|
© Copyright - material in this site may not be reproduced in any media without the express permission of the Web Master. Care has been taken by this site to ensure that all necessary copyright permissions have been obtained. If this is not the case in any instance, this is an inadvertent error. Please contact the Web Master and this will be rectified. |
The Witness of Holy Russia
Cathedral Church of the Archangel Michael, Nizhniy Novgorod Two events this month reminded me of the heroic and unshakeable faith of the Russian people. First, a newspaper cutting of crowds queuing to get inside the Cathedral of St. Basil in Moscow and an inspired talk by Dr Maria Vorozcheva on the present situation of the Rissian Orthodox Church. Isn't it wonderful that after 70 years' of the most virulent persecution the Church has seen since Diocletian, the faith of so many in Holy Russia, young and old alike is so vibrant and in tact. I shall never forget a pilgrimage to the Nizhniy Novgorod region in August 1995 when Nicholas Chapman and I together with a parishioner / interpreter (Julia Kuznetsova) stayed with Fr Vladimir Chugunov, parish priest of the Church of St. Nicholas, Nikolo Pogost, some 40 km from the city. The community had undertaken a major restoration of the church closed by Stalin. Deeply etched in my memory was the welcome given to us by the members of the church after the Liturgy. The radiance in the hard worn faces of the faithful moved me to tears. They were so happy that British people were discovering Orthodoxy and I immediately felt that tangeable bond between believers which sustains us all in Christ. Of these countless folk who have often given of their very lives for the gospel we shall never be worthy. Perhaps in the west, as we venerate the New Martyrs of Russia, we just might develop that true steel in the soul which, loving Christ above all things, will prepare us to give our lives for Him. The Russian people have lived with and for such a faith for centuries. This, notwithstanding the terrible sufferings of that vast country, is what makes Russia holy. May Britain once again become a holy nation, a city of saints, of the calibre of our brothers and sisters in Holy Rus. Fr Gregory |
