Shortly after the October Revolutionthe Local Council on 5 April 1918 passed a resolution: "Set across Russia in the annual memorial on 25 January or next Sunday as day of all confessors and martyrs who died in the current fierce years of persecution". After "legalization" of the Provisional Patriarchal Holy Synod under Metropolitan Sergius to perestroikaMoscow Patriarchate in its official statements was forced to reject facts of persecution for their faith in the USSR. Nevertheless, among the believers in the Soviet Union existed honoring devotees, persecuted by the communist authorities. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russiaglorified the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in 1981. Prelude to the glorification of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia affected by years of revolutionary turmoil and the Bolshevik terror, was the canonization of Patriarch Tikhon on October 9, 1989. In June 1990 during the Local Council Archbishop Herman of Berlin was the first bishop who openly declared: "We may not deny the countless martyrs for the faith, we must not forget them". March 25, 1991, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted definition of "On the resumption of Remembrance confessors and martyrs who suffered for their faith in Christ, established by the Local Council" on 5 April 1918. Immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Church under the leadership of Patriarch Alexis II began glorifying some of the New Martyrs, beginning with the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev, and Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd in 1992. In the 1990s there was a preparation for the canonization of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, many saints were glorified as local saints. In 2000, the All-Russian Council glorified Tsar Nicholas II and his family, as well as many other New Martyrs. More names continue to be added to list of New Martyrs, after the Synodal Canonization Commission completes its investigation of each case. The Russian Church celebrates the feast of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia on the Sunday nearest January 25 / February 7 -- the date Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev's martyrdom.
