“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” -George Orwell Concerning the falsification of the life of St. Valentine Sventitsky.
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Concerning the falsification of the life of St. Valentine Sventitsky.
St. Valentine Sventitsky was born in 1881 and reposed in prison, as a Confessor, in 1931. He was a
famous preacher who taught that noetic prayer should be practiced “in the world”. He was also the
spiritual Father of St. Maxim of Serpukhov (the 1st Catacomb Bishop).
When Metropolitan Sergius issued his apostatic declaration in 1927, St. Valentine separated from
communion with him. The Saint viewed Metropolitan Sergius as following the same path as the “Living Church” and “Gregorian” schisms while, in his own words preserving “the fiction of canonicity and Orthodoxy”.
After his repose, his holy body was found to be incorrupt!
Fr. Seraphim Rose refers to St. Valentine as “a modern apostle of unadulterated Orthodoxy in a time of rising apostasy.”
In our days, certain popular falsehoods are being disseminated concerning the anti-Sergianist stance
of St. Valentine. Thus we read in the (2016) English language book* “Archbishop Luke: a Saint, Pastor and Physician Surgeon” the following:
St. Valentine “disallowed his spiritual children even to visit churches which were close to Metropolitan Sergius. Arrested in 1928, they sent him into exile … While in exile he fell seriously ill. He repented and asked for forgiveness from Metropolitan Sergius … (stating) ‘forgive my sin … I reunite myself with the Holy Orthodox Church’. Father Valentine fell asleep on October 20th, 1931, within the bosom of the Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Sergius accepted his repentance.”
The truth however is revealed by Princess Natalia Urusova (1874-1963). (Princess Natalia was a member of the Russian Orthodox Catacomb Church who later became a spiritual daughter of Vladyka Averky of Jordanville. She was the mother of three Martyrs of the Catacomb Church and was highly praised by Fr. Seraphim Rose for her discernment).
Princess Natalia writes concerning St. Valentine:
“In the church of St. Nicholas the Great Cross, there was an old priest. Fr. Valentine Sventitsky,
who was unbending in his firmness against the Bolsheviks and in his open opposition to
Metropolitan Sergius and his declaration.
When he served, the church was so full that masses of people stood not only on the staircase but also
in the courtyard. Of course, the Bolsheviks would have killed him in exile if he had not fallen ill and
died a natural death. His glory spread far, and the Bolshevik power, for which the end justified the
means, needed to discredit him with a common lie before the believers.
He was dying without coming to consciousness [meaning he was unconscious before dying],
and they printed in all the newspapers a letter supposedly written by him before his death, in
which he addressed all his parishioners, beseeching them in his last moments to follow Metropolitan
Sergius and recognize his declaration and commemoration.
A false signature was affixed to the letter. The Bolsheviks arranged a magnificent funeral
for him. Many of the parishioners were led into deception and joined the sergianist church, but
those with minds understood the new and diabolic cunning contained in the false signature.
It was a terrible time, quite indescribable. Those who rejected the commemoration [of Metropolitan
Sergius] and did not agree to sign the declaration linked with the decree were immediately arrested
and shot, no matter how many they happened to be. As the rumor went, in the course of one month up
to 10,000 people were shot in Moscow, beginning with a metropolitan and ending with readers, while
laypeople were shot in their millions in Russia – while some others were imprisoned or exiled to the
terrible conditions of the concentration camps of the North and Siberia. The Lubyanka in Moscow
became a place of mass martyrdom. Passers-by tried to avoid passing by the GPU’s house of death
because of the intolerable stench of death that spread unto a great distance. The corpses were taken out at night; they tried to do this as secretly as possible, but did not succeed.”
Sadly, the fictitious story of St. Valentine’s “repentance” is now widespread within Russia.
In truth, however, it is nothing but Sergianist mythology!
*In this same book, St. Joseph of Petrograd and St. Cyril of Kazan are referred to as “schismatics” – although they both are canonized Saints of the Church!
