The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-11-02
Russian Saints.

OF Russian saints c~anonized by the
Russian Church there are 1873, all told;
but besides these there is a 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 i~ncorruptible (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 '.foolish for Chlist'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, n from Bull
garia, and one baptized Tartar prince.
The Russians embraced Christianity in
9S8, aud in the tenth century they already
had four saints; in the e%leyeath, 16; in
the twelfth, %; in the thirteenth, IA; in
the fourteenth, 49,; in the fifteenth, 80;
in the sixteenth, %; in the AaIenteenth,
six; in the eighteenth, four. In this age
of ours, SO far, there are no saints, even
in Holy Russia. The latest saint, Bishop
Tikhov, canonized in 1851, died in 1888.
Atthe head of the Russian saints stands
St. OLGA, who ruled over Russia for ten
years, 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 of pagan Russians, who wanted
to sacrifice the boy to their chief idol,
Perun. eff your god wants my boy
answered the father, s'let him come and
take him." The offended pagans killed
both father and son on the spot.
In 988 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 notbe dear to me"
OF course, a great majority of his sub
jects wanted to be dear to their mas
ter. When Vladimir made up his mind
to change his pagan religion there came
to him Hebrews, Roman Catholics,
Nohammedans and Greeks, Offering their
eligions. 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 a Joy to the Russians" So, like his
grandmother, st. Olga, Vladimir ac-
cepted the Greek faith.
st. Antony the Great and st. Theo-
dosy the Great founded the first convent
g, D,.,;o ~, tho olavopth oapt,,ru Tbau
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 Kief
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 greatliterary treasure. The
Kieff monks spread Christianity and edu-
cation to all parts of Russia. They bull
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 a half
Many princes and bishops came to the
front in defense of their country and
faith, and many suffered martyrdom a
the hands of the Tartars. AT that time
/, many a convent served as a stronghold
and the Russian monks fought man,
| haff1ac oooiacf tho rTa,-for. har.Ja0Ea fTf<s
Moscow converts and churches have
and monk warriors. That the prince;
who suffered death for refusing to adore
he Tartar idols were canonized is no
uprising, but there was n prince who
adored the idols and Frustrated himsel
before the pagan fire, and yet he wa.
canonized. This was St. Alexander, thu
Nevsky. He was q pure diplomat
While showing respect to the Khan ant
his idols he was preparing an army ant
bringing Russian princes to an under
standing as to how to get rid of the Tar
tar yoke. He deserved much of hi
country, and the thankful Church canon
lied him. The relics of this diplomatic
saint repose in st. Petersburg, and he i
regarded as the special patron of tn,
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 owl
Cars, and thus martyrs continued t.
appear in Russia. During the reign o
5 Ivan the Terrible, for instance, thcrt
were living fully fifteen saints, among
whom Metropolitan Philip was particu
Il I.rI- -o,a,orl-aI14 [n4o DI.~z E1-
addressed Ivan: Thou art not tn
father of thy people, but a tyrant
Blessed be the hand that shall kill thee
rabid dog!' Ivan, in a rage, ordered
; that the Metropolitan be tortured ant
: then, to dishonor him before the people
!, he had him placed on an ass and driver
! through the streets. Phillip exclaimed
t "Madman! Thou glorifiest me instea'
of di%shonoring me. My Savior ais
!, rode on an ass" Phillip, by Ivan
Church c~anonized Phillip, and there ar
!, three days dedicated to him.
OF all the Russian saints the name O
ST. lila (Elias.) the Moorometz, is tn
most familiar to the Russian people a
large, not as a saint but as the popula
! hero of the twelfth century. Though
surprising all other Russians in strength
) lila did not care to fight. He stayed a
, home warming himself at the baking
, oven for thirty-and-three years. Blu
when he learned that the pagan Tartar
| were depressing Christians and mockin.
the Christian faith, he put on his knight,
armor, jumped on his gigantic charger
and for many, many years lila watere'
Christian lands with pagan blood. Whel
offended lila punished even the grea
! Prince Vladimir, along with all hi
! knights. lila ended his days in tn
i woods, living as a hermit. The peopl
adored their hero, and the Church a
. length %canonized him.
The saints known as s'the foolish TO
! Christ's sake'' lived in that good oil
$ time when tongues for saying straigh
truths were often cut out or burned wit
red-hot iron and melted lead. Tn,
"Christ's FOOLS" however, like cour
ioCtor- ypa,.o aIloruaJ to eorr ,o-- Ill