24.04.2013 Views

the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

268<br />

"'Why are you old-churchmen, but do not commemorate Patriarch<br />

Tikhon?'<br />

"He replied: 'We are doing what Vladyka John <strong>of</strong> Ufa ordered us to do.'<br />

"My relatives invited me to serve. The church was in <strong>the</strong> house <strong>of</strong> my<br />

nephew, while <strong>the</strong> priest was staying in <strong>the</strong> flat <strong>of</strong> my o<strong>the</strong>r nephew. I refused<br />

to serve with <strong>the</strong>m since <strong>the</strong>y were <strong>new</strong>-churchmen and did not<br />

commemorate Patriarch Tikhon. My nephew Demetrius took me to Ufa so<br />

that I could ask John why he was not commemorating Patriarch Tikhon. I<br />

went to <strong>the</strong> Nikolayevsky church, where John was serving. When vespers had<br />

finished, <strong>the</strong>y told him that some archimandrite had arrived from Odessa.<br />

John immediately invited me to his flat to drink some tea and eat something.<br />

During tea we talked. He asked why I had come here. I said that I had<br />

relatives here. Then I asked:<br />

"'What, are you <strong>new</strong>-churchmen? Why do you not commemorate Patriarch<br />

Tikhon?'<br />

"'No, no, we are old-churchmen, but we do not commemorate him because<br />

we wrote to <strong>the</strong> Patriarch and he did not bless us - we do not have to<br />

commemorate him,' he said.<br />

"'That cannot be,' I said. 'It is never permissible not to commemorate <strong>the</strong><br />

Patriarch. Now we can find out: where <strong>the</strong>y commemorate Patriarch Tikhon<br />

<strong>the</strong>y are old-churchmen, and where <strong>the</strong>y do not <strong>the</strong>y are renovationist.'<br />

"But he continued to assure me that he was an old-churchman and I did<br />

not talk to him anymore about this. I asked his permission to serve at my<br />

relatives' in Sophronovka village. He kindly gave permission. We ate and said<br />

goodbye. I left for Sophronovka. I began to serve on <strong>the</strong> first Sunday. After<br />

<strong>the</strong> Liturgy I gave <strong>the</strong> people a sermon on renovationism, how <strong>the</strong> icons had<br />

been thrown out and returned again. The people learned that I had come from<br />

Athos and that I was an archimandrite. When <strong>the</strong>y heard that I was<br />

commemorating Patriarch Tikhon, which was done nowhere at that time,<br />

<strong>the</strong>y began to come to me from all <strong>the</strong> villages. I served throughout <strong>the</strong> fast<br />

and at Pascha. The wife <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> priest <strong>of</strong> this church <strong>the</strong>n objected to her<br />

husband:<br />

"'Why do you allow <strong>the</strong> archimandrite to serve? Now he will take your<br />

place and we will be left without a crust <strong>of</strong> bread.'<br />

"She wrote a letter to Bishop John, and sent it with her mo<strong>the</strong>r-in-law to<br />

Ufa. In it she pointed out that <strong>the</strong> archimandrite was commemorating<br />

Patriarch Tikhon and that <strong>the</strong> people were coming to him from all <strong>the</strong><br />

villages. The bishop forbade me to serve, saying:<br />

268

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!