Bartholomew Remov

Bartholomew Remov (; 3 October 1888 – 26 June 1935), born Nikolai Fyodorovich Remov , was a Russian Orthodox monk and archbishop who secretly entered the Russian Greek Catholic Church in 1932. He was sentenced to death in 1935 by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union on charges of anti-Soviet agitation and espionage on behalf of the Holy See and executed soon after.

Early life Nikolai Remov was born on 3 October 1888 in Moscow in the family of a married Russian Orthodox priest. After he was born, his father Fyodor and their family was visited by John of Kronstadt, who said that Nikolai would be a "confessor of the Church and great man of prayer." He had several siblings, some of whom died of illnesses at a young age, which had an impact on Nikolai and influenced his later decision to become a monk. He attended the Zaikonospassky Theological School and the Moscow Theological Seminary.

Orthodox Church Remov became a student at the Moscow Theological Academy in 1908, and during his time there, on 10 June 1911 he was tonsured as a monk by the abbot of a monastery. He graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy in 1912 with a master's degree in theology, and in 1916 became an associate professor in the Holy Scriptures department of the Academy.

Under interrogation, however, Archimandrite Bartholomew said, "The truth of Christ, as I understand it and accept it, is dearer to me than life. I have never called for any kind of violence and would consider such a call dishonorable."

He was released on 28 February 1921, "in view of the poor state of his health." Archimandrite Bartholomew was carried away from the prison on a stretcher.

Orthodox Bishop On 28 July 1921, the bishop of Sergiev Posad Vicariate of the Moscow Diocese, appointed Remov to a position at the Trinity Sergius Lavra. He served in that position from 1921 to 1923 and became the Archimandrite of the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery in Moscow. From 1925 to 1935, he was also the Pastor of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin at Putinki.

Although Remov at first supported the Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Metropolitan Sergei's 1927 declaration of loyalty to the Soviet State, according to historian Irina Osipova, Metropolitan Bartholomew, "could not accept the harsh policy which Sergei adopted after the schism that divided the clergy in two camps. Bartholomew was disturbed by threats to visit punishment on every 'insubordinate' priest and by the mass arrests and sentencing of these recalcitrants."

Two fellow members of the Orthodox Hierarchy later signed depositions admitting, in the words of the Soviet secret police, to having, "participated in illegal gatherings at Archbishop Bartholomew's apartment." Both Hierarchs admitted that those at the gatherings had discussed at length Metropolitan Sergei's use of coercion and his alliance with the Soviet secret police to enforce his policy of subservience to the State and to have all agreed that, "the line pursued by Metropolitan Sergei is fatal for the Church."

In 1928, Remov was arrested and charged with "harbouring a spy", whom in Bartholomew's opinion, was simply a fellow religious believer. He was released, however, without charge. Over the years that followed, Remov and Neveu stayed in contact. Remov later recalled, "I got to know Neveu in Moscow through the engineer Rumyantsev, Alexander Alexandrovich. Rumyantsev was fascinated by the idea of uniting the Orthodox and Catholic Churches."

To protect secret monks and nuns from arrest by the Soviet secret police, Archbishop Bartholomew decreed, "All those initiated into monasticism should continue to live and work as before in their institutions and enterprises, avoiding any outward change in their lifestyle, and concealing their monastic commitment from others."

On February 25, 1933, the Vatican released an official document signed by Bishop Michel d'Herbigny, which established the titular diocese of Sergiyev Posad for the Russian Greek Catholic Church and appointed Remov, "already possessing the rank of Archbishop in the Eastern Rite", as the titular bishop. A second document, dated July 3, 1933, appointed Remov as suffragan Apostolic Administrator in Moscow for Catholics of the Eastern Rite. Remov later admitted to NKVD interrogators that Bishop Neveu had shown him both documents, but chose not to give them to Remov, "for fear that [they] might be discovered in a possible search."

Final arrest and death In the fall of 1934, the NKVD arrested Pavel Velikanov, the organiser of a sect called "The Fourth International of Spirit and Truth". Under interrogation, Velikanov revealed that an illegal Orthodox convent and monastery existed at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin at Putinki. Velikanov also provided a long list of the priests, monks, and nuns who were involved. The first arrests connected with the NKVD's investigation took place on January 28, 1935 and those who were arrested named Archbishop Bartholomew as the spiritual leader of the secret monastery and convent.

On February 18, 1935, the NKVD received a letter from certain Putinki parishioners, who alleged, "It would appear that the closure of the monastery has not eliminated the monastic spirit, which has recently begun to manifest itself with particular intensity. The churches are flooded with women in black headscarves and black dress (the so-called hysterics) in numbers so great that they are able to perform any role desired of them, but also to dominate the congregations; this is, in the end, transforming us from a parish church into a monastery."

Along with 21 others, Remov was arrested again on 21 February 1935 and was accused of being, "a member of the Catholic group of a counterrevolutionary organization attached to the illegal Petrovsky Monastery" and of anti-Soviet agitation.

In a signed confession, Remov admitted, "I frequently passed to Neveu letters from exiled clergymen. Neveu forwarded these letters to the Vatican as proof of the persecution of religious believers by the Soviet authorities. I told Neveu that all the actions of Metropolitan Sergei were planned in collaboration with the organs of State Power."

Metropolitan Bartholomew Remov was executed soon after, on 10 July 1935. In a letter to d'Herbigny, Bishop Neveu wrote that "to the end he remained faithful to the Catholic Church and to the Holy Father, whom he loved and whose commands he was ready to fulfill at any cost."