Hieromartyr Joachim of Nizhny Novgorod and the Fog of Revolution

In 1981, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia glorified the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, boldly proclaiming these witnesses of the Orthodox Faith against the atheist Soviet Union. The official roster of New Martyrs included over 500 named individuals, though thousands of names were researched and many have been added in the years since. When the Moscow Patriarchate glorified the New Martyrs in 2000, they included many more – almost 1,100 martyrs and confessors.

Yet some of those glorified by ROCOR are conspicuously absent from Moscow’s list, including Metropolitan Joseph of Petrograd and Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. Another is Archbishop Joachim of Nizhny (Lower) Novgorod, who celebrated his namesday yesterday, September 9/22, on the feast of the Holy Ancestors of God Joachim and Anna.

Let us take a brief look at his life and the reasons for the discrepancy in recognition of his sainthood.