Holy Monks Passion-Bearers and New Martyrs of the Russian Church. The crime of the Soviet government and the treasure of the Russian Orthodox Church - the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. Metropolitan of Petrograd and Gdov

Brother will betray brother to death, and father his son; and children will rise up against their parents and kill them; and you will be hated by all because of my name; but he who endures to the end shall be saved(Holy Gospel of Matthew, 10:21,22)

From the very beginning of its existence, the Soviet government took an uncompromising and uncompromising position towards the Church. All religious denominations of the country, and the Orthodox Church in the first place, were perceived by the new leaders not just as a relic of the "old regime", but also as the most important obstacle in the way of building a "bright future". An organized and regulated society based solely on ideological and material principles, where the only value was recognized as the "common good" in the "this age" and iron discipline was introduced, could in no way be combined with faith in God and the desire for Eternal Life after the Universal Resurrection. The Bolsheviks brought down on the Church all the power of their propaganda.

Not limited to a propaganda war, the Bolsheviks immediately began numerous arrests and executions of the clergy and active laity, which were massively carried out in several waves from the October Revolution to the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

Another misfortune was the incessant control by the state security agencies, which actively contributed to the emergence and fanning of numerous disagreements and schisms in the church environment, the most famous of which was the so-called. "renewal".

The materialistic worldview of the leaders of Bolshevism could not accommodate the words of Christ: I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it» (Matthew 16:18). Driving the Church into more and more difficult conditions, destroying more and more more people, and even more - intimidating and disgusting, they could not bring this matter to the end.

After all the waves of persecution, persecution and repression, at least a small remnant of people faithful to Christ remained, it was possible to defend individual churches, to find mutual language with local authorities.

In the face of all these troubles, in an atmosphere of rejection and discrimination, not everyone dared to openly confess their faith, to follow Christ to the end, having suffered martyrdom or full of sorrows and difficulties. long life without forgetting other words of Christ: And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; but rather fear the One Who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna» (Matthew 10:28). Orthodox people who managed not to betray Christ during the persecution in Soviet times, who proved this by their death or life, we call the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

First New Martyrs

The very first new martyr was Archpriest John Kochurov, who served in Tsarskoye Selo near Petrograd and was killed a few days after the revolution, irritated by the Red Guards for urging the people not to support the Bolsheviks.

Local Council of the Russian Church 1917-1918 restored the patriarchate. The cathedral in Moscow was still going on, and on January 25, 1918, in Kyiv, after the Bolshevik pogrom in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, he was killed Met. Kyiv and Galitsky Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky). The day of his murder, or the Sunday closest to this day, was established as the date of commemoration of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, as if anticipating that the Bolshevik persecutions would continue. It is clear that for many years this date could not be celebrated openly on the territory of our country, and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia established this memorial day in 1981. In Russia, such a celebration began to take place only after the Council of Bishops in 1992. And by name, most of the New Martyrs were glorified by the Council of 2000 G.

Elected by the Local Council 1917-1918 Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin) and he himself subsequently replenished the number of New Martyrs. Constant tension, the most difficult opposition from the authorities quickly exhausted his strength, and he died (and possibly was poisoned) in 1925 on the feast of the Annunciation. It was Patriarch Tikhon who became the first in terms of glorification (in 1989, abroad - in 1981).

New Martyrs from the Imperial House

Of particular note among the New Martyrs is the Royal Passion-Bearers - Tsar Nicholas and his family. For some people, their canonization is bewildering, for others, their unhealthy deification is observed. The veneration of the murdered royal family is not and should not be associated with any conspiracy theories, or with unhealthy national chauvinism, or with monarchism, or with any other political speculation. At the same time, all the confusion regarding the canonization of the royal family is associated with a misunderstanding of its cause. The ruler of the state, if he is glorified as a saint, does not have to be an outstanding genius and powerful political figure, a talented organizer, a successful commander (all this may or may not be, but in itself they are not reasons for canonization). Emperor Nicholas and his family are glorified by the Church because of the humble renunciation of power, power and wealth, the refusal to fight and the acceptance of an innocent death at the hands of the atheists. The main argument in favor of the holiness of the Royal Passion-Bearers is their prayerful help to people who turn to them.

Grand Duchess Elisaveta Fedorovna, the wife of the uncle of Emperor Nicholas, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, after the death of her husband at the hands of terrorists in 1905, left court life. She founded the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy in Moscow, a special Orthodox institution that combined elements of a monastery and an almshouse. During the difficult years of the war and revolutionary turmoil, the monastery acted, providing a variety of assistance to those in need. Being arrested by the Bolsheviks, the Grand Duchess, together with her cell attendant nun Varvara and other close people was sent to Alapaevsk. The day after the execution of the imperial family, they were thrown alive into an abandoned mine.

Butovo landfill

South of Moscow, near locality Butovo(now giving names to two districts of our city) is located secret training ground, where priests and laity were shot on a particularly large scale. Nowadays, a memorial museum dedicated to them has been opened at the Butovo training ground. Another place of mass feat of the New Martyrs and Confessors was Solovetsky Monastery, converted by the Bolsheviks into a place of detention.

Days of Remembrance of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia:

January 25 (February 7) or closest Sunday- Cathedral of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

March 25 (April 7, the feast of the Annunciation)- memory of St. Patr. Tikhon

4th Saturday after Easter- Cathedral of the New Martyrs of Butovo

The memory of other New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia is celebrated almostevery day.

Troparion of the New Martyrs (tone 4)

Today, the Russian Church rejoices with joy, / glorifying its New Martyrs and Confessors: / saints and priests, / Royal Passion-bearers, / noble princes and princesses, / reverend men and women / and all Orthodox Christians, / in the days of persecution of the godless / their lives for the faith in who laid down Christ/ and observed the truth with blood./ By those intercessions, long-suffering Lord,/ preserve our country in Orthodoxy// until the end of time.

Today the Russian Church joyfully rejoices, glorifying her New Martyrs and Confessors: saints and priests, Royal Passion-Bearers, noble princes and princesses, reverend husbands and wives, and all Orthodox Christians, who in the days of godless persecution laid down their lives for their faith in Christ and affirmed the truth with their blood. Through their intercession, long-suffering Lord, preserve our country in Orthodoxy until the end of time.

_________________

The future Emperor Nicholas II Romanov was born on May 6 (19), 1868. His father Alexander III gave his son a semi-military strict upbringing, the Tsarevich forever developed the habit of a modest life, simple food and hard work. The boy grew up in an atmosphere of Orthodox piety, and from early childhood he had a deep religious feeling. Those who knew him tell that the Royal Child, hearing stories about the Passion of the Savior, sympathized with Him with all his soul and even pondered how to save Him from the Jews.

In 1894, after the death of his father, Nikolai Alexandrovich ascended the Russian Throne and in the same year married the Hessian princess Alix, who received the name Alexandra Feodorovna in Holy Baptism. The coronation celebrations were overshadowed by several accidental tragedies, which were perceived by the people as ominous omens.

The Royal Couple had five children: daughters Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia and a son - the heir Alexei. The Sovereign brought up his children in the same way as he was brought up himself - in the spirit of the Orthodox faith and folk traditions: the whole Family often attended Divine services, goveli. Empress Alexandra, who was born in Lutheranism, like her sister, the Monk Martyr Elizabeth, embraced Orthodoxy with all her heart and stood out with her piety even among the Russian people. She loved the long, orderly statutory services, she always followed the course of the service from books. It is not surprising that the frivolous court society revered her as a hypocrite and saint.

The sovereign actively participated in church life, much more than his predecessors: during the reign of Nicholas II, 250 monasteries and more than 10 thousand churches were opened in Russia and abroad. During his reign, more saints were glorified than in the previous 2 centuries. At the same time, the Emperor had to show special perseverance, seeking the canonization of the now so revered Seraphim of Sarov, Joasaph of Belgorod, John of Tobolsk. Nicholas II highly honored St. John of Kronstadt, and the righteous John often called on the people to stand up for their Tsar, predicting that otherwise the Lord would take the Tsar away from Russia and let her rulers who would flood the whole earth with blood.

The deep sincere faith of the Tsar brought him closer to the common people. However, the Sovereign also patronized other religions, therefore not only the Orthodox loved him; for example, the Emperor's bodyguards were Muslim Caucasians. Sometimes the Tsar's tolerance even went against the interests of the Orthodox Church.

The Sovereign treated the Tsar's ministry as his sacred domain. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was a model politician for him - at the same time a reformer and careful guardian of national traditions and faith. In public affairs, Nicholas II proceeded from religious and moral convictions. On his initiative, the famous Hague conventions on the humane conduct of war were concluded, but his proposal for general disarmament remained misunderstood.

From the beginning of the First World War, the Tsar was always with his army, personally led, although not always successfully, military operations, and communicated a lot with the soldiers. The Empress and her daughters became sisters of mercy and cared for the wounded. The personal participation of the royal family in the feat of war helped the people to patiently bear this feat. However, the pro-Western intelligentsia, which already fell away from folk traditions and faith before the war, now, taking advantage of the difficulties of wartime, has stepped up its activities of Orthodoxy and the monarchy. There is no doubt that Nicholas II made significant miscalculations in the external and domestic politics, he deeply experienced them and was inclined to see his personal fault in the misfortunes of the Fatherland.

By the spring of 1917, a conspiracy had matured in the tsar's entourage to remove Nicholas II from power. On March 2, betrayed by his closest people, the Sovereign was forced to sign the Abdication of the Throne in favor of his brother Michael. “I do not want at least one drop of Russian blood to be shed for me,” said Nikolai Alexandrovich. Grand Duke Michael refused to accept the crown, and the monarchy in Russia fell. The former emperor and his family were arrested by the Provisional Government.

Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich was born on the day of memory of Job the Long-suffering and often repeated that this coincidence was not accidental: the Sovereign, according to many, foresaw the misfortunes that would fall to his lot, and in the last year of his life, Nicholas II really became like an ancient righteous man . Together with the Sovereign, all the members of his Family carried the same cross. Once in custody, they were subjected to incessant humiliation and bullying, the guards enjoyed the power over the former Autocrat. The royal prisoners experienced a particularly difficult time, having fallen into the hands of the Bolsheviks. At the same time, they behaved with unfailing calmness and good-naturedness, it seemed that they were completely insensitive to harassment and insults. The most hard-hearted escorts, faced with the meekness of the former Tsar and his Family, were soon imbued with sympathy for them, and therefore the authorities had to change guards frequently. In captivity, the Imperial Family did not leave prayer, the reading of the Holy Scriptures. According to the memoirs of the executioners, the prisoners amazed everyone with their religiosity. The confessor allowed to confess them testifies to the amazing moral height at which these sufferers, especially children, were, as if completely alien to any earthly dirt. According to the diaries and letters of the Royal Family, it is clear that it was not their own misfortunes, for example, the constant illnesses of their children, that caused them the most suffering, but the fate of Russia, which was dying before our eyes. Outwardly calm, the Sovereign wrote: Best time for me the night when I can at least forget a little.

On April 26, 1918, the Royal Family was transported to Yekaterinburg to the house of engineer Ipatiev, as the Bolsheviks feared that the advancing White Army would free the prisoners. The regime is being tightened: walks are prohibited, the doors to the rooms were not closed - the guards could enter at any moment. On July 16, a cipher message was received from Moscow containing an order to execute the Romanovs. On the night of July 16-17, the prisoners were lowered into the basement under the pretext of an early move, then suddenly soldiers with rifles appeared, the “verdict” was hastily read out, and immediately the guards opened fire. The shooting was chaotic - the soldiers were given vodka before that - therefore the holy martyrs were finished off with bayonets. Servants died together with the Royal Family: doctor Yevgeny Botkin, maid of honor Anna Demidova, cook Ivan Kharitonov and lackey Trupp, who remained faithful to them to the end. After the execution, the bodies were taken outside the city to an abandoned mine in the Ganina Yama tract, where they were destroyed for a long time with the help of sulfuric acid, gasoline and grenades. There is an opinion that the murder was ritual, as evidenced by the inscriptions on the walls of the room where the martyrs died. Ipatiev's house was blown up in the 70s.

During all the time of Soviet power, violent blasphemy poured out on the memory of the holy Tsar Nicholas, nevertheless, many among the people, especially in emigration, from the very moment of his death, revered the martyr tsar. Countless testimonies of miraculous help through prayers to the Family of the last Russian Autocrat; popular veneration of the royal martyrs in last years the twentieth century became so wide that in August 2000, at the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their children Alexei, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia were canonized as holy martyrs. Their memory is celebrated on the day of their martyrdom - July 17th.

Passion-bearer - the name of the Christian martyrs. In principle, this name can be applied to all martyrs who endured suffering (passion, lat. passio) in the name of Christ. Mostly, this name refers to those saints who endured suffering and death with Christian meekness, patience and humility, and in their martyrdom the light of Christ's faith conquering evil was revealed. Often the holy martyrs accepted a martyr's death not from the persecutors of Christianity, but from their co-religionists - because of their malice, deceit, conspiracy. Accordingly, in this case, the special nature of their feat is emphasized - good-naturedness and non-resistance to enemies. So, in particular, the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb, St. Demetrius Tsarevich are often referred to.

Based on the materials of the report of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

At the dawn of Christianity, persecution of the Church of Christ was almost universal. It was very difficult for the pagan world to accept the teachings of Christ.

How can you, for example, love and forgive your enemy? For a person of that time - an unacceptable thought: countries and peoples were in constant war. How can you ever forgive? After all, there is a court with well-developed Roman law.

The ideas of the Divine Teacher led many into bewilderment, and it very often grew into hatred and anger towards those who managed to contain the New Testament. And many of the latter became the first: martyrs, persecuted.

Recent history has also revealed many martyrs who (unlike the ancients) had no choice: to apostatize from God or not.

Such is the family of the last Russian emperor, to whom none of the persecutors offered to renounce Christ. But it was precisely in the lack of alternatives to suffering for Him that our Church saw a feat worthy of glorification.

Such are the hundreds of known and nameless victims of mass repressions during the hard times.

New persecutions not only surpassed in their scale the persecution of Christians in the ancient world. The most sophisticated methods of reprisals, deceit and falsifications were developed.

Unlike the Roman executioners, the experts from Lubyanka were well aware of the teachings and practices of the Church. And from the very beginning of the persecution, one of their tasks was to prevent the glorification of new saints. That is why the true fate of confessors of the faith was unknown to their contemporaries: interrogations took place in dungeons, investigation materials were often falsified, executions were carried out secretly.

Hiding the true motives of their repressive policy, the persecutors passed sentences on confessors under political articles, accusing their victims of "counter-revolutionary activities."

Outwardly, this is very unlike the fate of the martyrs ancient church. However, only at first glance. After all, the people of the Church, who had not taken off their cross during the years of repression, and who had often already gone through arrests, prisons and camps, knew what lay ahead for them. Arrest and execution only completed their daily confessional feat.

New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia- this is how the Church calls all those who suffered for their faith in Christ in Russia during the period of post-revolutionary persecution.

Their exact number is unknown, but presumably exceeds one million people.

Among those who died for professing Christianity are about 200 bishops and from 300 to 380 thousand priests.

The murders of believers by the anti-Christian authorities began immediately after the revolution and culminated in 1937-38, when every second priest (106,800) was shot, and most of the survivors served long terms in camps.

By 1940, only four hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church remained free, and about a hundred parishes continued to operate.

Among the New Martyrs and Confessors are the murdered Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, heir to the throne Tsarevich Alexei, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev (Bogoyavlensky), Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd (Kazansky), locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne Metropolitans Peter (Polyansky) and Agafangel (Preobrazhensky), Archbishop Thaddeus (Uspensky), Bishop Platon (Kulbush) of Revel and Estonia, and many tens of thousands of known and unknown clergymen, monastics and laity, who, by death and suffering in bonds, testified their fidelity to Christ.

The cathedral glorification of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia took place at the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000.

The Christian Church throughout its two centuries of existence proved its fidelity to God. The best proof is human life. Neither theological works, nor beautiful sermons, nothing proves the truth of religion as a person who is ready to give his life for its sake.

Living in modern world, where everyone can freely profess their faith, express their opinion, it is hard to imagine that just a hundred years ago this could lead to execution. The 20th century left a bloody trail in the history of Russia and the Russian Church, which will never be forgotten and will forever remain an example of what an attempt by the state to gain total control over society can lead to. Thousands of people were killed just because their faith was objectionable to the authorities.

Who are the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

Major Christian denomination Russian Empire- Orthodoxy. After the revolution of 1917, representatives of the faith were among those who were subjected to communist repression. It was from these people that the host of saints later descended, which is a treasure for the Orthodox Church.

Origin of words

The word "martyr" is of ancient Greek origin ( μάρτυς, μάρτῠρος) and translates as "witness". Martyrs have been revered as saints since the beginning of Christianity. These people were firm in their faith and did not want to renounce even their valuable lives. The first Christian martyr was killed around the year 33-36 (First Martyr Stephen).

Confessors (Greek ὁμολογητής) are those people who openly confess, that is, they testify to their faith even in the most difficult times, when this faith is prohibited by the state or does not correspond to the religious beliefs of the majority. They are also revered as saints.

The meaning of the concept

Those Christians who were killed in the 20th century during political repression, are called the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

The martyrdom is divided into several categories:

Martyrs are Christians who gave their lives for Christ.
New martyrs (new martyrs) are people who suffered for the faith relatively recently.
A holy martyr is a person in the priesthood who has been martyred.
Reverend Martyr - a monk who was martyred.
A great martyr is a martyr of high rank or rank who has endured great torment.

For Christians, to accept martyrdom is a joy, because when they die, they resurrect for eternal life.

New Martyrs of Russia

After the Bolsheviks came to power, their main goal was to preserve it and eliminate enemies. They considered enemies not only structures directly aimed at overthrowing the Soviet regime ( white army, popular uprisings, etc.), but also people who do not share their ideology. Since Marxism-Leninism assumed atheism and materialism, the Orthodox Church, as the most numerous, immediately became their opponent.

Historical reference

Since the clergy had authority among the people, they could, as the Bolsheviks thought, incite the people to overthrow the government, which means they posed a threat to them. Immediately after the October uprising, persecution began. Since the Bolsheviks were not completely consolidated and did not want their government to look totalitarian, the removal of representatives of the Church was not due to their religious beliefs, but was presented as a punishment for "counter-revolutionary activities" or for other invented violations. The wording was sometimes absurd, for example: “he dragged out the church service in order to disrupt the field work on the collective farm” or “he deliberately kept a small change of silver coin in his possession, pursuing the goal of undermining the correct circulation of money.”

The fury and cruelty with which innocent people were killed sometimes exceeded that of the Roman persecutors in the first centuries.

Here are just a few such examples:

Bishop Theophan of Solikamsk was undressed in the bitter cold in front of the people, tied a stick to his hair and lowered into the hole until he was covered with ice;
Bishop Isidore Mikhailovsky was impaled;
Bishop Ambrose of Serapul was tied to the tail of a horse and let it gallop.

But most often mass execution was used, and the dead were buried in mass graves. Such graves are still found today.

One of the places for execution was the Butovo training ground. There were killed 20,765 people, of which 940 are clergy and laity of the Russian Church.

List

It is impossible to enumerate the entire Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church. According to some estimates, by 1941, about 130,000 clergymen were killed. By 2006, 1,701 people had been canonized.

This is just a small list of martyrs who suffered for the Orthodox faith:

Hieromartyr Ivan (Kochurov) is the first of the murdered priests. Born July 13, 1871. He served in the United States, conducted missionary activities. In 1907 he moved back to Russia. In 1916 he was appointed to serve in the Catherine's Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo. On November 8, 1917, he died after prolonged beatings and dragging along the sleepers of the railway tracks.
Hieromartyr Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) - the first of the murdered bishops. Born January 1, 1848. Was the Metropolitan of Kyiv. January 29, 1928, being in his chambers, he was taken out by sailors and killed.
Hieromartyr Pavel (Felitsyn) was born in 1894. He served in the village of Leonovo, Rostokinsky District. He was arrested on November 15, 1937. He was charged with anti-Soviet agitation. On December 5, he was sentenced to 10 years of work in a forced labor camp, where he died on January 17, 1941.
Venerable Martyr Theodosius (Bobkov) was born on February 7, 1874. Last place services - the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in the village of Vikhorna, Mikhnevsky district. On January 29, 1938 he was arrested and on February 17 he was shot.
Hieromartyr Alexy (Zinoviev) was born on March 1, 1879. On August 24, 1937, Father Alexy was arrested and imprisoned in the Taganka prison in Moscow. He was accused of holding services in people's homes and conducting anti-Soviet conversations. On September 15, 1937 he was shot.

It should be noted that often during interrogations they did not admit to what they did not do. It was usually said that they were not engaged in any anti-Soviet activities, but this did not matter, because the interrogations were purely formal.

Speaking of the martyrs of the 20th century, one cannot fail to mention St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow (January 19, 1865 - March 23, 1925). He is not glorified as a martyr, but his life was a martyr because the patriarchal ministry fell on his shoulders during these difficult and bloody years. His life was full of hardships and suffering, the biggest of which is to know that the Church entrusted to you is being destroyed.

The family of Emperor Nicholas is also not canonized as martyrs, but for their faith and worthy acceptance of death, the Church venerates them as holy martyrs.

Memorial Day of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

Even at the Bishops' Council of 1817-1818. decided to commemorate all the dead who suffered in persecution. But at that time no one could be canonized.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was the first to take a step towards their glorification November 1st, 1981, and set a date for the celebration February 7, if this day coincides with Sunday, if not, then on the next Sunday. In Russia, their glorification took place at the Council of Bishops in 2000.

Celebration traditions

The Orthodox Church celebrates all its holidays with the Holy Liturgy. On the feast day of St. This is especially symbolic of the martyrs, because at the Liturgy the sacrifice of Christ is experienced, and at the same time the sacrifice of the martyrs who gave their lives for Him and for the holy Orthodox faith is remembered.

On this day, Orthodox Christians remember with bitterness those tragic events when the Russian land was saturated with blood. But a consolation for them is that the 20th century left the Russian Church with thousands of holy prayer books and intercessors. And when they are asked who the new martyrs are, they can simply show old photographs of their relatives who died in persecution.

Video

This video contains a slide of photographs of the New Martyrs.

"Russian Golgotha" - a film about the feat of the Saints of the twentieth century.

New Martyr- a Christian who accepted death for a confession of faith in relatively recent times. So he calls all those who suffered for their faith in the period of post-revolutionary persecution.

The all-church celebration of the memory of the Synod of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia takes place on February 7 in a new style, if this day coincides with Sunday, and if it does not coincide, then on the next Sunday after February 7.

The reckoning of the new martyrs does not mean the canonization of their literary, epistolary or other heritage. The canonization of a new martyr does not mean that everything that a person has written in his life is the work of the holy father. This canonization is not for a life feat, but for a feat in death, a feat that crowned a person's life.

Of course, we will always resort to St. Sergius and Seraphim and other saints of God and receive what we ask from them. But after all, none of us can accomplish such feats as St. Seraphim. And no matter how we pray and try to stand on a stone for a thousand nights, at best we end up in a lunatic asylum - if someone does not stop us in time. Because we don't have those gifts.
But the new martyrs were people just like us!
They sometimes say to me: “Well, what’s wrong, well, dad served in his parish, well, he performed some services there, with a censer, you know, waved to himself, well, he had some kind of children, raised them, it’s still unknown how well he brought them up or not! What did he do that?! Why is he suddenly a saint, and we have to pray and worship him?! He shoots everyone - and they shot him! Where is the holiness here? Yes, the whole point is that he was like everyone else. But many took it and ran, or, on the contrary, participated in all this lawlessness. And this priest from a seedy village understood that it was his duty to go to church and pray, although he knew what would happen to him. And he served, realizing that at any moment they would come for him.

Priest Cyril Kaleda

About the New Martyrs

According to the words of the saints, it stands on the blood of the martyrs, and this is not only in a figurative sense, but also in a direct, literal sense. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated on the antimension, into which, according to the established ancient tradition, the relics of the martyrs are sewn up. The Russian Orthodox Church, despite the fact that it occupies more space and the number of members than all the other Local Churches combined, although relatively young, throughout its history has borrowed relics for antimensions.

But after the canonization of 2000, we had so many relics of the martyrs for the celebration of the Liturgy that it would be enough for all the thrones until the Second Coming of Christ. In the 20th century, several times more saints shone in Russia than in the previous 900 years of the existence of the Russian Church.

However, the expected veneration of the New Martyrs in our Church did not happen. We live in a different era, which, although not far from that one in time, is infinitely far away in terms of the content of the life around us. And therefore, the veneration of the New Martyrs can take place, like the veneration of saints in general, only through deliberate study of their deeds. We are poorly aware of the significance of the feat of the martyrs, and thus we do not show in ourselves such a Christian virtue as gratitude. We are blind in the sense that we do not see the danger of our existence in the present.

According to the words, “whoever does not want to achieve unity with the last of the saints through humility of wisdom will never unite with the former and previous saints.” After all, if a person does not recognize and accept holiness that is so close to him, how can he comprehend holiness that is far from him. Our New Martyrs, perhaps, are our only unconditional creative heritage, perhaps our only last time prayer books and trustees. Consigning to oblivion their feat, we arbitrarily lose their help and support.

Martyr in the concept of the Church and in translation means “witness”, that is, a person who, with his life, shed blood, testifies to the truth of the Christian faith. Towards the end of not arithmetical, but extended, of course, times, in the Russian Orthodox Church, in Russia, a period began just as bloody, just as cruel, just as frankly demonic as at the beginning of Christianity and the preaching of the apostles, and which lasted several decades and revealed - The heavenly Church first - there may be thousands of martyrs who are coming to the Throne of God and revealed in the earthly Church, militant, after the New Martyrs were glorified by the Council of 2000. New martyrs - not in the sense that their feat qualitatively or in some other way differs from the feat of the martyrs of the first times of Christianity, but new in the sense that they are new for us, they are our contemporaries, they are ours, in some way I mean, even relatives - because many of them were grandfathers - if anyone had priests or laity who suffered.

The time of the trial that came in the 20th century - for Russia, at least - in some form - is the time of the preliminary trial for those specific people who lived then - the Supreme Court. The Lord allowed what happened - evil to invade - so that these extreme circumstances would push people to the final choice, which, perhaps, would have been different under more favorable conditions. But then - during the persecution - it was already necessary to choose exactly between Christ and unbelief, in any case, between absolute good and also absolute evil.

Looking at the history of Russia, especially this last time of persecution, and comparing it with modern weakness and some modern cowardice and relaxation of our time, we can say that the history of Russia in the 20th century is the result of its thousand-year existence. And at the Council - to use the words of Pushkin's fairy tale, these saints - like thirty-three heroes - came out, for many it was unexpected that they came out, that they even exist, that there is such a huge number of saints in Russia.

Here the feat of the martyr is inspired only by eternity, only by the most perfect ideals. After all, in fact, nothing supports him. Martyrs in the 20th century - it's amazing that their death was not "in the world" and not in some kind of triumphant atmosphere, as they were deaths at the beginning of the Christian era - in a circus somewhere, when there were dozens Christians and a huge crowd of spectators. There were no spectators here, there were enormous opportunities for craftiness, deceit, for concealment, for the curvature of the soul, cowardice. And the fact that this did not take place, that we had so few apostates in the Russian Orthodox Church, that we had so few traitors, there were so few faint-hearted people who could simply prevaricate - after all, no one would have read that there was a person grimaced, wanting to somehow alleviate his fate - there were few such people. And it must be said that during this 20th century we really succeeded in what is called Holy Rus'.

The historical experience of the New Martyrs is much greater than the experience of a private individual. No man can invent historical situations and experiences that transcend reality. In this sense, the fate of the New Martyrs is in itself a perfect piece of art. A deeper spiritual experience is hard to imagine. This is the greatest experience in the entire millennium: here are the experiences of a person, and his fall, and at the same time the most exalted and heroic examples. This, one might say, is the most perfect and ideal thing that a Russian person has come to.

Now each of us can see the incorruptible glory of the holy martyrs, partake of their spiritual experience, take advantage of it, turn to the martyrs with prayer, and in case of mournful circumstances, be consoled by their feat. If, of course, we ourselves want to see the glory of the martyrs, we want to learn from the experience of the saints, almost our contemporaries. Now the task of glorifying the holy martyrs is not for the Church, she glorified them, but for church people who are more like children who were sung lamentable songs and they did not cry, they played the flute and they did not dance. Now the martyrs have been glorified, and the biographies of these martyrs have been published to a large extent, but church people just do not know them as they used to, just as they often do not know the life of the saint whose name they bear.

The Russian people, you and I, will take advantage of the opportunity to live a national and religious life, then the martyrs will become the foundation of its revival, and the shed blood will become a life-giving rain for the Russian field. The Russian people will not want to take advantage of this and become from the Soviet, from the Russian - the Orthodox Russian people, the martyrs will remain only as the last monument of the twentieth century of our Russian civilization, which only a stranger will marvel at, walking past, that how great were the Russians who became unknown to the world, and how deplorable can be the fate of those who descended into hell and did not know the meaning of being given to them by God.

Based on articles, interviews, speeches by Abbot Damaskin (Orlovsky), Secretary of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the Russian Orthodox Church.

(Compiled by N.K.)