Synaxis
of All the New Martyrs of the Russian Church
The
Russian Church, which was baptized in the tenth century by missionaries
from Byzantium, brought forth many Saints in the course of time who took
their places beside the earlier Saints in the court of heaven. But she
lacked the vesture, as of purple and fine linen, of the blood of Martyrs
to be presented perfect and radiant to Christ the Bridegroom.
The persecution of
unprecedented cruelty and length suffered by the Russian Church from the
Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 to the Millennium of
the Baptism of Russia in 1988, far from extinguishing
Christianity, provided the Church with her strongest title to glory.
Systematic closure of churches and their transformation into museums of
atheism, prohibit-ion of all religious teaching, crass and heavy-forced
atheistic propaganda, widespread use of informers, even from within
families, harassment of all kinds, confinement in psychiatric
institutions from which victims emerged deprived of personality,
deportation to concentration camps, physical and mental torments of
greater cruelty than anything imagined by former torturers – all these
devices of Satan proved impotent to extinguish the Faith, and redounded
only to the confusion of the perpetrators, showing Christianity is not a
human doctrine but it is the life and power of God Who dwells in our
hearts making us stronger than death.
The storm of revolution,
which broke out with such violence upon the worthiest representatives of
the Russian Church between 1918 and 1926 produced more Martyrs than all
the persecutions of former times -- in all, seventy-eight bishops, some
2,700 priests, 2,000 monks and 3,400 nuns, who died in monasteries,
transformed into concentration camps, as well as hundreds of thousands
of pious lay people, known and unknown, who courageously faced
confiscation of their goods, contempt, and all kinds of torture for the
sake of the Lord
Here we recall several of the
most prominent, whose veneration has received formal recognition by the
Church.
The
Holy Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev,
the first of the New Martyrs of the Russian Church: He married and was
ordained, but lost his wife and young son after four years in the
priesthood, thereupon he entered a monastery. In 1888, he was
consecrated Bishop in the diocese of Novgorod; and 3 years later, at the
height of a cholera epidemic, he was transferred to Samara, where be
devoted all his strength to comforting the afflicted. He then spent 6
years engaged in teaching the faith to the peoples of the Caucasus,
founding numerous churches and church schools. His election as
Metropolitan of Moscow in 1898 marked a renewal of church life in the
diocese. He showed an especial concern for the training of priests
(whom he selected with discernment), and for the religious education of
factory-workers, for whose benefit he organized conferences on spiritual
themes. He also assisted the monks of the Lavra of St Sergius, and
became the spiritual father of the holy Grand Duchess Elizabeth. In
1912, he was appointed Metropolitan of St Petersburg and President of
the Holy Synod. However, his courageous opposition to the interference
of the charlatan Rasputin in Church matters led to his fall from favor
and he was transferred to Kiev at the end of three years.
The October
Revolution shook church life in Ukraine as elsewhere in Russia,
and an attempt was made to establish a national church there,
irrespective of Metropolitan Vladimir, who took refuge in the Monastery
of the Caves. At the beginning of 1918, by which time the Civil War had
reached Kiev, the Metropolitan continued to celebrate the Divine Liturgy
in the midst of the bombardment. The city was occupied by the
Bolsheviks, and a squad of armed men appeared at the Monastery, which
had been looted a few days earlier, and seized the Metropolitan. The
Saint followed them in the dead of night, chanting and praying as calmly
as though he were about to serve the Divine Liturgy. When they reached
the place of martyrdom, he blessed his executioners and said 'God
forgive you!' before falling to the ground shot.
Greater Love Hath No Man - New-Martyr Metropolitan
Benjamin of Petrograd
The
Holy Metropolitan Benjamin, well-known for his
pastoral zeal for working people in particular, was elected to the see
of St Petersburg in 1917. He set about parochial reform without delay
and strove to keep the Church free of involvement in politics. He
preached the Word with a simplicity and spiritual strength that drew
crowds to the churches where he served and, despite his great
responsibilities, he continued to visit the poor and workers. During
the famine of 1921, which resulted from the Revolution and Civil War,
the Metropolitan had no hesitation in handing over all the goods of the
Church to the State provided they were distributed under the supervision
of the clergy and the faithful. The Bolsheviks appeared to become more
conciliatory for a while, until their hatred flared up at the unyielding
opposition of the Metropolitan to the 'Living Church' movement, which
was aimed at the destruction of the Church and of tradition. He was
arrested in 1922 with 85 others, both clergy and laymen. When he came
before the revolutionary court, a crowd of 100,000 gathered in silence
outside, supporting their spiritual father by their prayer. The
Metropolitan calmly rebutted all the accusations laid against him of
counter-revolutionary activities. He said, 'What pains me most is to
hear that I am an enemy of the people.' And he added,
"Whatever your sentence, I shall raise my eyes
to heaven and, making the sign of the Cross, 1 shall say: Glory to
Thee for all things. Lord, my God!:
Despite the open support of the people, the tribunal condemned the
Metropolitan to death. He was shot on 13 August. Fearing an uprising,
the Bolsheviks put it about that the Metropolitan had been transferred
to Moscow; and hence the rumor spread among the poor their spiritual
father was not dead but had withdrawn in secret, and would return when
the storm abated.
Excerpted from The Synaxarion, III Jan 29 06
