Today we commemorate the glorification of Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow.
At one point during his patriarchal ministry, the saint was compelled to participate in a show trial against eighteen of his clergy. They were charged with refusing to hand over the Holy Things such as the chalices and Gospel books to the Soviet authorities. And they were guilty, knowing that handing over the Holy Things was both against the canons and against the wish of their bishop, Patriarch Tikhon.
The Communists hoped to compel the saint by threatening his priests, so they told the Patriarch that his eighteen priests would all be executed if he didn’t bend.
According to an eye-witness at the trial, “The elder cast a kind and loving glance at the ministers of the altar and said clearly and firmly: ‘I have always said… that in this I alone am guilty. These are merely… carrying out the orders of the leader given them by God.’ …Here the voice of the Patriarch rose and was audible in all corners of the immense hall; and he himself seemed to grow when, turning to the accused, he raised his hand and blessed them, loudly and distinctly saying: ‘I bless the faithful servants of the Lord Jesus Christ to suffer and die for Him.’”
May all Orthodox Christians, in the East and in the West, receive a portion of such boldness and courage.