Holy 104 Martyrs of Cherkasy (+ 1937-38)

Holy 104 Martyrs of Cherkasy (Feast Day - May 26)

In the year 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized one hundred and four priests and monks who were arrested and convicted for their faith in the year 1937, in the Ukrainian city of Cherkasy. Many of them were shot, others did not return from the camps. From the documents it is clear that often sentences were handed down to people who had not yet been arrested. Church historians from Cherkasy cite only one case of the return of a clergyman from the camp.

In the 1920s, the first massive wave of repression against clergy and believers swept across the country. At that time there were still relatively few death sentences. After five or seven years of exile, many received an order forbidding them to live in large cities such as Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Kharkov. Therefore, many exiled priests and monks moved to small towns such as Cherkasy. The census of the thirty-seventh year in the country showed that two-thirds of the citizens continued to call themselves believers. On December 5, 1936, the USSR adopted the Constitution, which declared freedom of conscience, equality of rights for all citizens, universal, equal and direct elections by secret ballot... People were optimistic.

Saint Smaragda Onishchenko of Nizhyn (+ 1945)

St. Smaragda of Nizhyn (Feast Day - January 10)

Juliana Avraamovna Onishchenko, later known as Smaragda, was born on January 2, 1858 in the village of Markovtsy, Kozeletsk district, Chernigov province.

Her parents were Abraham and Mary. They came from a Cossack family. The family had seven children. When Juliana was seven years old, her father died of a serious illness, so the family was in a difficult situation. Little Juliana was often ill, her mother did not even have hope that her daughter would survive, so a coffin was already prepared for the girl.

In 1863, at the advice of a local priest, her mother took her to a school for orphan girls at the Vvedensky Monastery in the city of Nizhyn. She had only a coffin for her property. Mother Smaragda recalled her early years:

Saint Ioanniki of Svyatogorsk (+ 1882)

St. Ioanniki of Svyatogorsk (Feast Day - September 11)

Hieromonk Ioanniki (in the world Trofim Nikitovich Averkiev) was born in 1823 into a family of peasants in the Livensk district of the Oryol province. The boy was distinguished by his particular intelligence and piety, he loved to be in church, and at the age of 16 he began to ask his parents to bless him to go to a monastery to become a monk. His desire for monasticism was especially intensified after one significant dream, in which he saw a church and monks in robes and hoods, ceremoniously going to a gathering in the middle of the church and singing a divine song - they took him by the hands and led him along, saying: “Go with us, do not be afraid to upset your parents, it is God's will for you to be with us."

The Death-Bed Confession of a Persecutor of Christians

 

 

By Metropolitan Nektarios of Argolidos

Let me end with an incident told to me in Odessa a few years ago and published in the book In the Vortex of a Changing World - The New Martyrs of Berdyansk:

"Odessa 2002. The groans of an elderly patient are heard in the ward of a large state hospital in the Ukrainian city. Cancer is widespread. The pains are horrible. Painkillers are not enough. Day and night awake. The patient awaits death as a redemption. Many times he reaches the brink of death, but he seems to be indifferent. For months now he has been fighting between life and death. Ordinary people would say: 'His soul does not come out.'

Saint Mercurius of the Kiev Caves, Bishop of Smolensk (+ 1239)

St. Mercurius of Smolensk (Feast Day - August 7)

Saint Mercurius of Kiev Caves Lavra pursued asceticism in the Near Caves in the thirteenth century. He was chosen to be the Bishop of Smolensk and experienced with his flock the horrors of Batu's invasion, during which he died. According to legend, the relics of the Saint miraculously sailed along the Dnieper to Kiev and were laid in the Near (Anthony) Caves. A holy mantle hangs over his tombstone.

Saint Stephen of Makhrishche (+ 1406)

St. Stephen of Makhrishche (Feast Day - July 14)

Saint Stephen of Makhra (Makhrishche) was a native of Kiev.

Saint Stephen, Abbot of the Kiev Far Caves, and Bishop of Vladimir-Volynsky (+ 1094)

St. Stephen of the Kiev Caves and Vladimir-Volynsky (Feast Day - April 27)

Before being tonsured a monk, Saint Stephen was raised in a family of wealthy parents; after their death, he distributed all the property and decided to devote himself to the service of God. He pursued asceticism at the Kiev Caves Lavra under the guidance of Saint Theodosius (May 3). Saint Theodosius sometimes entrusted him to exhort the brethren with edifying words.

Saint Meletius, Archbishop of Kharkov and Akhtyr (+ 1840)

St. Meletius of Kharkov (Feast Day - February 29)

Saint Meletius, Archbishop of Kharkov and Akhtyr (in the world Michael Ivanovich Leontovich), was born November 6, 1784 in the village of Stara Stanzhara in the Poltava district.

In 1808 Michael Leontovich successfully completed the Ekaterinoslav Seminary. As the best student, he was sent by Archbishop Platon of Ekaterinoslav to Peterburg, to the Saint Alexander Nevsky Spiritual Academy [in Russia, “spiritual academy” is higher level of religious training beyond seminary]. Finishing the spiritual academy in 1814 with the degree of “magister” [“teacher”], he was appointed adjunct-professor of Greek.

On March 11, 1817 Michael Leontovich was appointed to the office of secretary of the Academy Building committee.

Saint Makarios of Glinsk Hermitage (+ 1864)

St. Makarios of Glinsk Hermitage (Feast Day - February 21)

The holy Elder Hieromonk Makarios (Matthew Terent'evich Sharov in the world) was born in 1802, and came from a wealthy bourgeois family in the city of Ephraimov in Tula Province. His mother was particularly devout, always walking with a prayer rope in her hands, and she raised her children in the fear of God. Following the example of his parents, Matthew Terent'evich was also devout, humble, and led a restrained life: he did not eat quickly, he read spiritual books, avoided worldly fuss, diligently visited the temple of God and often prayed to God at home. In 1822, when he was twenty years old, he finally decided to forsake the world and enter the Glinsk Hermitage under the guidance of the ever-memorable Igoumen Philaretos (Danielevskii), a man known for the sanctity of his life.

Saint George, Archbishop of Mogilev (+ 1795)

St. George of Mogilev (Feast Day - February 12)

Saint George, in the world known as Gregory Iosifovich Konissky, was born into a prominent family on November 20, 1717 in the town of Nizhyn in Ukraine.

He studied at the Kiev Theological Academy from 1728 to 1743, where he perfectly mastered the Latin, Polish, Greek, Hebrew and German languages.

On August 11, 1744 he became a monk at the Kiev Caves Lavra.

In 1745, he became a teacher of poetry (theory of versification) at the Kiev Theological Academy.

Saint Theodosius, Archbishop of Chernigov (+ 1696)

St. Theodosius of Chernigov (Feast Day - February 5)

Saint Theodosius was born in the early 1730's in the Podolsk governance. He was descended from a noble family, the Polonitsky-Uglitskys. His parents were the priest Nikita and Maria. The Saint was taught Christian piety in his parents’ home, and this piety remained with him throughout his life.

From childhood he was distinguished by a fervent love for God and zeal for the Church. The innate abilities of the youth came to light at Kiev’s Theophany School at the Kiev Caves Lavra (the future Theological Academy). The school was flourishing at the end of the 1640s, when its rectors were Archimandrite Innocent (Gizel), and Abbot Lazar (Baranovich), who later became Archbishop of Chernigov. Among its instructors were: Hieromonk Epiphanius (Slavinetsky), Hieromonk Arsenius (Satanovsky), Bishop Theodosius (Baevsky) of Belorus, Abbot Theodosius (Saphonovich) and Meletius Dzik. These were the enlightened men of those days. The comrades of Saint Theodosius at the school would become future outstanding pastors: Simeon Polotsky, Joannicius Golyatovsky, Anthony Radivillovsky, Barlaam Yasninsky. The Kiev Theophany School was the chief center in the struggle of Orthodoxy against the assaults of Catholic clergy, particularly the Jesuits.

Synaxis of the Saints of Volhynia

Synaxis of the Saints of Volhynia (Feast Day - October 10)

On this day, we commemorate the Synaxis of the Saints of Volhynia — one of the most ancient domains of Christian Rus’, and now part of western Ukraine.

Volhynia was once part of what the Russian chronicles call “Chervonnaya Rus”, which means literally “Red Russia”, brought to the Orthodox Christian faith in the time of Grand Prince Vladimir. Ravaged by Mongol Hordes, occupied by Poland-Lithuania, absorbed back into the Russian Empire under Catherine the Great, Volhynia returned briefly to Poland after World War I and then became part of the Soviet Union after World War II.

Despite its turbulent history, Volhynia is today largely Orthodox Christian. At the region’s Orthodox heart is one of the most revered monasteries of Russian and Ukrainian Orthodoxy, the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra.

Saint Joasaph, Bishop of Belgorod (+ 1754)

St. Joasaph of Belgorod (Feast Days - September 4 and December 10)

Saint Joasaph was born at Proluka, in the former Poltava governance, on September 8, 1705, the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. He was descended from the old and venerable Little Russian (Ukrainian) lineage of the Gorlenkovi. At Baptism he was named Joachim.

In 1712, his father enrolled the seven-year-old Joachim in the Kiev Theological Academy. Within the walls of the academy he felt attracted to monastic life. For seven years he studied it further, and finally revealed his intention to his parents.

For a long time his mother and father pleaded with their first-born son not to accept monastic tonsure. But in 1725, unknown to them, he became a “rasophore” (“robe-wearing novice”) with the name Hilarion at the Mezhigorsk Monastery in Kiev, and on 21 November 1727 he was tonsured in the angelic schema with the name Joasaph at the Kievo-Bratsk Monastery. This event coincided with the completion of his studies at the theological academy.

Saint Simon, Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal (+ 1226)

St. Simon, of Vladimir and Suzdal (Feast Day - May 10)

Saint Simon, Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal was an author of the Kiev Caves Paterikon, and he became a monk at the Monastery of the Kiev Caves, sometime in the second half of the twelfth century.

In the year 1206 he was appointed abbot of the Vladimir Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos, and in 1214, at the wish of Prince George Vsevolodovich (+ 1238), he was made the first Bishop of Vladimir-on-the-Klyazma and Suzdal.

Holy Hieromartyr Macarius of Kanev (+ 1678)

St. Macarius of Kanev (Feast Day - September 7)

The Hieromartyr Macarius (Makarii) of Kanev lived in the seventeenth century. This was a most terrible time for Orthodox Christians in western Rus. The constant struggles of the Hieromartyr were an attempt to defend the Orthodox faith under difficult conditions, when it was possible only to defend the future of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was preserved from the brusque passing of the hurricane of the Unia, endured together with Tatar incursions.

Macarius was born in 1605 in the city of Ovruch in Volhynia into the illustrious Tokarevsky family, renowned adherents of Orthodoxy. In the years between 1614-1620 the Saint studied at the Ovruch Dormition Monastery, and upon the death of his parents he became a monk at this monastery, having begun his service as a novice.

Saint Sisoes of the Kiev Caves Lavra

St. Sisoes of the Kiev Caves (Feast Day - July 6)

Saint Sisoes, schemamonk of the Kiev Caves Lavra, lived in the thirteenth century, and was noted for his great ascetic feats of fasting, amazing everyone who knew him. For this he conquered the weaknesses of the flesh and became mighty in spirit through divine grace. Having spent his life in such a manner, he was found worthy of knowing beforehand the time of his death, and after his death many found healing before his sacred relics, which rest in the Far Caves.

Saint Rostislav-Michael, Great Prince of Kiev (+ 1167)

St. Rostislav-Michael, Great Prince of Kiev (Feast Day - March 14)

Saint Rostislav-Michael, Great Prince of Kiev, was the son of the Kievan Great Prince Saint Mstislav the Great (June 14), and the brother of holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel (February 11, April 22, and November 27). He was one of the great civil and churchly figures of the mid-twelfth century.

His name is connected with the fortification and rise of Smolensk, and both the Smolensk principality and the Smolensk diocese.

Up until the twelfth century the Smolensk land was part of the Kievan realm. The beginning of its political separation took place in the year 1125, when holy Prince Mstislav the Great, gave Smolensk to his son Rostislav (in Baptism Michael) as an inheritance from his father, the Kievan Great Prince Vladimir Monomakh. Thanks to the work and efforts of Saint Rostislav, the Smolensk principality, which he ruled for more than forty years, expanded and was built up with cities and villages, adorned with churches and monasteries, and became influential in Russian affairs.

Saint Prochorus the Pigweed-Eater of the Kiev Caves (+ 1107)

St. Prochorus of the Kiev Caves (Feast Day - February 10)

Saint Prochorus of the Kiev Caves Lavra was a native of Smolensk, and entered the Kiev Caves Monastery under the abbot John (1089-1103). He was a great ascetic of strict temperance. In place of bread he ate pigweed (or orach), and so he was called “pigweed-eater.” Every summer, he gathered pigweed and made enough bread from it to last him for a whole year. He also ate prosphora from church now and then, and his only drink was water. Seeing the patience of Saint Prochorus, God transformed the usual bitterness of the pigweed into sweetness.

Saint Longinus the Gatekeeper of the Kiev Caves

St. Longinus the Gatekeeper of the Kiev Caves (Feast Day - October 16)

Saint Longinus, the Gatekeeper of the Far Kiev Caves, made his monastic obedience at the Lavra of the Kiev Caves. His prayerful fervor and humble love for work were rewarded by the Lord. The venerable gatesman was granted the gift of discernment. He encouraged the people who came to the Lavra with good intent, but he denounced those inclined to wickedness and urged them to repentance.

Saint Benjamin of the Kiev Caves

St. Benjamin of the Kiev Caves (Feast Day - October 13)

Saint Benjamin of the Kiev Caves lived during the fourteenth century, and before accepting monasticism was an important and wealthy merchant. Once at the time of divine services Saint Benjamin applied to his own case the words of the Psalmist about "the mouth that speaks lies and the tongue that has set forth deceit" (Ps. 11:3; 49:19). "Where is the merchant," he said to himself, "who has never told a lie and who will be able to escape punishment?" A little later he felt deeply in his heart the words of the Savior: "It is difficult for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God" (Mt. 19:23). After distributing his wealth to the needy, Saint Benjamin became a monk at the Kiev Caves Lavra, “pleasing the Lord by fasting and prayer and poverty and obedience even unto death.” He was buried in the Far Caves of Saint Theodosius.