the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

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and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment taking into account the period he
had already been in prison.
*
In 1923 Bishop John of Divlekanovsk was appointed by Patriarch Tikhon as
temporary administrator of the Ufa diocese. Times were difficult, the
renovationists were on the ascendant and had taken into their hands almost
the whole diocese. The clergy were silent out of fear, the people had no
leaders and were in the full sense "sheep without a shepherd".
At this moment Bishop John issued his first epistle exposing the lies and
treachery of the renovationists. The epistle was distributed round the parishes
by volunteer laypeople, among whom there were some secretly ordained
priests. Great in the eyes of the Church was the feat of these messengers; they
were called in church circles "apologists" of Orthodoxy. It was they who
pushed into action the sluggish clergy and led the movement of the people.
They were the first to use the term "Soviet church", and defined their
confession as "old church". There were many of them, and their fates were
varied, but some of them received the title "ascetics" already during their
lifetime. Such, for example, was the student at the pedagogical technical
college Valentina Ch.
Valentina was a character of rare integrity, purity and energy. Many, even
in the True Church, called her a fanatic; but she was not hindered by, or
ashamed by, this title; and it was then that many understood that every
Christian is obliged to be such a "fanatic". Valentina worked mainly among
the women, and she did impossible things. Thus when she came to a parish,
the situation was reversed with lightning-like speed, the renovationist clergy
were driven out, the women created dvadtsatky (groups empowered to
accept the church from the Soviet authorities) and removed the keys from the
"livers" (as the renovationists of the "Living Church" were called) and simply
compelled the representatives of the authorities to sign agreements with them
concerning the existence of the "Tikhonite" Church. Often the dvadtsatky
were joined by wives and sisters of leading party members - so great was the
influence of Valentina, so powerful her word, so great the scope of her
activity.
Literally the whole police force, the communists and the komsomol
pursued Valentina. On the roads into the villages seized by the renovationists
they placed pickets composed of people who had seen Valentina, but she was
led along local paths and used to appear unexpectedly. An "old women's
psychosis" would erupt, as the local papers called it, a parish would become
"old church", and Valentina would disappear without a trace, so as to appear
again where she was least of all expected.
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