The Life of St. Sophia of Kiev - Abbess & Confessor of the Catacomb Church

St. Sophia of Kiev (+1941) was a valiant Abbess, Confessor, and spiritual guide for the faithful during their apocalyptic trial under the Bolshevik antichrists. This account of her life is found in "Russia's Catacomb Saints" written and translated by I. M. Andreyev, Fr. Seraphim Rose, Fr. Herman Podmoshensky, and others. Published in 1982 by the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood.

Read "Russia's Catacomb Saints": https://russiascatacombsaints.blogspot.com/

From the Life of St. Sophia:

“Of inestimable spiritual value is the fearless stand for Christ's Truth by the New Martyrs of Russia. Especially by their manful act of testifying where the Truth was to be found at a time when many did not see this—the Josephite confessors of 1927 and thereafter historically preserved the savor of Orthodoxy for generations to follow. Now that almost half a century has passed, history has shown that these "stubborn rebels," the followers of Metropolitan Joseph of Petrograd, were absolutely correct, and their significance now shines forth as equal to that of the great Confessors of Orthodoxy in ancient times. One of such Josephites was Abbess Sophia, whose boldness as a confessor was a direct result of her high spirituality and genuine Orthodox world-view. She reached spiritual maturity at the time of Russia's pinnacle of holiness, when the Russian land was preparing to offer itself as a pure and ripe sacrifice to God at the bloody hands of the God-hating Communists.” "Being a true offspring of the Optina Elders, with whom she was in constant contact, she soberly discerned the true nature of the Soviet Revolution and knew what to expect from it. Thus, when the assault of the "Living Church" struck, her convent was one of the first to give a blow back, although she herself had already been arrested. A new calendarist bishop was forced into the convent by GPU agents to serve Liturgy. When the women who attended it came up to kiss the Cross at the end, one after another they spit on the bishop's hand that held the Cross, and thus an end was put to "renovation" in the Protection Convent, and the bishop learned his lesson and repented. Hearing about this, Bishop Damascene exclaimed with bitterness: 'If it were not for women, who else would defend the Church? Let them at least defend it however they can!'" "The last morning in the much-suffering life of Abbess Sophia arrived when she was amidst her spiritual daughters, on a collective farm near Serpukhov which was a catacomb convent. She was in a state of absolute exhaustion. not having partaken of any food for several days. After morning prayers, when her room had been put in order, Mother Sophia asked to be left alone, and then began to read her favorite book, the Gospel, — when the sisters heard her coughing and gasping for air. The agony lasted for three hours, but she was fully conscious and her eyes were clear. Then she turned her gaze to an icon, closed her eyes for the last time, and departed to the Lord. That was on March 22 (April 4, NS), 1941." _______

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