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| St. Macarius Kvitkin (seated) |
On July 16/29, 1927, Metropolitan Sergius issued his notorious declaration, which formally opened the way for the antichristian authorities into the Church. Over 90% of parishes in the Urals rejected Sergius' declaration.
The rector of the St. Seraphim church where Fr. Macarius was serving as the second priest at that time was Fr. Alexis S. During the first years of their serving together, he and Fr. Macarius had had peaceful, friendly relations. But after the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, frictions between them developed. Fr. Macarius categorically refused to commemorate the puppet of Soviet power, Metropolitan Sergius, as the patriarchal locum tenens, but commemorated Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsa, who was at that time in prison. This difference in understanding of church truth and the true pastoral way led to the division of the parish into two groups, one supporting Fr. Alexis and the other - Fr. Macarius. Finally, the parishioners came to the decision that the priest who had the majority of votes would remain in the parish. Since the parish was a large one (more than 1000 people), a general meeting was arranged in the church.
The first to speak was Fr. Alexis. He rebuked Fr. Macarius for not recognizing or commemorating Metropolitan Sergius and thereby disobeying him as the rector of the church, and for creating a division and a schism. Then Fr. Macarius took the floor. He explained to the believers that through his declaration Metropolitan Sergius had betrayed church truth and had entered into union with the atheists, the enemies of the Church. For that reason he could not commemorate him for fear of becoming an accomplice in the sin of betraying the Church. This was why he did not agree with, and could not serve together with, Fr. Alexis.
Finally, Fr. Alexis suggested to everyone that those who agreed with him should go to the right part of the church, while those agreed with Fr. Macarius should go to the left. He was hoping for a majority, since he had been a priest for many years and was the rector of the parish. But then something unexpected took place: the left part of the church filled up with parishioners, more than two thirds of those present. Thus did the parishioners express their trust in Fr. Macarius and he became the rector of the church of St. Seraphim. Immediately a thanksgiving moleben was served with great prayerful enthusiasm. Many of the worshipers had tears in their eyes.
It seemed as if everything had gone according to the will of God and the parish had been pacified. But the devil, in the person of the Soviet authorities, was not pacified. In order to force the parishioners to close the church, they imposed an unbearable tax burden on them, and increased it after each payment. Usually the taxes were paid quarterly, but after a general meeting the authorities decide to increase the tax each month. At first the parish somehow managed to pay the tax, but then the authorities began to seize the gold and silver rizas and frames from the icons, together with the Gospels and other precious objects as if in payment of the tax. Then, in 1930, they closed the church on the excuse that the tax had not been paid.
By this time Fr. Macarius had four children living with him: his daughter Olga and Raisa, and his sons Vladimir and Nicholas. His eldest son Sergius, who was a reader in the village of Chorny Otrog, Orenburg region, lived separately. With this family Fr. Macarius took refuge in a small old bath-house which had been adapted for living in.
This had come about as follows. On arriving in Orenburg in 1925, batyushka and matushka and their children had settled temporarily in the house of three sister nuns. Then they had rented a flat from a widow. However, the widow's son, who was a communist, had come and demanded that his mother throw the "pope" out of the flat. Meanwhile, Fr. Macarius had bought a small plot of land with a bath-house, intending to build a small house there later. They threw all the bath things out of the bath-house, installed a Russian stove with benches, put in a small table for meals, a bed for the parents and a trunk with clothes. The children slept on the trunk and the stove, and sometimes simply on the floor. They were all in one room with their parents. This small room, which could be entered only one at a time, served as their kitchen, dining room and bedroom. It was from this bath-house that Fr. Macarius was evicted and taken to prison...
The family lived on alms from the parishioners. They would creep up bringing bread and potatoes and furtively looking on either side as they entered the courtyard in case outsiders noticed them. The Kvitkins had no other kind of support since they were "depriveds" (deprived of civil rights, a category to which the families of clergy belonged).
The bath-house where they lived was located four or five blocks from the church. Every time Fr. Macarius and his children went to church in the morning for the Liturgy, or in the evening for the all-night vigil, they were met on the street by pioneers who threw sand and sometimes even stones at them. Batyushka ordered his children never to reply to these pranks, but to walk calmly on, for they could not expect support from anyone.
From the time that Fr. Macarius remained alone in the church of St. Seraphim [after Fr. Alexis had been voted out], they began to terrorize him and summon him to the GPU. His first summons was supposedly in connection with his non-commemoration of Metropolitan Sergius as patriarchal locum tenens, and also because under his rectorship the parish did not pay the "lawful" tax. The second summons was accompanied by a warning: if the parish did not pay the indicated sum, they would close the church. The atheists suggested to Fr. Macarius that since they would close the church come what may, he should renounce God and his priestly rank in the columnns of the district newspaper. He was to admit that he had "drugged" the people with "religious obscurantism". In return, they promised him a place as a teacher, perhaps even as a school director. Fr. Macarius replied with a categorical refusal. Then they began to try and convince him that in this way he would save his own life and the life of his children. But Fr. Macarius replied that he did not fear death, and that he entrusted his children to the will of God, but that he would never, under any circumstances, break the vow he had given to God. The Lord did not disappoint the hopes of the martyr: all his children grew up to be honorable, believing and pious people.
The chekists advised him to think well about their proposition and to give them a final answer when they next summoned him. And so, on January 21, 1931, they came at midnight to search the bath-house. The search lasted until four in the morning. Of course, they found nothing. Before leaving, Fr. Macarius said goodbye to his family, blessed his matushka and children, and was taken to prison. On March 26, 1931 he was accused of “being a member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’ [True Orthodox Christians]” and of “spreading rumours about the difficult times and the persecution against religion”. He was sentenced to be shot in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 58-7.
In the prison they accepted - rarely, but at any rate sometimes - small parcels of provisions and clean clothing. As always, on March 31, matushka with her elder daughter Olga brought a small parcel, but on that day they did not accept it. On asking why, she received no reply. Then matushka, Olga and some other people who had also brought parcels for their relatives, began to wait for the moment when they would be able to hand over their parcels. And then, at about three in the afternoon, all of them were driven away, the doors of the prison were opened and they led out the arrestees - between 25 and 30 people, among whom was Fr. Macarius. On seeing his wife and elder daughter, he waved at them from a distance. He looked completely healthy. The group was led to the building of the GPU and taken inside, while the relatives who ran after them were ordered to go home. They were told to come the next day at nine o' clock, and everything would be explained to them.
But some did not obey, and surrounded the GPU building waiting. They were given several warnings by the guards, and then some of them were arrested. Among these was the wife of Fr. Macarius and his daughter. Having held them in the basement until morning, they were given a certificate saying that Fr. Macarius had died in prison. Then they were very severely forbidden, under threat of arrest, not to tell anyone where they had been or what they had seen.
Fr. Macarius' wife asked: "Where is the body of my husband? I would like to bury it."
The prison boss who issued the certificate swore and said: "There's nothing to worry about, Soviet power will give him the burial he deserved."
Then he ordered them to go away before it was too late. Then they learned that this group had contained, basically, the priests of Orenburg and the surrounding district who had been the most popular among believers, as well as some steadfast true Christians who had got in the way of Soviet power. And all these people, who the previous day had been healthy and fit, and who had walked calmly and quickly from the prison to the GPU building, suddenly, the next day, "died in prison", a fact that was confirmed by certificates given out to the relatives. Later the rumour spread secretly that all of them had been herded into a basement room in the GPU and gassed. That was why no body was given to any of the relatives.
The reality however was that Fr. Macarius was shot that night (on April 5, 1931, Palm Sunday, at 4:30 in the morning). In this way he gave his life for the true faith as a steadfast martyr and true pastor, loved by his parishioners, a true faithful server in the pastures of Christ.
Many miracles were performed by St. Macarius both during his earthly sojourn and after his martyric death. May we have his holy prayers!