Comments on: St. Anatole Kamenskii: A Guest Post by Fr. Andrew Morbey

By: Russian_Iconographer

Russian_Iconographer — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:11:18 +0000

Fr. John, with all due respect, don’t you think that wanting to protect the icons, chalice, and tabernacle of your church (especially from militant atheists) would constitute “not wanting to betray… (one’s) …faith”? How do you know that his heart condition was not due to his persecution by the Communists? Patriarch Tikhon, photographed in his patriarch’s robes, looks like an old man of 80, but he was only in his late 50s. That’s what stress will do to you… isn’t that martyrdom as well? (For that matter, I guess we shouldn’t call St. Natalia a martyr, since she didn’t have her legs smashed on an anvil, she only watched her husband go through that).

As for the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II, it is well documented that, in spite of particular weaknesses & character flaws, he in fact did live a Christian life, and his household was a model Orthodox family in many ways. The fact that he was in fact shot for being an Orthodox Christian alone makes him a saint, not how he lived prior to that. The comparison to Sts. Boris & Gleb is a good one, as well. When the Greek bishop of Kiev doubted their saintliness, he was struck blind… and yet there was a huge icon of them at the time in Agia Sophia. I suggest you not place too much stock in Western histories of Nicholas II, considering the fact that they are all heavily influenced by Soviet sources.
The Russian Orthodox Church is well aware that God reveals His saints, and besides, as I understand, the correct term is “glorify”, not “canonize”, as the latter term is associated with the convoluted Latin method of declaring someone a saint…

By: Matthew Namee

Matthew Namee — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 19:24:53 +0000

Fr. John,

I agree that “New Martyr” is probably not an appropriate title for St. Anatolii. “New Confessor” seems to fit better.

Regarding Tsar Nicholas II and his family, remember the precedent of Ss. Boris and Gleb, “Passion Bearers” who were murdered for political reasons which had nothing directly to do with the Orthodox faith.

By: Fr John Scherstobit

Fr John Scherstobit — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:58:42 +0000

I do not know about Anatolii Kamenskii’s holiness of life but to canonise him as a Martyr of the Faith is stretching it a bit. Although imprisoned by the Bolsheviks it was for concealing ‘church property’ obviously protecting icons and other church items from destruction by Communists not for being a Christian and not wanting to betray his Faith and Church. He died naturally he was not killed for the Faith as eg St Peter the Aleut. So hardly a martyr. Seems to be a trend in the Russian church (MP & ROCOR) OF PUSHING CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS to be “canonised” ala Rom/ Cath style, eg Tsar Nikolas Etc as martyrs of faith when they were just victims of political savagery. Tsar Niks life can hardly be considered an example of holy Christian living and martyrdom. Saints are revealed to us by God, that the Church recognises officially by dedicating a day in calendar and composing hymns etc., we don’t ‘canonise’ or make saints for whatever reason.