The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-11-04
Russian Saints,

Russian Church there are 1888. all told
but besides these there is a number @
saints recognized as such by the peopl
without any sanction of the Church
The Russian Church has canonized thos
who are remarkable for pious and pur
life and yirtuous deeds, whose bodies re
manned incorruptible (relics) and witt
aboundcd in miracles. Sixty-nine Of tn
Russian saints were monks; there ar
81 Bishops, % princes, all of the Ruril
family; 10 martyrs, and seven alienate(
of mind, or foolish for Chlist's sake. y
OF sainted women there are six. st
Olga, st. Juliana and four bearing the
name of st. Euphrosine. All of thest
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
9SS, and in the tenth century they already
had four saints; in the eleventh, 10; in
the twelfth, p; in the thirteenth, IA; in
the fourteenth, IS; in the fifteenth, 80
in the sixteenth, %; in the seventeenth,
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 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 q small community of Chris
tians. Two of them, Theodor and John,
father and son, suffered martyrdom at
the hands pagan Russians, who wanted
80 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 9S6 the great Prince Vladimir, can
onizcd 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. d"
Of course, great majority of his sub
iccts 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,
Mohammedans 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: Il
don want to kiss any mans toe" To
the Mohammedans he said: drinking
Is i 10Y 10 the Russians" So, like his
grandmother. ST. Olga, Vladimir &C
ccptcd 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 great literary treasure. The
kief 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-
esqnc places. showing that their founders
had i 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 martyrdom at
the hands of the Tartars. At that time
many convent served as a stronghold,
and. the Russian monks fought many
battles against the Tartar hordes. The
Moscow converts and churches have
many relics 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
canonizcd. This was St. Alexander, the
Nevsi1g. 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
stsRding 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 che Terrible, for instance, there
were living fully fifteen saints, among
whom Metropolitan Philip was particu.
larly remarkable. Once Phillip thus
addressed Ivan: "Thou art not the
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 and
then. TO dishonor him before the people
he had him placed on an ass and driver
through the streets Phillip exclaimed
@Madman! Thou glorifiest me instead
of dishonoring me. My Savior alsC
rode on an ass Philip, by VANS
order, was stranglcd in prison. But tn,
Church canonized 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 saint but as the nonula,