HIEROMARTYR JOASAPH, BISHOP OF CHISTOPOL and Those with Him – December 15

by Dr. Vladimir Moss

Bishop Joasaph, in the world John Ioannovich (Ivan Ivanovich) Udalov, was born on April 5, 1886, in the pious family of a watchmaker in the city of Ufa. He finished his studies at the Ufa theological school (1900) and the Ufa theological seminary (1906). Wishing to become a priest, John Ioannovich entered the Kazan Theological Academy in August, 1906, and graduated with the degree of candidate of theology in 1910. On August 2, 1910, he was tonsured into the brotherhood of the monastery of the Theophany in Zhitomir by Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Volhynia and Zhitomir, and on the next day was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Gabriel of Ostrog, the vicar-bishop of the diocese. On August 14, by a decree of the Holy Synod, he was appointed a teacher in the Zhitomir pastoral school in the name of John of Kronstadt. In the same year of 1910 Fr. Joasaph was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Anthony, whose influence helped his rapid rise up the ecclesiastical hierarchy. However, he was helped even more by his righteous life and firm confession of the Orthodox Faith. On October 3 (or September 24 or in November), 1911 Fr. Joasaph was appointed assistant inspector of the Kazan Theological Academy at the request of the rector of the Academy, Bishop Alexis (Dorodnitsyn). He was appointed president of the Council of missionary courses. He then worked in the Tatar mission and with the yedinovertsy. On July 11, 1912, by another decree of the Holy Synod, he was appointed acting superior of the Kazan Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery with promotion to the rank of igumen. With his fine mind and administrative flair and ability to get on with all kinds of people, the young igumen soon brought the community to a flourishing state. Here he began building a chapel in the Old Russian style over the relics of St. Ephraim, metropolitan of Kazan. (The chapel was destroyed to make way for a garage in 1972.) In 1915 he was raised to the rank of archimandrite and appointed president of the Pedagogical Council and the Economic committee of the Kazan missionary courses. In September, 1918 the Bolsheviks conquered Kazan. At that moment there were no bishops in the city: Metropolitan James (Pyatnitsky) of Kazan and Bishop Boris (Shipulin) had left with the Whites, while Bishop Anatolius of Chistopol, the rector of the Academy, was in Moscow at the All-Russian Church Council. It was at this critical moment that Archimandrite Joasaph took upon himself the burden of leading the church administration in the city. Arrests and shooting were taking place everywhere, and the majority of the churches were closed because of the departure of a significant proportion of the parish clergy – they were all terrified by the bestialities perpetrated by the 173 173 Bolsheviks. Besides, almost all the members of the diocesan council were out of the city at that moment. So Archimandrite Joasaph was forced to take on the administration of the Kazan diocese alone. On September 20, while he was celebrating the Liturgy in the Spassky monastery, a red commander burst into the altar and declared that the Kremlin was to be closed to the public and declared a military citadel. The Kremlin churches were closed on September 22, and Archimandrite Joasaph decided to remove the most venerated holy objects. The authorities allowed this on condition that a list of those taking part in the removal should be submitted to them, and that no chanting take place during the transfer. Finally, with the help of the nuns of the Monastery of the Mother of God, the relics of Saints Gurias and Barsanuphius, the icon of St. Barbara with part of her relics, the icons of the All-Merciful Saviour and other holy objects were transferred in a silent procession to the Kazan monastery. The Bolsheviks then began looting the churches in the Kremlin and shooting several priests in the Kazan region. News of these shootings reached the diocesan council headed by Archimandrite Joasaph, and he inscribed the martyrs’ names into the martyrologies and diptychs. These acts were confirmed by Bishop Anatolius, who returned to Kazan on September 26 and took over the leadership of the diocese. With the approach of Kolchak’s armies, the Kremlin was again opened to the public. Archimandrite Joasaph took a leading part in the restoration work which then began. And it was he who served the first service in the cathedral church on March 25, 1920 (old style). In April, 1920, Patriarch Tikhon learned that Metropolitan James was not intending to return to Kazan, so he appointed Metropolitan Cyril (Smirnov) to take his place. Metropolitan Cyril was met with great joy by the citizens of the city. On July 12, Archimandrite Joasaph was consecrated bishop of Mamadysh, a vicariate of the Kazan diocese, by Metropolitan Cyril and Bishop Peter (Zverev) of Balakhinsk. He was appointed to live in the Kizichesky monastery and remained superior of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery. In the same month he was arrested and cast into Butyrki prison in Moscow, but was released on August 23 after promising not to leave the city. On August 6 Metropolitan Cyril was arrested in his chambers and taken to Moscow. This greatly sorrowed the citizens of Kazan, but they were able to form links with Moscow and supply the metropolitan with all that he needed. The Orthodox in the region were now led by Bishops Anatolius and Joasaph, 174 174 and on November 8 they consecrated Archimandrite Athanasius (Malinin), a lecturer in the Kazan Theological Academy, as Bishop of Cheboksary. In the spring of 1921 the Cheka learned that the Theological Academy was still in existence under the guise of theological courses. So they arrested Bishop Anatolius, the rector of the Academy, and all the professors on the charge of organizing an unlawful academic organization. The professors were soon freed, but Bishop Anatolius was detained in prison in Moscow. This left Bishop Joasaph once again in charge of the Kazan diocese. With the agreement of Metropolitan Cyril, with whom he maintained contact in the Taganka prison, he and Bishop Athanasius proceeded to consecrate Archimandrite Andronicus of the Seven Lakes Hermitage to the episcopate, transferring him to the monastery of St. John the Forerunner in Kazan. Moreover, in November he obtained the authorities’ permission in effect to reopen the Kazan Theological Academy under the rectorship of Professor Protopriest Nicholas Petrov, the superior of the church of St. Barbara. The institute continued in existence for another two years until Bishop Joasaph’s exile from Kazan in 1924. Early in 1922 Metropolitan Cyril was released from prison and was met in Kazan by Bishops Joasaph and Athanasius and a large crowd of Orthodox, for whom Metropolitan Cyril already had the aura of a confessor of the faith. In April, 1922 the Bolsheviks carried out a requisitioning of the valuables in the Kazan churches. Bishop Joasaph was able to save many valuable and ancient holy things from the Spassky monastery, but not the beautiful royal doors made of silver. In 1922, in connection with the confiscation of church valuables, 24 clergy of all ranks were killed by the Bolsheviks in Kazan province. On July 12, 1922 Bishop Joasaph was appointed Bishop of Chistopol, a vicariate of the Kazan diocese. On August 21 Metropolitan Cyril was exiled to Ust-Sysolsk, after which a representative of the renovationist schism appeared in Kazan. Hoping to overcome their “differences” with the renovationists, Metropolitan Cyril and Bishop Joasaph did not stop the renovationists E. Sosuntsov and S. Spirin from joining the diocesan council on October 1. However, their attitude changed when they sent their “Archbishop” Alexis (Bazhenov) to Kazan to take the place of the exiled Metropolitan Cyril. “Archbishop” Alexis arrived in Kazan on Great Thursday, April 5, 1923. First he occupied the metropolitan’s residence, then he set off for the winter church of the monastery of the Mother of God and stood in the altar to the left of the royal doors. Vladyka Joasaph, who was celebrating the Liturgy and the 175 175 washing of feet on that day, entered the church at “Glory…”, vested and went into the altar during the little entrance. Here for the first time he saw Archbishop Alexis. He continued to serve the Liturgy, censing Alexis at the appropriate times as a hierarch. During the singing of the communion verse, Alexis went up to Bishop Joasaph, called himself Archbishop of Kazan and Svyazhsk and asked whether he would serve with him. Vladyka categorically refused, justly pointing out that such an appointment of a new hierarch in the place of the still-living Metropolitan Cyril contradicted the church canons. That was why he, as an Orthodox bishop and vicar of the Kazan diocese, being in obedience to Patriarch Tikhon and Metropolitan Cyril, considered such a decision of the renovationist authorities to be uncanonical. The firmness of Vladyka Joasaph made a strong impression on Alexis, who had expected nothing of the sort. Meanwhile, Protopriest N.M. Vinogradov and other priests of the Kazan monastery went up to seek the blessing of “Archbishop” Alexis. At the end of the Liturgy Vladyka Joasaph carried out the rite of the washing of feet. That was a truly tragic moment, when the priests sang the verses about the traitor Judas and themselves prepared to betray their hierarch. For when Bishop Joasaph, in imitation of Christ Who washed the feet of His disciples at the Mystical Supper, washed the feet of these pastors, they had already agreed to submit to the false hierarch Alexis. In the evening the renovationist archbishop was already reading the twelve Gospels in the monastery, while Vladyka was serving the all-night vigil in the Vladimir cathedral, where Fr. Peter Grachev had immediately invited him. Most of the parish priests recognized Alexis, and after Pascha the Orthodox Bishops Joasaph and Athanasius were already serving in secret, commemorating the most holy Patriarch and Metropolitan Cyril. After Bishop Joasaph left the diocesan council, it became completely renovationist, and immediately reports were sent to the GPU denouncing him as an “old churchman, counterrevolutionary and ardent Tikhonite”, who was not only anti-renovationist but also anti-Soviet. Only two churches remained faithful to Orthodoxy in Kazan – the Pokrov church, where Fr. Alexander Gavrilov served, and the Peter and Paul cathedral, where Fr. Alexander’s father-in-law, Protopriest Andrew Bogolyubov, served. Also faithful to Orthodoxy at this time were Hieromonk Theophanes (Yelansky) of the Saviour cathedral in the Kremlin, several academically trained disciples of Metropolitan Cyril from the monastery of St. John the Forerunner: Igumen Pitirim (Krylov), Hieromonks John (Shirokov) and Paul, and Hierodeacon Seraphim (Shamshev), the nuns of the Raithu and Seven Lakes Hermitages and the St. Theodore convent, and some of the nuns of the Sviyazhsk monastery. By contrast with the parish clergy, the laity of Kazan refused to recognize Alexis. They appealed to him, as to a senior hierarch and a professor of the Academy, to return to the True Church, but all in vain. He began to serve in the parish churches. 176 176 On the night of May 25 to 26, on the eve of Alexis’ first visit to the church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the whole city was filled with notices stuck to houses and telegraph posts declaring that Alexis was a wolf in sheep’s clothing and appealing to the citizens of Kazan not to accept him. Alexis then wrote to the renovationist “Metropolitan” Eudocimus: “I am personally beginning to regret that I came to Kazan. Since the council negative reactions to me, as to the usurper of Cyril’s see, have increased… As long as Bishops Joasaph and Athanasius live here, I supposed that we shall not be able to create a single vicariate…” Alexis also complained that the Soviet authorities were not helping him enough against his opponents. However, when, on May 24, the renovationist diocesan council petitioned the authorities for the removal of Igumen Pitirim, Hieromonk John, Hierodeacon Seraphim and Hieromonk Theophanes, the authorities responded by arresting them on June 14 for writing and spreading anti-renovationist proclamations and for maintaining links with Metropolitan Cyril in Ust-Sysolsk. A report to the GPU put the real reasons for the arrests as follows: “The whole of this Black Hundreds company headed by Archbishop Joasaph is the headquarters of every possible kind of counterrevolutionary intrigues. After them trudge all of the reactionary clergy and the believing masses, which is to the highest degree dangerous from a political point of view.” It is interesting that Bishop Joasaph is named “archbishop” in this document; this showed how great was his authority among the believers. Bishop Joasaph was for a long time Metropolitan Cyril’s deputy in the Kazan region, and in the opinion of the Kazan renovationists he was “the undeclared administrator of the whole of the Kazan, Mari and Chuvash regions”. The victory of the Orthodox over the renovationists in the Kazan region was in large part owing to him. Thus it was through Vladyka Joasaph’s exhortations and his own sermons that Protopriest Theophanes converted almost the whole of the city of Yelabuga (his native town, where his father was protopriest in the Pokrov church) from renovationism to Orthodoxy. Again, when Bishop Andronicus was summoned to the renovationist diocesan council to explain his refusal to accept them, he said: “I don’t want to separate from Bishop Joasaph.” From 1923, according to one source, Bishop Joasaph was a member of the strictly anti-renovationist (and later, antisergianist) “Danilovtsy” and “Andrewite” groups, led by Archbishops Theodore (Pozdeyevsky) and Andrew (Ukhtomsky) respectively. On June 30, the arrested monks were released; all of them had conducted themselves bravely under interrogation, and none of them said a word against Bishop Joasaph. The position of the renovationists was further weakened when Patriarch Tikhon was released from prison and issued his anathema against them in July. On July 17 an assembly of all the believers of 177 177 the parish churches of Kazan was held in the main cathedral. It was organized by the circle of the zealots of Orthodoxy, led by the Academy Professor Plato Ivanovich Ivanov and the 28-year-old lawyer Alexander Sergeyevich Kozhevnikov, who were trusted followers of Bishop Joasaph. At the meeting it was resolved: “The community considers that the only lawful, canonical authority in the Kazan diocese is the deputy of Metropolitan Cyril, Bishop Joasaph of Chistopol…” On July 19 about twenty of Bishop Joasaph’s closest friends among the clergy and laity met in his flat. From 7 to 11 o’clock the new situation of the Church was discussed, and a rite of repentance was worked out for those returning from the renovationist heresy to Orthodoxy. Then, the next day, which was the eve of the feast of the Kazan icon, Bishop Joasaph served the first open service in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery together with the clergy who had been faithful to Orthodoxy during the persecution. Many people attended the triumphant service, during which flowers were strewn under the feet of the confessing clergy. Similarly triumphant services were served by Bishop Athanasius in the Theophany church and Bishop Andronicus in the monastery of St. John the Forerunner. During the next two or three days almost all the renovationist clergy offered repentance for their sin and were received back into the Church by Bishop Joasaph. At the insistence of the laity, Bishop Joasaph served a lesser blessing of the waters in those churches which had been defiled by the services of “Archbishop” Alexis. When the main cathedral was blessed, the people rejoiced and wept. Alexis immediately ran to complain to the GPU. The last of all to repent were the priests of the monastery of the Mother of God, who were particularly compromised before the citizens of Kazan. The four of them came to Vladyka and were accepted benevolently, with the promise not to humiliate them in front of the diocese; and on July 21 Vladyka was already serving in their monastery. The local GPU, annoyed at the defeat of the renovationists but not having clear instructions about what to do from the Moscow authorities, arrested Plato Ivanov and Alexander Kozhevnikov on the basis of denunciations by secret GPU agents who had been present at the parochial assembly. After Patriarch Tikhon had repented of his previous anti-Soviet activities, Bishop Joasaph was in the difficult position of having to explain his own position to the GPU. (After all, it was said, if the Patriarch had repented, then his followers should also repent). He also wanted to help bring about the release of Ivanov and Kozhevnikov. So he composed an “address to the clergy and laity of the Kazan diocese”, in which he said: “Insofar as I, as a religious follower of Patriarch Tikhon, in the conditions of life in our diocese in recent times have, by force of circumstances, been linked to the concept of ‘Tikhonism’, I shall with all the strength of my moral authority stand on guard 178 178 for the practical realization of the [apolitical] direction of church activity that I have mentioned above”. This was considered enough by the GPU, and within a month Ivanov and Kovezhnikov were released. On September 15 (NS) the authorities obtained Bishop Joasaph’s signature to a statement that he would not leave the bounds of Kazan. But this did not prevent him blessing monks and nuns from the Kazan monasteries (who numbered more than 150 people) to go to the villages with sermons against the renovationist heresy. And he sent to the Patriarch a list of clergy and monastics petitioning that they be awarded for “firmly witnessing their devotion to the Orthodox Church”, including: Protopriest Andrew Bogolyubov of the Peter and Paul cathedral; Protopriest Paul Mansurovsky from the village of Nikolsky, the only person to come out openly against the renovationists in the Arsky canton; the priest Fr. Anatolius Romanovsky of the Annunication church in Svyazhsk, who already in 1922 had been summoned to the authorities with Archimandrite Ephraim for teaching children the Law of God; and monks from the St. John, Raithu and Seven Lakes monasteries. At the end of November Archimandrite Pitirim, Hieromonks John and Theophanes and Hierodeacon Seraphim were again arrested and sent to Solovki for three years. In January, 1924 Plato Ivanov and Protopriest Alexander Gavrilov of the Georgian church were exiled to Tashkent. And in March Alexander Kozhevnikov was sent to Moscow and imprisoned in the Taganka prison. In December, 1923, the GPU intercepted some correspondence from Patriarch Tikhon to Bishop Joasaph about the awards he had asked for and other administrative matters and banned him from serving on the basis of the fact that “although he does not have permission from the civil authorities to organize a diocesan administration, he in fact rules the diocese”. The nominal administration of the diocese now passed to Bishop Athanasius, although Bishop Joasaph did not cease to serve in secret and in fact remained at the helm of the diocese. But the GPU forbade Bishop Athanasius to perform any ordinations. At the end of February, 1924, “Archbishop” Alexis consecrated some married priests as “Bishops” of Chistopol and Cheboksary – the sees occupied by Bishops Joasaph and Athanasius. So, on March 16 (OS), the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Bishops Joasaph and Athanasius, accompanied by a multitude of priests, deacons and laity, delivered these new false bishops to anathema in the monastery of St. John the Forerunner. By March 23, Tuchkov himself had been informed of the news, and on April 20, 1924 Bishop Joasaph was summoned to the GPU. 179 179 On being asked why a bishop should work in the diocesan council and then leave it, Vladyka replied: “My agreement to work in the diocesan administration as a ruling bishop was dictated by my succession from Metropolitan Cyril and the promise of the diocesan administration not to introduce any church reforms before the Council and not to infringe my hierarchical rights in matters of church ritual… My departure from the diocesan administration took place not for political reasons, but because a new hierarch was appointed in Kazan and in connection with this I was retired. At the given time in political and ecclesiastical matters I share Tikhon’s point of view as expressed in his appeals published up to this time…” With regard to his services, Vladyka said: “I started to serve after the release of Patriarch Tikhon, since in this release I saw Moscow’s permission for the existence of the Orthodox, but not of the renovationist hierarchy…” Vladyka denied that his struggle against renovationism in Kazan was political, for “every interference of the Church in the civil political struggle is undoubtedly incompatible with the mission of the Church. In this struggle she will be turned into an ordinary institution and will cease to be the highest impartial criterion of the life of man…” Confirming his conviction that the only canonical head of the Russian Orthodox Church was Patriarch Tikhon, Vladyka remarked: “I would like now, as in the past, to see in the person of my Patriarch an exclusively spiritual leader, directing the believers in their spiritual life…” As a man, Vladyka Joasaph could not agree with certain of the decisions of the Patriarch, but as an Orthodox hierarch and a monk he always recognized his Holiness’ rights and followed the decrees of his ecclesiastical authority, which remained for him incontestable. On April 30 (OS), the authorities summoned Vladyka from Kazan to Moscow. On the day of his departure Vladyka served the Liturgy in the church of St. Nicholas the Warrior. The deacon, Fr. Maximus Mikhailov, could not pronounce the exclamations from emotion, and the service was several times interrupted because of the general weeping. Patriarch Tikhon was commemorated, although by this time his commemoration was again forbidden. At midnight Vladyka Joasaph left Kazan station accompanied by a multitude of believers. On arriving in Moscow, Bishop Joasaph went straight to the Patriarch, whom he had never met, in the Donskoy monastery. On May 16, 1924 he presented himself to the GPU, and on the next day was cast into Butyrki prison on the basis of article 73. However, not finding anything to accuse him of, they released him on August 24 after securing his signature to a document declaring that he would not leave the city. He went to live in the Danilov monastery. 180 180 On April 12, 1925 Bishop Joasaph signed the act which transferred the leadership of the Church to Metropolitan Peter. In Moscow, Vladyka Joasaph became the trusted representative of Metropolitan Peter and locum tenens of the patriarchal throne while living in the Danilov monastery. He took part in Metropolitan Peter’s negotiations with the authorities concerning the organization of a Holy Synod, and warned the metropolitan in good time about the so-called Gregorian bishops. In the autumn of 1925 he composed a project declaration concerning the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet State. However, on November 18, 1925 he was arrested in the Danilov monastery in connection with the affair of Metropolitan Peter and was interned in the inner prison of the OGPU. On May 21, 1926, the OGPU exiled him to Turukhansk for three years on the basis of article 68 (69). On June 17, 1926 he was sent to Turukhansk region, arriving there in August. When Metropolitan Sergius published his notorious declaration in July, 1927, Bishop Joasaph entered into opposition to him, and was retired by him. In August, 1927 Vladyka Joasaph renewed his correspondence with Metropolitan Cyril, who was living in the same region. According to one source, in 1928 Vladyka Joasaph became bishop of Birsk. On the way back from his three-year exile, in the summer of 1929, he stopped for two months in Yeniseisk. There he was ordered to live in one fixed domicile. He chose the town of Kozmodemyansk in the Mari republic, where he settled towards the end of 1929. Once Bishop Barsanuphius of Spassky, who recognized Metropolitan Sergius, invited Vladyka Joasaph to pray with him, to which Vladyka replied: “No, you pray without me for Soviet power.” Bishop Barsanuphius said: “But it’s not I, it’s the deacon who prays for it…” While living in Kozmodemyansk, Bishop Joasaph did not break his ties with Kazan, and especially with the nuns there: Vitalia, Kaleria, Agrippina, Veronica (Busygina) and others went at various times to Metropolitan Cyril with assignments from him. They all brought food, letters and other things to Metropolitan Cyril, Archimandrite Alexander (the last superior of the SevenLakes desert) and many other exiled pastors and archpastors. And they organized meals for the arrested clergy languishing in the prisons of Kazan. Most of these nuns perished towards the end of the 1930s. 181 181 In August, 1930, there began the first arrests of people for belonging to the True Orthodox Church. These included the following teachers at the Kazan Theological Academy: Protopriest Nicholas V. Petrov, V.I. Nesmelov, M.N. Vasilevsky, E.Y. Polyansky, I.M. Pokrovsky; Bishop Nectarius (Trezvinsky), the priests Fathers Nicholas Troitsky, James Galakhov, Andrew Bogolyubov, Nicholas Dyagilev, Sergius Vorontsov and Eulampius EdemskySovyezemtsev; the nuns of the closed Kazan monasteries, and laymen – 33 people in all. On December 1, 1930 Bishop Joasaph was arrested in a group case of churchmen and cast into the OGPU isolator in Kazan for further interrogation. He behaved with great courage during his interrogations and betrayed nobody even by a single word. With regard to his adherence to Metropolitan Cyril and separation from Metropolitan Sergius he said: “My attitude to the differences between Metropolitan Cyril and Metropolitan Sergius on the question by the latter of a Synod around himself is as follows. Metropolitan Cyril, as one of the most senior hierarchs, who was appointed by Patriarch Tikhon as his first deputy after his death, has the right to demand that Metropolitan Sergius give him documentary proof of his authority to convene such a Synod, and in the absence of such proof to place the competency of this Synod in question. He has the right to demand that this quarrel be referred to Metropolitan Peter, who is still alive and retains the privileges of the locum tenancy. This right of appeal to the head of the Church is guaranteed by many church canons. Therefore the attempt by Metropolitan Sergius to resolve the conflict that has risen between them on his own, his refusal to refer the quarrel to Metropolitan Peter and his imposition upon Metropolitan Cyril of repressive measures in the form of sending him into retirement, is in my opinion uncanonical and should be annulled… Metropolitan Sergius’ usurpation of rights that do not belong to him, or which are, in any case, dubious until their authoritative clarification, the fact that he had no difficulty in imposing repressive measures upon Metropolitan Cyril and others (I stress that in his reply Metropolitan Cyril sharply and decisively rejects the idea that his disagreements are politically motivated and gives reasons for keeping to a strictly ecclesiastical evaluation of this quarrel), his accusing all the clergy who are serving terms of punishment, including, that is, myself, of political crimes – all this has forced me until the end of my term of exile (November, 1931) to distance myself from Metropolitan Sergius without separating from him. If I were to receive freedom of movement, then by means of an exchange of thoughts with Metropolitan Sergius it is possible that I would change my present point of view on much that I have said just now. With regard to the ‘Interview’ Metropolitan Sergius has given in the newspapers, my position is this: while welcoming his desire by all available means to avert the new human war that is being prepared and dispel many of the incorrect opinions that have been formed about our life, I was sorry that Metropolitan Sergius did not find the proper tone for his interview and did not avoid or foresee objections.” “In my personal relations with Soviet power, 182 182 I do not recall any particular manifestations of hostility towards myself. During my most difficult trials in exile, when I had to go hungry, freeze and wander around as a sick man with a weak heart in the filth in prisons, there were, of course, minutes when I felt bitter in the consciousness of my innocence. But this was not my main feeling.” On January 5, 1932, Vladyka Joasaph was convicted of “heading and being in de facto control of the Kazan church-monarchist organization, remaining an active worker in it after its transformation into a branch of the All-Union centre of the counter-revolutionary monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”. In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years in the camps. He was sent to the Osinnikov section of Siblag, the mines of Aralichev near Kemerovo (Kuznetsk basin), where he was tortured, several times shorn and had to drag wheelbarrows full of coal for several years. * The following were convicted with Bishop Joasaph in this, “The Case of Members of the Kazan Branch of the ‘True Orthodox Church’, Kazan, 1932”: Protopriest Nicholas Vasilyevich Petrov. He was born in 1874 in the village of Demidovo, Livansky uyezd, Orel province, into the family of a priest. He graduated from the Kazan Theological Academy with the degree of candidate of theology in 1898. Until 1918 he was a professor in the Kazan Theological Academy, and at the beginning of the 1920s – a professor of Kazan State University. He was the first and last rector of the theological institute that took the place of the Academy. He was ordained to the priesthood, and raised to the rank of protopriest. On October 6, 1921 he was sentenced conditionally to one year in the camps. In the 1920s he was rector of the church of St. Barbara, and in 1930 was serving in the church of the Georgian icon of the Mother of God. He was arrested on August 31, 1930, and accused that: “being an active participant in the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, and then of the branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization, ‘the Trues’, he took an active part in the anti-Soviet working over of young people, including the students. He took part in the distribution of the counter-revolutionary appeals of Metropolitan Cyril and in agitation among believing laity in favour of a speech of the Pope of Rome for a crusade against the USSR and in agitation against the main enterprises of Soviet power. On January 5, 1932 he was sentenced to three years exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him. Protopriest Arcadius Ivanovich Volokitin was born on February 14, 1887 in the village of Bogorodskoye, Bogorodskoye volost, Ufimsky uyezd and province. He finished two courses of the Ufa theological seminary before being ordained to the priesthood. In the 1920s he was condemned four times 183 183 for “counter-revolutionary activity”. In 1928 he was exiled to the Bashkirian Autonomous Republic for three years. From the summer of 1930 he lived in Kazan, serving in his house. He was arrested on August 30 and accused of “organizing exiled ‘Grigorians’ in the region of Kozya sloboda in Kazan. Together with a group of ‘five’ he joined the Kazan branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization, ‘the Trues’. He summoned meetings of the anti-Soviet element in his flat and discussed with them methods of struggle against Soviet power, and distributed leaflets and appeals around the villages.” In his interrogation on September 2, 1930, Fr. Arcadius declared: “In my home I arrange prayer services, the worshippers are citizens of Kazan. I refuse to say who they are and how many they are, I do not want to give them away… In general, I have no intention of telling the authorities about the worshippers who visit me. I do not have permission to perform Divine services and do not consider it necessary to let the NKVD know and seek permission from them.” Fr. Arcadius said that since the death of Patriarch Tikhon he had submitted to Metropolitan Peter, although he considered Metropolitan Cyril to be the lawful heir of the patriarchal throne. On January 5, 1932 Fr. Arcadius was sentenced to three years in the camps. After his release he lived in Bashkiria. He was arrested again in October, 1937, and on October 15 was sentenced to be shot by a troika of the NKVD of the Bashkirian Autonomous Republic. The sentence was carried out in Ufa. Protopriest Nicholas Mikhailovich Troitsky. He was born in 1873 (or 1881) in the village of Usovskoye, Ishim uyezd, Tobolsk province into the family of a priest. He went to the Kazan theological seminary and the Kazan Theological Academy, where he took an active part in the Kazan Temperance Society. On graduating he married the daughter of the head of the Society, Soloviev, and was ordained to the priesthood. First he served in the Yagodinskaya Smolensk-St. Demetrius church in Kazan. He was also rector of the Resurrection church, and was raised to the rank of protopriest. During the abortive revolution of 1905 he organized a section of the Union of the Russian People, of which he became president, and on his initiative cross processions were organized in Kazan for various reasons. Later he was transferred to the Kazan real school, where he was also teacher of the Law of God. He found the means to create workhouses to help the students. After the revolution of 1917, when the decree on the separation of Church and State was published, Fr. Nicholas organized a whole series of parents’ meetings in the building of the university in defence of the teaching of the Law of God in school. From 1917 to 1918 he was president of the Kazan Brotherhood for the Defence of the Orthodox Faith. During the occupation of Kazan by the Czechs in 1918 he wrote several appeals against the Bolsheviks. In 1918 he fled together with the retreating White armies to Siberia, and returned to Kazan only at the end of 1922. Then he served in the Zilantyev monastery. In 1923 he was convicted in accordance with article 119 and sentenced to three years’ exile, but the sentence was commuted. In 1928 he was arrested, and in 1929 was imprisoned on Solovki without right of correspondence. He was disenfranchised. On 184 184 August 31, 1930 he was arrested again and cast into the Kazan Transit Domzak. He was accused that “he inspired and led the organization, ‘The Union of Christian Youth’. He was an active member of the Kazan counterrevolutionary organization of churchmen., presenting his flat as a rendezvous for exiled clergy. He actively took part in the transformation of the organization into a branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church On January 5, 1932 he was convicted of being “the director of the counter-revolutionary youth organization,”, and of belonging to a counter-revolutionary organization that he was trying “to transform into a branch of the True Orthodox Church, and in the practical activity of the branch that followed”. On January 5, `1932, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. In 1937 he was arrested again in Kazan, and on November 29 was sentenced to ten years without right of correspondence. On December 2, 1937 he was shot. Protopriest Andrew Ivanovich Bogolyubov. He was born on August 13, 1863 in the village of Sharmashi, Laishevsky uyezd, Kazan province into a peasant family. He went to an intermediate school and to a theological institute. In 1887 he began to serve in the village of Klyuchitsy, Sviyazhsk uyezd, Kazan province. In 1905 he was transferred to the village of Burnashevo, Sviyzahsk uyezd, and in 1921 – to the cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul in Kazan. On August 31, 1930 he was arrested and cast into Kazan transit prison. On January 5, 1932 he was convicted of “being a participant in a branch of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The True Orthodox Church’ in Kazan”, and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to three years’ exile to the north. Nothing more is known about him. Protopriest James Yakovlevich Galakhov was born in 1865 in the village of Gorodischi, Kalyazin uyezd, Tver province, into the family of a priest, and received higher edcuation. He graduated from a Theological Academy. In the 1890s he was serving in a church in Bezhetsk, Tver province. In the 1910s he became a professor of Tomsk University, and in 1918-19 a member of the “Higher Temporary Ecclesiastical Administration of the Siberian churches”. He was arrested in 1922 and sentenced to three years exile in Turukhansk region. From 1926 to 1927 he served in the churches of Irkutsk. He was arrested in 1927 “for counter-revolutionary activity”, and again exiled to the Turukhansk region. He was close to Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan. In 1930 he was released, but forbidden to live in six places. He settled in Kazan. He was arrested on August 31, 1930 in a group case of churchmen. He was accused that: “being in exile in Turukhansk, he established links between Metropolitan Cyril and the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, guaranteeing the reception of directives and counterrevolutionary appeals from Metropolitan Cyril for the Kazan organization. On arrival in Kazan in 1930 he was a direct participant in the Kazan counterrevolutionary organization of churchmen, inspiring it in practical anti-Soviet 185 185 activity, including agitation in favour of a speech by Pope Pius for a crusade against Soviet power.” During the trial his diary was requisitioned, together with his notes under the heading “The Church in the conditions of apostasy”. This, for example, is his entry for November 7, 1930: “This is a cheerless, protracted, permanent spiritual blizzard, a demonic bedlam… The Church has already in effect been placed in pre-Nicene conditions of life. She must go into the wilderness.” “Persecutions have multiplied, martyrdom has begun, and continues to this day. The better part of the clergy and laity has landed up in prisons and exile.” Metropolitan Sergius’ interview simply appalled Fr. James: “This interview produced the most repulsive impression on me, it is so shameful for the head of the Church that even now I have not recovered. It pains me to read it, it is a disgrace in front of foreigners, the renovationists and the sectarians.” On January 5, 1932 Fr. James was sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him. Priest Andrew Ioannovich Bogolyubsky (or Bogolyubov). He was born in 1863 in the village of Sharmashi, Laishevsky uyezd, Kazan province. He finished two courses in a theological institute. He served as a priest in the SS. Peter and Paul cathedral in Kazan. He was arrested on August 31, 1930, and was accused that: “being a participant in the practical activity of the Kazan branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church, he established links with the White émigrés in China, received money and counter-revolutionary leaflets, including a prayer for the return of the Tsar that was being spread among the young people. He took a direct part in agitation in favour of the speaking out of the Pope of Rome.” On January 5, 1932 he was sentenced to three years exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him. Priest Alexander Semyonovich Gavrilov. He was born in 1884 in the village of Uryazbash, Mamadysh uyezd, Kazan province into the family of a priest. He graduated from Kazan Theological Academy and was then ordained to the priesthood. He served in the church of the Georgian icon of the Mother of God in Kazan (according to another source, the Pokrov church). In 1924 he was arrested and exiled “for counter-revolutionary activity” to Turkestan. He was released early and returned to Kazan, but was disenfranchised. On August 31, 1931 he was arrested and accused that, “being a member of a Kazan counter-revolutionary organization, and then of the Kazan branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, he took an active part in anti-Soviet agitation among believers. He took part in the distribution of the counter-revolutionary appeals of Metropolitan Cyril, and in the discussion of methods of struggle against Soviet power.” On January 5, 1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him. Priest Nicholas Alexandrovich Dyagilev. He was born in 1872 in Yekaterinburg into the family of a priest. In 1897 he finished his studies at the 186 186 Yekaterinburg (or Tobolsk) theological seminary. In 1907 he was ordained to the priesthood, and made rector of the church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Yekaterinburg. He was arrested in October, 1923 for “counter-revolutionary activity” and sentenced to three years in the camps. From 1923 to 1926 he was on Solovki. In October, 1926 he was released and settled in Kazan, becoming superior of a monastery and, six months later, priest and then rector of the Trinity church. In 1928 he became rector of the Theophany church. He was arrested on June 27, 1931 in a group case of churchmen, and accused of “taking an active part in the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen. Then he took part in the activity of the Kazan branch of the AllUnion Centre of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, including distributing the counter-revolutionary appeals of Metropolitan Cyril and discussing methods of struggle against Soviet power.” On January 5, 1932 was sentenced to three years exile in the north. In 1935 he returned to Kazan. He was arrested in November, 1937, and was sentenced to be shot. The sentence was carried out in December. Protodeacon Peter Vonifatievich Titkov. He was born in 1877 in the village of Kutlovo-Borki, Sapozhkovsky (or Sapayevsky) uyezd, Ryazan province in a peasant family. He was educated at home. Until 1908 he worked on the estate of the landowner Shilovaty in Ryazan province. In 1913 he was ordained to the diaconate, and in 1920 began to serve in the Pyatnitskaya church in Zamoskvorechia, Moscow. In 1927 he was arrested and sentenced to three years’ exile in accordance with article 58-13 part 2. In April, 1930 he was released from exile, but was forbidden to live in six places. He settled in Kazan. On June 27, 1931, while serving in the Nikolo-Veshnyakovskaya church in Kazan, he was arrested and cast into Kazan Domzak. He was accused that: “on arriving in Kazan, he had a secret meeting with Priest Troitsky and together with him took part in anti-Soviet agitation among laymen, and in the distribution of the counter-revolutionary appeals of Metropolitan Cyril”. On January 5, 1932, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him. Abbess Angelina, in the world Anna Stepanova Alexeyeva. She was born in 1884, the daughter of a Kazan merchant, and received higher education. In 1902 (1901) she became a ryasophor nun in the Fyodorovsky monastery. In October, 1918, she was appointed the treasurer, and in February, 1923 (1922), after the death of Abbess Margarita, Mother Angelina was appointed superior of the Fyodorovsky monastery by Bishop Joasaph, who was at that time temporarily ruling the Kazan diocese. Energetic and clever, Abbess Angelina was among those few who unambiguously expressed their opposition to the renovationists when almost all the parish clergy had gone over to them. In July, 1924, during the re-registration of the monastery, the renovationists managed, by deception and with the help of the monastery priest, to take control of the monastery. But the nuns under the leadership of Abbess 187 187 Angelina did not leave the monastery and called on all the parishioners not to visit the renovationist priest. After a time, being forced to serve in a deserted church, the priest repented and the monastery became Orthodox again. Mother Angelina stayed in the monastery until its closure in 1928 (1927), after which she did handiwork at home. On August 27, 1930 she was arrested in a church case and was accused of “taking part in the organization of the provision of food and money for exile clergy. She carried out tasks of a counter-revolutionary organization linked with Bishop Joasaph. She took part in meetings of a counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, being a participant in the anti-Soviet activity of the counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen.” She was arrested again on June 27, 1931, and again on January 5, 1932, when she was sentenced to three years’ exile, first in Archangelsk and then in the Komi and Zyryansk regions. On being freed she settled in Kazan, where she acted as a courier for correspondence with Metropolitan Cyril. On December 8, 1937 she was arrested, interrogated on December 15 and on December 21 (28) – shot. Nun Agrippina (in the world Agrippina? Andreyevna Kukarnikova). She was born in 1882 in Kazan in the family of an estate manager, and had an intermediate education. She was a teacher, and from 1925 – a nun in a Kazan women’s monastery. She was arrested on June 27, 1931, and was accused that: “being a member of a counter-revolutionary organization, and then of the Kazan branch of the ‘Trues’, she took an active part in anti-Soviet agitation among the inhabitants of Kazan and the peasants of the surrounding villages, spreading rumours about the coming of the Antichrist and the end of the world. After the arrest of members of the Kazan branch of the counterrevolutionary organization, the Trues, she went around the city and the villages, collecting money and food for the arrested and calling on people to defend ‘the sufferers for Orthodoxy’.” On January 5, 1932 she was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. She was shot in 1937. Nun Margarita (Petrovna Surina). She was born in 1866 or 1865 or 1867 in Kazan in the family of a policeman. She went to a parish school and then entered a monastery in Kazan, where she was tonsure in 1902, living there for thirty-five years. After its closure in 1928 she existed on money from day work – cleaning, darning, etc. She corresponded with Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan. “The last letter I sent was in January, 1931. I asked him to pray for me and comfort me, since I felt that I was becoming depressed.” On June 27, 1931 she was arrested and cast into Kazan transit prison. She was accused that: “being a participant in the Kazan branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization, ‘the Trues’, she took an active part in discussion of methods of combatting Soviet power and in anti-Soviet agitation among believers. She established links between the organization and Metropolitan Cyril”. On January 5, 1932 she was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about her. 188 188 Nun Juliana (Julia Vasilyevna Stakheyeva). She was born in 1900 in Tsarskoye Selo, St. Petersburg province into the family of a millionaire industrialist. She studied until 1918, and then worked as a librarian until 1922. Then she was a clerk in various institutions. She became a nun in 1922, in which year she moved to Kazan. In 1925 or 1926 she was summoned to the GPU and deprived of her passport. From that time she lived without documents and without fixed domicile, earning her living as a cleaner in houses. She was a parishioner first in the Resurrection, and then in the St. Nicholas church. She helped to clean the church and chanted in the choir. On June 27, 1931 she was arrested and cast into Kazan transit prison. She was accused of “establishing links between the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization, and then the Kazan branch of the All-Union church-monarchist organization, ‘the Trues’, with exiled and imprisoned clergy, and of taking part in the distribution of the counter-revolutionary appeals of Metropolitan Cyril. On January 5, 1932 she was condemned for “being a participant in the Kazan branch of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The True Orthodox Church’, linking it with exiled and imprisoned clergy, and taking part in the distribution of the counter-revolutionary appeal of Metropolitan Cyril”. In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, she was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her. Nun Vitalia (Dmitrievna Tersinskaya). She was born in 1877 in Kazan into the family of a merchant. She entered a women’s monastery in Kazan in 1890 and served there for almost forty years, until the death of her father. In 1922 she was for eight months the cell-attendant, or servant, of Metropolitan Cyril before he went into exile. Then she several times visited him in exile – to UstSysolsk, Ust-Kulom, Podyelsk, Perevoloki in Krasnoyarsk (there she did not catch Metropolitan Cyril, since he had been taken to Yeniseisk). After the closure of her monastery she earned money by sewing, together with her sister, Nun Kaleria. On August 21 (31), 1930 she was arrested and cast into Kazan transit prison. She was accused of being “a member of the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, and then of the branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization, ‘the Trues’. She established links with Metropolitan Cyril, and personally went to him in Turukhansk province for instruction. She distributed his counterrevolutionary appeals, and took part in the organization of meals for clergy repressed by Soviet power.” On January 5, 1932, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, she was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. She was shot in 1937. Nun Kaleria (Dmitrievna Tersinskaya). She was born in 1867 or 1866 or 1870 in Kazan in the family of a merchant. She struggled in a monastery in Kazan for about fifty years. On August 21, 1930 she was arrested and cast into Kazan transit prison. She was accused that: “being a link between the counterrevolutionary organization of churchmen and the branch of the All-Union 189 189 Centre, ‘the Trues’, with Metropolitan Cyril, she took part in the distribution of the appeals of Metropolitan Cyril and in the organization of the obtaining of food and money for the exiled and imprisoned clergy.” On January 5, 1932, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, she was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. She was shot in 1937. Reader Nicholas Yakovlevich Galakhov. He was born in Bezhetsk, Tver province in 1894, the son of Fr. James Galakhov. He studied in Kazan University, but did not finish his course. In 1918 he was mobilized by the Czechs into their army, and retreated with them into Siberia. Then he joined the Red Army. At the beginning of 1921 he was demobilized. Then he served in Kazan and was transferred to Cheboksary, where he was chosen by the believers to intercede with the authorities concerning the requisitioning of church valuables. He was arrested, charged with refusing to hand over church valuables and sentenced to execution by shooting in May, 1922 by the military department of the revolutionary tribunal of the Chuvash republic. At his interrogation Galakhov said: “I doubt that the church valuables will be used to benefit the starving… If the question of their sacred character did not arise, these things could be requisitioned for the benefit of the starving… The famine has appeared as a punishment from God for civil war and fratricide.” However, the presidium of the V.Ts.I.K. declared on August 18, 1922 that Galakhov’s execution should be replaced by ten years in the northern camps (or a house of correction). In accordance with the amnesty of February, 1923, this sentenced was halved, and he was released in 1937. In 1928, or March, 1929, Nicholas Galakhov settled in Kazan, and served as reader and chanter in the Arsky cemetery church. Having received from his father, who was at that time in exile not far from Metropolitan Cyril, the latter’s correspondence with Metropolitan Sergius, he spread it among the citizens of Kazan. Many prominent professors of the Kazan Theological Academy met in the administrative building of the Arsky cemetery, which Nicholas was in charge of: V.I. Nesmelov, I.M. Pokrovsky, Y.M. Polyansky, M.N. Vasilyevsky, and others. Exiled priest were also often present. The main themes of the conversations were the situation of the Church in Soviet conditions and the question of how to evaluate the numerous bans which had been placed by Metropolitan Sergius on hierarchs, his interview with foreign journalists, and his declaration. The majority (even of those who later submitted to Metropolitan Sergius) considered that such actions were undoubtedly inspired by the authorities, and that his expressed opinion concerning those who were in prison, that they were being justly punished for their supposedly criminal activities, was an immoral act unworthy of the conscience of an Orthodox hierarch. Nicholas Galakhov himself agreed with Bishop Nectarius’ suggestion that he accept the priesthood and go to the village of Paderino to take the place of an arrested and exiled priest. However, the ordination did not take place. On August 31, 1930 he was arrested in a group case of churchmen, and was cast into the transfer prison in Kazan. He was accused that: “being a member of the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of 190 190 churchmen, and then of the Kazan branch of the All-Union counterrevolutionary organization, ‘the Trues’, he was directly linked with Metropolitan Cyril and received from him a counter-revolutionary appeal and distributed it. He presented his flat for meetings of the counterrevolutionary organization. There he took an active part in the discussion of methods of struggle with Soviet power. He recruited new members into the ‘Trues’ organization, and established links with Bishop Joasaph Udalov.” On January 5, 1932 he was convicted of being “a participant in the counterrevolutionary organization, a branch of the ‘True Orthodox Church’ in Kazan”, and was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. At his interrogation he said: “I recognize the Old Church orientation, and consider Metropolitan Sergius to be canonical, but I had differences…” Until November 23, 1933 he was in exile at Isakogorka station. Then he lived in Arkhangelsk. Nothing more is known about him. Victor Ivanovich Nesmelov. He was born in 1864 (1863) in the village of Vertunovka, Sverdobsky uyezd, Saratov province into the family of a priest. He studied in the Petrovskoye theological school, the Saratov theological seminary and the Kazan Theological Academy, from where he graduated in 1887. He was immediately offered a professorial stipend at the Academy for one year. In 1888 he was made professor at the faculty of philosophy, lecturer and master of theology. In 1898 he became doctor of theology and extraordinary professor. From 1919 to 1920 he worked in the first Kazan Statistics Bureau as an assistant of the director. He was “a champion of Christian socialism”. In October, 1920 he was made professor of history and philosophy, logic and world views in Kazan University. His pupils included fifty hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, include Archbishop Victory of Vyatka. On April 19, 1921 he was summoned to the Cheka, and on October 6 was convicted of “unlawful teaching in the Academy”, for which he was given one year in the camps conditionally. This was part of the group case, “The Case of the Teachers of the Kazan Theological Academy, Kazan, 1921”. From 1922 to 1929 he had no fixed occupation. In 1929 he was arrested, but released after three days. He was again unemployed. On August 31, 1930 he was arrested and accused that, “being the inspirer of the appearance of the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, he took an active part in the anti-Soviet working over of young people, including the students, offering them his flat for meetings of the organization”. On January 5, 1932 he was convicted by the OGPU of “being a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization, the branch of the ‘True Orthodox Church’ in Kazan”. At his interrogation he said: “I am in complete agreement with the orientation of Metropolitan Cyril with regard to church matters…” “I do not agree with the theory of materialism. I have not mentioned the names of K. Marx and V.I. Lenin, since I consider neither the one nor the other to be philosophers. In conversations with students I evaluated Lenin and Marx as good politicians, but as philosophers they are weak.” In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58- 191 191 11 he was exiled for three years to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him. Eulampius Yakovlevich Polyansky. He was born in 1872 (1871) in the village of Slatukha (Semtukha), Atkar uyezd, Saratov province in the family of a priest. He went to Saratov theological seminary, and in 1895 went to teach in the Volsk theological school. In 1900 he entered the Kazan Theological Academy, graduating in 1904. In 1905 he became a lecturer and professor in Ancient Hebrew and Biblical Archaeology (from 1910) in the academy. He was an active member of the Palestine Society attached to the royal court. From October, 1918 to 1919 he was a teacher of Russian language and literature in Kazan, then a teacher in various schools. On October 6, 1921 he was condemned by the Cheka for “unlawful teaching in the Academy”, for which he was sentenced to one year in the camps conditionally. His was part of the group case, “The Case of the Teachers of Kazan Theological Academy, Kazan, 1921”. On August 31, 1930 he was arrested again, cast into a prison in Kazan, and accused that: “joining a counter-revolutionary organization and the Kazan branch of ‘the Trues’, he took an active part in discussions of methods of struggle against Soviet power and in the anti-Soviet working over of the students”. On January 5, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him. Alexander Semyonovich Lyutkin. He was born in 1889 in Kazan into the family of a merchant. In 1914 he entered Kazan Theological Academy, where he became secretary of the Academy, and also finished juridical courses at Kazan university. He graduated in 1918, and in the same year retreated with the White Czech forces to Omsk. In 1919 he was serving as a statistician in a government department. In 1920 he returned to Kazan and served in various institutions as an economist. On August 31, 1930 (or June 27, 1931) he was arrested and kept under guard in the Kazan House of Detention. He was accused that: “being a member of the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, he took an active part in discussions of methods of struggle with Soviet power and in the distribution of the counterrevolutionary appeals of Metropolitan Cyril”. On January 1, 1932 he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to three years’ exile in the northern regions. Nothing more is known about him. Michael Nikolayevich Vasilyevsky. He was born in 1874 (1873) in the village of Vasilyevka, Kerensky (or Kermsky) uyezd, Penza province into the family of a church reader. He went to a theological seminary, and then to Kazan Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1899. Then he accepted a professorial scholarship in the Academy, and on August 13, 1900 became Anti-Old Ritualists and antisectarian missionary for the Kazan diocese. On September 1, 1915, after receiving the degree of master of theology, became a lecturer and extraordinary professor. In 1917 he was a member of the Preconciliar Council, and from August – of the Local Council 192 192 of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. From 1918 he worked in various institutions; in the 1920s he was an accountant. On April 20, 1921 he was summoned to the Kazan Cheka and on October 6 was given a one year conditional sentence for “unlawful teaching in the Academy”. In August, 1928 he became president of the parish council of the Bogorodskaya community in Kazan. This community was formed after the closure of the women’s monastery of the Mother of God in Kazan. From 1929 he was without fixed occupation. On August 31, 1930 he was arrested and cast into Kazan transit prison. He was accused that: “being a member of the Kazan churchmonarchist organization, and then of the Kazan branch of the All-Union Centre of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘the Trues’, he took part in the anti-Soviet working over of the students, in the distribution of the counter-revolutionary appeals of Metropolitan Cyril and in discussion of methods of struggle against Soviet power”. On January 5, 1932, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him. Sergius Fyodorovich Girbasov. He was born in 1866 in Yelabuga in the family of an industrialist, and worked as a trader in bread until the revolution. From 1928 he was a member of the church troika of the cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul in Kazan, and a member of the directing board of the Kazan Ars cemetery. On February 11, 1931 he was arrested and accused that: “being a member of the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, and then of the Kazan branch of the All-Union churchmonarchist organization, ‘the Trues’, he took part in anti-Soviet judgements and maintained links with White émigrés in China”. On January 5, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him. Maria Alexeyevna Mironova. She was born in 1890 in the village of Kokuj, Tetyushsky uyezd, Kazan province into a peasant family. In August, 1929, as she herself witnessed, she took part in the work of the community of the Kazan women’s monastery and became a member of a church “troika”. However, in October she left the troika, but continued to go to church. On August 31, 1930 she was arrested. Nothing more is known about her. Lydia Yevgenyevna Manuilova. She was born in 1874 in the village of Lubyany, Vyatka province in the family of an official, and received an intermediate education. Before the revolution she had a private gymnasium in Kazan. On June 27, 1931 she was arrested in Kazan and on August 31 was cast into the Domzak. On January 5, 1932 she was convicted of “taking an active part in the anti-Soviet activity of the branch [of the ‘True Orthodox Church’] in the region of Kozey Sloboda of Kazan”, and of “participating in the discussion of methods of struggling against Soviet power in the flat of Bishop Nectarius [Trezvinsky]”, and of “helping him in establishing connections in Kazan”. At the interrogation she refused to speak “about 193 193 Bishop Nectarius and in general about clergy. I also will not speak of cooperation with Bishop Nectarius on my part.” She was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her. Elizabeth Nikolayevna Stepanova. She was born in 1885 in the town of Tetyushi, Kazan province in the family of a priest, and received an intermediate education. She lived in Kazan and went to the Mariinsk gymnasium (1908). In 1913 (or 1908) she moved to Moscow and worked in the telegraph office. In 1924 she worked for a short time as a seller of candles in the Ivanov men’s monastery. From 1931 she was a wanderer. On June 27, 1931 she was arrested while working in the Central Telegraph Office in Kazan, and was cast into Kazan transit prison. She was accused that: “having been recruited into the Kazan branch of the All-Union Centre of the churchmonarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church, she took part in the organization of illegal prayer meetings, in the discussion of methods of struggling against Soviet power, and gave help to Bishop [Nectarius] Trezvinsky in making connections with the Kazan clergy and the monastic element”. On January 5, 1932, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, she was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. On July 15 she was transferred to the OGPU isolator in Kazan. Nothing more is known about her. * In May, 1933 Bishop Joasaph was arrested for being “a participant in the church-monarchist counter-revolutionary group, the True Orthodox Church”. On January 28, 1934, two years were added to Bishop Joasaph’s sentence in accordance with article 58-11 of the criminal code for supposedly participating in a “church-monarchical group” in the camp, recruiting new members, spreading “provocative rumours about the position of the Church in the USSR” and conducting work among the prisoners “to disrupt the camp and blow up the camp’s work”. He was transferred to a punishment isolator. In 1936 (1935) Vladyka Joasaph was released and returned from the camps to Kazan. He lived in the outskirts of the city with his sick mother, and served fourteen people, including one protopriest and three nuns, in the cemetery church dedicated to SS. Theodore and his sons David and Constantine. His sufferings in the prisons and camps had not broken his faith. He had not renounced Christ or separated from Metropolitan Cyril, with whom, according to one report, he had been for a time in the same prison or camp. In the city, two diocesan councils, one renovationist and the other sergianist, were in control of the churches. Vladyka continued not to recognize the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius and remained a bishop in retirement. He served only rarely in the church of the Yaroslavl wonderworkers in Arsky cemetery, and then only pannikhidas. Those close to him consisted mainly of clergy who were exiled or in sympathy with him. 194 194 Also, the peasants of the Tatar and Chuvash republics, and the Mari region, came to the confessor bishop for advice and archpastoral instruction. However, the majority of the parish clergy were afraid to visit him, and if they visited him, it was in secret. In April, 1936, when they began to destroy the ancient memorials and crosses, Vladyka angrily noted: “The people that does not care for its antiquities is good for nothing.” And, after a short silence, he added: “However, Joseph Vissarionovich [Stalin] has nothing more to destroy, so the cemetery is his last support.” Once, when asked what he thought of Soviet power, he said: “One has to have been in the concentration camps to judge about Soviet power…” Vladyka had very little to live on. But his spiritual children, monks and nuns from the destroyed monasteries of the region, continued to give him and his mother food and clothing, as they had helped his mother during his period in the camps. Vladyka kept very few of these gifts for himself, sending a significant part through trusted people to Metropolitan Cyril (from whom a letter to Vladyka dated September, 1936 has been preserved), to the exiled clergy and to the priests who were languishing in Kazan prison. Moreover, he often gave refuge in his house at 31 Tikhomirova street, flat 2, to people who were persecuted for their confession of the Orthodox Faith. In August, 1937, an agent of the NKVD reported that Bishop Joasaph was persuading people not to go to Metropolitan Sergius’ churches, and was serving pannikhidas in the cemetery church of SS. Theodore, Constantine and David. On November 30 (29) he was arrested at the bedside of his dying mother for “organizing a counter-revolutionary church underground”. Together with Protopriest Nicholas Troitsky, Nuns Eudocia (Dvinskikh) and Stepanida (Makarova) of the destroyed monastery of the Mother of God and several people among those closest to him, he was thrown into the inner prison of the NKVD in Kazan. Nun Eudocia (Eudocia Andreyevna Dvinskikh) was born in 1885 in the village of Chiganda, Sarapul district, Votsk region into a peasant family. From 1903 to 1929 she struggled first in the Kazan women’s monastery, and then as a cleaner in the church of St. Seraphim. On March 8, 1932 (1931) she was arrested, and on October 28 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’ exile in Archangelsk, returning to Kazan in 1934. She was arrested again on October 15, 1937, and on November 29 was sentenced to ten years in the camps for being “a participant in the Tikhon of Kirillovsk underground”. She was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her. Nun Stepanida (Makarova) was born in 1893, the daughter of a peasant in the village of Voikina, Spassky uyezd, Kazan province. She was received into 195 195 the monastery of the Mother of God in 1900, and became a ryasophor nun in August, 1908, carrying out obediences on the cliros and in the weaving of gold thread. In the winter of 1935-36 she went to Metropolitan Cyril with a parcel and letter from Bishop Joasaph, and took back a letter from Metropolitan Cyril to Bishop Joasaph. She was arrested on November 29, 1937. Nothing more is known about her. The NKVD accused Vladyka, on the basis of confessions extorted from tortured prisoners, of organizing a counter-revolutionary underground organization, of slandering the Church in the USSR and Stalin himself, and of sympathies with Fascism and the enemies of the people Trotsky, Tukhachevsky, etc. Vladyka courageously rejected all the charges against him. On November 29, a troika condemned Vladyka Joasaph and Fr. Nicholas to execution by shooting, and the nuns Eudocia and Stepanida to ten years’ hard labour. At 20.35 on December 2, 1937, the feast of St. Joasaph, the prince of India, Bishop Joasaph was shot in the Kazan inner prison. (Sources: A.V. Zhuravsky, “Zhizneopisaniye Svyashchennomuchenika Ioasapha, Episkopa Chistopol’skago”, Pravoslavnaya Zhizn’, 48, N 8 (559), August, 1996, pp. 1-25; “Oppozitsiya mitropolitu Sergiyu v Kazanskoj eparkhii”, Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N 10 (1535), May 15/28, 1995, pp. 10-11; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville, 1949-57, part 1, pp. 213, 214, part 2, pp. 125, 180-181; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyatejshego Tikhona, Patriarkha Moskovskogo i Vseya Rossii, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1994, pp. 955, 976; Bishop Ambrose (von Sivers), “Istoki i svyazi Katakombnoj Tserkvi v Leningrade i obl. (1922-1992)”, report read at the conference “The Historical Path of Orthodoxy in Russia after 1917”, Saint Petersburg, 1-3 June, 1993; “Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj Katakombnoj Tserkvi 1922-1997gg.”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4(8), p. 5; Russkiye Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986; Reader Gregory Mukhortov; Lev Regelson, Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-1945, Moscow: Krutitskoye patriarsheye podvorye, 1996, pp. 579-58; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, pp. 513-514; I.I. Osipova, “Skvoz’ Ogn’ Muchenij i Vody Slyoz”, Moscow: Serbryanniye Niti, 1998, p. 278; M.V. Shkarovsky, Iosiflyanstvo, St. Petersburg, 1999, pp. 355-359; http://www.omolenko.com/texts/katakomb.htm; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/; http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/tatar.html; http://www.histor-iptkt.org/KNIGA/mary.html) 196