Flowers of the Russian Spiritual Meadow

Sermon delivered by Father Victor on Sunday, 6 February 1994, the commemoration day of the New­martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

In 1918, when the members of the All­Russian Council learned that Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev had been slain, they decreed that annually, on the Sunday nearest to the day of his murder, panichidas be performed for him and other martyrs. In 1981, the long period of serving panichidas for the victims of the godless persecution against the Church came to an end, for then those who had suffered for Christ in Russia were canonized. Now we glorify them as saints, and by this we express the hope that through their prayers the Lord will return piety and prosperity to Orthodox Russia and its peoples.

The New­martyrs did their part. By their terrible sacrifice they vanquished the terrible idol of international communism. The demon of godlessness is being expelled from the country; but, as we see, the process of exorcism is agonizing. With this in mind, it is important to remember the Saviour's warning: When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation (Matthew 12:43­45).

Yes, the New­martyrs did their part. Now our turn has come. It is incumbent on us to treat the collective body of Russia, beginning with ourselves, remembering this warning of the Lord. Gazing at the beautiful choir of our martyrs, Orthodox Russian people should be inspired to take up the struggle of cleansing their house of the specters of godlessness. But in order for this inspiration to occur, it is necessary to know who our New­martyrs are.

Among the throng of the New­martyrs we find various people. In the first place, we find the spiritual preceptors, the archpastors and pastors. Of them, in Sacred Scripture it is said: Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation (Hebrews 13:7). They proved to be faithful, they did not renounce their ministry and did not offer sacrifices to new idols.

Besides the pastors, we have a great and glorious army of other sufferers. Infants and adolescents, young people and elders, princes and commoners, men and women, literate and illiterate, monastics and laymen ­ they all comprise the great assembly of martyrs, the glory of our Church.

In the midst of the Russian New­martyrs, we glorify also the Royal Family. This troubles some, because they are unable to forget the mistakes which the last emperor made. We shall not conceal this. There were mistakes during the reign of the Tsar­martyr, and fatal mistakes. But who in life has not made mistakes? Let us remember the Apostle Peter. The Church constantly reminds us that there is no man that liveth and doth not sin. And again: There is none holy as Thou, O Lord our God! We glorify the Sovereign and his August Family not for their reign, but for their love, for their faithfulness to Christ and to our people. They could have escaped their terrible fate and safely ended their days in safe Europe. However, they preferred deprivations, sufferings and death among their people. By this they manifested a tremendous image of sacrificial love. All the wealth of their inner, spiritual world in the face of death is set forth with utmost clarity in the letters of the Royal Family from captivity.

In the Prolog, we read about a very rich man, who occupied a very high position. One day he heard the inner call to abandon the pleasures of the world. He departed to a monastery and began to live the ascetic life. His struggles differed in no way from the spiritual labors of the other monks of the monastery. Among the brethren of the monastery there were monks who even excelled him in fasting, prayer and vigil. However, something in him manifested itself, which began to attract pious people to him. Those seeking salvation began to come to him in crowds for counsel. The Lord even glorified him with gifts of clairvoyance and wonderworking. There lived in this monastery an elder of elevated life. One of the monks turned to him with a request to explain the "secret" of this monk. Why, namely, did the Lord so regard him. "Here is why," answered the elder. "All the rest, when they departed for monasticism and went to struggle, in essence, hardly changed their surroundings; they themselves merely became monks. Therefore, just the form of their life was no longer what it was in the world. They did not particularly renounce anything: they had lived modestly, not weathily, just as all the others. In renouncing the world, this man, who was very famous, wealthy and at the very pinnacle of life, performed a feat far greater than those others who surround him. He renounced eminence, he renounced honors, he renounced everything, and therefore he now is also thus adorned by the Lord, for his feat in renouncing the world is far greater and more profound than theirs."

And so when the question about the glorification of the Royal Family arises, one ought not forget from what a height and to what a terrible abyss the Royal Martyrs descended.

Already since ancient times Christians have been venerating the places of the suffering and burial of the martyrs. In the first Christian centuries the faithful gathered at the tombs of the martyrs and there performed the Holy Eucharist. And we perform the Holy Liturgy on antimens with particles from the relics of holy martyrs sown into them. If the places of the suffering and death of the martyrs always became sacred and were especially venerated, then the whole Russian land has been sanctified by their blood. Certain previously holy places have received a special significance.

The New­martyrs and Confessors of Russia today call on us not to forget their sufferings and that apostasy from God which led to their struggle. But mainly, they call us to prayer. To what kind of prayer? The content of such prayer is beautifully expressed in a poem, composed at the the beginning of this year by a Russian pilgrim who visited a ruined monastery in the north of Russia. The monastery represented to the poetess an image of Russia and inspired the verses, with which we conclude our encomium to the New­martyrs of Russia: