A Visit to Estonia, 3

I crossed the river over a bridge rebuilt by the Soviet authorities after the defeat of the Germans in 1942 and came once more to the central part of Tartu.  I searched for the place where St Platon had served his last Liturgy and where two of his companions were buried.  I lingered for a long time at the Church of The Dormition in Tartu.  What a melancholic place it is.  The church is in poor condition and was locked.  It appears to be still functioning but is in desperate need of restoration.  I think that it belongs to the Estonian Orthodox Church.  I sat in its churchyard for quite a while.  Here, Fr Michael Blieve served his last liturgy on the morning of Sunday, 5th January 1919.

All services had been declared to be illegal by the Communists but Fr Michael did not recognise their authority.  His bishop had been arrested on 2nd January.  He resolved to go to the Communist authorities after the Liturgy to offer himself in the place of Bishop Platon.  He knew where Bishop Platon was, and knew the danger he himself was in.  Fr Michael was arrested in his church just after the Liturgy for offering services without permission and dragged to the Credit Bank despite the protests of his congregation.  Here he was tortured until 14th January, when he was shot in the cellar just after his bishop and buried in the Dormition Church nearby, with Fr Nikolai his friend.  His relics along with his companion’s were uncovered on 30th May, 2005.

The quiet and faithful witness of these three men moved me very deeply.  In Estonia, apart from in the Orthodox Churches, there is little or no mention of them.  It is as if their sacrifice has gone unrecognised and barely known.  Not for them are the massive shrines to the New Martyrs now rising in Russia with huge churches built on the site of their witness for Christ.  Perhaps it is better that these dedicated and holy clergy witness quietly to those who seek them out.  What matters is that, despite great persecution in Estonia since WW2 by particularly brutal representatives of the Soviet regime, the Church of Christ is nevertheless alive and shining with the Life of its Saviour.  When we think that our labours for Christ are ignored or go unrecognised, when we think that things are difficult and that it is almost impossible to follow our Saviour, perhaps we should think of Sts Platon, Nikolai and Michael of Tartu. Holy Hieromartyrs pray for us!

Priest Paul Elliott
St Elizabeth of Russia Mission, Birkenhead