the holy new martyrs of eastern russia - Coptic Orthodox teaching

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communion with the patriarch, I alone will not communicate with him'. Why
was that? Because he feared to destroy his soul through communion with a
patriarch who had been drawn into impiety, although at that time he had not
yet been condemned by a council and was, on the contrary, supported by the
majority of the bishops. You know, the ecclesiastical administrative authority,
even in the person of councils, did not always defend the truth in former
times, to which clear witness is borne by the story of the hierarch Athanasius
the Great, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Theodore the Studite and others.
How, then, can I remain unreasonable and indifferent? That cannot be. That is
why we have set out on the only possible way out in our present situation -
the way of the confession of THE TRUTH OF SALVATION. This way is
difficult, it is the way of exploit [podvig]; but we do not trust on our own
strength, but look to the Author and Finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ
(Hebrews 12.2). And our action is not a separation for the Church, but the
defence of the truth and justification of the Divine commandments, or - still
better – THE PRESERVATION OF THE WHOLE ECONOMY OF OUR
SALVATION. That is why a whole pleiad of archpastors have rebuked
Metropolitan Sergius: Metropolitans Joseph, Agathangel and Arsenius,
Archbishops, Bishops and a multitude of individual pastors, who have told
Metropolitan Sergius that they can no longer recognize him to be the leader of
the Orthodox Church, and will rule independently for the time being..."
On April 4, 1928 Bishop Victor was arrested in Glazov and cast into
Butyrki prison. He was accused of “systematically distributing anti-Soviet
documents composed by him and printed on a typewriter. The most anti-
Soviet of them in content was the document, ‘Epistle to Believers’ with and
appeal to them not to fear and not to submit to Soviet power as being the
power of the devil, but to suffer martyrdom from it, just as Metropolitan
Philip or John, the so-called ‘baptist’ suffered martyrdom for the faith in their
struggle with the power of the state”.
A week later the sergianist synod decreed: “To keep in force our resolution
concerning the former vicars of the Leningrad diocese, Bishops Demetrius of
Gdov and Sergius of Kopor, the former Bishop Victor of Shadrinsk and the
former Bishop Alexis of Urazov, the more so in that the mentioned bishops
not only have not repented of the sin of creating a schism, but by their
activities, speeches and epistles continue to sow disturbance, undermining the
faith of the Church of Christ. They send a prepared text renouncing
Metropolitan Sergius and the Patriarchal Synod for signature, calling of them
to unite with them, while Bishop Victor, although banned from serving,
ordains clergy for dioceses not subject to him.”
On May 18 Bishop Victor was sentenced to three years on Solovki. Before
leaving, he entrusted his Vyatka flock to Archbishop Demetrius of Gdov. On
June 14, 1928 M.A. Novoselov wrote to V.M. Loseva: “Bishop Victor is here.
The other day they sent him to Solovki for ten years. Now there will be three
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