MARTYR VARUS

On the day Western Christians celebrate All Saints’ Day, the Russian Church honors the memory of the holy martyr Varus of Egypt. In modern popular Orthodox piety, Saint Varus is venerated as an intercessor for the unbaptized dead. In recent years, churches have been dedicated to him, prayers have been composed, and his veneration has expanded. Few know that this martyr is an ancient and universal saint, uniting ancient Egyptian Christianity, icons in Kremlin cathedrals, and Soviet atheistic despair. The decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Church on October 30, 2025, to establish the feast of all Egyptian saints may well be perceived as an unnoticed new quiet miracle of Saint Varus’ presence in the lives of Orthodox Christians. Evidence of the martyr’s veneration in Tsarist Russia was the prevalence of the surname “Uvarov,” which reflects the martyr’s name, but in a different transcription.

1 On November 1, Orthodox churches following the Julian Calendar commemorate the holy martyr Varus. He suffered for Christ during the persecutions of Maximian Galerius (293–311) in Egypt.

2 According to hagiographers, Varus (or Ouar in Church Slavonic), a Roman soldier and Christian, visited Christian catechists imprisoned awaiting the death sentence. He thus followed Christ’s command in the Gospel of Matthew (25:36), perhaps not realizing that he was thereby experiencing the last days of his life. Suddenly filled with grace, like the biblical prophets, he followed the seven missionaries to their execution. As the eighth, he added a symbolic image of eternity to their ranks. The pagans considered Varus’s example so pernicious that they tried with all their might to force him to renounce his faith. But he steadfastly professed Christianity and was executed after cruel torture. The pagan Egyptians were obsessed with mummification. This is why they often sought to completely destroy the bodies of martyrs, depriving them of any hope of eternal salvation.

3 To save the body of the holy martyr from destruction, a pious Christian woman transported Varus’s body to Palestine. During the journey, this woman’s son died without being baptized. She was in despair, like the biblical widow who received the prophet and lost her only son. “Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘What have you to do with me, O man of God? Have you come to remind me of my sins and to kill my son?’"—the Bible relates, quoting the words of this unfortunate woman (1 Kings 17:18). Varus appeared to her in a vision and sternly rebuked her lack of faith. Then he immediately consoled her with a vision in which he appeared with her son, clothed in heavenly glory. All of them—Varus, the seven missionaries, the widow, and the son—are venerated on the same day, November 1, in the Orthodox calendar. This story has an unexpected and paradoxical continuation, as if from a postmodern novel.

4 In January 1547, Ivan the Terrible was solemnly crowned Grand Prince of Moscow and Tsar. Historians consider this event the beginning of the Russian imperial tradition. Then, in the mid-16th century, at the dawn of the Muscovite kingdom, Ivan the Terrible (1530–1584) had his first son. He had just conquered the Kazan Khanate. Since his son was born on the eve of the feast of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki, the patron saint of Prince Dmitry Donskoy (1350–1389), whose reign marked the beginning of Russia’s liberation from the Mongols, he was named Dmitry, symbolizing the succession of Dmitry and Ivan. Ivan the Terrible’s son also became the exact namesake of Dmitry Donskoy, who was also known as “Dmitry Ivanovich.” The child was born in October 1552 and died on June 4, 1553. He was the firstborn in his family. His mother, Anastasia, was beloved by all, and her son was long-awaited.

5 The circumstances of his death remain unclear; the child was not yet seven months old; he died during a pilgrimage. At the same time, an image of Saint Varus appeared over Dmitry’s tomb in the Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin. Seven years later, Anastasia also died. Twenty-nine years later, Ivan the Terrible had another son, also long-awaited and considered his heir. He was born eight days before the feast of Saint Dmitry and on the feast day of Saint Varus, October 19, according to the calendar of the time. Moreover, some historians believe that both children were born on the same day, received the same name, and that Varus was their patron saint. Dmitry the Younger was murdered at the age of eight, likely the victim of a conspiracy. The Church canonized him as an infant martyr. An exceptionally sad detail is that at the birth of Dmitry the Younger, his contemporaries and the royal family itself saw in him an exact replica of his deceased older brother.

6 In popular piety, Saint Varus is invoked to intercede for the unbaptized dead and for those who perished under absurd, strange, and extremely tragic circumstances. The widow, consoled by Saint Varus, buried the saint in Palestine, near the Mount of Transfiguration. Her name was Cleopatra. The name of her son, whom the martyr Varus took with him to Heaven, just as he himself had once been “taken with him” to martyrdom by seven prisoners, was John. It is worth remembering that Ivan the Terrible and Anastasia had another son, Ivan (1554–1581). Let us remember that John and Ivan are the same name. He was born almost two years after Dmitry the Elder. Like his older brother, he also died under unclear circumstances. It was claimed that his father accidentally killed him during an argument, but this has not been proven. All this is a touching and tragic example of the communion of saints, the interconnection and memory of the living and the dead. The perception of Ivan the Terrible in Russian historiography is multifaceted. Some historians, including strictly Orthodox ones, see him as a raging tyrant, while others view him as a glorious ruler and the founder of the modern Russian state. The holy martyr Varus and his mysterious connection to the Russian imperial family allow us to glimpse the sorrowful face of Tsar Ivan, who tragically lost his beloved sons.