THE HOLY NEW MARTYRS OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA, THE UKRAINE, MOLDAVIA AND THE CAUCASUS Vladimir Moss © Copyright: Vladimir Moss, 2011. All Rights Reserved. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................4 1. HIEROMARTYR VLADIMIR, METROPOLITAN OF KIEV...................6 2. HIEROMARTYR DIONYSIUS, BISHOP OF IZMAIL ............................23 3. HIEROMARTYR NICODEMUS, BISHOP OF BELGOROD .................24 4. HIEROMARTYR BASIL, ARCHBISHOP OF CHERNIGOV.................28 5. HIEROMARTYR TIKHON, ARCHBISHOP OF VORONEZH .............31 6. HIEROMARTYR NICHOLAS, BISHOP OF NIZHNE-CHIRSK...........33 7. HIEROMARTYR NAZARIUS, METROPOLITAN OF KURSK ............34 8. HIEROMARTYR PETER, ARCHBISHOP OF VORONEZH ..................36 9. HIEROMARTYR BARLAAM, BISHOP OF MAIKOP.............................57 10. HIEROMARTYR BASIL, BISHOP OF PRILUKY...................................81 11. HIEROMARTYR AGATHANGELUS, ARCHBISHOP OF YEKATERINOSLAV...........................................................................................91 12. HIEROCONFESSOR AMBROSE, BISHOP OF PODOLSK.................93 13. HIEROMARTYR MACARIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF YEKATERINOSLAV...........................................................................................95 14. HIEROMARTYR ATHANASIUS, BISHOP OF SKVIRSK ................108 15. HIEROMARTYR PAUL, BISHOP OF STAROBELA ...........................110 16. HIEROCONFESSOR ALEXIS, BISHOP OF RYLSK ............................120 17. HIEROMARTYR PROCOPIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ODESSA AND KHERSON...........................................................................................................121 18. HIEROMARTYR ALEXIS, BISHOP OF VORONEZH ........................147 19. HIEROMARTYR PACHOMIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF CHERNIGOV ................................................................................................................................186 20. HIEROMARTYR JOASAPH OF BAKHMUT AND DONETSK .......193 21. HIEROMARTYR DAMASCENE, BISHOP OF GLUKHOV ..............198 22. HIEROMARTYR PORPHYRIUS, BISHOP OF SIMFEROPOL .........240 23. HIEROMARTYR BISHOP GEORGE (BUKIN).....................................242 24. HIEROMARTYR ARCADIUS, BISHOP OF LUBNY...........................243 25. HIEROMARTYR PARTHENIUS, BISHOP OF ANANIEV ................254 26. HIEROMARTYR ABERCIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ZHITOMIR ........272 27. HIEROMARTYR INNOCENT, BISHOP OF THE DON .....................275 28. HIEROCONFESSOR ANTHONY, SCHEMA-ARCHBISHOP OF TAURIS................................................................................................................276 29. HIEROMARTYRS ALEXIS OF ROVNO, MANUEL OF BELOTSERKOV’ AND PANCRATIUS OF BELGOROD.........................280 30. HIEROCONFESSOR GABRIEL, BISHOP OF AKKERMAN.............282 31. HIEROCONFESSOR ARCHBISHOP ANTHONY (GALYNSKY- MIKHAILOVSKY) ............................................................................................283 32. MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS OF VORONEZH PROVINCE ......297 33. MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS OF EASTERN UKRAINE ..............344 34. MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS OF SOUTHERN UKRAINE..........392 35. MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS OF KIEV PROVINCE....................455 36. MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN UKRAINE AND MOLDAVIA ........................................................................557 37. MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS OF SOUTH-EAST RUSSIA ..........575 2 38. MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS OF THE CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS ................................................................................................................................622 3 INTRODUCTION In 2007 the first volume of the series, The Russian Golgotha: The Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, was published by Monastery Press, Wildwood, Alberta, Canada. That volume was devoted to the All-Russian Martyrs – that is, the Royal Martyrs and Patriarch Tikhon – and to the Martyrs and Confessors of North-West Russia. This is the third volume in the series, and is devoted to the Martyrs and Confessors of Southern Russia the Ukraine, Moldavia and the Caucasus Inevitably, difficult choices have had to be made concerning who should be included, and who excluded, from the lists of martyrs and confessors. I cannot claim to have made the right decisions in all cases. For an authoritative list we shall have to wait for the decision of a future Council of the True Church of Russia. In the meantime, I have been governed by the following main criteria of who is a true martyr or confessor: a) Belonging to the Orthodox Church, and not to any heresy, schism or pseudo-Orthodox grouping; b) Unjust death at the hands of the organs of Soviet power, or unjust imprisonment or exile for a minimum period of three years – although in exceptional cases smaller periods of deprivation of freedom have been accepted; c) Canonization by either the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia that took place in New York on November 1, 1981, or the Council of the Russian True Orthodox Church that took place in Odessa on November 1, 2009. The main problem in this process of selection has been to distinguish between the true and false confessors of the period 1927 to 1937. In 1927, the deputy of the patriarchal locum tenens, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), created a schism in the Russian Church by placing the Church in more or less unconditional submission to Soviet power and the demands of the revolution. Those who separated from him, including many senior hierarchs, were called the True Orthodox Christians, and those who died for their belonging to the True Orthodox Church are undoubtedly martyrs and confessors of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The question is: what is the status of those who did not separate from Sergius, but who suffered at the hands of Soviet power in this period? 4 The approach adopted here is closely modelled on the words of Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan, one of the senior and most respected of all the Russian hierarchs, who was one of the leaders of True Orthodoxy and himself received the crown of martyrdom in 1937. In 1934, when asked about the sacraments of the “sergianists” – those who followed Metropolitan Sergius – he replied that they were still valid and salvific for those who partook without knowing the sin of Sergius and its destructiveness for the Church. For those who knew, however, he said that communion in the sergianist church was for their condemnation. Three years later, in March, 1937, Metropolitan Cyril was taking a stricter line. Enough time had passed, he said, for people to come to a decision about sergianism, which was in essence a new version of renovationism – the heresy condemned and anathematized by Patriarch Tikhon in 1923… On the basis of Metropolitan Cyril’s words, we have taken the end of the year 1934 as a provisional cut-off point. Those who suffered unjustly at the hands of Soviet power before that point, whether they belonged to the sergianist or to the True Orthodox Church, are counted as having suffered for the true faith and as being martyrs or confessors of the True Church – with the exception of the sergianist hierarchs, who, as being responsible for “rightly dividing the word of truth”, must be considered as having failed in their duty to confess the truth against sergianism, and other leading priests or laymen who quite clearly did know what sergianism was but still remained members of the sergianist church. However, from 1935 – by which time almost all the True Orthodox had in any case been killed, incarcerated or driven underground – those sergianists who suffered at the hands of Soviet power are not counted as martyrs and confessors, including the vast numbers killed in the purges of 1937-38, unless there are clear indications in their biography that they struggled against Soviet power and in this way liberated themselves from the sin of sergianism. Of course, this is a rough criterion which will probably involve the misclassification of some of those who suffered. However, in the absence of a clearly superior criterion, and of a definitive list given by the True Church, it will have to do. May the martyrs and confessors not included here forgive us their omission, and continue notwithstanding to pray for us! Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us! December 3/16. 2009. East House, Beech Hill, Mayford, Working, Surrey, England. GU22 0SB. 5 1. HIEROMARTYR VLADIMIR, METROPOLITAN OF KIEV Metropolitan Vladimir, in the world Basil Nikiforovich Bogoyavlensky, was born on January 1, 1848 in the village of Malaya Morshka in the Morshansky uyezd of Tambov province. His father, Priest Nicephorus, later himself suffered a martyr's death. He finished his studies at Tambov theological seminary. Unpretentiousness which bordered on timidity, complemented by eagerness and diligence in schoolwork, were the most distinctive characteristics of the child and future metropolitan. In a book dedicated to the memory of the late Metropolitan Anthony Vadkovsky, who was formerly from the same district as Metropolitan Vladimir, there appears the following story about an incident in the latter's childhood. Once Basil Bogoyavlensky's father went with him to the home of Alexander Vasilyevich Vadkovsky, the future Metropolitan Anthony. When he saw A.V. Vadkovsky's older brothers, who were theologians, Basil Bogoyavlensky was so frightened by these important persons that he ran into the barn and hid under a carriage, where they had great difficulty finding him. Basil