Memorial services were held in Orthodox churches throughout Russia and abroad in honor of those who died for their beliefs. By tradition the Russian Orthodox Church on the first Sunday February holds special memorial ceremonies for those who suffered from religious repressions.

On February 5, Patriarch Kirill led a service at the Church of the Savior on the Sands in Moscow. “More than a thousand people have been canonized, but how many people do we not know of, whose names have disappeared and whom people have forgotten – today we pray for them, for those who have not be declared saints but who have taken part in the feats of martyrs and confessors,” Patriarch Kirill said.

In St. Petersburg priests and parishioners visited the sites of mass executions and burials – the Rzhevsk testing range and the Levashovo Memorial Cemetery. For the first time this year a memorial service was held in the Fortress of Peter and Paul. Two years ago during road repair work the remains of some one hundred officers and cadets killed following the revolution were found in the fortress.

Russkiy Mir Foundation Information Service