14 February 2012. A Point to Ponder…

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ROCOR Diocese of Berlin and all Germany to Canonise Alexander Schmorell, Anti-Fascist Student Activist of the White Rose Circle

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In 2007, the ROCOR Diocese of Berlin and all Germany decided to look into canonising a locally-venerated saint, Alexander Schmorell, an activist in the White Rose Circle, an anti-Fascist student organisation, executed on 13 July 1943 at Stadelheim Prison in München for anti-Fascist activities and the confession of the Orthodox faith. The final act of canonisation is slated for 4 and 5 February 2012 in München, according to the website of Diocese of Orenburg.

Alexander Schmorell was born in 1917 in Orenburg. His mother was Russian, and his father, who came from a merchant family, was German. Despite the fact that his family moved to München in 1921, until his death, Alexander felt a spiritual bond with his distant homeland, and was a Russian Orthodox believer. In 1942, Schmorell, then a medical student, and his friend Hans Scholl began writing and distributing anti-Fascist leaflets. The White Rose Circle is now known throughout Europe, it included fellow Schmorell’s schoolmate Christoph Probst, their friend Willi Graf, and Hans Scholl’s sister, Sophie Scholl. Hans Scholl was exposed in February 1943; the Nazis rounded up and convicted the White Rose members of treason, and executed them on the guillotine.

In 2008, the ROCOR and the MP announced that Alexander Schmorell would be the first new martyr glorified after the resumption of canonical communion between the two Churches. Bishops from Russia and the Ukraine, along with Metropolitan Valentin Mishchuk of Orenburg and Saraktash and Archbishop Kirill Dmitrieff of San Francisco and Western America, will attend the service of canonisation on 4 and 5 February in München. For more information about the life of Alexander Schmorell, click here .

20 January 2012

Pravoslavie.ru

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/news/51094.htm