The Meaning of the Russian Miracle

It is not for us to enjoy ourselves;
to amuse ourselves,
to dance on the grave of Russia,
brought down to its deathbed by us,
but rather to repent in tears….

-- Archbishop Averky

For the first time in nearly a century, Russian Orthodox Christians officially celebrated Christ's Incarnation on January 7, 1992 (the Russian Church is on the Old Calendar). Christmas had not been permitted as a governmentally sanctioned holiday since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. This festival, representing religious freedom for millions of longsuffering people, captured the miraculous spirit of the times. It was a fitting culmination to the chain of events which had led beyond glasnost  and perestroika  to the utter collapse of the Soviet state.

The rapid and virtually wholesale demise of Soviet communism took most onlookers by surprise. As they had been powerless to cause, world leaders were equally powerless to forestall or slow the deterioration of the totalitarian system which had held millions hostage for decades.

It is tempting to consider the Soviet disintegration as a direct or implied victory for Western democracy and free-market capitalism. But while the economic, social and political shortcomings of communism are obvious, they could neither anticipate nor account for the complete upheaval of the regime which previously had jeopardized the entire planet.

No Surprises

Far deeper principles are at work in the "Russian miracle" than economics or politics. Yet these underlying forces have remained undetected and unreported by secular observers because they are spiritual. Christians in Russia, on the other hand, are not surprised by what happened, since they predicted it long ago.

Russian visionaries before the revolution saw what was going to happen and why. They saw how their country's misery would begin, and how it would ultimately end. They perceived the monumental implications of all this for the entire world. And they completely understood that Russian history was bound up with the end times.

In 1905 Father John of Kronstadt, one of Russia's most beloved modern saints, emphatically warned, "Russia, if you fall away from your faith, as many of the intellectual class have already fallen away, you will no longer be Russia or Holy Russia. And if there will be no repentance in the Russian people-then the end of the world is near. God will take away the pious Tsar and will send a whip in the person of impious, cruel, self-appointed rulers, who will inundate the whole earth with blood and tears." ¹

These prophetic words were fulfilled in 1917, when Marxist philosophy and Leninist rhetoric so inflamed the Russian populace that many lost touch with their Orthodox Christian sensibilities. In the ensuing madness, Tsar Nicholas II and his entire family were brutally murdered, bringing to an end the succession of Christian monarchs that had begun in the fourth century with Constantine the Great. Over the next seventy years, millions of Christians were killed. The Church, along with the Christian culture it had nurtured for nearly a millennium, was ruthlessly persecuted.

Fount of Revolution

The Russian Revolution actually began in France. It was there the humanistic and utopian slogan of "liberty; equality; fraternity" was first used successfully to separate the populace from its Christian heritage.The chief target of the French Revolution was the monarchy, based as it was on Christian principles. By destroying this, the revolution endeavored to make man his own ruler, separating him (as a nation) from the protection of a king-and of the King of kings.

"Kingship and the idea of descending political power-that is, political power 'descending' from God to the king for the benefit of the people-finally expired with the 'republicanism' of the French Revolution," wrote Father Michael Azkoul. "[The year] 1789 marks the traditional date for the beginning of the complete and radical secularization of the Western world. From this moment, 'democracy' becomes its political ideal and atheism its political consequence. God is forever shut off from human affairs, dying a quiet death in the scientific madness of the 19th century, with no one to grieve [H]im, as Nietzsche moaned. Now the universe was in the hands of man and, as August Comte proclaimed, he was its 'god' and the love of humanity his religion." ²

Bolshevism took its cues from the French Revolution, adopting many of the same objectives and methods, with the goal of establishing a totally secular and godless society. In Russia, however, the monarchy was not merely Christian in principle, but was the specific inheritor of the crown of Constantine, as well as the guardian of Orthodoxy. The tsar served as the "seal" of the mystery of lawlessness not merely for the Russian people, but for the world.

The Russian monarchs were aware of their responsibilities as spiritual guardians. Emperor Alexander III (who was called "the Peacemaker" not by the Russian people, but by Europe) said, "Should the autocracy collapse, God forbid, all of Russia will collapse with her. The fall of age-old Russian rule will bring about an endless era of discord and bloody civil wars."

The Coming Storm

The Christian monarchy had endured for 1600 years. Russia herself had been an Orthodox nation for over 900 years. Who could have anticipated the effect of a few madmen shouting Bolshevik slogans? Yet at Optina, Russia's most famous monastery, Starets (spiritual elder) Anatole the Younger of Optina made a drastic prediction: "There will be a storm. And the Russian ship will be smashed to pieces. But people can be saved even on splinters and fragments. And not everyone will perish." ³

The starets' understated words all came to pass: countless innocent people died, while the very fabric of traditional Russian society was shredded. Not content with destroying the monarchy, the Marxists systematically exterminated millions of ordinary citizens in an effort to eradicate belief in God from the society. Optina Monastery was closed in 1925; the monks were forced out and the buildings condemned.

Yet even in the storm of satanic hatred, people were saved "on splinters and fragments." After the visible Church organization was corrupted to Marxist ends, many of the faithful met secretly in their homes and in the forests, reviving the "catacomb" traditions of the earliest Christians. "For Russia the times of the catacombs have been resurrected," wrote Saint John Maximovitch. ⁴

Thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to profane uses, such as barns or offices. Communists confiscated the relics of long-venerated saints and either destroyed them or displayed them in museums as examples of supposedly ridiculous and antiquated superstitions. Yet all this was foreseen by Elder Barnabas of the Gethsemane Skete in the early 1900s: "Persecutions against the faith will constantly increase. There will be an unheard-of grief and darkness, and almost all the churches will be closed." ⁵

Instead of the liberty and better life which the communist revolution deceitfully promised, it delivered its adherents to unprecedented bondage and misery. To the outward eye, Russia as it had been known for 900 years - that is, Holy Russia - was dead.

Rebirth Prophesied

But Elder Alexius of the Zosima Hermitage claimed otherwise: "Who is it that is saying that Russia is lost, that she has perished? No, no, she is not lost, she has not perished and will not perish." ⁶

As the revolution took complete control of the country, the "impious, cruel, self-appointed rulers" submerged the populace beneath a deluge of deception. Lies and terror became the norm. Nevertheless, those with Christian understanding were not deceived. Not only had Russia not died, they said, but her suffering had profoundly religious implications. Russia's problems were not caused by economic imbalance, social unrest or political opportunism, but by the state of the nation's soul.

"The Russian people must be purified of sin through great trials," declared Elder Alexius. "One must pray and fervently repent. But Russia is not lost and has not perished." ⁷

Porphyrius, an ascetic of Glinsk Monastery, declared in 1914 that simple believers would yet resurrect Russia: "But in defence of faith there will arise from among the people those who are unknown to the world and they will restore what has been trampled on." ⁸

These Christian visionaries shared a clear awareness that Russia's misfortune was linked to the end times, and was in reality a preparation for the coming of the Antichrist. But rather than despair, they called their countrymen to repentance. In this they revealed that Russia's strength during those dark years lay not in her armies and nuclear warheads, but in the hearts of her Christian martyrs.

Schema-hieromonk Aristocleus promised in 1918, "Now we are undergoing the times before Antichrist, but Russia will yet be delivered. There will be much suffering, much torture. The whole of Russia will become a prison, and one must greatly entreat the Lord for forgiveness. One must repent of one's sins and fear to do even the least sin, but strive to do good, even the smallest. For even the wing of a fly has weight, and God's scales are exact. And when even the smallest of good in the cup overweighs, then will God reveal His mercy upon Russia." ⁹

Eldress Agatha of Belo-Russia was an ascetic nun who had received a vision from the Mother of God in her youth. In the early 1 930s she directed Christians to avoid the Soviet church: "This is not a true church," she said. "It has signed a contract to serve antichrist. Do not go to it. Do not receive any Mysteries from its servants. Do not participate in prayer with them. There will come a time when churches will be opened in Russia, and the true Orthodox faith will triumph. Then people will become baptized, as at one time they were baptized under St. Vladimir. When the churches are opened for the first time, do not go to them because these will not be true churches; but when they are opened the second time, then go - these will be the true churches…. The atheist Soviet authority will vanish, and all its servants will perish." ¹⁰

It was evident to some that Russia's penance and repentance would have worldwide implications. In 1917 Father Paul Florensky wrote, "I am convinced that the worst lies before us, and not behind us.... But I believe that this crisis will purify the Russian atmosphere, even the atmosphere of the entire world." ¹¹

As communism spread like a plague into Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Americas, those who were able to flee their oppressed homelands also filtered into other countries. As a result of this dispersal, an even broader spiritual significance of the revolution became discernible: "In chastising, the Lord at the same time also shows the Russian people the way to salvation by making it a preacher of Orthodoxy in the whole world," wrote Saint JoIm Maximovitch. "The Russian Diaspora has made all the ends of the world familiar with Orthodoxy; the mass of Russian exiles, for the most part, is unconsciously a preacher of Orthodoxy…. To the Russians abroad it has been granted to shine in the whole world with the light of Orthodoxy, so that other peoples, seeing their good deeds, might glorify our Father Who is in heaven, and thus obtain salvation for themselves." ¹²

Communism's Collapse

After seventy years of spiritual and material deprivation, the masses of Soviet people had reached a state of numb hopelessness. It was impossible to imagine any power or circumstance great enough to break the communist stronghold. Many Westerners also considered the Soviet Union a virtually unbeatable entity, a conscienceless superpower whose motto, "We will bury you!" was a permanently chilling possibility. As country after country succumbed to the socialist onslaught, the communist advance seemed to be inexorable. Yet the God-inspired Russian luminaries who had foreseen the birth of communism foresaw also its later collapse and aftermath.

In 1918 Schema-hieromonk Aristocleus, referring to the ultimate death of Bolshevism, declared, "There will be an extraordinary outburst and a miracle of God would be manifested. And there will be an entirely different life, but all this will not be for long." ¹³

Elder Barnabas of the Gethsemane Skete spoke in terms of a "deliverance" which would be short-lived, a mere "flowering" before the end: "But when it will seem to people that it is impossible to endure any longer, then deliverance will come. But this will be a flowering before the end." ¹⁴

After the "storm" of communism, God will miraculously restore Russia, explained Starets Anatole the Younger in 1917: "And what happens after a storm?… There will be a calm.... A great miracle of God will be manifested. And all the splinters and fragments [of the smashed 'Russian ship'], by the will of God and [H]is power, will come together and be united, and the ship will be rebuilt in its beauty and will go on its own way as foreordained by God. And this will be a miracle evident to everyone." ¹⁵

Elder Nectarius of Optina predicted in the 1920s that not only would Russia be freed from her oppressors, but that as a result of repentance, she would become spiritually rich. "Russia will arise, and materially it will not be wealthy. But in spirit it will be wealthy, and in Optina there will yet be seven luminaries, seven pillars." ¹⁶

In 1987 Optina was in fact reopened, and repairs were begun following its extensive destruction and desecration. A Moscow University student later verified the accuracy of Elder Nectarius' prophetic words: "Now I see that all our history, arts, customs and even language are built on Orthodox Christianity; If we safeguard our Orthodoxy, we are the richest nation, even if we are economically poor. Orthodoxy is Russia's most precious treasure." ¹⁷

Return of the Tsar?

For Russians, the greatest sin on the national conscience has been that of regicide. Tsar Nicholas II, the servant of Christ, had been abandoned by his own people to be butchered by the communists. As Father Gleb Yakunin lamented, "The tragedy of the Royal Family has lain like a curse on the Russian land, having become the symbolic prologue of Russia's long path of the Cross - the death of tens of millions of her sons and daughters. The canonization of the Imperial Martyrs will be for Russia the lifting from her of the sin of regicide; this will finally deliver her from the evil charms." ¹⁸

As if in response to the reviving Russian national contrition, in 1979 a startling discovery was made. Researcher Geli Ryabov located, after extensive secret Investigations, the buried relics of Tsar Nicholas II. Nine skeletons were dug up from a pit in Ekaterinburg, where the royal family had been killed. ¹⁹  This had a profound impact on the nation. Informed sources report that "gradually the Russian conscience has begun to awaken. Memorial services to the Tsar have been held across the country…. Voices in the Russian press have openly brought up the question of 'national guilt' for the death of their Tsar, which they say must somehow, through acts of repentance, be expiated." ²⁰

[Unfortunately, on this one point, Mr. Engleman, like not a few others, appears to have been "taken in" by Russia's enemies, including those in the "Russian" media, who are not Russian, but presume to speak in Russia's name. As much as we Russians would have wanted to have found the relics of the Royal Martyrs, we know that these skeletons are not theirs, and that this entire charade was concocted by Ryabov et al., in a viciously unscrupulous attempt to whitewash those who were actually insturmental in ordering and carrying out the ritual murder of our Tsar' and His Most-august Family!  (See: «Ëîæü íà êðîâè», «Ôàíòàñòè÷åñêèé îáìàí» and «Åêàòåðèíáóðãñêèå îñòàíêè»; also, see: "Concerning the Murder of the Russian Royal Family" )]

Could such repentance herald the reinstatement of the Christian monarchy? The Atlanta Journal/Constitution reported on July 7, 1991, that a descendant of Michael Romanov, Russia's first Romanov tsar, was discovered living in exile in Paris, and that Russian monarchists had elected regents to represent him.

Regarding the return of a tsar, Archbishop Theophan of Poltava wrote in 1930, "The coming of Antichrist draws nigh and is very near. The time separating us from him should be counted a matter of years and at most a matter of some decades. But before the coming of Antichrist Russia must yet be restored-to be sure, for a short time. And in Russia there must be a Tsar forechosen by the Lord Himself.  He will be a man of burning faith, great mind and iron will. This much has been revealed about him." ²¹

When so many of the predictions of righteous Russian sufferers have come to pass, all their words must take on added importance. A theme repeated by many is that the restoration of Russia will be temporary. It will be a "flowering before the end," a brief return to true Christian beliefs and practices. And it will presage a wave of worldwide repentance prior to the appearance of Antichrist.

Heavenly Silence

Father Seraphim Rose linked Revelation's "heavenly silence" to Russia's period of quiet before the final storm: "In the book which most thoroughly describes the events to occur at the end of the world, the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian, at the opening of the seventh seal, which precedes the final plague to come upon mankind, it is said that there was silence in heaven for the space of half an hour (Apoc. 8:1). Some have interpreted this to mean a short period of peace before the final events of world history-namely…when the preaching of world-wide repentance will begin with Russia." ²²

This repentance is a sign that evil, regardless of its apparent power, is not stronger than good. Satan can and will be defeated, but only by those who are willing to suffer for Christ. Those who endure crucifixion for the Lord's sake will certainly be resurrected. "It is a law of the spiritual life that where there is Golgotha - if it is genuine suffering for Christ-there will be resurrection," Father Seraphim Rose assures us. "This resurrection first of all occurs in human hearts, and we do not need to be too concerned what outward form it might take by God's will. All signs point to the fact that we are living at the end of the world, and any outward restoration of Holy Orthodox Russia will be short-lived." ²³

The world at large gloats over communism's apparently untimely end and rewards itself with complacency. It has no idea that the fractured societies left in communism's wake are but decoys, left to divert suspicion from the true arena of conflict. The revolution is not over, nor have we in the West "won," for the battle is ultimately spiritual in nature.

Marx's "opiate of the masses is in reality his own nihilistic belief that this present life is all there is. Toxic and addictive, it is a deadening aroma that has spread beyond the fevered minds of communist plotters to infiltrate nearly every arena of human thought and enterprise. Examine the media, the schools, the government, and then ask: Did they not bury us, after all? What the political revolution has failed to do, and perhaps was never really expected to do, has been effectively achieved by more "delicate" means.

"Communism in its crude primitive form of militant atheistic materialism will outlive itself giving place to more subtle forms of struggle with Christ," wrote Archimandrite Constantine. "In so doing, it will bring us right up to the manifestation of the Antichrist in its final concrete form." ²⁴

Sober Christians must reject the complacency in which the ignorant indulge. The downfall of Russian communism is no license for ease-taking, but an eloquent harbinger of the end. It is a sign that all is being fulfilled just as prophets, apostles and Christian visionaries throughout the ages have foretold. Every day, every second, draws us nearer to the final contest between our Lord and His enemies.

The ultimate Victor, of course, has already won, and the ultimate loser has already lost. Indeed, the only remaining question is: Who among mankind will make the hard choice of remaining loyal to Christ in a world culture given over to Antichrist?

In these culminating moments, perhaps the Russian martyrs may yet instruct us, with their example of preferring death to deceit, firing squads to faithlessness. If so, their sacrifice will serve us even as it saved them. And if, as a result of the testimony of their suffering, others find the strength to live and the courage to die for Christ, then truly the Russian miracle will belong to all.

1. Father John of Kronstadt, 50th Anniversary Book, Utica, N.Y., 1958, p. 164, as quoted by Fr. Seraphim Rose, Heavenly Realm, p. 88.

2. Sacred Monarchy and the Modern Secular State, p. 5.

3. Orthodox Russia, 1970, No. 1, p. 9, as quoted in Heavenly Realm, p. 89.

4. A New Age of Martyrs and Catacombs, p. 3.

5. Private letter from N. Kieter, as quoted in Heavenly Realm, p.90.

6. Orthodox Russia, 1970, No. 1, p. 9, as quoted in ibid., p. 89.

7. Ibid.

8. I.M. Andreyev, Russia's Catacomb Saints, p. 526.

9. OrthodoxRussia, 1969, No. 21, p. 3, as quoted in Heavenly Realm, p. 90.

10. By the late 1930s nearly all churches in Russia were closed. Stalin opened the churches "for the first time," during World War II, then closed them again. The second opening occurred following communism's demise. [This is not to be understood as the "opening" of the pseudo-churches of the Moscow Patriarchate, however, but rather the public opening of churches by the True Orthodox Christians of Russia, who had previously been forced underground, to pray in secret, as members of the "Catacomb Church of Russia." - gs]

11. Private letter to A. S. Mamontov.

12. The Orthodox Word, 1973, No. 50, pp. 92, 94, as quoted in Heavenly Realm, p. 99.

13. Orthodox Russia, 1969, No. 21, p. 3, as quoted in ibid., p. 91.

14. Private letter from N. Kieter, as quoted in ibid., p. 90.

15. Orthodox Russia, 1970, No. 1, p. 9, as quoted in ibid., pp. 89-90.

16. Optina Monastery and its Epoch, p. 538, as quoted in ibid., p. 91.

17. "Letter from Russia," Orthodox America, Vol. XIII, No. 8, May-June 1993, p. 8.

18. La Pense Russe, Dec. 6, 1979, No. 3285, p. 50, as quoted in Heavenly Realm, p. 94.

19. The Atlanta Journal/Constitution, June 23, 1992, p. A2.

20. The Orthodox Word, Vol. 26, No. 4 (153), July-August 1990, p. 220.

21. The Orthodox Word, 1969, No. 5, p. 194, as quoted in Heavenly Realm, p. 91.

22. Heavenly Realm, p. 98.

23. Christensen, Not of This World, p. 882.

24. Ecumenism, Communism and Apostasy, p. 14.

(Excerpted from Chapter 7, pp. 88-102 of "Ultimate Things: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on the End Times," by Dennis Eugene Engleman, Conciliar Press, Ben Lomond, California, © 1995.)