| Sermon on the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia 2016 Source: Hermitage of the Holy Cross February 7, 2016 Today we celebrate the memory of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian land. These are all the multitude of bishops, priests, monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, and children who were killed or suffered gravely because of their faith and their refusal to compromise their faith, to cooperate with the new revolutionary government, or to renounce their faith in Christ. The experience of each and every one of these martyrs and confessors was unique. Even if their manner of death or suffering was similar in many cases, each of them brought with them to that moment of confession or martyrdom a unique soul, a unique set of experiences and circumstances. If we were to enter into the mind and heart of each one of these saints and observe the unique way in which they experienced their suffering and the knowledge of their coming martyrdom, we would see a wondrous tapestry of experience. And the thread which holds all this tapestry together is love, love for Christ. Bishops of this time faced a particularly complex assortment of temptations. Events were changing quickly from the time the revolution began. The revolution itself was disorganized and chaotic, with different revolutionary leaders taking power in various places and turning on each other when disagreements arose. Having lived until now under the God-anointed Orthodox Tsar, the bishops found themselves without the security of the support of the government almost overnight. And almost immediately the demands began to be issued from the revolutionaries: “You must turn over all the precious vessels and metalwork belonging to the church for the benefit of the poor and starving. You will cease to use the church building because it will be commandeered by the People and used for other purposes.” In many cases if the hierarchs even hesitated or sought a compromise, they were killed immediately. Even though many of them remained apolitical in their outward expression and accepted the abdication of the Tsar and the coming revolution as a form of chastisement from God for the apostasy of the people, the very fact of their existence was so distasteful to the God-hating new regime that they could not escape the accusation of “counter-revolutionary activity.” And for this they could be killed quickly, imprisoned, or sent into exile, depending on the will of God and the particular character of the local authorities. |
| We sometimes see the term ‘the Russian Saints’, only to find that these saints include St. Olga and St.Vladimir and many others who lived long before Moscow became established as a small town, let alone as the capital of a country now called ‘Russia.’ The problem is that English has no translation for the word ‘Rus’ – the nearest being ‘the Russias’, as in, ‘Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias’. For ‘Rus’ means not only ‘Great Russia’, but also Little Russia (now officially called the Ukraine, even though this only means ‘the borderlands’), White Russia (the translation of Belarus) and Carpatho-Russia (often known in Western history as ‘Ruthenia’). However, in geographical terms, the concept of ‘Rus’ includes not only these four Russias, but also all those places affected by the Russian Orthodox way of life. This includes firstly the one seventh of the earth which is known as the Russian Federation, stretching right across Siberia to the Pacific. Secondly, it includes all those who in various countries accept Russian Orthodoxy. This is ‘Orthodox Rus’. Whether it is in Latvia and Estonia, Japan and Alaska, Venezuela and Brazil, England and France, Russian Orthodox of all nationalities are also part of ‘Rus’. Thus, the Canadian-born Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, can talk quite legitimately of ‘American Rus’ and ‘Australian Rus’. Therefore, although the holiness of the geographical Four Russias ends at the present Belorussian border, some 900 miles from the eastern coasts of England, in a spiritual sense it does not end there at all, but continues right into England, where 1,000 years ago there walked saints who were part of the One worldwide Church and fifty years ago there walked St.John of Shanghai, become Archbishop of Western Europe. Furthermore, in historical terms, since 1917 the holiness of the Russias has become not a matter of over a thousand canonised saints revealed to the Church, but also a matter of tens of thousands of New Martyrs and Confessors. At present theses number over 31,000, though this figure grows monthly and may reach well over 100,000. For the twentieth century was the most fruitful in terms of the numbers of saints – holy martyrs, born out of the Four Russias. As the ever-memorable Metropolitan Laurus of New York and Eastern America said, ‘The whole land of Rus has become an antimension’ - that is a place filled with the relics of the holy martyrs. |
| Image: damascenegallery.com On the Sunday after Pentecost, each local Orthodox Church commemorates all the saints, known and unknown, who have shone forth in its territory. Accordingly, the Orthodox Church in America remembers the saints of North America on this day. Saints of all times, and in every country are seen as the fulfillment of God’s promise to redeem fallen humanity. Their example encourages us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us” and to “run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). The saints of North America also teach us how we should live, and what we must expect to endure as Christians. Although it is a relatively young church, the Orthodox Church in America has produced saints in nearly all of the six major categories: Apostles (and Equals of the Apostles); Martyrs (and Confessors); Prophets; Hierarchs; Monastic Saints; and the Righteous. Prophets, of course, lived in Old Testament times and predicted the coming of Christ. The first Divine Liturgy in what is now American territory was celebrated on July 20, 1741, the Feast of the Prophet Elias, aboard the ship Peter under the command of Vitus Bering, near present-day Alaska. Hieromonk Hilarion Trusov and the priest Ignatius Kozirevsky served together on that occasion. Several years later, a Russian merchant, Gregory Shelikov, visited Valaam Monastery, and suggested to the abbot about sending missionaries to Russian America. On September 24, 1794, after a journey of 7,327 miles (the longest missionary journey in Orthodox history) and 293 days, a group of monks from Valaam arrived on Kodiak Island in Alaska. The mission was headed by Archimandrite Joasaph, and included Hieromonks Juvenal, Macarius, and Athanasius, the Hierodeacons Nectarius and Stephen, and the monks Herman and Joasaph. St. Herman of Alaska, the last surviving member of the mission, fell asleep in the Lord in 1837. Throughout the Church’s history, the seeds of faith have always been watered by the blood of the martyrs. The Protomartyr Juvenal was killed near Lake Iliamna by natives in 1799, thus becoming the first Orthodox Christian to shed his blood for Christ in the New World. In 1816, St. Peter the Aleut was put to death by Spanish missionaries in California when he refused to convert to Roman Catholicism. |
| Triumph, but not Triumphalism: On the Sunday of Orthodoxy Do many today in the West read the works of the ascetic and spiritual writers of the ancient Church? But the Orthodox – monks and laity – read these books and guide their spiritual life by them. Dear Fathers, Brothers, and Sisters, We have gathered today to celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy. This feast was established in the ninth century to mark the final victory of the Church over iconoclasm, and also in memory of all the great Fathers and Teachers of the Church – theologians, hierarchs, priests, monks, and laymen – who have dedicated their lives to the defense of Church doctrine from heresy. To all of them, by tradition, we on this day proclaim Eternal Memory, while to heretics and schismatics – Anathema. In many Western countries, the Triumph of Orthodoxy has become a day on which the Orthodox of various jurisdictions gather together in order to pray together and to witness to their unity of faith. This unity is not easy to maintain in conditions in which there sometimes arise contradictions, misunderstandings, and even conflicts between Local Orthodox Churches. Unlike the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church does not have a single head, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, nor does it have a single administrative structure; instead, every Local Church has its primate and governs itself independently. Despite this apparent disunity, the unity of world Orthodoxy is preserved, and the witness and ministry of the Orthodox Church continue. What is the Triumph of Orthodoxy today, in our time, so distant from the ninth century, when this feast was established? Above all, it is that – regardless of the most severe persecution – the Orthodox Church has not lost its faith and its liturgical tradition, reflected in its church architecture, iconography, church singing, and the whole structure of its services. The Orthodox Church has been persecuted and oppressed over the course of many centuries – by Arabs, Crusaders, Mongols, Turks, and the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia. Repression on an unprecedented scale was unleashed against the Russian Church in the twentieth century, when hundreds of bishops, tens of thousands of priests and monks, and millions of laymen were killed; a multitude of churches was destroyed; all monasteries and theological schools were destroyed; and when the goal was to wipe off the Church from the face of the earth. But the Church survived, preserving its faith and its unity at the expense of the blood of the multitude of Confessors and New Martyrs who are our intercessors before God. |
| Munich: Interview of Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany: " Attaining Church Unity is a Spiritual Podvig " Archbishop Mark of Berlin In late December 2005, an Orthodox Conference of the Diocese of Berlin and Germany of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was held. Sergei Chapnin, Editor-in-Chief of Tserkovnij Vestnik [ " Church Messenger " ], participated in the Conference at the invitation of Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany. His Eminence spoke to him of the attitudes in the Russian Church Abroad, and about the work of the Synodal Commission on talks with the Moscow Patriarchate in an interview with Tserkovnyj Vestnik: -Your Eminence, at what stage are the talks between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate? Which problems have been resolved and which remain before the Commissions during this period before the convening of the All-Diaspora Council? - The Commissions of each Church examined all the fundamental questions set before us at the meeting of His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus and the delegation of our Church with His Holiness Patriarch Alexy and several members of his Synod. The following problems were on the agenda for years: the glorification of the New Martyrs, the relationship between the Church and state, Orthodoxy and ecumenism. In these areas we managed to achieve a great deal of complicated work. The fundamental positions were often diametrically opposed, but we still found a common tongue. As a whole, the hierarchies of both sides accepted the documents we prepared. I will note: this does not mean that the documents have been adopted by the entire Church, but by the hierarchies. In this regard I can immediately state what the desired conclusion of this process is: we foresee that the All-Diaspora Council will examine these documents and summaries of the work that was done, and only after this will the Council of Bishops make its decisions. Whether they will be adopted in the form we propose or whether changes will be required I cannot predict. |
| The Synodal Cathedral Hosts Namesday Celebrations for the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad Source: Eastern American Diocese, ROCOR On Thursday, November 1, the feast of Venerable John of Kronstadt, clergy and believers triumphally commemorated the namesday of the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America &New York, in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City. Since the feast of Venerable Hilarion, Schemamonk of the Kiev Caves (Nov. 3) coincided this year with St. Demetrius Soul Saturday, the celebration of His Eminence’s namesday was moved to November 1. Clergy of the Eastern American Diocese, as well as parishioners of the cathedral and other churches of the Diocese, gathered to pray for the health of their archpastor. The moleben was led by Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, co-served by diocesan clerics: Archpriest Alexander Belya (dean of New York City), Archimandrite Maximos (Weimar; abbot of St. Dionysios the Aeropagite Monastery in St. James, NY), Archpriest Andrei Sommer (cathedral senior priest), Abbot Vladimir (Zgoba; rector of Our Lady “Unexpected Joy” Church in Staten Island, NY), Archpriest Petro Kunitsky (cleric of New Martyrs & Confessors of Russia Church in Brooklyn, NY), Archpriest Alexandre Antchoutine (dean of the Hudson Valley & Long Island), Abbot Nicodemus (Balyasnikov; cleric of St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York City), Archpriest Dimitri Jakimowicz (rector of St. Nicholas Church in Stratford, CT), Hieromonk Silouan (Justiniano; cleric of St. Dionysios Monastery), Hieromonk Zosimas (Krampis; rector of the English-language mission of the Synodal Cathedral), Protodeacon Nicolas Mokhoff and Deacon Pavel Roudenko (clerics of the Synodal Cathedral), and Protodeacon Eugene Kallaur (cleric of St. Seraphim Memorial Church in Sea Cliff, NY). Praying at the moleben were numerous diocesan clergy. The moleben was served under the aegis of the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora, the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God. |
| Summation of the Joint Work of the Commissions of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate Concluding the eighth joint meeting of the Commissions and summarizing its work, it is worth noting the path traveled, beginning with the meeting between His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, in Moscow in May 2004. It was then that the Commissions were charged with preparing the documents needed to reestablish canonical communion between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Church Abroad. The path towards dialog was opened by fundamental changes in the life of the Orthodox Church in Russia: ruined churches and monasteries are being rebuilt, parish life and spiritual education are returning to normal, more and more people are coming to the Orthodox faith. Orthodox Christians in Russia and abroad are children of one Mother Church, heirs of a great spiritual tradition, cognizant of the artificiality of continuing division. Meetings among clergymen and laypersons, joint conferences, contact on the diocesan and parish level have helped destroy old stereotypes and prejudices, steering mutual relations onto a constructive track and preparing the groundwork for dialog on the hierarchical level. The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church of 2000, which glorified the host of New Martyrs of Russia and adopted a series of other important positions of principle, was an event that laid the foundation for the irreversible movement towards unity. The Acts of that Council evoked a positive response from the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad held the following October. A series of practical measures were subsequently taken towards rapprochement. Finally, in the bright Paschal days of 2004, at the invitation of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus visited Russia. |
| On Saturday, February 8, 2020 in the Orthodox Cathedral in Prague, the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia canonized as martyr-saints several clergy and lay people who were martyred by the Nazis during World War II. The new saints include the priests Father Vladimir Petrek, Father Vaclav Cikl and the laymen Jan Sonnevend, Vaclav Ornest, Karel Louda and their families. All these Orthodox Christians suffered for Christ with their Bishop Gorazd Pavlik who had been previously canonized as a martyr-saint in 1987. (see acrod.org; Orthodox Reading Room, Lives of the Saints). The story of the new martyrs begins September, 1941 when Reinhard Heydrich was appointed as the Nazi Deputy Reich-Protector (Governor) of Bohemia and Moravia. Heydrich had a reputation as a violent, heartless Nazi. Adolph Hitler called him “The man with the iron heart” and others referred to him as “The Butcher”. Within five days of his arrival in Prague, 142 people were executed and it was Heydrich who was the architect and key organizer of the Holocaust which led to the extermination of over six million Jews and others. Today, as we look at the historical photos of piles of emaciated bodies in Nazi concentration camps, we ask: “Did anyone care? Why didn’t someone stop this evil? Why didn’t someone do something? In May, 1942 a group of courageous people did take action to stop this evil. The Allied forces had previously secreted into the region several members of the Czechoslovak army in exile. The code name for their mission was Operation Anthropoid and its goal was the removal and assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. On the morning of May, 27, 1942 Heydrich was being driven to his Prague office in an open top car. Stepping out into the roadway the Czechoslovak soldiers opened fire with a machine gun and a bomb which led to Heydrich’s death several days later. The Nazis unleashed a wave of terror in reprisal for Heydrich’s assassination. On June 9, in the village of Lidice 172 boys and men between age 14 to 84 were shot, women and children were deported to concentration camps. The same pattern repeated in the village of Leáky: all adults were murdered. In Prague the Czechoslovak soldiers took refuge by hiding in the Sts. |
| Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral), the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, discussed the actions of Constantinople, Church schisms, enduring persecution and ties with Ukraine, and answered questions on what can unite believers today, what challenges mankind faces, and other questions. – Vladyka, how are the actions of the Constantinople Patriarch in receiving schismatics and claiming power over the whole Church viewed from abroad? – We are very sad and bewildered as we observe the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, in which we sense the influence of the powers that be in this world, and a dismissive attitude towards the truth of Orthodox Christianity in the land of Ukraine, which is holy for us. Astonishing, too, is the complete absence of a pastoral approach to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onouphry of Kiev and All Ukraine. For by “legalizing” schismatics and trying in every way to obtain their recognition by the Local Orthodox Churches, Patriarch Bartholomew in fact expels not only the overwhelming majority of our brother archpastors, clergy, monastics and laypersons of Ukraine who are dedicated to the Holy Church, but all of us as well. It is unclear why Patriarch Bartholomew and his Holy Synod hastened to make such a rash decision, without the counsel of the Russian Orthodox Church and other Local Orthodox Churches. The decision to rescind a three-hundred-year-old document, and efforts to justify their intrusion into the territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church appear at minimum clumsy and irresponsible. Still, we try to pray for them and those around them, that the Lord may grant them wisdom, illuminate and have mercy upon them, even as we beseech Heavenly aid to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onouphry and the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the sole canonical Church of Christ on the Ukrainian territory. |
| Patriarch Kirill: “Royal Passion Bearers from their Golgotha Entrusted Caring for Spiritual Life of People to Us” Photo: Press Service of His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill July 16, 2018. Pravmir . His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, officiated a Divine Liturgy at the Monastery dedicated to the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church in Alapaevsk. The monastery was build near the mine where the Holy Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna and Nun Barbara were killed. At the end of the service, His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill, delivered a sermon: Your Beatitude! Your Excellence and Your Eminence! Dear fathers, brothers, and sisters! I congratulate you all on the Lord’s Day! By historical circumstances, we had the opportunity to celebrate a Divine Liturgy here and consecrate the church in honor of the Theodore Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos which is associated with the Romanov dynasty: this church was built next to the site of the death of the Holy Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna, Nun Barbara, and other representatives of the royal family. Looking at this place, this nearly buried mine, it is hard to imagine that fear and terror that engulfed the innocent people who were brought to this precipice to be thrown down. And the executioners had no hesitation! But the people in front of them were not criminals, but people who did not violate any law and who did not pose any threat, because they refused all political struggle and any claim to power. The only reason Elizabeth Feodorovna stayed in Russia and did not go abroad where she would live safely with her relatives, is that she could not leave the country that had become her second Motherland. Having established Sts Martha and Mary Convent and having taught many Russians to unite their Orthodox faith with real good deeds, she could not leave the Russian Church which she served faithfully and loyally. Leaving Russia was beyond her strength. There was no politics in it, but only her strong religious feeling and love for the country that had truly become her second Motherland. |
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