Vladimir Putin at the Sretensky Monastery (2017-05-25) 07

New Martyrs and Confessors of Russian Church (russian: Новомученики и исповедники Церкви Русской, before 2013 - New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, russian: Новомученики и исповедники российские) is group of saints of the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

martyred or persecuted after the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

of 1917. Their memorial is held annually at the end of January or beginning of February.

History of the holiday

Shortly after the

the Local Council on 5 (18) April 1918 passed a resolution: "Set across Russia in the annual memorial on 25 January or next Sunday as day of all confessors and martyrs who died in the current fierce years of persecution". After "legalization" of the Provisional Patriarchal Holy Synod under Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) to

perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

Moscow Patriarchate in its official statements was forced to reject facts of persecution for their faith in the USSR. Nevertheless, among the believers in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

the honoring of devotees persecuted by the communist authorities continued. The

Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...

glorified the New Martyrs and

Confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.glorification Glorification may have several meanings in Christianity. From the Catholic canonization to the similar sainthood of the Eastern Orthodox Church to salvation in Christianity in Protestant beliefs, the glorification of the human condition can be a ...

of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia affected by years of revolutionary turmoil and the Bolshevik terror, was the canonization of

Patriarch Tikhon Tikhon of Moscow (russian: Тихон Московский, – ), born Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin (russian: Василий Иванович Беллавин), was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). On 5 November 1917 ( OS) he was ...

on October 9, 1989. In June 1990 during the Local Council Archbishop Herman (Timofeev) of Berlin was the first bishop who openly declared: "We may not deny the countless martyrs for the faith, we must not forget them". March 25, 1991, the

Holy Synod In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthodox C ...

of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted the resolution: "On the resumption of Remembrance services for confessors and martyrs who suffered for their faith in Christ, established by the Local Council" on 5 (18) April 1918. Immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Church under the leadership of Patriarch Alexis II began glorifying some of the New Martyrs, beginning with the Grand Duchess

Elizabeth Fyodorovna Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (s ...

, Metropolitan

Vladimir of Kiev Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych ( orv, Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь, ''Volodiměrъ Svętoslavičь'';, ''Uladzimir'', russian: Владимир, ''Vladimir'', uk, Володимир, ''Volodymyr''. Se ...

, and Metropolitan

Benjamin of Petrograd Benjamin of Petrograd (russian: Вениамин Петроградский, Veniamin Petrogradsky, – ), born Vasily Pavlovich Kazansky (russian: Василий Павлович Казанский), was a hieromartyr, a bishop in the Russian ...

in 1992. In the 1990s there was a preparation for the canonization of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, many saints were glorified as local saints. In 2000, the All-Russian Council glorified Tsar

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

and his family, as well as many other New

Martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

s. More names continue to be added to list of New Martyrs, after the Synodal Canonization Commission completes its investigation of each case.Maxim Massaliti
The New Martyrs Unify Us: Interview with Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov, participant of the All-Diaspora Pastoral Conference in Nyack (December 8-12, 2003)
, Pravoslavie.ru, December 13, 2003 The Russian Church celebrates the feast of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia on the Sunday nearest January 25 (o.s.) / February 7 (n.s.) -- the date Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev's martyrdom (the first Hieromartyr under Bolshevik rule of Russia following the October Revolution).

Troparion and Kontakion

Troparion A troparion (Greek , plural: , ; Georgian: , ; Church Slavonic: , ) in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or organised in more complex forms as series of stanzas. The wi ...

: :Tone 4: O ye holy hierarchs, royal passion-bearers and pastors, / :monks and laymen, ye countless new-martyrs, and confessors, / :men, women and children, / :flowers of the spiritual meadow of Russia, / :who blossomed forth wondrously in time of grievous persecutions / :bearing good fruit for Christ in your endurance: / :Entreat Him as the One who planted you, / :that He deliver His people from godless and evil men, / :and that the Church of Russia and all the world/ :be made steadfast through your blood and suffering, // :unto the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion The kontakion (Greek , plural , ''kontakia'') is a form of hymn performed in the Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic liturgical traditions. The kontakion originated in the Byzantine Empire around the 6th century and is closely associated with Sain ...

: :Tone 2: O ye new passion-bearers of Russia, / :who have with your confession finished the course of this earth, / :receiving boldness through your sufferings: / :Beseech Christ Who strengthened you, / :that we also, whenever the hour of trial find us / :may receive the gift of courage from God. / :For ye are a witness to us who venerate your struggle, / :that neither tribulation, prison, nor death // :can separate us from the love of God.

Notes

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External links

The Lives of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

THE HOLY NEW MARTYRS OF EASTERN RUSSIA
20th-century Eastern Orthodox martyrs Russian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church Groups of Eastern Orthodox saints