 |
| Saint Mitrofan (Mikhailov) |
The usual accusations were presented under the famous 58th article: [the accusations consisted of] “Anti-Soviet and pogromic* agitation, the creation of cells of True-Orthodox churchgoers, the bringing up of the youth in an anti-Soviet spirit, systematic agitation against the politics and measures of the Soviet authority, the imposition of secret monasticism as an especial method of establishing ant-Soviet and Ecclesiastical cadres, and the dissemination of religious-monarchist literature”.
[*pogromic comes from the word "pogrom" which means "an organized massacre of a particular group".]
Apart from this, the arrested were accused of “forming secret churches in the private houses of the faithful and of hiding the white clergy”, “organizing systematic material aid for the clergy and churchgoers who were repressed by Soviet authority”, as well as “the wide recruitment of those anti-Soviet people who are drawn to religion, with the aim of creating a strong societal movement against the Soviet authority”.
In the “Accusatory conclusion”, it was noted that in October of 1932, there were “9 conspiratorial church groups were uncovered and operationally liquidated in Leningrad, who were adherents of the True Orthodox Church. With these groups the Chekists identified the following:
The Holy Trinity church in Lesnom, Sretensky in Polustrovo, Moiseevsky on Prohovih, the Monastic settlement of the Athonite St. Andrew's Skete, and the Secret churches and monastic settlements which were set up in houses.
As a result, the leaders of these groups were identified as: Protopriest Alexander Flerov, Priests Alexander Sovetov, Alexis Soglasnov, Alexis Zapadalov and Michael Slovtsev, Archimandrite Macarius (Reutov), and Hieromonks Mitrofan and Seraphim (Ivanov).
The main body of documents on the "Josephites" continues to be kept secret by the descendants of the Chekist executioners even today, but by the grace of God materials have become available, allowing a trace to be made of the confessional deed of one of these “group” leaders – Hieromonk Mitrofan (in the world Nicholas Mikhailovich Mikhailov), right unto his martyrdom.
Hieromonk Mitrofan was born in 1876. He was a monastic for 34 years - 27 years of them in the Makaryev monastery and for 7 years in the world. From 1925, he served in the Nikiforovsky church behind the Nevsk outpost, and later in the Archangel Michael church, followed by the Holy Trinity in Lesnom.
From October of 1930 and after the registration of the “twenty” churches, he left serving in churches and “secretly performed Divine Services in the private houses of the faithful - with whom he had illegally lived among during the course of 7 years”.
During the meeting with the investigator, at his very first interrogation, he was questioned concerning his “party membership and political convictions” - to which Fr. Mitrofan responded: “I view the Soviet authority negatively. I have never complied with it and never will in anything”; in the data section dealing with: “Societal and revolutionary work”, Fr. Mitrofan boldly revealed: “In accordance with the testament of the Apostle Paul, I anathematize the existing authority as anti-Christ”.
And at the interrogation on the 19th of October, 1932, Father Mitrofan declared:
“I confess the name of my God the Lord Jesus Christ, Who came to redeem humanity through His sufferings and I confess the authority and power of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Before this mendacious, blasphemous Soviet authority; I am amazed at its audacity – how a creation rebelled against the Creator. As a Hieromonk, this Soviet authority and all of the atheists wherever they may be and those who do not believe in God, I denounce and condemn, because the Soviet authority is truly a satanic and demonic authority”.
“The Soviet authority has no head – this head is hidden, because the Antichrist, the destroyer of the human race, has not yet appeared. The forerunner of the Antichrist is Lenin who introduced a false doctrine and seduced the world with this teaching. The Russian people fell under the influence of the Jews, and has become a washcloth of these Jews. Now we witness the authority of darkness (of Satan) whose works are lawlessness”.
“Earthly authority without God’s Annointed, without a Tsar, cannot be lawful. The authority must have a monarch: only with a God-anointed Tsar in union with the Church can we have order on earth. Satanic authority is annihilating and agonizing – it cannot give order. Under the influence of the satanic authority, as a force, all of the people are in darkness, in hatred and are beastly; creating their own perdition, because without faith in [the vision of - alternate translation] God and a Tsar, there can be no life as “the heart of the king is in the hands of God’, while the Soviet authority is Satan’s blind weapon”.
After 10 days of interrogations on the 29th of October in 1932, Hieromonk Mitrofan said:
“I, Hieromonk Mitrofan, regard it as an honor to stand before the satanic Soviet authority unto the honor, glory, and dominion of the great God: the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. I confess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and am an accuser of the God-despised works of the mindless, mendacious Soviet authority. I spoke when I was free. I enunciated speeches and am also now declaring in prison: Satan’s servants, those in power, awaken demented ones! Cease the destruction of the Church, stop your bloody persecution of the Christians, have the fear of the Judgement Day of the Lord Jesus Christ - for you have slain the Tsar-Batushka – the Annointed of God”.
Further on, Fr. Mitrofan confirmed that after the registration of the churches, he went into an illegal position and, “established a movement of secret servants of True Orthodox Christians - having headed this faction while creating underground churches in the private houses of True Orthodox Christians, where he denounced the satanic works of the authorities”, and outlined in detail the following – point by point, to his adherents in his sermons and his conducted discussions:
“1. The destructive and ruinous power of demons and satanism is embodied in the government of the current authority, in its demonic institutions, in the Red army, where only outcast soldiers can serve who were rejected by God”.
“2. The destructive and ruinous forms of the Soviet authority can be seen in the creation of Soviet farms and collective farms; erecting all types of ‘Dneprostroyev’, ‘Volhostroev’ and other demonic edifices.
Pigsties were built in the churches of God, stables and nativity scenes were replaced by houses of culture and theaters.
I said and am still saying - realize all ye heathens that God is with us, and the codes of the Soviet authority are a false and destructive satanic prescription.
I spit and am spitting upon, I trampled and am trampling upon, and do condemn and reject all Soviet laws. I do not regard myself as guilty before the Soviet authority, for it is not the Tsar's power, which judged shepherds, by removing them from their ranks - if they were criminals; but the Soviet authority judges and executes the clergy – and even Bishops.
This all came about from a disease, from an idol, from Lenin. He infected the whole world with his teachings and sent many Orthodox Christians into Satan’s prison.”
“In killing me, the authority will kill my body, but it will not kill my warring spirit aimed against the demons and satanism”.
The Christians and spiritual flock that was attracted to Father Mitrofan, included Hieromonk Philaret, (in the world Philip Yefimovich Karzanov), who, like Fr. Mitrofan, conducted secret Divine Services in private homes beginning in 1931. During his interrogation, he declared: “I will not reveal the houses in which I conducted the Services, because I don’t want to be a Judas and betrayer”.
There was also [in the spiritual family of Fr. Mitrofan]: Elena Andreevna Perova, who “converted her house into a church and refuge for the secretly serving monastic clergy”; the catacomb nun Maria Nikolaevna Chistiakova who organized at her house “illegal discussions on religious-political themes, and who glorified the cult of [Saint] Maria of Gatchina”; the catacomb nun Theophania (in the world Anna Dimitrievna Shevchenko); the Nuns Lubov Ivanovna Yamkovskaya, Maria Fedotavna Anipkina, Maria Vassilievna and her sister Yelizaveta Vassilievna Shukin.
At the conclusion of the charges, it was noted that all of those arrested with Father Mitrofan were convinced that “the Church could not exist legally with the Soviet authority and therefore the act of the registering of “God’s churches” with the Soviet institutions**, was regarded as an “act forbidden in principle, being tantamount to being “on the antichrist’s roster”. They all, also, categorically refused to accept Soviet documents, regarding that acceptance of such documents, to mean “accepting the seal of the Antichrist”.
[**It should be noted that the "Josephite" Bishops Saint Joseph, Metropolitan of Petrograd and Saint Sergius, Bishop of Narva, while remaining the Ecclesiastical leaders unto those who denied the possibility of registering parishes, did themselves make the allowance for such a legal registration around this time.]
 |
| St. Joseph of Petrograd (left) and St. Sergius of Narva (right) |
In December of 1932, the Indictment was drawn up. Of the arrested, 9 were released, while the remaining 130 were found guilty by the OGPU which sentenced them, including Hieromonks Mitrofan and Philaret, to 10 years in a labor camp.
After the sentences were read, both Hieromonks were sent to the Solovki camp of special designation. According to their records, Father Mitrofan arrived at the camp on the 26th of May, 1933. He was incarcerated on the main island of Solovki, where he continued his prayerful and pastoral service, which understandably disturbed the local Chekists. Thus, in a report dated the 20th of May, 1934, it was reported, on the basis of the denunciations of certain secret informants, concerning the "anti-soviet nature" of both the prisoner Mikhailov and his adherents:
“Since January of 1934, the imprisoned Mikhailov revealed himself as the more active among the formerly Orthodox clergy***, gathering around himself the fanatic-religious zealots, and heading a group of former priests of the ‘Josephite’ persuasion”.
[***The Soviets and the Sergianists, viewed the Orthodox of the Catacomb Church as being outside of the Orthodox Church - hence such language.]
“An especially authoritative figure on the island is the prisoner, Nicholas Mikhailovich Mikhailov, formerly the Hieromonk Mitrofan who enjoys immense popularity among the religious-fanatics (lay people) of the camp.
The former Hieromonk Mitrofan, while working in the water pumping station, performs Divine Services with the participation of prisoners on Feast Days according to the Old Calendar. Those who participate include [Saint] Alexei Vasilievich Bui, formerly the Bishop of Voronezh (who according to article 58-11 received 10 years [in the camps] which are to end in 1940); the former Hieromonk Philaret Timofeevich Karzanov (a religious fanatic who is serving a 10 year term); and Nikolai Nikolaevich Koshin, the son of a factory worker (who is also serving a 10 year term).
Apart from church vestments, Mikhailov has church books which he keeps in a secret box”.
 |
| Saint Alexei (Bui), Bishop of Voronezh |
Further in the latest special report, the following is detailed: “After a search, the books were seized and the participants were scattered into various camps”.
On the 23rd of February, another secret informer nicknamed “Omelchuk” betrayed the following information: “The prisoner Mikhailov in a sense, created a miracle. In the water pump-house, in the basin below the tap, the water had frozen in the form of a pair of clasped hands with fingers. Prisoner Mikhailov spread the word around the camp, through his adherents, that it is the hand blessing the faithful. This created a pilgrimage to the water pump-house. Because this coincided with Lent, prisoner Konshin (an adherent of Mitrofan) began to enroll the faithful for confession, accompanied with fasting, to Hieromonk Mitrofan. The date was also chosen for the partaking of dry Holy Communion. Among the church utensils in Mitrofan’s possession were Antimins with a relic of Saint Sabbatius, a wooden cross, the Gospel and the dry Holy Gifts”.
Further: “From the search which was executed, all of the items of the holy cult were seized and prisoner Mikhailov was transferred to Mooksolm”. It also notes that all of the activities of Hieromonk Mitrofan among the camp inmates “converged toward disseminating all types of provocative hearsays - partly, about the imminent death of the Soviet authority, as well as all types of predictions about the fate of those incarcerated etc...”
In April of 1934, the same secret informant reported the following: “At the beginning of April, prisoner Mikhailov was once again blended, as an invalid, into another section of the camp, and he immediately restored connections with the faithful and continued to practice his religious work”.
Having arrived at the new camp, the former Hieromonk Mitrofan visited prisoner Konshin and brought him a book “The Colored Triad”, warning him that it was very valuable. Prisoner Konshin hid it among the educational books in the prison library.
The Prisoner is intensely preparing himself for the celebration of Pascha. On Saturday, he is thinking of partaking of Holy Communion and early Sunday morning, to perform the Divine Service with Bishop Alexis (prisoner Alexis Vasilievich Bui). Preparing for Easter with them are the prisoners Konshin, Konev, Voinov and Suhodolsky.
Further on, the activities of the secret camp informer are outlined in the report: “We conducted a search: confiscated were the dry Holy Gifts made up of pieces of prosphora, the Gospel and books of religious content. The book ‘Colourful Triad’ was never found, because it was hidden by prisoner Gedeonova (imprisoned for 10 years), who was the head of a meteorological station, part of a Special Section of an espionage group. Prisoners Bui and Voinov were sent to different camps”. The following addendum to the report is very important because it reveals that prisoner Mikhailov i.e. Hieromonk Mitrofan maintained ties in the camp with “only the former clergy of the ‘Josephites’ and the religious fanatics, extreme reactionaries and a large amount of former kulaks (landholders).
On the 5th of May in 1934, the secret informant Omelchuk lodged a new denouncement:
“The following individuals have grouped themselves around the former Hieromonk Mitrofan Mikhailov - the Prisoners: Theodore Leontovich Belyavsky - a Protopriest who formerly lived in Serpukhov and who is now serving a second term in the camp (sentenced to 10 years); the former Hieromonk Philaret Yefimovich Karzanov (serving a 10 year term); Mikhail Ivanovich Voinov, formerly a farm manager and then an itinerant monk (sentenced to 10 years which are to end in 1942); Nikolai Nikolaevich Konshin, the son of a manufacturer in Serpukhov, who belongs to the ‘Josephites’ (he is sentenced to 10 years); Dennis Ivanovich Suhodolsk, who was formerly a kulak (sentenced to 10 years); and Egor Andreevich Konev, also formerly a kulak (sentenced to 10 years).
All of these individuals visit prisoner Mikhailov, who in turn visits them. Apart from them, prisoner Mikhailov receives visits from the brothers Kraufmanov, who worked at a mill in Moscow. They are part of the reactionaries who owned a large property in the past. They support prisoner Mikhailov with flour and products”.
On the 7th of November in 1935, Father Mitrofan was arrested immediately after a denouncement was lodged stating that at about 3 p.m., in the presence of prisoners Kononov and Platonov, “prisoners Nicholas Mikhailovich Mikhailov and Ivan Yefimovich Semiletov, who were working as watchmen, walked through the corridor and started to swear abusively towards a portrait of Lenin. Prisoner Mikhailov spat at the portrait”.
On the 2nd of June in 1936, in an open hearing of a Special circuit court, Hieromonk Mitrofan was sentenced to an additional 3 years, which, added to that which remained of the term he was currently serving, now totaled 9 years, 3 months and 1 day, beginning on the 2nd of June, 1936.
Father Mitrofan remained on Solovki, but apparently was placed under strict observation and was placed in isolation from the other prisoners - not having any contact with Father Philaret and the other “Josephites”.
The last denouncement of Father Mitrofan was entered on the 12th of March in 1937. It stated that “during work, invalid and former Priest Mikhailov stated that currently, there are no [trustworthy] newspapers, which means that again something is awry in our government and once again, there will be shootings”. Further, it was noted that “he criticized the Soviet leaders, but no one specifically - just derisively, and concluded by saying we will all be shifted from here in spring”.
However, not all but many – including Hieromonk Mitrofan, were indeed relocated, although not in the spring. On the 8th of December in 1937, Fr. Mitrofan along with his colleague Hieromonk Philaret, were executed.
Regarding this, there are existing copies of the Orders from the NKVD for the carrying out of the subsequent sentences with regard to Hieromonk Philaret (Phillip Yefimovich Karzanov) and Hieromonk Mitrofan (Nicholas Mikhailovich Mikhailov).
Holy New Martyrs, pray for us!
(The above text was kindly translated by Seraphim Larin)