Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord!

Today the Church remembers the memory of one of the new-vartyrs of 20th century Russia – Hiero-Confessor Agathangel, the Metropolitan of Yaroslavl. (The term hiero-confessor means that Metropolitan Agathangel was a clergyman and also a confessor, i. e. he suffered for the sake of Christ and His Church, but he was not killed for His sake; he died a natural death, as opposed to a martyr who not only suffers, but is also killed).

Metropolitan Agathangel lived a long and fruitful life, served in many different dioceses, was a member of the Holy Synod, for a very short time (while Patriarch Tikhon was under arrest) headed the Russian Church, was arrested and exiled. After the death of the Patriarch and his own return from exile, Metropolitan Agathangel, as the senior hierarch of the Russian Church, was at the centre of a dispute between the bishops about who should lead the Church. He, along with the other senior and most authoritative bishops, looked with skepticism on those compromises that were made by the central church authorities with the atheistic government in 1927. He reposed in Yaroslavl in the fall of 1928.

Perhaps the main characteristic of the sanctity of the Holy Hierarch Agathangel is that in the most complicated moments of his life, when difficult choices stood before him, he chose that which was better from a Christian point of view and that which was better for his own salvation, to the detriment of his earthly personal interests and happiness. While still a young man and teaching in seminary, he married, but a short eleven months later, his new wife and infant child died. The young man made at this awful moment the decision to become a monk, that is, he abandoned the possibility of starting another family sometime in the future and continuing his secular teaching career. After the 1905 revolution, by which time he was already a bishop, the Holy Hierarch Agathangel once again made a choice that could have ruined his career when he petitioned that a group of revolutionaries be spared the death penalty. At the end of his life, after returning from exile, the Communists proposed that St. Agathangel become the first hierarch of the Church (they did this hoping to sow discord amongst the faithful). In fact, this proposal had a certain amount of merit. By this time the Patriarch had already died, and the de-facto head of the Church, Metropolitan Peter, was under arrest. Bishop Agathangel was the senior hierarch of the Church and also had the support of the arrested first hierarch, Metropolitan Peter, to take up the reigns of the Church. Despite this, the younger bishops that had yet to be arrested did not support this. To avoid further disputes and schism amongst the bishops, Metropolitan Agathangel declined to head the Church.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, let us also, through the prayers of today’s saint, the Hiero-Confessor Agathangel, live not for our earthly good fortune and for fleeting happiness, but rather for peace, for the good fortune of our neighbours, for the sake of our salvation and eternal life. Acting in such a way, let us hope that we will stand before the throne of the Lord with Metropolitan Agathangel, with the other New-Martyrs, and with all the saints.

priest Alexis