Saint
Holy Three Youths Ananias, Azarias and Misael
VII–VI вв. до Р. Х.
Also known as: Свв. три отрока Анания, Азария и Мисаил, Три отрока Вавилонские, Три отрока в пещи огненной, Седрах, Мисах и Авденаго
Companions of the Prophet Daniel in the Babylonian captivity who refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, were cast into the fiery furnace and were preserved unharmed by an angel.
The Holy Three Youths, Ananias, Azarias and Misael, were companions of the Prophet Daniel who were miraculously saved from the fiery furnace during the Babylonian captivity (Daniel 1–3). In Babylon they were renamed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Taken captive with Daniel after the fall of Jerusalem around 600 BC, the noble Jewish youths were educated at the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Keeping God's law, they refused food from the king's table and ate only vegetables and water, yet surpassed the others in health and wisdom; after Daniel interpreted the king's dream, the three were set over the affairs of the province of Babylon.
When Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image on the plain of Dura and ordered all to worship it on pain of the furnace, the youths refused and confessed the true God. Bound and cast into the furnace, they walked unharmed in the flames, singing praise to God, for an angel of the Lord came down and cooled the fire. The astonished king blessed their God. The Prayer of Azarias and the Song of the Three Youths (Dan 3:24–90) became the 7th and 8th biblical odes of Matins. By one tradition they died in old age in captivity; St Cyril of Alexandria says they were beheaded by the Persian king Cambyses. Their relics were brought to Constantinople under Emperor Leo I. They are commemorated on 17 (30) December with the Prophet Daniel and on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers.