Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Youths, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael

Daniel and his companions Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah — renamed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego — were young nobles of Judah taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar about 605 BC and trained for royal service. The Book of Daniel tells that they refused the king’s food; that the three were thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship a golden image and came out unharmed; and that Daniel interpreted dreams and the writing on the wall and came out of the lions’ den alive under King Darius.

Tradition holds Daniel to be the author of the book; many modern scholars date its final form to the 2nd century BC. Their feast falls shortly before Christmas, when the Church remembers the ancestors of Christ.