Justice Minister Presented with Icon of Petersburg Lawyer Martyrs
The ceremony presenting the icon of the Holy Lawyer Martyrs of Petersburg to Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko took place at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
The event was attended by Metropolitan Varsonofy and lawyer Artem Bakonin, who heads the Foundation of the Icon of the Holy Lawyer Martyrs of Petersburg.
“This is not just a gift. It is a sign that service to law and service to truth can be inseparable. The icon, according to its creators, will patronize not only lawyers but all who enter the complex world of law enforcement, seeking protection and justice in it,” the meaning of the image was explained.
The idea of creating such an icon was discussed for a long time. It depicts real historical figures — lawyers of the pre-revolutionary school who remained faithful to their profession until the very end.
Depicted on the icon are Yuri Novitsky, Ioann Kovsharov, Archimandrite Sergius (secular name lawyer Shein), and Metropolitan Veniamin of Petersburg and Gdov, who were shot on the night of August 13, 1922, near Petersburg. The location of their burial remains unknown. All of them were canonized as saints in 1992 at the Bishops« Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, and they are now considered patrons of Russian lawyers.
The historical context dates back to 1922 when a famine broke out in the Volga region. Under the pretext of aiding the hungry, the authorities adopted a decree on the confiscation of church valuables. Opponents of this measure were arrested on charges of resistance, with a total of 86 people detained. The case of “resistance to the confiscation of church valuables” comprises 27 volumes stored in the FSB archive on Liteiny, 4. Lawyer Artem Bakonin, who studied the materials, stated: “On thousands of pages of this case, there is no corpus delicti or evidence, except for interrogations. And the accused had no lawyers during the preliminary investigation. They appeared at the trial, but their position is astonishing: the defenders agreed in advance that the sentence would be execution. Imagine, the investigation of a case with such a number of accused took just over a month.”
On July 5, 1922, ten accused received death sentences. On August 10, six of them were pardoned, with execution replaced by imprisonment in camps. Four lawyers and Metropolitan Veniamin, who did not compromise, were shot on August 13.
