www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Hieromartyr Leonid

Today is the commemoration (New Calendar) of Blessed Exarch Leonid Feodorov, first Exarch of the Russian Greek Catholic Church, spiritual child of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and apostle for unity, beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001. Holy Hieromartyr Leonid, pray for us!

Troparion in Tone 4: Having shared the way of life of the apostles,* and having become a successor to their thrones,* laboring you found the divinely inspired way to contemplation.* Therefore, forthrightly ministering the word of truth,* you shed your blood for the faith, O hieromartyr Leonid.* Intercede with Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.
FDRLB

Amen

May Our Lord grant the required miracle for the universal glorification of Blessed Leonid and the other Greek Catholic martyrs of the Soviet yoke.

Hieromartyr Leonid intercede for the spiritual children of your heritage,

• that your Church be accorded its rightful status and be afforded a hierarchy,
• that recognition rightfully be afforded to additional sons and daughters of the Russian and other Byzantine Churches who suffered persecution and/or martyrdom under Communism, but have yet to be acknowledged and have their names inscribed on the hagiographic roles - most particularly Father Walter (Ciszek), Metropolitan Andrei (Sheptitsky), and Father Exarch Shio (Batmalishvili)

Does anybody know how many Russian Catholics there are? I'm talking about "real" Russian Catholics, not just Roman Catholics who attend Russian Catholic chapels or Roman Catholic clergy with biritual faculties to serve Russian-Rite chapels.

From my readings in the Net it seems that there are only 24 Russian Catholic chapels / parishes / monasteries left around the world, and most of the clergy who serve in them are originally Roman Catholics. Something really needs to be done to save this tiny but spiritually significant Church. Appoint a successor to the late +Andrei (Katkoff), for starters.

"Real" Russian Catholics are Catholics ascribed to the Russian Greek-Catholic Church, albeit from the cradle or by canonical enrollment.

Likewise, clergy who serve the Russian Church (not Rite) - whether they be of Russian ethnicity or otherwise (presently, in the US, none are) - are not the lesser presbyters nor the lesser in their devotion to it for not having been baptized into it - whether they be bi-ritual or otherwise. In fact, of the 4 temples presently in the US, I believe only 1 is served by a bi-ritual Latin priest - 2 are served by Melkite priests, 1 is served by a Byzantine priest with bi-ritual faculties in the Latin Church - not the other way around.

That other Catholics have found Russian spirituality to be their spiritual home in no way diminishes the Church nor makes it less important as a continued expression of Eastern spirituality. If, in fact, there were no surviving ethnic Russian Catholics - but there were canonically enrolled Russian Catholics - the obligation to afford them pastoral care according to their Rite and Church of ascription/enrollment would continue to exist.


If, by this, you are suggesting that an episcopus ordinans would be the problem-solver, you're wrong. A primatial hierarch of the office of Exarch or Eparch is needed. If it were solely a matter of having a hierarch available to perform ordinations, the problem would have solved itself in places. In the US the Melkite Eparchs have served to ordain clergy for their Russian brethren for 4+ decades and, more recently, the Romanian Eparch has also done so. In Australia, the Melkite Eparch has done likewise in recent years.

So, do not kid yourself into thinking that the clergy serving many of the Russian Churches worldwide were just directed there by a local Latin ordinary to fulfill his pastoral responsibility or obligation to provide for those of another Church within his territorial bounds. The majority of priests serving the Church were ordained to the service of that Church - whether their names be Smith or Tolstoy; they didn't pick it as a second job.


Many years,

Neil

so the commemoration on the julian calendar would also be 7th march?

C. I. X.

If it is a XXc. event and it occurred on March 7 Gregorian calender language then it would be commemorated on the same day, but using Julian language it would be called February 22 (March 7 - 13 = 7 & -6, so 28 - 6 = 22) but the same 24 hour period. That is unlike Christmas which is called, using either calender language as December 25, but occurs 13 days later in the Julian observance, so it is located on your Gregorian wall calender as January 7. Does that clear it up for you? Isn't it fortunate calender tabulations are not one of the Church's mysteries?

The Julian Calendar commemoration of Hieromartyr Leonid is still March 7 but of course that equates to March 20th New Style (March 7/20) amongst the Russian Catholic communities in Russia.

Has there been any investigation to locate where Blessed Leonid is buried?

The discovery of his relics would be a great blessing for the Russian Byzantine Catholic Church.

Also, I am under the impression that Blessed Leonid's memorial (obligatory or optional?) is observed on March 2 on the liturgical calendar for Roman Catholics in Russia. Reason being that March 7 is the memorial of Saints Felicity and Perpetua.

Is this correct?

Article here [http] (from link here) [http] alludes to burial in the Vyatka cemetery.

Nan's links got broken because the http:// is added in twice - they should be:

http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/1995/mar1995p12_849.html - which is to an article by Father Peter (Knowles) from a few years back

http://blog.ancient-future.net/2008/03/moses-very-high-on-mount-sinai.html

Many years,

Neil

Dear Moderator;

I am under the impression that you think that I intended to somehow denigrate many Russian Catholic priests and lay faithful. I am at a loss as to how you came to think that, since there is absolutely nothing in my OP that was intended as an insult. Given your reaction to another post of mine in another thread, I'm really curious as to whether I've done something to stir up your suspicions. I wish I'd know why.

By "real" Russian Catholics, I meant cradle or canonical Russian Catholics. I was asking about them because I was curious as to how many Russian Catholics there really are, aside from the long-outdated number of "3,000" routinely given in many a table of Eastern Christian statistics since the 1960's.

As for a successor to Andrei Katkoff, I did NOT mean an ordaining bishop. I remember that there was a fair-sized thread here, some months back, in which it was mentioned that documents have been unearthed in which the Vatican apparently called him the "Exarch of Moscow" or some such thing.

Blessed Leonid's most detailed biographer, Fr. Paul Mailleux, S.J. indicates the Exarch was buried in the Viatka cemetery by the family he resided with at the time of his death (after his release from prison).
FDRLB