Anatolius And Demetrius, Hieromartyrs Of Kiev And Those With Them

Hieromartyr Anatolius, in the world Anatolius Yevgenievich Zhurakovsky, was born in Moscow, in the family of a teacher. His father, Eugene Petrovich, was a talented and highly educated person, but he was never able to achieve anything, and was one of the "promising" ones all his life, while his much less talented fellows became professors, well-known critics and writers. He was not skilled in standing up for himself, and was extraordinarily straight in his dealings, being to an obsessive degree honourable in his convictions.

His mother, Olga Vasilyevna Zhurakovskaya, was one of the sixties generation. She supported her husband in everything, but was not a home-maker and was not adapted to the practicalities of life. Their existence was reminiscent to the end of their lives of the life of students in hostels. But people were drawn to them, and their doors were always wide open both for needy students and for writers, musicians and everyone who did not live "for bread alone".

Anatolius was born on March 4, 1897 (old style) while his father was still a student. He was the second child. The first, Gennadius, was two and a half years older. Later Arcadius was born, and four years after that - a daughter, Eugenia. His mother had suffered from tuberculosis in her youth, and it was this that later swept her into the grave. Anatolius was very attached to Arcadius, but the boy was very sickly from his birth and was ill for six years. Hard times set in for the family. The father almost stopped coming home, fearing to see the sufferings of the boy. The mother could hardly support herself on her feet. Anatolius sat for hours at the bed of his brother praying for him (although there was absolutely no religious education in the house). He made a vow that he would kneel through all the church services until his brother recovered.

The parishioners quickly noticed the boy who went to all the services he could without rising from his knees. Anatolius prayed fervently, but Arcadius died. And looking at his transparent, TB-ridden little face, Anatolius made a new vow - to go on kneeling and praying for his mother.

After one of the services, the deacon of the church came up to him, and Anatolius for the first time heard the words of Great Consolation and the promises of Coming Joy which cannot be taken away by corruption or loss. From that time the conversations after Vespers became more and more frequent. And a new world opened up in front of the boy. Nothing interested him any longer, neither children's games, nor the theatre, which he used to love to go to. He dreamed of devoting his whole life to the service of the Church.

Meanwhile the health of his mother became so worrying that the family council decided to move to the south. They moved to Tbilisi. Anatolius moved up to the fifth class at this time. Parting with his instructor was difficult for him, but he was already sufficiently strong in his faith to seek out companions in the Tbilisi school who could share his path with him. He created a little circle in which the boys studied the Gospel and spiritual books. They went to churches together, and tried to understand the services. A year passed in this way. Meanwhile his mother was getting worse and worse. The climate of the south was not only not good for her, it worsened her condition. Again they sought an escape and moved to a softer climate - to Kiev in the Ukraine. That was in 1911. Anatolius moved up to the sixth class. From now on the long years of his life would pass in Kiev, which he always regarded as his second homeland.

In Kiev there was the same chaos at home. The family closed ranks round the mother, but she was too ill, and, besides, their daughter, their last child, demanded a great deal of attention. She fell ill with meningitis, and feeding her required special attention. The boys were given a separate room. By this time their interests were already sharply defined, and the room was the reflection of these. On one of the walls the elder brother hung a huge portrait of L.N. Tolstoy, which he venerated, while on Anatolius' side there hung a beautiful image of Christ the height of a man which had been drawn in charcoal. This was a present from a monk-artist whom he had met in the Kiev-Caves Lavra. Christ was walking along the road in a simple white tunic with gentle folds falling from the shoulders which left his sandle-clad feet uncovered. An expression of deep thoughtfulness lay on His face, and His eyes looked somewhere far into the distance....

The Zhurakovsky family was not at all religious, and Anatolius' "amusement" was of serious concern to all of them. He would refused to go to the theatre and concerts, and read little fiction, although he knew it well. He devoted himself entirely to the study of patristic literature and theological books. An accidental acquaintance with a colleague of his father's, V.V. Zenkovsky, finally decided his fate. Zenkovsky learned of Anatolius' interests from his father, and expressed a desire to get to know him. After a conversation, Zenkovsky was struck by the conviction and erudition of the adolescent, and offered to help him in his studies. Anatolius joyfully agreed since he had happened to hear Zenkovsky's speeches and admired him. This acquaintance passed into firm friendship - first Zenkovsky guided him in his studies, then spiritually formed him, and finally they parted as two equal friends. Zenkovsky introduced him to the Religious-Philosophical Society, where he was lovingly received by such outstanding men as Professor V.I. Ekzemplyarsky and P.P. Kudryavtsev. Ekzemplyarsky often had to struggle with the police for Anatolius because grammar-school boys were strictly forbidden to go to societies...

In 1915 Anatolius finished grammar school and entered the classical and philosophical department of the university's Historical-Philological faculty. There he specialized with Zenkovsky, who at that time was giving lectures in Russian philosophy, and under his supervision he wrote a dissertation entitled "Joseph de Maistre and Constantine Leontiev", for which he won a gold medal.

The First World War tore him away from university studies. His wanderings began. First he obtained work in the Union of Zemstvos, and then he appeared at the front in a non-combatant unit in connection with the mobilization of students. A school for soldiers was organized in a railway battalion, and Anatolius was appointed a teacher of physics and maths there.

While he was at the front, Anatolius did not abandon his studies in theology and in 1916 he wrote a work entitled "On the question of eternal torments". The work was printed in the journal Khristianskaya Mysl', which was published by Ekzemplyarsky, and in 1917 he wrote two works which were then published in the same journal: "The Eucharistic canon now and in the past", and "The mystery of love and the sacrament of marriage".

In the same year of 1917 he was demobilized for health reasons, and returned to Kiev. There he met a former Athonite monk, and then a colonel priest who had returned from the front - Archimandrite Spirydon (Kislyakov). Fr. Spirydon was the founder of the brotherhood of Sweetest Jesus in Kiev. He had the great gift of attracting people by the power of his words. And so, inspired by him, the soldiers at the front had hurled themselves into battle without a care. But once he saw a German plane bombing their unit. Death flew from the black cross inscribed on its wings. This so struck him - the cross bearing death - that he cursed the war and was no longer able to stay at the front. He came to Kiev in a depressed condition and found Ekzemplyarsky, whose works he had been reading. Ekzemplyarsky was very kind to him, and Fr. Spirydon stayed in Kiev. By this time Anatolius had returned. A close friendship which lasted till the death of Fr. Spirydon in 1930 developed between them.

The revolutionary whirlwind had already started, and the soldiers were fleeing from the front, some of them settling in the city. Fr. Spirydon and Anatolius began to go round the barracks and the workers' quarters preaching the Word of God. Fr. Spirydon and his friend became well known in these circles. They were loved and waited for -they never once heard a coarse word addressed to them from the worker-soldier masses. In 1918, after the bombardment of Kiev, they organized help for the sufferers - food, clothing, nursing for the children. The numbers of helpers continued to increase.

This turbulent life affected the health of Anatolius. Early in the spring of 1920 he fell ill with tuberculosis and in the hospital the doctors would not vouch for his life. His organism, which was already weak, had been undermined by a long period of under-nourishment. In Kiev the authorities were constantly changing, the city was suffering from famine, and the countryside did not come to its rescue. People were trying to sell their last things, but often they did not have the strength to drag away the potato they had received in exchange.

It was at this moment that Fr. Spirydon again came to help him. He had begun going round the villages preaching the Word of God. He was received, and he spoke to them about the starving city and the fine people there who were condemned to a slow death. He often brought food that he had been given and with it sustained the lives of the teachers in the Theological Academy. On one of these journeys he happened to come to a village where the villagers complained to him that they were cut off from the church by the river, and during the flood season they were completely cut off, which had a particularly bad effect during Great Lent and Bright Week after Pascha. In this village there was an abandoned landowner's house. Fr. Spirydon advised them to make a church in the house, and promised that he would get all the vessels needed for a church. In exchange he proposed that they take in a sick student until he got well, giving him a little room in the house and feeding him by turns. The peasants joyfully agreed, since this was no trouble for them. They came with a cart and took away the "student", secretly expecting that he would not reach the village alive, so poorly was he. Through POLIRA (the department for the liquidation of religious vessels) Fr. Spirydon obtained all the equipment of one field church and took it away to the village. The conversion of the house into a church began. Anatolius began to feel significantly better: the food and the air did their work. By the middle of the summer he could already walk around the house a bit, and a little later he triumphantly walked to the end of the garden. The peasants came to love their charge, and in the autumn, when the church was ready, and he was more or less healthy, they began to ask him to stay and become their priest. On August 20, 1918, therefore, he was ordained to the priesthood in the Dormition cathedral of the Kiev-Caves Lavra. At the same time he graduated from the university. Now his life was totally devoted to the Church. There were services everyday in the little church, and everyday the bloodless Sacrifice was offered. On weekdays there were very few people, but on feasts and Sundays the church was full. Gradually people from Kiev also began to visit him. Those who knew Anatolius from his speeches or had studied with him sought a fresh spiritual encounter with him. And when Fr. Anatolius happened to be in Kiev he would visit one or another of the city churches. Then all-night vigils which only ended in the morning with the Liturgy were arranged. Fr. Anatolius would unfailingly serve and preach at these vigils.

His new spiritual children asked him to move to Kiev, while a young priest close to Fr. Spirydon agreed to go to the village. Petitions for Fr. Anatolius' transfer began to be made. This turned out to be difficult; but a delegation of university teachers finally obtained permission from the metropolitan. Fr. Anatolius was given a small house church which was in another parish and did not have either its own parishioners or its own means of existence. It was very near the university, in a quiet, shady alley. Very soon the church was full of worshippers who came from all parts, mainly intelligentsia who had long ago forgotten their bond with the Church and who had tormenting doubts and festering sores in their souls. There were also many young people, ardent searchers. There were also elderly people who brought their broken hearts to God. All of them found consolation and support, and remained there. A community was organized, with its own choir and readers. There were no professionals there, and everything was reverent and trembling. Many got to know each other, and little circles were formed: for the elderly who were occupied with administrative matters; for young people, boys who were studying theology and were trying to enter more deeply into the heart of the Church's life; and for girls who cared for the beauty of the church. They prepared for every service as for a feast - the church hymns and canon were sung, and teachers from the Theological Academy helped the young people, teaching them to read, to understand what they were reading, and how a believer should behave when a great sacrament is being performed. Many began to serve in church, others sang or read. There was no place for mobs in the church, it was one prayerful whole standing before the altar and praying for themselves and the whole world. The heavenly protectress of the community was St. Mary Magdalene, and her feastday, July 22, was celebrated with particular joy and festiveness. The whole church was adorned with flowers, every face radiated joy, the voices of the choir sang in harmony, and chosen parishioners read with reverence on the kliros. While Fr. Anatolius, as it seemed, was walking on air, his whole face shining with inspired prayer.

It was at about this time that the religious life of the city became more lively. There were meetings, lectures and debates. Fr. Anatolius delivered a series of lectures in the Christian Student Union.

In March, 1922 he engaged in debate with a theosophist, he read a public lecture entitled "Christ and Us", and finally, he took part in a major debate organized by the city's public organizations on the subject: "Science and Religion". The debate took place in May, 1922 in the assembly hall of the university on one day, and on another - in the opera theatre. In all it lasted three evenings. The well-known journalist Posse spoke, as did a bishop who had renounced his calling. On the side of the believers, among others, was Fr. Anatolius. The people were clearly on the side of the believers, and Fr. Anatolius was showered with flowers.

The extraordinary regeneration of church life, and the participation of the young people could not fail to arouse the suspicions of the authorities. An order was given to close down the church since it was a house church in close proximity to a children's home. It was proposed to Fr. Anatolius that he move to another church, also a former house church of the Religious enlightenment society (1922). The young people triumphantly transferred the icons into the new church. The whole community followed their pastor, and in fact life continued as it had done in the church of St. Mary Magdalene. At this time new tendencies appeared: the renovationists, the Living Church and the Ukrainian autocephalists were all tearing at the living body of the Church. Fr. Anatolius began a lengthy battle with them. Lectures, sermons, conversation... As a result, on the night of Great Thursday (March, 1923), he was arrested. He was detained only for a short time in Kiev, and was transferred to the Butyrki prison in Moscow, where they tried to force him to change his opinions. He was sentenced to exile in Yoshkar-Olu (at that time Krasnokokshaisk). They lived simply, renting accomodation from the local population. There were many exiles in the town: clergy and representatives of various parties. They loved to drop in on Fr. Anatolius, and many left his room spiritually regenerated. Soon a friend of Fr. Anatolius' arrived, the prior of the Kiev-Caves Lavra Archimandrite Hermogenes. They began to serve together. A new table was made which served as an altar; the friends brought an antimins and some small chalices, and once again prayers for the whole world began to be offered almost every day. At first this was done in secret, the congregation consisting of a cell-attendant, Fr. Hermogenes and the wife of Fr. Anatolius. Then the local nuns began to come in groups of three or four, no more, so as not to draw attention to themselves. They did not go to the churches since the churches were renovationist. But several months passed, and the local clergy, under the influence of the two priests' explanatory conversations with them, repented and were given permission to serve by the Orthodox bishop of Kazan. On the first triumphant day of their return into the bosom of the Church, Fathers Hermogenes and Anatolius demonstratively processed into the church and took part in the service. Two days later they were again arrested by the local authorities. But since, apparently, they did not receive the approval of the their higher organs, about three months later the authorities released them. They remained in exile until November, 1924, returning to Kazan to the sound of the ringing of the bells - it was the feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the temple.

Kiev again. Fr. Hermogenes returned to the Lavra, and Fr. Anatolius had to face the question of a church. Renovationism had come to an end in Kiev by this time. Fr. Anatolius was given a small winter church attached to the church of St. Nicholas the Good. The community joyfully received their pastor. And services began again.

Things continued in this way until that ill-fated day on which Metropolitan Sergius issued his "declaration". An unheard-of lie resounded from the ambon in the name of the Church. People suffered, but they knew that there was a place which was inaccessible to lies and unrighteousness. Let individual pastors fall away, but the Church was free. When livingchurchmen of all shades had appeared, the believers had quickly understood that this was the fall of individual people, but the Church as the Bride of Christ was pure and undefiled. As for now... The best clergy in all the towns quickly began to get together. There must be not the slightest shadow of unrighteousness in the Church. The word "Liturgy" means common work, it is accomplished with the blessing of the bishop whose name is on the antimins, but in commemorating the bishop you become a part of that community whose symbol is the antimins. Everyone responsible for all - that is the conciliar foundation of Orthodoxy. But can there be one whole with lies and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? All the best clergy sought to avoid such a situation. And not all the bishops turned out to be traitors. There began a movement which the enemies of the Church later called "Iosiflyantstvo" (from the name of Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh) who headed it).

Fr. Anatolius was the author of two works explaining the position of the Catacomb Church in relation to Metropolitan Sergius' declaration. One of them, the "Kiev appeal", was signed, among others, by: Fr. Andrew Boichuk, Fr. Demetrius Ivanov, Fr. Boris Kvasnitsky, Fr. Eugene Lukyanov and Archimandrite Spiridon. All of them except for Fr. Spirydon perished in the camps.

According to one (dubious) source, Fr. Spirydon signed the acts of the so-called "Nomadic Council" of the Catacomb Church in 1928 on behalf of Schema-Archbishop Anthony (Abashidze).

In the middle of October, 1928, Fr. Anatolius went to Petrograd, where he sought to come under the spiritual direction of Bishop Demetrius of Gdov, the future hieromartyr. Not finding Bishop Demetrius immediately, he met Fr. Theodore Andreyev, a professor of theology who was serving in the church of the Saviour-on-the-Blood. He served in the church of the Transfiguration, where Fr. Spirydon, who had also joined himself to those who separated from Metropolitan Sergius, was serving. In his sermons and talks, together with Gospel themes, he explained the position of the Church to the worshippers, and exhorted them not to corrupt the purity of Orthodoxy. At that time, when the OGPU came to arrest Fr. Theodore, Fr. Anatolius was in his flat. He stood behind the door and was not noticed by the chekists.

Until the end of 1928 Fr. Anatolius served in the small church of St. Barbara in the bell-tower of the church of Nicholas the Good in Podolya, whose superior was the well-known Kievan protopriest and professor of the Theological Academy, Fr. Alexander Glagolev, who had joined the "non-commemorators" in Kiev, of whom Fr. Anatolius was now the leader.

Deacon Sergius Orlov was a reader in the community of Fr. Anatolius. With his blessing, he was ordained to the diaconate on August 15/28, 1928. He was arrested in 1930 and spent three years on the White Sea canal.

Fr. Anatolius had close links with the Leningrad Josephites and actively corresponded with them, but did not enter into official communion with them. The situation changed in September, 1928, when six Kievan clergy protested to Metropolitan Michael against his declaration in a collective letter and declared that they were breaking communion with him and entering into communion with Bishop Demetrius. Fr. Anatolius' journey to Leningrad was unsuccessful, although he returned with written authority to include priests into the movement. At the end of October Fr. Andrew Bojchuk went to Leningrad, bringing a written petition for the Kievan Josephites to be received under Bishop Demetrius' omophorion. This time the emissary succeeded in meeting the bishop, and obtained his consent. From that time the Kievan Josephites began to commemorate Bishop Demetrius in their services, went to him for holy chrism and ordinations, sent money to him on his namesday, etc.

Gradually in Kiev and its suburbs there formed four Josephite communities centred on four churches:

(1) The Irpen church. This was a community of nuns led by Abbess Sophia and served by Fr. Demetrius Ivanov. In July, 1928 Fr. Demetrius went to Leningrad and met Bishop Demetrius (Lyubimov) and Fr. Theodore Andreyev. As representative of the Irpen community and part of the clergy of the city of Gomel, Fr. Demetrius obtained their formal union with the True Orthodox Christians. He brought with him into the Irpen community the priest of the local church, Victor Davidovich, and some nuns of a monastic community living in the settlement.

Fr. Anatolius was popular with the intelligentsia, Fr. Basil Konsky - with the merchants and traders, and Fr. Spirydon - with the urban poor. But the broadest intercity connections were possessed by Fr. Demetrius, He often went to Leningrad and Moscow. And to him in Irpen there came Abbess Rafaila from Gomel, Abbess Valeria from Rzhishchev, nuns from Diveyevo, Shamordino and Orenburg, and inhabitants of the Kiev Pokrovsky and Mezhigorsky monasteries. In January, 1929 Fr. Demetrius drew to participation in his movement Nun Anastasia from Slavyansk, and then Nun Irina (Gladysheva) from Orenburg; they both settled in Irpen. In the summer of 1929 there came to him a large group of pilgrims led by Archimandrite Hilarion and some nuns from some closed Caucasian monasteries.

Fr. Demetrius wrote several antisergianist leaflets. He made copies of them on a typewriter in Irpen, as also of the works of Fr. Anatolius Zhurakovsky and Fr. Andrew Bojchuk, and recordings of a conversation between members of the Kievan Josephites and Metropolitan Michael. It is reported that he declared the sergianist church to be graceless, and her sacraments invalid, and even forbade people to pray when they pass by sergianist churches. This strict opinion of his he based on the opinions with regard to this question of Elder Nectarius of Optina.

(2) The Transfiguration on Pavlovskaya, where Fr. Spirydon was superior, supported by Frs. Anatolius, Eugene and Andrew.

Fr. Anatolius served in the Transfiguration church from 1929. On Tuesdays after the evening service he would read sermons in the church - almost all of them were recorded by the members of the community and were later published in part. In his sermons and talks Fr. Anatolius explained the position of the church and called on the worshippers to remain faithful to the purity of Orthodoxy. Thus on October 21, 1928 he said: "… What is happening now has never taken place before in the history of the Church. The Church has been deprived of every freedom… Our Church representatives, whose duty it is to preserve faithfulness and the purity of evangelical truth, have crudely betrayed it… We can firmly declare that we are not alone in our small church. We have received an archpastoral blessing, and many bishops have expressed themselves against the activity and man-pleasing of the higher representatives of the Church. Consequently our Church is the sole heir that has received grace from the Holy Spirit… We shall all stand before the judgement of our One Master, Commander and Archpastor, Jesus Christ. We shall stand before Him with only one justification, that we have not distorted His teaching, we have not laid our crimes and sins on Him, we have have not splattered His teaching with filth…"

The young people in the community went on pilgrimage with Fr. Anatolius to Diveyevo, Sarov and other monasteries, and sometimes they went to the village of Irpen near Kiev, to the well venerated by the local Orthodox population. The superior of the Transfiguration church was Archimandrite Spirydon.

(3) The Pokrovskaya on Podolya, which was served by Fr. Leonid Rokhlits with the aid of the priests Anatolius Bobrov and Boris Kvasnitsky and some of the monks of the Kiev-Caves monastery (most of the monks, after the closure of the monastery, remained with Archimandrite Hermogenes, forming a community attached to the St. Olga church). Ten monks of the Caves Lavra separated from Sergius and became Josephites: Hieromonks Agapetus (Zhidenko), Erasmus (Prokopenko), Martyrius (Slobodnyanko), Theognius (Derkach), Apollonius (Kanonsky), and the monks Quadratus (Rechka), Patricius (Nedrol), victor (Yemelyansky) and others. They recognized as superior of the Lavra Archimandrite Clement (Zheretienko), who had been in exile in Kharkov since 1925. Archimandrite Clement was from 1917 the superior of the Kiev Caves Lavra. At the beginning of the 1920s he was arrested and exiled to Kharkov, while the Lavra was handed over to the renovationists. After Metropolitan Sergius issued his notorious declaration in July, 1927 he joined the Catacomb Church, serving secretly in Kharkov. After 1941, when the Germans occupied the West of Russia, he returned to Kiev and founded a small community in the village of Myshelovka.

Attached to the Pokrovskaya church were two women's monastic communities - many nuns from the Vvedenskaya, Florovskaya and Pokrovskaya monasteries had separated from Metropolitan Sergius. In February, 1931 Fr. Leonid was arrested. During his interrogation he said: "A part of the nuns who came from the Kiev Vvedensky monastery to the Pokrovskaya church with their priest B. Krasnitsky received structures from Demetrius of Gdov through Kvasnitsky. They had a secret superior, treasurer, etc… Hieromonk Erasmus formed a secret women's community around himself, and himself tonsured them and nourished in them and in many people who came to him secretly a hatred for the existing state regime…"

Other parishioners of the Pokrovskaya church included Sergius Alexandrovich Nilus, the cell-attendant of Bishop Damascene Michael, and the former president of the parish council of the churches of the Kiev-Caves Labra, the lawyer I.P. Melnikov.

(4) The Church of St. Elijah. This church on the outskirts of Kiev became Josephite only in August, 1930. Its superior, the priest Fr. Basil Konsky, on passing through Kharkov, met Bishop Paul of Starobela and joined him.

Almost all the Josephite clergy carried out active preaching and propaganda work. Thus Fr. Boris Kvasnitsky enjoyed a high reputation in Podolsk diocese, and in the Vasilkovsky and Belotserkovsky regions of the Kiev area. In 1929-30, under his influence, there was united to the Josephites the superior of the church in the village of Stariye Pozdnyaki, Fr. Nicetas Smoly, and the village priests from near Chernobyl and Radomysl, Fr. Nicholas Sokolovsky and Fr. Euthymius, Fr. Demetrius from the town of Vasilkov and Fr. John from Kursk.

Fr. Leonid maintained links with Podolsk diocese, and on his recommendation Fr. Hilarion Podoprigora was sent to the parish in the village of Kleban, Tulchinsky area. The true Orthodox monks of the Lavra conducted agitation in villages, and this found a response among the believers of Guta, Kosachovka and a series of other villages in Kiev diocese.

At first the leader of all the True Orthodox in Kiev was Fr. Anatolius. But gradually there began to arise conflicts between him and Frs. Leonid and Boris. In May, 1929 Fr. Boris went to Leningrad - according to his testimony under interrogation, he went there with supposedly "political tasks" to perform: to struggle with Soviet atheism, agitate against the komsomols, and fight against collectivization and machinization. In June Fr. Andrew Bojchuk also went to Leningrad. As a result of his conversations with them, Archbishop Demetrius appointed Fr. Demetrius as his dean. This elicited a stormy protest from Fr. Anatolius and Fr. Spirydon. Kvasnitsky and Bojchuk had to go to Leningrad again. A temporary compromise was worked out: Fr. Demetrius was to administer all the communities in a private capacity, as need arose. Vladyka gave Frs. Demetrius, Anatolius, Andrew and Leonid the right of receiving clergy into the True Orthodox Church.

After this temporary resolution of the conflict, there took place five conferences of the True Orthodox clergy of Kiev. The first took place at the end of June, 1929 in the flat of Fr. Leonid, at which the reception of the priest Shcherbatov was discussed. Two weeks later, a second conference took place at which Archbishop Demetrius' proposal that they establish links with Bishop Paul of Starobela was discussed. At the conference of July 25, which took place in the flat of Kvasnitsky, Fr. Demetrius was entrusted with the task of visiting the "non-commemorating" Bishop Damascene in Starodub and clarifying his position. At the fourth conference in August the results of this trip were discussed. At this time Bishop Damascene did not belong openly to any tendency. He was not satisfied with the position of Metropolitan Sergius, and he was gradually departing from him, seeking a "lawful basis" for separation. Therefore Vladyka tried very hard to make contact with the patriarchal locum tenens Metropolitan Peter. But although Bishop Damascene, in the words of Fr. Demetrius, was carrying out "preparatory work" for a break with Metropolitan Sergius, he "was so joined to our organization that we even considered him to have entered it". In September 1929 a fifth conference took place in the flat of Fr. Leonid.

In October, 1929 the relationship of the majority of Kievan Josephites with Frs. Anatolius and Spirydon again became strained. The reason was the same - the archimandrite allowed certain liturgical innovations condemned at the 1917-18 Council, such as serving in Russian. Moreover, the supposedly "heretical" works of his earlier years were not forgiven him. Fr. Demetrius raised the matter with Metropolitan Joseph; and although Archimandrite Spirydon had already, in 1923, offered repentance before Patriarch Tikhon, and had been forgiven, Vladyka Joseph demanded that he once more repent before a True Orthodox hierarch and carry out a penance of one year - cessation from serving with the royal doors open. Fr. Anatolius did not agree with this and after a time turned to Bishop Paul (Kratirov) of Starobela. The point was that Archbishop Demetrius had been arrested in November, and in 1930 the Kievan Josephites began to be served by Bishop Paul. However, this hierarch adopted a neutral position and recommended that Metropolitan Joseph's demand be carried out. Archimandrite Spirydon decided to go for clarification to Metropolitan Joseph's place of exile in Kazakhstan, but unexpectedly died of a heart attack on September 11, 1930. His coffin was accompanied to the cemetery by a very large number of Kievans, including many of the poor.

Shortly after the death of Fr. Spirydon the Transfiguration church was closed, although it had only been registered in May. On October 1/14, 1930, Fr. Anatolius was arrested together with many other "Josephites". For a long time they were detained in the inner prison on the Lubyanka. Then, on November 23, he was transferred to Butyrki, where he languished for a year. Then, on September 2, 1931, he was sentenced to be shot, but his sentence was commuted to ten years in concentration camps. His wife, Nina Sergeyevna, was arrested in Moscow on February 19, 1931 and tried on the same charge. Almost all the members of Fr. Anatolius' community were arrested. Only one of them, Valentian NikolayevnaYasnopolskaya (Zhdan) is alive to this day.

His wanderings through the camps began - the Svir camps, Solovki, the White Sea canal. In the camps his life was at times intolerable, the clergy were employed in the hardest and dirtiest work, which with his weak health and lack of adaptation to life created additional difficulties for him. Many times he was close to death, but the Lord preserved him.

Seven long years passed in this way, and the first glints of approaching freedom were already beginning to shine. But then came 1937. He was seized and transferred to the Petrozavodsk prison at the beginning of November. No one knows what happened there. For many years there was no information about him. Finally came the reply: "for a repeated crime" he had received another term of ten years without right of correspondence in a special regime camp.

On October 10, 1939, he died from tuberculosis in some camp far away from those close to him, and was cast into a common grave with a tag on his leg.

After the arrest of Fr. Anatolius the acknowledged leader of the Kievan Josephites became Fr. Demetrius. He was arrested in 1931. In 1933 he was released and arrested a second time, being severely beaten. Finally, after being tortured almost to death, he was sent into exile in the far north, to the city of Archangelsk. His wife managed to accompany him, but he was too weak even to stay on his feet. They came to Archangelsk, not knowing a soul in the city. Fr. Demetrius fell down in the middle of the street and just lay there, unable to move. A Jewish doctor who was passing by took him to his home and cared for him; and in his arms Fr. Demetrius gave up his soul to God. His wife later told about this.

Conferences of True Orthodox clergy continued to take place in the flat of Fr. Boris Kvasnitsky. They had links with abroad, from where they received literature, and a spiritual son of Fr. Anatolius, the doctor George Kostkevich had links with the Polish consulate. Already in April, 1930, Fr. Anatolius had, through his mediation, sent material on the existence of the True Orthodox Church abroad. Later, the "non-commemorating" Protopriest Michael Eldinsky passed on to George a collection of material on the closing of churches and monasteries in the diocese. Kostkevich was arrested on August 18, 1931 and sentenced to be shot, but the sentence was commuted to ten years in the camps.

By this time the Josephite movement in Kiev had been basically destroyed. On January 15, 1931, in the course of a general campaign against the True Orthodox Church in the Ukraine, all the true priests of the city, as well as representatives of the monastics and laity, were arrested. The wave of arrests continued until the spring. Thus Hieromonk Agapetus (Zhidenko) left Kiev on March 20 in an attempt to hide, but was caught by the OGPU on March 22 in the village of Solonitsy, Kharkov region. Soon the authorities closed all the Josephite churches of the mother of Russian cities.

(Sources: Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville, 1949-57, part 2, pp. 169-170; Svyashchennik Anatolius Zhurakovsky. Materialy k zhitiyu. Paris: YMCA Press, 1984; Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 18 (1519), September 15/28, 1994, p. 10; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1997, p. 582; M.V. Shkarovsky, "Istinno-Pravoslavniye na Ukraine", Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 48, N 9 (585), September, 1998, pp. 3-11; I.I. Osipova, "Skvoz' Ogn' Muchenij i Vody Slyoz…", Moscow: Serebryanniye Niti, 1998, pp. 286)