Metropolitan Joseph (
secular name Ivan Semyonovich Petrovykh, russian: Иван Семёнович Петровых; 15 December 1872 – 20 November 1937) was a metropolitan of the
Russian Orthodox Church. He was a leader of the anti-Soviet
nonviolent resistance
Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, cons ...
movement and organizer of the
Catacomb Church.
Biography
He was born in
Ustyuzhna
Ustyuzhna (russian: У́стюжна) is a town and the administrative center of Ustyuzhensky District in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the Mologa River, west of Vologda, the administrative center of the oblast. Population:
History
Consi ...
,
Novgorod Governorate.
Metropolitan of
Leningrad (1926–27), after the publication in 1927 the "Declaration" by Metropolitan
Sergius (Stragorodsky)
Patriarch Sergius (russian: Патриарх Сергий; born Ivan Nikolayevich Stragorodsky, Иван Николаевич Страгородский; – May 15, 1944) was the 12th Patriarch of Moscow and all the Rus', from September 8, 194 ...
he led the
Josephite Movement. He was against the recognition of the Soviet government by the
Russian Orthodox Church in 1927–37.
Before he was killed by the "Soviets", Metropolitan Joseph wrote: "Do not judge me so severely, and clearly understand the following:
# I am not at all a schismatic, and I call not to a
schism
A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...
. but to the purification of the Church from those who sow real schism and provoke it.
# To indicate to another his errors and wrongs is not schism but, to speak simply, it is putting an unbridled horse back into harness.
# The refusal to accept sound reproaches and directives is in reality a schism and a trampling on the truth.
# In the construction of ecclesiastical life the participants are not only those at the head, but the whole body of the Church, and a schismatic is he who assumes to himself rights which exceed his authority and in the name of the Church presumes to say that which is not shared by his colleagues.
#
Metropolitan Sergius has shown himself to be such a schismatic, for he has far exceeded his authority and has rejected and scorned the voice of many hierarchs, in whose midst the pure truth has been preserved".
Death and legacy
He was murdered by the
Soviet government in 1937 in
Kazakhstan. In 1981, Metropolitan Joseph was
glorified
Glory may refer to:
Honor and renown
* Glory (honor), high renown, praise, and honor obtained by notable achievements
* ''Kleos'', the Greek word for "glory", often translated to "renown" (what others hear about you)
Arts and entertainment Fict ...
as a
New Martyr
The title of New Martyr or Neomartyr ( el, νεο-, ''neo''-, the prefix for "new"; and μάρτυς, ''martys'', "witness") is conferred in some denominations of Christianity to distinguish more recent martyrs and confessors from the old martyrs ...
by the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside 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 ...
, but not by the
Russian Orthodox Church.
External links
Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh) profile theorthodox.org; accessed 21 September 2016.
{{Authority control
1872 births
1937 deaths
People from Vologda Oblast
20th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops
Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church
Great Purge victims from Russia
Catacomb Church
Russian anti-communists
Russian people executed by the Soviet Union
1937 murders in Europe