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New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

The Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church is celebrated on the Sunday of January 25/February 7, or the first Sunday after that date.

    

Martyrdom is the same thing as Christianity. These two words have the same meaning. Hatred against Christ and His followers should not surprise us. It is natural, it was foretold by the Lord Himself, Who said: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

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. was foretold by the Lord Himself, Who said: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

Sermons and Talks

Lives of the New Martyrs

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In the News

6 февраля 2015 г.

The Repentance and Cross Bearing of the New Martrys
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The Repentance and Cross Bearing of the New Martrys

Homily on the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, and of the New Martrys and Confessors of the Russian Church, Sretensky Monastery, February 2017

Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Egorievsk

The whole country, its whole Orthodox part, was before the revolution studying the Law of God, and everyone went to Communion. But this means that there was something very wrong, something was the subject of an enormous mistake in the Church institution of that time. Legalism and formalism.

The New Martyrs are a Lesson for Us
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The New Martyrs are a Lesson for Us

Seventy-five years ago, our homeland was engulfed by a wave of mass repressions, implemented by the government against its own citizens. Thousands of Orthodox people—men and women, laity, monastics and clergy—fell victim in this tragic period, suffering for faith in Christ. Many of the victims of the repressions of that time are now glorified by the Church in the Assembly of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. Their podvig has particular significance for preserving the Orthodox faith in Russia, and for its spiritual rebirth. What moral lesson should we, living today, extract from this chapter of Church history? In what way are we called to imitate the New Martyrs?

Two Paths of Spiritual Life
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Two Paths of Spiritual Life

Homily on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, and the New Martyrs of Russia

Hieromonk Nikon (Parimanchuk)

And they took the first step of life in the Church when they accepted with their whole hearts the truth that all people are in sin and under the power of sin, and thus the freedom from sin that makes man perfect, wondrous, pious, meek and a friend of God is brought to pass through the fulfillment of the words of the Holy Gospel.Which words?

The New Martyrs in Bronze
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The New Martyrs in Bronze

Photogallery

The Moscow sculptors Vitaly Shanov and his wife Darya Uspenskaya are working on the cathedral doors. These doors will consist of a large poured bronze bas-relief, filled from edge to edge with ornamental figures, saints, angels, and text.

Holy Hieromartyr Pateliemon (Arzhanykh), Optina New Martyr
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Holy Hieromartyr Pateliemon (Arzhanykh), Optina New Martyr

Commemorated November 16/29

Igumen Damascene (Orlovsky)

He lived a half a year at home, pondering what path he should take next—especially since he was by then of an age at which one can and must avoid serious mistakes. He had no family of his own, and his life experience, which came together for him as he observed things around him during army service and paramedical work in a provincial hospital, was sufficient.

The Romanovs: A Family Portrait
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The Romanovs: A Family Portrait

Photogallery

In them we can trace the history of love—Nicholas and Alexandra as betrothed, then as husband and wife, and then with their firstborn child. Finally we see them all—as we see them depicted on icons.

Grand Princess Olga Nicholaevna Romanova
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Grand Princess Olga Nicholaevna Romanova

Photogallery

Grand Princess Olga Nicholaevna (1895-1918), the first child of Emperor Nicholai II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, was born on November 3, 1895.

A Prophetic New Martyr: St. Seraphim (Chichagov)
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A Prophetic New Martyr: St. Seraphim (Chichagov)

Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Egorievsk

Today we commemorate a nearly unknown yet great saint, Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim (Chichagov) of Petrograd. He received a brilliant education, graduated from the Page Corps, became a well-known scholar, received a humanitarian as well as a natural sciences education, and was part of the upper echelons of society. He had a brilliant military career, having fought in several wars, but he left all this and became a priest. He did more than anyone else for the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim was not only a priest (later a bishop)—he was a true prophet.

St. John Kochurov
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St. John Kochurov

Fr. John Bartholomew

St. John Kochurov is a 20th C. martyr, but before we consider him, let us look at martyrdom in general.

Priestmartyr John Kochurov
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Priestmartyr John Kochurov

On October 31, 1917, in Tsarskoye Selo, a bright new chapter, full of earthly grief and heavenly joy, was opened in the history of sanctity in the Russian Church: the holiness of the New-Martyrs of the twentieth century. The opening of this chapter is linked to the name of the Russian Orthodox shepherd who became one of the first to give his soul for his flock during this twentieth century of fighters against God: Archpriest John Kochurov.

Sermon on the Day of the Russian New-Martyrs
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Sermon on the Day of the Russian New-Martyrs

Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov

The next time it seems to us that the cross that we are given is greater than we can bear, when not only the attainment of Christian virtues, but even the usual attendance at services and following the Church-established fasts seems unbearable, let us turn with fervent prayer for help to the Lord and to the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, who did not give only a day or an hour, but their whole lives to Christ.

The Interrogation Before Death Lasted 16 Days and Nights
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The Interrogation Before Death Lasted 16 Days and Nights

Memories of Nun-Martyr Augusta (Zaschuk; 1871-1938)

Olga Rozhneva

The interrogation of the aging nun lasted 16 days and nights. During the course of this time they did not allow her to sleep—or even to sit. When she fell from exhaustion, they brought her back to consciousness by pouring ice water all over her. In spite of the torture,

Thirty-three Portraits of Grand Duchess Elizabeth
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Thirty-three Portraits of Grand Duchess Elizabeth

Photogallery

November 1, 2014 marks the 150-year anniversary since the birth of Royal Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna, one of the Russian people’s favorite saints, and honored all over the world.

Archpriest Nicholai Stelletsky, New Martyr of Kharkov
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Archpriest Nicholai Stelletsky, New Martyr of Kharkov

Stanislav Minakov

Alas, Russian society did not heed the remarkable clairvoyance and warning of Fr. Nicholai (and not only of him), and therefore underwent the onerous punishments of the twentieth century.

Sanctity in the Execution Ditches
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Sanctity in the Execution Ditches

Lado Gegechkori, Igumen Valerian (Golovenko)

In the winter of 1937, the sound of gunfire could be heard throughout the territory of the Soviet Union… The clergy, who accepted their priestly rank along with a crown of martyrdom, lay in the ditches of common graves, and died from sickness and hunger behind camp gates and in prison walls. What motivated them to take that step?

Hieromartyr Basil Sokolov. "To all who love and remember me!"
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Hieromartyr Basil Sokolov. "To all who love and remember me!"

Igumen Damascene (Orlovsky)

One day after another dragged on in death row--from the sentence to martyric end. From prison he wrote to his natural and spiritual children. These letters were written over the course of the two weeks preceding the executions of the priests sentenced to be shot, and are a priceless monument of Christian epistemology of latter times, proceeding from the pen of a great pastor and holy martyr.

Hieromartyr Basil Sokolov. Part 1. "Her Prayer Was Granted!"
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Hieromartyr Basil Sokolov. Part 1. "Her Prayer Was Granted!"

Commemorated May 13/26

Igumen Damascene (Orlovsky)

Fr. Basil recognized that life cannot go so smoothly. This is not natural, he thought. It is written: In the world ye shall have tribulations, and of course it was not said in vain. One cannot avoid tribulations, just as a calm sea cannot escape storms. A storm is dangerous and terrifying after a long, pleasant calm. So are tribulations difficult for those who are not accustomed to them, especially after a long, unruffled, happy life. "Would that the Lord would send us a cross to try us," Batiushka secretly prayed, "not too heavy, but just so that we would not be forgetful of man's earthly lot.

Greater Love Hath No Man—New Martyr Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd
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Greater Love Hath No Man—New Martyr Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd

A few months later the God-hating communists came to power and began dragging the Church to her Golgotha. It was a time of choice—between a martyric confession and the kiss of Judas. Inspired by that master deceiver and father of lies, the communists tried to conceal their base intent. They were reluctant to make known their militantly antireligious policy, and publicized their actions as assisting the good of the majority, twisting opposing religious conviction into censurable political dissent. But they were hard pressed to catch in their nets Petrograd's chief hierarch

“Let them shoot me…” From: 1937 Investigation proceedings in the Perm archives
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“Let them shoot me…” From: 1937 Investigation proceedings in the Perm archives

Maria Degtyarova, Natalia Degtyarova

It is hard to imagine now how it could have been then. In the protocol of the interrogation of one witness in the case of a priest is written: “There is information that all the clergy in Perm have been arrested and there are no [church] services anywhere…” In 2012 the legal “statute of limitations” of 75 years ran out, and researchers were given access to the investigation archives from 1937, including those of the Perm state archives of recent history. There was a year of familiarization with the archives: searches, systematization and processing of materials, making contact with the fate of people swept away by the wave of the “Great Terror”.

A Pastoral Letter of New Priest-Martyr Sergei Mechev
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A Pastoral Letter of New Priest-Martyr Sergei Mechev

Written to his flock after the closing of their parish church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Maroseika Street in Moscow

New Martyr Priest Sergei Mechev

Let us enter, beloved ones, into the cells of our souls, into the temple of our spirit, consecrated unto the Lord at the moment of our Baptism and sanctified by Him at the time of our first Communion. This temple of ours—no one can ever destroy it, except we ourselves. In it there is both priest and penitent.

The Church of New Martyrs
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The Church of New Martyrs

Olga Vasilieva

The year of the "Great Purge" and the following year 1938 were the hardest for the clergy and laymen—200 000 repressed and 100 000 executed. Each second priest was shot. But the Orthodox Church put up a strong resistance to the totalitarian regime. And if it comes to glorifying all Russian martyrs of the 20th century, the Russian Orthodox Church will become the Church of the Russian New Martyrs.

Witness to Life. An Interview with Igumen Damascene (Orlovsky)
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Witness to Life. An Interview with Igumen Damascene (Orlovsky)

Igumen Damascene (Orlovsky), Anastasia Verina

The Russian Orthodox Church has always borrowed antimens from other Local Orthodox Churches, despite that fact that it is larger in territory and number of members than all the other Local Churches taken together. But after the canonization of the New Martyrs in the year 2000, we now have enough relics of martyrs to provide antimens to serve the Liturgy on all the Holy Tables until the Second Coming of Christ.

The Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia
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The Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

Archbishop Mark of Berlin

Martyrdom is the same thing as Christianity. These two words have the same meaning. Hatred against Christ and His followers should not surprise us. It is natural, it was foretold by the Lord Himself, Who said: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). What sort of disciples would we then be, if we did not follow the footsteps of our Teacher?

Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim (Zvezdinsky)
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Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim (Zvezdinsky)

13/26 August is the commemoration day of Holy Hieromartyr Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), Bishop of Dimitriovsk and one of the most famous saints of the Russia Orthodox Church of the twentieth century.

Holy Martyrs Metropolitan Nazar of Kutaisi-Gaenati, Priests German, Ieroteos and Simon, Archdeacon Besarion, and All the New Martyrs of the Totalitarian Regime (†1924)
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Holy Martyrs Metropolitan Nazar of Kutaisi-Gaenati, Priests German, Ieroteos and Simon, Archdeacon Besarion, and All the New Martyrs of the Totalitarian Regime (†1924)

Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze

Metropolitan Nazar of Kutaisi-Gaenati was born in 1872 in the village of Didi Jikhaishi in Imereti. His forefathers belonged to a long lineage of clergy, and the future metropolitan was nurtured in the Church from the earliest years of his youth.

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