The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-11-03
Russian Saints.


OF Russian saints canonized by the
Russian Church there are 1873, all told;
but besides these there is number of
saints recognized as such by the people
without any sanction of the Church.
The Russian Church has canonized those
who are remarkable for pious and pure
life and virtuous deeds, whose bodies re-
NAMED incorruptible (relics) and who
abounded in miracles. Sixty-nine of the
Russian saints were monks; there are
81 Bishops, % princes. all of the Rurik
family; 10 martyrs, and seven alienated
Of mind, or s'foolish for Chiist's sake"
Of sainted women there are six. st.
Olga, st. Juliana, and four bearing the
name of St. Euphrosine. All of these
were princesses of the Rurik family.
Among the Russian saints there are three
Greek, one from Rome, one from Bull
garia, and one baptized Tartar prince.
The Russians embraced Christianity in
98S, and in the tenth century they already
had four saints; in the eleventh, Is; in
the twelfth, %; in the thirteenth, IA; in
the fourteenth, IS; in the fifteenth, 80;
in the sixteenth, %; in the seventeenth,
six; in the eighteenth, four. la this age
of ours. so far, there are no saints, even
in Holy Russia The latest saint, Bishop
Tikhov, canonized in 1861, died in 1888.
At the head of the Russian saints stands
st. Olga, who ruled over Russia for ten
wears. and is known in history as the
Wise. She was the first Christian ruler
of Russia, though she did not venture to
openly propagate Christianity among her
pagan subjects. However, she organized
in secret a small community of Chris
tians. Two of them, Theodor and John,
father and son, suffered martvrdom at
the hands fpagan Russians, who wanted
to sacrifice the boy to their chief idol,
Perun. -'If your god wants my boy"
answered the father, '-let him come and
take him." The offended pagans killed
both father and son on the spot.
In 9sS the great Prince Vladimir, can
onized as '.Saint and Apostolic" openly
accepted Christianity and baptized his
subjects. He declared: "He who will
not be baptized shall not be dear to me. ~
of course, a great majority of his SUBJ
jects wanted to be s'dear" to their mas
ter. When Vladimir made up his mind
10 change his pagan religion there came
to him Hebrews, Roman Catholics,
Mchammedans and Greeks, offering their
religions. He declined to accept the
Hebrew religion on the ground that the
Hebrews had no country of their own.
To the Roman Catholics he said: 81
don't want to kiss any mans toe' To
the Mohammedans he said: drinking
is JOY TO the Russians" So, like his
grandmother, st. Olga, Vladimir &C
cepted the Greek faith.
st. Antony the Great and ST. Theo-
dosy the Great founded the first convent
in Russia in the eleventh century. They
began to dig the famous Kieff catacombs
where afterward thousands of monks
lived, from among whom there came
tens of bishops and tens of founders of
converts elsewhere. To-day in the Kieff
catacombs repose about fifty saints.
Among these may be mentioned st.
Agapti, the physician; st. Theopil, the
crying; st. Pimen, the man of sickness;
ST. Nixon, the dry; st. John, the long
suffering; st. Princess, the virgin; JUL
ana. and st. Nestor, the chronicler, the
father of Russian history. His chronicles
are indeed a great literary treasure. The
Kieff monks spread Christianity and edu-
cation to all parts of Russia They built
churches, schools and converts, the lat
ter usually occupying the most pictur-
esque places, showing that their founders
had a poetic sense.
In the thirteenth century the pagan
Tartars conquered Christian Russia and
ruled over it for two centuries and half
Many princes and bishops came to the
front in defense of their country and
faith, and many. suffered martvrdom at
the hands of the TartarS. At that time
many convent served as stronghold,
and the Russian monks fought many
battles against the Tartar hordeS. The
Moscow converts and churches have
many relies of these patriotic martyrs
and monk warriors. That the princes
who suffered death for refusing to adore
the Tartar idols were canonized is not
surprising, but there was one prince who
adored the idols and Frustrated himself
before the pagan fire, and yet he was
canonized. This was st. Alexander, the
Nevsky. He was pure diplomat.
While showing respect to the Khan and
his idols he was preparing an army and
bringing Russian princes to an under
standing as to how to get rid of the Tar
tar yoke He deserved much of his
country, and the thankful Church canon
lied him. The relics of this diplomatic
saint repose in St. Petersburg, and he is
regarded as the special patron of the
Cars residence.
: After the Tartar's were driven away
the Russian monks and bishops en-
countered dangers enough in defending
their people and faith against their own
Cars, and thus MARTYRS continued to
appear in Russia. During the reign of
Ivan the Terrible. for instance. there
were living fully fifteen saints, among
whom Metropolitan Philip was partfcu-
1arly remarkable. Once Philip thus
addressed Ivan: Then art not the
Father of thy people, but a tyrant.
Blessed be the hand that shall kill thee,
rabid dogrn Ivan, in a rage, ordered
that the Metropolitan be tortured and
then, to dishonor him before the people,
he had him placed on an ass and driven
through the streets. Phillip exclaimed:
..Madman! Thou glorifiest me instead
of dishonoring me. My Savior also
rode on an ass" Phillip. by VANS
order, was strangled in prison. But the
Church canonized Philip, and there are
three days dedicated to him.
Of all the Russian saints the name of
ST. lila (Elias,) the Moorometz, is the
most familiar to the Russian people at
large, not as saint but as the popular |
hero of the twelfth century. Though |
surprising all other Russians in strength, |
lila did not care to fight. He stayed at |
home warming himself at the baking
oven for thirty-and-three years. But |
when he learned that the pagan Tartars
were depressing Christians and mocking