The metropolitan Anthony (Packanich) reminded about persecution of the Church at Soviet Union time and about the courageous profession of faith by Luka of Crimea.

In hard times for the Church the example of christians who accomplished a martyr feat during persecutions is important and strengthening. New martyrs and confessors who were affected by Soviet Union’s persecutions became especially close for most of us.

Todays oppression of believers and clergy has much in common with the methods of Soviet Union’s times. The bitter experience doesn’t teach us. People don’t stop fighting with God due to foolishness and pride.

One of the shining example of a true service of God is the bishop Luka of Crimea whose spirit wasn’t broken by exiles, menaces, surveillance and nasty lies.

The ordeals which he faced even strengthened his belief, and intimidations didn’t make him give up on vows he made to God, and to withdraw from Truth and Church.

From the archives came through to us we can understand what pressure was brought on the bishop, what kind of strain he experienced, but archbishop Luke never bated an inch from his principles.

Spies penetrated in the bishop’s warm circle. All his actions, dialogues, letters were controlled by agencies. Facts were distorted in staff reports. He knew that, but despite all intrigues and dangers to the service, he was going on toiling in the vineyards of the Lord.

As a surgeon and professor, archbishop Luke was giving lectures regularly, was a visiting medical doctor in infirmary for the Great Patriotic War veterans. He also was performing surgeries, seeing patients, consulting people.

Bishop Luke always spoke to audience wearing mandyas, which caused rumblings among specific range of people. So he was told to read reports only in ordinary clothes, but the bishop flatly refused to do it.

After this he wasn’t invited to give lectures and reports anymore.

The bishop shifted to preaching and started homilizing everyday, sometimes two times a day in the cathedral of Simferopol and in other cathedrals in the city and region.

He spoke without reserve about existing persecutions to Church and clergy, innocently injured priests, about spiritual meaning of challenges comparing them with the natural selection: «In the religious field, in the spiritual world the natural selection occurs too, but this selection is Divine. Unbelievers are thrown aside, and all believers are united in one flock. Even though it’s small now, but in return strong and fit…».

The Enlightener solicited for opening of a synodical printing-office worrying that the religious nation was left without Holy Scriptures. And it was opened.

The Archbishop Luke was writing reports about the situation in the Simferopol Eparchy where he highlighted a violation of the rights of believers and clergies: closings of village churches, expulsion of priests from their houses, where they’d been living for a long time, horrification of believers; about that nobody dare neither can go to church because all Sundays and feast days are full of work; about that believers are scared to give an apartment to an ousted priest, and about other oppressions…

Nowadays people continue fighting with God and His Church, but under another slogans and masks.

They capture and rob cathedrals, expulse priests, frighten believers, slander the clergy — and all these things are covered under «positive» intent. Lie, cowardice and villainy of the present day capturers are doubly nasty. But sooner or later, everyone will face the consequences.

We know a lot of sad and tragic stories connected with fates of persecutors and betrayers of the Church. All of them came to a sticky end.

God calls us to keep away from this people: «Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.» (Matthew 15:14).

Recorded by Natalia Goroshkova