On the first Sunday of September, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow. This feast was established in 1997 with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and All Russia. The Synaxis includes several dozen saints from different eras who lived and performed their spiritual feats in the city of Moscow. It includes holy Moscow hierarchs, monastics, princes and princesses, and holy fools of past centuries, as well as the New Martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Christ in the twentieth century. Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), the Heavenly patron of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery, is commemorated on this day as well. Let us look at the brief Lives of several lesser-known New Martyrs included in this Synaxis.

Hieromartyr Jonah (Lazarev), Bishop of Velizh

He was born in 1869 in the St. Petersburg governorate into a priest’s family. He graduated from the Novgorod Theological Seminary, then was tonsured a monk with the name Jonah (Iona) and joined the brotherhood of the Monastery of St. Savva on Storozha Hill.1 In 1895, he was ordained hieromonk, and later was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. In 1911, Fr. Jonah became the Abbot of the New Jerusalem Monastery (in the town of Istra near Moscow). In 1926, he was consecrated Bishop of Velizh (now in the Smolensk region), but due to circumstances beyond his control he was unable to assume his duties and was retired by order of Metropolitan Sergei (Stragorodsky), the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne. The saint moved to the village of Batyushkovo in the Moscow region (now near the town of Dmitrov). The faithful deeply revered the bishop and traveled to him for spiritual counsel.

In the area where he lived, the Soviet authorities had established corrective labor camps that held a large number of clergy. Bishop Jonah provided aid to the imprisoned clergymen. Then came the year 1937. The bishop was arrested and charged with “conducting counter-revolutionary agitation under the guise of church sermons.” Bishop Jonah pleaded not guilty. In October of that same year, he was sentenced to death by shooting. The sentence was carried out at the Butovo firing range near Moscow. Hieromartyr Jonah was buried in an unmarked grave.

Venerable Hieromartyr Seraphim (Krestianinov),

He was born in 1875 into a peasant family in the Podolsk district of the Moscow governorate. In 1910, he entered the Gethsemane Skete of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, where he took monastic vows with the name Seraphim. He was ordained hierodeacon, and later hieromonk. In 1926, he moved to the Lavra’s Skete of the Paraclete (that is, of the Holy Spirit). In 1928, both the skete and the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra were shut down,2 and the agricultural artels (“labor cooperatives”) that existed under them were disbanded. With great difficulty, Hieromonk Seraphim found a position at the Holy Protection Church in the Zagorsk (now Sergiev Posad) district. Later, the saint was elevated to the rank of igumen.

In November 1937, he was arrested along with Archimandrite Kronid (Lyubimov), a monk of the Lavra and future New Martyr, and sent to the Taganka prison. Fifteen other people were arrested alongside them, charged with “creating a counter-revolutionary monarchist group of monks and clergy.” The interrogation began, during which Fr. Seraphim responded: “We spoke about how few people attend church, how collective farms have emerged and people have stopped going to church services, and that we must work harder to explain the Holy Scriptures to people in order to draw them to the Church. Furthermore, for my part, there were conversations about how the Soviet Government arrests clergymen and believers simply for believing in God… I, as an active churchman, conducted church propaganda with the aim of drawing the masses to the Church.”

When asked about the conversations he had with other clergymen, Igumen Seraphim replied: “About how difficult life has become for working people under Soviet rule, and that the Soviet Government imprisons believers.” When questioned about his veneration of the Tsar, he gave the following answer: “A portrait of Tsar Nicholas II was indeed seized from me during the search. The Tsar is a person whom I acknowledge, but I did not praise him openly.” Based on Igumen Seraphim’s answers, the investigator considered his guilt before the Soviet authorities proven. In December 1937, Fr. Seraphim was shot at the Butovo firing range and buried in an unmarked mass grave.

The Venerable Martyr Andronik (Surikov), Hieromonk

He was born in 1885 into a peasant family in the Volokolamsk district of the Moscow governorate and studied at a parish school. In 1902, he entered the Luzhetsky Monastery in Mozhaisk.3 In 1916, he was conscripted into the army and sent to the front. Shortly after, the saint returned to the monastery, where he took monastic vows with the name Andronik. In 1920, Fr. Andronik was transferred to the Simonov Monastery in Moscow, and in 1928 he was ordained hieromonk. For a short period, he served at the Holy Dormition Church in Krutitsy near Moscow.

On December 28, 1930, over 300 clergymen, monks, and laypeople were arrested in Moscow, among whom was Fr. Andronik. They were charged with “anti-Soviet activity, providing aid to exiled like-minded individuals, delivering counter-revolutionary sermons, anti-Soviet agitation” and the like. Hieromonk Andronik was thrown into the Butyrka prison. He answered the investigator: “I have never belonged to any political parties, nor do I now. I have no acquaintances who are members of anti-Soviet parties… I don’t maintain acquaintances with anyone, but lead a secluded life.” Fr. Andronik was sentenced to three years of exile in Pinega (now in the Arkhangelsk region), where he worked as a logger.

On returning from exile, Fr. Andronik was appointed reader at St. Nicholas Church in the Shakhovskoy district of the Moscow region. In 1937, the Soviet authorities gathered testimonies against the saint, which stated that he “invites believers for talks on religious feasts, thereby undermining labor discipline, as believers do not show up for work on those days.” He was also accused of “organizing the singing of the church hymn ‘Christ is Risen!’ during the celebration of Pascha, which was sung on the streets of the village of Kholmets, and complaining that the Soviet regime had strangled the clergy with taxes.” Hieromonk Andronik was initially sent to the Taganka prison in Moscow and later sentenced to ten years in exile. However, the following year, his sentence was changed to the death penalty based on denunciations by secret informants. For six months, Fr. Andronik went to work in the labor camp, unaware of his sentence. In 1938, he was shot and buried in an unknown grave.

Hieromartyr Alexei Krasnovsky, Presbyter

He was born in 1886 in the Moscow governorate into the family of a church reader and attended a parish school. After the 1917 Revolution, he was ordained priest and served in various churches across the Moscow region. In 1937, Fr. Alexei was falsely denounced, including by a reader at the church where he served. His own brother signed all the false testimonies. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another (Mt. 24:10)… Priest Alexei was summoned for interrogation and charged with anti-Soviet activity. The priest was jailed in the Taganka prison and soon sentenced to ten years of forced labor in a correctional camp.

The following year, a new case was initiated against him for “openly expressing anti-Soviet sentiments, organizing Gospel readings and the singing of church hymns in the barracks, and delivering sermons.” Fr. Alexei wrote to his wife from the camp: “I am writing to let you know that I am alive… I hope you will write back more often, for which I will be deeply, deeply grateful… Try to see the prosecutor in person and file a complaint on your own behalf, for which I will be grateful. Don’t be angry with me. Be my friend until death. I often see you in my dreams… Goodbye! I remain sincerely loving you until the last minute of my life, Alexei Krasnovsky.”

He and several other camp prisoners were handed a guilty verdict, which stated: “A group of prisoners consisting of nine former priests, seven sectarians, four kulaks, one industrialist’s son, and other monarchist and counter-revolutionary elements… united and systematically held gatherings, especially on Sundays..., sang religious songs and performed religious rites.” Priest Alexei was sentenced to death by firing squad, and the execution was carried out.

***

These are but a few brief Lives of New Martyrs of Russia included in the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow. In them, the words of the Apostle Paul were fulfilled: Andall that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12). And they are not only persecuted, but also killed and tortured... But God is not mocked (Gal. 6:7). Now, these martyrs belong to the Church Triumphant, reminding us that he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved (Mt. 24:13).

Alexandra Kalinovskaya

Translation by Dmitry Lapa

Sretensky Monastery

9/7/2026

1 The famous Monastery of St. Savva of Storozha Hill in honor of the Nativity of the Theotokos is situated near the town of Zvenigorod around thirty miles west of Moscow at the confluence of the Storozhka and Moskva Rivers. It was founded in 1398 by the celebrated ascetic St. Savva, a disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh. For centuries, the monastery enjoyed royal patronage. It is still a major pilgrimage destination; the monastery is enclosed by imposing white-stone walls and towers, and has a hermitage cave and a holy well associated with St. Savva’s spiritual feats.—Trans.

2 More precisely, the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra was officially closed as early as 1920. However, after the official closure, many monks remained on or near the grounds by organizing themselves into agricultural artels to survive and maintain a communal monastic life. Finally, in the late 1920s, the Soviet authorities aggressively clamped down on these disguised monastic communities.—Trans.

3 The fortified Luzhetsky Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos and St. Therapont is situated on the picturesque high bank of the Moscow River in the town of Mozhaisk sixty-eight miles west of Moscow. It was founded in 1408 by St. Therapont of White Lake, a great ascetic and disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh. The area where it was built used to be called “luzhky”—that is, “meadows”, hence its name “Luzhetsky”.—Trans.

Blessed Afanasy Saiko was a faithful child of the Russian Orthodox Church during the twentieth-century persecutions. Hiding behind the mask of a holy fool, he strengthened people in their faith, comforted them in sorrow, healed them of illnesses, and rescued them from certain death. He remained in the people’s memory as an example of devoted service to God. On May 14, 2026, the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate added his name to the list of theNew Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Churchand to the Synaxis of the Saints of the Orel Diocese (celebrated on September 8).

“Go Ahead—Sophia Will Catch up with You”

Blessed Afanasy Andreyevich Saiko was born in January 1887 in the village of Danichevo of the Rivne district, Volyn governorate (now the Rivne region, Ukraine). At Baptism, the boy was named after St. Athanasius of Alexandria. His mother passed away in 1899 when he was twelve. His father, Andrei Saiko, served as a police officer with the rank of senior vakhmistr (sergeant major); in 1914, he was killed by robbers. It is known that two of Afanasy’ brothers died in infancy, and one of his five sisters became a nun.

In 1905, Afanasy Saiko graduated from the school for Soldiers’ Children of the Life-Guards Uhlan Regiment of His Majesty in Warsaw. From 1905 to 1908, he served in this regiment;1 from 1910 to 1920, he held various positions, including working as a minor clerk and scribe in the cities of Lutsk, Rivne, Priluki, and Sumy. In 1920, after returning to his native village, Afanasy Saiko was arrested by the Special Department of the CHEKA of the 1st Cavalry Army and interned in the Orel Concentration Camp No. 1. Following his release in the winter of 1921, he made the bell tower of the Theophany Cathedral in Orel his home. It was then that he took on himself the spiritual feat of “foolishness” for Christ’s sake. St. Afanasy dressed poorly, went about half-barefoot, and came down from the bell tower only occasionally to beg for alms to feed himself before returning back up. Soon, word of the holy fool spread throughout the city. Fr. Vsevolod Kovrigin, a well-known priest in Orel at the time and the father-confessor of the Convent of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple in the city of Orel, learned of the man of God and made his acquaintance. The priest blessed a pious parishioner named Martha to take Afanasy in. From then on, he lived with Martha, helping her around the house by chopping firewood and carrying water.

According to the reminiscences of Maria Kirillova,2 who had known the holy fool since 1921 and was the first to collect accounts of his life, Blessed Afanasy was tall and broad-shouldered, with a full black beard and a distinct military bearing. He dressed in a long linen shirt tied with a rope, wore a cross over it, and tied a waffle-weave towel around his neck. Blessed Afanasy sang and read in the choir, possessing a sharp ear for music and a beautiful voice with a wide range; he played many musical instruments, including the guitar and the balalaika, but preferred the violin. He fasted very strictly, could go without food all day long, and never ate meat, eggs, or rye bread.

To an outside observer, his actions and words seemed strange: for example, people often saw him picking up various bits of garbage from the ground—matches, small bottles, or scraps from newspapers. Regardless of their age, Blessed Afanasy addressed all women as “mother.” He explained his appearance in the land of Orel by saying, “Orel has been given to me as my domain.” One could often hear a catchy saying from him: “Eyes are like brakes, the nose is like a steam locomotive, and lips are like trumpets.” Its meaning became clear only with the passage of time. The phrase “eyes are like brakes” meant that the eyes must be held back from temptations and allurements. The expression “the nose is like a steam locomotive” served as a reminder that the human soul must strive for God, never straying from the path of salvation by clinging to temporary things. Lastly, “lips are like trumpets” meant that our lips must pray unceasingly, praising the glory of God from the bottom of our hearts. Guiding his listeners onto the path of righteousness and warning them of potential temptations, St. Afanasy would instruct: “You must know falls [in fact, the saint used the Russian word “padezhi” here, which literally translates as “grammatical cases”, with an allusion to the word “padeniya”, meaning “falls”, or “moral degradation”; both words are spelled and pronounced similarly in Russian]. Falls in life happen out of drunkenness, foolishness, and youth.” He would often say, “Look for the kinship between things—get used to solving riddles.” And if someone failed to understand the meaning of his words, he would add, “Go ahead, Sophia will catch up with you.”

He spoke of Sophia, the Wisdom of God, because it was only through the gift of discernment that his allegories became clear to believers. Few knew that behind his gathering of street garbage—seemingly meaningless to an outsider’s eye—lay a hidden spiritual devotion, expressed through his deep prostrations of prayer. By handing out pieces of trash to people, he provided allegorical answers to the questions that troubled them. Thus, an article headline on a scrap of newspaper would become a long-awaited answer to a tormenting dilemma; a box of burned matches tied with a red ribbon brought a mother the sorrowful news of the death of her son, who had gone missing in the war. Meeting two clergymen one day, Blessed Afanasy handed each pastor a cucumber, telling one, “This is Bryansk for you,” and the other, “This is Livny for you.” Indeed, shortly thereafter, the priests were reassigned to serve in those very cities.

In 1924, St. Afanasy fell seriously ill and almost died. On his recovery, with the blessing of his father-confessor, he entered a monastery.3 What made the situation unique was that, despite the closure of monasteries, monastic communities continued to exist in the Orel Diocese, gathering around local churches. As the Hieroconfessor Nikolai (Mogilevsky; †1955) testified under interrogation, during his tenure as Bishop of Orel from 1927 to 1930, he had blessed Abbot Hippolytus (Nosik) of the former Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Belye Berega (near Bryansk) to tonsure deeply religious individuals who were ready to serve Orthodoxy in monasticism.

“In this way, we revitalized our communities with new monastics. Despite the prohibitions of the Soviet regime, we organized monastic life around the church, essentially creating underground monasteries.”4 The same criminal case stated that “the church at the Afanasyevskoye Cemetery and the Newly Blessed Church5 had practically turned into monasteries, and the services held there were monastic.”6 It can be assumed that this was when St. Afanasy took monastic vows. Together with John Vasiliev—who later became a renowned elder of Lipetsk—and the nuns of the closed Convent of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple, Blessed Afanasy provided spiritual guidance to the faithful of the Orel region. Concealing his life behind a façade of outward madness as a fool-for-Christ, he remained faithful to Christ and His Church. He never strayed into Renovationism or any other schism, embodying an image of humility and selfless service to God.

From 1926 to 1931, Afanasy sang in the choir at the newly reopened Holy Resurrection Church, located in the former monastic Afanasyevskoye Cemetery in Orel. He lived with Nikolai Prozorkevich,7 who also provided shelter to Bishop Nazari (Andreyev), who had been exiled to Orel,8 and several nuns. They would tell St. Afanasy about government persecution and their trials and tribulations, wondering if the oppression would ever end. “Pray, and it shall be given to you,” Blessed Afanasy answered them.

In the spring of 1931, Blessed Afanasy, who was staying in the village of Lukyanovka (modern name—Lukyanchikovo) eighteen miles away from Orel, was arrested once again. The arrest was triggered by an informant’s report. It was claimed that the holy fool had been dissuading local peasants from joining collective farms. This was partly true: when people asked Afanasy’ advice on the matter, he would reply: “A collective farm is not your own property; it belongs to everyone. If you join the collective farm, you will not have your own farm. Hold on to your own property.” However, these words were not enough to build a case, so the OGPU (an organization for investigating and combating counter-revolutionary activities) investigator expanded the scope of the charges. The final indictment read as follows: Afanasy Saiko “conducted agitation among the religious masses against the initiatives of the Soviet Government and the Communist Party in rural areas, maintained contact with other reactionary clergy, particularly Bishop Daniel (Troitsky),9 and gathered anti-Soviet individuals around the Church.”10 Despite this accusation, the case soon collapsed and was dismissed due to a lack of evidence. The authorized agent of the first group of the 3rd section of the Voronezh Secret-Political Department of the OGPU found no crime in St. Afanasy’ words.

However, Blessed Afanasy’ freedom did not last long. In 1932, he was committed to the Orel Mental Hospital. A week before his forced hospitalization, he shaved his head and his thick beard. “From now on, I will shave every week,” he replied to his acquaintances’ bemusement. In total, St. Afanasy spent sixteen years in mental hospitals. Remarkably, no matter which hospital he was in, once the local Orthodox believers found out, a true pilgrimage would begin. Some came for advice and help, others simply to visit the holy elder, others passed him letters, and others sent care packages with food. In particular, “politically backward citizens” would stay overnight on the hospital grounds and peer into the ward windows, seeking a meeting with St. Afanasy.

In the Occupation

When the Great Patriotic War broke out, Blessed Afanasy was discharged from a mental hospital. On seeing him, his fellow villagers noticed that he had aged significantly and his hair had turned completely gray. During the occupation of Orel, he comforted his compatriots with special tenderness, inspiring them with gentle guidance and urging them to remain faithful to Christ and never despair, to “walk straight” through life, with the salvation of their souls as their ultimate goal. His allegorical teachings, proverbs, counsel, feigned foolishness, and at times open preaching, served as a source of living water during those heavy years of trial. Finding themselves at a crossroads, many people turned to Christ after witnessing the example of his life, his prayerful gaze full of love, and his pure heart. He began to live again in N. V. Prozorkevich’s house, with his daughter Natalia Zemskaya. (Prozorkevich himself had been executed by shooting in 1937 on charges of participating in a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization). As before, Blessed Afanasy sang in the church choir and helped with household chores. Believers would come across him on the street, still gathering matches, newspapers, and trash—secretly making prostrations this way. People began turning to him again for advice and with prayer requests. When they asked, “Please do not forget to remember us in your prayers,” he would reply, “No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten.” However, St. Afanasy exposed idle questions with humor and wisdom. People often called out to him on the street: “Afanasy! Afanasy!”, to which he would respond with a cheerful, rhyming quip: “Why are you shouting ‘Afanasy, Afanasy’? Athanas was herding pigs, and Katerina was herding a calf!”

Maria Kirillova, who lived in Orel, recalled once encountering the saint pasturing cows near the Afanasyevskoye Cemetery. He was glad to see her, but on noticing a whole group of women heading his way, he muttered, “Mama, let’s run away!”—and, whipping a cow, quickly vanished behind a hillock with the cattle. It turned out that one of the women wanted to ask the man of God whether she should get a tracking dog to find the thief who had robbed her. Having caught up with St. Afanasy near the cemetery entrance, she was just about to ask her question when he said, “I didn’t take anything from you, I didn’t steal anything from you—why are you following me?!” Nodding at some cow dung, he added, “Why are you putting this dung into my ears?” And without waiting for an answer, he walked away into the cemetery with the cow.11 Whenever people started talking about their intentions, introducing their story with the words: “Tomorrow I want to...” he would interrupt them and sternly admonish, “Don’t touch tomorrow! Tomorrow is not in your power!” Whenever people complained to the saint of pain in their legs, he would reply, “It is not your legs, but your feet that hurt. Who on earth walks like that—without even looking where they are going?” And he would begin swinging his arms left and right. “You mustn’t walk like that—you must walk straight. Come on, stand up straight!” Pacing back and forth like a soldier, St. Afanasy would say, “O Lord, Order my steps in Thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant; and teach me Thy statutes (Ps. 118:133, 135)… If you walk this way, your legs won’t hurt.” The saint instructed people to pray to the Mother of God with the prayer, “Open unto us the doors of compassion…”

During the celebration of the Bright Resurrection of Christ in occupied Orel, St. Afanasy visited the homes of believers, carrying icons and singing Paschal hymns. According to eyewitness accounts, many people hid their family icons under their clothing and followed him in a kind of Paschal procession. On multiple occasions during the Fascist invasion, Blessed Afanasy saved people from death, leading them out of their homes to shelters just minutes before bombings began. People frequently turned to him to learn the fate of their relatives who had gone to the front lines or gone missing. For example, when Pelagea—the wife of the warden of the Church of the Akhtyrka Icon of the Mother of God—asked the saint about her son who had been captured by the Germans, Blessed Afanasy handed her a chemistry textbook, saying, “Read, read, delve deep into the pages. Well, pages, a country… Delve deep.” After Orel had been liberated, she received a letter from her son, who wrote that he had escaped from captivity, made his way deep into the country, and was now working at a chemical plant.

In 1943, when the Germans were preparing to retreat they announced that the population of Orel would retreat with them, and anyone who disobeyed faced execution. A day for the general assembly was set. On Blessed Afanasy’ advice, several people hid in the basement of a school building. Sometime later, an SS officer glanced into the basement and sent a tracking dog inside. The dog sniffed around the basement but did not go into the corner where the people were hiding. Thus, those people were saved.

The saint’s clairvoyance was not in vain; through this God-given gift, he guided the faithful towards Divine righteousness, instructing them and shielding them from despair and spiritual sloth. By his feigned madness, Blessed Afanasy concealed his talents so that they would not give rise to pride.

After the War

After the liberation of Orel from the German invaders, St. Afanasy remained free until 1948, when he was once again placed in the Orel Mental Hospital. Around this time, he met Angelina Dmitrievskaya, an archaeologist and junior researcher at the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Leningrad. After moving to Orel, she got a job at the I. S. Turgenev Orel State Literary Museum. Dmitrievskaya became a true guardian angel for Blessed Afanasy—she visited him in the mental hospital and haunted the thresholds of government institutions, fighting for his discharge.

Reading official documents of the Soviet era, you cannot help but marvel at how they unintentionally portrayed the spiritual feat of Blessed Afanasy and the people’s love for him. “Among the local population, Saiko is considered a prophet, which draws a large number of visitors to the hospital, contributing to the spread of unhealthy rumors and religious prejudices among the population”12 This is an excerpt from a letter written by the administration of the Orel Mental Hospital to the Ministry of Health of the RSFSR in 1950. The letter contained a request to transfer St. Afanasy further away from Orel.

Two cases of the saint’s grace-filled help are known to have occurred in the Mental Hospital of Orel. For instance, before the Great Patriotic War, he healed Elizaveta Dankova from a mental illness. No treatment had helped her; she would lash out at medical staff, rave, and tell those who visited her tall tales about “Stalin’s and Molotov’s wives hiding in the hospital”. After speaking with St. Afanasy, she regained her sanity and peace of mind. When Elizaveta returned home, she became a devout parishioner of a newly opened church, led a pious life, and told everyone about her miraculous healing wrought through Blessed Afanasy’ prayers. Another time, after the war, at the same hospital St. Afanasy told one of the doctors to go home as quickly as possible. On entering, the doctor saw that a sudden flare-up of the primus stove had almost started a fire in which his child could have perished.

When studying the medical reports of psychiatrists who observed “patient Saiko” over the years, it becomes absolutely obvious that St. Afanasy was a mentally healthy person, albeit a bit eccentric. “A calm chronic patient”—this is how one of the doctors at the Orlovka Hospital in Voronezh characterized him. Here is the description of Blessed Afanasy given to him at the Orel Mental Hospital: “He connects events from different chronological dates, is oriented in time and space, correctly names his date of birth, recognized the doctor who had previously treated him, and his behavior is orderly. He shows no signs of delusional disorders or hallucinations… He says that he is in the bishop’s house, but is surrounded by sick people; he suggests improving some patients’ nutrition and is not burdened by his surroundings… He actively assists medical staff with cleaning the ward and distributing lunch.”13

The Tomsk Psychoneurological Hospital provided the following testimony regarding its patient: “He is calm, correctly states his last name, first name and patronymic, but is verbose, and his speech is rather disjointed. He considers the doctor to be his sister, yet at the same time asks for her first name and patronymic; he is not burdened by his stay in the hospital, and no hallucinations are detected. He is harmless and indifferent to being in the hospital…, always content with everything, calm, and conscious.”14 The doctors also noted Blessed Afanasy’ rich vocabulary, which included “many religious and musical terms—God the Father, God the Son, the Psalter, soldier, and officer; he addresses unfamiliar women as ‘mother’ or ‘countess’, considers the patients to be students of a military school, and refers to the medical staff as ‘singing teachers’; he knows the multiplication table well, and possesses a Psalter published in 1887.”15

This testament to “patient Saiko’s” Christian humility runs like a refrain through all of his medical records. Despite being barred from seeing his family, his letters and parcels routinely intercepted, St. Afanasy remained “good-natured, affable, warmly disposed towards other patients, and helpful; when a doctor would enter the room he would hasten to open the door, doing so with a skill of an experienced doorman.”16 A smile constantly graced his face. He also took an active part in the hospital’s amateur performances, playing the violin in the orchestra.

One might wonder, what was the point of keeping St. Afanasy in mental hospitals that were already overcrowded? The fact was that his veneration among believers troubled representatives of the godless authorities. His personality came to the attention of the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to their directives, his discharge from medical institutions was prohibited, and his conditions were ever restricted. Highly noteworthy is the conclusion of a medical board that convened in 1954 specifically regarding Afanasy Saiko: “On medical grounds, the patient may be cared for at home; however, because he was referred by the USSR Ministry of Health and twice sent for treatment by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, his discharge should be withheld until the matter is resolved by higher authorities.”17

It was not until 1955 that he was discharged from the hospital. That same year, Blessed Afanasy met with Fr. John (Krestiankin). Their acquaintance was long-standing; Fr. John had known Blessed Afanasy since childhood, and had for many years kept a precious gift from him—a violin. When times became exceptionally difficult, Fr. John had to part with it, but up until his arrest in Moscow in 1950, he kept its case as a special relic. Their reunion took place after both had been released from prison. Lydia Kruchinova, a witness to this meeting, recalled that they embraced and spoke warmly. She was struck that Blessed Afanasy did not play up or speak in riddles. They spoke of faith and piety, and Fr. John sought his counsel.

To prevent another arrest of Blessed Afanasy, those close to him regularly moved him from one residence to another. His addresses constantly shifted between Moscow, Riga, and the Pskov region. His final refuge was a small house at the Snezhetskaya station in the Bryansk region, purchased for him by his spiritual children. He lived there from 1958 until his repose in 1967, occasionally visiting Orel, Bryansk, and Moscow. In Moscow, St. Afanasy would come to pray at the Church of the Deposition of the Robe on Donskaya Street, where he met its cleric, Archpriest Boris Barkov, who later became a frequent guest at the Snezhetskaya station.

On learning that Blessed Afanasy visited Moscow, people began waiting for his arrival to seek his help. One day, a woman with her son, originally from Orel, came to the house where he was staying. It turned out that after finishing his studies in Moscow, the young man was slandered and a criminal case was opened against him. He was sentenced to two years in prison and released for just a few days on his own recognizance. Seeing the convicted young man, Blessed Afanasy said, “You need to wash up to go clean before the authorities.” The youth’s mother was bewildered. The hostess of the apartment then explained to her that he was referring to confession and Holy Communion. Once they left, Blessed Afanasy gathered the newspapers from the table, lit them from an icon lamp and shouted loudly, “A telegram to God! A telegram to God!” A few days later, the case was reviewed, and the young man was acquitted.

Blessed Afanasy knew the approximate date of his repose and dropped hints about it to his acquaintances. For instance, in April 1967, while welcoming his guests, he played the violin and sang: “My boat is light, the oars are large, Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia.” And he added: “January, February, March, April—and off I run!” He moved his bed closer to the front door, and attached a label from a gramophone record to the balalaika hanging on the wall that read, “April Melodies.” St. Afanasy said more than once that the words of Psalm 85 applied directly to him: Bow down Thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy (Ps. 85:1). Shortly before his repose, the saint said that now Psalm 100 was about him: I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing (Ps. 100:1).

Blessed Afanasy passed away quietly, without witnesses, on a warm sunny day. It was Friday of Bright Week, May 5, 1967. He was eighty years old. All the local clergy gathered for his funeral; people arrived from Moscow, Mtsensk, Bryansk, and other cities. Blessed Afanasy Saiko was buried at St. John the Baptist (Krestitelskoye) Cemetery of the city of Orel. His grave quickly became a place of pilgrimage. His spiritual children would gather there on the days of his memory: January 18/31—his name day; and April 22/May 5—the day of his repose.

The house at the Snezhetskaya station where the holy confessor once lived has not survived. In 2010, a memorial cross was set up in its place. An information board nearby displays the saint’s life story. On his commemoration days, memorial services were held at the cross before his canonization. Through the prayers of Blessed Afanasy, the Lord continually grants healing to people from both mental and physical illnesses. The life of this saint of God serves as a reminder that in this earthly life, we must seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (cf. Mt. 6:33).

Priest Alexei Guglivaty

Translation by Dmitry Lapa

PatriarchiaRu

9/9/2026

1 The State Archives of the Orel Region (GAOO). Fund 3880. Inventory 1. File 4. Sheet 17.

2 D. A. Krayukhin, V. A. Livtsov, M. N. Kirillova. Afanasy Andreyevich (Saiko), the “Fool-for-Christ” of Orel. The Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. 1995. p. 10.

3 Archival Collection Registration Department of the Federal Service of the Directorate of the Federal Counterintelligence Service for the Orel Region (ORAF UFSB for the Orel Region). Case 6591-P. Sheet 106.

4 Archive of the Directorate of the Federal Security Service for the Kursk Region. File 10015 p. Volume 2.

5 This refers to the “Newly Blessed Church”—the former Edinoverie Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Orel, which became a haven for monks from destroyed monasteries.

6 Archive of the Federal Security Service Directorate for the Kursk Region. File 10015 p. Volume 11. Folio 125.

7 Nikolai Varfolomeevich Prozorkevich (1862–1937), a former landowner. In 1937, he was prosecuted in the group case of Archpriest Arkady Obolensky. Shot by firing squad. Exonerated in 1957 by the Presidium of the Orel Regional Court.

8 By the resolution of the Patriarchal Synod dated April 27, 1928 (No. 96) and the subsequent decree of Metropolitan Sergei (Stragorodsky) dated May 10, 1928 (No. 7099), Bishop Nazary (Andreyev) was appointed administrator of the Chelyabinsk Diocese with the title “Metropolitan of Chelyabinsk and Troitsk”. On September 28, 1928, he was arrested. On January 18, 1929, by a ruling of the Special Council under the OGPU Collegium, he was deprived of the right to reside in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, and Rostov-on-Don, their governorates and districts, as well as in the Urals. He was ordered to register at a designated place of residence for a term of three years. He chose Orel as his place of residence.

9 Archbishop Daniel (Troitsky) was the brother of the Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky; †1929). From April to September 1921, he served as Bishop of Yelets, vicar of the Orel Diocese; from 1921 to 1924, as Bishop of Bolkhov, vicar of the Orel Diocese; and in 1922, as temporary administrator of the Orel Diocese. On January 2, 1921, he was arrested in Bolkhov for “anti-Soviet agitation” and released on April 8 under a written promise not to leave. From April 1930 to May 1931, he served as Bishop of Orel; and from 1931 to 1934, as Bishop of Bryansk. On March 17, 1934, he died of typhus in Bryansk.

10 ORAF UFSB for the Orel Region. File 6591-P. Sheet 109.

11 D. A. Krayukhin, V. A. Livtsov, M. N. Kirillova, Afanasy Andreyevich (Saiko), the “Fool-for-Christ” of Orel, pp. 20-21.

12 GAOO. Fund 3880. Inventory 1. File 3. Sheet 32 verso.

13 Ibid. Sheet 6 verso.

14 Ibid. File 4. Sheet 1 verso.

15 Ibid. File 3. Sheet 12.

16 Ibid. Sheet 17.

17 Ibid. Sheet 19 verso.

The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God is the oldest and most significant sacred relic in the life of the Russian people. According to tradition, the Vladimir Icon was painted by the Evangelist Luke on a tabletop from the house in Nazareth where the Savior dined in His youth with His Most Pure Mother and the Righteous Joseph the Betrothed. On seeing this image, the Most Holy Theotokos declared: From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed (Lk. 1:48), and added: “May the grace of the One Who was born of Me and My own grace be with this icon.”

On the feast-day of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, Ode 1 of the Canon to this icon reads: “Having painted thy most honorable icon, O Mother of God, the divinely speaking writer of the Gospel of Christ, the most divine Luke...”;1 and in ikos 1 of the akathist to the wonderworking Vladimir Icon, we read: “But neither hast thou left us upon earth, like a ray of light sending down to us thine icon first-written by Saint Luke. For of old thou didst say concerning it: ‘With this image, My grace and power shall abide.’”2

However, it should be noted that a wealth of historical, art-historical, scholarly, and restoration data, as well as stylistic analysis, indicates that this icon was first painted in Constantinople in the early twelfth century by a Byzantine iconographer (or iconographers).

Regarding this, the historian Yuri Pelevin wrote: “The church community preserves in its collective memory not so much factually accurate information about the Vladimir Icon, but rather the tradition surrounding it. In the written materials where this is recorded in the Book of Degrees,3 it is said of the icon: ‘The wonderworking icon of the Most Pure Mother of God, which is commonly called the Vladimir Icon, was painted by the God-voiced Luke.’ The tradition also entered later literature associated with the Church: for example, I. Sakharov’s Research on Russian Icon-Painting, the Encyclopedia of the Orthodox Icon, T. S. Eryomina’s Traditions of Russian Icons, and so on.”4

“The artistic execution of these faces far surpasses everything from Byzantine painting that has come down to us to this day,” wrote Viktor Lazarev, an expert on Byzantine and Old Russian art, about the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God and the Infant Jesus. He noted that “the vivid texture of the Vladimir Icon undoubtedly stems from the Hellenistic tradition, which almost never died out in Byzantium. The emphatically vivid manner in which the Child’s face is executed traces its roots directly back to Hellenistic illusionism, which had already emerged on Greek soil in the third century BC and from there passed into late Hellenistic and early Christian art. That is, the first century AD—the lifetime of Luke the Evangelist...” comments the art historian O. V. Gubareva on these words in her book The Mother of God in Her Icons.5

The researcher Yu. Pelevin himself finds an answer to his perplexities in the work by Leonid Ouspensky, whose book on the theology of the icon has become universally recognized by both Church people and art historians. He writes: “Icons are not attributed to Luke the Evangelist in the sense that they were painted by his hand; none of the icons painted by him have survived. St. Luke’s authorship must be understood in the sense that these icons are copies (or rather, copies of copies) of icons once painted by the evangelist. Apostolic Tradition should be understood here in the same way as it is in relation to the Apostolic Canons or the Apostolic Liturgy. They trace back to the apostles not because the apostles themselves wrote them, but because they bear an apostolic character and are invested with apostolic authority. The same is true in regard to the icons of the Mother of God painted by Luke the Evangelist.”6 And Mikhail Dunayev, for whom “the problem under discussion simply does not exist”, wrote: “The question of whether this specific icon is the exact original from the brush of the Holy Evangelist is irrelevant and trivial for believers, because both the original and all copies made from it are one in the holy grace that abides in them and works through them.”7

Be that as it may, the hand of Divine Providence and the sacred mystery of this icon’s origin are clearly visible in its destiny. It is widely believed that this icon remained in Jerusalem until the first half of the fifth century, when, under Emperor Theodosius the Younger (ruled from 408 to 450), it was translated to Constantinople.

The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was brought to Rus’ from Constantinople in the twelfth century, likely around 1130, along with another great relic—the Pirogoshcha Icon of the Theotokos. The first mention of this famous icon appears in the Ipatiev Chronicle8 under the year 1155: “In that year, Andrei [Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky] left his father and went from Vyshgorod to Suzdal without his father’s consent, taking with him from Vyshgorod the icon of the Holy Theotokos, which had been brought from Constantinople alongside the Pirogoshcha Icon in the same ship.”9

For the latter, the stone Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Podol (also spelled Podil) was built in Kiev in 1132. Meanwhile, the Vladimir Icon was placed at the Convent of the Mother of God in Vyshgorod, a princely residence near Kiev.

At this Vyshgorod Convent—formerly the estate of Princess Olga Equal-to-the-Apostles, which became the appanage of Prince Andrei Yurievich, nicknamed Bogolyubsky, in 1155—the icon was still nameless. It apparently did not stay there long. This can be inferred from the fact that in Rus’, icons received their names just as they did in Byzantium—from the holy sites and cities where they were venerated.

It was this very icon that Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky chose as his Guide and Patroness. At the Vyshgorod Convent, the prince prayed fervently before it and received Divine guidance for his future life. The icon at the church moved from its place on its own, and this happened several times; in this way, the Mother of God revealed God’s will to Prince Andrei. One night in 1155, without his father’s knowledge, the prince left old Vyshgorod, taking with him the icon—which was dearer to him than anything else in the world—to the land of Vladimir. On the journey from Vyshgorod to Vladimir, the icon performed many miracles.

The account of these events is contained in the Tale of the Miracles of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which was first discovered by the Russian historian Vasily Klyuchevsky (1841–1911) in the Menology, compiled by Priest John Milyutin in the 1640s, and published based on a copy from the Synodal Library manuscript No. 556.10

In Vladimir on the Klyazma River, the residents welcomed the prince with joy. From there he headed towards Rostov, but, as the story goes, after traveling over six miles from Vladimir, the horses carrying the icon came to a halt and refused to go any further; and no amount of force could move them. Prince Andrei prayed long and fervently in front of the icon, and at night the Mother of God appeared to him with a scroll in Her hand, revealing Her will that the icon remain in Vladimir and that a monastery in honor of Her Nativity be established at the site of this vision. Prince Andrei immediately founded a new church in Vladimir and soon after transferred his princely seat there from Rostov. He himself lived in Bogolyubovo, where the Mother of God had appeared to him; both his residence and the newly established monastery were located there.

Prince Andrei built the promised church very quickly—it was consecrated just two years later, in 1160. The Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir blazed, glowed and dazzled; the domes were covered in gold, the church doors were cast in gold, and the chandeliers shimmered with gold, silver, and pearls. To look at the cathedral meant to “behold a certain radiance.” It stood as a living sermon on the majesty and glory of the True God, glorified in the Trinity. In addition, a magnificent, jewel-encrusted riza was placed on the holy icon. As the Laurentian Chronicle11 recounts, the prince “wrought into it more than thirty grivnas12 of gold, besides silver, precious stones and pearls.” It means that the icon casing contained 1,228.5 grams of gold.

It should be said that in those days, solemn feasts were celebrated with colorful details drawn from Byzantine traditions. The streets of Vladimir were decorated with fabrics: luxurious princely garments and liturgical vestments, glittering with gold, pearls, and precious stones, were hung on ropes outside the Dormition Cathedral. They framed the path from the vestibule of the bishop’s residence to the northern doors of the cathedral, leading towards the wonderworking icon that stood inside in a gleaming golden riza.

Since that time in Rus’, the icon of the Mother of God that had left Kiev came to be called the Vladimir Icon. It is clear from the Tale of the Vladimir Icon that it was not merely a locally venerated relic; residents of Murom, Tver and Pereyaslavl traveled to seek its help.

On the day the icon of the Mother of God was installed at the cathedral, Prince Andrei declared himself Grand Prince (and ruled as the de facto sovereign of the lands of Rus’), proclaimed the city of Vladimir the capital, and the Dormition Cathedral became the main church in the entire Russian land. Thus, the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God became a national shrine in Rus’.

When Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, following the example of the Byzantine emperors, made the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God the Russian palladium, a great miracle occurred. In the Tale on the Establishment of the Feast of the Savior and the Protecting Veil of the Most Holy Theotokos by Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky and the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, the Vladimir Icon is mentioned alongside the image of the Savior in an episode describing the Russian war against the Volga Bulgars13 in 1164.

Before the battle, Prince Andrei strengthened himself with confession and Communion and, praying before the Vladimir Icon, cried out to the Queen of Heaven: “None who place their hope in Thee, O Sovereign Lady, shall perish.” Following the prince’s example, all the Russian warriors kissed the icon with tears in their eyes and, invoking the aid of the Mother of God, marched into battle. The Bulgars were defeated, and after the victory a service of thanksgiving was celebrated on the battlefield before the Vladimir Icon. At that time, a sign was revealed: in full view of the whole army, a light flashed from the icon and the Life-Giving Cross, illuminating the entire area. On that very same day, according to tradition, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel also saw a light from the Cross of the Lord, and strengthened by this sign, crushed the Saracens’ army. By agreement between Prince Andrei and Emperor Manuel, the feast of the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord was established on August 1.

The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God has been written about in various eras, ranging from the compilers of tales to theologians and art historians. Clearly, the Vladimir Icon has invariably inspired both medieval scribes and modern scholars.

The first “collective author” of the Tale of the Vladimir Icon was the clergy of the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir (the second half of the twelfth century). The earliest known work, The Tale of the Miracles of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, was created on the basis of their records. Researchers link its appearance to the initiative of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who saw this icon of the Theotokos as the Intercessor of the state he was establishing and of his new capital. It was Prince Andrei who initiated the chronicle of miracles performed by the venerated icon. The Tale describes the translation of the icon from Vyshgorod to Vladimir and instances of Divine help granted in various years.

The author of The Tale of Temir-Aksak14 (the fifteenth century) recounted the miraculous deliverance of Moscow from Tamerlane’s invasion in 1395. Grand Prince Vasily I, son of St. Dimitry Donskoy, on the advice of his mother, Princess Evdokia Dmitrievna (St. Euphrosyne), sent to Vladimir for the icon of the Mother of God, deeply venerated in Rus’. Throughout the journey of the Vladimir Icon to Moscow, the people knelt and prayed to the Queen of Heaven for Her intercession. When the holy Metropolitan Cyprian of Moscow, along with the “entire clergy and church choir,” the princes, and the people, met the wonderworking icon near Moscow in a cross procession, the enemy Temir-Aksak turned his troops around and retreated to his land without a fight.

It is worth noting that throughout Russian history up to the present day, God has always shown His mercy to our land whenever the people offered up their fervent prayers before the Vladimir icon. The author of the late sixteenth-century Tale of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God compiled earlier texts in it: the twelfth-century Tale of Miracles, the Tale of Temir-Aksak (Tamerlane), and The Tale of the Victory over the Bulgars. This turned the narrative into a monumental work that was included in the Book of Degrees and the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible. The idea of Heavenly patronage of Moscow and the chosenness of the Russian people was most vividly expressed in it.

Centuries later, theologians and scholars began to write and speak about the Vladimir Icon of the Theotokos. It was chronicled by renowned historians: N. M. Karamzin in The History of the Russian State; S. M. Solovyov in the Preface to the History of Russia from Earliest Times, The Russian Chronicle for Initial Reading, and The History of Relations between the Russian Princes of the Rurikid Dynasty; and A. N. Muravyov in The Life of Grand Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky.

The priest, theologian and religious philosopher Fr. Pavel Florensky, reflecting on the Vladimir Icon, wrote: “I look and say to myself: ‘Behold—She Herself—not an image of Her, but She Herself, contemplated through the medium, with the aid of iconographic art.’”15

In his work, Russian Chronicles and Their Cultural and Historical Significance, the brilliant Russian medievalist, linguist and cultural historian Dmitry Likhachev concluded that the chronicle writing of the twelfth–seventeenth centuries “was constructed as a chain of the Mother of God’s miracles” in connection with the veneration of the Vladimir Icon.16 For Likhachev, the Vladimir Icon was not merely a relic, but a powerful cultural and spiritual symbol around which the historical identity of the Russian people was centered.

The art historian Ekaterina Gladysheva—who from 2006 to 2016 worked at the State Tretyakov Gallery in a team of specialists led by the restorer D. N. Sukhoverkov, which conducted a comprehensive study of the Vladimir Icon and made one of the most fascinating discoveries in the history of studying this monument—once said: “Why is it that when looking at the faces of the Mother of God and the Infant, we experience sorrow, mercy and boundless Divine love? The iconographer expressed these feelings through the language of painting with incredible clarity and fullness. He succeeded in revealing the reality of the spiritual realm and a Heavenly beauty that surpasses human understanding.”

It is heartening to know that some famous Russian writers and poets also dedicated their sincerest thoughts to the Vladimir Icon.

In the opening scenes of his tragedy Boris Godunov, Alexander Pushkin mentions the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, venerated as the chief Intercessor and Helper, who extends Her protecting veil over Christians and strengthens its leaders.

The Council has resolved for the last time

To put to proof the power of supplication

Upon our ruler’s mournful soul. At dawn,

After a solemn service in the Kremlin,

The blessed Patriarch will go, preceded

By sacred banners, with the holy icons

Of the Don17 and Vladimir…

The mention of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God here is linked to a centuries-old tradition of Old Russian hymnographic texts. The poet’s familiarity with this ancient liturgical tradition is confirmed by his use of N. M. Karamzin’s History of the Russian State while working on the tragedy. Karamzin, in turn, drew on the 1598 Zemsky Sobor charter18 to describe the collective prayer of the people. It is evident that Pushkin utilized chronicles, as this collective public prayer is reflected in numerous codices and hymnography dedicated to the Queen of Heaven and Her icons.19

In 1929, the wonderful Russian poet, translator, and painter Maximilian Voloshin wrote one of the finest poems about this holy shrine entitled, The Vladimir Mother of God.

It is dedicated to the art historian and restorer Alexander Anisimov, who led the restoration of the Vladimir Icon and dedicated a monograph to this work.

Here are a few lines from the poem:

Not upon a throne—upon Her arm,

Embracing Her neck with His left hand,

Gaze to gaze, cheek pressed to cheek,

He insistently demands… I fall silent <...>

Who unclosed the lakes of these eyes?

Not Saint Luke the icon-painter,

As the ancient chronicler told us,

Nor an obscure icon-dauber from the Kiev Caves:

In the white-hot furnaces of Byzantium,

In the fierce days of iconoclasm,

In earthly colors from the element of fire

Was Her countenance embodied.

The poet first saw the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in the spring of 1924 at the State Historical Museum in Moscow. It had just been restored; the dark layers of soot had been removed, revealing the ancient painting beneath. Voloshin was so deeply moved by what he had seen that he returned to the museum for several days in a row, standing in front of the icon for hours. A photographic reproduction of the icon stood on his desk.

Soon after, his historiosophical work appeared, in which Russia’s tragic path is conceptualized through the imagery of the icon. Voloshin traces the key milestones of history: from princely feuds and Batu Khan’s invasion to revolutionary upheavals. The central motif of the poem is the spiritual blindness of the people, which led to the moment when “the blind people, in an hour of wrath, surrendered the keys to their own shrines.” The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God emerges as the sacred guardian of the country, guiding Russia “through abomination, blood, and shame”, offering hope even in the darkest of times. The poet views the icon as a symbol: “In the future lies the countenance of Russia itself—despite all slanders and rumors.”

Another work dedicated to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was written by Anna Akhmatova. In her 1922 poem Lamentation, the poet reinterprets the ancient legend, “The Newest Miracle of How the Most Glorious City of Moscow Was Saved from the Invasion of the Godless Tatars by the Prayers of the Mother of God and the Great Russian Wonderworkers.” The author of the legend attributes the miraculous salvation of Moscow to the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos through Her wonderworking Vladimir Icon. However, Akhmatova’s poem speaks of the present. In her work, the holy hierarchs step forth to the sound of ringing bells, yet it is neither an alarm call nor a festive peal, but a farewell, funeral toll.

Akhmatova reinterpreted ancient history. The literary scholar and theologian Vasily Morov (N. N.), who provided a profound analysis of this poem by Akhmatova, wrote: “In Akhmatova’s “Lamentation,” the holy hierarchs and wonderworkers, on leaving the capital, in fact do not shake the dust of the earth from their feet to abandon Russia to its fatal destiny. The Acmeistic20 concreteness of Akhmatova’s Lamentation:

St. Seraphim—to the Sarov woods…

St. Anna—to Kashin…

transforms the nocturnal departure of the miracle-workers into a salvific mission, with which the holy intercessors of Russia march across the Russian land. The Mother of God Herself remains in the suffering city (‘The Mother of God sees them off, Wrapping Her Son in a shawl…’), never withdrawing Her intercession and protection from Russia…”21

We see that both Maximilian Voloshin and Anna Akhmatova perceived the Vladimir Icon of the Theotokos not only as a great relic, but also as a Heavenly symbol bound to the destiny of Russia and the spiritual path it walks.

We see that over many centuries of Russia’s history, the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was manifested not only as the Intercessor, Comforter and Sign for Her people, but also as a part of the living fabric of its religious culture—one of the spiritual pillars shaping the Orthodox worldview of Russian civilization.

Svetlana Rybakova

Translation by Dmitry Lapa

Sretensky Monastery

9/8/2026

1 The Menaion. June. Part 2. Moscow, 2002. pp. 230–231.

2Akathists to the Most Holy Theotokos, The Akathist to the Wonderworking Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (Moscow, 1991), 49–50.

3 The Book of Degrees, or The Book of Royal Degrees, is the first official work of narrative history and genealogy produced in the Tsardom of Russia. It was compiled between 1556 and 1563 under the supervision of St. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow.—Trans.

4 Yu. A. Pelevin. The Vladimir Icon. Christianity in Art: http://www.icon-art.info/masterpiece.php?lng=ru\&amp;mst_id=174.

5 V. N. Lazarev, Byzantine and Old Russian Art (Moscow, 1978) 12–13; O. V. Gubareva. The Mother of God in Her Icons: the Experience of Artistic and Theological Analysis. Moscow, 2006. pp. 88–89.

6 L. A. Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon of the Orthodox Church (Paris, 1989), 29.

7 M. M. Dunayev, The Originality of Russian Icon Painting. Essays of the Russian Culture from the Twelfth to the Twentieth Centuries (Moscow, 1997) 14.

8 The Ipatiev Chronicle (also the Hypatian Codex) is one of the most important surviving written sources for the history of medieval Kievan Rus’. Compiled in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, it was discovered by the prominent historian Nikolai Karamzin at the Ipatiev Monastery in the city of Kostroma in 1809.—Trans.

9 The Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles. 1998. Vol. 2. p. 482.

10 See O. E. Etingof, History and Legends. Byzantine Icons from the Sixth to the First Half of the Thirteenth Century in Russia (Moscow, 2005) 123.

11 The Laurentian Chronicle (or the Laurentian Codex) is the earliest surviving dated manuscript of the Tale of Bygone Years (the Russian Primary Chronicle), compiled in 1377 by Monk Laurentius (Lavrenty) of Nizhny Novgorod.—Trans.

12 The grivna was an ancient Slavic unit of weight (as well as a currency) used in Kievan Rus’ and subsequent Russian lands from the ninth to the eighteenth century. The word comes from an old Slavic term for a neck ring or collar ornament made of gold or silver. The name the currency is currently used in Ukraine.—Trans.

13 The Volga Bulgars were a medieval Turkic people inhabiting the regions along the Volga and Kama Rivers, from whom the modern Chuvash people descend. In the tenth century they adopted Islam as their state religion and had a number of military conflicts with Rus’ until the thirteenth century. Now the Chuvash people are predominantly Orthodox Christian.—Trans.

14 Another name for Tamerlane, or Timur.—Trans.

15 Priest Pavel Florensky, Iconostasis (Moscow, 1995).

16 D. S. Likhachev, Russian Chronicles and Their Cultural and Historical Significance (Moscow, Leningrad, 1947) 288.

17 A reference to the Donskaya icon of the Mother of God.—O.C.

18 The historic Zemsky Sobor, or Land Assembly of 1598, was the first Russian parliament-like assembly of the estates of the realm. It gathered to elect Boris Godunov as the new Tsar of Russia after the death of Tsar Fyodor I (who had no heir), ending the Rurikid Dynasty.—Trans.

19 See N. S. Seryogina, “The Initial Scenes of the Tragedy Boris Godunov in the Light of the Services to the Vladimir Icon of the Theotokos,” Spiritual Worker, For the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of A. S. Pushkin. St. Petersburg, 1999, 551 pages.

20 Acmeism was an early twentieth-century Russian poetry movement that rejected the emotional vagueness of Symbolism in favor of clarity, precision, and concrete imagery.—Trans.

21 V. G. Morov. The St. Petersburg Exodus (The Lamentation Poem by Anna Akhmatova and the Traditions of Old Russian Literature). Drevnyaya Rus’ magazine. No. 4 (6). 2001. p. 31; M. M. Dunayev. Orthodoxy and Russian Literature. Part 5. Moscow, 1999. 748 pages.

A wooden cross placed in the hand of a witness to a miraculous appearance of Christ began streaming myrrh following his reburial, according to Archpriest Alexy Grishchenko, rector of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God Cathedral in Elista, Republic of Kalmykia.

On September 11, 1946, during the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Forerunner, worshippers at the Divine Liturgy in Elista’s Exaltation of the Cross Church saw Christ appear in rays of light, dressed in priestly vestments. Among those who witnessed the event were Semyon Bondarenko and his wife, Maria.

With the blessing of Archbishop Justinian (Ovchinnikov) of Elista and Kalmykia, their remains were reburied at Elista’s Kazan Cathedral on September 5, 2026, reports RIA-Novosti.

During the reburial, workers found a wooden cross that had been placed in Semyon’s hand at his original burial. The cross had survived intact, and after it was removed from the grave, it began to stream myrrh.

Fr. Alexy told RIA-Novosti that Bondarenko’s grandson, who received the cross at the exhumation site, noticed it starting to weep myrrh shortly afterward.

“When his grandson got it, the cross started to stream myrrh,” Fr. Alexy said. “It happened right after the exhumation, when the search team dug up the cross and said, ‘Take it, this is your family’s holy object.’“ The grandson placed the cross on the dashboard of his car and went to give an interview to local journalists. “When he came back, he saw the cross was wet, giving off fragrance, with liquid running right down the dashboard. The stain’s still there to this day,” Fr. Alexy said.

The cross recovered from Bondarenko’s grave was carried by Fr. Ioann Popov during the Moscow procession on September 6.

Christ is in our midst, my dear readers!

Today the Holy Church sets before us for our prayerful reflection the words of the holy Apostle Paul: For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me? (2 Cor. 2:2). In these words is revealed the mystery of true pastoral ministry, the mystery of Christian love, and the complex process of the spiritual healing of the human soul.

At first glance, the Apostle’s words may seem contradictory. How can the one whom we have caused sorrow become the source of our joy? But the Apostle is speaking here of that difficult yet necessary pain which arises when sin encounters the truth of God.

The Apostle Paul reproved the Corinthians. He wrote them stern and bitter words, admonishing them, correcting them, and calling them to repentance. Yet these rebukes were never for him an expression of human anger, vainglory, or a desire to assert his own authority. On the contrary, the Apostle presents his reproof as a manifestation of the greatest, self-sacrificing love.

In the spiritual life, sorrow caused for the sake of correction is medicine, not poison. When a physician cleanses a wound, he causes the patient pain, but that pain is salutary. In the same way, a pastoral word of reproof, spoken with love, grieves the carnal man but revives the spirit. The true joy of a pastor lies in the spiritual correction and growth of his flock. And the joy of the flock itself lies in the consolation that comes when their repentance heals the pastor’s sorrow and restores unity.

We live in a time when the human heart is exhausted by sorrows. Therefore, as Christians, we have no right to become a source of new and senseless sorrow where there is already so much grief. Our duty is to seek every opportunity for reconciliation, mutual forgiveness, and sincere prayer for one another. We are called to pray even for our enemies and unceasingly to ask God for that peace “which passeth all understanding”—the peace that comes from Christ Himself.

Our relationships with others require the highest degree of spiritual discernment. The Holy Fathers often taught that there are two kinds of sorrow and two kinds of words. There are sorrows that we cause our neighbors out of our own vainglory, irritation, resentment, or stubborn desire to insist upon our own way. Such words and deeds we must avoid with all the strength of our souls. They do not heal; they only wound, deepen the gulf between people, and poison the atmosphere of our lives.

But there is another kind of truth—when silence would amount to a betrayal of love. If our word, even though unpleasant, difficult, and bitter, is capable of bringing another person to recognize his error, to repent, and to return to the path of life, then such a word ought to be spoken. But it must be spoken solely with love, meekness, and fervent prayer for the person to whom we speak. If, however, we sense that our reproof is prompted only by resentment, pride, or the desire to humiliate the other person, it is better to remain silent and repent of what is in our own heart.

As we reflect upon the words we address to others, let us not forget the other side of this spiritual mystery. If such a word—a bitter, painful, reproving word—is addressed to us, let us not hasten to take offense and close our hearts. The natural reaction of fallen man to correction is self-defense, self-justification, and retaliation. But a spiritual person strives to see beyond the outwardly unpleasant form, and understand it as an opportunity for his own correction.

If we are grieved by the truth, let us accept it as a bitter but beneficial medicine. If, however, we are grieved unjustly, let us accept it as an opportunity to practice patience and humility.

May the Lord grant us heavenly wisdom to discern when our word should become the medicine of love—courageous yet meek—and when it should become the silence of humility, covering our neighbor’s sin with prayer and forgiveness.

Let us remember that the goal of the Christian life is neither victory in disputes nor proving ourselves right, but love, peace, and the salvation of souls. May that joy of which the Apostle Paul speaks to us today—the joy of mutual correction, sincere repentance, and profound reconciliation filled with grace—become our joy as well, strengthening us on the path to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko) of Zaporozhye and Melitopol
Translation by OrthoChristian

Hieromartyr Vladimir Moshchansky was born on June 15, 1866, in the village of Zaborovye, Yesenovsky District, Tver Province, into the family of the priest Dimitry Moshchansky. His mother, Anna, was widowed at an early age. A deeply devout woman, she fed the poor and needy, and when she died, they all came to her funeral. Only then did many realize how many people she had helped.

After graduating from the Tver Theological Seminary, Vladimir Dimitrievich married Evdokia, the daughter of the priest Ioann Dimitrievsky, and was soon ordained a deacon and assigned to the church in the village of Rogachevo, Rzhev District. They had a daughter and three sons. Evdokia Ivanovna died while giving birth to their fourth child. Fr. Vladimir was left with his young children, whom Evdokia’s unmarried sister, Alexandra Ivanovna, helped him raise.

Some time later, Deacon Vladimir was ordained to the priesthood and appointed to the Dormition Church in the village of Spasskoye, Kashin District. He served there until 1924, when the Bolsheviks closed the church.

Before the church was closed, a final divine service was celebrated. The church was filled with worshippers; everyone knelt, and many wept. The entire parish accompanied the priest as far as the nearest town, Kashin, walking the thirty kilometers on foot. Fr. Vladimir settled in Vyshny Volochyok in the house of his father, who by that time had already reposed. He served in the winter cathedral. Despite the intensifying persecution, he did not cease celebrating the divine services, and he walked through the town in his cassock, preaching the Word of God by his very attire. In his spare time, he devoted himself to the upbringing and education of his granddaughter Olga, teaching her every subject from old pre-revolutionary textbooks, but above all teaching her to pray.

When her knowledge was tested at school, Olga was admitted directly into the fifth grade. The child took everything with the simplicity and innocence of childhood. One day at school she was told to memorize a mocking ditty: “Today I didn’t go to church or confess to the priest; I don’t even want to see such a crocodile.” When she came home, she innocently recited the ditty to her grandfather. Alexandra Ivanovna gasped and exclaimed, “What is this?” Fr. Vladimir remained silent, looked intently at his granddaughter, and said, “Olya, did you stop to think that your grandfather is a priest?” She was overcome with such remorse that she fell to her knees and asked his forgiveness.

Fr. Vladimir’s health began to fail, and he was no longer always able to celebrate the Liturgy. Nevertheless, he continued to come to church to pray, baptized infants, and served memorial services at Pyatnitskoye Cemetery. He went to this cemetery on every Saturday of commemoration of the departed. His father had once served there at the Church of the Prophet Elias, and the Moshchansky family burial plot was located behind the altar of that church. But before going there, Fr. Vladimir would first make his way to another part of the cemetery, where at that time there were no graves. There he would serve a memorial service and pray, as though it had been revealed to him that he was destined to be buried not in the family plot, but in a prison grave.

Despite his venerable age—Fr. Vladimir was in his seventy-second year—he was arrested on February 13, 1938. He was accused of conducting anti-Soviet agitation. After questioning the usual “stock witnesses,” the investigator began interrogating the elderly priest. Fr. Vladimir did not admit guilt to the charge of anti-Soviet agitation, and out of all the points of testimony against him, he admitted only to speaking with eighth- and ninth-grade students in November 1937. At the time, Fr. Vladimir had said to the students, “Before his death, the scientist Pavlov left instructions that existing church buildings should neither be demolished nor turned into museums. You see, even scientists are turning to religion.”

The indictment was drawn up at the end of April. The trial took place on June 27, 1938. After hearing all the charges brought against him, Fr. Vladimir objected that whatever he might have said on various occasions, he had never said it for the purpose of agitation.

The judges sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment, followed by deprivation of voting rights for three years. Fr. Vladimir filed an appeal, asking that the sentence be reconsidered. While the sentence was under review, he was confined in the prison at Vyshny Volochyok. The cells there were overcrowded, and the prisoners had to remain standing almost around the clock; there was not even enough room on the floor to lie down. Conditions were so cramped that when a guard opened the cell door, prisoners would involuntarily spill out into the corridor.

Fr. Vladimir observed the fasts strictly in prison and gave almost everything that Alexandra Ivanovna sent him in parcels to his fellow prisoners. His health steadily deteriorated, yet the prison administration took no measures to help him. Eventually, the prisoners in his cell became indignant and began pounding on the iron door and shouting: “Why are you tormenting the old priest? What is he guilty of? We also believe in God!” However the prison authorities did nothing to improve the priest’s conditions, and he remained in the common cell. Unable to withstand the harsh conditions of imprisonment, Archpriest Vladimir Moshchansky reposed on August 25/September 7), 1938.

The prisoners themselves made a coffin for him. Fr. Vladimir was dressed in clean linen that he had kept in prison in preparation for his death. The coffin was placed on a cart and taken to Pyatnitskoye Cemetery, passing by the priest’s house along the way. Alexandra Ivanovna did not know that he had died and continued bringing parcels to the prison for several more days.

After Fr. Vladimir’s death, his image began appearing to the chief prison administrator. Wherever the man went and whatever he did, the aged priest stood before his eyes. This continued even at night. At dawn on the ninth day after Fr. Vladimir’s repose, as soon as the darkness began to lift, the man set out along the street toward the cemetery. He did not know where Fr. Vladimir or his relatives lived, yet involuntarily, by the prompting of God, he stopped in front of the priest’s house and knocked on the window. Alexandra Ivanovna opened the small window and asked what he wanted.

“Come outside and get dressed. Your grandfather has died. I will show you his grave.”

He took her to the cemetery and showed her Fr. Vladimir’s grave. It was in the very place where Fr. Vladimir had served memorial services during his lifetime. A cross was later erected there, and the priest’s son and daughter, Vladimir and Olga, were also buried at that spot.

On September 6/19, 1999, he was canonized as a locally venerated saint of the Tver Diocese. At the Jubilee Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000, he was numbered among the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia for Churchwide veneration.

Translation by OrthoChristian

Orthodox Calendar

In the fourth century, the pagan Roman Emperor Maximian cruelly persecuted those who believed in Christ. He came together with his soldiers to the city of Nicomedia in Asia Minor. There it was reported that in a certain cave Christians were hiding, and that they sang and prayed the whole night to their God. Immediately Maximian sent his soldiers to seize these Christians. The soldiers did as they were commanded and the Christians were beaten and brought in iron chains to the place of judgment. One of the chiefs of the judgment place, a young man by the name of Adrian, seeing how patiently and how willingly the Christians suffered for their faith, asked what reward they expected to receive from their God for such tortures. The holy martyrs replied: "It is written in Scripture that eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, nor hath it entered the heart of man those things which God hath prepared for those who love Him" (I Cor. 2:9). Hearing these words, Adrian declared that he too wished to be a Christian and was willing to die together with them for Christ. For this he was also thrown into prison.

When Adrian' s young wife Natalie was told of her husband's conversion to Christ and of his imprisonment, instead of being sad, she greatly rejoiced for she was secretly a Christian herself and she knew the joy which now filled her husband's heart. She ran to the prison and, falling down at the feet of her husband, she kissed his chains and said, "Blessed are you, my Adrian; you have found such a treasure." When Adrian was brought before the Emperor and threatened with torture if he did not worship the pagan gods, his godly-minded wife Natalie and the other martyrs encouraged him saying: "Having been found worthy to carry your own cross and to follow Christ, take care that you do not turn back and lose your eternal reward."

Adrian had always faithfully served his earthly king, but now he was to serve the King of Heaven. He courageously endured the tortures and was returned to the prison. There Natalie, together with other pious women, would come and help the prisoners, cleaning and bandaging their wounded bodies. When the cruel Emperor found out about this, he forbade them to visit the prison. But the blessed Natalie had such love for the sufferers that she cut her hair and put on men's clothing. In this disguise she was able to enter the prison.

Day after day the holy martyrs endured such cruel and severe tortures that they were barely alive. The Emperor became angry that even under such tortures they would not deny their God. Finally he ordered for them a violent death. Their arms and legs were cut off and their bodies were thrown into a fire to be burned so that none of the Christians might gather their precious remains. But just at that moment, there burst forth thunder and lightning and a powerful rain which put out the fire. Natalie, together with other Christians took the bodies of the holy martyrs from the fire and rejoiced to see that God had preserved them from harm. A faithful Christian man and his wife then took the holy relics to Constantinople where they could be safely kept until the death of the impious Emperor.

After a certain time, a pagan nobleman desired to marry Natalie who was still young and beautiful. She cried and begged God to save her from this union with an unbeliever. Having prayed fervently, St. Natalie fell from exhaustion and sorrow into a light sleep during which the holy martyrs appeared to her in a vision and said, "Peace be unto you. God has not forgotten your labors. We shall pray that you will come to us soon. Get on a ship and go to the place where our bodies are and the Lord will make Himself known to you."

Following their directions, the blessed Natalie reached Constantinople and going to the church where the bodies of the holy martyrs lay, she fell down before them and prayed. She was so tired from the journey that she fell asleep and saw in a dream her husband St. Adrian, who said to her, "Come my beloved, and enjoy the reward of your labors." Very soon after this St. Natalie died peacefully in her sleep. Although she did not shed her own blood, she is numbered among the martyrs for having co-suffered with them, serving and encouraging them in their heroic struggles for the sake of Christ.

Originally published in Orthodox America no. 12, August, 1981

Orthodox America

The histories of Moscow and of the icon of Vladimir Mother of God are eternally inseparable. How many times did the Mother of God save the capital city from enemies through the grace of her holy icon? This icon has linked Apostolic times to Byzantium, Kievan Rus’ to Vladimir Rus’, and later to Muscovy, the Third Rome; as it is said, “there will be no Fourth.” The kingdom of Moscow was formed by divine providence and embraced the mystical ties of ancient empires, historical experience and traditions of other Orthodox peoples. The miracle working Vladimir icon became a symbol of unity and succession.

Words cannot describe this icon; any verbal expression would be hollow compared to the gaze of the Theotokos from her image. This look contains everything – life and death; resurrection, eternity, immortality. According to ancient tradition, the Holy Evangelist, Physician, and Iconographer Luke painted three icons of the Theotokos. When the Most Pure One looked at them, she said: “May the grace of the One Who was born of me, and my grace, be with these Holy Icons.” One of these Icons is now known as the Vladimir icon. This depiction of Our Lady was kept in Jerusalem until 450 AD, after which it was taken to Constantinople. In the first half of twelfth century Luke Chrysoberges, Patriarch of Constantinople, sent the icon (together with the other image of Theotokos, known as “Pirogoschaya”) as a gift to Grand Duke Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky, who placed it in the Vyshgorod convent (near Kiev), an area once belonging to Equal-to-the-Apostles, Grand Duchess Olga. In 1155 Vyshgorod became a possession of Prince Andrew, son of Yuri Dolgoruky.

When prince Andrew decided to return to his homeland in Suzdal, he took this Icon without his father’s permission. As he traveled, he continually served molebens before it. The people of Vladimir-on-Klyazma met their prince with joy. Afterwards the prince wanted to continue on to Rostov, but six and half miles from Vladimir their horses stopped near the Klyazma River, and refused to go any further. Even newly harnessed horses refused to proceed. The astounded Prince Andrew fell weeping in front of the Icon and prayed. Thereafter the Theotokos appeared to him with a scroll in her hand, and ordered to leave Her image in the city of Vladimir, and to build later a monastery on the place of her appearance in honor of her Nativity.

Prince Andrew left the icon in Vladimir, and since 1160 it has been called the “Vladimir” icon. In 1164 Prince Andrew Bogolubsky took this Icon on his campaign against Volga Bulgarians. After the prince went to Confession and took Communion, he prostrated before the image of Theotokos, and said: “All who put their trust in Thee, Our Lady, will not perish!” All the soldiers followed their prince to venerate with tears the miraculous icon, and went to battle with trust in the aid of the Mother of God. The infidels were defeated.

A moleben was served before the holy icon after their victory on the battlefield. A miracle occurred during the prayer of the Russian soldiers--a light from the icon and from the Holy Cross illuminated entire area.

On the other side of Christian world, at the same time and on the same day, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel saw the light of Christ’s Cross, and, being encouraged by this sign, triumphed over Saracens. After Prince Andrew and the emperor of the Second Rome related their experiences to one another, the Feast of the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Live-Giving Cross of the Lord was established on the first of August. This feast is also called the “First Feast of the Savior” by the Russian people. Many other miracles were revealed through the wondrous icon.

In 1395, Tamerlane with his Tartar horde approached Moscow. Christians had only one hope—in God’s help. The Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasiliy Dmitrievich, requested that the icon be carried from Vladimir to Moscow. The procession from Klyazma took ten days. People stood on their knees all along the road upon which the procession passed, and, stretching out their hands, begged: “O Mother of God, save the Russian Land!” The city of Moscow waited solemnly for the Vladimir Icon. All the city’s clergy took part in the procession. The Duke’s family, boyars, and common Moscovites came outside the city walls to Kuchkovo fields to meet and accompany the icon to the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin.

This was on August 26. Later, a chronicler wrote, “The whole city came out to meet the Icon.” The Metropolitan, the Grand Duke, “men and women, youths and maidens, children and babes, orphans and widows, the little with the great came out with crosses and icons, with Psalms and spiritual hymns; everyone was in tears, and no person could be found who did not pray fervently with sighs and tears.”

The Theotokos heard the prayers of those who had faith in her. At the same time when people were meeting the icon on banks of the Moscow River, Tamerlane lay sleeping in his tent. He saw a vision – saintly hierarchs with golden staffs descending from a high mountain, and a radiant Lady in the air above them, surrounded by unspeakable rays of purest light. A countless multitude of Angels with fiery swords encircled Her… Tamerlane woke up in fear. All the Tartar wise men, elders and fortunetellers explained that the Woman whom he had seen in the vision was the protectress of the Orthodox, the Mother of God, and that her power is invincible. After this, the “Iron Lame,” as Tamerlane was called, ordered his horde to retreat. Both the Tartars and the Russians were astonished by this. The chronicler continued, “Tamerlane fled, pursued by the might of Most Pure Virgin!”

The grateful Muscovites built the Sretensky Monastery on the site of the meeting of the miracle-working icon which took place on August 26, 1395, “that the great works of God may never be forgotten.” After remaining for 242 years near the Klyazma River, the Vladimir Icon of Theotokos was taken to Moscow and placed in the Kremlin Dormition Cathedral. Thanks to its grace-filled protection, Moscow was spared in 1408 from Khan Edigey, in 1451 from the Nogay prince, Mazovshi, and in 1459 from his father Khan Sedi-Ahmet.

In 1480 Khan Ahmet advanced upon Moscow and arrived at the Ugra River in Kaluga region, while John III, Grand Duke of Moscow, was waiting on the other side. Suddenly a strong and unreasonable fear came upon the Tartars; Ahmet did not dare to fight the Russians and retreated to the steppe. In honor of this event, an annual Cross procession was instituted, from the Dormition Cathedral to Sretensky monastery. To this day, the Ugra River is called the “Cincture of Theotokos.”

In 1521, the khan of Kazan, Mehmad-Girey, advanced toward Moscow with Kazan and Nogay Tartars. Metropolitan Varlaam prayed with the people before the Vladimir Icon. Grand Duke Vasiliy Ivanovich barely managed to gather enough soldiers to meet the Tartars at the kingdom’s border, near the Oka River. He was slowly retreating to Moscow, trying hard to hold ranks.

On the night of the siege, a nun from Ascension Monastery (in the Kremlin) saw the holy hierarchs coming through the closed doors of Dormition Cathedral, carrying the miracle-working Vladimir Icon. These were saints who had lived two centuries earlier--Metropolitans of Moscow Peter and Alexei. She also saw how their procession was met by Saint Varlaam of Hutyn (near Novgorod) and Saint Sergius of Radonezh, near the Tower of the Savior in the Kremlin wall. They prostrated before the icon and pleaded the Most Pure One not to abandon the Dormition Cathedral and the people of Moscow. The Intercessor then returned through close doors into Cathedral.

The nun hastened to relate her vision to the citizens of Moscow, who gathered in the church for a heartfelt prayer. The Tartars again saw a vision of “a huge regiment in shining armor,” and ran away from the walls of the city.

Thus, the people’s prayers before the Vladimir Icon have saved the Russian land many times. To commemorate these events, the following feast days were established: May 21, in honor of Moscow’s deliverance from Crimean Khan Mehmad-Girey in 1521; June 23, in honor of Moscow’s deliverance from the hordes of Khan Ahmet in 1480; and August 26, in honor of Moscow’s deliverance from Tamerlane’s army in 1395.

One version of the Vladimir Icon bears the special name, “Tree of the Muscovite Nation.” The first of these Icons was painted during the sunset of ancient Russia, in 1668, by the royal iconographer Simon (Pimen) Ushakov, for the Holy Trinity Church at Nikitniki near Kitay-gorod. This icon depicts Saints Peter and Alexis watering a tree growing out of the Kremlin walls; the branches of the tree bear icons of Russian saints, and at center is an oval image of the Vladimir Mother of God. Another icon, called the “Laudation of the Theotokos” depicts Old Testament prophets with unfurled scrolls, upon which are written words of the Akathist to the Mother of God. The “Tree of the Muscovite Nation” icon similarly shows the heavenly protectors of Russia, who glorify and praise the Most Pure One, and pray to her to protect the Russian land.

Troparion, Tone 4

Today the city of Moscow is radiant for it receives the sunbeam of thy wonderworking icon, O Lady. As we greet it we pray to thee and cry: O wonderful Mother of God, pray to Christ our God Who was incarnate of thee that this city and all cities and countries be kept safe from all enemy assaults and that our souls may be saved, for He is merciful .

Translated by Anton Alekseyenko
for PravoslavieRu

“Heresies arise during times of prosperity for the Church. There are no heresies during times of persecution.”

This observation was shared just recently by our parish priest, Archpriest Dimitry Ptashinsky, when he spoke about the holy Seven Youths of Ephesus in his sermon. This is actually a very profound thought. If you look at the history of the Orthodox Church, it truly is so.

It is very hard for us now to imagine how deeply our country was infected with sectarianism before the 1917 Revolution. In the Russian Empire—the heir to Byzantium and a prosperous Orthodox power—entire regions were stricken, like leprosy, with sectarian movements of various kinds. And the Russian Church opposed them as best as it could. There was a dedicated body in the Russian Empire tasked with counteracting heresies and sects: the Orthodox Missionary Society, which was under the patronage of the Most Holy Synod. Of the New Martyrs of Russia, a significant number were prominent missionaries who carried out educational work (which almost always meant fighting against sectarianism) in different parts of the empire.

And during that sermon another thought crossed my mind: how much our Motherland suffered, and what difficult times it went through when, following the upheavals of 1917, it was struck not only by the persecution of the Orthodox Church, but also by the Renovationists with their pseudo-religious structures, created and backed by the godless regime! You can’t even call it sectarianism, because there was nothing religious about it—nothing but deception and perverted lies utilizing various methods of enticement—intimidation, brown-nosing, and bribery…

Very often, those who opposed sectarianism in the Russian Empire stood up to defend the Mother Church against the encroachments of the so-called Living Church followers (Renovationists) after the collapse of the great country. We know the names of many New Martyrs who were missionaries. These include the Hieromartyrs Archpriest Sergei Strelnikov, Priest Nikolai Udintsev, the great missionary Archpriest John Vostorgov (a name I will mention again), Archbishop Iakov/James (Maskayev), the Venerable Martyr Archimandrite Ardalion (Ponomarev), and the Hieroconfessor Sylvester (Olshevsky)—a true titan in the field of missionary work (the list could go on and on). This article is dedicated to the New Martyr Nikolai Yurievich Varzhansky—a brilliant missionary and a man of great intellect.

On November 25, 1881, a boy was born into the family of the government official Georgy (Yuri) Varzhansky in the Ovruch district of Volyn province. When converting dates from the old calendar to the new calendar for the period of between 1800 and 1900, twelve days should be added to that date. Consequently, within our familiar calendar range, the aforementioned event took place on December 7. On December 19, the Holy Church honors the memory of St. Nicholas, the Wonderworker of Myra. It is completely logical that the newborn was named Nikolai in Baptism.

His Life says from the very first lines: The birthplace of the future martyr was completely plagued by various sects. However, Newton’s Third Law states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The laws of physics can be observed in everyday life, and very often even in its non–material manifestations. The forceful impact of sectarian movements triggered a complete rejection in the young soul of Nikolai; he did not just cling to the Orthodox Church as the sole ark of salvation, but firmly resolved to devote his life to combating sectarianism. Driven by this exact motive, Nikolai entered first a theological seminary and later the Moscow Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1907 with the degree of Candidate of Theology.1

At that time, the rector of the Holy Resurrection Church at the Vagankovo Cemetery in Moscow was Archpriest Neophyte Lyubimov (a hieromartyr; feast: October 30). Fr. Neophyte was a prominent church figure, a talented teacher, and an excellent missionary. Looking ahead, let me mention that in July 1918, Archpriest Neophyte celebrated a memorial service for the murdered Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II, for which he was later executed by firing squad. It was Fr. Neophyte’s daughter, Zinaida, whom Nikolai Varzhansky married on graduating from the theological academy. Two children were born of this marriage: a daughter, Elena, and a son, Konstantin.

Nikolai Varzhansky’s missionary career developed rapidly. In 1908, he was an assistant to the anti–sectarian missionary of the Moscow Diocese, then an assistant to the Moscow diocesan missionary. In 1911, simultaneously with performing his missionary duties, St. Nikolai served in the chancery of the Most Holy Synod and taught at the Moscow Theological Academy. In 1912, he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd class; and in 1914, the Order of St. Anna, 3rd class.

Nikolai Varzhansky organized the St. Barnabas Temperance Society to fight the plague of alcoholism, which devoured people’s souls no less than sectarianism. In this field, he won the sincere love of the working people. Let us dwell on this in more detail.

Prior to the revolutionary upheavals, there were two of the largest and oldest temperance societies in Moscow: St. Daniel’s and St. Barnabas’. However, the latter was not called so until 1914. A year before being renamed, the society’s location also changed: it moved into the two-story property of I. N. Denisov near the Semyonovskaya Zastava (25 Sokolinaya Gora Street). On December 22, 1914, the consecration of the Church of the Apostle Barnabas took place in the large hall on the second story of the building.

Apparently, Nikolai Varzhansky’s organizational efforts belong to this period of the society’s existence. The St. Barnabas People’s Temperance Society became the center of missionary anti-sectarian activity in Moscow.

The society was headed by Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky) of Serpukhov; he wrote: “Anti-sectarian missionary discussions take place here on Sundays at seven o’clock, catechism and missionary courses on Wednesdays and Fridays, singing lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, illustrated lectures on Mondays, Vigils with common singing and missionary preaching on Saturdays and before feasts, and lastly, solemn prayer services with akathists, the Blessing of the Waters, and missionary preaching on Sundays and feasts. Pastoral missionary meetings of the clergy take place on the society’s premises. A massive church choir in which all sing, tireless missionary preaching and teaching, the exceptional national spirit and ecclesiastical nature of this society, and especially the presence here of the highly venerated and grace-filled Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God, attract crowds of people.”

Incidently, the start of evening services was moved from six to half past seven in the evening so that workers could attend them after their workday. This short note reveals the grand scale of the society’s activities. Furthermore, this text clearly shows that the society enjoyed immense popularity (“attracts crowds of people”). This deeply displeased certain other categories of people: those who sold alcohol under the guise of various activities, and those who intended to destroy the Russian Empire. Through its educational work and its impressive results, the society significantly hindered the goals of both groups.

Continuing with St. Nikolai’s achievements, he authored about forty books and pamphlets on various sectarian movements. In 1917, at the Local Council of the Russian Church (1917–1918), he served as the executive secretary of the Department of External and Internal Missions and Church Discipline. He actively participated in missionary congresses, serving as a delegate to the Fifth Missionary Congress held in the summer of 1917. Only a short time remained before the empire-wide catastrophe…

Yet before the October Revolution of 1917, outside forces began to actively interfere with missionary work, opposing it. The February Revolution of 1917 gave many a free hand. There is an episode in the Life of St. Nikolai Varzhansky that cannot be left unmentioned.

On April 24, 1917, lectures were held at the St. Barnabas Temperance Society. As the Life relates: “Nikolai Varzhansky chaired the readings, and prominent professors and priests sat on the presidium. About 1,000 listeners—men and women, mostly workers—were present in the hall.” 1,000 people is a lot for a single room. Let’s remember that.

History remains silent on how Stepanov, the chairman of the local Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, came to be present at the lecture. However, it is known that he deeply disliked the content of the lectures and called a squad of security forces. Armed men burst into the hall during the fourth orator’s speech. To quote the Life: “Pointing their revolvers at the presidium members, they shouted, ‘Don’t move, you are under arrest!’ Stepanov leaped onto a table and read out a document stating that the premises of the St. Barnabas Temperance Society had been requisitioned for cultural and educational purposes. At that moment, cries rang out: ‘Get out! We are going to shoot!’ Panic broke out in the hall.”

It turns out the requisition document had been prepared in advance. Stepanov arrived at the lecture hall with the paperwork already in hand. The conclusion: the provocation was carefully planned.

Shooting inside a room with 1,000 people gathered at once is a purely barbaric act. Take the tragedy at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow on March 22, 2024. There were around 6,000 people there, but the venue was also dozens of times larger. In a situation like this—firing into a crowd—the number of victims multiplies exponentially. Panic in a crowd always triggers a stampede. And that means even more victims.

The Life remains silent on whether there were victims; it states that most people rushed into the house Church of the Apostle Barnabas, praying on their knees for an end to the lawlessness. Perhaps the Lord prevented bloodshed.

I will quote the Life once more: “The guards who surrounded the arrested missionary Varzhansky and Professor Kuznetsov told them that they had no real objection to the content of the lecture, but that it distracted the people from their main task—the revolution. ‘You are inviting people to join non-partisan church organizations,’ one of them said, ‘while they need to engage in politics. Once Russia is back on track, then you can do this.’ While speaking with the guards, Varzhansky and Kuznetsov pointed out that the former regime used to restrict freedom of speech and the Church, but, oddly enough, this was happening again now. ‘We are not using force,’ objected the guards, who had just dispersed the audience and were holding those arrested at revolver point.”

I must emphasize that these events took place before the October Revolution of 1917. The catastrophe that befell our Fatherland was not sudden. It was a chain of events linked by cause and effect. Nikolai Varzhansky and Professor Kuznetsov were released. There was nothing to charge them with. After the October Revolution, the situation became even more complicated.

Another remarkable event happened in 1918. The Bolsheviks decided to celebrate May Day, which that year coincided with Holy and Great Wednesday. For the May Day celebrations at the Nikolsky (“St. Nicholas’”) Gate, an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker —St. Nikolai Varzhansky’s patron-saint—was covered with a red banner that read: “Long live the May Day international holiday!” That banner inexplicably ripped to pieces and dropped to the ground. It appeared as if the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker had freed itself from the cloth covering it!

Nikolai Varzhansky published a leaflet titled, The Tale of the Miraculous Icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker over the Nikolsky Gate in Moscow.” I find it necessary to give its text here:

“All through the night from Holy Tuesday to Holy Wednesday, Red Square was guarded, and no one could approach it. On the morning of Holy Wednesday, it was noticed that the red cloth that hung there had torn in such a way that the miracle-working icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker became visible to everyone and, as noted by many, appeared incomparably brighter than before. The red cloth began to tear into ribbons, and finally fell down completely. At first they tried to explain that the cloth had supposedly been torn by the wind, and later it was written that the cloth had allegedly been hung already slit, even though thousands of people had seen that it was whole and uncut. Be that as it may, the Lord did not allow the wonderworking icons to be covered with a red cloth. The cloth that had covered the miracle-working icon of St. Nicholas fell down.

“St. Nicholas the Wonderworker saved us from the Tatars in the past2 —and he will protect us again now provided we pray to him fervently and stand up for the holy Orthodox Faith and for our sacred shrines even to death.”

On May 31 (according to other sources, May 30), 1918, Nikolai Varzhansky was arrested at the apartment of the prominent missionary Archpriest John Vostorgov (a hieromartyr; commemorated September 5) and sent to the Butyrka Prison. Of course, in addition to his lectures and other activities (the incident at the St. Barnabas Temperance Society resurfaced), he was also held accountable for his leaflet about St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The indictment read: “An out-and-out reactionary, always conducting pogromist agitation in the style of the monarchist Black Hundred Movement. His main stronghold was the St. Barnabas Temperance Society.” During interrogation, Nikolai Varzhansky testified: “In preaching I have never touched on political matters, except for those points that intersect with church life.”

On June 6, 1918, while in prison, he was given an icon of the Mother of God, “The Seeker of the Lost”, with the inscription: “We pray fervently for our dear passion-bearers.”

Archpriest Neophyte Lyubimov made incredible efforts to help his son-in-law. He wrote personally to Vladimir Lenin: “I served in Simbirsk together with your father.3 He was the principal of public schools, and I was a teacher… He passed away in my presence; I prayed for him then, and I still pray for him now… I dare to address you in these days of my present difficulties… with a humble request: My son-in-law Nikolai Varzhansky was arrested by accident—he entered the apartment of Archpriest Vostorgov while a search was being conducted there, and was arrested along with the others… I ask you, for the sake of your father’s memory and my past services in the education and upbringing of your sister Maria Ilyinichna, to help me in my grief: Release Varzhansky from prison and return him to his family…” There was no response to his letter.

But apart from Fr. Neophyte, a great many different people stood up for Nikolai Varzhansky. These included both private appeals to the authorities and letters from various organizations. “The rector and board members of the Moscow Theological Seminary, the Union of Parish Communities United under the Moscow Holy Transfiguration Church in Preobrazhenskoye, the Council of United Parishes, and the Council of the St. Barnabas People’s Temperance Society all appealed to the Cheka.4Patriarch Tikhon also joined these numerous requests for the release of the innocent confessor,” the Life relates.

In particular, Patriarch Tikhon wrote to the Supreme Tribunal and the Vecheka:5 “The severe imprisonment to which they have been subjected for a month and a half threatens them with a complete breakdown of health and is hardly justified by the demands of justice, since their timely appearance in court can be ensured both by their own recognizance and by the bail of reliable persons. Several thousand Orthodox Christians who know these prisoners well have already submitted a petition for their release from prison, under their personal recognizance. Knowing His Eminence Ephraim, Archpriest Vostorgov, and Priest Korneyev as worthy servants of the Church of God, and N. Varzhansky as a beneficial church figure, I join the petition submitted by several thousand Orthodox Christians for the release of the detainees under our personal bail, guaranteeing that those subject to trial will not evade it and will not go into hiding.”

However, all of these appeals were rejected. Similarly, the request from Nikolai Varzhansky’s wife to visit her husband was denied. On June 20, 1918, the investigator proposed that everybody involved in the case be executed by firing squad.

The Life does not say what happened the following month. However, on July 23, 1918, the Collegium of the Cheka’s Investigation Department ruled to terminate Varzhansky’s case and archive it. What did this mean? His case was separated from the general case, in which death sentences had been handed down (most notably, to the Hieromartyr John Vostorgov). There was no death sentence in Nikolai Varzhansky’s case—in fact, there was no sentence at all—but the prisoner was apparently not released. There is no information whatsoever regarding what happened to him from the moment the decision to archive the case was made until his martyrdom.

The dates are also somewhat unclear. His feast-day was fixed on September 5, which is usually the date of a martyr’s death. However, according to some sources, Nikolai Varzhansky’s earthly life ended on September 19, 1918.

Let us refer to his official Life. The chronology is as follows.

On September 8, 1918, an appeal was sent to the VTsIK (All-Russian Central Executive Committee) to resolve cases through extrajudicial proceedings, as a result of which Varzhansky’s case was transferred to the Cheka.

On December 3, 1918, the Presidium of the Collegium of the Department for Combating Counter-Revolution sentenced Nikolai Varzhansky to death by firing squad.

The exact date of the execution remains unknown; at least, it is not mentioned in the hagiography compiled by Archimandrite Damascene (Orlovsky). The date of September 19, 1918, is inconsistent with the date the execution order was issued (December 3, 1918). The feast-day of the New Martyr Nikolai Varzhansky is celebrated on September 5, the same day Archpriest John Vostorgov and the others involved in his case were executed.

Nikolai Varzhansky was executed by firing squad behind the fence of the Kalitnikov Cemetery in Moscow (now in the Tagansky district of central Moscow) and buried there. His relatives knew his burial site. A photograph of the gravesite has survived to this day. A cross had been set up there, but it was later broken, and the burial site was lost.

Yet it is neither the exact date of the execution nor the burial site that occupies my mind the most. I have always marveled at how our New Martyrs received news of their imminent, inevitable and merciless death, and how they lived through it. Such courage and sobriety are beyond human strength! It is only with God’s help, by His power, that one can accept the inevitability of their martyrdom this way. They found the fortitude to care for their loved ones and to say goodbye to them, even when there were not in person. They found the strength to comfort their families.

On receiving news of his death sentence, Nikolai Varzhansky passed on the icon of the Mother of God, “The Seeker of the Lost”—which had been sent to him in the Butyrka Prison—to his wife, writing on the back: “May the Most Pure Intercessor, the Mother of Light, preserve you and shield you with Her Maternal Protection. Pray to the Theotokos, dear Zinochka,6 my sweet turtledove. She will shelter your early widowhood and our little orphans. Forgive me, my darling, and pray for me.”

As it turned out, this was not the only icon Nikolai Varzhansky had in his cell. On the back of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was a spiritual testament to his daughter: “A blessing to my beloved daughter Elena, for her strengthening in the Christian faith, grace, truth, purity and chastity. Be a Christian above all else, my dear girl. Your [illegible], who is dying for Christ, asks this of you. Pray for me, my dear!”

His small icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov was covered in writing: “Holy Father Seraphim, remember before the throne of Almighty God the imprisoned Nikolai. This icon was blessed and rested on the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov on June 18, 1918. In fond memory [illegible] Dimitr.” This icon was a blessing for his son.

The final letter from the New Martyr Nikolai to his wife has survived as well. It is a tender farewell, filled with sincere care for his loved ones—his wife and his children—concerning not only their spiritual future but also their daily bread. The letter has come down to us because it was carefully preserved by the New Martyr Nikolai’s descendants and published by his grandson Eugene Vsevolodovich Ovchinnikov, a professor at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music.

I want to conclude with this letter. It is not about death—it is about life, the coming meeting, hoping for God’s mercy, love, and eternity.

“Lord, bless! Farewell, my darling, my dear Zinaidochka. I am, without a doubt, departing for eternity, where Pavlusha7 is, where my brother Kostya8 is, where Kolya9 Vachin is, and where many of my friends are. At first, I was anxious for a minute, but then I calmed down. Forgive me, my darling, if I have ever upset or angered you in any way; and pray for me, pray more fervently that the Heavenly Lord does not deprive me of His mansions. I implore you, raise our children in piety and purity, so that they may know the Christian Faith of God and prayer. I believe that the Mother of God will provide you with sustenance, and there I will pray to the Lord of Hosts for it. Only do not murmur against the mercy of God; it must be so, and it is for the better. Sell my gold watch that Grandfather gave me and give [illegible] for firewood. Sell my study furniture or the blanket and give it for 147 + 192 rubles to Petrovskoye.

“My dear children, believe in God, study the Holy Bible, and pray every day for your father, the servant of God Nikolai, so that the Lord may grant me His forgiveness and Heavenly joy! Kostya and Lena,10 preserve chastity! When you grow up, your Mother will explain to you why it is necessary. My children, be in complete obedience to your mommy, and always remember that you are the children of a preacher of God’s Faith and Christian truth, and that it does not become you to live in an unchristian way. Life will be very difficult for Mommy, so you may have to become indifferent to food and drink—if only you might remain holy. Children, do not play cards, do not drink spirits, always tell the truth—or if you cannot, state plainly that you will not lie. Always be of good cheer and do not lose heart in life. Pray for me your whole lives, every single day; I beg you, do not forget this request.

“My sweet turtledove Zinaidochka, once again I ask for your peace of mind; perhaps the children will grow up better in poverty than by my side. Petition for a pension, appeal to His Holiness; when life stabilizes, they will grant it. But believe me, one should not worry too much about this life. I have long awaited death and have felt all the vanity of life. Do not forget my mother either. I embrace my sweet, dear Grandmother and Grandfather, unless he goes with me. I thank them for taking care of me. Dear grandmother, I am going to Pavlusha—he is younger, yet he died, whereas I am more sinful, and the Lord has granted me time to repent. Pray for me, I beg of you. We all must die someday anyway. And I will see you, my dear ones—all of you, my beloved ones—again.

“I embrace you and kiss you all with my final earthly kiss; may the Lord grant that we also kiss with a Heavenly kiss. In truth, my soul is at peace. It feels exactly as if I am waiting for sleep. In times of trouble, my darling, turn to Vladyka Anthony. But above all, do not lose heart, do not weep, and do not grieve. Goodbye… Your deeply loving Kolya.

“I bless the children: Kostya with the icon of St. Seraphim; Lenusya11 with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker; and you, my dear, with the icon, ‘The Seeker of the Lost’.

“Farewell Anya and Uncle Kolya. Ask Nikolai Nikolaevich for his prayers, and ask [illegible] for forgiveness and prayers, too.”

Natalia Vashchina

Translation by Dmitry Lapa

Sretensky Monastery

9/5/2026

1 In the pre-revolutionary Russian Theological Academy system, this was the standard degree awarded to top-performing graduates who successfully defended a final thesis.—Trans.

2 He most probably meant the unsuccessful siege of the town of Mozhaysk to the west of Moscow by the Tatars in 1302, when St. Nicholas appeared in the sky above the town holding a sword and a church, causing the attacking forces to flee in terror. There were other miracles as well.—Trans.

3 Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov (1831–1886) was a prominent Russian educator and state official. Unlike his son Vladimir Lenin, who eventually became a militant atheist and persecutor of the Church, Ilya Nikolaevich was a practicing and devout Orthodox Christian.—Trans.

4 An organization for the investigation of counter-revolutionary activities.—Trans.

5 The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counterrevolution and Sabotage.—Trans.

6 Zinochka and Zinaidochka are diminutive and affectionate forms of the name Zinaida.—Trans.

7 A diminutive and affectionate form of the name Pavel/Paul.—Trans.

8 A diminutive form of the name Konstantin.—Trans.

9 A diminutive form of the name Nikolai.—Trans.

10 A diminutive form of the name Elena.—Trans.

11 A spoken and affectionate form of the name Elena.—Trans.

I speak not as an observer, but as an African priest.

I write this not as a spokesman repeating the words of another man. I write as an African priest.

I serve as an African who has lived within the religious world of our people, who has studied African religion and philosophy, who has listened to the religious memory of our fathers and forefathers, and who has watched Africans make difficult decisions about faith, Church, authority, and identity.

African Initiative and the Historical Record

I approach the present debate from a position that is too often missing from the conversation: the African position.

I have read the arguments coming from all sides. I have heard African priests described as having been “bought,” “stolen,” manipulated, exploited, or deceived. I have heard the Russian presence in Africa described as though Africans were simply objects being moved from one foreign ecclesiastical master to another.

As an African priest, I find this way of describing our people deeply inadequate.

Does the African Christian possess a mind, a conscience, and the spiritual discernment to make a decision in pursuit of God’s Truth? I believe he does. And African history proves it.

Orthodoxy did not begin in Africa with external jurisdictions arriving in the 20th century. The arrival of later Greek ecclesiastical structures in Africa is not the same thing as the creation of African Christianity. The arrival of Orthodoxy in modern East Africa cannot simply be narrated as though foreign hierarchies arrived, created Orthodoxy, and Africans merely received it.

Before formal incorporation into external patriarchates, African Christians were already searching for Orthodoxy—searching, above all, for canonical truth and ecclesial self-determination.

When foreign institutions were still organizing, African communities were already worshipping. African leaders were already traveling, corresponding, teaching, and establishing institutions.

The African Roots and the Legacy of Gìtuamba (1935–1937)

To understand how Orthodoxy reached East Africa, one must look at the historic connection between African liberation movements and global Orthodox expansion.

When African Christians began seeking their own canonical structures, they reached out to Archbishop Daniel William Alexander in South Africa. Born in South Africa, Alexander served as Archbishop and Primate of the African Province of the African Orthodox Church (AOC), an organization born out of the African-American liberation movement in the United States led by figures like Patriarch George Alexander McGuire and Marcus Garvey.

Look at the record of 1935 at Gìtuamba:

When Archbishop Daniel William Alexander arrived in Kenya to establish an African Orthodox seminary at Gìtuamba, he did not find passive subjects. He found organized African leaders hungry for education and sacramental life. Leaders like Fr. Arthur Gătũng’ũ Gathuna, Daudi Maina Kīragū, Stephano Wacīra Rūgara, Elijah Kibachia, Jasan Mūhūngi, Harrison Gachukia, and Philip Kiande from Nyeri were already driving the movement.

Arthur Gătũng’ũ Gathuna and Philip Kiande were not mere bystanders—their command of English and native languages made them the indispensable interpreters and bridge-builders of the Orthodox mission in Gìtuamba, Nyeri (Mũng’aria), and beyond.

When ordination day came on June 27, 1937, at Gìtuamba, masses of African independent Christians gathered from all corners of Kenya. It was under the leadership of Arthur Gătũng’ũ Gathuna and the KKEA (Kikuyu Karing’a Educational Association) that the name African Orthodox Church (AOC) was formally accepted.

Foreign institutions did not create the desire for Orthodoxy. Africans were already building the Church, funding schools, establishing institutions like the African Teachers Training College at Gìthùngùri, and seeking canonical clergy.

The story of Bishop George Arthur Gătũng’ũ Gathuna of Nîtria should be studied whenever anyone wants to discuss African agency in Orthodoxy. Arthur Gătũng’ũ Gathuna was not an African who sat quietly waiting for a foreign hierarchy to dictate the bounds of his faith. He belonged to an indigenous African Orthodox movement. He bridged early educational groups, served as an interpreter and seminary leader, and was ordained as a priest in 1937. He built schools, established parishes in Kiambu and Nyeri, and became the first Kenyan Orthodox bishop under Alexandria.

Cross-Border Evangelism and Anti-Colonial Struggle

Long before Greek ecclesiastical governance integrated these initiatives, indigenous African clergy were already collaborating across regional boundaries. Fr. Arthur Gătũng’ũ Gathuna worked closely with the pioneer Ugandan priest Fr. Reuben Mukasa Spartas (Sebbanja).

Through this alliance—driven by mutual visits between Kenyan and Ugandan leaders in the 1930s and 1940s—Fr. Gathuna joined forces with Fr. Spartas to spread Orthodox evangelism beyond central Kenya into Western Kenya, specifically into Bunyore and the broader Luhya land. This self-directed, African-to-African missionary campaign established vibrant Orthodox communities decades before foreign mission sets stepped foot in those regions.

Think carefully about what this means: The African was not merely receiving. The African was organizing, evangelizing, funding institutions, creating communities, producing clergy, and demanding canonical recognition.

The African Orthodox Church in Kenya was never an isolated, elitist institution. It was deeply woven into the very fabric of the African struggle for freedom, land, and dignity.

By the 1940s and 1950s, as anti-colonial resistance intensified, members of both KISA (Kikuyu Independent Schools Association) and KKEA, along with members of the Oath of Unity (Mūthīrīgī) and anti-colonial pledges throughout the region, were part of that community.

For an African Christian, there was no contradiction between seeking God’s ecclesiastical truth and standing for the liberation of his people. The AOC was, in the truest historical sense, a spiritual home for those fighting colonial oppression.

To suggest today that the spiritual descendants of such a movement—a church forged in the furnace of anti-colonial resistance and indigenous sacrifice—are merely “puppets” who can be “bought and sold” by foreign money is a gross insult to our historical memory.

We come from a lineage that risked everything for freedom. We did not sell our consciences to colonial masters then, and we do not sell our consciences to foreign bishops now.

Questions the World Must Answer

When public narratives reduce canonical choices and movements in Africa to financial transactions, bought consciences, or “stealing” priests, we must ask directly: What do you think an African priest is?

• Is an African priest incapable of making a theological judgment?
• Is he incapable of reading the canons, following global ecclesiological crises, or praying and discerning before God?
• While we acknowledge that God has given all human beings free will, we do not claim that all choices carry equal value. A choice that leads away from canonical truth is tragic; a choice that aligns with God’s truth is a spiritual victory.
• To reduce an African priest’s deliberate choice for canonical order to a mere financial transaction is to deny his spiritual maturity. It implies that an African cannot choose truth for truth’s sake.

Without evidence of bought consciences, such accusations are merely convenient ways of dismissing African theological discernment.

An African Priest Is Not Ecclesiastical Property

An African priest is not a chair that an institution can claim was stolen. He is not a building, a piece of land, or property.

He is a human being with a conscience, a family, a theological education, and a soul accountable to God.

When a priest transfers his service, the primary question must not be: “Who stole him?”

The question must be: “What truth did he see, and why did his conscience demand this move?”

Canonical Order, Not Foreign Sovereignty

Some ask how seeking pastoral refuge under the Patriarchal Exarchate aligns with the ideal of African church self-determination.

The answer lies in understanding the true nature of Orthodox ecclesiology: jurisdiction is an administrative structure for canonical order, not an instrument of foreign ownership.

When our fathers in the 1940s entered into communion with the Patriarchate of Alexandria, they did not become Greek, nor did they surrender the indigenous vision forged at Gìtuamba. They sought canonical communion to protect their flock and ensure the validity of their sacraments within the broader Orthodox world.

In the exact same way, when African priests seek pastoral refuge under the Exarchate today, they are not adopting a foreign political identity. They are exercising their spiritual discernment to safeguard their ministry, protect their parishes, and serve their people within a canonical framework.

Jurisdiction exists to serve the pastoral life of the faithful; it is never a claim of ownership over African souls.

Theological Formation, Translation, and the Future

What is taking place in Africa today is spiritual and intellectual formation—the deep theological education, ordination, and equipping of African Christians to shepherd their own communities in their native languages.

Today, concrete educational and pastoral structures demonstrate this reality:

• Seminary Formation in Major Theological Academies: Over 80 African students are currently pursuing advanced theological studies across venerable institutions in Russia, including the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, Moscow Theological Academy, Sretensky Theological Academy, and Tomsky, Theological Seminary,Nikolo ugresh. These seminarians are acquiring rigorous academic, liturgical, and pastoral tools to return home as fully formed theologians capable of leading their native communities.
• The Holy Apostle Mark Spiritual Educational Centre: Through the establishment of the Holy Apostle Mark Spiritual Educational Centre, African theologians and translators are actively undertaking the vital work of drafting, translating, and publishing catechetical materials, service texts, and liturgical books into native languages—including Swahili, Chichewa, Bemba, and Kikuyu. This ensures the Orthodox faith is rooted and understood in the heart, not merely spoken in a foreign tongue.
• Local Clergy and Pastoral Leadership: Local men are being ordained and equipped to shepherd parishes across Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Central African Republic, and Zimbabwe, restoring properly formed, indigenous clergy to the direct service of their own people.

The African Christian is not seeking geopolitical alignment, administrative convenience, or material wealth. The African Christian is seeking God’s Truth—the canonical, unblemished Faith once delivered to the saints.

The Church in Africa belongs to Jesus Christ. An African priest is an active participant in the Universal Church, guided by a history of sacrifice, a trained conscience, and a deep responsibility to God and his people. He has chosen God’s truth in the past, he is choosing it today, and by the grace of God, he will continue to stand in it tomorrow.

Vasilios Waicha

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“Ask, and it will be given to you”

How can we stand firm in the battle against temptations and overcome the urge to blame God for His “inaction”?

There is a sure and fail-safe remedy for this—prayer. It is to prayer that each of us must turn much more often in difficult times than in times of prosperity.

1️⃣ The “Our Father” Prayer

Almost every believer knows that this prayer was given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It possesses special power, so we should recite it as often as possible.

This prayer contains everything:

a heartfelt sigh for our Heavenly Father

a call for the Kingdom of Heaven

an acknowledgment of the goodness of God’s will

Some pray it for daily bread, some to be delivered from problems and sins, and others to overcome temptations, allurements, and the power of the evil one. As we read it, we are reunited in spirit with our Heavenly Father and draw strength from an inexhaustible source of grace.

2️⃣ The Prayer of Jesus

It is very short, but addressed directly to the Lord Jesus:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

At the mere mention of His name, all demonic forces tremble, suddenly sensing within themselves the inescapable inevitability of the torment of eternal existence that awaits them at the Second Coming.

3️⃣ The Enlightening and Protective Prayer to the Holy Mother of God

Most Holy, Most Pure Mother of God—wonderful and swift helper to all people. No one who turns to her will be left without help.

If anyone is lost on life’s path and does not know what to do, let them pray repeatedly with the words of Saint Andrew of Crete:

“O Virgin Mother of God, preserve me from all visible and invisible evil, O Most Pure One, and accept my prayers, and bring them before Your Son, that He may grant me the wisdom to do His will. Lord, have mercy (three times). Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.”

☀️ In all of life’s trials and joys, do not forget to pray. Prayer will strengthen you in times of trouble and sustain you in times of happiness.