Book of
Remembrance

Biographical Description: Born in Moscow in 1888. Orthodox priest, monk, bishop, Archbishop Varfolomei, pastor of Petrovsky Monastery. Professor at the Theology Academy. September 6, 1920 – arrested in Moscow for counter-revolutionary agitation. January 5, 1921 – sentenced to five years in a concentration camp. In view of his health, sentence was suspended in February 1921 by decree of the Presidium of the All-Union Executive Committee. Arrested again in 1928; released one month later upon agreeing to collaborate with the OGPU. In 1932 he secretly converted to Catholicism. February 21, 1935 – again arrested in Moscow; June 17, 1935 – by decree of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Ct. he was sentenced to death under Articles 58-1a, -4, -8 and -11. The sentence was evidently executed the same day. March 10, 1935, Archbishop Remov stated at his interrogation: Beginning in 1933 I was indeed, not in form but in essence, an active assistant to [Bishop] Neveu. I was a secret representative of the Vatican, and fulfilling his requests, I struggled together with him against the Soviet regime.” After Archbishop Remov’s arrest, Bishop Neveu wrote to Rome about him, and we present an excerpt from that letter: “There is no doubt that odium fidei was the cause of Bishop Remov’s arrest and 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.” Source: Osipova (1996), p. 193; Remov et al.; GARF, f. 8419, op. 1, d. 238, l. 35-36; Dzwonkowski, pp. 405-407