Theodosius Stankevich

Holy Confessor Theodosius Stankevich, an archpriest, was born on 11 January 1872 in the Podolia province, in the village of Cherlenkovo in the Vinnitsa district, and died on 12 November 1950 in Melitopol. At ten he entered the clerical school, then the seminary, which he finished in 1893, and was sent as psalm-⁠reader to the Nativity of the Mother of God church in the village of Kosikovtsy in the Podolia province.

Naval priest

On 14 August 1894 he was ordained deacon, and a week later priest. Widowed early, Father Theodosius asked for transfer to the navy, and in August 1901 was appointed ship's priest on the battleship "Sisoy the Great" of the Pacific Squadron. After the battleship left for Kronstadt, he served as priest on the cruiser "Rossia." On 1 August 1904 the cruiser took part in the battle with the squadron of Japanese battleships in the Korea Strait and was heavily damaged. Father Theodosius was wounded in the left hand and chest, and from the concussion began to see and hear badly. For courage and valour he received a golden pectoral cross on the ribbon of Saint George and the Order of Saint Anne second class with swords. After the cruiser returned to Kronstadt for repairs, he served as ship's priest on the cruiser "Bogatyr." At Kronstadt he met the Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt, who gave him an icon of the Saviour, before which Father Theodosius prayed to the end of his life.

In November 1907 he was appointed dean of the ships and clergy of the midshipmen's detachment. In 1910 the Synod granted him the right to wear a golden cross with precious stones. The next year he was dean of the mobile military churches of the Odessa military district, and in 1913 garrison priest in the city of Nikolaev. At the outbreak of the First World War he was assigned to the commander of the naval forces of the Black Sea. On 14 September 1915 he was raised to the rank of archpriest, and in 1916 awarded the Order of Saint Prince Vladimir fourth class. After the Reds left Crimea, Father Theodosius resumed his spiritual work, which was held against him after his arrest by the GPU in the summer of 1927. Even so, he received no prison term then: the Special Council of the OGPU Collegium limited itself to exiling him to Melitopol, where he served (with a break of one year).

Relics and veneration

On 26 December 1995 the Crimean prosecutor's office decided on the full rehabilitation of Theodosius Filippovich Stankevich. The father's grave at the Krasnogorsk cemetery in Melitopol was constantly tended by townspeople who had known and loved him. According to their memories, Father Theodosius was distinguished by Christian meekness and humility, kindness and love for people. And for some time miracles of healing of the sick have taken place at the grave. Descriptions of them were presented to a commission of the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to which, on the initiative of Archbishop Luke of Zaporozhye and Melitopol, the canonization files of the new martyrs and confessors of the diocese were handed. The commission analysed the documents with great exactness. The Synod's decision followed on 25 August 2012, and on 18 September the finding of the relics of Archpriest Theodosius Stankevich was fixed. The relics, after sixty-⁠two years, were found incorrupt. After the discovery the holy relics were placed, in specially sewn church vestments, in a wooden reliquary in the cathedral of Saint Prince Alexander Nevsky. The count of healings from the relics was begun by a worker at the church shop, who, suffering from a headache because of high blood pressure, put on her head a scarf with which the relics had been covered, and the pain left at once.

He is commemorated on 2 December (new style), in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Crimean Metropolis, and on 28 December, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Crimea.