On this day, the Holy Church commemorates all the deceased who suffered during the year of persecution for the faith of Christ. This commemoration is carried out by definition of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church of January 30, 1991 on the basis of the decision of the Local Council of 1917-1918.
The cruel and bloody 20th century became especially tragic for Russia, which lost millions of its sons and daughters not only at the hands of external enemies, but also from its own persecutors, the God-worshippers. Among those brutally murdered and tortured during the years of persecution were innumerable Orthodox Christians: laypeople, monks, priests, and bishops, whose only fault turned out to be their firm faith in God.
The glorification of the host of new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church at the jubilee Council of Bishops in 2000, at the turn of the millennium, drew a line under the terrible era of militant atheism. This glorification revealed to the world the greatness of their feat, illuminated the ways of God's Providence in the destinies of our Fatherland, and became evidence of a deep awareness of the tragic mistakes and painful errors of the people. There has never been a time in world history when so many new heavenly intercessors have been glorified by the Church (more than a thousand new martyrs have been canonized).
Among those who suffered for their faith in the twentieth century were St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, who was elected in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (1925); the holy royal Passion–Bearers; the Holy Martyr Peter, Metropolitan of Krutitsky (1937); the Holy Martyr Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia (1918); the Holy Martyr Benjamin, Metropolitan of Petrograd and Gdovsk; Hieromartyr Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) (1937); sacristan of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Hieromartyr Protopresbyter Alexander (1937); The Holy Martyrs Grand Duchess Elisaveta and Nun Varvara (1918) and a whole host of saints, both revealed and unmanifest.
The Council of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church is celebrated on February 7 (January 25), if this date coincides with Sunday; on the Sunday preceding this date, if February 7 falls on the days from Monday to Wednesday; on the Sunday following this date, if February 7 falls on the days from Thursday to Saturday. Only on the day of the celebration of the Council of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, the memory of saints whose date of death is unknown is celebrated.