the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

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the blessing to elect candidates for the episcopate and arrange their
consecration in secret – if necessary, moreover, by one bishop only.
On November 14 he returned to Ufa. In the same month he, together with
Bishop Nicholas (Ipatov), consecrated a group of bishops for the main regions
of his diocese. These included Bishops Trophimus, Mark, Habbakuk and
Benjamin. Other bishops consecrated with his active participation in this
period included: Amphilochius (Skvortsov) and Benjamin (Frolov).
In May, 1922, Vladyka convened a diocesan congress, rejected
renovationism and declared the Ufa diocese to be autonomous on the basis of
the ukaz of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Agathangel, of May
18. The renovationists immediately labelled Archbishop Andrew and his
group of bishops "the Andrewite schism". Thus in an article for Vlast' Truda a
certain P. Pravdin rejected the "schismatic" bishops' right to rule their flock.
And he went on to say that Bishops Mark, Trophimus and Habbakuk "act
under the banner of Patriarch Tikhon, which prompts Soviet power to think
of arresting these bishops".
By this time there was only one Orthodox church in Ufa; all the rest were
renovationist. So serious was the situation that Archbishop Andrew once said
to the married priest Fr. Victor (Poyarkov): “You and matushka must accept
monasticism so as to save the Church!” Fr. Victor and matushka obeyed the
call, and on November 29 / December 12, 1922 Fr. John (as he was now called
in monasticism) was consecrated Bishop of Davlekanovsk, a little town near
Ufa.
In February, 1923, Vladyka Andrew was again arrested, and on February
23 was sentenced to three years’ exile in Central Asia, first, on May 3, in
Tashkent and then in Ashkhabad (Poltoratsk). At the beginning of June (or
May 24), 1923 he was arrested in Tashkent and was imprisoned for a short
time. At the end of June he was sent to Tedzhen in Turkmenia. There he
organized and led an Orthodox community. In October (November) he was
arrested in Tedzhen, and on November 5 (4), 1923 was cast into prison in
Tashkent. In April, 1924 he was in cell no. 7 of the GPU in Tedzhen. On
November 17, 1924 he arrived under OGPU convoy in Moscow. Then he was
again exiled to Tedzhen, and then to Askhabad.
The Old Ritualists
Just after the February revolution, Archbishop Andrew presided over the
All-Russian Congress of Yedinovertsy (that is, converts to Orthodoxy from
the Old Ritualists who were allowed to retain the Old Rite) in Nizhni-
Novgorod. In May, 1917, together with the future hieromartyr-bishop Joseph
(Petrovykh) and the yedinoverets Protopriest (later bishop and hieromartyr)
Simon (Sheev), he visited the Rogozhskoye monastery in Moscow, the
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