SYNODAL COMMISSION FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SAINTS

Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints

Russian Orthodox Church

Address: Russia, 125047, Moscow, Tverskaya-Yamskaya 2nd st., 52
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It was formed by a resolution of the Holy Synod on April 11, 1989 in accordance with the decision of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988. Its activities were preceded by the work of the historical and canonical group within the framework of the Anniversary Commission for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'.

The Commission is a coordinating research body engaged in preparing materials for the canonization of ascetics of the faith and presenting them to His Holiness the Patriarch and the Holy Synod. The commission invites archpastors, theologians of theological schools, pastors and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church to cooperate in studying issues of canonization.

Much attention is paid to scientific activities: criteria for the canonization of ascetics of the faith were developed, approaches to the canonization of new martyrs and confessors of Russia were determined in connection with church divisions of the 20th century. Members of the Commission are in constant contact with church and state archives that store Church documents.

The main result of the Commission’s activities was the preparation of the canonization of “the Russian new martyrs and confessors of the 20th century known by name and hitherto not revealed to the world, but known to God” at the Council of Bishops in 2000 (1097 people were canonized by name).

On March 12, 2013, when the composition of the commission changed, the chairmen of the canonization commissions of the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Moldavian Churches, as well as the Kazakhstan Metropolitan Orug, were added to it.

Statistics

from April 11, 1989 to March 22, 2011 - 1,866 ascetics of piety were canonized as saints of the Russian Orthodox Church, including 1,776 new martyrs and confessors of Russia

Commission members

Pankraty (Zherdev), bishop. Troitsky, chairman
Vladimir Vorobyov, provost, secretary

John (Siopko), Metropolitan. Khersonsky, Chairman of the Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Ambrose (Shevtsov), bishop. Svetlogorsky, Chairman of the Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the Belarusian Exarchate
Peter (Mustyatse), bishop. Ungheni, Chairman of the Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the Moldavian Land
Barnabas (Safonov), bishop. Pavlodarsky, Chairman of the Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the Metropolitan District in Kazakhstan

Evgeniy (Reshetnikov), Metropolitan. Tallinn and all Estonia
Ambrose (Ermakov), Metropolitan. Tverskaya
Alexy (Polikarpov), bishop. Solnechnogorsk
Vladislav Tsypin, Rev.
Damascene (Orlovsky), archimandrite.
Kirill Kaleda, prot.
Maxim Maximov, prot.
Nectarius (Blinov), abbot.
Oleg Mitrov, prot.
Victor Zvyagin, Doctor of Medical Sciences

Russian Orthodox Church

It was formed by a resolution of the Holy Synod in 1989 in accordance with the decision of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988. Its activities were preceded by the work of the historical and canonical group within the framework of the Anniversary Commission for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'.

Much attention is paid to scientific activities: criteria for the canonization of ascetics of the faith were developed, approaches to the canonization of new martyrs and confessors of Russia were determined in connection with church divisions of the 20th century. Members of the commission are in constant contact with church and state archives that store Church documents.

The main result of the commission’s activities was the preparation of the canonization of “the Russian new martyrs and confessors of the 20th century known by name and hitherto not revealed to the world, but known to God” at the Jubilee Council of Bishops in 2000 (1097 people were glorified by name).

During the presidency of Metropolitan Juvenal of Krutitsy and Kolomna (1989-2011), 1,866 ascetics of piety were canonized as saints of the Russian Orthodox Church, including 1,776 new martyrs and confessors of Russia.

By the resolution of the Holy Synod of March 22, 2011 (journal No. 18), Bishop Pankraty of Trinity, abbot of the Valaam Monastery, was appointed chairman of the commission.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of July 27, 2011 (journal No. 93), Abbot Damascene (Orlovsky), a cleric of Moscow, was appointed secretary of the commission.

The composition of the commission was approved by the decision of the Holy Synod of March 12, 2013 (magazine No. 33).

The Holy Synod at its meeting on October 22, 2015 (journal No. 72) decided: to include in the commission the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, Archbishop Eugene of Vereisky, and the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, Archbishop Ambrose of Peterhof; release Bishop Stefan of Gomel and Zhlobin from membership in the commission and include the newly appointed chairman of the commission of the Belarusian Exarchate, Archimandrite Nikodim (Generalov), in the Synodal Commission; to appoint the rector of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanitarian University, Archpriest Vladimir Vorobyov, to the post of secretary of the commission, releasing him from this post, with the retention of Abbot Damaskin (Orlovsky) as a member of the commission.

The Holy Synod at its meeting on April 13, 2021 (journal No. 19) decided to include the rectors of the Moscow and St. Petersburg Theological Academies in the commission ex officio.

Canonization of the new martyrs of the 20th century

According to the long-term member of this commission, Abbot Damaskin (Orlovsky), in order to make a decision on the canonization of a particular person, it is necessary to study the entire fund of archival investigative files[7]:

For example, a priest was arrested in 1937, from the interrogation records we see that he behaves courageously, does not compromise, does not perjure himself in order to ease his fate, and does not yield to the pressure of investigators. If we stop the study here, then we will have no doubts about his exclusively confessional life - but in reality, if we get acquainted with the entire archival fund, everything may turn out differently. Two years before the last arrest, NKVD officers called this priest as a witness and demanded that he incriminate his brother, otherwise he could turn from a witness into an accused - and he agreed to testify against his brother, contributing to the legal formalization of his conviction. Since the file is kept by the names of the accused, and not the witnesses, it is possible to find the accused who also acted as a witness only by studying the entire fund of archival investigative cases.

Member of the Inter-Council Presence, Secretary of the Saratov Diocesan Commission for the Canonization of Saints, Priest Maxim Plyakin points out that until 2002-2003, the Synodal Commission for Canonization had a principle: if no mention of cooperation with authorities was found in the materials of investigative and other cases, the applicant was considered innocent. However, over time, a different point of view prevailed, finally enshrined in the “Recommendations for the activities of diocesan commissions for the canonization of saints in the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church,” adopted by the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 6, 2011. According to this document, the collected information must cover in detail the life of the applicant for canonization at all periods of his life and clearly indicate that he was not an employee of the Cheka, NKVD, or OGPU. Moreover, the answers from the archives that they do not contain documents indicating that the person was an employee of the above-mentioned bodies are not considered sufficient evidence in this case. Thus, today the Commission has actually formed the idea of a presumption of guilt of applicants for canonization. At the same time, the Commission is guided by the principle that if information incriminating a particular applicant has not been discovered to date, it may be discovered in the future[8].

In practice, this led to the fact that after December 24, 2010, not a single new martyr was glorified in the Russian Orthodox Church until the Council of Bishops in 2016[8]. Criticism was caused by the disappearance of the names of 36 new martyrs from the church calendar in 2013.

Monk Diodorus (Larionov), noting that the Church does not have a decanonization procedure, assesses the shortcomings in the work of this commission: “ I would name three main problems: haste, lack of clear criteria in the work of the commission and, most importantly, complete exclusion from the scope of the commission’s work theological approach, which in essence should be the foundation of any activity of any church commission. It is precisely without theological understanding of the concept of canonization, what a saint is, holiness, and other fundamental issues that it is impossible to develop correct and adequate criteria for specific canonizations

»[9].

Ksenia Luchenko wrote in February 2013:

Over 20 years of work on preparing and carrying out mass name canonization, the commission has reached a dead end: in recent years, the state has actually closed access to the archives, but even if they were available, this would only increase the contradictions. The original idea that there was no other information on most of the new martyrs other than investigative files turned out to be vulnerable. It was not possible to develop criteria for who should be considered a martyr and who should be considered a victim of the political regime. In addition, the main goal was not achieved - there was no reception of the feat of the new martyrs in the church consciousness, the number of canonized ones did not translate into the quality of their veneration. Only a few of the names of the new saints are heard, only a few are actually revered by the people. For most non-church people, it is generally news that in Russia there are saints - victims of terror and repression, and there are more than one and a half thousand of these saints[10].

The commission's complete trust in the investigative protocols and the confessions of their own guilt contained therein has been repeatedly criticized.

Alexey Artsybushev, who went through Soviet prisons and camps, notes:

The investigator had to accuse and shoot the man at all costs, because there was a persecution of the Church. How can you use documents when a person has been driven insane during an investigation? How can the question be: signed - didn’t sign, said - didn’t say?[11]

PSTGU researcher Lidia Golovkova, who has reviewed more than 20 thousand investigative cases of victims of faith, is sure that judging the holiness of a person based on an investigative case is a mistake. Some cases were even compiled after the person was shot: “all regional departments of the NKVD, including Moscow and the Moscow region, were engaged in falsification of investigative cases, or in the language of the security officers, “lipachestvo.” Evidence of this was obtained by the author while working with investigative cases of 1950-1960; It was during these years that the employees who falsified cases in the thirties were tried.”[4].

Excerpt characterizing the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints

“For the health of beautiful women, Petrusha, and their lovers,” he said. Pierre, with his eyes downcast, drank from his glass, without looking at Dolokhov or answering him. The footman who was handing out Kutuzov's cantata put the sheet of paper on Pierre, as a more honored guest. He wanted to take it, but Dolokhov leaned over, snatched the piece of paper from his hand and began to read. Pierre looked at Dolokhov, his pupils sank: something terrible and ugly, which had been bothering him throughout dinner, rose up and took possession of him. He leaned his entire corpulent body across the table: “Don’t you dare take it!” - he shouted. Hearing this cry and seeing who it referred to, Nesvitsky and the neighbor on the right side turned to Bezukhov in fear and haste. - Come on, come on, what are you talking about? - whispered frightened voices. Dolokhov looked at Pierre with bright, cheerful, cruel eyes, with the same smile, as if he was saying: “But this is what I love.” “I won’t,” he said clearly. Pale, with a trembling lip, Pierre tore off the sheet. “You... you... scoundrel!.. I challenge you,” he said, and moving his chair, he stood up from the table. At that very second that Pierre did this and uttered these words, he felt that the question of his wife’s guilt, which had been tormenting him these last 24 hours, was finally and undoubtedly resolved in the affirmative. He hated her and was forever separated from her. Despite Denisov’s requests that Rostov not interfere in this matter, Rostov agreed to be Dolokhov’s second, and after the table he talked with Nesvitsky, Bezukhov’s second, about the conditions of the duel. Pierre went home, and Rostov, Dolokhov and Denisov sat in the club until late in the evening, listening to gypsies and songwriters. “So see you tomorrow, in Sokolniki,” said Dolokhov, saying goodbye to Rostov on the porch of the club. - And are you calm? - Rostov asked... Dolokhov stopped. “You see, I’ll tell you in a nutshell the whole secret of the duel.” If you go to a duel and write wills and tender letters to your parents, if you think that they might kill you, you are a fool and are probably lost; and you go with the firm intention of killing him, as quickly and surely as possible, then everything will be fine. As our Kostroma bear hunter used to tell me: how can one not be afraid of a bear? Yes, as soon as you see him, and the fear passes, as if it didn’t go away! Well, so am I. A demain, mon cher! [See you tomorrow, my dear!] The next day, at 8 o’clock in the morning, Pierre and Nesvitsky arrived in the Sokolnitsky forest and found Dolokhov, Denisov and Rostov there. Pierre had the appearance of a man busy with some considerations that were not at all related to the upcoming matter. His haggard face was yellow. He apparently didn't sleep that night. He looked around absently and winced as if from the bright sun. Two considerations exclusively occupied him: the guilt of his wife, of which, after a sleepless night, there was no longer the slightest doubt, and the innocence of Dolokhov, who had no reason to protect the honor of a stranger to him. “Maybe I would have done the same in his place,” Pierre thought. I probably would have done the same thing; Why this duel, this murder? Either I kill him, or he will hit me in the head, elbow, knee. “Get out of here, run away, bury yourself somewhere,” came to his mind. But precisely in those moments when such thoughts came to him. With a particularly calm and absent-minded look, which inspired respect in those who looked at him, he asked: “Is it soon, and is it ready?” When everything was ready, the sabers were stuck in the snow, indicating a barrier to which they had to converge, and the pistols were loaded, Nesvitsky approached Pierre. “I would not have fulfilled my duty, Count,” he said in a timid voice, “and would not have justified the trust and honor that you showed me by choosing me as your second, if at this important moment, a very important moment, I had not said tell you the whole truth. I believe that this matter does not have enough reasons, and that it is not worth shedding blood for it... You were wrong, not quite right, you got carried away... - Oh yes, terribly stupid... - said Pierre. “So let me convey your regret, and I am sure that our opponents will agree to accept your apology,” said Nesvitsky (like other participants in the case and like everyone else in similar cases, not yet believing that it would come to an actual duel) . “You know, Count, it is much nobler to admit your mistake than to bring matters to an irreparable point.” There was no resentment on either side. Let me talk... - No, what to talk about! - said Pierre, - all the same... So it’s ready? - he added. - Just tell me where to go and where to shoot? – he said, smiling unnaturally meekly. “He picked up the pistol and began asking about the method of release, since he had not yet held a pistol in his hands, which he did not want to admit. “Oh yes, that’s it, I know, I just forgot,” he said. “No apologies, nothing decisive,” Dolokhov said to Denisov, who, for his part, also made an attempt at reconciliation, and also approached the appointed place. The place for the duel was chosen 80 steps from the road where the sleigh remained, in a small clearing of a pine forest, covered with snow that had melted from the thaws of the last few days. The opponents stood 40 paces from each other, at the edges of the clearing. The seconds, measuring their steps, laid traces, imprinted in the wet, deep snow, from the place where they stood to the sabers of Nesvitsky and Denisov, which meant a barrier and were stuck 10 steps from each other. The thaw and fog continued; for 40 steps nothing was visible. For about three minutes everything was ready, and yet they hesitated to start, everyone was silent. - Well, let's start! - said Dolokhov. “Well,” said Pierre, still smiling. “It was getting scary.” It was obvious that the matter, which began so easily, could no longer be prevented, that it went on by itself, regardless of the will of people, and had to be accomplished. Denisov was the first to step forward to the barrier and proclaimed: “Since the opponents refused to accept the name, would you like to begin: take the pistols and, at your word, begin to converge.” - G...'az! Two! T’i!...” Denisov shouted angrily and stepped aside. Both walked along the trodden paths closer and closer, recognizing each other in the fog. Opponents had the right, converging to the barrier, to shoot whenever they wanted. Dolokhov walked slowly, without raising his pistol, peering with his bright, shining, blue eyes into the face of his opponent. His mouth, as always, had the semblance of a smile. - So when I want, I can shoot! - said Pierre, at the word three he walked forward with quick steps, straying from the well-trodden path and walking on solid snow. Pierre held the pistol with his right hand extended forward, apparently afraid that he might kill himself with this pistol. He carefully put his left hand back, because he wanted to support his right hand with it, but he knew that this was impossible. Having walked six steps and strayed off the path into the snow, Pierre looked back at his feet, again quickly looked at Dolokhov, and, pulling his finger, as he had been taught, fired. Not expecting such a strong sound, Pierre flinched from his shot, then smiled at his own impression and stopped. The smoke, especially thick from the fog, prevented him from seeing at first; but the other shot he was waiting for did not come. Only Dolokhov’s hurried steps were heard, and his figure appeared from behind the smoke. With one hand he held his left side, with the other he clutched the lowered pistol. His face was pale. Rostov ran up and said something to him. “No...e...t,” Dolokhov said through his teeth, “no, it’s not over,” and taking a few more falling, hobbling steps right up to the saber, he fell on the snow next to it. His left hand was covered in blood, he wiped it on his coat and leaned on it. His face was pale, frowning and trembling. “Please...” Dolokhov began, but couldn’t say right away...” “Please,” he finished with an effort. Pierre, barely holding back his sobs, ran to Dolokhov, and was about to cross the space separating the barriers when Dolokhov shouted: “to the barrier!” - and Pierre, realizing what was happening, stopped at his saber. Only 10 steps separated them. Dolokhov lowered his head to the snow, greedily bit the snow, raised his head again, corrected himself, tucked his legs and sat down, looking for a strong center of gravity. He swallowed cold snow and sucked it; his lips trembled, but still smiling; the eyes sparkled with the effort and malice of the last collected strength. He raised the pistol and began to take aim. “Sideways, cover yourself with a pistol,” said Nesvitsky. - Look out! – Unable to bear it, even Denisov shouted to his opponent. Pierre, with a meek smile of regret and repentance, helplessly spreading his legs and arms, stood straight in front of Dolokhov with his broad chest and looked at him sadly. Denisov, Rostov and Nesvitsky closed their eyes. At the same time, they heard a shot and Dolokhov’s angry cry. - Past! - Dolokhov shouted and lay helplessly face down on the snow. Pierre grabbed his head and, turning back, went into the forest, walking entirely in the snow and loudly pronouncing incomprehensible words: “Stupid... stupid!” Death... lies... - he repeated, wincing. Nesvitsky stopped him and took him home. Rostov and Denisov took the wounded Dolokhov. Dolokhov lay silently, with his eyes closed, in the sleigh and did not answer a word to the questions put to him; but, having entered Moscow, he suddenly woke up and, with difficulty raising his head, took Rostov, who was sitting next to him, by the hand. Rostov was struck by the completely changed and unexpectedly enthusiastically tender expression on Dolokhov’s face. - Well? How do you feel? - asked Rostov. - Bad! but that's not the point. My friend,” said Dolokhov in a broken voice, “where are we?” We are in Moscow, I know. I’m okay, but I killed her, killed her... She won’t stand it. She won’t bear it... - Who? - asked Rostov. - My mother. My mother, my angel, my adored angel, mother,” and Dolokhov began to cry, squeezing Rostov’s hand. When he calmed down somewhat, he explained to Rostov that he lived with his mother, and that if his mother saw him dying, she would not bear it. He begged Rostov to go to her and prepare her.