Feast of Holy Fathers of 1917-1918 Local Russian Council established

Moscow, May 5, 2017

Photo: Foma.ru

At its May 4 session at Moscow’s Danilov Monastery, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church resolved to establish a new feast glorifying the holy fathers of the 1917-1918 Local Russian Church Council, to be celebrated on November 5/18, the day of the election of St. Tikhon to the Muscovite patriarchal throne, reports the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The decision was made after the Synod heard the report of Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, the chairman of the organizing committee for the 100th anniversary of the opening of the local Russian Council and the restoration of the patriarchate to the Russian Orthodox Church. Central to the celebrations will be the August 15/28 celebration of the centenary of the opening of the local council, and the November 5/18 celebration of the election of St. Tikhon of Moscow as the first Russian patriarch in about 300 years, and the November 21/December 4 of the celebration of the enthronement of St. Tikhon.

In addition to the election of St. Tikhon, the holy fathers of the 1917-1918 local council in general will also be celebrated on November 5/18, by decision of the Holy Synod. The fathers to be celebrated are:

St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia († 1925)
Hieromartyr Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlesnky, † 1918)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Andronik (Nikolsky, † 1918)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Vasily (Bogoyavlensky, † 1918)
Hieromartyr Bishop Germogen (Dolganev, † 1918)
Hieromartyr Bishop Ephraim (Kuznetsov, † 1918)
Hieromartyr Bishop Lavrenty (Knyazev, † 1918)
Hieromartyr Archimandrite Varlaam (Konoplev, † 1918)
Hieromartyr Archimandrite Matthew (Pomerantsev, †1918)
Martyr Alexey Zverev († 1918)
Martyr Nikolai Varzhansky († 1918)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Mitrophan (Krasnopolsky, † 1919)
Hieromartyr Bishop Platon (Kulbush, † 1919)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Tikhon (Nikanorov, † 1920)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Sylvester (Olshevsky, † 1920)
Hieromartyr Bishop Simon (Shleyov, † 1921)
Hieromartyr Metropolitan Benjamin (Kazansky, † 1922)
Hieromartyr Archimandrite Sergei (Shein, †1922)
St. Alexey (Soloviev, †1928)
Hieroconfessor Metropolitan Agafangel (Preobrazhensky, †1928)
Hieromartyr Archimandrite Benjamin (Kononov, †1928)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky, †1929)
Hieromartyr Bishop Vasily (Zelentsov, † 1930)
Hieromartyr Archbishop John (Pommer, † 1934)
Hieromartyr Fr. Vasily Malakhov († 1937)
Hieromartyr Archpriest Alexander Hotovitsky (†1937)
Hieromartyr Archpriest Konstantin Bogoslovsky (†1937)
Hieromartyr Metropolitan Evgeny (Zernov, †1937)
Hieromartyr Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky, †1937)
Hieromartyr Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov, †1937)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Prokopy (Titov, † 1937)
Hieromartyr Archpriest Iliya Gromoglasov (†1937)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Seraphim (Ostroumov, †1937)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Nikolai (Dobronravov, † 1937)
Hieromartyr Archimandrite Kronid (Lyubimov, † 1937)
Hieromartyr Metropolitan Seraphim (Chicagov, †1937)
Hieromartyr Archpriest Sergei Goloschapov († 1937)
Hieromartyr Archimandrite Isaac (Bobrakov, † 1938)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Alexander (Trapitsin, †1938)
Hieromartyr Metropolitan Anatoly (Grisyuk, † 1938)
Martyr John Popov († 1938)
Hieromartyr Archpriest John Artobolesky (†1938)
Hieromartyr Archpriest Michael Okolovich († 1938)
Hieromartyr Archbishop Nikodim (Krotkov, † 1938)
Hieroconfessor Bishop Athanasy (Sakharov, †1962)
Hieroconfessor Archpriest Peter Cheltsov († 1972)

The Synodal liturgical commission is to submit no later than July 15 the text of the troparion, kontakion, and magnification of the Holy Fathers of the Local Council of the Russian Church. A new service is also to be written, but until the time of its completion the service for the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, found in the Menaion on January 25, is to be used.