the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

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2. HIEROMARTYR LAURENCE, BISHOP OF BALAKHNA
and those with him
Bishop Laurence, in the world Eugene Ivanovich Knyazev, was born in
Kashira. He came from a priest’s family.and graduated from St. Petersburg
Theological Academy in 1902. Then he became a rector of theological
seminaries, first in Novgorod, then in Vilnius, where the future Patriarch
Tikhon was archbishop. From November 6, 1908 he served as a teacher, and
was inspector of the Tauris theological seminary. There, beloved by teachers
and pupils, he attracted the attention of society and Bishop Alexis of Tauris.
He was distinguished for his modesty and quietness, and was in spiritual
communion with the Optina elders, who highly esteemed him. He practised
the Jesus prayer. On January 24, 1912, at the age of 45, he was tonsured as a
monk on Valaam by Archbishop Sergius (Stragorodsky). On March 5, 1912 he
was ordained to the priesthood, and in February, 1917 in Moscow he was
consecrated Bishop of Balakhna, a vicariate of the diocese of Nizhni
Novgorod, by Patriarch Tikhon.
When the revolution came, he said:
"Now I must become spiritual, now the Church is in need, and I must serve
her."
In the same year he organized the Holy Transfiguration Brotherhood. From
April 4, 1918 he took temporary charge of the Nizhni-Novgorod diocese after
the retirement of Archbishop Joachim (Levitsky), living in the Caves
monastery. He often served, and especially loved akathists and reading the
prayer “My All-blessed Queen” in front of the icon of the Mother of God the
Quick Hearer. He always gave sermons after the Liturgy.
His three last sermons ended with the words: “Beloved brothers and
sisters, we are living through a quite special time, before us all there stands
the feat of confession, and for some – martyrdom.”
In the house of a matushka which he often visited he used to say that a
martyric end had been foretold him. They told the story that when he was
living in Vilnius he gave gave his klobuk to a women’s monastery, asking
them to put it in order. The nun who occupied herself with this work cleaned
it, ironed the basting, put it on the kamilavka and went up to the mirror to see
whether it looked right. She was raising the klobuk above her head so as to
put it on herself when she suddenly fell down unconscious. She had seen a
fiery crown above the klobuk.
Vladyka spend one year and seven months in Nizhni-Novgorod. Towards
the end of 1918 they came to the hierarchical house looking for Archbishop
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