Introduction to Russia’s Catacomb Saints by Fr. Seraphim Rose

“The significance of the Catacomb Church does not lie in its correctness; it lies in its preservation of the true spirit of Orthodoxy, the spirit of freedom in Christ. Sergianism was not merely wrong in its choice of church policy, it was something far worse: it was a betrayal of Christ based on agreement with the spirit of this world. It is the inevitable result when church policy is guided by earthly logic and not by the mind of Christ.” -Fr. Seraphim Rose This Introduction briefly summarizes the struggles and triumphs of the true Orthodox Christians of 20th century Russia under the Soviet yoke. Quoting at length the words of I. M. Andreyev, a professor of theology and confessor who was actively part of the events of 1927 in Russia and suffered in the Solovki concentration camp, Fr. Seraphim Rose brings to the English-speaking world original accounts of the lives of the New Martyrs, as well as analysis on the spiritual dynamics of Sergianism and true obedience to Christ. The blood of the Catacomb Martyrs,