Moscow, September 5, 2022
patriarchia.ru
The glorification of Hiero-Confessor Archpriest Mikhail Soyuzov was liturgically celebrated yesterday at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, led by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.
Fr. Mikhail was one of three priests canonized among the Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church by the Russian Holy Synod on August 25.
patriarchia.ru
The glorification of St. Michael was celebrated at the Small Entrance. Two priests brought the icon of St. Mikhail out of the altar, and the Synodal resolution on his canonization and his biography were read out, reports Patriarchia.ru:
During the singing of the troparion to St. Mikhail, the Patriarch blessed the people with the icon, then placed it for the veneration of the faithful.
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Hiero-Confessor Mikhail Soyuzov was born on May 12, 1869, in the family of a priest in the Novgorod Province. He graduated from the Novgorod Seminary, and later from the St. Petersburgh Theological Academy.
At the request of St. John of Kronstadt himself, Mikhail became was appointed as reader at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Kronstadt. He was ordained to the diaconate on October 10, 1893, and to the priesthood on April 28, 1895, and was sent to the serve at the St. Alexander Nevsky Church in the 2nd Cadet Corps, again at the recommendation of St. John of Kronstadt.
During WWI, by Fr. Mikhail’s labors, an infirmary for wounded soldiers and a shelter for children of wounded and killed officers were opened. His wife also served as a nurse helping wounded soldiers.
Fr. Mikhail was first arrested a week after the declaration of the “Red Terror” on September 13, 1918, without charges. He was released a month later. He was arrested again on May 20, 1922, after some of his parishioners attempted to stop authorities from seizing church valuables. He testified that neither he nor Metropolitan Benjamin had encouraged the people to cause any unrest. Rather, Fr. Mikhail called on his flock to show “love, peace, meekness, and kindness.”
Having deflected accusations away from Met. Benjamin, on July 5, 1922, Fr. Mikhail was sentenced to three years in strict isolation. He died in a prison hospital on October 19, 1922. He is buried at the Smolensk Cemetery, not far from the Chapel of St. Ksenia of St. Petersburg.
His feast is to be celebrated on October 6/19.
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