Patriarch Germogen of Croatia

Patriarch Germogen (Russian: Гермоген, secular name Georgy Ivanovich Maximov, Russian: Георгий Иванович Максимов; 10 January 1861 – 26 June 1945) was the head of the Croatian Orthodox Church from 1942 until 1945. On 23 September 2010 Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia declared him a Christian Orthodox martyr.^[1]

Biography

Georgy Ivanovich Maximov was born in 1861 in Nogavskaya, near Novocherkassk, to the Cossack family. His father was a priest. He finished elementary school in Nogavskaya Village and high school in Ust-Medvedicka. After that he finished seminary in Novocherkassk, and then attended Spiritual Academy in Kiev. He did his first duty as priest in Novocherkassk, where he did his duties for years. Soon he became principal of the church gymnasium in Ust-Medvedicka in 1894. Germogen left Don Episcopacy in 1902 on call of the Bishop of Vladikavkaz, where he was a teacher during the 1905 Russian Revolution.

He was prominent in humanitarian activity. During that time, his wife died and he was left with six children, the youngest was one and the dldest 16 years old. By decision of Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, he became rector of seminary in Saratov in 1906. In Saratov, Georgy Ivanovich became monk in 1909 and took the name Germogen as gratitude to St. Seraphim. Germogen became bishop on May 9, 1910 in Saint Petersburg, and on 18 May, he arrived to Don Episcopacy in Novocherkassk for his duties. In 1919 he became bishop of Yekaterinoslav Eparchy.

Meanwhile, the October Revolution broke out in 1917 and reached the Don area. Germogen condemned Bolshevik crimes against Cossacks, and because of that he received death threats. Because of the new political system in Russia, he left his homeland on December 22, 1919 and joined the Don Cossack Army which retreated with Cossack refugees towards Kuban. During that time, Germogen was a military bishop. When he arrived in South Russian city Novorossiysk in the Spring of 1920, Germogen continued his escape with other refuges by ship to Yalta on Crimea, but instead he arrived in Istanbul and from there he went in Solun from where wounded and sick were taken to Greek island Lemnos, where Germogen also settled to tak care of them. From Lemos he went to Mount Athos to the Russian Orthodox Monastery of Saint Pantaleon, where he spent two years (1920–1922). From there he went to Belgrade where he was proclaimed a governor of the Russian Orthodox municipalities on Crete and North Africa with a seat in Athena.

In that time, a coup in Greece in 1924 led to Greece becoming a republic. After that, he returned to Belgrade to Ravanica Monastery, and after in Rakovac on Fruška Gora. Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow abolished the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church in emigration in 1922 and at the same time, members of the Russian Orthodox Church in emigration founded the Holy Synod which performed the same duties as the previous Authority.

In 1929 Germogen was named Archbishop of newly formed West American Archdiocese. He retreated to Hopovo Monastery on Fruška Gora from where he was proclaimed Patriarch of the newly formed Croatian Orthodox Church. After Yugoslav Partisans entered Zagreb. When the new communist regime took power on May 9th, 1945, the Croatian Orthodox Church was abolished and Germogen was imprisoned. The main trial was held on June 29th 1945. Germogen was found guilty because he agreed to do the duties of Patriarch of the Croatian Orthodox Church and "break the unity of the Serbian people and cause fratricidal war."

Soon afterwards, Germogen was killed by Partisans. He was 84 years old.

Sources

• (Croatian) Kolarić, Juraj: Ekumenska trilogija, Zagreb 2005. p. 987-990.
• (Croatian) Official site of Croatian Orthodox Community