Let Them Defend the Church as They Can

From the life of St. Sophia of Kiev

Being a true offspring of the Optina Elders, with whom she was in constant contact, she soberly discerned the true nature of the Soviet Revolution and knew what to expect from it. Thus, when the assault of the “Living Church” struck, her convent was one of the first to give a blowback, although she herself had already been arrested. A new calendarist bishop was forced into the convent by GPU agents to serve Liturgy. When the women who attended it came up to kiss the Cross at the end, one after another they spit on the bishop’s hand that held the Cross, and thus an end was put to “renovation” in the Protection Convent, and the bishop learned his lesson and repented. Hearing about this, Bishop Damascene exclaimed with bitterness:
“If it were not for women, who else would defend the Church? Let them at least defend it however they can!”
-Life of St Sophia of Kiev
 (+1941)