“Our Nation Still Lives According to the Values of the Regicides” [Russia]

Pravoslavie ^ | 8/3/17

[marshmallow]

A talk with Fr. Job (Gumerov) on the new martyrs of the Russian Church

Father Job, an experienced confessor of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery, speaks about the factors preventing some faithful from recognizing Nicholas II as a saint, the relationship between the Tsar’s abdication and the Russian people’s renunciation of the Church, how mass unbelief impedes the comprehension of the podvig [spiritual exploit] of the new martyrs, and the proper understanding of the people’s repentance for the sins of their ancestors.

The Russian Revolution, with its “Red Terror” that ruined the lives of millions of families, is still an uninteresting event of the distant past for an overwhelming majority of citizens of Russia who are “too busy” to grasp its meaning. Likewise, the media are unwilling to try to comprehend the events that happened 100 years ago. Most available materials on Nicholas II and the February and October Revolutions are either superficial or even presented in the style of “scandal sheets.” Moreover, very few people are talking about the new martyrs, as if multitudes of priests, monks, nuns, and laypeople were not executed by shooting—and as if this was not related to the events of 1917! However, the influence of modern mass media is so strong that sometimes even Orthodox Christians begin to believe fraudulent reports, unproven facts, and odious comments. Today, exhausted by the numerous hateful online discussions on this subject, I have decided to ask Archimandrite Job (Gumerov), who for many years prepared the canonization of Russian saints of the twentieth century, to answer some of the burning questions of the day.

On the attitude towards the last Russian emperor

—Fr. Job, let us begin with a question about the Passion-Bearer Nicholas II. To my surprise, I have recently discovered that, even in the Orthodox circles, many....