Ekaterinburg, March 15, 2018
Photo: www.ekaterinburg-eparhia.ru The liturgical glorification among the saints of New Martyr Alexander Adrianov was celebrated this morning in Ekaterinburg’s Church on the Blood. The service was celebrated by Metropolitan Arseny of Istra, first vicar of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, with a number of other hierarchs, reports the site of the Ekaterinburg Diocese.
Hieromartyr Alexander, a priest of the Ekaterinburg Diocese who was shot by the soviet authorities on November 12/25, was canonized by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church at its March 7 session. Archpriest Nikolai Chernishev and his daughter Barbara, and Blessed Ekaterina (Malkov-Panina) of Pukhtitsa Monastery were also canonized by the Synod on the same day.
St. Alexander’s liturgical glorification took place on the 101st anniversary of the manifestation of the “Reigning” or “Enthroned” Icon of the Mother of God, which was miraculously found in the village of Kolomskoye near Moscow, on the same day that Royal Martyr Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne. The miracle was taken as a sign that the Mother of God would herself watch over Russia during the long decades of persecution ahead, during which St. Alexander offered his blood for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Following the Presanctified Liturgy, His Grace Bishop Evgeny of the Middle Urals read out the Holy Synod’s decision to canonize Fr. Alexander Adrianov. The Ekaterinburg Diocese had collected information on Fr. Alexander for several years, which led to his eventual glorification.
Photo: www.ekaterinburg-eparhia.ru In the autumn of 1918, Fr. Alexander was the sole priest remaining in his area, as several others fled following the Bolsheviks’ killing of several clergy. He continued zealously serving and preaching. He was arrested in the night of November 8/21 during a Divine service and was shot soon thereafter on November 12/25. According to one eyewitness, Fr. Alexander died with a prayer on his lips. His body was found five days later, lightly covered with snow, with his arms crossed over his chest.
After the reading of the Synod’s decision and the saint’s life, an icon of St. Alexander was brought out for all to venerate, as the people sang “Hieromartyr Alexander, pray to God for us!” Everyone was then blessed with an icon of the new Heavenly protector of the Ekaterinburg lands.
