His Holiness the Patriarch blesses a worship cross commemorating the new martyrs and confessors of the Solovki

HIS HOLINESS THE PATRIARCH BLESSES A WORSHIP CROSS COMMEMORATING THE NEW MARTYRS AND CONFESSORS OF THE SOLOVKI

A worship cross to commemorate “the new martyrs and confessors of the Solovki who suffered in the years of the severe persecution for the faith and the Church” has been erected at the walls of the church of the Protomartyr and Victorer George at Yendov, which is the Moscow representation of the Solovki monastery of the Holy Transfiguration.

On February 4, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, who is the archimandrite of the Solovki monastery of the Holy Transfiguration, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the church of the monastery representation and blessed the cross. After the worship cross was blessed, the congregation prayed for the rest of the souls of all those who martyred for their faith in the years of the persecution.

Addressing the congregation, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy said, “Celebrating the Divine Liturgy at the church representation of the Solovki monastery here in Moscow, we are taken mentally to the old monastery sanctified by the feats, martyrdom and suffering of our compatriots. In the post-Revolutionary years, the monastery became one of many Russian golgothas; it was turned into a ‘special’ camp. Many new Russian martyrs and confessors were imprisoned there and performed their feat of confession. The Solovki land is watered by their blood and tears. During one of my visits to the Solovki monastery I came to the church of the Holy Ascension on Sekirnaya Hill, where prisoners were kept and their they froze to death. At the foot of that hill we blessed the first Worship Cross to be erected in memory of those who martyred in the Solovki land for their confession of the faith of Christ. We know the names of many of them, but many more names are known only to God. The Worship Cross at the monastery representation in Moscow will remind us of the sacrifices made by our country and the confessors who witnessed to the faith and truth in the Solovki land”.

The worshippers were given little icons of St. Peter (Zverev), Archbishop of Voronezh, who has been included in the community of the Russian new martyrs and confessors by the Jubilee Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. Today his holy relics rest in the church of the Solovki monastery, next to the graves of its holy founders, Sts Zosima, Savvaty and Herman.