TO THE ORGANISERS, PARTICIPANTS AND GUESTS
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCE “CHURCH OF THE MARTYRS:
PERSECUTION OF THE FAITH AND THE CHURCH IN THE XXth CENTURY »
Your Eminences, Your Graces !
Reverend fathers, beloved brothers and sisters! Dear participants and guests of the conference!
I congratulate you all on the opening of the International Academic Forum dedicated to the study of the ascetic heritage of the new martyrs and confessors of the XXth century.
The history of the Orthodox Church during the Soviet period is – both a tragic and at the same time a majestic page in the history of the previous century, which is stained with the innocent blood of murdered Orthodox Christians. Since 1918, the Soviet government had set itself the evil goal of eradicating religion and building a new atheistic society. And the first instrument of Bolshevik power, through which radical changes in relations with the Church took place, was Soviet legislation. The first legislative acts undermined the social and economic base of the Orthodox Church. The next destructive step towards the Church was the physical extermination of the clergy and Orthodox believers themselves.
Already seen in the early years of the existence of communist power throughout all the Soviet Union, was the murder of Orthodox hierarchs and clergy ,without trial and investigation, which had swept the country in tidal waves . Thus, in Petrograd, on October 31, 1917, the first priest, Fr. Ioann Kochurov, was brutally murdered; in Kyiv, on February 7, 1918, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev (Bogoyavlensky) was shot; On June 20, 1918, Archbishop Andronik of Perm (Nikolsky) was shot dead in the city of Perm, and in August of that year, all members of the delegation who came to investigate the murder of Bishop Andronik were all mercilessly murdered. Among them were Archbishop Basil of Chernihiv (Bogoyavlensky), Archimandrite Matthew (Pomerantsev) and others. We may to continue to add names to this list, but it is already clear from these initial facts that the policy of terror of the Soviet authorities was aimed at the complete elimination of the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union.
The peak of the repressions occurred during 1937-1938 – the years of red terror, when the elite of society were annihilated, including hundreds of thousands of clergymen, monks and faithful. The physical destruction of the bishopric, clergy, monastics, and laypeople was accompanied by the confiscation of Church property, the closure of Orthodox churches and monasteries as centres of spirituality. In total, there were only two churches in the entire Eparchy of Kiev left towards the end of the 1930s; all the monasteries were abolished, the spiritual education system completely destroyed.
Along with the methods of terror, atheistic propaganda was also intensified. The Soviet press became a powerful tool for ideological influence, changing the minds of citizens under the guise of state-party agitation. With renewed vigor, this method regurgitated in the post-war years of the so-called “Khrushchev” persecution of the Orthodox Church, when believers were again discriminated against in society because of their religious beliefs.
We have come to this academic forum today not only to take another look and examine the tremendously tragic page of history from the last century, but also to comprehend and once again remind ourselves that the forces of evil, the so-called “gates of hell,” shall not prevail against the Church (Matthew 16:18). Our Church is the Church of the Martyrs, and the innocent blood that they shed bears testimony to their unbreakable faith in God. “For the Church of Christ, blood and persecution are not news. It has all been done before. Persection did not lead to the destruction of the Orthodox Church, but instead to its glorification and expansion. Persecution is sent to test our faithfulness to God. And for this firmness of faith, the crown of life awaits us,” says the Holy Martyr Onufriy (Gagaliuk).
As we look back at the feats of the new martyrs, we are once again convinced of the truth of the words spoken by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that everything is possible for a believer (Mark 9:23). Faith in God gave the new martyrs the power to endure insults and harassment, cold dungeons and all-night interrogations, hunger and cold in exile and terrible torture. Only those who were strengthened by the power of God, who had unbreakable faith and the all-embracing grace of God, could withstand all this and not be corrupted by the spirit. All these qualities were revealed to us by the new martyrs and confessors of the XXth century.
I believe that today’s academic conference will provide a good basis for better understanding of the podvigs and legacy of the new martyrs and confessors of the twentieth century.
May all your goods works be blessed by Almighty God. May our Lord Jesus Christ, through the prayers of the holy new martyrs and confessors, make us all wiser and help guide us with faith and truth.
+ ONUFRIY,
METROPOLITAN OF KYIV AND ALL UKRAINE,
PRIMATE OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
February 6, 2020
KYIV
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