Unfortunately, we know little about this jealous church teacher. What little we know about him comes from his liberal contemporaries, who usually did not condescend to recognize the uniqueness and regularity of the patristic philosophy that constituted the essence of life for the martyr Valentine. Because of this, he was their enemy whom they could not understand, because of his genuine apostasy experience.

The sacred teaching about God and man has been preserved throughout the centuries and has grown richer within the walls of the Orthodox Church. This teaching is an unfathomable ocean of wisdom, and we must approach it with fear and trembling, not distorting any of its truths through our sins and pride. This education cannot grow in the hands of pretentious secular dogmatism.

Father Valante's inquisitive mind was in awe of the truth of the Incarnation as far as it could be attained. In this regard, he was not of this world, but he remained in the world as a shepherd who led people to a world of moderation in food and agriculture, austerity and belief in the afterlife.

From the details of his life, we can tell that he was born in Kazan, in 1882, from an aristocratic Polish family. He received good education, and was a very talented and impressive young man. His wide eyes were looking at the world with all seriousness. At the age of fifteen, he could debate Kant with major philosophers, and soon began a violent campaign against the vices of society by advocating a strict discipline for body and soul. His words created a sincere impression. He published at least two magazines, “Problems of the World” and “Living Life,” which address Christian problems in a society whose intellectual leaders were leading Orthodox Christians into the trap of ideas and doctrines far from Christ.

He left Moscow in 1905 heading to Petersburg in order to obtain the support of the “Military Christian Brotherhood.” He knew the value of the monastic example for all Christians and the monastic enthusiasm against the decadence of the free thinkers of that time. These thinkers were quickly moving away from the Church's sacred delivery, taking Orthodoxy as a cover that they did not adhere to. His writings include “Citizens of the Kingdom” and “My Travels Among the Hermits of the Caucasus Mountains” (Moscow 1915). These were inspired by his visit to a monastic skete in the Caucasus. He also wrote another book called “Anti-Christ,” which was a great success. He also wrote two short works, “Monasticism in the World” and “Against Congregational Confession” (1926), which show evidence of his importance as a modern apostle of authentic Orthodoxy in a time of widespread apostasy.

After the revolution, Waseem married a priest and was responsible for the priests at the Church of the Cross of St. Nicholas the Great in Moscow. There in the 1920s, he attracted a large congregation because of his eloquent sermons, which people received as rich nourishment amid a general lack of authentic Orthodox spirituality in Russia at that time. He returned to the Optina Monastery and became a spiritual son of Elder Anatolius, who dedicated his best works to him: Six Readings of the Sacrament of Confession and its History, with which he struck a blow to the collective practice of the Sacrament of Confession, which was a fashion among the liberal clergy in his day.

Father Valentin was a passionate advocate for constantly practicing the Jesus Prayer. He maintained this monastic order in those days when there was general apathy among Christians. This was not possible for him, but he considered it a duty to preserve the “salt of the earth.” That is, the Orthodox truths in the hearts of people who are exposed to the attacks of the spirit of this world. With this in mind, he gave a series of talks, between the years 1921 and 1926, drawing on the strict monastic teaching from the book of Saint John of the Ladder, “Peace to God.” He was struggling to apply it to daily life in this contemporary world that had become hostile to Christianity.

One of his friends, C.Y. Fodel, gave us a brief description of how this spiritual shepherd, who was entirely concerned with the afterlife, viewed the world: “Father Valentiny Sventitsky seemed like an ordinary priest with a family. But on the other hand, he was an expert teacher of constant prayer. He did much to defend the faith in general. But his main advantage was that he called on people to commit to unceasing prayer, which is an ignition of the spirit that does not stop.”

Prayer, he used to say, “builds walls around our monastery in the world.” “Every sin in the Church is not the sin of the Church, but against the Church.” He also taught that we should not interrupt someone's ongoing mental prayer when we attend church services.

His friend continues: “When I returned to Moscow from my exile in 1925, I was fortunate enough to attend the Divine Mass celebrated by Father Valentin. I entered at the end of the service, and when he came out to pray beyond the pulpit, I was shocked to see his face. I cannot express my impression other than to say that it was the face of a man who had just finished offering himself as a burning offering of pain and truth, and who was now trembling to the depths, coming to us, oblivious to the earthly people around him.”

Once again I remember how, while I was in a prison in Butyrka in 1922, I was running non-stop from among the prisoners when I collided with Father Valentinian. I asked him in confusion and stupidity, “Where are you going?” Suddenly, his face became wonderfully illuminated, emitting inner warmth, and he said: “I have been coming to you.” He was usually distant, withdrawn, strict and impatient. But now he had a radiant and calm radiance of light, the radiance of Russian holiness...

He was coming directly towards me, towards my soul, which he was perhaps protecting, at that time, from evil. Thus, it is possible that prison enlightens the soul and reveals in a wonderful way something that, previously, could not be revealed.

In 1927, Metropolitan Sergius issued his famous declaration, which reduced the Church to the level of an organization supervised by the state. This enslavement of the godless authorities could not be tolerated by the true shepherds and believers in the flock of Christ, whose conscience did not allow them to agree to this cunning settlement. A number of high priests and simple shepherds wrote open letters to Metropolitan Sergius, denouncing his work and refusing to follow him on this path that leads to destruction. In December 1927, Father Valentin wrote a letter of this kind, announcing the severance of the legal and liaison partnership with Metropolitan Sergius and the Synod of Bishops that he headed. His spiritual acumen identified the action taken by Metropolitan Sergius as one of the most dangerous forms of reform, writing to him “For while you give up ecclesiastical freedom, you preserve the imagination of law and orthodoxy. This is worse than violating the law of secession!”

Father Valentine expected that this gesture of separation would be interpreted as a separation from the Church, so he wrote: “I am not creating a new schism, nor am I breaking the unity of the Church. I am moving away and leading my flock away from a trap created for fear that we will lose, little by little, and without knowing it, the freedom that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of all people, has given us, a free freedom through His own blood.” (The eighth law of the Third Ecumenical Council.)

We know very well what consequences caused all those who publicly rejected the declaration of Patriarch Sergius to suffer. Len Regal, in his work “The Tragedy of the Russian Church,” showed that Metropolitan Sergius announced in 1929 that all those who opposed his “declaration” were enemies of the revolution and should be arrested immediately. Fifteen bishops were arrested. As for dealing with the detainees, it was very simple: a GPV agent would come to the bishop and ask one question: “How do you view the announcement of Metropolitan Sergius?” If the answer is that he does not accept it, the agent then concludes: “This means that you are counter-revolutionary,” and the bishop is automatically arrested, and thus everyone who raises his voice in protest is eliminated. Father Valentine's fate was no different.

In 1928, he was arrested again and exiled to Siberia, where he rested in the Lord under torture and suffering on October 20, 1931.

Thus, Father Valentine had the crown of victory from God because he preserved the authentic Christian declaration and shed light on the source of the cunning temptation of the enemy of our salvation. That is why he leads directly to Paradise the flock entrusted to him by our God, to whom be glory and glory forever, Amen.