There can be no doubt that the seminal event of Orthodoxy in the 20th century occurred in 1917, when the Russian Revolution overturned hundreds of years of consistent government in that country and its relationships with the Church. With the ascension of Patriarch Sergius who for the first time began to insist that the joys and sorrows of the Church were the same in accordance with those of the state, dissension arose as to how a bishop, and thereby the entire flock of the Russian Orthodox Church, should react to this violent and very difficult time when the state was actively persecuting Orthodox Christians.

Patriarch Sergius has been disparaged over the years, in some cases, perhaps rightly so, but in other cases, a lot of the disparagement seemed to come from those who found themselves outside the boundaries of Russia, in which case it’s easier to throw stones when you’re not being persecuted yourself. However, even in saying this it’s not entirely fair, because there were many within Russia, too, who were [in] complete disagreement with Patriarch Sergius and gave their lives accordingly, because they would not submit to the wiles of the state.

It’s not perhaps for us to make judgments about these people today, especially as so much reconciliation has happened since then. Patriarch Sergius himself, although at times he’s been characterized as the absolute devil, probably had good intentions in mind. He was probably trying his best, as he knew at the time, to do what he could to ensure that Orthodoxy continued in Russia. Whether or not he was successful, perhaps it’s even now too early to make that judgment. There were many faithful Orthodox Christians—bishops, priests, deacons, and laity at the time—who found themselves under the newly constituted patriarchate of Moscow and did their best to survive, even though it may have meant accommodation with the state.

But there were also many others in Russia who disagreed with this viewpoint and felt that the Church demanded a strong showing from everyone—bishops, priests, deacons, and laity—in order to preserve the purity of the faith. Perhaps both sides ultimately will find a place in the kingdom of heaven, and perhaps both ultimately had certain things that were right and wrong. I’m not going to try and make those judgments here, because I can see both sides and I know that there were many good and dedicated people on each side.

However, some of the bishops in Russia took a firm stand against what Sergius had done, following instead the dictates of the locum tenens at the time, Metropolitan Peter. Patriarch Tikhon had given his blessing to three different bishops to be considered as inheritors of the Russian Orthodox Church leadership, and even Metropolitan Peter at the time picked three people, because it began to become very, very dangerous, and it was well known that anyone who took a stand against the state was going to be risking their lives.

Well, there was one particular bishop, Hierotheus, who was known to Patriarch Tikhon, who was someone who took the anti-Sergianist view, and is often considered really the first martyr of what would come to be known as the Catacomb Church. This Church over the years was not necessarily something that had a strict organization. It was something that, by its very nature, could not be well organized, because you may not know who exactly was a member of it. But many of the bishops did come forth, and one of them was Hierotheus.

Now, Hierotheus was someone who wrote this marvelous letter in January of 1928, essentially laying forth his beliefs about what the Church should be doing. He felt that he was someone who, if called upon, would have to lay down his life for the flock, and in this letter he even indicated that the Good Shepherd, the inheritors of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in the episcopacy would be called upon to lay down their lives for the flock.

Hierotheus was someone who was beloved of his flock and would defend them to the death. In fact, when the Soviet authorities first made inclinations to move against him, the flock was doing everything that it could to try and defend him. Even up to the very day of his martyrdom in May of 1928, the flock gathered around him, trying to prevent him from being taken by the authorities. Well, as was to be the case so often, the authorities themselves were not letting of this get into their way. So even in the midst of the crowd, in the midst of all those assembled trying to defend this poor bishop, the authorities went in and shot him in the head. He literally fell into the arms of his flock that was trying to defend him.

It doesn’t matter at this point, really, whether there were people in the Sergianist Church or people in the Catacomb Church that were propagating different viewpoints as to how the Church should react. The fact remains that this man was assaulted by a bunch of people from the godless state that was in charge in Russia at the time, and because he was a bishop, because he was a firm believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, he gave up his life for our Lord. We may say that he defended his flock, we may say that he defended an ideal, we may say that he defended a certain viewpoint as to how a bishop should react when persecuted like this, by the state—but the fact remains that it was for our Lord ultimately that he died, and it is for his death in defense of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church that he should be remembered today.

All of these martyrs in Russia, no matter what side of the fence that they were on, who lost their lives—and there were untold millions—we should always keep in remembrance, because today they are the seed of what is happening in Russia and other places around the world today.