ALL SAINTS OF THE RUSSIAN CHURCH

On the second Sunday after Pentecost, the memory of all the saints of the Russian Church is celebrated.

This feast has a complex history. Historians tell us that the memory of all Russian saints was first celebrated in the mid-16th century. Metropolitan Saint Macarius (1542-1563) then conducted a mass canonization of Russian saints at the Church Councils of 1547 and 1549 and established their common celebration. Please note that it fell on the Sunday following July 15, that is, after the day of commemoration of the Baptizer of Russia, Saint Prince Vladimir. The very special and solemn nature of the celebration in honor of the Old Testament prophet Elijah, which falls precisely at this time of summer, could be an indication of this feast in honor of all Russian saints, which, unfortunately, only existed for about a century.

By this time, the Grand Principality of Moscow had acquired new territories, today largely Ukraine. The reunification of the historical territories of ancient Kievan Rus was secured at the famous Pereiaslav Agreement (1654). Significant liturgical reforms were carried out to unify the existing ecclesiastical rites in the old and new dioceses of the Russian Church. A colossal schism arose within the Church.

Patriarch Nikon was forced to abdicate. The state subjected opponents of the reforms to the most severe repression. They were e persecuted and executed with such cruelty that even the medieval Inquisition could have learned from. At the same time, unlike that same Inquisition, no legal procedures of investigation or proof of guilt were implemented.

Unfortunately, the Church of Constantinople acted as the official religious legitimizer in this matter. Nikon’s deposition and the adoption of the liturgical reforms took place at the Council of 1666, presided over by the Eastern Patriarchs. This date alone, the year 1666, plunged opponents of the reforms into an eschatological state of mind and metaphysical horror.

But the fact remains that the ancient Russian saints, where this could be confirmed by icons, lives, and other evidence, adhered to the old rite, which was now condemned and anathematized by both Church and state. Thus, the feast of all Russian saints was abolished, and many of them were completely decanonized. This was a unique case in the history of Orthodoxy.

Two and a half centuries passed. The 1917 revolution brought the history of the ancient régime in Russia to an end. The emperor was deposed, and the Russian Church was about to be dismantled. Even if the Bolsheviks had not come to power, the deconstruction of everything that had existed was probably inevitable. Then the Council of 1917-1918 was convened, which reinstated the feast of All Russian Saints.

Unexpectedly and paradoxically, just as the abolition of the memory of All Russian Saints following the decisions of the Council of 1666 became a prophecy, foreshadowing the imminent persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church against itself, as Orthodox supporters of the new rite persecuted Orthodox supporters of the old rite, so the restoration of the feast of Russian Saints at the Council of 1917-1918 became a prophecy, foreshadowing the imminent extermination of the Russian Church by the new Russian government and the citizens themselves, many of whom remained Orthodox but cruelly persecuted the Church and its members.

Researchers are teaching us, and they are providing increasing evidence, that the Bolsheviks, in their policy of exterminating the official Church, relied on the descendants of the supporters of the old rite, exterminated by their own brethren in the second half of the 17th century. Thus, the Feast of All Saints of the Russian Church is a surprising, prophetic, and warning holiday.