By Lampros K. Skontzos
The Church of Christ is founded upon the confession of Her Saints and watered with the blood of the millions of Martyrs who did not submit to the godless powers of the world, but offered their lives for the saving truth of the Orthodox Faith.
Among them are also Martyrs who were not put to death by pagans, but by the hands of heretics who bore the name of Christ.
To this host belongs the Holy Hieromartyr Isidore of Estonia together with the seventy-two fellow Martyrs who suffered with him, victims of the murderous frenzy of the papal Uniates.
Saint Isidore lived in the fifteenth century and was from Estonia. He was a devout Orthodox presbyter of the parish of Yuryev in Livonia (in today’s Latvia–Estonia region) and was deeply devoted to the one saving Orthodox Faith.
His ministry, however, coincided with particularly grievous times, when the papal Uniates unleashed harsh persecutions against the Orthodox who refused to submit to Papal authority.
Beyond violence, torture, and executions, the Papacy also employed the cunning of the so-called Unia, which was institutionalized by the “Synod” of the Lateran (1215) and by the Bull of “Pope” Innocent IV (1195–1254).
Unable to subjugate the Orthodox East directly, it devised deception: papal “clergy” donned Orthodox vestments, built churches in the Byzantine style, and celebrated services according to the Orthodox rite, while at the same time preserving intact the papal heresies.
The aim was the proselytism of the faithful, who found it difficult to discern the heresy hidden behind the outward Orthodox appearance.
Indeed, the Unia was regarded by the papal side — especially after the pseudo-Synod of Ferrara–Florence (1438–1439) — as the most suitable means of “union” between Orthodoxy and the Papacy.
The activity of the Uniates was particularly intense in Eastern Europe.
The Orthodox Churches there, distant from the great centers of Orthodoxy and under pressure from papal rulers, were subjected to unbearable coercion to submit to papal authority.
In Livonia operated the infamous papal order of the “Brethren of the Sword,” founded in 1200 A.D. by the papal “bishop” Albert I, founder of Riga — an unmerciful and inhumane German crusading adventurer.
This was a ruthless crusading corps which, with the blessing of “Pope” Innocent III (1198–1216) in 1204, became an instrument of German colonialism and the violent imposition of the papal faith in the Baltic.
This order, composed of priest-warriors, committed horrific crimes in the name of Christ, completely distorting the Gospel message of sacrificial love and betraying the Lord’s exhortation: “If anyone would come after Me” (Mark 8:34).
After exterminating by massacres the last pagans of the region (Livonians, Latgalians, Selonians, etc.), they then turned against the Orthodox, whom they labeled “heretics” and “schismatics.”
With brutality and terror they sought to force them to change their faith, to embrace Papism, using the sword as a means of “mission.”
These events took place at a time when the Orthodox had already repudiated the “Synod” of Ferrara–Florence (1438–1439), a fact that provoked the wrath of the papal party.
In the face of this dire situation, the Grand Prince of Moscow, Ivan III (1462–1505), attempted to conclude a treaty of peaceful coexistence with the Teutonic Knights of Livonia, who led the “Order of the Brethren of the Sword.”
The treaty, however, was violated, and the persecutions continued with unabated ferocity.
In Estonia nearly the entire population was forced to submit to Papism.
Only a small Orthodox community in the city of Yuryev, consisting of seventy-two faithful under the leadership of the presbyter Isidore, remained steadfast in their faith.
The Saint strengthened his flock spiritually and urged them not to bend, even in the face of the prospect of martyrdom.
This stance enraged the persecutors, who arrested the Saint, imprisoned him, and condemned him in the presence of the papal “bishop” Andrew.
Nevertheless, he was granted temporary freedom in order to convert, but instead of yielding, he strengthened the faithful all the more.
They therefore decided to rid themselves of him and his defiant parishioners on the Feast of Theophany in the year 1472.
On that great Feast of the Lord, the Saint celebrated the Divine Liturgy and communed his parishioners, foreseeing the impending end.
After the Liturgy they went to the Omovzha River (today’s Emajõgi) for the Sanctification of the Waters.
At the moment when the Honorable Cross was being immersed in the icy waters, the “Brethren of the Sword” rushed in, seized the Hieromartyr and the faithful, abused them mercilessly, and led them to prison.
For two days they endured horrific tortures. Yet, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, they remained unwavering in the Orthodox Faith, chanting hymns and glorifying God.
Then the persecutors decided to kill them in the most inhumane manner: they drowned them one by one in the frozen river, in the very opening in the ice where the water had been sanctified!
It was January 8, 1472.
After the Liturgy they went to the Omovzha River (today’s Emajõgi) for the Sanctification of the Waters.
At the moment when the Honorable Cross was being immersed in the icy waters, the “Brethren of the Sword” rushed in, seized the Hieromartyr and the faithful, abused them mercilessly, and led them to prison.
For two days they endured horrific tortures. Yet, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, they remained unwavering in the Orthodox Faith, chanting hymns and glorifying God.
Then the persecutors decided to kill them in the most inhumane manner: they drowned them one by one in the frozen river, in the very opening in the ice where the water had been sanctified!
It was January 8, 1472.
In the spring of that same year, when the ice melted, the honorable relics of all seventy-three Martyrs were found incorrupt and fragrant, with Saint Isidore still clothed in his intact vestments.
The faithful buried them reverently near the Church of Saint Nicholas and immediately began to honor them as Saints.
Their official canonization took place in 1891, and their commemoration was set for January 8, the day of their martyrdom.
In their honor a church was built in Saint Petersburg, laid by Saint John of Kronstadt and consecrated in 1903.
The veneration of these Saints does not aim at stirring up passions, but at highlighting the truth that the Church of Christ is One and Holy — and that this Church is the Orthodox Church — because only it remains absolutely faithful to the original biblical, synodal, and patristic tradition, without any additions or subtractions.
The incorruption and wonderworking of their Holy Relics testify to the presence of Divine Grace in the Orthodox Church and its absence among heterodox heretics, and that only within it are Saints brought forth.
May we have their intercessions before the throne of the glory of God.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
The faithful buried them reverently near the Church of Saint Nicholas and immediately began to honor them as Saints.
Their official canonization took place in 1891, and their commemoration was set for January 8, the day of their martyrdom.
In their honor a church was built in Saint Petersburg, laid by Saint John of Kronstadt and consecrated in 1903.
The veneration of these Saints does not aim at stirring up passions, but at highlighting the truth that the Church of Christ is One and Holy — and that this Church is the Orthodox Church — because only it remains absolutely faithful to the original biblical, synodal, and patristic tradition, without any additions or subtractions.
The incorruption and wonderworking of their Holy Relics testify to the presence of Divine Grace in the Orthodox Church and its absence among heterodox heretics, and that only within it are Saints brought forth.
May we have their intercessions before the throne of the glory of God.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
