New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

The New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia are all the Orthodox Christians who suffered for Christ at the hands of the Soviet regime during the years of persecution. Among them are the royal passion bearers, Tsar Nicholas II and his family, and Grand Duchess Elizabeth. Countless thousands of martyrs, clergy and laity, suffered, some of whose names are known, while millions of simple believers have been lost to history without their names.

The number of the new martyrs of Russia, glorified by the Russian Church at the Jubilee Council of 2000, is reckoned to exceed that of all the martyrs of the first three Christian centuries. More than a thousand of them have been numbered among the saints. Among those who suffered were some who had labored in America before the revolution: Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Russia (7 April), Alexander Hotovitzky (4 December) and John Kochurov (31 October).

The Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia is kept on the Sunday closest to 25 January (new style; 7 February on the old calendar).