A New Soldier Saint?


Yevgeny Rodionov

There are a number of soldier saints in the Orthodox Church, this young man might be the newest. Another article may be found here. And a third (which includes some images of his "icons") here.

I must, however, object to this line in the first article:

Church elders have frowned upon Yevgeny's grassroots canonisation.

PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The VAST majority of Orthodox Saints became so through what could be called a "grassroots canonisation." In fact, how else could it happen in the Orthodox Church? Either the reporter is blabbing and stating what he/she wants to believe or the "elders" have other reasons for objecting to the canonization.

As it turns out, this story is quite old - Yevgeny was martyred in 1996.


Comments

Huw Richardson said…
Actually I think it's pretty status quo: there were icons of St Raphael of brooklyen for quite some time... and no one questioned his sanctity. But the Hierarchs dallied :-) You have to look at a "grass roots" movement for a while to see it it has enough energy to go forward.

Our "process" of canonization is so unorganized, so democratic so very Orthodox that it is possible for people outside to think "they are fighting" when in fact the Church is just discerning God's leading.

But grassroots isn't enough: there are those who think Rasputin should be a saint - but they are being ignored. Sometimes the push back from the top is correct.
4:23 PM
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