The Shepherd, December 2004
ORTHODOX CRIMEA, 2
SAINT CLEMENT, POPE OF ROME
According to tradition, St Clement was exiled to Chersonesus by the Emperor Trajan. Close by, at the place now called Inkerman, near the Crimean War battlefield, there is a stone quarry and here the saint was made to work. He found a secret cave in the cliffs around the quarry and used it for worship, and it is said that he established many other churches nearby and converted local pagans. The local governor was so angry about this that he had St Clement thrown into the Black Sea tied to an anchor, in a place where the faithful would not be able to retrieve his body.
However, each year on the day of his martyrdom, the sea withdrew far enough to expose the body of the saint on the seabed, more than 300 yards from the shore.
While he was working, St Clement had uncovered a spring, which came to supply the whole area with water. This survived, hidden underground until the 1970s, when careless quarrying broke it open and flooded an old quarry into a large lake. This is now used as a holy place for bathing by believers, who are convinced that the revealing of the water was providential.
St Clement’s martyrdom took place on 25th November, 101A.D. Part of his relics was taken away by Saints Cyril and Methodius during their mission to the Slavs, and St Cyril took them to Rome, where they can be venerated in the beautiful and ancient church of San Clemente. Fittingly, this church is also the final resting place of the Apostle of the Slavs, Cyril himself.
The rest of St Clement’s relics was later translated to Kiev by the holy Prince Vladimir (in 1007 A.D.), and his head can still be venerated in the Caves of the Holy Dormition Lavra.
In the earliest period of Christianised Kiev-Rus’, St Clement was considered the chief patron and protector of the country.
Archæologists have discovered the remains of many ancient churches in the rock near St Clement’s lake, but the history of early monastic life there is unclear. Certainly a monastery existed in pre-Tatar times, and this was re-established in 1852 as a Russian monastery dedicated to the Holy Trinity and St Clement. It suffered much damage in the Crimean War, the Communist persecution and finally the Second World War, but in 1992 the monastery was reopened over the traditional site of St Clement’s dwelling place. Some of his relics have been enshrined in the main church, which is hidden in the cliff face.
Two disciples of St Clement, Cornelius and Phœbus, were also prisoners at Inkerman and St Vladimir took relics of the latter to enshrine in Kiev.
THE SEVEN HIERARCHS OF CHERSONESUS
All but one of these saints were martyrs and they are all commemorated together on 7th March. Saints Basil, Ephrem, Eugenius, Elpidius and Agathadorus suffered in the persecution of Diocletian between 310 and 315. They had been sent from Jerusalem to convert the Crimean pagans, and had baptised many. Saint Basil was crucified by local pagans, who had been stirred up by the Jews of Chersonesus. He was buried in a secret place and his relics are lost.
The sixth of the holy hierarchs was Aetherius who was sent to Chersonesus by St Constantine the Great. He built the first proper church there and died in 314.
His successor was St Capito, also sent by the Emperor. He performed an extraordinary miracle, which resulted in the baptism of large numbers of citizens - he walked into a heated lime kiln and survived. A church was built on the site of this miracle, which has been recently excavated, and the remains of two lime kilns found next to it. The writer was told the whole story of the excavation by the lady (and Orthodox) archæologist who found the kilns.
St Capito attended the Council of Nicæa, where he related the miracle and the resulting conversions. On his way back to Crimea, he was shipwrecked near the Danube and drowned by local pagans. After his death, Chersonesus became a strong Christian centre and between the 5th and 14th century more than fifty churches were built in the city.
SAINT MARTIN THE CONFESSOR
The life of this holy Pope of Rome can be read in any good Orthodox collection of the Lives of the Saints. I will mention only those things which connect him to Crimea.
The Monothelite Emperor Constans II exiled the saint to Chersonesus and to the same Inkerman quarry, where St Clement had laboured. Here he was starved by being given uneatable food for 124 days. Letters survive which show him requesting friends for a little bread. He died on 16th September, 655A.D. He was buried next to a nearby church dedicated to the Blachernae Theotokos, the remains of which have now been excavated.
Two other martyrs, slain by the Monothelites, Theodore and Euprepius (feastday: 20th September) were also buried in the same place. Although the spot soon became a local place of pilgrimage, St Martin’s relics were later taken to Rome, where they still rest in the Church of San Martino ai Monti. His feastday is 14th April.
There are now plans for a skete of Saint Clement Inkerman Monastery to be established near the ruins of the Blachernae Church in honour of Saint Martin, some monks are already living in temporary accommodation there.
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