Monday, November 23, 2009

Martyred Priest Daniil is buried

MOSCOW, November 23 (Itar-Tass) - The Reverend Daniil Sysoyev murdered at the Church of St Thomas on November 19 has been buried at Moscow’s Kuntsevskoye cemetery.

Father Daniil was buried near the tombs of Prince Nikolai Obolensky and famous publisher Sergei Sabashnikov and next to the Holy Saviour Church.

The funeral service at the Church of Apostles Peter and Paul in Yasenevo was attended by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

The murder of the Reverend Daniil Sysoyev testifies to the grandeur and strength of the Orthodox idea for which he gave his life, he said.

“Very often violence is aimed against those who gives evidence of God and truth. When hatred blurs the eyes and there are no other arguments, they direct violence against those who speak of God and truth. Being unable to resist a priest’s word with their head and heart, they pour torrents of slander and spite upon the clergyman or even raise hand against him,” the patriarch said.

“Father Daniil did much to assert God’s truth. He participated in different discussions and disputes and defended God’s truth to the best of his ability and talent. But perhaps the strongest word he has ever uttered is the one we can all witness now,” His Holiness said.

In his opinion, “when a person is killed for God’s truth, this means that this truth hurts those who resist it and has a great force.”
Read the rest here.

7 comments:

The Anti-Gnostic said...

Who is more complicit in this tragedy: the Muslim invader who, after all, does not hide his intolerant credo, or the government that refuses to discriminate against him, fully aware of the pacifistic ideal of the Christian citizens it is charged with protecting?

It is apparently not enough for Christians to be killed on mission to non-Christian lands. They must be killed in their homelands as well.

The Jester of Qi said...

Fr. Daniil did not see them as "invaders" but as human beings who needed the truth of Christ... that's what earned him his martyrdom.

It also has not been proven that a Muslim was the murderer. There are also fascist Neo-Pagans in Russia who had threatened Fr. Daniil.

margaret said...

The more I think of it the more convinced I am Father Daniil is a martyr worthy of veneration. It doesn't matter if he was killed by a Muslim or a pagan, the difference between them is only words. He died for taking the gospel to the Christ-less and that is what matters. He would want us to pray for his murderers.

John (Ad Orientem) said...

Margaret,
I agree. The evidence strongly indicates that he was a martyr irrespective of "who" shot him. Consider the circumstances.

He was shot in his church by a man who asked for him by name. This was not random. It was not a robbery that went bad. Does anyone think he was assassinated because he owed the wrong people money on gambling debts? Or that maybe he was the victim of a jealous husband?

He had a long list of enemies. And they all had one thing in common. They were all hostile to Orthodox Christianity.

In ICXC
John

Conchúr said...

Santo Subito!

Matthew M said...

Let us not forget the pro-Stalinists have been known for their violence as well. It matters not who or why in the grand scheme of things Father Daniil is a NEW MARTYR in my eyes as was Father Alexander Men. I wonder when the martyrdoms will begin in Western Europe and here in the USA.
Although I am not a pacifist, to murder unarmed priests, monks and nuns is act of cowardice and nothing more.

John (Ad Orientem) said...

Via email from John Larocque the words of the the Priest Martyr Daniil...

http://byzantineramblings.blogspot.com/2009/11/words-from-fr-daniil-martyr.html

In ICXC
John