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the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

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Agatha (borhn 1899) and children: Demetrius (born 1924), Theodore (born<br />

1927 and Stepanida (born 1929). On October 29, 1930 he was arrested and put<br />

in <strong>the</strong> Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted <strong>of</strong> “being a<br />

member <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True <strong>Orthodox</strong><br />

Christians?]’” and <strong>of</strong> “agitating among <strong>the</strong> peasants against entry into <strong>the</strong><br />

party” and “spreading defeatist rumours”. He was sentenced to five years in<br />

<strong>the</strong> camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. His was part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

group case, “The Case <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Group <strong>of</strong> Clergy and Laity <strong>of</strong> Orenburg region,<br />

1931”. He was sent to <strong>the</strong> White Sea canal. Nothing more is known about him.<br />

*<br />

Protopriest Macarius Fyodorovich Kvitkin was born in August, 1882 in <strong>the</strong><br />

town <strong>of</strong> Orsk, Orenburg province, in <strong>the</strong> family <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> pious parents Theodore<br />

and Eudocia Kvitkin. From an early age he loved Christ and <strong>the</strong> Church. He<br />

<strong>of</strong>ten went to church, reading and chanting in <strong>the</strong> choir. He graduated from a<br />

teacher training college and became a schoolteacher in Orsk. In 1904, Macarius<br />

married a pious girl from a well-to-do family, Euphrosyne Kondratyevna<br />

Beznosova. A year later <strong>the</strong>ir first child, Sergius, was born. Having worked for<br />

some years as a teacher, Macarius went to a <strong>the</strong>ological seminary, and after<br />

graduation was ordained to <strong>the</strong> diaconate, serving from 1914 in <strong>the</strong> village <strong>of</strong><br />

Verkhnyaya Pavlovka, 25 kilometres from Orenburg, where his second son,<br />

Vladimir, was born. In 1918 he was ordained to <strong>the</strong> priesthood and went to<br />

serve in Novo-Troitsk. In 1920, Batyushka and his family settled in <strong>the</strong> village<br />

<strong>of</strong> Alexandrovka, Orenburg region. At first Fr. Macarius served in a prayer<br />

house, but <strong>the</strong>n, in 1924, he constructed a small wooden church. In 1925,<br />

however, this church was closed, and <strong>the</strong>y moved to Orenburg. In <strong>the</strong> autumn<br />

<strong>of</strong> 1925, he was appointed as <strong>the</strong> second priest in a large, three-altared church<br />

whose main part was dedicated to St. Seraphim <strong>of</strong> Sarov and which was<br />

situated in Forstadt, a suburb <strong>of</strong> Orenburg. In 1925-26, <strong>the</strong> diocese was<br />

temporarily administered by Vladyka Dionysius. Fr. Macarius' son Vladimir<br />

was <strong>the</strong> bishop's staff-bearer and <strong>of</strong>ten travelled with Vladyka when he served<br />

in <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r, still open churches <strong>of</strong> Orenburg and in <strong>the</strong> women's monastery.<br />

On July 16/29, 1927, Metropolitan Sergius issued his notorious declaration,<br />

which formally opened <strong>the</strong> way for <strong>the</strong> antichristian authorities into <strong>the</strong><br />

Church. Over 90% <strong>of</strong> parishes in <strong>the</strong> Urals rejected Sergius' declaration. The<br />

rector <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> St. Seraphim church where Fr. Macarius was serving as <strong>the</strong><br />

second priest at that time was Fr. Alexis S. During <strong>the</strong> first years <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

serving toge<strong>the</strong>r, he and Fr. Macarius had had peaceful, friendly relations. But<br />

after <strong>the</strong> declaration <strong>of</strong> Metropolitan Sergius, frictions between <strong>the</strong>m<br />

developed. Fr. Macarius categorically refused to commemorate <strong>the</strong> puppet <strong>of</strong><br />

Soviet power, Metropolitan Sergius, as <strong>the</strong> patriarchal locum tenens, but<br />

commemorated Metropolitan Peter <strong>of</strong> Krutitsa, who was at that time in prison.<br />

This difference in understanding <strong>of</strong> church truth and <strong>the</strong> true pastoral way led<br />

to <strong>the</strong> division <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> parish into two groups, one supporting Fr. Alexis and <strong>the</strong><br />

539

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