no other evangelist, with the exception of Matthew, mentions such an event, despite the fact that Jesus was on the verge of death. Even Luke, the only author who is interested in the life of Jesus in childhood and youth, is silent about this.
Herod, who, in spite of his extraordinary abilities, went down in history as an unscrupulous villain, was quite capable of such mass extermination. He executed two of his wives and three sons. Emperor Augustus, according to historians, once sarcastically remarked that "I would rather be a pig than a child in the house of Herod." (Perhaps this means that Jewish law forbids eating pork, and therefore Herod would have been more afraid to kill a pig than a man.)
In 7 BC. e. Herod hanged his sons Alexander and Aristobulus, "in time" discovering that one of them was preparing a rebellion against his father. Perhaps “this execution was imprinted in the memory of contemporaries as a beating of the innocent”, and later a legend appeared about the “mass murder” of children, according to which Herod, in connection with the execution of his sons, lynched in Jericho another 300 people (mostly young men) from the number of their followers.
Thus, if we correlate the birth of Jesus with the era of Herod, then it could take place starting from 7 BC. e. But in that case, Jesus must have been born after at least four years before the beginning of our era, since Herod died in 4 BC. e.
The theme of the Bethlehem babies flowed out smoothly.
Having carefully read Dimitry of Rostov, I decided to analyze this sad event, which, of course, I have no doubt. Yes, the merciful Lord will forgive me for all my research!
“Herod remembered the time indicated by the magi for the appearance of a star, which, according to the interpretation of St. Chrysostom and St. Theophylact, appeared before the birth of Christ. But for how long exactly? If she appeared at the very hour of the Annunciation, then from the Annunciation Holy Mother of God Nine months passed before Christmas. But the Magi came to Jerusalem on the very day of Christmas.(3)
Herod did not immediately know that they had been ridiculed by them, but at first he believed that they, having not found the baby they were looking for and being ashamed of their mistake, did not dare to come to him and secretly, with shame, returned to themselves. Then, after forty days (4), a glorious event took place in the temple of Solomon: the elder Simeon and Anna the prophetess met here the Divine Infant, brought by the Mother of God on the day of purification, and they testified about Christ and clearly preached a lot about Him to the people. The rumor about everything that happened in the temple during the Presentation of the Lord spread throughout Jerusalem and reached the king. Then Herod realized that this was indeed the Child he was looking for, and that what the Magi had said about the newborn Tsar, whom they found in Bethlehem, was true, but did not return to Herod, despising his power. The lawless Herod became extremely furious.(5)
He immediately began to try to find the Child with the help of deceit and secret tricks, but he could not, for Joseph fled with Him to Egypt immediately after the vision he had had. Herod's efforts to find Christ continued for a year. After that, for some reason, he needed to go to Rome to Caesar, and Herod was in great confusion that he had not yet found the desired Baby, for he was afraid that in his absence the new king would not be found and become famous among the people, and would not take away if he had the kingdom of Judah. Therefore, he immediately decided in his mind to beat all the children of Bethlehem in order to destroy, along with them, the born Tsar.
And this lawless infanticide took place in the first year after the Nativity of Christ, December 29; (6) on this day it is customary for the Church to celebrate the memory of the beaten babies. From the time of the appearance of the star, then one year and nine months passed. And the fact that Herod beat babies from two years old and below, he did this out of fear and for greater safety. So St. Chrysostom says: “Do not be surprised that Herod ordered the beating of babies from two years old and below: rage and fear converged in the tormentor; therefore Herod became very cautious, and from great fear doomed even older age to murder. According to this, Euthymius also says: “Herod believed that the star did not immediately appear to the Magi, but that the baby was born long before its appearance. For greater security, he ordered to advance the time by two years. ”(1)
(1)- St. Dmitry Rostov Life saints Memory of fourteen thousand babies (2) from Herod in Bethlehem beaten. Commemoration December 29
(2)- The number of babies killed seems fantastic. But this is if we consider that babies were killed one year after the birth of Christ (6), it is likely that in regular time the city's population was much smaller. If babies were killed during the census, then this is possible, since then all the descendants of David gathered in Bethlehem.
(3)- Magi came on the very day of Christmas. (Matt.2:1) They listened to King Herod and went to Bethlehem (Matt.2:8,9). They worshiped Him in the cave (Matt. 2:11). And as soon as the Magi left, the Holy Family urgently fled to Egypt (Matthew 2:13). There is no doubt about this.
(4) - Now let's look at the Life. And so that the Life does not contradict the Gospel, it turns out that the Holy Family lived for 40 days (moreover, nothing is said about 40 days in the Gospel) in a cave near Bethlehem and after the Meeting of the Lord, returned back there ?! This raises many questions: Why did They stay there for so long? What did they eat? Why didn't they go to live in a normal hotel, because it was cold there?
This also contradicts the Gospel from Luke (Luke 2:39): “And as if she had all died according to the law of the Lord, returning to Galilee, to her city of Nazareth.” And it is not clear about the caravan of the Magi. In general, such caravans did not often go through the land of Judea, but here on short distance between Jerusalem and Bethlehem they walked for more than 40 days?!!.
Arch. Averky (Taushev) also adheres to this chronology: “The Evangelist says further that, having fulfilled everything according to the law, they returned to Galilee,“ to their city of Nazareth. Here he omits everything that followed the Candlemas, and undoubtedly because St. Matthew: Adoration of the Magi in Bethlehem, Flight of St. families to Egypt, the massacre of infants by Herod and the return of St. families from Egypt, after his death. We often find a similar way of shortening the story among the writers of sacred books.
It is also written in the Gospel synopsis (sequence of Gospel events):
1. Nativity of Jesus Christ Mt.2:1 Lk.2:1-7
2. Adoration of the shepherds Luke 2:8-20
3. Circumcision and naming Jesus Mt.1:25 Lk.2:21
4. Meeting of the Lord in the temple Luke 2:22-33
5. Adoration of the Magi Matthew 2:1-12
6. Flight into Egypt Mt.2:13-15
7. Massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem Matthew 2:16-18
(5) - The Gospel says that King Herod did not wait a whole year (6) to beat the babies, but did it right away. (Matt. 2: 16) "Togdá Ihrod Virodv, Yako Porodanigan to be the Magician, having accepted the zló and the defendance of the whole Dѣty Society in Vyѳleémѣ and in the All-Hir, Echu, from two LѣTi and Luzishe, by Vpénmen, Ézhvtsomsya will be tested.
There are some doubts, and especially with the question of the memory of the first martyrs for Christ the Infants from Bethlehem.
In the Bible, the massacre of infants is described only in the Gospel of Matthew. By order of the Jewish king Herod the Great, the wise men who came to bow to the newborn Jesus were to return from Bethlehem to Jerusalem and tell him where the Baby was. But, having received a revelation in a dream not to return to Herod, they did not comply with his request and went to their own country in a different way (Matt. 2:12).
Deceived by the magi, Herod was furious and ordered to kill all male babies under the age of two in Bethlehem and its environs. Then Herod, seeing himself ridiculed by the magi, became very angry, and sent to beat all the babies in Bethlehem and all its limits, from two years old and below, according to the time that he found out from the magi.(Matthew 2:16)
Fulfilling this cruel order, the soldiers broke into the houses of the inhabitants of Bethlehem and its suburbs, took away babies from their mothers and put them to death. Bethlehem was surrounded by troops, like a besieged city. A terrible beating of children began. The warriors threw them into the air and cut them with sword blows, trying to cut them in half. They raised them on spears, as a banner is raised on a pole. Mothers pressed their children to their breasts, offered a ransom, everything they had, for the life of a baby, but the soldiers were merciless. In addition, they were afraid of Herod's wrath, because Herod could execute them for their compassion. One was afraid of a denunciation of the other, and therefore each tried to surpass his comrade in cruelty. Warriors snatched children from their mothers' hands, threw them to the ground, trampled them underfoot, beat their heads against stones. Then they rushed to the neighboring villages. In vain did the parents want to hide their children in secret rooms, cellars or wells. Children's crying betrayed them. Some, clutching the child to themselves, wanted to run to the mountains to take refuge there. But the warriors pursued them like prey, and their arrows nailed the corpse of a mother to the corpse of a daughter or son. The cry of the unfortunate women was so great that it seemed to be heard in the city of Rama. The unquenchable sorrow of all mothers is described by the holy Evangelist Matthew in the form of Rachel, the wife of Patriarch Jacob: A voice is heard in Rama, weeping and sobbing, and a great cry; Rachel weeps for her children and does not want to be consoled, for they are gone.» (Matthew 2:18).
Mad Herod wanted to kill the persecuted Infant among these 14,000 innocent sufferers, but Saint Joseph the Betrothed, having received a revelation through an angel in a dream to flee to Egypt with the Divine Infant and His Mother, on the same night fulfilled the command of God.
Then Herod's anger fell on everyone around him: he did not allow a worthy burial of the deceased elder, Simeon the God-Receiver, and also ordered the death of the high priest Zacharias (Matt. 23:35) because he did not indicate where his son was hiding - St. John, the Forerunner Lord. 70 members of the Sanhedrin were killed, Jewish high priests and scribes, from whom Herod learned where, according to Scripture, Christ should be born. For his great atrocities, Herod did not escape the punishment of God. His body was covered with wounds in which worms swarmed, next to him there was not a single person who would sympathize with his suffering. But even on his deathbed, Herod continued to multiply evil: he ordered the death of his brother, sister and her husband, and finally, he put to death his wife Mariamne and three sons, seeing in all rivals of his power.
The massacre was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah: Thus says the Lord: a voice is heard in Rama, a cry and a bitter sob; Rachel weeps for her children and does not want to be consoled for her children, for they are not.(Jer.31:15) What do the prophetic words mean?
Rama is the site of the tomb of Rachel, the wife of the patriarch Jacob. When her son Joseph was being taken to Egypt as a captive and a slave, he passed by the tomb of Rachel and wept, shouted: “ My mother, can you hear me? Mother, do you see where your son is being taken?» According to legend, a sob was heard from the tomb in response.
Then, when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar crushed and defeated the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BC, he ordered its inhabitants to be resettled in Babylonia, and Rama was a city where Jewish captives were gathered to take them to a distant country.
In my own way geographic location The city of Rama is located 12 kilometers from Bethlehem. Therefore, it can be assumed that when King Herod “sent to beat all the babies in Bethlehem and in all its borders” (Matt. 2:16), this territory included Rama. IN Old Testament the prophet Jeremiah describes the inhabitants of Jerusalem being taken away to a foreign land (Jer. 3 1:15), and these words about the weeping Rachel are said about them. On this sad path they pass by the city of Rama, the burial place of Rachel (1 Sam. 10:2); and Jeremiah depicts Rachel weeping even in her tomb over the fate that befell her people in the Babylonian captivity.
But centuries later, more terrible tragedy. It was no longer the enemies who were taken into captivity, but their fellow tribesmen killed innocent children.
The so-called apocryphal “gospel of childhood” tells about the beating of babies: “The Proto-Gospel of James”. This episode is described in most detail in the Proto-Gospel, the writing of which is attributed to the second half of the 2nd century. In addition to repeating the story of the Evangelist Matthew, the apocrypha contains details about the salvation of John the Baptist by his mother, the righteous Elizabeth. Then Herod realized that the magicians had deceived him, and in anger, he sent assassins, saying to them: kill babies from two years old and under. And Mary, having heard that babies were being beaten, was frightened, took her child and, swaddling it, put it in an oxen manger. And Elizabeth, hearing that they were looking for John (her son), took him and went to the mountain. And I looked for places to hide it, but I did not find it. And she exclaimed with a loud voice, saying: Mountain of God, let the mother and son in, and the mountain opened and let her in. And the light shone on them, and the angel of the Lord was with them, guarding them. (Protevangelium of James, XXII). Further, the apocrypha tells about the murder of Father John, the priest Zechariah, who refused to inform about the whereabouts of his son. This story explains the reasons for the murder of Zechariah, which is reported in Matthew 23:35.
The Church began to commemorate the babies beaten in Bethlehem in the 2nd century. Since ancient times, they have been revered as martyrs who innocently suffered not only for Christ, but also in his place. IN medieval Europe the day of the Bethlehem babies was considered the most unlucky of the year.
In the Far Cave, St. Feodosia in Kiev-Pechersk Lavra part of the relics of one of the Bethlehem babies is kept. One head of the Bethlehem babies is in Serpukhov Vysotsky Monastery, and the other in Desert of David near Serpukhov.
Troparion, tone 1:
Through the illnesses of the saints, having suffered in the image of You, beg, O Lord, and heal all our illnesses, Lover of mankind, we pray.
Kontakion, tone 4:
The star of the sorcerers sent to the One who was born, and Herod sent the unrighteous army fiercely, kill me in the manger, like a baby lying.
Yin kontakion, tone 6:
In Bethlehem I am born a King, the wolves from Persia come with gifts, instructed by a star from above, but Herod is embarrassed and reaps babies like wheat and weeps for himself, as if his power will soon be ruined.
magnificence
We magnify you, holy infants of fourteen thousand, in Bethlehem the Jews of Christ for the sake of beating Herod, and we honor your honest suffering, even for Christ you endured.
Theological interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew
Theophylact of Bulgaria, in his interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew, writes that the massacre of infants took place according to the providence of God, as evidenced by the prophecy of Jeremiah cited in Matthew. In his opinion, this was done "in order to reveal the malice of Herod." Regarding the victims themselves, Theophylact writes:
« Moreover, the babies did not die, but were honored with great gifts. For everyone who endures evil here endures either for the forgiveness of sins or for the increase of crowns. So these children will be more crowned«.
Why did the Lord allow the death and torment of innocent children? After all, they did not commit sin and evil? St. John Chrysostom said this: “If someone took a few copper coins from you and gave you gold coins in return, would you really consider yourself offended or destitute? On the contrary, would you not say that this man is your benefactor? A few copper coins are our earthly life, which sooner or later ends in death, and gold is eternal life. Thus, in a few moments of suffering and torment, infants gained blissful eternity, acquired what the saints achieved through deeds and labors throughout their lives. They left here, from the face of the earth, having been plucked, as it were, by flowers that had not yet blossomed. But they inherited eternal life in the circle of angels.
No suffering remains meaningless before God. This is supported by numerous testimonies from Holy Scripture, and examples from the life of people suffering in this world for one reason or another. The Providence of God about man and the world directs everything to the good, but not always human sensual understanding manages to realize this at once, in an instant. And sometimes distant historical examples remain inexplicable to us from the point of view of the justification of suffering.
Suffering and the cross is that mysterious door that leads us to the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord said to the apostles: you will drink my cup, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you will be baptized...(Matthew 20:23).
In 1989, Andrea Kennedy met Russell Yates, and 5 years later the couple got married. Andrea and Russell immediately decided that their family should have many children. In the first year after the wedding, the first-born Noah was born, followed by John in 1995, and in 1997 the third son, Paul, was born. At the same time, after the birth of Noah, Andrea began postpartum depression. The young mother was prescribed a sedative. At that time, such a condition was considered completely normal for young mothers, and no one saw anything dangerous in this case, so Andrea gave birth to three more children. After the birth of Luke (1999), the woman's depression worsened, and she was prescribed antidepressants and antipsychotics. But they did not help, and Andrea tried to commit suicide. Doctors managed to save the woman, and, as it seemed, defeated her illness. After a course of treatment mental condition Andrea did not cause concern to anyone: she felt great and a year after the suicide attempt, in 2000, she gave birth to her only daughter— Mary. And a year later, Andrea's father died, and this sad event was a real blow for the woman. The disease has returned.
The next episode of depression was so severe that Russell, Andrea's husband, did not believe that his wife would be able to get out. Unfortunately, he was right. On June 20, 2001, after seeing Russell to work, Andrea took a full bath of water and drowned her children in it, one by one. She wrapped the bodies of the children in a towel and laid them on the bed. Andrea killed Luke, John, Paul and Mary. The last victim was seven-year-old Noah, who managed to understand what was happening and tried to escape from his mother. After that, Andrea called the police, and then her husband.
Society demanded the harshest punishment for the child killer, but Andrea's husband insisted that the disease was to blame for everything. In 2002, a woman was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with an opportunity parole 40 years later, but the sentence was later overturned on appeal. Andrea was found not guilty by reason of insanity and transferred to a psychiatric clinic.
Popular
After this incident, young mothers in the United States began to take a sanity test.
Teresa Knorr, pimp and murderer
In 1961, fifteen-year-old Teresa Cross was orphaned: her mother died of a heart attack, and Teresa fell into depression. Just a year later, the girl hurried to get married - it was probably too hard for her to be alone. In 1963, Teresa and her husband Cliff Sanders had a son, Howard Clyde. But family life did not work out: for no reason known to anyone, Teresa shot her husband a year after the birth of the child. At the trial, she presented what happened as self-defense and was fully acquitted. And a year later, Teresa remarried Robert Knorr and gave birth to five children: Sheila (1965), Susan (1966), William (1967), Robert (1967) and Teresa Mary, who was called "Terry" in the family (1970). After the children were born, Teresa divorced Robert.
Subsequently, Terri said that her mother was extremely cruel man: she hated her daughters and mocked them, envious of their youth and beauty. Terri said that her mother regularly punished her and Susan, put out cigarettes on their bodies and smacked them for no reason. In 1983, Teresa tried to shoot Susan, but the girl survived - the bullet stuck in her chest. Knorr did not call the daughter of a doctor, and a year later she herself tried to remove the bullet from her daughter's body. Due to the fact that the instruments were not sterile, Susan developed jaundice, and soon began to show signs of mental disorder. Teresa Knorr gathered the children and announced to them that Susan was possessed by Satan and the only way to get rid of the danger was to burn her alive. Knorr made her sons take Susan to the mountains and do it.
Then it was the turn of the eldest daughter - Sheila. Her mother forced her into prostitution, and in 1985 she suddenly announced that Sheila had caught a “bad disease” from a client and infected her mother through the toilet seat. As punishment, Teresa locked Sheila in a room and never let her out again. A few weeks later, the girl died of starvation.
Knorr and her sons were arrested on October 11, 1993. Terri saw on TV the series America's Wanted, which talked about crimes and the people who committed them. The girl called the police and told about everything that happened in their family.
Knorr was charged with murder by torture. At first, Teresa denied her guilt, but after she found out that her sons were ready to testify against her, she confessed. On October 17, 1995, Teresa Knorr was sentenced to two life sentences.
Svetlana Okley, mother-heroine, killer and kidnapper
The mother-heroine from the city of Krasnodon, Luhansk region, was proud of the entire Shakhtyorsky district. Svetlana and her husband Alexander raised six daughters and one son, while all the children in this large family were talented and gifted: the children studied well and regularly became laureates of various regional and city competitions. Alexander worked as a miner, Svetlana wrote children's fairy tales, songs and created the Okley children's family ensemble, which took part in all major events in the Krasnodon region. The couple's eldest daughter was already 22 years old, but she maintained a close relationship with her parents. Perfect family. In 2007, by a special decree of President Viktor Yushchenko, Svetlana Okley was awarded the title of "Mother Heroine".
In 2010, an exemplary family decided to adopt a five-year-old pupil orphanage Ilya. But it turned out that Ilya has two sisters - four-year-old Liza and two-year-old Katya. The law forbids separating brothers and sisters, so Svetlana Okley decided to become a mother to all three. And 2 years later, in 2012, Svetlana gave birth to her 11th child.
The family continued to live rich social life: Ilya joined the family ensemble and performed at events, but no one has ever seen his little sisters. Subsequently, it turned out that they did not know anything about them even in the district clinic.
In August 2012, a resident of the village of Semeykino, Krasnodonsky district, called the police station and said that unknown persons had kidnapped her three-year-old daughter Kristina Kabakova. The girl was walking in the yard with her six-year-old brother. At some point, unknown people drove up to them: a man, a woman and a girl. They grabbed Kristina, threw her into the sidecar of a motorcycle and took her away in an unknown direction. From the words of the boy, they made a sketch of the kidnappers, the police managed to find the kidnapped girl. Christina was found at the dacha of the Okley family. The girl was hidden under the bed, covered with a pile of rags. Svetlana Okley said that this girl is not Kristina Kabakova at all, but her adopted daughter Lisa.
Okley told Kristina's parents, who soon arrived, that allegedly someone else had kidnapped her adopted daughters Katya and Lisa in the winter, and therefore she decided to take revenge and kidnap someone else's child. In this moment Foster-son Okley family Ilya approached one of the policemen and whispered: “Take me away from here, otherwise they will kill me.” The boy's entire body was covered in bruises and scars. Svetlana Okley, her eldest daughter Yulia and her husband Alexander, who was hiding in the attic, were immediately arrested.
Father and daughter confessed. As it turned out, Svetlana kidnapped Kristina Kabakov in order to pass her off as one of her adopted daughters. Both Katya and Lisa were beaten to death by Svetlana.
According to Svetlana's eldest daughter Yulia Okley, the children stood in the corner all day long. They were forbidden to move, otherwise Svetlana beat them on the head with her hands, kicked on the back and all over the body. Katya constantly had a bump on her head from hitting the cast-iron battery. “Mom also pierced her lower jaw through and through, and when I fed her, food flowed from the bottom of her chin - there was a through hole through her mouth,” Yulia said. Svetlana Okley beat Liza to death and then ordered Yulia and her husband Alexander to dispose of the body. The father and daughter put Lisa in a bag and took them to their rural house, which they began to use as a dacha after the authorities gave the family an apartment. There they burned the girl's body in an iron vat.
After the murder of Lisa, Svetlana calmed down for a while and stopped beating Katya and Ilya. But 9 months later, already in the last stages of pregnancy with her last child, Svetlana killed Katya. The girl's body was buried in the same dacha.
On December 11, 2012, the trial began over the Okley spouses and their daughter Yulia. Julia and Alexander fully admitted their guilt and confirmed that Svetlana tortured and then killed her adopted daughters for a long time. The defendant herself denied her guilt: she assured that the case against her was fabricated. Svetlana Okley's lawyer could not stand it and right in court said that his client was a monster.
Svetlana Okley was sentenced to 15 years in prison, her husband Alexander - to 4 years in prison, and her eldest daughter Yulia - to 4 years in prison with a 3-year suspension of the sentence due to the fact that at the time of the trial she was pregnant.
In March 2013, Svetlana Okley filed an appeal against the court decision.
Court of Appeal Luhansk region found no reason to change the sentence.
