As Solzhenitsyn once noted, Patriarch Tikhon, when asked at trial if he thought the Soviet state was lying, replied, simply, “Yes.”
Which was something no other Russian would be able to say so honestly for the next 70 years...
Tone 4: O ye holy hierarchs, royal passion-bearers and pastors, / monks and laymen, men, women and children, / ye countless new-martyrs, confessors, / blossoms of the spiritual meadow of Russia, / who blossomed forth wondrously in time of grievous persecutions / bearing good fruit for Christ in your endurance: / Entreat Him, as the One that planted you, / that He deliver His people from godless and evil men, / and that the Church of Russia / be made steadfast through your blood and suffering, // unto the salvation of our souls.
Kontakion:
Tone 2: O ye new passion-bearers of Russia, / who have with your confession finished the course of this earth, / receiving boldness through your sufferings: / Beseech Christ Who strengthened you, / that we also, whenever the hour of trial find us / may receive the gift of courage from God. / For ye are a witness to us who venerate your struggle, / that neither tribulation, prison, nor death // can separate us from the love of God.