Official declaration of monsignor Gabriel de Comane

This article reproduces the official declaration promulgated on February 11, 2004 by Archbishop Gabriel de Vylder of the Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe and Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch. It is a canonical and pastoral document announcing the canonization, by the Holy Synod of Constantinople during its session of January 16, 2004, of five figures of the Russian diaspora in France: Mother Maria Skobtsova, Father Dimitri Klepinin, Georges Skobtsov, Ilya Fondaminsky and Father Alexis Medvedkov. The document establishes the liturgical modalities of their veneration within the archdiocese and orders the translation of the relics of Father Alexis. From a theological and historical standpoint, the declaration situates these canonizations within the history of the Russian diaspora in the West and emphasizes the universal dimension of their martyrial witness, notably their commitment to the service of Jews persecuted under the Nazi Occupation.