Vilnius, July 27, 2022
Photo: orthodoxy.lt
For the first time in over a century, the precious relics of the Vilnius Martyrs Anthony, John, and Eustathius were carried in procession yesterday, to the great joy of the Orthodox faithful of Lithuania.
The procession was held in honor of the relatively new feast of All Saints of Lithuania, established by the Russian Holy Synod in 2019 and appointed to be celebrated on the feast of the Vilnius Martyrs.
“The bloody war in the heart of Europe, the economic crisis, general instability and unfair attacks on our Church—all of this weighs heavily on the hearts of many, many people. Therefore, we resort to the intercession of the holy Martyrs of Vilnius, who are an example of faithfulness to Christ and His Church,” His Eminence Metropolitan Innokenty of Vilnius said during the procession that went around the church at the Holy Spirit Monastery, where the relics permanently lie.
Photo: orthodoxy.lt
The procession was held following the Liturgy, during a moleben for the end of the war in Ukraine and for Church unity. All Lithuanian clergy and pilgrims from across the country joined in the celebration.
The Church earlier held a procession for peace and unity in April as well.
Recall that a handful of clerics were recently defrocked for schismatic activity, trying to bring the Patriarchate of Constantinople into the canonical territory of the Lithuanian Church. Government officials have expressed readiness to help the wayward former clerics, while the faithful and clergy have called upon the state to stop meddling in Church affairs.
The last time the relics of Sts. Anthony, John, and Eustathius were taken in procession around the monastery church was shortly after the outbreak of WWI, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on September 14, 1914. The future Patriarch Tikhon was serving as Archbishop of Vilnius and Lithuania at the time.
St. Tikhon intended to hold the procession every year, but in 1915, the relics were evacuated to Moscow’s Donskoy Monastery due to the German offensive. After the revolution, the relics were seized and placed in the Moscow Museum of Atheistic Propaganda.
At the request of Patriarch Alexei I, the relics were returned to the Church in 1946 and flown to Vilnius on July 26. Since then, this day has been celebrated as the second acquisition of their relics.
Photo: orthodoxy.lt
It has also been the feast of All Saints of Lithuania since the Synodal resolution a few years ago. The Synaxis of Lithuanian Saints consists of 32 ascetics of piety, including Sts. Anthony, John, and Eustathius; St. Elisha, the founder of the Larishevsky Monastery; St. Charitina, Princess of Lithuania; and Prince St. Daumantas-Timothy.
Met. Innokenty expressed hope that the procession with the relics will become an annual spiritual event.
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