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The following year saw the restoration of the Moscow Patriarchate and the
appointment of Metropolitan Tykhon. Archbishop Davidson sent a message of
greeting and this was returned by the Patriarch with appreciation while also
mentioning the on-going horror of the war:

‘Let us pray that the vial of the wrath of God may yet spare hu-
manity, and that for the elect’s sake, these days of tribulation may
be shortened, and general misfortunes of nowadays may teach all
branches of Christianity to approach nearer one another in the
Spirit of love and unity.’

The Patriarch was writing in January 1918, just months after the Bolshevik Oc-
tober Revolution of the preceding year. His hope that the ‘days of tribulation
may be shortened’ were to be short-lived, as the persecution of the Church in
Russia took on an apocalyptic reality. A letter shortly afterwards from Metro-
politan Platon of Odessa is a desperate cry for help as it describes some of the
horrors that were taking place on a daily basis:

‘I fervently beg your Eminence to protect the Orthodox Russian
Church. The Revolutionary Government is subjecting it to cruel-
ties by the side of which the persecutions of the Christians in the
?rst three centuries pale. Many Archbishops, hundreds of priests
have been martyred and shot. The Churches are profaned and
pillaged … I implore your Eminence and your body of Bishops to
save … the Church from the frightful agonies which she is endur-
ing’

Platon, Metropolitan of Odessa

What could the Archbishop do in such circumstances? As well as sending per-
sonal messages of comfort and solidarity the Archbishop issued a prayer for the
people and Church of Russia to be used across the nation:

O God, our Refuge and our Strength, Who art a very present help
in trouble, have mercy, we beseech Thee, upon the Russian
Church in her hour of need. Deliver her by Thy most mighty pro-
tection from the dangers that beset her, and grant her people rest;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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