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the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

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104<br />

“My spiritual fa<strong>the</strong>r, Archbishop Anthony <strong>of</strong> Kharkov, k<strong>new</strong> about all<br />

<strong>the</strong>se negotiations, and Patriarch Tikhon was informed about everything.<br />

They approved my intentions.<br />

“Thus from both sides everything was measured, calculated, thought out<br />

and humanly speaking worked out in a manner completely acceptable for all.<br />

After this I went to Ufa.<br />

“But <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> events <strong>of</strong> 1918 and 1919 took place. The beglopopovtsi lost<br />

me for a long time. I was in Siberia and <strong>the</strong>n in a difficult incarceration… But<br />

in 1925, when I was in exile in Askhabad, <strong>the</strong> beglopopovets Archimandrite<br />

Clement came to me and began to ask me again that I should become bishop<br />

for <strong>the</strong> beglopopovtsi…<br />

“I agreed to do everything that I had promised to L.A. Molekhonov…<br />

Moreover, I agreed to become bishop for <strong>the</strong> beglopopovtsi only on condition<br />

that Archimandrite Clement should himself receive consecration to <strong>the</strong><br />

episcopate and would become de facto an active bishop, for I myself was<br />

chained to Askhabad or some o<strong>the</strong>r place for a long time.<br />

“Clement accepted all my conditions and on August 28, 1925 we for <strong>the</strong><br />

first time prayed toge<strong>the</strong>r with him to God in a truly <strong>Orthodox</strong>, that is, not<br />

caesaro-papist church [!!!]; I on my side had fulfilled everything that I had<br />

been blessed to do by Patriarch Tikhon. On September 3, 1925 I (toge<strong>the</strong>r with<br />

Bishop Rufinus) consecrated Clement to <strong>the</strong> episcopate, giving him <strong>the</strong><br />

authority to be my deputy, as it were, as long as I did not enjoy freedom <strong>of</strong><br />

movement…<br />

“After this we parted on <strong>the</strong> same day <strong>of</strong> September 3.<br />

“But soon I received <strong>new</strong>s from Bishop Clement that <strong>the</strong> beglopopovtsi<br />

recognised nei<strong>the</strong>r me nor him as <strong>the</strong>ir bishops and that he, Clement, had<br />

been received in his existing rank into <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> bishops <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

Belokrinnitsky hierarchy.”<br />

It appears that <strong>the</strong> beglopopovtsi did not recognize Archbishop Andrew<br />

because “1) <strong>the</strong> chrismation was carried out incorrectly, and 2) although he<br />

renounced heresies and promised ‘to preserve myself from heresies’, he again<br />

fell into heresy, continuing to be in communion with <strong>the</strong> Niconians.”<br />

According to a letter <strong>of</strong> Metropolitan Sergius, Archbishop Andrew denied<br />

any chrismation: “he was anointed only, he says, as a sign <strong>of</strong> joy, like <strong>the</strong><br />

anointing with oil during <strong>the</strong> All-Night Vigil”. Bishop Seraphim (Trophimov),<br />

in a letter to an Andrewite community in Birsk, wrote: “Bishop Andrew is<br />

trying to assure all good people that he did not leave <strong>the</strong> Church, did not<br />

renounce it, and calls himself as before an <strong>Orthodox</strong> bishop.”<br />

104

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