HIEROMARTYR MAXIMUS, BISHOP OF SERPUKHOV and those with him
Bishop Maximus, in the world Michael Alexandrovich Zhizhilenko, was born on March 2, 1885 in Kalisha (Poland) in the family of a circuit judge. His elder brother, the professor of criminal law A.A. Zhizhilenko, spoke in defence of Metropolitan Benjamin during his trial in 1922. In 1912 (according to another source, 1908) he finished his studies at the St. Petersburg gymnasium and entered the medical faculty of Moscow university. While still a student he married a fellow-student, who died during pregnancy eighteen months later. Bowing to the will of God, both spouses did not want in any circumstances to terminate the pregnancy artificially, although they knew that it threatened almost certain death. Later Vladyka Maximus called his wife a righteous woman.
On graduating from university (in 1910, according to one source), he worked as a psychiatrist in Sokolniky, but according to another source as a doctor in the ministry of communications in Blagoveshchensk and Moscow. He was a fine musician and composed music. He had a particular veneration for St. Panteleimon the healer. In 1914 he was a doctor with the Kuban dismounted Cossack regiment in Galicia, on the Austrian front, where he almost died of typhus.
After the October revolution and the end of the war, he occupied various military posts, including one in the Red Army. In August, 1919, while chief doctor of a field hospital of the Red Army, he was captured by the Cossacks led by the famous General Mamontov. He remained a military doctor until 1920.
According to one source, he was arrested at the beginning of the 1920s and exiled to the north for three years.
From 1920 to 1928 he was chief doctor of the Taganka prison in Moscow, where he won the respect of all, and was nicknamed the prison's angel guardian. He was a great master of the heart, a comforter and a father. Even the most hardened criminals confessed before him as before a priest, and found not only consolation but a return to an honourable life. He slept on bare boards, ate only prison food, and gave all his pay to the prisoners. In Moscow he was known as "the elder of Taganka".
Since he was always a deeply religious person, Michael Alexandrovich became a close friend of Patriarch Tikhon's while he was still a layman, and was entrusted with many of the Patriarch's most intimate thoughts. Once, not long before his death, the Patriarch confided in his friend that in view of the increasing demands of the Soviet government, it seemed that the only way out for the Church in order to preserve her faithfulness to Christ was to go into the catacombs. Therefore the Patriarch blessed Michael Alexandrovich to become a secret monk and then, if in the near future the highest church authority betrayed Christ and conceded to Soviet power the spiritual freedom of the Church, he was to become a bishop.
He was also highly esteemed by the Patriarch's successor, Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsa, who knew him well.
Michael Alexandrovich saw in Metropolitan Sergius' declaration of 1927 the betrayal of the Church of which the Patriarch spoke, and separated from him on December 17/30, 1927. On that day, the clergy and laity of Serpukhov wrote the following appeal to Metropolitan Sergius which may have been composed under the influence of Vladyka Maximus:
"Since we find it no longer possible for us to remain on the slippery, ambiguous path which you have placed the Orthodox Church on by your declaration and decrees, following the voice of our conscience and our duty before God and the believers, we the under-signed break canonical communion in prayer with you and the so-called Patriarchal Synod and refuse to recognize you as the Deputy of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens for the following reasons:
"1. Your declarations of July 16 and October 20, and everything that is known about your government of the Church clearly speaks of the fact that you have placed the Church into a position of dependence on the civil power and deprived her of her inner freedom and independence, thereby breaking the church canons and going contrary to the decrees of the civil power.
"2. Thus you are nothing other than the continuer of the so-called renovationist movement, only in a more refined and very dangerous form, for in declaring that Orthodox is unshakeable and that you have preserved canonicity, you have clouded the minds of the believers, consciously hiding from them that abyss to which you are inexorably dragging the Church by all your decrees.
"3. The result of your politics is obvious to all of us. The believers of the city of Serpukhov are disturbed by your decrees and very anxious and perplexed with regard to the destiny of the Holy Orthodox Church. We, their pastors, have been placed by you in an ambiguous position which not only cannot introduce peace into their hearts and minds, but arouses suspicions in them that you have betrayed Orthodoxy and gone over to the camp of the renovationists.
"All this forces us boldly to raise our voices and stop what has now become a criminal silence with regard to your mistakes and incorrect actions and, with the blessing of Bishop Demetrius of Gdov, we wall ourselves off from you and the people around you. In leaving you, we are not leaving the lawful Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Peter, and we submit ourselves to the judgement of a future council."
It was rumoured that Vladyka Maximus was also the author of the "Prayer concerning the Holy Church", otherwise known as the "Prayer about the Bolsheviks" which was inserted into the Divine Liturgy by the Catacomb hierarchs of Petrograd.
From the evidence given by Vladyka Maximus at his interrogation: "After the death of my wife in 1910 I was constantly drawn to depart from worldly life into monasticism, but the former condition of monastic life did not suit me. I was drawn to Athos, to Greece, but I did not succeed in getting there. After my experiences at the front in the war, where I strove to get into a regiment where I could end my life, but I also did not manage that. My desire to withdraw into another, spiritual world grew constantly stronger. In 1927, while working as a doctor in the Taganka prison, I fell seriously ill, and I was almost sentenced to death by the doctors. In March, 1928 I decided to receive Holy Unction and gave a vow that if I recovered I would accept the priesthood. After Holy Unction I quickly got better, and, having recovered from my illness, I decided to become a priest. My spiritual father was Fr. Valentine Sventitsky, who was serving the church of the Big Cross on Ilyinka. I knew him to be a good preacher and went to the church where he was serving. I went to Demetrius of Gdov in Leningrad on May 19, 1928. With me there went the deacon of the church of the Big Cross, Nicodemus Merkulov, who was ordained to the priesthood. I went to Demetrius of Gdov to become a priest because I considered him to be a truly Orthodox bishop. I gained this conviction that Demetrius of Gdov was a truly Orthodox bishop from my conversations with my spiritual father, the priest Valentine Sventitsky, who was in communion with Demetrius of Gdov and who convinced me that by his actions Metropolitan Sergius was, as the leader of the Orthodox Church, beginning to make advances, as it were, to the authorities. He was trying to adapt the Church to earthly life, and not the heavenly. During my ordination in Leningrad in May, 1928, in the church of the Resurrection-on-the-blood, when they were congratulating me, Michael Alexandrovich Novoselov came up to me to congratulate me. I met him for the first time then. The next day I was ordained to the priesthood, and after that I went to Moscow, and I was in Moscow until September, 1928, continuing to work as a doctor while bearing the rank of priest in my soul. But the most important thing I wanted was not the rank of a priest, but to be a simple monk, and nothing more. So in September, 1928 I again went to Demetrius of Gdov in Leningrad, alone, and began to ask him to tonsure me as a monk. At first he hesitated on canonical grounds, but then he tonsured me and after this I went to Moscow."
The question of consecrating Maximus to the episcopate arose soon after it became clear to the leaders of the Josephites that the Church would soon not be able to exist openly. In March-April, 1928, there ceased to come news about Bishop Arsenius (Zhadanovsky) of Serpukhov, who was frequently in exile. The people thought that he was dead or had been shot. So at the petition of a delegation from Serpukhov led by Protopriest Alexander Kremyshansky, Maximus was consecrated Bishop of Serpukhov on October 12 in the church of St. Panteleimon of the Alexander-Oshevensky podvorye on Piskarevka, by Archbishop Demetrius of Gdov and Bishop Sergius of Narva. This was the first consecration of a catacomb bishop. It elicited the protest of Bishop Arsenius (Zhadanovsky) of Serpukhov, who was in exile at the time. However, after the arrest of Vladyka Maximus, the two hierarchs asked each other forgiveness and were reconciled.
It was in 1928, according to one (dubious) source, that Vladyka Maximus signed the decisions of the so-called "Nomadic Council" of the Catacomb Church.
From the evidence given by Vladyka Maximus at his interrogation: "At the beginning of October, 1928 I received a letter in the post from Demetrius of Gdov, in which he asked me to come to him to be consecrated to the episcopate. The next day I went to him in Leningrad. When I came into his presence, he said that "I was intending to make you a bishop, but in view of certain doubts this question is to be put aside for the time being", and asked me to come the next day, when the question would be finally decided. I told him that I felt myself to be inexperienced and unworthy of this calling, but he told me that he was convinced I could be in this rank. On October 12 my consecration to the episcopate took place. He told me that I should tell nobody in Moscow that I had been consecrated to the episcopate. After this I was again in Moscow, and on January 8, 1929 a delegation from Serpukhov came to me. It consisted of Protopriest Alexander Vladychinsky and the warden, or warden's assistant, I think Kostin� and Deacon Irinarchus, who told me that 'we turned to Demetrius of Gdov asking for a bishop to administer the diocese, and he directed us to you.' I decided to go, since I concluded that this was being done in the interests of the Orthodox Church. While bishop in Serpukhov, in February, 1929, I went to Demetrius of Gdov and reported that I had entered into the fulfilment of my duties. Besides this, I had a conversation with him on exclusively ecclesiastical matters and details of hierarchical services."
From January, 1929, in addition to leading the Serpukhov Josephites, Vladyka Maximus led the movement in part of the Yaroslavl diocese and after the arrest of Bishop Alexis (Buj) also looked after the Voronezh Josephites.
The leader of the Serpukhov Josephites before the arrival of Vladyka Maximus was Protopriest Alexander Anatolyevich Kremyshensky. He was born on July 31, 1897 in Serpukhov in the family of an accountant, and from July, 1918 to 1920 served in the Red Army. He finished three courses at the Moscow Theological Academy in 1923. In 1920 he was ordained to the diaconate, and in1924 - to the priesthood. He was the superior of the Trinity cathedral in Serpukhov. On January 2, 1928, on his initiative and without the permission of the authorities, a meeting of the clergy of the whole city was convened, at which Fr. Alexander called on everyone to break all links with Metropolitan Sergius. Immediately after the meeting he went to Moscow to see Professor M.A. Novoselov (the Catacomb Bishop Mark), and then to Leningrad to see Bishop Demetrius, who appointed him the dean of Serpukhov.
At first a clear majority of the clergy and laity of the city inclined towards the Josephites. All 18 parishes in Serpukhov joined them, as well as all those in neighbouring Kolomna and significant numbers in Zvenigorod, Volokolamsk, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky and other cities. However, on April 25 Metropolitan Sergius appointed the fairly authoritative and experienced hierarch, Manuel (Lemeshevsky) as bishop of Serpukhov. Arriving in the city on May 5, Bishop Manuel immediately entered into struggle with the Josephites, being supported on all sides by the Bolsheviks. As a result, by the summer of 1928 the sergianists had gained control of ten of the city's eighteen churches. If earlier the supporters of Metropolitan Sergius had simply been afraid to serve in the churches of Serpukhov, from the summer of 1928 they - including Metropolitan Sergius himself - often came to the city in order to draw the parishioners to their side. Never before had Serpukhov seen so many hierarchical services.
But in spite of all the efforts of the sergianists and the repressive measures of the authorities, for several years eight parishes and the monks of the Vysotsky monastery remained faithful to the Josephite movement. And after Bishop Maximus was raised to the episcopate and became the leader of the movement in the Moscow region, in a short period a significant proportion of the parishes of Zvenigorod, Volokolamsk, Kolomna, Klin, Zagorsk, Skhodny and other cities and villages joined the Josephites.
Arrests soon followed. On August 13 (according to another source, in September), 1928, Protopriest Alexander Kremyshevsky was taken, and on October 8 the OGPU condemned him to three years' imprisonment on Solovki. On February 13, 1930, his sentence was increased by two years. In December, 1930 he was taken under guard from Solovki, and on January 27, 1931 was imprisoned in Butyrki prison in Moscow in connection with the affair of the "True Orthodox Church". On February 18, 1931 he was sentenced to be shot. The sentence was carried out on June 4, 1931.
Bishop Maximus appointed Hieromonk Parthenius as the new dean in place of Fr. Alexander.
However, the massive repressions of May, 1929 severely weakened the Josephite movement in Serpukhov. Vladyka Maximus himself was arrested on April (or May) 24. During the course of the investigation, he behaved very cautiously, and the investigatory organs were not able to incriminate him in anything except the fact of his secret monasticism while working as a doctor in the Taganka prison. During interrogations, Vladyka Maximus constantly repeated one and the same thing:
"I accepted secret monasticism because I did not want to advertise my personal religious convictions before the Soviet authorities."
In reply to the question what diocese he ruled, Vladyka Maximus answered that he had no administrative responsibilities and that he lived like "a retired bishop". He categorically refused to speak about his religious convictions and spiritual life and activity, giving as reason the fact that this constituted "too intimate territory, into which he could not initiate anybody".
On July 5, 1929, an OGPU collegium sentenced Bishop Maximus to five years in the camps. Also sentenced to various terms of imprisonment at this time were Hieromonk Parthenius, the superior of the Vysotsky monastery Archimandrite Panteleimon (Orlov), Igumen Nikon (Khrilokovin) of the same monastery, the superior of the Spaso-Zanarskaya cemetery church Protopriest Nicholas Bogolepov and many others. However, the Josephites remaining in Serpukhov continued their activity in a vigorous manner.
Archimandrite Panteleimon, in the world Peter Ivanovich Orlov, was rector of the Serpukhov Vysotsky monastery. He joined the Josephites in January, 1928. In June, 1929 he was arrested and exiled.
Hieromonk Terence, in the world Taras Illarionovich Chernyavsky, was born in 1875 in Grodno province. He served in the church of the Vysotsky monastery in Serpukhov. He was arrested on December 4, 1930 in connection with the "organization True Orthodoxy" and on February 18, 1931 was sentenced to the camps.
Hieromonk Cosmas, in the world Basil Fedoseyevich Trusov, was born in 1907 in the village of Demkino, Ryazan province, in the family of a worker. He finished four classes in school. From 1923 he was serving in the Moscow Nikolsky church on Ilyinka. From January to May, 1929 he was the cell-attendant of Bishop Maximus of Serpukhov. In 1929 he was tonsured into monasticism. In March, 1930 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Nectarius (Trezvinsky) in Kazan. He served in the church of the Vysotsky men's monastery in Serpukhov. He was arrested on November 15, 1930 and on February 18, 1931 was sentenced to ten years in the camps.
Protopriest Nicholas Bogolepov was rector of the Josephite Spaso-Zanarskaya cemetery church in Serpukhov. He was arrested and sentenced to the camps in 1929.
Their leader was Fr. Nicholas Trophimovich Ishchenko, who was born on December 2, 1887 in the village of Kosyakovka, Tarashchansky uyezd, Kiev province, in the family of a reader. He finished his studies at the Kiev theological seminary. In the 1920s he was serving in village churches in Kiev diocese. In July, 1926 he was sentenced to one year in Ekaterinoslav prison. From 1927 to August, 1929 he was rector of the church in the village of Kupievaty, Kanevsky region. Archbishop Demetrius (Lyubimov) appointed him rector of the Spaso-Zanarskaya cemetery church in August, 1929, and he was the Josephite dean in Serpukhov from February, 1930. On November 15, 1930 he was arrested, and on February 18, 1931 was sentenced to be shot. The sentence was carried out in Moscow.
Fr. Basil Nikolayevich Shishkanov was born in 1902 (or 1903) in Rzhev in Tver province in a peasant family. He studied in a village school. From April, 1928 he became a Josephite and served as a deacon in a church in Tver from 1928 to 1929, and from the middle of 1929 in the village of Gora, Orekhovo-Zuyevo district. On May 23, 1930 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Sergius (Druzhinin) in Petrograd. He was sent from Tver to serve in the Trinity cathedral in Serpukhov from May, 1930. He was arrested on November 15, 1930 in connection with the Serpukhov branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on February 18, 1931 was sentenced to ten (or five) years in the camps. He declared: "I, as an Orthodox Christian, have always been an opponent of Soviet power, because Soviet power does not believe in God, implants atheism and persecutes the Church and the clergy."
From June to November, 1929, Archbishop Demetrius himself ruled the Josephite churches of the Moscow diocese. Thus he ordained to the priesthood Hieromonk Anubius (Kapinus), who served in the Pokrov church in Serpukhov and later became a well-known activist of the Catacomb Church.
Hieromonk Seraphim, in the world Semyon Nikolayevich Bublikov, was born in 1874 in Moscow province, in a peasant family. He studied in a village school. He was tonsured with the name Seraphim and ordained to the priesthood, serving in the church of St. Nicholas in Berezen, near Serpukhov. On November 15, 1930 he was arrested in connection with the Serpukhov branch of the True Orthodox Church and on February 18, 1931 was sentenced to be shot. The sentence was carried out on February 23 (or 25), 1931. He declared: "I read the prayer for the much-suffering Church because I consider that the Church is persecuted... I have a negative attitude towards the politics of the Soviet authorities... since these authorities... are unquestionably an antichristian power insofar as they do not recognize God and mock religion. The whole politics of this power consists in the reconstruction of life on socialist principles contrary to the spirit of Christianity. I also consider the collective farms to be an antichristian organization insofar as there they have no opportunity to pray or observe the fasts."
Hieromonk Cronid, in the world Cyril Irodonovich Dubrovsky, was born in 1871 in the village of Chepelevo, Krolevetsky uyezd, Chernigov province, in a peasant family. He was a novice in Glinsk desert (from 1888), in Holy Trinity - St. Sergius Lavra (from 1895), and in the Kolomna Trinity monastery (from 1897). In 1900 he was tonsured into monasticism. He served as a priest in Kolomna from 1903 to 1908. He was a monk in the Nikolo-Peginoshsky monastery (from 1908) and the Serpukhov Vysotsky monastery (from 1909). During the First World War he was a regimental priest on the Romanian front. From 1919 he was living in the Vysotsky monastery. In 1930 he went to serve in the church of the village of Lipetsy, near Serpukhov. He was arrested on November 15, 1930 in connection with the affair of the "True Orthodox Church", and on February 18, 1931 was sentenced to be shot. The sentence was carried out in Moscow.
Each of the clergy of Serpukhov contributed fifteen rubles a month to help their exiled compatriots, and much was also given by laymen. The money collected was taken away by the nun Elikonida, who was born Eudocia Nikitichna Volkova in Serpukhov in 1890. She was tonsured in the Holy Trinity monastery. On November 15, 1930 she was arrested in connection with the Serpukhov branch of the True Orthodox Church and on February 5, 1931 was sentenced to five years in the camps.
The arrested Josephites were continually commemorated in the churches. Besides the prayer "for the much-suffering Church", which was brought from Leningrad, and which the OGPU agents searched for with special zeal during arrests, the Serpukhov churches also resounded to the sound of another "counter-revolutionary prayer" composed by the superior of the church of the Meeting of the Lord, Hieromonk Nicodemus.
Fr. Nicodemus, in the world Nicodemus Dmitrievich Rybakov, was born in 1867 in Simbirsk province. He was tonsured and ordained to the priesthood, serving in the church of the Meeting of the Lord in Serpukhov. On November 16 (or 15), 1930 he was arrested in connection with the Serpuhkov branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on February 18, 1931 was sentenced to five (or ten) years in the camps.
All this activity was carried on in an atmosphere of unending arrests and shootings of believers, which was well conveyed by Fr. Nicholas Ishchenko during his interrogation:
"We lived as if on a volcano, every minute awaiting arrest, because the representatives of the Dmitrov movement had been arrested precisely for belonging to that church orientation, and not for actual transgressions of the law..."
Vladyka Maximus arrived in the fourth department of SLON (the Solovki camp of special destination on the island of Solovki in the White Sea) at the end of October, 1929. There he worked as a doctor, being in charge of the typhus barracks. I.M. Andreyev writes:
"We doctor-prisoners went up to our new comrade in chains and introduced ourselves. Our newly arrived colleague was tall, very strongly built, with a thick beard and grey whiskers and brows which hung severely over kind, light blue eyes.
"Every new arrival was very carefully examined by the doctor-bishop, and the first notes in the history of the disease were always huge. Besides a basic diagnosis of the main illness, Dr. Zhizhilenko always wrote a diagnosis of all the accompanying illnesses and gave a detailed summary of the state of all the organs. His diagnoses were always exact and correct... During later visits it seemed as if he paid little attention to him (the sick man) and stayed at his bedside no longer than a minute, feeling his pulse and looking fixedly into his eyes...
"... The sick always died in his arms. It seemed that he always knew exactly the moment of death. Even at night he would suddenly go to the dying man in his department a few minutes before death. He closed the eyes of every dead man, folded his hands on his breast in the shape of the cross and stood in silence for a few minutes without moving. Evidently he was praying. In less than a year all we his colleagues understood that he was not only a remarkable doctor, but also a great man of prayer...
"... After exchanging names and general questions, all three of us brothers told the new arrival that we knew (through friends in the office of the medical unit) his past and the reasons for his arrest and imprisonment on Solovki. Then we went up for his blessing. The face of the doctor-bishop became concentrated, he knit his grey brows still more tightly, and slowly and triumphantly he blessed us. His blue eyes became still kinder and more welcoming, and they were lit up with a joyful light.
"... The arrival of Vladyka Maximus on Solovki produced great changes in the mood of the imprisoned clergy. At that time in the fourth department of the Solovki camps (that is, on Solovki itself) the same schism could be observed among the imprisoned bishops and priests as had taken place 'in freedom' after the well-known declaration of Metropolitan Sergius. One part of the episcopate and the white clergy broke all communion with Metropolitan Sergius, remaining faithful to the invincible position of Metropolitans Peter, Cyril, Agathangel and Joseph, Archbishop Seraphim (of Uglich) and many others who had witnessed to their faithfulness to Christ and the Church by their confession and martyrdom. The other part had become 'sergianists' by accepting the so-called 'new church politics' of Metropolitan Sergius, which founded the Soviet church and introduced a neo-renovationist schism. Most of the prisoners who arrived on Solovki before the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius were 'sergianists'. But on the other hand, most of those who arrived after the publication of the declaration were so-called 'Josephites' (from the name of Joseph, around whom the unshaken and faithful children of the Church mainly grouped themselves). With the arrival of the new prisoners the numbers of the latter became greater and greater.
"By the time of the arrival of Vladyka Maximus, the following 'Josephite' bishops were on Solovki: Bishop Victor of Glazov (the first to come out with a critical letter against the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius), Bishop Hilarion, the vicar of Smolensk and Bishop Nectarius Trezvinsky. The 'sergianists' included Archbishop Anthony of Marioupol and Bishop Joasaph (prince Zhevakhov). Less outspoken, but still a 'sergianist', was Archbishop Hilarion Troitsky, who condemned the declaration, but had not broken communion with Metropolitan Sergius as 'the canonically correct First-Hierarch of the Russian Church'.
"Vladyka Maximus' arrival on Solovki gave an exceptional impetus to the influence of the 'Josephites' (which was dominant even before then).
"When, after the most cruel bans laid by Metropolitan Sergius on the 'disobedient', these latter began to be arrested and shot, then the true Russian Orthodox Church which was faithful to Christ began to depart into the catacombs. Metropolitan Sergius and all the 'sergianists' categorically denied the existence of the Catacomb Church. The Solovki 'sergianists', of course, also did not believe in her existence. And suddenly - a living witness: the first catacomb bishop, Maximus of Serpukhov, arrived on Solovki.
"Archbishop Hilarion Troitsky was soon removed from Solovki, and with him there also disappeared the 'sergianist attitudes' from many. Only Archbishop Anthony and, especially, Bishop Joasaph (Zhevakhov) remained stubborn 'sergianists'. They did not want even to see or talk with Bishop Maximus. However, Bishops Victor, Hilarion (of Smolensk) and Nectarius quite quickly found the opportunity not only to meet, but also to serve with Vladyka Maximus in secret catacomb Divine services in the depths of the Solovki woods. The 'sergianists' behaved too cautiously and never arranged any secret services. But then the camp administration were more condescending to them than to the bishops, priests and laymen about whom it was known that they 'did not recognize' either Metropolitan Sergius or the Soviet church.
"All those arrested for matters relating to the Church (and such constituted up to 20% of those on Solovki according to official statistics) were unfailingly asked during interrogation what their attitude was to 'our' Metropolitan Sergius, who headed the Soviet church. The chekists would demonstrate with evil joy and sarcasm the 'strict canonicity' of Metropolitan Sergius and his declaration, which 'did not violate either the canons or the dogmas'.
"In denying the Catacomb Church, the Solovki 'sergianists' also denied the rumours that reproachful epistles had been written to Metropolitan Sergius and many delegations had gone to protest to him from the dioceses. Once Archbishop Anthony of Marioupol, who was lying ill in the prison hospital, learned that I had participated in one of these delegations as a layman. So he wanted to hear my account of the journey to Metropolitan Sergius together with the representatives of the episcopate and the white clergy. Vladykas Victor (of Glazov) and Maximus (of Serpukhov) blessed me to go to the hospital where Archbishop Antony lay and tell him about the journey. If, after my account, he declared his solidarity with the protestors against the 'new church policy', I was allowed to take his blessing. But if he remained a stubborn sergianist, I was not to take his blessing. My conversation with Archbishop Anthony lasted more than two hours. I told him in detail about the historic delegation of the Petrograd delegation in 1927, after which the church schism took place. At the end of my account Archbishop Anthony asked me to tell him about the personality and activities of Vladyka Maximus. I replied in a very restrained and short manner, and he noticed that I did not completely trust him. He asked me about this. I openly replied that we catacombers feared not only the agents of the GPU, but also the sergianists, who had often handed us over to the GPU. Archbishop Anthony was very upset and for a long time walked up and down the doctor's surgery to which I, as a consultant doctor had summoned him, as if for a check-up. Then he suddenly and decisively said:
"'But still I will remain with Metropolitan Sergius.'
"I rose, bowed and was about to go. He raised his hand to bless me, but I, remembering the instructions of Vladykas Victor and Maximus, declined to receive his blessing and left.
"When I told Vladyka Maximus about what had happened, he again insisted that I should never receive the blessings of stubborn sergianists.
"'The Soviet and the Catacomb Churches are incompatible,' Vladyka Maximus said significantly, firmly and with conviction.
"And after a pause he added quietly: 'The secret, desert Catacomb Church has anathematized the sergianists and those with them.' "In spite of the exceptional severity of the Solovki camp regime, which exposed them to the risk of being shot, Vladykas Victor, Hilarion, Nectarius and Maximus not only often served together in secret catacomb services in the woods of the island, but also carried out secret consecrations of new bishops. Only on the eve of my departure from Solovki did I learn from a close friend, a celibate priest, that he was no longer a priest, but a secret bishop.
"We had several secret catacomb 'churches' on Solovki, but the most 'beloved' were two: the 'diocesan cathedral' of the Holy Trinity and the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker... Services were more often performed in the church of St. Nicholas. In the 'Trinity diocesan cathedral' services were performed only in summer, on big feasts and, with especial solemnity, on the day of Pentecost. But sometimes, depending on circumstances, strictly secret services were also performed in other places. Thus, for example, on Great Thursday the service with the reading of the 12 Gospels was performed in our doctors' room in the tenth company. Vladyka Victor and Fr. Nicholas came to us supposedly for disinfection. They served with the door bolted. On Great Friday the order went out in all the companies that for three days prisoners were allowed to leave their companies after eight in the evening only in exceptional circumstances, with special written permission from the camp commandant.
"At seven o'clock on Friday evening, when we doctors had just returned to our rooms after a twelve-hour working day, Fr. Nicholas came to us and announced that a plashchanitsa the size of a man's palm had been painted by the artist R., and that the service - the rite of burial - would begin in an hour.
"'Where?' asked Vladyka Maximus.
"'In the big box used for drying fish which is near the wood not far from such-and-such a company. The sign is three knocks, followed by two. Better come one by one.'...
"Half an hour later Vladyka Maximus and I left our company and headed for the appointed address. Twice the sentries asked us for our passes. We, as doctors, had them. But what about the others: Vladyka Victor, Vladyka Hilarion, Vladyka Nectarius and Fr. Nicholas... Vladyka Victor worked as an accountant in the rope factory, Vladyka Nectarius was a fisherman, while the others wove nets...
"Here was the edge of the wood. Here was the box, over two metres in length. There were no windows. The door was scarcely visible. It was a radiant twilight. The sky was covered with thick clouds. We knocked three times and then twice. Fr. Nicholas opened. Vladykas Victor and Hilarion were already there... A few minutes later Vladyka Nectarius also came. The inside of the box was converted into a church. The floor and the walls were made of spruce branches. A few candles were burning. There were some small paper icons. The small burial shroud the size of a palm was drowning in green branches. There were about ten worshippers. Four or five came later, including two monks. The service began. In a whisper. It seemed that we had no bodies, only ears. Nothing stopped or hindered us from praying. I don't remember how we returned 'home', that is, to our companies. The Lord protected us.
"The Mattins of Pascha was to be served in our doctors' room. By twelve midnight all those who were intending to come had arrived - without written permission, on one of another urgent excuse connected with the medical section. There were about fifteen people. After the Mattins and Liturgy we sat down to break our fast. On the table were cakes, pascha, coloured eggs, snacks and wine (liquid yeast with cranberry extract and sugar). At about three in the morning everyone dispersed. The camp commandants made his control inspections of our company before and after the service, at eleven in the evening and four in the morning... Finding us, four doctors with Vladyka Maximus at our head, still awake, the commandant said:
"'What, aren't you sleeping, doctors?' And he immediately added: What a night! One doesn't want to sleep.'
"And he left.
"'Lord Jesus Christ, we thank Thee for the miracle of Thy mercy and strength,' said Vladyka Maximus with emphasis, expressing the feelings of all of us.
"The white Solovki night was on its way out. The tender, rosy Solovki paschal morning with its playfully joyful sun met the monastery-concentration camp, turning it into an invisible city of Kitezh and filling our free souls with quiet, unearthly joy. Many years have passed since that time, but the fragrance of this tender paschal morning is unforgettably alive, as if it were only yesterday. And the heart believes that it was holy between us then...
"On July 5/18, 1930, the feast of St. Sergius of Radonezh, our friends from the office of the medical section informed me that I would be arrested that night and sent with a special convoy to Leningrad 'in connection with a new affair'. Being warned, I got ready, said goodbye to my friends, and without lying down to sleep, began to wait for my arrest. At two o'clock in the morning I heard a noise and steps below (our room was on the second floor). I bowed to the ground before Vladyka Maximus (who had also not slept) and asked him to bless me and pray that the Lord would send me strength to bear the coming sorrows and sufferings, and perhaps - tortures and death. Vladyka got up from his bed, stood to his full, knight-like height, and slowly blessed me, kissed me three times and said with emphasis:
"'You will have many sorrows and heavy trials, but your life will be preserved and in the end you will get out into freedom... As for me, in a few months they will also arrest me and� shoot me. Pray also for me, both while I am alive and, especially, after my death.'"
This prophecy was fulfilled exactly, both in regard to I.M. Andreyev and to Bishop Maximus himself.
With regard to the future, "Vladyka Maximus... remained a pessimist, or, as he defined himself in the words of K. Leontiev, 'an optimistic pessimist'. The tragic end of world history is drawing near, and for that reason, according to the word of the Lord, it is necessary to 'raise our heads' in expectation of the certain triumph of Christian truth..." In this respect he had had a certain disagreement even with Patriarch Tikhon, who was more optimistically inclined.
By the end of 1930 the authorities had brought an end to the legal existence of the Josephite parishes in Serpukhov. On August 19 there began the investigation of the affair of "the church-monarchist organization 'True Orthodoxy' in Moscow region". The OGPU claimed that this organization occupied itself with "anti-Soviet activity under the flag of the defence of true Orthodoxy from the 'Godless' authorities". The main arrests took place between October and December, and on February 4, 1931, the investigation was terminated. In the course of it, twenty-eight of the most active Josephites were arrested in Serpukhov. Almost all of them behaved with great courage during the interrogations.
Hieromonk John (Trusilin), superior of the Pokrov church, remarked: "We consider the commemoration of the authorities inadmissible for ourselves, because they have been sent by God to punish us, like a whip.. The clergy and the monks lived much better under the Tsar since there were no restrictions."
Deacon Paul Trofimovich was born in 1891 in the village of Melikhi (Melekhi), Lokhvitsky uyezd, Poltava province. He lived in the village of Novo-Nikolskoye, Serpukhov region, Moscow province. He served in one of the churches of Serpukhov region. On November 15, 1930 he was arrested and imprisoned in the Butyrki prison in Moscow. On February 5, 1930 he was accused of "participation in the anti-Soviet organization 'The True Orthodox Church' and on February 18, 1931 was sentenced to three years deprivation of liberty.
Nun Maria, in the world Maria (?) Vasilyevna Koroleva, was born in 1895 in Moscow province. She lived in Serpukhov. She was arrested on December 3, 1930 in connection with the affair of the "organization True Orthodoxy". On February 18, 1931 she was sentenced to the camps.
Nun Matrona, in the world Matrona (?) Dmitrievna Merzlyakova, was born in 1875 in Serpukhov uyezd, Moscow province. She lived in Serpukhov. On November 15, 1930 she was arrested in connection with the affair of "the organization True Orthodoxy" and on February 18, 1931 was sentenced to the camps.
Nun Nadezhda, in the world Nadezhda (?) Konstantinovna Sharapova, was born in 1873 in Serpukhov. She lived in Serpukhov. On December 9, 1930 she was arrested in connection with the affair of the "organization True Orthodoxy" and on February 18, 1931 was sentenced to the camps.
On October 28, 1930 Bishop Maximus' sentence was increased to five years. However, on November 27 he and Protopriest Alexander Kremyshensky were arrested on Solovki in connection with this same "True Orthodoxy" affair, and on January 27, 1931 they were taken to the Butyrki prison. Neither interrogations nor tortures succeeded in getting anything out of them, and on February 18 the OGPU sentenced them and fifteen others, including Fathers Seraphim (Bublikov), Cyril (Dubrovny) and Nicholas Ishchenko, to be executed. The sentence was carried out on June 4 (according to another source - on June 23 / July 6).
(Sources: M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishego Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 872; Lev Regelson, Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-1945, Paris: YMCA Press, 1977, pp. 597-600; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Novye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville: Holy Trinity Monastery Press, 1949-57; Bishop Ambrose (von Sievers), "Istoki i svyazi Katakombnoj Tserkvi v Leningrade i obl. (1922-1992)", report read at the conference "The Historical Path of Orthodoxy in Russia after 1917", Saint Petersburg, 1-3 June, 1993; "Katakombnaya Tserkov': Kochuyushchij Sobor 1928 g.", Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 3 (7), 1997, pp. 17, 19; "Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj Katakombnoj Tserkvi 1922-1997g.", Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4(8), 1997, p. 6; Schema-Monk Epiphanius (Chernov) Tserkov' Katakombnaya na Zemlye Rossijskoj, 1980 (typescript); A.P., in Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 7 (1532), April 1/14, 1995, pp. 9-10, from N. Astafyeva, E. Serovaya, "1930: OGPU obvinyayet pravoslavnykh svyashchennikov v zagovorye protiv sovyetskoj vlasti", Moskovskaya Pravda, 8 October, 1993; M.V. Shkarovsky, "Iz noveishej istorii Russkoj Tserkvi", Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 18 (1543), September 15/28, 1995, pp. 9-12; "Maksim, episkop Serpukhovskij", Vozdvizheniye, N 8, February, 1995; Iosiflyanstvo, St. Petersburg: Memorial, 1999, pp. 334, 338-339, 342-345; Victor Antonov, "Svyashchennomuchenik Sergij (Druzhinin)", Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 48, N 2 (554), February, 1996, p. 8; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1997, pp. 30-31; I.I. Osipova, "Skvoz' Ogn' Muchenij i Vody Slyozy", Moscow: Serebryanniye Niti, 1998, pp. 260, 312, 334, 339, 358; M.V. Shkvarovsky, Iosiflyanstvo, St. Petersburg: Memorial, 1999, pp. 333, 338, 340-341, 343; K.V. Glazkov, "Novomuchenik Episkop Serpukhovskij Maxim (Zhizhilenko) 1931-2001gg.", Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 51, N 2 (613), February, 2001, pp. 1-9)