THE HOLY NEW MARTYRS OF EASTERN

RUSSIA

Vladimir Moss

© Copyright: Vladimir Moss, 2010

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................ ................................ ................................ ................................

1. HIEROMARTYR JOACHIM, ARCHBISHOP OF NIZHNI-NOVGOROD ...........................
2. HIEROMARTYR LAURENCE, BISHOP OF BALAKHNA ............................ .......................
3. HIEROMARTYR AMBROSE, BISHOP OF SARAPUL ............................ ..............................
4. HIEROMARTYR HERMAN, BISHOP OF VOLSK ............................ ................................ .....
5. HIEROMARTYR METROPHANES, ARCHBISHOP OF ASTRAKHAN ............................
6. HIEROMARTYR LEONTIUS, BISHOP OF TSAREVO ............................ ..............................
7. HIEROCONFESSOR PHILARET, ARCHBISHOP OF SAMARA............................ .............
8. HIEROMARTYR SERGIUS, BISHOP OF BUZULUK ............................ ................................
9. HIEROCONFESSOR MICAH, BISHOP OF UFA............................ ................................ ........
10. HIEROMARTYR STEPHEN, BISHOP OF IZHEVSK ............................ ...............................
11. HIEROCONFESSOR VICTOR, BISHOP OF IZHEVSK AND VOTSK ............................ ...
12. HIEROMARTYR ANDREW, ARCHBISHOP OF UFA ............................ ............................
13. HIEROMARTYR NECTARIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF YARANSK ............................ ..........
14. HIEROMARTYR SINESIUS, BISHOP OF IZHEVSK............................ ..............................
15. HIEROMARTYR HABBAKUK, BISHOP OF OLD UFA............................ ........................
16. HIEROMARTYR CYRIL, METROPOLITAN OF KAZAN ............................ ....................
17. HIEROMARTYR JOASAPH, BISHOP OF CHISTOPOL ............................ .......................
18. HIEROMARTYR RAPHAEL, BISHOP OF ALEXANDROVSK ............................ ............
19. HIEROMARTYR JOB, BISHOP OF NIZHEGOROD ............................ ..............................
20. HIEROMARTYR BENJAMIN, BISHOP OF STERLITAMAK ............................ ...............
21. HIEROMARTYR NICHOLA S, BISHOP OF AKTAR ............................ .............................
22. HIEROCONFESSOR PAUL, BISHOP OF KOTELNICHI ............................ ......................
23. HIEROMARTYR ZENOBIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF TAMBOV ............................ ...............
24. HIEROCONFESSOR PETER, SCHEMA-BISHOP OF NIZHEGOROD ...........................
25. HIEROCONFESSOR BENJAMIN, BISHOP OF BAIKI ............................ ..........................
26. HIEROCONFESSOR BARNABAS, BISHOP OF VASILSURSK ............................ ............
27. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF NIZHNI -NOVGOROD PROVINCE ...............
28. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF KAZAN PROVINCE ............................ .............
29. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF PENZA, TAMBOV, LIPETSK AND
MORDOVIA PROVINCES ............................ ................................ ................................ ...............
30. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF THE MIDDLE AND LOWER VOLGA
REGION
............................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .............................. 465
31. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF ORENBURG PROVINCE.................................522
32. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF UFA AND CHUVASHIA PROVINCES.........586
33. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF VYATKA, UDMURTIA AND KOMI
PROVINCES....................................................................................................................................622
34. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF PENZA, TAMBOV, LIPETSK AND
MORDOVIA PROVINCES............................................................................................................688
35. HIEROMARTYR MICHAEL OF CHISTOPOL....................................................................711
36. HIEROCONFESSOR NICETAS OF VYATKA.....................................................................726

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INTRODUCTION

In 2007 the first volume of the series, The Russian Golgotha: The Holy New
Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, was published by Monastery Press,
Wildwood, Alberta, Canada. That volume was devoted to the All-Russian
Martyrs – that is, the Royal Martyrs and Patriarch Tikhon – and to the
Martyrs and Confessors of North-West Russia. This is the fourth volume in
the series, and is devoted to the Martyrs and Confessors of Southern Russia
the Ukraine, Moldavia and the Caucasus

Inevitably, difficult choices have had to be made concerning who should

be included, and who excluded, from the lists of martyrs and confessors. I
cannot claim to have made the right decisions in all cases. For an authoritative
list we shall have to wait for the decision of a future Council of the True
Church of Russia.

Inevitably, difficult choices have had to be made concerning who should be

included, and who excluded, from the lists of martyrs and confessors. I
cannot claim to have made the right decisions in all cases. For an authoritative
list we shall have to wait for the decision of a future Council of the True
Church of Russia.

In the meantime, I have been governed by the following main criteria of

who is a true martyr or confessor:

a) Belonging to the Orthodox Church, and not to any heresy, schism or

pseudo-Orthodox grouping;

b) Unjust death at the hands of the organs of Soviet power, or unjust

imprisonment or exile for a minimum period of three years;

c) Canonization by either the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church

outside Russia that took place in New York on November 1, 1981, or the
Council of the Russian True Orthodox Church that took place in Odessa on
November 1, 2009.

The main problem in this process of selection has been to distinguish

between the true and false confessors of the period 1927 to 1937. In 1927, the
deputy of the patriarchal locum tenens, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky),
created a schism in the Russian Church by placing the Church in more or less
unconditional submission to Soviet power and the demands of the revolution.
Those who separated from him, including many senior hierarchs, were called
the True Orthodox Christians, and those who died for their belonging to the
True Orthodox Church are undoubtedly martyrs and confessors of the One,
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

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The question is: what is the status of those who did not separate from
Sergius, but who suffered at the hands of Soviet power in this period?

The approach adopted here is closely modelled on the words of

Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan, one of the senior and most respected of all the
Russian hierarchs, who was one of the leaders of True Orthodoxy and himself
received the crown of martyrdom in 1937. In 1934, when asked about the
sacraments of the “sergianists” – those who followed Metropolitan Sergius –
he replied that they were still valid and salvific for those who partook
without knowing the sin of Sergius and its destructiveness for the Church. For
those who knew, however, he said that communion in the sergianist church
was for their condemnation. Three years later, in March, 1937, Metropolitan
Cyril was taking a stricter line. Enough time had passed, he said, for people to
come to a decision about sergianism, which was in essence a new version of
renovationism – the heresy condemned and anathematized by Patriarch
Tikhon in 1923…

On the basis of Metropolitan Cyril’s words, we have taken the end of the
year 1934 as a provisional cut-off point. Those who suffered unjustly at the
hands of Soviet power before that point, whether they belonged to the
sergianist or to the True Orthodox Church, are counted as having suffered for
the true faith and as being martyrs or confessors of the True Church – with
the exception of the sergianist hierarchs, who, as being responsible for
“rightly dividing the word of truth”, must be considered as having failed in
their duty to confess the truth against sergianism, and other leading priests or
laymen who quite clearly did know what sergianism was but still remained
members of the sergianist church. However, from 1935 – by which time
almost all the True Orthodox had in any case been killed, incarcerated or
driven underground – those sergianists who suffered at the hands of Soviet
power are not counted as martyrs and confessors, including the vast numbers
killed in the purges of 1937-38, unless there are clear indications in their
biography that they struggled against Soviet power and in this way liberated
themselves from the sin of sergianism.

Of course, this is a rough criterion which will probably involve the

misclassification of some of those who suffered. However, in the absence of a
clearly superior criterion, and of a definitive list given by the True Church, it
will have to do. May the martyrs and confessors not included here forgive us
their omission, and continue notwithstanding to pray for us!

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have
mercy on us!

March 14/27, 2010.

Lazarus Saturday.

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East House, Beech Hill, Mayford, Working, Surrey, England. GU22 0SB.

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1. HIEROMARTYR JOACHIM,
ARCHBISHOP OF NIZHNI-
NOVGOROD

Archbishop Joachim, in the world John Ioakimovich Levitsky, was born on

March 30, 1853 in the village of Petrushek, Kiev province, the son of a junior
deacon (according to another source, reader) of the Kiev diocese. He was
educated in the Kiev Sophia theological school and the Kiev theological
seminary. On March 30, 1879, he graduated from Kiev Theological Academy
with the degree of candidate of theology. On August 9 he was appointed a
teacher in the Riga theological seminary. On June 24, 1880, he was ordained to
the priesthood for Riga cathedral. He was married with two sons. Between
1883 and 1886 he was a teacher of the Law of God in the Riga infantry school
and in the Tailova higher maidens’ private school. In 1886 his wife died. On
June 28, 1893, he was tonsured, and the next day became rector of the Riga
theological seminary with the rank of archimandrite. While in Riga, he was
editor of the diocesan journal, and wrote several articles for it on the
ecclesiastical history of the Baltic region with a historical-statistical
description of the diocese.

On January 14, 1896 Fr. Joachim was consecrated Bishop of Baltsk, a

vicariate of the Kamenets-Podolsk diocese. On May 24, 1897 he became
bishop of Brest, a vicariate of the Lithuanian diocese, and on January 13, 1900
- bishop of Grodno and Brest. On November 26, 1903 he was appointed
bishop of Orenburg and Uralsk, and in November 15, 1908 - bishop of
Orenburg and the Turgai.

Vladyka was a man of outstanding spiritual gifts, a fiery preacher with a

warm, responsive heart. While in Orenburg, he protected and greatly
expanded the diocese's missionary work among the Kirghiz, Bashkirs and
Tatars, and a huge number of them were converted to the Orthodox Faith
during his episcopate. The Tatar language was introduced into the teaching of
the Orenburg seminary, as was the compulsory study of Islam. Vladyka
managed to find resources for the upkeep of four diocesan missionaries with
a good annual salary.

He personally converted many sectarians and Old Ritualists to the

Orthodox Faith, and founded several yedinovertsy parishes, serving in them
himself according to the old books. In 1905 in the village of Sukhorechensky
he converted (with the help of the local missionaries) the Old Ritualist priest
Fr. Sabbas Sladky, who brought with him several hundred families into the
yedinoveriye. A big parish was formed, and every year many families were
added to it. In the conversion of the Old Ritualists Vladyka was greatly
helped by the Synodal missionary Fr. Xenophon Kryuchkov, who had been
Orenburg diocesan missionary during the 1880s. Thanks to their joint labours
in the Urals region, 50 yedinovertsy parishes, each with their clergy, were

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founded in the vast region from Orenburg to the Caspian Sea. Hundreds and
thousands of Cossacks and non-Cossacks living in the Cossack villages were
converted to yedinoveriye Orthodoxy, and every year tens of new parishes
were added to the diocese.

In 1903, a movement of resettlement from the southern districts of Russia

to the Turgai region began. Spiritually speaking, the settlers were left to cope
for themselves. Thus the Turgai settlers were forgotten about, and the Chief
resettlement administration concentrated its attention on the peasants of
Siberia, the Altai and the Far East. Many sectarians came with the settlers
from the southern regions of Russia to the Turgai. In each settlement there
were Baptists or Seventh Day Adventists, whose semi-literate "priests" and
pastors wasted no time in founding their own prayer assemblies. But the
Orthodox were like sheep without a shepherd, and had no place in which to
satisfy their spiritual needs. The sectarians took advantage of this and began
to invite the Orthodox to their prayer meetings. Soon the Orthodox settlers
began to fill up the sectarian prayer meetings and without realizing it
themselves became members of sectarian communities. Children were born,
the old died, the young entered into conjugal relationships - and there was
nobody to carry out the rites. The Orthodox population experienced
particular hardships during the Great Fast and on great feasts. In one
settlement the Orthodox gathered on Pascha night on a site which had been
set aside for the construction of a church, erected six bells which had been
brought from Tauris province, rang them for several minutes, chanted "Christ
is risen" as best they could, and then dispersed despondently to their huts and
dugouts to break the fast. On such days the sectarians arranged their
triumphant prayer services and insistently invited the Orthodox to come and
"listen to the chanting and preaching". Many went unwillingly, but then
stayed for ever.

From June, 1906 to the beginning of 1907, Bishop Joachim sent two
diocesan missionary priests to Turgai. They established that the whole region
was in captivity to the sectarians. This missionary trip had a reviving effect on
the waverers: people brought tens of babies for baptism; young newly
married couples came asking that they "receive the law", that is, be married
according to the Orthodox rite; and many believers asked for pannikhidas to
be performed for those who had died without a church rite.

On the return of the missionaries, Bishop Joachim sent a report to the Holy
Synod, which then assigned 50,000 roubles above the normal annual budget
for the construction of churches and schools in the Turgai region. Special
missionary courses were organized in Orenburg and Kustanai, at which
candidates for the priesthood were trained for four months. These were
mainly teachers, readers and experienced deacons. Churches, schools and
hospitals were built, and every central point received a priest-teacher. A new
life began in the Turgai region. Many zealous pastors from other regions

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asked to do missionary work in the Turgai, and in this way the whole region
was soon covered with well-organized parishes led by principled pastors. An
end was put to sectarian propaganda. Those who had been lured into the
sects were converted without difficulty to Orthodoxy. Everywhere evening
services with talks with the priests were organized. Religious-educational and
missionary brotherhoods began to be opened. Thus Orthodoxy was saved in
the region.

In 1908 Bishop Joachim himself visited the region. In every settlement he

was met by masses of believers. At the main centres he served triumphant
liturgies, the missionaries preached and distributed anti-sectarian literature.
Vladyka himself was an outstanding orator, and amazed everyone with his
knowledge of the Scriptures. In his discourses he briefly, but powerfully and
convincingly refuted the errors of the apostates. Every year the numbers of
those joining the Orthodox Church increased. After a "priest" of the sectarians
from the village of Viktorovka was joined to Orthodoxy, the sectarians fell
silent, and no more conversions to sectarianism were observed. One Baptist
sectarian leader by the name of Prostibozhenko, a good chanter and choir
director, converted to Orthodoxy with his large family, and became an ardent
apologist for Orthodoxy. Bishop Joachim offered to ordain him, but he
declined out of humility, and accepted the post of reader, choir director and
assistant missionary. Vladyka himself had a passionate love for church music.

Vladyka Joachim travelled tirelessly on a cart round his huge diocese,

which included Orenburg province, Turgai region and the lands of the Urals
Cossacks. Every year Vladyka would travel from the river Tobol to the city of
Guriev on the Caspian Sea, which was about 3000 versts as the crow flies. In
Guriev they had not seen a bishop for 25 years.

Vladyka saved countless people from despair and falls into mortal sin.
Once he dissuaded Deacon Gir-ko from killing himself as a result of a family
drama. He went to him by night, put him drunk into his carriage, drove him
to his hierarchical house and kept him for a whole week, forcing him to serve
every day. The deacon came to himself, persuaded by the love of Vladyka.
Later Vladyka ordained him to the priesthood and appointed him to a
militant workers' parish in P-y factory. Gir-ko literally regenerated the
rebellious parish, and presented the image of an ideal priest.

Vladyka protected education, and during his episcopate the church schools
multiplied and flourished. He clothed the poor seminarists from head to foot
from his own resources, ordained them to the priesthood and provided them
with means to live.

He was a true benefactor, doing good deeds both openly and secretly.

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On August 13/26, 1910 (according to another source, in 1909), Vladyka was

appointed Bishop of Nizhni-Novgorod and Arzamas. On May 6, 1916 he was
raised to the rank of archbishop. The inhabitants of Nizhni came to love him,
and he served there until the revolution.

Already under the Provisional Government he was imprisoned in Nizhni.

In 1917-18 he was a delegate to the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox
Church in Moscow, and never returned to Nizhni. For the Bolsheviks again
imprisoned him for his ardent monarchism. On March 22, 1918 he was retired
from his see at his own request and was appointed administrator, with the
rights of superior, of the Resurrection monastery at New Jerusalem in
Moscow diocese.

In the autumn he went to visit his son and his family in the Crimea. He
was often invited from there to serve in the churches of Sebastopol. Once,
when all the inhabitants of the house had gone out and he was alone, some
unknown people who were supposedly robbers, but were in fact sent by the
local Bolsheviks, appeared. According to the witness of a Crimean priest, he
was martyred by being hanged with his head down on the royal doors of the
Sebastopol cathedral.

(Sources: Akty Svyatejshego Tikhona, Patriarkha Moskovskogo i Vseya

Rossii, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, P. 863-64, 974;
Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, 1949-57, vol. I,
pp. 77-81, vol. II, p. 277; Hieromonk Damascene (Orlovsky), Mucheniki,
ispovedniki i podvizhniki blagochestiya Rossijskoj Tserkvi XX stoletii, Tver:
Bulat, 1992, pp. 168-170; Russkiye Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press,
1986, p. 38; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological
Institute,
http://www.pstbi.ru/bin/code.exe/frames/m/ind_oem.html?/ans)

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2. HIEROMARTYR LAURENCE, BISHOP OF BALAKHNA

and those with him

Bishop Laurence, in the world Eugene Ivanovich Knyazev, was born in

Kashira. He came from a priest’s family.and graduated from St. Petersburg
Theological Academy in 1902. Then he became a rector of theological
seminaries, first in Novgorod, then in Vilnius, where the future Patriarch
Tikhon was archbishop. From November 6, 1908 he served as a teacher, and
was inspector of the Tauris theological seminary. There, beloved by teachers
and pupils, he attracted the attention of society and Bishop Alexis of Tauris.
He was distinguished for his modesty and quietness, and was in spiritual
communion with the Optina elders, who highly esteemed him. He practised
the Jesus prayer. On January 24, 1912, at the age of 45, he was tonsured as a
monk on Valaam by Archbishop Sergius (Stragorodsky). On March 5, 1912 he
was ordained to the priesthood, and in February, 1917 in Moscow he was
consecrated Bishop of Balakhna, a vicariate of the diocese of Nizhni
Novgorod, by Patriarch Tikhon.

When the revolution came, he said:

"Now I must become spiritual, now the Church is in need, and I must serve
her."

In the same year he organized the Holy Transfiguration Brotherhood. From

April 4, 1918 he took temporary charge of the Nizhni-Novgorod diocese after
the retirement of Archbishop Joachim (Levitsky), living in the Caves
monastery. He often served, and especially loved akathists and reading the
prayer “My All-blessed Queen” in front of the icon of the Mother of God the
Quick Hearer. He always gave sermons after the Liturgy.

His three last sermons ended with the words: “Beloved brothers and
sisters, we are living through a quite special time, before us all there stands
the feat of confession, and for some – martyrdom.”

In the house of a matushka which he often visited he used to say that a

martyric end had been foretold him. They told the story that when he was
living in Vilnius he gave gave his klobuk to a women’s monastery, asking
them to put it in order. The nun who occupied herself with this work cleaned
it, ironed the basting, put it on the kamilavka and went up to the mirror to see
whether it looked right. She was raising the klobuk above her head so as to
put it on herself when she suddenly fell down unconscious. She had seen a
fiery crown above the klobuk.

Vladyka spend one year and seven months in Nizhni-Novgorod. Towards

the end of 1918 they came to the hierarchical house looking for Archbishop

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Joachim, and, not finding him, asked: “Where is the hierarch?” They replied:
“In the Caves.” They went there and arrested Bishop Laurence.

Vladyka was two months in prison, first in the new palisade, and then in
the old. At that time there were still house churches in the prisons. There they
brought hierarchical vestments for Vladyka, and he served there on feastdays.
There were many people in the cells, but no cots, everyone slept on the floor,
but Vladyka had a bed, and the prisoners believed that whoever lay on
Vladyka’s bed would be released to go home – which was what happened.
Many people asked to rest on his cot. Every day matushka and her relatives
brought him parcels. Vladyka sent back notes, linen and empty bowls. Once
he sent back a worn out prayer rope, requesting that it be exchanged for a
new one. This prayer rope was given to Fr. Barnabas (the future bishop), who
took them and said: “A working prayer rope.”

On October 21 Vladyka was summoned to the Cheka. He went on foot

through the whole city, accompanied by one soldier with a rifle. Along the
road people went up to him and asked for his blessing, while those who
followed him noticed that Vladyka often took out a handkerchief and,
evidently, wept. Passing a church, he stopped. It was the church’s patronal
feast, and the all-night vigil was in progress. Some of the worshippers came
out, and Vladyka blessed them.

Until then there had been no interrogations. But now they accused him of
writing an appeal to the people at a conference of the clergy in the summer, in
which the following words of the Apostle Paul were quoted: “Put on the
whole armour of God”. His signature was under the appeal as being the
president of the conference. Protopriest Alexis Alexandrovich Porfiriev, the
superior of the cathedral, had also signed as deputy president. They were
summoned together.

Fr. Alexis was born in 1856 in Simbirsk province. He came from a large
peasant family, and was the son of a reader. A great man of prayer, he
especially venerated the icon of the Mother of God, “The Joy of All Who
Sorrow”. He went to Simbirsk theological seminarcy and St. Petersburg
Theological Academy, graduating in 1882. Then he went to serve as a teacher
in the Nizhni-Novgorod theological seminary. He was an active member of a
missionary anti-schismatic brotherhood in the name of the Holy Prince
George Vsevolodovich. In 1886 he was ordained to the priesthood, and went
to serve in the Verkhneposadskaya church of St. Nicholas in Nizhni-
Novgorod province. In 1888 he had very successful talks with Old Ritualists
in the church of the theological seminary. On July 15, 1893 he was appointed
rector of the cathedral of the Holy Archangel Michael in Nizhni-Novgorod,
with promotion to the rank of protopriest. In 1901 he was head of the second
diocesan missionary congress, and in 1902 was appointed a member of the
Consistory for the affairs of the Old Ritualist schism. On April 12, 1905 he was

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appointed rector of the cathedral church in Nizhni-Novgorod. In 1912 he

became a member of the State Duma from the white clergy, but within a year
went into retirement. In 1918, together with Bishop Laurence, he headed a
clergy congress of the Nizhni-Novgorod diocese which called for protests
against the closure of churches and monasteries and the confiscation of
church property. He was accused of calling people to counter-revolutionary
activity.

On the day of his summons to the authorities (after Vladyka Laurence), Fr.
Alexis was in a particularly joyful mood, and he said goodbye to everyone in
the cell in the firm conviction that he was going to be released. However, after
they had been condemned, they were sentenced to be shot. But they were
offered clemency on condition that they renounced their priesthood. They
refused. Then the final sentence was read out.

Vladyka had the Holy Gifts with him. He communed himself and then
communed Fr. Alexis. Vladyka was calm and joyful, Fr. Alexis wept. Vladyka
said: “Why are you weeping, we must rejoice. I’m ready!” Fr. Alexis replied
that he was sorry for his family. Afterwards Fr. Alexis’ daughter told her
mother that she had never seen her father weep. She also said that her father
never served the Liturgy without reading the akathist to the Heavenly Queen,
“the Joy of all who Sorrow”. He died on that day, October 24 / November 6,
1918.

They were led into the garden and placed on the edge of a freshly dug
grave. Vladyka raised his arms and prayed a fiery prayer, while Fr. Alexis
stood with his head lowered, with his hands folded on his breast, repeating
the prayer of the publican: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” The Russian
soldiers refused to shoot because they said that they had heard the chanting
of the Cherubikon. So they summoned some Latvians (according to another
source, Chinese), who carried out the sentence.

At about eleven o’clock, the mother of the woman who gave this account
was standing not far off with some other people when they heard shots in the
garden. Then the lights went out in the house and the drunken Latvians came
out. But the investigator who had conducted the affair, came that night at the
request of Vladyka to the people who were close to him, bringing his things.
He told them everything, threw the things down and went off to his
homeland in Latvia, saying that there had been no substance to the crime.

Vladyka Laurence was tall with blonde hair and light blue eyes, and was a
little hunched. His voice was quiet, and his movements were measured. He
cared little for his outer appearance. He was forty-two years old when he
died. Of his relatives, only his widowed mother survived him.

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Some time later, a woman who had known Vladyka well was on her way
to the early Liturgy when she passed the Cheka and saw two bodies being
taken out of the gates. She boldly asked who they were. They replied that
they were the bodies of a bishop and a priest. “Where are you taking them?”
“To Mochalny island. From there they will be thrown into the Volga.”

The above account is supplemented by the following written by Hieromonk

Alexis (Voskresensky) in 1919: "On June 1, 1918, in accordance with my own
will and a resolution of his Reverence Laurence, bishop of Balakhna and
ruling hierarch of the Nizhegorod diocese, I was transferred from the Nizhni
Novgorod Caves Monastery to the Oransk monastery. Now that I have
completed my first year in this monastery and have entered upon my second
year, I consider it necessary in the present notes to give an account, albeit
short, of the events which took place both in the monastery of my personal
and private life, and in the life of the Oransk community, for they have an
historical significance for the community, which is why it would be
unforgiveable not to recount them in writing and thereby consign them to
oblivion.

"On June 24, 1918 there began the affair of Archimandrite Augustine
which was to be so unfortunate for the Oransk monastery. Both at the
beginning of this sad affair and after the arrest of Augustine [which took place
on July 7], the monastery led an extremely anxious life, for it could not be
unaware that the surrounding population had been incited against it and
could inflict any unpleasantness it wanted on it, the more so in that the man at
the head of its administration, the treasurer and hieromonk Demetrius
(Arkhangelsky), had no authority even among the brotherhood, not to speak
of the surrounding inhabitants. He did not possess those characteristics which
are necessary for a man upon whom the lot has fallen of being at the head of a
well-known organization. Everybody recognized that they were living
through a critical time, so order was maintained as if by itself, for everybody
considered it his duty to fulfil the duties laid upon him in a conscientious
manner, and not out of fear. In the course of this life everybody was conscious
of the need to see a man at the head of the monastery's administration who
would have had experience of life and possess in abundance the qualities
necessary for a monastic community. Such a man had been promised to the
monastery since July 9 by Bishop Laurence. Archimandrite Arcadius had been
his deputy for 15 years, and at the given time was governing the Oransk
Gulyaevsky desert. And Bishop Laurence had issued a corresponding
resolution granting Fr. Arcadius the rights of the deputy of the monastery.

"Finally, during the night of July 18-19 Archimandrite Arcadius arrived.

Almost on his footsteps there appeared at the monastery the regional
commissar of the Nizhegorod department of the Commissariat for the
separation of the Church from the State, K.S. Karpov, together with a comrade
of his. Karpov and his assistant and the treasurer of the Nizhegorod Caves

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 14

Monastery, Hieromonk Simeon, had arrived to carry out an investigation of

the affair of Archimandrite Augustine and an inspection of the character of
his administration. From July 24 the commission, joined by Archimandrite
Augustine, Igumen Polycarp, the treasurer Hieromonk Demetrius and
Hieromonks Raphael and George, set about their business. At the same time
Hieromonk Simeon began interrogating the whole brotherhood about the life
and behaviour of Archimandrite Augustine. The work of the commission and
Hieromonk Simeon lasted for several days. They brought to light a mass of
malpractices and filth which soon appeared in the columns of the
"Nizhegorod workers' and peasants' broadsheet".

"August came without anything of note happening. We received obscure

and confused rumours about the fate of the arrested Archimandrite
Augustine, but it never entered the head of anyone to think that this sad story
might have a bloody dénouement. It became known that he was being
accused, not because of the character of his monastic administration, nor even
for malpractices in that connection, but for counter-revolutionary activity
amidst the peasants of the settlements surrounding the monastery.
Unfortunately, just at the moment that Archimandrite Augustine was under
arrest, the attempt on the life of Lenin and the assassination of Uritsky took
place. In response to this there burst out a universal terror, the red terror, and
shootings began everywhere. This circumstance had a decisive influence on
the bitter fate of the unfortunate Augustine, too, which is testified by the
fragmentary information supplied by various people, among them myself
now. They recount that after Augustine had been transferred to prison, he
together with an ardent monarchist (Protopriest Nicholas Orlovsky of the
Kazan church in Nizhni-Novgorod) who was under arrest with him, and
another priest, celebrated the Liturgy together in the prison church around
the feast of the Dormition. This was his last priestly act.

"On the night of August 17-18 he appeared before the bench of the
military-revolutionary tribunal.

"'Do you recognise Soviet power?' he was asked.

"'I do not recognise it and never will recognise it!'

"With this reply Archimandrite Augustine signed his own death sentence.
By the decision of the military-revolutionary tribunal, he, Protopriest
Nicholas Orlovsky and 15 other people whom I do not know were sentenced
to shooting, and the so-called "Mochalny island", which was downstream
along the Volga a little below the Caves monastery, was assigned as the place
of execution.

"At dawn all those doomed to die were seated in a ferry which sailed to the
fateful spot. All the unfortunates were in an state of exaltation, animatedly

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talking to each other and expressing the hope that they would die for the
truth. They even served a pannikhida over themselves while still alive.

"On arriving at the island, all those doomed to die were placed in the
required positions. Archimandrite Augustine stood firmly with his eyes
fearlessly fixed on the red army men who were preparing to fire a volley. But
when it rang out, the archimandrite continued standing. A second volley rang
out, and a third, but to the amazement of all he continued standing, and only
after the fourth volley did he fall down dead, and was buried by the red army
men, or, to be more exact, he and his companions in death were covered with
a bit of earth so carelessly that the inhabitants of the Caves settlement were
later obliged to dig a common grave for the slaughtered ones.

"And many, many victims were offered to the terrible spirit of the times in
those evil days. My cousin, Priest Alexander Alexeyevich Voskresensky of
the village of Panov in Arzamas district, and his son Peter were killed in the
same way at that time. Unfortunately, even now, as I write these lines, the
details of the deaths of these relatives of mine are completely unknown to me,
and I know no more about the death of Archimandrite Augustine.

"In spite of the fact that the time was terrible for everybody, the usual life
of the monastery did not die, nor did the agricultural work which the
brotherhood occupied itself as usual come to an end. They greeted the death
of Archimandrite Augustine in silence, and it must be said that they had
neither enough courage, nor love, nor brotherly Christian forgiveness to raise
their prayers for the slaughtered man, who appeared to many in sleep,
usually in the form of one preparing to perform a priestly service. I did not
fear to raise his name in the common prayers. But his Reverence Laurence
went still further: on the very day of the death of Archimandrite Augustine,
August 18, he served a common pannikhida for the repose of the souls of the
slaughtered Archimandrite Augustine and Protopriest Nicholas in his Caves
monastery, not in the least suspecting, of course, that the same fate awaited
him in the near future.

"The Soviet government decided to nationalise all church and monastery

lands without exception, and universal decree to this effect was issued.
Bishop Laurence, who was very cautious in his actions, recognized that if
deprived of their lands the continued existence of the churches and
monasteries was unthinkable, which is why he signed a protest against this
governmental decree and sent it to the Nizhegorod region land department,
persuading the senior member of the Nizhegorod Diocesan Council, the
cathedral protopriest Alexis Porfiriev, and some others, to sign, too. This
aimless measure proved fatal for those who signed it. It seems that his
Reverence Laurence was arrested on August 24 and sent to a new prison. A
few days later the other people who had signed the fatal paper were subjected

15
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to the same fate. Among them was the former regional Marshal of the
Nizhegorod nobility Alexis Borisovich Neidgart.”

Alexis was born on September 1, 1863 in Moscow. He came from a noble

family, and was the brother-in-law of P.A. Stolypin, the prime minister of
Russia. He was a prominent figure in society and state, a zemstvo leader and
a provincial leader of the nobility. From 1905 to 1906 he was governor of
Ekaterinoslav. In 1906 he became a member of the State Council and a leader
of the right centre. He was also a member of the Permanent Council of the
United Nobility. From May 1, 1917 he was retired, and settled in Nizhni-
Novgorod. He signed an appeal of the Nizhni-Novgorod clergy protesting
against the confiscation of church property. In 1918 he was arrested together
with his wife, daughter and son. On November 6 he was shot together with
Bishop Laurence, Fr. Alexis Porphiriev and his family.

“On his arrival at the prison, the bishop was offered a special room, but he
preferred to stay in a common cell, spending his first night on the bare floor.
The next day his fervent admirer Catherine Ivanovna Mesina appeared at the
prison bringing him a bed. They accepted the bed and passed it on as was
intended, but arrested the woman who brought it, although she was released
a few days later. His Reverence spent the rest of his days in prison, leaving his
room only when he was required either for an interrogation or to carry out
forced public labour, which consisted either in cleaning the prison courtyard
or in flinging hay, or, finally, in trips to fetch water in barrels, etc. In his free
time in the room, without paying any attention to the remarks and mockeries
of the prisoners that were cast at him from the first day, the bishop was
almost entirely occupied in praying. And he prayed with such fervour that
the mockery stopped of itself, and those who were there, softened in heart by
the hierarch's exploit of prayer, unwillingly began to imitate his praiseworthy
example. Vladyka had no small consolation in being allowed to serve in the
prison church, and he let no feast or Sunday pass without offering the
bloodless sacrifice for himself and the people. His cell-attendant was allowed
to meet his Reverence not less than twice a week, and sometimes (for
example, on feastdays, when he carried out the duty of book-bearer while the
hierarch served) more often. Through him Vladyka was provided with more
nourishing food.

"Days and weeks passed as the archpastor, together with Protopriest Alexis
Porfiriev and the other people, languished in prison, and no end to it was in
sight. His Reverence at first entertained the hope of being released, but as
time passed his hopes diminished. They say that the bishop twice sent his
cell-attendant to a protopriest of the town of Balakhna with a request to
inspire the citizens of Balakhna with the thought of petitioning the authorities
for his release as the bishop of Balakhna. It seems that this embassy was not
without effect, for the citizens of Balakhna collected up to 16,000 roubles
which they were intending to offer as a deposit. And at the same time they

16
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gathered signatures for a petition for the release of his Reverence. This
thought also occurred to the citizens of Nizhni-Novgorod, and signatures for
a similar petition were collected in the parish churches.

"Of course, this movement could not go unnoticed by the authorities, who
were in no way inclined to grant the request. The anniversary of the October
revolution (October 24) and the triumph of Soviet power was approaching.
On the night of that day his Reverence Laurence, Protopriest Alexis
Porfirievich and Alexis Borisovich Neidgart appeared before a military-
revolutionary tribunal in the house of "the struggle against counter-
revolution, speculation and sabotage" on Malo-Pokrovsky street. It seems that
after giving a negative reply to the question: 'Do you recognise Soviet power?'
they were taken out into the garden of the house, where they were shot.
Rumours circulated in Nizhni-Novgorod that after his Reverence had been
shot he fell, but did not die, and by an instinct of self-preservation crawled
towards the gates, covered in blood. He was on the point of reaching them
when one of the sentries noticed him. He struck him with his gun-stock so
powerfully that the hierarch's head split and his brains came out. After
receiving a first volley, Protopriest Alexis Porfiriev moved around the garden,
but then he was shot for a second time - this time, for good.

"On the next day, which was the anniversary of the triumph of Soviet
power, all those in prison, including his Reverence Laurence and Protopriest
Alexis Porfiriev and the others, should have been released on amnesty. But
the evil spite of men had carried them all away from the stage of life some
hours earlier..."

Bishop Laurence and those with him were shot on October 24 / November
6, 1918.

According to another source, Bishop Laurence was mocked and cruelly

tortured, but said to his torturers:

"Do what you will, but I will not renounce my convictions."

Before his death he called on the soldier to repent, and declared that Russia
would be saved.

(Sources: M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyatejshego Tikhona, Patriarkha

Moskovskogo i Vseya Rossii, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994,
p. 978; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye,
Jordanville, 1957, vol. II, pp. 277-78; N.V. Ivanov, "Zapiski", Posev, no. 1, 1988,
pp. 60-63; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, 1917-1956, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s
Theological Institute, 1997, p. 27; “Vospominaniya o ep. Lavrentii (Knyazeve),
Nadezhda, 1985, Frankfurt: Possev-Verlag, N 12, pp. 59-63;
http://www.pstbi.ru/bin/code.exe/frames/m/ind_oem.html?/ans)

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3. HIEROMARTYR AMBROSE, BISHOP OF SARAPUL

and those with him

Bishop Ambrose, in the world Basil Gudko, was born on December 28,
1867 in Lyublin province. In 1889 he entered the St. Petersburg Theological
Academy, graduating in 1893. In 1891 he was tonsured into the mantia. On
May 30, 1893 he was ordained to the priesthood. On October 14, 1893 he was
appointed head of the catechetical missionary school in the Altai. In 1897 he
became head of the Korean Spiritual Mission, and on December 7 was raised
to the rank of archimandrite. On June 30, 1899 he was made inspector of the
Moscow Donskoy spiritual school. On July 27, 1901 he was appointed rector
of the Volhynia theological seminary. On April 30, 1904 he was consecrated
bishop of Kremenets, a vicariate of the Volhynia diocese by Metropolitan
Flavian of Kiev, Bishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) and others. On February 17
(according to other sources, 24 or 27), 1909, he was appointed bishop of
Baltsk, a vicariate of the Kamenets-Podolsk diocese. On February 14/27, 1914,
he was appointed Bishop of Sarapul, a vicariate of Vyatka diocese, and on
October 5, 1916 – Bishop of Sarapul and Elabuga, with special privileges.

Vladyka did much to strengthen the faith and love of the believers through
his inspiring sermons and services. He also waged a successful campaign
against drunkenness, which was a major problem in such centres as Sarapul,
Izhevsk and Votkinsk. Abstinence brotherhoods were founded in Sarapul and
Elabuga.

At the end of 1916 a conflict took place between Bishop Ambrose and two
Sarapul liberals, Mikhel and Polyakov, as a result of which Vladyka forbade
them to receive Communion. Such a measure was unusual in those times, and
Mikhel complained to the Holy Synod. Soon a slanderous campaign was
unleashed against Vladyka, who was distinguished for his direct, ardent and
fearless character. Delegations of laymen went in defence of Vladyka to St.
Petersburg and Bishop Nicander (Fenomenov) of Vyatka. For a while the
campaign against Bishop Ambrose quietened down, and the Holy Synod was
even thinking of making Sarapul into an independent diocese. However, the
February revolution brought to the fore a new procurator, Prince V.N. Lvov,
who removed many of the monarchist bishops, including Vladyka Ambrose.

And so on March 18/31, 1917 Vladyka was retired, and became the
superior of the Sviyazhsk Dormition monastery. Here he found the monastery
in a run-down state, with several of the monks living an unworthy life. This
was not improved by the interventions of the Sviyazhsk head of police, the
atheist Komarov, who took possession of some of the monastery buildings,
thereby depriving the pilgrims of a shelter for the night.

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 19

When Vladyka began to introduce discipline into the monastery, some of

the brothers rebelled, and one of them, Hierodeacon Theodosius, incited by
Komarov, even tried to kill him. The inhabitants of Sviyazhsk and the
neighbouring villages were incensed by the incident, and Theodosius was
arrested. However, as Vladyka's authority among the Orthodox population
increased, so did the attacks of the authorities, who accused him of calling for
the return of the Tsar. Vladyka denied this, but in his written defence of
October 31, 1917 he said that in view of all the horrors that had been
perpetrated in the region by the new authorities, "one could hardly call one
who was so daring a criminal, especially if he was dreaming of the autocracy,
not in the spirit of Nicholas II, but of Alexander III, when our Rus' was
glorious, powerful, peaceful and terrible to all her enemies and evildoers."

On January 19, 1918, Hierodeacon Theodosius was released from prison,

and the next day he and another troublemaker, Hieromonk Elijah (Borisov)
came to the monastery. Under their leadership a part of the monks again
began to rebel against the superior, ignoring his instructions and refusing to
go to church.

Vladyka wanted to remove the troublemakers, but unfortunately he did

not get the support he needed from the Spiritual Consistory, and on March 11
(according to another source, 7) he was summoned to appear before the court
of the Sviyazhsk revolutionary tribunal on a charge of "counter-revolutionary
activity" based on the declarations of the above-mentioned monks. In the
course of the trial it turned out that the accused had prayed for soldiers who
died “for the tsar” under the old regime, and that on contemporary questions
of ecclesiastical life he read only the epistles of Patriarch Tikhon. Priests,
townsmen and peasants gave witness on behalf of Vladyka. In spite of the
open hostility of the president of the court, an Old Ritualist, on March 15
Vladyka was declared innocent by five votes to two.

The next day Vladyka served the Liturgy in his monastery. During a
moleben to the Mother of God he prayed on his knees, weeping. Everyone
wept...

On March 29, the Financial Committee of the Peasants' and Workers' Soviet
of the Sviyazhsk uyezd, in its very first order decided to levy a tax of 5000
roubles on all the men's and women's monasteries of the uyezd, and
threatened Bishop Ambrose that if he did not carry out the order he would be
put on trial and the monastery's possessions would be confiscated. Vladyka
Ambrose categorically refused to comply, first because he would not take part
in the looting of the monastery of St. Herman, secondly because he couldn't
pay the required sum even if he wanted to, and thirdly because the Church
was separate from the State and these requisitions constituted interference in
the internal affairs of the Church and were therefore counter to the decree on

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freedom of conscience. To their great annoyance, the Financial Committee

was forced to back down.

On May 3 the Spiritual Consistory came to the Sviyazhsk monastery to

investigate the disturbances. Vladyka Ambrose was completely vindicated.

On June 6/19, Vladyka was again arrested, this time for refusing to allow
the authorities to have offices in the monastery. At about the same time seven
marauding Bolsheviks had been killed in Raithu monastery, and Vladyka was
accused of having incited this act. Vladyka was placed in the same cell from
which two White Guardists had just been taken out to be shot. He stayed
there for five days. However, through the intercession of Bishop Anatolius
(Grisyuk) and Fr. Nicholas Troitsky, and after the workers of the Alafuzovsky
and Porokhovoy factories had threatened to go on strike, Vladyka was
released from prison on June 11, the Day of the Holy Spirit.

For a time Vladyka settled in the Kazan Spassky-Transfiguration

monastery ruled by Archimandrite Joasaph, but he soon decided to return to
the Sviyazhsk monastery.

There exist three versions of the martyrdom of Vladyka Ambrose.

According to the first, which was contained in a report by Archimandrite
Theodosius to Bishop Anatolius, on July 26 (old style) some soldiers came to
the monastery to requisition bread. Vladyka came out, evidently in order to
stop them, and was immediately arrested. He was taken to Sviyazhsk station,
where he spent the night in a carriage. The next day, at 7 in the morning, he
was seen kneeling and praying with uplifted hands in a field near the station
while a shallow grave was being dug for him. Then he was shot, dragged into
the grave and covered with earth.

According to Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, the Red Army had just

entered Kazan and it was Trotsky himself who ordered Vladyka's execution.
He was arrested in the monastery and taken together with his cell-attendant,
Hierodeacon Job (Protopopov), to Tyurlema station on the Moscow-Kazan
railway. There, from the headquarters of the Fifth army, in the carriages of
Trotsky's train, Vladyka was taken into a field while Fr. Job was forbidden
from following. A few hours later, Fr. Job found him face down with bayonet
wounds in his back. For the next twelve years Fr. Job paid the peasant who
owned the field not to touch the field near where the body of the hieromartyr
was buried in a shallow grave.

According to a third version given by the inhabitants of Sviyazhsk (one of

whom claimed to have been an eye-witness of these events), Bishop Ambrose
was subjected to a terrible trial before his death: he was tied to the tail of a
horse which was released to gallop round the island. Then the bloodied but
still living bishop was shot somewhere beyond the town.

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 21

A. Zhuravsky is inclined to give the greatest credence to the first of these

versions, and considers the third version to be not incompatible with it.

On May 18, 1919 the newspaper Ural’skaya Zhizn’ wrote: “20 corpses have
thawed out at the Kama by the city Sarapul. There was Deacon Anisimov and
one unrecognized priest.” According to the older inhabitants of the region,
this unrecognized priest was none other than Bishop Ambrose…

(Sources: Russkiye Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986, p. 12;

Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville,
1949, vol. I, p. 179, vol. II, p. 99; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha
Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 961; A.V.
Zhuravsky, "Zhizneopisaniye Svyashchennomuchenika Ioasapha, Episkopa
Chistopol'skago", Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 48, N 8 (559), August, 1996, p. 5; A.
Zhuravsky, Zhizneopisaniya Novykh Muchenikov Kazanskikh god 1918,
Moscow, 1996, pp. 56-92, 201-202; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow: St.
Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, vol. I, pp. 71-72, 91)

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4. HIEROMARTYR HERMAN, BISHOP OF VOLSK

Bishop Herman, in the world Nicholas Vasilyevich Kosolapov, was born in

1882 in Saratov province. In about 1902 he entered the St. Petersburg
Theological Academy. In 1905 he was tonsured and ordained to the diaconate.
In 1906 he was ordained to the priesthood, graduated from the Academy with
the degree of candidate of theology and was appointed assistant inspector of
the Sarapul theological school. In 1907 he became assistant inspector in the
Kamyshinsky theological school. On March 13, 1908 he became inspector of
the Petrovsky theological school. On July 28, 1911 he became inspector of the
Oboyan theological school in the rank of archimandrite. On February 1, 1913
he became inspector of the Kursk theological school. On April 30, 1916 he
became rector of the Vladimir theological seminary. On February 11
(according to another source, January 17), 1918 he was consecrated Bishop of
Volsk (according to other sources, Kamyshin), a vicariate of the Saratov
diocese. According to one source, he was killed in August, 1918 in Saratov as
a hostage after the attempt on the life of Lenin. According to other sources,
however, he was condemned to 15 years imprisonment by the Saratov
revolutionary tribunal on October 6, 1918, was released on amnesty, was
arrested and imprisoned again by May, 1919, and was shot on September 27
(or October 19), 1919.

(Sources: M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St.

Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 969; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky,
Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville, 1949-57, part 1, p. 179, part 2, p.
280; Russkiye Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986, p. 27; Vladimir
Rusak, Pir Satany, London, Canada: "Zarya", 1991, p. 23; Za Khrista
Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, p. 311)

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5. HIEROMARTYR
METROPHANES, ARCHBISHOP
OF ASTRAKHAN

Archbishop Metrophanes, in the world Demetrius Ivanovich

Krasnopolsky, was born on October 22, 1869 in Voronezh province into the
family of a brick factory worker. His mother was from the family of a village
reader and before his birth prayed to the Heavenly Queen for a son who go
along the spiritual path. In 1890 he finished his studies at Voronezh
theological seminary. On November 4, 1890 was ordained to the diaconate by
Bishop Anastasius (Dobradin), and began serving in the Kazan church in
Korotoyaka, Voronezh province. On February 23, 1893 he was transferred to
the Trinity church in Alexeyevka sloboda, Voronezh province. In the same
year his wife died and he entered Kazan Theological Academy, graduating
from it in 1897. On August 21, 1896 he received the monastic tonsure and on
June 15, 1897 was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Sylvester
(Malevansky). On the same day he joined the Kiev Bratsky monastery. On
November 16, 1897 he was appointed inspector of the Irkutsk theological
seminary. On February 2, 1902 he became rector of Mogilev theological
seminary with the rank of archimandrite. He was an orator, a man of rare
talent who celebrated the Divine services with exceptional beauty. From 1907
to 1912 he was a member of the Third State Duma.

On February 11, 1907, in the Trinity cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky

Lavra, he was consecrated bishop of Gomel, a vicariate of the Mogilev
diocese, by Metropolitans Anthony (Vadkovsky) of St. Petersburg, Vladimir
(Bogoyavlensky) of Moscow and Flavian (Gorodetsky) of Kiev and other
bishops. Bishop Metrophanes conducted missionary work among the
sectarians and Old Ritualists, which was much easier than among those
converted to Catholicism because the latter, unlike the former, declined from
open debates with the Orthodox. In 1909, the Gomel section of the Mogilev
Theophany Brotherhood was transformed into an independent Brotherhood
under the presidency of Bishop Metrophanes. The brotherhood distributed
books and brochures to teach the people the Orthodox faith, strengthen them
in good morals and help the poor.

On November 9, 1912 Bishop Metrophanes was transferred to the see of

Minsk and Turov. One of his first acts there was to unite the brotherhoods in
the name of St. Nicholas and of the Life-giving Cross into one St. Nicholas
brotherhood under his presidency. The brotherhood waged war on
drunkenness and carried out readings among the people with coloured
pictures. By the end of 1913 37 sections of the brotherhood had been opened
in Minsk diocese. In 1914, during the Great Fast, two-week missionary
courses were opened, at which the dogmatic and ritual differences between
Orthodoxy and Catholicism were explained. The aim was to form circles of
zealots for Orthodoxy among the people and teach the peasants the means of

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polemicizing with the Catholics. From the beginning of the war Bishop
Metrophanes served molebens for the soldiers, blessed field hospitals, serving
molebens in them, and visited the wounded. The monks of the diocese helped
him in this.

On July 6, 1916 he was transferred to the see of Astrakhan, a region that

had always attracted schismatics, khlysts, Molokans, Stundists, Kalmyk
idolaters and Kirgizian Muslims. This gave the Church in Astrakhan a
missionary character, and the bishop travelled widely to acquaint himself
with its needs. He saw that missionary work among the Kalmyks was in
decline, so he served molebens and talked with the baptised Kalmyks,
preparing teachers from among them who could talk to the unbaptised in
their native language. In January, 1917 he went to the Tsarevsk uyezd and
Priukhabinsky region in order to inspire the pastors and laity with zeal to
struggle against the sectarians. On his initiative missionary courses were
instituted.

After the February revolution a group of clergy in Astrakhan began to

agitate for reforms of the kind that would be introduced by the renovationists
in the 1920s. Bishop Metrophanes resisted them, saying that it was the reform
of the inner life of believers that was necessary.

In 1917-18 he was a member of the Council of the Russian Orthodox

Church and president of the Department of the Higher Church
Administration. He supported the restoration of the patriarchate at the
Council. On returning to Astrakhan at the end of the first session of the
Council, on December 8, 1917, Bishop Metrophanes encountered the
beginning of civil war. The cathedral and hierarchical house, which were
situated within the Kremlin, were occupied by Bolshevik soldiers. Until the
end of the struggle, Bishop Metrophanes was under house arrest. Later he
was forced to abandon the hierarchical house. In February, 1918 the bishop
led a cross procession joined by thousands which became a triumph of the
Orthodox faith.

On March 25 he returned to Moscow for work in the second session of the

Council. On April 12/25, 1918 he was raised to the rank of archbishop. On
May 11/24, 1918, with the blessing of Patriarch Tikhon, he carried out the
glorification of Joseph, the slaughtered Metropolitan of Astrakhan.

In the autumn of 1918 disturbances began again in the Church. Their

initiators gathered around Vicar-Bishop Leontius (von Vimpfen), who was
democratically minded and publicly expressed his support for the
introduction into real life of the decree on the separation of Church and State
(which the Council in Moscow had condemned). In September, 1918 a
“Diocesan Council of Churches” was formed. Archbishop Metrophanes could
not support such an organization insofar as the administration of the diocese

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belonged to the ruling bishop, and parish life could be regulated with his
cooperation and help. In the autumn the authorities demanded that the
archbishop abandon the hierarchical house and cathedral in the Kremlin.
Vladyka Metrophanes refused, but when the fronts of the civil war drew near
to Astrakhan, he was forced to leave the hierarchical house. On January 19,
1919 S.M. Kirov arrived in Astrakhan, which was followed by shootings of
clergy and church wardens. In spite of the threat, on April 7, the feast of the
Annunciation, the archbishop celebrated the festal liturgy in the Annunciation
monastery, and in his sermon commemorated “those who have died as a
result of unnecessary and useless actions of the civil authorities”. And after
the liturgy he served a pannikhida for those killed. In Holy Week the pastors
and laity began to ask their archpastor to leave Astrakhan. However, he
categorically refused: “On my breast is the Cross of the Saviour, and it will
reproach me for my faintheartedness. I would like to ask you: why do you not
run? Does that mean that you value your honour more than I must value my
apostolic rank? Know that I am completely pure and in no way guilty before
my homeland and people… To flee at the very time when they are killing our
innocent brothers before our eyes! No, I am going nowhere away from my
flock…”

On June 6, 1919 he was arrested and cast into the Cheka prison in
Astrakhan. Bishop Leontius was arrested with him. They were accused of a
White Guard plot; but the arrest of tens of people accused of being
participants in this plot was carried out a month later. The pastors and
parishioners of several parishes petitioned for their release, knowing their
complete innocence. Laymen brought the imprisoned archpastor food every
day.

At three o’clock in the morning Archbishop Metrophanes was dragged out

of his cell in his underwear by the Cheka commandant. Three soldiers with
rifles were waiting in a back street. Vladyka blessed them with both hands,
for which the commandant hit him with the butt of his revolver on his right
hand and, taking him by the beard, forced his head down and in this position
fired into his left temple. Witnesses said that the left half of his beard was torn
out and his mouth was broken. After the murder of the archbishop, his vicar,
Bishop Leontius was also shot.

The communist authorities wanted to toss the bodies out on the steppe, but
gravedigger-cabmen ransomed their remains from the authorities for a large
sum and buried them in a fitting manner not far from the Pokrovo-Bodlinsky
monastery. The archbishop’s mother, a simple laundress, mourned at his
funeral. In 1930 a brick memorial over their grave was destroyed to prevent
pilgrimages.

Helen Yurievna Kontzevich, who had known Bishop Metrophanes in her

youth, decided, when she was already old, to write an article about him on

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the day of the commemoration of St. Metrophanes of Voronezh. That night

she saw the Bishop in a dream. He was very thin and in ancient vestments.
She almost thought that it was St. Metrophanes of Voronezh, but this one was
quite young and black-haired, with unusually beautiful blue eyes. She asked
for his blessing and he blessed her. She wanted to kiss his hand, but he said,
“That’s not possible – I’m a bodiless spirit.’ Then she understood that this was
the Bishop Metrophanes about whom she had written the article, the new
hieromartyr. She asked a priest how to understand this, and he explained that
that day was the namesday of the holy hierarch Metrophanes of Astrakhan,
and on such days God sends His saints to visit us.

According to one account, the relics of the martyred archpastor were

obtained by Protopriest Demetrius Stefanovsky, the keeper of the keys of the
cathedral. He was arrested more than ten times. Eventually, on May 1, 1940 he
was exiled from Astrakhan, and died in Ust-Tsylm.

(Sources: Akty Svyateishego Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's

Theological Institute, 1994, pp. 873-74; Russkiye Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris:
YMCA Press, 1986, p. 49; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Novye Mucheniki
Rossijskiye, Jordanville, 1949-57, part 1, p. 178; Abbot Herman, “Helen
Yurievna Kontzevitch, Righteous Orthodox Writer”, The Orthodox Word, vol.
35, no. 6, November-December, 1999, pp. 285-286; Holy Trinity Calendar for
1999; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/)

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6. HIEROMARTYR LEONTIUS, BISHOP OF TSAREVO

Bishop Leontius, in the world Vladimir Nikolayevich von Vimpfen, was

born in 1872 in the village of Piteria. He studied at the Penza gymnasium, and
then, in 1896, entered the Kazan Theological Academy, graduating in 1900
with the degree of candidate of theology. He became a monk in 1897, and a
hieromonk in 1898. In 1900 he was appointed assistant supervisor of the Ufa
theological school, and in 1902 was sent to China as a member of the Peking
Spiritual Mission. In 1903 he became assistant supervisor of the Volsk
theological school, and in 1904 – inspector of the Kursk theological seminary.
In 1906 he was raised to the rank of archimandrite and was sent to the
embassy church in Athens, Greece. On July 11, 1914 he was released from this
post, and on September 28 was consecrated Bishop of Cheboksari, the second
vicariate of the Kazan diocese in Kazan. On February 15, 1915 he was
transferred to the see of Yerevan, becoming a state member of the Georgian-
Imeritian Synodal office. On March 24, 1916 he was transferred to the see of
Kustanai, a vicariate of the Orenburg diocese. On December 16, 1916, he was
made Bishop of Petrovsk, a vicariate of the Saratov diocese. At the beginning
of 1917 he was retired to the Pokrov-Boldinsky monastery. On September 2,
1917 he was appointed Bishop of Enotayev, a vicariate of the Astrakhan
diocese. According to one source, in 1918 he was temporarily administering
the Astrakhan diocese, and in the same year he became Bishop of Tsarevo. On
June 23 / July 6, 1919 he was shot on the orders of Kirov for appealing to the
people to give help to the wounded and sick soldiers of the both the old,
tsarist and the new, Bolshevik armies. He was killed in the courtyard of the
Astrakhan Cheka together with Archbishop Metrophanes (Krasnopolsky). His
body was thrown into a hole and refused a burial. For a huge amount of
money the bodies of the murdered hierarchs were obtained from the grave-
diggers and buried near the Pokrov-Boldinsky monastery. In 1930 a brick
memorial on their grave was destroyed to cut off pilgrimages.

(Sources: Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, The New Martyrs of Russia,

Montreal: Monastery Press, 1972, p. 75; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago
Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Academy, 1994, p. 979;
http://www.pstbi.ru/bin/code.exe/frames/m/ind_oem.html?/ans/)

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7. HIEROCONFESSOR
PHILARET, ARCHBISHOP OF
SAMARA

Archbishop Philaret, in the world Gabriel Nikolsky, was born on March 6,

1858 in the family of a reader. He finished his studies at the Kostroma
theological seminary in 1880, becoming overseer in the Kostroma theological
school in the same years. On October 11, 1881 he was ordained to the
priesthood, and served as a parish priest for seven years. On being widowed,
he entered the St. Petersburg Theological Academy in 1887, graduating in
1891. He was tonsured into monasticism on September 25, 1888. In 1891 he
became inspector in the Tiflis theological seminary, and in 1892 – rector of the
Kazan theological seminary in the rank of archmandrite. In 1895 he became
rector of Tiflis theological seminary. On December 20, 1898 he was
consecrated Bishop of Kirensk, a vicariate of the Irkutsk diocese, in St.
Petersburg. On January 30, 1904 he was transferred to the see of Glazov, a
vicariate of the Vyatka diocese, and on November 27 became Bishop of
Vyatka. On March 20, 1914, he became Bishop of Astrakhan and remained at
this post until May 24, 1916, when he retired. In 1918 he was temporarily in
charge of the Kostroma diocese, and in 1920 was appointed Archbishop of
Samara. In the spring of 1921 he was in the Taganka prison in Moscow with
Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan and other hierarchs. In 1922 (according to
another source, 1921) he froze to death while in exile in Archangel province.
Witnesses say that for a long time he was unable to die. Finally he
remembered that he had not given away all his money: somewhere in a box
or the pocket of his podryasnik there still remained two kopecks. The money
was found and given to the poor. Then Vladyka died.

(Sources: Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye,

Jordanville, 1957, part 1, p. 179; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishego Patriarkha
Tikhona, St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 996; Russkiye
Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986, p. 79;
http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans)

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8. HIEROMARTYR SERGIUS, BISHOP OF BUZULUK

and those with him

Bishop Sergius (Nikolsky) was born in 1892 in the village of Novo-

Nikolskoye, Serpukhov uyezd, Moscow province into the family of
Protopriest Alexander Isidorovich. His uncle was Metropolitan Isidore
(Nikolsky), whose name is linked with the building of the cathedral of the
Holy Trinity on Izmailovsky Prospect in St. Petersburg.

In the world Bishop Sergius was called Michael. He was a handsome, tall
and well-built young man, with a fine tenor voice. He had a fiancée, and was
about to get married. All the preparations for the wedding had been
completed. But this event was averted in the following way. Being an officer
in the army, he had to take part in battles. Once he almost lost his life. But
God heard his prayer and saved him from death. The young man made a vow
to become a monk and consecrate his whole life to God. And he received the
monastic tonsure.

Fr. Sergius graduated from a Theological Academy, and on March 3

(according to another source, March 23 / April 5), 1925, he was consecrated to
the bishopric of Ephremov, a vicariate of the Tula diocese. The consecration
was performed by his Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, who said on handing him
his archpastoral staff:

"The episcopate is a great honour, but great sufferings are also bound up
with it. Through sufferings to heavenly glory!"

Bishop Sergius always expressed great love for Patriarch Tikhon, and
composed some verses in his honour which have been preserved to this day.

K.S. writes: "I was 12 years old when Bishop Sergius (Nikolsky) appeared
in our town of Ephremov. He was close to my parents and often came to our
house. From my parents I learned about certain moments in his biography,
but basically my recollections are bound up with my personal impressions of
church life in our little town...

"At that time there were seven churches in Ephremov (they were all later
destroyed). On Saturdays and Sundays Bishop Sergius served in the main
cathedral, while on the remaining days he read akathists in turns in the other
churches of the town.

"He was a fine, eloquent preacher. He spoke for a long time, with warmth
and animation. His sermons could last half an hour - that was a common
occurrence. Through his sermons he tried to instil in the people love for God.

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He loved his flock, and his flock loved him. He presented the image of an
apostle, and that is how he was remembered.

"Some of his sermons were given specially for children. He would say:

"'Children, please come further forward.'

"And when they came closer to him, he taught them the word of God.
These sermons remained forever in the memory.

"After the all-night vigil Vladyka blessed everyone separately and did not
leave until he had blessed the last one.

"I remember that among the parishioners was a fool for Christ -
Yegorushka of Zadonsk (he came to Ephremov from Zadonsk). Blue-eyed,
dressed in a canvas shirt, he always, winter and summer, travelled barefoot.
Once after the all-night vigil all the parishioners went up to Vladyka for his
blessing and only Yegorushka remained all the time in front of the icons. The
bishop watched him and did not leave. Out of curiosity the others, especially
the children, also watched him - what would happen?

"Finally the fool came up to the bishop.

"'Yegorushka, were you testing me?' asked the bishop, blessing him.

"The face of the bishop, as always, was kindly and joyful. Yegorushka
nodded his head, admitting that he had indeed been testing the patience of
Vladyka.

"They used to say that this Yegorushka, at his own request, had allegedly
been crucified on some gates by his brothers, and that they had pierced him
with nails. It is possible that this was not so, but on his hands and feet there
really were wounds from nails.

"I remember another incident, also linked with this Yegorushka. Once at
the request of Vladyka the abbess of a Tula monastery, Matushka
Metrophania, brought to Ephremov a cross with holy particles of the wood of
the Life-creating Cross of the Lord. The cross was of wood, not very large,
perhaps about 30 centimetres high. During the night they took it to the homes
of pious families, and it also stayed in the family of K.S. Some pious people
were gathered there, and Yegorushka also came. Everybody went to bed, but
Yegorushka spent the whole night standing in prayer. I remember that the
floor in the house was very beautiful and covered with varnish. When
everyone woke up in the morning, Yegorushka prepared to leave. When he
had left his place, everyone saw on the floor two white footprints - the varnish
had vanished there. Throughout the night Yegorushka had not moved, he had

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not shifted from foot to foot, so that the floor under him had lost its shine.
Later, remembers K.S., her father brought her some varnish and covered up
the marks of the feet.

"The house in which K.S.'s parents lived was good and spacious, but
Yegorushka prophesied:

"'You will live in a little shed with two little windows.'

"Soon this prophecy was fulfilled, the family was evacuated and some time
later took shelter in a shed.

"The services in which Bishop Sergius took part remained in my memory

for the rest of my life. At the Nativity of Christ the boys sang the troparion
and kontakion wonderfully from music. Before the feast Vladyka himself
rehearsed them.

"In Vladyka's house the tree was lit up already on the eve, after the all-
night vigil. This was recounted by his aunt, Anna Antonovna Tiptsova.

"The Paschal Mattins service was wonderful. After the procession with the
cross Vladyka struck the door with the cross and cried out: 'Christ is risen!'
And in reply the chant of the myrrh-bearing women was borne out of the
church three times: 'He is risen indeed!'

"How well the choir sounded in those days! It was directed by a precentor
from Moscow, Vissonov. And how the service was beautified by the
magnificent voice of Protodeacon Michael!

"Once after the Liturgy on the feast of the myrrh-bearing women, Vladyka
together with 12 priests and Protodeacon Michael were in the house of the
parents of K.S. for dinner. After dinner, when Vladyka was about to leave, a
nun called Maria who was present in the house wanted to give him a rasa,
while K.S. by agreement was to give him a staff. The priests were against this,
and wanted to vest Vladyka themselves, but he stopped them with the words:

'Today is the feast of the myrrh-bearing women, let them do the serving.'

"The time came when they began to summon Vladyka to the police,
frequently. They had talks with him, they noticed his innate gifts, and
suggested he go to work... in the theatre. But the local authorities did not
succeed in exerting influence over him. And then they called him to Moscow,
to imprison him in Butyrki. But after some time they released him from
prison, and he returned to Ephremov. Bishop Sergius told the story as follows:
'The rusty lock clanked, everyone pricked up his ears. And the jailor's voice
rang out:

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'"Nikolsky, you're free! Set off for Ephremov."

"And here I am with you again!'

"Vladyka's return elicited such indescribable joy among the people! They
wept for joy, especially the children!

"Soon after his return, Vladyka collected the children together and treated
them to tea from the samovar, himself pouring the tea into the cups. And he
gave them all a book entitled The Young Christian...

"Bishop Sergius returned from Butyrki to Ephremov, but the local

authorities did not want to put up any longer with the presence of this fiery
preacher and wonderful spiritual pastor in the town. And soon the bishop
was exiled to Zadonsk.

[In Zadonsk Vladyka was appointed superior of the women’s monastery,

the Joy of All Who Sorrow. The cathedral church in the city belonged to the
renovationists. On passing by it, Vladyka would bow to the cathedral, but
would not enter.]

"The people [of Ephremov] did not abandon their Vladyka, and many
travelled to Zadonsk to see him, to receive his hierarchical blessing and to
pray with him in the church. K.S. also travelled to Zadonsk with her parents,
and there she was present at a service in the women's monastery of the Joy of
all who sorrow…

"Vladyka was glad to meet his friends from Ephremov. Again, as in

Ephremov, he invited the children to drink tea. And, dressed in a white
cassock, he himself poured the tea. The service was just about to begin with
the participation of Vladyka, and the children had to go home. Vladyka asked
them not to ring the bell for a few minutes so that he could say goodbye to
them. As K.S. was leaving, she looked back and saw how Vladyka was
blessing her as she disappeared from sight. And only after this did the bell
calling the people to the service ring out.

"Bishop Sergius was not long in Zadonsk, they soon summoned him back
to Moscow [in 1927]. The bishop asked for permission to pass by Ephremov
so as to say farewell to his flock. In the church they did not even allow him to
serve a moleben, he could only say farewell to the people. But the bishop did
not manage to enter even one of the houses of the close circle of believers.
After tea Vladyka gave everyone his last blessing. For everybody he found a
good, kind, exhortatory word. He found one also for K.S.:

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"'Pray, be patient and be strong!' These words were engraved on her

memory for the rest of her live.

"On the second or third day after his arrival in Ephremov he left for
Moscow. On the platform thousands of people gathered to say farewell to
their Vladyka. And he stood at the window in the carriage also saying
farewell to the people. Suddenly the light in the carriage was turned off so
that those who had gathered should not be able to see Vladyka. Soon the train
moved, the people surged forward following him, but what could they do
now? The irreparable was quickly accomplished. The people were not
destined to meet the man who had given them all the warmth of his pastor's
heart again.

"In Moscow Bishop Sergius was appointed to Buzuluk as vicar of the

Samara diocese (1927).

"At this time K.S., who was a fifteen-year-old girl, went to Voronezh to
continue her education. On learning about this, Vladyka sent her his
photograph from Buzuluk - he was standing near the little house where he
lived, and from a window there looked out that same aunt of his - Anna
Antonovna Tiptsova. On the back Vladyka had written in his own hand:
'Look where you've flown to, my swallow!'

"Then communication was broken off. It felt as if something had happened

to Bishop Sergius.

"Much later, people recounted how in 1927, after Metropolitan Sergius'

declaration had been issued, Bishop Sergius had himself taken off his
episcopal vestments in the church and refused to follow what he considered
to be the anticanonical orders of Metropolitan Sergius…”

Bishop Sergius was arrested on June 22, 1928. On September 28 he was

condemned for “anti-Soviet agitation” and sentenced to three years’
deprivation of the right to live in Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov, Kiev and
Odessa with confinement to one domicile. He went to live in Ufa.

On March 25, 1930 he was arrested again in Ufa and cast into the Domzak
in Orenburg. There, at the request of his sister, he was visited by Nun Irina
(Gladysheva), who was martyred a year later. On April 27 he was condemned
to be shot for “participation in a church-sectarian organization, on whose
orders he carried out counter-revolutionary activity”. On May 16, 1930, Holy
Thursday, he was shot on Mayak hill in Orenburg together with Priest
Erastus Kurdyukov, Hierodeacon Lev and Schema-Monk Martyrius.

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"Much later, there was a rumour about the circumstances of his death. My
childhood friend, remembers K.S., once confidentially recounted the
following story.

"In the thirties she was giving private music lessons to children. One child
was always brought by his grandfather. It turned out that he had been a
former worker in the police. In a moment of frank conversation he said to the
teacher:

"'You knew Bishop Sergius and you would probably be interested to hear
the details of his death?'

"According to this man, they brought Bishop Sergius into some sort of
cave, where the waters of a turbulent river rushed across some rapids. They
ordered the bishop to go forward, deep into the cave, into the darkness. There,
somewhere in the rapids, he probably fell and was carried away by the flood."

According to another source, Bishop Sergius was forced to stand in a metal

cage for two days before he was shot.

Schema-monk Epiphanius (Chernov) has given yet another account of

Bishop Sergius' death:-

"For not recognizing 'our', as the chekist-interrogators called him,

Metropolitan Sergius, Bishop Sergius of Buzuluk was arrested together with
an igumen whose name has been forgotten. Stirred by the unshakeable
firmness of the confessors, they sentenced them to the same cruel punishment:
either they would give in or suffer a terrible slow death... They put them into
a room full of rats. In this room there was a pool full of water instead of a
floor and a large stump of wood capable of supporting several swimming
people. And in the walls of the room there were holes in which sat hungry
rats ready to fall on the people as on food offered them. No one endured a
stay in that room. Everyone, at the sight of those innumerable beasts of prey
falling on them incessantly, immediately agreed to take upon themselves any
accusation, any demand asked of them by the 'investigators'. Only so long as
they were delivered from the rats, from that terrible death. And the
executioners, sitting the bishop and the igumen in that rat-room, were
convinced that they would obtain their desired result... But the desired result
was not obtained!.. The feeding-trough was opened, and through the metal
window came the voice:

"'Well, have you changed your minds?' asked the supervisor.

"But no answer came.

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"'Well, we haven't got all day! It's late...'

"But the confessors of Christ understood that here there awaited them
inevitable death, and they turned to God with flaming, tearful prayer. About
one thing only: that they might be strengthened to receive the longed-for
death for Christ... While they stood the beasts of prey were not able to
overpower them. But, tormented by hunger and thirst, they grew weaker and
lay dawn. And then the whole mass of rats around the water hurled
themselves upon them. The supervisor saw all this and waited for them to
begin to entreat him to save them, but in vain. The holy martyrs preferred
death, 'the sweet death for Christ', rather than betray Him and recognize
Metropolitan Sergius' treachery to be 'a good deed'. They did not ask for
mercy from the torturers, and, strengthened by the grace of God, they were
eaten alive by the beasts of prey..."

All accounts agree that Bishop Sergius and his companion(s) received the
crown of martyrdom on May 3/16, 1930.

Maria Semyonovna Shvechkova was born in 1896 or 1895 in Samara. On

November 11, 1931 she was arrested in Samara and cast into Samara Domzak.
On April 13, 1932 she was accused that “in 1928 she entered into an
organization of counter-revolutionary clergy whose founder was vicar-bishop
Sergius (Nikolsky)”. She was also accused that she often went to Bishop
Sergius in exile in Ufa to receive various instructions. In accordance with
articles 58-10 and 58-11, she was sentenced to three years’ exile in Central
Asia. On February 9, 1932 she was sent to Tashkent. Nothing more is known
about her.

(Sources: "Svyashchennomuchenik Episkop Sergij (Nikolsky)", Pravoslavnaya

Zhizn', 48, N 2 (554), February, 1996; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyatejshego
Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 992;
Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville,
vol. I (1949), p. 179, vol. II (1957), p. 279; Vestnik Russkogo Khristianskogo
Dvizhenia, Paris, N 145, 1985, pp. 227-234; Schema-monk Epiphanius
(Chernov), Tserkov' Katakombnaya na Zemlye Rossijskoj (MS); Russkie
Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA press, 1986, p. 69; Bishop Ambrose (von
Sievers), “Katakombnaya Tserkov’: Kochuyushchij Sobor 1928 g.”, Russkoye
Pravoslaviye, N 3 (7), 1997; “Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj Katakombnoj
Tserkvi 1922-1997g.”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4(8), 1997, p. 5; personal
communication, January 21, 2007; I.I. Osipova, “Skvoz’ Ogn’ Muchenij i Vody
Slyoz”, Moscow: Serebryanniye Niti, 1998, p. 269; N.E. Stremsky, Mucheniki i
Ispovedniki Orenburgskoj Eparkhii XX Veka, Saraktash, 1998, p. 153; N.E.
Stremsky, Mucheniki, Ispovedniki i Khramy Orenburgskoj Eparkhii XX Veka,
Saraktash, 1999, volume 2, p. 25; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-
htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/)

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9. HIEROCONFESSOR MICAH, BISHOP OF UFA

Bishop Micah, in the world Michael Fyodorovich Alexeyev, was born on

January 23, 1851 in the Saint Petersburg diocese into the family of a
nobleman-official who later became a state counsellor. At the age of ten he
was deprived of his mother. In 1872 he graduated from the St. Petersburg
Naval Cadet Corps on Vasilyevsky island and served in the Naval
Department, reaching the rank of Captain First Class. During this period he
sailed three times around the world. The service of the young officer went
quite well, his superiors were pleased with him.

But suddenly his career was cut short when, on March 5, 1890, he
unexpectedly retired. The reason was the sudden death of his wife. Overcome
by sorrow, on March 30, on the advice of St. John of Kronstadt, he entered the
Optina Hermitage as novice together with Prince Turkestanov, the future
Metropolitan Tryphon. From his early years he had been a spiritual son of St.
John of Kronstadt, having got to know him in the first year of his service in
the navy. “Visiting his services daily in the Andreyevsky cathedral,” recalled
Bishop Micah, “I was counted worthy to commune the Holy Mysteries very
often, at least once a week, sometimes more often. At that time Fr. John was
still serving the Divine Liturgy alone, without co-servers, and I was serving
with him in the altar, taking the place of the altar-servers, who often upset
batyushka by their crudity.” Explaining his decision to go to Optina, he said:
“I wanted to serve as he did. I went to the monastery of the strictest life –
Optina. I became stronger here, and abandoned earthly vanity: thinking about
my deeds, I corrected my faults. I thought of staying there forever.”

Once Elder Ambrose blessed Novice Michael to give the emperor a gift on
his namesday. Two days later he blessed him to give St. John of Kronstadt a
gift on his namesday. On seeing him in church, St. John was worried that the
novice had abandoned the monastery, and was relieved to learn the truth. On
the death of Elder Ambrose in 1891, St. John blessed him to take up the path
of learned monasticism.

Bishop John of Pechersk recounts the following story from Michael’s short
stay in Optina: “Being people of upper-class origin, they [he and Prince
Turkestanov] continued to love comforts and certain worldly diversions even
while at Optina Hermitage, such as taking a samovar into the forest and
holding tea parties there.

"Although there was nothing reprehensible in such conduct, nevertheless

the Superior of Optina Hermitage did not care for it.

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"Once the Superior summoned these novices and told them that since they
were educated people, it would be better for them to enter the Ecclesiastical
Academy and follow an academic career.

"Prince Turkestanov agreed immediately, but Captain Second Class

Alexeyev told the Superior that, inasmuch as he had received a blessing to go
to Optina from Father John of Kronstadt, he must first of all ask a blessing
from Father John to leave. The Superior agreed wholeheartedly with this and
blessed Alexeyev to go to Father John.

"Father John blessed Alexeyev to enter the Ecclesiastical Academy and said
to him these prophetic words:

"'You will finish the academy and will attain to the rank of a hierarch, and
you will be a bishop in my homeland, in Arkhangelsk.'

"Father John's prophecy was fulfilled exactly…”

In June, 1892 he entered the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy at forty-six

years of age, graduating in 1896. On October 10, 1892 he was tonsured into the
mantia by Archimandrite Anthony (Khrapovitsky). On October 17, 1892, he
was ordained to the diaconate, and on May 16, 1893 he was ordained to the
priesthood by Bishop Tikhon (Nikanorov). On December 4, 1896 Fr. Micah
was appointed overseer of the Zhirovitsky theological school in Grodno
province. The school was situated within the Zhirovitsky monastery, and Fr.
Micah “was blessed to be the guide of the whole monastic brotherhood.
Moreover, he was the spiritual guide of many laymen of various ranks.” On
May 20, 1897 he was appointed to be the superior of the Synodal sacristy in
the church of the Twelve Apostles in the Moscow Kremlin with the rank of
igumen. In December, 1897 he was appointed igumen of the monastery of St.
Joseph of Volotsk in Moscow province. On January 30, 1898 he was made
archimandrite by Bishop Nestor (Metaniev) and superior of the monastery. In
1900 he was sent to accompany a medical unit that was transporting Russian
soldiers wounded during the Boxer uprising in China. He returned to
Moscow in the summer of 1901. On June 2, 1901 he was appointed superior of
the Kherson St. Vladimir monastery in Sebastopol uyezd in the Crimea.

On May 19, 1902 Fr. Micah was consecrated as Bishop of Sarapul, a

vicariate of the Vyatka diocese in the St. Alexander Nevsky cathedral in
Vyatka by Bishops Nicon (Sophiisky) of Vyatka, Alexis (Sobolev) of Vologda,
John of Perm, Barsanuphius of Glazov and Nestor (Fomin) of Balakhin.
Vladyka took up his residence in the St. John the Forerunner monastery
(Startsevo-Gorsky). From there he governed his flock, engaged in missionary
work and looked after homeless waifs, displaying one of his most
characteristic traits – care for unfortunate children.

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On August 8, 1906 Bishop Micah was transferred to the see of Vladimir in

Volhynia, a vicariate of the Volhynia diocese, where he served as assistant to
Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) and engaged in the enlightenment of
poorly educated peasants and in resisting Latin propaganda. This work
required both knowledge and pastoral courage.

On October 30, 1908 Vladyka was transferred to the see of Arkhangelsk

and Kholmogor. On arriving in Arkhangelsk he said to the clergy who came
to meet him: “… Most of all I value sincerity and honesty, and I cannot stand
lies and deception. The doors of my house are open at all times for all those
who need to speak sincerely and honestly with me about their affairs… I like
services to be celebrated without haste, expressively, sincerely: it should come
from the soul, from the heart.” And truly, in Arkhangelsk Vladyka served and
preached without ceasing, for which he won great respect among his flock.
With his transfer was fulfilled the prophecy of St. John of Kronstadt to
Vladyka Micah: “You will a hierarch in my homeland.” “My appointment,”
said Vladyka, “gave batyushka special satisfaction, which he expressed to me
directly, saying that now he could be reassured for his monastery in Sura,
where he was born, and other charitable institutions that he had founded in
Arkhangelsk diocese. From what he said to me I draw the direct conclusion
that although I lived far from batyushka, he did not consider me far from
himself in spirit, even calling me his friend.” And when, only two months
later, batyushka departed to the Lord, Vladyka hurried to St. Petersburg so as
to meet the body of the deceased at the Baltic station and take part in his
burial in the Ioannovsky monastery on Karpovka. Vladyka considered it his
sacred duty to help in building in stone the women’s monastery of St. John the
Theologian in Sura that had been founded by his instructor. By dint of his
rank Vladyka headed many charitable and educational institutions in the
diocese. He helped many poor seminarians, readers and female students at
the diocesan school.

On April 17, 1912 Vladyka was transferred to the see of Ufa and
Menzelinsk. His health was by now shaky. Nevertheless, he went round the
diocese, looking into the needs of the clergy, the flock and the parishes. He
opened many missionary courses for the conversion of non-Russians to
Orthodoxy, and created a translators’ subcommission “for translations and
original compositions in the languages of the non-Russians inhabiting the
diocese”. He organized temperance societies and devoted special attention to
children – he invited them to his house, organized Christmas parties, and sent
sick children to Eupatoria. “He gave much money for clothes, because most of
them were in dire poverty.” Soon after his arrival, on July 20, 1912, he opened
the Berezovsko-Bogoroditsky missionary monastery for women on the Kama.
Vladyka constantly instructed his flock to remain faithful to the Orthodox
Church.

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On December 22, 1913 Vladyka was “retired by reason of the weakness of

his health”. His place of retirement was, first, the Pochayev Lavra, and then
Optina Desert. He arrived in Optina on January 2, 1914, and lived there until
his arrest, together with Archimandrite Isaac (Bobrov) and the last Optina
elders. He was one of the spiritual directors of the community. In 1918 his
nephew, the lecturer in chemistry in Petrograd university, Andrew
Vladimirovich Alexeev, who had been his spiritual son during his studies at
the university, was shot without investigation or trial. Soon after their son his
parents died from grief.

On Palm Sunday, 1923 he was arrested together with Archimandrite Isaac

(Bobrikov) and many other Optina monks. He was in prison for a few weeks.
On his release he moved to Kozelsk, where he lived in a flat and served in the
Dormition cathedral. The fact that there were so few renovationists in the
town was owing to no small degree to the merits of Bishop Micah, who
received them into communion only through repentance. We know that he
rejected the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius because it is recorded in the
records of the trial of the Kaluga priest Fr. Alexander Brilliantov in 1930 that
when Fr. Alexander signed the declaration Bishop Micah called him “a red
heretic” and banned parishioners from entering his church. He rejected
renovationism and sergianism, and received renovationists into communion
only through repentance.

Vladyka Michah died on February 16, 1931, and was buried in the
Pyatnitskoye cemetery.

(Sources: I.K. Sursky, Otyets Ioann Kronshtadtsky, Belgrade, 1941, chapter 50,
translated in The True Vine, N 33, vol. 6, no. 3, 1994, pp. 53-54; M.E. Gubonin,
Akty Svyatejshego Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological
Institute, 1994, p. 981; Monk Ambrose (von Sivers), "Istoki i svyazi
Katakombnoj Tserkvi v Leningrade i obl. (1922-1992)", report read at the
conference "The Historical Path of Orthodoxy in Russia after 1917", Saint
Petersburg, 1-3 June, 1993; Tsvetochki Oprinoj Pustyni, Moscow: Palomnik,
1995, p. 168;
http://www.pstbi.ru/bin/code.exe/frames/m/ind_oem.html?/ans)

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10. HIEROMARTYR STEPHEN, BISHOP OF IZHEVSK

and those with him

Bishop Stephen (in the world, Valerian Stepanovich Bekh) was born on
September 13, 1872 in Zhitomir (according to another source, in the 1870s in
Vologda province, and according to a third – in St. Petersburg) in a noble
family. He graduated from the juridical faculty of St. Petersburg Imperial
University in 1897. On November 8, 1897 he entered Moscow Theological
Academy. A year later, when he was to be transferred to the second course,
he was released from the Academy at his own request. On July 1, 1899 he was
appointed zemstvo leader of the second district of the Yarensk uyezd,
Vologda province. On August 15, 1900 he retired from the service, and on
January 16, 1901 he was appointed teacher of the Law of God in church-parish
schools. In September, 1903 he was again received into the number of the
students of the second course at the Moscow Theological Academy.

"This is how Vladyka Stefan became a monk. The future Vladyka Stefan,
then a young student, was walking along the street. He saw a big crowd in
one entrance and asked:

"'What's going on?'

"'We're waiting for our dear Father John of Kronstadt.'

"A carriage came up. The crowd rushed up to it and pushed the young
future bishop so powerfully that he felt towards Fr. John, who was just
getting out. He looked at him attentively and went into the house. The crowd
remained outside the house. The future bishop also remained, although he
didn't know why. Suddenly an unknown person came out of the house and
asked:

"'Is so-and-so here?' giving Vladyka Stefan's name in the world.

"'That's me,' said the amazed youth.

"'Batyushka is calling you.'

"His amazement increased. He followed the man who had been sent for
him. Fr. John got up to meet him, calling him 'Vladyka'..."

On December 20, 1903 he was tonsured into monasticism. On November 5,

1906 he was ordained to the priesthood. In 1907 he graduated from the
Academy with the degree of candidate of theology. On October 11, 1908 he
was appointed assistant supervisor of the Solikamsk theological school. From
July 28, 1911 he was supervisor of the Mengrelia theological school with the

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rank of archimandrite. (According to another source, he was ordained to the

priesthood and became an archimandrite in about 1919.) From October 8, 1913
he was supervisor of the Bezhetsk theological school. On October 8, 1914 he
retired from service in the theological schools and was appointed
protopresbyter in the Army and Navy clergy. From October 28, 1915 he was
supervisor of the Kargopol theological school. From 1918 to 1920 he was an
archimandrite of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In 1919 he was arrested in
Petrograd, but soon released.

On September 26 / October 9, 1921 he was consecrated Bishop of Izhevsk,

a vicariate of the Sarapul diocese. He is also mentioned by one source as
having been temporary administrator of the Kirov diocese. On November 9,
1922 he was arrested in Izhevsk and cast into Butyrki prison in Moscow. On
December 27 he was sentenced to two (or three) years’ exile in Narymsk
region for “counter-revolutionary activity”. At the beginning of 1924
(according to another source, on March 21, 1923) he was again arrested and
put in the Taganka prison in Moscow. From there he appealed to E.A.
Peshkova of the Political Red Cross to give him a sheepskin coat since “the
frosts in Narymsk are savage”. On March 26 he wrote again to Peshkova
thanking her and congratulating her on the feast of Holy Pascha. He was
sentenced to two years in the camps and sent to Solovki.

In August, 1926 he was released, but encountered problems in Izhevsk,

where Bishop Alexis (Kuznetsov) of Sarapul objected to Metropolitan Sergius’
decision to re-open the Izhevsk diocese and succeeded in making
Metropolitan Sergius reverse his decision. Although a part of the clergy and
laity in Izhevsk did not want to submit to Bishop Alexis, suspecting him
because of his temporary fall into renovationism, Bishop Stefan found it
difficult to serve in the circumstances and in the autumn of 1926 went into
retirement in Petrograd. There he served in the church of St. Alexis the Man of
God and, from September 21, 1927, in the church of the Transfiguration.

Elder Sampson (von Sievers) recounted the following incident when he

was serving with Bishop Stephen sometime before 1925: "Vladyka Stephen
was celebrating the Liturgy in the Krestovoy church in the Alexander Nevsky
Lavra. I was a hierodeacon. I brought out the Chalice. Vladyka read: 'I believe,
O Lord, and I confess', lifted the veil and went pale - it was Human Flesh in
Blood! Then he turned to me: 'Look, Father!' What was he to do? He turned
and went through the left door while I went with the Chalice through the
right door into the altar, and began to pray that the Lord would be merciful:
how were we to distribute Human Flesh? Who would take it?... He prayed for
about fifteen minutes with arms raised. Then he looked - and again it had
taken the form of bread. Then he went out and communicated the people.
This incident was known by Metropolitan Gurias, the priest-martyr Lev, who
perished in the mines in Karaganda, and, it seems, by monk-martyr
Barsanuphius, my favourite..."

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Protopriest Fr. Basil Bondyrev, who had been with Vladyka Stephen
during his first exile and was later shot, told the following story: "A huge bear
lumbered up to us while we were preparing timber. He filled all of us with
terror. At that time Vladykya Stephen and I and the other exiles were going to
cut timber. Once we were working when we suddenly heard someone
crashing through the grove. A bear! We all ran off in different directions. I,
too, hid. Then I looked out and saw Vladyka Stephen standing where he was
and the bear stretched out at his feet. Vladyka was feeding him with some
bread and stroking him. And from that time the bear became completely
tame; he would come up and lie down beside Vladyka, who would feed him."

Bishop Stephen enjoyed great authority among the believing people. He

was considered to be a clairvoyant elder. He had the courage to tell people
exactly what he thought of them.

He was in opposition to both the renovationists and the sergianists, and

was the spiritual father of the first bishop who came out openly against
Metropolitan Sergius' declaration - Hieromartyr Victor of Glazov. At the
beginning of 1928 he was banned from serving by Sergius. According to one
(dubious) source, he participated in the “Nomadic Council” of the Catacomb
Church in 1928 through Monk Obadiah.

He served in various churches in Petrograd. Natalia Georgievna Kiter tells

the following story about him:-

"Mama and I arrived in Petersburg in 1930, after a ten-year absence. Mama

was a pensioner (she had been a teacher for many years), and received a
pension, I don't remember exactly, of either 12 or 18 roubles a month. She
went out one dark and frosty morning and returned only late in the evening,
half-dead from tiredness. She hadn't eaten a thing all day.

"'The doctor discovered that I have cancer and has ordered me to have an
operation immediately,' she said, dropping exhausted onto the bed.

"My heart trembled, but I tried to say with complete calm:

"'We shall go tomorrow. If one catches it early, it's not dangerous.'

"I spoke confidently in this vein. Mama was calm. I managed to get her into
the hospital without any particular difficulty. In the evening I was visited by
my neighbour, a very believing and intelligent old woman, Vera
Alexandrovna Arbuzova, who lived with her daughter, Musya, a nurse.

"At this time I had no idea of true spiritual life, and only recently, 'to spite
the Bolsheviks', I had begun to go to church. My soul had been searching for

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something for a long time, life seemed pointless. At the age of 18 I had
suddenly been attacked by a terrible thought which deprived me of the
strength to live. What was the point of working, of studying, of seeking, of
hoping for anything, if everything ended in death? At this point my path
crossed with that of the theosophists, and their teaching seemed to me, who
did not know the truth, to be a revelation. I must add that from the age of 9 I
had grown up without the beneficial influence of my deeply and sincerely
believing parents. When the persecutions against the Church began, I, out of a
confused feeling of protest, began to go to church. There I found rest to my
soul, although I had no idea about the true life of the spirit. But the church
was the only place where I felt in Russia, where the present disappeared
without a trace.

"And now Vera Alexandrovna tried to direct me along the right path. But I
didn't give in to her, relying self-confidently on my experience alone.

"'You know, Nata,' she turned to me. 'I want to suggest that you ask
Vladyka Stephen. Remember, I told you about him, that he could pray for
your mama. Let's go to Pesochnaya tomorrow, to the church where he is.'

"I put no particular hope on the prayers of an unknown bishop, but you
clutch onto anything when grief comes.

"The next morning the three of us set off for the Liturgy. During the service
I noticed, not far away, among the worshippers, an old, thin monk in a
tattered old ryasa. His pale face looked ascetic, and there were straggly
strands of grey hair sticking out from under his old skufya. Something drew
me to look in his direction.

"After the service Vera Alexandrovna said to me, pointing at the elder:

"'That's Vladyka.'

"The people began to crowd up to him, asking for his blessing. A long
queue was formed. We got up. Never before had I kissed the hands of a
priest, and I immediately noticed that most people not only kissed Vladyka's
hand, but also bowed to the ground before him. I was upset. All this seemed
strange and barbarian to me. I was perplexed. How could this be?

"But while I was hesitating, I suddenly saw myself already standing in

front of Vladyka. I raised my eyes to him and met his glance. What happened
to me then! His glance penetrated into the very depths of my soul and
immediately enlightened it, like a flash of lightning. I immediately saw its
blackness and all his holiness. Suddenly I felt holiness. This was a new and
unusual feeling for me, and I was struck, as if hit by something. Weeping, I

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fell at his feet and couldn't regain my calm. And to his sympathetic question I
could only mutter:

"'Vladyka, pray for mama.'

"'And what is her illness?'

"I told him. He knitted his brow and shook his head.

"'Alright, but you also pray.'

"'I can't, Vladyka.'

"'Pray as you are able. We shall pray together.'

"I returned home somewhat calmer. The operation was appointed for the
morning, just at the time of the Liturgy. I rushed straight from the church to
the hospital. Would she be alive? In fear and anxiety I went into the ward.
From a cot in the distance mama nodded to me, smiling. She was weak, but in
full consciousness and kind as always. Musya Abramova told me that the
doctor had warned her, since she was a nurse, that he feared that the sick
woman would die under the knife... The last words that mama heard were the
word of the professor:

"'We must be quick here.'

"But the operation not only went well, there was not even any of the
festering from which so many sick people die, and her temperature did not
even go up. Mama was released from hospital two weeks later. The stitches
healed as if after a shallow cut in a young and healthy person.

"'I don't understand a thing,' said the professor, spreading his hands. It
couldn't end like that. The sick said that they were struck how calmly and
happily mama went to the serious operation, as if she were going on a walk.

"Mama's first outing was to the church on Pesochnaya. After the service
Vladyka had a long, tender conversation with us. He joked, and tried to
encourage us. We both wept. We quietly left the church. Vladyka caught up
with us; he greeted us, smiling radiantly. His tall figure could be seen for a
long time at the end of the alley.

"We didn't see him again. Shortly after this they arrested and exiled him.
The accusation was: 'Opium for the people'. And - evidently through the
prayers of Vladyka Stephen - mama was given two more years so as to
receive a crown to her life so full of harsh suffering - an angelic, monastic
crown [with the name Eugenia]....

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"Vera Alexandrovna told me how Margarita Jul. Mei had seen mama in a
dream on the very day of her death lying in the grave. Beside her stood an
unknown elder-monk who was praying fervently. Vera Alexandrovna had
had the thought of showing her the photograph of Vladyka Stephen.

"'That's him! That's him!' shouted Margarita Jul., although she had never
once seen Vladyka Stephen in the flesh.

"They say that during the fast Vladyka ate nothing except one prosphora a
day with holy water.

"'Receive Communion while there is the Chalice,' were his constant words.

"Vera Alexandrovna told the following stories from her life:

"1. Once we were standing in the church. Vladyka Stephen was at the other
end blessing the people. I also went up. But Musya said:

"'Wait, let him finish blessing all the women first.'

"Finally we went up. Vladyka smiled and said to us:

'I've finished blessing all the women, now I can bless you, too.'

"Vladyka could not possibly have heard the words that were said in a
whisper at the other end of the church. Musya was ready to fall through the
earth out of shame! What clairvoyance from the Lord!

"2. There was a lady staying with us, not a church person. Once she said:

"'You keep saying about your bishop that whatever he prays for he
receives. I shall go to him. Let him pray that so-and-so gives up his wife and
marries me.'

"'Well, you know, I wouldn't advise you to go with such requests to

Vladyka.'

"She went. She went ahead of us to receive his blessing. She had hardly
opened her mouth when the tenderly smiling face of Vladyka suddenly
darkened, he frowned and, without saying a word, turned away from her,
and turned to the next person. The lady was very upset both with us and with
Vladyka.”

Vladyka Stefan was arrested in Petrograd in 1929, and was sentenced in

accordance with article 58-10 to three years’ exile in the village of Pomozdino,

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Ust-Kulomsky region, Komi ASSR. On September 7, 1932 he was arrested in

the village of Bad-Yel, Ust-Kulomsky region, and was cast into prison in
Syktyvkar. On April 21, 1933 he was sentenced to be shot in accordance with
articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 for creating a counter-revolutionary monarchist
church organization, ‘The Union of Peasants’, and leading this organization”.
This was part of the group case, “The Case of the Church Counter-
Revolutionary Organization, ‘The Union of Peasants’, Komi, 1933”. The
sentence was changed to ten years in prison. However, before the sentence
could be passed, Bishop Stephen died in prison on March 26 (or, according to
another source, April 13/26), 1933.

Natalya Kieter continued her reminiscences: "A year passed. I had a dream.
A door opened quickly and Vladyka Stephen entered in a fur coat. I had
never seen him dressed like that, and he said:

"'I remember, Natalya, I remember.'

"That was all. I woke up. Immediately the news came of his death in
exile..."

The following were condemned together with Bishop Stephen in 1933:

Priest Basil Andreyevich Ponomarev. He was born in 1869 in the village of

Muzhichok, Khotinsky region, Belorussia. He went to Polotsk pedagogical
seminary, and began to serve as a priest in Belorussia. In 1929 he was arrested
and sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years in exile, which
he spent in the village of Kerchemya, Ust-Kulomsky region, Komi. On
September 15, 1932 he was arrested while in exile, was cast into prison in
Syktyvkar, and on April 16, 1933 was condemned for “participation in the
counter-revolutionary church organization, ‘The Union of Peasants’, headed
by Bishop Stefan (Bekh)”. In accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11,
he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Vladimir Fyodorovich Bachinsky. He was born in 1870 in the

village of Bereznyaki, Kiev province. He went to the Kiev theological
seminary and then served in the village of Moshny, Kiev province. In 1928 he
went into retirement. In 1930 he was arrested in Moshny and sentenced to
three years’ exile in accordance with article 58-10. He was exiled to the village
of Pomozdino, Komi, where, on September 15, 1932, he was arrested again
and cast in to Syktyvkar prison. On April 27, 1933 he was condemned and
was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11, but on
October 30, 1933 died in prison.

Priest Alexander Afanasyevich Tsitovich. He was born in 1872 in the

village of Berezki, Khotinsky region, Belorussia, and went to a theological

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school. He served as a reader in Belorussia. In 1927 he was ordained to the

priesthood. In 1929 he was arrested, and sentenced to three years’ exile in the
village of Vilgort, Ust-Kulomsky region, in accordance with article 58-10. On
September 15, 1932 he was arrested again and cast in to Syktyvkar prison. On
April 27, 1933 he was condemned and sentenced in accordance with articles
58-10 part 2 and 58-11 to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nun Ierusalima, in the world Catherine Nikitichna Kasif, was born in 1880
in the village of Verknyaya Belozerka, Melitopol province, Ukraine. She went
to a church-parish school, and then entered the St. Joseph monastery, serving
as treasurer. In 1930 she was arrested and sentenced to three years’ exile in
the north in accordance with article 54-10. She was sent to the village of Bad-
Yel, Ust-Kulom region, Komi, where, on September 15, 1932, she was arrested
again and cast into prison in Syktyvkar. On April 27, 1933 she was convicted
and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, but was released in
view of the time she had already spent in prison. Nothing more is known
about her.

Reader Sergius Konstantinovich Popov. He was born in 1878 in the

village of Barzhenka, Veliky Ustyug uyezd, Vologda province. He finished
three classes at Veliky Ustyug theological school. He went to serve in the
Sinegorskaya church, Veliky Ustyug uyezd. During the First World War he
served in the army. In 1929 he was arrested, cast into the prison in the village
of Kyrnysha, Ust-Kulomsky region, Komi ASSR, and condemned to three
years’ exile in accordance with article 58-10. On September 15, 1932 he was
arrested while in exile and cast into prison in Syktyvkar. On April 16, 1933 he
was convicted in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 and was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
him.

Reader Alexander Alexandrovich Tikhomirov. He was born in 1871 in the

village of Blagoveschenskoye, Vologda province into the family of a sacristan.
He became a reader in Vologda province, but from 1925 to 1930 did not serve
in church, but worked on the land. In 1930 he was arrested in his native
village and sentenced to three years’ exile in accordance with article 58-10. He
was exiled to the village of Kuzminki, Ust-Kulomsky region, Komi ASSR. On
September 15, 1932 he was arrested in exile and cast into prison in Syktyvkar.
On April 16, 1933 he was convicted in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2
and 58-11 and was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more
is known about him.

(Sources: Metropolitan Manuel (Lemeshevsky), Die Russischen Orthodoxen

Bischofe von 1893-1965, Erlangen, 1989, vol. VI, pp. 237-238; "Episkop Stefan",
Russkij Palomnik, N 5, 1992; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha

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 48

Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 993; Bishop

Ambrose (von Sievers), "Istoki i Svyazi Katakombnoj Tserkvi v Leningrade i
obl. (1922-92 gg.)"; “Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj Katakombnoj Tserkvi
1922-1997gg.”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4(8), 1997, p. 4; Lev Regelson,
Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-1945, Moscow: Krutitskoye patriarsheye
podvorye, 1996, p. 536; Victor Antonov, “Svyashchenomuchenik Mitropolit
Iosif v Petrograde”, Vozvrashcheniye, N 4, 1993, pp. 46-52; Michael
Shkarovsky, “Iosiflyanskoye Dvizheniye i Oppozitsiya v SSSR (1927-1943)”,
Minuvsheye, 15, 1994, pp. 446-463; Iosiflyanstvo, St. Petersburg, 1999, p. 298;
I.I. Osipova, “Skvoz’ Ogn’ Muchenij i Vody Slyoz”, Moscow: Serebryanniye
Niti, 1998, p. 253; L.E. Sikorskaya, Vyatksij Ispovednik: Svyatitel’ Viktor
(Ostrovidov), Moscow, 2010, p. 149; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/len.html;
http://www.pstbi.ru/bin/code.exe/frames/m/ind_oem.html?/ans)

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11. HIEROCONFESSOR
VICTOR, BISHOP OF IZHEVSK
AND VOTSK
and those with him

Bishop Victor, in the world Constantine Alexandrovich Ostrovidov, was

born on May 20, 1875 in the village of Zolotoye, Kamyshinsky uyezd, Saratov
province, into a peasant family. His father, Alexander, was a church reader.
His mother was called Anna Ivanovna (born 1853). In 1893 he finished his
studies at the Kamyshinsky theological school, and in 1899 - at the Saratov
theological seminary. In 1903 he graduated from the Kazan Theological
Academy. On June 28, 1903 he was tonsured by Bishop Anthony
(Khrapovitsky), the rector of the academy, and in the following days was
ordained to the diaconate and priesthood.

In August, 1903 Fr. Victor was sent to serve in his native Saratov diocese,
and in September was appointed by Bishop Germogen as superior of the Holy
Trinity podvorye of the Saratov Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery in
Khvalynsk. This podvorye was founded in order to struggle with the Old
Ritualists in Khvalynsk uyezd, and Fr. Victor was soon displaying exceptional
talents as a missionary. However, he was transferred – to the great sorrow of
the people – from the podvorye to Saratov, where in March, 1904 he was
appointed diocesan missionary for the non-Russians – that is, the Chuvash.
Before that, in February, Fr. Victor also delivered three lectures on the works
of Maxim Gorky.

On January 25, 1905 Fr. Victor was appointed senior hieromonk of the
Jerusalem Spiritual Mission. However, Fr. Victor was not happy in this post,
and asked Bishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) whether he could be transferred
back to Khvalinsk; but his requests were refused. He explained his reasons at
the Fourth Missionary Congress in Kiev in July, 1908, at which Archbishop
Anthony, the organizer of the Congress, had asked him to speak. The Mission,
thought Fr. Victor, was in an ambiguous situation canonically and had no
clear functions. He was also unhappy at the degree of cooperation with the
other Orthodox Churches in the region.

On January 13, 1909 Fr. Victor was appointed supervisor of the

Archangelsk theological school, and on March 4 he was appointed to work in
the commission for the affairs of the Old Ritualist schism by Bishop Micah
(Alexeyev) of Arkhangelsk. However, neither appointment appears to have
satisfied him, and in September he petitioned Metropolitan Anthony
(Vadkovsky) of St. Petersburg to be numbered among the brothers of the
Alexander Nevsky Lavra. His petition was satisfied on October 15, 1909.

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Fr. Victor arrived in St. Petersburg in November, but a year later, on

November 22, 1910, he was appointed superior of the Zelenets Holy Trinity
monastery (Saint Petersburg diocese) in the rank of archimandrite.

After eight years’ peaceful activity in this monastery, in September, 1918 he

was appointed deputy of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra by Metropolitan
Banjamin. In 1919, according to one source, he was arrested, but then released.

On December 26 (15), 1919 Fr. Victor was consecrated first bishop of the
newly created see of Urzhuma, a vicariate of the Vyatka diocese, in Petrograd.
He arrived in January, 1920, but in May was arrested and imprisoned by the
Vyatka revolutionary tribunal for anti-Soviet agitation – or, as Vladyka put it
later, for “agitation against medicine”! What had happened in fact was that
during an epidemic of typhus Vladyka had called on the people to repent and
advised them to sprinkle their homes with holy water. He was sentenced to
imprisonment until the end of the war in Poland.

After five months, in November, he was released. Apparently the

authorities did not allow him to return to Urzhuma, and he remained in
Vyatka. Eventually he was appointed Bishop of Sloboda, a vicariate of the
Vyatka diocese. On January 9, 1921 Vladyka was appointed temporary
administrator of the Vyatka diocese (the ruling hierarch, Bishop Nicander
(Fenomenov) was at this time in exile), while the former temporary
administrator, Bishop Eusebius (Rozhdestvensky) was released from the post
at his own request. However, Bishop Eusebius continued to live in Vyatka
and tried to persuade the people to petition for his appointment as diocesan
hierarch. Many in Vyatka were unhappy with this, and it reached the point
where the parishioners of the cathedral of the Forerunner expelled Bishop
Eusebius from the church, forbidding him to serve there.

This made for difficult relations between Bishops Victor and Eusebius.
According to one source, Bishop Victor was appointed temporary
administrator of the Tomsk diocese in April, 1921. But the disturbances ended
when Bishop Paul (Borisovsky) was appointed ruling Bishop of Vyatka on
May 13, 1921.

On September 14, 1921 he was appointed Bishop of Glazov, a vicariate of

the Vyatka diocese. He lived in the Vyatka St. Tryphon monastery with the
rights of superior. “In Vyatka Vladyka was surrounded by the people, who
saw in the firm and never despondent archpastor a support for themselves in
the disorders and troubles of life. After each service the people surrounded
him and accompanied him to his cell in the St. Tryphon monastery. On he
way he did not hurry, but answered all the many questions put to him,
always and in all circumstances retaining the spirit of goodwill and love.” In
return, Vladyka greatly valued his Vyatka flock. “You won’t find people like

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the Vyatkians anywhere,” he said. “There are no such people as the Vyatkians
anywhere in Russia!”

In March, 1922 the Bolsheviks started their campaign for the requisitioning
of church valuables. It went smoothly in Vyatka – it turned out that the
people did not know about the Patriarch’s epistle on the subject, because it
had been concealed by the president of the Diocesan Council, Protopriest
A.A. Popov. And when there was a meeting of the clergy in Vyatka on March
3 under the presidency of Bishop Paul, all its participants unanimously voted
to support the government campaign. It began on March 7 without excesses
or any active opposition.

However, in April, 1922 Bishop Paul was arrested for “not handing over
enough from the list of church valuables”. At that point Protopriest Popov
showed Bishop Victor “in secret” the epistle of the Patriarch, explaining that
he had concealed the epistle because “it was late and was similar in character
to his previous epistles with their sorrowful consequences for the clergy”. On
April 25 Bishop Victor wrote to Patriarch Tikhon asking forgiveness for
himself and the other clergy and laity for their sin of ignorance. He said in the
city of Vyatka the clergy had been prepared to give away everything, even the
holy chrism, considering them to be “trifles”. The only exception, he said, had
been Fr. Basil Perebaskin, and he asked that only Fr. Basil should be awarded
with promotion so as to warn the others not to act so lightmindedly in matters
of the faith and the Church.

In May the administration of the Church was unlawfully seized by the

“Living Church” renovationists. Bishop Victor condemned them in an epistle,
comparing them to Kore, Dathan and Abiran, who rose up against Moses and
Aaron. Addressing his flock, Bishop Victor urged them not to follow the
renovationists, who, far from being a “living church”, were in fact” a stinking
corpse”, being false bishops and false priests. At the same time, he urged
them to display civic loyalty to the government.

Bishop Victor categorically refused any cooperation with the

renovationists, even refusing to allow their representative to cross his
threshold.

On August 25, 1922 Bishop Paul, having been released from exile, ordered
that all the Vyatka uyezd sees should be raised to the rank of independent
sees while remaining in canonical communion with the Vyatka
Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Thus Bishop Victor was made Bishop of
Orlov, a vicariate of the Vyatka diocese, while continuing to live in Vyatka,
with the rights of an independent bishop for the administration of the affairs
of the Orlov uyezd. He was also entrusted with the legal and marital affairs of
the Vyatka uyezd. Until the see of Glazov was filled, he also administered its
affairs. Bishop Paul remained in charge of Church affairs in the cities of

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Vyatka, Sloboda, Kotelnich and Nolinsk with their uyezds. And the Urzhuma
diocese was in the administration of Bishop Sergius of Yaransk. Bishop Paul’s
epistle was probably written by Bishop Victor.

On the next day, August 26 Bishops Paul and Victor were arrested together
with Protopriests A. Popov, V. Perebaskin, N. Tikhvinsky and Tikhonitsky.
On August 28 the arrested were interrogated, as a result of which Protopriests
Tikhvinsky and Tikhonitsky were released. On September 5 Protopriest
Popov was also released. On the same day the two bishops were accused of
violating the resolution of August 24, 1918 on the carrying out of the decree
“On the Separation of the Church from the State and the School from the
Church”, which was expressed by their “interfering in secular matters,
assuming to themselves judicial functions, re-resolving marital-divorce cases,
carrying out investigations into these matters, and having a special apparatus
for this”. Besides, they were accused of “links with underground monarchist
groupings” and for “distributing the illegal appeals of Patriarch Tikhon,
Metropolitan Agathangelus and the Brotherhood of the Zealots of
Orthodoxy”. Then they were cast into the Butyrki prison in Moscow together
with Alexander Bonifatyevich Yechugin, the secretary of the Vyatka
governing council of people’s judges. On February 23, 1923 they were
sentenced by the OGPU to three years in exile in the Narymsk region in
Siberia. This was “The Case of Bishops Paul (Borisovsky) and Victor
(Ostrovidov), Vyatka, 1923”.

Vladyka was exiled to a very small and remote village. He was

accompanied by Nun Maria (Tomilova). Together they carried out the Divine
Liturgy, refusing to go to the local church whose priest, as Vladyka wrote,
“has gone over to the side of the heretical antichurchmen (the
livingchurchmen), but communion in prayer with heretics is destruction for
the soul”. In a letter written from exile in 1923 to his “Vyatka friends and
beloved in the Lord”, Bishop Victor called the livingchurchmen “the most
dangerous heretics that the Orthodox Christian world has ever known”, “new
blasphemers, savage wolves, who have stolen for themselves the name of an
Orthodox Church”.

In Vyatka, meanwhile Bishop Sergius of Yaransk and a large part of the

clergy joined the renovationists. However, in August, 1923 there began a
return of parishes to the Patriarchal Church. A large part in this was played
by the clergy of the Resurrection cathedral, especially Fr. Gregory Popyvanov,
who spoke against renovationism and summoned a parish meeting that
expelled the renovationist priests Tikhvinsky and Favorsky.

On February 23, 1926 Vladyka Victor’s exile came to an end and on March
29 he returned to Vyatka. The next day he and Archbishop Paul, who had also
just returned from exile, were forced to sign that “until the organization of a
Vyatka diocesan administration and its registration in the Vyatka

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Gubispolkom, he would not rule the diocese – in particular, not appoint,

move or remove priests, and not sent appeals round the dioceses in the name
of the administration of the diocese”.

In spite of this, Archbishop Paul and Bishop Victor carried on a fierce

struggle against the renovationists, insisting on their public repentance on
returning to the True Church. On May 14 Archbishop Paul was arrested in
Vyatka, and Bishop Victor – on the train to Petrograd as it was passing
through Vologda. On May 16 the two bishops were accused of “(1) non-
submission to the decrees of the organs of Soviet power, (2) propaganda and
agitation among the believing population of the province against the state
structure existing in the USSR, and (3) grouping around themselves elements
hostile to Soviet power and introducing church-reactionary activity into the
province in forms that violate social peace and order in the province”. Bishop
Victor was accused of assisting Archbishop Paul in his undertakings and of
giving sermons which, in the opinion of the authorities, were counter-
revolutionary in content.

On May 20 both hierarchs were cast into the Butyrki prison in Moscow. On
August 20 Bishop Victor was convicted of “resisting the renovationists” and
“creating an illegal diocesan chancellery”. In accordance with article 69 he
was forbidden from living in six major cities in the USSR and also in Vyatka.

On August 24 Bishop Victor was released. Not being allowed to go to

Vyatka, he travelled instead to Glazov, which sent 1920 was not part of
Vyatka province but of the Votkinsk autonomous district. This was
appropriate, for he had borne the title of Bishop of Glazov since 1921. On the
way to Glazov Vladyka visited Metropolitan Sergius in Nizhni Novgorod,
and was appointed by him temporary administrator of the Vyatka diocese.
On August 31 Bishop Vyatka left Moscow for Glazov. Very soon, on
September 3/16, another decree came to him from Metropolitan Sergius
ordering him to turn the Izhevsk vicariate of the Sarapul diocese into an
independent diocese and decreeing that “from now until the appointment of a
hierarch for the vacant Izhevsk diocese his Grace Bishop Victor of Glazov
should be entrusted with the re-opened diocese”.

Metropolitan Sergius had been coming to the decision to make Izhevsk into
an independent diocese already at the beginning of the year. However, at that
time Bishop Alexis (Kuznetsov) of Sarapul had objected to Metropolitan
Sergius’ decision to re-open the Izhevsk diocese and succeeded in making him
reverse his decision. So when Bishop Stefan (Bekh) of Glazov returned from
exile in Solovki to take back the administration of the diocese, he encountered
opposition from Bishop Alexis. Although a part of the clergy and laity in
Izhevsk did not want to submit to Bishop Alexis, suspecting him because of
his temporary fall into renovationism, Bishop Stefan found it

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difficult to serve in the circumstances and early in the autumn of 1926 went
into retirement in Petrograd.

At first Bishop Victor could not obtain permission to leave Glazov to take
Bishop Stefan’s place in Izhevsk. But, on receiving a telegram from the
president of the parish council of the cathedral Shishkin that all formalities
had been settled, he arrived in Izhevsk on October 10. However, it turned out
that Shishkin had not completed the formalities correctly, and so Bishop
Victor, much to his annoyance, was forced to leave the city on October 13.
When Metropolitan Sergius tried to find out what had happened, he was told
by Protopriest N. Tonkov of the Mikhailov church in Izhevsk that Bishop
Victor had shown no desire to take over the diocese. Misled by this false
information, Sergius then suggested to Bishop Simeon (Mikhailov), who had
been petitioning for the post, that he take over the Izhevsk diocese. However,
the parishioners of the Alexander Nevsky church in Izhevsk did not accept
Bishop Simeon, who immediately left. Finally, with Metropolitan Sergius’
blessing, Bishop Victor took over the administration of the Izhevsk diocese.

On January 20, 1927 Bishop Victor accepted the village of Starie Zyatsy
from the Sarapul into the Izhevsk diocese. This annoyed Bishop Alexis of
Sarapul, who then accused Bishop Victor of violating the canons and also of
unlawfully occupying the Izhevsk diocese, which should belong to Bishop
Simeon. Bishop Victor replied that the purpose of the creation of the Izhevsk
was to make its boundaries coincide with the Votsk autonomous diocese,
which would aid the conversion of the Votsk (Udmurt) people. Moreover, he
said that Metropolitan Sergius had permitted him to administer the diocese in
November, and that it was also with Sergius’ permission that the Starie
Zyatsy and other parishes in the Votsk autonomous region were allowed to
join the Izhevsk diocese. The quarrel could not be resolved by Metropolitan
Sergius since he had been in prison since December. Bishop Victor advised the
dean of Izhevsk to write a protest to Archbishop Seraphim of Uglich, who was
now the deputy of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens. However, Archbishop
Seraphim was not able to help because he was forbidden to occupy himself
with administration of the Church.

On March 25 Bishop Victor, as temporary administrator of the Vyatka

diocese and Bishop of Glazov, blessed the decree of the Glazov administration
that the Glazov vicariate should be separated from the Vyatka diocese and
enter the new Votsk diocese, since there were many Votsk people living in
Glazov. He sent a report about this to Metropolitan Sergius, and on May 3
Sergius, having recently come out of prison, confirmed the formation within
the boundaries of the Votsk autonomous region of an independent Votsk
diocese with its see in the city of Izhevsk and with the retention of a semi-
independent see in Glazov. Parishes not in the Izhevsk and Glazov dioceses
but on the territory of the Votsk autonomous region could petition to join the
newly formed Votsk diocese. On May 4 Bishop Victor was appointed Bishop

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of Izhevsk and Votsk by Metropolitan Sergius. In this way, it seemed, the

quarrel with Bishop Alexis was resolved.

However, it was not to be. On May 10 Bishop Victor received three

parishes from the Votkinsk diocese, about which he informed Bishop
Onesimus (Pylaev) of Votkinsk. Bishop Onesimus objected and placed the
clergy of the parishes under ban. On May 24 Bishop Victor wrote to Bishop
Onesimus explaining that he was not acting wilfully but with the blessing of
the Higher Church Authority, which he was obliged to submit to. Bishop
Onesimus then protested to Archbishop Alexis of Sarapul, who was also
experiencing problems with the parish of Novie Zyatsy, which on May 14 had
joined the Votsk diocese, and with the deanery of Seltinsk, which had
petitioned for such a transfer. Both bishops appealed to Metropolitan Sergius.

In about July, 1927 Bishop Victor was appointed Archbishop of Omsk and
Pavlodar, but was not allowed to leave for the Urals. On August 31, at a
session of his temporary synod that reviewed the administrative chaos in the
Vyatka and Votkinsk dioceses, Metropolitan Sergius decreed that Archbishop
Victor had acted hastily, and that petitions for parishes to join the Izhevsk
diocese could not be decided by one bishop only. Archbishop Victor should
have consulted more with the bishops of the neighbouring dioceses, and the
final decision rested with the Higher Church Authority. So until a final
decision of the question of the three parishes of the Votkinsk diocese and the
Seltinsk deanery, they were to remain in their former administration.

These administrative difficulties were not entirely the fault of any one or
more bishops, and were complicated by the fact that the authorities continued
to forbid the bishops from carrying out any administrative activity until the
registration of the Churches. It is understandable, therefore, that Bishop
Victor should have expressed the hope, in a letter to Bishop Alexis dated May
30, that the registration of a temporary synod under Metropolitan Sergius
would bring the beginnings of church peace. “The possibility is opened also
of our diocesan registration. Then the [renovationist] heretics will have no
way of enticing and deceiving the weak in spirit…”

However, in July, 1927, Metropolitan Sergius issued a "declaration", which

dashed these hopes by placing the Russian Church in more or less
unconditional submission to the militant atheists, Bishop Victor refused to
allow it to be distributed among his flock. In “Thoughts of an Orthodox
Christian with regard to the Epistle of Metropolitan Sergius of July 16/29,
1927”, he wrote: “The aim of the epistle is clear. In the first place, it is to
declare and establish the political attitudes and relationship of the Orthodox
Church to the Soviet government, with the clear recognition that this
relationship was mistaken and false in the past, and with a direct attack on the
servants of the Orthodox Church for their striving towards monarchism and
for their participation in word and deed in counter-revolution. Special

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emphasis is made on the political speeches of the clergy abroad against Soviet
power. Secondly, it is to declare not only his own loyalty and non-
participation from now on in any speeches against Soviet power, but also his
inner union with it against its foreign and internal enemies, as being his own
enemies, that is, the enemies of the Orthodox Church.”

To the question: what should be our attitude to this epistle, Bishop Victor
replied: “What is written in the epistle does not correspond to the truth and
reality: the True Orthodox Church always had to be apolitical and spiritual,
and for that reason it was not and cannot be in any active external struggle
with Soviet power. But clergy can be subject to punishments either as private
citizens for their political crimes outside their relationship to the Church, or as
confessors of the Orthodox Church. As regards the union of the Church and
Soviet power on the basis of spiritual interests and needs, sympathies and
shared joys, etc., there never can be anything of the sort, since the views on
life of the Church and Soviet power are diametrically opposed to each other.
The aims of the activity of Soviet power are exclusively material-economic
and are foreign to faith in God, while the aims of the activity of the Church are
exclusively spiritual-moral, and through faith in God they raise man beyond
the bounds of earthly life to attain the eternal heavenly good things. Therefore
in defining the mutual relations of the True Church and every state, we can
talk only about a relationship in the plane of civil duty and obligation, and
this not out of fear but for conscience’s sake.

“… The epistle, by covering itself with the words of Holy Scripture and
reasonings from the sphere of the spiritual interests of man, masks the
drawing of the Church into the sphere of earthly tasks, thereby diminishing
the Holy Orthodox Church, humiliating it and inexorably pushing it onto the
path of new earthquakes and divisions. Therefore it demands not only careful
attention, but outright rejection.”

In the autumn of 1927 it appears that Metropolitan Sergius sent Bishop

Victor a decree abolishing the Votkinsk diocese. In October Bishop Victor
wrote to Metropolitan Sergius asking him to confirm the existence of the
newly-created Votkinsk diocese and not allow the Votkinsk flock to be
divided administratively “into five parts”. He wrote: “I am writing this out of
sorrow for the Holy Orthodox Church.

“Dear Vladyko! You know, it is not so long ago that you were our brilliant
helmsman, and for all of us our most longed-for first pastor, and the mere
mention of your most holy name poured strength and joy into our hearts.
And suddenly – such a sad change for us. Our minds are wavering, our hearts
have lost their support, and we feel that we are again without a leader and
defender from those who attack us, and this is from the time that your
counsellors surrounded you. Our souls are exhausted, we are horrified at the
sight of what is now happening around us in the Church, it’s oppressing us
like a nightmare, and everyone is overwhelmed by a terrible fear for the

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future of the Church. There distant Tashkent has for some time been thinking
of separating, here Petrograd is seething and grumbling. There Votlandia is
groaning and crying out to heaven, and Izhevsk is again rebelling, while
Vyatka, Perm and many other cities have collapsed in sorrow and perplexity.
And over and above all these Moscow is just now preparing to utter its
deciding voice. After all, everywhere the Church is just being destroyed, and
this is ‘by administrative means’. What is this? Why? Has the Holy Church
suffered only a little from ‘outsiders’? What can be the use of these
destructive measures which are ruining our peace? Take our Votkinsk diocese
which has hardly seen the light. How glad the people were, and how great
were the possibilities of the development of church life in her. Then suddenly,
to please ‘an evil genius’, for the sake of his avaricious and malicious aims
and intrigues (I have in mind a bishop), and also for the sake of the personal
desires of Ar., this diocese which had scarcely begun to live through you is
being destroyed. Would it not be more just before God and men to confirm its
existence by your decree alone within the territorial bounds of the Votkinsk
region, for which Heaven and earth would bless you. After all, the Truth itself
speaks in favour of this: a people united in the civil sense should necessarily
be united in the ecclesiastical sense, and should not be given to dividing up
into five parts out of mercantile considerations.

“Vladyko, spare the Russian Orthodox Church. She is entrusted to you,

and much depends on you to see that she is not given over to destruction ‘by
administrative means’. May your all-honourable head not be subjected to
reproof, and may it not be a cause of schisms and fallings away from the
Church. But if this is not done and observed, then God and His Angels are
witness that a great schism will take place in the Church, from which even the
suggested Council will not save her, the Council which already now
beforehand is being called by a name which should not be pronounced…”

It is not known how Metropolitan Sergius replied to this letter. But,

according to Metropolitan Ioann Snychev, the Synod now warned “Bishop
Victor” (although they had made him an archbishop in the summer) that he,
as a vicar-bishop, should know his place and submit in all things to his ruling
hierarch. Then, a little later, there follow a decree transferring him to the
Sverdlovsk diocese as Bishop of Shadrinsk.

Bishop Victor refused to submit to this decree. He was immediately

supported by four churches in Vyatka: the Resurrection cathedral (Fr.
Gregory Popyvanov and Fr. Michael Glushkov), the St. Seraphim church (Fr.
Alexander Shirokikh), the church in Fileiki (Fr. Leonid Yuferev) and the
Alexander Nevsky cathedral (Fr. Nicholas Zhilin). He was also supported by
Abbess Emilia and forty nuns from Fileiki and Abbess Febronia and her
nuns, who had moved to Vyatka from the Pokrov monastery.

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On December 16/29, Bishop Victor wrote to an unknown person in

Moscow: “I sent back the ‘appeal’ to Moscow, and for that reason it is
completely unknown to the majority in our Votkinsk diocese. In Vyatka four
churches, including the two main cathedrals, also did not accept it at first,
although they did not break communion with Archbishop Paul, but
commemorated him during services. The believing people began to group
around these churches and distance themselves from those who had accepted
(signed) the ‘appeal’ and ceased to commemorate my name. Soon a fifth
church was joined to the four. Imagine the commotion among those deceived
in Vyatka! Following the example of their kinsmen, the renovationists, they
rushed to the civil authorities for help – but they did not help. Then they
resorted to insinuations and accusations of counter-revolution – but nothing
came of that. Glory to God! One recourse remained: they went to you in
Moscow and tried to save the position of Archbishop Paul. This pastor was in
a great fury. The souls of the Orthodox trembled at his arrival, expecting all
kinds of repressions, and they telegraphed me asking for my advice and help.
I was no less alarmed for them and did not know what to do. At two o’clock
at night my heart unexpectedly rejoiced, one thought and one decision
calmed me. I got up and wrote this telegram to one of the Orthodox priests:
‘In view of the arrival of Archbishop Paul in Vyatka, it is necessary to suggest
to him that he offer repentance and renounce the appeal as being a defilement
of the Church of God and a deviation from true salvation. Only if he fulfils
this condition is it possible to enter into communion of prayer with him. If he
is stubborn, stop commemorating his name during Divine services.’ That is
what the pastors did. And how pitiful were his justifications, and how meagre
his reasoning on this subject.”

On January 11, 1928 Bishop Victor gave some more details about these
“pitiful justifications”: “I wrote to you that Archbishop Paul came to ‘punish’,
but he was met with the suggestion that he repent and renounce ‘the appeal of
July 16’. He refused, and his justification was very pitiful – in that case, he
said, I can expect prison and all kinds of privations. One of the priests
guaranteed him complete security, but he did not agree. From the questions
put to him it became clear that they are acting without the blessing of
Metropolitan Peter and are conscious that if he were to arrive, he would
remove them, ‘and we will go’, he said. But he didn’t bat an eyelid at the fact
that in that time they would impose so much evil and destroy thousands of
souls. He admitted that they had done this at the insistence of the civil
authorities, and to the question what had they achieved, he replied that now
he felt himself to be a hierarch. O what blindness! He does not feel that he has
been erased from the book of life…”

On December 14 Archbishop Paul wrote to the clergy and believers of

Vyatka diocese: “In order to avoid misunderstandings, to calm minds, to give
a warning and put an end to the vain rebellion and disturbances among the
Orthodox (patriarchal) parishes of the Vyatka diocese entrusted to me, I

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consider it my service duty briefly to acquaint you with the content and
direction of the activity of the Temporary Patriarchal Synod headed by the
Deputy of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, his Eminence Sergius, Metropolitan
of Nizhegorod.” Being not only a member of Metropolitan Sergius’ synod, but
also one of the active defenders of his politics, Archbishop Paul hastened to
calm his flock and “rejoice in a certain success achieved in the past six months
for the good of the Church of Christ”: “The appeal of July 16/29 of this year,
in which Metropolitan Sergius and the members of the Synod definitively
declared their complete loyalty and sincere submission to the Soviet
Government, has created for Metropolitan Sergius and the Sacred Patriarchal
Synod a condition of completely peaceful work for the good of the Church
that is hindered by nothing and nobody under the protection of Soviet
legislation which envisages the self-definition of cult associations in their
religious life in their inner church discipline.”

Archbishop Paul went through some of the Synod’s administrative

decisions, including the transfer of bishops from one see to another, and
called them also “success for the good of the Church”. And all this at a time
when the persecutions against the Church were increasing steadily.

“Truly,” writes A. Mazyrin, “the July Declaration provided the

opportunity for ‘a peaceful and undisturbed life” not so much for the Russian
Church as a whole, so much as for the Synod of Metropolitan Sergius (and
that not for long: as is well-known, even his Eminence Paul himself, together
with the majority of the other members of the Synod, were shot in 1937.)
However, besides Archbishop Paul, none of the members of the Synod
publicly spoke out with such a sincere acknowledgement of what had finally
been achieved thanks to the declaration that introduced so many disturbances
into church life.

“Archbishop Paul’s admission elicited the most shocked reactions. Thus,

for example, Bishop Paul (Kratirov), while citing this place in the Vyatka
archbishop’s epistle, wrote: ‘It is difficult for me to resolve the question who
uttered this: a scoundrel, a church rascal, or a fool… I would never have
believed that this phrase could belong to an Orthodox, as he calls himself,
archbishop, a member of the sergianist synod, if I had not read this
disgusting, idiotic epistle with my own eyes.’”

In any case, the epistle did not succeed. As Bishop Victor noted,
Archbishop Paul’s attacks on the True Orthodox and on himself, “and his
unsuccessful attempts to prove that he is not a renovationist, have finally torn
his flock away from him, and the movement against the ‘appeal’ has
encompassed the whole diocese”.

In the same month of December Bishop Victor wrote a “Letter to those

close to me”: “Let everyone know that the recent declaration-appeal of

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Metropolitan Sergius of July 16/29 is a clear betrayal of the truth. ‘Whom

have those who signed the “appeal” betrayed, and whom have they
renounced?’ They have renounced the Holy Orthodox Church, which is at all
times and in all things pure and holy. They have condemned it openly, before
the whole world, they have bound it and handed it over to be mocked by
outsiders as an evil-doer, as a criminal, as a traitor to its Most Holy
Bridegroom Christ – the Eternal truth, Eternal justice. What horror!…

“The Holy Church, which the Lord acquired for Himself from this world
through His own Blood (Acts 20.28), and which is His Body (Colossians 1.24),
but which is for all of us the house of eternal, Grace-filled salvation from this
destroying life – now this holy Church of Christ god is being adapted to serve
interests that are not only foreign to her, but even completely incompatible
with her Divinity and spiritual freedom…

“The Church of Christ in its essence can never be any kind of political
organization, otherwise it ceases to be the Church of Christ, the Church of
God, the Church of eternal salvation. And if now, through this ‘appeal’, the
Church is united with the civil authorities, this is not simply an external
manoeuvre, but at the same time a terrible defilement and destruction of the
Orthodox Church, Here there has also been committed the great sin of the
renunciation of the truth of the Church, which no attainment of earthly goods
for the Church can justify…

“Don’t tell me that in this way a Central Administration has been formed
for us, together with local administrations, and that an appearance of external
calm has been acquired for the Church, or, as the appeal says, ‘the lawful
existence of the Church’ – this and similar things all those love to say who
have already been caught by the enemy-devil in falling away from the
Orthodox Church. What good is it if we, having become and being called the
Temple of God (II Corinthians 4.16), have become useless and disgusting in
the eyes of God, while acquiring an external administration for ourselves?

“This lie, alas, is for us sinners much bitterer than the three preceding ones:
the livingchurchmen, the renovationists and the Gregorians, whose madness
was evident to all without difficulty, while the destructiveness of the last lie
cannot be discerned by everybody, and it is especially difficult for those
whose mind and heart are turned to earthly things, for the sake of which
people are accustomed to renounce the Lord.”

Sergius’ Synod wrote to Bishop Victor asking him why he was not leaving
Glazov, and on what basis he was looking after the affairs of Vyatka.

He replied with a second letter to Metropolitan Sergius: “In the month of

October I with filial love was bold enough to express to your Eminence my

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sorrow with regard to the ruinous destruction of the Orthodox Church that
was beginning ‘by administrative means’.

“Such a destruction of the Church of God is a completely natural and

inevitable consequence of the path on which your ‘appeal of July 16 [/29]’ has
placed you and which is completely unacceptable for us humble and God-
fearing people and for all those who love Christ.

“From beginning to end it is filled with terrible untruth. It is an insult to

the Holy Orthodox Church, and to our confession for the truth of God, that
disturbs the soul of the believer. Through betraying the Church of Christ to
mockery by ‘outsiders’ it is a most sorrowful renunciation of your own
salvation or renunciation of the Lord Saviour Himself.

"This sin, as the Word of God witnesses, is not less than any heresy or
schism, but is rather incomparably greater, for it plunges a man immediately
into the abyss of destruction, according to the unlying word: 'Whosoever shall
deny Me before men...' (Matthew 10.33), etc.

“Insofar as we have been able we have protected ourselves and our flock
so as not to become partakers of this sin, and for this reason we have sent the
appeal itself back. Acceptance of the appeal would be a witness before God
that we are indifferent in relation to the Most Holy Church of God, the Bride
of Christ.

“In accordance with the fear of God I also cannot accept your order for my
transfer: ‘I fear,’ as one hierarch writes to me, ‘that the expression of
obedience on our part will be considered by “them” (the Synod) as an
approval of what “they” have done. And for that reason, if I were given full
freedom of movement, which I do not have as being in administrative exile, I
would ask myself: will I not have to answer before God for this obedience, for
it in essence unites me with people who have been alienated from God. But I
have expressed my thoughts that the appeal is truly worthy of many tears,
and that it alienates a man from God in the form of a letter to those close to
me, which is here attached.

“What of the future? In the future I would beseech God, and not only I, but
the whole of the Orthodox Church, that he not harden your heart as He once
hardened the heart of Pharaoh, but that He give you the grace to understand
the sin you have committed and repent for the rest of your life. Then all the
believers would thank God in joy and tears, and would again come to you as
to a father and pastor – as to the first pastor, and the whole of the Russian
Church as to her sacred head. The enemy has lured and deceived you for a
second time with the idea of an organization of the Church. But if this
organization is bought for the price of the Church of Christ Herself no longer
remaining the house of Grace-giving salvation for men, and he who received

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the organization ceases to be what he was - for it is written, 'Let his habitation
be made desolate, and his bishopric let another take' (Acts 1.20) - then it were
better for us never to have any kind of organization.

“What is the benefit if we, having become by God's Grace temples of the
Holy Spirit, become ourselves suddenly worthless, while at the same time
receiving an organization for ourselves? No. Let the whole visible material
world perish; let there be more important in our eyes the certain perdition of
the soul to which he who presents such external pretexts for sin will be
subjected.

“But if the hardening of your heart has gone so far, and there remains no
hope of repentance, then in this case we have a word to enlighten us: ‘Come
out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and do not touch
their impurity, and I will receive you, and I will be to you and a Father and
you will be to as sons and daughters’ (II Corinthians 6.17-18)."

And he concluded that Sergius’ pact with the atheists was “not less than
any heresy or schism, but is rather incomparably greater, for it plunges a man
immediately into the abyss of destruction, according to the unlying word:
‘Whosoever shall deny Me before men…’ (Matthew 10.33).”

In this second letter to Metropolitan Sergius, Bishop Victor still addressed

him respectfully, as “Merciful Archpastor, Deeply Revered and Dear
Vladyko”. Nevertheless, on December 10/23 Metropolitan Sergius and his
Synod decreed: “Taking into account not only his disobedience to Higher
Church Authority, the refusal of Bishop Victor to accept the appointment
given him and the disturbance spread by him among the people by the
distribution of his epistles, but also his slander against the First Hierarch of
the Russian Orthodox Church, to relieve his Grace Victor immediately of the
administration of the Shadrinsk vicariate and the Sverdlovsk diocese and
hand him over to a canonical trial of bishops, forbidding him to serve until
the conciliar judgement on him, his repentance and recognition of his guilt.”

Bishop Victor therefore became the first bishop to be banned by the

sergianists for rejection of the declaration of July 16/29. He rejected the ban,
and at the end of December, as the ruling Bishop of Izhevsk and Votsk,
separated from Metropolitan Sergius.

On December 22 / January 4, 1928 the Glazov Diocesan Administration

met to discuss the note of the chancellery of Bishop Onesimus of Votkinsk
dated December 15 “On the Acceptance by the Bishop of Votkinsk of the
Temporary Administration of the Votkinsk Diocese”. They listened to
Metropolitan Sergius’ declaration of July 16/29, and Bishop Victor’s letters to
him about it. Then they decreed: “Temporarily, until the repentance of
Metropolitan Sergius and his renunciation of the ‘Appeal’ he has issued: (1)

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To refrain from communion with him and the bishops with him; (2) To
recognize Bishop Victor as our spiritual leader, chosen by the whole of the
Glazov diocese in 1924; and (3) To call him Bishop Victor of Glazov and
Votkinsk. Bishop Victor, Metropolitan Sergius and Bishop Onesimus of
Votkinsk, together with the deans of the Glazov diocese, are to be informed of
this.”

On the same day Bishop Victor wrote on this protocol: “I rejoice in the
Grace of God, which has enlightened the hearts of the members of the
Spiritual Administration in this difficult and great work of choosing the way
of truth. May its decision be blessed by the Lord, and may it be to the joy and
consolation of the Holy Orthodox Church. With regard to the third resolution
on the renaming of my title, [I have decided that it should] remain as before,
‘of Izhevsk and Votkinsk’ until a resolution of this question by a general
Diocesan Congress.”

Three days later, on Christmas Day, Bishop Victor wrote to Igumen

Arcadius of the Pokrov cathedral in Izhevsk: “The bans of Onesimus and
other hierarchs who have fallen away from the Orthodox Church through the
appeal can have no significance for us, but rather fall on their heads. Serve in
the peace of the Holy Spirit.”

On December 29 / January 11 Bishop Victor wrote a second letter to

Moscow: “I wrote to you that Archbishop Paul came to punish, but he was
met by the suggestion: repent and renounce the ‘appeal’ of July 16…

“So as to protect themselves from all the mad bans, the parishes together
with their pastors separating themselves beforehand from him through
decisions of parish councils and choosing or asking me to accept them under
my spiritual archpastoral leadership before God and men. Our Spiritual
Administration has done something similar in relation to Metropolitan
Sergius in the name of the whole of the Votsk Diocese, placing it out of
communion with Metropolitan Sergius until his repentance and renunciation
of the ‘appeal’, of which they have informed him. The decree is attached…

“It is necessary that Moscow should begin to act, and not merely passively
endure their insults to the Orthodox Church. Then other dioceses will be
encouraged. Our Votsk diocese is not authoritative for those who are
accustomed to establish themselves, not on the truth, but on authority.”

On January 15 Vladyka wrote to Bishop Abraham: “Outside the Orthodox

Church there is no Grace of God, and consequently, no salvation either. Nor
can there be any true temple of God, but it is simply a house, according to the
word of St. Basil the Great. In my opinion, without the Grace of God, a temple
becomes a place of idolatry, and the most holy icons, when stripped of their
Divine Grace, become dead idol-boards. And suddenly you write that you

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would like to pray in every place that the name of God is praised. But don’t
you know, if you go on further, you will fall not only in with all kinds of
heretics, but also with Mohammedans, Buddhists, etc., for the name of God is
praised among them, but you yourself see that such thoughts of complete
indifference destroy not only the meaning and significance of the Orthodox
Church, but also Christianity itself. And what use then is our confession for
the truth of the Orthodox Church? For what do we suffer deprivations,
sufferings, and perhaps we shall have to endure death itself!...

“This from your first letter, and now from your second you mention
schism, the Catharoi, etc., as if, between the lines, you are ascribing this to us.
Against this destroys all your praises of us for the true word of ours which, in
your opinion, we should have said.

“No, sacred head, we are not renegades from the Church of God and we
are not schismatics that have cut ourselves off from her: may this never
happen with us. We reject neither Metropolitan Peter, nor Metropolitan Cyril,
nor the most holy Patriarchs, and it goes without saying that we with blessing
preserve all the teaching on the faith and structure of the Church that has
been passed down to us by the Father, and in general we are not crazy and do
not blaspheme the Church of God.

“Look, in 1923 we confessed the truth of the Church in exactly the same
way, and we attained by our sufferings that the impious should be expelled
from the Church of God and form their ‘renovationist’ meeting separately
from us. So, in your opinion, we were schismatics at that time in our
confession? I don’t think that you thought that, for you yourself blessed us
and kissed our wounds. It was the traitors of the Church who taught that
about us, saying that we were schismatics deceived by the devil. In this way
they wanted to defend their own abdication and fall. The people who accuse
of schism now are doing exactly the same thing. But we are not creating a
schism in the Church, but are only demanding that the traitors of the Church
of God should leave their places and hand over the administration into other
hands or repent with tears for the evil they have done. Or do you think that
Sergius is better than [the renovationist] Antonin? His errors with regard to
the Church and the salvation of man in her were clear to me already in 1911,
and I wrote about him [under the pseudonym ‘Wanderer’] in an Old Ritualist
journal [The Church], that there would come a time when he would shake the
Church. That is what happened. And we have to take all measures to protect
and preserve the sheep of the Orthodox Church from the new deception. And
it is not only we who are striving for this: the council of the Solovki bishops
(26) is with us, the great majority of the servants of God is with us. The horror
at the evil that these wolves are producing within the fold of Christ has
suppressed fear of them of the masters of the House of God, although they are
not the masters. Metropolitan Peter blessed neither the ‘Synod’ nor the
‘appeal’ not the acts whereby Metropolitan Sergius has increased his

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prerogatives. - And now in various parts of the Russian Orthodox Church

voices have been raised reproaching the traitors, and there have been
attempts, as in 1923, to remove them from leadership. But the destroyers of
the Church hope that Metropolitan Peter will not return to ‘life’ – just as the
previous apostates from the Church, the livingchurchmen, hope that his
holiness the Patriarch would not be resurrected. But we have a different hope,
that their very memory will perish noisily, since they have defiled Christian
souls.

“With childlike simplicity we believe that the strength of the Church is not
in organization, but in the Grace of God, which cannot exist where there is
betrayal and renunciation of the Orthodox Church, even if it is under the
guise of the attainment of the external good of the Church. After all, here we
do not have simply a [personal] sin of M. Sergius and his advisors. If it were
only that! No! Here we have the systematic destruction of the Orthodox
Russian Church according to a definitely thought-through plan, the striving
spiritually to mix up, defile and degrade everything. Here is laid the
destruction of the whole of the Orthodox Church, and precisely her conscious
adaptation – of the Heavenly Bride of Christ – to the service of evil, for the
world lies in evil.

“Truly, these evil intentions against the Church are not from man, but from
him who from the beginning was the murderer of man and who thirsts for
our eternal destruction. The new traitors have become his servants,
subverting the very essence of the Orthodox Church of Christ; they have
changed her from being heavenly to being earthly, and turned her from being
a Grace-filled union into a political organization.

“’Be not yoked together with unbelievers’, etc., commands the holy apostle
(II Corinthians 1.14-18). But these teach the opposite. And all this has to
spread through the Orthodox Russian Church, for everybody must approve
of the new impiety, otherwise – bans, for, they say, ‘we are the bosses’. O,
what blindness of mind! O, what horror we are living through!

“During the trial of 1923 and later it was clearly revealed that the support
of the Orthodox Church was the confessors of the Truth – the Bishops who
were bound by indissoluble grace-filled bonds and love with their flocks. But
what are the new enemies of Orthodoxy doing? They are moving these
Bishops from their sees and their places are being taken by their appointees.
And there are not just one or two cases of this; it is being accomplished in
accordance with a definite system throughout the Russian Church. You can
imagine what groans and crying and horror has covered the Orthodox
Church, when this cutting asunder of the indivisible has begun.

“The Petrograd clergy and laity have asked Metropolitan Sergius how he
can explain this evil act, and he naively replies that it is not the Church that is

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suffering here, but the bishops and the flock. – But is this not the Little
Church? Is it not a cell of the Universal Church? But this is necessary, in the
words of Metropolitan Sergius, for the supposed revealing of loyalty in
relation to the civil authorities. – What madness! Revealing the loyalty of the
Church by killing her!

“Then the second support of Orthodoxy turned out to be the parish

councils. And what are these new enemies of Orthodoxy doing? They are
giving orders to reduce the significance of these parish councils to nothing,
and this in order their appointee-bishop may distribute the clergy places at
their own discretion. What a defilement of souls is now being begun by
impious clergy whom the bishops will stuff everywhere; and others, not
recognized by the believing people, will produce a terrible dissolution of faith
and fall of religious life.

“In conclusion, I beseech you, as a friend whom I venerate for your piety,
to flee from the poisonous seductive speeches (letters) that are tempting you
like snake, and wish to separate you from the live-giving tree of the Truth.

“Let us remain firm and unbending in out confession for the Truth of God
that we undertook in 1922, so that the Lord may not refer to us the voice of
the prophet: ‘My priests have rejected My law and defiled My holy things.
They do not distinguish between the holy and the defiled. They are all the
same for them’ (Ezekiel 22.26).

“Remember the great confessor Theodore the Studite, whom we read

together. He ceased communion with the Patriarch only because the patriarch
did not want to defrock a priest who had consciously carried out an unlawful
crowning. But there is no way that you can want the destruction of the whole
Orthodox Church by these spiritual robbers, and only because they have put
on the mask of masters of the House of God, although you yourself know that
they are criminals.

“No, this will be, not a blinding of the heart, but the opposite – the defence
of the Truth of God, and not a schism. Remember also the words of another
confessor, St. Maximus, who said: ‘Even if the whole inhabited earth were to
commune with the apostate Patriarch, I alone will not commune with him to
the end of the age.’ By the Grace of God we shall imitate this confessor…”

On January 18, Bishop Victor was summoned to the Vyatka OGPU, but
was released after answering a series of questions. On returning home, he
wrote “The Replies of his Grace Victor to 15 questions put to him by the
OGPU”. He gave this document to his acquaintances, “for information on the
new synodal movement”. The first two questions and replies were as follows:

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“How would you interpret, from the civil and ecclesiastical points of view,
the appearance of the new church tendency – the platform of the Declaration
of July 29, 1927?”

From the ecclesiastical point of view: as an incorrect teaching on the Church and
on the matter of our salvation in Jesus Christ – an error of principle by Metropolitan
Sergius…

“How do you look at the ‘Declaration’? etc.”

From the Church point of view it is an incorrect teaching on the Church and on
the matter of our salvation in Jesus Christ (Metropolitan Sergius’ error in principle),
while from the civil point of view it is the desire to be freed from this oppressive and
disturbing situation in which the hierarchs of the Orthodox Church find themselves.

The ‘Declaration’ is a separation from the truth of salvation. It looks on salvation

as on a natural moral perfection of man (a pagan philosophical doctrine of salvation),
or otherwise as the foundation of the Kingdom of God on earth, and for its
realization an external organization is absolutely essential. In my opinion, this is the
same error of which, as early as 1912, I accused Metropolitan Sergius, warning that
THROUGH THIS ERROR THEY WOULD SHAKE the Orthodox Church. I said
this in the article, ‘The New Theologians’, published in the Old Ritualist journal “The
Church” N 16 for 1912, signing it with the pseudonym ‘Wanderer’. They knew who
printed this, and for a long time I experienced their ill disposition towards me. By
dint of this error of theirs, they cannot even THINK of the Church without an
external organization, and since the authority of the USSR as a civil political
organization is unacceptable for them in this respect (since it has suppressed various
of their external activities and diminished their external position), it is entirely
possible that they will oppose this authority. Then they repented of this and
recognized their mistake, or rather, the uselessness of OPPOSITION.

The personal composition of the Synod has no great significance as regards its
acceptability. It is the very platform [of this Synod] that is unacceptable, for it sees in
the Church an external political organization which is united with the civil
organization of the authorities of the USSR, and in accordance with this aims for a
corresponding external political activity for the Orthodox Church, and thereby pushes
the Church onto the path of new upheavals and surprises, at the same time distorting
THE VERY ESSENCE OF THE CHURCH.

Also, in reply to a question on the aims of his speech, he replied:

Only the salvation of my own soul, since I believe that they (the synodals) are
destroying Orthodoxy, making it worldly and earthly, and completely distorting the
essence of the Orthodox Church… I will never refuse to carry out any tasks given by
the government that do not bind my conscience, if only in order to show that they are
not thinking up any evil against it. A purely political civil organization of believers is
possible only as a subsidiary weapon of the civil authorities, as it was before the

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revolution. The State itself alone administers the whole of the external life of man,
while the Church knows only the exclusively spiritual needs of believers, and
everything that pertains to prayer. We greatly rejoice at the decree on the separation
of the Church from the State, but unfortunately the Government does not believe in
the sincerity of our joy.

To a question on the justice of the authorities of the USSR and its

strengthening, Bishop Victor replied:

I recognize its justice, but only on condition that this strengthening does not
restrict and repress our Orthodox faith.

Bishop Victor was loyal to the civil authorities. But he understood this
loyalty in a quite different way from Metropolitan Sergius, as he made clear
in the epistle he wrote to his flock on February 28 / March 12, 1928 (new
calendar): "Judge for yourselves: what significance, for example, can the bans
of Catholics, Protestants, livingchurchmen and others have for an Orthodox
priest if they were to think of applying them to us? None at all. It’s exactly the
same here. The only difference is that the Catholics, Protestants and others fell
away earlier from the Church of God, while the apostates (antichurchmen)
have only now, in our time, been deceived by the devil, ‘who has taken them
captive at his will’ (II Timothy 2.26). And this fall of theirs is not little and not
secret, but very great and evident to all those who have sense (I Corinthians
11.16). It was revealed in the well-known 'appeal' of July 16/29 and the bold
destruction of the Orthodox Church which followed it. The 'appeal' is a
disgusting sale of that which cannot be sold and is priceless - that is, our
spiritual freedom in Christ (John 8.36); it is their attempt, contrary to the word
of God, to unite that which cannot be united - the portion of the sinner with
the work of God, God and Mammon (Matthew 6.24), light and darkness (II
Corinthians 6.14-18).

“The apostates have transformed the Church of God from a Grace-filled

union of the salvation of man from sin and eternal destruction into a political
organization, which they have united with the organization of civil power in
the service of this world which lies in evil (I John 5.19). The loyalty of
individual believers to the civil authorities is one thing, and the inner
dependence of the Church herself on the civil authorities is quite another. In
the first situation the Church preserves her spiritual freedom in Christ, while
the believers become confessors under persecution for the faith; in the second
situation, she (the Church) is merely an obedient weapon for the realization of
the political ideas of the civil power, while the confessors for the faith are here
state criminals. We see all this in the activity of Metropolitan Sergius, who by
dint of his new relationship to the civil authorities has been forced to forget
the canons of the Orthodox Church, and in spite of them he has removed all
the confessor-bishops from their sees, considering them to be state criminals,
and in their place he has of his own will appointed other bishops who were
not and are not now recognized by the believing people. For Metropolitan

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Sergius now there can no longer be any exploit of confession of the Church,
and for that reason, in his conversation with regard to the 'appeal', he declares
that every cleric who dares to say anything in defence of THE TRUTH OF
GOD against the civil power is an enemy of the Orthodox Church. Is this not
madness, madness that has overtaken a man in spiritual deception? You
know, if we think like that, then we shall have to consider as an enemy of God
- the hierarch Philip, for example, who once rebuked Ivan the Terrible and
was strangled for that. Moreover, we shall have to count among the enemies
of God the great Forerunner himself, who rebuked Herod and was beheaded
for that.

“To such a sorry state have the apostates been brought that they have
preferred an external earthly freedom - for the sake of a specious earthly
prosperity joined to it - to our spiritual freedom in Christ. And if Archbishop
Paul shouts and swears that he, in signing the ‘appeal’, was thinking that he
was not violating the dogmas and canons of the Orthodox Church and that he
had not renounced her, then may [God] forgive him – Pilate, too, by his
words claimed that he was innocent in the killing of Christ, while with his
quill (pen) he confirmed His death. For the antichurchmen, the apostates from
the Church, their preservation of the dogmas and canons is a comparatively
small matter. He who has cut off someone’s head is not justified by the fact
that he did not harm any of the hairs on the head: to think otherwise is risible.
But they all affirm: ‘Everything with us is in the old style’. True, their
appearance has remained Orthodox, and this disturbs many; but they do not
have THE SPIRIT OF LIFE, THE GRACE OF GOD, and consequently the
eternal salvation of man. That is why this deception is bitterer than the first
ones.

“Christ did not bow down to Beliar when he was tempting Him in the
desert and offered him all the power of this world – provided, he said, you
bow down before me (Matthew 4.8). But they have bowed down. And, being
a spiritual authority, they have forcibly drawn all the rest into their sin, their
destruction. But only lack of faith in the grace of God and a lack of
understanding of our salvation in it and through it can force a man to set out
of the path of union with apostates. For all their proofs in defence of the
‘appeal’ are words ‘sounding from the earth’ (Isaiah 29.4), from foreign laws
and the crowd stirred up by human fear to say everything. But their
threatening with canonical sanctions is only a trap for the ignorant and
fainthearted. After all, the canons of God were not given by the Holy Fathers
so that by their means, as with a whip, to drive to their destruction those who
declare that they, out of fear of God, cannot follow someone caught by the
enemy-devil.

“Moreover, the very content of the canons to which the apostates refer
cannot according to their meaning be applied to us in any way. For example,
what do Canons 13, 14 and 15 of the First-and-Second Council [of

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Constantinople in 869], and other similar ones they refer to, talk about? – The
Canons says that if a PERSONAL misunderstanding arises between one of the
clergy and his bishop, or between a bishop and the metropolitan of the
province, or between a metropolitan and a patriarch, or if a local bishop
expresses a PERSONAL opinion on questions of faith and piety that is
doubtful, then in all such cases, first, it is necessary to pass this matter on to
the review of a higher authority, and secondly, nobody on account of these
PERSONAL matters of his or BECAUSE OF DOUBTFUL OPINIONS must
break canonical communion with his president.

“How can these canons now apply to the matter of our confession… [a gap
in the text] [when] neither do you have any personal misunderstandings with
your bishop, nor me with Metropolitan Sergius? Our case is not personal and
does not touch on local interests, or any dubious unproven opinions, but it
concerns the immediate practical destruction of our common eternal salvation
by the ecclesiastical authorities themselves through their substitution of the
false church, the great harlot (Revelation 17,1) for the true Church, the woman
clothed with the Sun (Revelation 12.1). In other circumstances of church life
Metropolitan Sergius and all his accomplices would be subject to immediate
trial by the Orthodox Church in the form of a local council. But not that
council which is being prepared by the apostates from the True Church
themselves, and which will be an offshoot of the ‘robber council’ of 1923. It is
necessary that the council should be perfect, that is, with the participation of
all the Orthodox Bishops, and most of all the confessors of the Church. But
such a council can never take place in the present conditions. And in reality in
the conditions that have been created we do not even have the possibility of
complaining to anyone against the apostates from the true Church.

“So what must we do now? In the opinion of the apostates themselves, we

must as it were become accomplices in their crime against the Orthodox
Church, and consequently, we, like they, must subject ourselves to God’s
judgement and even before the judgement deprive ourselves of the Grace of
salvation. But how can we justify ourselves before God for participating in
sin?

“True, we, as men, are subject to spiritual authority. But at the same time
each one of us is directed in his life by the commandments of God, in
accordance with which we shall be judged, and if we turn out to be
accomplices in the impiety of our spiritual authorities, even that should be in
the person of the Patriarch himself, then in no way can we be justified before
God. For the commandment of God declares: ‘He who renounces Me before
men, I will renounce before My Heavenly Father’ (Matthew 10.33).

"That is why, when they tried to persuade St. Maximus the Confessor by
means of terrible tortures to enter into communion of prayer with a wrong-
thinking patriarch, he cried out: 'even if the whole universe begins to have

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communion with the patriarch, I alone will not communicate with him'. Why
was that? Because he feared to destroy his soul through communion with a
patriarch who had been drawn into impiety, although at that time he had not
yet been condemned by a council and was, on the contrary, supported by the
majority of the bishops. You know, the ecclesiastical administrative authority,
even in the person of councils, did not always defend the truth in former
times, to which clear witness is borne by the story of the hierarch Athanasius
the Great, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Theodore the Studite and others.
How, then, can I remain unreasonable and indifferent? That cannot be. That is
why we have set out on the only possible way out in our present situation -
the way of the confession of THE TRUTH OF SALVATION. This way is
difficult, it is the way of exploit [podvig]; but we do not trust on our own
strength, but look to the Author and Finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ
(Hebrews 12.2). And our action is not a separation for the Church, but the
defence of the truth and justification of the Divine commandments, or - still
better – THE PRESERVATION OF THE WHOLE ECONOMY OF OUR
SALVATION. That is why a whole pleiad of archpastors have rebuked
Metropolitan Sergius: Metropolitans Joseph, Agathangel and Arsenius,
Archbishops, Bishops and a multitude of individual pastors, who have told
Metropolitan Sergius that they can no longer recognize him to be the leader of
the Orthodox Church, and will rule independently for the time being..."

On April 4, 1928 Bishop Victor was arrested in Glazov and cast into
Butyrki prison. He was accused of “systematically distributing anti-Soviet
documents composed by him and printed on a typewriter. The most anti-
Soviet of them in content was the document, ‘Epistle to Believers’ with and
appeal to them not to fear and not to submit to Soviet power as being the
power of the devil, but to suffer martyrdom from it, just as Metropolitan
Philip or John, the so-called ‘baptist’ suffered martyrdom for the faith in their
struggle with the power of the state”.

A week later the sergianist synod decreed: “To keep in force our resolution
concerning the former vicars of the Leningrad diocese, Bishops Demetrius of
Gdov and Sergius of Kopor, the former Bishop Victor of Shadrinsk and the
former Bishop Alexis of Urazov, the more so in that the mentioned bishops
not only have not repented of the sin of creating a schism, but by their
activities, speeches and epistles continue to sow disturbance, undermining the
faith of the Church of Christ. They send a prepared text renouncing
Metropolitan Sergius and the Patriarchal Synod for signature, calling of them
to unite with them, while Bishop Victor, although banned from serving,
ordains clergy for dioceses not subject to him.”

On May 18 Bishop Victor was sentenced to three years on Solovki. Before

leaving, he entrusted his Vyatka flock to Archbishop Demetrius of Gdov. On
June 14, 1928 M.A. Novoselov wrote to V.M. Loseva: “Bishop Victor is here.
The other day they sent him to Solovki for ten years. Now there will be three

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decisive anti-sergianists here, and they, I hope, will leaven the local Christians
with a good leaven.”

According to one (doubtful) source, Vladyka Victor signed the decisions of

the so-called “Nomadic Council” of the Catacomb Church, which took place
in various places between March and August, 1928, through the reader
Athanasius Beregovy.

At some time in 1928 Bishop Victor wrote: “In his scattering of the Church
together with his treachery, Metropolitan Sergius has also committed a
terrible blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which according to the unlying
word of Christ will never be forgiven him, neither in this life, nor in the life to
come.

"'He who does not gather with Me,' says the Lord, 'scatters.' 'Either
recognize the tree (the Church) as good and its fruit as good, or recognize the
tree as bad and its fruit as bad' (Matthew 12.33). 'Therefore I say unto you,
every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto me, but the blasphemy
against the Spirit shall not be forgiven unto me' (Matthew 12.31). 'Fulfilling
the measure of his sin,' Metropolitan Sergius together with his Synod, by his
ukaz of October 8/21, 1927, is introducing a new formula of commemoration.

"Mixing together into one, despite the word of God, the 'faithful with the
unfaithful' (II Corinthians 6.14-18), the Holy Church and those fighting to the
death against her, in the great and most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, the
metropolitan by this blasphemy of his destroys the prayerful meaning of the
great sacrament and its grace-filled significance for the eternal salvation of the
souls of Orthodox believers. Hence the service becomes not only graceless
because of the gracelessness of the celebrant, but an abomination in the eyes
of God, and for that reason both the celebrant and he who participates in it
subject themselves to severe condemnation.

"Being in all his activity an anti-church heretic, as transforming the Holy

Orthodox Church from the house of the grace-filled salvation of believers into
a graceless, carnal organization deprived of the spirit of life, Metropolitan
Sergius has at the same time, through his conscious renunciation of the truth
and in his mindless betrayal of Christ, become an open apostate from God the
Truth.

"Without a formal external trial by the Church (which cannot be carried out
on him), he 'is self-condemned' (Titus 3.10-11); he has ceased to be what he
was - a 'server of the truth', according to the word: 'Let his habitation be
desolate, and let no one live in it; and his office let another take' (Acts 1.20).

"A series of archpastors, God-wise fathers and Orthodox men of the

Church have in the course of many years exhorted him, but to no effect - they

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did not bring Metropolitan Sergius to a consciousness of the sin he had

committed and did not elicit repentance in his heart.

"For that reason, we, by the grace given us by our Lord Jesus Christ, 'by the
power of our Lord Jesus Christ' (I Corinthians 5.4), declare the former
Metropolitan Sergius deprived of prayerful communion with us and all those
faithful to Christ and His Holy Orthodox Church, and give him up to the
judgement of God: 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord' (Hebrews
19.30).

"This present act, in addition to our earlier declarations made in 1927 and
1928, we carry out in strict consciousness of our archpastoral duty before our
flock, all the faithful children of the Orthodox Church, in obedience to the
Church of Christ, in dutiful submission to the canons of the Ecumenical
Councils and the Council of the Russian Church of 1917-1918, which is
headed today by the patriarchal locum tenens, Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsa
and his deputy, Archbishop Seraphim of Uglich.

"'Fear not, little flock! For your Father has determined to give you the
Kingdom!' (Luke 12.32).”

In another document Archbishop Victor wrote: “Metropolitan Sergius’

crime consists not only in canonical transgressions in relation to the Church
order, but, as has already been demonstrated more than once in various
addresses to him,… it touches the very essence of the Church. It is precisely in
his declaration that Metropolitan Sergius as it were confessed, and in his
deeds is carrying out a lawless merging of that which is God’s with that which
is Caesar’s, or rather, that which is Christ’s with that which is Antichrist’s,
which is a dogmatic sin against the Church and is defined as the sin of
apostasy.”

From 1928 to 1930 Archbishop Victor was on the main island of Solovki.
He worked as an accountant in the Solovki rope factory. Academician
Demetrius Sergeyevich Likhachev, who knew Vladyka Victor on Solovki, said
that he was a highly educated man with several theological publications to his
credit, but he looked like a village priest. He had a sparse beard, rosy cheeks
and dark blue eyes. He met everyone with a broad smile, and radiated
kindness and joy. He tried to help everyone, and was truly able to help them,
because everyone thought highly of him and trusted him.

When, writes Likhachev, "during the winter of 1929 I returned from the
typhus 'brigade of convalescents', he sent me some green onion and cream
through Fedya Rozenberg. How tasty that onion and cream was! Once I met
Vladyka (among ourselves we used to call him 'Vladychka') in a particularly
radiant and joyful state. It was on the square in front of the Transfiguration
cathedral. An order had been issued that all the prisoners should have their

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hair cut and were not to wear long clothes. Vladyka Victor refused to carry
out this order, so they took him into the lock-up, forcibly shaved him, in the
process seriously wounding his face, and cut his clothes crookedly from
below. He walked towards us with a towel wrapped round his face and
smiling. He said that they had dragged him into the lock-up in order to shave
him, and had bound him, but that he had demanded that they first cut the
long 'chekist' greatcoat (in the style of that in which Dzerzhinsky is depicted
on the Lubyanka) of the escort who had dragged him into the lock-up. I think
that Vladyka had resisted without spite and that he considered his suffering
to be the mercy of God."

Professor I.M. Andreyev remembers that "Vladyka Victor was short,

stocky, kind and welcoming to everyone, with an unchangingly radiant and
joyful subtle smile and radiant eyes. ‘One must comfort everybody in some
way,' he used to say, and he had the ability to comfort each and every one. He
had a welcoming word for every person he met, and often even a little gift...
Within a few days Vladyka would distribute all his parcels, leaving almost
nothing for himself. He 'comforted' very many, often prisoners whom he did
not know at all, taking special pity on the 'urkas'.., that is, the petty thieves
who had been sent as 'socially harmful' elements into isolation, according to
article 48.

"... Both Vladykas (Victor and Maximus) loved each other; unhurriedly,
without ever quarrelling or getting irritated, but attentively they studied a
single complicated phenomenon from different points of view. Vladyka
Maximus was a pessimist and was getting ready for the heavy trials of the last
times, not believing in the possibility of a regeneration of Russia. But Vladyka
Victor was an optimist and believed in the possibility of a short, but radiant
period, as a final gift from heaven for the tormented Russian people. At the
end of 1930 Vladyka Victor completed his three-year term, but instead of
being released was sent to Mai-Guba."

Bishop Victor’s sentence ended in the spring of 1931, but he was not
released. On April 10, 1931 his case was reviewed, and according to one
source he was sentenced to three years’ exile in Onega, Archangelsk district.
From Solovki he was taken to the mainland, to Mai-Guba (according to I.M.
Andreyevsky, this was already in the autumn of 1930). Vladyka worked as an
accountant at Mai-Guba, and then, in November, 1931, or perhaps earlier, was
sent to the north. According to one source, he was sent to Novaya Birzha on
the White Sea – Baltic canal. According to another source, in the summer or
early autumn of 1931 he was sent to Ust-Tsilma, Komi province via
Arkhangelsk, the White and Barents Seas and the Rivers Pechora and Tsilma.
There he found the “Victorites” Protopriest John Fokin and Nuns Angelina
(Tomilova) and Alexandra (Lopatina).

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He was arrested again on the night of December 12-13, 1932, and the next
day was sent with ten others (four priests and six laymen) to prison in
Syktyvkar.

On December 22 he was interrogated and accused that, “living on the

territory of the Ust-Tsilma region, he joined a monarchist counter-
revolutionary grouping which under the guise of religious prejudices
conducted counter-revolutionary work against the undertakings of Soviet
power”. The monarchist organization created by them was supposedly
descended from one before the revolution, “The White Sea – Karelia Society
of the Archangel Michael”, and, in 1918-1919, from “The Patriotic Society”
and “The Union of Clergy”. The protocol ends with the following declaration
of Bishop Victor: “According to my religious convictions, I am a follower of
Patriarch Tikhon. I do not recognize renovationism or sergianism.”

L.A. Sikorskaya writes: “The initiator of the creation of the ‘counter-

revolutionary organization’ was named as the exiled Ekaterina Ivanovna
Povarova, who organized material help for the exile through people she knew
in Arkhangelsk. Her correspondence with Bishop Apollos (Rzhanitsyn), who
blessed her activity, Anna Vasilyevna Morgunova, the warden of the central
church, and the active parishioners Elena Konstantinovna Veshnyakova and
Ekaterina Akindinovna Tsvetkova, who sent help to the exiles in Ust-Tsilma,
was sufficient for them to be drawn into the group case as ‘participants in the
counter-revolutionary group’. Bishop Apollos, E.E. Veshnyakova and E.A.
Tsvetkova were arrested in Arkhangelsk at the end of January or the
beginning of February, 1933. A.V. Morgunova managed to hide and a search
was initiated for her.

“Many ‘witnesses’ at the interrogations affirmed that, on the instructions of

the accused Bishop Apollos (Rzhanitsyn), his parishioners went from
Arkhangelsk to Ust-Tsilma and brought money, food and clothing to help
those priests and laity in administrative exile as ‘suffering for religion’. The
‘witnesses’ and some of the accused gave testimony that the exiles conducted
active agitation that people should leave the collective farms and refuse
logging work, and that they spread provocative rumours. Maria Nuromskaya
[the daughter of Archbishop Anthony of Arkhangelsk, who died in 1931] was
also accused of deliberately giving the administrative exiles certificates that
they were freed from work, by means of which she supposedly
‘systematically weakened the working strength’.

“The main information for the investigation’s version of events was given
at the interrogations of the accused priests. Thus A.D. Nechaev detailed by
name, in his own words, ‘the undoubted participants in our counter-
revolutionary grouping’ – ten people in Ust-Tsilma, including Victor
Alexandrovich Ostrovidov, and five people in Arkhangelsk. I.A. Nikolsky
told in detail, point by point, about ‘the practical counter-revolutionary

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activity of the participants in our grouping’, and these points were transferred
in the same words into the ‘Concluding Indictment’. Apparently, such
testimonies were demanded of Bishop Victor, but Vlayka did not recognize
his guilt in the writing of the ‘novel’ thought up by the investigation.”

On March 23 Bishop Victor and six others were formally accused that: “(a)
they were active participants in a counter-revolutionary grouping of
administratively exiled clergy and churchmen in the village of Ust-Tsilma; (b)
they took part in group meetings conducted by the leadership of the grouping
in which general methods and tactics of counter-revolutionary work were
worked out; (c) in the mass of the peasantry they conducted daily anti-soviet
agitation directed at the undermining of the enterprises of Soviet power; and
(d) they spread provocative rumours about the inevitability of a war and the
destruction of Soviet power with the aim of strengthening defeatist
sentiments.”

On May 10, 1933 he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and
58-11 to another three years in exile. First he spent at least another three
months in an isolator in Syktyvkar, where he miraculously found an icon of
Christ lying on the ground – it was a copy of the wonder-working icon from
the Holy Trinity – St. Stephen monastery in Ust-Sysolsk uyezd. Vladyka
brought it into his cell and prayed: “Lord, Thou has appeared to me. So
intercede for me!” Soon he was freed.

After prison Vladyka served several liturgies with other exiled priests in
the flat of the exiled Fr. Nicholas in Arkhangelsk. “What a joy it was for us!”
said Vladyka. “And then the icon was with us.”

Then he was sent to the village of Neritsa, some thirty kilometres from Ust-
Tsilma. Here he was surrounded by atheists, who followed his every
movement. Vladyka arrived in a sad mood. But the believers in Ust-Tsilma,
who were now free, promised not to abandon him. Although no parcels could
be sent directly to him in Neritsa, the Vyatka and Glazov parishioners
constantly sent him things, which he immediately distributed to the needy
villagers (there was a famine in the winter of 1933-1934). He prayed for the
sick twelve-year-old daughter of the man in whose house he lived, and she
recovered. Vladyka’s neighbour, a communist, was constantly playing
something on the gramophone very loudly. Vladyka went up to the wall,
made the sign of the cross on it – and the gramophone fell down. There was
no more noise…

A little more than two months before his death, on February 23, 1934,
Vladyka wrote a letter to Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova of the Political Red
Cross asking for help, since he was in a difficult situation. Peshkova’s reply
was dated May 8. In August it was returned again to Moscow with the note:
“Returned to the sender because of the death of the addressee”.

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At the beginning of spring, Vladyka would go out into the woods to pray.
He helped in the cutting of wood and the carrying of water. According to one
source, Vladyka talked about the faith with some Old Ritualists living in the
region.

Before his death Bishop Victor entrusted his followers to Archbishop

Seraphim of Uglich. This is witnessed by Bishop Damascene of Glukhov,
whom Archbishop Seraphim, in his turn, asked to be useful to his “Vyatka
children” in the summer of 1935.

Vladyka often went into the taiga to pray. At the end of April, 1934 he
caught a cold and pneumonia – according to another source, meningitis. He
could not be sent to the regional centre because the river had overflowed its
banks. Two days before his death Nun Angelina came to visit him. On May 2,
1934 he reposed in the Lord. On that same day a woman called Nastya went
into his former room in Ust-Tsilma and smelt incense…

Mother Angelina carried the body away on a sledge, pretending he was ill.
But, being unable to cross the river on which the ice was beginning to melt,
she had to send back to Neritsa for help. Eventually some men came, brought
the body back to Neritsa and buried him there. No priest could go to the
village, so Fr. Nicholas carried out the funeral service for him in Arkhangelsk.

On the fortieth day after Vladyka’s death the nuns asked one of the men in
whose house he had lived to catch fish for his commemorative meal. He was
at first unwilling, but then Vladyka Victor appeared to him in a vision and
asked him to do this. He set off, and he caught a huge of fish. “It was not a
simple man who lived with us,” he said in amazement to his wife.

On July 1, 1997, the incorrupt relics of Archbishop Victor were revealed in

Neritsa. The witnesses among the villagers were so amazed by what they saw
that they immediately asked to be baptized. They were baptized the next day.

The fragrant relics of the saint were taken to Moscow, and then, on
December 2, 1997, to the St. Alexander Nevsky church of the Holy Trinity-
Macarius monastery in Vyatka. All his life St. Victor had served in churches
dedicated either to the Holy Trinity or to St. Alexander Nevsky…

In 2005 the holy relics were transferred to the Holy Transfiguration

monastery in Vyatka.

Many miracles of healing have been recorded at the shrine of St. Victor.

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Protopriest Basil Alexandrovich Perebaskin was born in 1881 in Belmoga

volost, Makarye uyezd, Kostroma province. He served in Perm. In March,
1922 he alone, among the clergy of Vyatka, showed himself to be a confessor
and did not take part in the requisitioning of church valuables. On August 25,
1922 he was arrested in a group case with Bishops Paul (Borisovsky) and
Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov) in Vyatka, and on February 23, 1923 he was
convicted of “distributing the appeals of Patriarch Tikhon”, was sentenced to
three years’ exile and sent to Narym region. In 1925, after his release, he
returned to Vyatka. In 1926 he was arrested again, and on October 8 sentenced
in accordance with articles 72 and 123 to three years’ exile in Central Asia
with a further ban on his living in the central cities of the country. Nothing
more is known about him.

Abbess Febronia, in the world Thecla Semyonovna Yufereva, was born in

1870 in the village of Zotovtsy, Klyuchevskaya volost, Kotelnich uyezd,
Vyatka province. Until 1913 she lived in the village, working in the fields. In
1914 she founded the Pokrov monastery in Vyatka and became a nun there
herself, acquiring the reputation of a clairvoyant. She was very close to Bishop
Victor. In 1923, at the height of the renovationist schism, she was made abbess
of the monastery, and she soon turned it into a citadel of the Orthodox forces
fighting renovationism. However, the renovationist Alexis Vasilyevich
Kryazhevsky obtained the closure of the monastery in a cunning way. First he
sowed discontent in some of the younger nuns. Then he provoked a fight
within the monastery. This allowed the police to seal the monastery and then,
a few days later, liquidate it. In 1924 Abbess Febronia was arrested for
“resistance to the organs of Soviet power”, but was soon released because of
her invalid status. She then settled in Vyatka with several nuns, taking an
active part in the work of the Resurrection cathedral. An order was signed for
her arrest, but the GPU agent assigned to arrest her found her lying in bed
and unable to get up without help, and so he left her in the flat. However, on
September 13, 1929 the OGPU concocted a case and thirty-seven people were
arrested in “The Case of Abbess Febronia (Thecla Semyonovna Yufereva) and
others, Vyatka, 1930”. In view of her illness, Abbess Febronia was not kept
under guard during the investigation. The indictment read: “In 1929 in the
Resurrection cathedral in Vyatka anti-Soviet activity on the part of the clergy
of this cathedral began to manifest itself with greater strength in the persons
of the priests Glushkov and Popyvanov and others. In order to intensify their
activity they grouped around the cathedral various Black-Hundredist
elements. Under the guise of church activity and a struggle against other
church groupings they conducted anti-Soviet work, turning the Resurrection
cathedral into a conspiratorial monarchist organization… The beginning of
this activity goes back to 1923, when Popyvanov joined the Resurrection
cathedral. The reception of the latter was conditioned by the need to defend
the counter-revolutionary ideas of Patriarch Tikhon and the struggle against

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the renovationist clergy. Popyvanov recruited the former abbess of the Pokrov
monastery Febronia (Yufereva) to his side together with a group of monastics
who had remained with her after the liquidation of the monastery. She was
taken ‘as a saint’ by the fanatically believing population. Having on their side
the church archive, the clergy of the cathedral with the help of Abbess
Febronia conducted agitation ‘On the strengthening of the Foundations of
Orthodoxy’ among the peasant population. After Priest Perebaskin and
Missionary Ivanov had been arrested in Vyatka, the Resurrection cathedral
acquired the authority of ‘a true bastion of the so-called Old Orthodoxy’
among the reactionary clergy, and in a short space of time the majority of the
churches of Vyatka who had been standing on the so-called renovationist
platform had been drawn to the Tikhonite platform. When, in 1926,
Archbishop Paul Borisovsky and Bishop Victor Ostrovidov returned to
Vyatka from exile, the cathedral was turned into the governing centre of the
reactionary Tikhonite churchmen of Vyatka diocese. In 1926 a so-called
‘penitential commission’ was created in the cathedral. Its aim was to struggle
with the renovationist clergy by forcing the renovationists to repent and deny
the canonical resolutions of the renovationist council of 1923. After Bishops
Paul and Victor and others had again been arrested and exiled, Popyvalov
invited Priest Michael Valentinovich Glushkov to serve in the cathedral, and
also accepted the former nuns of the Pokrov monastery to the services.” The
main accusation against those arrested was their non-acceptance of the
Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius and their support of the position of
Bishop Victor. Moreover, the nuns were accused of “organizing groups of a
sisterhood, the followers of Bishop Victor, mainly from women who carried
out the functions of church-parish councils. They took seized churches into
their hands and spread the leaflets of Bishop Victor. The cathedral clergy
organized monetary assistance for exiled clergy and Bishop Victor… After the
district executive committee had declared the closure of the Resurrection
cathedral the grouping in question organized resistance to the closure. After
the arrest of the cathedral clergy the parishioner of the Resurrection cathedral
A.L. Petrova and other believers collected signatures in defence of the
arrested, demanding the immediate release of the imprisoned.” Abbess
Febronia was interrogated once; she pleaded not guilty. On February 3, 1930
she was convicted of “anti-Soviet activity, being a member of an illegal
church-parish council” and “helping the activity of a church-monarchist
group”. In accordance with article 58-11 she was sentenced to three years’
exile in the north, but was not sent into exile because of her illness. On
December 16, 1930 she died in prison in Vyatka.

Others convicted with Abbess Febronia on the same charges were:

Protopriest Nicholas Alexandrovich Zhilin. He was born in 1880 in the

village of Shoya, Vyatka province, the son of a teacher. He finished his studies
at Vyatka theological seminary in 1902, was ordained to the priesthood, and
went to serve in Nolinsk uyezd. From 1914 to 1918 he was working in the

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economic department of the Vyatka diocesan school. From 1918 to 1924 he

worked as an accountant in a pedagogical institute. In 1924 he was appointed
protopriest in the Alexandrovsky cathedral in Vyatka. In September, 1929 he
was arrested and was cast into Vyatka isolator. On February 3, 1930 he was
convicted of “being a member of an illegal church-parish council” and of
“helping in the activity of a church-monarchist grouping”. In accordance with
article 58-11, he was sentenced to three (according to another source, five)
years’ exile in the north. In 1935 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in
Krasnoyarsk region. On March 22, 1938, while in administrative exile in the
village of Irba, Boguchan region, Krasnoyarsk region, he was arrested. On
April 14 he was convicted of being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary
political organization”, and on April 28 was shot in Kansk.

Priest Leonid Mikhailovich Yuferev was born in 1883 in Rostov. In 1903

he finished his studies at Vyatka theological seminary, and began to serve in
the village of Ivantsevo. In 1923 he was serving in Fileiki. In 1930 he was
sentenced to three years in the camps. He soon died, and was buried in
Vyatka.

Priest Gregory Zakharovich Popyvanov was born in 1881 in the village of

Marino, Vytka province. He served in the church of the village of Russkoye, and
from 1923 – in the Resurrection cathedral in Vyatka, where he played a leading
role in the struggle against renovationism. In 1930 he was arrested in a group
case. On February 3 he was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a
camp. In 1945 he was again arrested, and on April 5 was sentenced to ten years in
the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Basil Ivanovich Milovanov was born in 1890 in the village of

Naschekino, Bobrov uyezd, Voronezh province, and finished some
theological courses. In the middle of the 1920s he was exiled to Mari province.
In October, 1929 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary group of clergy and believers who follow Bishop Victor
(Ostrovidov)”, and on January 13, 1930 he was sentenced to three years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Terentyevich Shirokikh. He was born in 1893 in the

village of Martelevo, Glazov uyezd, Vyatka province, the son of a priest. In
1914 he was ordained to the diaconate, and in 1920 – to the priesthood,
serving in the St. Seraphim church in Vyatka. In September, 1929 he was
arrested because, “being a member of an illegal church-parish council, he
helped the activity of a church-monarchist grouping”. He was cast into
Vyatka isolator. On February 3, 1930 he was sentenced to three years in the
camps in accordance with article 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Michael Valentinovich Glushkov. He was born in 1894 in

Kotelnich, Vyatka province into a merchant’s family. He went to Vyatka real

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school and then, from 1912 to 1915, took two courses in the Kharkov
technological institute. In 1915 he was called into the army, but was released
from army service in 1917 because of illness. In 1918 he decided to join the
Novy Afon monastery, but on the way there was arrested by the Whites, who
persuaded him to join their army. However, Michael refused to fight and
decided to devote himself to God. After many adventures, he arrived at the
monastery and became a novice. In 1921, however, on hearing that the Reds
were going to close the monastery, he returned to his homeland, where he
helped to feed his family. From 1923 to 1935 he worked in haberdashery.
After the death of his father he sold his house and went to serve as a deacon
in the cathedral in Kotelnich. Then he went to the Resurrection cathedral in
Vyatka as a priest. On September 13, 1929 he was arrested and cast into
Vyatka isolator. On February 3, 1930 he was condemned as “a member of an
illegal church-parish council, [who] helped the activity of a church-
monarchist grouping”. In accordance with article 58-11 he was sentenced to
five years in the camps. In 1935 he was again arrested and sentenced to five
years in prison. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Vasilyevich Alpov. He was born on August 16, 1878 in the
village of Vladimirskoye, Darovsky region, Vyatka province into the family of
a priest. He went to a city school. Before the revolution he was an official
working in the Vyatka control palace in the rank of college registrar. Until
1922 he was senior inspector of a consumer society. In February, 1922 he was
ordained to the diaconate and sent to serve in the Vladimir church in the
village of Makarye, Vyatka province. In 1927 he was ordained to the
priesthood and sent to the All Saints church in Vyatka, but in 1928 returned to
Makarye. In September, 1929 he was arrested in Makarye and cast into the
Vyatka isolator. On February 3, 1930 he was convicted of “being a member of
an illegal church-monarchist council and helping in the activity of a church-
monarchist grouping”. He was sentenced to five years in the camps. In 1935
he was arrested again and detained for three weeks “in the case of Priest
Nikulin”. On July 2, 1936 he began serving in the village of Ilyinskoye,
Makarye region, but on October 27, 1936 he was sentenced to five years in the
camps in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Alexander Bonifatyevich Yelchugin was born in 1888 in Vyatka.

Until 1914 he served in the Vyatka district court. He served in the army until
October, 1917. From 1917 to 1922 he was in the Vyatka department of justice
and served as secretary of the Vyatka council of people’s judges. In August,
1922 he was arrested together with Bishop Paul (Borisovsky) of Vyatka and
Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov) and was accused of “distributing the epistles of
Patriarch Tikhon”. On February 23, 1923 he was sentenced to three years in
the camps. From 1926 to 1928 he was in Glazov helping Bishop Victor, and
was ordained by him to the diaconate. In 1928, after the arrest of Bishop
Victor, he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Demetrius of Gdov,

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and went to serve in the village of Kumeny. In October, 1929 he was arrested
in the affair of Abbess Febronia, and was sentenced to five years in the camps.
On his release he served in secret. On September 7, 1938 he was arrested
together with Nun Maria (Tomilova) as a “wandering churchman” and a
participant in the anti-Soviet organization “The Vyatka Diocese of the True
Orthodox Victorite Church”. The investigation lasted for five months, but the
case was closed and the arrested were released. Nothing more is known about
him.

Abbess Emilia (Helena), in the world Eugenia Andreyevna Baranova, was

born in 1869 in Kotelnich. From the age of thirteen she was living in the
Transfiguration Devichi monastery in Vyatka. In 1923, after the closure of the
monastery, she moved to the village of Fileiki, where, together with other
nuns (about 100 people), she organized the Fileiki work artel, and rented the
house of the former Fileiki monastery. She was president of the artel, and de
facto of the monastic community, which preserved the monastic typikon with
daily services. In 1926 she was raised to the rank of abbess by Bishop Paul
(Borisovsky). From 1928, after the liquidation of the artel, she lived in the
village of Kuragino, Vyatka region, but continued to go to the Fileika church.
In September, 1929 she was arrested and sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Anna (Tarasovna Nekrasova). She was born in 1893 in the village of
Koshelevo, Nikolsky uyezd, North Dvina province into a peasant family. In
1918 she entered the Pokrov monastery in Vyatka. From 1923 to 1926 she was
a servant. In 1926 she became a watchman in the Resurrection cathedral in
Vyatka. In September, 1929 she was arrested, and on February 3 she was
convicted in accordance with article 58-11 and sentenced to three years’ exile
in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Felitsata, in the world Thecla Andreyevna Lagunova. She was born in
1871 in the village of Ardashi, Vyatka province into a peasant family, and at
the age of eight entered the Transfiguration women’s monastery in Vyatka,
remaining there until its liquidation in 1923, when she and all the nuns settled
in the village of Fileiki. In 1926 she went to the Resurrection cathedral. In
September 1929 she was arrested and cast into Vyatka isolator. On February 3
she was convicted in accordance with article 58-11 and sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Eudocia (Vasilyevna Akatyeva). She was born in 1883 in the village of
Sutyagi, Vyatka province, and entered the Vyatka Arbazhsky monastery in
1905. After the closure of the monastery in 1919 she lived in various villages,
and then in Vyatka, going to the Resurrection cathedral. In September, 1929
she was arrested and cast into Vyatka isolator. On February 3, 1930 she was
convicted in accordance with article 58-11 and was sentenced to three years’
exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

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Nun Theodosia (Danilovna Shatova). She was born in 1899 in the village of
Zadovtsy (Zotovtsy), Kotelnichi uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant
family. She entered the Pokrov monastery in Vyatka in 1918. After its closure
in 1923 she worked as a servant, then as a cleaner or watchman in the
Resurrection cathedral. In September, 1929 she was arrested and cast into
Vyatka isolator. On February 3, 1930 she was convicted in accordance with
article 58-11 and was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing
more is known about her.

Nun Agrippina (Alexeyevna Galasheva (Galashova)). She was born in

1901 in the village of Kurenki (Gureshi?), Kotelnich uyezd, Vyatka province.
In 1916 she entered the Pokrov monastery. After its closure she worked at the
Resurrection cathedral in Vyatka, and served in the church. In September,
1929 she was arrested and cast into Vyatka isolator. On February 3, 1930 she
was convicted in accordance with article 58-11 and was sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. On November 22, 1935 she was condemned by the
Kirov district court to three years’ imprisonment in accordance with article
58-10. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Alexandra (Afanasyevna Khlebova). She was born in 1865 in Vyatka

province into a peasant family. She was the wife of a river steamer captain
who was later tonsured. In September, 1929 she was arrested and cast into the
Vyatka Isolator. On February 3, 1930 she was convicted in accordance with
article 58-11 and sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Olga (Trofimovna Dudina). She was born in 1901 in the village of
Yekaterinskaya, Kotelnich uyezd, Vyatka province. She lived in the Pokrov
monastery until its closure in 1923, when she became a singer and reader in
the Resurrection cathedral. In September, 1929 she was arrested and cast into
the Vyatka Isolator. On February 3, 1930 she was convicted in accordance
with article 58-11 and sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing
more is known about her.

Peter Alexandrovich Kiryanov. He was born in 1858 in Vyatka, and went

to a church-parish school. He was by profession a tin-smith. He was warden
of the cathedral of the Resurrection in Vyatka for more than ten years. On
September 14, 1929 he was arrested and cast into Vyatka isolator. On
February 3, 1930 he was sentenced in accordance with article 58-11 to three
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Ivanovich Sutorikhin. He was born in 1883 in the village of

Golovanovo, Vyatka province into a peasant family. He was a member of the
parish council of the Resurrection cathedral in Vyatka. In September, 1929 he
was arrested and cast into Vyatka isolator. He was accused that, “being a

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member of the church-parish council of the Resurrection cathedral of Vyatka,

he took an active part in the activity of a cathedral grouping that was directed
against Soviet power, and was preparing the ground for the conducting of
illegal assemblies”. In accordance with article 58-11, he was sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Constantine Nikolayevich Ivanov. He was born in 1859 in Vyatka into a

lower-middle-class family. He went to a city school in Vyatka and became
diocesan missionary. In 1923 he was sentenced in accordance with article 58-
10 to three years’ exile in Komi for “anti-Soviet activity”. On returning to
Vyatka in 1927 he became a member of the parish council of the Resurrection
cathedral. On September 13, 1929 he was arrested and cast into Vyatka
isolator. On February 3, 1930 he was accused that, “being a member of an
illegal church-parish council, he helped the activity of a church-monarchist
grouping”. In accordance with article 58-11, he was sentenced to three years’
exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Alexandrovich Kiryanov. He was born in 1871 in Vyatka, and went

to a church-parish school. He was a tin-smith by profession. He became a
member of the parish council of the Resurrection cathedral. In September,
1929 he was arrested and cast into Vyatka isolator. On February 3, 1930 he
was accused that, “being a member of an illegal church-parish council, he
helped the activity of a church-monarchist grouping”. In accordance with
article 58-11, he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more
is known about him.

Alexis Nikitovich Sharomov. He was born in 1877 in the village of

Afonovskaya, Slobodskaya uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. He
was a member of the parish council of the Resurrection cathedral in Vyatka.
In September, 1929 he was arrested and cast into Vyatka isolator. He was
accused that, “being a member of the church-parish council of the
Resurrection cathedral of Vyatka, he took an active part in the activity of a
cathedral grouping that was directed against Soviet power, and was
preparing the ground for the conducting of illegal assemblies”. In accordance
with article 58-11, he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more
is known about him.

Yegor Ignatyevich Filimonov. He was born in 1874 in the village of

Marakulinskaya, Gorovsky uyezd, Vyatka province and was a member of the
church parish council of the Resurrection cathedral in Vyatka. In September,
1929 he was arrested and cast into Vyatka isolator. On February 3, 1930 he
was sentenced in accordance with article 58-11 to three years’ exile to the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Vasilyevich Mukharitsyn. He was born in 1859, and was a

member of the church-parish council in the Resurrection cathedral in Vyatka.

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In September, 1929 he was arrested, and on February 3 he was convicted in

accordance with article 58-11. However, his case was stopped. Nothing more
is known about him.

Alexis Alexandrovich Perestorin. He was born in 1884 in Vyatka province.

He was president of the church-parish council of the Resurection cathedral in
Vyatka. In September, 1929 he was arrested and cast into the Vyatka Isolator.
On February 3 he was convicted by the OGPU in accordance with article 58-11
of “being the president of the church-parish council of the Resurrection
cathedral of the city of Vyatka, he took part in the activity of a grouping of the
said cathedral directed against Soviet power”. However, his case was
stopped. Nothing more is known about him.

Clement Pustilovich Nekhoroshij was born in 1876 in the village of Otary,

Orshansk uyezd into the family of a trader, and received an elementary
education. A free peasant, he was disenfranchised. On November 3, 1929 he
was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization, the ‘Victorites’”, and on February 19, 1930 was sentenced to five
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexis Vasilyevich Poptsov. He was born in 1867 in the village of Blinovo,

Orshansky uyezd, where he lived. He was a free peasant. In October, 1929 he
was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of
clergy and believers, the followers of Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov)”. On
January 13, 1930 he was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to
Archangelsk. Nothing more is known about him.

Valentina Nikolayevna Saltykova. She was born in the city of Glazov,

Vyatka province. She was a member of the church-parish council of the
Resurrection cathedral in Vyatka. In September, 1929 she was arrested and
cast into the Vyatka Isolator. On February 3, 1930 she was convicted in
accordance with article 58-11 and sentenced to three years’ exile in the north.
Nothing more is known about her.

Anastasia Vasilyevna Glukhikh. She was born in 1887 in Kotelnich uyezd,

Vyatka province into a peasant family. She was a member of the church-
parish council of the Resurrection cathedral in Vyatka. In September, 1929 she
was arrested and cast into the Vyatka Isolator. On February 3, 1930 she was
convicted in accordance with article 58-11 and sentenced to three years’ exile
in the north. In 1931 she was arrested again in Vyatka, and on September 21
was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to three years’ exile
in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

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Protopriest John Ivanovich Fokin was born in 1867 in the village of

Korlyaki, Sanchur uyezd. He went to Vyatka theological seminary, and then
finished two courses in a medical faculty in Moscow. In 1889 he was ordained
to the priesthood. From 1897 he was serving in the village of Paderion. He
became dean of thirty parishes in Kiknur, Sanchur, Sharanga and Yaransk
regions. He convened a meeting of his deanery in Paderino at which about
forty people discussed whether to go with Metropolitan Sergius of Bishop
Victor. Fr. John and two other representatives from the parishes, including
Paul Petrovich Bakshaev from Korlyakovo parish, went in a delegation to
Bishop Victor. On his return, Fr. John sent a letter to the parishes informing
them that he had joined Bishop Victor. The rector of the church in
Korlyakovo, Fr. Nicholas Lyutin, allowed Paul Bakshaev to go on the ambon
and announce: “Victor is on the right path”. On October 15, 1929 Fr. John was
arrested, and was sentenced to exile in the north. There he met Bishop Victor
again, and gave him significant help. Nothing more is known about him.

Protopriest Diomedes Andreyevich Andrievsky was born in 1872 in the

village of Shevnino, Urzhuma uyezd, Vyatka province, where he lived. He
was educated at home. He served in the village of Yelembayevo, Novo-
Toryalsk region, later becoming a protopriest. In October, 1929 he was
arrested, and on January 13 was sentenced to six months’ incarceration and
freed from prison. He was investigated in a group case as “the leader of a
counter-revolutionary group of clergy and believers, the followers of Bishop
Victor (Ostrovidov)”, and on February 19 was sentenced to death with the
exile of his family and confiscation of his property. However, on May 20 his
case was reviewed and the sentence commuted to five years in the camps
with exile for the same period. He was sent to Arkhangelsk. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Vladimir Ivanovich Popov was born in 1879 in the village of

Kumena, Vyatka province into the family of a priest. In 1899 he finished his
studies at Vyatka theological seminary. Until 1914 he was serving as a deacon
in the village of Maly Kumit, then as a priest in the village of Shlyki, and from
1917 – in the village of Mari-Sola, Sernur region. In 1919 he was serving in the
army of Kolchak. In 1920 he was investigated in Perm “for counter-
revolutionary speeches”, but was not condemned. In 1928 he visited Bishop
Victor in Glazov. On October 6, 1929 he was arrested for being “the leader of a
counter-revolutionary group of clergy and believers attached to the
‘Victorites’”, and on January 13, 1930 was sentenced to three years’ exile and
sent to Arkhangelsk. In 1933 he was released from exile, but had no constant
domicile or occupation. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested, and on
August 6 was sentenced to death. On August 19 he was shot. His wife,
Elizabeth Ivanovna Popova, was born in 1880 in the village of Chakhlovka,
Kotelnichi uyezd, Vyatka province into the family of a priest. In 1897 she
finished her studies at Vyatka diocesan school, and from 1922 was living in a
monastery in Kazan. After her marriage she was disenfranchised. From 1929,

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after the arrest of her husband, she lived next to the church in the village of
Khlebnikov, Mari-Tureksky region. On February 3, 1931 she was arrested for
being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen,
‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to ten
months and eleven days incarceration. On her release she went round the
villages taking part in secret services. On August 7, 1937 she was arrested “for
counter-revolutionary agitation among the population”. On August 19 she
was sentenced to death, and on September 6 was shot.

Priest Andrew Anisimovich Otmakhov was born in 1857 in the village of

Yelembayevo, Novotoryalsk uyezd, Nizhegorod province into a peasant
family, and received an elementary education. He was the priest of his native
village. On December 14, 1929 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization, the ‘Victorites’”, and on
February 19, 1930 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Borisovich Kuznetsov was born in 1886 in the village of

Laspa, Don province. Before the revolution he was a police superintendent,
then assistant chief of police. In 1914 he was ordained to the priesthood and
served in church. In the middle of the 1920s he was exiled to Mari province. In
October, 1929 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary group of clergy and believers, the followers of Bishop Victor
(Ostrovidov)”, and on January 13, 1930 was sentenced to three years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Lucian Georgievich Vasenev was born in 1900 in the village of

Staraya Pizhanka, Orshansk region, in the Mari republic into a peasant
family. His parents were believing people, and he had an elder brother,
Arcadius, and a younger, Peter. He went to a two-class church-parish school.
According to one source, he worked in his father’s fields before joining the
Holy Trinity – St. Sergius Lavra, where he was tonsured with the name
Lucian. In 1915 he went to the front, in 1916 fell into captivity, and in 1919
returned to Russia, where he worked as a peasant in the village of
Dneprokamenka. According to another source, however, in about 1920 he
married Alexandra Petrovna Kirtayeva from the village of Negodyayevo,
Mari republic. They had one daughter, but she died young. According to one
source, from 1923 he was serving as a reader in the church of the village of
Ernur, in 1924 was ordained to the diaconate, serving in Orshansk, and in
1925 was made hieromonk, serving in the village of Makmanur. According to
another source, however, Fr. Lucian became a priest in about 1923, and
served in the nearest church, probably that of the village of Azanovo. His
wife was the main chanter. As he said later, he married her because she had
the voice of a nightingale. According to one source, on October 25, 1927 he
was arrested and sentenced to three years’ exile. At the beginning of 1928 he
was sent to the north. Under the influence of Protopriest John Fokin, he

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joined the Catacomb Church. He in his turn influenced Protopriest

Diomedes Andrievsky to join the Catacomb Church. (However, according to
another source, Fr. Diomedes received Fr. Lucian into the Church from
sergianism by the third rite.) On September 22, 1929 he was arrested for being
“the leader of a counter-revolutionary group of clergy and believers, the
followers of Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov)”. According to the other source,
however, already in 1928 he was removed from his parish because he rejected
the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius. Then he conducted services in the
homes of believers, travelling as far as the city of Yaransk. At the beginning
of the 1930s he was offered a parish with the official church in Kazan, but he
refused. He lived in a little half-dug-out in the village of Ometyevo. Both
sources agree that on January 13, 1930 he was sentenced to three years in
camp. On being released, according to one source he went to live in Kazan,
but according to another he returned to his catacomb flock in Mari. In 1946 he
took his wife’s nephew, Eugene Georgievich Morozov, who was an orphan,
into his family. On September 25, 1946, both sources agree, he was arrested in
Kazan. According to one source, he was accused of being “a participant in an
anti-Soviet religious group”. According to the other source, however, he was
accused of “preparing an armed uprising on the arrival of the Germans in
Kazan”. On March 25, 1947, both sources agree, he was convicted of being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The True Orthodox
Church’”. In accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11, he was
sentenced to death. In one cell with him, also awaiting death, was a
prominent former communist. He said to Fr. Lucian: “It is easier for you to
die. You’re a priest, you believe in God, that after death a good lot awaits
you. It’s easier for you. I don’t believe in anything. And what kind of ‘enemy
of the people’ am I? After all, I’ve done nothing wrong before the party. I
have been unjustly condemned, and the whole of my family has now turned
away from me, because I am an ‘enemy’, and nobody even brings me parcels.
But you are a priest, you know what you’re dying for!” This communist was
so hungry that he ate all his bed linen, mixing it up with his portion of bread
and sucking it the whole day… However, Fr. Lucian was not destined to die
yet. His wife hired a woman lawyer called Vladimirova who went to
Moscow to see Stalin. As a result, on May 17 (or 25), 1947 Fr. Lucian’s
sentence was commuted to twenty-five (according to another source, ten)
years in exile. He was sent to the settlement of Vodny, near Ukhta, Komi
republic. He sat in one cell with criminals, and worked at chopping wood
together with them. Of course, the criminals occupied the best places in the
barracks, while Fr. Lucian had to sleep on the floor in the slush. Only later
did they separate the criminals from the politicals. However, the criminals
began to respect Fr. Lucian, and in time they gave him a better place… In
camp Fr. Lucian again grew his hair and beard, which had been shaved
during his investigation. On big feasts he asked the guards to let him to into
the forest to pray. They let him go, because they knew that he could not
escape – it was taiga all around. Some verses that Fr. Lucian composed in the
forest have survived to this day… In

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1954 (or 1956) Fr. Lucian was released because of illness, and he returned to
Kazan. His flock became very large. He had spiritual children in Kazan,
Yoshkar-Ola, Borovoj, Matyushino, Paratsk, Volzhsk, in the villages of Komi
republic, in Kosmodemyansk and other places. People even travelled to see
him from the Ukraine. He was a humble, loving man, and many people
sought his advice. If they followed what he told them, everything turned out
well for them. During the fasts Fr. Lucian visited flock, but he had to act in
secret, because opposite there lived a family who had been told by the
authorities to spy on the priest. They recorded all those who came and went,
and read Fr. Lucian’s mail before putting it into his box. In spite of that, many
people came to the house, where Fr. Lucian served at night, covering the
windows with blankets to stop the light showing in the street. Once a
neighbour, Eugenia Mikhailovna, saw a very bright light coming out of the
chimney during the night. She thought the house was on fire. The light came
from the stove in which Fr. Lucian baked his prosphoras… Once a spiritual
child of batyushka’s called Ivan, who worked as a lorry driver in Kazan, was
warned by him not to work on Sunday. He ignored this advice, and very
nearly had a serious accident… Fr. Lucian loved children. He would buy
sweets for them and stroke them on the head. Now these children have
grown up, and remember him to this day… Fr. Lucian died of anaemia in
Kazan on November 19, 1963. He was buried in Ars cemetery next to his
father and brother. After his death the police often visited his family. But
they did not find his church books and utensils, which were handed over to
another catacomb priest…

Nun Eudocia (Efremovna Starikova) was born in 1887 in the village of

Golovino, Orshansk uyezd, and was educated at home. Until 1921 she was in
a monastery, and was tonsured. After the closure of the monastery she lived
in the village of Tabashino and did day work. In October, 1929 she was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of clergy
and believers, the followers of Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov)”, and on January
13, 1930 she was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Arkhangelsk.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Anna (Demyanovna Kopylova) was born in the village of Lom, Mari-
Turetsky uyezd, Nizhegorod province. In 1898 she joined the Kuzhnersky
monastery and was tonsured. In 1924, after the closure of the monastery, she
sent to live in the village of Mari-Sola, working as a watchman and
prosphora-baker in the local church. On December 12, 1929 she was arrested
for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of clergy and
believers attached to the ‘Victorites’”, and on January 13, 1930 she was
sentenced to three years in the camps with confiscation of property and sent
to a camp. On June 25, 1932 she was released early and returned to Senchur
region. In the summer of 1937 she was arrested again, and on August 19 was
sentenced to death and shot.

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Nun Anna (Stepanovna (Semyonovna) Koroleva) was born in 1875 in the

village of M. Koroli, Khalturino region, Vyatka province. In 1931, while
belonging to an illegal monastery in the village of Fileika, Vyatka uyezd, she
was arrested, and on June 5 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to
three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Maria (Mokeyevna Kislitsyna) was born in 1875 in the village of

Gudiny, Khalturino region, Vyatka province. In 1931, while belonging to an
illegal monastery in the village of Fileika, Vyatka uyezd, she was arrested,
and on June 5 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’
exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Maria (Nikolayevna Tomilova) was born in 1890 in the village of

Tomilovo, Vyatka uyezd. From 1900 she lived in the Holy Transfiguration
monastery in Vyatka. In 1918 she was tonsured into the mantia. In 1923 she
visited Bishop Victor in exile, and together they celebrated the Divine
Liturgy. She was arrested in 1938 and 1947. The indictment in 1947 read: “In
the past she was a novice of Bishop Ostrovidov. After the arrest of
Ostrovidov she continued to meet him in his places of imprisonment. She
received from him, and passed on to others, written indications of how to
conduct anti-Soviet activity”. On September 7, 1938 she was arrested together
with Priest Alexander Yelchugin, and convicted of being a participant in the
anti-Soviet organization “The Vyatka Diocese of the True Orthodox Victorite
Church”. The investigation lasted for five months, but in the end the case was
shelved and the arrested released. Later, however, she was arrested again
and condemned to ten years in the camps. On November 16, 1954 she was
released and went to Kirov. She died in 1957.

Philip Ivanovich Krutikhin was born in 1874 in the village of Staraya

Pizhanka, Orshansk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. In October, 1929
he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of
clergy and believers, followers of Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov)”, and on
January 13, 1930 was sentenced to six months’ incarceration and freed from
prison. In the spring of 1935 he was arrested again and on July 25 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

Euthymius Ivanovich Gagarinov was born in 1877 in the village of Staraya

Pizhanka, Orshansk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. In October, 1929
he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of
clergy and believers, followers of Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov)”, and on
January 13, 1930 was sentenced to six months’ incarceration and freed from
prison. On January 21, 1935 he was arrested again and was sentenced to six
months in prison, but was released. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested for

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being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of True Orthodox

churchmen”, and on August 7 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. On
August 19 he was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Emelyanovich Rogozhin was born in 1867 in the village of Puyalka,

Orshansk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. He owned a creamery, for
which he was disenfranchised. In October, 1929 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary group of clergy and believers, the
followers of Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov)”, and on January 13, 1930 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Arkhangelsk. Nothing more is
known about him.

Theodore Antonovich Vasenev was born in 1882 in the village of

Pizhanka, Orshansk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. In October, 1929
he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of
clergy and believers, followers of Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov)”, and on
January 13, 1930 was sentenced to six months in prison, and was released. On
January 21, 1935 he was arrested again and sentenced to five years’ exile and
sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Mikhailovich Shabalin was born in 1870 in the village of Yershi,

Sernur uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant and a member of the church
council. On December 12, 1929 he was arrested for being “a participant in a
counter-revolutionary group of clergy and believers attached to the
‘Victorites’”, and on February 27, 1930 was sentenced to two years in the
camps conditionally. He was released. On March 22, 1939 he was arrested
again and sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

Alexis Ivanovich Otmakhov was born in 1862 in the village of

Yelembayevo, Novotoryalsk uyezd, Nizhegorod province into a peasant
family, and received an elementary education. He was a free peasant and a
member of the church council. On December 14, 1929 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist organization, the
‘Victorites’”, and on February 19, 1930 was sentenced to five years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Praskovya Gerasimovna Protasova was born in 1881 in the village of

Gusevo, Orshansk uyezd, where she lived as a housewife. In October, 1929
she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of
clergy and believers, the followers of Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov)”. On
January 13, 1930 she was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to
Arkhangelsk. Nothing more is known about her.

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Priest Gregory Dmitrievich Nikulin was born in 1897. In 1925 he was

ordained to the diaconate, and in 1929 – to the priesthood, serving in the
Xlynovsk church in Vyatka. In 1931 he was exiled to the village of Kerchema
near Ust-Kulom, and from 1934 was serving in the church of St. Elijah in the
village of Makaryevo. He had a great influence on his parishioners. In 1935 he
was arrested in a case of “participants in a group of the True Orthodox
Church”, and was called “a secret dean of the Victorite movement” and “the
spiritual father of the Victorite clergy, being authorized to do this by the
successor of Bishop Victor, Bishop Seraphim of Uglich”. He witnessed that he
was given written authorization by Vladyka Seraphim in the form of “the
right unite the Orthodox Church in Kir region, to confess priests and allow
them to serve”. During his interrogation on June 13, 1935 he witnessed that he
recognized as his spiritual leaders Metropolitans Peter of Krutitsa and Joseph
of Petrograd, and Archbishops Demetrius of Gdov and Seraphim of Uglich.
He was sentenced to five years in the camps, and was sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

Archimandrite Barsanuphius, in the world Ivan Prokopyevich Nikitin,

was born in 1878 in the village of Kuznetsovo, Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd,
Nizhegorod province into a peasant family, and went to a three-class school.
In 1900 he was called up into the army and served in the artillery in
Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. After demobilization in 1906, he became a novice in
the Myrrh-Bearers Desert. On March 21, 1909 he was tonsured and served as
ekonom. In December he was ordained to the diaconate, and in August, 1912
– to the priesthood. From March, 1917 he was serving as treasurer, and from
1920 (or 1919) – as superior of the community, from 1921 in the rank of
archimandrite. In September, 1921 his monastery was transformed into the
Myrrh-Bearers’ labour artel for the sewing of clothes. At the end of 1923 he
was arrested for “distributing religious literature and hiding church
valuables”, and on February 2, 1924 he was sentenced to six years in the
camps and sent to a camp. At the end of 1925 he was released and went to live
in Raithu desert, then in Vyatka province. In 1927 he met Bishop Victor
(Ostrovidov), who directed him to serve in the village of Letyagi, Arban
region. On March 31, 1927 Bishop Victor gave him an award. At the beginning
of 1928 Priest Ioann Mamaev, the dean of the second district, arrived in the
village, convened a meeting of the church council and read the text of
Metropolitan Sergius’ declaration and Bishop Victor’s reply to it. After a
discussion, the parish agreed to join Bishop Victor. In July, 1929 Fr.
Barsanuphius met Bishop Nectarius in Kazan, and from 1930 was serving in
the village of Karvannoye, Tuzhin region, then in the village of Tabashino,
and from November – in the village of Suvod, Sovietsky region. On March 26,
1932 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary
monarchist organization of churchmen”, and on August 14 was sentenced to
three years’ exile and was sent to Sosnovka station, on the northern railway.
From July, 1933 he was in Ustya, near Kotlas. At the end of 1933 he was

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released early because of illness, and went to live in the village of Kuznetsovo.
Then he became a wandering priest, secretly serving believers in their houses,
most often in the cell fitted out for him in the village of Selivanov in the house
of Anna Plotnikova. From 1940 he was serving in the village of Fedosikha,
Tuzhin region. On June 22, 1941 (according to another source, November,
1941) he was arrested, and on February 18, 1942 he was sentenced to two
years in the camps and sent to a camp. On September 17 he was investigated
for being “a leader of the counter-revolutionary church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on August 18, 1943 he was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to Yaransk prison. There he died
on March 22, 1944.

(Sources: L.E. Sikorskaya, Vyatksij Ispovednik: Svyatitel’ Viktor (Ostrovidov),

Moscow, 2010; Svyaschennomuchenik Dmitrij Arkhiepiskop Gdovskij,
Moscow, 2008, pp. 400-413; Priest Alexander Mazyrin,
“Svyaschennomuchenik Episkop Viktor (Ostrovidov) – kak predstavitel’
krainej oppozitsii mitropolitu Sergiu (Stragorodskomu), Pravoslavnaya Rus’,
N 10 (1823), May 15/28, 2007, pp. 3-9; “Vyshie ierarkhi o preemstve vlasti v
Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Tserkvi v 1920-1930-x godax”, Moscow, 2006, pp. 314-
315; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye,
Jordanville, 1949-57, part 1, pp. 211, 213, 214, 216, part 2, p. 230; I.M.
Andreyev, Kratkij Obzor Istorii Russkoj Tserkvi ot Revoliutsii do Nashikh
Dnej, Jordanville, 1952, pp. 65-66; Russia's Catacomb Saints, Platina, Ca.: St.
Herman of Alaska Press, 1982, pp. 141-50; Vladimir Rusak, Pir Satany,
London, Canada, 1991, p. 104; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyatejshego Patriarkha
Tikhona, Moscow, 1994, pp. 583-584, 634-35, 851-52; Anonymous, V
Obyatiyakh Semiglavago Zmiya, Montreal, 1984, pp. 47, 104; Bishop Ambrose
(von Sievers), "Istoki i svyazi Katakombnoj Tserkvi v Leningrade i obl. (1922-
1992)", report read at the conference "The Historical Path of Orthodoxy in
Russia after 1917", Saint Petersburg, 1-3 June, 1993; “Katakombnaya Tserkov’:
Kochuyushchij Sobor 1928 g.”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 3 (7), 1997, pp. 19,
29; Bishop Ambrose (von Sievers), “Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj
Katakombnoj Tserkvi 1922-1997 gg.”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4(8), 1997, p.
4; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute,
1997, vol. 1, pp. 249-250; "Noviye svyedeniya o svyashchennomuchenike
Viktore Vyatskom", Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 14 (1539), July 15/28, 1995, pp. 7-8;
Lev Regelson, Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi , 1917-1945, Moscow: Krutitskoye
patriarsheye podvorye, 1996, pp. 536, 545, 600-602; Ikh Stradaniyami
Ochistitsa Rus', Moscow, 1996, p. 64; “Izbraniye Puti”, Suzdal’skiye
Eparkhial’niye Vedomosti, N 3, January-February, 1998; I.I. Osipova, “Skvoz’
Ogn’ Muchenij i Vody Slyoz”, Moscow, 1998, p. 270; M.V. Shkarovsky,
Iosiflyanstvo, St. Petersburg, 1999, pp. 279-281; Anna Ilyinskaya, “Obreteniye
chestnykh moshchej svyashchenno-ispovednika Viktora Vyatskago”,
Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N 17 (1638), September 1/14, 1999, pp. 5-7; K.V. Glazkov,
“Tserkovnoye pochitaniye novago svyashchenno-ispovednika Viktora i
novomuchenikov v Rossii”, Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N 17 (1638), September 1/14,

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1999, pp. 5-8; Hieromartyr Victor, “Noviye Bogoslovy”, O Novykh Yeresyakh,

N 1 (11), 2000, Moscow: Pravoslavnoye Deistviye, pp. 5-14; Priest Alexander
Lipin, “Zhitie Novoispovednika Presvitera Lukiana (Vaseneva)”, Pravilo
Very, Vologda, 2008, pp. 61-67; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-
htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans;
http://catacomb.org.ua/modules.php?name=Pages&go=print_page&pid=11
85; http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/vyatka.html; http://www.histor-
ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/tatar.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/mary.html)

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12. HIEROMARTYR ANDREW, ARCHBISHOP OF UFA

and those with him

The Pastor of Souls

Archbishop Andrew, in the world Prince Alexander Alexeyevich

Ukhtomsky, was born on December 26 (according to another source,
December 28), 1872, in the village (or estate) of Vosloma, Arefinskaya (or
Arefeskaya) volost, Rybinsk uyezd, Yaroslavl province. His parents were
called Alexis and Antonina. The Ukhtomsky Byelozersk princes were a very
ancient family which traced its origins to the holy Great-Prince Vladimir
himself. The young Alexander was brought up in childhood by his nanny,
Manefa Fyodorovna, a former serf of the Ukhtomskys. She imbued him with a
love for the Church and the feeling of sincere prayer.

In 1887, on completing the fifth class of high school, Alexander at the

insistence of his parents entered the Nizhni Novgorod military school in the
name of Count Arakcheyev.

Once, when Alexander's mother was bringing him and his younger brother
home for the holidays, they met St. John of Kronstadt on a Volga steamer. The
conversation with St. John made such an impression on the brothers that they
both decided, in spite of the attempts of their mother to dissuade them, to
enter the Moscow Theological Academy. In later life, Alexander often met St.
John, corresponded with him, and often mentioned him in his sermons and
articles.

In 1891, after graduating from the Nizhni-Novgorod military school,

Alexander entered the Moscow Theological Academy. His teachers there
included E. Golubinsky, N. Subbotin, V. Klyuchevsky and N. Kapterev. The
inspector of the academy at that time was Archimandrite Sergius
(Stragorodsky), while the rector was Archimandrite Anthony (Khrapovitsky),
who became his spiritual father and with whom he maintained contact for
many years. When he was archbishop he remembered Vladyka Anthony with
gratitude, saying that "he always firmly instilled in us the attitude that the
Church must be free, that she must be ruled by Councils, and that without
Councils there can be no Church life." In 1895, Alexander Ukhtomsky wrote
his course dissertation on the theme: "The Wrath of God", for which he later
received the degree of candidate of theology.

On graduating from the academy, on November 9, 1895, he was appointed

teacher of Russian language in the Kazan theological school. On December 2,
1895, he was tonsured into the mantia by Archimandrite Anthony
(Khrapovitsky) with the name Andrew. On December 6, 1895, he was
ordained to the priesthood.

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Subsequently, in his sermon before his consecration to the episcopate,

Vladyka Andrew recalled with what fear he, a young hieromonk, had taken
upon himself this responsibility: "I have suffered awesome torments ever
since I first heard these words found in the rite for the consecration of a
bishop: 'Take this Covenant (the Body of Christ) and keep it whole and
untainted until your last breath - to Whom you must give an account at the
great and terrible Second Coming of our Lord God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.'
I thought, 'How can I preserve this great Covenant, which was entrusted to
me, the Body of Christ, if I cannot even preserve myself?' I felt then that the
Holy Mysteries of the Eucharist were, indeed, a fire burning the unworthy.

"For two whole years I found no peace, performing the Holy Mysteries in
fear and trembling on account of my unworthiness, ready to forsake that
terrible and awesome calling. But a meeting with the great Father John of
Kronstadt saved my soul from further bitterness, torment and the
prolongation of the almost sickening duel in my soul. When I asked him for
counsel on this matter, Father John said, 'Yes, we are all guilty before the Holy
Mysteries, but we must be true to our priestly calling, for we are in obedience
to the Holy Church. Weeping over our own sins, we must, however, do the
will of Christ's Church and follow the instructions of the Church which are
made known to us through our Archpastors.'

"These words of Father John were, in truth, a soothing balm for my

wounded and sinful soul which had been torn by various doubts; they made
my outlook on life whole and indicated my path in life; I began to understand
it only as the most precise fulfilment of obedience to the Church, as the most
perfect way of serving the Holy Church, the nation and people of God who
have been redeemed by the Precious Blood of Christ."

In 1897 he was appointed inspector of the Alexandrovsky missionary

seminary in the city of Ardon, Ossetia. In 1899 he was promoted to the rank of
archimandrite and appointed overseer of the Kazan missionary courses. He
soon became a popular figure for his deeds of mercy to the poor and needy
and for his asceticism. It was known that he spent his nights in prayer, using a
hard bed with no blanket or pillow for his brief rest. In the midst of his social
activity he always fasted, never eating even fish. When his wealthy admirers
presented him with crates of fresh fruit he immediately gave it away to
seminarians and children. People were astonished to see him eat only two or
three prosphoras and a few glasses of tea a day, never complaining of frailty
or loss of energy, yet his activity was enormous. When raised to the rank of
archimandrite he became abbot of the ancient Holy Transfiguration
Monastery in Kazan, ably governing it, delivered flaming sermons, founded a
convent for Tatar girls, was an excellent spiritual adviser, published a
magazine and booklets, and organized missionary conferences.

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Once in the revolutionary year of 1905 the workers of a gunpowder factory

eight miles from Kazan rose up in revolt, as a result of communist
propaganda, and killed one of the eight directors of the factory. A barrel of
explosives was blown up, breaking all the windows in the neighbouring
houses. Archimandrite Andrew immediately mounted a horse and, fearlessly
risking his life, galloped to the factory. There he mounted a high place and
silently waited for the mob to quiet down. They laughed at him, cursed,
threw handfuls of dirt and rotten apples; but he stood quietly, looking at the
mob and praying silently. The mob, seeing him fearless and peaceful,
gradually calmed down; and then Fr. Andrew began to talk. His talk was
short, but so powerful that the whole mob came to repentance, realizing what
a sin they had committed in killing an innocent man. They released the other
directors and resumed work, after accompanying Fr. Andrew with great
respect back to his monastery quarters. One who witnessed this was the
future Hieromartyr Bishop Basil of Kargopol, a deacon at the time.

It was at about this time that Fr. Andrew had a deep premonition of the
coming of new persecutions against the Orthodox. It became clear that the
only way to preserve the faith and the Church in such conditions would be
service in secret in the manner of the Catacomb Christians of Roman times.
And so, when he was ruling the Sukhumi diocese in 1911-1912, Vladyka
Andrew founded a number of secret sketes in the Caucasus mountains which
later became strongholds of True Orthodoxy.

On October 4, 1907 Fr. Andrew was consecrated Bishop of Mamadysh, the

third vicariate of the Kazan diocese in the Kazan cathedral of the
Annunciation by Archbishop Demetrius of Kazan, Bishop Nazarius (Kirillov)
of Nizhni-Novgorod and Bishop Metrophanes (Simashkevich) of Penza. This
see was specially established for missionary work among the Tatar
population.

Vladyka's spiritual daughter, Nun Tabitha, writes that when he left Kazan,
"a crowd of thousands accompanied him. His carriage headed for the steamer
quayside. The workers and soldiers unharnessed the horses from his carriage
and transported him themselves. Everyone wept... Non-Russians wept like
children as they accompanied their beloved 'batka', and they strewed their
clothes in his path..."

On July 25, 1911 he became bishop of Sukhumi, in which see he founded a

number of mountain monasteries and sketes and was an active missionary
among the indigenous, non-Russian population.

On December 22, 1913 he became bishop of Ufa and Menzelinsk. He

immediately started attracting more and more people of all ages to the
cathedral. During the services he would be completely immersed in prayer,
and was an example of a true pastor caring without ceasing for the salvation

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of souls. In 1915-16 he distributed pastoral epistles attacking the use of

tobacco by priests of the Russian Church. He was outspoken in his opposition
to the rich exploiters of the poor.

As a bishop, Vladyka continued his missionary activities among the Tatar

Moslem population. Many remembered his speeches at missionary congresses
in Moscow, Kazan and Kiev, and his brilliant, unforgettable appeals to unite
around the Church and the Tsar. Once he wrote:

"What can save us, preserve our Orthodox fatherland, and return to Holy
Rus' her former glory?

"I believe and am firmly convinced that, just as Holy Rus' grew around the
Orthodox Church, so only her native Orthodoxy can regenerate her. That is
why I await that great day in Rus' when a Council of the Russian Church will
be convened in the presence of our most meek and Christian Tsar, Nicholas
Alexandrovich... It is not a faithless gathering of self-appointed arrogant
people, not crowds of people united by nothing and hating each other, that
will point out for us new paths of public and state life, but a Council of
Church hierarchs... who come together in complete concord and love and
speak the truth to the most truth-loving of tsars with Christian firmness."

In 1916 Vladyka became president of the East Russian cultural-educational

society, and founded a journal attached to the society called “Trans-Volga
Chronicle”. He spoke out in print against Rasputing, warning the Tsar. He
welcomed the February revolution, seeing in it an opportunity to free the
Church from State control.

The Revolution and Renovationism

On April 14/27, 1917, after the Provisional Government had dissolved the
old Holy Synod, Archbishop Andrew became a member of the new Synod.
However, he did not believe that the Provisional Government had changed
the situation for the better. "The Provisional Government," he wrote,
"appointed a revolutionary Over-Procurator, but the problem of having the
Church ruled by a government official was not resolved." At the same time he
did not believe in a complete separation of Church and State. Thus in August,
1917, he sent Kerensky a long letter, in which he declared that "the separation
of the Church from the State is not frightening for the Church, but for the
State its own separation from the Church is frightening."

Following his mentor, Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Archbishop

Andrew was a fervent supporter of the restoration of the patriarchate. He
took a very active part in the elections for a patriarch in the Council of 1917-
18, at which he was a delegate, and his admirers put his name forward as one
of the candidates for the patriarchal throne.

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Archbishop Andrew considered the February and October revolutions to

be the natural result of, and just recompense for, the people's loss of faith,
whose roots he saw in the process of the destruction of Christian
consciousness in the Russian people that had taken place over the previous
200 years. And he refused to accept the superficial excuses given by many: "In
defence of the Russian people, they try to say that the people have been
confused by the Jews, or deceived by their own leaders... A bad excuse! It's a
fine people and a fine Christian religious disposition that can be confused by
any rogue that comes along!..."

Already in the spring of 1917, clashes took place between Archbishop

Andrew and the new socialist authorities. The newspaper of the Ufa social-
democrats accused him of monarchist sympathies, pointing out that the
bishop who had previously prayed fervently for the autocratic power did not
want to do this for the new revolutionary government.

However, it is clear from the bishop's articles that when, during the first
months of the revolution, the socialist movement was dominated by fairly
moderate elements, he tried to establish contacts with the movement and
even wrote about its positive sides:

"Is it possible for the parish councils to form a block with the social
revolutionaries?… This party is the closest for me of all the parties. The
Church-parish councils and the party of the social revolutionaries must form
one whole..."

But as the violence of the socialists grew, the bishop sharply changed his
attitude towards the movement. Thus in one of his sermons in the cathedral,
he said: "The socialists have taken from our original Apostolic Church her
holy teaching on the community, brotherhood and equality... and have
departed from us with this teaching."

"The socialists," wrote the bishop, "do not have enough love, and so at the
base of their theory and practice they have placed the idol of class struggle,
which on Russian soil has given 'freedom to hooliganism'."

And again: "Our homeland and the whole of our Russian people is
confused, and is now living the last weeks of its existence. One page of
Russian history has come to an end, and another, terrible one is beginning..."

In his speech before the opening of the state conference of members of the
Constitutional Assembly, which took place in Ufa in April, 1918, Archbishop
Andrew gave a clear basis to his judgements on the events that were taking
place. He referred to Biblical history, when the judges of Israel led the people
along the path of spiritual regeneration and national renewal:

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"And now," he said, "for the salvation of the fatherland we need one
particular fine, patriotic name, and an inspired leader who is powerful in
word and deed, and who could incarnate our unfortunate Homeland and
incarnate it in himself."

Vladyka Andrew welcomed the Whites; he called the White Czech soldiers
“the best representatives of the Slavic family”, and hoped for a republic on
the lines described in the Book of Judges.

On December 17, 1917, at a session of the administration of the Councils of

the Churches of Ufa, he spoke in favour of the separation of the Church from
the State. On January 20, 1918 he spoke out against the Bolshevik decree on
the separation of the Church from the State and the school from the Church.
In the autumn of 1918 he was elected Old Ritualist bishop for the
yedinovertsy of the village of Satka, Ufa province.

In the autumn of 1918 Vladyka became a member of the Siberian Conciliar

Conference, and the leader of the clergy in the third army of the White leader,
Admiral Kolchak. In November, 1919 he was elected a member of the Higher
Temporary Ecclesiastical Administration at the Siberian ecclesiascial congress
in Tomsk. Later he left Kolchak’s government.

The commander of one of Kolchak's armies, Lieutenant-General Sakharov,

wrote of Vladyka's work during this period: "His idea was simple and great.
His arguments were incontrovertible and taken from life itself. He said: '... we
must organize the people... around the best people in each village and town,
around the most honourable, moral and hardworking people. And we do not
need to go far; there are many such Russians, they are everywhere, in every
church parish - only give them the chance.'

"Archbishop Andrew often appealed to Admiral Kolchak himself with his

plan for organizing parishes throughout Eastern Russia. But he was rejected,
and sometimes even persecuted. And this in spite of the fact that the supreme
ruler himself greatly respected him.

"And so this major Russian activist and patriot failed until almost the very
end to find an application for his abilities."

Later, in 1933, Archbishop Andrew expressed his final opinion on

socialism and the revolution in the final chapter of his book, The Story of my
Old-Ritualistism, in which he wrote: "I must finish - I have used all my
material relating to the story of my old-Ritualistism. Now I consider it my
sacred duty to say firmly and openly: I am an irreconcilable enemy of
caesaropapism, and of all violence... I am not a revolutionary, for in the
revolution there is a large element of spite and vengefulness. But I well

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understand the revolution as a protest against injustice and violence... I am

not even a Christian socialist, for in so-called Christian socialism there is
something from the evil one in the form of useless human verbiage and
contradictions. Christian socialism, like social democracy is the fruit of Roman
Catholicism, just as Bolshevism is the fruit of Petersburg caesaropapism."

Although Vladyka had been on the side of the Whites, and although, in
1918, the Ufa newspaper Zavolzhskij Letopisets (№ 1, p. 8) described
Bolshevism as “an illness of the spirit, socialism of the belly, the service of
Mammon”, he renounced counter-revolution after the collapse of the White
armies. Thus in August, 1920 he promised A.G. Goikhdart of the Siberian
Revolutionary Committee that he would not undertake any open or secret
agitation against Soviet power, and that he would be completely loyal to it.

At the same time, he welcomed article 13 of the Soviet Constitution on the

separation of church and state.

On February 28, 1920 Vladyka Andrew was arrested by the Cheka in

Novonikolayevsk. On March 8 he was cast into prison in Omsk, but in
November he was released on amnesty after promising loyalty to Soviet
power. He returned to Ufa.

On February 28, 1921 Vladyka was arrested in Omsk and accused of

“giving sermons in which he called on the peasants to organize themselves
into peasant unions”, of inciting class hatred and aiding the Whites, and of
“participation in Kolchak’s Temporary Ecclesiastical Administration”. On
November 1, 1921 he was sent under convoy to Moscow, and on November 5
was imprisoned first in the inner prison of the GPU and then in the Butyrki
prison.

At the end of the year Patriarch Tikhon appointed him bishop of Tomsk.

From this time until his death, Vladyka was only rarely out of prison or
exile. Nevertheless, the people did not forget him, and many managed to see
him in prison or deliver food parcels to him; and every time he was released
and returned to his flock, it would cause a whole 'event' among the people.
The Secret Police sought to use his popularity as bait to fish out the more
fervent church people, but Bishop Andrew was so cautious and prudent in his
behaviour that these attempts always failed.

In 1922 he fell ill in prison with tuberculosis of the lungs, and on February
22 was treated in one of the private Moscow clinics before being returned to
Butyrki. On August 8, 1922 he was acquitted by the Moscow revolutionary
tribunal "because of insufficient evidence". In the same month, according to
one source, Archbishop Andrew met Patriarch Tikhon and received from him

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the blessing to elect candidates for the episcopate and arrange their
consecration in secret – if necessary, moreover, by one bishop only.

On November 14 he returned to Ufa. In the same month he, together with

Bishop Nicholas (Ipatov), consecrated a group of bishops for the main regions
of his diocese. These included Bishops Trophimus, Mark, Habbakuk and
Benjamin. Other bishops consecrated with his active participation in this
period included: Amphilochius (Skvortsov) and Benjamin (Frolov).

In May, 1922, Vladyka convened a diocesan congress, rejected

renovationism and declared the Ufa diocese to be autonomous on the basis of
the ukaz of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Agathangel, of May
18. The renovationists immediately labelled Archbishop Andrew and his
group of bishops "the Andrewite schism". Thus in an article for Vlast' Truda a
certain P. Pravdin rejected the "schismatic" bishops' right to rule their flock.
And he went on to say that Bishops Mark, Trophimus and Habbakuk "act
under the banner of Patriarch Tikhon, which prompts Soviet power to think
of arresting these bishops".

By this time there was only one Orthodox church in Ufa; all the rest were
renovationist. So serious was the situation that Archbishop Andrew once said
to the married priest Fr. Victor (Poyarkov): “You and matushka must accept
monasticism so as to save the Church!” Fr. Victor and matushka obeyed the
call, and on November 29 / December 12, 1922 Fr. John (as he was now called
in monasticism) was consecrated Bishop of Davlekanovsk, a little town near
Ufa.

In February, 1923, Vladyka Andrew was again arrested, and on February

23 was sentenced to three years’ exile in Central Asia, first, on May 3, in
Tashkent and then in Ashkhabad (Poltoratsk). At the beginning of June (or
May 24), 1923 he was arrested in Tashkent and was imprisoned for a short
time. At the end of June he was sent to Tedzhen in Turkmenia. There he
organized and led an Orthodox community. In October (November) he was
arrested in Tedzhen, and on November 5 (4), 1923 was cast into prison in
Tashkent. In April, 1924 he was in cell no. 7 of the GPU in Tedzhen. On
November 17, 1924 he arrived under OGPU convoy in Moscow. Then he was
again exiled to Tedzhen, and then to Askhabad.

The Old Ritualists

Just after the February revolution, Archbishop Andrew presided over the
All-Russian Congress of Yedinovertsy (that is, converts to Orthodoxy from
the Old Ritualists who were allowed to retain the Old Rite) in Nizhni-
Novgorod. In May, 1917, together with the future hieromartyr-bishop Joseph
(Petrovykh) and the yedinoverets Protopriest (later bishop and hieromartyr)
Simon (Sheev), he visited the Rogozhskoye monastery in Moscow, the

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spiritual centre of the Byelokrinitsky Old Ritualist hierarchy, and handed over
a letter from the Congress expressing a desire for union. However, the reply
of the Old Ritualist bishops was negative.

In January, 1919 Bishop Andrew was elected bishop of Satkinsk (Ufa

diocese) and the first-hierarch of all the Yedinovertsy.

But Vladyka’s sympathy for the Old Ritualists went further than these
early actions would suggest, and further than the opinion, which was
generally accepted in his time, that the anathemas on the Old Rite were unjust
and should be removed. Influenced by one of his teachers at the Academy,
Professor N. Kapterev, he adopted a still more “liberal” attitude towards the
Old Ritualists which has been a subject of controversy to this day. While
continuing to recognize the pre-revolutionary Church, he considered that it
had fallen into caesaropapism, or the “Niconian heresy” as he called it, and
that it was “Niconianism” that had led to the Russian revolution and to the
renovationist and sergianist submission of the Church to Soviet power. He
often referred to the Orthodox as “Niconians”, while calling the Old Ritualists
“Ancient Orthodox”, whose schism was not a schism, but precisely a protest
against this unlawful encroachment on the freedom of the Church. Therefore
Vladyka Andrew's attempted rapprochement with the Old Ritualists must be
seen in the context of the main struggle of the times - the struggle of the
Church against Soviet power and renovationist and sergianist caesaropapism.

Let us turn to Archbishop Andrew’s own account of his dealings with the
Old Ritualists: “In September, 1917 the so-called beglopopovtsi [i.e. those Old
Ritualists who accepted runaway priests from the official Russian Church, but
had no hierarchy of their own] approached me with the request that I become
their bishop. At this time I was in Moscow at the 1917 Council. I agreed in
principle, but on condition that my flock in Ufa should remain in my
jurisdiction. It was Lev Alexeyevich Molekhonov who was conducting
negotiations with me on the side of the beglopopovtsi. He assembled in
Moscow a small convention of representatives of other communities of theirs.
At this convention, after long discussions, they agreed that my union with
this group of Old Ritualists should take place in the following manner: I
would come without vestments to the church of the beglopopovtsi in Moscow
(on M. Andronievskaia street). They would meet me with the question: ‘Who
are you?’ I would reply at first that I was a bishop of the Orthodox, One,
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and them I would read the Symbol of
Faith and a lengthy confession of faith, which everyone ordained to the
episcopate would read. Then I, at the request of the beglopopovtsi, would
anoint myself with the same chrism which they in 1917 called and considered
to be patriarchal, which remained [to them] from Patriarch Joseph [(1642-
1652), the last Moscow Patriarch recognized by both the Orthodox and the
Old Ritualists]. With this my ‘rite of reception’ would come to an end.

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“My spiritual father, Archbishop Anthony of Kharkov, knew about all

these negotiations, and Patriarch Tikhon was informed about everything.
They approved my intentions.

“Thus from both sides everything was measured, calculated, thought out
and humanly speaking worked out in a manner completely acceptable for all.
After this I went to Ufa.

“But then the events of 1918 and 1919 took place. The beglopopovtsi lost
me for a long time. I was in Siberia and then in a difficult incarceration… But
in 1925, when I was in exile in Askhabad, the beglopopovets Archimandrite
Clement came to me and began to ask me again that I should become bishop
for the beglopopovtsi…

“I agreed to do everything that I had promised to L.A. Molekhonov…

Moreover, I agreed to become bishop for the beglopopovtsi only on condition
that Archimandrite Clement should himself receive consecration to the
episcopate and would become de facto an active bishop, for I myself was
chained to Askhabad or some other place for a long time.

“Clement accepted all my conditions and on August 28, 1925 we for the
first time prayed together with him to God in a truly Orthodox, that is, not
caesaro-papist church [!!!]; I on my side had fulfilled everything that I had
been blessed to do by Patriarch Tikhon. On September 3, 1925 I (together with
Bishop Rufinus) consecrated Clement to the episcopate, giving him the
authority to be my deputy, as it were, as long as I did not enjoy freedom of
movement…

“After this we parted on the same day of September 3.

“But soon I received news from Bishop Clement that the beglopopovtsi
recognised neither me nor him as their bishops and that he, Clement, had
been received in his existing rank into the number of the bishops of the
Belokrinnitsky hierarchy.”

It appears that the beglopopovtsi did not recognize Archbishop Andrew

because “1) the chrismation was carried out incorrectly, and 2) although he
renounced heresies and promised ‘to preserve myself from heresies’, he again
fell into heresy, continuing to be in communion with the Niconians.”

According to a letter of Metropolitan Sergius, Archbishop Andrew denied

any chrismation: “he was anointed only, he says, as a sign of joy, like the
anointing with oil during the All-Night Vigil”. Bishop Seraphim (Trophimov),
in a letter to an Andrewite community in Birsk, wrote: “Bishop Andrew is
trying to assure all good people that he did not leave the Church, did not
renounce it, and calls himself as before an Orthodox bishop.”

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On October 31, 1925 Bishop Clement was received through repentance by

Archbishop Meletius of the “Belokrinitskaya” hierarchy.

The renovationist Vestnik Svysashchennago Synoda reported: "According

to the report of Archimandrite Clement, Bishop Andrew did not agree to the
second rite (i.e. chrismation) for a long time, and agreed only after sustained
discussions with, or demands from Clement, based on the 95th canon of the
Sixth Ecumenical Council (which orders that heretics should be united to
Orthodoxy only through chrismation).

"Archbishop Andrew said the following to Clement before the chrismation:

'It is not your hand that is being laid upon me, but the hand of that patriarch
who consecrated your ancient chrism: when you read the proclamation, and
when I recite the heresies and confession of faith before chrismation, then I
immediately become your bishop and can commune with you. But since I am
your bishop, that means that a priest cannot anoint a bishop.'

"After this, Archbishop Andrew anointed himself with the Old Ritualist
chrism [more exactly: the chrism consecrated by the Orthodox Patriarch
Joseph] and read out the following confession of faith: 'I, Bishop Andrew, of
the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, who was consecrated to the
rank of bishop on October 4, 1907 in front of the holy relics of the Kazan
hierarchs Gurias and Barsanuphius and on the day of their commemoration,
and who am now suffering persecution from the ruling hierarchy for the
freedom of the Church of Christ, confess before the Holy Church that
Patriarch Nicon in his wisdom disrupted the life and love of the Catholic
Church, thereby laying the beginnings of the schism in the Russian Church.
On the basis of Patriarch Nicon's mistake was established that caesaropapism
which has, since the time of Patriarch Nicon, undermined all the roots of
Russian Church life and was finally expressed in the formation of the so-
called 'Living Church', which is at present the ruling hierarchy and which has
transgressed all the church canons... But I, although I am a sinful and
unworthy bishop, by the mercy of God ascribe myself to no ruling hierarchy
and have always remembered the command of the holy Apostle Peter:
'Pasture the flock of God without lording it over God's inheritance'."

Hearing about the events in Ashkhabad, Metropolitan Peter, the locum

tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, supposedly banned Archbishop Andrew
from serving, although a later search in the Synodal offices revealed no such
decree, as witnessed by a “Spravka” by the Chancellor of the Patriarchal
Synod, Archbishop Pitirim of Dmitrov on October 27, 1927 (№ 1799).
However, Archbishop Andrew was not inclined to obey such a decree,
whether genuine or not; for he considered Metropolitan Peter to be “an
autocrat in clerical guise” who had ascended the ecclesiastical ladder by
means of an intrigue, and the whole system of the succession of power in the

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Church by means of secret wills to be uncanonical – more precisely, contrary

rd
to the 23 Canon of the Council of Antioch. Thus he continued to “ascribe
myself to no ruling hierarchy”, and to rule the Ufa diocese on an autonomous
basis until the convening of a Council of the whole Russian Church,
consecrating no less than 40 bishops for the Catacomb Church – about 30
already by the beginning of 1927.

As regards the supposed ban on Archbishop Andrew by Metropolitan

Peter, we must conclude either, if we are to believe Metropolitan Sergius, that
"it may have been lost on the road", or, much more likely, that it never
existed. Unfortunately, however, this supposed ban by Metropolitan Peter
caused him to be distrusted for a time by Archbishop Andrew. But this
distrust did not last, as we shall see…

On April 26 (according to another source, July), 1926, Metropolitan Peter’s

deputy, Metropolitan Sergius, renewed the attack on Archbishop Andrew,
and banned him from serving. He said that he “was subjected to ban by the
patriarchal locum tenens [Metropolitan Peter] for communion with the
beglopopovtsi and for receiving chrismation from them, and for unlawful
ordinations”. However, even if we assume that the charges against him were
justified, this ban was invalid, since it transgressed the 74th Apostolic canon.
According to this, a bishop must be first be summoned to trial by bishops,
and if he does not obey, he must be summoned again through two bishops
who are sent to bring him, and then a third time through two bishops, and
only when he does not appear the third time will the Council pronounce its
decisions about him. In the case of Archbishop Andrew, he was not only not
invited to a trial, but the sentence against him was passed, not by a Council,
but by a single bishop like himself. From this it follows that his ban was
invalid.

Archbishop Andrew wrote: “This Sergius, knowing that I was in Ufa,

wrote to my flock a letter, filled with slander against me, as if I had fallen
away from Orthodoxy, as if I by the second rite had united myself to the
beglopopovtsi, etc. I had no difficulty in proving that this was a lie and that
the deputy of the locum tenens was simply a liar!…

“And so Metropolitan Sergius slandered me, traveling along this well-

trodden path of slander and lies. But in Ufa amidst the ‘Niconians’ there were
some thinking people and they did not believe Sergius’ slander, as they did
not believe Peter’s. Moreover, two things took place which served to help me
personally and help the Church in general.

“At that time I had two vicar-bishops with me – Anthony [Milovidov, of

Ust-Katavsky] and Pitirim [of Nizhegorod, later Schema-Bishop Peter
(Ladygin)]. Both of them wanted to check out everything that related to me in
the matter of the reunion with Old Ritualism. Anthony set off to check things

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out in Moscow, obtained the trust of people in the chancellery of the

Patriarchal Synod and personally got into the Synodal archive, so as to study
the documents relating to me.

“You can imagine his surprise when in the spring of 1927 he became
convinced that there were absolutely no documents about me in the Synodal
archives, neither about my ‘departure into schism’, nor about my ‘ban’, etc.
He asked in the Synod what this meant, and received the exceptionally
characteristic reply: ‘Metropolitan Peter was probably only wanting to
frighten Bishop Andrew’!…

“Bishop Pitirim, a 70-year-old monk who used to be on Old Athos, a clever

man, although unlettered, went not to the sergianist Synod, which he did not
recognize, but to Yaroslavl to Metropolitan Agathangelus, so as to tell him
everything concerning Church life in Ufa in detail and to hear his opinion.
Metropolitan Agathangel heard Bishop Pitirim out very attentively for several
hours (two days) and told my vicar-bishop Pitirim (whom I had consecrated
to the episcopate during my first exile in Tedzhen in June, 1925), that he
should not be upset, that my ecclesiastical behaviour was irreproachable and
that only in the interests of ecclesiastical peace he, Metropolitan Agathangel,
advised me not to carry out any hierarchical consecrations but in the interests
of the enlightenment of the flock in Ufa and other faithful sons of the Church,
he, Metropolitan Agathangel, advised me to present my whole ‘case’ before
the judgement of the nearest – at least three – bishops.

“’But this is only my advice, and it will be clearer how to act on the spot,”
said Metropolitan Agathangel to Bishop Pitirim.

“Bishop Pitirim, on returning to Ufa, told me about all this, and Bishop
Habbakuk of Old Ufa decided immediately to carry out the advice of
Metropolitan Agathangel and on February 3, 1927 he invited Bishop Pitirim
and Anthony to a convention in Ufa, while he asked me for all the materials
that would explain my ecclesiastical behaviour.

“On February 3, 1927 these three bishops issued under their signatures an
‘Act with regard to the Affair of Archbishop Andrew’, in which they laid out
the circumstances of the affair and came to the conclusion that I had not
‘departed’ anywhere, and that Metropolitan Sergius’ slander was in essence a
light-minded and shameful intrusion into a holy affair.”

Vladyka Andrew's own view of his episcopal authority is contained in his

reply to the Address of the clergy-lay assembly of March 26, 1926: "I remain a
bishop for those who recognize me as their bishop, who fed me for the six
years I was in prison, and who need me. I don't impose my episcopate on
anyone."

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Archbishop Andrew returned from exile to Ufa at the end of 1926, and
according to eyewitnesses, the people visited their Vladyka in unending
streams. However, the Ufa clergy led by the newly appointed Bishop John
met him with hostility and coldness. As one of his parishioners wrote in her
diary: "The people search him out and revere him, and all the parishioners of
various churches invite him to them, while the clergy does not accept him.
There are many rumours, and no one knows what to believe...” Bishop
Andrew took up his residence in the workers' quarter on Samara street not far
from the Simeonov church. He served in the Simeonov church, and in such a
way, according to another eyewitness, that "we ascended to heaven and did
not want to come down."

On June 13, 1927 Archbishop Andrew was summoned by the OGPU to

Moscow, where he was arrested and on July 8 condemned to three years in
exile and was sent to Kzyl-Orda in Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, from October 3-6, 1927 a large diocesan Congress took place in
the Simeonov church in Ufa with the participation of Bishops Clement
(Longinov), Habbakuk (Borovkov), Rufinus (Brekhov) and other
“Andrewites”, at which the “Act” was approved, Archbishop Andrew
vindicated “as their true Ufa archpastor" and Metropolitan Sergius accused of
lying. After interrogating Bishop Clement and Nun Theva, the Congress
declared that: (1) there had been no transfer of an Orthodox community and
church to Old Ritualism, (2) there had been no re-sanctification of the church,
(3) Archbishop Andrew had not confessed with the beglopopovets Clement,
but had confessed with Abbot Matthew, (4) Clement had also confessed with
Abbot Matthew, and (5) Vladyka Andrew had not been received by the
beglopopovtsi by any rite, and Clement had not chrismated him. The reunion
had taken place, not according to a beglopopovtsi rite, but according to a rite
specially composed by Vladyka Andrew and approved already in 1917 by
Patriarch Tikhon. The Congress confirmed Vladyka Andrew as their ruling
archpastor, and Bishop Habbakuk as his deputy in his absence.

At the same Congress a decision was made about reunion with the Old
Ritualists of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy. Representatives of these Old
Ritualists were present at the Congress and suggested reunion. A special
commission was formed to work out the bases for the reunion, a project of
reconciliation was drawn up, which was to be confirmed at a future Council
of both sides.

However, Archbishop Andrew’s relations with the Old Ritualists did not
end there. From 1928 to 1931 he was in prison, and on his release in October,
1931, he began to visit the Rogozhskoye cemetery again. He concluded “that I
am for them not a stranger, but their own, and I am for them not a hostile and
harmful ‘Niconian’, but a true bishop of the One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church”. It seems that he then entered into communion with

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Archbishop Meletius (Kartushin) of Moscow, the first-hierarch of the

Belokrinitsky hierarchy, and together with him consecrated a secret bishop,
Basil Guslinsky.

Soon, however, on April 14 he was arrested in Moscow in connection with

the affair of Bishop Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), and on July 7 was exiled to Alma-
Ata in Kazakhstan. At about this time, on April 1, Old Ritualist priests sent
him the Holy Gifts and an omophorion. Archbishop Andrew now considered
himself to be in full communion with Archbishop Meletius “in the holy
ecclesiastical dogmas, and in prayer, and in ecclesiastical discipline (that is, in
the holy rites)”. At the same time, he rejected the idea that he had
“transferred” to the Belokrinitsky hierarchy, and insisted on remaining
Bishop of Ufa, retaining “full freedom of Church action, rousing the
suspicions of nobody”. Archbishop Meletius appears to have accepted this
condition.

In reviewing the relations between Archbishop Andrew and the Old

Ritualists, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the Old Ritualists used the
good intentions and missionary zeal of the holy bishop to deceive him into
making errors that have cast a shadow over his reputation both then and to
the present day. He considered that, as a result of his actions, “the schism, as a
schism, has ideologically speaking come to an end”. But he was tricked by the
beglopopovtsi, who rejected both him and the bishop he had consecrated for
them, Clement. And there was not then, and has not been since then, any
union between the Orthodox Church and the Old Ritualists of the
Belokrinitsky hierarchy. Nor can there be, since the Belokrinitsky hierarchy,
as the “Andrewites” themselves admit, followed the sergianists in becoming a
tool of Soviet propaganda.

In striving, like the Apostle Paul, to be "all things to all men", Archbishop
Andrew sometimes expressed extreme statements concerning Patriarch Nicon
and the pre-revolutionary Church which have not been generally accepted by
the Russian Orthodox Church (or even, paradoxically, by his spiritual father,
Metropolitan Anthony, who considered Patriarch Nicon to be an uncanonized
saint). This gave the opportunity to lesser, evil-intentioned men, such as
Metropolitan Sergius, to cast doubt on Archbishop Andrew's Orthodoxy. But
in fact Vladyka maintained his good confession, as we shall see, was later
accepted into communion by Metropolitan Joseph, the leader of the Catacomb
Church, and finally gave his life in martyrdom for Christ...

Sergianism

On June 13, 1927, as we have seen, Archbishop Andrew was summoned to

Moscow and arrested. On July 8 he was exiled to the town of Kyzyl-Orda in
Kazakhstan. There he continued to tonsure monastics and ordain priests. And
from there he continued to instruct his flock by means of letters, sermons and

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theoretical treatises, which were all transcribed by his numerous co-workers

and distributed throughout Bashkiria. On July 29, 1927, Metropolitan Sergius
issued his infamous declaration. Archbishop Andrew’s response was
unambiguous. Already at a meeting of deans in Ufa in 1926 he had called
Sergius “a man of great capacities, capable of every kind of compromise. He
was a Rasputinite with the Rasputinites – without the hint of a protest – for a
whole 14 years. In 1922 he became a livingchurchman with the
livingchurchmen, shamelessly recognizing the HCA and betraying Patriarch
Tikhon – he recognized the thief Barabbas.” In another place Sergius is called
“a liar”, and his declaration “a real quintessence of Niconian caesaropapist
boorishness, which… by the depth of its anti-Churchness and treachery is
something of outstanding and unheard-of scandalousness.”

On November 8, 1927 Archbishop Andrew issued a “Circular Epistle”

called “On the Joys of Metropolitan Sergius” against Metropolitan Sergius,
which had a considerable influence, especially in the Vyatka diocese, where
Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov) separated from Sergius.

According to one source, Vladyka Andrew signed the acts of the so-called
“Nomadic Council” of the Catacomb Church through his vicar, Bishop Job.
This Council anathematised the sergianists. And during the time of this
Council, on June 18, 1928, he wrote the following "Epistle to the brethren":
"Yes, we are all living through a fearful, terrible time, when lies and deceit
rule and celebrate their triumph on the earth. The breath of the Antichrist can
be felt in every corner of our life. Even Metropolitan Peter did not escape this
breath of the Antichrist. But later he repented and now he is in a distant exile.
As for the renovationists and Metropolitan Sergius, they have completely
bowed down to that beast of which the holy book of the Revelation of John
the Theologian speaks. Read the thirteenth chapter. Both the renovationists
and Metropolitan Sergius are carrying out only the will of the atheists. And
they do not hide this from anyone, but even write about it in their
'Declarations'. That is why every true son of the Church must flee from these
betrayers of Christ without looking back; and all true children of the Church
must give their parish communities foundations that are free and
independent of the hierarch betrayers of Christ. There is no doubt that the
hierarchs who have submitted to Metropolitan Sergius have all renounced the
people of the Church and are serving the atheists and are only corrupting the
believing people. That is why it is necessary to carry out the command from
the Revelation of John the Theologian: 'Come out from her, My people, so that
you may not participate in her sins and not be subjected to her plagues' (Rev.
18.4). It is necessary that all parish priests should be elected and not
appointed. It is necessary that all priests should give their signatures to the
parish councils that they will do nothing without the knowledge of the parish
council. It is necessary that bishops, too, should be elected by the people for
their pious life, and not drunkards or betrayers of Christ whom the
renovationists have appointed."

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On October 17, 1928 Archbishop Andrew was arrested again in Kyzyl-

Orda for anti-Soviet agitation with Maria Dmitrievna Gerasimova (who was
sentenced to six months in prison). He was taken to Moscow and cast into
Butyrki prison. On January 18, 1929 he was sent into solitary confinement for
three years in cell no. 23 of Yaroslavl prison.

On February 15, 1930 Metropolitan Sergius gave his notorious interview

for TASS, in which he denied that there was persecution against religion in
the USSR and equated the Church confessors with common criminals,
Archbishop Andrew wrote: “This interview morally oppressed all of us
arrested churchmen. I draw the attention of the reader: the ‘interview’ was
not with the patriarch, and not with his locum tenens, but with the deputy of
the locum tenens and ‘his (!!) Synod’, that is, simply a warm company of
Sergius’ friends… But where was the patriarch? Where, at any rate, was his
locum tenens? Cain, Cain, where is your brother?”

Then, after citing the question and answer at the interview, Vladyka wrote:
"Such is the opinion of the false head of the false patriarchal church
Metropolitan Sergius. Who, after all this, can recognize him as their head? For
whom will this false head remain as such, in spite of his betrayal of Christ?
Imagine, readers - they recognize him, many recognize him!… They curse
him, but recognize him as their 'canonical' head. As if it were better to sit in
hell with such a canonical head than without any head at all... But tell me,
reader, is it possible to consider this company of hierarchs, these universal
deceivers, as followers of Christ? - It goes without saying: no and no! All the
followers of the lying Metropolitan Sergius are themselves filled to
overflowing with lies and cunning and have fallen away from the truth of
Christ - they have fallen away from the Church of Christ. The Holy Catholic
and Apostolic Church is in some other place, but not with Metropolitan
Sergius and not with his 'Synod'. Let the reader himself search where she is...
It is not so difficult to find her. But one can firmly say that Metropolitan
Sergius has convincingly demonstrated that the Synodal government of the
Church did not give, and could not give her anything but harm. Sergius has
dug a deep grave for this kind of Church government. The Holy Church will
recall the sins of Sergius and his co-strugglers with horror, placing his name
next to the names of the ecumenical false-patriarchs - Nestorius, Dioscurus
and the other terrible traitors against Orthodoxy. When the hierarch
Athanasius of Alexandria was expelled from his see by an heretical emperor,
then, of course, hierarchs were found who readily carried out all the unlawful
commands of the tsar. These hierarchs were called by St. Athanasius, not
episkopoi [bishops], but kataskopoi (i.e. the emperor’s spies) deprived of all
the gifts of grace. Such are our contemporary kataskopoi; they are destroyers
of the churches of God and of Church life in general. Such is Metropolitan
Sergius."

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On October 2, 1931, Archbishop Andrew's three-year term in Yaroslavl

came to an end, but he was not allowed to go to Bashkiria or Siberia and had
to stay in one place for three years. He was sent to Moscow, where there were
at that time only four parishes which rejected sergianism. Archbishop
Andrew visited the Nikolsky church in Podkopayevsky pereulka on October
8, prayed there and confessed and received absolution from a certain
Hieromonk Gregory. But soon, from fear of Metropolitan Sergius, they asked
him to leave that church, too.

On April 14, 1932 Archbishop Andrew was again arrested for being “a
participant in the Moscow branch of the True Orthodox Church” and cast into
Butyrki prison.

We have the following account of a fellow-prisoner: "In May, 1932, I was

transferred from the inner prison of the GPU to the hospital of the isolation
wing, scurvy ward, of Butyrki prison. Within two days Bishop Andrew of
Ufa… was transferred from the venereal ward to this ward. Before this
transfer, Bishop Andrew had been kept from February, 1932 to May 1st in the
inner prison of the GPU in solitary confinement, and then for four days he
had been kept - supposedly because there was no other place - in the second
ward of the Butyrki prison, the ward of the psychologically ill; then for
several days he had been kept in the fifth (venereal) ward, and finally he was
transferred to the fourth (scurvy) ward, since in fact he was ill of scurvy. In
1919 I had been with Bishop Andrew in the Omsk prison. But now he was
unrecognizable; only a little hair remained on his head and face, almost all of
it having fallen out as a result of scurvy; he had become completely grey,
decrepit, so thin that he could not be recognized; but he was still as ever
humble, encouraging, good, responsive. At the present time he was accused
of organizing Orthodox communities [i.e. of the Catacomb Church], which
was against Soviet law, and of agitation and propaganda against Bolshevism.
During the evenings in the prison Vladyka Andrew would usually hold
everyone's attention with his stories, and it should be said that he had such an
effect on the prisoners around him that even the criminals, disgraced
communists and others never dared to swear and curse in his presence.
Bishop Andrew reacted actively and openly to all the injustices in prison (for
which he was often deprived of parcels which had been sent him by friends
outside). Bishop Andrew referred to the chief priest of Soviet Russia, the head
of the Moscow Orthodox Church, as a betrayer of Christ. He responded
calmly and in a philosophically reserved way to prison, banishment and other
misfortunes. And he suffered more for those around him than for himself. He
had an encouraging influence on his fellow prisoners. Large parcels would be
sent him as the local residents quickly found out from the prison personnel
concerning his arrival at a place of imprisonment. The parcels were not
always given to him, but those he received he shared with those who had
none."

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On July 7, 1932 Archbishop Andrew was exiled for three years to Alma-
Ata, from where he conducted an extensive correspondence with his co-
workers and admirers both in Ufa and throughout Russia. There, according to
one source, he met Metropolitan Joseph, and they consecrated a bishop,
Nicetas, together. According to the memoirs of the priest Alexander
Bogoslovsky, which are preserved in the archive of Protopriest Valery
Mokhov of the church of the Kazan Mother of God in Ufa, in Alma-Ata
"Archbishop Andrew received endless parcels, which he distributed. There
were some criminals there, and they also received of his largesse - they adored
him. He was put in charge of the warehouses, but in a childlike manner he
attached no importance to material values and so he was given another job as
a sweeper." Another witness records that "Vladyka Andrew reacted in a lively
and open fashion to all the injustices that took place in prison, for which the
bosses did not love him, but feared him. He prayed a great deal. He entered
into arguments with the atheists and always left them in a derisory position,
for which he was often deprived of parcels."

At the beginning of January, 1934 Vladyka was transferred to Suzak, which

was 120 kilometres from a railway station in Turkestan.

On October 4, 1932 he wrote: “After Peter, Metropolitan Sergius took his

place, having obtained it in a completely anti-canonical manner. This
administration of Metropolitan Sergius can be characterised in the words:
hypocrisy and cynical dishonour. Whereas the Lord Himself demands from His
followers, first of all, that they should avoid the leaven of the Pharisees (Luke
12.1) and the leaven of Herod (Mark 8.15), while honourableness is considered
the elementary virtue of every citizen and a still more necessary virtue for a
bishop (I Timothy 3.2). The same leaven of Herod has forced Metropolitan
th
Sergius and all those communicating with him to violate the 30 Apostolic
rd
Canon, the 3 Canon of the Seventh Ecumenical Council and very many others.
In general the sins of Sergius and his dishonourable Synod are evident and all in
all can be called ‘the dishonourable heresy of the slanderers of Christianity’ (The
Seventh Ecumenical Council, canon 7). This heresy is more evil that the heresy of
slandering the holy icons (iconoclasm). It is a new union with unbelief, bound up
with the establishment of completely antiecclesiastical kataskopoi. It is a hidden
form of Arianism – a political… In view of the aforesaid, from July, 1927 I was
forced (forced precisely by Metropolitan Sergius and his unrighteousnesses) to
depart completely from these hierarchs, who do not want to be servitors of the
Church, as the Apostle Paul commanded (Colossians 1.25), but wish only to lord
it over God’s inheritance, which the Apostle Paul so decisively forbade (I
Timothy 5.3). I consider that there can be no concord between Christ and Beliar,
between the faithful and the unfaithful (II Corinthians 2.16). And yet it is on this
that all the ‘Niconian’ hierarchs, without distinction of groupings, establish this
sinful agreement and wish to set up the Church, and not on the Cross of Christ.
Besides, they consider that they, that is, the hierarchs, are the Church, in spite

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of the teaching of the Apostle Paul (II Corinthians 5.4). But I consider that the
holy Church is constituted by all the Ritualists, all the sons of God through
faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3.26), the whole people of God, the living
stones from which the spiritual house is being built (I Peter 2.5), the Body of
Christ (I Corinthians 12.27; Hebrews 1.23).”

The Simeonovsky Church

In 1929-30 there many arrests of the active members of the Simeonovsky

parish, including the members of the sisterhood attached to the church: Olga
Yakina, Nina Filimonova, Nelli Solovyova, Olga Antipina, Niura Vasilieva
– no less than fifteen in all. These young women were sentenced to
administrative exile in Kazan and Central Asia for periods of up to 3 years.
Not one of them renounced Archbishop Andrew or their religious convictions
under interrogation.

Nun Anna (Gavrilovna Vasilyeva) was born in Ufa in 1899. In the

sisterhood she would make copies of Archbishop Andrew’s sermons with
copying paper and sell them at the door of the church on Sundays. With the
money she gained from this she bought food and prepared meals for the poor
in the trapeze attached to the church. . She was arrested in Ufa in 1928 and
sent to prison in Kazan. On February 2, 1932 she was arrested and cast into
the central labour correctional facility of Bashkiria. On April 13 she was
condemned by the OGPU and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and
58-11 to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. She was in Alma-Ata (or Tashkent)
at the same time as Archbishop Andrew. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Valentina (Petrovna Chalkina) was born on January 28, 1902 in Ufa.
She finished three courses at a pedagogical institute and two courses at an
institute in Petrograd. Then she worked as a physics teacher. She was arrested
for the first time in Ufa in August, 1923 for “counter-revolutionary church
activity”, but was released in December of the same year. She was again
arrested for a short time in 1925. In 1926 she got to know Archbishop Andrew,
who appointed her as a catechist in the Simeonovsky church. She also
distributed his appeals. In October, 1927 she was a participant in the Ufa
Congress of Oldchurchmen. On November 11 she was arrested together with
Bishop Habbakuk (Borovkov), his sister and two parishioners (and three
others, according to another source). They were all condemned for anti-Soviet
activity according to article 58-11, part 1. Mother Valentina was given three
years corrective labour in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-
11 part 1. On August 1, 1937 she was again arrested. The certificate for her
arrest stated that, “being an active participant in the counter-revolutionary
fascist-monarchist organization of Andrewite Churchmen, she moved from
the sect of the Baptists to the followers of Bishop Andrew and carried out the
duties of his personal secretary. After the exile of Bishop Andrew she carried
out the functions of a communications centre through whom links with
Bishop Andrew were maintained, his counter-revolutionary instructions were

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passed on to his followers and illegal religious communities were formed

from people dissatisfied with Soviet power”. On November 21 she was
convicted by a troika of the NKVD for being “an active participant in the
counter-revolutionary, rebellious organization of church people ‘The Union of
Free Christian Communities’, aiming to prepare an armed uprising against
Soviet power”. The prosecutor’s conclusion said that she, “being a participant
in a counter-revolutionary organization, conducted active work in convening
a Congress of participants in the organization in Ufa, at which a declaration
was accepted including a whole series of political demands of a counter-
revolutionary character, in which she played the role of secretary. At the
orders of the leader of the organization, the former Prince Ukhtomsky, she
conducted propaganda, spoke out with counter-revolutionary agitation and
preached first among the Baptists, and then among the Old Ritualists, the idea
of their union with the counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen…”
Some senior clergy were also indicted in this, “The Case of the Ufa
Churchmen, Ufa, 1937”, but only Matushka Valentina received the maximum
sentence of ten years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11.
On November 29 she was sent from the city prison in Ufa to Karlag in
Kazakhstan. While in camp she was tonsured into monasticism. In 1939
Matushka Valentina’s grandmother appealed for a review of her case, writing
that “my granddaughter has her individual Christian convictions, she has
never belonged to a single contemporary Church group and does not want to
belong to one. But I suppose that her Christian convictions could not be
counted as a political crime or serve as a reason for her being condemned a
second time…” On July 31, 1947 she finished her sentence and went to
Serdobsk in Penza province, where on January 13, 1949 she was again
arrested and imprisoned. The indictment state that, being an active
participant in a counter-revolutionary insurgent organization of churchmen,
she conducted hostile work against the communist party and the Soviet
State”. In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 she was convicted of
“belonging to an anti-Soviet insurgent organization of Churchmen”. She was
exiled to Krasnoyarsk region, where she lived until 1954 and perhaps longer.
In 1960 she was living in Ufa and working in a park.

Olga Petrovna Romodanovskaya (Yakina) was born in 1911 in Ufa into the
family of a doctor. After the activities of the sisterhood were cut off by the
authorities in 1928, she was not arrested because she was still a minor.
However, in May, 1930 she was arrested after the chance finding in her flat of
the archive of Bishop Habbakuk of Old Ufa. During interrogations she refused
to name any of the people to whom the manuscripts belonged. She admitted
that after the arrest of members of the sisterhood she had continued her
“counter-revolutionary activity” for eighteen months. When asked whether
she was intending to continue it now, if she were put on trial, she replied that
she would never give up this activity, on the contrary she would strive to
develop it still more intensely. She was condemned for preparing and
distributing anti-Soviet literature, and sentenced in accordance with

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article 58-10 to three years’ exile in Tashkent. During her exile, she went
illegally from Tashkent to Alma-Ata, where Archbishop Andrew was in exile.

Nina Filonova was a spiritual daughter of Archbishop Andrew, and took

an active part in the work of the sisterhood. She was arrested in Ufa in 1928
and sent to prison in Kazan. She was condemned according to article 58-10
and sentenced to three years’ exile.

Anastasia Alexandrovna Yevgraphova was born in 1890 and lived in Ufa,

serving Archbishop Andrew and suffering many privations. In 1928 she was
arrested and condemned for anti-Soviet activity. She was exiled to Kazan. In
1933 she was again arrested for keeping and distributing Church literature
and conducting anti-Soviet agitation. However, the prosecutors did not
succeed in proving her guilt, and she was not sentenced, although the
following was preserved in the records of the case: “She sent a parcel to
Ukhtomsky by post in time for the feast of Pascha. In about the month of
April on her initiative a large parcel with food and various things was
collected for [Bishop] Benjamin Troitsky in the town of Melekess, which she
wanted to send with Nikolskaya and Artemyeva, but the latter were detained
at the station by the GPU. But Yevgraphova was somehow able to escape and
take all the letters addressed to Benjamin with her.” A. Yevgraphova was
arrested for the third time in 1937 and condemned. Her fate is unknown.

Many of the parishioners of the Simeonovsky church, whose numbers

reached several hundred people, were subjected to repressions in 1928-31. But
many suffered after the closure of the church in the middle of the 1930s.

It is amazing that, in spite of the repressions that had begun and the ever-
increasing pressure of the authorities, Church life in the Simeonovsky parish
not only did not cease, but even became still more lively. The protocols of the
general meeting of the parish on 26 May, 1929, which expressed complete
trust in Bishop Benjamin, indicate that 238 people were present at the
meeting. The list of parishioners on March 29, 1931 numbered 663 people.
Moreover, this list contained detailed information, addresses, etc.

The boldness of the parishioners compelled the NKVD to register the

parish and allow it to function. When there were so many people, the
authorities could not immediately decide to close it, although it represented
for them a counter-revolutionary centre. Although the closure of the church
was planned for the end of 1928, the parishioners succeeded in putting this off
in 1929. When, at the beginning of 1929, information about the planned
closure appeared in the newspapers, a huge crowd of about 500 people,
moved towards the building of the city council demanding that the
Simeonovsky church not be closed. At Bishop Benjamin’s summons, the
parishioners prayed fervently in the church and kept a three-day fast, as is the
custom in Rus’ in time of great woes.

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In May, 1930 the parish asked to be registered in accordance with the new
laws, and the NKVD of Bashkiria found it difficult to refuse them. On
September 3, 1931, the authorities decreed the closure of the church, and
Bishop Benjamin had already been arrested together with the warden of the
church, Olga Vonifatievna Vinokurova, and many nuns and active
members of the parish. But the protests were so strong that it was only in
1932 that the authorities managed to close the church on the basis of a decree
of June 10, 1932. After this, the remaining “Andrewites” entered the
catacombs, although a large open parish existed in Sterlitamak under Bishop
Rufinus until 1935.

Martyrdom

In March, 1934 Archbishop Andrew was arrested in Alma-Ata and taken to

the Butyrki prison in Moscow. There, on May 14, he was condemned in
accordance with article 58-10 to three years in the political isolator in
Yaroslavl. On March 27, 1937 he was sentenced to another three years in a
camp in the region of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region, without right of
correspondence, for creating an illegal counter-revolutionary organization
and struggling against Soviet power. On the back of this paper Archbishop
Andrew wrote: “I bitterly deplore Soviet justice and to this day I affirm that I
have undertaken no counter-revolutionary activity. April 9, 1937.
Ukhtomsky.”

A prison report dated August 22, 1937 says that “during walks on feasts
like Christmas and Pascha, he congratulated everyone and called on all the
prisoners to celebrate the great feasts”. And then one of his fellow-prisoners is
named as “Novoselov” – that is, the Catacomb Hieromartyr Bishop Mark
(Novoselov).

Finally another report from Yaroslavl prison states that on September 3,

1937 Archbishop Andrew was sentenced to be shot, which sentence was
carried out on the following day…

Schema-Monk Epiphany (Chernov) writes: "Before the shooting the

archbishop asked for permission to pray. The executioners gave the
condemned man a few minutes. Vladyka fell on his knees. And it was as if a
cloud covered him and he disappeared from view. The executioners were so
upset that they had absolutely no idea what to do. He hadn't had the
opportunity to flee, and at the same time he was not there... It was only about
an hour later that the hierarch appeared on his knees in fiery prayer in the
same place, as if covered by a radiant cloud which quickly dispersed. The
murderers were glad that their victim was again in front of them, and that
they did not have to answer for his disappearance. They hurried to carry out
the sentence..."

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Archbishop Andrew was glorified by the Russian Church Abroad in 1981.

In 1984 the elderly Nun Tabitha wrote in her memoirs: "Five years ago,
Bishop Andrew appeared to me in my sleep and said: 'I've been assigned
again to Ufa, I'm going to live with you.' What joy! The God-saved city of Ufa
is under his supervision! Glory and thanks to the Lord God for this His care
for Ufa and her people!"

(Sources: Paul Boyarshinov, "Svyashchennomuchenik Arkhiepiskop Andrei

Ufimsky (v miru Knyaz' Ukhtomsky) - Izsledovanie Zhiznedeyatel'nosti",
Diploma thesis, Jordanville: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1995; M.E. Gubonin,
Akty Svyatejshago Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994,
pp. 903-04; Schema-Monk Epiphanius (Chernov), Katakombnaia Tserkov' na
zemlye Rossijskoj, typescript, England, 1980; I.M. Andreyev, Russia's
Catacomb Saints, Platina: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1982, chapter 19;
Bishop Ambrose (von Sievers), "Istoki i svyazi Katakombnoj Tserkvi v
Leningrade i obl. (1922-1992)", report read at the conference "The Historical
Path of Orthodoxy in Russia after 1917", Saint Petersburg, 1-3 June, 1993;
"Ekkleziologia arkhiepiskopa Andrea, Ufimskogo (kn. Ukhtomskogo)",
Vestnik Germanskoj Eparkhii Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Tserkvi za Granitsei, N 2,
1993, pp. 20-24; "Gosudarstvo i 'katakomby'", in Filatov, S.B. Religia i prava
cheloveka, Moscow: Nauka, 1996, pp. 108-109, 111; “Katakombnaya Tserkov’:
Kochuyushchij Sobor 1928 g.”, Russkoe Pravoslaviye, N 3 (7), 1997;
“Svyaschennomuchenik Andrej, Arkhiepiskop Ufimskij”, Russkoe
Pravoslaviye, № 5 (14), 1998, 1-30; Michael Podgornov, “Otpal li
Arkhiepiskop Andrej (Ukhtomsky) v Staroobriadcheskij Raskol?”, Russkoe
Pravoslavie, № 2 (11), 1998, 1-22; Lev Regelson, Tragedia Russkoj Tserkvi,
1917-1945, Moscow: Krutitskoye patriarsheye podvorye, 1996, p. 536;
Staroobriadchestvo, Moscow: "Tserkov", 1996, pp. 25-26, 141-142;
Pravoslavnaia Rus’, N 14 (1587), July 15/28, 1997, p. 6; Alexander Nezhny,
Dopros Patriarkha, Moscow, 1997, chapter 4; “Novomuchenik Arkhiepiskop
Andrej Ufimsky (1872-1937gg.)”, Vozdvizhenie, N 13 (33), Spring, 2000; F.S.
Mel’ko. “Vladyka Ioann (Poyarkov), arkhiepiskop Ufimsky i Davlekanovsij”,
Pravoslavnaya Rus’, № 15 (1732), August 1/14, 2003, p. 12; Za Khrista
Postradavshiye, Moscow, 1997, vol. 1, pp. 84-86, 229;
http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/;
http://www.katakomb.ru/2/canon.html;http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/bashkir.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/tatar.html)

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13. HIEROMARTYR
NECTARIUS, ARCHBISHOP
OF YARANSK
and those with him

Bishop Nectarius, in the world Nestor Konstantinovich Trezvinsky, was

born in 1889 in the family of a priest (or reader) in the village of Yatsek in
Vasilkovsky uyezd, Kiev province. At the age of three he was orphaned, and
was cared for by Protopriest Vishinsky of the local church, who later handed
the boy over to his son-in-law, the priest Trezvinsky, from whom Nestor
received his surname. From childhood he served in the local church.

In 1901 Nestor entered the Kiev theological seminary, graduating in 1908.

Then he served as a novice in a monastery, and then in the church of the
village of Yatsek. According to one source, he was ordained to the diaconate
and priesthood at this time, and served in the village of Parchino, Kiev
province. In 1911 he entered in the Kiev Theological Academy, graduating in
1915 (according to another source, 1917). In 1912 (according to another source,
1914) he was tonsured into the mantia in the Kiev Caves Lavra with the name
of Nectarius. In the autumn of 1915 he joined the army as the priest of the
st
First Turkestan rifle regiment, then in the 41 Siberian.

On December 13, 1917 Fr. Nectarius began serving as a hieromonk in the

Alexander Nevsky Lavra. From January 29, 1918 he was training the chanter
in the metropolitan’s choir, and from January 23 was a clerk in the chancellery
of the Lavra’s spiritual council. In May he was arrested, but soon released. On
June 20 he was appointed the pannikhida hieromonk for the Lavra’s
cemeteries. In 1918, according to one source, he was raised to rank of
archimandrite. In 1919, because of a false accusation he was imprisoned in the
"Crosses" prison. At the beginning of 1920 he was deputy librarian of the
Lavra. On March 1, 1920 he became rector of the cathedral in Yamburg. On
September 1 (8), 1921 he was arrested in connection with "the affair of the
Alexander Nevsky Lavra" for “counter-revolutionary agitation”, and on
September 6 was sent to the Domzak in Petrograd. On October 8 he was
sentenced to one year’s hard labour and was sent to the second camp of hard
labour in Petrograd. On December 3, 1921 (or January, 1922) he was
amnestied and went to the Kiev-Caves Lavra. In the autumn he returned to
Petrograd and went into retirement. From November, 1923 he was living in
the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In February, 1924 Bishop Benedict appointed
him dean of the monasteries and podvoryes of Petrograd in the rank of
archimandrite. He also looked after the brotherhood of the Lavra.

According to one source, on June 3/16, 1924 Patriarch Tikhon consecrated

him Bishop of Vitebsk. But according to another, he was made Bishop of
Velizhsk, a vicariate of the Polotsk diocese, and temporary administrator of
the Polotsk-Vitebsk diocese until 1925. However, the authorities extracted

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from him a promise not to leave Petrograd, so he could not visit his see. In
December, 1924 he was appointed bishop of Yaransk, a vicariate of the Vyatka
diocese, arriving there on January 15, 1925. At that time Yaransk was in the
hands of the renovationist heretics. However, the faithful children of the
Orthodox Church sent a member of the parish council of the Dormition
church, James Chernyshev, to Patriarch Tikhon to ask him to give them their
own bishop, and he sent them Bishop Nectarius.

Yaransk already had its new martyrs. In the early years of the revolution a
group of clergy had been shot and buried in Yaransk cemetery. In the same
grave they buried two brothers, one of whom was called Vasya, from Kiknur
who had been caught for refusing to join the reds and had joined the whites.

Vladyka Nectarius immediately entered into an uncompromising battle

with the renovationists. Soon the cathedral church of the Holy Trinity joined
the Orthodox Church. The bishop was helped in this successful struggle by
Protopriest Sergius Znamensky, the superior of the cathedral, the warden
Ivan Vasilyevich Okhotnikov, and the parishioners Nicholas Ivanovich
Starodumov and the brothers Michael and James A. Chernyshev. Thus on
February 27, 1925 Protopriest Sergius reported to Patriarch Tikhon that "now,
under the leadership of Bishop Nectarius, the church is completely Orthodox".
He mentioned that the four laymen had been sent to prison. The patriarch
replied on March 14, expressing his thanks and invoking the blessing of God.

Not content with this triumph in the city, Vladyka Nectarius went out into
the neighbouring villages and submitted the renovationist churches to his
authority. "Now the clergy is persecuted," he preached, "and the time of the
Antichrist has arrived. Soviet power must offer repentance, stop the
repressions and radically change its politics towards the Church."

In 1925, having received an invitation to take part in the preparation of a

renovationist council, he replied: "I reject the God-hated renovationist
movement and anathematise it. I anathematise the God-hated robber so-called
council of 1923 which took place in Moscow, with all its decrees. I promise to
have no canonical communion with any of those who have attached
themselves to this renovationist deception. Orthodox citizens of Vyatka! The
wolf in sheep's clothing, the renovationist archbishop Joseph has addressed
the believers... Be watchful, Orthodox, the path you tread is dangerous. The
days are evil..."

In the same epistle Bishop Nectarius called the renovationist clergy

graceless and their sacraments powerless, their eucharist invalid (simple
bread and wine), and called on the people not to go to the renovationist
council, and therefore not to take part in their congress.

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From January, 1925 Vladyka Nectarius was looking after more than 40
parishes of the True Orthodox Christians. In May he went to seek the advice
of the elder, Hieromonk Matthew, who was living in the settlement of
Yershovo some 35 versts from the city.

Hieromonk Matthew, in the world Metrophanes Kuzmich Shvetsov, came

from the family of a Vyatka cobbler, and became the spiritual son of the well-
known Schema-Hieromonk Stefan (Kurteyev), who convinced him in 1891 to
accept monastic tonsure in the Vyatka Alexander Nevsky monastery.
However, Fr. Matthew spent most of his life in the Prorochitskaya monastery,
from its founding in 1899 to its closure in 1921, working as treasurer, and
assistant to the abbot, and dean, and spiritual father, and cell-attendant. He
was granted the gifts of healing and prophecy, and attracted a large number
of people from far and near. From 1921 he settled in Yershovo, where he
became the centre around which the True Orthodox gathered. He died on
May 27, 1927, and for many years thereafter people have gone to his grave in
the cemetery of Yaransk to seek healing for spiritual and bodily infirmities.
The authorities used to drive people from his grave, saying: “Why did you
come to him? Go to the church, put some candles there… You shouldn’t sing
here; he was an enemy of Soviet power; the Church does not recognize him,
nor honour him, the priests don’t come here… But you have come – that
means that you, too, are an enemy of Soviet power!"

Vladyka Nectarius went up to Fr. Matthew’s little house and said: "Lord
Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us" at the door. "Amen" came the
reply, as if he had been long expected. The door opened, and there was Fr.
Matthew dressed in the full monastic garb. After blessing him, Vladyka went
up to the icons, and made the sign of the cross, while Fr. Matthew chanted
softly: "Thy martyrs, O Lord, have acquired unfading crowns in their
sufferings..." Vladyka shuddered at hearing the troparion to the martyrs. He
did not think that he would receive the answer to his question so quickly
from the elder.

On May 25, 1925 the GPU arrested Vladyka "for conducting anti-Soviet
agitation", and cast him into Vyatka isolator. On November 13 he was
sentenced to three years on Solovki. There he worked as a fisherman and
janitor, and took part in the secret meeting of imprisoned hierarchs that took
place in the food warehouse of the monastery Kremlin on May 25 / June 7,
1926, at which the epistle of the Solovki bishops was composed.

(According to one source, Vladyka was arrested in 1923, and between 1923
and 1926 was on Solovki. He was arrested again in 1926 or 1927. From 1927 to
1928, according to another source, he ruled the Kursk diocese while being
temporarily in charge of the Kirov diocese.)

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Vladyka formally broke communion with Metropolitan Sergius on

February 8, 1928 (according to another source, February 6, and according to a
third - on February 19 / March 4), and joined the Josephites, being received
by them through a prosphora which Archbishop Demetrius (Lubimov) sent
him. On March 4 he was banned by Metropolitan Sergius and removed from
his see. On April 25, 1928 he wrote: “After prayer and much thought I have
broken ecclesiastical communion with Metropolitan Sergius because he has
entered into a bloc with the Antichrist, has violated the church canons and
has permitted faintheartedness and casuistry that is equivalent to apostasy
from Christ…. It is shameful and not without danger for the eternal salvation
of every Orthodox believer to follow such a leader as M. Sergius, who has
become slippery, going on a very unreliable path.” Again, in a letter to his
flock dated January 8, 1929 he wrote: "[He is] an apostate who has fallen away
from the Church of Christ like a rotten limb".

On Solovki Bishop Nectarius served with the other Catacomb Bishops

Victor of Glazov, Hilarion of Porech and Maximus of Serpukhov, and later
was particularly closely linked with Bishop Victor.

Subdeacon Michael Nikolayevich Yaroslavsky recounts his meeting with

Bishop Nectarius: “In 1929 [?] I was in prison in Kem, in the transit camp,
working in the logging factory… Many clergy were in prison there. Vladyka
Nectarius (Trezvinsky), the vicar of the Vyatka diocese, was with us – I think
he was Bishop of Yaransk… He was once the deputy of the Alexander
Nevsky Lavra. I met him there, in the Kem transit camp. I saw someone in
clerical garb, in a podryasnik, skufeika and boots – he was breaking ice in our
refectory, in the camp kitchen. Usually our hierarchs went around with
brooms sweeping away the snow on the panels. Well, a little with a spade…
And there I saw this spiritual face that was trying so hard, breaking the ice… I
asked him: ‘Batyushka, what rank are you?’ ‘And what has that to do with
you?’ he said. ‘I myself am from the clergy to some extent… True, I’m not
clergy myself… But the son of a priest, I was subdeacon for Vladyka
Seraphim…’ ‘That is – from Uglich?’ he said. It turned out he knew many
people there. ‘And I,’ he said, ‘am a hierodeacon.’ Well, that was how I knew
him – as ‘Father Hierodeacon’. We had good, friendly relations… We
sometimes joked together. At that time the clergy were all together, in one
barracks. True, there were also some other, secular people there… During
Great Lent we chanted ‘Open to me the gates of repentance’, ‘On the Waters
of Babylon’… And this ‘Father Hierodeacon’ whom I knew led our choir. And
I remember that once some Vladyka made a mistake, and he punched him in
the nose. Afterwards I said to him: ‘You know, this isn’t right, Father
Hierodeacon, you shouldn’t treat a hierarch like that.’ ‘And what is he? Since
he undertook to sing, let him sing.’ This took place in winter, and that’s how
we lived until spring. In the spring they were clearing away the snow. And I
was standing and chatting with this priest, also a prisoner, of course, he was a
watchman. I was chatting with him, and they were taking the snow away on a

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sledge. And behind us this ‘Father Hierodeacon’ was lifting up the snow with
a spade. And the watchman-batyushka whom I knew bowed to him and said:
‘Hello, Vladyka.’ But I said: ‘Who’s the Vladyka here?’ ‘The one with the
spade,’ he said. ‘But he’s a hierodeacon,’ I said. ‘What are you saying!’ ‘That’s
how I know him!’ ‘But I,’ he said, ‘sleep next to him.’ I was so embarrassed…
On the way back, when we were returning with the sledge, this batyushka
said: ‘Vladyka, why do you lead innocent people into error?’ But he smiled…
He really was a hierarch… And I began to run away from him… Immediately
I saw that Vladyka Nectarius was coming… ‘Vladyka, forgive me… for
calling you a hierodeacon… You know, you led me into error.’ And he said:
‘Why did you decide that I really was a hierodeacon and had no doubts?’ ‘But
you work a lot, not like a hierarch… Hierarchs don’t work like that…’ ‘Yes,
they’re all idlers,’ he said.”

In the course of 1928, according to one (dubious) source, he signed the acts
of the so-called “Nomadic Council” of the Catacomb Church. Towards the
end of 1928 he was placed under ban by Metropolitan Sergius, but refused to
accept its validity. In October, 1930 he was mentioned as being under ban.

On November 20, 1928 he was released (the resolution was dated May 18,
1928), but not allowed to live in the major cities and Vyatka for three years.
Following the advice of Bishop Victor, he went to Kazan. On settling in
Kazan, Vladyka Nectarius was given the names of the anti-sergianists Fr.
Nicholas Troitsky and Professor Victor Ivanovich Nesmelov. However, both
these confessors were under surveillance, so Vladyka stayed in the Kozya
Sloboda suburb of Kazan, at 22 Oktyabrskaya street. Here he became close to
a group of exiles who were close to Archbishop Andrew of Ufa: the priest Fr.
Arcadius Volokitin; the laywoman Eugenia Antipina and her daughter
Olga Antipina, who had been condemned in 1925 for spreading the epistles
of Archbishop Andrew and helping the imprisoned clergy with food and
other articles; and Angelina Solovyeva, who had been condemned for the
same "crime" in 1925. Also close to him were some nuns of the closed Raithu
monastery and the nuns of the closed monastery of the Kazan icon: Maria
(Preobrazhenskaya), Stepanida (Makarova), Anna (Baranova), Agatha
(Lipina), Maria (Veryasova), Maria (Yegorova); and also Anna (Bulanova),
Euphrosyne (Vikurova), Eudocia (Sergina), Praskovya (Stepanova),
Theodosia (Romanova), Anna (Yegorova), Zinaida (Lykova) and E. Lagutina.

As soon as Vladyka arrived in Kazan, in December, 1928, he received a

letter from Archbishop Demetrius of Gdov, asking whether Vladyka had left
the Josephite Church. Vladyka replied by telegram that no, he remained in
unity with them. While living in exile in Kazan, Vladyka sent candidates for
the priesthood to Archbishop Demetrius to ordain. And in his indictment
after his last arrest we read: “He had direct links with Archbishop Demetrius
of Gdov in the church-administrative centre of the counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘the Trues’…”

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While living in Kazan, Vladyka Nectarius sometimes went into sergianist

churches, but did not take part in the service and had no communication with
the priests, but only kissed the icons and listened to the chanting. Once, when
the bishop was standing in one of those churches, the deacon began to cense
Vladyka three times in accordance with his hierarchical rank. However,
Bishop Nectarius turned away from him and did not give him his hierarchical
blessing. There was another incident at this time: a person died, and the
relatives came to Vladyka and asked him to perform the burial. The bishop
asked: “To what church did the deceased go?” It turned out that he went to
the sergianist church. Then Vladyka said: “Well, let them bury him.”

Protopriest Nicetas Ignatiev recounts how he met Vladyka Nectarius: “I

arrived in Kazan and searched out the street, the house, the number… I
entered. He was working in the carpenter’s shop. He was not tall, in civil
clothing, in a jacket. ‘How can I find Vladyka Nectarius, and see him?’ ‘You
will see him now.’ He quickly turned – he was young and brisk, just out of the
Academy – went and put on his podryasnik and ryasa and klobuk. ‘Here is
Vladyka Nectarius for you.’” Fr. Nicetas took his blessing and confessed that
he found himself ill at ease in front of Vladyka: “I took you for a
novice.”During this conversation told him that he had not signed the
Declaration [of Metropolitan Sergius] and had then been subject to
persecution in Moscow, so that it became impossible for him to stay there any
longer. And so Archimandrite Seraphim had advised him to turn to him,
Bishop Nectarius. “So go to Vyatka province, go to Sanchure and live there.
It’s a little quieter,” said Vladyka, and gave him a signed paper which said
something like: “I allow Protopriest Nicetas Ignatiev to serve in all the
Orthodox churches of Yaransk diocese…” “Vladyka, you know I’ve been
invited to go to Fr. Seraphim, I can be there for only two weeks.” Vladyka
slapped him on the shoulder: “Perhaps for twenty years.” His prophetic
words were fulfilled twice over – Fr. Nicetas was in that region, not for
twenty, but for forty years…

The GPU had planted an agent in Vladyka Nectarius' circle, and he

reported that Vladyka had been ordaining priests and deacons whom he sent
to the Yaransk and Chuvash diocese, and that he was serving together with
Fr. Arcadius Volokitin, who had set up a secret church in his house. The two
of them "on the one hand,.. are establishing links with exiles in Narymsk
region, Kazakhstan, Turukhan region, etc., and on the other hand, with the
Vyatka and Ufa provinces and with the neighbouring republics of the
culturally backward national minorities." Bishop Nectarius received letters
from exiled bishops and priests, and these were distributed through the
monks and nuns of the closed monasteries to the Vyatka and Ufa dioceses, to
the Chuvash republic and the Mari region. "Pilgrimages to Bishop Nectarius,"
said the informer, "have begun from Chuvashia and Mari, and in general
from the culturally backward national minorities."

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On August 30, 1930 (according to another source, in April) Vladyka

Nectarius, Fr. Arcadius, and Eugenia and Olga Antipina and others were
arrested in Tataria in connection with the affair of the counter-revolutionary
organization, "The True Orthodox Church", which supposedly existed in
Tataria and the southern parts of Kirov region. Vladyka was arrested for
being “the leader of the anti-Soviet church-monarchist pogrom branch of the
‘True Orthodox Church’ in Kazan”. Later came the arrests of Fr. Nicholas
Galakhov, his father, Fr. James Galakhov, and Fr. Eulampius. Bishop
Nectarius, Fr. Nicholas Troitsky and Professor Nicholas Petrov (who were
arrested the next day), together with the retired Bishop Ioasaph (Udalov),
were imprisoned in the OGPU's isolator in the Tatar republic, while the rest
were placed in the Kazan prisoner transit house.

Vladyka did not conceal his contacts with the Josephites, but he was
careful to mention the names only of people who had already been shot or
were in prison or exile. On September 1, 1930 he said during interrogation: "I
do not know why I have been arrested, but I think that I have been arrested as
a counter-revolutionary. Prayer takes place in my flat-cell on Sundays and the
twelve major feasts; among the worshippers with me are people from the
Yaransk diocese, parishes which do not recognise Metropolitan Sergius and
his Synod. I am a true supporter of Patriarch Tikhon and strive to be such,
and am ready to die for that... Among the regular worshippers there are also
inhabitants of Kazan, but I cannot say who they are or give their names, since
I consider that to be betrayal..."

Further interrogations took place on June 5, June 12 and July 20, 1931. At
one of these, when asked about his helpers, he said: “I cannot give an
enlightening reply on the essence of the matter because of my loss of memory,
and also because of my extreme weakness of mind since birth.” Nevertheless,
at another interrogation he did give the name of his Helper – albeit in the
fashion of a fool for Christ: “I was regularly visited by Maria Yakimovna
Davydova, but she does go to people like you, while you have no access to
her. She lives in the Kingdom of Heaven.” He meant the Mother of God…

On January 26, 1932 Vladyka Nectarius was sentenced to ten years on

Solovki (or the Prorvinsky camp). He was the only one of the 33 other clergy
to receive ten years; the others were sentenced to three years in corrective-
labour camps. On Solovki he continued to participate in services of the
Josephite Catacomb Church. In 1935 he was transferred to the Prorvinsky
corrective-labour camp in Western Kazakhstan. (From 1935 to 1937, however,
according to one source, he was serving secretly in Kazan.)

Once the Catacomb Christian Elisha Ilyich visited Vladyka on Solovki. The
policeman replied that that it was impossible that day – but the next day he could
see him. And he asked: “Who is he to you?” “A distant relative.” “And

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what kind of person is he?” “Like all the rest – an ordinary person.” “No –
he’s not like everyone else.” “In what way he is not like the others?” “Well:
when Trezvinsky [Vladyka Nectarius’ surname] goes to catch fish they bring
back a huge catch. And when Trezvinsky doesn’t go, they come back with
empty boats.” The fishing artel used to ask Vladyka: “We don’t force you to
catch fish, Vladyka, just come out to sea with us…”

The next day they were able to meet. Vladyka Nectarius asked about all the
priests: who had joined the sergianists, who had not, who had remained firm in
Orthodoxy. He gave Elisha Ilyich many crosses to distribute to everyone, as if to
remind his children about the meaning of the Christian life…

Vladyka told Elisha Ilyich that when he had been imprisoned they had
begun to force him to sign the sergianist declaration, but he had refused.
“Well then,” they said, “that’s ten years for refusing.” “Let me die here, but I
won’t go to Sergius,” replied the hierarch. “And we won’t let you out until
you rot in prison.” A little later, Matushka S. remembers that they received
the following letter written on one side of a piece of paper: “Vladyka
Nectarius is writing to you. I am sending you God’s blessing and am praying
for you. Every morning and every evening I bless my diocese. A rare guest,
Elisha Ilyich from the village of Votchina, has told me about everything that is
happening in my diocese, who has fallen away into Sergianism, and who has
remained firm in Orthodoxy. I beseech you not to go to the sergianist church.
Pray at home in front of the icons. Receive communion if only twice a year
only from a true pastor…”

Vladyka Nectarius considered Christianity and Socialism to be

irreconcilable, and during interrogation said: "The attitude of the Church, that
is, the clergy and believers, must, in the light of my views with regard to
Soviet power, be such as it can be adopted with regard to the kingdom of
Satan, that is, hostile and unfriendly. The attitude of the authorities to the
Church cannot be changed, so in conversations with believers I have always
expressed myself in favour of the necessity of getting rid of Soviet power."

He wrote the following letter to his flock from exile in about 1933:
"Beloved! I want to write a few lines to you for your general edification and
confirmation in Orthodoxy.

"Five years ago in the Yaransk region several Orthodox communities

separated from Metropolitan Sergius, many clergy and laity. Everyone was
offered the opportunity to triumph over sergianism. But now, not seeing
success in this protracted spiritual battle, they are disappointed and begin to
have doubts about the truth and salutoriness of their departure from
Metropolitan Sergius and the bishops and clergy who think like him. May
your and our hearts not be troubled! The basis of our departure from
Metropolitan Sergius was not some trivial caprice or wounded self-love, but a

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decisive protest against the criminal time-serving of Metropolitan Sergius and

his eparchs in relation to Soviet power, his allowing the GPU to
unceremoniously interfere in the inner life of the Church of Christ. This
interference of foreign elements in the appointment of bishops to sees and in
other spheres of church life cannot be justified by the church canons and the
rule of the Holy Fathers, the more so in that with us the Church is separated
from the state.

“Our struggle with Metropolitan Sergius, this champion of Bolshevik

caesaropapism, is a very honourable struggle - it is a struggle for the Truth of
Christ God, for the Holy Orthodox Church, which has been betrayed for
thirty pieces of silver to humiliation, destruction and liquidation. We are
frightened, not of Metropolitan Sergius and those who share his views and his
successors, but of those who support him by brute force. If the punitive forces
of the GPU were not on his side, those who think like him and his successors
would have been defeated long ago. This was confirmed by the denunciations
of secret agents of the GPU, who said that the people would have left him as a
turncoat and traitor of the Church of Christ.

“Our new tragedy consists in the fact that the bishops who have warred
against Metropolitan Sergius have found themselves under the heel of the
GPU. Thus Metropolitans Peter of Krutitsa and Cyril of Kazan have been
banished to the distant tundra. Joseph of Petrograd has been imprisoned
amidst the sands of [Central] Asia. Archbishop Demetrius is in the very strict
Yaroslavl isolator. Vladyka Victor is somewhere in the northern regions. Your
humble servant was confined for ten years in the concentration camps, while
Bishops Hierotheus, Alexis and Maximus were shot. A similar fate, that is, a
lengthy term of imprisonment in concentration camps and exile, awaited
many of the clergy and laity who decided to speak out against Metropolitan
Sergius and his like-minded minions.

“As early as my own break with Metropolitan Sergius, on February 6, 1928,

I foresaw that although our struggle for the Truth of Christ was holy, it would
be weak and without success. From the history of the Church we see that all
the fighters for the Truth of Christ perished in the struggle and that the work
of God for which they struggled triumphed only after their death. That is
what will happen in our struggle with sergianism. The people has become
indifferent and lukewarm towards church questions, while the clergy - in its
greater part, that is - have become simply fulfillers of the rites whose only
concern is to have enough to eat and live quietly. Meanwhile they will not
balk at force or any other methods however immoral, against us, the
opponents of sergianism, for example: denunciations, false rumours, making
brawlers tipsy at parish meetings, etc. Thus Metropolitan Sergius published a
slander against me, saying that I had ordained a bigamist to the priesthood,
while I would never think or dream of doing such a thing. Although our
struggle is holy and just, we are weak. I personally have no hopes of being

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released, I shall most likely perish in the camps; and I comfort myself with the
promise of Christ: 'Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness'
sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.' It is not easy to suffer, but there is
no way out, there can be no other choice. Don't you waver either, beloved! For
you, too, 'to live is Christ, and to die is gain'. 'What are we to do? How are we
to live?' the zealots of Orthodoxy ask me, those who have been deprived of
their pastors and whose sensitive conscience will not allow them to pray in
sergianist churches. Their souls' suffering is completely comprehensible. To
live without church prayer is a great woe for Orthodox believers. But, you
know, today there are many towns and villages where there are no churches,
and where there are some, they are renovationist or sergianist. Unite into
small groups and pray at home. Sing church songs. Read the Word of God,
give alms, bury the dead, as far as possible without sergianist priests. Receive
the Holy Mysteries from true pastors; with the help of God, you will find
them. Now, in the words of the holy Apocalypse-Revelation of John the
Theologian, the Church has departed into the wilderness, that is, she has
hidden in secret places; the situation is such that believers are compelled to
gather together for church prayer in hidden, secret places. Thus was it in the
times of martyrdom, of iconoclasm and of all the heresies that have disturbed
the Church in Greece, in the East, when there was a persecution against the
supporters of Divine Truth, while our time is that of the preparation for the
Antichrist and his kingdom. Satan, the enemy of God had armed himself
against the Church of Christ, her children, her members, who have remained
faithful to the testament of Christ and the Holy Fathers.

"'Simon, Simon! Satan has sought to winnow you like wheat,' said Jesus
Christ to His disciples. Go after Me along the path of sufferings! I have prayed
for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail.' In the same way, you, too,
brethren, pray for yourselves and for me, that our faith may not cool, and that
the feeling of burning religious inspiration may not be quenched. If it does,
then woe to us! The holy Apocalypse of John the Theologian declares that the
Church [sic. correction: the Lord?] will then vomit us up as useless spittle
from His Divine lips, that is, from the saving depths of His Church, the society
of salvation. And what could be worse than that?!

"Watch and pray that you do not fall into the abyss, into temptation!
Amen."

“I hope and believe,” he said, “that this ecclesiastical Nizhny fair under the
neo-renovationist flag will suffer complete defeat and the Orthodox believers
will all leave this sad church adventure invented in order to destroy and
mock the Church of Christ, which is the pillar and ground of the Truth.”

On August 2, 1937 Vladyka Nectarius was transferred to a prison regime.

On September 8, 1937 he was sentenced to be shot by a troika of the UNKVD

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of the West Kazakhstan region. The sentence was carried out in the Caspian
town of Guriev (according to one source, on the same day).

Hieromartyr Nectarius was canonized by the Russian Church Abroad in

1981.

Protopriest Arcadius Ivanovich Volokitin was born on February 14, 1887

in the village of Bogorodskoye, Ufa province into a lower-middle class family.
In 1903 he finished his studies at the Ufa theological school, and in 1909 - two
courses at the Ufa seminary. In 1913 he began to serve as a reader in the
church of SS. Cosmas and Damian in Troshkinsky village, Ufa uyezd. On
August 1, 1914 he was transferred to the village of Irnykshi, Sterlitamak
uyezd. On August 13, 1914 he was ordained to the diaconate by Archbishop
Andrew of Ufa. On August 18, 1914 he was ordained to the priesthood and
appointed to the village of Rayevka, Belebeyevsky uyezd.

In February, 1917 Fr. Arcadius was appointed superior of the church in the
village of Novo-Belokataj, Zlatoustovsky uyezd. In August, 1917 he was
awarded a nabedrennik for his zealous service to the Church of God. In
October, 1917 he was appointed in the place of the priest of the Georgievsky
women’s monastery in Ufa uyezd. Fr. Arcadius was a man of strong
character, a natural leader. His parishioners trusted him implicitly. He chose
his words carefully, and did not like empty phrases.

Fr. Arcadius had six children. The elder daughter, Maria Arkadievna,
became a Catacomb nun. The younger, Zoya Arkadievna, was told the details
of her father’s death in 1994. His son, Ivan Arkadievich, who was only two
when his father was shot, has left us his memoirs of his father. Three of his
children died when young, the third, Fedya, from cholera.

In the 1920s he served in the village of Suneyevo, and then, fro 1927, in the
city of Birsk, where he had a prayer house in which the services were
conducted without haste and in strict accordance with the typicon, with no
abbreviations. Next to the prayer house a kind of work house for the poor and
the sick was built. He actively opposed the renovationist schismatics, and in
1927 joined the Andrewite “non-commemorators”.

Fr. Arcadius’ younger brother Fr. Demetrius was also a catacomb priest.
They were both highly venerated by their flocks, and the names of both figure
in the minutes of the Congress that took place in Ufa in 1927. Although Fr.
Arcadius was not present at the Congress, his report on Archbishop Andrew
and the Old Believers was read out at the last session, after which “many
years” was sung to Archbishop Andrew and Fr. Arcadius. Fr. Demetrius was
a member of the presidium at the Congress and read a report entitled

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“Pastorship, its significance and activity”. Fr. Demetrius served in

Voskresenskoye village, Blagoveschensky uyezd. He was arrested and
condemned on February 5, 1930 according to article 58-10, being sentenced to
deprivation of liberty for 10 years. He was released, terminally ill, in 1938. He
died somewhere near Ufa.

In the 1920s Fr. Arcadius was condemned four times for “counter-
revolutionary activity”. In 1927 he was arrested in Birsk for conducting
religious propaganda among juveniles. To the amazement of the court, the
juveniles defended their pastor, and so, on January 28, 1928 he was sentenced
to the comparatively light sentence of 11 months’ hard labour in Bashkiria in
accordance with article 122. However, on February 2 he was again arrested
and cast into prison in Kazan. On March 30, 1928 he was condemned to three
years’ exile in Kazan in accordance with article 58-10 (anti-Soviet propaganda
and agitation) (or article 59-7, according to another source). From the summer
of 1930 he lived in Kazan. In Kazan Fr. Arcadius and other exiled clergy from
Ufa entered into communion with Bishop Nectarius. Like him, Fr. Arcadius
constructed a secret church in the house in which he lived and conducted
regular services there. Many Chuvash who did not recognize the declaration
of Metropolitan Sergius came to him, and he gave them the address of
Archbishop Andrew in Central Asia, who in turn blessed Bishop Benjamin to
ordain a priest for the Chuvash – the future Bishop Gurias (Pavlov).

On August 30 or 31, 1930 Fr. Arcadius was arrested and cast into prison in
Kazan. He was accused, together with Bishop Nectarius and Nuns E.A.
Antipina, O.M. Antipina and A.F. Solovieva, of being “a participant in a
counter-revolutionary organization, a branch of ‘The True Orthodox Church’
in Kazan”, of “convening in his flat meetings of an anti-Soviet nature”. The
accused “gathering around themselves counter-revolutionary church people
and forming a filial of the ‘All-Union Centre of the Church-monarchist
organization “The True Orthodox Church”, and acting in accordance with its
principles on the territory of the Tatar republic, the Mari region, the Votkinsk
region and the former Vyatka province, with the aim of overthrowing Soviet
power”. On the same day an interrogation took place at which Fr. Arcadius
conducted himself very calmly and independently. He said that he had had
prayer services in his house without the permission of the OGPU,
emphasising that he had never intended to ask permission since he did not
consider it necessary. In conclusion he declared that “he refuses to name the
surnames of the believers who visited his house, since he is not intending to
betray anyone”. In his interrogation on September 2 he declared: "In my home
I arrange prayer services, the worshippers are citizens of Kazan. I refuse to
say who they are and how many they are, I do not want to give them away...
In general, I have no intention of telling the authorities about the worshippers
who visit me. I do not have permission to perform Divine services and do not
consider it necessary to let the NKVD know and seek permission from them.
Only about three to four worshippers come to me." Fr. Arcadius said that

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since the death of Patriarch Tikhon he had submitted to Metropolitan Peter,

although he considered Metropolitan Cyril to be the lawful heir of the
patriarchal throne.

The other prisoners conducted themselves with similar courage. Thus

Bishop Nectarius at his interrogation on June 5, 1931 said that after arriving in
Kazan in 1928 he had begun to mix with the exiled priest Volokitin, who did
not recognize Metropolitan Sergius, that they had visited each other, but that
they did not constitute one whole and had not conducted any counter-
revolutionary activity. He did not deny that he had mixed with the three
nuns.

Nun Eugenia (Alexandrovna Antipina) was born in 1880 in the village of

Vyatskie Polyany, Vyatka province, and received an elementary education.
She lived in Kazan, and worked as a milliner at home. She illegally
reproduced and distributed the sermons and letters of Archbishop Andrew
among the believers. In 1925 she was arrested and exiled “for distributing the
counter-revolutionary appeals of Archbishop Andrew Ukhtomsky”, but in
January, 1928 she was released because of her health and after promising not
to leave the city. On August 30, 1930 she was arrested in connection with a
group case, and on January 5, 1932 was sentenced to three years’ exile and
sent to the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Her daughter, Nun Olga (Mikhailovna Antipina), was born in 1910 in Ufa
into a merchant’s family, and received a secondary education. In 1925 she was
arrested and exiled with her mother “for distributing the counter-
revolutionary appeals of Archbishop Andrew Ukhtomsky”, but in 1930, after
returning from exile, and being forbidden to live in six places, she settled in
Kazan. On August 30, 1930 she was arrested in connection with a group case
of churchmen, and was accused that: “together with her mother she took an
active part in anti-Soviet activity in a group of ‘Grigorians’ and joined the
Kazan branch of the All-Union church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church”. On October 15, 1930 she wrote the following in her own
hand in the office of the investigator: “To the question who is my spiritual
father and whether I confessed with Bishop Andrew I cannot answer since I
consider that the sphere of my personal life does not belong to the jurisdiction
of the OGPU. Consequently my attitude to the existing order, “the socialist
construction”, has not yet been established, since I am now interested in
questions of religion, and not politics. I have been at the Volokitins, and was
present at the kind of services that are standard in the Orthodox Church.
Moreover, I categorically declare that I personally know of no meetings in the
indicated house except prayer meetings. I consider the preaching of the
Christian teaching, as well as everything decreed in the Gospel as obligatory
for myself, except in the case envisaged by the words: ‘Cast not your pearls
before swine’.” At the next interrogation she said: “The OGPU has itself
violated the acting laws of Soviet power on freedom of conscience and

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confession and religious propaganda.” On January 5, 1932 she was sentenced

to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Angelina (Fyodorovna Solovyeva) was born in 1901 in Ufa into the
family of a merchant. She received an intermediate education and studied for
one year in the faculty of social sciences in Ufa University (1920-21). She was a
religious activist, a member of the Simeonov church in Ufa, and in February,
1925 was arrested and exiled for three years “for distributing the counter-
revolutionary appeals of Bishop Andrew Ukhtomsky”, her spiritual father. In
1929 she was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years in exile.
In February, 1930 she was released from exile, but forbidden to live in six
places. She settled in Kazan. On August 30 (or 31) she was arrested and cast
into Kazan transit prison.

The accused in general said very little. False witnesses and traitors
affirmed that in 1928 there had appeared two representatives of the anti-
sergianist tendency in Kazan: the exiled bishop N.K. Trezvinsky and the
priest of the “Andrewite” fraction A.I. Volokitin, who had created their own
church communities, which had then united into an anti-Soviet and anti-
sergianist bloc. They accused the two confessors of reading appeals after
services and distributing them in neighbouring republics, and much else. Nun
Angelina was accused of “actively participating in the ‘Gregorian’ group
headed by Priest [Arcadius] Volokitin”, for “conducting anti-Soviet agitation”
and for “taking part in the distribution of a counter-revolutionary appeal
among the peasants”. In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, she was
sentenced to three years in the camps.

The accused languished in prison for a year and a half. On January 5, 1932
Fr. Arcadius and Nun Angelina were sentenced to three years in the camps in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. This was “The Case of the Members
of the Kazan Branch of the ‘True Orthodox Church’, Kazan, 1932”.

On May 19, 1933 Nun Angelina was released from camp without
restrictions. Nothing more is known about her.

After his release Fr. Arcadius lived in Bashkiria. He never talked about his
sufferings in prison and the camps. When his daughter Olga asked him
whether the investigators beat him, he said, quietly and with conviction: “It is
not necessary to ask about that.” However, one of his fellow-prisoners
witnessed that when they were together in the Bear Mountain camp, he saw
how Fr. Arcadius cried out during a particularly severe frost: “O Lord, warm
me or take my soul!”

On July 23, 1937 Fr. Arcadius was arrested in Birsk for anti-Soviet
propaganda and agitation. On October 15, 1937 he was condemned to be shot
with confiscation of his property by a troika of the NKVD of the Bashkirian

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republic. On November 15, 1937 the sentence was carried out in Ufa. He was
buried in the Sergievsky cemetery in Ufa.

Fr. Arcadius’ matushka, Anastasia Konstantinovna, was born in 1896 in

the village of Vozdvizhenka, Belebeyevsky uyezd, into a clerical family. In the
1910s she studied in the Ufa diocesan women’s school, and married Arcadius
in 1913 or 1914. She was arrested on August 30, 1930 in Birsk and cast into
prison in Kazan, where her husband was. On December 3, 1930 she was
sentenced in accordance with articles 58-2 and 19-13 to three years
administrative exile in “The Case of Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky) and others,
Ufa, 1930”. She was accused, among other things, of “collecting material
things to support the political exiles Arcadius Volokitin and Bishop Andrew
(Ukhtomsky)”. She was sent to Kazan, where her husband was living in exile.
In 1931 she was arrested again, and sentenced in accordance with article 58-10
to work on the Moscow canal. In 1935 she went to live in Birsk with her
husband, who had returned from prison. On April 21, 1938 she was arrested
and cast into prison in Birsk. On May 22, 1939 she was convicted of being “the
wife of the organizer of ‘the black band’ of counter-revolutionary popes”.
However, the case was shelved and she was released. She died in 1983.

Vladyka Nectarius performed several secret ordinations. Among these was

the servant of God Alexander. He was very a simple man distinguished by
the gift of clairvoyance. He was about thirty years old, and lived in
Chernushka. Vladyka tonsured him and ordained him to the diaconate.

Hierodeacon Alexander was once invited by someone to tea. “But it’s

terribly noisy in your house. “No, it’s quiet…” “But you’ve got Tatars in your
house, who chatter away..” “But we’ve got nobody!” On arriving home, the
master of the house told his wife about this; they began to think what his
words could mean. Now their house was pasted over with Soviet newspapers
– could this be what Fr. Alexander had in mind? They began to remove the
blasphemous newspapers…

Fr. Alexander served in the village of Oshtashurg. In about 1930 he was

serving in the church when he was arrested. When he was imprisoned he sent
a whole exercise book from prison containing teachings against
renovationism. He was in prison in Yaransk, where the parishioner Ivan
Ivanovich visited him. Fr. Alexander said to him: “Watch out, Ivan Ivanovich,
you’ve taken a high seat – don’t fall.” Apparently, he had in mind his visitor’s
tendency to pride. And in fact he later left his pastor, Fr. Nicetas.

Fr. Alexander was also visited by two girls, to whom he said: “Next time
bring me clothes for burial.” The next time they came he was dead…

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The people also preserved the memory of Fr. Theodore from the village of
Shcherbash. He was arrested together with a nun. When he had been shot and
his body was just lying there, the prison guard said: “I don’t know who he is,
but every night a man in white comes down and censes him…”

Among the True Orthodox Christians of Vyatka province, particular

mention should be made of Abbess Apollinaria and Archimandrite Arsenius
)Arzamassky). Matushka was the abbess of a monastery situated 12
kilometres from Konoplya, where there were 33 houses and a chapel. More
and more young girls were intending to serve God there, so the Bolsheviks
destroyed it. The monastery was served by Archimandrite Arsenius. He had
not wanted to marry, but his parents forced him; and when his wife bore a
child and died, he thanked God for freeing him from those bonds… Fr.
Arsenius was once travelling in a train with some Bolsheviks. One of them
said to him: “Pope, you rob people, what kind of God can you have…” “How
can you say there is no God – where did you come from, then?” objected Fr.
Arsenius. “Prove to me that God exists. Pour some coals in your skirt – then
I’ll believe that God exists.” “Okay,” said Fr. Arsenius. And as he crossed
himself the soldier poured some coals from the stove into the folds of his
ryasa. The coals were immediately quenched, and did not burn the ryasa…

After the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, Fr. Arsenius went round the
churches which remained faithful to Orthodoxy, such as Chernushka and
Lom. He died from a disease of the throat. He left Matushka S.’s mother a
basket of prosphoras: “Look, Maria, keep the holy things. There will be many
churches, but the Truth is one.” That is, it was forbidden to receive
communion in those churches…

Matushka Apollinaria settled next to Hieromonk Matthew after the

destruction of her monastery. Her three brothers came and built two houses –
one for matushka, and one for Fr. Matthew. With the blessing of Fr. Arsenius
she distributed the Holy Gifts. She was not often in her little house because
she was always on the move. The police would come and find a lock on the
doors. When the nuns were arrested, she prayed Psalm 90 so that the Lord
would preserve her from prison. And He did – Matushka Apollinaria lived
until old age, dying on Radonitsa, 1958. She remained an unyielding
opponent of Sergianism until her death.

Another new martyr of the Yaransk diocese was Archimandrite

Barsanuphius. He served in a monastery. Having refused to accept
Metropolitan Sergius’ declaration, he was taken straight from prison to burial
in Yaransk cemetery.

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In 1927 the large, majestic, three-altared church dedicated to the

Annunciation in the village of Kiknur was divided between the renovationist
Fr. Paul and two truly Orthodox priests, Fathers Ioann and Nicholas, who
served at the altar of St. Elijah. The two Orthodox priests were soon
imprisoned. Then the faithful went to a small wooden church eight kilometres
away, which was served by Fr. Peter Shudnsky, who had been transferred
from the village of Shudin to Chernushka, and then to Nezhnur. Fr. Peter did
not recognize the declaration, and was soon arrested. Nobody knew anything
about his fate until, about fifteen years later, a letter arrived from him to
Nezhnur from the north. That was the last anyone heard about him.

Fr. Peter’s place in Chernushka was taken in 1928 by Fr. Sergius

Sukhorukov. He was born in the village of Shanyrikha, Vasilsursk uyezd,
Nizhegorod province. He served in the tsarist army as an under-officer. As a
priest, at the end of the 1920s he served in the village of Chernushka, then in
Sheshurga, and from 1930 – in the village of Lom, Yaransk uyezd. He was a
zealot of piety, and said from the ambon that the declaration was apostasy
from the Orthodox Church and that those who accepted it were betraying
Christ as did Judas. Vladyka Nectarius transferred Fr. Sergius from church to
church, perhaps in order that his fiery sermons should be heard everywhere.
In 1930 he was arrested for refusing forestry work and sentenced to two years
in the camps and three years’ exile, but the sentence was not confirmed.

Fr. Sergius’ church warden was Isaiah Yakovlevich. Once, at the end of the
1920s, he was summoned to the village soviet, where they tried to force him,
as church warden, to sign the declaration. He refused outright: “We are not
servants of the atheist power, we submit only to Christ…” While the
president was drawing up an act for him to sign, Isaiah recited Psalm 90, “he
that dwelleth in the help of the Most High”. He refused to sign it, and the
president, exasperated, at length shouted: “Are you a magician, or what? Go
home!”

People used to come to Isaiah for advice, and he always filled them with
courage. His face shone like a priest’s. Once on December 18/31, 1930 there
was a meeting of the parishioners at Lom to decide what to do. They included
Fr. Sergius, Isaiah Yakovlevich, another trustee Alexander, who later hid for
ten years, James Stepanovich Oshaev, who had been a trustee of the
destroyed church at Kiknur and who later received a martyr’s crown. This
was Fr. Sergius’ last supper with his parishioners. James’ Stepanovich’s
daughter, Matushka S., remembers some words of his relayed to her by her
mother: “Preserve the Church by going up to Soviet power? But what will

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that Church be? Christ’s?” Next Sunday she was taken to confession and
communion with Fr. Sergius since her parents feared that it would be the last.
And they were right. She never went to a church again for 62 years – until the
Free Russian Orthodox Church appeared in Suzdal. Within a week after
Christmas two policemen came to take Fr. Sergius away. The parishioners
hastily brought him a sarafan and shawl, and dressed in these, Fr. Sergius left
the church, avoiding the policemen. The parishioners took him to another
village 10 kilometres away. This took place at the beginning of 1931.

But the self-sacrificing parishioners could not protect their priest for long.
In the summer of 1932 he was arrested in Lom and accused of “joining the
staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, of
“organizing the church counter-revolutionary underground” and of
“directing it and conducting active counter-revolutionary work in the
population”. On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three years in the
camps and sent to a camp. After his release he lived in the village of Staraya
Rudka, Sharanga region. On December 4, 1937 he was arrested, and on
November 3, 1938 he was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a
camp. On April 20, 1942 he died in the Talazhsk section of the camp.

His wife, Maria Nikolayevna Sukhorukova, was born in 1899 in the

village of Kumya, Kozmodemyansk uyezd, Mariinsk province. She was
disenfranchised, and had no fixed domicile. In 1932 she was arrested in the
village of Sovietskoye and accused of “joining the staff of the church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting
counter-revolutionary work in the population on the orders of the
organization”. On August 14, 1932 she was released, taking into account the
time she had already been in prison. In 1935, after the return from camp of her
husband, she helped him in illegal services in secret churches in the homes of
believers. On February 11, 1938 she was arrested for being “a participant in a
counter-revolutionary church-monarchist organization, ‘the Secret Church’”,
and on November 3 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

After the arrest of Fr. Sergius there were no longer any truly Orthodox
churches in the Vyatka region. Vladyka Nectarius blessed the priests to take
the antimensia from the churches and serve in the catacombs. Fr. Simeon,
who took the place of the martyred Fr. Sergius, served in a store-room; at the
end of the 1930s he went into the woods. Fr. Nicephorus, a former medical
assistant, also hid in the woods. He had been ordained, it seems, by Vladyka
Nectarius and later became Hieromonk Peter. He was found and arrested in
the woods after Fr. Simeon.

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Fr. Simeon was a young man. There exists a unique photograph of his
catacomb church in the woods. Later he built a more permanent church in an
izba where he had a stove for heating and for the baking of prosphoras. This
work was carried out by Matushka Euphrosyne. Not far away was a dug-out
in which some men who did not want to fight in the Red Army lived. Fr.
Simeon did not bless fighting in the army: “A believing Christian must not
defend the communists.” They wove bast shoes; people came to them and
took away their handiwork. They went to services in the secret church.

The church was betrayed, according to some sources, by one of those who
helped to build it and with whom people stayed the night who wanted to
pray in the church. According to other sources, the police were brought to the
church by his son after the boy had been interrogated. They parted the
branches and twigs that were disguising the church and came inside.
Matushka Euphrosyne rushed deeper into the church: “Batyushka, it’s the
police!” “That means, that it is God’s will,” replied Fr. Simeon. He was
dragged to prison by his hair…

The photograph shows two boys. One of them was the boy who led the
persecutors to the church. The other, nearer batyushka, was the son of Paul
Vasilyevich, who was very close to Fr. Simeon, his right hand. In the winter
he accompanied batyushka on skis when he had to visit a person. He was
arrested together with Fr. Simeon, was seated on a stool and beaten with a
chain on the legs until they were torn to bloody shreds. Several of the men in
the dug-out were also arrested. Paul Vasilyevich and these men were
sentenced to be shot. On hearing the news they sang in the cell from joy that
their torments were coming to an end and they would receive a martyr’s
crown. But their joy was turned to tears when their sentence was commuted
to ten years in prison. But Fr. Simeon and two people with him were shot on
the eve of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple.

Another underground church was dug out from under the roots of a tree.
It was unwittingly betrayed by a girl who brought red eggs to the church on
Holy Thursday for Pascha. They followed her to the tree, which had fallen
across a neighbouring road…

Another catacomb priest was Hieromonk John Protasov. Before the war he
visited his parishioners only by night. One night he went to baptize a small
girl. He managed to baptize her, and then there was a loud knock. When the
police came in, batyushka was clutching a chalice to his chest. They tore it
from his hands and then led him away. However, this was not Fr. John’s last
arrest. They only searched him, took his money and let him go, ordering him
to come to them the next day. Perhaps they did not want him to return,
otherwise they would have had to part with the money they took from him.

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The parishioners also did not want Fr. John to return. For some years he went
into hiding while they searched for him. During the war it was not advisable
for men to show themselves in any case. People would write their confessions
to him, and he would read the prayer of absolution. He would also distribute
the Holy Gifts through two Annas: “small Anna”, who was a tall, beautiful
18-year-old, and “big Anna”, who was already elderly, and Mother
Euphrosyne, who was also a beauty. The young Anna was arrested first. They
tortured her so fiercely that she wanted to throw herself off the boat on which
they were taking her somewhere. Big Anna was arrested already after Fr.
John. But both Annas returned, and the younger one later went to live in the
south.

Fr. John was very strict. He did not allow parents to bless their children to
join collective farms. Once he did not allow a couple to give their daughter in
marriage to a collective farm-worker. They said to her: “you will have no
blessing from us, or feast.” But the daughter married against her parents’ will.
They completely cut her off from themselves: “You are ours no longer,” they
said; “we would be excommunicated from the Church because of you.”

Once, on the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the patronal feast of the village
church, the daughter went out to feed a pig. It thundered – and the daughter
was struck by lightning and killed. The mother went to bury her: the father
did not…

Once the police came to the house of the woman where Fr. John was living.
He was standing in prayer. The policemen waited until he had finished.
“Well, Protasov, the time has come,” they said. “I see that it has come,” said
Fr. John.

Some people managed to visit him in prison and bring him some food.
They said that he had been greatly tortured at his interrogation. Within a year
he died in prison.

Fr. John was of medium height and with reddish hair. Fr. Simeon was
young, good-looking, with black hair.

(Sources: Nun Tatyana, "Novomuchenik Nektarij (Trezvinsky), episkop

Yaranskij", Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 49, No. 2 (566), February, 1997, pp. 1-6;
A.V.Zh., "Kazanskij period zhizni Vladyki Nektariya, episkopa Yaranskago",
Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 49, No. 2 (566), February, 1997, pp. 7-15; "Poslaniya i
pis'ma svyat. Nektariya", Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 49, No. 2 (566), February,
1997, pp. 16-24; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha Tikhona,
Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 982; "Oppozitsiya
mitropolitu Sergiyu v Kazanskoj eparkhii", Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 10 (1535),
May 15/28, 1995, pp. 10-11; Russkiye Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA
Press, 1986, p. 51; Bishop Ambrose (von Sievers), "Istoki i svyazi Katakombnoj

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Tserkvi v Leningrade i obl. (1922-1992)", report read at the conference "The

Historical Path of Orthodoxy in Russia after 1917", Saint Petersburg, 1-3 June,
1993; “Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj Katakombnoj Tserkvi 1922-1997 gg.”,
Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4(8), 1997, p. 4; "A Biography of Archimandrite
Gury", The True Vine, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 22-23; "Poslaniye iz ssylki",
Pravoslavnij Vestnik, 11, N 87, January-February, 1996, pp. 14-15; Lev
Regelson, Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-1945, Moscow: Krutitskoye
patriarsheye podvorye, 1996, pp. 543, 544, 602-603; V. Semibratov,
“Proslavleniye Ieromonakha Matfeya (Shvetsova)”, Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N 22
(1595), 15/28, 1997, p. 7; Anonymous author, V Obyatiyakh semiglavogo
zmiya, Montreal, 1984, p. 102; “Po Svyatitel’skomu Blagosloveniyu”,
Suzdal’skiye Eparkhial’niye Vedomosti, N 3, January-February, 1998; I.I.
Osipova, “Skvoz’ Ogn’ Muchinij i Vody Slyoz”, Moscow: Serebryanniye Niti,
1998, p. 277; Victor Antonov, “Tri Pis’ma iz lagerya svyashchennomuchenika
Nektariya, episkopa Yaranskogo”, Russkij Pastyr’, 30, I-1998, pp. 93-100; M.V.
Shkarovsky, Iosiflyanstvo, St. Petersburg, 1999, pp. 292-293; “Novomuchenik
otets Arkadij Volokitin”, Vozdvizhenie, N 13 (33), Spring, 2000, pp. 46-65;
http://www.pstbi.ru/bin/code.exe/frames/m/ind_oem.html?/ans/;
http://catacomb.org.ua/modules.php?name=Pages&go=print&pid=1266;
http://catacomb.org.ua/modules.php?name=Pages&go=print_page&pid=11
85; Igumen Theophan (Areskin), live journal; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/vyatka.html; Bishop Ambrose (Epiphanov), “Proch’ ot
Tserkovnoj Yarmarki. Svyaschennomuchenik Nektarij Yaranskij i ego
protivostoianie sergianstvu”, http://www.portal-credo.ru.site/print.php?
act=fresh&id=1193)

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14. HIEROMARTYR SINESIUS, BISHOP OF IZHEVSK

and those with him

Bishop Sinesius, in the world Sergius Grigoryevich Zarubin, was born in

the village of Panino, Saltykovskaya volost, Moscow province in 1886. He
finished art school, and from 1906 to 1917 was a teacher in a craft school in
Irkutsk. He joined the Starogolutvin monastery and was tonsured with the
name Sinesius. Later, in 1918, he was ordained to the priesthood, and served
in Omsk, Tyumen, Irkutsk and Urazov. From 1917 he was teaching in
theological schools. On October 4, 1922 he was arrested “for anti-Soviet
agitation”, but on November 1 the case was shelved and he was released.
From the middle of the 1920s he was archimandrite of the Spaso-Golutvin
monastery.

On May 31 / June 13, 1926, he was consecrated to the see of Ostrog, a

vicariate of the Voronezh diocese, but in the same year he was renamed
Bishop of Urazov, a vicariate of the same diocese. In December, 1926, he
became Bishop of Kolyma, a vicariate of the Yakutsk diocese, and then Bishop
of Yakutsk and Vilyusk. In 1928 he became Bishop of Izhevsk. He was
disenfranchised.

After the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius he entered into opposition to

him. In 1928, according to one (dubious) source, he signed the decisions of the
so-called “Nomadic Council” of the Catacomb Church. He joined the
Catacomb group led by Bishop Victor. On February 26, 1930, he retired, and
lived in Izhevsk, not hiding his disagreement with, and separation from,
Metropolitan Sergius. He continued to serve in the Assumption church
without the permission of the ruling bishop. However, according to one
source, in February, 1930 he was arrested in connection with the True
Orthodox Church and sentenced to five years in the camps on the White Sea
canal.

He was an original hierarch. He used to give two-to-three hour sermons,

not noticing whether there was anybody in the church or not. Once it
happened that he delivered a sermon, and the worshippers, tired of its length,
all left the church. But he continued to talk. Finally, the church warden came
up to him and said:

"Enough."

Only then did he, astonished by the words of the warden, finish his sermon
in the empty church.

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On May 9, 1930 he was banned by Metropolitan Sergius, and on June 4 was

submitted to a hierarchical trial, but continued to serve, not considering
himself to be a sergianist bishop.

As Metropolitan Sergius, relying on the Soviet authorities, increased the

pressure on those who did not recognize him, Bishop Sinesius departed into
the catacombs. He took on the appearance of a wanderer. He travelled round
what was once Holy Russia, but which was now fallen, full of sin, in bast
sandals with a rope belt round his waist, his hair and beard sticking out in
wisps, a knapsack on his back... Who would have thought that he was an
archpastor! In these difficult conditions he taught and instructed Orthodox
Christians on the way to salvation. He spoke about the Jesus prayer as a
convenient and indispensable work... He also spoke about the external
conditions of the persecuted Church:

"From now on don't go into the open churches. They are snares. There is no
Orthodoxy there. Only the form without the content... There it is as the Lord
said: 'Your house is left to you empty!' (Luke 13.35). The Lord has punished
us for our sins. The Church of Christ is not there - only a sham appearance
remains. The true pastors have been annihilated, imprisoned, exiled, put to
flight. While the 'priests' that have remained are, as a rule, party members,
atheists. And these priests are creating there what the Holy Gospel calls 'the
abomination of desolation'. And we are told to 'flee into the mountains' from
this 'desolation'. And this is the same as that which Revelation refers to as
'fleeing into the wilderness'... Flee by praying to God! He is the Most High, He
will not leave us who hope on Him as orphans. He is powerful to defend us,
to preserve us from all evil, from enemies visible and invisible... Save us!"

The Lord gave him the gift of clairvoyance, but he hid it by playing the
fool. Because of his foolishness for Christ's sake, there were some who did not
understand this feat and laughed at him.

His prophecies were sometimes realized many years later. Once he gave a
nun some children's swaddling clothes. She was indignant:

"What's this?"

But he answered: "It will come in handy!"

And ten years later she was put in camp... And her swaddling clothes
"came in handy"!

On May 24, 1931 he was arrested for being “the leader of the Udmurtia
branch of the counter-revolutionary church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church”, and on January 26, 1932 was sentenced to ten years in the
camps. He was sent to the camps on the Baltic-White Sea canal, arriving there

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on March 17. He was accused of inciting counter-revolutionary agitation

among the prisoners, and on September 20, 1937 was sentenced to be shot by
the Karelian NKVD. The sentence was carried out on September 27 in
Sandormokh grove. According to another source, he was shot on October 15.

Hieromonk Pimen (Fyodorovich Vakhrushev) was born in 1887 in

Votoblast into a peasant family, and received an elementary education. He
was tonsured and ordained, and lived in Izhevsk. In the 1920s he was
disenfranchised. On May 27, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in
the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 26, 1932 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and in February was sent to Siblag.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Michael Kirillovich Kozhevnikov was born in 1888 in the village of

Zyuzino, Debessky uyezd, Votsk province into a peasant family, and received
an elementary education. He served in the village of Sharkan, but in the 1920s
was disenfranchised. On May 27, 1931 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 19,
1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a camp. At the end
of the 1930s he was living in Izhevsk. On September 5, 1940 he was arrested,
and on June 14, 1941 he was sentenced to three years in the camps, and in
February was sent to Visherlag. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Nikolayevich Anisimov was born in 1882 in Sharkan uyezd,

Votsk province into a peasant family, and received an elementary education.
In the 1920s he was disenfranchised. On May 24, 1931 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary
church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January
26, 1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps and in February was sent
to Visherlag. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Paul Vasilyevich Merzin was born in 1881 in Izhevsk into a peasant
family, and received a home education. He served in the Dormition cemetery
church. In the 1920s he was disenfranchised. On May 24, 1931 he was arrested
for being “a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary
church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January
26, 1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps and in February was sent
to Visherlag. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Paul Ivanovich Popov was born in 1875 in Izhevsk into the family of
a church reader. He went to a theological seminary, and served in Izhevsk. In
the 1920s he was disenfranchised. On May 24, 1931 he was arrested for being

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“a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-

monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 26,
1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps and in February was sent to
Visherlag. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Ivanovich Tareyev was born in 1879 in Izhevsk into a peasant
family, and received a home education. He served in a church in Izhevsk. In
the 1920s he was disenfranchised. On May 27, 1931 he was arrested for being
“a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 19,
1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps and in February was sent to
Visherlag. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Joseph Ivanovich Degtyarev was born in 1889 in Urals province

into a peasant family, and received an elementary education. In the 1920s he
was sentenced to five years’ exile, and then amnestied. On May 24, 1931 he
was arrested for being “a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-
revolutionary church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and on January 26, 1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps and in
February was sent to Visherlag. Nothing more is known about him.

Subdeacon Semyon Timofeyevich Vakhrushev was born in 1897 in the

village of Itchi, Yakshur-Bodin uyezd, Votsk province into a peasant family,
and received an elementary education. He lived in Izhevsk. In the 1920s he
was disenfranchised. On May 27, he was arrested for being “a participant in
the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 19, 1932 was
sentenced to three years in the camps and in February was sent to Visherlag.
In the 1940s he was in Izhevsk. On December 19, 1949 he was arrested again,
and on June 10, 1950 he was sentenced to three years in the camps and in
February was sent to Visherlag. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Natalya (Rodionovna Gorshkova) was born in 1871 in the village of

Pokrov, Ilyin uyezd, Vladimir province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. She lived in Izhevsk, but then went underground and
lived in the forest. On May 24, 1931 she was arrested for being “a participant
in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 26, 1932 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Maria (Markovna Atamanova) was born in 1897 in Malo-Purgino

uyezd, Votsk province into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. She was disenfranchised, and later went underground, living in
the forest. On May 20, 1931 she was arrested for being “a participant in the
Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-monarchist

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organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 19, 1932 was
sentenced to three years in the camps, and in February was sent to Visherlag.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Natalya (Yakovlevna Tarasova) was born in 1899 in Malo-Purgino

uyezd, Votsk province into a peasant family. Although not condemned, she
later went underground, living in the forest. On May 20, 1931 she was
arrested for being “a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-
revolutionary church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and on January 19, 1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps, and in
February was sent to Visherlag. Nothing more is known about her.

Nicholas Ivanovich Lopatin was born in 1881 in the village of Badyarovo,

Sharkan uyezd, Votsk province, and received an elementary education. A free
peasant, in 1922 he organized a “Christian collective farm”, but in 1925 it was
dissolved. In 1929 he was condemned for resistance to the hand-over of land,
and was sentenced to two years in the camps. However, he escaped and went
into hiding. He organized a secret church in the forest. On May 24, 1931 he
was arrested for being “a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-
revolutionary church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and on January 26, 1932 was sentenced to five years in the camps and in
February was sent to Siblag. Nothing more is known about him.

Philip Alexeyevich Bratukhin was born in 1870 in Sharkan uyezd into a

peasant family. From 1918 he was living illegally in a cell, and was
disenfranchised. On May 31, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in
the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 19, 1932 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and was sent to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is
known about him.

Ivan Vasilyevich Shirobokov was born in 1903 in Sharkan into a peasant

family, and received an elementary education. A free peasant, he later went
underground, living in the forest. On June 2, 1931 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 19,
1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps and in February was sent to
Visherlag. At the beginning of the 1940s he was called up into the army as a
private. On September 16, 1941 he was arrested again, and on September 21
was sentenced to death. On September 27 he was shot.

Yegor Niconovich Filimonov was born in 1906 in Sharkan uyezd into a

peasant family, and received an elementary education. A free peasant, in the
1920s he was disenfranchised. In 1930 he was restored to his right, but later
went underground, living in the forest. On May 31, 1931 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary

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church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January

19, 1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to Visherlag.
Nothing more is known about him.

Semyon Yegorovich Buranov was born in 1911 in Sharkan uyezd into a

peasant family. A free peasant, in later times he had no constant domicile. In
1930 he set light to the house of the president of the collective farm. On May
27, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of
the counter-revolutionary church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church”, and on January 26, 1932 was sentenced to three years in
the camps and in February was sent to Siblag. Nothing more is known about
him.

Stepan Nikolayevich Lopatin was born in 1887 in the village of

Badyarovo, Sharkan uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. A free peasant, in the 1920s he was disenfranchised. In 1929 he was
condemned “for destroying the redistribution of land” and was sentenced to
two years in the camps, but he went into hiding, and for seventeen months
was living in the forest. On May 27, 1931 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 19,
1932 was sentenced to five years’ exile and sent to Arkhangelsk. He worked at
log-felling in Pinyuga. In the autumn of 1937 he was arrested, and on October
23 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. In February, 1938 he was sent to
Visherlag. Nothing more is known about him.

Philip Andreyevich Lopatin was born in 1899 in the village of Badyarovo,

Sharkan uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary education.
A free peasant, he later went underground, living in the forest. On June 8,
1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the
counter-revolutionary church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on January 19, 1932 was sentenced to three years in the camps
and in February was sent to Visherlag. Nothing more is known about him.

Eudocia Ivanovna Lopatina was born in 1876 in the village of Badyarovo,

Sharkan uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary education.
A free peasant, she later went underground, living in the forest. On May 20,
1931 she was arrested for being “a participant in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the
counter-revolutionary church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on January 19, 1932 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent
to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about her.

(Sources: "Svyashchennoispovednik Episkop Sinezij (Zarubin)",

Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 48, N 2 (554), February, 1996; Schemamonk Epiphanius
(Chernov), Tserkov' Katakombnaya na Zemlye Rossijskoj; Lev Regelson,

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 146

Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-45, Paris: YMCA Press, 1977, pp. 605-606;
Russkiye Pravoslavniye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986; Metropolitan
Manuil, Die Russischen Orthodoxen Bischofe von 1893-1965, volume 6,
Erlangen, 1989, p. 224; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha Tikhona,
St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 993; Bishop Ambrose (von Sievers),
"Istoki i svyazi Katakombnoj Tserkvi v Leningrade i obl. (1922-1992 gg.)"
(MS); “Katakombnaya Tserkov’: Kochuyushchij Sobor 1928 g.”, Russkoye
Pravoslaviye, N 3 (7), 1997, p. 20; “Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj
Katakombnoj Tserkvi 1922-1997gg.”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4(8), 1997, p.
5; I.I. Osipova, “Skvoz’ Ogn’ Muchenij i Vody Slyoz”, Moscow: Serebryanniye
Niti, 1998, pp. 260-261; M.V. Shkarovsky, Iosiflyanstvo, St. Petersburg, 1999,
p. 298; http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/nnov.html#n.018a;
http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/vyatka.html)

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15. HIEROMARTYR HABBAKUK, BISHOP OF OLD UFA

and those with him

Bishop Habbakuk, in the world Gregory Antonovich Borovkov, was born

in Ufa in May, 1892, and was a teacher of physics in a school in Ufa.
According to one source, he was an anarchist in his youth. In 1916 he
graduated from the physico-mathematical faculty of Kazan University and
was intending to devote his life to scientific work. From 1918 he taught
physics in a commercial school, and then in a school. His meeting with Bishop
Andrew (Ukhtomsky) changed his intentions. In 1919 Bishop Andrew
ordained him to the diaconate, but he continued to combine work for the
Church with teaching physics. In 1922, on a trip to Moscow to defend Bishop
Andrew, he was tonsured into the mantia and ordained to the priesthood. He
served in a monastery and churches of the yedinovertsy in the diocese of Ufa.
He was an ascetic and ate neither fish nor eggs. On November 18, 1922 he was
consecrated secretly, at night, as bishop of Old Ufa, a vicariate of the Ufa
diocese, by Bishops Andrew (Ukhtomsky) and Nicholas (Ipatov) – or,
according to another source, Bishops Andrew, Mark (Bogolyubsky) and
Trophimus (Yakobchuk). This consecration was later recognized by Patriarch
Tikhon.

On December 27 (or 30), 1922 he was arrested, and on May 16, 1923 was
condemned for “combining Church serving with teaching in school, the
teaching of the Word of God in school, anti-Soviet activity among the young
and the organization in Ufa of religious circles of youth”. In accordance with
article 121 (58-10), he was sentenced to three years’ exile in Ust-Sysolsk,
Zyransk region, Komi SSR. In July, 1926 he returned to Ufa. He fought against
renovationism and also rejected the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius in
1927. From July to December, 1927, in the absence of Archbishop Andrew, he
was temporarily administering the Ufa diocese, a decision that was confirmed
by the Congress of clergy and laity (of “Orthodox Oldchurchmen”) that he
organized in Ufa between October (or September) 16 and 19. Bishop
Habbakuk was also Archbishop Andrew’s choice, but Metropolitan Sergius
appointed Bishop John (Poyarkov) of Davlekanovsk.

On the third day after the conference (or on December 10, according to
another source) Bishop Habbakuk was arrested and condemned in
accordance with article 58-10 to five years in the camps. However, on March
16, 1928 the OGPU released him under guard, depriving him of the right to
live in Moscow and six other cities and confining him to one domicile for
three years. He was exiled first to Chelyabinsk, and then to Ulyanovsk.

According to one (doubtful) source, Bishop Habbakuk signed the acts of

the so-called “Nomadic Council” of 1928, which anathematized sergianism.

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According to one source, Metropolitan Gregory of Sverdlovsk, the leader

of the Grigorians, recommended Bishop Habbakuk for the vacant see of
Ulyanovsk. However, the Grigorians demanded that he repent, which he was
not willing to do. Therefore he was forced to abandon serving in churches.

Early in 1929 a group of Chuvash priests, having come to realise the

falsehood of the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, broke communion with
their sergianist bishop, Metrophanes of Alatyr, and turned for help to Bishop
Habbakuk, who was at that time living in exile in Ulyanovsk. Then the priests
and active laypeople founded a “Union of the Orthodox Church” in the Malo-
Yalchikovsky region in the Chuvash autonomous republic.

The initiative for the creation of the Union came from the reader of the
village of Noviye Shimkusy, Malo-Yalchikovsky region, Alexander
Grigoryevich Grigoryev. He was supported by the dean of the district and
rector of the church in the village of Bayglychevo, Fr. Orlov, and his deputy,
the priest of the village of Ap-Temyahsi, Fr. Andrew Khrisanfov. In March,
1929 they created a deanery district consisting of 13 parishes. At a meeting it
was decided to break communion with Metropolitan Sergius, to create the
“Union of the Orthodox Church” and come into union with Bishop
Habbakuk. Then Grigoryev, and the priests Orlov and Khrisanfov composed
the programme of the Union. Alexander Grigoryev was elected president of
the Union, and he, the priests Orlov and Khrisanfov and the laymen Nicholas
Krasnov and Timothy Shilov. Its main aims were to strengthen church
discipline among the believers and especially the clergy, to unite the laity and
the clergy around the Union, and to struggle with all ecclesiastical schisms.

At a meeting of the Union on May 21, 1929, several resolutions were

passed, including the following:

th
“3. Strictly to observe the 59 canon of St. Basil the Great. Not to give those
living without a marriage crown the Body and Blood of Christ. Also not to
allow children to communion who are brought by relatives living without a
marriage crown (in a Soviet marriage). The children of these parents are to be
admitted to communion only by their godfather or godmother.

“7. Not to allow believers to give their daughters to be married in

renovationist parishes.

“8. Not to allow children baptised by renovationist priests to receive

communion without the blessing of the bishops and without them being
chrismated again.

“11. Not to allow the crowning of divorced men or women, even if

divorced in court, until the Union allows it and the bishop blesses it.”

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The Union created church groups in several villages. Soon their influence
extended throughout the Malo-Yalchiksky region and the neighbouring
villages. The “Habbakukites” hindered the closure of churches and the
removal of bells, and called on the peasants not to enter the collective farms
which, in their opinion, were atheist organizations. A series of collective
forms came close to collapse as a result of the activity of the “Habbakukites”.

In July, 1929 Fr. Andrew Khrisanfov and Reader Grigoriev went to Bishop
Habbakuk in Ulyanovsk. He confirmed the programme of the Union and took
upon himself its archpastoral direction, saying: “Stand firmly for the purity of
Orthodoxy and unite around you the clergy and believers.” In 1930 he
ordained several priests on the recommendation and at the request of the
Union. After the arrest of Priest Orlov in January, 1930, Fr. Andrew
Khrisanfov became the dean and leader of the groups in the Union. After the
arrest of Bishop Habbakuk, the Union continued to commemorate his name in
services since they did not know any other bishop.

There were secret meetings throughout the region, and the authorities
became worried by the Union’s influence. In January, 1930 an icon of the
Mother of God was found in a hole in the ice in the river Bula, in the village of
N. Yanashevo. At the same time the inscription appeared in Chuvash: “He
who goes to the collective farm goes to hell.” Many peasants did not go into
the collective farms, and many who had already entered petitioned to come
out.

In January, 1930, the district dean, Fr. Orlov was arrested. Then the local
party members took the decision to remove the bells from the church of the
village of Bayglychevo, which was without a priest, by January 26. However,
on January 25 the warden Demetrius Susmetov brought Priest Cosmas, who
from 6 in the morning on January 26 began a service in the church. The
service lasted a long time. The church was filled to overflowing. During the
service the signatures of believers were gathered to keep the bells untouched.

Then the blind Monk Theophanes (Davydov) spoke out, saying that the
atheists were intending to close the church and remove the bells, and called
on the believers not to allow this, and not to shrink before the shedding of
blood. In his conclusion he suggested that the people not leave the church,
and if the atheists or “antichrists” mobilised, to sound the alarm, gather the
believers and defend the church to the last drop of blood.

And so the people did not disperse at the end of the service, but crowded
round the church. The authorities summoned the monk with the aim of
arresting him. But at that moment the alarm was sounded and a crowd of
about 300 believers gathered round the office of the village executive
committee demanding the release of those detained. In view of the threat of
violence, the authorities released all three of the detained and ran away.

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However, on June 12-13, 1930 there took place in the village of Maliye
Yalchiki the trial of the warden of the church, Demetrius Susmetov, 34 years
old. He was sentenced to five years in a corrective labour camp, while
Timothy Shilov, the secretary of the Union, was sentenced to ten years. The
blind Monk Theophanes was sentenced to one year’s exile in a remote part of
Russia.

But the work of the Union continued. In place of Priest Orlov Fr. Andrew
Khrisanfovich Khrisanfov was elected. He had been ordained to the
priesthood by Bishop Abraham of Syzran at the request of the believers in
October, 1926. On the day of the October revolution, 1926 he organized a
cross procession which disrupted a demonstration which the communists
were planning to hold on their feast day.

In his house Fr. Andrew constructed a church or prayer house. He was

helped by the zealous parishioners Maria Arkhipova and Eudocia Yegorova.
Their house was next to the prayer house. They swept the floor, kept the stove
going, looked after the lampadas and icons, and spent almost the whole of
their time in the prayer house. They also gave hospitality to wandering nuns
in their house.

Fr. Andrew prepared Maximus Arkhipov and Nicholas Krasnov to become

priests. They were ordained in 1930 by Bishop Habbakuk.

In the record of the interrogation, it was said that Fr. Andrew “forced”
people to be crowned, and slowed down dekulakisation and collectivization.
On October 7, 1931 he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for not
paying taxes. In 1932 he was formally charged with being one of “the
initiators and leaders of the counter-revolutionary organisation of the
Habbakukites, ’the Union of the Orthodox Church’”, with “systematically and
over a period of years acting to disrupt undertakings initiated by Soviet
power”, with “hindering collectivisation”, with “re-establishing the old
monarchist order” and that “in 1930 when the bells were being removed he
roused the religious masses to mass speeches.”

At that time other active Habbakukite priests and laity were arrested.
Alexander Grigoryev was also accused of being an initiator of the Union. He
was ordained by Bishop Habbakuk at the beginning of 1930 and served in the
church of the village of Noviye Shimkusy, the former rector of which,
Hieromonk Philemon, also a Habbakukite, had already been arrested. Fr.
Alexander served every day according to the monastic typicon, from early in
the morning to four in the afternoon. After the service he gave long sermons
and conducted discussions. He talked about Soviet power, about the
international situation, and said that soon there would be a war and the end
of Soviet power. He did not allow collective farm workers to his services. He

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called on them to leave the collective farms, and put “guards” at the doors of
the church so as not to let them in.

Between 1500 and 1700 people visited his church. Many women came
distances of 30 to 40 versts to the church. Under Fr. Alexander’s influence
many women spoke out against the collective farms in their villages. Thus in
the village of Poleviye Burtasy there were nineteen petitions to leave. In the
village of Sabanchino, the collective farm was made almost completely
inoperative. More than 100 households petitioned to leave in 1930 under the
influence of Anton Alexandrov, Eudocia Alexandrova and Andrew Antonov,
who day and night went round the households preaching. On January 11,
1932 Eudocia Alexandrova organised a meeting of women and agitated for
withdrawal from the collective farm, and all the women signed a declaration
on their withdrawal.

This activity obtained the opening of a previously closed church in the

village – this when the anti-religious campaign was gathering strength! Under
the influence of Eudocia Alexandrova inhabitants of the village of Sabanchino
and nearby villages spoke out for the opening of the church, among them
Gregory Petrovich Petrov (from the village of Torayevo) and Nicholas
Prokopyevich Volkov from the village of Sabanchino.

Fr. Gerasimus Pavlovich Chernov was confirmed as priest of the church.

He spoke out against the removal of the bells. His house was first confiscated
and then burned down. At that time members of the komsomol were living in
the house. Fr. Gerasimus was arrested on suspicion of arson. Eudocia
Alexandrova organized a group of women to go to the village soviet and
obtain his release.

After Fr. Gerasimus Fr. Nicholas Kondratyevich Krasnov served for about
a year in the church. When a tax of 720 roubles was imposed on him, Eudocia
Alexandrova turned to the believers after a service and collected 500 roubles
from them.

An investigation of the Habbakukites began in March, 1932. On May 8, the

OGPU petitioned for a prolongation of the investigation. Sixteen people,
including seven priests were accused of composing a counter-revolutionary
organisation, “The Union of the Orthodox Church” and of conducting anti-
Soviet activity aimed at the undermining of the work of the Party and the
government, including a campaign against collectivisation. The accused
denied any political character in their activity. Thus in March Fr. Gerasimus
said: “The Habbakukite movement had as its aim the uniting of the people
around religion, developing religion and restoring it in the population. We
did call on believers to repent of their sins,… but never spoke against Soviet
power.” And Fr. Ignatius said: “My conviction is the following: I consider it
an unforgiveable sin to enter the collective farms because on entering the

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farms one has to take part in dividing the property of others, as it was during
dekulakisation. And when working for an artel one has to have contact with
anti-religious people and enter into all the sinful affairs of the artel.”

All the accused were found guilty according to articles 58-10 and 58-11 of
the criminal code. On October 28, 1932 the OGPU collegium sentenced the
five priests Fr. Andrew Khrianfov, Fr. Gerasimus Chernov, Fr. Maximus
Askhipov, Fr. Nicholas Krasnov and Hieromonk Gurias Pavlov (who was
consecrated Bishop of Kazan in the U.S.A. in 1991) to three years in the
camps. Fr. Ignatius Kononov was sent to Kazakhstan for three years. The
laypeople Terence Makarov, Ivan Skobelev, Basil Pavlov, Ivan Baskhirov,
Alexander Fyodorov, Metrophanes Nikitin and Vladimir Saphronov were
sentenced to three years exile in the north, and Egor Novikov was sentenced
to living in one fixed place for three years.

Fr. Alexander Grigoryevich Grigoryev was born in 1895 in the village of

Stepniye Yanikovo, Batyrevsky region, Bashkiria, into a family of six children.
From 1915 to 1917 he served at the front, being a junior non-commissioned
officer. In 1925 he became a reader in the church of the village of Noviye
Shimkusy, and from 1930 a priest in the same place, being ordained by Bishop
Habbakuk in Ulyanovsk. He was arrested in the summer of 1932.

Fr. Andrew Khrisanfovich Khrisanfov was born in 1890 in the village of

Ap-Temyashi, M-Yalchinsky region, Bashkiria. From 1916 to 1917 he was in
the army. In 1926 he became a reader, in October, 1926 – a priest, being
ordained by Bishop Abraham of Syzran. From 1930 he was dean of the
district, being elected by a deanery assembly. His first interrogation was on
April 5, 1932.

Fr. Nicholas Kondratyevich Krasnov was born in 1905 in the village of

Ap-Temyashin. He became a priest in 1930, being ordained by Bishop
Habbakuk. His first interrogation was on June 2, 1932.

Fr. Gerasimus Pavlovich Chernov was born in 1879 in the village of

Torayevo, M-Yalchinsky region. He was ordained in 1928 by Bishop
Athanasius of Kazan to be priest of Norvash-shigali, Batyrevsky region. His
first interrogation was on March 31, 1932.

Fr. Ignatius Kononovich Kononov was born in 1877. He was a

dekulakised kulak. In 1930 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop
Habbakuk for the village of Novochelny-Syurbeyevo, Batyrevsky region. His
first interrogation was on March 25, 1932.

Fr. Maximus Arkhipov was born in 1886. He was ordained in 1930 by

Bishop Habbakuk to serve as priest in the village of Ap-Temyashi.

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On August 10, 1931 Bishop Habbakuk was arrested and cast into Samara
Domzak. On September 8 the OGPU convicted him of “leading a church-
sectarian organization on whose orders he conducted anti-Soviet agitation
and recruitment, created counter-revolutionary religious cells among the
national minorities and undermined the undertakings of Soviet power in the
village”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to
ten years in the camps. This was “The Case of the Church-sectarian
organization under the leadership of Bishop Habbakuk (Borovkov), Orenburg
province, 1931”. He refused to admit that he was guilty.

The following were convicted in the same trial and on the same charges as
Bishop Habbakuk:

Hieromonk Raphael (Alexandrovich Vechkilev). He was born in 1884 in

the village of Naumovka, Buguruslansky uyezd, Samara province (Boklinsky
region, Orenburg province) into a Mordvinian peasant family. He entered a
men’s monastery as a novice, and was tonsured into monasticism in 1918. In
1919 he was ordained to the diaconate, and in 1921 – to the priesthood,
serving in the Mironositskaya Tsarevokokshaiskaya desert, Kazan province as
treasurer. In 1923 he was arrested for resisting the requisitioning of church
valuables (the indictment was for “stealing church valuables), and was
sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. After one year he was released, and
went to serve in the village of Kivatskoye, Mordovo-Boklinsky region,
Orenburg province. On May 1, 1931 he was arrested. In accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to eight years in the camps.
He refused to recognize his guilt. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Basil Grigoryevich Anisimov. He was born on August 2, 1901 in the

village of Sololeika, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province (Mordovo-Boklinsky
region, Orenburg province) into a Mordovian family. Until 1927 he worked in
the fields. In 1927 he was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Herman
(Kokel) of Bugulmin and sent to serve in the village of Naumovka, Mordovo-
Boklinsky region. Later he served in his native village of Sololeika, and then
in Kamyshinka. In April, 1930 he was ordained to the priesthood in Kazan by
Bishop Herman and sent to his native village. On December 8, 1930 he was
appointed dean by Bishop Habbakuk, whose party he joined. He had a wife, a
son and three daughters. On May 1, 1931 he was arrested and cast into
Samara Domzak. On September 8 he was convicted of “participation in a
counter-revolutionary religious cell of a church-sectarian organization among
the national minorities” and of “undermining Soviet power in the village”. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to ten years
in the camps. He refused to recognize his guilt. Nothing more is known about
him.

Priest Peter Lavrentyevich Yeremeyev. He was born in April, 1889 in the

village of Naumovka, Boklinsky region, Orenburg province. He was a

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Mordvinian. He had a wife, three sons and two daughters. Until 1927 he
worked in the fields. In 1928 he was ordained to the priesthood and served in
his native village. On April 8, 1931 he was arrested, and on September 8 was
convicted of “participation in a counter-revolutionary religious cell of a
church-sectarian organization among the national minorities” and of
“undermining Soviet power in the village”. In accordance with articles 58-10,
58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to ten years in the camps. He refused to
recognize his guilt. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Constantine Yakovlevich Rozhentsov. He was born in May, 1892 in

the village of Nolinskoye, Ufa province. Until 1930 he worked on the land. In
December, 1930 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Habbakuk and
was sent to serve in the village of Sokolovka, Mordovo-Boklinsky region,
Orenburg province. He had a wife, four sons and two daughters. On March
23, 1931 he was arrested in Sokolovka and cast into the Domzak in Samara. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to eight years
in the camps. He refused to recognize his guilt. He was sent to Bamlag in the
town of Svobodny, Far Eastern region. He asked for a conditional early
release, but was refused. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest James Makarovich Troshkov. He was born in July, 1880 in the village
of Aspayevo (Altayevo?), Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province (Boklinsky region,
Orenburg province) into a Mordvinian peasant family. Until 1917 he went on
pilgrimages to the holy paces, and was in Harbin. From 1917 to 1930 he worked
in the fields. He lived with his wife, his two daughters and his brother. In 1930 he
was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Habbakuk, and went to serve in his
native village. On May 3, 1931 he was arrested and cast into Samara Domzak. On
September 8 he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2 to
five years in the camps. He refused to plead guilty. He returned to serving in his
village. In 1937 he was arrested again, and on August 31 was sentenced to death.
He was then shot.

Priest Alexander Ivanovich Kislitsyn. He was born in 1897. From 1926 to

1928 he practised carpentry. In 1928 he was ordained to the priesthood by
Bishop Habbakuk, and went to serve in Sorochinski. He was a widower living
with his mother, his son and his daughter in the village of Nizhne-Chelyaevo,
Boklinsky region, Orenburg province. On April 27, 1930 he was arrested and
sentenced to eight years in the camps. On May 25, 1931 he was arrested again
in his native village and cast into Samara Domzak. On September 8 he was
sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2 to five years in the
camps. He refused to plead guilty. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Michael Vasilyevich Vechkilev. He was born on September 13,

1886 in the village of Naumovka, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province into a
Mordvinian peasant family. In 1917 he became a reader in his native village.
In June, 1930 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Habbakuk and

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sent to serve in the village of Noikino, Mordovo-Boklinsky region, Orenburg

province. In 1930 he was arrested and cast into prison in Orenburg. Four
months later he was released. On April 29, 1931 he was arrested again, and on
September 8 was convicted of “participation in a counter-revolutionary
religious cell of a church-sectarian organization among the national
minorities” and of “undermining the undertakings of Soviet power in the
village”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to
five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Hierodeacon Hermolaus, in the world Emelian Alexeyevich Reshetnikov,

was born in August, 1891 in the village of Staroye Boriskino, Buguruslan
uyezd, Samara province into a peasant family. He went to a village school.
From 1914 to 1916 he worked as a carpenter in Samara, and from 1916 to 1919
– in Perm. In 1921 he became a monk in the Belogorsk monastery in Perm
province, and in 1923 was ordained to the diaconate for his native village. On
May 1, 1931 he was arrested and cast into Samara Domzak. On September 8,
1931 he was convicted of being “a member of a counter-revolutionary
religious cell among the national minorities” and of “undermining the
enterprises of Soviet power in the village”. In accordance with articles 58-10,
58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nun Agatha (Efimovna Bashitova). She was born in April, 1876 in the
village of Boriskino, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province into a Mordovian
peasant family. She was a nun in the women’s monastery of the Kazan icon of
the Mother of God in Bugulma from 1901 until its closure in 1928, when she
went to live in the village of Saleleika, Boklinsky region, Buruguslan district.
On May 2, 1931 she was arrested there and cast into the Domzak in Samara.
On September 8 she was convicted of being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary cell in the national minorities” and of “undermining the
undertakings of Soviet power in the village”. In accordance with articles 58-
10, 58-11 and 59-2, she was sentenced to five years in the camps. She refused
to recognize her guilt. Nothing more is known about her.

Novice Eudocia (Fyodorovna Antonova). She was born in March, 1890 in

the village of Saloleika, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province into a Mordovian
peasant family. She was a novice in the women’s monastery of the Kazan icon
of the Mother of God in Bugulma until its closure in 1928, when she returned
to her native village. On May 2, 1931 she was arrested there and cast into the
Domzak in Samara. On September 8 she was convicted of being “a member of
a counter-revolutionary cell in the national minorities” and of “undermining
the undertakings of Soviet power in the village”. In accordance with articles
58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, she was sentenced to five years in the camps. She
refused to recognize her guilt. Nothing more is known about her.

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James Petrovich Schegolev. He was born in October, 1883 in the village of

Noikino, Buguruslan region, Samara province into a Mordvinian peasant
family. He was married with two sons and a daughter. For one year he was a
member of the parish council of the church in Noikino. On April 30, 1931 he
was arrested and cast into Samara Domzak. On September 8 he was convicted
of being “a member of a counter-revolutionary religious cell among the
national minorities” and of “undermining Soviet power in the village”. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to three years
in the camps. He pleaded not guilty. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Semyonovich Dunayev. He was born in February, 1869 in the

village of Boriskino station, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province into a
Mordvinian peasant family. He practised agriculture in the village of
Saloleika, Bklinsky region. On May 2, 1931 he was arrested and cast into
Samara Domzak. On September 8 he was convicted of being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary religious cell among the national minorities” and of
“undermining Soviet power in the village”. In accordance with articles 58-10,
58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to five years in the camps. He pleaded not
guilty. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Vasilyevich Zharenkov. He was born on September 22, 1894 in

the village of N. Chelyaevo, Boklinsky region, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara
province into a peasant family. He was married with two sons and a
daughter, and lived in the village of Vasilevka, Boklinsky region. On May 1,
1931 he was arrested and cast into Samara Domzak. On September 8 he was
convicted of being “a member of a counter-revolutionary religious cell among
the national minorities” and of “undermining Soviet power in the village”. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to two years’
imprisonment. He pleaded not guilty. Nothing more is known about him.

Paul Ivanovich Zharovsky (Zharkovsky, Zhirovsky). He was born in

November, 1900 in the village of Mukhachets, Tanishayevsky region,
Nizhegorod province into a peasant family. He went to a village school. He
was married with two sons. He was a joiner, and did not enter a collective
farm. On May 13, 1931 he was arrested in the village of Motorino, Boklinsky
region and was cast into Samara Domzak. On September 8 he was convicted
of being “a member of a counter-revolutionary religious cell among the
national minorities” and of “undermining Soviet power in the village”. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, he was sentenced to five years
in the camps. He pleaded not guilty. Nothing more is known about him.

Akim Zinovievich Ivanov. He was born in August, 1864 in the village of

Sokovka, Baituganovskaya volost, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province into a
peasant family. He went to the village school, and from 1905 to 1907 was
village constable. He was a bachelor. On March 18, 1931 he was arrested in his
native village, and on September 8 was convicted in accordance with articles

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58-10, 58-11 and 59-2 of being “a member of a counter-revolutionary cell

among the national minorities” and of “undermining soviet power in the
village”. He was cast into Samara Domzak. He pleaded not guilty and was
released. Nothing more is known about him.

Matthew Yemelyanovich Ichin. A Mordvinian, he was born on August 1,

1900 in the village of Sololeika, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province into a
peasant family. He was married, with three sons and a daughter, and was
warden of the local church. On May 13, 1931 he was arrested, cast into Samara
Domzak, and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2 to
five years in the camps. He was arrested again on July 23, 1937, and on
September 4 was sentenced to death for being “a participant in an armed
bandit group”. He was shot on the same day in Zauralskaya Rosha,
Orenburg.

Melania Konstantinovna Inchina. A Mordvinian, she was born in January,

1896 in the village of Kamyshlinka, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province into
the family of a trader. For several months she worked in the church as a
prosphora-baker. She was not married, and worked in the fields. In 1929-1930
she worked as a nanny in Boriskin hospital. On May 1, 1931 she was arrested
and cast into Samara Domzak. On September 8 she was convicted of being “a
member of a counter-revolutionary religious cell among the national
minorities” and of “undermining the enterprises of Soviet power in the
village”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, she was sentenced
to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Eudocia Yefimovna Sevastyanova was born in August, 1866 in the village

of Staroye Boriskino, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province. She was the wife
of a trader in wheat and cattle, and had two sons and a daughter. On May 2,
1931 she was arrested in her native village and cast into the Domzak in
Samara. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2, she was sentenced
to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

It is known that on November 20, 1935 Bishop Habbakuk was in the camps
on the White Sea-Baltic canal, Karelia.

On September 20, 1937 he was condemned by the UNKVD, and in

accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-2 was sentenced to death. On
October 15, 1937 at 12.30 a.m. he was shot in Karelia.

Another priest of Bishop Habbakuk was Hieromonk Metrophanes, in the

world Michael Vasilyevich Vasilyev. He was born in 1876 in the village of
Tipnery, Cheboksari uyezd. He finished four classes of the village school,
worked on the land, and in 1904 entered as a novice the Hodigitria monastery

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in Belebejsk uyezd, Ufa province, not far from the village of Nikolayevka,
Karyavdinskaya volost. This was a Chuvash community, which was given the
status of a monastery by the Holy Synod in 1901. Here Michael was tonsured
with the name Metrophanes. In 1915 Bishop Andrew of Ufa ordained him to
the diaconate, and in 1918 – to the priesthood. After the closure of his
monastery in 1929, Fr. Metrophanes served in parish churches in the Ufa and
Kazan dioceses. At the beginning of the 1930s he was serving in the village of
Toisi, Tsivilsky region, and in the village of Pervoye Churyashevo, October
region, in Ufa province. At one stage he came under the omophorion of
Bishop Habbakuk.

During this period Hieromonk Gurias (Pavlov) was serving in the

Shutnerovskaya church. In 1932 the two hieromonks were arrested almost
simultaneously and accused of “anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda”, but
were convicted in different trials. Hieromonk Metrophanes was sentenced to
three years’ exile and sent to Kologriv in Kostroma diocese. In 1935 he
returned to Chuvashia, and again met Fr. Gurias in the church of the village
of Akulevka, Cheboksari region. The two priests then stayed together in Fr.
Metrophanes’ house in Tipnery. Thereafter they frequently met each other,
although both were forced to live the lives of wanderers. Fr. Gurias confessed
with Fr. Metrophanes and later declared at his interrogation that Fr.
Metrophanes was his spiritual father.

In the summer of 1950 Fr. Metrophanes sent the Chuvash MGB a letter
containing a brochure called “My Life in Christ”, with a very strong anti-
soviet content. He was summoned to the MGB, and promised not to publish
the text. After signing this promise he repented of it, considering it a sin
before God.

Fr. Gurias relates that at the end of March, 1951 he met Fr. Metrophanes in
a Chuvash village on the other side of the Volga not far from the settlement of
Zvenigovo in Mari ASSR. They gave each other Holy Unction, confessed and
received Communion. Then Fr. Metrophanes said that he had to cross the
Volga. Fr. Gurias tried to dissuade him – it was the time of the spring thaw,
and Fr. Metrophanes only had bast shoes. But Fr. Metrophanes was
unbending. He gave his bronze icon of the Kazan Mother of God together
with other holy things to Fr. Gurias and left. Towards the end of March Fr.
Metrophanes arrived in Zvenigovo, where he stayed for a few days with the
parishioner Gregory Ivanov. It was then that he told Gregory that he would
soon die, and he wanted to die as a martyr. So he would soon go to the square
and denounce the antichristian authorities. Gregory tried to dissuade him, but
on March 26 Fr. Metrophanes gave a speech before the people against the
atheist authorities and tore down a slogan with the name of Stalin from the
wall of a shop, tearing it to pieces. He was arrested and sent to the Zvenigovo
regional department of the MGB, where he continued to preach and tried to

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tear the portraits of communist leaders from the walls. Later Gregory Ivanov
told Fr. Gurias about all this.

Fr. Metrophanes’ interrogation began on the same day. He openly rejected

Soviet power, saying that he “hated” it and “completely” confessed to being
anti-soviet. He also confessed to being a monarchist and rejecting the Moscow
Patriarchate. However, he refused to give any information about other True
Orthodox Christians. On April 7, 1951 he was convicted in accordance with
article 58-10 part 1 and sentenced to ten years in the camps. Beginning his
sentence on July 14, he “showed himself to be a foreign element motivated
against Soviet power”. On October 5, 1951 an anti-soviet letter was taken from
him. On October 6 he tore up a portrait of Stalin in the cultural-educational
section of the camp and broke a window in which the newspaper “Mariiskaya
Pravda” was hanging. Nothing more is known about him. He is presumed to
have died in the strict regime camp.

(Sources: "Katakomby", Russkoye Vozrozhdeniye, 1982 (III), N 19, pp. 180-

181; Pavel Boyarshinov, "Svyashchennomuchenik Arkhiepiskop Andrei
Ufimsky (v miru Knyaz' Ukhtomsky) - Izsledovaniye Zhiznedeyatel'nosti",
Diploma thesis, Jordanville: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1995; M.E. Gubonin,
Akty Svyateishevo Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological
Institute, 1994, p. 957; Bishop Ambrose (von Sievers), "Istoki i svyazi
Katakombnoj Tserkvi v Leningrade i obl. (1922-92 gg.)" (MS); personal
communication, January 7/20, 1996; “Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj
Katakombnoj Tserkvi 1922-1997gg.”, Russkoe Pravoslavie, N 4 (8), 1997, pp. 8-
9; Lev Regelson, Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-1945, Paris: YMCA Press,
1977, p. 535; Za Khrista Postradavshie, 1917-1956, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s
Theological Institute, 1997, pp. 25-26; “Novomuchenik Arkhiepiskop Andrej
Ufimsky (1872-1937gg.)”, Vozdvizhenie, N 13 (33), Spring, 2000, pp. 31-32;
Lydia Sikorskaya, “1930-1932 gody”, unpublished MS; Taijnoj Tserkvi
Revnitel’. Zhizneopisania i dokumenty, Moscow: Bratonezh, 2008;
http://www.portal-credo.ru.site/print.php?act=lib&id=2453;
http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans;)

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16. HIEROMARTYR CYRIL, METROPOLITAN OF KAZAN

and those with him

Metropolitan Cyril, in the world Constantine Ilarionovich Smirnov, was

born in the city of Kronstadt, St. Petersburg province, on April 26, 1863
(according to another source, 1862), in the family of a Church reader. After
graduating from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy in 1887 with the
degree of candidate of theology, he married; and on November 21, 1887 he
was ordained to the priesthood and was appointed to serve in the St.
Petersburg Resurrection church of the temperance society (by the Warsaw
station). He was also a teacher of the Law of God in the Elizabeth gymnasium.
In 1894 he became rector of the Kronstadt Holy Trinity cemetery church, and a
teacher of the Law of God in secondary school number 2 of Saint Petersburg.
On October 1, 1900 he became superior of the Holy Trinity church.

In 1902 Fr. Constantine’s daughter Olga died tragically after swallowing a

needle, and then his wife, also called Olga, died from grief. On May 10 Fr.
Constantine received the monastic tonsure with the name Cyril in honour of
the enlightener of the Slavs. Then he was appointed head of the Orthodox
Mission in Urmia (Persia) and was raised to the rank of archimandrite. On
August 6, 1904 he was consecrated Bishop of Gdov, a vicariate of the
Petersburg diocese. On October 31, 1905 he became the second vicar of the
Petersburg diocese, and on February 15, 1908 – the first vicar. (According to
another source, he was consecrated Bishop of Narva in 1907.)

Bishop Cyril introduced chanting by the whole congregation in the

Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Being a monarchist, he did not approve of the
revolutionary spirit which burst out during the abortive 1905 revolution. He
was a member of the Pre-Conciliar Council.

Bishop Cyril was a close friend of the great luminary of the Orthodox
Church, St. John of Kronstadt. In his will St. John asked that he be buried by
Bishop Cyril, and Cyril fulfilled this request. In 1908, he was the chief
celebrant in the funeral services and placed the body in the coffin.

During Theophany, 1909, it was decreed that because of an outbreak of

cholera all water which was blessed for the feast in Petersburg should be
boiled beforehand, and that the blessing of the waters should be performed
over steaming pots. A church newspaper wrote: "More faith was shown in the
firewood necessary to boil the water and kill the germs than in God.
Fortunately, however, not everyone stepped away from the anchor of our
salvation, and in the same Petersburg the Lord preserved for His chosen ones
a single bishop who did not agree to yield his faith for the sake of peace with
the enemies of Christ's Church. If these notes ever see the light of print, let

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them preserve the name of this loyal servant of God and archpastor, for the
strengthening of faith and piety in my overburdened brethren. The name of
this bishop is Cyril of Gdov. May his name be blessed from generation to
generation." Defying the warnings of the police, and in the presence of the
Royal Family, Bishop Cyril had blessed the water of the Neva at the St.
Alexander Nevsky Lavra through a hole in the ice. The local police, however,
took measures to ensure that no one was allowed to take water from the
"Jordan".

Perhaps as a result of this incident, Bishop Cyril was transferred to the

diocese of Tambov and Shatsk on December 31, 1909. On May 6, 1913 he was
made an archbishop. It was on the initiative of Archbishop Cyril that the
glorification of St. Pitirim of Tambov took place in the cathedral in Tambov in
July, 1914.

Archbishop Cyril spent a large part of his time going round his large
diocese. He always appeared suddenly, when he was not expected. In his
sermons he showed a good knowledge of the life of the people: common
themes of his were their drunkenness, foul language and prejudice against
literacy and schooling. The fundamental aim of his life was the enlightenment
of the people in the spirit of the Orthodox Church.

He was very exacting towards the clergy. It was enough for him to notice
two deacons talking during a service for their names to appear in the local
diocesan newspaper. But at the same time he was very merciful to the poor.

He was an energetic, practical person. Once he heard that several severely

ill parishioners could not visit the cathedral. So he had telephones installed in
their flats and in the cathedral so that they could hear the service in bed.

Archbishop Cyril took a leading part in the Local Church Council of 1917-
18, being president of the section on the teaching of the Law of God. In this
capacity he made a report which unmasked the antichristian plans of the
Provisional Government for the education of children. He was the leader of
the Council delegation which went to Kerensky with the demand for the re-
establishment of the patriarchate, was elected to the Sacred Synod and was
one of the 25 candidates for the patriarchate.

On March 19 / April 1, 1918, he was appointed Metropolitan of Tiflis and

Baku and exarch of the Caucasus. However, he did not succeed in reaching
his see.

In November, 1919 he was arrested in Moscow on a charge of “counter-

revolutionary agitation by means of the distribution of appeals and relations
with Kolchak and Denikin”. He was imprisoned in the Cheka prison in
Moscow, but was released after two months.

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Characteristic of him was his attitude towards the Soviet "authorities",

whom he openly refused to recognize.

In April, 1920 he was appointed Metropolitan of Kazan, and in May he

became a member of Patriarch Tikhon’s Synod. He arrived in Kazan on July 9,
but was arrested again on August 19 because he “left Moscow for the city of
Kazan without the permission of the Cheka”. On August 27 he was sentenced
for “counter-revolutionary activity” to imprisonment in a camp until the end
of the Civil War, but this was changed to a five-year sentence. From October
5, 1920 he was in the Taganka prison in Moscow in one cell with Bishops
Theodore (Pozdeyevsky) and Gurias (Stepanov).

On November 7, while in prison, Metropolitan Cyril was elected an

honorary member of the Kazan Theological Academy.

Abbess Juliana, whose particular duty was to supply food and help to
imprisoned bishops, wrote: "In about 1919 Bishop Gurias was arrested; he
was protector [of the Academy] in Kazan when Metropolitan Cyril was rector.
Therefore the Metropolitan [who was in Moscow] called me in connection
with sending some things to Vladyka Gurias. As it turned out, he had agreed
with him beforehand as to how the Holy Gifts were to be sent to him in
prison. For this he gave me a little box with what seemed to be small white
pieces of bread, and he said that these should be registered among the other
supplies which were to be given. I was upset at taking the Holy Gifts with me,
and in general at the idea of carrying them at all, and I told this to Vladyka.
To this he answered me:

"'What business is that of yours; I am sending you.'

"But having thought a little, he offered that I take the Holy Gifts from him
early in the morning on the same day when I would be going with the
packages for Vladyka Gury in the Butyrki prison. This was done. Soon I was
going with packages for Vladyka Cyril himself, but not for long. In 1920
Metropolitan Cyril was in the Taganka prison; in the same prison at that time,
perhaps even in the same cell, were Vladykas Theodore [Pozdeyevsky] and
Gurias. In the Taganka prison the old rules were still in effect: for good
behaviour prisoners were called or went over to the category of the
'reformed', and they enjoyed certain privileges. In the Taganka prison there
were five prisoners in this category: Metropolitan Cyril, Archbishop
Theodore, Bishop Gurias, Alexander Dmitrovich Samarin and Vladimir
Fyodorovich Dyunkovsky. Besides the usual general visits, they were allowed
once a week on a certain day to have visitors with the grating lifted. Usually,
at the general visits, when many people were speaking with the prisoners
through a double grating, it was almost impossible to converse because of the
noise and shouting. Besides that, these meetings lasted only five minutes. On

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the other hand, visits to the 'reformed' lasted for fifteen minutes, and one
could even give things right into the hands of the prisoners. Under these
circumstances I had to speak with and give things to Metropolitan Cyril many
times. When the Metropolitan was in exile we were able to help him not only
with parcels but also by furnishing church service books."

On December 24, 1921 Metropolitan Cyril was released, and on January 18,
1922 he arrived in Kazan. He was met at the station by Bishops Joasaph and
Athanasius and a crowd of joyful Christians. In April the Bolsheviks carried
out their requisitioning of the valuables of the Kazan churches supposedly
"for the benefit of the starving". However, on August 15 (or 1 or 21) Vladyka
Cyril was arrested (he had already been arrested in April) for his involvement
with the American Relief Organization which supplied food to the starving.
After a spell in prison in Moscow, in January, 1923 he was exiled first to the
province of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, then to Ust-Sysolsk (Syktyvkar), then to
Ust-Kul (Komi SSR) and finally to Kotelnich (Vyatka province).

During this period Patriarch Tikhon, too, was imprisoned, which gave the
renovationist heretics the opportunity to seize control of the central
administration of the Church. Even after the Patriarch was released from
prison in 1923, the GPU tried to persuade the Patriarch to enter into
negotiations with the renovationists, promising that if he did many hierarchs
languishing in prison and exile would be freed. So in May, 1924, the
renovationist leader Krasnitsky was admitted briefly into the Patriarch's
Higher Ecclesiastical Council.

In the same month, however, Metropolitan Cyril was summoned to

Moscow for negotiations with the GPU agent Tuchkov. Since he refused to
recognize the renovationists, Tuchkov threatened to let him rot in prison. But
Vladyka Cyril did not give in.

Vladyka then went to the Patriarch, who asked him his opinion about
admitting Krasnitsky into the Council. He replied:

"Your Holiness, don't think about us hierarchs. There's no need to take pity
on them, they are strengthening the Church. But you must not compromise
with Krasnitsky."

Strengthened by Metropolitan Cyril, the Patriarch struck Krasnitsky's

name off the list of the Council members. As a result of this, in July
Metropolitan Cyril was again exiled, first to Yelsk and then to Perevolok. On
January 7, 1925, Patriarch Tikhon appointed Metropolitan Cyril first locum
tenens of the patriarchal throne although he was still in exile.

In the spring of 1925 he was in exile in Zyryansk region. As Protopresbyter

Michael Polsky writes, he came "to some dense forest at which he arrived

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only after two weeks of travelling in a boat on a river. He was not given
anything to eat, he was left to sleep in the cold outside the forest cabins in
which the agents themselves lodged, he was dragged by the beard and
mocked in such a way that he began to ask for death for himself. He spent a
year under the rule of a communist in a forest where there were only two
hunting cabins."

During this period, Vladyka governed his diocese through his vicars,
Bishops Joasaph, Athanasius and Andronicus.

On March 25 / April 7, 1925, Patriarch Tikhon died. In his will, which was
read out in the presence of 60 hierarchs in the Donskoy monastery, it was
revealed that he had appointed Metropolitan Cyril as the first of three
hierarchs who were empowered to become locum tenens of the patriarchal
throne and take over the leadership of the Russian Church until a new
patriarch could be elected. Since Metropolitan Cyril was not allowed to return
to Moscow take up the locum tenancy, and since the second candidate,
Metropolitan Agathangel of Yaroslavl, was also in exile, the post fell to the
third candidate, Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsa.

In December, 1925, Metropolitan Peter was imprisoned for rejecting the

GPU's terms for legalization of the Church. In the event of his death he
appointed Metropolitan Cyril as the first candidate to the locum tenancy. And
so the GPU agent Tuchkov went to Metropolitan Cyril and put the same
terms for the legalization of the Church to him.

"If we have to remove some hierarch," asked Tuchkov, "will you help us in
this?"

"Yes, if the hierarch appears to be guilty of some ecclesiastical

transgression... In the contrary case, I shall tell him directly, 'The authorities
are demanding this of us, but I have nothing against you'."

"No!" replied Tuchkov. "You must try to find an appropriate reason and
remove him as if on your own initiative."

To this the hierarch replied: "Eugene Nikolayevich, you are not the cannon,
and I am not the bomb, with which you want to blow up our Church from
within!"

When Metropolitan Cyril refused to accept the locum tenancy on the

GPU's terms, he was sent back to Turukhansk. However, Tuchkov did not
leave him alone. According to Matushka Seraphima Bulgakova, a former cell-
attendant of Metropolitan Cyril, "at the beginning of his locum tenancy
Metropolitan Sergius had been firm and uncompromising. At that point
Tuchkov went to Metropolitan Cyril, who was in exile at that time, in the

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hope that the latter, tormented by prisons and exiles, would make a
compromise. He even succeeded in persuading the metropolitan to take up
his post of locum tenens (he was the first candidate according to Patriarch
Tikhon's will). Metropolitan Cyril left his place of exile, but, on arriving in
Rybinsk, he stopped and sent his cell-attendant to an ascetic nun [Blessed
Xenia] living in Rybinsk, and asked her what he should do. She replied that if
he went to Moscow and accepted Tuchkov's offer, he would lose everything
(spiritual) that he had gathered throughout his life. And the metropolitan
went back into exile."

While he was there, in November, 1926, a secret ballot of 72 bishops elected

him as the best candidate for the patriarchate (Metropolitan Sergius received
not more than one vote). “And so,” writes a sergianist source, “Metropolitan
Cyril was elected Patriarch. But his enthronement did not take place.” For
almost immediately, on December 21, 1926, he was arrested in Kotelnich and
cast into the special isolator in Vyatka.

On March 28, 1927, in accordance with article 58-6, he was sentenced to

three years in exile in Siberia in “The Case of Metropolitan Cyril (Smirnov)
and Protopriest Alexander Agafonnikov, Vyatka province, 1927”. The OGPU
found that “Citizen Smirnov, while in Komi province in 1926 and later in
Vyatka province, had relations with church activists with the purpose of
consultation on church matters and exerting influence on them, while most
recently he contacted a group of blackhundredist bishops whose aim was to
give the Church the character of an anti-Soviet organization. Citizen Smirnov
was planning to head this latter group, summoning it to church activity and
bringing its anti-Soviet programme into life.” “The group of blackhundredist
churchmen, who are being investigated in case N 39960, headed by
Metropolitan Sergius Stragorodsky, the patriarchal locum tenens, decided
finally to give the Church the character of a definitely anti-Soviet
organization, and with this aim give it a patriarch as its head. They carried
out elections for him [the patriarch] and indicated as a candidate the person
who was the most anti-Soviet. The group set about the election in a very
conspiratorial way. Moreover, the voting by sealed ballots was carried out
only among the episcopate. A special ‘Address of the Orthodox Church to the
Soviet Government’ was worked out, which had a directly counter-
revolutionary and threatening character. This declaration was to be given out
in the name of the new Patriarch and under his signature. The group
indicated as their most desired candidate Constantine Ilarionovich Smirnov
(Metropolitan Cyril), and contacted him for this reason although he, from
1919 until the present time, with a few breaks when he was subject to
repressions because of his anti-Soviet activity, has been the most
blackhundredist and counter-revolutionary churchman. At this time Smirnov,
for the ending of his administrative exile, had been transferred to Kotelnich,
where he came into close contact with the local priest Agafonnikov… Cyril
and Agafonnikov, the first personally and the second in writing, received

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news from the already mentioned grouping concerning Cyril’s appointment

as patriarch… But he received for Cyril the indication that ‘the bishops who
are exiled and have suffered for the faith are against any degree of
legalization,’ that is, in other words, they decided to continue conducting
church politics in an anti-Soviet spirit. This was as it were a precondition for
Cyril’s signing of the above-mentioned anti-Soviet declaration. Cyril
immediately began having receptions as if he were the patriarch. Moreover,
they were staged in an extremely conspiratorial way, with the doors locked
and conversations conducted in a whisper. The visits by churchmen acquired
a mass character: up to five people came to him at once. On the basis of the
above Smirnov and Agafonnikov were arrested together with the
blackhundredist grouping of churchmen. Since the investigation in the
present case is finished, I suggest it should not be joined to case N 36960,
whose investigation is still continuing. I suggest that the guilt of Smirnov and
Agafonnikov be considered proven.”

Metropolitan Cyril was sent to Khantaika, Turukhansk region, in north-

western Siberia. There he heard of the infamous declaration of Metropolitan
Sergius, Metropolitan Peter's deputy, which placed the Church in the same
position of servitude that Metropolitan Cyril had rejected. Cyril rejected the
declaration and broke communion with Sergius.

From May to December, 1929, Metropolitan Cyril was in exile in Yeniseisk.

From there he immediately wrote a letter to Sergius, denouncing him as a
usurper who had overstepped the bounds of his authority by instituting a
new church policy not approved by Metropolitan Peter. Although they
exchanged several letters, Metropolitan Cyril did not succeed in persuading
Sergius to change his course. On January 2, 1930 Metropolitan Sergius
subjected Metropolitan Cyril to the judgement of a Council of bishops and
removed him from his see, but with the right to serve if the local diocesan
bishops allowed it. This decree was to come into force on February 15 unless
Metropolitan Cyril indicated before that date that he had broken communion
with the Catacomb bishops. However, Metropolitan Cyril maintained his
position, and in January was taken from Yeniseisk to exile in Turukhansk
region. On April 23, 1930, in “The Case of Metropolitan Cyril (Smirnov) and
Protopriest Alexander Agafonnikov, Vyatka province, 1930”, he was
sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to deprivation of the right to live in
Moscow and Petrograd provinces, and in Kharkov, Odessa, Dagestan and
Tataria for three years. He was again sent into exile in the Turukhansk region
for three years.

Several points were made by Metropolitan Cyril in his correspondence with

Metropolitan Sergius which are of vital importance in evaluating the
significance of the various schisms that have taken place in the Orthodox
Church in this century. The first is the priority of “the conciliar hierarchical
conscience of the Church”. As he wrote in 1929: “Church discipline is able to

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retain its validity only as long as it is a true reflection of the hierarchical

conscience of the Conciliar [Sobornoj] Church; discipline can never take the
place of this conscience”. Sergius violated the hierarchical, conciliar
conscience of the Church by his disregard of the views of bishops equal to
him in rank.

The second is that a hierarch is justified in breaking communion with a

fellow hierarch, not only for heresy, but also in order not to partake in his
brother’s sin. Thus while Metropolitan Cyril did not consider Sergius to have
sinned in matters of faith, he was forced to bread communion with him
because “I have no other means of rebuking my sinning brother”. If clergy
have mutually opposing opinions within the Church, then their
concelebration is for both “to judgement and condemnation”.

Thus in November, 1929, Metropolitan Cyril refused to condemn

Metropolitan Joseph and his supporters, who had broken communion with
Sergius; and he did not agree with the bishops in exile in Tashkent – Arsenius
(Stadnitsky), Nicodemus (Krotkov), Nicander (Fenomenov) and others – who
condemned Joseph, considering their hopes of convening a canonical Council
to be “naivety or cunning”.

A third point made by Metropolitan Cyril was that even when such a break in
communion occurs between two parties, both sides remain in the Church so long
as dogmatic unanimity is preserved. But this immediately raised the question:
had Sergius only sinned “administratively”, by transgressing against the canons,
as Metropolitan Cyril claimed (until 1934, at any rate), or had he sinned also
“dogmatically”, by transgressing against the dogma of the One Church, as
Archbishop Demetrius of Gdov, among others, claimed?

On August 19, 1933 Metropolitan Cyril was released and went to live in the
town of Gzhatsk, from where he continued secretly to lead the opposition to
Metropolitan Sergius. During this period, while refraining from saying that
the sacraments of the sergianists were graceless, Metropolitan Cyril
nevertheless considered that those who partook of them knowing the
unrighteousness of Sergius’ position partook of them to their condemnation.

Thus he wrote to an unknown hierarch: “It seems to me that both you

yourself and your correspondent do not distinguish those actions of
Metropolitan Sergius and his partisans, which are performed by them in
proper order by power of those grace-given rights received through the
mystery of the priesthood, from those other activities which are performed
with an exceeding of their sacramental rights and according to human
cunning, as a means of protecting and supporting their self-invented rights in
the Church. Such are the actions of Bishop Zacharius and Priest Patapov of
which you speak. These are sacramental acts only in form, while in essence
they are a usurpation of sacramental activity, and therefore are blasphemous,

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without grace, non-ecclesiastical. But the Mysteries performed by Sergianists

who are correctly ordained and not prohibited to serve as priests, are
undoubtedly saving Mysteries for those who receive them with faith, in
simplicity, without deliberations and doubts concerning their efficacy, and
who do not even suspect anything incorrect in the Sergianist order of the
Church. But at the same time, they serve for judgement and condemnation for
the very performers of them and for those who approach them well
understanding the untruth that exists in Sergianism, and by their lack of
opposition to it reveal a criminal indifference towards the mocking of the
Church. This is why it is essential for an Orthodox Bishop or priest to refrain
from communion with Sergianists in prayer. The same thing is essential for
laymen who have a conscious attitude to all the details of church life.”

These letters make clear that while Metropolitan Cyril was quite prepared
to say of certain hierarchs (the renovationists, Bishop Zacharius) that they
were deprived of the grace of sacraments, he was not prepared to say this –
yet – of Metropolitan Sergius, “until a lawful Council by its sentence shall
utter the judgement of the Holy Spirit concerning him”. He gave as one
reason for his hesitation – or “excessive caution”, as his correspondent put it –
“an incomplete clarification of the conditions which surround me and all of
us”. Another reason was his ignorance of the position of Metropolitan Peter –
an ignorance engineered, of course, by the Bolsheviks. Thus “for me
personally,” he wrote, “it is impossible at the present time to step forth, since I
am entirely unsure of the character of the attitudes of Metropolitan Peter, in
order to be convinced of his actual views and to decide how to act…”

In about the middle of the 1930s Metropolitan Cyril issued an epistle in

which he called on the Catacomb hierarchs to confirm his candidacy as lawful
patriarchal locum tenens in the case of the death of Metropolitan Peter. We
know the reaction of one hierarch, Archbishop Theodore of Volokolamsk, to
this epistle. He was not enthusiastic, because he considered that in times of
persecution a centralized administration was not obligatory for the Church.

According to the witness of his spiritual daughter, he once went to meet

Metropolitan Sergius in Moscow. A guard stopped him from entering the
building, but Metropolitan Cyril pushed by him and went into Metropolitan
Sergius’ study. A few seconds later, he came out again. “Evidently,” writes a
sergianist source, “everything had now become clear to him.”

On July 14, 1934 he was arrested on a charge of “counter-revolutionary

activity” and was transferred to the inner isolator in the Butyrki prison in
Moscow, where, on December 2, he was convicted of “counter-revolutionary
activity” and sentenced to three years’ exile in Yany-Kurgan in Southern
Kazakhstan. All attempts to find out where he was from the woman who had
served him in her house proved fruitless, and ended with the disappearance
of this woman, too.

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In August, 1936 the Bolsheviks spread the false information that

Metropolitan Peter had died. Immediately Metropolitan Sergius quite illegally
assumed to himself Peter’s title of Metropolitan of Krutitsa. From this time, a
distinct hardening in Metropolitan Cyril’s position is noticeable.

Thus in March, 1937 he wrote: “With regard to your perplexities

concerning Sergianism, I can say that the very same questions in almost the
same form were addressed to me from Kazan ten years ago, and then I replied
affirmatively to them, because I considered everything that Metropolitan
Sergius had done as a mistake which he himself was conscious of and wished
to correct. Moreover, among our ordinary flock there were many people who
had not investigated what had happened, and it was impossible to demand
from them a decisive and active condemnation of the events. Since then much
water has flowed under the bridge. The expectations that Metropolitan
Sergius would correct himself have not been justified, but there has been
enough time for the formerly ignorant members of the Church, enough
incitement and enough opportunity to investigate what has happened; and
very many have both investigated and understood that Metropolitan Sergius
is departing from that Orthodox Church which the Holy Patriarch Tikhon
entrusted to us to guard, and consequently there can be no part or lot with
him for the Orthodox. The recent events have finally made clear the
renovationist nature of Sergianism. We cannot know whether those believers
who remain in Sergianism will be saved, because the work of eternal
Salvation is a work of the mercy and grace of God. But for those who see and
feel the unrighteousness of Sergianism (those are your questions) it would be
unforgiveable craftiness to close one’s eyes to this unrighteousness and seek
there for the satisfaction of one’s spiritual needs when one’s conscience
doubts in the possibility of receiving such satisfaction. Everything which is
not of faith is sin.... I am in fraternal communion with Metropolitan Joseph,
and I gratefully esteem the fact that it was precisely with his blessing that
there was expressed the first protest against Metropolitan Sergius’
undertaking from the Petrograd diocese...”

On July 7, 1937, Metropolitan Cyril was arrested in Yany-Kurgan and

imprisoned in Chimkent on a charge of “participating in a counter-
revolutionary underground organization of churchmen” together with
Metropolitan Joseph of Petrograd.

According to Schema-Monk Epiphanius Chernov, Metropolitan Cyril met

Metropolitan Joseph in Chimkent, "lived together with him under arrest and
received with him a martyric death. In any case, this fact was known in the
Catacomb Church in Moscow. This detail was told to the author of these lines
in prison by a Moscow priest. Every day, when they let Metropolitan Cyril
and Joseph out for a walk, they walked side by side, pressed against each
other. Now Metropolitan Joseph was tall, and by comparison with him the

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stocky Metropolitan Cyril was short. As they walked in a circle, they were
always engaged in concentrated conversation. Evidently there, in the open air,
no one could overhear them. And these two figures, as if fitting into each
other, gave a touching demonstration of the 'two-in-one' nature of these
hierarchs. And this walk of the metropolitans was watched by some catacomb
nuns from a hill. This was not without danger. It was necessary to disguise it,
so that the authorities should not notice this secret signalling. And it came to
the point where the metropolitans gave them their blessing at the beginning
and at the end of their walk. I heard this detail from inhabitants of Chimkent
both in captivity and in freedom. So there can be no doubt about this sojourn
of Metropolitan Cyril with Metropolitan Joseph in the autumn of 1937. Both
'Moscow' and 'Chimkent' witness to it. Now there are no traces left of the little
house in which the hierarch-confessors were kept. They demolished it when
they noticed that the place enjoyed special veneration from the believers..."

When the KGB archives were opened in January, 1992, it was discovered
that after his arrest Metropolitan Cyril had been accused of leading “all the
counter-revolutionary clergy”, but that he had conducted himself with great
courage and had taken all the responsibility upon himself. On September 23
he was joined in prison by Metropolitan Joseph of Petrograd. The two
outstanding hierarchs were condemned by a troika of the South Kazakhstan
region on November 6/19, and were shot together on November 7/20, 1937 in
Lisiy ovrag, near Chimkent. They were buried in Lisiy ovrag.

Nun Eudocia (Alexandrovna Perevoznikova) was born on February 7, 1880

in the village of Cherenkovo, Salvichutsky uyezd, Vologda province into a
peasant family. Before the revolution she struggled in a monastery, and then
worked as a tailor in a workshop. Then she followed Metropolitan Cyril into
exile in Yany-Kurgan, where she was his cell-attendant. The metropolitan
called her his “carer”. On July 13, 1937 she was arrested and cast into prison
in Chimkent. She was accused of “belonging to a counter-revolutionary
organization” in “The Case of Archbishop Alexis (Orlov) and others,
Chimkent, 1937”. The conclusion of the prosecutor was that “Maria Rykova
and Eudocia Perevoznikova – active religious people – were constant links
between [Bishop Eugene] Kobranov, [Metropolitan Cyril] Smirnov and
[Metropolitan Joseph] Petrovykh, through whom instructions and directives
were given to the leaders of the counter-revolutionary cells to develop
counter-revolutionary activity and collect money for the centre.” At the
investigation she said: “I am not a member of a counter-revolutionary
organization and do not admit myself to be guilty of counter-revolutionary
activity, and refuse to give testimony in this matter.” She was condemned to
death in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, and was shot on August 27,
1937 in Lisya balka, Chimkent, where she was also buried.

Nun Maria (Sergeyevna Rykova) was born in 1892 in Moscow. She was
arrested in Chimkent on June 23, 1937, and in August was convicted of

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“belonging to a counter-revolutionary centre of churchmen” in “The Case of

Archbishop Alexis (Orlov) and others, Chimkent, 1937”. At her interrogation
she declared that “I do not belong to a counter-revolutionary organization
and I have not conducted any counter-revolutionary work”. On September 27
she was shot in Lisya balka, Chimkent, where she was also buried.

(Sources: M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishego Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St.

Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, pp. 866-867; L. Regelson, Tragediya
Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-1945, Moscow: Krutitskoye patriarsheye podvorye,
1996, pp. 559-560; I.M. Andreyev, Russia's Catacomb Saints, Platina: St.
Herman Monastery Press, 1982; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Polozhenie
Tserkvi v Sovyetskom Soyuze, Novye Mucheniki Rossii, Jordanville: Holy
Trinity Monastery, 1949-56; Lev Regelson, Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-
45, Paris: YMCA Press, 1977; Schema-Monk Epiphanius Chernov, Tserkov'
Katakombnaya na Zemlye Rossijskoj; Reader Gregory Mukhortov,
Krasnoyarsk; Russkie Pravoslavniye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986;
Pravoslavnaya Rus', no. 22, November 15/28, 1991, pp. 5-6; Alexander
Nezhny, "Tretye Imya", Ogonek, no. 4 (3366), January 25 - February 1, 1992, p.
3; "Zhizneopisaniye Svyashchenomuchenika Iereya Sergiya Mechova,
sostavlennoye ego dukhovnymi chadami", Nadyezhda, vol. 16, Basel-
Moscow, 1993, pp. 235-36; Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', N 5 (545), May, 1995, pp. 6-
8; A.V. Zhuravsky, "Zhizneopisaniye Svyashchennomuchenika Ioasapha,
Episkopa Chistopol'skago", Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 48, N 8 (559), August, 1995;
M.V. Shkarovsky, “Neizvestnaya stranitsa zhizni mitropolita Kirilla
Kazanskogo”, and “Letter of Metropolitan Cyril to Hieromonk Leonid,
February 23 / March 8, 1937”, Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N 16, August 15/28, 1997,
p. 7; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute,
1997, pp. 567-575; “Novie dannia k zhizneopisaniu sviashchennomuchenika
Fyodora, arkhiepiskopa Volokolamskogo, osnovannia na protokolakh
doprosov 1937 g.”, Pravoslavnaia Zhizn’, 48, N 8 (584), August, 1998, pp. 4-5;
“Ekkleziologiya sv. Kirilla (Smirnova), mitropolita Kazanskogo", Vestnik
Germanskoj Eparkhii Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Tserkvi za Granitsei, no. 1, 1991,
pp. 12-14; V.V. Antonov, "Vazhnoye Pis'mo Mitropolita Kirilla",
Russkij
Pastyr', II, 1994, p. 76; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-
htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans)

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17. HIEROMARTYR JOASAPH, BISHOP OF CHISTOPOL

and those with him

Bishop Joasaph, in the world John Ioannovich (Ivan Ivanovich) Udalov,

was born on April 5, 1886, in the pious family of a watchmaker in the city of
Ufa. He finished his studies at the Ufa theological school (1900) and the Ufa
theological seminary (1906). Wishing to become a priest, John Ioannovich
entered the Kazan Theological Academy in August, 1906, and graduated with
the degree of candidate of theology in 1910. On August 2, 1910, he was
tonsured into the brotherhood of the monastery of the Theophany in Zhitomir
by Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Volhynia and Zhitomir, and on the
next day was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Gabriel of Ostrog, the
vicar-bishop of the diocese. On August 14, by a decree of the Holy Synod, he
was appointed a teacher in the Zhitomir pastoral school in the name of John
of Kronstadt. In the same year of 1910 Fr. Joasaph was ordained to the
priesthood by Archbishop Anthony, whose influence helped his rapid rise up
the ecclesiastical hierarchy. However, he was helped even more by his
righteous life and firm confession of the Orthodox Faith.

On October 3 (or September 24 or in November), 1911 Fr. Joasaph was

appointed assistant inspector of the Kazan Theological Academy at the
request of the rector of the Academy, Bishop Alexis (Dorodnitsyn). He was
appointed president of the Council of missionary courses. He then worked in
the Tatar mission and with the yedinovertsy. On July 11, 1912, by another
decree of the Holy Synod, he was appointed acting superior of the Kazan
Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery with promotion to the rank of igumen.
With his fine mind and administrative flair and ability to get on with all kinds
of people, the young igumen soon brought the community to a flourishing
state. Here he began building a chapel in the Old Russian style over the relics
of St. Ephraim, metropolitan of Kazan. (The chapel was destroyed to make
way for a garage in 1972.)

In 1915 he was raised to the rank of archimandrite and appointed president

of the Pedagogical Council and the Economic committee of the Kazan
missionary courses.

In September, 1918 the Bolsheviks conquered Kazan. At that moment there

were no bishops in the city: Metropolitan James (Pyatnitsky) of Kazan and
Bishop Boris (Shipulin) had left with the Whites, while Bishop Anatolius of
Chistopol, the rector of the Academy, was in Moscow at the All-Russian
Church Council. It was at this critical moment that Archimandrite Joasaph
took upon himself the burden of leading the church administration in the city.
Arrests and shooting were taking place everywhere, and the majority of the
churches were closed because of the departure of a significant proportion of
the parish clergy - they were all terrified by the bestialities perpetrated by the

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Bolsheviks. Besides, almost all the members of the diocesan council were out
of the city at that moment. So Archimandrite Joasaph was forced to take on
the administration of the Kazan diocese alone.

On September 20, while he was celebrating the Liturgy in the Spassky

monastery, a red commander burst into the altar and declared that the
Kremlin was to be closed to the public and declared a military citadel. The
Kremlin churches were closed on September 22, and Archimandrite Joasaph
decided to remove the most venerated holy objects. The authorities allowed
this on condition that a list of those taking part in the removal should be
submitted to them, and that no chanting take place during the transfer.

Finally, with the help of the nuns of the Monastery of the Mother of God,
the relics of Saints Gurias and Barsanuphius, the icon of St. Barbara with part
of her relics, the icons of the All-Merciful Saviour and other holy objects were
transferred in a silent procession to the Kazan monastery.

The Bolsheviks then began looting the churches in the Kremlin and
shooting several priests in the Kazan region. News of these shootings reached
the diocesan council headed by Archimandrite Joasaph, and he inscribed the
martyrs' names into the martyrologies and diptychs. These acts were
confirmed by Bishop Anatolius, who returned to Kazan on September 26 and
took over the leadership of the diocese.

With the approach of Kolchak's armies, the Kremlin was again opened to
the public. Archimandrite Joasaph took a leading part in the restoration work
which then began. And it was he who served the first service in the cathedral
church on March 25, 1920 (old style).

In April, 1920, Patriarch Tikhon learned that Metropolitan James was not
intending to return to Kazan, so he appointed Metropolitan Cyril (Smirnov) to
take his place. Metropolitan Cyril was met with great joy by the citizens of the
city.

On July 12, Archimandrite Joasaph was consecrated bishop of Mamadysh,

a vicariate of the Kazan diocese, by Metropolitan Cyril and Bishop Peter
(Zverev) of Balakhinsk. He was appointed to live in the Kizichesky monastery
and remained superior of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery. In the same
month he was arrested and cast into Butyrki prison in Moscow, but was
released on August 23 after promising not to leave the city.

On August 6 Metropolitan Cyril was arrested in his chambers and taken to

Moscow. This greatly sorrowed the citizens of Kazan, but they were able to
form links with Moscow and supply the metropolitan with all that he needed.
The Orthodox in the region were now led by Bishops Anatolius and Joasaph,

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and on November 8 they consecrated Archimandrite Athanasius (Malinin), a

lecturer in the Kazan Theological Academy, as Bishop of Cheboksary.

In the spring of 1921 the Cheka learned that the Theological Academy was
still in existence under the guise of theological courses. So they arrested
Bishop Anatolius, the rector of the Academy, and all the professors on the
charge of organizing an unlawful academic organization. The professors were
soon freed, but Bishop Anatolius was detained in prison in Moscow.

This left Bishop Joasaph once again in charge of the Kazan diocese. With
the agreement of Metropolitan Cyril, with whom he maintained contact in the
Taganka prison, he and Bishop Athanasius proceeded to consecrate
Archimandrite Andronicus of the Seven Lakes Hermitage to the episcopate,
transferring him to the monastery of St. John the Forerunner in Kazan.
Moreover, in November he obtained the authorities' permission in effect to
reopen the Kazan Theological Academy under the rectorship of Professor
Protopriest Nicholas Petrov, the superior of the church of St. Barbara. The
institute continued in existence for another two years until Bishop Joasaph's
exile from Kazan in 1924.

Early in 1922 Metropolitan Cyril was released from prison and was met in
Kazan by Bishops Joasaph and Athanasius and a large crowd of Orthodox, for
whom Metropolitan Cyril already had the aura of a confessor of the faith.

In April, 1922 the Bolsheviks carried out a requisitioning of the valuables in

the Kazan churches. Bishop Joasaph was able to save many valuable and
ancient holy things from the Spassky monastery, but not the beautiful royal
doors made of silver. In 1922, in connection with the confiscation of church
valuables, 24 clergy of all ranks were killed by the Bolsheviks in Kazan
province.

On July 12, 1922 Bishop Joasaph was appointed Bishop of Chistopol, a

vicariate of the Kazan diocese.

On August 21 Metropolitan Cyril was exiled to Ust-Sysolsk, after which a

representative of the renovationist schism appeared in Kazan. Hoping to
overcome their "differences" with the renovationists, Metropolitan Cyril and
Bishop Joasaph did not stop the renovationists E. Sosuntsov and S. Spirin
from joining the diocesan council on October 1. However, their attitude
changed when they sent their "Archbishop" Alexis (Bazhenov) to Kazan to
take the place of the exiled Metropolitan Cyril.

"Archbishop" Alexis arrived in Kazan on Great Thursday, April 5, 1923.

First he occupied the metropolitan's residence, then he set off for the winter
church of the monastery of the Mother of God and stood in the altar to the left
of the royal doors. Vladyka Joasaph, who was celebrating the Liturgy and the

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washing of feet on that day, entered the church at "Glory...", vested and went
into the altar during the little entrance. Here for the first time he saw
Archbishop Alexis. He continued to serve the Liturgy, censing Alexis at the
appropriate times as a hierarch. During the singing of the communion verse,
Alexis went up to Bishop Joasaph, called himself Archbishop of Kazan and
Svyazhsk and asked whether he would serve with him. Vladyka categorically
refused, justly pointing out that such an appointment of a new hierarch in the
place of the still-living Metropolitan Cyril contradicted the church canons.
That was why he, as an Orthodox bishop and vicar of the Kazan diocese,
being in obedience to Patriarch Tikhon and Metropolitan Cyril, considered
such a decision of the renovationist authorities to be uncanonical. The
firmness of Vladyka Joasaph made a strong impression on Alexis, who had
expected nothing of the sort.

Meanwhile, Protopriest N.M. Vinogradov and other priests of the Kazan

monastery went up to seek the blessing of "Archbishop" Alexis. At the end of
the Liturgy Vladyka Joasaph carried out the rite of the washing of feet. That
was a truly tragic moment, when the priests sang the verses about the traitor
Judas and themselves prepared to betray their hierarch. For when Bishop
Joasaph, in imitation of Christ Who washed the feet of His disciples at the
Mystical Supper, washed the feet of these pastors, they had already agreed to
submit to the false hierarch Alexis. In the evening the renovationist
archbishop was already reading the twelve Gospels in the monastery, while
Vladyka was serving the all-night vigil in the Vladimir cathedral, where Fr.
Peter Grachev had immediately invited him. Most of the parish priests
recognized Alexis, and after Pascha the Orthodox Bishops Joasaph and
Athanasius were already serving in secret, commemorating the most holy
Patriarch and Metropolitan Cyril. After Bishop Joasaph left the diocesan
council, it became completely renovationist, and immediately reports were
sent to the GPU denouncing him as an "old churchman, counter-revolutionary
and ardent Tikhonite", who was not only anti-renovationist but also anti-
Soviet.

Only two churches remained faithful to Orthodoxy in Kazan - the Pokrov

church, where Fr. Alexander Gavrilov served, and the Peter and Paul
cathedral, where Fr. Alexander's father-in-law, Protopriest Andrew
Bogolyubov, served. Also faithful to Orthodoxy at this time were Hieromonk
Theophanes (Yelansky) of the Saviour cathedral in the Kremlin, several
academically trained disciples of Metropolitan Cyril from the monastery of St.
John the Forerunner: Igumen Pitirim (Krylov), Hieromonks John (Shirokov)
and Paul, and Hierodeacon Seraphim (Shamshev), the nuns of the Raithu and
Seven Lakes Hermitages and the St. Theodore convent, and some of the nuns
of the Sviyazhsk monastery. By contrast with the parish clergy, the laity of
Kazan refused to recognize Alexis. They appealed to him, as to a senior
hierarch and a professor of the Academy, to return to the True Church, but all
in vain. He began to serve in the parish churches.

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On the night of May 25 to 26, on the eve of Alexis' first visit to the church of
the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the whole city was filled with notices stuck to
houses and telegraph posts declaring that Alexis was a wolf in sheep's
clothing and appealing to the citizens of Kazan not to accept him. Alexis then
wrote to the renovationist "Metropolitan" Eudocimus: "I am personally
beginning to regret that I came to Kazan. Since the council negative reactions
to me, as to the usurper of Cyril's see, have increased... As long as Bishops
Joasaph and Athanasius live here, I supposed that we shall not be able to
create a single vicariate..."

Alexis also complained that the Soviet authorities were not helping him
enough against his opponents. However, when, on May 24, the renovationist
diocesan council petitioned the authorities for the removal of Igumen Pitirim,
Hieromonk John, Hierodeacon Seraphim and Hieromonk Theophanes, the
authorities responded by arresting them on June 14 for writing and spreading
anti-renovationist proclamations and for maintaining links with Metropolitan
Cyril in Ust-Sysolsk. A report to the GPU put the real reasons for the arrests
as follows: "The whole of this Black Hundreds company headed by
Archbishop Joasaph is the headquarters of every possible kind of counter-
revolutionary intrigues. After them trudge all of the reactionary clergy and
the believing masses, which is to the highest degree dangerous from a
political point of view." It is interesting that Bishop Joasaph is named
"archbishop" in this document; this showed how great was his authority
among the believers.

Bishop Joasaph was for a long time Metropolitan Cyril's deputy in the
Kazan region, and in the opinion of the Kazan renovationists he was "the
undeclared administrator of the whole of the Kazan, Mari and Chuvash
regions". The victory of the Orthodox over the renovationists in the Kazan
region was in large part owing to him. Thus it was through Vladyka Joasaph's
exhortations and his own sermons that Protopriest Theophanes converted
almost the whole of the city of Yelabuga (his native town, where his father
was protopriest in the Pokrov church) from renovationism to Orthodoxy.
Again, when Bishop Andronicus was summoned to the renovationist
diocesan council to explain his refusal to accept them, he said: "I don't want to
separate from Bishop Joasaph." From 1923, according to one source, Bishop
Joasaph was a member of the strictly anti-renovationist (and later, anti-
sergianist) "Danilovtsy" and "Andrewite" groups, led by Archbishops
Theodore (Pozdeyevsky) and Andrew (Ukhtomsky) respectively.

On June 30, the arrested monks were released; all of them had conducted
themselves bravely under interrogation, and none of them said a word
against Bishop Joasaph. The position of the renovationists was further
weakened when Patriarch Tikhon was released from prison and issued his
anathema against them in July. On July 17 an assembly of all the believers of

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the parish churches of Kazan was held in the main cathedral. It was organized
by the circle of the zealots of Orthodoxy, led by the Academy Professor Plato
Ivanovich Ivanov and the 28-year-old lawyer Alexander Sergeyevich
Kozhevnikov, who were trusted followers of Bishop Joasaph. At the meeting
it was resolved: "The community considers that the only lawful, canonical
authority in the Kazan diocese is the deputy of Metropolitan Cyril, Bishop
Joasaph of Chistopol..."

On July 19 about twenty of Bishop Joasaph's closest friends among the

clergy and laity met in his flat. From 7 to 11 o'clock the new situation of the
Church was discussed, and a rite of repentance was worked out for those
returning from the renovationist heresy to Orthodoxy. Then, the next day,
which was the eve of the feast of the Kazan icon, Bishop Joasaph served the
first open service in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery together with the
clergy who had been faithful to Orthodoxy during the persecution. Many
people attended the triumphant service, during which flowers were strewn
under the feet of the confessing clergy. Similarly triumphant services were
served by Bishop Athanasius in the Theophany church and Bishop
Andronicus in the monastery of St. John the Forerunner.

During the next two or three days almost all the renovationist clergy
offered repentance for their sin and were received back into the Church by
Bishop Joasaph. At the insistence of the laity, Bishop Joasaph served a lesser
blessing of the waters in those churches which had been defiled by the
services of "Archbishop" Alexis. When the main cathedral was blessed, the
people rejoiced and wept. Alexis immediately ran to complain to the GPU.
The last of all to repent were the priests of the monastery of the Mother of
God, who were particularly compromised before the citizens of Kazan. The
four of them came to Vladyka and were accepted benevolently, with the
promise not to humiliate them in front of the diocese; and on July 21 Vladyka
was already serving in their monastery.

The local GPU, annoyed at the defeat of the renovationists but not having
clear instructions about what to do from the Moscow authorities, arrested
Plato Ivanov and Alexander Kozhevnikov on the basis of denunciations by
secret GPU agents who had been present at the parochial assembly.

After Patriarch Tikhon had repented of his previous anti-Soviet activities,

Bishop Joasaph was in the difficult position of having to explain his own
position to the GPU. (After all, it was said, if the Patriarch had repented, then
his followers should also repent). He also wanted to help bring about the
release of Ivanov and Kozhevnikov. So he composed an "address to the clergy
and laity of the Kazan diocese", in which he said: "Insofar as I, as a religious
follower of Patriarch Tikhon, in the conditions of life in our diocese in recent
times have, by force of circumstances, been linked to the concept of
'Tikhonism', I shall with all the strength of my moral authority stand on guard

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for the practical realization of the [apolitical] direction of church activity that I
have mentioned above".

This was considered enough by the GPU, and within a month Ivanov and
Kovezhnikov were released.

On September 15 (NS) the authorities obtained Bishop Joasaph's signature

to a statement that he would not leave the bounds of Kazan. But this did not
prevent him blessing monks and nuns from the Kazan monasteries (who
numbered more than 150 people) to go to the villages with sermons against
the renovationist heresy. And he sent to the Patriarch a list of clergy and
monastics petitioning that they be awarded for "firmly witnessing their
devotion to the Orthodox Church", including: Protopriest Andrew
Bogolyubov of the Peter and Paul cathedral; Protopriest Paul Mansurovsky
from the village of Nikolsky, the only person to come out openly against the
renovationists in the Arsky canton; the priest Fr. Anatolius Romanovsky of
the Annunication church in Svyazhsk, who already in 1922 had been
summoned to the authorities with Archimandrite Ephraim for teaching
children the Law of God; and monks from the St. John, Raithu and Seven
Lakes monasteries.

At the end of November Archimandrite Pitirim, Hieromonks John and

Theophanes and Hierodeacon Seraphim were again arrested and sent to
Solovki for three years. In January, 1924 Plato Ivanov and Protopriest
Alexander Gavrilov of the Georgian church were exiled to Tashkent. And in
March Alexander Kozhevnikov was sent to Moscow and imprisoned in the
Taganka prison.

In December, 1923, the GPU intercepted some correspondence from

Patriarch Tikhon to Bishop Joasaph about the awards he had asked for and
other administrative matters and banned him from serving on the basis of the
fact that "although he does not have permission from the civil authorities to
organize a diocesan administration, he in fact rules the diocese". The nominal
administration of the diocese now passed to Bishop Athanasius, although
Bishop Joasaph did not cease to serve in secret and in fact remained at the
helm of the diocese. But the GPU forbade Bishop Athanasius to perform any
ordinations.

At the end of February, 1924, "Archbishop" Alexis consecrated some

married priests as "Bishops" of Chistopol and Cheboksary - the sees occupied
by Bishops Joasaph and Athanasius. So, on March 16 (OS), the Sunday of
Orthodoxy, Bishops Joasaph and Athanasius, accompanied by a multitude of
priests, deacons and laity, delivered these new false bishops to anathema in
the monastery of St. John the Forerunner. By March 23, Tuchkov himself had
been informed of the news, and on April 20, 1924 Bishop Joasaph was
summoned to the GPU.

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On being asked why a bishop should work in the diocesan council and
then leave it, Vladyka replied: "My agreement to work in the diocesan
administration as a ruling bishop was dictated by my succession from
Metropolitan Cyril and the promise of the diocesan administration not to
introduce any church reforms before the Council and not to infringe my
hierarchical rights in matters of church ritual... My departure from the
diocesan administration took place not for political reasons, but because a
new hierarch was appointed in Kazan and in connection with this I was
retired. At the given time in political and ecclesiastical matters I share
Tikhon's point of view as expressed in his appeals published up to this time..."

With regard to his services, Vladyka said: "I started to serve after the
release of Patriarch Tikhon, since in this release I saw Moscow's permission
for the existence of the Orthodox, but not of the renovationist hierarchy..."
Vladyka denied that his struggle against renovationism in Kazan was
political, for "every interference of the Church in the civil political struggle is
undoubtedly incompatible with the mission of the Church. In this struggle she
will be turned into an ordinary institution and will cease to be the highest
impartial criterion of the life of man..." Confirming his conviction that the only
canonical head of the Russian Orthodox Church was Patriarch Tikhon,
Vladyka remarked: "I would like now, as in the past, to see in the person of
my Patriarch an exclusively spiritual leader, directing the believers in their
spiritual life..." As a man, Vladyka Joasaph could not agree with certain of the
decisions of the Patriarch, but as an Orthodox hierarch and a monk he always
recognized his Holiness' rights and followed the decrees of his ecclesiastical
authority, which remained for him incontestable.

On April 30 (OS), the authorities summoned Vladyka from Kazan to

Moscow. On the day of his departure Vladyka served the Liturgy in the
church of St. Nicholas the Warrior. The deacon, Fr. Maximus Mikhailov,
could not pronounce the exclamations from emotion, and the service was
several times interrupted because of the general weeping. Patriarch Tikhon
was commemorated, although by this time his commemoration was again
forbidden. At midnight Vladyka Joasaph left Kazan station accompanied by a
multitude of believers.

On arriving in Moscow, Bishop Joasaph went straight to the Patriarch,

whom he had never met, in the Donskoy monastery. On May 16, 1924 he
presented himself to the GPU, and on the next day was cast into Butyrki
prison on the basis of article 73. However, not finding anything to accuse him
of, they released him on August 24 after securing his signature to a document
declaring that he would not leave the city. He went to live in the Danilov
monastery.

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On April 12, 1925 Bishop Joasaph signed the act which transferred the
leadership of the Church to Metropolitan Peter.

In Moscow, Vladyka Joasaph became the trusted representative of

Metropolitan Peter and locum tenens of the patriarchal throne while living in
the Danilov monastery. He took part in Metropolitan Peter's negotiations with
the authorities concerning the organization of a Holy Synod, and warned the
metropolitan in good time about the so-called Gregorian bishops. In the
autumn of 1925 he composed a project declaration concerning the relations
between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet State.

However, on November 18, 1925 he was arrested in the Danilov monastery

in connection with the affair of Metropolitan Peter and was interned in the
inner prison of the OGPU. On May 21, 1926, the OGPU exiled him to
Turukhansk for three years on the basis of article 68 (69). On June 17, 1926 he
was sent to Turukhansk region, arriving there in August.

When Metropolitan Sergius published his notorious declaration in July,

1927, Bishop Joasaph entered into opposition to him, and was retired by him.
In August, 1927 Vladyka Joasaph renewed his correspondence with
Metropolitan Cyril, who was living in the same region. According to one
source, in 1928 Vladyka Joasaph became bishop of Birsk.

On the way back from his three-year exile, in the summer of 1929, he
stopped for two months in Yeniseisk. There he was ordered to live in one
fixed domicile. He chose the town of Kozmodemyansk in the Mari republic,
where he settled towards the end of 1929.

Once Bishop Barsanuphius of Spassky, who recognized Metropolitan

Sergius, invited Vladyka Joasaph to pray with him, to which Vladyka replied:

"No, you pray without me for Soviet power."

Bishop Barsanuphius said:

"But it's not I, it's the deacon who prays for it..."

While living in Kozmodemyansk, Bishop Joasaph did not break his ties
with Kazan, and especially with the nuns there: Vitalia, Kaleria, Agrippina,
Veronica (Busygina) and others went at various times to Metropolitan Cyril
with assignments from him. They all brought food, letters and other things to
Metropolitan Cyril, Archimandrite Alexander (the last superior of the Seven-
Lakes desert) and many other exiled pastors and archpastors. And they
organized meals for the arrested clergy languishing in the prisons of Kazan.
Most of these nuns perished towards the end of the 1930s.

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In August, 1930, there began the first arrests of people for belonging to the
True Orthodox Church. These included the following teachers at the Kazan
Theological Academy: Protopriest Nicholas V. Petrov, V.I. Nesmelov, M.N.
Vasilevsky, E.Y. Polyansky, I.M. Pokrovsky; Bishop Nectarius (Trezvinsky),
the priests Fathers Nicholas Troitsky, James Galakhov, Andrew Bogolyubov,
Nicholas Dyagilev, Sergius Vorontsov and Eulampius Edemsky-
Sovyezemtsev; the nuns of the closed Kazan monasteries, and laymen - 33
people in all.

On December 1, 1930 Bishop Joasaph was arrested in a group case of

churchmen and cast into the OGPU isolator in Kazan for further
interrogation. He behaved with great courage during his interrogations and
betrayed nobody even by a single word. With regard to his adherence to
Metropolitan Cyril and separation from Metropolitan Sergius he said: “My
attitude to the differences between Metropolitan Cyril and Metropolitan
Sergius on the question by the latter of a Synod around himself is as follows.
Metropolitan Cyril, as one of the most senior hierarchs, who was appointed
by Patriarch Tikhon as his first deputy after his death, has the right to
demand that Metropolitan Sergius give him documentary proof of his
authority to convene such a Synod, and in the absence of such proof to place
the competency of this Synod in question. He has the right to demand that
this quarrel be referred to Metropolitan Peter, who is still alive and retains the
privileges of the locum tenancy. This right of appeal to the head of the Church
is guaranteed by many church canons. Therefore the attempt by Metropolitan
Sergius to resolve the conflict that has risen between them on his own, his
refusal to refer the quarrel to Metropolitan Peter and his imposition upon
Metropolitan Cyril of repressive measures in the form of sending him into
retirement, is in my opinion uncanonical and should be annulled...
Metropolitan Sergius' usurpation of rights that do not belong to him, or which
are, in any case, dubious until their authoritative clarification, the fact that he
had no difficulty in imposing repressive measures upon Metropolitan Cyril
and others (I stress that in his reply Metropolitan Cyril sharply and decisively
rejects the idea that his disagreements are politically motivated and gives
reasons for keeping to a strictly ecclesiastical evaluation of this quarrel), his
accusing all the clergy who are serving terms of punishment, including, that
is, myself, of political crimes - all this has forced me until the end of my term
of exile (November, 1931) to distance myself from Metropolitan Sergius
without separating from him. If I were to receive freedom of movement, then
by means of an exchange of thoughts with Metropolitan Sergius it is possible
that I would change my present point of view on much that I have said just
now. With regard to the ‘Interview’ Metropolitan Sergius has given in the
newspapers, my position is this: while welcoming his desire by all available
means to avert the new human war that is being prepared and dispel many of
the incorrect opinions that have been formed about our life, I was sorry that
Metropolitan Sergius did not find the proper tone for his interview and did
not avoid or foresee objections.” “In my personal relations with Soviet power,

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I do not recall any particular manifestations of hostility towards myself.

During my most difficult trials in exile, when I had to go hungry, freeze and
wander around as a sick man with a weak heart in the filth in prisons, there
were, of course, minutes when I felt bitter in the consciousness of my
innocence. But this was not my main feeling.”

On January 5, 1932, Vladyka Joasaph was convicted of “heading and being

in de facto control of the Kazan church-monarchist organization, remaining
an active worker in it after its transformation into a branch of the All-Union
centre of the counter-revolutionary monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church”. In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was
sentenced to three years in the camps. He was sent to the Osinnikov section of
Siblag, the mines of Aralichev near Kemerovo (Kuznetsk basin), where he was
tortured, several times shorn and had to drag wheelbarrows full of coal for
several years.

The following were convicted with Bishop Joasaph in this, “The Case of
Members of the Kazan Branch of the ‘True Orthodox Church’, Kazan, 1932”:

Protopriest Nicholas Vasilyevich Petrov. He was born in 1874 in the

village of Demidovo, Livansky uyezd, Orel province, into the family of a
priest. He graduated from the Kazan Theological Academy with the degree of
candidate of theology in 1898. Until 1918 he was a professor in the Kazan
Theological Academy, and at the beginning of the 1920s – a professor of
Kazan State University. He was the first and last rector of the theological
institute that took the place of the Academy. He was ordained to the
priesthood, and raised to the rank of protopriest. On October 6, 1921 he was
sentenced conditionally to one year in the camps. In the 1920s he was rector of
the church of St. Barbara, and in 1930 was serving in the church of the
Georgian icon of the Mother of God. He was arrested on August 31, 1930, and
accused that: “being an active participant in the Kazan counter-revolutionary
organization of churchmen, and then of the branch of the All-Union Centre of
the church-monarchist organization, ‘the Trues’, he took an active part in the
anti-Soviet working over of young people, including the students. He took
part in the distribution of the counter-revolutionary appeals of Metropolitan
Cyril and in agitation among believing laity in favour of a speech of the Pope
of Rome for a crusade against the USSR and in agitation against the main
enterprises of Soviet power. On January 5, 1932 he was sentenced to three
years exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Protopriest Arcadius Ivanovich Volokitin was born on February 14, 1887

in the village of Bogorodskoye, Bogorodskoye volost, Ufimsky uyezd and
province. He finished two courses of the Ufa theological seminary before
being ordained to the priesthood. In the 1920s he was condemned four times

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for “counter-revolutionary activity”. In 1928 he was exiled to the Bashkirian

Autonomous Republic for three years. From the summer of 1930 he lived in
Kazan, serving in his house. He was arrested on August 30 and accused of
“organizing exiled ‘Grigorians’ in the region of Kozya sloboda in Kazan.
Together with a group of ‘five’ he joined the Kazan branch of the All-Union
Centre of the church-monarchist organization, ‘the Trues’. He summoned
meetings of the anti-Soviet element in his flat and discussed with them
methods of struggle against Soviet power, and distributed leaflets and
appeals around the villages.” In his interrogation on September 2, 1930, Fr.
Arcadius declared: "In my home I arrange prayer services, the worshippers
are citizens of Kazan. I refuse to say who they are and how many they are, I
do not want to give them away... In general, I have no intention of telling the
authorities about the worshippers who visit me. I do not have permission to
perform Divine services and do not consider it necessary to let the NKVD
know and seek permission from them." Fr. Arcadius said that since the death
of Patriarch Tikhon he had submitted to Metropolitan Peter, although he
considered Metropolitan Cyril to be the lawful heir of the patriarchal throne.
On January 5, 1932 Fr. Arcadius was sentenced to three years in the camps.
After his release he lived in Bashkiria. He was arrested again in October,
1937, and on October 15 was sentenced to be shot by a troika of the NKVD of
the Bashkirian Autonomous Republic. The sentence was carried out in Ufa.

Protopriest Nicholas Mikhailovich Troitsky. He was born in 1873 (or 1881) in

the village of Usovskoye, Ishim uyezd, Tobolsk province into the family of a
priest. He went to the Kazan theological seminary and the Kazan Theological
Academy, where he took an active part in the Kazan Temperance Society. On
graduating he married the daughter of the head of the Society, Soloviev, and was
ordained to the priesthood. First he served in the Yagodinskaya Smolensk-St.
Demetrius church in Kazan. He was also rector of the Resurrection church, and
was raised to the rank of protopriest. During the abortive revolution of 1905 he
organized a section of the Union of the Russian People, of which he became
president, and on his initiative cross processions were organized in Kazan for
various reasons. Later he was transferred to the Kazan real school, where he was
also teacher of the Law of God. He found the means to create workhouses to help
the students. After the revolution of 1917, when the decree on the separation of
Church and State was published, Fr. Nicholas organized a whole series of
parents’ meetings in the building of the university in defence of the teaching of
the Law of God in school. From 1917 to 1918 he was president of the Kazan
Brotherhood for the Defence of the Orthodox Faith. During the occupation of
Kazan by the Czechs in 1918 he wrote several appeals against the Bolsheviks. In
1918 he fled together with the retreating White armies to Siberia, and returned to
Kazan only at the end of 1922. Then he served in the Zilantyev monastery. In
1923 he was convicted in accordance with article 119 and sentenced to three
years’ exile, but the sentence was commuted. In 1928 he was arrested, and in 1929
was imprisoned on Solovki without right of correspondence. He was
disenfranchised. On

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August 31, 1930 he was arrested again and cast into the Kazan Transit
Domzak. He was accused that “he inspired and led the organization, ‘The
Union of Christian Youth’. He was an active member of the Kazan counter-
revolutionary organization of churchmen., presenting his flat as a rendezvous
for exiled clergy. He actively took part in the transformation of the
organization into a branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church On January 5, 1932 he was convicted
of being “the director of the counter-revolutionary youth organization,”, and
of belonging to a counter-revolutionary organization that he was trying “to
transform into a branch of the True Orthodox Church, and in the practical
activity of the branch that followed”. On January 5, `1932, in accordance with
articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan.
In 1937 he was arrested again in Kazan, and on November 29 was sentenced
to ten years without right of correspondence. On December 2, 1937 he was
shot.

Protopriest Andrew Ivanovich Bogolyubov. He was born on August 13,

1863 in the village of Sharmashi, Laishevsky uyezd, Kazan province into a
peasant family. He went to an intermediate school and to a theological
institute. In 1887 he began to serve in the village of Klyuchitsy, Sviyazhsk
uyezd, Kazan province. In 1905 he was transferred to the village of
Burnashevo, Sviyzahsk uyezd, and in 1921 – to the cathedral of SS. Peter and
Paul in Kazan. On August 31, 1930 he was arrested and cast into Kazan transit
prison. On January 5, 1932 he was convicted of “being a participant in a
branch of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The True Orthodox
Church’ in Kazan”, and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11
to three years’ exile to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Protopriest James Yakovlevich Galakhov was born in 1865 in the village

of Gorodischi, Kalyazin uyezd, Tver province, into the family of a priest, and
received higher edcuation. He graduated from a Theological Academy. In the
1890s he was serving in a church in Bezhetsk, Tver province. In the 1910s he
became a professor of Tomsk University, and in 1918-19 a member of the
"Higher Temporary Ecclesiastical Administration of the Siberian churches".
He was arrested in 1922 and sentenced to three years exile in Turukhansk
region. From 1926 to 1927 he served in the churches of Irkutsk. He was
arrested in 1927 “for counter-revolutionary activity”, and again exiled to the
Turukhansk region. He was close to Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan. In 1930 he
was released, but forbidden to live in six places. He settled in Kazan. He was
arrested on August 31, 1930 in a group case of churchmen. He was accused
that: “being in exile in Turukhansk, he established links between Metropolitan
Cyril and the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen,
guaranteeing the reception of directives and counter-revolutionary appeals
from Metropolitan Cyril for the Kazan organization. On arrival in Kazan in
1930 he was a direct participant in the Kazan counter-revolutionary
organization of churchmen, inspiring it in practical anti-Soviet

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activity, including agitation in favour of a speech by Pope Pius for a crusade

against Soviet power.” During the trial his diary was requisitioned, together
with his notes under the heading "The Church in the conditions of apostasy".
This, for example, is his entry for November 7, 1930: "This is a cheerless,
protracted, permanent spiritual blizzard, a demonic bedlam... The Church has
already in effect been placed in pre-Nicene conditions of life. She must go into
the wilderness." "Persecutions have multiplied, martyrdom has begun, and
continues to this day. The better part of the clergy and laity has landed up in
prisons and exile." Metropolitan Sergius' interview simply appalled Fr. James:
"This interview produced the most repulsive impression on me, it is so
shameful for the head of the Church that even now I have not recovered. It
pains me to read it, it is a disgrace in front of foreigners, the renovationists
and the sectarians." On January 5, 1932 Fr. James was sentenced to three
years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Andrew Ioannovich Bogolyubsky (or Bogolyubov). He was born in

1863 in the village of Sharmashi, Laishevsky uyezd, Kazan province. He
finished two courses in a theological institute. He served as a priest in the SS.
Peter and Paul cathedral in Kazan. He was arrested on August 31, 1930, and
was accused that: “being a participant in the practical activity of the Kazan
branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization, the
True Orthodox Church, he established links with the White émigrés in China,
received money and counter-revolutionary leaflets, including a prayer for the
return of the Tsar that was being spread among the young people. He took a
direct part in agitation in favour of the speaking out of the Pope of Rome.” On
January 5, 1932 he was sentenced to three years exile in the north. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Semyonovich Gavrilov. He was born in 1884 in the

village of Uryazbash, Mamadysh uyezd, Kazan province into the family of a
priest. He graduated from Kazan Theological Academy and was then
ordained to the priesthood. He served in the church of the Georgian icon of
the Mother of God in Kazan (according to another source, the Pokrov church).
In 1924 he was arrested and exiled “for counter-revolutionary activity” to
Turkestan. He was released early and returned to Kazan, but was
disenfranchised. On August 31, 1931 he was arrested and accused that, “being
a member of a Kazan counter-revolutionary organization, and then of the
Kazan branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization,
the True Orthodox Church”, he took an active part in anti-Soviet agitation
among believers. He took part in the distribution of the counter-revolutionary
appeals of Metropolitan Cyril, and in the discussion of methods of struggle
against Soviet power.” On January 5, 1932 was sentenced to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Alexandrovich Dyagilev. He was born in 1872 in

Yekaterinburg into the family of a priest. In 1897 he finished his studies at the

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Yekaterinburg (or Tobolsk) theological seminary. In 1907 he was ordained to

the priesthood, and made rector of the church of St. Alexander Nevsky in
Yekaterinburg. He was arrested in October, 1923 for “counter-revolutionary
activity” and sentenced to three years in the camps. From 1923 to 1926 he was
on Solovki. In October, 1926 he was released and settled in Kazan, becoming
superior of a monastery and, six months later, priest and then rector of the
Trinity church. In 1928 he became rector of the Theophany church. He was
arrested on June 27, 1931 in a group case of churchmen, and accused of
“taking an active part in the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of
churchmen. Then he took part in the activity of the Kazan branch of the All-
Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, including distributing the counter-revolutionary appeals of
Metropolitan Cyril and discussing methods of struggle against Soviet power.”
On January 5, 1932 was sentenced to three years exile in the north. In 1935 he
returned to Kazan. He was arrested in November, 1937, and was sentenced to
be shot. The sentence was carried out in December.

Protodeacon Peter Vonifatievich Titkov. He was born in 1877 in the

village of Kutlovo-Borki, Sapozhkovsky (or Sapayevsky) uyezd, Ryazan
province in a peasant family. He was educated at home. Until 1908 he worked
on the estate of the landowner Shilovaty in Ryazan province. In 1913 he was
ordained to the diaconate, and in 1920 began to serve in the Pyatnitskaya
church in Zamoskvorechia, Moscow. In 1927 he was arrested and sentenced to
three years’ exile in accordance with article 58-13 part 2. In April, 1930 he was
released from exile, but was forbidden to live in six places. He settled in
Kazan. On June 27, 1931, while serving in the Nikolo-Veshnyakovskaya
church in Kazan, he was arrested and cast into Kazan Domzak. He was
accused that: “on arriving in Kazan, he had a secret meeting with Priest
Troitsky and together with him took part in anti-Soviet agitation among
laymen, and in the distribution of the counter-revolutionary appeals of
Metropolitan Cyril”. On January 5, 1932, in accordance with articles 58-10 and
58-11, he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

Abbess Angelina, in the world Anna Stepanova Alexeyeva. She was born
in 1884, the daughter of a Kazan merchant, and received higher education. In
1902 (1901) she became a ryasophor nun in the Fyodorovsky monastery. In
October, 1918, she was appointed the treasurer, and in February, 1923 (1922),
after the death of Abbess Margarita, Mother Angelina was appointed superior
of the Fyodorovsky monastery by Bishop Joasaph, who was at that time
temporarily ruling the Kazan diocese. Energetic and clever, Abbess Angelina
was among those few who unambiguously expressed their opposition to the
renovationists when almost all the parish clergy had gone over to them. In
July, 1924, during the re-registration of the monastery, the renovationists
managed, by deception and with the help of the monastery priest, to take
control of the monastery. But the nuns under the leadership of Abbess

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Angelina did not leave the monastery and called on all the parishioners not to
visit the renovationist priest. After a time, being forced to serve in a deserted
church, the priest repented and the monastery became Orthodox again.
Mother Angelina stayed in the monastery until its closure in 1928 (1927), after
which she did handiwork at home. On August 27, 1930 she was arrested in a
church case and was accused of “taking part in the organization of the
provision of food and money for exile clergy. She carried out tasks of a
counter-revolutionary organization linked with Bishop Joasaph. She took part
in meetings of a counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, being a
participant in the anti-Soviet activity of the counter-revolutionary
organization of churchmen.” She was arrested again on June 27, 1931, and
again on January 5, 1932, when she was sentenced to three years' exile, first in
Archangelsk and then in the Komi and Zyryansk regions. On being freed she
settled in Kazan, where she acted as a courier for correspondence with
Metropolitan Cyril. On December 8, 1937 she was arrested, interrogated on
December 15 and on December 21 (28) - shot.

Nun Agrippina (in the world Agrippina? Andreyevna Kukarnikova). She

was born in 1882 in Kazan in the family of an estate manager, and had an
intermediate education. She was a teacher, and from 1925 – a nun in a Kazan
women’s monastery. She was arrested on June 27, 1931, and was accused that:
“being a member of a counter-revolutionary organization, and then of the
Kazan branch of the ‘Trues’, she took an active part in anti-Soviet agitation
among the inhabitants of Kazan and the peasants of the surrounding villages,
spreading rumours about the coming of the Antichrist and the end of the
world. After the arrest of members of the Kazan branch of the counter-
revolutionary organization, the Trues, she went around the city and the
villages, collecting money and food for the arrested and calling on people to
defend ‘the sufferers for Orthodoxy’.” On January 5, 1932 she was sentenced
to three years’ exile in the north. She was shot in 1937.

Nun Margarita (Petrovna Surina). She was born in 1866 or 1865 or 1867 in
Kazan in the family of a policeman. She went to a parish school and then
entered a monastery in Kazan, where she was tonsure in 1902, living there for
thirty-five years. After its closure in 1928 she existed on money from day
work – cleaning, darning, etc. She corresponded with Metropolitan Cyril of
Kazan. “The last letter I sent was in January, 1931. I asked him to pray for me
and comfort me, since I felt that I was becoming depressed.” On June 27, 1931
she was arrested and cast into Kazan transit prison. She was accused that:
“being a participant in the Kazan branch of the All-Union Centre of the
church-monarchist organization, ‘the Trues’, she took an active part in
discussion of methods of combatting Soviet power and in anti-Soviet agitation
among believers. She established links between the organization and
Metropolitan Cyril”. On January 5, 1932 she was sentenced to three years’
exile in the north in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is
known about her.

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Nun Juliana (Julia Vasilyevna Stakheyeva). She was born in 1900 in

Tsarskoye Selo, St. Petersburg province into the family of a millionaire
industrialist. She studied until 1918, and then worked as a librarian until 1922.
Then she was a clerk in various institutions. She became a nun in 1922, in
which year she moved to Kazan. In 1925 or 1926 she was summoned to the
GPU and deprived of her passport. From that time she lived without
documents and without fixed domicile, earning her living as a cleaner in
houses. She was a parishioner first in the Resurrection, and then in the St.
Nicholas church. She helped to clean the church and chanted in the choir. On
June 27, 1931 she was arrested and cast into Kazan transit prison. She was
accused of “establishing links between the Kazan counter-revolutionary
organization, and then the Kazan branch of the All-Union church-monarchist
organization, ‘the Trues’, with exiled and imprisoned clergy, and of taking
part in the distribution of the counter-revolutionary appeals of Metropolitan
Cyril. On January 5, 1932 she was condemned for “being a participant in the
Kazan branch of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The True Orthodox
Church’, linking it with exiled and imprisoned clergy, and taking part in the
distribution of the counter-revolutionary appeal of Metropolitan Cyril”. In
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, she was sentenced to three years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Vitalia (Dmitrievna Tersinskaya). She was born in 1877 in Kazan into
the family of a merchant. She entered a women’s monastery in Kazan in 1890
and served there for almost forty years, until the death of her father. In 1922
she was for eight months the cell-attendant, or servant, of Metropolitan Cyril
before he went into exile. Then she several times visited him in exile - to Ust-
Sysolsk, Ust-Kulom, Podyelsk, Perevoloki in Krasnoyarsk (there she did not
catch Metropolitan Cyril, since he had been taken to Yeniseisk). After the
closure of her monastery she earned money by sewing, together with her
sister, Nun Kaleria. On August 21 (31), 1930 she was arrested and cast into
Kazan transit prison. She was accused of being “a member of the Kazan
counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, and then of the branch of
the All-Union Centre of the church-monarchist organization, ‘the Trues’. She
established links with Metropolitan Cyril, and personally went to him in
Turukhansk province for instruction. She distributed his counter-
revolutionary appeals, and took part in the organization of meals for clergy
repressed by Soviet power.” On January 5, 1932, in accordance with articles
58-10 and 58-11, she was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. She was
shot in 1937.

Nun Kaleria (Dmitrievna Tersinskaya). She was born in 1867 or 1866 or 1870
in Kazan in the family of a merchant. She struggled in a monastery in Kazan for
about fifty years. On August 21, 1930 she was arrested and cast into Kazan transit
prison. She was accused that: “being a link between the counter-revolutionary
organization of churchmen and the branch of the All-Union

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Centre, ‘the Trues’, with Metropolitan Cyril, she took part in the distribution
of the appeals of Metropolitan Cyril and in the organization of the obtaining
of food and money for the exiled and imprisoned clergy.” On January 5, 1932,
in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, she was sentenced to three years’
exile in the north. She was shot in 1937.

Reader Nicholas Yakovlevich Galakhov. He was born in Bezhetsk, Tver

province in 1894, the son of Fr. James Galakhov. He studied in Kazan
University, but did not finish his course. In 1918 he was mobilized by the
Czechs into their army, and retreated with them into Siberia. Then he joined
the Red Army. At the beginning of 1921 he was demobilized. Then he served
in Kazan and was transferred to Cheboksary, where he was chosen by the
believers to intercede with the authorities concerning the requisitioning of
church valuables. He was arrested, charged with refusing to hand over church
valuables and sentenced to execution by shooting in May, 1922 by the military
department of the revolutionary tribunal of the Chuvash republic. At his
interrogation Galakhov said: "I doubt that the church valuables will be used to
benefit the starving... If the question of their sacred character did not arise,
these things could be requisitioned for the benefit of the starving... The famine
has appeared as a punishment from God for civil war and fratricide."
However, the presidium of the V.Ts.I.K. declared on August 18, 1922 that
Galakhov's execution should be replaced by ten years in the northern camps
(or a house of correction). In accordance with the amnesty of February, 1923,
this sentenced was halved, and he was released in 1937. In 1928, or March,
1929, Nicholas Galakhov settled in Kazan, and served as reader and chanter in
the Arsky cemetery church. Having received from his father, who was at that
time in exile not far from Metropolitan Cyril, the latter's correspondence with
Metropolitan Sergius, he spread it among the citizens of Kazan. Many
prominent professors of the Kazan Theological Academy met in the
administrative building of the Arsky cemetery, which Nicholas was in charge
of: V.I. Nesmelov, I.M. Pokrovsky, Y.M. Polyansky, M.N. Vasilyevsky, and
others. Exiled priest were also often present. The main themes of the
conversations were the situation of the Church in Soviet conditions and the
question of how to evaluate the numerous bans which had been placed by
Metropolitan Sergius on hierarchs, his interview with foreign journalists, and
his declaration. The majority (even of those who later submitted to
Metropolitan Sergius) considered that such actions were undoubtedly
inspired by the authorities, and that his expressed opinion concerning those
who were in prison, that they were being justly punished for their supposedly
criminal activities, was an immoral act unworthy of the conscience of an
Orthodox hierarch. Nicholas Galakhov himself agreed with Bishop Nectarius'
suggestion that he accept the priesthood and go to the village of Paderino to
take the place of an arrested and exiled priest. However, the ordination did
not take place. On August 31, 1930 he was arrested in a group case of
churchmen, and was cast into the transfer prison in Kazan. He was accused
that: “being a member of the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of

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churchmen, and then of the Kazan branch of the All-Union counter-

revolutionary organization, ‘the Trues’, he was directly linked with
Metropolitan Cyril and received from him a counter-revolutionary appeal
and distributed it. He presented his flat for meetings of the counter-
revolutionary organization. There he took an active part in the discussion of
methods of struggle with Soviet power. He recruited new members into the
‘Trues’ organization, and established links with Bishop Joasaph Udalov.” On
January 5, 1932 he was convicted of being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization, a branch of the ‘True Orthodox Church’ in
Kazan”, and was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. At his
interrogation he said: “I recognize the Old Church orientation, and consider
Metropolitan Sergius to be canonical, but I had differences…” Until
November 23, 1933 he was in exile at Isakogorka station. Then he lived in
Arkhangelsk. Nothing more is known about him.

Victor Ivanovich Nesmelov. He was born in 1864 (1863) in the village of

Vertunovka, Sverdobsky uyezd, Saratov province into the family of a priest.
He studied in the Petrovskoye theological school, the Saratov theological
seminary and the Kazan Theological Academy, from where he graduated in
1887. He was immediately offered a professorial stipend at the Academy for
one year. In 1888 he was made professor at the faculty of philosophy, lecturer
and master of theology. In 1898 he became doctor of theology and
extraordinary professor. From 1919 to 1920 he worked in the first Kazan
Statistics Bureau as an assistant of the director. He was “a champion of
Christian socialism”. In October, 1920 he was made professor of history and
philosophy, logic and world views in Kazan University. His pupils included
fifty hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, include Archbishop Victory
of Vyatka. On April 19, 1921 he was summoned to the Cheka, and on October
6 was convicted of “unlawful teaching in the Academy”, for which he was
given one year in the camps conditionally. This was part of the group case,
“The Case of the Teachers of the Kazan Theological Academy, Kazan, 1921”.
From 1922 to 1929 he had no fixed occupation. In 1929 he was arrested, but
released after three days. He was again unemployed. On August 31, 1930 he
was arrested and accused that, “being the inspirer of the appearance of the
Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, he took an active
part in the anti-Soviet working over of young people, including the students,
offering them his flat for meetings of the organization”. On January 5, 1932 he
was convicted by the OGPU of “being a participant in a counter-revolutionary
organization, the branch of the ‘True Orthodox Church’ in Kazan”. At his
interrogation he said: “I am in complete agreement with the orientation of
Metropolitan Cyril with regard to church matters…” “I do not agree with the
theory of materialism. I have not mentioned the names of K. Marx and V.I.
Lenin, since I consider neither the one nor the other to be philosophers. In
conversations with students I evaluated Lenin and Marx as good politicians,
but as philosophers they are weak.” In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-

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11 he was exiled for three years to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about
him.

Eulampius Yakovlevich Polyansky. He was born in 1872 (1871) in the

village of Slatukha (Semtukha), Atkar uyezd, Saratov province in the family
of a priest. He went to Saratov theological seminary, and in 1895 went to
teach in the Volsk theological school. In 1900 he entered the Kazan
Theological Academy, graduating in 1904. In 1905 he became a lecturer and
professor in Ancient Hebrew and Biblical Archaeology (from 1910) in the
academy. He was an active member of the Palestine Society attached to the
royal court. From October, 1918 to 1919 he was a teacher of Russian language
and literature in Kazan, then a teacher in various schools. On October 6, 1921
he was condemned by the Cheka for “unlawful teaching in the Academy”, for
which he was sentenced to one year in the camps conditionally. His was part
of the group case, “The Case of the Teachers of Kazan Theological Academy,
Kazan, 1921”. On August 31, 1930 he was arrested again, cast into a prison in
Kazan, and accused that: “joining a counter-revolutionary organization and
the Kazan branch of ‘the Trues’, he took an active part in discussions of
methods of struggle against Soviet power and in the anti-Soviet working over
of the students”. On January 5, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in
Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexander Semyonovich Lyutkin. He was born in 1889 in Kazan into the

family of a merchant. In 1914 he entered Kazan Theological Academy, where
he became secretary of the Academy, and also finished juridical courses at
Kazan university. He graduated in 1918, and in the same year retreated with
the White Czech forces to Omsk. In 1919 he was serving as a statistician in a
government department. In 1920 he returned to Kazan and served in various
institutions as an economist. On August 31, 1930 (or June 27, 1931) he was
arrested and kept under guard in the Kazan House of Detention. He was
accused that: “being a member of the Kazan counter-revolutionary
organization of churchmen, he took an active part in discussions of methods
of struggle with Soviet power and in the distribution of the counter-
revolutionary appeals of Metropolitan Cyril”. On January 1, 1932 he was
sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to three years’ exile in
the northern regions. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Nikolayevich Vasilyevsky. He was born in 1874 (1873) in the

village of Vasilyevka, Kerensky (or Kermsky) uyezd, Penza province into the
family of a church reader. He went to a theological seminary, and then to
Kazan Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1899. Then he
accepted a professorial scholarship in the Academy, and on August 13, 1900
became Anti-Old Ritualists and antisectarian missionary for the Kazan
diocese. On September 1, 1915, after receiving the degree of master of
theology, became a lecturer and extraordinary professor. In 1917 he was a
member of the Preconciliar Council, and from August – of the Local Council

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of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. From 1918 he worked in various

institutions; in the 1920s he was an accountant. On April 20, 1921 he was
summoned to the Kazan Cheka and on October 6 was given a one year
conditional sentence for “unlawful teaching in the Academy”. In August, 1928
he became president of the parish council of the Bogorodskaya community in
Kazan. This community was formed after the closure of the women’s
monastery of the Mother of God in Kazan. From 1929 he was without fixed
occupation. On August 31, 1930 he was arrested and cast into Kazan transit
prison. He was accused that: “being a member of the Kazan church-
monarchist organization, and then of the Kazan branch of the All-Union
Centre of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘the Trues’, he took part in
the anti-Soviet working over of the students, in the distribution of the
counter-revolutionary appeals of Metropolitan Cyril and in discussion of
methods of struggle against Soviet power”. On January 5, 1932, in accordance
with articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years’ exile in
Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Sergius Fyodorovich Girbasov. He was born in 1866 in Yelabuga in the

family of an industrialist, and worked as a trader in bread until the
revolution. From 1928 he was a member of the church troika of the cathedral
of SS. Peter and Paul in Kazan, and a member of the directing board of the
Kazan Ars cemetery. On February 11, 1931 he was arrested and accused that:
“being a member of the Kazan counter-revolutionary organization of
churchmen, and then of the Kazan branch of the All-Union church-
monarchist organization, ‘the Trues’, he took part in anti-Soviet judgements
and maintained links with White émigrés in China”. On January 5, 1932 he
was sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known
about him.

Maria Alexeyevna Mironova. She was born in 1890 in the village of Kokuj,
Tetyushsky uyezd, Kazan province into a peasant family. In August, 1929, as
she herself witnessed, she took part in the work of the community of the
Kazan women’s monastery and became a member of a church “troika”.
However, in October she left the troika, but continued to go to church. On
August 31, 1930 she was arrested. Nothing more is known about her.

Lydia Yevgenyevna Manuilova. She was born in 1874 in the village of

Lubyany, Vyatka province in the family of an official, and received an
intermediate education. Before the revolution she had a private gymnasium
in Kazan. On June 27, 1931 she was arrested in Kazan and on August 31 was
cast into the Domzak. On January 5, 1932 she was convicted of “taking an
active part in the anti-Soviet activity of the branch [of the ‘True Orthodox
Church’] in the region of Kozey Sloboda of Kazan”, and of “participating in
the discussion of methods of struggling against Soviet power in the flat of
Bishop Nectarius [Trezvinsky]”, and of “helping him in establishing
connections in Kazan”. At the interrogation she refused to speak “about

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Bishop Nectarius and in general about clergy. I also will not speak of
cooperation with Bishop Nectarius on my part.” She was sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Elizabeth Nikolayevna Stepanova. She was born in 1885 in the town of

Tetyushi, Kazan province in the family of a priest, and received an
intermediate education. She lived in Kazan and went to the Mariinsk
gymnasium (1908). In 1913 (or 1908) she moved to Moscow and worked in the
telegraph office. In 1924 she worked for a short time as a seller of candles in
the Ivanov men’s monastery. From 1931 she was a wanderer. On June 27, 1931
she was arrested while working in the Central Telegraph Office in Kazan, and
was cast into Kazan transit prison. She was accused that: “having been
recruited into the Kazan branch of the All-Union Centre of the church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church, she took part in the
organization of illegal prayer meetings, in the discussion of methods of
struggling against Soviet power, and gave help to Bishop [Nectarius]
Trezvinsky in making connections with the Kazan clergy and the monastic
element”. On January 5, 1932, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, she
was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. On July 15 she was
transferred to the OGPU isolator in Kazan. Nothing more is known about her.

In May, 1933 Bishop Joasaph was arrested for being “a participant in the
church-monarchist counter-revolutionary group, the True Orthodox Church”.
On January 28, 1934, two years were added to Bishop Joasaph’s sentence in
accordance with article 58-11 of the criminal code for supposedly
participating in a "church-monarchical group" in the camp, recruiting new
members, spreading "provocative rumours about the position of the Church
in the USSR" and conducting work among the prisoners "to disrupt the camp
and blow up the camp's work". He was transferred to a punishment isolator.

In 1936 (1935) Vladyka Joasaph was released and returned from the camps
to Kazan. He lived in the outskirts of the city with his sick mother, and served
fourteen people, including one protopriest and three nuns, in the cemetery
church dedicated to SS. Theodore and his sons David and Constantine. His
sufferings in the prisons and camps had not broken his faith. He had not
renounced Christ or separated from Metropolitan Cyril, with whom,
according to one report, he had been for a time in the same prison or camp.

In the city, two diocesan councils, one renovationist and the other
sergianist, were in control of the churches. Vladyka continued not to
recognize the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius and remained a bishop in
retirement. He served only rarely in the church of the Yaroslavl
wonderworkers in Arsky cemetery, and then only pannikhidas. Those close to
him consisted mainly of clergy who were exiled or in sympathy with him.

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Also, the peasants of the Tatar and Chuvash republics, and the Mari region,
came to the confessor bishop for advice and archpastoral instruction.
However, the majority of the parish clergy were afraid to visit him, and if
they visited him, it was in secret.

In April, 1936, when they began to destroy the ancient memorials and
crosses, Vladyka angrily noted: "The people that does not care for its
antiquities is good for nothing." And, after a short silence, he added:
"However, Joseph Vissarionovich [Stalin] has nothing more to destroy, so the
cemetery is his last support."

Once, when asked what he thought of Soviet power, he said: "One has to
have been in the concentration camps to judge about Soviet power..."

Vladyka had very little to live on. But his spiritual children, monks and
nuns from the destroyed monasteries of the region, continued to give him and
his mother food and clothing, as they had helped his mother during his
period in the camps. Vladyka kept very few of these gifts for himself, sending
a significant part through trusted people to Metropolitan Cyril (from whom a
letter to Vladyka dated September, 1936 has been preserved), to the exiled
clergy and to the priests who were languishing in Kazan prison. Moreover, he
often gave refuge in his house at 31 Tikhomirova street, flat 2, to people who
were persecuted for their confession of the Orthodox Faith.

In August, 1937, an agent of the NKVD reported that Bishop Joasaph was
persuading people not to go to Metropolitan Sergius' churches, and was
serving pannikhidas in the cemetery church of SS. Theodore, Constantine and
David. On November 30 (29) he was arrested at the bedside of his dying
mother for “organizing a counter-revolutionary church underground”.
Together with Protopriest Nicholas Troitsky, Nuns Eudocia (Dvinskikh) and
Stepanida (Makarova) of the destroyed monastery of the Mother of God and
several people among those closest to him, he was thrown into the inner
prison of the NKVD in Kazan.

Nun Eudocia (Eudocia Andreyevna Dvinskikh) was born in 1885 in the

village of Chiganda, Sarapul district, Votsk region into a peasant family. From
1903 to 1929 she struggled first in the Kazan women’s monastery, and then as
a cleaner in the church of St. Seraphim. On March 8, 1932 (1931) she was
arrested, and on October 28 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to
three years’ exile in Archangelsk, returning to Kazan in 1934. She was
arrested again on October 15, 1937, and on November 29 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps for being “a participant in the Tikhon of Kirillovsk
underground”. She was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Stepanida (Makarova) was born in 1893, the daughter of a peasant in

the village of Voikina, Spassky uyezd, Kazan province. She was received into

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the monastery of the Mother of God in 1900, and became a ryasophor nun in
August, 1908, carrying out obediences on the cliros and in the weaving of
gold thread. In the winter of 1935-36 she went to Metropolitan Cyril with a
parcel and letter from Bishop Joasaph, and took back a letter from
Metropolitan Cyril to Bishop Joasaph. She was arrested on November 29,
1937. Nothing more is known about her.

The NKVD accused Vladyka, on the basis of confessions extorted from

tortured prisoners, of organizing a counter-revolutionary underground
organization, of slandering the Church in the USSR and Stalin himself, and of
sympathies with Fascism and the enemies of the people Trotsky,
Tukhachevsky, etc. Vladyka courageously rejected all the charges against
him. On November 29, a troika condemned Vladyka Joasaph and Fr. Nicholas
to execution by shooting, and the nuns Eudocia and Stepanida to ten years'
hard labour. At 20.35 on December 2, 1937, the feast of St. Joasaph, the prince
of India, Bishop Joasaph was shot in the Kazan inner prison.

(Sources: A.V. Zhuravsky, "Zhizneopisaniye Svyashchennomuchenika

Ioasapha, Episkopa Chistopol'skago", Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 48, N 8 (559),
August, 1996, pp. 1-25; "Oppozitsiya mitropolitu Sergiyu v Kazanskoj
eparkhii", Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 10 (1535), May 15/28, 1995, pp. 10-11;
Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville,
1949-57, part 1, pp. 213, 214, part 2, pp. 125, 180-181; M.E. Gubonin, Akty
Svyatejshego Tikhona, Patriarkha Moskovskogo i Vseya Rossii, Moscow: St.
Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, pp. 955, 976; Bishop Ambrose (von
Sivers), "Istoki i svyazi Katakombnoj Tserkvi v Leningrade i obl. (1922-1992)",
report read at the conference "The Historical Path of Orthodoxy in Russia
after 1917", Saint Petersburg, 1-3 June, 1993; “Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj
Katakombnoj Tserkvi 1922-1997gg.”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4(8), p. 5;
Russkiye Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986; Reader Gregory
Mukhortov; Lev Regelson, Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-1945, Moscow:
Krutitskoye patriarsheye podvorye, 1996, pp. 579-58; Za Khrista
Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, pp. 513-514;
I.I. Osipova, “Skvoz’ Ogn’ Muchenij i Vody Slyoz”, Moscow: Serbryanniye
Niti, 1998, p. 278; M.V. Shkarovsky, Iosiflyanstvo, St. Petersburg, 1999, pp.
355-359; http://www.omolenko.com/texts/katakomb.htm;
http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/;
http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/tatar.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/mary.html)

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18. HIEROMARTYR
RAPHAEL, BISHOP OF
ALEXANDROVSK

Bishop Raphael (Gumilevsky) was born in 1871. On September 13, 1924

(according to another source, September 10/23) he was consecrated bishop of
Alexandrovsk, a vicariate of the Stavropol diocese. In 1925 he was arrested,
and until 1926 he was on Solovki. He does not appear to have accepted any
church appointment from Metropolitan Sergius or to have returned to his
diocese. He was killed in 1937.

(Sources: Russkiye Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986, p. 63;

M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's
Theological Institute, 1994, p. 989; Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 1 (1574), January
1/14, 1997, p. 5; Lev Regelson, Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-1945,
Moscow: Krutitskoye patriarsheye podvorye, 1996, pp. 537, 544; Ikh
Stradaniyami Ochistitsa Rus', Moscow, 1996, p. 74)

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19. HIEROMARTYR JOB, BISHOP OF NIZHEGOROD

Bishop Job, in the world James Ivanovich Afanasyev, was born in 1882
(1888) in the village of Grechishkino, Starobelsky uyezd, Kharkov province
into a peasant family. From his youth he lived in various monasteries of the
Sukhumi diocese, was tonsured and ordained to the priesthood. In 1923 he
was arrested in Ufa and sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Central
Asia. On January 20, 1928 (or 1924) he was secretly ordained to the episcopate
by Bishops Pitirim (Ladygin) of Nizhegorod and Rufinus (Brekhov) of
Satkinsk, with the blessing of Archbishop Andrew of Ufa, in the village of
Chetverto-Petrovskoye. It appears that at that same time he tonsured Bishop
Pitirim into the schema and received from him the administration of the
Nizhegorod diocese with the blessing of Archbishop Andrew. However, he
served in the church of the Exaltation in Ufa, and figures in documents as
Bishop of Ufa. On September 10, 1930 he was arrested in Ufa in a group case
of churchmen, and on September 27 was sentenced in accordance with articles
58-10 and 58-11 to eight years’ imprisonment. He was sent to the White Sea
canal (Segezha station in Karelia), where he arrived in October. At the
beginning of September, 1937 he was arrested again in camp, on September 9
he was sentenced to death, and on September 15 he was shot.

(Sources: http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-
htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/bashkir.html)

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20. HIEROMARTYR BENJAMIN, BISHOP OF STERLITAMAK

and those with him

Bishop Benjamin, in the world Alexander Vasilyevich Troitsky, was born in

the village of Tysyatskoye, Novotorzhsk uyezd, Tver province, in 1896 (or,
according to other sources, 1893 or 1901), into the family of the priest of the
Novotorzhsk Resurrection women’s monastery. He was the youngest of three
brothers. He finished his studies at the Tver theological seminary.

He was tonsured as a monk in 1922 or 1923 in the St. Nilus desert, and was
the subdeacon of Bishop Theophilus (Bogoyavlensky), who ordained him to
the priesthood. He then entered the Novotorzhsk Borisoglebsk monastery in
Tver diocese.

In July or August, 1922 he was arrested together with Bishop Theophilus,

and on February 23, 1923 was exiled for two years to Tashkent. According to
one source, he was consecrated Bishop of Baikinsk in Ufa by Archbishop
Andrew of Ufa and Bishop Nicholas (Ipatov) on November 16/29, 1922.
(According to another source, he was consecrated to the see of Sterlitamak in
1927 or 1928, in Ufa, where he had gone after his release. His consecrators
were Schema-Bishop Peter (Ladygin) and Bishop Job, and it was
accomplished with the blessing of Archbishop Andrew, whose second deputy
he became.) In October, 1928 he ordained the future Bishop Gurias (Pavlov) to
the priesthood in the Simeonovsky church in Ufa, where he used to serve
after the arrest of Bishop Habbakuk of Old Ufa.

He continued the work of his spiritual father, Archbishop Andrew, was a

fine preacher, and struggled with renovationism. According to one (dubious)
source, he signed the acts of the so-called “Nomadic Council” of the
Catacomb Church in 1928.

He was arrested on March 21 (January, according to another source), 1930

in connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church. Many
monastics and laypeople were arrested with him. They tried to present him as
the leader of a peasants' rebellion in the Troitsk region and wanted to shoot
him. But the accusation was not sustained. Instead, on December 3, 1930, they
gave him ten years in the camps with confiscation of property, and sent him
to the Vishera camps (Krasnovishery, Urals district). There he remained for
two years, doing general work. He fell ill with pleurisy and had only one lung
left. He also almost died from appendicitis.

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Also condemned in 1930 for being members of a “counter-revolutionary

organization” headed by Bishop Benjamin in “The Case of Bishop Benjamin
(Troitsky) and others, Ufa, 1930” were:

Priest Gregory Nazarovich Mikheev. He was born in 1887 in the village of

Saninskoye, Ufa uyezd, Ufa province into a peasant family. In 1927 Bishop
Benjamin ordained him to the priesthood, and he began to serve in his native
village. On June 20, 1930 he was arrested, and on December 3 was convicted
and sentenced to death in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-13. The
sentence was carried out on the same day.

Priest Peter Vasilyevich Konfetkin. He was born in 1878 in the village of

Knyazevo, Ufa uyezd, into a peasant family. He is called an Old Ritualist, but
appears nevertheless to have been in Bishop Benjamin’s diocese. He was
ordained to the priesthood in 1917, and served in Ufa province. In 1925 he
was arrested for “anti-Soviet activity” and exiled for three years. In January,
1930, while serving as a priest in Bashkiria, he was arrested and sentenced to
six months’ forced labour for “late payment of taxes”. On July 23, 1930, while
living in Birsk, he was arrested and cast into the domzak in Birsk. When
Bishop Benjamin declared a hunger strike on November 26, he declared one
in support of him three days later. On December 3 he was convicted and
sentenced to ten years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2
and 58-13. He was sent to a camp, where on October 28, 1937 he was arrested
again. On December 10 he was sentenced to death and shot.
.
Priest Ivan Ignatyevich Kanafyev. He was born in 1888 in the village of
Turgeneyevo, Duvansky region, Ufa canton, Ufa province into a peasant
family. In 1928 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Benjamin, and
was sent to serve in the village of Troshkino, Ufa canton. His family was
composed of four people. On June 17, 1930 he was arrested, and on December
3 convicted and sentenced to ten years in the camps, commuted to ten years’
exile in the north, in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-13. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Andrew Stepanovich Baranov. He was born in 1892 in the village of

Dmitrievka, Ufa uyezd, Ufa province into a peasant family. During the First
World War he served in the tsarist army. On June 4, 1930 he was arrested and
cast into the isolator in Ufa. On November 29, 1930 he declared a hunger-
strike in protest against the sentence against Bishop Benjamin. On December
3, 1930 he was convicted and sentenced to ten years in the camps with
confiscation of property in accordance with articles 58-2 and 19. On February
7, 1946 he was arrested again in Ufa, and on May 17 was sentenced again to
ten years in the camps with confiscation of property in accordance with
articles 58-10 and 58-11. He served this second sentence in a camp in Komi,
and then, from January 25, 1949 in special camp no. 1 at Inta station on the
Pechersk railway station in Komi. On March 10, 1955 he was released under

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the care of his relatives and the surveillance of the MVD of Bashkiria. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Paul Petrovich Monastyrev. He was born in 1875 in the village of

Kurochkino, Iglinskaya volost, Ufimsky canton, Ufa province into a clerical
family. He himself had a family consisting of four people. He studied at a
theological seminary. In July, 1930 he was arrested, and on December 3 he
was convicted and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-
13 to ten years’ exile to the north with confiscation of his property. The
indictment said that this group of churchmen “at underground sessions
discussed plans for an uprising planned for the spring of this year”. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Basil Sergeyevich Poletayev. He was born in 1882 in Ryazan

province, and served in Zagorsky, Iglinsky region, Bashkiria. On July 7, 1930
he was arrested, and on December 3 he was convicted and sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-13 to ten years’ exile to the north
with confiscation of his property.

Priest Quadratus Danilovich Pokhitun. He was born in 1883 in Kiev

province. He was ordained to the priesthood before the revolution, and
served in the village of Kaltovka, Iglinskaya volost, Ufcanton, Bashkiria. He
was married; there were six people in his family. On July 17, 1930 he was
arrested, and on December 3 he was convicted of “adhering to a counter-
revolutionary ‘five’ headed by Michael Rezanov. He knew of the preparation
of a counter-revolutionary plot, and together with the members of the ‘five’
organized mass demonstrations of believers in defence of the church from
closure”. In accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-13, he was sentenced
to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Michael Alexeyevich Popov. He was born in 1888 in the village of

Andomskaya Gora, Vytegorsky uyezd, Olonets province into the family of a
priest. He went to Olonets (Petrozavodsk?) theological seminary, and became
a people’s teacher. In 1914 he was ordained to the priesthood and went to
serve in the village of Koran, Byshbulyakovskaya volost, Belebeyesky uyezd,
Ufa province. In March, 1917 he was transferred to Kamenka in the same
volost, and in November, 1917 – to Petrozagorye in the same volost. In 1922
he stopped serving as a priest for a while and worked in a state farm in
charge of a warehouse, but in the same year, after the liquidation of the farm,
renewed his priestly service in the village of Rublyevka, Davlekanovskaya
volost, Belebeyevsky canton. He was a widower with two children. On July
17, 1930 he was arrested and cast into the GPU isolator in Ufa. On December 3
he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-13 to five
years in the camps with confiscation of property. On November 26 he
declared a hunger strike in protest at the sentence against Bishop Benjamin.
Nothing more is known about him.

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Deacon Ulyan Vasilyevich Gordilovsky (Gradilovsky?). He was born in

1896 in Iglinsky region, Bashkiria. He was a Belorussian. He served in his
native region until 1930, when he was arrested on July 7. On December 3 he
was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-13 to eight years
in prison. Nothing more is known about him.

Deacon Daniel Ionovich Perminov. He was born in 1884 in the village of

Saninskoye, Ufa uyezd into a peasant family. He went to the village school.
He had a family consisting of five people. In 1927 he was ordained to the
diaconate by Bishop Benjamin. He was deprived of his voting rights and
“dekulakized”. On June 20, 1930 he was arrested in Saninskoye, and on
December 3 was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-13
to ten years in the camps with confiscation of property. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nun Natalya (Vasilyevna Demidova). She was born in 1893 in Ufa into a
trader’s family. In 1917 she joined a women’s monastery in Ufa. After the
closure of the monastery she continued to live in Ufa. On July 22, 1930 she
was arrested, and on December 3 was convicted. In accordance with articles
58-10 part 2 and 58-13, she was sentenced to five years in the camps with
confiscation of property. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Xenia (Dmitrievna Kobyzeva). She was born in 1893 in the village of
Bulgakovo, Ufa uyezd into a peasant family. In 1921 she entered a women’s
monastery in Ufa province. After its closure she lived in Ufa, where, on July
22, 1930 she was arrested, and on December 3 – convicted. In accordance with
articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-13, she was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about her.

James Davydovich Schmidt. He was born in 1869 in Latvia, and was elder
of the church in Baltijsky stanitsa, Bashkiria. On September 15, 1930 he was
arrested, and on December 3 was convicted. In accordance with articles 58-10
part 2 and 58-13, was sentenced to death, and was shot on December 3, 1930.

Michael Pavlovich Larionov. He was born in 1863 or 1864 in Simsky

factory, Zlatoustovsky region, Ufa province. He was a former peasant
landowner, and married. In 1905 he became a member of the monarchist
“Union of the Russian People”. From 1918, while an invalid of the second
category, he worked in the Anna-Balashevsky factory, Zlatoust region, as an
agent for the reception and dispatch of freight in the factory. In 1923 he
moved to the Simsky factory, and until January, 1930 was “without definite
occupation”. In January he began to serve as a church warden. On July 13,
1930 he was arrested, and was imprisoned in the Zlatoust DPZ. The
indictment said that this group of churchmen “at underground sessions
discussed plans for an uprising planned for the spring of this year”. On

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December 3 he was sentenced, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, to

ten years’ exile in Siberia with confiscation of his property.

James Sergeyevich Rozhentsov was born in 1869 in the village of

Nolinskoye, Ufa canton, Ufa province into a peasant family. He had a family
of five people. He was accused he was arrested and condemned. The
indictment said that this group of churchmen “at underground sessions
discussed plans for an uprising planned for the spring of this year”. On
December 3, 1930 he was sentenced to death in accordance with article 58-10
part 2 and 58-13.

James Lavrentyevich Berestov. He was born in 1878 in the village of

Nolinskoye, Ufa uyezd, Ufa province. He was a kulak and had a family of
seven people. He was disenfranchised and dekulakised. On April 15, 1930 he
was arrested, and on December 3 was sentenced in accordance with articles
58-10 part 2 and 58-13 to ten years in the camps, commuted to ten years’ exile
in the north with confiscation of his property, with a labour norm for the rest
of his family. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Timothy Porfiryevich Strelkov was born on January 15, 1880 in the
village of Atyazhkino, Pomayevskaya volost, Buinsky uyezd, Simbirsk
province, in a Mordovian peasant family. He went to a village and a city
school, and then to Simbirsk pedagogical seminary. Then he was sent as a
teacher to the village of Mikhailovka, twelve kilometres from the regional
centre of Duvan, Bashkiria. He married Nadezhda Ionovna, and became a
priest in the village. He had four sons and one daughter.

Fr. Timothy was the younger brother of another priest, Father Theodore
Strelkov, who had been president of the local section of “The Union of the
Russian People” before the revolution and then left with the armies of
Admiral Kolchak to the East, to Harbin, where he died. In 1919 Fr. Timothy
also left with the White armies, and went to Omsk.

Before that, however, according to Schema-Monk Epiphanius (Chernov),

the following great miracle took place:

“In the summer of 1918, as living witnesses of this very great wonder
relate, this outstanding priest, Fr. Timothy, was arrested by the reds on the
eve of the day of the Holy Trinity. On the same day they sentenced him to
death as a fearless confessor of Christ. In the night of Trinity they led him on
foot out of the village of Mikhailovka, under mounted guard, in the direction
of Duvan. A large crowd of people accompanied their beloved pastor. In this
crowd there were also representatives of the "new authorities". Some
mourned and wept, but others rejoiced and celebrated... In spite of the late

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hour, the crowd of people did not disperse. They came to the village of
Mitrofanovka. And here all those who were accompanying him were ordered
to return. All returned, including even the mounted guard. Only one of them
was left. They allowed the priest's wife to go on.

“The poor woman was weeping all the time and sometimes asked for the
release of Fr. Timothy. The convoy was silent, while Batyushka Timothy,
addressing her said:

“’Why do you ask this? Do you think that it's his will? Do you think he
sentenced me to death? Others took the decision to deprive me of life. But the
Will of God also ordered him. May His holy Will be done... Glory to God for
all things! Glory to the Lord for His great mercy, that He should send me such
a death... But did I teach the people evil? But do not beseech Him... Beseech
the Lord only for one thing, for the repose of my soul... for the forgiveness of
my sins! For there is no man living, nor will there be, who does not sin... And I
have sinned! That's the important thing you must pray about... Lord, have
mercy, have mercy! Forgive me the accursed one!...’

“And the priest wept. And his matushka also sobbed violently.

“When they were still three kilometres from the regional centre of Duvan,
they turned off into an area overgrown with little bushes and climbed a little
hill. It had already begun to get light. The day of the Holy Trinity had
dawned.

“The convoy rode on his horse, in front of him walked the priests
condemned to death. Beside them walked the weeping matushka... Fr.
Timothy was praying warmly and with tears, beseeching the Lord to
strengthen him for the feat of martyrdom which lay ahead of him. He humbly
thanked the Lord for such a death...

“Suddenly the rider unsheathed his sword, brandished it powerfully and

struck him on the neck. The head of the martyr was struck off and he fell like
mown grass... Matushka shrieked and took to her heels... Fr. Timothy himself
only momentarily saw the blade of the sword flashing over his head, and
remembered no more... The blow was exact and powerful - the head did not
fly off to one side, but fell together with the body... What further happened to
him, Fr. Timothy himself does not remember. But he was lying on his back
when he regained consciousness... But the executioner galloped off in pursuit
of matushka. He caught up with her. He leapt off his horse and took off her
wedding ring... And then he went tearing along to the beheaded Fr. Timothy,
stooped, and gave him yet another blow with the sword on the head and cut
his cheek and hand (his hand was lying on his face)...

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“But matushka arrived at Mikhailovka and related how Fr. Timothy had
been beheaded before her every eyes... They got ready a cart and came to
collect the corpse. But imagine their astonishment and joyful trembling when
they found him alive, covered in blood but with a scar all round his neck
witnessing to the fact that he had been beheaded and healed by an ineffable
miracle... When the clotted blood had been wiped away, there appeared a
fully healed fresh scar around the whole neck in the form, as it were, of a
bright thread. There was no sign of inflammation. Fr. Timothy showed this
scar to everyone close to him, as a witness of the miracle.

“They carried him as dead, covered with branches, to his father

Porphyrius, who lived at a mill outside the village. Here, at the home of his
father, the beheaded one hid himself for one and a half months. Then he left
that area and hid himself for about twelve years, when he suffered a second
death for Christ...”

It may be for this reason that, according to the other source for his story, Fr.
Timothy went to Omsk. According to this version, between 1923 and 1928 he
did not serve in church, but in 1924 he moved to Bulayevskaya station on the
Trans-Siberian railway, where he worked as an accountant. In 1929 he
returned to Omsk and again began to serve as a priest.

It must have been during this period that, according to Schema-Monk

Epiphanius, “the Lord God wrought another miracle in the life of Father
Timothy. He was in hiding, going from place to place, when he arrived at a
monastery in the Urals. He asked the abbot to permit him to stay there
temporarily. He said that he was a priest and showed him the cross on his
breast. The abbot gave him permission. But this was noticed. A commission
appeared and began to check all the members of the community in
accordance with a list.

"’How many monks do you have in this community?’ the chairman asked
the abbot.

"’Thirty-two,’ he replied.

“They began to check.

“Fr. Timothy was there, absorbed in prayer like all the other monks. He
stood beside a table, leaning against the stove. They checked them all.

"’Exactly thirty-two! It's amazing...’ said the commission.

“It was as if they had not seen Fr. Timothy standing beside the stove. When
the chekists had gone, the abbot gathered the brotherhood and told them the
wonderful miracle of God's mercy and served a thanksgiving prayer-service

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not only for the priest, but at the same time for the miraculous deliverance of
the whole community from inevitable death...”

“After this incident Fr. Timothy left that area and went secretly to Sim
factory, near Ufa. Here he served in a house church until his last arrest and
death in 1930…”

Our other source agrees that Fr. Timothy was sent to Sim factory, but says
that he was sent there in 1929 by the Catacomb Bishop Alexis (Buj), who had
arrived in Omsk, and then, in 1930 moved to the village of Novo-Troitskoye,
Iglinskaya volost, Ufkanton, Bashkiria. However, there is no record of Bishop
Alexis being in Omsk at that time, and it seems more likely that Fr. Timothy
decided of his own accord to return to his homeland and made contact there
with Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky).

In any case, on July 14, 1930 he was arrested and cast into the Domzak in
Zlatoust, Bashkiria. Then, on December 3, he was condemned by the GPU for
“being a member of a counter-revolutionary organization, entering into the
group of churchmen headed by the accused [Bishop Benjamin] Troitsky”, for
“recruiting people, working on them and preparing them for a rebellion”. In
accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11, he was sentenced to be shot.
On December 3 he was shot.

“’By chance’”, continues Schema-Monk Epiphanius, “there happened to be

a witness of his death, the servant of God Alexander Bogdanov, who was at
that time in prison. They had ordered him to harness the sledges (this was in
winter). And at night three men, apparently priests, were taken out of the
prison bound and with their mouths stopped up so that they could not cry
out. ‘One of them,’ relates the witness, ‘was tall’ - this was Fr. Timothy. The
next morning Alexander found the sledges in the yard of the prison all
covered in blood. They had cut all three of them to pieces…”

In 1932 (or 1933), after a serious operation, Bishop Benjamin was exiled for
the rest of his sentence to the town of Melekess in Ulyanovsk region
(Dimitrovgrad). He was visited there by his brother, Protopriest Michael and
his family (his other brother, Archimandrite Paul (in the world Peter
Vasilyevich), also belonged to the Catacomb Church). He was also visited in
exile by Natalya Pavlovna Nikolskaya, who had formerly been the
headmistress of a gymnasium in Ufa. She sold her house in Ufa and bought
herself a house in Melkess, where she lived with some nuns. She also gave
Vladyka some money to buy a house.

According to one source, Vladyka Benjamin was arrested and shot in

Melekess in 1937. According to another, he was killed by a falling pine while

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logging and was buried in the camp. According to a third source, he died on
September 6, 1940 in Magadan district, North-East Siberia (Magadan).

Also condemned with him in “The Case of the Counter-Revolutionary

Group Headed by Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky), Melekess, 1937” were:-

Protopriest Michael Vasilyevich Troitsky, the brother of Bishop Benjamin.

He was born on July 19, 1890 in the village of Tysyatskoye, Novotorzhsk
uyezd, Tver province. After the death of his father in 1909 Michael became the
support of his mother and sisters, who had nothing to live on and were forced
to sell their things. He became a priest and went to serve in the village of
Gorki, Novotorzhsk uyezd, and then in the village of Churilovo, Kamensky
region, Tver province. He was married to Capitolina Flavianovna (born 1888)
and had two daughters. In 1934 he was arrested for “counter-revolutionary
activity” and cast into prison. He was freed without trial because of illness,
and went to live in Melekess, not serving in church, but living with his
children. On December 9, 1937 he was arrested and cast into prison in
Melekess. On December 22 he was condemned for being “a participant in the
counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen” founded by Bishop
Benjamin, of “conducting anti-Soviet agitation and having rebellious and
terrorist views”. In accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11, he was
sentenced to death. He was shot in Ulyanovsk on February 20, 1938.

Hieromonk Neophytus, in the world Nicholas Petrovich Kulikov. He was

born in 1905 in the city of Merv in Turkestan in a large family with four boys
and a girl. After the death of his parents he was helped by Bishop Benjamin.
In 1924 he entered the Tashkent agricultural institute and completed three
classes there. In 1929 he became a monk with the blessing of Bishop Benjamin.
In June, 1930 he was ordained to the priesthood. On June 29, 1930 he was
arrested in Ufa (or Tashkent) and cast into the isolator of the GPU prison in
Ufa. At his interrogation on July 18, 1930 he said: “In about September, 1928 I
arrived in Ufa with Bishop Benjamin, whom I got to know already in
Tashkent. During the first days of my service in the Semyonovskaya church I
gave a sermon of an instructive nature on Gospel subjects, and called on the
believers, among whom were many young people, firmly to believe in God
and actively to visit the church.” In support of Bishop Benjamin, who
declared a hunger strike on November 26, Fr. Neophytus went on hunger
strike on November 29. On December 3, 1930 he was convicted of “being a
member of a counter-revolutionary organization, and joining a group of
churchmen headed by Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky)”. In accordance with
articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-13, he was sentenced to ten years in the camps
with confiscation of his property. The indictment said that this group of
churchmen “at underground sessions discussed plans for an uprising planned
for the spring of this year”. After being released from camp, Fr. Neophytus

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returned to Bishop Benjamin in Melekess, where, in 1936, he was arrested

again. On October 3 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. In 1937 he
was shot.

Hieromonk Paul, in the world Peter Timofeyevich Predannikov (or

Pridannikov). He was born in 1903 in Ujskaya stanitsa, Troitsk uyezd,
Orenburg province into a family of Orenburg Cossacks. He went to
elementary school. In 1921 he moved from Ujskaya stanitsa to the city of
Miass in Bashkiria, where he served as a reader. In 1925 he moved to the city
of Sadok, Bashkiria. At that time, at the suggestion of Bishop Rufinus, he
joined the Andrewite orientation. In 1928 he was ordained to the priesthood
with the name Paul, and began to serve in the church of St. Nicholas in
Nikolayevsky, Bashkiria. At the beginning of 1930 he was transferred to the
Simeonovskaya church in Ufa, where he served with Bishop Benjamin as
reader. On July 28, 1930 he was arrested in Ufa and cast into the GPU’s
isolator in the city. On November 26 he declared a hunger strike “in protest at
the accusation levelled at [Bishop Benjamin] Troitsky”. On December 3 he was
convicted by the PGU of “being a member of a counter-revolutionary
organization, and joining a group of churchmen headed by the accused
Troitsky, on whose instructions he conducted anti-soviet activity with the aim
of inciting the population aganst Soviet power”. In accordance with articles
58-10 part 2 and 58-13, he was sentenced to five years in the camps with
confiscation of his property. His was part of the group case, “The Case of
Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky) and others, Ufa, 1930”. On returning from exile,
he began to serve in the Spasskaya church in the village of Medvederovo,
Kushnarenkovsky region, Bashkiria. On July 30, 1937 he was arrested, and on
November 25 was sentenced to death in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-
11. On December 29, 1937 he was shot.

Priest Daniel Afanasyevich Andreyev. He was born in 1863 in the village

of Khorody (Khorady), Alkivsky region, Tataria into a peasant family. He had
no family. In 1893 he became a novice in a monastery, then a reader and
deacon. In 1906 he was ordained to the priesthood. In 1929 he was serving in
Melekess, Samara province, when he was arrested for “counter-revolutionary
activity” and sentenced to three years’ exile in accordance with article 58-10.
Having served his term, he returned to Melekess in 1932 and began serving in
the village of N-Maine, Melekess region. In September, 1933 the church was
closed, and he returned to Melekess, where he continued to live without fixed
occupation. On December 11, 1937 he was arrested and cast into Melekess
prison. He was accused of being “anti-Soviet” and “in touch with a counter-
revolutionary organization operating in Melekess”. On December 22 he was
sentenced to death in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11. He was
shot in 1937 or 1938.

Priest Alexander Vasilyevich Rumyantsev. He was born on August 24,

1903 in the village of Karmala, Simbirsk province (now Zelenodolskaya

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region, Tataria). (According to other sources, he was born in the village of

Kozhmar, Krasnoyarsk region, Tataria.) He worked as a peasant, when he
became a reader in Simbirsk province. In 1932 he was ordained to the
priesthood. He had a wife, Justina Mikhailovna, and they had three sons and
three daughters. On December 9, 1937 he was arrested in the village of
Sabakayevo, Melekess region, and was cast into prison in Melekess. On
December 22, 1937 he was convicted by the UNKVD of being “a participant in
the counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen created by the former
Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky) of Gorky, on whose instructions he created an
anti-Soviet group in his village”. In accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and
58-11, he was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on February
20, 1938 in Ulyanovsk.

Deacon (Priest?) Nicholas Konstantinovich Vladimirsky. He was born on

December 1, 1872 in the village of Mamonino, Simbirsk province (now
Tataria). In 1888 he finished his studies at the Kazan theological school, and in
1895 began teaching in a theological school in Simbirsk province. In 1925 he
was ordained to the diaconate. He was married to Maria Alexandrovna (born
1877) and had three children. On July 2, 1931 he was arrested in Kazan and
sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment, in accordance with article 58-11, in
the Kem camps. In 1933 he was released early, and exiled to Melekess for the
rest of his term. On December 9, 1937 he was arrested again and cast into
prison in Melekess. On December 22 he was convicted of being “a participant
in a counter-revolutionary organization of churchment created by the the
former Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky) of Gorky”. In accordance with articles 58-
10 part 2 and 58-11, he was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out
in Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk) on February 20, 1938.

Deacon George Akimovich Noskov. He was born on November 21, 1888

in Simbirsk into a peasant family. In 1910 he became a novice in the
Zhadovsky Kazansko-Bogoroditskaya Desert, Korsun uyezd, Simbirsk
province. From 1910 to 1918 he worked in the army as a clerk, and from 1919
to 1921 in the Red Army, also as a clerk. Then he worked in various
institutions. He was married to Maria Semyonovna (born 1890), and had a
daughter Tatyana (born 1927). In 1924 he was ordained to the diaconate for
the All Saints church in Simbirsk. Then he moved to the St. Nicholas church in
Melekess. On December 9, 1937 he was arrested in Melekess, and cast into
Melekess prison. On December 22 he was convicted by the UNKVD of being
“a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen created
by the former Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky) of Gorky”. In accordance with
articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11, he was sentenced to death. The sentence was
carried out in Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk) on February 20, 1938.

Nun Tatyana (Mikhailovich Ryzhkova). She was born on January 12, 1881
in the village of Travniki (Drovniki?), Orenburg province into a peasant
family. On July 1, 1930 she was arrested in Ufa, and on September 27 was

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sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in accordance with article 58-10. In

1937 she was arrested again in Melekess and cast into Melekess prison. On
December 22 she was convicted by the UNKVD of “living in one flat with
Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky)” and “being a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchmen created by him, sharing his views”.
On May 8, 1938 she was shot.

Nun Tatyana (Sergeyevna Knyazbeyeva). She was born in 1897 in the

village of Mataki, Simbirsk province into a Chuvash peasant family. She was
deprived of her mother early, and lived in her native village until the death of
her father in 1921, after which she became a nun in Kazan. In 1931 she was
arrested in her native village and convicted of “counter-revolutionary
activity”, and sentenced to three years in the camps in accordance with article
58-10. She was in the prison in Spassk for seven months. She ran away from
camp and went to live in Melekess. On December 18, 1937 she was arrested in
Melekess and cast into prison there. In accordance with articles 58-10 part 2
and 58-11, she was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out in
Ulyanovsk on February 20, 1937.

Ivan Efimovich Loginov. He was born on July 12, 1878 in the village of
Sabakayevo, Stavropol uyezd (now Ulyanovsk province, Melekessky region),
Samara province. He was the son of a peasant wood merchant, and served for
seven months in the Russian army during the First World War. He was
married to Anna Trophimovna (born 1884), and had five children: Alexander
(born 1921), Nicholas (born 1923), Alexis (born 1929), Claudia (born 1933) and
Ivan (born 1912). He worked as a watchman in the collective farm “Forward
to Socialism”. However, in 1937 the church of which he was the president of
the church-parish council was closed, and Ivan Efimovich began gathering
signatures among the parishioners for its reopening. On December 14 he was
arrested in Sabakayevo, and cast into prison in the city of Melekess. On
December 22 he was condemned to death in accordance with articles 58-10
and 58-11. On May 8, 1938 the sentence was carried out in Saratov
(Kuibyshev), where he was buried.

Gabriel Vasilyevich Panshin (Panin). He was born on March 25, 1899 in

Sterlitamak, Simbirsk province into a peasant family. He had a wife, Anna
Vasilyevna, and four children. He served in the army of Kolchak for nine
months as a private. From 1919 to 1926 he served in the RKKA. In 1932, while
living in Troitsk, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in the camps. He
spent three-and-a-half years of that sentence on the White Sea canal and in the
Far East. On December 8, 1937 he was arrested in Melekess, and cast into
prison in Melekess. On December 22 he was convicted of being “a participant
in the counter-revolutionary organization headed by Bishop Benjamin
(Troitsky) of Gorky. In accordance with articles 48-10 part 2 and 58-11, he was
sentenced to death. On February 20, 1938 he was shot in Kuibyshev
(Ulyanovsk).

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Theodore Fyodorovich Shitikov. He was born on February 12, 1888 in the

village of N. Matyushkino, Stavropol uyezd, Samara province into a peasant
family. He was married to Agatha Andreyevna (born 1889) and had four
children. At the age of twelve, having lost his father, he went to work in
Melekess. In 1916 he was enrolled as a private in the army. After the
revolution he returned to his native village. In March, 1919 he went to serve
on the Council of the People’s Economy in Melekess. However, in April he
was called up into the Red Army, where he worked as a groom. Until 1930 he
worked in various places. For twenty years, from 1913 to 1933, he belonged to
the sect of the Evangelical Baptists. Then he left them and returned to
Orthodoxy. On December 19, 1937 he was arrested and cast into Melekess
prison. On December 22 he was convicted of being “a sectarian preacher”,
“conducting anti-Soviet agitation” and “spreading provocative rumours”. In
accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11, he was sentenced to death. On
February 20, 1938 he was shot in Ulyanovsk.

Barbara Mikhailovina Terekhina. She was born in 1884 in the village of

Kondakovka, Nik-Cheremshansky uyezd, Samara province into the family of
a smith. In 1929 she was “dekulakized” and exiled to Arkhangelsk together
with her husband Demetrius Efimovich Terekhin. In 1933 her husband was
released because of illness, and in the same year Terekhina fled from exile,
returned to her homeland, and then, fearing arrest, moved to Melekess. There
she took various forms of temporary work until her arrest on December 9,
1937. She was cast into Melekess prison. On December 22 she was charged
with “anti-Soviet intentions” and “spreading provocative rumours”. In
accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 she was sentenced to ten years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Some other people close to Bishop Benjamin were arrested and kept in
winter in cold cells with broken windows and with no hot food for eleven
days. Then they were all taken for interrogation in one night. Bishop
Benjamin's brother, Fr. Michael, was cruelly beaten until it was impossible to
recognize him - his face was like a baked apple and one could not see his eyes.
He was condemned by a troika. Fr. Michael was sent together with a 62-year-
old Nun Philareta to Archangelsk. There were rumours that he died there.
Natalya Pavlovna Nikolskaya died in a transit prison.

One of the clergy close to Bishop Benjamin, Fr. Theoctistus, settled in

Irkutsk and served in the Catacomb Church until his death on January 13,
1978.

(Sources: M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyatejshego Tikhona, Patriarkha

Moskovskogo i Vseya Rossii, Moscow, 1994, pp. 850, 966; "Katakomby",

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Russkoye Vozrozhdeniye, 1982 (III), N 19, pp. 182-187; Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N

14 (1587), July 15/28, 1997, p. 6; Bishop Ambrose (von Sivers), "Tajnaya
Tserkov' priotkryvayet dveri" (MS); letter of January 7/20, 1996;
“Katakombnaya Tserkov’: Kochuyushchij Sobor 1928 g.”, Russkoe
Pravoslaviye, N 3 (7), 1997, p. 28; “Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj
Katakombnoj Tserkvi 1922-1997g.”, Russkoe Pravoslaviye, N 4(8), 1997, pp. 8-
9; Ikh Stradaniyami Ochistitsa Rus', Moscow, 1996, p. 64; Za Khrista
Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, p. 241; I.I.
Osipova, Skvoz’ Ogn’ Muchenij i Vody Slyoz, Moscow: Serebryanniye Niti,
1998, p. 278; M V. Shkvarovsky, Iosiflyanstvo, St. Petersburg: Memorial, 1999,
p. 279; “Novomuchenik Arkhiepiskop Andrej Ufimsky (1872-1937gg.)”,
Vozdvizheniye, N 13 (33), Spring, 2000; N.V. Kozlov, in Pravoslavnaya
Zhizn’, 52, N 10 (633), October, 2002, pp. 22-23; Schema-Monk Epiphanius
(Chernov), Tserkov’ Katakombnaya na Zemlye Rossijskoj (MS, Old Woking,
1980); http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-
htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/newmr; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/bashkir.html)

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21. HIEROMARTYR NICHOLAS, BISHOP OF AKTAR

Bishop Nicholas, in the world Vladimir Vasilyevich Parfenov, was born on

June 20, 1879 in Saratov in a family of a tradesman, Basil and his wife
Catherine (according to another source, they belonged to the nobility). He
was educated at home. As a result of a fall from a chair caused by the
inattention of his wet-nurse, he injured his spine. The nurse did not tell
anyone about it, and when a hump appeared it was too late to do anything
about it, and he became a hunchback; his hunch was in front and behind.
Because of this deformity, when he was already a bishop, he humbly asked
people to call him "little batyushka".

Vladimir’s mother was a deeply religious woman, and played a large role
in the education of the five children in the Orthodox faith. Often in the
evenings Vladimir would gather together all the children, ask for a stool from
the nurse, lock the room so that none of the adults could enter, and ask them
to pray. He himself, having made a censer out of the lampada, would walk
with them around the stool, representing a Divine service.

After the death of his father in 1885, Vladimir at first studied with teachers
at home, but then went to primary school.

Vladimir graduated from Kazan University and Theological Academy. He

had a sister whose son, an officer in the Civil War, died in captivity near
Zhitomir.

Inspired by the preaching of Bishop Hermogen (Dolganev), who had been

appointed to the Saratov diocese in 1903, and later received the crown of
martyrdom, Vladimir entered the Saviour-Transfiguration monastery in
Saratov on January 26, 1906, at the age of 27, and was given the obedience of a
tailor in the St. Alexis skete, which was also the hierarchical dacha (from 1911
the skete was renamed as the Nicholas-Trinity skete). People’s first impression
of him was of someone who was weak. But this impression turned out to be
false, and soon the guilelessness and meekness of the young novice won the
hearts of many inhabitants of the skete.

After some time Bishop Hermogen, being the superior of the Saratov
Saviour-Transfiguration monastery, tonsured his spiritual son into the mantia
and called him Nicholas in honour of St. Nicholas of Myra, the
wonderworker. Later, when he was already a hieromonk, the elder Nicholas
recalled: “During my tonsure a dove separated from the cross which was
being handed to me and flew into my mouth. For a whole year after this I felt
a great sweetness in my heart.” Under the spiritual direction of Bishop
Hermogen and Elder Adrian, the humble skete-dweller perfected himself in
the study of the Church services and the Holy Scriptures, and also immersed

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himself in the reading of the patristic literature and the practice of writing
verses.

In 1911 Bishop Hermogen was exiled to the Zhirovitsky monastery for

resisting G.E. Rasputin. An unheard-of wave of slander against those clergy
who shared the views of their exiled archpastor poured through the diocese.
By this time Monk Nicholas had become clairvoyant to such a degree that
other monks tried to avoid the hunchback. He was accused of being a false
elder, of collecting large donations from wealthy and eminent Christians of
the city, and of being close to Bishop Hermogen. After an illness he became
visibly older – his face became puffy, and his hunch grew larger, it was as if it
was growing into the ground. To the end of his life he never let his walking-
stick out of his hands. He was forbidden to communicate with parishioners,
and his friends and venerators became the elks who lived in the wood on Bare
Mountain, and whom he fed with salt.

Soon, so as not to sit around doing nothing, he took upon himself an

obedience – every Sunday morning he would serve at pannikhidas in the
church of the Resurrection of the Lord in the city’s Resurrection cemetery, and
collected alms for the skete. Besides this, Brother Nicholas took upon himself
(on his own initiative) a duty that was unheard of in the Saratov area and not
th
practised by the Church at the beginning of the 20 century – to pray for
suicides according to the order of prayer established by St. Leonid of Optina.

Sorrowing over his beloved city and the people who lived in it, he no
longer had the right to be silent as before, hiding in the depths of his heart the
gift of wonderworking that he had received, and he took upon himself the
exploit of eldership, so that the people of the Saratov land, of all ranks and
conditions, should live together as one big loving family…

In the autumn of 1914 he foretold to his spiritual son, N.P. Rufimsky, that
the roof of the panorama “The torments of the Christians in the circus of
Nero”, which was situated in the centre of Saratov, would collapse, which it
did on January 15, 1915. He also said: “Soon the whole of Russia will be like
this circus.”

On November 10, 1915 Bishop Palladius (Dobronravov) of Saratov and

Tsaritsyn, who knew Fr. Nicholas well from the time of Bishop Hermogen’s
rule, ordained him to the rank of hieromonk and appointed him spiritual
father of the coenobitical monastery attached to the church of the Passion of
the Lord in Saratov. It was as if the city came to life, for it had found within
itself a Spirit-bearer who constantly united himself and others with Christ.
Among the parishioners could be seen venerable protopriests and swindlers,
professional prostitutes and worldly ladies, thieves of all kinds and
Maecenases, as well as despairing people who had lost all hope of salvation
and came to the elder for spiritual support…

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Fr. Nicholas not only knew the past and the future of every person whom
he saw for the first time, but also saw what he was thinking about and what
he was dreaming about in the innermost depths of his heart. But if someone
came to him with evil thoughts, thinking to mock the grace of the Holy Spirit
that rested on him, he would play the fool and make up proverbs of his own
creation wrapped up in strange words. Moreover, he asked all his
parishioners without exception to call him “little batyushka”.

On every day of Bright Week he would go round the work-houses and

hospitals bringing Paschal offerings that he had received from wealthy
citizens. He would also visit the crippled soldiers (this was during the war)
and the drunkards. Many who suffered from alcoholism and turned to the
prayers of the elder were healed of their drunkenness.

From the Volga region, Kiev, Moscow and other cities people would come
to him for advice. There are many witnesses of his clairvoyance, the power of
his prayer and profound discernment. When people would come to him from
various places, and among them were some newcomers, he would usually
put the visitors on one side of a table, while on the other side he put toys –
cocks, chicken, parrots, cats, dogs and other birds and animals. And he would
talk with the birds and animals. And in all these conversations the visitors
received answers to their unexpressed and hidden questions and thoughts.

According to the witness of his novice, Alexander Mikheev (the future

priest of the Holy Trinity cathedral in Saratov), “they would bring people
suffering from all kinds of mental or other kinds of mysterious illnesses, and
put them near the block. Fr. Nicholas would go out to them, he would not
refuse. He would talk with the sick people and their relatives, pray fervently,
invoke healing of the illness, reassure, instil faith and hope. He healed three
or four people in my presence, and he eased the condition of many others, as I
have been told.”

In 1917 Fr. Nicholas and Alexander Makheev made a pilgrimage round the
holy places of Russia. They visited the Kremlin cathedrals of Moscow, the
Donskoj, Novodevichi, Strastnoj, Simonov and Danilov monasteries, the
Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, New Jerusalem, Optina Desert, the Alexander
Nevsky Lavra and Valaam.

In 1918, following the anathema contained in the Epistle of his Holiness

Patriarch Tikhon, and not wishing to enter into relations with ‘the outcasts of
the human race’, Fr. Nicholas went into reclusion in his native SS. Nicholas
and Tikhon skete. The young priest Fr. Constantine Mikhailovich Soloviev
(+1953), who had just graduated from the Kazan Theological Academy,
returned to Saratov and became the priest at the skete and the spiritual son of

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Fr. Nicholas, his humble servant, who carried out the sacraments in
accordance with the needs of the spiritual children of the clairvoyant elder.

In 1920 Fr. Nicholas met the future Bishop of Saratov Benjamin (Milov) and
amazed him by his clairvoyance. He foretold the name he would receive in
monasticism and told him to go to the Danilov monastery, the future
stronghold of the Catacomb Church, giving him the following prayer rule:
“As a monk, apply yourself to the Jesus prayer: 300 Jesus prayers and 300
Mother of Gods. My elder was Fr. Adrian, a man of lofty spiritual life. He so
loved the Jesus prayer that he heard nothing worldly and did not enter into
vain conversations. If someone would start talking about something vain in
his presence, he would incline his head and go to sleep. But immediately
someone started talking about something important, he would wake up from
his supposed sleep and display the most profound wisdom. The Lord
consoles monks in many ways. I will tell a story about myself. When I was
being tonsured, a dove separated from the hand of the person who was
handing me the cross and flew into my mouth. For a whole year after this I
felt great sweetness in my heart.”

When the first closures, defilements and destructions of the churches of

Saratov were taking place, Fr. Nicholas comforted his flock with the following
prophetic words: “The time is not far distant when the Christians everywhere
will spend their last money on restoring and rebuilding the churches of
God…”

In 1920 Fr. Nicholas was raised to the rank of archimandrite. In 1922, as

many priests were being arrested and there was no bishop in Saratov,
Archimandrite Nicholas was elected to the rank of bishop by an assembly of
laymen at the Cross church in the Hierarchical house, and he was secretly
consecrated to the episcopate in the St. Nicholas church of the skete by
Bishops Job (Rogozhin), the former superior of the Saviour-Transfiguration
women’s monastery, and Barlaam (Pikalov). According to one source,
Archbishop Andrew of Ufa participated in this consecration.

As a faithful son of the Mother Church, Vladyka Nicholas did not accept
renovationism. In all probability he was the only bishop in Saratov in this
period (September, 1922), and fulfilled the duties of temporary administrator
of the Saratov diocese. The news of his consecration was brought with great
difficulty to Patriarch Tikhon when he was under house arrest. On March 17,
1923 he appointed Vladyka Nicholas bishop of Atkar, a vicariate of the
Saratov diocese, specially creating this new vicar-see in the centre of the city
of Atkar.

Vladyka Nicholas served in this see until 1925, when he retired because of
ill health. Bishop Nicholas lived in a monastic skete in Saratov, and was for
two years in reclusion. During this time he not only prayed but also worked,

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making stockings. When blessing someone he sometimes gave them

stockings.

He was so well-known that in his novel “The Affair of the Artamonovs”,

Maxim Gorky used the image of the fool-for-Christ elder-bishop in his
character of the hunchbacked monk Nicetas Artamonov.

On coming out of reclusion he continued to live for some time in Saratov.

His cell-attendant was Hieromonk Pitirim, who had been James Ivanovich
Ivanov in the world. In his youth he had intended to marry, but his bride died
on the eve of their wedding, which so shook the young man that he remained
a bachelor.

James Ivanovich wanted to see Bishop Nicholas, about whom he had heard
many good things. Once he hired a cabby and went to look at him. He was
sitting under an umbrella and getting ready to look at him, when Bishop
Nicholas came out onto the porch of his little house, turned towards him and
said unexpectedly:

"James Ivanovich, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

This event was a fresh shock for James Ivanovich. After all, he had never
seen the bishop before, and the bishop could not have known anything about
him. After thinking about it for a long time, he was tonsured into monasticism
with the name Pitirim and then became a hieromonk and Bishop Nicholas'
cell-attendant.

Between March and June 15, 1928 Bishop Nicholas carried out secret
monastic tonsures together with Bishop Thaddeus (Uspensky) of Saratov.

After a time the authorities forced Vladyka to go and live in Moscow. At

first he lived with his spiritual children. Then as he began to acquire more and
more admirers among the inhabitants of the Zamoskvorechiye, he went from
one to the other. Everyone was glad to give refuge to Vladyka.

Finally, the authorities decided to expel certain bishops from Moscow.

They summoned Bishop Nicholas and gave him a choice of three cities, one of
which was Kiev. Vladyka chose Kiev.

In Kiev he lived with his cell-attendant in the private house of Popov on

the corner of Reznitskaya and Klovsky spusk. The nun Mariamna (in the
world Princess Alexandra Lvovna Shakhovskaya) lived in one small room of
this house, and the three others were let by Bishop Nicholas and Hieromonk
Pitirim. Vladyka Nicholas lived very quietly in Pechersk, receiving almost
nobody and not serving Divine services. He went only to the church of the
women's monastery of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple.

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Bishop Nicholas lived in this house for six years. During this time his
admirers in Saratov did not forget him, and some of them came to see him in
Kiev. The above-mentioned Protopriest Constantine was one of them. On
meeting Bishop Nicholas he fell to his knees and asked for his hierarchical
blessing. He told several Kievans of the holy life and spiritual exploits of
Bishop Nicholas in Saratov.

Eugenia Grigorievna Rymarenko, the wife of Fr. Adrian, the future

Archbishop Andrew of Rockland, relates: "Our whole family, including the
children, spent the summer of 1928 in Kitayevsky Hermitage near Kiev, and
there we met Bishop Nicholas. This was the vicar-bishop from Saratov; he had
been exiled and lived in Kiev, receiving no one and not performing church
services. We had heard much about him, about his high spiritual life, about
his eldership in the skete near Saratov. We wanted very much to visit him,
but this was extremely difficult. Finally we succeeded. And so gradually we
became so disposed toward Vladyka that he began deciding all our questions.
I remembered Batiushka Fr. Nectarius' words to me when he said:

"'Let Batiushka Fr. Adrian pray to the Lord that He incline his heart toward
some Orthodox bishop and ask him about everything: now it is necessary to
search for bishops.'"

Once Bishop Nicholas visited Eugenia Grigorievna's household. "I

remember that Vladyka’s cell-attendant came to us and said that Vladyka had
come to pray and look at Kitayevskaya desert, and that he wanted to visit Fr.
Adrian. We were happy, of course, and came out to meet him. The cabby
drove up and Vladyka, accompanied by his cell-attendant, came into our
house. Vladyka was short and hunch-backed, but there was something
unusual in his whole face: a certain goodness, spirituality. His eyes were big,
thoughtful and kind, but his manner was authoritative: one felt that he was
used to ruling and giving instructions. Having prayed and blessed us, he
went with Fr. Adrian into his room to change his clothes, since, like Elder
Ambrose [of Optina], he suffered from perspiration.

"I began to fuss about the housework, wishing to give better hospitality to
our guest. And then, I remember, there was the following incident. I had a
good bun, but a little pig's fat had been put in it. Should I put it on the table or
not - after all, Vladyka was a monk. I thought and thought, and in the end I
put it in with all the rest. And what then? Vladyka tasted everything, but
didn't touch the bun!

"Then, I remember, Vladyka started to say that there are certain matushkas
who hinder their batyushkas from advancing in the spiritual life. Looking at
me, he asked:

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"'Are you one of those?'

"I replied that I did not know what I was.

“In general, I didn't like Vladyka. I thought: 'Why did he suddenly begin to
attack me?' Vladyka stayed with us and then returned to Kiev.

“Then it turned out that Vladyka's cell-attendant had forgotten some

things at our house. I had to bring them out and go to Vladyka in Pechersk. I
remember that I went up to the house, which was surrounded by a high
fence. The gate was shut on a latch; they taught me to look for a little hole and
put a hairpin into it. In this way I lifted the latch and opened the gate without
ringing, so as not to draw anyone's attention to the fact that somebody was
visiting Vladyka.

"I quickly went across the yard and into Vladyka's quarters. My first
impression was of cleanliness, cosiness and a certain peace and quiet. One felt
that everyone was living under obedience, that it was a kind of small
monastery.

"Vladyka himself played the fool a little; he spoke quite sharply and
sometimes joked. For example, he threw me into complete confusion by
saying:

"'Do you want to stay and have lunch with us? If you want to - stay, if not -
leave.'

“I didn’t know what to do and in great confusion stayed.

"Some months passed. During this time Fr. Adrian went to Vladyka, but I
did not. Christmas came. The whole of our family went to congratulate
Vladyka on the feasts. I remember that I had no special desire to go; I was still
somewhat critically disposed towards Vladyka.

"Then, without my noticing it, I went to him more and more often, and
came to like him so much that I couldn't decide or begin anything for myself
without asking his blessing and prayers.

"What attracted me to Vladyka? His special way of addressing one. He

could joke and laugh, but he could also listen and as it were live through all
the difficulties of life at that time. He could encourage one and strengthen
one's faith in the help of God and obtain this help by his prayers.

"For, you know, that was a very difficult time, especially for the family of a
priest. Fr. Adrian did not have a parish in Kiev, he served together with [the

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catacomb priest] Fr. Michael [Yedlinsky, the future hieromartyr] in the church
of Saints Boris and Gleb in Podol.

"We lived mainly on chance parcels from former parishioners from Romny.
The whole time there were various unpleasantnesses. For example, a message
would come from the police: the next day Fr. Adrian was to go there to clean
the snow; I had to run, bustle around and get a medical certificate to say that
Fr. Adrian was ill and lying in bed. Moreover, the certificate could not be from
a private doctor, but had to be from the Red Cross.

"In 1929 Fr. Adrian was arrested. How Vladyka supported me, encouraged
me, prayed for me at that time! By some kind of miracle Fr. Adrian was
released.

“In 1931 the story with the flat began. At that time we were not living in
the basement but occupied two rooms in the house of people whom we knew.
But the house in which we were living had changed into a “communal living
area”, so we had to find a flat from a private house-owner. But when we with
great difficulty found it, it was almost taken away from us by a man who
came into our flat, put a bed in one of the rooms and said that the flat was his!

“How much I went through then! Alone with two small children, and with
constantly drunken people on the other side of the wall who shouted: ‘She’s
hiding her pope somewhere or other’. I knew that the wife of this man was
about to come from hospital with her just-born child. I understood our
hopeless situation, our complete lack of rights in a juridical sense. Our
landlady, of course, want to evict this man who had settled in without her
knowledge and have us in her house. With her we decided that Poly (the
nanny of our children, who at that time worked in a factory) could take him to
court since she had the rights of a working person. I ran to Vladyka in
complete despair, told him everything and said that we had to take a lawyer.
But Vladyka said to me: ‘What lawyer, your lawyer is Nicholas the
Wonderworker.’ I left Vladyka encouraged, with a certain hope. We served a
moleben to the holy Hierarch Nicholas, and the next day Polya returned from
the court and said that the case had been decided in her favour and that if, in
the course of the next two weeks, the man did not appeal, he would have to
vacate the flat. In two weeks the flat was freed.

"Was this not the mercy of God, Who defended our rightless family
according to the laws of that time through the prayers of Vladyka! How
necessary in those difficult times were such people as Vladyka Nicholas. By
their deep faith and authoritative word they were able to support us who
were fainthearted and wavering in faith. Vladyka always supported me in
this way. We also had to suffer material hardships at that time. Vladyka
somehow understood them and knew when they came. He would come to us,

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and after his visit you would find two roubles on the table; you would look at
them as at a blessing to escape your material difficulties..

“In 1933 passportization was declared. With great difficulty Archbishop

Sergius succeeded in getting the department of cults to assign Fr. Adrian to
the church of SS. Boris and Gleb, and then to the Pokrov monastery, and
finally to the church of Askold’s grave. If we had not succeeded in getting
this, we would have had to leave Kiev.

“I worked at first as a needle-woman, and then in various libraries, and

finally as director of the Narkomzdrav library. Life was nerve-wracking:
constant fears for Fr. Adrian; we had constant searches, checks of the
landlady’s books and questions about the priest living there, worries for the
children who were studying at school, constant nervous tension at work,
worrying whether my social position would be revealed, whether I would be
sacked. You would return home only to find worshippers arrived from
Romen. They came to see Batyushka Adrian, but officially, as it were, to
consult with doctors. Again worries, one had to think about them, too, and
put them up.

“And then, I remember, I went to Vladyka straight from work with the
feeling that I should forget everything and calm down. But Vladyka suddenly
said: “You know, we’ve salted the guerkins and packed the cabbage.” And I
thought: “Well, that’s very interesting to me, I’ve had enough of everyday
household cares”. But Vladyka suddenly said to me: “Yes, there you are
wanting to talk about spiritual things, while Batyushka Nicholas is talking to
you about everyday matters. So here you are: read,” and he gave me one of
the works of the holy Hierarch Tikhon of Zadonsk, where he writes that first
of all it is necessary to be kind to everyone, give him food and drink. And I
involuntarily remembered all our visitors and arrivals, who bothered me so
much. Yes, Vladyka was often able somehow to catch my thoughts. With
great difficulty I succeeded in getting Vladyka to confess me, and I remember
this with great tender feeling and gratitude.

“Vladyka was able to say to each person that which was useful for him. I
remember several people once gathered in our house who wanted to get to
know Vladyka. They sat and drank tea. By chance, a young married woman
arrived. Vladyka went on talking and talking as if he were conducting a
general conversation; but when he left it turned out that everything that he
had been saying was for this person: she received replies to all the questions
that were disturbing her at that time in connection with her difficulties with
her husband and mother-in-law.

"I remember one incident with a deacon. This deacon, besides having a
difficult general church situation, had difficulties in his family, too: his wife
was against his service as a deacon. She was well-off, but she gave nothing to

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her husband. He was in great need and was going to pieces. At that time there
was a fool-for-Christ in Kiev by the name of Seraphima. Some recognized her
as such, some did not, but Vladyka Nicholas nevertheless received her when
she came to him. And one day this Seraphima sent the deacon Nikola to
Vladyka. He arrived in a dirty old cassock and in a very depressed mood.
Vladyka comforted him, but really went for him for coming to him dressed in
such a way:

"'What kind of deacon are you? You're so dirty and you're going to church
and to the altar dressed like that! You have to buy a new cassock.'

"Fr. Nikola replied that he had no money. And, you know, it was very
difficult to buy material at that time. But Vladyka insisted:

"'Buy a new cassock - here's 20 kopecks.'

"The deacon trusted him, said 'Give the blessing', took the 20 kopecks and
left. He got on a tram and went in the direction of his church, where he had to
be for the all-night vigil. But just at that moment work was coming to an end
in the factories, the workers filled up the trams and the poor deacon was
knocked about: he couldn't squeeze his way to the exit when he had to leave
and went several stops past. Finally, he managed to get out. The poor man
began to run because he was already late for the service. Suddenly two
women met him:

"'Batyushka, batyushka, wait, we have something to say to you.'

"And they asked him to take them to the Florovsky monastery. The deacon
took pity on them and said:

"'Alright, let's go, but quickly, otherwise I'll have no time.'

"And then they literally ran, and on the way the women told him their
woes. Their brother had died and they wanted to go to the Florovsky
monastery to order a pannikhida for the fortieth day. They ran up to the
church in which the deacon was serving, went into it and suddenly said:

"'You know, we won't go to the Florovsky monastery, we'll order a forty-

day pannikhida here, with you.'

"They went up to the priest, gave him money and asked him to
commemorate the deceased man. And then it turned out that they gave so
much money that immediately after the all-night vigil the deacon, on
receiving his share, saw that he could sew himself a new cassock. And two
weeks later he went to Vladyka Nicholas in his new cassock.

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"And how much I heard about Vladyka when I visited him once in
Moscow, where he sometimes went for a certain time! The son of some
relatives recovered through the prayers of Vladyka, in another family the
husband stopped drinking and became a good family man. One woman said
that she came to Vladyka and suddenly noticed that she had lost her wedding
ring. She was terribly upset, and Vladyka sent her to look for the ring on the
street. She set off with complete faith that she would find it, and she found it.

"Vladyka himself suffered all kinds of everyday life unpleasantnesses.

There came a time when he had to be ejected from the flat he was occupying.
With great difficulty his hieromonk and cell-attendant succeeded in finding a
basement and making it habitable. And again this basement was done up in
such a way that on entering one felt cosiness and order; and with the blessing
and through the prayers of its master, people left it having received new
strength and spiritual support.”

Once the representatives of the authorities arrived in the house so as to

arrest Mother Mariamna, but they did not find her at home. They ordered the
landlord Popov to go to the police immediately she appeared. But
immediately she arrived, Popov warned her of the danger. The nun managed
to hide while Popov suffered: since he had warned her, he was arrested and
sent into exile.

In the spring of 1933 or 1934, Bishop Nicholas was arrested by the Kiev
OGPU in accordance with article 58-10 of the Ukrainian code, and was in
prison for four months. According to one source, he was in prison with
Schema-Archbishop Anthony (Abashidze). His fellow prisoners remembered
his exceptional kindness and unacquisitiveness. He would literally share his
last piece of bread with them.

He was released, and told to go to Moscow. Before leaving, he told Fr.

Pitirim (according to another source, it was another cell-attendant of his, Boris
Vetvitsky, a native of Saratov, who usually accompanied him to church):

"Leave immediately, we are going to Golgotha."

Before he left Kiev, relates Eugenia Grigorievna, "our universally revered

batyushkas, Fr. Michael [Yedlinsky] and Fr. Alexander [Glagolev, who was
also martyred] visited Vladyka. Both derived very much from this parting
conversation with Vladyka and they said:

"'What spiritual strength, which we had with us in Kiev, we are losing

now. The Lord is taking it from us.'

"Vladyka himself also highly valued these batyushkas of ours. He was

sometimes in the church of Fr. Alexander and liked to pray with him.

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"[In October] Vladyka left Kiev [via the Butyrki prison in Moscow] for
Kirzhach, a little town beyond the Holy Trinity - St. Sergius monastery, more
than one hundred versts from Moscow. This was the distance away he as an
exile had to live."

Eugenia Grigorievna was able to visit Vladyka several times in Kirzhach.

"Every such trip gave me the opportunity temporarily to forget all my
sorrows, to rest and receive a new access of spiritual strength.

“Vladyka was interested in, and always asked in detail about our life, and
went through everything with us. After the closure of the church on Askold’s
grave Fr. Adrian was struck off the register of the department of cults “for
going away”, in the future this meant the removal of his passport by the
police and his exile from Kiev for a three-week period. With the blessing of
Vladyka Fr. Adrian went to Nezhen, where, thanks to the fact that he had a
passport in his hands, he was able to get registered and live. Of course, he
could no longer return to Kiev since he was exiled and deregistered from
there.

On December 29, 1936 Vladyka Nicholas was arrested for the second time,
together with Fr. Pitirim and about twenty other people, and brought to
Ivanovo prison. They were accused of being “active participants in a counter-
revolutionary organization of churchmen in the city of Kirzhach, the so-called
‘desert church’, created on the basis of the anti-Soviet platform of ‘the True
Orthodox Church’, which was active in planting counter-revolutionary
groups of churchmen, uniting them in so-called ‘secret churches’.” It was said
that Archbishop Theodore (Pozdeyevsky) and Archmandrite Simeon
(Kholmogorov) were the leaders of this Church, and that “on the direct
instructions of the leader of the organization Pozdeyevsky, in 1935 three
counter-revolutionary groups, cells of the organization, were created. They
were united into so-called ‘illegal house churches’ (‘sketes’, ‘communities’,
etc.) under the leadership of Archbishop Kholmogorov, Bishop [Nicholas]
Parfenov and Archimandrite Klimkov…”

During the interrogation the names of church-servers were mentioned.

Vladyka Nicholas denied that he knew them. At the same time he indicated
that “in Kirzhach I knew several people with whom I maintained close links,
as having the same opinions according to ‘the True Orthodox faith’, but this
was not an anti-Soviet group.” He rejected the accusation made against him.

According to Eugenia Grigorievna, he was in prison in Suzdal from 1936

on, and she was able "to receive from him his last directions and blessing. But
later he was exiled to an unknown location..."

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On June 15, 1937 Bishop Nicholas was convicted of being “an active
participant in a counter-revolutionary group of churchmen, ‘The All-Russian
Monastic Brotherhood’, and in illegal meetings of members of the
organization at which anti-Soviet agitation was conducted”. Bishop Nicholas
refused to plead guilty, and in accordance with articles 58-10 part 1 and 58-11,
he was given a five-year prison sentence. Hieromonk Pitirim was exiled to
Kazakhstan for five years. Protopriest Igor Maltsev, who was also from
Saratov, and whose family were spiritual children of Vladyka witnessed: “In
1937 they (Bishop Nicholas and Fr. Pitirim)… were sent to Vladimir prison.
Bishop Nicholas died in prison in Vladimir on January 7/20, 1939, according
to the information centre of the UVD of Vladimir province, from heart
disease.

Also convicted in “The Case of the Monastic Brotherhood of Prince Daniel,

Ivanovo, 1937” were:

Monk Seraphim, in the world Constantine Maximovich Lbov. He was

born in 1887 in Pavlovsky Posad, Moscow province, and was a secret monk.
At the moment of his arrest in Kizhach on December 29, 1936, he was working
as an accountant. He was cast into the inner NKVD prison in Ivanovo. On
June 15, 1937 he was condemned for being “an active participant in the
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The All-Russian Monastic Brotherhood’
headed by the exiled Bishop [Theodore] Pozdeyevsky and Archimandrite
[Symeon] Kholmogorov”, and in anti-Soviet meetings that persecuted the
Komsomol member Guryanova”. He was also accused of participating in “an
underground group organized by Bishop [Nicholas] Parfenov” in Kirzhach.
He pleaded not guilty and was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10
and 58-11 to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Maura, in the world Maria Dmitrievna Bogatova. She was born in
1894 in the village of Knyazevka, Atkar uyezd, Saratov province. On
December 28, 1936 she was arrested and cast into the inner NKVD prison in
Ivanovo. On June 15, 1937 she was condemned for being “an active
participant in the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The All-Russian
Monastic Brotherhood’, and in anti-Soviet meetings that persecuted the
Komsomol member Guryanova”. She was also accused of participating in “an
underground group organized by Bishop [Nicholas] Parfenov” in Kirzhach.
She did not admit her guilt and was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-
10 and 58-11 to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Catherine (Andreyevna Dolotova). she was born in 1897 in the village
of Sredneye Pogranichye, Sredne-Akhtubinsky region, Stalingrad province.
On December 29, 1936 she was working as a cleaner in a pharmacy in
Kirzhach when she was arrested. On June 15, 1937 she was convicted of being
“an active participant in the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The All-
Russian Monastic Brotherhood’”, of “participation in anti-Soviet meetings”

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and of “tormenting the Komsomol member Guryanova”. She was also

accused of participating in “an underground group organized by Bishop
[Nicholas] Parfenov in Kirchach”. Nothing more is known about her.

From the court records: “… There existed an underground counter-

revolutionary organization of churchmen and monastics, the so-called ‘All-
Russian Brotherhood’, headed by Archbishop [Theodore] Pozdeyevsky and
Archimandrite [Simeon] Kholmogorov on the basis of the counter-
revolutionary platform of the exiled bishops, ‘The True Orthodox Church’…
A series of counter-revolutionary cell-groups of the organization was created.
They were united in so-called ‘illegal house churches’ (‘sketes’, ‘communities’,
etc.)…”

After the beginning of the war with Germany, in 1942, Saratov was
buzzing with rumours about the return of “the little batyushka”, Bishop
Nicholas. It appears that people met him in the church and near the church.
One of those who witnessed to this is the still-living Protopriest Vsevolod
Kuleshov. Bishop Nicholas would talk with his spiritual children for a short
period about their spiritual life, past or future. Others who did not know him
he would “burn” with his glance, and would then disappear into the crowd,
forever sealing his image in their memory…

Bishop Nicholas was canonized by the Russian Church Abroad on

November 1, 1981.

(Sources: Vestnik Russkogo Khristianskogo Dvizheniya, 145, III-1985, pp.

243-245; Russkiye Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986, p. 54; M.E.
Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's
Theological Institute, 1994, p. 984; Evgenia Grigorievna Rymarenko,
"Remembrances of Optina Staretz Hieroschemamonk Nektary", Orthodox
Life, vol. 36, no. 3, May-June, 1986, pp. 42-43; Bishop Ambrose (von Sivers),
personal communication, January 7/20, 1996; "Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj
Katakombnoj Tserkvi 1922-1997g.", Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4(8), pp. 8-9;
Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Novye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville,
1957, part 2, p. 126; Tsvetochki Optinoj Pustyni, Moscow: Palomnik, 1995, pp.
59-67; Lev Regelson, Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi, 1917-1945, Moscow:
Krutitskoye patriarsheye podvorye, 1996, p. 537; Aleksij Rufimskij, “Biografia
sviaschennomuchenika Nikolaya (Parfenova), episkopa Atkarskago, radi
Khrista yurodivago ‘malen’kago batiushki’”, Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N 17 (1782),
1/14 September, 2005, pp. 4-8; “Vospominania o Vladyke Nikolae
(Parfenove)”, Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N 14 (1803), 15/28 July, 2006, pp. 7-10;
http://www.pstbi.ru/bin/code.exe/frames/m/ind_oem.html?/ans)

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22. HIEROCONFESSOR PAUL, BISHOP OF KOTELNICHI

Bishop Paul, in the world Peter Dimitrievich Flerinsky (or Florinsky), was
born on June 29, 1871 in Samara province, in the family of a church reader. He
conducted missionary work against Baptists and struggled against
drunkenness. On March 18, 1924 he was consecrated Bishop of Pugachev, a
vicariate of the Urals diocese. According to one source, from December 30 /
January 12, 1927/28 to March 27 / April 9, 1928, he was Bishop of Kotelnichi.
From January 8, 1931 he no longer ruled his diocese, although he was counted
as Bishop of Pugachev until September 3. On September 3/16 he was counted
as Bishop of Pokrovsk, but never entered into administration of this diocese.
He rejected the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius. He lived in Ust-Kuloma
in Pechora. In the spring of 1936 he moved to Kazan. On October 14/27, 1940
he died from a stroke.

(Sources: Russkiye Pravoslavniye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986, p. 57;

M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St. Tikhon's
Theological Institute, 1994, p. 986; Pravoslavnaya Rus’ N 14 (1587), July 15/28,
1997, p. 6))

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23. HIEROMARTYR ZENOBIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF TAMBOV

Bishop Zenobius, in the world Nicholas Drozdov, was born on July 14,
1875 in Kostroma province. In 1897 he finished his studies at the Kostroma
theological seminary and was ordained to the priesthood. He was later
widowed. In 1900 he entered the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, and in
1903 he was tonsured into the mantia. In 1904 he graduated from the
Academy with the degree of candidate of theology. On August 14, 1904 the
Holy Synod sent him as a priest for the hospital ship "Orel". On September 23,
1905 he was appointed a teacher in the Vyatka theological seminary. On
September 28, 1906 he was appointed supervisor at the Kutaissi theological
school. From July 14, 1907 he was in charge of the chancellery of the exarch of
Georgia. On September 12, 1907 he was raised to the rank of archimandrite.
From July 13, 1908 he was supervisor at the Ekaterinburg theological school.
From January 22, 1909 he was rector of the Kishinev theological seminary.

On December 11, 1911, he was consecrated Bishop of Izmailov, a vicariate

of the Kishinev diocese, in the Trinity cathedral of the Alexander-Nevsky
Lavra. On January 17/30, 1913, he was transferred to the Kozlov (Michurinsk)
diocese, a vicariate of the Tambov diocese. He was a member of the Local
Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1917-18. On May 22 / June 4,
1918, he was transferred to the diocese of Tambov and Shatsk. In 1920 he was
raised to the rank of archbishop. In July-August, 1922 he was removed from
his see by the renovationists, and in October was in prison in Tambov. In 1924
he returned to his diocese. In November, 1924 he was exiled to Moscow
without right of departure. On April 12, 1925 he signed the act transferring
leadership of the Church to Metropolitan Peter. In April, 1926 was exiled to
Arzamas and lived in the Diveyevo monastery, serving together with Bishop
Seraphim (Zvezdinsky).

He rejected the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius. He used to say:

"Dearer than the receiving of fresh rewards is the ability to preserve one's
dignity, not to lose that which one has."

He is known to have served together with Bishop Seraphim in September,

1927, when the Diveyevo convent was closed, and on September 21 the two
bishops went together with the Diveyevo nuns to prison in Arzamas. Then, on
September 26 they were transferred to the prison in Nizhni-Novgorod.
However, on October 8 they were released, and on October 17 the NKVD
ordered them to go to Moscow and see Metropolitan Sergius.

When they arrived at the metropolitan's residence, both bishops petitioned

to be relieved from their dioceses.

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"What's this?" asked Metropolitan Sergius. "Is this a protest? Disagreement

with the Synod? You don't want to agree? But, you know, Metropolitan Peter
paid for his intractability by going to Khe beyond the Arctic Circle, and you
will go, not to Khe, but to 'khe-khe-khe'."

"Well, come what may, for ethical reasons we can do nothing else. We are
united with Metropolitan Peter."

Metropolitan Sergius did not reply. But his presence made a painful
impression on the bishops. It seemed to them that he had more power than a
metropolitan...

According to one (dubious) source, Bishop Zenobius signed the decisions

of the so-called “Nomadic Council” of the Catacomb Church in 1928 through
Bishop Varus.

He lived in Murom, Vladimir province. In 1940 (?) he was arrested in

Vladimir province and sentenced to seven (eight?) years in the camps. He
died in the camps (?).

(Sources: M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyatejshego Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St.

Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 972; Russkiye Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi,
Paris: YMCA Press, 1986, p. 35; Arkhiepiskop Seraphim (Zvezdinskij), Paris:
YMCA Press, 1991, pp. 96-104; Lev Regelson, Tragediya Russkoj Tserkvi,
1917-1945, Moscow: Krutitskoye patriarsheye podvorye, 1996, pp. 531, 565-
566; Ikh Stradaniyami Ochistitsa Rus', Moscow, 1996, p. 66; Bishop Ambrose
(von Sievers), “Katakombnaya Tserkov’: Kochuyushchij Sobor 1928 g.”,
Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 3 (7), 1997; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow; St.
Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, p. 459; I.I. Osipova, “Skvoz’ Ogn’
Muchenij i Vody Slyoz”, Moscow: Serebryanniye Niti, 1998, p. 259;
http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/)

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24. HIEROCONFESSOR PETER, SCHEMA-BISHOP OF

NIZHEGOROD
and those with him

Early Years

Schema-Bishop Peter, in the world Patapius Trofimovich Ladygin, was

born on December 1, 1866 (according to other sources, 1860 or 1861) in the
village of Seleg, Krasnogorsky region, not far from the city of Glazov in
Udmurtia. His parents Trophimus and Theodora were poor, pious peasants
from the village of Selega. They had six sons and one daughter. Patapius was
the fifth child.

In his autobiography Schema-Bishop Peter writes: "I lived an ordinary life

in my youth. At the age of eight I began to study from an old priest, Fr. Paul.
We didn't have a school. I went to him for two winters. That was the sum
total of my education in my youth.

"In 1875, when I was ten, they brought us the icon of the Mother of God
'the Consolation of the Sorrowing', which came from Mount Athos. The first
miracle [from this icon] was worked on Vladimir Nevolen. He was deaf and
dumb. Immediately he kissed the icon of the Mother of God he began to
speak and hear. The miracle took place on November 19, 1866, and after this
all kinds of miracles came from this icon of the Mother of God, and everyone
was healed. During prayer services [in front of this icon] I would always
weep. I couldn't help myself, something unusual worked on me.

"During my youth I never went for walks or played games, but in my free
time I went fishing. I caught a lot of fish, everyone was amazed.

"My mama died when I was 18. Papa and my younger brothers John and
Simeon remained. And at that point they took it into their heads to marry me.
My father had never put a finger on me, but when I didn't want to marry, he
twice beat me on the back with a belt and took me weeping to my bride.
There I said to my bride Catherine:

"'Don't marry me, I don't want to. We have a very bad older sister-in-law,
it'll be bad for you. Don't marry me.'

"But she didn't believe me. Our matchmaker was my aunt, my mama's
sister. They married me, but while I was being crowned I couldn't believe it.
But then I was reconciled with life and a year passed.

"I became seriously ill. I had pneumonia during Great Lent. They lost all
hope that I would live. In May I went fishing and I got a cold in my legs,

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completely losing the use of them. In June and July I lay in hospital. The
doctors said that my legs would not work - I had severe rheumatism. I was in
terrible pain. My wife Catherine looked after me. Every night she would put
nettles on my legs. Katya was always crying, and I always reminded her:

"'I told you not to marry me.'

"After the Dormition of the Mother of God an old wanderer came to us. In
the evening they began to bind my legs with nettles.

"'What,' said the man, 'have you been ill like this for a long time?'

"We told him. He said:

"'If you pray to God and beseech the Mother of God, I will heal you.'

"I gave him my promise, and while I was still ill I promised that I would
join the army. We got up in the morning. The old man asked:

"'Are they going to bake bread here?'

"'They are.'

"He asked for a tub, and put a prop for my legs against the tub. And when
the bread was baked, he took one loaf, broke it and put it on the bottom of the
tub, and my legs on the bread... And the pain in my legs became less sharp.
He left asking me not to forget the Mother of God or to pray. And he also
ordered that this should be done two more times. And when it had been done
three times I recovered completely and began to walk.

"Two weeks passed. On September 9, 1888, my wife Katya gave birth to a

daughter, who was called Euphemia in baptism. On the fifth day after giving
birth Katya went and did some washing. Aunt Domna came in and said:

"'Katya, are you working after giving birth?'

"She went away and Katya fell ill. She contracted a high fever, and on
September 19 she died. My daughter remained alive for nine more days. She
was looked after by my in-laws. On November 19, the day of the feast of the
Mother of God "the Consolation of the Sorrowing", she died without pain.
The Mother of God took her to herself.

"And on the evening of the same day I went to enrol in the army. I was
accepted into service on November 22. The doctors who had treated me did
not want to accept me because I was ill - my legs were no good. But I had
given a promise when I was ill that when I recovered, even if I would have to

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go far away, I would still join the army. The doctors still did not want to
accept me. I demanded that they accept me. But I was left on one side. They
accepted three people. I began to ask insistently for the commanding officer,
and he ordered me to be accepted, saying:

"'If he falls ill there, send him back.'

"And they accepted me. I made the sign of the cross and left. But my papa
began to cry and said:

"'You've destroyed yourself. You'll die, and we'll never see you again.'

"I said: 'I won't die. The Mother of God will preserve me...'"

Mount Athos

The young Patapius fulfilled his military service in Kiev, serving as a non-
commissioned officer. He learned engineering with the sappers. In his free
time he would go to the Kiev Caves Lavra, where he venerated the relics of
the saints and read the Kiev Caves Patericon. He became a spiritual son of
Elder Jonah (in schema Peter), who was himself a spiritual son and novice of
St. Seraphim of Sarov. Patapius asked Elder Jonah to bless him to enter the
Kiev Caves Lavra after his military service, but instead the elder directed him
to go to Jerusalem and Mount Athos:

"When you've gone there and seen everything, and visited the holy places,
then you'll be able to come here and join. Monasticism will not run away from
you. Look, I've been a monk for more than 40 years and the enemy
continually disturbs me with the thought that I haven't been to Jerusalem or
Athos. But it's difficult to leave here, they don't let you out of the monastery."

Patapius followed the elder's advice, and in September, 1892, at the end of
his military service, he went home to receive his father's blessing and earn
some money for the fare to Jerusalem. Then, on June 12, 1893, the feast of
Saints Peter and Onuphrius of Mount Athos, he set off. The steamer from
Constantinople stopped at Mount Athos, where the monks of St. Andrew's
skete invited Patapius to stay until Christmas. But Patapius said:

"What are you saying?! You don't let people sleep! During the day you
sleep it off, while the pilgrims go round the monasteries. But at night you
don't let us sleep!"

The monks laughed and said:

"Did you really come here to sleep?!"

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Two weeks later, in October, Patapius boarded a steamer going from

Odessa to Jerusalem, where he arrived at the end of the month. On the second
day of Christmas he met the abbess of a monastery in Samara who suggested
that he go to Mount Athos. But Patapius told her:

"I can't live on Mount Athos. The monks there don't let one sleep. I
quarrelled with them and only just made it to the steamer two weeks later."

But the abbess said:

"Child, these thoughts are from the enemy. Think how many ascetics are
there and what a holy mountain it is. The Mother of God feeds and consoles
and saves all those who live there."

And she continued, weeping:

"How fortunate are those who live on Athos, in the lot of the Mother of
God."

But Patapius still did not agree to go.

Then the abbess suggested that they cast lots in the name of the Trinity: the
first for going to Athos and staying there, the second for staying there, in
Jerusalem, and the third for going to Russia. They went to the Holy Sepulchre,
laid the lots on the Tomb of the Lord and prayed for a long time. The lot
which they chose was for Athos. Patapius was terrified. But the abbess
calmed him:

"Don't worry, let's cast lots three times."

And on the third day of Christmas, after again praying all night at the Holy
Sepulchre, the lot fell on Athos. Then Patapius felt calmer and said:

"How many people live there!"

But the abbess said that they should cast lots a third time. So on the fourth
day of Christmas, after again praying at the Holy Sepulchre, they cast lots.
The lot fell on Russia. The abbess said:

"This is your destiny with the Lord and the Mother of God. Go to Athos,
the lot of the Mother of God. She has blessed this path for you with two lots.
But with the third lot the Lord has shown you that you will be sent from
Athos on obedience to Russia, and there you may end your life."

And so, after visiting the holy places again, Patapius went to Jaffa and on
January 16, 1894 set sail for Athos. That night there was an all-night vigil in

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honour of St. Anthony. Patapius prayed to him, as the leader of all monks, to
indicate which community on Athos he should go to. After casting lots, the lot
fell on the St. Andrew skete.

Patapius arrived at St. Andrew's skete on January 20. Igumen Joseph gave
him obediences in the chancellery and the candle-shop, gave him a cassock, a
jacket and a prayer-rope, and blessed him to pray three prayer-ropes: two to
the Saviour and one to the Mother of God. And he warned him:

"When you pray, take care not to be frightened - the enemy will try to
frighten you. Don't move from your place, stand and pray. He won't do
anything to you."

Patapius was living in the guest-house with six pilgrims. When they had
gone to sleep, he began to pray his three prayer-ropes.

"Suddenly," he writes in his biography, "there was a terrible blow at the

door. I thought that the door was going to fly away. But I stood and prayed.
Then there was a second blow, in the corner. You would think the whole
building was going to collapse. But I stood and prayed with fear. Although it
was frightening, I stood and prayed in accordance with the blessing of the
igumen. Then from under the bunks where the pilgrims were sleeping a trunk
of one of the pilgrims was thrown out against my legs. All the pilgrims
jumped up and were terrified. But I stood in my place and prayed. The
pilgrims took the trunk and put it back under the bunks, and themselves went
to sleep while I finished these three prayer-ropes. When I had finished, I lay
down to sleep and didn't wake up until Mattins. At the signal for church
everyone went to church. When the monks and novices go to church they all
kiss the icon and receive the igumen's blessing. I also kissed the icon and went
up to receive the igumen's blessing. The igumen asked me:

"'Brother Patapius, how did it go? Did you pray the prayer-ropes?'

"'I did.'

"'Well, did they try to frighten you?'

"'They did.'

"'You come to me in the daytime, after the service.'"

Patapius was then given a cell with Novice Matthew. They prayed
together, and the devil did not trouble them. Later the igumen said to
Patapius:

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"So, Brother Patapius, the Mother of God, the Apostle Andrew and St.
Anthony the Great have sent you here to us. Remember that you will answer
in fear before the Lord for every word or deed that you have done out of
laziness or not in accordance with righteousness. Know that it is not I that
have given you such a great obedience, but the Mother of God, the Apostle
Andrew and Anthony the Great. They will help you in everything if you carry
out your holy obedience with humility and a pure heart."

And then the igumen gave him the very responsible obedience of
calculating the money to be given to all the workers and the desert-dwellers.
All the monks were amazed that a newly arrived novice should be given such
a difficult and responsible obedience. Besides this, he was given the
obediences of waking up the brethren for services and serving in the altar as
an ecclesiarch.

"On March 25, 1895," continues Bishop Peter in his biography, "on the feast
of the Annunciation, I the sinful and unworthy one was found worthy to hear
the chanting of angels. There was a vigil in the church of the Mother of God
'The Consolation of the Sorrowing'. The vigil began at 7 o'clock and finished at
6 in the morning. During the vigil they read the akathist to the Annunciation
of the Mother of God. The vigil came to an end, and the young monastic
clergy were going to serve the late Liturgy. I had to come early into the church
in order to prepare the censer, the warm water and do various chores. After
the vigil I went to my cell to rest for one-and-a-half to two hours. My cell was
under the altar of this church. My window was open. At seven o'clock in the
morning I heard chanting in the church. They were chanting and reading the
akathist to the Mother of God and chanting: 'Rejoice, O Bride Unwedded'.
When I heard it I jumped up and thought that I had overslept. I was
frightened and ran to the church. I ran up, but the doors of the church were
locked, and in the church everyone was continuing to chant. I ran back down
the corridor to the altar. I ran up to the altar door and again the chanting was
continuing. I was filled with fear - I had never heard such chanting before. I
went back to my cell and fell on my knees. I wept and listened to the chanting.
And suddenly they began to chant the verse "The Pre-Eternal Counsel" in my
cell. They chanted the whole verse. I don't remember whether I was in heaven
or on earth.

"At 7.45 I gave the signal for the beginning of the church service.
Everybody came and I went into the church. I told my spiritual father and the
igumen about it. They said:

"'Thank God and don't forget it. Always chant this verse...'

"At Pascha my father came to see me at the feast. He stayed for three weeks
and wept a great deal, calling me to return home.

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"'You know, it's difficult for you here.'

"I said to him:

"'You stay here if you want to see me.'

"'No,' he said, 'I can't stand it. One has to pray for a long time.'

"I accompanied him and he wept a great deal. When he returned home, a
year later, on the second day of Pascha, he died."

In Great Lent, 1896, Patapius was tonsured as a ryasofor-monk and given

the name Pigasius. A week later he had the following vision: "The igumen
sent me off with a package:

"'You must take this package to this address.'

"I left the monastery and went towards Athos, to the Kalyagrou jetty. A
desert-dweller by the name of Macarius was with me.

"We had not gone very far when suddenly we saw a huge snake lying
across the path. Macarius saw it and said:

"'I won't go, I'm frightened.'

"But I decided to carry out my obedience, crossed myself and jumped over
it. I went on alone.

"After a while I came across another huge snake which was lying in the
form of a ring across the path. It was impossible to pass it by. On the left was
a cliff and the sea, and on the right - a huge rock. I stood by the snake for a
long time, praying to the Mother of God and the Apostle Andrew. I did not
want to return home, but I feared to go on because of this snake. I crossed
myself and jumped into the ring and then out of the ring and further.

"I went on for a while and came to the Kolyagrou jetty. There was a big
level area by the sea. The whole of the area was filled with various snakes.
Some had died, others were still alive after a fashion. I passed through there
without fear. It began to get dark. It was night, I couldn't see the path.

"I saw a small light and a little hut. I prayed and the answer came: 'Amen.'
I showed the man the address on the package and asked him how to get
there. He said:

"'Okay, I'll show you now, and you'll get there.'

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"I saw that there was a great number of snakes in his cell, and I thought
that he had collected them... But he said:

"I didn't take them or bring them here. They come here of themselves in
order to tempt me during prayer, and I don't believe them. I pray, and they
immediately die.'

"We left his hut and he said:

"'Go straight ahead, don't turn to the left and also not to the right. Go
straight on.'

"After a time I suddenly saw some houses. A man came out and I asked
him where the house on the address was. He showed me the house and I
went in.

"There were many cobblers there sewing boots. I gave them my package.
They tore it up and immediately all stood up. And from men they turned into
demons.

"'So you've been tonsured!' they said and began to tear my cassock into
shreds.

"'We'll give you a tonsure!' they shouted.

"I ran away from them, but they got hold of my cassock and tore it to
pieces. I got hold of one piece, stuck it on, and it became one whole cassock. I
kept running and suddenly I saw a church. The doors were shut, and there
was an open space under the church. I ran into it. It was dark, and the
demons were still tearing at me. I fell on my knees and shouted:

"'Mother of God, save me!'

"And suddenly a light appeared in the corner and all the demons
disappeared, and it turned out that there was an icon in the corner, the Kazan
Mother of God. It was all shining, and diamonds were glittering on it. And
above the icon of the Mother of God was an icon of the Saviour wearing a
crown of thorns. And above the Saviour - the Crucifixion. And from the icon
of the Mother of God a voice spoke to me:

"'Fear nothing, I will always help you in everything.'

"At that point I woke up.

"The bell was ringing, and I went into the church. When I went up to ask
the igumen's blessing, he said to me:

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"'Father Pigasius, how you've changed!'

"And I told him the terrible dream. And he said to me:

"'After the service come and tell me about it.'

"I went and told him everything in detail, and he blessed me to go

immediately to Macarius the icon-painter.

"'And tell him what size the Saviour and Mother of God and Crucifixion
were, and let him paint them. And you always keep them in your cell. And
pray to them, and the demons will do nothing to you. And carry out the holy
obedience which the Lord has blessed you to carry out with fear and
trembling.'

"The icons were painted, and the igumen himself blessed them and said:

"'You will have many sorrows, but don't be depressed. The Mother of God
has told you that she will not leave you, and has shown you how the Lord
Jesus Christ suffered and was crucified for us sinners.'

"I always took these icons with me and kept them, but in 1930, when I was
arrested for the third time, they took them away from me. Maria, Olga and
Cleopatra saw these icons and prayed to them. I prayed to them for 34 years."

In 1897 Fr. Pigasius went to Constantinople, where he was operated in the

stomach for haemorrhoids.

In 1898 he was tonsured into the mantia with the name Pitirim.

On May 14, 1900 he was ordained to the diaconate, and in 1901 he was sent
on obedience to Constantinople to serve as a hierodeacon in the metochion
(podvorye) and to do the accounts of the income and expenditure of the
community. In May while he was in the podvorye, he had the following
vision:

"Two people of unusual beauty came to the podvorye and said:

"'Get ready to come with us!'

"'Where?' I asked.

"'The Heavenly Queen has appointed you to command a ship, you have to
go to sea.'

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"'I've never been a sailor,' I said, 'and I don't know how to command. I'll
sink the ship and drown myself.'

"They said: 'We can't leave you, for the Queen has sent you, you must go.'

"I went. We came to the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. At the quayside
of the river Neva there stood a beautiful sailing ship. We went onto it, and
suddenly the Queen, the Mother of God, came out and said:

"'So you must take this ship to the other side of the ocean, together with all
these people whom I'm entrusting to you.'

"I wept, and fell at the feet of the Mother of God and said:

"'I can't.'

"'Have no fear,' she said, 'I myself will be with you. Command the ship to
go out to sea.'

"We went out to sea, and a terrible storm rose up. Our ship was going fast
and the storm had no influence on it. On the sea we met two huge ships full
of people. The waves were hurling them off the ships from all sides, and you
think they're going to send them to the bottom of the sea now. We quickly
passed by them. They remained in the midst of the sea, but we quickly
arrived at the shore. It is impossible to describe how beautiful it was on the
shore; there were various trees and fruits. We all got out onto the shore and
the Mother of God said to me:

"'So we have passed over the terrible deep.'

"At that point I woke up.

"I told Hieromonk Fr. Ambrose about this. He said to me:

"'Write all this down, and for the time being tell nobody anything. The
Mother of God will entrust you to rule a flock.'

"And then we went into the church of the wonderworking icon 'The
Consolation of the Sorrowing' and served a prayer service to her and thanked
her for caring for us."

In 1902 Fr. Pitirim returned to Athos, and on September 25, 1904 he was
ordained to the priesthood. He continued to serve his obedience as a steward,
which involved feeding the vast numbers of pilgrims who came to the skete
for feasts. And with his engineering skills he was much in demand for
building projects both in the St. Andrew skete and the Thebaida skete.

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The Heresy of the Name-Worshippers

Once, in the second week of the Great Fast, 1907, he went to his cell after
the all-night vigil to rest for an hour or so before celebrating the late Liturgy at
8 o'clock. He read his rule, and there were still 20 minutes remaining before
he had to go to the church at 7.15. He was sitting beside a lamp reading a
book, and began to nod off.

"While I was dozing I saw that our brothers had condemned myself and
two youths to death by crucifixion. I asked the brothers, not for myself, but
for the youths, saying that they were guilty of nothing. But the brothers said:

"'This is not your business!'

"They brought a cross made out of bits of rails and began to crucify me.
They pierced my hands with clamps and bolted them down. What a terrible
pain I suffered! They dug a hole and put the cross in it. I was hanging with a
terrible pain in my hands. They said:

"'He'll be hanging there for a long time, we'll have to break his shins.'

"And they began to beat my shins, and it was terribly painful, unbearable.
When they had broken my shins, I immediately died and remained the same,
only in the air. I saw my body hanging and heard everything they were
saying:

"'Now he's dead, let's take him away and unscrew the bolts.'

"They took me down and laid me on a stretcher, the kind on which they
put dead people, and placed my body in the church. My friend Florentius the
sacristan said:

"'We have to read the Gospel.'

"He brought out the Gospel, laid it on the analoy and began to read. They
came into the church to celebrate the Liturgy and saw me lying there, so they
did not begin the Liturgy but began to chant the funeral service. I heard and
saw everything, but couldn't speak. When they had buried me and begun to
chant: 'Come, brethren, let us give the last kiss', the brothers all began to say
farewell to my body, but so joyfully, while five of the monks who had
crucified me did not want to say farewell. They stood by the left kliros, and
the others began to force them, but they didn't want to. Then the brothers
dragged them up and forced to say farewell. When they had come up to my
body and kissed it, two angels immediately appeared and said to me:

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"'Now we'll show you everything!'

"And then everything was immediately revealed to me, everything that I

had done since my youth, good and bad. I saw everyone with whom I had
had any dealings. I even say myself on military service with my comrades-in-
arms fitting a silver lampada to the icon of St. Nicholas in the barracks where
I prayed. I hung it and it burned and I felt so happy. I saw all my relatives.
When the vision was over, the angels said to me:

"'Well, we've shown you earthly things, now we'll show you heavenly
things.'

"And immediately we began to go rapidly upwards. We stopped in the air

and the angel on the right side went off somewhere. The angel on the left side
stayed with me. During this period I felt such fear and terror that I fell down.
I knelt and shouted:

"'O Mother of God, Apostle Andrew and Anthony the Great, save me from
falling!'

"At this point the second angel appeared before me, and I was joyful and
we continued to go upwards, stopping five times. When we stopped the sixth
time, the ecclesiarch came out of the church and knocked on the door so as to
call me in the church. I then absentmindedly put on my ryasa and went into
the church without locking my cell.

"I went into the church but was unable to do the proskomedia.
Archimandrite Joseph and others had already arrived in order to celebrate the
late Liturgy. They went into the altar and saw that my face had completely
changed and I was all trembling.

"'What's the matter?' asked the igumen.

"I told him everything. They made another monk continue the Liturgy and
sent me away to calm down and rest. When the late Liturgy was over, the
igumen invited all the clergy and told me to tell the whole vision.

"I was given two days to calm down and rest. Another hieromonk served
me. And the igumen told me:

"'You will have to suffer much, but believe that the Mother of God and the
Lord will not leave you. The angels which you saw will always help you in
your sorrows...'"

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In November, 1911 (according to another source, 1910), Fr. Pitirim was

appointed superior of the skete's metochion (podvorye) in Odessa, and on
December 1, 1911, he arrived in Odessa.

The year 1912 passed successfully; "but in 1913 my cross began, which I
had seen on Athos, when they crucified me. In January, 1913, a division took
place among the brothers on Athos, and the worship of the name of God
began. In the Caucasus a certain schema-monk Hilarion had published a book
in which he wrote that God Himself is included in the name 'Jesus'. But this
was an incorrect opinion. The monks on Athos began to divide over this book,
some being for it and some against.

"The book was given to the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Patriarch

studied it and condemned it as 'heresy'. Whoever was in favour of it was
expelled from the Church.

"The book was also given to the Russian Synod, which condemned it. In
our skete of St. Andrew on Athos, Hieromonk Anthony Bulatovich was a
partisan of the book, and gathered other partisan monks, especially the young
ones, and beat up the igumen and elders, and threw them out of the
monastery and took over the monastery. They sent me a telegram telling me
that Igumen Jerome and all our elders had been removed from the monastery
and telling me to submit to them.

"They threw out Igumen Jerome and elected a new archimandrite, David.
Igumen Jerome also sent me a telegram in Odessa. He wrote what had
happened and asked me not to carry out the commands of David and his
supporters. I took these telegrams and went to Archbishop Demetrius of
Odessa and the Chersonese. I asked him what to do. And he blessed me not to
carry out the commands for the time being, but to wait for a resolution of the
matter.

"I did that, but within two weeks Archbishop Demetrius had died. In his
place they appointed Archbishop Sergius, who told me that he would not
interfere in the matter. And I had to take everything on myself. When I did
not carry out the orders of either side, the Athonites sent a declaration to the
bank and post office in Odessa, saying that I was not their attorney. Then they
sent two monks to remove me from the podvorye and take it over themselves.
They took 2000 roubles from there, but the customs removed this money, put
it into the treasury and asked me:

"'Can we give it to them or not?'

"I told them: 'Until the clarification of the matter, you mustn't.'

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"And with regard to the monks I sent a telegram to the Most Holy Synod,
since Bishop Sergius refused to interfere. The Synod replied:

"'Return the monks to Athos and give them the 2000 roubles.'

"I sent them back to Athos, but kept the money in Odessa since they could
go by rail from Constantinople to Russia.

"On their return to Athos, they began to say that it was necessary to calm
down and return the former igumen. Then Anthony Bulatovich himself
decided to go to Russia, and in 1913, on the day of the 300th anniversary of
the House of the Romanovs, he forcibly obtained the signatures of 330 monks
to his election. He wanted to be presented to his Majesty, so that his Majesty
could confirm the monastery's rule by Archimandrite David and his
supporters.

"He travelled on the same steamship as Patriarch Gregory of Antioch, who

was also going to the 300th anniversary of the House of the Romanovs. When
the steamship arrived in Odessa, everyone was there to meet the patriarch. A
train was prepared for him at the station. Anthony Bulatovich arrived at the
podvorye in a carriage. I searched Bulatovich, inviting Okolodchy from the
police. They began the search, and found all the signatures in a portfolio. He
struck the table and said:

"'Pitirim, I'll see that you rot in prison!'

"They searched him, and set off to search his monk, while Monk Michael
was placed outside his room so as not to let him out. He asked to go to the
lavatory, and Anthony Bulatovich was let out without his hat. He went
straight to the station just as the train with Patriarch Gregory was moving out.

"They told me that Bulatovich had escaped and had got on the train. So in
the evening I sent a telegram to the Procurator of the Most Holy Synod in
Petersburg, Sabler, and a second to Archbishop Anthony [Khrapovitsky] of
Volhynia, who was a member of the Holy Synod. They immediately gave
orders that he should be arrested as they were leaving the train. But in Zlobin
he got off the train, got on a train for Moscow and in Moscow went to Grand-
Princess Elizabeth Feodorovna. From her he obtained a letter allowing him
free access to his Majesty Tsar Nicholas.

"The train with Patriarch Gregory arrived in Petersburg, and he was not on
it. Then the Procurator Sabler told the superior of our podvorye in Petersburg,
Hieromonk Antonin, that immediately he appeared at the podvorye he
should inform the Procurator. He appeared two days later, and the superior
Antonin told him that they were looking for him to arrest him. He
immediately went into hiding and hid in Petersburg for six months.

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"In May at the request of Bulatovich and Great-Princess Olga

Alexandrovna, his Majesty Tsar Nicholas Alexandrovich directed the Synod
to cease the persecution of Anthony Bulatovich, to give the monastery to the
name-worshippers and to expel the monks from the Russian St. Andrew skete
and put them in the St. Elijah skete and the St. Panteleimon monastery. But
the Greeks on Athos and the Patriarch of Constantinople had ordered all the
name-worshippers to be exiled to Russia.

"Then I decided to go personally to Petersburg and intercede on behalf of

the St. Andrew skete. On May 14, 1913 I arrived in Petersburg and went to the
Synod. May 20 was already the Synod's last session. The members of the
Synod were Metropolitan Vladimir of St. Petersburg [the future hieromartyr],
Archbishop Nicon of Vologda, Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow,
Archbishop Anthony of Volhynia and others.

"I explained everything to them in detail and said that it was essential for
them to send a commission to Athos. I had to find and explain it to all the
members of the Synod individually, and I went to the flat of each of them. On
May 20 the Synod decided to send a commission to Athos. They appointed
Archbishop Nicon of Vologda and Professor Sergius Victorovich Troitsky as
members of the commission. They said that they would set off in four days'
time. And they said to me:

"'You must obtain permission for the commission to go abroad, and see
that the Greek authorities cooperate.'

"I had to obtain this from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. At that time he
was Sazonov. He was in Moscow for the coronation of his Majesty Tsar
Nicholas II. His first deputy was Neratov, and second deputy - the landowner
Prince Trubetskoy. I couldn't see Neratov, and all the foreign ambassadors
directed me to Trubetskoy. But I did not agree because he was friendly with
Bulatovich.

"Then I decided to go to Princess Cleopatra Petrovna Cherkasskaya, whom

I had once met. The niece of the princess was married to Sazonov. She
immediately gave me her visiting card, so that I could go to the priest
Petrovsky, who was the spiritual father both of the princess and Sazonov, in
order that I could ask to see the first deputy Neratov. Protopriest Petrovsky
gave me his visiting card and wrote asking that I be received immediately.

"I went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with this visiting card and
handed it over. I was given an appointment for 8 o'clock in the evening...
Neratov received me very kindly and in response to my petition ordered that
the Constantinople embassy take the most energetic measures on behalf of the
commission so that everything necessary should be given it.

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"I thanked Neratov. I had still had business with Sevastianov, the director
of posts and communications for the whole of Russia. I went to him and
presented my petition asking that I be allowed to receive the post, the money,
the parcels and the transfers. He shouted at me:

"'That's just like you monks, creating a rebellion on Mount Athos!'

"He shouted and shouted at me. I simply stood and waited until he had
finished. Then I began to say:

"'You are the Minister and Director of the post of the whole of Russia, and
you occupy this post in a lawful manner. If your junior officials came to you,
beat you up and expelled you from this building, would you begin to make a
fuss or not?'

"'Of course I would.'

"'And that's just what I'm doing. Although I was not there, and they didn't
beat me up, but have been in Odessa now since 1911 and entrusted with the
capital and property. In Odessa I publish a journal entitled The Confirmation
of the Faith.

"I gave him the journal.

"'I print this journal, but I need money for paper and materials, and for
printing. They send money for me to the post office, and besides,
correspondence comes for the brothers and the pilgrims, and all that is lying
in the post-office in Odessa, and by law in three months' time it all has to be
sent back. For that reason I beseech you to allow me to be given all the
correspondence which has been held up. You can decide not to give me the
correspondence which is addressed to Igumen Jerome and David... until the
affair is resolved.'

In the end the Minister gave in, and Fr. Pitirim returned to Odessa,
received his mail, and began to prepare for the arrival of the commission.
Two days later the commission arrived. On May 28, 1913, the commission
departed for Constantinople together with Fr. Pitirim's monk Bessarion.
Having arrived in Constantinople and received the blessing of the Patriarch to
go ahead, the commission together with the Russian ambassador and 200
soldiers set off for Athos.

On June 3, the commission arrived at St. Panteleimon's monastery and

went straight to the church, where the usual litiya was served. After this
Archbishop Nikon began to give a sermon. The monks began to whistle and
shout. Then the archbishop stopped his sermon, left the church and went to

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the refectory. There he was surrounded by groups of ten to fifteen monks who
shouted at him and did not allow him to speak a word. Finally, the embassy
official Shcherbin took the archbishop and Troitsky back to the ship. As they
were leaving the shore, the name-worshipping monks began to hurl stones at
the ship.

The next day the commission appealed to the Greek authorities. The local
Athonite authorities then took it upon themselves to write to each monk
individually and ask whether he recognized the authority of the Ecumenical
Patriarch and the Russian Synod or whether he recognized the heretical
brochure. The census lasted two weeks, after which it was revealed that 487
monks were on the side of the name-worshippers.

Then the Greeks decreed that they should be removed from Athos and
demanded that the Russians send a steamer. The Russians sent the steamer
"Kherson", which docked at the St. Panteleimon monastery on June 17. The
heretical monks locked themselves into one block and refused to go out to the
steamer. Then Russian soldiers and sailors decided to open the roof of the
block and pour cold water through a hose onto the monks. They couldn't
stand this, so they opened the door and were led out under convoy.

This left the monks of the St. Andrew skete, who had locked themselves up
for six months. Bulatovich's assistant, Protodeacon Thaddeus, was caught by
the Greeks and Shcherbin, and he agreed to persuade the monks of the St.
Andrew skete to open their doors on condition that he himself would not be
taken. Then Thaddeus went to the skete and told the monks that the Tsar had
sent the steamer, that at the intercession of Bulatovich and the Tsar they
would be given either the Kiev-Caves Lavra or New Athos, whichever they
wanted, and that each monk would be given 100 roubles per year. And he
showed them a supposed gramota which confirmed this.

This delighted the monks, and they agreed to meet the commission at 10
o'clock the next day. So when the commission arrived, they were
triumphantly with the ringing of bells. But then, while a "Many Years" to the
Tsar and Bulatovich was being chanted in the church, 100 sailors were let into
the skete. They took up positions preventing any escape and promptly began
to ask each monk whether he recognized the Patriarch of Constantinople and
the Russian Synod, or the heretical brochure. It turned out that 183 were
name-worshippers, while 345 recognized the authority of the Patriarch and
Synod. They were then led quietly out to the steamer.

When they had been put onto the steamer, the commission introduced the
exiled Igumen Jerome and the elders into the skete.

The steamer with the 736 name-worshipping monks arrived in Odessa, and
each monk was then given money for his ticket back to his homeland and the

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opportunity to be registered in a Russian monastery if he recognized the

authority of the Synod. But 26 people were detained in the St. Andrew
podvorye until they were taken for trial in Moscow, where Fr. Pitirim was
called to give evidence.

Bulatovich was not condemned at this trial because his godfather was close
to the Tsar. And the Tsar and Tsaritsa were inclined to take pity on the exiled
monks. So an appointment was made for Fr. Pitirim to see the Tsar and
explain the matter to him. He explained the matter so well to the Tsar and
Tsaritsa that the Tsar was persuaded of the rightness of the decision.

But Bulatovich then petitioned that his case be brought up in the State
Duma. Since he was himself a left socialist revolutionary, the revolutionaries
took his side. So Fr. Pitirim was again summoned to Petersburg to explain the
matter before the Duma. Finally, the revolutionaries were persuaded to drop
the matter. That was the end of the Bulatovich affair.

War and Revolution

In 1914 the war with Germany began, and all communications between
Russia and Athos were cut off.

In Odessa Fr. Pitirim was the first to open a hospital for the war wounded,
and was given awards for his work by the Red Cross, the Holy Synod and the
War Ministry.

In February, 1917 he was summoned to Petersburg and asked to take over

the administration of two monasteries in Bessarabia which belonged to the
Athonite Bulgarian monastery of Zographou. The Bulgarian monks who
administered these monasteries had been forced to move to Ryazan province
because of the war. So Fr. Pitirim was asked to take responsibility for the
Moldavian monks who remained - which he did until the occupation of
Bessarabia by the Romanians.

While in Petersburg, Fr. Pitirim was invited to attend the critical session of
the Duma on February 23, at which Kerensky said: "Down with the Tsar and
the ministers, they've been tormenting the people enough. The workers are
starving and they cannot give them bread. We, the workers, shall do
everything, we'll take the bread from the peasants who produce corn, give
them a firm price of one rouble per pound and force them to take the corn to
the railway stations. And if they don't bring it, then we'll go with arms. The
workers will do everything."

On February 27, the first full day of the revolution, Fr. Pitirim left
Petersburg for Odessa. In November, he was again in Petersburg and on 30
November he went to congratulate the newly-enthroned Patriarch Tikhon on

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the great and heavy obedience he had undertaken. The Patriarch received him
kindly, and while they were talking the newly-appointed Metropolitans
Agathangelus and Cyril arrived. From that time Fr. Pitirim always continued
to correspond with these great leaders and future hieromartyrs of the Russian
Church.

At the end of December, 1917, Fr. Pitirim was summoned by the Holy
Synod to Petersburg in connection with the Bessarabian monasteries, and in
June, 1918 the Patriarch summoned him to Moscow and entrusted him with a
gramota to the Patriarch in Constantinople, from whom he had received no
communications since November of the previous year.

Fr. Pitirim had to go to Lenin himself in order to obtain permission for

himself and several wounded people to leave Moscow. With great difficulty
he reached Kiev in August, where he visited the grave of the New
Hieromartyr Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev before celebrating the feast of the
Dormition with the new metropolitan, Anthony (Khrapovitsky). It was not
until October, as the war was ending, that he reached Constantinople on a
steamboat together with a large embassy from the Hetman of the Ukraine.

Having arrived at the residence of the Patriarch, Fr. Pitirim was told that
the Ecumenical Patriarch had received Patriarch Tikhon's gramota already in
November, 1917, and welcomed the restoration of the patriarchate in Russia.

He then petitioned for, and obtained, the transfer to himself of the seven
Russian metochia (podvorya) in Constantinople, and proceeded to transfer
3700 Russian prisoners of war into them in preparation for their repatriation
to Russia.

He continues the story in his biography: "On November 1st, 1918, the
English, French, Italian and Greek fleets arrived in Constantinople and
occupied it, making it neutral from that day on. It was ruled by four powers:
England, France, Italy and Turkey. On November 3rd, our prisoners were
clothed by the English, who gave each man three pairs of underwear, shoes,
soldiers' blouses, greatcoats, service caps, waterproof raincoats and provisions
in the form of tinned food. The prisoners began to sell everything in the
market and get drunk. Then the command went out from all the powers that
no one was to buy English military clothes from prisoners of war. Typhus
appeared among the prisoners and they began to die. I myself had to clothe
the dead and go to the cemetery to sing the burial service. The whole of
November passed in this way. I was tormented together with them. They
began to pull up the floors, cut them up and burn them, and then boil
themselves tea. There was any amount [of wood] in the courtyard, but they
didn't take that, but burned the floors in the house. Then I began to ask the
powers to allow me to bring twenty-four people from Athos, three for each
podvorye. They gave me leave to go to Athos.

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"Of the 700 prisoners who had arrived in Odessa, the majority turned out
to be Russians, not Ukrainians. The Hetman's authority refused to receive
them and began to return them to Constantinople.

"When I received the document enabling me to go to Athos, only military

vessels went there. It was impossible for me to leave unless I could bring two
monks from Odessa to go with me. When the monks arrived, I left them to
look after the podvoryes instead of me while I myself left on December 12th
on a military vessel to Thessalonica, and from there to Athos by mule. I had to
go for four days over hills and through forests. I found a driver and agreed
with him, but since it rained heavily during the night he refused. Then I
decided to go on a French steamboat which went to Kovana for wood for the
armies. This steamboat passed by Athos. I got on the steamboat with a Greek,
a monk from the Panteleimon monastery. The captain of the steamboat, a
Frenchman, took an interest in me and called me into his cabin and began to
ask me about what was happening in Russia. I couldn't speak French, so the
Greek translated. We sat there the whole night. I didn't ask the captain to
drop me off at Athos. At ten in the morning the mountain of Athos appeared.
The captain suddenly turned the steamboat towards Athos. I don't remember
what happened to me: such tearful joy, I hadn't been on Athos for eight years,
I had experienced such sorrow; I had been separated from Athos since 1914.

"At three in the afternoon the ship came up to the quay of Daphni. The
captain asked me about my return journey. I said that I would return in two
weeks. He said that on January 7/20 he would drop by for me on his return
journey. After this they let down the small boats and let us out on the
quayside. Then I sent the Panteleimon monk to the Panteleimon monastery to
tell them about my arrival, and after two hours they came for me on horses
and at six o'clock in the evening, on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, I arrived
at the Panteleimon monastery. They met me so triumphantly and with such
joy: none of them knew whether I was alive or dead. They took me straight to
the abbot of the monastery. He, like all the monastics, was amazed. I told
them how I had arrived there, and they all listened with amazement. They
gave me something to eat, but there was no time to eat - I was talking to them
the whole time. After one-and-a-half hours I said:

"'Take me to my community, the St. Andrew skete.'

"But under no circumstances would they let anyone out at night. They said
they would take me the next day. I promised that afterwards I would come
and tell them everything, but they said:

"'No one will go with you on the eve of the feast.'

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"I said that I would go alone, only would they give me a mule or a horse.
They gave me a mule which went each day to Karyes to bring provisions for
the members of the Athonite Synod. So the mule knew the road. It was dark
and foggy. I left the Panteleimon monastery. Along the whole route I met
only three desert-dwellers in various places. The mule brought me to Karyes,
where it used to bring provisions, but wouldn't go a step further. Then I got
off the mule and went in front of it, leading it. We arrived at our community, I
tied the mule to the pavilion, went up to the gates and knocked. A monk
opened the gate. He didn't know me. He asked who was there. I replied: 'One
of ours.' He opened up and I went in. But since he didn't know me, he said:

"'Who are you? You're not one of ours.'

"But I said: 'No, I am one of yours.'

"He got frightened and said:

"'Go away, otherwise they'll rebuke me for letting in a stranger.'

"I asked: 'Who is now the oldest gate-keeper in the community?'

"Fr. Archippus,' he replied.

Fr. Archippus was not to be found, he had left on some business. I asked
the monk at the gate to tell him that such-and-such a monk had arrived, and
then myself went out of the gates and began to untie the mule and my
baggage. When Fr. Archippus arrived, his assistant told him that some
stranger had arrived. Fr. Archippus came out and began to ask me:

"'Who are you?'

"I replied: 'It's me.'

"He again asked: "But who are you?'

"'Well, I'm me,' I replied.

"When I said: 'Well, I'm me,' he recognized my voice, fell at my feet and
said:

"'Give the blessing.'

"Then we greeted each other and kissed each other.

"'Is the abbot well?' I asked.

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"He replied that he was sick.

"'Look, don't tell anyone that I've arrived,' I said.

"Then we went to the guest-house. We went to the buffet, where the guest-
master Protodeacon Stratonicus was reading his rule. When I opened the door
and went in, his book fell out of his hands. He only stood there and looked at
me.

"'What are you looking at me like that for?' I said. 'It's Fr. Pitirim.'

"'Is it you, or a vision?'

"I assured him that it was me and we greeted each other. Then I said:

"'Give me a room with a window onto the courtyard so that I can see how
the monks go to church.'

"He gave me a room and offered some tea.

"But I said: 'First you go to Vladimir and Joasaphat, and quietly tell them
that I have arrived, but tell noone else that I'm here.'

"First he went to Vladimir. He asked in what room I was and himself ran
up to me. The guest-master then went to Joasaphat. Vladimir ran with such
joy that he dropped a shoe off his foot, hurled himself at me, and we kissed
each other and wept copiously. Meanwhile, Joasaphat arrived. We greeted
each other and began to talk. I began to tell them my story in short.
Meanwhile they gave me tea. While we were talking and drinking tea, the bell
began to ring for the all-night vigil. Vladimir had to go and serve the sick
abbot. They agreed not to tell anyone anything, but when the service began I
would go into the church. Already the younger desert-dwellers were kissing
the icons. I went up to kiss the icon of the feast of the Nativity, and one of the
monks said to me:

"'Where are you going? Our own monks have not arrived yet, and you're
going to kiss the icons?'

"I kissed the icon of the Mother of God and in accordance with Athonite
custom in the middle of the church opposite the royal doors I made three
bows, and them bowed first to the right kliros and then to the left and then to
the brothers behind. When I was bowing to the right kliros, the chanter on the
right kliros Maurice recognized me and said to the others:

"'It's Pitirim.'

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"They replied that he had gone out of his mind: from where would Pitirim
turn up there? I went straight into the sanctuary. Everyone was already
reading the rule. I went up to the altar-table and bowed. All the clerics were
standing and looking, none of them said a word. The sacrist, Hieromonk
Florentius, decided to go up to me and asked:

"'Fr. Pitirim, is it you or a vision?'

"I said that it was me, and then everyone began to greet me and we kissed
each other. Then we began to pray. At the magnification I went out, and all
the monks saw me. After the magnification I began to anoint all the monks.
Then they were all convinced that it was me. After the all-night vigil had
finished, I wanted to serve the early Liturgy, and six hieromonks and three
hierodeacons served with me. Almost all the monks came for the early
Liturgy. After the service they all invited me to have tea. I didn't go, but went
into the guest-house together with all the clergy, chanters and all the other
monks. There they poured out tea and while we were drinking I spoke. They
all wanted to know what we had gone through during this period and how I
had come to Athos.

"On the second day of the Nativity I went to the St. Elijah skete and stayed
there for a day. I told them about their podvorye in Odessa and how the
monks were living there. Then I returned to my community. The heads of the
monasteries began to come to me and agreed that when we went they would
each give me three people. I needed twenty-four people. I told them that a
steamboat was coming for me, and we would go on January 7/20, 1919.
Around the New Year people were sent to me from the Panteleimon
monastery, and I went there and stayed there for two days. They took me on
the cutter to the skete at Thebadia, where there was a church, so that I could
see how they had finished the church, which my workmen had finished
without me. On January 3rd I returned to my community again and remained
there until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. On the feast I celebrated the
Liturgy and began to get ready to go to the Pantaleimon monastery, where
the steamboat would arrive. It was very hard for me to leave my community.
I didn't want to go, but I was compelled by the fact that in Constantinople I
had accepted the responsibility for some communities and I had to hand them
over to those to whom they belonged. From Constantinople I would be able to
return again to Athos, but the main thing was to fulfil the charge given me by
his Holiness Patriarch Tikhon and bring the gramota from the Ecumenical
Patriarch to our Patriarch. And so I, for the sake of holy obedience, had to
return to Russia and give this gramota to his Holiness Patriarch Tikhon.

"On January 7th the French steamboat put in at Athos. I boarded it with
tears. While it was passing for two hours by Athos, I could not restrain myself
and wept all the time. On January 8th I returned to Thessalonica, and on the
9th - to Constantinople. On January 16th there arrived the monks who had

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been appointed for the podvoryes. I handed over to them the acts whereby
the podvoryes were received from the Turkish government, after which I
could go to Russia.

"While I had been on Athos, the Bolsheviks had taken Odessa. There was
no longer any Hetman. They began to send all the Russian and Ukrainian
prisoners to Odessa. I left on the next steamboat. On January 29th I arrived in
Odessa. There Soviet power was in control.

"In 1919 a certain Petlyura appeared and drove the Bolsheviks out of
Odessa. They fought for more than a year. In 1920 armies began to come to
Odessa from Crimea under the command of a certain General Imeling, and in
February the Bolsheviks again took Odessa. This was already the last battle,
and all the armies, and the intelligentsia, too, left Russia for Constantinople. In
1920 the war came to an end, only in Siberia there was Kolchak, who was also
gradually retreating towards Manchuria and Vladivostok.

"We had nothing to live on in Odessa. I began to ask for some land to be
given to us. We were sixty people at the podvorye. They gave us some land
near the Yeremievka station, fifty versts from Odessa, in the village of
Kuzmenko. We had nothing: neither horses, nor ploughs, nor harrows. We
began as follows. First six monks would go there. Tailors and cobblers in the
villages began privately to sew boots, jackets and coats, and in exchange for
this work each would plough as much land as he could, so that we could sow
something. I also arrived on a pair of horses, as did the president of the
village. They stopped near me. The president, Manuel Sidorenko, came up to
me and said:

"'Drop it and leave, so that nobody's here tomorrow.'

"I said: 'We won't go - the government has given us this land.'

"He struck me twice. A boy from Kotalovka was with me. I said to him:

"'You see how Sidorenko beats me.'

"'I see,' he replied.

"'Go,' said Sidorenko for the second time.

"'I will not leave the plough,' I replied.

"He hit me again, pushed me away with his feet and left. I finished
ploughing as much as was necessary, sowed some oats and barley, and then
started harrowing. The boy had gone home with the horses, so I got on a train
and went to Odessa. I described everything in detail and went to the court. A

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week later, Sidorenko was arrested and driven on foot to Odessa. A trial was
arranged, the boy and I were summoned to appear before it. When they
interrogated the boy, he described everything that had happened in great
detail. The judge said:

"'If Archimandrite Pitirim forgives you, then fine. Otherwise you will be
sentenced to three years, one year for every blow.'

"He began to weep and begged me for forgiveness:

"'I have children, I was drunk and don't remember anything.'

"I forgave him, but the judge still gave him one year's forced labour. After
this no one touched us. We began to work the land and live on it."

The Renovationist Heresy

"In 1921-22 they began to remove the silver and golden things from the
churches. Patriarch Tikhon wrote that church vessels in which the services
were carried out should not be given up, in accordance with the church
typicon established by Anastasius and the Ecumenical Councils. When the
Patriarch did not allow this, three bishops, Eudocimus, Antonin and Leonid,
were found, together with the Protopriests Vvedensky, Krasnitsky, Boyarsky,
Stadnik and others. They declared that they did not agree with the Patriarch,
that his ban was unlawful, and that they allowed it. Then, on May 2nd, 1922,
the Patriarch was arrested. He handed over his administration to
Metropolitan Agathangelus, the first candidate [for the post of patriarchal
locum tenens] who had been appointed by the Council [of 1917-18].
Agathangelus issued an epistle stating that he was accepting the patriarchal
locum tenancy. 'Every ruling bishop must lead his flock in accordance with
his hierarchical conscience, with which he gave his oath on being established
as a bishop. But if he is in perplexity about anything, let him address my
humility.'

"When the metropolitan issued this epistle, he was immediately arrested

and exiled to Siberia. But Eudocimus, Antonin and Leonid then consecrated
the protopriests Vvedensky, Krasnitsky, Stadnik and others to the episcopate,
while they made themselves metropolitans. They created a Higher Church
Administration which was confirmed by Soviet power. Then they became the
ecclesiastical rulers throughout Russia. They created a programme [of twenty-
eight points], in which it was said that 'our Lord Jesus Christ is not God, and
the Mother of God is not a Virgin' and other points which go against our
Church and the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils and Apostles. That had
been [decided upon] earlier, when Arius did not recognize the Saviour and
the Virgin Mother of God. Both he and all those who followed his teaching
were condemned by the Ecumenical Councils and anathematized.

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"Then in Moscow this Higher Church Adminstration began to demand that

all the bishops and priests should recognize them, while all those who did not
recognize them were thrown into prison. The three metropolitans:
Vvedensky, Krasnitsky and Boyarksy went one evening to Metropolitan
Benjamin [of Petrograd] and suggested that he also unite with them. He said:

"'I was elected to this see by the people. Without the people I cannot
decide. Tomorrow is Sunday, the people will be free. We shall ask the people
to assemble at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Then you explain to them what
renovationism and the Living Church is.'

"They all agreed to this. That same evening Metropolitan Benjamin phoned
the deans of Leningrad that they should immediately announce in all the
churches that some metropolitans had arrived from Moscow who had
suggested that he accept renovationism

"'Tomorrow, May 28th, I shall serve in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. At the
end of the Liturgy the representatives of the Living Church will explain what
renovationism and the Living Church is. And I shall ask the whole people and
all the believers who are interested in Church matters to come at ten o'clock to
the Lavra.'

"On May 28th, 1922, the people began to come together from the whole of
Leningrad, and in front of the entrance they placed notebooks in which
everyone's name could be recorded. From these notebooks it is calculated that
12,000 people gathered, as well as the clergy from every church. Three people:
Archimandrite Macarius [the future bishop-confessor of the Catacomb
Church], Hieromonk Seraphim and Hierodeacon German wrote down
everything that happened and sent it to me in Odessa.

"At the end of the Liturgy Metropolitan Benjamin addressed the people,
saying:

"'There have arrived from Moscow representatives of the Living Church.

They propose that we accept their teaching. I cannot do this without you, who
elected me. So I have invited all of you who are interested in Church affairs.
Listen carefully. Thye will explain their programme to you, and then I will
express my own opinion!'

"Then, on the ambon, Metropolitan Benjamin appointed eight members of

the presidium; the metropolitan himself, four clergy and three laymen. Then
he declared the session open.

"Vvedensky came out onto the ambon. He began to explain his programme
as follows:

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"'Brothers and sister, up to now,' he said, 'we have been subject to the Tsar
and the metropolitans. But now we are free, and we ourselves must rule the
people and the Church. More than 1900 years have already passed since it
was written for us that the Lord Jesus Christ was born from the Virgin Mary
and is the Son of God. But that is not true We recognize the existence of the
God of Sabaoth, about whom our whole Bible and all the prophets have
written. And we recognize them. But Jesus Christ is not God. He was simply a
very clever man. And it is impossible to call Mary, who was born of a Jewish
tribe and herself gave birth to Jesus - the Mother of God and Virgin. And so
now we have all recognized the existence of God, that is, the God of Sabaoth,
and we must all be united: both Jews and Catholics must be a living people's
church.'

"When he had said this, the whole people cried out:

"'We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God and God, and we
recognize the Mother of God to be a Virgin!'

"Then Krasnitsky came out and said:

"'Brothers and sisters, the baptism of small children has been accepted by
us. But when the child is just born he does not know or understand anything.
They baptize him, put a little cross on him, and he grows up with the
obligation of wearing this cross and not taking it off. But when he has grown
up, he will learn and know everything - the cross will be quite unnecessary for
him. So we do not recognize the baptism of young children, and when he
comes of age let him be baptized and wear a cross. In the same way we do not
recognize marriage: it is unnecessary and wrong. Why bind people? It should
be like this: they should get together, register a civil marriage, and if one
doesn't like the other, then let them go off in search of another and let him
take another woman. We have freedom now. So we do not recognize any
saints or relics. Nor do we recognize monasticism. We don't need any
monasticism. Before, bishops had to come from the monks. This is wrong,
because a man cannot live without a woman, nor the woman without a man.
Bishops must be married, and priests also. It used to be that if a priest's wife
died he had to remain a widower until his death. That is wrong. Now there is
freedom. We can take a second and a third wife.'

" Then Boyarsky came out. He said:

"'Although Vvedensky said that Jesus Christ is not God but a clever man,
and the Mother of God is not a Virgin, I do not agree with this. I recognize
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and the Mother of God a Virgin... But
baptism, marriage, holy relics, monasticism - I do not recognize!'

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"When he had said this, the people cried out:

"'We do not need your explanations. We do not want your new Living
Church'

"There was a disturbance and shouting among the people. Metropolitan

Benjamin began to calm them down. When the people were settled,
Metropolitan Benjamin said to them:

"'You have all heard all the explanations of the representatives of the
Living Church. Perhaps there is someone who will agree to join them. But I
cannot, because this is the same blasphemy which was previously preached
by Arius and his followers. And so I, in accordance with the rules of the
Apostles and the Ecumenical Councils am obliged to anathematize all the
leaders of this living and new church and their followers.'

"Then he immediately turned towards the Royal Doors and said:

"'In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and of the All-pure,
immaculate and Ever-Virgin His Mother, the Birth-giver of God, I
anathematize...'

"And there and then the protodeacon pronounced anathema on all the
teachers and followers of the 'Living Church'. But while they were chanting
anathema, Vvedensky, fled out of the sanctuary through a side-door into the
courtyard of the Alexander-Nevsky Lavra, and informed the GPU by
telephone of what had happened. But Metropolitan Benjamin began to preach
and give further explanations to the people. While he was speaking, there
appeared representatives of the Soviet authorities and arrested Metropolitan
Benjamin and the four bishops and three laymen who had been appointed
members of the presidium.

"Immediately, they took them out into Gorochovaya street, where the
GPU was situated. All the people who had been in the Lavra went there and
demanded that the authorities release the metropolitan and those who had
been taken with him. The whole people gathered and towards the evening of
May 28th about 30,000 people had gathered on the square of the GPU. No one
left, they continued demanding their release, but the authorities did not
release them. It was already late in the evening when the people were
dispersed by a cavalry army.

"The Living Church was proclaimed in Leningrad on May 29th. If a bishop

or priest wanted to join it he stayed where he was, while all those who did not
join them were arrested and exiled. From this time it was announced to all the
churches in Russia that now there was no longer any patriarchal rule in
Russia, but only the Higher Church Administration - the HCA. This HCA's

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rule began to be accepted throughout Russia and they began to commemorate

in the litanies, not the Patriarch, but the HCA. All the priests and several of
the bishops freely accepted this rule, but some of them were taking stock and
waiting for a detailed explanation, and for that reason they commemorated
neither the Patriarch nor the HCA. Some people knew who Metropolitan
Eudocimus, Anthony and Leonid were and did not accept them, and the
priest and bishops refrained for the time being. But Metropolitan Sergius,
formerly of Finland, who was known to everyone since he had been a
member of the former Synod under the Tsar, joined the HCA in June, 1922,
and began to write to church journals that this was the only correct
administration, the only canonical administration. In July these journals were
distributed throughout the churches of Russia. Then all the priests and
bishops began to accept the HCA and almost everyone accepted this
administration and submitted to it, referring to the authority of Metropolitan
Sergius. They all went over freely: only some believers from the monastics
and a few priests refrained. But there were not many of them.

"I in Odessa was very upset and unhappy, but I did not commemorate the
HCA for one day, although I did not know in detail what was happening in
Moscow and Leningrad. On the same day, August 17th, I received letters
from my brothers Archimandrite Macarius and Metropolitan Agathangelus.
In Metropolitan Agathangelus' letter was an epistle in which it was said that
he had taken [the administration of the Church] upon himself in accordance
with the will and blessing of his Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, who had been
arrested, and that 'I, as the first candidate chosen by the Council in accordance
with the will of God, take upon myself this great work of the administration
of the Church of the whole of Russia, and I give my full blessing to every
bishop, archimandrite and priest to lead his flock along the true path which
has been given to us by the Holy Apostles and the Ecumenical Councils.
Everybody must firmly take stock of the church situation. Now the so-called
Living Church, in which the HCA [is involved?], has been founded and
confirmed by the authorities in our land. But I remain by the apostolic
conciliar decrees, and if you are perplexed about anything, address my
humility.' There was nothing more from Metropolitan Agathangelus. But
Archimandrite Macarius wrote from Leningrad everything that I have
indicated above, about how Metropolitan Benjamin anathematized the HCA.
Immediately I received the epistle from Metropolitan Agathangelus and
Macarius, I went to the ruling bishop of Odessa and Kherson, Alexis. I gave
him to read the epistle I had received, and the detailed explanation from
Leningrad of what had been happening there in the month of May. When he
had read it all, Vladyka ordered the secretary of the Odessa-Kherson diocese,
Nicholas Vladimirovich Chishchakov, to be invited there, and gave him, too,
to read it. Then immediately, on August 19th (it was a Friday, at two o'clock
in the afternoon), they decided to instruct all the Odessa clerics and the
spiritual presidents, i.e. of the church councils, to come to the Dormition
church. They all assembled and the epistle from Leningrad was read out to

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all. It was decreed that the epistle of Metropolitan Agathangelus should be re-
printed on typewriters. On Saturday the 20th it was announced throughout
the city of Odessa that [the epistle] would be read out on the Sunday, so that
all the people should know what was being done in the Church and in the
diocese. On the evening of the Saturday Bishop Alexis telephoned all the
deans, telling them to come to him on the Sunday, but that they should not
read the epistle for the time being. And I was told by phone that I should not
explain anything to the people for the time being. But I did not obey the
bishop - I proclaimed it at the early and later Liturgies. The people dispersed,
and the news spread throughout the city about what Metropolitan
Agathangelus had written and the fact that in Leningrad the HCA had been
excommunciated from the Church and anathematized by Metropolitan
Benjamin.

"On August 23rd, Vladyka Alexis (Bazhanov) summoned me to his

quarters. Angrily he said:

"'You were told on the telephone that you should not for the time being
proclaim it to the people, but you did proclaim it. Does that mean that you do
not submit to your diocesan bishop?'

"I replied that in the Dormition church it had been decreed that the news
should be proclaimed to the people on Sunday, and should be sent separately
to each church in the diocese, so that the people should know what was being
done in our Church.

"'I find it unnecessary to proclaim it for the time being,' replied Vladyka.

"'That means that you agree to join the HCA and commemorate them,' I
said, 'but I have not commemorated them and will not commemorate them in
the future.'

"'I ban you from serving,' said the bishop.

"I replied: 'I do not recognize your ban - it means that you, too, are a
renovationist.'

"He said that he was not a renovationist.

"I objected: 'If you were not a renovationist, you would not have rescinded
the decree of Metropolitan Agathangelus. And from today I do not recognize
you and will not commemorate you at the litanies'… And I left Alexis.

"I went home to the podvorye, gathered together the five monks and three
hierodeacons, and declared to them that from that day I would not be
commemorating the bishop of Odessa and Kherson. I told them everything in

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detail, that he had forbidden me to serve and that I did not recognize him and
that he was a renovationist. Out of all the eight people present, only one
hierodeacon did not agree with me.

"'I will commemorate Bishop Alexis,' he said.

"'If you want to commemorate Alexis,' I replied, 'go to him and serve there,
but I will not allow you to serve with me in the podvorye.'

"I did not allow him to serve, and he went to the bishop's house, where he
served. From August 23rd Alexis was not commemorated with us in the
podvorye. Nor was the HCA. The whole city knew about that in the St.
Andrew podvorye Archimandrite Pitirim had forbidden his monks from
commemorating Alexis of Odessa and Kherson.

"On October 25th, I was arrested and taken to the GPU. I went with joy for
the purity of the faith. They kept me there for seventeen days for
interrogations: why did I not recognize or commemorate Alexis? I explained
that I was from old Athos, there I was tonsured into monasticism and
ordained as a church-server by a Greek bishop and I was in obedience to the
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. According to our Church law, one
must commemorate the person one is in obedience to. After interrogation I
was freed.

"Vladyka Alexis was unhappy. He summoned a Diocesan Congress for

November 7, 1923 [1922?], at which it was decreed that the Athonite podvorye
should be closed and handed over to the Administration of the Odessa-
Kherson Diocese, since it was a menace for the world.

"During this period, on January 2nd, 1923, I saw a vision: it was as if I was
in my community on Athos and the reposed Archimandrite Joseph was
blessing me for a new obedience. He was making me a bishop, vesting me in a
hierarchical mantia and omophorion, and putting a staff in my hand, while by
the other column on the left stood the Apostle Andrew, who was also blessing
me. And they put me on the left kliros of the church. I looked at them with
such joy - at my elder Joseph and the Apostle Andrew. The service continued
for some time until suddenly two people came up to me and said:

"'Let's go. You have been appointed our bishop. Everybody's waiting for
you there!'

"They took me by the hands and led me out of the church, and suddenly a
simple peasant cart drawn by a pair of horses appeared. I kept on thinking
how I was going to sit in this carriage in my mantia and omophorion and
staff. Then suddenly I was in the carriage, while behind me there was a carpet
and railings. The driver set off, and we left my community and Athos. We

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went over the sea on the horses. It was as if we were crossing dry land.
Suddenly the inhabitants brought me up to a large church. They were ringing
the bells as one does when meeting a bishop. We went up to the church and
again the same two people who had taken me out on Athos appeared. They
took me and led me into the church. When we entered, there was a lot of dirt
and dust in the vestibule. I said to them:

"'Where have you brought me?'

"They replied that there was a clean, good place with them. We went up
the left-hand side-chapel and came to the iconostasis. There were no icons -
they had been broken up. And suddenly a priest came out from the central
altar with a cross, in the way priests always meet bishops. I took the cross and
kissed it. Suddenly there appeared in front of me a boy of extraordinary
beauty, who said to me:

"'So you've come to us - good. We are all alive and we shall live, and you
will be with us.'

"I said: 'Is that all?'

"He said: 'That's all.'

"He was not tall. I said to those who had brought me:

"'Raise me up, I shall kiss him.'

"They raised me up. I asked:

"'What is your name?'

"'I am called Malachi,' he replied with a smile, and immediately

disappeared.

"The third of January was indeed the commemoration of the holy Prophet
Malachi. Then they led me into the central chapel, where on the left side the
steps of the ambon were broken. They lifted me up and I found myself on the
ambon of the central chapel. The priest went into the altar, and I turned to the
people. I wanted to pronounce some words of welcome, and I saw that the
middle of this church was covered with Persian carpets, and there were no
people. But the right-hand side-chapel was full of people, and they all wanted
to hear what I would say. I began to speak as follows:

"'Dear brothers and sisters, I have been appointed as your pastor here. I
don't know any of you, and you don't know me. I have to say to you that our

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Church administration here in Russia is not canonical and they do not want to
stand for the purity of the Apostolic Church.'

"And I began to weep and sob, and immediately woke up.

"Two weeks later, on January 17th, 1923, on the feast of St. Anthony the
Great, I had served the all-night vigil, gone into my cell and had only lain
down to sleep a little when I had the following vision: I was going into the
cathedral church of Odessa to the right-hand doors of the right-hand chapel. I
went - and saw no one. On the right-hand iconostasis there were no icons -
they had all been broken. I went into the sanctuary and kissed the altar-table.
The altar-table was in its usual place. I made three prostrations and began to
kiss the altar-table. At that moment the Prophet Malachi appeared between
the altar and the high place and said to me:

"'Look what's happening in the Church now.'

"I went into the central chapel to kiss the altar-table, went up to the altar
and saw that the whole sanctuary was full of men and women crowding
round the altar-table. When I was moving across to the central chapel where
the people were, a Jew was reading on the altar - I don't know what he was
reading. I asked him:

"'What have you done with the church?'

"'It's according to the new style,' he said.

"At that moment I saw a vested protodeacon standing on the ambon, while
in the middle of the church on the cathedra stood a bishop and many people.
At that moment the protodeacon intoned: "Blessed be the Kingdom of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The chanters chanted: "Amen."
All those who were in the sanctuary, men and women, were praying. Then
they lay down and in the lying position sang with a laugh: "Lord, have
mercy." Then I woke up, shaking all over.

"In March, 1923, Metropolitan Eudocimus, the head of the renovationist

church, himself came to Odessa to convince me to accept renovationism. I
remained alone. In Odessa the people had stopped going to church, they went
instead to our podvorye. During the Great Fast up to 3000 people came to us
every day to receive communion. Then Bishop Alexis wrote to Eudocimus in
Moscow that in Odessa Archimandrite Pitirim had not accepted
renovationism and did not commemorate the HCA, and that all the people
were going to him. Then Eudocimus himself came to me. He invited me to
come to him without fail. I came, but did not take his blessing. He invited me
to sit down. They, Eudocimus and Alexis, were sitting on the sofa. In the
bishop's residence Eudocimus addressed me as follows:

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"'Father Archimandrite! Why do you not commemorate the HCA of your

bishop?'

"I replied: 'Your Eminence, I cannot commemorate the HCA because all of
them have been excommunicated from the Church and anathematized by
Metropolitan Benjamin, who also excommunicated and anathematized all
those who confess the new Living Church, in whose programme it is said that
Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, and the Mother of God is not a Virgin. This
confession has been condemned by the Ecumenical Councils and
anathematized. Moreover, on May 28th in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in
Leningrad your brothers Vvedensky, Krasnitsky and Boyarsky, in the
presence of 12,000 people, confessed and explained what the Living Church
was. And you are subject to expulsion. Benjamin excommunicated you
lawfully. You shot Benjamin, four bishops and three laymen!'

"And I began to tell them that I knew everything and had read everything.
And since Vladyka Alexis had forbidden the epistle of Metropolitan
Agathangelus to be proclaimed to the people, I had stopped commemorating
him.

"Eudocimus said to me: 'Since you cannot commemorate the HCA and
Alexis, remain with your convictions, but tell your hieromonks that they
should commemorate the HCA and Bishop Alexis in the litanies, so as not to
disturb the people.'

"I categorically refused.

"'For this they will put you in prison,' he said, 'close your podvorye and
expel all your monks from Odessa. How will you answer before your
Athonites, who have entrusted you with both the podvorye and the monks?'

"'You understand that you are already excommunicated. If I did not know
that, I could still do as you wish,' I replied.

"Eudocimus said: 'You make a compromise. With us in Moscow the monks

of the Panteleimon monastery and their abbot have agreed, while they
themselves remain with their convictions. The people did not know this and
does not know it now, and they are not disturbed.'

"I replied: 'The fact that the Panteleimon monks have made a compromise
with you is their business, but I will not do and cannot do it. In our Church
there can be no compromises.' And then I left them.

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"Three days later they sent Bishop Gerasimus of Boltovsk to me. He was
with me for more than an hour, constantly trying to persuade me. I did not
agree and he left.

"Two days later they sent Archbishop Pimen of Podolsk to me. He came
and tried to persuade me. He said:

"'Because of your stubbornness they'll take the whole of this podvorye.

They won't even give you a bed!'

"When he said this I began to laugh. I said to him:

"'Vladyko! Shall we really take beds with us into the Kingdom of Heaven?'

"Then he got up and said: 'Forgive me, I shall not speak with you any
longer,' and left.

"After this Eudocimus appointed another bishop for Odessa and took
Alexis Bazhanov away with him to Moscow, where he made him
Metropolitan of Kazan.

"A week after their departure, on Palm Sunday, we were serving the all-
night vigil. At three o'clock the GPU arrived and sealed our churches. In the
morning the people arrived, but the churches were closed, so the people stood
in the street until 12 o'clock. All the streets were full of people. The police
asked them:

"'Disperse - all the churches are open, go and pray there.'

"But the people did not move. At 12 o'clock the cavalry were summoned.
They dispersed the people and emptied the streets. Up to Holy Thursday we
were still in the podvorye, but on Holy Thursday they moved all of us out of
the St. Andrew podvorye to Ilinskoye, where they had appointed their own
priests in the church. Since none of the monks would go into the church, the
order was given to all the monks to leave Odessa and go wherever they
wanted. All the monks chose me to go to Moscow and intercede for all the
Athonite monks to be allowed to go to Old Athos, and if permission was not
given, to be given a monastery somewhere in Russia. I wrote down the names
of all of them - there were 180 people. I wrote down the Christian names and
surnames of each of them, how long they had lived on Athos and in which
community. I arrived in Moscow and went to Kalinin. Kalinin said that he
could not do this, but that everything depended on his colleagues' opinions of
the matter. And he sent me to Sakhorov, who, having looked into the matter,
sent me to Krasin. Krasin did not receive me for two weeks. Every day I went
to him. His secretary proposed that I go to Chicherin and get a note from him
to Krasin. And he told me that I should come to him at eight o'clock in the

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evening. Krasin was due to arrive a nine o'clock. I arrived and sat in the
reception room. At 9 Krasin came in with a comrade, with whom he talked
until 10.30. After that they told him about me and Krasin received me. Having
read my petition and the list [of names], he said:

"'I cannot decide this myself. It has to be passed to a session of my

colleagues.'

"And he told his secretary to make a note and give me the number of my
case. Krasin told me to go to Odessa, and after the session the decision would
be sent to me there. They could cope with things only one at a time. I left
Moscow with nothing. On arriving in Odessa in May, I told everything to the
monks. They began to disperse - some to their homeland, wherever they
wanted. In June, papers came from Moscow allowing the monks to go to
Athos and dividing them into three groups of sixty monks each. All those sent
away were specified by name exactly as on the list of Archimandrite Pitirim.
He himself was allowed to leave with the last group. When the papers arrived
in Odessa, there were thirty monks there. The Odessa GPU said that in view
of the fact that we were so few they could not allow us to leave. So we stayed.

"In 1923 the renovationists convened their council in Moscow, at which

they decreed that Patriarch Tikhon should be deprived of his patriarchal rank
and even his monasticism and turned into the layman Basil Bellavin. They
sent their decree to the Patriarch, so that he should know that he was a
layman and should sign the papers and submit to them. Patriarch Tikhon
wrote on the declaration: 'Patriarch Tikhon has read this'. When Metropolitan
Sergius [Stragorodsky] saw that nothing was gained from the council, and
that Patriarch Tikhon remained the lawful patriarch, he left the
administration and the Living Church and HCA. He came to Patriarch Tikhon
asking to be forgiven and received as penitent novice. The Patriarch said to
him:

"'I forgive you since you repent, but you will have to be judged by a
Council of the Orthodox Church.'

"And he sent him to Nizhni-Novgorod to turn over a new leaf there.

"In 1923 I [together with all the brothers] was exiled from Odessa to a farm
fifty versts from the city [in the village of Yeremevka], where we had
previously worked the land. In 1924, thirty-seven protopriests recognized
their mistake. The people were not going to church. They then began to write
that they were again returning to Patriarch Tikhon. But in Odessa there was
no Orthodox bishop. [The nearest] was in Kharkov, by the name of
Onuphrius, but in Odessa itself there was only a renovationist bishop.
Patriarch Tikhon blessed Archimandrite Pitirim, who was living near Odessa,
to go to Odessa and receive these thirty-seven protopriests. He said that they

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should give an oath and ask forgiveness of the whole people in the church. I
went to Odessa with the blessing of Patriarch Tikhon with the letter he had
sent me... I united them [to the Church] on four Sundays, dividing them into
groups of nine. They repented. I read the prayer of absolution over them and
united them again to our Church. I asked the people to accept them and go
with them to church without doubting. A month after this, the Soviet
authorities ordered me to leave even the farm and told me that I should not
dare to live anywhere in Ukraine. And they took from me a written
undertaking concerning my future place of residence. I indicated the town of
Glazov, in Vyatka province. I went to Patriarch Tikhon in Moscow to tell him
of my position. The Patriarch only smiled and said:

"'It's good that you have come. I am now going to make you a bishop [of
Yaransk]. We need many people here, but I don't have anyone.'

"But I refused, I did not agree and said that I couldn't.

"He said: 'You can't refuse - this is holy obedience. We need bishops, and
we can't get them anywhere.'

"I began to ask him to let me go home and rest in my homeland.

"'After that, let the will of God be done, I shall carry out the obedience. In
1917 I came to bring you a gramota from the Ecumenical Patriarch, which was
considered impossible. But by your holy prayers and blessing I succeeded in
everything and now I ask you only to let me go to my homeland and see my
relatives.'"

The Sergianist Heresy

"I was two nights in the Donskoy monastery, where he [Patriarch Tikhon]
was accomodated in the small church. There were three rooms attached to it.
He served his confinement in this church with the double eastern doors, and
when he was released he did not want to live in the patriarchal apartment. So
he stayed in the place where he had been confined. On two evenings he
invited me to his room, and there we discussed everything. It was then that I
asked him:

"'Your Holiness, how did you receive Metropolitan Sergius? On what

conditions?'

"He said to me: 'I received him as a penitent novice, he cannot rule the
Church until a Council. And he must bear whatever punishment the Council
gives him. Sergius agreed to this.'

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"As for me, [the Patriarch] blessed me to go and rest in my homeland, after
which I was to return to him in Moscow. I was with his Holiness the Patriarch
in October, 1924, and on December 7, the Patriarch wrote an epistle to all the
clergy of the Church. There it was written:

"'Whoever was in the administration of the Living Church in the HCA

cannot take up any further administrative position in our Church. And not
only can he not be an administrator: he cannot have a vote during a Council.'

"After the publication of this epistle, the living-churchmen took other

measures. In January, 1925, they decided to kill him [the Patriarch]. A
criminal forced his way into the bedroom in his residence. At two o'clock in
the morning the Patriarch went out of the bedroom into another room to pray,
while his cell-attendant James went into the bedroom and began to lay the
bed. The criminal thought that this was the Patriarch and killed James on the
spot, but was himself arrested. After the murder of James, the layman Straton
and the protodeacon Mark were appointed to be with the Patriarch.

"The Patriarch continued his work. On the Annunciation, having

celebrated the Liturgy, he was completely healthy. At four o'clock
Metropolitan Seraphim of Tver came to him. The Patriarch told him that he
would serve the next day, but Seraphim said:

"'Do not serve, your Holiness, have a rest. You are very tired and weak.'

"Seraphim left at eight o'clock in the evening.

"The Patriarch felt well and was getting ready to serve the next day. But
suddenly there was a ring at the door. When they opened the door, a doctor
entered. The doctor said:

"'Your Holiness! You rang us and asked us to come since you were weak.
Here I am to examine you and prescribe you some medicines.'

"The Patriarch said: 'But no. I feel fine.'

"'Okay,' said the doctor, 'but just allow me to examine you. Your pulse is
weak. You must drink some medicine.'

"The Patriarch asked: 'Why have you come and not my doctor, who always
looks after me?'

"'He's not at home now, he's on call, but I was at home - so here I am,'
replied the doctor. 'In an hour's time I shall send you a mixture.'

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"An hour after the doctor had left, at ten o'clock in the evening, Mark
brought the Patriarch a mixture and said that the doctor had ordered him to
drink a spoonful.

"'Give it to me,' said the Patriarch.

"Mark poured out a spoonful of the mixture and the Patriarch drank it.
Immediately he began to vomit (be sick). The cell-attendants Straton and
Mark rang the doctor. After a few minutes the doctor appeared. The Patriarch
was lying down.

"'What's the matter with him?' asked the doctor.

"'The doctor prescribed a mixture and ordered us to give him one

spoonful,' replied Mark.

"The doctor demanded to see the mixture immediately. They gave it him.
On seeing it, the doctor threw up his hands and immediately sent the
Patriarch to hospital. Mark and Stratonicus took him out and put him in the
carriage. They got in themselves and accompanied him to the hospital. There
they gave him some milk, and prepared some baths, but nothing helped.
Within an hour and a half Patriarch Tikhon had died. The cell-attendants took
him back. At three o'clock the Patriarch was laid out as a corpse at home. I
write this from the words of the cell-attendants Mark and Stratonicus, who
were with the Patriarch in the place of the murdered Yakov.

[This version of events by Schema-Bishop Peter does not agree with the
usually accepted account of the death of the Patriarch and for that reason it
may give rise to doubts, first of all because it is well-known that before his
death the Patriarch lived in a clinic and died in a room he had taken. -
Comment of the editors of Tserkovnaya Zhizn'.]

"In 1925 I was again in Moscow, where I met the cell-attendants [of the
Patriarch] and asked how the Patriarch had died. In 1924, when I had been
with the Patriarch, he had commanded me to leave my address for
Metropolitan Peter. I arrived in my homeland of Glazov, where all my
relatives were very glad to see me. I remained there for four months. On
learning in Ufa province that I was in Glazov, my cousins and nephews came
to visit me. Nun Eustalia came to Glazov and asked me to go and see them.
That was in 1925. I arrived in Ufa, went to the church and asked:

"'Are your people old-churchmen or renovationists?'

"They replied that they were old-churchmen. [But] in the church they did
not commemorate Patriarch Tikhon. I asked the priest:

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"'Why are you old-churchmen, but do not commemorate Patriarch

Tikhon?'

"He replied: 'We are doing what Vladyka John of Ufa ordered us to do.'

"My relatives invited me to serve. The church was in the house of my

nephew, while the priest was staying in the flat of my other nephew. I refused
to serve with them since they were new-churchmen and did not
commemorate Patriarch Tikhon. My nephew Demetrius took me to Ufa so
that I could ask John why he was not commemorating Patriarch Tikhon. I
went to the Nikolayevsky church, where John was serving. When vespers had
finished, they told him that some archimandrite had arrived from Odessa.
John immediately invited me to his flat to drink some tea and eat something.
During tea we talked. He asked why I had come here. I said that I had
relatives here. Then I asked:

"'What, are you new-churchmen? Why do you not commemorate Patriarch

Tikhon?'

"'No, no, we are old-churchmen, but we do not commemorate him because

we wrote to the Patriarch and he did not bless us - we do not have to
commemorate him,' he said.

"'That cannot be,' I said. 'It is never permissible not to commemorate the
Patriarch. Now we can find out: where they commemorate Patriarch Tikhon
they are old-churchmen, and where they do not they are renovationist.'

"But he continued to assure me that he was an old-churchman and I did not

talk to him anymore about this. I asked his permission to serve at my
relatives' in Sophronovka village. He kindly gave permission. We ate and said
goodbye. I left for Sophronovka. I began to serve on the first Sunday. After the
Liturgy I gave the people a sermon on renovationism, how the icons had been
thrown out and returned again. The people learned that I had come from
Athos and that I was an archimandrite. When they heard that I was
commemorating Patriarch Tikhon, which was done nowhere at that time, they
began to come to me from all the villages. I served throughout the fast and at
Pascha. The wife of the priest of this church then objected to her husband:

"'Why do you allow the archimandrite to serve? Now he will take your
place and we will be left without a crust of bread.'

"She wrote a letter to Bishop John, and sent it with her mother-in-law to
Ufa. In it she pointed out that the archimandrite was commemorating
Patriarch Tikhon and that the people were coming to him from all the
villages. The bishop forbade me to serve, saying:

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"'Why are you taking the last crust of bread from a poor priest? Come to
me and I will give you a place. John's card was given to me at Mid-Pentecost
and after this I stopped serving. I decided to go to Vyatka and stay there for a
while.

"At that time some people came to me from Kuznetsk, asking me to

tonsure the sister of Michael Panchenko into the mantia. He had two sisters:
one had tuberculosis and it was impossible to take her to Ufa. Bishop John
blessed her to receive the tonsure from Archimandrite Pitirim. I went to
Kuznetsk and tonsured Helen before Pentecost. The priest John Lysenko was
there. He was very ill and was unable to serve. I served the feast of the Trinity
with them. I was accompanied by my niece, Nun Eustalia, who had come to
see me in my homeland in Glazov. In Priest Lysenko's house I served Small
Vespers. Five people came during the evening: Nun Maria, Michael
Panchenko, Cosmas Panchenko, the church warden and the missionary
Athanasius Chemenev. They handed me a letter from Archbishop Andrew
which read:

"'Bring me one of the monks and I will make him a bishop. Bishop John is a
real renovationist. You are doing well in not recognizing him.'

"They said that about 3000 people were not going to the church where the
priests of Bishop John who did not commemorate Patriarch Tikhon were
serving.

"Bishop John wrote a declaration for distribution throughout the diocese,

in which he said:

"'Up to this time we have been in darkness, but now Soviet power has
given us light. In the past we bowed down to the golden calf, but now we
have complete freedom. Priests do not have to give sermons in the churches,
they can speak openly on the squares.'

"This was signed by Bishop John. When I read this declaration, then it
really dawned on me that the poor people knew nothing about what was
happening in our church and what kind of church-servers we had. I said that I
could not agree to this exploit without the lot and the will of God. They said
to me:

"'If you do not agree, then you will answer for all of us before the Lord. We
shall not go to these churches.'

"I said: 'Then choose three candidates. Tomorrow is Trinity Sunday, the
descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. Whoever the Lord indicates to
you will be your bishop.'

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"They were very glad and agreed. Then they appointed me as the first
candidate, Theophanes, who served in the French factory, as the second, and
since no third monastic could be found they also appointed Michael
Panchenko, who was married. They said: if the lot falls to him, they will both
be tonsured, and have already agreed about this. I also agreed and wrote
down the three lots. On the day of the feast of the Holy Trinity we asked the
Lord to indicate a Bishop for us. At the end of the service, the Liturgy and the
Vespers, I took the three lots from the altar, put them in the tabernacle, and
then shook them. They decided that the lot should be drawn by the leader of
the group of missionaries Chemetov. The lot fell on me. Everybody was
joyful, but I wept bitterly, knowing that I was going to sufferings. But I
submitted to the will of God. On the second day of Trinity I again celebrated
the Liturgy, and immediately after they accompanied me with the missionary
Chemetov to Archbishop Andrew, who was in Ten-Zhen in Asia
[Tadzhikstan]. On the train travelling with us were Archimandrite Anthony
Milovidov and Hieromonk Rufinus Brekhov, who were also due to be
consecrated to the episcopate.

"We were consecrated by Archbishop Andrew of Ufa and Bishop Lev

[Cherepanov] of Nizhne-Tagilsk. [According to one source, Patriarch Tikhon
had sent a letter to Archbishop Andrew telling him to consecrate Fr. Pitirim.]
On June 6th Anthony was consecrated Bishop of Ustkovsk [Ust-Katavsk, in
other sources]. On June 7 Rufinus was consecrated Bishop of Ustkovsk [this is
probably an error in the title of Bishop Rufinus, who is in other places called
Bishop of Satkinsk]. And on June 8 [1925] I, Pitirim, was consecrated Bishop
of Nizhegorod [and Urzhuma].

"From Ten-Zhen I went straight to Odessa to pick up the things I had left
there. From Odessa I went to Sophinevskoye, where I stayed with relatives. I
arrived at Uteryak station, and from Sophronov I had to go four kilometres
out of my way on horseback. They found for me a Bashkiri driver and he
arrived at the station on exactly the same carriage which I had seen in a dream
in 1923 on the 2nd of January, in which I had been consecrated to the
episcopate. I had been consecrated to the episcopate and a Bashkir drove me
to the village of Sophronovka.

"While I was on my way to Ten-Zhen, I received a registered parcel from

Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsa, in which he described in detail how before the
death of Patriarch Tikhon he had been confirmed [as patriarchal locum
tenens] by the Patriarch until the return from exile of Metropolitan
Agathangelus or Metropolitan Cyril, whichever of them should be released
first. In Moscow 67 bishops had confirmed him at an assembly. The bishops
were all mentioned by name, while the third candidate, Metropolitan
Anthony [Khrapovitsky] had by this time already gone abroad.

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"In 1925 Metropolitan Peter took upon himself the administration of the
Church. Then, in September, Metropolitan Sergius convened a Council, at
which they decreed that all should unite into one: the renovationists, the
[Ukrainian] self-consecrators and the Church of Metropolitan Peter.
Metropolitan Peter did not agree to this, nor could he according to the
apostolic and conciliar decrees. The renovationists had already been
excommunicated and anathematized, while the self-consecrators had also
uncanonically consecrated themselves, which has never been known in our
Orthodox Church. But Metropolitan Peter was immediately arrested for his
disagreement with the impious council. He spent two days in prison and
handed over the administration of the Church to some unknown person. A
group of eight bishops was with Metropolitan Peter, forming a Synod. The
head of this group, and the oldest, was Archbishop Gregory of Sverdlovsk.
They were waiting for Metropolitan Peter to announce to whom he was
handing over the administration. But at this point Metropolitan Peter was
visited by Tuchkov, who been put in charge of Church affairs by the
authorities. Tuchkov was with some bishop or other, I don't know who.
Tuchkov ordered Metropolitan Peter to hand over the administration to
Metropolitan Sergius. Peter said that he could not do that since Metropolitan
Sergius had been in a member of the [renovationist] Higher Church
Administration, and because in December, 1924 there had been published an
epistle of Patriarch Tikhon to the whole Russian flock in which it was said that
whoever had been in the HCA could not be part of the administration of the
Orthodox Church. Then Tuchkov said that Metropolitan Peter should hand
over the administration to this group of eight bishops. Sergius would join this
group, but would not do any administration. Metropolitan Peter agreed to
Tuchkov's demand to write this and hand over the administration to the
group of bishops. But it was not handed over to the bishops, but to Sergius.
Sergius was at that time in Gorky [Nizhni-Novgorod], and he did not join this
group of hierarchs, but collected several bishops of his own there. Two weeks
passed. Gregory in Moscow knew nothing, and he sent a second time to
Metropolitan Peter. The latter replied that already two weeks before he
handed the administration over to thim, and that 'the group must rule, and
Metropolitan Sergius must join this group'.

"When Archbishop Gregory received this information from Metropolitan

Peter, he sent two bishops of his group from Moscow to Metropolitan Sergius
in Gorky. They had a letter in which he wrote:

"'Why do you not come to us in Moscow and give us no information?'

"Sergius replied: 'I don't recognize any of you and will not come to
Moscow.'

"The two bishops returned from Sergius and explained to Sergius' reply to
Gregory and his group. Then Gregory and his group informed Metropolitan

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Peter that Sergius would not come to Moscow and declared that he
recognized none of them and had already registered his council [with the
authorities]. Then Metropolitan Peter handed over the whole administration
to Archbishop Gregory of Sverdlovsk and his group. When Archbishop
Gregory received this communication from Metropolitan Peter, he registered
his group. That was how three Synods came to be formed with us in Russia:
the Renovationist, the Sergianist and the Gregorian. But no one in the whole
of Russia knows this. Then they began to divide the Church into Gregorians,
Sergianists, Renovationist and self-consecrators... When Metropolitan Sergius
head that Gregory and his group had been registered, he excommunicated his
Synod and forbade them all to serve. Gregory, of course, did not recognize
these bans. I learned these details and was terrified by all that had happened.
I decided to go into retirement, take the schema and not be responsible for my
flock before the Lord."

On April 21, 1927, Bishop Pitirim took the schema with the name of Peter.
According to another source, he was tonsured on January 20, 1928 in the
village of Chetverto-Petrovskoye by Bishop Job (Afanasyev), who took over
his Nizhegorod diocese with the blessing of Archbishop Andrew of Ufa.
"After my tonsure," he writes, "I resigned from the administration of the
Church and in Voznesensk, near Chetveropetrovsk, they made me a cell in
which I prayed, without leaving or going anywhere. On feasts and Sundays I
would go to Chetveropetrovsk and sometimes I served. Many people came,
and they also brought the sick. Bishop John, seeing this, began to complain
and petition that I be arrested or removed.

"In 1926 Metropolitan Agathangelus finished his term of exile and returned
to Yaroslavl since he was considered the metropolitan of Yaroslavl. Everyone
began to come to him. Then Tuchkov with some archimandrite came to
Agathangelus and began to demand from him that he hand over his
administration to [Metropolitan] Sergius. Metropolitan Agathangelus did not
agree to this. Then Tuchkov told him that he would now go back into exile.
Then Agathangelus, because of his health and since he had already been three
years in exile, resigned from the administration [the post of patriarchal locum
tenens] and left it to Peter of Krutitsa as the lawful [locum tenens] until the
second candidate, Metropolitan Cyril, should return from exile. I heard about
this when I personally went to him in Yaroslavl and he himself explained his
situation to me. And he said that the canonical administration was now really
in the hands of Cyril, and temporarily, until the return of Cyril, with
Metropolitan Peter. He did not recognize Sergius or Gregory.

"'How should we act in the future,' I asked him, 'if neither Cyril nor Peter
are around? Who must we commemorate?'

"He said: 'There is still the canonical Metropolitan Joseph, formerly of

Uglich, who at the moment is in Leningrad. He was appointed by his

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Holiness Patriarch Tikhon as a candidate in the event of the death of the

Patriarch, myself, Cyril and Anthony [Khrapovitsky, metropolitan of Kiev
and first President of the Russian Church Abroad?].'

"Joseph was sent by the Patriarch to Leningrad, but when Sergius took
over the administration, he sent Alexis there, the one who is now
metropolitan in Leningrad. But Joseph was imprisoned and sent into exile,
while Alexis ruled in Leningrad until he was appointed Patriarch. A year after
Agathangel, Cyril also completed his term in exile and arrived in Kazan. Then
Tuchkov arrived in Kazan from Metropolitan Sergius and asked Cyril to
withdraw his candidature. He did not agree and was immediately sent for
another ten years in exile."

According to one (dubious) source, Vladyka Peter took part in the so-called
“Nomadic Council” of the Catacomb Church, which took place in various
places between March and August, 1928. He signed the decisions of the
Council through the priest John (Lysenko?). However, he did not accept its
eleventh canon, which decreed that the “worshippers of the Name of God”
had been unjustly excluded from the Church and should be received “with
honour, as confessors of the Faith”.

In December, 1928, Bishop Peter fell ill with an unknown disease, and in
the same month, as he writes, "I was arrested [in connection with the Ufa
branch of the True Orthodox Church] and taken to the GPU in Ufa.”
According to Nina Ivanovna Pashko, he was accused of reading prayers over
sick people in church, and they demanded money from him. “I could not go
up the stairs, and the GPU carried me on their arms. 7 people were arrested
with me: Priest John Lysenko, who served in Chetveropetrovsk, Cosmas
Panchenko, who served in Kuznetsovskaya, Michael Panchenko, who served
in Ryazanovskaya; four nuns: Maria Smolnikova, Aleutina Mikhailovna,
Vera Salnikova and Christine Pashko. We were in prison from December,
1928. In April, 1929, a show trial was carried out on us; it began on the
Monday of Holy Week and continued every day for the whole week. On Holy
Saturday at 6 p.m. they read out the sentence: for Maria Smolnikova and
myself - two [three] years imprisonment followed by five years free exile
outside Bashkiria; for John Lysenko - one year; for Cosmas and Michael
Panchenko - one year and five months; for Aleutina Mikhailovna and
Christine Panko - six months. The priest John Lysenko and the Panchenkos
completed their tems and were freed, while Maria and I were freed after one
year and nine months in prison.

"270 of us were put into one barracks. They read out a list of the sentences
and declared:

"'Go to whatever town you want and feed yourselves at your own expense.
And look for flats yourselves.'

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"We left the barracks in June, 1930.

"The village soviet had five bishops and 450 priests and deacons living in
exile in flats. We all came together to pray in one church. At this time they
published in a Russian newspaper Metropolitan Sergius' declaration to the
effect that Orthodoxy was triumphing in our country, that no one was exiled
or arrested for church activity, and that those who had been exiled were
enemies of Soviet power. When we read this newspaper, there was great
weeping in the church. Everyone wept, and when we began to sing "O fervent
protectress", the whole church was sobbing.

"On July 10, 1930, I was released from exile because we had made a
petition to Moscow to the chief administration of the GPU that we had been
wrongly sent to exile in Archangelsk. I wrote that the court had condemned
me to two years in prison and five years of free exile, but they had sent us into
exile. A paper arrived from Moscow saying that we should be freed, and on
July 11 they let us out. We were allowed to go anywhere except to five cities.
We chose the city of Asha, and moved there on July 20. Since we had no flat,
we settled in citizen Kholodilina's apiary in the wood. There we lived for five
months. When they arrested us, they took us to Chelyabinsk. There they
interrogated me several times:

"'Why do you not recognize Metropolitan Sergius and open a church

illegally?'

"I replied: 'I cannot recognize Metropolitan Sergius because he was a

renovationist and according to our holy canons he has illegally taken the
place of the locum tenens of the patriarch.'

"Then I was sent from Chelyabinsk to Sverdlovsk. After my departure

Alexandra Kryshkova arrived in Chelyabinsk and asked about me:

"'Where have you taken Vladyka Ladygin?'

"They replied: 'Do you want to see him?'

"She said: 'Yes.'

"They gave her a paper and pencil and told her to sign. She signed, and
they immediately arrested her and took her to Chelyabinsk prison, where
Olga Kryshkova, Maria Smolnikov and Christine Pashkova already were.
They were all amazed and both rejoiced and wept. They were all in
Chelyabinsk prison about a year and then were all given three years in the
camps, while I was kept in a cellar in Sverdlovsk for six months before being
transferred to a general block. At the end of 1931 I was taken to Moscow,

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where I was kept in Butyrki prison for one and a half months. From Moscow I
was sent to Yaroslavl, where I remained for two years. When I had completed
my term, I was freed."

Priest John Proklovich Lisenko was born in 1880. On July 20, 1931 he was
arrested in a group case with Bishop Peter. He was sentenced to three years in
the camps. On November 28, 1937 he was arrested and sentenced to death. On
December 17 he was shot.

Last Years

In 1933 Bishop Peter was given a passport in Ufa, and went to his
homeland of Glazov, where he remained in hiding for two and a half years.
According to one source, Bishop Peter recovered from his illness in January,
1934, and lived in retirement in his see, serving the early Liturgy on feastdays.
Neither the ruling bishop, Rufinus, nor the people recognized Metropolitan
Sergius; they formed an autocephalous church. We have a letter from Bishop
Peter and Bishop Rufinus to Bishop Gabriel [Chepura?] of Akkerman asking
for a litre or half a litre of holy chrism because they had neither pure oil nor
anything to boil the chrism in.

After two-and-a-half years, writes Bishop Peter, "I was again summoned to
Ufa, where Bishop Rufinus wanted to arrest me. In May, 1936 I left Ufa for my
homeland, while all the above-mentioned citizens carried out their sentences
in the camps. While they were in the camps they were forbidden to wear
crosses. Maria Smolnikova and Olga and Alexandra Kryshkova did not
agree, and were given three more years free exile and were sent to Vologda.
My relatives and I went to visit them twice. I remained in my homeland until
1937, in which year I went to Kaluga and remained there until 1940. In July
we were moved to Beloretsk [in Bashkiria], where we lived until 1945. We
lived quietly, cultivating the soil and praying in the house. This was
displeasing to the enemy, and he found some people who betrayed us to new
sufferings. So let the believers know how the pastors suffer for the purity of
the Church..."

Nun Eudocia, in the world Olga Vasilyevna Kryshkova, was born in 1903
in Ufa province. She was a nanny in a kindergarten. She was a reader for
Bishop Peter. On December 5, 1945 she was arrested and sentenced to ten
years in the camps, and sent to Dubravlag. After being released she returned
to her homeland. Nothingr more is known about her.

Alexandra Vasilyevna Kryshkova was born in 1890 in Ufa province. On

December 5, 1945 she was arrested and sentenced to ten years in the camps,
and sent to Dubravlag. After being released she returned to her homeland.
Nothing more is known about her.

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During the war, according to Nina Ivanovna Pashko, Vladyka Peter lived
with an agronomist and was their cook during the Fast.

In 1945 Bishop Peter was arrested in Ufa and sentenced to five years’ exile
in Central Asia for belonging to the True Orthodox Church. At the time of his
arrest, he appears to have been serving in Saratov (his predecessors Bishop
Job and Bishop Dositheus had already been sent to the camps). At the railway
station a large number of people appeared and tried to abduct him, and the
soldier who was accompanying him and the station guard had to shoot. The
local newspaper reported: "Wretched and hysterical women tried to free their
'idol' and shamefully disturbed public order..."

When in exile, Bishop Peter hid there in the mountains. In 1948, according
to one source, he took part in the Catacomb Council of Chirchuk, near
Tashkent. From 1949 to 1951 he went into hiding in Belorussia and the Kuban.

According to another source, however, in 1944 Vladyka Peter and twenty-

five of his spiritual children decided to move to Central Asia. Having been
refused permission to live in any of the cities of Uzbekistan, they decided to
set off for the Tyan-Shan mountains of Kirgizia. There, in a very remote area
near the Chinese border, they built a skete with twelve cells and a church.
However, on November 22, 1951 they were spotted from the air, and all the
monks were arrested.

In 1951, according to Nina Ivanovna Pashko, Vladyka Peter was living

with her parents in Chelyabinsk, where she obtained for him an operation on
the eyes in the local hospital. After the hospital he went to the city of Glazov.

He was a tall man with an erect stance and long, white hair.

Bishop Peter united various groups of Catacomb Christians on the territory

of Soviet Russia. In his time he ordained many secret priests.

Vladyka Peter was blind for five years before his death. He reposed in
complete isolation on February 6/19 (or June 2), 1957, at 3 o'clock in the
morning, in the town of Glazov. He died sitting in a chair with his arms raised
and his fingers in a blessing position. He decreed in his will that he should be
buried without a coffin, according to Athonite custom. He was buried in the
city cemetery. On the grave is a short inscription: “Here lies the servant of
God Peter”. Catacomb believers who look after his grave witness that there
have been cases of healing from illness after prayers at his grave.

Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim, in the world Michael Konstantinovich

Tomin, was born on November 16, 1923 in the village of Barakovo, Orenburg

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province into a poor peasant family. He was baptised and communed on the
morning of his birth because they feared that he would not survive. When he
was three years old, it turned out that his legs were severely crippled and he
could not walk. His parents took him from the village to an exiled professor,
Alexander Afanasyevich Barabin. Barabin, a deeply believing person,
examined him and said: “This child does not have a physical illness. Go to
Schema-Monk Zosimia.” This great clairvoyant eldress healed the child and
foretold that he would be a monk. Immediately Misha began to walk and
read, he began to pray a great deal, and he did this with love.

At the age of five, Misha began to read in church. They made a little
sticharion for him. Once, at the Small Entrance, he went through the Royal
Doors ahead of the priest. “Minushnya will be a priest,” said Fr. Gregory.
From the age of six the child was chanting in the choir. And standing on a
little stool, he would read the Apostle and the Hours. Fr. John loved him very
much, and often, on a cold and snowy winter’s day, he would wrap him in a
sheepskin coat and carry him into the church. His father did not allow him to
pray at home, and so he prayed at nights until the morning in front of a cross
on the common grave of those who had died during the famine of 1921. And
there he went to sleep. During the winter he would pray in the basement on
the potatoes until he fell asleep. He was at school for only one complete year.
Then they began to exclude him because of his faith. But the Lord preserved
the youth. When the regional inspector tore the crosses off all the pupils, they
did not touch Misha’s cross, but only threw him out of the class.

On the feast of the Annunciation, 1934, since almost all the churches in the
district were closed, the believers from twenty villages came together in the
church in Barakovo. The church could not accommodate all the people. They
began to ring the bells at four in the morning, and the service continued until
one in the afternoon. As Misha was entering the church in his sticharion, he
saw two NKVD officers dragging Fr. John out of the altar. They also arrested
the warden, two nuns and the ten-year-old Misha. All the arrestees were
locked into a hut for three days. Misha’s hat was in the altar, but he had put
on a little fur coat under his sticharion. Fr. John put his own skufya on Misha,
while he himself froze without anything on his head. Three days later Fr.
John was shot, while the others were sentenced to three years in prison.
Misha was released because of his youth. That night, he walked home for
seven kilometres through the frost. Then his father took a whip and thrashed
him so hard that his sticharion was cut to pieces. For three months Misha lay
without moving on the stove…

In 1937 all the churches began to be closed, and the priests arrested.
Michael’s father expelled him from his house. The youth built a cell for
himself in the courtyard, earning his living by repairing pails and tables,
building stoves and working as a smith. Then he decided secretly to dig out a
cave for himself. At night he would carry the earth in a sack to the river.

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Finally, the cave was ready. Only his father’s mother knew about it. She came
there to pray with her grandson. More than once she said to Michael: “Dear
one, he [your father] is going to kill you!...” “Let him kill me. I will be a
martyr,” Michael replied. In the cave Michael put a cross, made a coffin and
began to sleep in it after the manner of Eldress Zosimia. The cave was in a
kitchen-garden, and potatoes grew on top of it. More than once the Chekists
came from Sharlyk, broke the windows in the cell and took Michael to the
regional centre. But they had to release him because he was still so young.
However, when he was fourteen, they imposed income tax on him as though
he were an adult.

Michael’s father was not accepted into the communist party because of the
faith of his son. Once, on May 1, which coincided that year with the second
day of Holy Pascha, his father came home late at night and heard Michael and
his grandmother chanting: “Christ is risen!” The father said: “Are you going
to live the monastic life for long?” Unable to restrain himself, Michael replied:
“Forever, dad!” His father kicked him as hard as he could in the pit of the
stomach. Michael fell, and turned black. Then his father rushed out of the
house to drown himself in the river, but at the bank he saw a beautiful old
man in white garments walking towards him in the air and saying:
“Constantine, go back. Pull yourself together!” He turned back, and never
again beat Michael. Michael’s father told about this vision much later, when
he went to the front and thought he was not going to come back alive.

At the beginning of the war, in 1941, Michael was called up to the military
commissariat in Sharlyk. Michael, being a ryasophor monk, came in his ryasa,
skufya and bast shoes. In his satchel were some service books. The commissar
cursed and said: “Where did you come from looking like that?” Immediately
he was sent to a prison cell. The next day they tried to take from him his ryasa
and skufya, but he said that he would go to the front in his ryasa. At that time
Michael’s hair grew below his waist, but his beard had not yet grown. He was
sent on foot to Orenburg with a letter sealed with sealing-wax. For three days
Michael walked across the steppe chanting psalms, weeping and praying. The
regional authorities were also amazed seeing him in a ryasa. Michael handed
over the packet from Commissar Zaitsev to the Military Commissar. On
reading it, he said: “What, is he mad? He’s written about you: ‘Line him up
against the wall and shoot him!’ For what? We have a military code: if a priest
or monk does not wear his uniform, but remains in his ryasa, and with a
beard, then we have the right to send him to the front as a sapper, a medical
orderly, a cook or a carpenter. After all, you’re a carpenter and stove-mender,
arent’ you?” “Yes.” “We shall send you to Buzuluk, to the building section.”

And so Michael spent the first year of the war in the building battalion. The
frosts reached 40 degrees, and he walked around in his summer skufya. From
the wind and the frost his right eye went red. He was sent to the military
hospital in Orenburg, but the doctors there decided that they could not save

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his eye. After an operation he remained with one eye. He was classified as an
invalid, second class, and decommissioned.

In 1942 Michael became the spiritual son of Bishop Peter (Ladygin), who
was in hiding. The spiritual children of Vladyka Peter, about twenty-five
people in all, decided to set off with him to Central Asia. They dressed
Vladyka as an “Uzbek” and put him on a train to Tashkent. However, they
were not able to obtain permission to live in any of the cities of Central Asia.
And so they decided to go into the mountains of Tyan-Shan. They stayed in
Zhelal-Abad with a spiritual son of Matushka Zosimia, Ivan Elyanovich
Yeremenko from Orenburg, a participant in the Local Council of Moscow in
1917-18, who had miraculously escaped from the Bolsheviks. Here they
prepared themselves to flee into the mountains: they bought seeds, and
collected icons and service books. At night they set out for the Chinese border,
and for eight days travelled through deserted places. They struck camp on a
high plateau in the Tyan-Shan mountains of Kirgizia and built a skete with
twelve cells and a church. They lived according to the strictest rule of the
skete of St. Andrew on Mount Athos (Vladyka was an Athonite monk), and
slept only three hours in the twenty-four, praying without ceasing. There, in
1944, Schema-Bishop Peter tonsured Michael into monasticism and then
ordained him to the diaconate and priesthood with the name Misael. Fr.
Misael was responsible for the economy of the skete.

Seven years passed, during which nobody disturbed their isolation. But
then Fr. Misael suggested to Vladyka that they should go further into the
mountains. Vladyka replied: “No, I have to finish my life, but you must pass
through the school of suffering.” The monks were expecting arrest every day.

On November 22, 1951, the feast of the Mother of God “The Quick-
Hearer”, the liturgy was served and all the monks received Holy
Communion. Then they all saw an airplane in the sky. It spotted them.
Vladyka Peter was the first to be taken away. He was sent under house arrest
to Vyatka province, where he died in 1957. The rest, including Fr. Misael,
were arrested. Soon the brothers were given an amnesty and passports.
However, Fr. Misael was given a “wolf’s ticket” – he was allowed to live in
any populated place for no more than three weeks in a row. He wandered
throughout Central Asia. Then, exhausted from his endless moves, he decided
to run away. An All-Union search warrant was issued.

Secretly he went to Orenburg, to the flat of his sister. His appearance in the
church caused much joy. The next day, half the city knew of his arrival. A
search was begun. Sitting in the flat of his sister, he saw that police had
surrounded the whole block. He left his sister’s flat, having put a woman’s
coat and fluffy dress over his ryasa, and went into hiding with his uncle.
Then, in spite of a snow-storm, he left the city. Getting lost on the way, he
came to a village and knocked on the door of the last house. Under an icon of

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St. Nicholas, an old man, the father of the mistress of the house was lying on
the point of death. He turned to Fr. Misael and implored him: “Give me
Communion!” Fr. Misael had nothing with him. The old man made his
confession to Fr. Misael and then died. It turned out that these people had
lived a strict Orthodox life at home, and had not entered the collective farm.

Fr. Michael set off for Nemetskaya Sloboda, where he lived with German
sectarians. They knew that he was an Orthodox priest. Once Fr. Michael
blessed some water and began to drink it. They also wanted to drink it, but he
did not allow them, saying: “You mustn’t, you are of a different faith.” Soon
the masters of the house were baptized by Fr. Michael. Then he hid for nine
months in the only house in the sloboda where Russians were living. More
than once NKVD officers came out to interrogate the owners. When an officer
came in, he would usually sit on a cot while Fr. Michael was under the cot.
“That accursed one-eyed priest!” complained the NKVD officer. “An All-
Union search warrant has been issued for him, but we can‘t catch him!” Once
he had to sit in a well, and another time – in a ravine.

In 1955 Fr. Michael returned to Central Asia. There he was arrested and
sent into exile in Przhevalsk, Kirgizia. Nothing more is known about him
except that he became a schema-archimandrite in Orenburg.

Hieromonk Timothy (Nesgovorov). He was born in 1894 in the city of

Asha, Chelyabinsk province. In 1922-23 he fell into renovationism, and was
received back into the True Church through repentance by Vladyka Peter,
who in 1925 ordained him as a “reserve priest” (that is, a priest ordained
because of the extreme necessity in times of persecution, whose ordination
remained a secret until it became necessary to reveal it) on the instructions of
Archbishop Andrew of Ufa. In 1926 Archbishop Andrew blessed the “reserve
priests” to go to the parishes. He served in a prayer house. But thanks to his
fine sermons and close links with the people, Fr. Timothy acquired great
authority, to the extent that a renovationist priest was forced to leave his
parish while Fr. Timothy was invited to take his place in the church. Bishop
Benjamin (Troitsky) awarded him with a nabedrennik. In 1930 Fr. Timothy
was arrested, but ran away from prison four times. He was 19 years in prison.
His family became very poor, his matushka was not given work anywhere,
but she had five children, so she had to live by begging. Fr. Timothy was
released in 1948, and received monasticism together with his matushka.
Vladyka Peter blessed him to serve the large Tashkent community of the
Catacomb Church. In 1951 all the members of the community were arrested.
He was sentenced to 25 years, but was released after six years, in 1956… He
went to Asha, and with the blessing of Vladyka Peter went round the villages
and towns of Russia, serving the Catacomb Church. After the death of
Vladyka Peter, his flock was served by Fr. Timothy. He lived in the Caucasus

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for six years. He was in communion with the catacomb Hieromonk

Gerasimus (Zamesin) in Abkhazia (end of 1950s, beginning of 1960s).
Through the future Archbishop Lazarus (Zhurbenko) he petitioned
Archbishop Leontius of Chile to be received under his omophorion. He
tonsured two of his sisters into the mantia, and soon after this, in 1975, died of
asthma. He was 82 years old.

Hieromonk Theoctistus. He was ordained by him at the age of 20. There is

a photograph of him sitting next to Hieromartyr Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky)
of Ufa in about 1930. He was tall, well-built, with blonde, curly hair like the
holy great-martyr and healer Panteleimon. He served until 4 in the morning.
The parishioners used to complain that he took so long in serving. He died in
Irkutsk in 1973 or 1974.

Priest Victor. He often served with Vladyka Peter in Chelyabinsk. He died

at the end of the 1970s in Beryasha.

Priest Sergius. He lived in Yurga, and was also in Bashkiria, not far from
the city of Asha. He was shot in the 1930s.

Hieromonk Anthony. He was a cleric of Bishop Peter, who died in 1973 in

Tavda.

Hieromonk Gerasimus. He died in the 1960s in Salavakhy in Bashkiria. He

lived in the house of Deaconess Taisia, who died on February 2/15, 1993.

Hieromonk Innocent. He often served with Vladyka Peter. After being

released from prison, he lived at the station in the name of Rosa Luzembourg
near Chelyabinsk. He died in the 1970s.

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Fathers Michael and Cosmas. They were brothers-in-law. When they were
released, Fr. Michael immediately went to Vladyka in Asha, and did not even
go home to his family.

Priest Michael Panchenko. He was a spiritual child of Vladyka Peter. He

was arrested for the first time in 1928. Together with Vladyka, he was arrested
in 1930, spent three years in a camp, and then three years in exile. In 1937 he
was again sent to the camps for three years. From 1940 he served in secret in
Ufa. In March, 1948 he was again arrested and sentenced to 25 years in the
camps. Vladyka Peter wrote of him that he “bore the cross for the purity of
the Church”. Fr. Michael served in secret until the beginning of the 1960s in
Ufa, and the nearby villages, as long as his health allowed it.

Nun Cleopatra, in the world Xenia Kochetova. After the arrest of Vladyka
Peter she collected food from well-wishers and gave them to Vladyka and
other prisoners. She helped the clergy throughout the persecutions. She was a
very bold and ingenious woman. She died in Ufa.

The last nun in Asha, Mother Anastasia, died in 1994.

(Sources: "Kratkoye opisaniye biografii menye nyedostojnago

skhiepiskopa Pyotra Ladygina" (MS written in Bishop Peter's own hand,
1948); Tserkovnaia Zhizn', NN 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 1984; NN 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8,
1985; Schema-monk Epiphanius (Chernov), Katakombnaya Tserkov' na
Rossijskoj zemlye (MS, 1980); Vestnik Russkogo Khristianskogo Dvizhenia,
no. 128, p. 225, no. 150, pp. 249-50; Pravoslavnaia Rus', no. 22 (1451), 15/28
November, 1991, p. 5; N 14 (1587), July 15/28, 1997, p. 6; Bishop Ambrose
(von Sievers), "Istoki i svyazi Katakombnoj Tserkvi v Leningrade i obl. (1922-
1992)", report read at the conference "The Historical Path of Orthodoxy in
Russia after 1917", Saint Petersburg, 1-3 June, 1993; “Katakombnaya Tserkov’:
Kochuyushchij Sobor 1928 g.”, Russkoe Pravoslavie, N 3 (7), 1997, pp. 11, 39;
“Katakombnaya Tserkov’: Tainij Sobor 1948g.”, Russkoe Pravoslavie, N 5 (9),
1997, pp. 19, 24; Russkoe Pravoslavie, N 2 (16), 1999, p. 15; Russkoye
Vozrozhdeniye, № 20, 1982, pp.125-137; I.I. Osipova, “Skvoz’ Ogn’ Muchenij i
Vody Slyoz”, Moscow: Serebryanniye Niti, 1998, pp. 265-266;
“Novomuchenik Arkhiepiskop Andrej Ufimsky (1872-1937gg.)”,
Vozdvizhenie, N 13 (33), Spring, 2000, pp. 44-45; Nina Ivanovna Pashko, in
Pravoslavnaia Zhizn’, 52, N 10 (633), October, 2002, pp. 20-23; “Ustnie
vospominania raby Bozhiej N.I. Pashko o katakombnom dukhovenstve”,
Pravoslavnaia Zhizn’, 52, N 11 (634), November, 2002, pp. 27-29;

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http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/;
http://catacomb.org.ua/modules.php?name=Pages&go=page&pid=1048;
http://catacomb.org.ua/modules.php?name=Pages&go=print_page&pid=12
66; http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/bashkir.html)

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25. HIEROCONFESSOR BENJAMIN, BISHOP OF BAIKI

and those with him

Bishop Benjamin (Fyodorovich Frolov) was born in 1863 (1864) in the

village of Ichkinskoye, Shadrinsk uyezd, Perm province into a peasant family.
He went to a village school. In 1878 he was orphaned and was forced to leave
his native land. In 1886 he became a singer in the hierarchical choir in
Yekaterinburg. In 1892 he was tonsured in Perm. In the same year he was
ordained to the diaconate and priesthood. He served in Perm until 1904,
when he was raised to the rank of igumen and appointed superior of the
Hodigitria Chuvash monastery near Bugabash, Belebeyevsky uyezd, Ufa
province. In July, 1910 he took part in the triumphant meeting with Great
Princess Elizabeth Fyodorovna when she visited the area. On August 30, 1915
he was raised to the rank of archimandrite. On April 10, 1917, at his request,
he was relieved of the post of superior of the Hodigitria monastery, and he
remained in retirement there. On November 11, 1917, after the dissolution of
the monastery, he and other brothers moved the village of Papanovka, and
from there, in 1918, to the St. George women’s monastery in Usy-Stepanovka,
Birsk uyezd, where he lived in retirement helping the monastery priest.

On March 2 (or October 15) , 1923 he was secretly consecrated as Bishop of

Baiki (Aksinsk), a vicariate of the Ufa diocese, by Bishops Trophimus
(Yakobchuk) of Birsk and Irenaeus (Shulmin) of Kushvin (or by Archbishop
Andrew of Ufa) in order to resist the renovationist schism and preserve the
Orthodox hierarchy. The ordination was later recognized by Patriarch Tikhon.
On November 15, 1923 Bishop Benjamin began serving in the church of the
Archangel Michael in Baiki (Baikal), ordaining priests and sending appeals to
the people. On December 19, 1923 he together with Bishop John (Polyarkov)
of Davlekanovsk consecrated Alexis (Buj) to the episcopate in Ufa. This
ordination, too, was recognized later by Patriarch Tikhon. In 1924 he was
arrested in Baiki and taken to prison in Ufa, but was released because of his
old age. On March 16, 1924 he signed the resolution of the bishops of the Ufa
diocese on the uncanonicity of the Episcopal consecrations performed by
Archbishop Andrew of Ufa for the Ufa and Zlatoust dioceses when he was in
exile in Tedzhen, and on the banning of the vicar-bishops he had ordained -
Pitirim (Ladygin) of Nizhegorod, Anthony (Milovidov) of Ust-Katavsky and
Rufinus (Brekhov) of Satkinsk – from serving. In the same year he went into
retirement in the St. George monastery in Usy-Stepanovka, which had been
transformed into an agricultural artel. In September, 1928, the monastic artel
in Baiki was dissolved, and its inhabitants were removed from the territory of
the monastery. In the same month Bishop Benjamin was invited by
parishioners to move to Baiki. There he lived at the expense of believers,
sometimes taking part in services.

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According to one (dubious) source, he took part in the “Nomadic Council”

of the Catacomb Church in 1928.

In 1929 the authorities proclaimed a “collectivization week” in order to

activate a campaign of forced collectivization. The believers feared, not
without reason, that this would lead to the closure of the church. Vladyka
Benjamin and Priest Alexander Yakovlev of the Archangel Michael church
called on believers to fast and pray for the preservation of the church without
waiting for the Christmas fast, which was three weeks away. The authorities
decided that this “week of unusual fasting” was deliberately declared by the
clergy in order to undermine collectivization, and on November 14 Bishop
Benjamin was arrested and cast into prison in Birsk. On February 26, 1930 he
was convicted of “conducting systematic anti-Soviet agitation, inflaming the
religious feelings of the population and by all means resisting the enterprises
of Soviet power, using the nuns who at his instigation conducted corrupting
anti-Soviet agitation among the believing peasants”. In accordance with article
58-10 he was sentenced to five (ten) years in the camps and was sent to the
north. On April 7, 1934 he was released because of his invalid condition. He
did not return to Ufa province and probably died in exile in the 1930s.
According to other sources, however, in 1940 or 1941 he was arrested and
sentenced to 10 (?) years in the camps and sent to a camp. He was still in camp
in 1948, but was somehow in communication with those outside and took part
in a Catacomb Council in 1948. In 1949 he was released, but exiled to Yakutsk,
where he died in 1959.

Priest John Ioannovich Balkov was born in about 1900, of Yakut

nationality. He was ordained in 1922. He took part in the rebellion of the
Yakuts against Soviet power. From 1928 he went into hiding, his family was
shot. He was never arrested. According to one (dubious) source, he
represented Bishop Benjamin at the Council of 1948. He died on January 6,
1987.

(Sources: M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha Tikhona, Moscow: St.

Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1994, p. 966; Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N 14 (1587),
July 15/28, 1997, p. 7; Bishop Ambrose (von Sievers), “Katakombnaya
Tserkov’: Tainij Sobor 1948g.”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 5(9), pp. 20, 26; Za
Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, pp.
241-142; I.I. Osipova, “Skvoz’ Ogn’ Muchenij i Vody Slyoz…”, Moscow:
Serebryanniye Niti, 1998, pp. 279-280;
http://www.pstbi.ru/bin/code.exe/frames/m/ind_oem.html?/ans;
http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/bashkir.html)

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26. HIEROCONFESSOR BARNABAS, BISHOP OF

VASILSURSK
and those with him

Bishop Barnabas, in the world Nicholas Nicanorovich Belyaev, was born

on May 12, 1887 old style (according to another source, May 5, 1881) in the
parish of the Holy Protection in the village of Ramenskoye, Bronnitsky uyezd,
Moscow region, from simple and pious parents - the factory worker Nicanor
Belyaev and Claudia Smirnova, the daughter of the deacon of the country
church of Dorka. In spite of the ardent desire of both parents, they had no
children. For 18 years they prayed to God and St. Nicholas to give them a
child - a boy. The mother went frequently to a chapel near Sukharevaya tower
in Moscow and prayed with tears in front of the icon of St. Nicholas. She
vowed that if the Lord heard her she would lead him to be spiritual person,
devoted to the Church and not to the world, and that she would name him
after St. Nicholas. During one of the mother's serious illnesses, a council of
doctors declared that she would never have children. A little more than a year
later, in the week after the spring feast of St. Nicholas, and after 17 years of
barrenness, a boy was born and called Nicholas. Only the priest proposed that
he be named, not after the hierarch Nicholas, but after Blessed Nicholas, the
fool-for-Christ and wonderworker.

Nicholas was the only child of his parents, and they reared him in faith and
piety. As he wrote in his biography: "the atmosphere created by the prayerful
disposition of my mother had a good, sweet, grace-filled influence on my
soul." She died on the feast of the Annunciation, 1903 or 1904. The young
Nicholas acquired strong religious feelings from his mother. Once he went to
venerate an icon of the Mother of God which was 12 versts away. After the
all-night vigil, he decided not to stay the night, although it was about to rain,
but to go home, thinking: "I must suffer something for the sake of my love for
the Mother of God. Knights freeze in front of the windows of their beauties in
spite of the bad weather. All the more should I do this for the 'Bride
Unwedded'!" On the way back it poured, and he was soaked to the skin. In
the morning he went to the Liturgy. But suddenly an inner voice said to him:

"Go home now, otherwise it will be bad for you."

After some hesitation he went home. Hardly had he arrived when he felt
so weak that he could move neither hands nor legs. He had a terrible
rheumatism of the joints. But although he was suffering greatly, he did not
allow the doctor to be called, but relied rather on prayer to the Mother of God.
His prayer was immediately answered. His pain went, he got up and went
down to his relatives, completely healthy.

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Once when he was between ten and twelve years old, his mother and his
aunt went in fulfilment of a promise to the relics of St. Sergius in Sergiev
Posad, taking Nicholas and his cousin with them. When they came up to the
shrine, a monk standing at the feet of the saint turned to Nicholas. Taking
some coins that were lying on the broad shelf of the coffin as if from the hand
of the saint himself, he gave them to Nicholas and told him to buy two books
with them - one for himself, and the other for his cousin; for himself - the
famous Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven by St. Innocent,
metropolitan of Moscow, and for his cousin - the well-known speech of
Professor Klyuchevsky on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the day of
the repose of St. Sergius.

The monk's action seemed strange and significant. The way in which he
specially turned to him and insisted on his buying the book, his mother's
acquiescence and the blessing as if from the saint itself - all this struck
Nicholas. He bought the book and forgot about it.

"Not because I was disobedient," he recalled later, "but simply because the
time had not yet come for God's will to be fulfilled and for my soul to respond
to the voice of God Who was calling me. Later the monk's action seemed to
me to be prophetic."

While he was preparing for a competitive examination, he was rummaging

among his books and came upon the above-mentioned brochure by
Metropolitan Innocent, which had lain there for almost 10 years. He began to
read it, and everything he read there was completely contrary to the path in
life he was intending to take. He was intending to build material houses, but
there it was written that "people were not created to live only here, on the
earth, like animals which disappear after their death, but exclusively in order
to live with God and in God, and to live not 100 or 1000 years, but eternally."
The words of the ascetic hierarch promised that "if a person who seeks with
all his heart to go along the path to the Kingdom of Heaven, for every piece of
work, and every sorrow, and every victory over himself and every restraint of
himself, for every deed and even every good intention and desire, he will be
rewarded seventy times seven in this life; while it is impossible to speak about
or imagine what awaits him there. And so, brethren, follow Him, hurry and
do not delay; go while the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven are not yet closed
for you."

The grace of God did its work, and immediately after the examination, in
the summer of 1909, he made his way first to Sarov and then to Optina desert.
In Optina he met the great elder Barsanuphius. Two Nicholas Belyaevs came
to the elder at about this time. The one, the future elder and hieromartyr
Nicon had already been taken on as the elder's secretary. To the other's
request the elder thought a little and then said:

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"Well, where shall we take you? You can't do the general obediences, your
health is too weak, while the post of secretary is already taken."

And he blessed him to study.

On parting Elder Barsanuphius blessed Nicholas with an icon of the

Nativity of Christ, on the back of which he wrote: "A blessing for a new
spiritual life. The commemoration of St. Abraham of Smolensk. Read his life.
August 21st, 1909." St. Abraham was born in response to the prayer of pious
parents, upon whose death he received the tonsure and assumed the exploit
of foolishness for Christ. On becoming a priest and an experienced spiritual
father, St. Abraham acquired many spiritual children in the city. Two main
thoughts were imprinted in his heart: the memory of the Terrible Judgement
and of the toll-houses. Many came to him from the city, repented and changed
their lives. Then the devil raised a persecution against Abraham. They
accused him of being a heretic and a fornicator. A council was convened, and
the saint was condemned. Abraham had two devoted disciples. All these
events were later repeated in the life of Bishop Barnabas.

In 1910, Nicholas left high school with a gold medal. That summer he met
Elder Alexis (Sobolev) of the Zosima Hermitage and became his spiritual son
and novice in the hermitage. Having already some idea of eldership, he began
immediately to write down the elder's replies, knowing that they were to be
carried out.

"All the replies that I have given you so far," said the elder to him later, "are
in force and true, and if you do not carry them out, then you are guilty and
not I. You must ask forgiveness and repent... As regards your soul - I take
everything onto myself..."

The young novice was interested in everything. What prostrations should

he do on entering the church? Should he clean his teeth or eat sweet things?
What language was he to study - French or German? Should he reply to the
blasphemous works of the atheists which he had to read in the Academy, or
not? Should he read foreign authors? Should he ask his friends for books?
Could he add some prostrations to the number Fr. Barsanuphius had
prescribed? Should he look in the eyes of the person he was talking with, or
not? How was he to struggle with his flesh? What should he do if someone
comes into the church and greets him? Could he go for walks? Could he read
secular literature? Was he allowed to abuse heretics? How was he to read the
Holy Scriptures? etc. The elder replied to all these questions.

In April, 1911 Nicholas petitioned the rector of the Moscow Academy,

Bishop Theodore (Pozeyevsky), the future hieromartyr, that he ask
Metropolitan Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) for permission to receive the
monastic tonsure. Permission was granted, and on November 7 (according to

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another source, June 11), in Zosima Hermitage, Nicholas was tonsured by

Bishop Theodore with the name Barnabas in honour of the Apostle Barnabas
and Elder Barnabas (+1905) of Gethsemane skete.

Before his tonsure Elder Alexis gave him the following advice: "Let your
motto and prayer for the whole of your life be these words: Receive me, O
Lord, into Thy paternal embrace and do not release me whatever happens to
me throughout my life. May I always be Thine."

Two or three years after this tonsure, Bishop Theodore was visited by the
famous Elder Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel. Vladyka called all those whom
he had tonsured, about 15 to 20 people, into his room. When they were all
sitting at the table and Vladyka began to recommend several of those who
were newly tonsured, the elder at the name of Barnabas said, without talking
to anyone in particular:

"When they tonsured him and I heard about it, I thought: a new Fr.
Barnabas has been born."

And his eyes became bright and smiling.

This was the beginning of Fr. Barnabas' acquaintance with the great elder
Fr. Gabriel (Zyryanov). "Batyushka would talk," Vladyka Barnabas
remembered later, "and I listened attentively, not lowering my eyes from him.
It's hard to believe that it really was all like that. Batyushka was sitting all
white, like the moon, peaceful, joyful, while through the window it was a
quiet evening and a strong, sickly sweet smell of jasmine came up from the
garden...

"It was good to sit with the elder Fr. Gabriel those quiet warm summer
evenings... I was going through a particularly difficult period in my life: the
transition from the noetic Egypt through "the Red Sea deep"... And to meet
such a Moses on the way was exceptionally sweet and, as I see now,
absolutely necessary."

In 1911 Fr. Barnabas entered the Moscow Theological Academy, and in the
summer he was ordained to the diaconate, and in 1913 – to the priesthood.
While he was studying in the Academy, Fr. Barnabas got to know the very
strict life of the monasteries and sketes which were around the Trinity - St.
Sergius Lavra, which made a great impression on him.

In 1913 Fr. Barnabas was ordained to the priesthood, and during the last
year of his course, he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and returned in
the summer of 1914 because of the beginning of the world war. In 1915 he
graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy and on September 11 was
sent as a teacher to the Nizhegorod theological seminary, where he taught

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homiletics until the summer of 1918. At one point he was the abbot of the
Staro-Golutvinsky monastery in the Moscow diocese. In 1919 he became the
secretary of Archbishop Eudocimus (Meshcherksy) of Nizhni-Novgorod.

On February 29, 1920, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, he was consecrated

bishop of Vasilsursk, a vicariate of the diocese of Nizhni-Novgorod, by
Archbishop Eudocimus and Bishop Michael of Arzamas in the church of the
Ascension, Nizhni-Novgorod. He had been blessed to accept this consecration
by three holy elders: Schema-Archimandrite Barsanuphius of Optina,
Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel of Spaso-Eleazar Monastery and Elder Alexis
of the Zosima hermitage.

At the beginning of August, 1920, Bishop Barnabas was transferred to the

Pechersk monastery, becoming Bishop of Pechersk, the senior vicariate of the
diocese of Nizhni-Novgorod. From October 20 to March, 1921 he was in
retreat in the Zosima hermitage. In March he returned to Nizhni-Novgorod.
He often served and took confessions. When he confessed people, he asked
the penitent in detail about all the details and circumstances of his sins, even
the most secret. And he did this until he was convinced that everything had
been said and that no hidden, dark corners remained where the devil could
weave his nest and again start to lay his snares, drawing the soul down
towards destruction. Vladyka would give a sermon at almost every one of his
services, calling on the people to repent and make a correct, sincere
confession:

"This is the second day on which you have heard the canon of St. Andrew
of Crete, in which sins are called by their own names, as they are in life,
without any kind of concealment. You know from yourselves that it is hardest
of all to repent of sexual sins, saying everything in detail, as it was in reality.
The whole difficulty lies in the fact that few people call things by their names
in confession. It is necessary to say everything to the smallest details,
describing its whole essence. There are plenty of good examples for us in the
Bible, where sins are named directly by their own names, where the falls into
sin are described in every detail..."

For this he was besieged by demons. Sometimes they would take him by
the throat, physically preventing him from serving. Sometimes he came from
the church to his cell exhausted and tormented. They visited him also at
home, sometimes even in broad daylight in their own form. Once they took
hold of his right hand so that he could not cross himself or move his hand,
and felt a very strong pain. He called on the name of God: at first it did not
help, and the bishop was puzzled. Perhaps he had sinned in some way that he
could not remember and so had angered God. Then he turned for help to the
Mother of God and immediately received it.

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After his return from Zosima Hermitage, Bishop Barnabas was appointed
to the consistory to deal with divorce matters.

At this time he was close to the blessed Eldress Maria Ivanovna of

Diveyevo, who, already in 1919, some three years before the event, had
prophesied that he would take upon himself the feat of foolishness for
Christ's sake and be put in a psychiatric hospital for three days and then live
with private citizens.

Once Vladyka sent a message to Maria Ivanovna asking her whether he

could write books.

"Let him write," she replied.

It was the baking summer of 1922, when the renovationist schism,

supported by the Bolsheviks, threatened to destroy the ship of the Russian
Church. On June 20, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), Archbishop
Seraphim (Alexandrov) and Archbishop Eudocimus (Meshcheryakov) signed
a declaration uniting themselves to the renovationists.

On July 19, 1922 there was a meeting of the clergy of Nizhni-Novgorod in

the Diveyevo podvorye, at which it was resolved to recognize the
renovationist church administration. The resolution was signed by
Archbishop Eudocimus and Seraphim, and by Bishops Michael, Barnabas and
Macarius. Or rather, that was what they said in the newspapers, but in reality
it was not quite like that - Bishop Barnabas did not sign all the points of the
declaration. That is why the patriarch did not demand his repentance or a
petition that his episcopate be returned to him, as he demanded of
Metropolitan Sergius and several others.

"Now he must be patient," said Blessed Maria Ivanovna. "He must hold
onto the old, nothing new, everything in the old style. He must spit on the
ukazes, let him not go anywhere, there is nowhere for him to go. He mustn't
listen, they won't drive him anywhere. That would be the same as taking off
one's cross and becoming a Jew, wouldn't it?… He must be a bishop and reject
sin. The people need him, he cannot be an ordinary person."

It became impossible for Bishop Barnabas to rule his diocese while the
ruling hierarch, Eudocimus, was a renovationist. (Already for a long time
Maria Ivanovna had called him a red candle, a red hierarch.) So he left
Nizhni-Novgorod in order to offer his repentance to Archbishop Theodore at
the Danilov monastery. But Archbishop Theodore refused to accept him. So
he went to Zosima Hermitage, where Elder Alexis laid his epitrachelion on
him and gave him a penance.

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On the evening of September 29, 1922 all his problems received a fitting
resolution. "The elders," wrote Vladyka, "easily and freely blessed me to take
on the feat of foolishness for Christ's sake as the only way out of my present
situation, which threatened grave dangers for the whole of my spiritual life."

Fr. Alexis said: "Well, we [that is, he and Fr. Metrophanes] are locking you
up [that is, away from people, although not completely, not as a recluse]."

When Vladyka asked whether he could serve at home, Fr. Alexis said:

"God gives His blessing, that is a good work."

At the clinic he obtained a certificate that on October 16 he had been seen

by Doctor Lebedev because of "hysterical neurasthenia". This was in order
that it should not seem as if he had suddenly gone out of his mind, but that
his illness had been developing gradually, in accordance with the psychiatric
textbooks.

And so, on October 19, 1922, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Later, on October 22, the feast of the Kazan icon, he was released at the
petition of believers and settled in the private house of his spiritual children
Raphael Andreyevich Karelin and Elizabeth Germanovna Karelina. Raphael
Alexandrovich was a former satanist with great power in the demonic world,
who had been saved from destruction by Vladyka Barnabas, for which
Vladyka had to pay by suffering many attacks from the dark powers. After
Karelin's conversion, the demons appeared to the bishop and personally
confirmed the great authority he had had among them.

It was in this house that, with the blessing of Elder Alexis, he began writing
"The Foundations of the Art of Holiness". He wrote it in such a way that
anyone, and especially young people, could understand and profit from it.
During this period of his life he had no communications with anyone. Here he
was visited by Fr. Metrophanes, who had been sent by Elder Alexis; and after
a long conversation Fr. Metrophanes emerged to say that by the command of
Vladyka his spiritual children were to refer for the time being for spiritual
nourishment to Fr. Peter Topolev.

Vladyka Barnabas was several times arrested by the authorities and put in
prison. But he was soon freed because they could not prove that he was
healthy. They told his novice Valentina to take him way.

Once Vladyka was sitting and writing. There was a knock on the front
door. Realizing that this was the GPU, he got up, put the pages he had written
into a book and placed it on the shelf. The chekist came in and, without a

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moment's hesitation, as if he were a real magician, stretched out his hand and
took precisely that book from the shelf.

At the beginning of 1928 he went with his spiritual son Hieromonk

Cyprian and some other spiritual children of his to Kzyl-Ordu, where he tried
to found a secret monastery. There, according to one source, he met
Archbishop Andrew of Ufa, who persuaded him to reject the declaration of
Metropolitan Sergius and stop commemorating him.

According to one (dubious) source, he participated in the “Nomadic

Council” of the Catacomb Church through Monk Cornelius. He agreed with
the Canons but refused to sign them. Later, however, according to this source,
he affixed his signature.

Circumstances forced Bishop Barnabas to leave Kzyl-Ordu. Before leaving,

he fell ill with typhoid, but refused all medical help and recovered with the
help of God. It was in Kzyl-Ordu that Vladyka had a vision of the sign of the
Cross in the heavens.

They left Kzyl-Ordu on the feast of the Vladimir icon, August 26 /

September 8, 1931. On arriving in Moscow Vladyka settled secretly in
Ostankino, in the house of the brother of Valentina Dolganova, Vitaly, who
was the chief architect of Moscow in charge of the planting of trees and
shrubs. However, in March, 1933, Fr. Cyprian was arrested, and then they
came to arrest Vladyka Barnabas and his women novices Valentina and
Faina (Ivanovna Dolganova). Vladyka was at that time lying ill, so they left
him. When he had recovered a little, he himself went to the Lubyanka prison.
He said that his novices had been arrested and he had remained, so he had
come to find out what it was all about. The authorities told him to sit down
and wait. Then they arrested him.

The authorities tried to elicit a confession from his novices that he was
healthy, offering them freedom in exchange. But they stood firm and refused
to sign any testimonies. They were convicted of “creating a secret monastery”,
and were sentenced to three years' exile in the north in accordance with article
58-11. Faina was killed in exile in 1936, while Valentina died at some time
after 1985.

Bishop Barnabas and Fr. Cyprian were sentenced to three years in the
camps. Vladyka was convicted of “creating a secret monastery” and
sentenced in accordance with article 58-10. He served the beginning of his
imprisonment in the Biisk camps in the Altai. On the road to the camp, the
Lord revealed to him everything that was to happen to him in the first year
and even the detailed structure of the camp. And on the eve of every transfer
the Lord would reveal to him what was in store for him.

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Once he prophesied to Tatyana Shurakova, later the nun Magdalene, that

she would be freed on St. Elijah's day, after completing only two-and-a-half
years of her ten-year sentence. To the astonishment of all, she was freed on
that day. On another occasion, he called the camp hospital's doctor, Maria
Kuzminichna, by her secret monastic name of Michaela, although this was
known to nobody. And when she was freed, he prophesied to her that they
would meet again in Kiev, which came to pass.

The camp was occupied with the building of the Chuisk highway, which
stretched 626 kilometres from the city of Biisk to the border with Manchuria.
The bishop refused to work and received punishment rations. He was put in
the worst barracks, amidst the most inveterate villains. So as not to hear their
foul language, the bishop left the barracks and walked the whole day in his
long, yellow satin shirt along the outer wall. He spoke with nobody, and if he
said anything it was incomprehensible.

So the camp doctors certified him insane and he was sent to the prison
psychiatric hospital in the town of Tomsk, where he was visited by his cell-
attendant Vera Vasilyevna Lobzanskaya. Two months later, in the savage
winter of 1936, he was transferred to the Mariinsk camps. In March the “mad”
bishop was freed. On leaving the camp he changed his patronymic from
Nikanorovich to Nikolayevich, and his date of birth to 1883, and lived secretly
in a tiny room in Tomsk with Vera Vasilyevna. There they stayed in hunger
and cold, supporting themselves mainly from a kitchen garden, until the
beginning of the war in 1941. He was known as "Uncle Kolya".

In the Biisk camps Vladyka got to know Zinaida, the daughter of

Protopriest Sabbas Mikhailovich Petrunevich. Fr. Sabbas had been a teacher
of the Law of God until the revolution of 1917. He maintained friendly
relations with Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), and accompanied him
on his way into emigration. However, when Vladyka invited him to come
with him, he refused. At the beginning of the 1920s he became the rector of
the church of St. Olga in Kiev and the centre around which all the faithful
Orthodox Christians of the city gathered, becoming for them what Bishop
Theodore (Pozdeyevsky) was for the Christians of Moscow. When the Kiev
Caves Lavra was occupied by the renovationists, he invited the brotherhood
to go to his church. For this he was arrested and spent ten years in the
Aleysky camps in the Altai. Before the end of his sentence he was given
another ten years, and then another ten years. He died in camp.

Zinaida was a doctor who had been imprisoned for helping a bishop who
later betrayed her. She became Vladyka's spiritual daughter, and after leaving
prison he kept up correspondence with the people close to him through her.

Vladyka's major works were completed by the time of his arrest in 1933
and were kept in the earth until 1948, when it was revealed to him that there

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would be an emigration out of Russia and it would be possible to fulfil the

blessing of the elders and publish his works. For this reason in the autumn of
1948 he moved to Kiev and his works were transferred there from Nizhni-
Novgorod. Some of them had become corrupted through their long stay in
the earth, and he had to put in a great deal more work to restore his works to
something like their former state. During the last years of his life in Kiev
Vladyka worked on his earlier work "The Foundations of the Art of Holiness"
and on other works. These included lives of Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel of
Seven Lakes monastery, St. Seraphim of Sarov, several ascetics of the
nineteenth century, St. Synklitiki and St. Gregory of Agrigentum, a book on
Orthodox asceticism entitled "The Blue Ship", 16 notebooks and other books.

Vladyka was intolerant towards every kind of spiritual deception. Once a

nun brought him a book on Catholic spirituality and the stigmata, which she
greatly admired. Vladyka said:

"I will not touch this book, and you must not only not read it, but if you
give it to others, you will answer for it at the Terrible Judgement."

Once a secret nun whom he had known in the Altai came to him. She
exhibited certain signs of spiritual deception - feelings of great exaltation
during services, seeing the faces of some people for whom she was praying as
brighter than others, hearing sweet music, etc. She told the bishop that at the
command of an elder she prayed one thousand Jesus prayers at a time, and
asked whether she should add some more. But he told her to pray only ten -
but in such a way that her concentration was not interrupted while she
prayed. She thought this was trivial, but soon came back confessing with
contrition that she had been quite unable to pray ten Jesus prayers without
distraction. Then the bishop explained that God gives spiritual gifts not for
mechanical effort as such, but for humility - and humility comes only as a
result of pure prayer, while pure prayer is received only through humility.

While he was living in Kiev, he was offered the possibility of becoming a

bishop in the Moscow Patriarchate. But he refused, preferring to continue his
struggles, remaining in reclusion and obscurity, known to the world as "Uncle
Kolya" and to his spiritual children as their spiritual instructor and educator.
Contrary to the assertions of some writers, he did not bless his children to
take communion in the official church, which he called an "office".

Thus his cell-attendant, Nun Seraphima (Vera Vasilyevna Lobzanskaya)

writes: "Vladyka constantly, all the time sorrowed over the state of the
[official] Church and the loss by its hierarchy and clergy of the spirit of
repentance. He did not serve in contemporary churches, and recognized
neither Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) nor Patriarch Alexis (Simansky),
considering that the contemporary hierarchy substituted its own ideas in the
place of the teaching of Christ. He considered that 'now is a time of great

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sorrow for the Church', and did not even allow a lampada to be lit in front of
an icon, considered it to be a spiritual consolation which should not exist at
times of great sorrow."

Vladyka commemorated "every persecuted Orthodox episcopate" at the

Liturgy.

Among the sayings of Vladyka are the following: "The communists fight
against religion. Stalin himself has declared this for all to hear. For decades
they have preached this by pen and sword, and the fact that several churches
have now been repaired for the carrying out of Divine services by hirelings
who have broken their vows is simply a political trick and a temporary
'campaign'."

"One must force and constrict oneself at all times. One must not love the
conditions of salvation, even if they are paradise for prayer and piety."

"One must always consider oneself guilty, even if a clear lie has been made
against you. One must know that this has happened because of some sin
which was perhaps committed several years ago. Always reproach yourself,
humble yourself in such a way as to say to all that they say against you:
'Forgive me.' This is the quickest path to receiving grace, while others are very
long. On this path one does not need direction, while direction is necessary on
other paths."

"It is impossible to live on earth without a cross. God sends sufferings for
some sin you have committed."

"I demand nothing from you," Vladyka said to his spiritual children,
"neither non-eating, nor sleeping on bare boards, nor long prayers. Only
reproach yourselves for everything, at all times, in every place. This is my
advice to you and my most sincere desire."

For the sake of the publication of his works in the West, he got to know a
series of people who were far from the Church and Orthodoxy, about whom
it was revealed to him that they would in time leave for the West. Afterwards,
in 1972, this happened, but already after the death of Vladyka. He said: "I
must live by faith, write by faith, hide by faith, and preserve what is written
by faith, preparing for the publication of my works by faith..."

According to one source, he corresponded with Bishop John of Zaraisk,

and in about 1960 Bishop Vladimir (Stromberg) send him a letter through
intermediaries. According to the same source, F.I. Zhurbenko, the future
Archbishop Lazarus, tried to contact him, but Bishop Barnabas refused.

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Towards the end of 1961 he began to feel weaker. Forty days before his
repose, on March 25, 1963, he blessed the sewing for him of some hierarchical
vestments. Then, on April 17, he summoned his spiritual daughters and said:

"It's time to go home, home, I hear a voice... I don't want to. I'm held back
by my affairs. There is much I have to complete... There will be no better time
to do it... It is terrible to die, one must prepare oneself for it..."

In the forty days before his death he often repeated to his cell-attendant:

"I ask you only one thing: do not place your hope on men, hope only in
God."

On April 17 he summoned his spiritual children for a parting discourse.

From April 28, Vladyka could no longer lie down, but only sat in a chair. A
doctor examined him and said that he had an infarction or sclerosis. On April
30, he stopped eating and drinking. On May 3, Vladyka continued sitting in
his chair with closed eyes. From May 4, he no longer spoke. Vladyka
continued sitting in this chair with his head bent until his death.

Just before his death, on May 6, the feast of St. George, two tears rolled
down his cheeks. Then he quietly reposed. After his repose, his face lost its
shadow of sadness and looked younger and lighter.

At the request of Zina Petrunevich, Fr. Alexis Glagolev vested him in his
hierarchical vestments and celebrated his funeral service. He was buried in
the Baykov cemetery by the western wall of the church of the Protecting Veil
of the Mother of God.

Hieromonk Cyprian, in the world Constantine Alexeyevich Nyelidov, was

born on January 14, 1902 in Kazan (or Nizhni-Novgorod) in the family of an
oculist. His mother was from a family of Georgian princes; she left her
husband, and his father married again and moved to Nizhni-Novgorod.
Constantine was brought up by his grandfather and grandmother on his
stepmother's side, and studied at the Nizhegorod nobleman's institute. He
was a subdeacon, first with Bishop Barnabas, and then with Metropolitan
Sergius. In 1925 he was tonsured into the mantia and ordained to the
priesthood by Metropolitan Sergius. In 1928 Metropolitan Sergius sent him
from Nizhni to be with Bishop Barnabas in Kzyl-Orde. After a time Fr.
Cyprian was transferred to the little town of Aralskoye More. From there, in
1931, Metropolitan Sergius invited him back to Moscow. Arriving in August,
1932, he moved in with the brother of Valentina Dolganova, Vitaly Ivanovich
in Ostankino. After a time the retired Bishop Barnabas and his spiritual
children arrived there. Fr. Cyprian spent most of his time in the chancellery of
the Synod and in the church of St. John the Apostle on Tver boulevard, of
which he was the rector. In 1933 he moved to Pushkino. On March 15, 1933 he

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was arrested in Moscow and cast into Butyrki isolator. On May 5, in “The
Case of Bishop Barnabas, 1933”, he was indicted of “creating a secret
monastery” and of “conducting anti-Soviet agitation and counter-
revolutionary activity”, and was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10
and 58-11 to three years in the Siblag camps in the Altai, where he joined
Bishop Barnabas. In the camps he was given work on the soil, but was then
made a storeman. For his honesty he was slandered and sent on a punishment
battalion to inveterate criminals, who constantly abused him. But he was
always patient, calm and radiant. Fr. Cyprian died of tuberculosis in the camp
hospital on June 16, 1934, “in the flower of his strength”, as Bishop Barnabas
had prophesied. He was buried in Korkuchi cleft, where Nun Catherine later
laid a cross made out of stones.

Hieromonk Ruvim, in the world Boris Pavlovich Tsygankov, was also

close to Bishop Barnabas. He was born in the 1890s in the city of Vasilkov,
Kiev province, and became an officer in the Russian army. He lived in Kiev,
where he attended a student Christian circle. Then he moved to Nizhni-
Novgorod, where he was tonsured by Metropolitan Sergius. He moved
together with Bishop Barnabas to Kzyl-Ordu. Here he was the victim of
slander and calumny, and Metropolitan Nicander of Tashkent transferred him
a hot, putrid place - Turskul, where he was arrested and shot.

Hieromonk Rufinus, in the world Arcadius Petrovich Demidov, was born

in 1902 in the village of Bykovka, Vorotynsky uyezd, Nizhegorod province.
His father, the nobleman Paul Demidov, was a zemsky nachalnik until the
revolution of 1917. In 1926 Arcadius Petrovich was tonsured as a monk, and
in 1929 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Neophytus (Korobov).
Almost immediately after his ordination he was arrested and sentenced to
three years in the camps. There he became seriously ill, and had to crawl from
the camp to the train after his release. He served in the church of the village of
Bolshaya Rechka, Shakhunsky region. In the summer of 1937 he and Bishop
Neophytus and the priests of the Vetluga and Shakhunsky regions were
arrested and, as it seems, were shot in the autumn of 1937.

(Sources: "Anonimniy avtor. Kratkaya biographia Varnavy, episkopa

Vasilsurskogo (Nikolaya Nikanorovicha Belyaeva), 1887-1963", Materialy
Samizdata (Radio Liberty, Munich), no. 4/87, February 9, 1987;
Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 22 (1451), November 15/28, 1991, p. 6; Russkiye
Pravoslavnye Ierarkhi, Paris: YMCA Press, 1986, p. 19; Pravoslavnaya Zhizn',
45, N 1 (516), January, 1993; Hieromonk Damascene (Orlovsky) Mucheniki,
Ispovyedniki i Podvizhniki Blagochestiya Rossijskoj Pravoslavnoj Tserkvi XX
Stoletii, Tver: "Bulat", 1992, pp. 47-85; "Pravda o Vladyke Varnave, episkope
Vasil'surskom i vikarii Nizhegorodskom", Ekspress-Khronika, 16-23 June,
1994, N 25 (359), p. 6; M.E. Gubonin, Akty Svyateishego Patriarkha Tikhona,
Moscow: St. Tikhon's Theological Institute, 1994, p. 965; "Kratkoye

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Zhizneopisaniye Episkopa Varnavy", introduction to Bishop Barnabas,

Pravoslaviye, Kolomna: Holy Trinity - New Golutvin Convent, 1995; Bishop
Ambrose (von Sievers), “Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj Katakombnoj
Tserkvi 1922-1997gg.”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 4 (8), 1997, pp. 14-15; Za
Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, p.
214; I.I. Osipova, “Skvoz’ Ogn’ Muchenij i Vody Slyoz”, Moscow:
Serebryanniye Niti, 1998, p. 253; Za Khrista Postradavshiye, Moscow, 1997,
vol. 1, pp. 214, 566; P.G. Protsenko, “Dyadya Kolya’ protiv stalinskogo ‘raya’”,
http://www.pravmir.ru/episkop-dyadya-kolya-protiv-stalinskogo-raya;
http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans;
http://www.katakomb.ru/2/canon.html)

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27. HIEROMARTYRS AND

MARTYRS OF NIZHNI-NOVGOROD
PROVINCE

Priest Sergius A. Alfeyev served in Kurmyshsky uyezd, Nizhni-Novgorod

province, together with his wife Sophia Ivanovna and his daughter Julia
Sergeyevna. They were all arrested in 1917 and nothing more is known about
them.

Priest Alexander Almazov was born in 1873, and served in the city of
Arzamas, Nizhni-Novgorod province. In 1917 he was arrested, and nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Stefan Nemkov was serving in the church of the Holy Trinity in the
village of Deyanovo, Nizhni-Novgorod province. In 1918 he was arrested in
Deyanovo, and on September 8 he was shot together by the Bolsheviks
together with 18 parishioners.

Protodeacon Paul Xenophonovich Pechersky was serving the cathedral of

the Holy Archangel Michael in Nizhni-Novgorod, when he was arrested in
1918. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Alexeyevich Voskresensky was serving in the village of

Panovo, Arzamas uyezd, Nizhegorod province. In August, 1918 the rumour
went round that the Czechoslovaks were in Sobakino. A two-year recruitment
drive began and the peasants at a meeting decided not to allow their children
to join the Bolsheviks. They worked out a plan of struggle, took up arms and
asked Peter [Fr. Alexander’s son] to be their commander. And they asked Fr.
Alexander to serve a moleben before their rebellion. In September, the Red
Army soldiers came and took him and Peter to prison in Arzamas, where they
shot them – ten in all were executed. Matushka Maria Semyonovna went to
live in Arzamas, and there in 1935 two old men came up to her and fell on her
knees before her. Tearfully they said: “Matushka, forgive us for Christ’s sake.
It was we who slandered Fr. Alexander. It was we who said that he had
stirred us up to rebel against Soviet power…”

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Priest Michael Voskresensky was born in 1883 in the village of Teply Stan,
Nizhegorod province. In 1910 he began serving in the village of Bortsurmany.
He was arrested for ringing the church bell as if awaiting the arrival of
Kolchak. On September 9, 1918 he, Reader Eulampius Nikolayev, Nicholas
Migunov, Nicholas Nebasov and other laymen were shot. Not one of the
sixteen bullets that hit Fr. Michael killed him, so the executioners then had to
bayonet him.

Lydia A. Anikina was arrested in the Diveyevo region, Nizhni-Novgorod

province in 1918, and suffered for the faith.

Nun Paraskeva (Petrovna Anikova) lived in Arzamas uyezd, Nizhni-

Novgorod province. She was arrested in 1918, and suffered for the faith.

Archpriest Constantine Romanovich Podgordsky was born in 1860 in the

village of B. Tyvany, Simbirsk province into the family of a priest. He went to
Simbirsk theological seminary, and shortly after married Nadezhda
Dmitrievna, a priest’s daughter. He went to serve in the village of
Kirzhemany, at the junction of the Mordvinia, Chuvash and Nizhni-
Novgorod provinces. He was a zealous shepherd and benefactor: though he
possessed agricultural lands and income, the benefits from them did not go to
his family, despite the fact that he had ten (according to another source, nine)
children. With this money he built schools in the neighbouring villages,
where he himself taught reading and writing to the children. His matushka
likewise taught in school, and in addition they both headed the Temperance
Society. Fr. Constantine and his matushka were respected and loved by the
local residents, and it has come down to us that Batiushka possessed the
special gift of being able to see a person’s secret sins and, revealing them, to
skilfully bring him to repentance…

The revolution came to the Transvolga. The straightforward and honest Fr.
Constantine remained the same man under the new authorities, and when the
terrible news of the death of the Royal Family reached him, he, “without
respect of persons”, began to serve Pannikhidas (memorial services) for them.
The “comrades” quickly took notice of him: such a man obviously hindered
those who wanted to “level the churches and prisons to the ground” (though,
as we know, things turned out quite the opposite as far as prisons were
concerned). The last drop that overflowed the cup of patience of the new
authority’s representatives was the Liturgy served by Fr. Constantine on
October 25 / November 7, 1918. This was the day on which the

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revolutionaries, who had come to Kirzhemany to conduct the requisitioning

of farm produce (the “delegates”, as they were later called in the village),
were trying to organize a festive meeting in honour of the first anniversary of
the October revolution. But for some reason the anniversary of the new
authority did not call forth the anticipated enthusiasm from the local
residents. The “delegates”, having finished the agricultural requisitioning,
came for the grain and cleared away everything, including what belonged to
those whose sons were fighting in the Red Army.

For the most part, the people did not go to the meeting, but went to church
and celebrated the feast of Great-Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica. Also on
that day in the village according to a customary old pious tradition, the
people shared grain with those who had had a poor harvest. They shared
voluntarily: “He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had
gathered little had no lack” (II Corinthians 8.15).

The next day the militant proletariat burst into the church during services
and, tearing the priestly vestments from Fr. Constantine, dragged him out
into the street in his underwear and began to beat him cruelly. They beat him
for several hours, as the old residents of Kirzhemany later told their children
and grandchildren. Fr. Constantine, who was fairly strong, could perhaps
have put up some resistance – if not to save his life then at least to save
himself from terrible sufferings – but he resolved to endure everything to the
end… Later, after the beating, they harnessed the priest to a light carriage and
drove him through the whole village. The villagers, stricken with fear, locked
themselves in their homes and did not dare show themselves on the street.
When the sufferer had no more strength to pull the carriage, they put a horse-
collar on his neck and led him throughout the village, not ceasing to beat him
with a whip and with whatever else came to hand. (Fr. Constantine’s body
showed signs of the beating; a fractured skull, a broken-off finger, and the
marks of the whipping.) At the end, they dragged the now weakened priest
by the hair to the high church porch and crucified him on the church doors…

The next morning the church warden and the guard took Fr. Constantine’s
body down and, dressing him in priestly vestments, laid him in a pine coffin
into which they placed, along with the Gospel, the nails with which Fr.
Constantine had been affixed. The “delegates” did not permit them to bury
the priest in the cemetery, and Fr. Constantine was buried in wasteland
outside the village. God’s punishment did not wait long: on the return trip to
the city both “delegates” died when they fell through the ice along with the
cart on which they were travelling… All the families of the poverty committee
ceased to exist – neither children nor grandchildren remained. In 1931 they
removed the cross from the church. None of the villagers wanted to do it, so
they forced an adolescent to do it. He went to Kazan and soon died there.

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With time this horrible story was almost erased from the people’s memory.
The majority of witnesses were afraid even to hint at what had happened. But
all the same, some passed on the truth about the crucified sufferer to their
children and grandchildren, and showed them his burial site where, as local
inhabitants affirmed, several healings had taken place during the Soviet years.
At the place of his burial people had placed Orthodox crosses, but each time
the authorities removed them, and in the end the spot was forgotten.

In 1992, Fr. Alexander Nikitin, the superior of the Archangel Michael

Church in Bolshoye Ignatovo, situated a few miles from Kirzhemany, wanted
to locate the grave site of Fr. Constantine, about whose sufferings the local
residents had informed him. But he only succeeded in finding the site in 2001,
when the niece of one of Fr. Constantine’s spiritual daughters pointed out the
approximate location of the grave. Despite the fact that Fr. Constantine’s
grave site was only approximately known, on the morning of June 13 Fr.
Alexander along with several local inhabitants decided to carry out the
transfer of the martyr’s remains. When they began to dig after serving a
Pannikhida, they immediately discovered the grave and became witnesses to
something extraordinary. “I was bewildered in soul; there was a panic within
me” – this is how Fr. Alexander subsequently described his feelings, and with
good reason. Barely had they removed the turf from the surface of the ground
when everyone present immediately began to sense an amazing fragrance. At
a depth of about six feet they found the coffin, entirely whole, with straw
beneath it, which was also intact. (It was a local custom to spread grass or
straw in a grave and then place the coffin on top of it.) When they opened the
coffin they saw within it the priest’s body, dressed in incorrupt gold
vestments, and a Gospel with a bookmark in it. The Gospel could be leafed
through and read. The body itself, from which proceeded the amazing
fragrance, was likewise incorrupt and light-coloured. “We had hardly taken
the lid off the coffin when we discovered a stream of the purest water flowing
from underneath the boards,” recounts Nicholas Kondratyev, an inhabitant of
the village of Bolshoye Ignatovo. “They lifted the lid of the coffin and found
that inside was a black-haired priest with a long beard in a yellow riza – as if
alive!” A Gospel lay on the chest of Fr. Constantine. Fountains of the purest
spring water flowed from beside the legs and left shoulder of the priest. There
were signs of the terrible beatings on the body, and on his hands were the
wounds from the nails. In the coffin were four large forged nails, obviously
the ones with which Fr. Constantine had been affixed. The body was so well
preserved that a forensic expert who was present at the disinterment of the
body was even able to determine the cause of death (after eighty-three years!),
which was loss of blood. When the relics were brought to the surface, several
springs of pure water began to flow in the grave, where the coffin had been.

After the body had been placed in the ground it continued to emit the
fragrance and, despite all apprehensions, was not subject to any corruption
whatever for a significant length of time; it only quickly began to darken and

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soon became a dark brown colour, which is often the case with holy relics.
Soon afterwards, Fr. Constantine’s body was re-buried in the altar of the
Archangel Michael Church in Bolshoye Ignatovo. (There had been a large
wooden church in Kirezhemany, but it had been totally destroyed in the
1970s, and the remains had been carried off for firewood. However, to this
day pious residents have preserved pieces of the doors on which the martyr
had been crucified.) The broken-off finger, which became separated when Fr.
Constantine’s body was exhumed, was permitted to be preserved separately.
It was placed in a special small shrine which is carefully kept in the altar of
the Archangel Michael Church in Ignatovo. According to Fr. Alexander,
neither the strength nor the nature of the fragrance coming from the holy
relics has changed since the day they were exhumed. Even the icons in the
church of St. Michael began to stream myrrh.

After the uncovering of the relics healings began to take place, and from
such illnesses before which medicine is powerless: childhood cerebral palsy,
epilepsy and cancer… Fr. Alexander related something that took place before
everyone’s eyes: a child suffering from cerebral palsy was brought to the
coffin so he could kiss the relics. After this the wheelchair was rolled back, but
the child got on his feet and went over to the coffin himself to kiss the relics a
second time… And two singers whose voices sounded so beautiful in the
church turned out also to have been healed after both of them had been told
they needed surgery.

The body of the Hieromartyr is hidden beneath the earth, but people come
and ask from Pannikhidas to be served. They leave, and then send letters of
gratitude to Fr. Alexander - letters in which they inform him of their healing.
So far he has received 1,024…

Abbess Elizabeth was in charge of the monastery in the village of

Medyany, Nizhegorod province. In 1918 a punitive band destroyed the
monastery, and Mother Elizabeth, who was about eighty years old, was
beaten up and cast into a basement for a long time without food. However,
she survived, and went to live in the village of Kamenki, where she died.

Oranki was a monastery of the Russian nobility in the centre of Russia,

near Nizhni-Novgorod, on the Volga. In 1918 the communists abolished the
monastery and transformed it into a detention camp for 11,000 monks drawn
from all Russian monasteries. There were also parish priests along with
hieromonks and they had a bishop with them.

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In 1918 a military communist delegation came from Moscow and asked the
monks:

"Will you serve on our side or not? You have twenty-four hours to
answer!"

The bishop replied:

"It is too long until tomorrow! We'll give you the answer in ten minutes."
And then the bishop turned to the monks and asked them: "Brothers, now
you have the great opportunity to become martyrs for Christ! Do you want to
unite with the communists or to give your life for Christ and be numbered
with the martyrs? Don't be afraid! Christ is with us! He calls us to Him!" And
all replied with a single voice: "We want to die for Christ!"

And so all were shot in the head with a machine gun. They executed more
than 300 a day for a month, dumping their bodies in a ravine in the yard of
the monastery. Some were digging the pit, then they in turn were shot and
others replaced them until all were shot. The bishop was the last to be shot
and was buried sitting on a small chair among the other monks.

That was a massacre of Russian monks under the communists, unique in

the history of the contemporary Church. Nobody ever said a word about it,
nothing was ever written. I am the last Orthodox priest alive who is an
eyewitness to the discovery of their relics at Oranki, where I was a prisoner
between 1942-1948. I have written a book about those events, now under print
in Bucharest, called Oranki.

In the camp were 14,000 POWs from Stalingrad, Romanian, German and
others.

We needed toilets. The commander of the camp gave an order to dig a

large trench in the ravine behind the church. During the work the prisoners
unearthed the bones of the monks, dumped into the ravine.

Some Romanian soldiers came to me and said: "Father Bejan, we found a

trench full of bodies of monks, shot in the head, piled one above the other, all
dressed in black monastic habits. What should be done?"

"Dig further with care and see what you can find."

After a while they came back to me.

"Father Bejan, we found an old priest incorrupt, sitting on a stool. You can
see that he was shot in the head. He has around the neck a chain with a cross
and an icon of metal with the image of the Mother of God."

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"Brothers," I said to them, - "go to the commander and report to him. This
is a miracle. They are all saints, martyrs killed by the communists in 1918-20.
We cannot make toilets here!"

I recognized that the old priest was a bishop because he was wearing the
engolpion [panagia]. Unfortunately, the cross was stolen by the soldiers
digging the trench, who cut it and distributed the parts among themselves. I
saved the engolpion, but it was taken afterwards by the commander. I called
him to the site. All he said was, "Why is this sitting on a stool? Take him out
and bury him somewhere else like all people!" And he put me in charge.

I went to the camp shop and we made a solid oak chair. I seated him on the
chair and attached him firmly to the back. I sprinkled him and the other
bodies with holy water. Then we buried him like a bishop next to a well in the
monastery yard.

He was a true saint.

In that well the water bursts from time to time, according to the worthiness
of those who come to take water. In the summer, on the 6th of August, a
number of old priests, all former prisoners in the labour camps of Siberia,
gathered to perform the Holy Liturgy. We took part in the Liturgy.

The commander ordered that a solid oak box be made to protect the body.
I witnessed a miracle. When I took him out from among the other bodies, his
body stretched out as if he had just died then.

I had the opportunity to tell this story to two young Russian intellectuals.
One was of Romanian origin. These two men went to Oranki to search for the
bodies. But they could not approach the camp, which in the meantime had
been transformed into a prison for women. They strove to obtain official
approval to disinter them. But that is a difficult thing. Remember that 11,000
bodies constitute an army! This is the army of the Heavenly Emperor! Christ's
saints!

We just covered them back with earth. We made the toilets in other
locations. And so they remained known only by God's knowledge and mercy.
The two students managed to dig in the place indicated by me and from my
sketches. The found the skeletons, but they could not find the bishop, because
they were not permitted to dig deeper than two meters. They departed fully
convinced. They came to me and confirmed my words. In Russian there is not
the same religious freedom as here. The communist spirit is still very strong,
so they put off the matter indefinitely.

"What year did you find the relics?"

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"I found them in the fall of 1942. But they had been executed in 1918. The
priests and the monks had been asked them: `Do you come with us or not?'
And all answered: `No! We remain with Christ!' Then they were shot on the
spot, as I already told you."

"These bones are then the relics of saintly men!"

"Sure they are! True martyrs, like in the time of the Roman persecutions.
11,000 martyrs! Only monks and priests led by that saintly bishop. '1'here was
nobody around from the villages. Nobody since Roman times has killed so
many martyrs as the communists!"

"Did the authorities permit the two youths to take some of the bones?"

"No, nothing! They gave them permission only to ascertain the findings.
They pretended to know nothing. Why would they care?"

"I sent them to an eyewitness. In 1918 a rasophor monk from Oranki

managed to escape and was a miller in the taiga, on a river... His name was
Father Theodot. I met him in 1944-45 and he furnished me all the details
about the mass execution. He was the only survivor. I do not know how he
managed to escape. He was from the region. Maybe he hid somewhere."

“'How did you meet Father Theodot?'

“One severe winter we were taken to cut wood from a forest north of the
camp. We were guarded by the chasovoy, i.e. the armed civilian guard. As I
was straying alone through the forest, I came to a small house on the bank of
a small river. I knocked on the door. An old bearded man opened the door
and asked me who I was and what was I doing there.

"I told him that I was a prisoner from Oranki and that I was a Romanian
Orthodox priest. For more than thirty years he had not seen a priest. He
trusted me and I found out that he was a simple monk. He knew the entire
typicon. He was in possession of a book which he followed for his canon, in
the evenings after work.

"He was very pious. I don't think that he is still alive. He was always
kneeling every time I went there, urging me to kneel with him. He was saying
everything he knew; I helped him. We managed to get a Book of Hours
(chasoslov) from a Russian. "

“'Are you an Orthodox priest?' he asked me and started crying.

“'Yes,' I confirmed.

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“'Then I will tell you a great secret: I am a monk from the Oranki
monastery. My name is Theodot and in 1918, when I was young, I fled one
night to escape the killings. I built then this house and the mill. I never saw a
priest since I escaped from Oranki!'

"I then told him how we discovered the bodies of the monks shot and I
asked him:

“'What happened there, with all these monks?' "He told me, crying:

“'When they seized power, the atheist communists rounded up 11,000

monks and priests from all the monasteries. I was among them. Then some
mounted soldiers came and asked us: "Do you want to come with us?" But the
bishop and all the monks answered: "We won't come with you because you
are atheists! We want to die for Christ!"

"'I managed to escape. And they put them to dig a big trench hundreds of
meters long and shot them all in a month, the bishop being the last. They alone
dug the trench, they alone were covering it. But they were full of faith in Christ
and were living in fasting and prayer until the atheists killed them all'."

Sergius Trophimov was born in Nizhni-Novogord in a large and pious

family. His parents were very poor, and the monastery of the Exaltation of the
Cross, next to which his family lived, often gave them help.

Sergius became a soldier in the Russian army, and at the end of the First
World War, in April, 1918, he returned home from the front. The first thing he
did was go to the monastery to than God. It was Lazarus Saturday, April
14/27, and the nuns and pilgrims were cleaning the church in preparation for
Palm Sunday. At that moment an armed gang of Latvians entered the
monastery with a view to making an inventory of the monastery property and
stealing it. Abbess Maria expressed her disagreement. The people locked
themselves in the church and the bell-tower. The Latvians demanded the key.
The alarm was sounded from the bell-tower. The Latvians opened fire and
seriously wounded an old man who was coming out of the church to stop the
atheists from entering.

Sergius went up to the Latvians and said:

"Why are you firing at them? They are innocent people, why are you
firing?"

One of them shot and killed him.

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The Latvians retreated.

They served the All-Night Vigil and Liturgy. Many pilgrims remained to
spend the night in the monastery, so as to prevent its possible looting.

Sergius and the old man, who died from his wounds, were given a
triumphant funeral and then buried opposite the church, on the right side.

Deacon Basil Pavlovich Adamantov was born in 1892. He served in

Diveyevo uyezd, Nizhni-Novgorod province. He was arrested in 1919. His
wife Maria was also arrested, as were Anna Adamantova and Paraskeva
Adamantova, the wife of a deacon.

Blessed Dunyushka - her full name was Eudocia Alexandrovna Sheikova -

was born in a peasant family in the village of Puzo. Her mother Alexandra
died early, when Dunya was two years old, and her father Alexander married
again. Dunya's real mother was very pious, but her stepmother was of a
different spirit. She tried to kill Dunya's father with arsenic, and succeeded
when he was taken away to Siberia. Dunya herself said that for seven years
she had known that her step-mother was trying to poison her father, and had
told her father:

"Don't drink that water, look, it's muddy."

In the same village there lived Dunya's uncle and aunt. Dunya learned
piety from them and lived with them during her adolescent years. Uncle was
the churchwarden; prayer in church was not enough for them, and they
prayed a lot at home. When Dunya was nine, she and her friend Maria went
to Sarov, and there an elder knocked their heads together, from which
moment they lived side by side for three years. Maria would reap while
Dunya sat on the sheaves and sang. They always went to church together
hand in hand. Dunya would always walk in a warm scarf and homespun
coat, and never showed her face. In their youth they went to Sarov, Diveyevo
and Ponetayevka. Dunya recounted how they once sent to see Pelagia
Ivanovna in Diveyevo. She was feeding the doves at the fence. Dunya went
up to the fence.

"Go away, you scamp, don't scare the doves," said the cell-attendants.

Dunya cried and would not go away. She had a morsel in her hands, and
she threw that, too, to the pigeons. Pelagia Ivanovna said:

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"Why are you driving her away from me, bring her here and feed her."

Some said that the love between Dunya and Maria was from the devil,
others - from God. If Maria was in trouble, Dunyushka would not be
separated from her. Maria was beaten by her parents, and Dunya by her
relatives. They kept driving them away from each other, but they held hands
and walked along singing. They also went to church as a couple. When Maria
died, Dunya went every day to the church, and although when Maria had
been alive they had begun to throw stones at them, when she was on her own
they did it even more. They would not let her into the church on feastdays,
and she could only go to liturgies she had ordered.

In her seventeenth year she fell seriously ill. She could only walk with a
stick, but she was able to put wood in the stove herself (her aunt had died by
this time). Later, however, when she was twenty, she became even worse. It
was Christmas, and she cried out:

"I'm dying, I'm on fire."

The two girls who used to come to her took her out into the courtyard and
poured two buckets of cold water onto her. Then she said:

"Take me into the cell."

Then they laid her on a bench, and she never got up again. She never
received treatment from doctors, and no one knows what her illness was, but
everyone says that Dunyushka was a great sufferer. She was completely
chained to her bed for about 35 years and had to be carried to her execution.
Several families in the village took constant care of Dunya, providing her with
everything she needed. She was always surrounded by "nurses" - girls from
various places who were voluntarily called to serve her. She lived in great
poverty, in the same few clothes till she died. She never cut her hair or her
nails.

The Orthodox Russian people does not simply feel compassion for such
sufferers. They are surrounded by a special veneration, which is rooted in a
special faith in the divine election and gifts of grace of all those who
innocently undergo great suffering. Such was Dunyushka's reputation. She
was often visited by people from afar who were seeking spiritual edification
and consolation. And there are still living people who witness from their
personal experience that Dunyushka had the gift of clairvoyance.

When Daria Timagina joined Dunya there were three of them: Dunya,
Daria and Dunya's uncle. In her time Dasha Timagina had been on the point
of marrying, but the Sarov Elder Anatolius (in schema Basil) had blessed her

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to go in obedience to the sick Dunya. (The elder died in 1919, and in 1927 his
relics were discovered to be incorrupt.) Then other pious girls came to join
them, and they created a rule. They would sing verses, kontakia and akathists.
Dunya could be consoled only by prolonged singing and reading. She read
well, but was unable to write. She read lives of saints most of all, bringing
them from the church, although she had some of her own. Dasha, like Dunya,
had a good voice. She could not read, but she could recite the Psalter and
chant verses and hymns by heart.

Dunya complained that she needed a novice who could read, so Fr.
Anatolius blessed Annushka to join her. She loved singing and reading, and
knew the church typicon. She was then twenty-three and lived with Dunya
for eighteen years. She came to her from a worldly life. Dunya forced her to
clean the floor, and she would say:

"Tell me to dance a little."

And Dunya allowed it, she let her do anything. Thus she read novels
secretly, without letting Dunya know. Dasha saw it and told Dunya. Then
Annushka began to cry:

"But what can I do, Dunya, I'm bored. I'll run away..."

And she wanted to run away. It was still the evening, otherwise she would
have run away. But in the night she saw herself in the church in Ponetayevka,
and she saw what looked like St. Seraphim feeding a bear. She went up to
him, bowed at his feet. He blessed her, gave her a dried crust and said:

"Oh you idler! Look, I'm giving you something to do - go and nurse my
children."

And he took her by the hand and led her into a cell. And there stood two
cradles with two small girls lying in them.

"Nurse them," he said - and left.

She began to nurse them, but they began to cry. She wanted to run away.
She ran up to the door, but it was like a wall: it was impossible to get out.

Anna woke up. And she told Dunya her dream. And Dunya said that these
girls were her and Dasha. She persuaded Anna to stay and told her to pray to
the Heavenly Queen.

I.N. records that once his father brought her some bread. She always
accepted his offerings, but this time for some reason she refused to take it:

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"You need it," she said.

On his way home, he met a woman who complained that she had nothing
to feed her son who had arrived, she had no bread. He understood that the
bread which Dunya had refused to accept was destined for this family.

Once Dunya was visited by a woman from Moscow who was endowed
with a good voice. Dunya listened to her singing and then suddenly said:

"You're not wearing a cross."

The woman objected three times.

"I'm not blessed or a fool-for-Christ, I'm a sick maiden," said Dunya, "but
you're not wearing a cross. Fear the Heavenly Queen," she concluded,
pointing to the Iveron icon of the Mother of God.

And the woman admitted that her cross was in her purse.

People recall that Dunyushka was venerated by the venerable clairvoyant

elder of Arzamas, Archimandrite Sophronius. In those difficult years Fr.
Sophronius used to comfort the Orthodox, prophesying that atheism would
not reign forever in Russia, but that there would come a time when our Russia
would again rise in the strength and glory of Orthodoxy. Fr. Sophronius never
saw Dunya, but he deeply respected her, and he used to advise pilgrims
setting off for Sarov to call in on the sick Dunyushka.

"She is higher than I," he would say.

Not long before the events in August, Fr. Sophronius sent Dunya a gift - an
icon of the Saviour wearing a crown of thorns. On seeing the icon, Dunya
wept:

"O batyushka, what have you sent me..."

And Dunyushka more than once prophesied her own death. There was a
custom in the village that when someone died they rang the bell six times. But
Dunya said:

"They won't ring either the big or the small bell for me."

Her girl-servants objected: "For you we'll ring as on Great Saturday."

"They'll throw me out like dung," replied Dunya.

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In the summer of 1919, in obedience to the insistent demands of

Dunyushka, some of the girls dispersed to their homes. The rest remained.
But in the end three went to their deaths with Dunya - two Darias and Maria.
The only one of them who was local, from Suvorovo, was Daria Stepanova
Timagina. Nothing is known about the other Daria except that her homeland
was somewhere to the east of Nizhni-Novgorod, and that she had several
times served the sick Dunya with fervour. Maria was a native of Mordovia.
She had once married, but then fell ill with some illness of the legs and then
went to blessed Dunya, with whom she remained to live.

In 1919 Darya Timagina was about 35 years old, having spent 18 of those
years without parting from Dunya. But about two weeks before the fateful
events - witnesses her god-daughter, Ryasofor-nun E. - Dasha felt a terrible
anguish and went for a few days to Ponetayevsky monastery, not far from
Sarov. On her return she said that on the way back from Ponatayevsky four
birds had pecked at her head.

Soon after this an armed detachment arrived in the village. It was

endowed, in accordance with the laws of "war communism", with the fullness
of judicial and executive power. They say that the detachment was flushing
out deserters, and the son-in-law of the priest, the teacher Antipas Pavlovich,
made a denunciation that deserters were hiding in the house of Dunyushka,
who was stirring them up not to go into the Red army...

An investigation - that is, interrogations and beatings - was begun and

went on for only two days. They beat Dunyushka and the nurses - the
Mordovian Masha did not let slip a single word. They also beat the constant
visitors of Dunyushka's little cabin. The whole village was in a state of great
agitation. But one of Dunyushka's admirers, Peter Karasev, who died in about
1962, related how the fear disappeared at the first blow, and he did not feel
any pain, but felt joyful and peaceful:

"I wanted to be beaten again for Dunyushka".

They summoned nobody to the trial, which took place in Antipas

Pavlovich's house. There are different accounts of its course and the content of
the sentence. Some say that Dunyushka was particularly condemned for
praying for the tsar. And extra provisions were also found in her house. The
latter is quite possible, for her numerous visitors - who included merchants
from Arzamas - always brought Dunya something. Others say that the judges
had different opinions and they had to refer to a higher authority.

Nothing is known about the nature of the "crime" of Dunya's "nurses", but
everyone unanimously witnesses that right until the evening of August 4/17
there was a real possibility of their escaping execution. There were no
constant guards around the house, and some of the girls were able to leave.

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Daria Timagina, the other Daria and the Mordovian Maria voluntarily
decided to share blessed Dunya's lot.

In the evening of August 4/17 all four were transferred to the

neighbouring izba, which had been given to Dunya by a deceased old
woman, and were placed under guard. Dunyushka's house, which had been
terribly ravaged by the prolonged search, was set alight and burned to the
ground that same night.

At dawn on August 5/18, some women who had gone out to milk their
flocks saw four columns of light rising from earth to heaven above the
cemetery.

At about 10 in the morning the priest Basil Radugin came to the arrested
women, informed them about the death sentence and offered that they receive
Communion. Dunyushka asked:

"Are you forbidden to intercede for us?"

The priest replied that he couldn't help them, and that the same threat
hung over him, too. After this all four partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

At about 11 a cart came up to the house. The whole village already knew
about the impending execution, and a large crowd of people had gathered,
but those who came too close were driven away by the soldiers with lashes.
The two Darias and Maria carried Dunya out on their arms, laid her into the
cart and themselves mounted upon it.

Ryasofor-nun E. was 22 at that time, and well remembers the scene: "The
people all around were weeping, but the condemned women were smiling
happily, crossing themselves and saying farewell to everybody. My
godmother was tall, good-looking, with a beaming face - a strong one, she
was. She was bowing in all directions and saying:

"'Forgive me, Orthodox, forgive me.'

"Turning to my mother, she said:

"'Olga, take my coat.'

"My mother went up to the cart, but the soldiers drove her away. But my
godmother continued saying farewell:

"'Farewell, Orthodox, forgive me for Christ's sake.'

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"And they all said farewell and smiled happily - you know, they had just
had Communion..."

The cart, surrounded by soldiers, moved off towards the cemetery. The
soldiers were beating Dunya with lashes all along the way. The nurses joined
hands over Dunya, protecting her from the blows. The lashes fell on them, but
they smiled all the while, as if they felt nothing. John Anisimov, who died in
about 1924 of typhus, used to say that when they were beating the girls with
lashes on the way to the place of execution, he suddenly saw a White Dove
with outstretched wings above their arms as they defended Dunya. And the
blows rained down on the wings, and the soldiers said that the lashes
bounced backed from those those being beaten as if from something elastic.
At the moment of the vision Anisimov felt an especially sharp pang of
compassion for the sufferers which freed him from any fear for his own life.

They were shot on the territory of the cemetery of the village of Suvorovo,
fifteen kilometres from Diveyevo.

Dasha Timagina was holding Dunyushka in her arms. The first time they
fired blanks for some reason. Dasha shuddered and dropped Dunya to the
earth. At that moment one of the soldiers refused point-blank to shoot.

"I can't. I can see something white, with white wings, near them."

The commander of the unit swore terribly and pushed him aside. He also
seemed to be experiencing some kind of terror, and was trying to suppress it
with constant swearing. After the second shot it seemed that Masha the
Mordovian was still alive. Ryasofor-nun E. says that she was still "quivering",
so they thrust a bayonet through her throat.

Then they called some people who were standing at a distance to dig a
grave. Basil Ivanovich Seednov was one of those called. He relates that when
a big hole had been dug, the soldiers wanted to push the bodies of the shot
women straight into the grave with their boots. But he hastily jumped into the
grave and asked them to give him the bodies. He covered the faces of the
dead with their kerchiefs. There is a rumour that later, at night, some people
secretly brought some coffins and transferred the bodies into them, singing
the burial service according to the full Orthodox rite.

After the shooting, the commander of the unit who had been in charge of
the shooting read the sentence.

"They were real witches, no wild animal would have tolerated what they
did."

And he added with a smirk:

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"But Christ is risen, and they will arise."

More than once the soldiers expressed their terror by calling the dead
"witches". The imperturbable calm and joy of those doomed to death always
terrifies murderers. But there was something special here - the extreme degree
of defencelessness and orphanhood. The fact that they were women, and
virgins, and one of them was chained to her bed with an incurable illness - all
this tore at the heart and appealed to their compassion.

Some years after the execution, a fire destroyed half the village, and many
said that this was their punishment for not defending Dunyushka. Her
memory was linked in the minds of the villagers with a recognition of their
guilt.

Twice a year every year, on August 5/18 and the day of St. Eudocia, March
1/14, many venerators of Dunyushka from new generations gather in
Suvorovo, Nizhni-Novgorod and other parts of the region. At memorial feasts
they sing a song about Dunyushka composed in Suvorovo: "O our mother
Eudocia..." Before the funeral they carry out Dunya's great prayer rule, which
contains the troparia to the Iveron Mother of God and St. Seraphim.
Dunyushka had a special veneration for the Good Gatekeeper and promised
to hear everyone who sang this troparion at her grave: "Before thy holy icon..."

The spiritual eye undoubtedly perceives in the exploit of these new

passion-bearers the participation of the great wonderworker of Sarov, who
was not slow to come to the help of his "orphans". In this region his prayers
are felt everywhere, and everywhere the traditions about his miracles and
prophecies are preserved.

The icon of the new passion-bearers, which will undoubtedly be painted

sometime, should contain the Iveron Mother of God and St. Seraphim in the
upper corners. In the centre is Dunyushka in the arms of Daria Timagina in
such a way that they form a cross. To the right and left of them are the other
Daria and Maria the Mordovian. And above them - the White Dove. He Who
accomplishes the all-conquering moral union of mankind demonstrated His
help and defence here in the image of the outstretched wings. They are ready
to shadow everyone who does not waver in his hope on the day of sorrow.
Amen.

Priest Boris Yedsky was a former regimental priest in the White Army. In
1920 he was arrested, and in March was convicted of “helping the Whites”.

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He was sentenced to a term in a labour army. Nothing more is known about

him.

Priest Michael Alexeyevich Kritsky was born in 1879, and in 1900 finished
his studies at the Nizhegorod theological seminary. In September, 1900 he
was ordained to the diaconate, and in October – to the priesthood. He taught
the Law of God in schools in the villages of Avtodeyeva and Teryaeva, and
served in the Trinity church in Avtodeyeva, Ardatov uyezd, Nizhni
Novgorod province. In October, 1914 he was appointed assistant to the dean
of the second Ardatov district.

Fr. Michael was a priest of lofty spiritual life. After the revolution he took
upon himself the exploit of being a fool-for-Christ, collected money for the
Diveyevo sisters, and by his unusual words and actions prophesied the
future. He tore up anti-religious placards and portraits of revolutionary
leaders.

In 1919 he was arrested and cast into prison. On December 19, 1920 he was
arrested in church immediately after a service and cast into prison in Ardatov.
On March 30, 1921, as he was being transferred to a village in the town of
Kulibaki, he was shot in a wood without trial or investigation. On April 7 he
was buried next to the church of the Life-Giving Trinity to the right of the
altar. Many people came to his funeral, and his memory is preserved in his
local church.

In 1922, in connection with the confiscation of church valuables, 68 clergy

of all ranks in Nizhni-Novgorod province were killed by the Bolsheviks.

Priest Vladimir Karpinsky began to serve in the church of the Holy Trinity
in the village of Deyanovo, Nizhegorod province after the murder of the local
priest, Fr. Stefan Nemkov. He was killed in 1923 by local communists during
the Paschal liturgy.

Seraphima Alexandrovna Aloyeva, the daughter of the repressed Reader

Alexander Ivanovich Aloyev, was born in 1909 and arrested in 1927. Nothing
more is known about her.

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Priest John Khodorovsky was an émigré, but in 1921 he returned illegally

to Russia, was arrested and sent into exile, where he was secretly ordained
and then escaped from the camp and was for a long time a wanderer. On
arriving in Arzamas, he found refuge with the nun Terentyeva. For some time
Terentyeva hid him, but then Fr. John stopped hiding and won universal
respect. In his relations with the people he was gentle and responsive and
carried out every request without refusing to carry out any needs. He lived in
the world like a hermit and was preparing to receive the monastic schema.
When his room was searched it was found to contain literature of various
kinds. He was accused of spreading anti-Soviet leaflets with the help of
wandering female preachers. The arrested nun-wanderers were also accused
of agitation against Soviet power and the collective farm system. All the
accused were recognized as belonging to the Catacomb Church organization
led by Metropolitan Joseph.

Protopriest John Maslovsky was born in Nizhni-Novgorod province. He

was educated in a theological academy. He served for more than forty years
in the village of Shokhino, Nizhni-Novgorod province. He was arrested in
Shokhino sometime in the 1920s and died in prison.

Priest Basil served in the village of Vorotynets, Nizhegorod province from

1919. In 1926 he was transferred to the village of Katunki. When the church
was closed at the end of the 1920s he was arrested and died in prison.

Priest Gregory Fyodorovich Mirolyubov was born in 1873 in the village of

Ostrovo, Slonim uyezd, Grodno province, and was serving in the village of
Achka, Sergach uyezd, Nizhni-Novgorod province. On September 2, 1929 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the Nizhegorod branch of the counter-
revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and
on December 3 was convicted of “counter-revolutionary propaganda” and
sentenced to death in accordance with article 58-10. He was shot on December 14,
and was buried in the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Priest Ivan Vasilyevich Speransky was born in 1880 (?) in Nizhegorod

province. He served in Arzamas, and had eight children. In 1929 he was
imprisoned in Nizhni-Novgorod and died in prison from dysentery.

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Euthymia was from Chuvashia. She graduated from an institute, but for
the sake of Christ left everything and took on the life of a wanderer. In the
1930s she was arrested and cast into prison in Arzamas, where she died.

The clergyman Andrew Mikhailovich Bogolyubov was born in 1879 in

the village of Mitropolye, Nizhegorod province, where he also served. On
March 7, 1930 he was sentenced to death in accordance with articles 58-8, 58-
10 and 58-11. The sentence was carried out.

Priest Cassian Matveyevich Amosov was born in 1871 in Nizhegorod

province, and served in the village of Bogorodskoye, Darovsk region. In 1931
he was arrested for being “an active participant in the Nizhegorod branch of
the counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on September 25 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to
the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Porfiryevich Fedorovsky was born in 1866 in Revel, in the

family of a captain of the second rank. He went to a real school. He was
disenfranchised. In the 1920s he served in a secret church in the woods. On
April 26, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in an illegal monastery
of ‘Victorite orientation’ called ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on October
2 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nun Anna (Alexandrovna Serzheva-Novoselova) was born in 1904 in the

village of Svintsovo, Sharanga uyezd, and received an elementary education.
She served as a reader in a secret church. April 26, 1931 she was arrested for
being “a participant in an illegal monastery of ‘Victorite orientation’ called
‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on October 2 was sentenced to three years’
exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Andrew Makarovich Balyberdin was born in 1868 in the village of Maloye

Zverevo, Sharanga uyezd into a peasant family, and finished village school.
He was a free peasant and president of the church council. On June 22, 1931
he was arrested for being “a participant in an illegal monastery of ‘Victorite
orientation’ called ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on October 2 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

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Ivan Osipovich Korolev was born in 1888 in the village of Chistoye Polye,
Vozdvizhensky uyezd into a peasant family, and went to a village school. He
was a free peasant. On April 26, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant
in an illegal monastery of ‘Victorite orientation’ called ‘the True Orthodox
Church’”, and on October 2 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Timofeyevich Kuznetsov was born in 1875 in the village of

Kuznetsovo, Sharanga uyezd into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. A free peasant, in 1928 he spent eight months in prison
for resisting the collective farm authorities. On June 9, 1931 he was arrested
arrested for being “a participant in an illegal monastery of ‘Victorite
orientation’ called ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on October 2 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

Ivan Sergeyevich Molotov was born in 1902 in the village of Sodomovo,

Vozdvizhensky uyezd into a peasant family, and went to a village school. He
was a free peasant. On April 26, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant
in an illegal monastery of ‘Victorite orientation’ called ‘the True Orthodox
Church’”, and on October 2 was sentenced to three years in the camps and
sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Andrew Yefimovich Prilipin was born in 1865 in the village of

Vozdvizhenskoye, Vozdvizhensky uyezd into a peasant family, and went to a
village school. He was a free peasant. On April 26, 1931 he was arrested for
being “a participant in an illegal monastery of ‘Victorite orientation’ called
‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on October 2 was sentenced to three years’
exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Mikhailovich Ruchin was born in 1892 in the village of Belousovo,

Vozdvizhensky uyezd into a peasant family, and went to a village school. He
was a free peasant. On April 26, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant
in an illegal monastery of ‘Victorite orientation’ called ‘the True Orthodox
Church’”, and on October 2 was sentenced to three years in the camps and
sent to a camp. At the beginning of the 1940s he was in the Kumsky
settlement, Zavetluga region. In the autumn of 1942 he was arrested in a
group case of churchmen, and on January 27, 1943 was sentenced to death.
On April 17 he was shot.

Theodore Ivanovich Serzhev was born in 1908 in the village of Troitskoye,

Vozdvizhensky uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. He was a craftsman-carpenter. On April 26, 1931 he was arrested
for being “a participant in an illegal monastery of ‘Victorite orientation’ called

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‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on October 2 was forbidden to live in

twelve places for three years.

Priest Nicholas Nikolayevich Tishkevich was born in 1878 in the village

of Ari, Lukoyanovo uyezd, and went to three classes at the Nizhegorod
theological school. He was disenfranchised. He was thrice condemned and
twice fined. The last time he was sentenced to two years in the camps, being
accused of “joining the staff of a church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church”, of being “an activist of the organization” and of
“conducting active counter-revolutionary work in the population”. On
August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Peter Alexeyevich Terekhov was born in 1882 in the village of

Bolshoy Shodom, Kiknur uyezd, and served in the village of Nezhnur,
Sharanga uyezd. On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in
the north. In 1935 he was released from exile and went underground. In the
autumn of 1937 he was arrested, and on October 29, 1938 he was sentenced to
death and shot.

Priest Alexander Ivanovich Sokolov was born in 1873 in the village of

Prokopyevskoye, Shabalin uyezd, and went to Vyatka theological seminary.
He was disenfranchised. In 1932 he was arrested in his native village and
accused of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in the
population on the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
him.

Priest Nicholas Semyonovich Prakhov was born in 1884 in the village of

Krasnoye, Nikolsky uyezd, Vologda province, and went to Vologda
theological seminary. He was disenfranchised. In 1932 he was arrested in the
village of Vanki, Shabalin region and accused of “joining the staff of the
church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of
“conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on the orders of
the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Peter Ivanovich Fedorovsky was born in 1884 in the village of

Lymentga, Nikolsky uyezd, Vologda province. He was disenfranchised. In
1932 he was arrested in the village of Vanki, Shabalin region and accused of
“joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on

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the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three

years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Andreyevich Kukarnikov was born in 1885 in the village

of Sharanga, and received unfinished higher education. He was
disenfranchised. In 1931 he was under investigation, and in 1932 was arrested
and sentenced to four years in the camps and three years in exile, and was
fined 2000 rubles. In 1932 he was arrested in Sharanga and accused of “joining
the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”
and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on the
orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’
exile in the north. On November 21, 1936 he was arrested in Vyatka province,
and on July 23 he was sentenced to seven years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Platon Nikandrovich Scherbinin was born in 1867 in the village of

Butyra, Kotelnich uyezd. He was disenfranchised. In 1932 he was arrested in
the village of Chakhlovka, Chernovsky region and accused of “joining the
staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and
of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on the orders of
the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Hierodeacon Abraham, in the world Alexander Anisimovich Kochev, was

born in 1870 in the village of Pikino, Yaransk uyezd, Vyatka province, and
was tonsured and ordained to the diaconate. He was disenfranchised. In 1932
he was arrested in the village of Ostenchurg, Sharanga uyezd and accused of
“joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on
the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three
years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Deacon Alexander Karpovich Yudintsev was born in 1890 in the village of

Maloye Gusevo, Sharanga uyezd. He was disenfranchised. In 1925 he was
under investigation, but was acquitted at trial. In 1932 he was arrested in the
village of Ostenchurg, Sharanga uyezd and accused of “joining the staff of the
church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of
“conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on the orders of
the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Deacon Alexander Karpovich Yandulyatsky was born in 1890 in the

village of Maloye Gusevo, Sharanga uyezd. He was disenfranchised. In 1925
he was under investigation, but was acquitted at trail. In 1932 he was arrested
in the village of Ostenchurg, Sharanga region and accused of “joining the staff
of a church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, of being

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“an activist of the organization” and of “conducting active counter-

revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 he was sentenced to
three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Eudocimus Ivanovich Loptev was born in 1867 in the village of

Leshkanur, Pizhansk uyezd. He was a disenfranchised kulak. In 1932 he was
arrested in the village of Ostenchurg, Sharanga region and accused of “joining
the staff of a church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, of
being “an activist of the organization” and of “conducting active counter-
revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 he was sentenced to
three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Procopius Pavlovich Khristolyubov was born in 1882 in the village of

Leshkanur, Pizhansk uyezd. He was a disenfranchised kulak. In 1932 he was
arrested in the village of Ostenchurg, Sharanga region and accused of “joining
the staff of a church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, of
being “an activist of the organization” and of “conducting active counter-
revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 he was sentenced to
three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Anikeyevich Sharov was born in 1876 in the village of Perchevazh,

Sharanga uyezd. In 1932 he was arrested in his native village and accused of
“joining the staff of a church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, of being “an activist of the organization” and of “conducting active
counter-revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
him.

Monk Ivan (Ivanovich Zelenin) was born in 1865 in the village of

Chevakinskaya, Arkhangelsk province and received an elementary education.
In the 1920s he was living in Nizhegorod province. In 1932 he was arrested in
connection with the case of the Nizhegorod branch of the True Orthodox
Church, and on September 28 was sentenced to three years in the camps and
sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Nicholas Dmitrievich Lopatin was born in 1884 in the village of

Markarkovo, Sharanga uyezd. In October, 1932 he was arrested in his native
village and accused of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting counter-
revolutionary work in the population on the orders of the organization”. On
December 29, 1932 he was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about him.

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Nun Charitina (Ivanovna Denezhkina) was born in 1888 in the village of

Kondratyevo, Nizhegorod province, and received an elementary education.
At the beginning of the 1930s she was arrested in a group case and sentenced
to three years’ exile and sent to Kolpashevo region, Narymsk district. She
took part in a secret monastery at Iltsevka. At the beginning of 1933 she was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary monarchist-
insurgent organization of churchpeople”, and on April 22 was sentenced to
five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Hieromonk Seraphim was serving in the village of Kobylino, Arzamas

region, Nizhni-Novgorod province. He was a very kind and humble man, and
had already been in prison. Once, not earlier than the 1930s, some people
rushed into the house where he lived, bound up the woman who owned it
and in a savage and bestial way mutilated Fr. Seraphim, tearing out all his
intestines with a machine tool. After this Fr. Seraphim remained alive for a
while and died after he had received Holy Unction and Communion from
another priest who arrived. He knew who his tormentors were, but did not
name them.

Anastasia, better known as “Nastya the cross-eyed”, lived in Diveyevo.

She was also called “wonderful” because of her joyful disposition and
unpredictable behaviour. In 1929 the Bolsheviks tried to remove the bells
from the Kazan cathedral. A large crowd of disturbed people blocked the
way. They say that Anastasia hurled a brick at one of the blasphemers. Others
say that she only spat at him, someone else threw the brick. Come what may,
she was arrested. Several women literally hung on the arms of the policemen,
trying to tear her away. But she was put into prison in Ardatov. The whole of
Diveyevo was worried, the more since she had children who were left
without supervision. Several years later, in the middle of the 1930s, she was
released. She lived until the first day of Pascha, and then died.

Priest Simeon, by nationality a Mari, was serving in the village of

Lezhnevo, Sharanga region, Nizhni-Novgorod province. He was arrested in
1930.

Together with him was arrested the warden of the church, Ioann Lezhin.
The atheists’ aim was to close the church. The warden was accused of the

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illegal manufacture of crosses and was cast into Yaransk prison. However, the
torturers did not succeed in forcing him to accuse himself, and he was
sentenced to three years in prison. He died in prison in Vyatka.

Together with Priest Nicephorus and several peasants Fr. Simeon fled
deep into the woods. There they dug out some caves and built a monastery.
They were there for more than one year. Once, however, at the beginning of
the 1940s, a hunting dog began to chase their cat, and after him came the
hunters. They told the authorities about the monastery. They were all arrested
and shot.

Nina Lazarevna Novoselova was born in 1919 in the village of Zakharyata,

Pektubayevo uyezd, Nizhegorod province, and received an elementary
education. In the 1940s she was a wanderer, and took part in secret services.
On November 5, 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-
Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church”, and was sentenced to ten
years in the camps and sent to Usollag. Nothing more is known about her.

Zinaida Lazarevna Novoselova was born in 1922 in the village of

Zakharyata, Pektubayevo uyezd, Nizhegorod province, and received an
elementary education. In the 1940s she was a wanderer, and took part in
secret services. On November 5, 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant
in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church”, and was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to Usollag. Nothing more is
known about her.

Natalya Mikhailovna Pletsova was born in 1888 in the village of Stolbovo,

Shakhun uyezd, Nizhegorod province. On September 25, 1947 she was
arrested for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet religious group”, and on
March 25, 1947 (?) was sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Vyacheslav Leontiev was born in 1900, and his father died when he
was still young. His mother, Lydia, brought up her children in the spirit of
Orthodox piety; two of her sons, Vyacheslav and Leontius, became priests.
Vyacheslav prepared to become a priest from his youth. The first place where
he served was Vershinino, where his father-in-law, Fr. Raphael, served until
his death.

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Fr. Vyacheslav was arrested several times. On serving his term, he

returned to the church to serve.

In 1927 the parishioners of the village of Maidany, Pilninsky uyezd,

Nizhni-Novgorod province, invited Fr. Vyacheslav to serve in their church,
since Fr. Gregory, who had passed 70 by that time, was infirm.

The peasants helped him buy a house and set up a home of his own. In the
same year the authorities came to take away the house. Without a trace of
dissatisfaction, Fr. Vyacheslav joyfully helped them put his things on the cart.

"What are you doing, batyushka, helping these thieves?" asked the
peasants, who were sorrowful over the injustice of it. "How will you bear it,
batyushka?"

"How? I'll just have to bear it."

Deprived of their haven, Fr. Vyacheslav and his matushka Zoya wandered
from house to house. After six months they found refuge in a warden's hut.
They lived in one room, and the warden in the other. It was here that he
performed baptisms.

There was a wonderworking Tikhvin icon of the Mother of God in the

church, and many sick and demon-possessed people came to the church to
seek healing from the Mother of God. After the Liturgy Fr. Vyacheslav would
serve a moleben over the possessed. And many received healing.

One of those healed was Natalya Gorbataya from the village of

Knyazhikha. She had been suffering from possession since she was sixteen.
After the moleben she recovered and lived in good health until an advanced
age.

The priest refused nobody who requested him to pray or serve a moleben;
he visited the houses of parishioners, and preached in each of them.

Seeing his zeal, which no restrictions could moderate, the authorities

forbade him to preach. But he paid no attention. Then they laid on him a
contribution - he had to bring some flax at a certain time. But he didn't sow
any flax. The peasants rescued him - they brought the flax.

Then the authorities ordered him to produce a barrel of honey. He didn't

have any bees, so the peasants again rescued him - they gave their own
honey.

Then the authorities ordered him to give some flax seed. The peasants
brought it; they all understood: if the priest did not produce the contribution,

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he would be imprisoned. During the season of bad roads they ordered

batyushka to bring one more vat of honey to a distant delivery point. The
priest arrived, but they sent him back for a fine - he hadn't arrived on time,
they said. Almost dead from exhaustion, Fr. Vyacheslav arrived back home.

When Metropolitan Sergius' declaration betraying the Church to the

atheists appeared in 1927, Fr. Vyacheslav rejected it.

Towards the end of the 1920s they decided to get rid of Fr. Vyacheslav. The
authorities' plan was not hidden from the Orthodox. When the murderers
drew near, the peasants surrounded Fr. Vyacheslav in a solid ring, while the
women hung on their arms, not allowing them to use their arms.

The authorities did not give up their plan, waiting for the moment when he
would be alone. But now he never emerged on his own. Later Fr. Vyacheslav's
persecutor, Alexander Pyatnitsyn, died in terrible torment, while another
persecutor, Grishivin, was run over by a car.

In 1933, seeing that they were managing neither to kill nor to frighten the
confessor, the authorities arrested him and condemned him to three years'
imprisonment.

During these three years, the aged Fr. Gregory served in the church. He
was summoned to the village council:

"Do you recognise our power?"

"Did you summon me? You summoned me. Did I arrive? I arrived. But I
will not follow your path."

The priest was old and infirm, and it was this that saved him from being
arrested. As he came out of the village soviet, he told the parishioners that the
atheists were determined to close the church, come what may.

"And they will yet dance on my grave," he said.

Soon after his death they built a club in the place of the cemetery.

After three years Fr. Vyacheslav returned home. He served for one year. In
the autumn of 1937 he was again arrested.

Matushka Zoya lay ill with severe pain in the heart, and Anastasia
Babanova, who was living with them, called the medical orderly.

Soon there was a knock at the door.

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"Is it you, Peter?..."

"It's me."

"Are there two of you?" asked Anastasia.

"Yes, it's me and my wife."

Anastasia opened the door, and the chekists entered with the orderly. Fr.
Vyacheslav met them with love:

"My dear sons, I'm not going to escape from your hands, but let me see
how this illness ends, come in the morning, otherwise if you take me now, she
will die."

The chekists postponed the arrest until the morning.

By morning matushka felt better, and Fr. Vyacheslav was arrested.

On hearing this, the parishioners gathered at the village soviet for the last
time to ask their pastor how to live and to receive his blessing.

"Live according to God," replied the priest. "Now that's all. They're going
to close the churches. And you will sit behind the chimney and pray. I am
leaving you forever, and I bless you all."

Fr. Vyacheslav was taken to the city of Sergach, where the arrested
Orthodox were taken at that time. The authorities demanded that he renounce
God. “If you renounce God, you can go home.” But not many renounced God.

Once Fr. Vyacheslav was sawing wood in the prison courtyard, and his
parishioner Elizabeth Oparina saw him through a chink in the fence.

"Batyushka," she said to him quietly.

He left his saw and went up to the fence.

"Batyushka, we're all praying that they release you," she said.

"Don't pray for me," the confessor said in a serious tone. "Pray that the
Lord give me patience. Yesterday one person was released because he
renounced God. There is no other way to get out of here."

Soon Fr. Vyacheslav was executed.

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Priest Leontius Leontiev, Fr. Vyacheslav's brother, served in the village of

Bogorodskoye in Sergach region. He was arrested in the autumn of 1937.
Together with him were arrested Deacon Ivan Pavlovich Labutov, the
warden of the church Andrew Leksanov and the Orthodox Chuvash Simeon.
They all died in prison.

After Fr. Vyacheslav's arrest the church was closed, the bells were thrown
down and destroyed, and the church itself desecrated. But the icon of the
Tikhvin Mother of God did not remain in the hands of the atheists.

At that time there lived in the village the pious youth Peter Varakin. He
was born in 1913, was deprived of his father at an early age, and was brought
up by his uncle Michael Kovalov. He was a pious person: having been
widowed when young, he gave a vow to devote the rest of his life to the
service of God. He taught Peter to read and chant in Slavonic. Since because
of his youth he could not reach the analoy, Peter was placed on a little stool
and read the hours and the Psalter in the church, first with Fr. Gregory, and
then with Fr. Vyacheslav.

The boy's childhood and youth were spent in front of the wonderworking
icon of the Mother of God, and he spent all his free time in the church.

When they closed the church, Peter went there secretly every day and lit
the lampada in front of the wonderworking icon. The atheists soon noticed
that someone was penetrating into the church. They began to investigate and
caught Peter. Fearing that the holy thing would be subjected to profanation,
Peter took it away to the village of Saranka and left it in the safe keeping of
some pious people.

Once a girl, Barbara Shulayeva, when she was spending the night in this
house while hiding from persecution, heard a voice:

"Why are you keeping me here?"

Barbara understood that the wonderworking icon was in the house and
that the All-Holy one herself did not want them to keep her hidden. It was
decided to move the icon to one of the functioning churches. The icon was
wrapped up and put on a cart, and the Orthodox quietly took it out of the
village. At that time the police had put up blocks on all the roads and were
searching for bread and meat in the carts. The cart was stopped, the
policemen removed the cloth and discovered the icon. There was no limit to
the atheists' fury. They rushed to remove the icon, but the Orthodox refused
to give it up. And it was split in two. The image of the God-Child remained
with the Orthodox, and that of the Mother of God - with the atheists.

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Triumphantly they brought their part of the icon into the court of the
police-station in the village of Pilny. The Mother of God was subjected to
profanation, cut up into small pieces and burned.

Peter kept the remaining part of the icon as a most valuable treasure. He
hid it from strangers, and himself hardly left the house. Beyond the window
was the abomination of desolation, destroyed churches, and the groans and
tears of the peasants, to whom the destroyers of Holy Russia did violence. The
prayerful chanting in the church, and the peace and calm in the peasants'
hearts was remembered now like paradise lost.

Peter went up to the window and looked out. He was noticed by a woman
who denounced him to the authorities. He was arrested. It was the summer of
1942.

The window of the half-underground police cell was open; it looked

through a grating onto the street. People were passing along it.

"Allow me to sing for the last time," asked the confessor.

They allowed him. And he began to sing the irmoses of the canon of Great
Saturday. The wonderful chanting poured out of the prison cell onto the
street. The passers-by involuntarily slowed their pace, and some of those who
were Orthodox recognised Peter's voice. The policemen also listened,
enchanted by the beauty of his chanting.

Peter was not there long. Soon he was sent off to the front in a punishment
battalion, and was immediately killed.

The icon which he so treasured and kept remains to this day in the village
of Maidany.

Abbess Alexia, in the world Anna Andreyevna Sotova, was born in 1882 in
St. Petersburg. From 1897 (?) she was a novice in the Pitsk Skorbyaschensky
monastery in Nizhegorod province, and became director of the monastery
choir. In 1918 she was tonsured and raised to the rank of abbess, which she
remained until May, 1928. She was disenfranchised. After the closure of the
monastery, she settled in Nizhni Novgorod and earned her living by sewing
quilts at home. In May, 1939 she was arrested in a group case about “a
counter-revolutionary church-monarchist organization”, and in 1940 was
sentenced to five years’ exile and sent to Krasnoyarsk district, where she died
from cancer on August 14, 1940.

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Michael Grigoryevich Chernyaev was born in 1886 in the village of

Pavlovo, Medvedsky uyezd, Nizhegorod province, where he lived and
received an elementary education. Before the revolution he was a trader, but
in the 1920s he was a free peasant. On October 23, 1945 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox
Church”, and was sentenced to seven years in the camps and sent to Usollag.
Nothing more is known about him.

Athanasia Petrovna Knyazeva was born in 1925 in the village of

Berezovka, Sharanga uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In the 1940s she went underground. In the spring of 1945 she was
arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and
on October 31 was sentenced to seven years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Athanasius Vasilyevich Vinokurov was born in 1905. He was accused of

“being a follower of the True Orthodox Church”, and was shot.

Alexis Dmitrievich Pivovarov was born in 1907. He was accused of “being

a follower of the True Orthodox Church”, and was sentenced to seven years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Abbess Agnia (in the world Anna Filippovna Mytikova) was born in the
60s of the nineteenth century in the village of Malye Chetai, Nizhni-Novgorod
province, in a Chuvash family. Her father was widowed and remained with
six children. The eldest son Gregory married, the daughter Maria married,
and the second son, Basil, began to help his father bring up the children. Later
all three - Anna, Simeon and Catherine - became monastics, after which Basil
also became a monk - as it is thought, on Athos.

When Basil brought Anna to the monastery near Kanash she was twenty-
three years old. She spent twenty years in this monastery and was tonsured
with the name Agnia.

Later she became the builder and abbess of a new monastery. In the
monastery the abbess worked in all the obediences. However, when she was
cutting down a tree for the construction of the church, a huge bough hit her
and broke her rib. She lay on a plank for a year or two.

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In 1918 the Bolsheviks destroyed the monastery and expelled the abbess,
robbing her of everything. The peasants of the surrounding villages received
her and gave her all the necessities of life. After the thieves had left, the
inhabitants returned to the monastery and called the abbess. Christian life
again began to be set in order. But the nuns did not have long to rejoice in the
gifts of grace-filled labour and prayer. The atheists destroyed the monastery
to the foundations, and the abbess settled in a wood not far from Vasilsursk.
She lived in poverty, praying a great deal, especially at night. All those
seeking spiritual consolation went to her. She belonged to the Catacomb
Church.

In the winter of 1953 she fell ill, lay in bed for nine weeks, and died on the
third day after the Meeting of the Lord - February 5/18. Abbess Agnia was
buried in the cemetery in Vasilsursk. Her grave is greatly venerated,
especially by the Mari.

One of the spiritual children of Fr. Vyacheslav Leontiev was Blessed

Varenka, or Barbara Pavlovna Shulayeva. She was born in 1914 in the village
of Maidany, Pilninsky uyezd, Nizhni-Novgorod province, into a peasant
family. The family worked on weekdays and went to church on Sundays.
Varenka, who was no different from other peasant children, also went to
church with her parents.

But once, when she was thirteen years old, she saw in her sleep a church
and a Woman in monastic vesture, and many people around her. The eyes of
all were directed upon her; they went up to her reverently and received her
blessing. And Varenka very much wanted to receive her blessing. She got up
after the others - there were nuns there, as well as priests - and went closer
and closer to her. Finally she came up to her and asked:

"Give the blessing."

"No, I only bless the weekdayers, who go to church on weekdays."

And such sorrow gripped the heart of the girl, she so wanted to receive her
blessing, that from that day she began to go to church every day. And so that
people should not laugh at her for going to church every day like a nun,
Varenka wrapped her face in a scarf and went to the church through the
kitchen gardens.

Some time later, she for the first time fell asleep in a special way and slept
for several days. In her sleep she saw the habitations of Paradise and hell and
what awaits a man after his death.

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"Do you remember," she said to her mother on awakening, "when I threw
up my hands? That was when I saw a woman who was being flayed with iron
combs. Then she was thrown into a boiling cauldron, and I was frightened."

Sometimes she told people what the Lord had been pleased to show her.

Matthew Leontiev died in Maidany, and since it was a time of famine his
relatives did not want to have a funeral repast on the fortieth day. When
Varenka fell asleep she saw him standing up to the knees in a fiery river.

"Tell our people to help me," he said.

Varenka told this to his relatives, and they had a funeral repast. After this
she saw him again in her sleep, but he was now standing on the bank.

The news of her unusual gift spread among the Orthodox, and they began
to come to her so as to learn the lot of their dead relatives. An old woman
called Olga lived in the village. She was extremely poor and weak. She had a
wattle fence which was rickety; she cut wood with a mattock, and her
courtyard was always covered with snow - she didn't have the strength or
time to clear it because she still had a horse and cow, without which not one
peasant household could survive. She had worked all her life and her life had
been hard. And when she died Varenka saw her soul in Paradise.

Sometimes when they asked her about something, she did not reply
immediately, but only the next time she woke up.

A few days before she would go to sleep, an Angel would appear to her
and warn her not to leave the house in case she fell down somewhere with
nobody to look after her.

When she fell asleep she became as if dead, so that the limbs of her body
grew numb and became immobile.

Once in the church after the end of the Liturgy, Varenka said to Anastasia
Astafyeva, with whom she was friendly:

"Let's go home, I'm going to fall asleep now."

"I haven't yet gone up to the cross," she replied.

"Quick," said Varenka hurriedly.

And indeed they hadn't reached the square before Varenka began to fall
asleep. They had to go for a sledge to bring her to her house.

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Sometimes while she was asleep she would describe in detail what she was
seeing at that moment. These stories were written down and filled a thick
notebook. But during the persecutions, for fear of the atheists, those close to
her threw the notebook into the stove.

These revelations took place regularly in the course of almost ten years.
She said that she had seen the Mother of God, that she had been led by St.
Nicholas, that there is a fiery river which every soul must pass over after
death, and she showed a place on her hand which had been burned to the
bone when a drop from the river fell on her.

The authorities heard about Varenka. Members of the Komsomol used to

come to her house while she was sleeping, they even beat her in the hope of
awaking her and 'uncovering the deception'. Then doctors began to come
from Gorky (Nizhni-Novgorod); they gave her fast-acting injections with the
same aim as the komsomolites. They injected her with such strong doses and
so often that when she woke up she couldn't raise her hands.

But, whatever they did, the atheists were unable to break her sleep. Then
they decided to take her to a hospital so as to continue their experiments
there. Once they had already come to the girl and were trying to lift her, but
they found her so heavy that they couldn't tear her away from the bed.

"It doesn't matter," they said. "Tomorrow we'll come with the car and take
her together with her bed."

After their departure Varenka woke up, and her mother, bitterly
complaining that she could do nothing, told her what the doctors were
intending to do. On the same day Varenka got her things together and left the
house. And for the next several years she wandered round the holy places of
the Volga region, sometimes alone, sometimes with some friends.

Varenka was a member of the Catacomb Church. She refused to have a

passport or to take the pension which they imposed on her. When
Metropolitan Sergius' declaration was published in 1927, she went round the
churches reproaching the priests who accepted the declaration. Once she even
rebuked a bishop, although he became very angry. A certain sergianist priest
Ioann from Nizhni-Novogorod greatly venerated her and used to visit her. He
always wanted to give her communion, but she said:

"I've already corrected myself" (that is received communion, for she did
not receive communion in the sergianist churches).

When he died she wept very much, because she knew what happened to
him after his death. Once the Lord showed her all the renovationists and
Metropolitan Sergius. They were in a dark place and their hands were bound.

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Once the priest Peter sent her the Holy Gifts. He put them in a specially
adapted icon. When they came to arrest Fr. Peter in the house where he was
hiding he suddenly had a heart attack and died.

In 1936, when she was only just twenty-two, she went with some friends to
the elder Ioann Ardatovsky, who was famed throughout the region for his
righteous life and gift of clairvoyance. He said to her:

"Go to Sarov - it's not far from here."

But her friends did not want to accompany her; they were in a hurry to go
home. And so she, fearing that her mother would worry about her, did not go
to Sarov.

"I'd better go home first, to warn Mama."

She left the house to go to Pilna, where she lived, fleeing persecution, with
the Opariny sisters. She left them with the girl Damasha, and went to the
station to go to Sarov. Six policemen were lying in wait for them in a remote
place. One of them had been her persecutor for a long time; his name was
Gavrilov.

Varenka understood that they wouldn't let her go. And she prayed to the
Mother of God.

The policemen beat her mercilessly, kicking her and hitting her with iron
rods; they beat her in such a way that her face was turned into a purple mask,
and blood poured from her ears and mouth. When they were preparing to
dishonour her, the Mother of God defended her - an invisible force stopped
them from approaching her.

They retreated, and took the girls to the police-station, but they did not
abandon the thought of punishing her. When Varenka asked for a drink, they
gave her instead, in the guise of medicine, some arsenic powder in the water.
But Domasha, who was being kept in the police-station together with
Varenka, stealthily poured away the arsenic, and gave her water. The
policemen were waiting for the poison to work, but when they saw no signs
of her being poisoned, they said:

"Well, you're a tenacious one. Probably a saint."

From that time Varenka was deprived of the use of her legs, and spent the
next 40 years until her death lying down. She had control only over the upper
half of her body.

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"There's my Sarov, my disobedience," she would say.

Her falling asleep also stopped. But now she was persecuted by the
authorities, so she couldn't stay long in one place, and had to go from place to
place, whatever the weather. In the winter they transported her in a basket
attached to the sledge.

One night when the weather was bad Varenka fell out of the basket into a
snowdrift, and they didn't discover it immediately. They returned, but
wandered round the whole night, having lost the way.

Varenka had to suffer not only from the atheists, but also from those close
to her. At first she was looked after by Annushka, who was nicknamed
Handless, and by Nyura. When Annushka didn't like something she beat the
sick Varenka cruelly, while Nyura soon married, taking all Varenka's things
except her icons and the bed on which she lay. Soon the house in which she
lived with her husband burned down. Then they built another one - and it
also burned down. Only then did the mother of Nyura understand that the
Lord was punishing her because of the sick Varenka, and she came to ask
forgiveness for her daughter.

Finally, Varenka managed to buy a small, but well-built house on the

money collected by the Orthodox. Many people visited her, some sought her
prayers, others - her spiritual advice. The authorities noticed that many
people were visiting her, and when they found out why they decided to evict
her. They began to demand from the former owner of the house that he return
the money and take back the house. Frightened, the former owner agreed. But
God is not mocked. The next day the former owner died, and the house
remained Varenka's.

Once Darya Zaikina came to Varenka, sat with her for a while and then got
ready to leave. But Varenka asked her:

"Don't go. There are so many evil spirits in the house..."

And she covered her head with the blanket.

"Varenka, look at me," said Darya.

"I can't open my eyes, they're so terrible."

At this point a woman arrived, began to pray and said:

"Go where you came from."

But the demon replied in a coarse masculine voice:

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"None of us are there now, we're all here, on earth. Whoever has no straps
we do whatever we like with." Then he said, turning to Varenka: "Drop it,
take it off."

And Varenka replied: "I won't drop it, I won't take it off"

(They were talking about her prayer-rope and cross.)

Twice the demon repeated this, and twice Varenka replied. Suddenly he
said with hatred:

"Ach, what a hunk of bread you are! You've hung up an internal lock,
otherwise I'd wear you out completely!"

Then he lifted her up and shook her strongly.

The demon tormented her for days, trying to frighten her.

"Mother of God," she cried, "help me!"

At that time many demons came to the house, trying to frighten her. And
they retreated only when the Queen of Heaven herself appeared and placed
an epitrachelion on her head. At the appearance of the All-Holy one the
demons disappeared in a puff of smoke.

All of Varenka's spiritual fathers died in prison. All the nearby churches
were closed, and she began to beseech God to send her a spiritual father.

And in a subtle sleep after prayer she heard a voice saying:

"A priest will come to you on the day of the Vladimir icon of the Mother of
God in the guise of a stove-repairer. His name is Philip - don't let him go until
the end of your days."

She came to. What was that? she thought. Probably a demonic illusion -
and she made the sign of the cross all around her.

Again she lost consciousness, and again she heard the same voice,
repeating the same words. On coming to, she again made the sign of the cross
all around her. And she lost consciousness a third time, and the same thing
happened again.

It was the 21st - the day of the Vladimir icon. A peasant workman knocked,
called himself a stove-repairer and asked:

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"Don't you have anything to repair?"

She remembered her dream and asked:

"And what is your name?"

It turned out to be Philip.

"Well, come in then, and stay."

It was the priest Fr. Philip Anikin. He was born in 1878 (or 1880) in
Chuvashia, and served in the Chuvash village of Kulatka (Ulyanovsk region).
In 1915 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Palladius (Dobronravov,
+1922) of Saratov and Tsaritsyn. Fr. Philip was arrested in 1929 or 1930. The
parishioners did not allow their church to be closed, and Fr. Philip was
accused of inciting them. He was given ten years on Solovki. Fr. Philip
rejected the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius and joined the Catacomb
Church. He recounted how, on the first day of Pascha, they were being
escorted from work. They stopped in the middle of a wood and immediately
began the Paschal all-night vigil service. There were many bishops, priests
and deacons. At first, when the priests stopped, the guards shouted at them,
but them they fell silent and the service went off without incident. At the end
they began to exchange the paschal kiss. And even the guards, who usually
abused the prisoners, began to exchange kisses with everyone. Fr. Philip
served his term with the Shamordino nuns who did not want to work for the
atheists in prison, and took no camp food. Fr. Philip and other priests brought
them food from their own meagre rations. The nuns lived on Solovki during
the summer, and were then taken somewhere and were reported killed.

Before being released, in 1940, Fr. Philip asked one of the Solovki bishops
to bless him. And to his question: what should he do now? the bishop replied:

"Wherever you find one of the Lord's sheep, feed him."

First he went to Krasnovodsk in Central Asia. He went to the cemetery to

pray. The authorities heard about it, and they wanted to arrest him. His
spiritual children sent him to Ashkhabad, but he had to escape from there,
too. Then Fr. Philip went to Shumerlyu, in Chuvashia, a place where
dekulakized peasants were settled. Under the guise of a stove-repairer he
would go from house to house serving. And very many people came to him.
When the war began and they began to open the churches, many went into
the Soviet churches, but he did not go, and many left him. He lived secretly
with his matushka, Catherine, who died in 1946 when she was sixty-five years
old. For the last eight years of her life she was blind. They had ten children, of
whom five survived.

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Fr. Philip's son, Ivan, was imprisoned for eight years in Archangelsk. He
wrote: "Papa, there are people like you here, and they give us what you give
us (i.e. communion)." Soon he died from hunger.

In his last years Fr. Philip used to sit most of the time on his bed - he could
no longer use his legs. He died on April 17, 1974. His flock was looked after
by Fr. Andrew from Chuvashia, and later Fr. Nicetas Lekhan from Kharkov.

Protopriest Philip Sychev was born on July 16, 1892 in Perm. After the
army he joined the monastery in Solovki. His obedience was at the mill, then
he built roads. With the blessing of his elder he returned to Perm, where he
was appointed reader. Soon he married, and later Bishop Pavlin ordained him
to the priesthood. He did not recognize Metropolitan Sergius, and
commemorated Bishop Nectarius (Trezvinsky) and Bishop Barlaam
(Lazarenko). For belonging to the True Orthodox Church he was arrested and
sent to a camp in the north, where he was forced to clean lavatories. He was
imprisoned for ten years, and was on the Volga-Don canal. Towards the end
of his term he became blind and deaf and developed an illness of the legs. The
medical commission threw him out of the gates without a certificate. He
managed to reach a friendly woodman, and lived with him for a year while
he healed. Some novices bought him a little house in Izhevsk. He served
secretly, early in the morning. People came to him for services from Perm. He
died on March 16, 1978, and was buried by Fr. Michael Rozhdestvensky.

After his death his flock was looked after by Hieromonk Paul from
Kazakhstan, and later on his advice people went to Fr. Nicetas Lekhan from
Kharkov.

In Sergach the church had been destroyed, and many believers from the
town and nearby went for church services to Varenka. On great feasts and at
Pascha up to 70 people came to her. When there was no priest there would be
services at Varenka's according to a "catacomb typicon" which took place
quite openly. The authorities knew about them but did not touch her.
Varenka was too well-known, and knew too much, not only earthly things
but also heavenly (in all she had spent 101 days in heaven at various times).

In spite of her weak health, she was a great faster. During Holy Week she
ate nothing. Once at the beginning of the Great Fast her novices brought her
some soft white bread and began to persuade her to eat it. She obeyed and ate
a little piece, after which her ulcer became worse and she ate nothing during
the whole of the Great Fast. Her head was constantly aching, and her liver
was also painful. So as to relieve her sufferings somehow, she artificially
made herself vomit, but she never complained, and was always joyful.

She knew the day of her death in advance. A week before her death the
Mari Protopriest Gurias gave her communion, and it was he who buried her.

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The day before her death she ordered the bath to be stoked up, and when they
took her across the courtyard she asked them to stop so that she could look at
the starry sky and the snowy earth for the last time. She died on December
1/14, 1980, and was buried in the cemetery at Sergach. When they took her
past the church, everyone sensed that the space around became many-
coloured. Obvious miracles took place during the burial.

Twice a year, on her anniversary and at six months, up to 100 people

gather to serve a pannikhida. Many believe that earth from her grave heals
illnesses. In her house there live the two women who assisted her during her
life, strictly keeping the testament Varenka gave them, serving the whole cycle
of services daily. They do not think about food or material needs. Once when
they had run out of peat for the stove, a lorry full of peat with some driver
whom they did not know came up and unloaded some briquettes. God does
not abandon His people!

(Sources: Holy Trinity Calendar for 1999, Jordanville; Za Khrista Postradavshiye,

Moscow, 1997, vol. 1, pp. 23, 27, 38, 40, 41, 43, 65, 66, 67, 90, 102, 149, 281, 388, 418,
460, 463, 498, 554, 564-565, 644, 647, 665, 672; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-
htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/; Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N 15 (1851),
August 1/14, 2008, p. 16; Nikolai Kolchurinsky, “Having Endured the Cross: The
Martyric Death and Posthumous Miracles of Archpriest Constantine Podkorsky
(+1918)”, Pravoslavnaya Beseda, no. 6, 2004; translated in The Orthodox Word,
vol. 41, no. 1 (240), January-February, 2005, pp. 33-41; Priest Dimitrie Bejan-
Harlau, Bucurille suferintei. Evocari din trecut, Chisninau, 1995, pp. 133-140;
translated in “The 11,000 Martyrs of Oranki Monastery”, Word of the Church, N
8, November-December, 1997, pp. 8-10; Manuscript on St. Eudocia by Fr.
Barsanuphius (1977); Hieromonk Damascene Orlovsky, Mucheniki, Ispovedniki i
Podvizhniki Blagochestiya Rossijskoj Pravoslavnoj Tserkvi XX Stoletiya, Tver:
Bulat, 1992, pp. 15, 18-21, 23, 201, 224-228; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-
htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans; Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', N 1 (1574),
January 1/14, 1997, pp. 8-12; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki
Rossijskiye, Jordanville, 1949-57, part 1,

pp. 211, 213, 214, 216- 217, part 2, p. 230; Vladimir Rusak, Pir Satany, London,
Canada: "Zarya", 1991, p. 104; Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', N 1 (1574), January 1/14,
1997, pp. 9, 21-22; Vladimir Semibratov, “Nye primknuvshij k sinodalym”,
Pravoslavnaya Rus’, N 11 (1584), June 1/14, 1997, pp. 3-4, 15;
http://catacomb.org.ua/modules.php?name=Pages&go=print_page&pid=12
66; http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/moskva.html; http://www.histor-
ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/nnov.html)

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28. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF KAZAN PROVINCE

On the night of April 8/21 (or 7/20), 1918 the humble and hospitable priest
of the St. Macarius church in Admiralteiskaya sloboda, Kazan, Fr. John
Petrovich Bogoyavlensky, was murdered. 26 wounds were administered to
his face and his whole body. At the same time, they cut off the eyelids and
burned out the eyes of his brother, a colonel, with methylated spirits.

Protopriest Paul Dernov directed the Yelabuga abstinence brotherhood.

One night three Red Army soldiers burst into his flat. They dragged away
three of his sons, and soon after - the father. At dawn it became known that
the sons were under arrest, but it was impossible to find Fr. Paul. But then
they told his matushka that the body of her husband could be found outside
the town by the mill. It turned out that Fr. Paul had been shot at five o'clock in
the morning. The killers had wanted to throw the body through a hole in the
ice, but some peasants appeared and did not allow them to mock the body of
the hieromartyr.

Relatives besought the Bolsheviks to allow the sons to see their murdered
father. When the sons heard that their father had been killed, one of them
could not stand it and called the soldier "soul-destroyers". This was enough
for them all to be taken out of the town and shot by the quayside.

On March 31 / April 13, 1918, at the funeral liturgy celebrated by Patriarch

Tikhon in the Moscow theological seminary, Protopriest Paul and his sons
were commemorated as martyrs for the faith.

Protopriest Alexander Stepanovich Miropolsky was born in 1847 in

Kazan province. In 1872 he became diocesan anti-Muslim missionary-
preacher, and spent thirty-five years among the baptised Tartars as a
missionary. At the age of sixty, having earned a full priestly pension, he
entered the Kazan Theological Academy. The appearance of the venerable
elder in the role of a student created a sensation. Both teachers and students
were amazed by his energy and zeal. The professors saw that he had really
come to learn how to be a missionary, and not just to fill up his free time. As a
student he was a model for all. In the course of four years he did not miss a
single lecture. The whole of his free time he spent reading books in the
library. Moreover he regularly took part in the Academy’s services.

In 1912 Fr. Alexander was invited to Yekaterinburg. There he taught,

baptised Tatars and fearlessly spread the light of Christ among the Muslims,

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travelling to various outlying villages. In 1917, during one of these trips,

when he was at the settlement of Nadezhdinsky factory, Fr. Alexander was
arrested for “distributing counter-revolutionary religious literature” – that is,
religious-moral booklets and brochures translated by him into the Tatar
language. He was cast into prison. However, after the Tatars reassured the
authorities that there was nothing “counter-revolutionary” in the books, the
Soviet of Workers’ Deputies released him. He then became an anti-Muslim
missionary in the Dormition church in Kaslinsky factory settlement,
Ekaterinburg uyezd.

On June 22, 1918 Fr. Alexander was arrested again, and during the night,
on June 23, was shot at Kaslinsky factory together with Priests Peter
Smorodintsev and Peter Belyaev and 27 others. The priests were buried in
the Dormition church near the main altar. Before shooting Fr. Alexander, the
Bolsheviks beat him about the face, cut his body with cutlasses, broke his leg,
pierced his heel, bound his hands and hurled him into a pit. The Tatars were
amazed by this behaviour: “What did the Reds kill him for? He gave good
books and taught what is good.”

Later that month the Reds were expelled, and the Whites under Admiral
Kolchak unearthed the bodies of the thirty martyrs. They had been severely
disfigured and were scarcely recognizable. Some had been beheaded. On July
7 the funeral service took place. There were about 10,000 mourners. Many
wept. The rector of the church, Fr. Constantine, who had miraculously
survived, said in his parting word: “Why were they killed? For what did they
suffer such torments? Because they were servants of the Church, because they
bore the name of Christ…”

Priest Anthony Nikolayevich Nikolayev was born in 1873. He studied at a

pedagogical seminary. In 1898 he became a deacon, and in 1902 – a priest. He
was priest and teacher of the Law of God in the church of the Entrance of the
Lord into Jerusalem, Tsarevokokshaisk, Kazan province. Between August and
December, 1918 he was killed in Tsarevokokshaisk.

Protopriest Michael Nikolayevich Mansurov was born in 1852, became a

reader in 1876, was ordained to the diaconate in 1876, and to the priesthood -
in 1884. In 1909 he became dean of the all the yedinovertsy churches of the
Kazan diocese. He was killed sometime between August and December, 1918
in the village of Kukmor.

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In the village of Sungurov in the same uyezd another revered protopriest

was killed - the dean of the third district of parish churches of the Kazan
uyezd, Fr. Nicholas Nikolayevich Philantropov. He was born in 1872,
finished his studies at the Kazan theological seminary, and was ordained to
the priesthood in 1886. He was killed sometime between August and
December, 1918.

Priest Peter Ivanovich Tsarevsky was born in 1882 and went to a

theological seminary. He was serving in the village of Antonovka, Tetyush
uyezd, when, on September 7, 1918, he was killed.

Priest Basil Lvovich Agatitsky was born in 1880 and went to a theological
seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1902 and sent to serve in the
Trinity cathedral in the city of Tetyush, Kazan province, where he was also a
teacher of the Law of God in a church-parish school. Between June 21 and
July 5, 1918 there was a Diocesan Assembly of the clergy of Kazan diocese at
which he, as deputy from Tetyush uyezd, was elected president of the
administrative commission. On October 4 he was killed in Tetyush.

Priest Constantine Sergeyev was serving in the village of Kutush,

Chistopol uyezd, Kazan province. On October 13, 1918 he was killed.

Priest Michael Nikolayevich Ivanovsky was born in about 1850 in the

village of Laptevka, Tetyushsky region, Tataria, and lived in the village of
Sedelnikovo, Chistopol region. On November 11, 1918 he was arrested, and
on December 16 he was convicted of “offerings in favour of the White Army”.
He was sentenced to death, but this sentence was commuted to ten years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Michael Pikulev was serving in the city of Izhevsk,

Udmurtia. On November 13, 1918 he was shot by the chekists.

The clergyman Arcadius Skardanitsky was shot by the Chekists in the city
of Izhevsk, Udmurtia on November 13, 1918.

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Priest Andrew Petrovich Bragin was born in 1872 and went to a teachers’
school. In 1902 he was ordained to the priesthood and was sent to serve in the
village of Levyashevo, Spassk uyezd, Kazan province. In May, 1918 he was
arrested and convicted of being a “counter-revolutionary” and of “not
recognizing and not obeying Soviet power”. On May 23, 1918 he wrote to
Metropolitan James of Kazan: "I consider it my duty to inform your Right
Reverence that I have been judged by the court of the Spassky revolutionary
tribunal as a counter-revolutionary for not recognising and not obeying Soviet
power. On May 10 of this year I was sentenced to six months in prison, and
from the day of that decision I have been in prison. In my parishes the needs
have been served by my neighbouring brothers Fr. Lepeshkin from the village
of Maslovki and Fr. Nesterov from the village of Lebedin. I am always
suffering in soul for the good of the people and in particular for the good of
the flock entrusted to me. During these days, the days of the great trials and
woes of our hapless and tormented Homeland, I have always stood and will
always stand on guard for the true interests of the people in accordance with
the commandments of Christ, not fearing to suffer even to the shedding of my
blood. Through my unceasing preaching of the word of God amidst my flock,
I have in a short period won for myself their love and now they have spoken
out in my defence, petitioning for my release. But - by the will of destiny - I
am still in prison. Copies of this petition are with the Spassk soviet and the
Commissar of Justice in Kazan, but I do not yet know the results. If it is
pleasing to your Right Reverence to help expedite my release from prison,
then I beseech you to send someone from the Diocesan Council with a
petition for my release." On June 7 (new style), this document was sent by the
head of the Spassk uyezd prison to Metropolitan James, who entrusted the
petition for the release of Fr. Andrew to M.N. Vasilevsky, the president of the
commission for the defence of the interests of the Orthodox Church and
clergy. Apparently, the efforts of the Diocesan Council were crowned with
success, for Fr. Andrew was released and transferred, to avoid further
persecutions from the local authorities, to the village of Chirki-Bebkeyevy in
Tetyush uyezd. There he was killed in unclear circumstances sometime
between August and December, 1918. In a letter to Metropolitan James he
wrote: “I am always suffer in soul for the good of the people, and in particular
for the good of the flock entrusted to me. In these days of great trials and
woes for our hapless and tormented Homeland, I have always stood and will
stand on guard for the true interests of the people in accordance with the
commands of Christ, not fearing to suffer even to the shedding of blood…”

Archimandrite Sergius, in the world John Zaitsev, was born in 1863 in the
city of Gatchina, in the family of an official of the 10th class. Having finished
his studies in the sciences in the Gatchina Emperor Nicholas Institute, he
became a novice in the St. Nilus Desert in Tver diocese in September, 1891,

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having as obedience to assist the teacher of the St. Nilus parish school. On
September 25, 1893 he was tonsured into monasticism with the name Sergius.
In June, 1894 he was ordained to the diaconate, and on May 24, 1896 - the
priesthood. On March 14, 1900 he was transferred to the post of treasurer of
the Novotorzhsk Borisoglebsk monastery, and on July 1 - to the post of
steward of the Hierarchical House. From August 13, 1904 he was temporary
dean of the monasteries of the first district. At his request, Hieromonk Sergius
was received into the brotherhood of the Hierarchical House in Kazan on
April 2, 1905, and on May 11 of that year he was raised to the rank of igumen.
On September 1, 1906 Igumen Sergius was appointed superior of the
Sviyazhsk St. Macarius Desert, and from April 13 - dean of the monasteries of
the third district. On January 17, 1908, by a decree of the Kazan Spiritual
Consistory, Igumen Sergius was appointed dean of the second district of
monasteries of the Kazan diocese (which duty he carried out until his martyric
death), and on May 28, 1908 he was raised to the rank of archimandrite. On
January 7, 1909 Archimandrite Sergius was appointed superior of the Kazan
Zilantov monastery of the Dormition, where he acquired a good reputation
for his ascetic life and his ability as a peacemaker.

Fr. Sergius found the monastery in a dilapidated state, and he spent a lot of
time restoring the building and churches. He also introduced monks from
other monasteries. Thus from the St. Macarius Desert came Monk Leontius, in
the world Laurence Karyagin. He was born in 1870 into a peasant family in
Kazan province. From 1901 to February, 1907 he was a novice in the Raithu
Desert. He was tonsured into monasticism on December 20, 1909, six months
after his transfer to the Zilantov monastery.

From the monastery of the Archangel Michael came Hieromonk Laurence,

in the world Leontius Nikitin. He was born in 1872 into a Chuvash peasant
family from Yadrinsk uyezd, Kazan province. At the age of 23 he entered the
Cheremiss monastery, where he was tonsured into monasticism in August,
1902. (According to another account, he became a novice in the Raifu
monastery, Kazan province in 1901, and in February, 1907 moved to the
Sviyazhsk Makaryevskaya desert, Sviyazhsk uyezd, Kazan province.) In
October, 1907 he was ordained to the diaconate. In February, 1908 (according
to another source, June 20, 1909) he was transferred to the Zilantov
monastery, where he was ordained to the priesthood on March 22, 1909. In
April of that year he became temporary treasurer, becoming confirmed in that
post on February 1, 1910. He was tonsured into the mantia on December 20,
1909 by Archimandrite Sergius.

The spiritual father of the monastery was Hieromonk Joseph, in the world
John Tyurin. He was born into a peasant family in Kazan uyezd, and entered
the Sviyazhsk Dormition monastery in 1892 at the age of 39. In March, 1893 he
was tonsured into monasticism, and on March 30, 1894 he was ordained to the
diaconate. In November, 1894 Fr. Joseph was transferred to the Kazan

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Hierarchical House, and in October, 1899 was ordained to the priesthood,

being appointed treasurer in 1901. In 1903 he was transferred to the Kharkov
Hierarchical House as steward. Four years later, at his own request, he was
again assigned to the Kazan diocese, and in November, 1907 was transferred
to the Zilantov monastery. Here, in view of his experience and piety, he was
confirmed in the posts of sacristan (from February, 1908), dean (from May 15
of the same year) and spiritual father. As the numbers of monks in the
monastery had increased, on September 25, 1910 he was relieved of the posts
of sacristan and dean. His asceticism and ability to bring people to repentance
won Fr. Joseph the respect of the Kazan clergy, and in November, 1911 he was
appointed spiritual father of the Kazan Theological Academy

By 1918 there was only one hierodeacon in the monastery - Fr. Theodosius,
in the world Theodore Alexandrov. He was born in 1864 in a peasant family
of Kazan province and entered the Zilantov monastery in 1904, where he was
tonsured into monasticism in August, 1910 by Archimandrite Sergius. He was
ordained to the diaconate on December 24, 1910.

The revolution did not leave the Zilantov monastery untouched: lands and
economic resources were confiscated, and many of the novices were called up
into the army. However, in July, 1918, Archimandrite Sergius secured the
transfer to the monastery of Hieromonk Seraphim, in the world Semyon
Kuzin or Kuzmin, who was born in 1870 into a Chuvash peasant family from
Kozmodemyansk uyezd, Kazan province. On March 25, 1903 Fr. Seraphim,
who was a widower, entered the St. Michael monastery, on December 20, 1904
was made a rassophor monk, and on April 7, 1907 was tonsured into
monasticism. He was ordained to the diaconate on July 20, 1910, and to the
priesthood - in 1913. In 1914 he was called up into the army and fulfilled the
functions of pastor in a mobile field hospital. On returning from the front,
where he suffered much on seeing the sufferings of the soldiers, Fr. Seraphim
was appointed sacristan of the monastery in 1916. In July, 1918, Fr. Seraphim
asked to be transferred from the St. Michael monastery because of the racial
tensions between Cheremiss and Chuvash monks.

Thus in the middle of 1918 there were 11 people in the Zilantov monastery:
Archimandrite Sergius, Hieromonks Laurence, Joseph and Seraphim,
Hierodeacon Theodosius, Monks Leontius and Stephen, and novices
George Timofeyev (38 years old, a Chuvash, in the monastery since October
9, 1909), Reader John Sretensky, Novices Sergius Galin, and Hilarion
Pravdin.

In August, the Czechs occupied the Zilantov monastery because of its

strategic importance on a height above the city, and so on August 11
Archimandrite Sergius petitioned for the transfer of his monks to other
monasteries in the city. However, on the eve of the withdrawal of the Czechs

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from Kazan on September 10 (new style), all the monks had returned to the
monastery.

Early on September 10, the Bolsheviks stormed into the Admiralteisky

sloboda on the outskirts of Kazan. Only one young officer offered them any
resistance - Michael Mikhailovich Dogel, the son of the famous professor of
International Law, M.I. Dogel, who fired at them from one of the two
machine-guns placed on a high hill in front of the entrance to the Zilantov.
The Bolsheviks came up and bayoneted him at his machine-gun.

Then they went into the monastery, where Archimandrite Sergius and his
ten monks were in the trapeza after the Liturgy, listening to the life of St.
Moses the Ethiopian, who had been killed by invading barbarians. The new
barbarians lined the monks up against the wall, and shot them. When the
Bolsheviks had left, the 65-year-old superior of the monastery, Hieromonk
Joseph, crawled out from under the blood and brains of his martyred
children, went into the city and took refuge with Igumen Ephraim in the
monastery of St. John the Forerunner. He told the story to Archimandrite
Joasaph, who himself served the burial service for the martyred
Archimandrite Sergius and his brotherhood.

Fr. Joseph died in the monastery of St. John a year after the tragedy, which
had left him deaf. He used to say:

"It seems to me that a part of the brains of the brother who fell with his
shattered skull onto me has remained in my ears. I washed his blood and
brains from my face before leaving the deserted community."

The doddery old man often served the Liturgy in the monastery that gave
him shelter, teaching the flock to commemorate "the slaughtered
Archimandrite Sergius with the brotherhood of the Zilantov monastery".
Those who knew the meek and humble Joseph continue to do this.

Protopriest Constantine Ilyich Dalmatov was born in 1854 into the

remarkable priestly dynasty of the Dalmatovs. Having finished his studies at
the Kazan theological seminary brilliantly, in August, 1877 he entered secular
service and until 1883 taught Russian and Church Slavonic in Chistopol
theological seminary. However, long meditations on the meaning of human
life led Constantine Ilyich to accept ordination to the priesthood, which took
place on September 25, 1883. He was ordained as priest of the village of
Yamesheva, Yadrinsk uyezd. Later, Fr. Constantine served in the villages of
Urakhcha (1888-1890), Kornoukhovo (1890-1901), Syukeyevo and
Bogorodskoye (from 1901). The last place of his priestly service was the
Sophia cathedral in the city of Sviyazhsk. By this time he was a revered and

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honoured protopriest. People of all classes came to him for confession. He

was an unacquisitive lover of the poor, with a wonderful simplicity and a rare
gift for preaching. He taught the Law of God without pay in many parish
schools, and this in spite of the fact that he had ten children to look after in
addition to his matushka.

After the revolution Fr. Constantine spoke boldly from the ambon against
the excesses of the atheist authorities, who planted atheism in the souls of
children in schools and poisoned their consciousness with propaganda of
unrealisable promises of peace and land, and who had plunged a vast and
prosperous country into a terrible age of medieval terror and civil war.

When Trotsky entered Sviyazhsk in July, 1918, the 64-year-old Fr.

Constantine was accused of shooting from the bell-tower of the Sviyazhsk
cathedral from a machine gun when the Red Army approached. His son tried
to intercede for him, for which he was immediately shot. Then the protopriest
was bayonetted to death. This took place on July 25 / August 7, the feast of St.
Anna. The bodies of father and son lay on the city square for two days. People
feared to approach them for fear of being shot for showing simple human
compassion.

Priest Orestes Konstantinovich Alexandrov was born in 1863. He finished

his studies at a theological seminary and in 1885 was ordained to the
priesthood. In 1908 he became superior of the Trinity cathedral in the city of
Spassk and teacher of the Law of God in the parish school. He lived very
simply, in a one-storey house with a garden, a kitchen-garden, a cow and a
horse, although he had, in addition to his five sons and daughters, several
nephews to look after and a poor orphan called Lilya. Fr. Orestes loved the
poor and never refused anyone anything. He was greatly revered in Spassk.

On July 31, 1918 a Red Army soldier came secretly to Fr. Orestes and
warned him to flee, since he had heard that he would be arrested the next
day. However, Fr. Orestes decided that he could not forsake his flock. The
next day he was arrested together with two other citizens (one a merchant)
and taken to the commanding officer's residence. The Latvian soldiers took Fr.
Orestes into a separate room, sat him on a chair and mocked him. Then they
danced around him, spat at him, pulled out his hair and threw him to the
ground, where they trampled on him. When Fr. Orestes' matushka Lydia
could not find him near the commanding officer's residence a boatman came
up to her and told her that the Latvians had taken the three prisoners down
river. Together with the boatmen, matushka found the bodies, which were
barely covered with branches. All three had been tortured and then shot in
the back of the head. Batyushka was buried in the city cemetery, which has
now been drowned.

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Sometime between 1918 and 1921 Priest Nicholas Nartsev was taken from
his house in Kazan and shot without investigation or trial.

On September 6, 1918 (according to other sources, September 25), Priest

Paul Lukin, of the village of Yanshikhov, Tsivilsk uyezd, was killed.

Priest Arcadius Otarsky was born in 1878 and finished his studies at the
Kazan theological seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1894 and in
the same year appointed to the church of the village of Ismentsy, Cheboksary
uyezd, Kazan province, where he was also teacher of the Law of God. He was
appointed dean of the third district of the churches of Cheboksary uyezd. By
1918 Fr. Arcadius and his matushka had three young children. Towards the
end of September, 1918, Fr. Arcadius was arrested on the basis of a peasant's
denunciation, and taken under convoy to the Kazan provincial prison. 168 of
his parishioners (all of the Cheremyss nationality) petitioned for his release,
saying that he had never spoken to them about politics. However, on October
2 Fr. Arcadius was condemned to be executed for agitating against Soviet
power, and on October 8 (new style) he was shot.

Priest Leonid Yevstafyevich Skvortsov was superior of the Sophia church

in the town of LaishevO. When the Whites occupied the region in the summer
of 1918, he retreated with them when the Bolsheviks regained the upper hand,
but decided to return to his native town, where he was arrested by the Cheka.
One witness claimed that Fr. Leonid had called on the people to support the
White Army and "uproot the evil brought upon us by the Bolshevik
authorities". Another claimed that in January, 1918, after explaining the
Bolshevik decree on the separation of Church and State, he had said:

"Do you agree, beloved children, that our enemies should take the valuable
rizas from the holy icons?"

He had gone on to explain, according to this witness, that according to

Patriarch Tikhon's decree those who persecuted the Church were
anathematised and could not receive Communion or even be buried by the
Church unless they offered repentance. And he had said that this was only
the beginning of much more terrible persecutions against the Orthodox

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Church, which was why Orthodox people should not join the antireligious
activists of the new authorities.

The investigation into the case of Fr. Leonid lasted 24 hours, and on
October 7 he was condemned for stirring up the people against the
authorities, for serving a moleben for the White soldiers on the square and for
being in the White Army. In the morning of October 8 he and four other
inhabitants of Laishev and the village of Oshnyaki were shot for "clearly
counter-revolutionary activity".

Priest Demetrius Mikhailovich Shishokin was born in 1880 into a clerical

family. His father was the rector of a church in Kazan which was destroyed
when the city was being reconstructed. According to his nephew, he was
buried by the church as a sign of respect. Fr. Demetrius finished his studies at
Kazan theological seminary and wanted to become a monk, but unexpectedly
he changed his mind and married Anna Mikhailovna Akramovskaya, the
daughter of a priest. The marriage was very happy, and the couple had four
children: Zoya Dimitrievna (born in 1905) and Sergius Dimitrievich (born in
1910), Victor Dimitrievich (born in 1907) and Andrew Dimitrievich (born in
1915). Fr. Demetrius was ordained in 1904, and on January 13, 1905 was
appointed priest in the village of Tikhy Ples in Sviyazhsk uyezd, Kazan
diocese. When his children were born he requested that he be transferred for
the sake of their education to the Kazan prison, where he was transferred on
January 13, 1913.

Fr. Demetrius was a humble man who had nothing to do with politics. He
was a good pastor who was beloved both by the workers and by the
prisoners, and did not leave the city with the Whites. On September 26, 1918
he was arrested on the basis of a denunciation by a young policeman, whom
he had supposedly called to repentance for being a communist. He was
arrested and thrown into prison in the Kazan Kremlin. 17 members of the
staff of the Kazan provincial prison and 19 superiors of the Kazan correctional
department, as well as the parishioners of the church of St. Paraskeva, which
was near the priest's house, interceded for him

According to the witness of Fr. Demetrius' niece, the cheka demanded of

him that he break the seal of the sacrament of confession, so as to reveal the
"counter-revolutionary sentiments" of his spiritual children. But this he
refused to do.

Only one letter reached his wife from prison. This was delivered by a
person who risked his life in so doing. It was written in pencil and read: "Dear
Anechka! I have made my choice, any day now everything will be decided. I
cannot meet their conditions... I ask you not to come to me, or ask or petition

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on my behalf. It's useless, you'll only bring woe upon yourself and the
children. All petitions on my behalf are useless, I feel this and know it,
nobody and nothing can save me now. I cannot be different. I am consoled by
the thought that such is the Will of God, and you will all survive through His
mercy. Don't inquire about me, don't try and clarify anything, they won't tell
you and it's dangerous. When they take me out of Kazan for my sentence,
look for a chemical pencil along the wall. Demetrius."

Nothing more was learned about him for many years. Some bystanders
said that a group of priests had been drowned on a steamboat and taken
along the Volga in an unknown direction. In 1991 a tourist-guide from Kazan
said in Sviyazhsk that in 1918 the Bolsheviks had shot a number of political
prisoners in a slaughter-house in Sviyazhsk, which is situated on an island in
the Volga some way from Kazan. A large group of priests from Kazan prison
had been brought there. During the first years of Soviet power there had been
a monastery and some functioning churches in Sviyazhsk. At first monastics
from the surrounding monasteries had buried the shot priests by the
monastery wall, but soon the monastery was closed and sacked, the monks
were driven out, the churches were ruined and everything was desolate for
many years. Sviyazshk was turned into a trans-shipment point for political
prisoners, and almost no one returned from there alive.

We now know that Fr. Demetrius was shot on October 10, 1918 in
Sviyazhsk, following the unfounded denunciation of a policeman. This took
place in spite of the intercession of Orthodox communities, the prison
administration and even the supervisors of the prison.

Priest Nicholas Neofitovich Priklonsky was born in 1871. He finished his

studies at the Kazan theological seminary. He also studied on missionary
courses in Kazan. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1897 and sent to serve
in the village of Abdej, Mamadysh uyezd, Kazan province. From 1901 he was
also teacher of the Law of God in the church-parish school. On October 20,
1918 (new style) Fr. Nicholas was arrested by the police in Abdej and the next
day was taken to the Mamadysh cheka, where he was accused of creating a
White Guard band from his sons, who had left with the Whites. On the same
day, he was shot together with another priest who had finished a missionary
course, Fr. Basil Afansievich Luzin.

On October 22, the steward of the Kazan Theological Academy and priest
of the Academy church of the Archangel Michael, Fr. Philaret Velikanov, was
shot together with the priest of the village of Verkhny Uslon, Fr. Daniel
Stefanovich Dymov.

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Priest Philaret Ioannovich Velikanov was born on May 14, 1873 in the
family of a deacon of the town of Verkny Lomov. Having finished his studies
at the Penza theological seminary, on October 7, 1891 he was appointed
reader at the church of Nizhny Lomov. From October 18, 1895 he was a
teacher of the Nizhny Lomov resurrection school. On May 25, 1896 he was
ordained to the diaconate, and on September 10 he was appointed to the
teacher-deacon post at the church of the Exaltation of the Cross in the village
of Surkino, Narovchatovsky uyezd. On June 11, 1897 he was transferred to the
village of Bolshoj Azyas, Krasnoslobodsky uyezd, and on August 23, 1901 he
was appointed steward of the Krasnoslobodsky spiritual school. On March 2,
1904 he was appointed deacon of the village of Oborochny, Karsnoslobodsky
uyezd, in March, 1904 - steward of the Tikhonovsky spiritual school in Penza,
and on June 10, 1909 - steward of the Penza theological seminary. On October
30, 1916 he was ordained to the priesthood. He was by this time a widower.

In November, 1916 Fr. Philaret was transferred to the Kazan diocese as

steward of the Academy, a very responsible administrative post. At the same
time he was appointed priest of the St. Michael the Archangel Academy
church. On May 23 (according to another source, September 11), 1918 the
Moscow Archaeological Institute elected him a member-co-worker.

When most of the clergy of Kazan left the city together with the Whites, the
workers of the Krestovnikov brothers asked the Academy to let Fr. Philaret
serve them in the Borisoglebsk church. This was granted for one month from
September 11.

On October 11 Fr. Philaret was arrested on the false charge made by two
members of the cheka that he had walked armed through the Academy
slobodka and threatened the communists in hiding with execution. He was
taken to the building of the Kazan cheka, where he was condemned by a
military tribunal for “participation in the counter-revolutionary adventure of
the Czechoslovaks”, and was sentenced to be shot. He managed to smuggle a
letter out of prison to Bishop Anatolius (Grisyuk) which showed that he had
suffered much from the authorities, but that he was ready for death: "The
whole of my life has been passed in sin. I do not know that I have done any
good works... God is punishing me for my sins." The sentence of execution
was confirmed on October 22, and S. Talyzin wrote to his father from the
same prison that Fr. Philaret had "with fitting courage accepted his martyric
death".

Priest Daniel Stefanovich Dymov was born in Kazan in 1884 into a poor
tradesman's family. From 1901 to 1904 he was a teacher in the people's school
in the village of Verkhny Uslon. Then he was enrolled in the army. He served
in Petrograd from 1905 to 1907, where, caught up in the general revolutionary
fervour, he was among 120 people sentenced to exile in the Caucasus for two

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years. There he repented, and on returning from exile immediately joined a

church reader's course. From 1908 he served for some time as reader in the
Sophia church of Sviyazhsk together with Fr. Constantine Dalmatov, under
whose influence he passed some further exams and was ordained to the
diaconate in 1910. Soon he became a retired deacon in the Nikolsky church in
Verkhny Uslon, where he was greatly loved by the parishioners. Finally, Fr.
Daniel was ordained to the priesthood and from May 2, 1917 (old style)
became priest of the Nikolsky church.

At the beginning of September, 1918 Fr. Daniel's four-year-old daughter

Sophia was killed, and his wife was crippled, during a bombardment, and on
September 10 he was arrested in Laishev. From September 11/24 to October
11/24 he was in prison, although he was accused of nothing. However, in
spite of the petitions of hundreds of petitioners, Fr. Daniel was shot on
October 9/22 "for counter-revolutionary propaganda".

On October 28, Priest Leonid Polikarpov and seven other inhabitants of

the village of Kukmor were shot for organising a military unit in the village,
which Fr. Leonid denied.

Priest Theodore Mikhailovich Gidaspov was born in 1877 in the village of

Trostyank, Buzuluk uyezd, into the family of a priest of Samara diocese. From
an early age the meek Theodore decided to go along the spiritual path.
Having finished his studies at the Samara theological seminary, in November,
1895 he was appointed reader in the village of Ivanovka-Krivoluchy,
Nikolayevsky uyezd. On February 4, 1896 he was ordained as priest of the St.
Michael the Archangel church in the village of Krasnaya Polyana,
Nikolayevsky uyezd. Here he zealously worked on the establishment of the
village parish school, of which he later became the master and teacher of the
Law of God. In January, 1899 Fr. Theodore was transferred to the village of
Andreyevka, Buzuluk uyezd as being one capable of conducting anti-
sectarian work. From 1901 to 1907 he was superior of the church in the village
of Gamaleyevka, where he was also head-master and teacher of the Law of
God in the local parish school.

In 1907 he entered Kazan Theological Academy, from which he graduated

on June 15, 1911 with the degree of candidate of theology. On September 6,
1911 he was appointed teacher of the Law of God in the Ekaterinburg first
women's gymnasium, and in September of the same year - superior of the
gymnasium's church of St. Mary Magdalene. In August, 1912 he was raised to
the rank of protopriest and transferred to the cathedral of the Nativity of the
Mother of God in Alatyr. In Alatyr Fr. Theodore was president of the

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Pedagogical Council of the Alatyr diocesan women's school, president of the

Alatyr section of the Simbirsk diocesan educational council, dean of the first
church district of the Alatyr uyezd, a member of the Alatyr city board of the
children's orphanage and workhouse, and teacher of the Law of God in the
diocesan women's school and women's gymnasium.

In October, 1913, at the request of Archbishop James of Kazan, Fr.

Theodore was transferred to the Kazan diocese and appointed second priest
of the Kazan women's monastery of the Mother of God. Here he remained
until April, 1916, being at the same time teacher of the Law of God in the
monastery's parish school. During these years he was a lecturer in the very
popular religious and moral readings in the Vladimir reading hall attached to
the Pokrov church in Kazan. On April 7, 1916 Fr. Theodore became the priest
of the "Pyatnitsky" church of the Mother of God in Kazan and teacher of the
Law of God in the Pyatnitsky parish school. At the same time he became a
permanent member and treasurer of the Kazan Diocesan Educational Council,
teacher of the Law of God in the second women's gymnasium (from March,
1917), a member of the Orthodox Brotherhood of St. Gurias and dean of the
first church district of Kazan.

During the war years Fr. Theodore did much to comfort and strengthen the
suffering populace. He also went very often to the hospitals to see the
wounded. Once Private Nicephorus Rudin was about to have a very serious
operation, and was not expected to live. Fr. Theodore served an all-night vigil
in the hospital in front of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God. During the
night his temperature miraculously disappeared, his pain was removed, and
everything was resolved so well that he did not even have to have an
operation.

After the revolution of February, 1917 Fr. Theodore joined the Union of
Pastors of Kazan and Kazan diocese. On July 27, as the icon of the Mother of
God of the Seven Lakes was being escorted from Kazan back to the Seven
Lakes monastery after a service (an annual celebration), Fr. Theodore was
distributing leaflets published by the Union of Pastors in the Kremlin near the
cathedral, among them one entitled "What does the Separation of Church and
State mean?" A Red Army soldier came up to him and told him to stop this
activity. When Fr. Theodore refused he was arrested and escorted, still
wearing his epitrachelion, to the Kazan Soviet of Workers' and Peasants'
Deputies, where his leaflets were taken from him. On the same day agents of
the Soviet went to the printing house which printed the leaflets and forced
them not to issue the remaining 9000 leaflets on the Separation of Church and
State. On July 29 the local papers published articles accusing the Union of
Pastors and Fr. Theodore for "Black Hundreds pogrom-rousing activity". The
Union of Pastors met and rejected these accusations, declaring that it was
their duty to inform the flock of Russia of the woes caused by atheism.

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Early in 1918 Fr. Theodore read Patriarch Tikhon's anathema against the
Bolsheviks to his parishioners, and himself preached against socialism. Once
he spoke about the Biblical image of giving a stone instead of bread. Later,
when he was in prison, he was accused of saying that the Bolsheviks were
forcing the people to eat stones! He also said that those who rejected Christ
were "antichrists" and that the God-fighting army of such people was "an
antichristian army", whose aim was the destruction of Orthodox Russia and
the construction of "the Kingdom of God on earth" - in other words, the
Tower of Babel. Later, in prison, batyushka was accused of calling the Red
Army "an antichristian army", and the White army - "God's [army]".

When, in July-August, 1918, the red armies occupied Kazan, Fr. Theodore
daily went around his poor parish in Nagornaya street sloping down to the
river Kazanka with a cross procession. On September 3, the White soldiers
who had retaken the city asked him to bless their weapons in defence of the
city, and Fr. Theodore did not refuse. His two sons joined the White army.

On the eve of the Bolsheviks' retaking of the city, Fr. Theodore took his
family to Samara, where the mother of his wife lived. On October 22, having
said goodbye to his family, he returned to Kazan to fulfil his duty as a pastor.
On October 31 he was arrested and accused of counter-revolution. In spite of
the appeals of his parishioners, the Diocesan Council and Bishop Anatolius
(Grisyuk), he was executed on November 12.

In 1926 the Pyatnitskaya church was given up to the renovationists. In 1930

the cathedral of the Kazan monastery and part of its historic walls were blown
up. In their place a factory was built. But next to it, in the Pyatnitsky church,
the relics of St. Gurias of Kazan remained from 1926 to 1934. Then they were
removed, and in the autumn of 1937 the church was converted into the sixth
prison, for there were not enough prisons for the victims of the Yezhov
persecution.

In 1937-38, many Christians passed their last days before being shot in this
church, and passed into the next world some twenty years after the execution
of its superior.

Priest Paul Mikhailovich Mikhailov was born in 1866, finished his studies
at a teacher training seminary, and became a teacher of the Law of God and
treasurer of the Diocesan School Council. In 1890 he was ordained to the
priesthood, and from 1898 was the priest of the Mamadysh Trinity cathedral.
On March 13, 1919, after being tortured, he was drowned by the atheists into
an unfrozen patch of water in the river Vyatka.

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Priest Peter Nikolayevich Bogorodsky was born in the village of

Norvashi, Yantikovskaya volost, Tsivilsky uyezd, Kazan province. He
married and had seven children, five sons and two daughters. Matushka
Maria died in 1914 when their youngest son was only three months old. After
the death of matushka, the children were adopted by her aunt, Catherine
Voinova, and went to live with her in the village of Senyaly. Fr. Peter would
visit them there. He served in the village of Yantikovo, and then in the village
of Norvashi. On January 25, 1921, Fr. Peter was returning home to Shigali
after visiting his children when he came upon a punitive detachment. On
seeing a man in priestly clothing, they shot him, having pronounced him
guilty of participation in a peasant rebellion.

Hieromonk Dionysius was serving in the monastery of St. John the Baptist
in Kazan. There he was killed in 1923.

Before the revolution Priest Ivan Vasilyevich Pudikov owned a tea-shop

in Kazan. He was serving first in Kazan, then in Tataria not far from Kazan,
and was arrested and imprisoned some time in the 1920s. He probably died of
tuberculosis in prison.

Abbess Antonia (Kozlova) was born in 1861, and was superior of a

monastery in Chistopol, Tataria. In 1928 she was arrested, and died in prison
in Chistopol.

Priest Basil Gavrilovich Panteleyev was born in 1884, and served in the
village of Koschakovo, Tataria. On October 2, 1929 he was shot.

Priest Michael Gavrilovich Gremyachkin was born in 1870 in Kamskiye

Polyany, Nizhnekamsk region, Tataria, and lived in the village of
Chylpanovo, Chistopol region. On April 27, 1929 he was arrested, and on
November 4 was convicted of “agitation against the conversion of a church
into a school”. In accordance with article 58-10 part 2 he was sentenced to six
years’ imprisonment and three years’ exile from Tataria. Nothing more is
known about him.

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Anatoly Alexandrovich Imshinetsky was born in 1900. On February 25,

1929 he was shot for the faith in Tataria.

Nicholas Vasilyevich Illiodorov was born in 1891. He was arrested in

Tataria, and on June 12, 1929 was shot for the faith.

Readers Maximus Semyonovich Dydyashev and Maximus Semyonovich

Dyadyashev were both born in 1876 in the village of Stary Almetyevsk,
Muslyumovsky region, Tataria into peasant families, and served in their
native village. On October 23, 1929 they were arrested, and on November 22
were convicted of being “participants in a kulak grouping”, “undermining the
enterprises of Soviet power” and “threatening activists with terror”. In
accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11 they were sentenced to ten
years in the camps and confiscation of his property. Their families were
expelled to the northern regions. Nothing more is known about them.

Peter Ivanovich Kandalin was born in 1885 in Yelantovo into a peasant

family. In 1929 he was arrested for being “a participant in the pitchfork
rebellion of 1920”, and was accused of “agitating against the collective farms
and the bread requisitionings”. On December 14 he was sentenced to five
years in the camps. After his release he was an invalid. In 1937 he was
arrested again and sentenced to death. He was shot.

Reader Stepan Timofeyevich Yelikov was born in 1890 in the village of

Chuvashskoye Burnayevo, Alkeyevsk region, Tataria. He was a Chuvash. On
October 31, 1929 he was arrested in his native village, and on December 23
was convicted of being “a participant in a kulak grouping”, “undermining the
enterprises of Soviet power” and “threatening activists with terror”. In
accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 59-1 he was sentenced to five years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Alexeyevich Demidov was born in 1881 in the village of

Butlerovka (Stepnaya Shentala), Alexeyevsk region, Tataria, and served in the
village of Osinovo, Zelenodolsky region. On February 6, 1930 he was arrested,

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and on April 5 he was convicted of being “a participant in a counter-

revolutionary grouping” and of “anti-collective farm agitation”. In accordance
with article 58-11, he was sentenced to death, which was commuted to a term of
preliminary imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Eudocia (Maximovna Gorashina) was born in 1883 in the village of

Bolshoye Frolovo, Buinsk region, Tataria. On April 4, 1929 she was arrested,
and on December 15 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three
years’ exile in the north for “anti-collective farm agitation”. Nothing more is
known about her.

Demetrius Vasilyevich Yemelyukov was born in 1872 in the village of

Chuvashskoye Burnayevo, Alkeyevsk region, Tataria. On August 4, 1929 he
was arrested, and on January 18, 1930 was convicted of being “the organizer
of a mass demonstration against the collective farm”. In accordance with
articles 58-8 and 58-11, he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about him.

Deacon Ivan Fyodorovich Vedenin was born in 1875 in the village of

Yelan, Almetyevsk region, Tataria, and served in the cathedral in Menzelinks.
On January 26, 1930 he was arrested, and on March 17 was condemned for
“organized anti-Soviet activity”. In accordance with article 58-11 he was
sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Philemon (Grigoryevich Golovenkov) was born in 1873 in the

village of Myrkashles, Vyatka province, and lived in the village of
Semiozerka, Vysokogorsky region, Tataria. On January 23, 1930 he was
arrested, and on February 20 was convicted of being “a participant in a kulak-
priestly grouping”. In accordance with article 58-11 he was sentenced to five
years in the camps with confiscation of his property. Nothing more is known
about him.

James Andreyevich Yemelyanov was born in 1875 in the village of

Travkino, Laishevo region, Tataria. He was “a prosperous peasant” and the
warden of the local church. On December 30, 1929 he was arrested, and on
February 8, 1930 was convicted of “disrupting bread collections” and “anti-

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collective farm activity”. In accordance with article 58-10 he was sentenced to

five years’ exile in the north and the confiscation of his property. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Vladimir Kapitonovich Ivanov was born in 1884 in the village of

Arbuzov-Baran, Spassky region, Tataria, and lived in the village of
Derzhavino, Laishevsky region. On February 3, 1930 he was arrested, and on
March 19 was convicted of “religious agitation”, and sentenced to ten years in
the camps in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is
known about him.

Monk Basil (Maliev) was born in 1883 and served in Mamadysh, Tataria.
He was sentenced to death and was shot in about 1930.

Boris Antonovich Kiryukhin was born in 1891 and suffered for the faith
in Tataria, being shot on March 5, 1930.

Priest Theodosius Ivanovich Dedevich was born in 1902 in the village of

Kuplino, Pruzhansky uyezd, Grodno province, and lived in the village of
Porfirovka, Spassky region, Tataria. On March 5, 1930 he was arrested, and on
May 25 was convicted of “anti-Soviet propaganda among the believers” and
sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with article 58-10 part 2.
Nothing more is known about him.

Matthew Antonovich Buslayev (born 1871) and Veronica Afanasyevna

Busygina (born 1872) suffered for the faith in Tataria, being shot on March 5,
1930. Veronica Afanasyevna may have been the True Orthodox Nun Veronica
who helped Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan and Bishop Joasaph of Chistopol.

Hierodeacon Theodore (Borodulin) was born in 1907 and served in the

Seven Lakes Desert in Sedmiozerka, Tataria. In 1930 he was shot.

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Ivan Yegorovich Kuritsyn was born in 1887, and suffered for the faith in
Tataria, being shot on March 5, 1930.

Priest Basil Nikolayevich Muravtsev was born in the 1880s or 1890s. He

was educated at the Kazan Theological Academy, and became rector in the
city of Bugulma, Tataria. He was sent to Solovki and died at the end of the
1920s or beginning of the 1930s.

Priest Constantine Vasilyevich Agrov was born in 1880 in Tataria. He was

arrested on February 3, 1930 and condemned on March 19, 1930.

Priest Paul Sergeyevich Ilyin, a Kryashen, was born in 1889 in the village
of Yantsevary, Pestrechinsky region, Tataria, and lived in the village of Lyaki,
Sarmanovsky region. On March 8, 1930 he was arrested, and on May 16 was
convicted of “anti-collective farm religious agitation”. In accordance with
article 58-10, he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Basil Dmitrievich Dmitriev was born in 1871 in the village of

Mataki, Drozhzhanovsky region, Tataria. He was a Chuvash. On March 24,
1930 he was arrested in his native village, and on May 16 was sentenced in
accordance with article 58-10 to five years’ exile in the north for “anti-
collective farm agitation”. Nothing more is known about her.

Alexandra Yefimovna Zaitseva (Tokareva) was born in 1861 in the village

of Russkij Shugan, Muslyumovsky region, Tataria, and was the church
watchman and prosphora-baker in her native village. On February 22, 1930
she was arrested, and on March 17 she was convicted of being “a participant
in an anti-Soviet grouping” and of “religious agitation against the enterprises
of Soviet power: she spread rumours about a supposed holy fire in the
church”. In accordance with article 58-11 she was sentenced to death, but this
was commuted to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

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Priest Basil was serving in the village of Sololoiki, Tataria. In 1930 he was
condemned for “counter-revolutionary activity” and exiled. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Michael Ivanovich Izrailev was born in 1872 in the village of

Lekarevo, Chelnin uyezd, Kazan province into a peasant family, and went to
a theological seminary. He served in the Yelabuga region, Kazan province. On
August 6, 1930 he was arrested in a group church case and accused of
distributing the letter, “The Vision to the Boys Damian and Nicholas”. On
November 5 he was sentenced to death, and on the same day he was shot.

Monk Ivan (Yegorovich Obryadin) was born in 1869 in Bilyarskoye,

Alexeyevsky uyezd, Kazan province into a peasant family. He was an
illiterate free peasant. In the 1920s he became a wandering monk. On March 7,
1930 he was arrested in connection with a group church case and accused of
spreading rumours about “a vision given to the boys Damian and Nicholas”.
He was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to Sevlag. Nothing more
is known about him.

Nun Matrona (Fyodorovna Permyakova) was born in 1882 in Yelabuga,

Chistopol uyezd, Kazan province into a peasant family. After the closure of
her monastery, she lived in Yelabuga and headed a church community. On
August 6, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case and accused of
distributing the letter, “The Vision to the Boys Damian and Nicholas”. On
October 1 she was sentenced to five years in the camps, and sent to Sevlag.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Natalya (Danilovna Zinoglyadova) was born in 1863 in Yelabuga into

a peasant family. She was tonsured. From the middle of the 1920s she became
a wanderer. In October, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case, and
was accused of spreading the letter, “A Vision given to the boys Damian and
Nicholas”. She was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to Sevlag.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Natalya (Mikhailovna Ronzhina) was born in 1868 in Nizhegorod

province into a peasant family. In the middle of the 1920s she became a
wanderer, then she lived in the village of Povarovo, Chistopol region. On
August 6, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case, and was accused of
spreading the letter, “A Vision given to the boys Damian and Nicholas”. She
was sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
her.

Michael Petrovich Belyaev was born in 1888 in the village of Nagornoye,

Aktash uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant. At the beginning

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of 1931 he was arrested and accused of spreading rumours about “a vision

given to the boys Damian and Nicholas”. He was sentenced to five years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Vladimir Kalistratovich Zapolsky was born in 1883 and served in

Chistopol. In 1930 he was arrested, and on February 28, 1930 he was shot.

Priest Stepan Ivanovich Dezidereyev was born in 1887 in the village of

Kamskiyet Polyany, Nizhnekamsk region, Tataria. On February 3, 1930 he
was arrested, and on March 15 was convicted of “anti-collective farm and
religious agitation”. In accordance with article 58-10 part 1, he was sentenced
to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

In 1917 the monastery dedicated to the memory of the Martyrs of Sinai and
Raithu, near Kazan, numbered 81 people - the igumen, 11 hieromonks, 1
priest, 7 hierodeacons, 44 novices and 6 workers. In 1918 a band led by two
chekists, Kopko and Lavrinovich, together with five Red Army men,
descended upon it. Their blasphemies aroused the peasants, who sounded the
alarm. People ran together from the neighbouring villages and killed the
seven blasphemers. The brotherhood hid in the surrounding woods and the
monastery was deserted. The monastery's main holy object, the
wonderworking Georgian icon of the Mother of God, was not in the church
when it was desecrated and so was saved. However, Hieromonk Peter was
killed on the threshold of the church. A part of the brotherhood, led by
Igumen Barsanuphius, then decided to leave the monastery, fearing reprisals
from the Cheka. Thus by the end of 1918 only 48 members of the original
brotherhood remained.

The monastery was saved from complete destruction by professors of

Kazan University, who in 1919 founded a forestry department in it. The
monastery and its woods were handed over to the department. From the
spring of 1919 the monks began to return and services began again in the two
churches. The forestry department was housed in the other buildings, apart
from half a block which was given to the monks.

A few days later, however, the monastery was again closed, and the local
uyezd executive committee and militia settled in it. But the church was not
closed and services and tonsures continued in it. Thus in 1920 Metropolitan
Cyril found a superior for the monastery - the former superior of the St.
Macarius Desert, Igumen Theodosius.

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Igumen, later Archimandrite Theodosius was born in 1866 of pious

peasant parents of the Kazan diocese, Aquila Grigoryevich and Aquilina
Mikhailovna Luzgin, and was called Theodore at baptism. He entered the
Raithu monastery on July 10, 1897 at the age of 31. In August, 1902 he was
tonsured with the name Theodosius, and on March 16, 1903 was ordained to
the priesthood. He fulfilled the duties of steward of the Hierarchical House,
was treasurer of the Sviyazhsk monastery, and was then appointed igumen of
the St. Macarius Desert. He was an ascetic of irreproachable morals and
firmness of faith. He did not have higher education, but he was a man of great
experience. The monastery accepted him with joy, and he was also highly
respected by the laity.

Soon, however, Metropolitan Cyril was arrested and sent to Moscow,

Bishop Anatolius (Grisyuk) was imprisoned, and in 1922 there arrived in
Kazan the renovationist "Archbishop" Alexis. Most of the clergy accepted the
usurper, but the monasteries remained firm in the faith. Thus the brotherhood
of the Raithu monastery wrote to the diocesan administration that they "do
not recognize the renovationist Higher Church Administration (HCA), as
having broken unity with the One, Catholic and Apostolic Church, nor
Archbishop Alexis." 25 monks and 18 novices signed this decision.

Archimandrite Theodosius was dean of all the monasteries of the diocese

and remained firm in his support of the only Orthodox bishop in the region,
Vladyka Joasaph. He particularly supported Abbess Angelina of the St.
Theodore monastery in her struggle with the renovationists. Indeed, after the
exile of Bishop Joasaph and the monks of the St. John the Forerunner
monastery, the Raithu and Seven Lakes Deserts with their superiors,
Archimandrites Theodosius and Alexander, became the main pillars of
Orthodoxy in the Kazan region.

As a result, Archimandrite Theodosius was exiled (nothing more is known

about his fate), and in June, 1928 the Raithu monastery was closed and
handed over to a colony of adolescent criminals. However, the peasants of the
surrounding area organized a community in a local parish church, and seven
of the former inmates of the monastery became members of it, including
Hieromonks Joseph (Gavrilov) and Barlaam (Pokhilyuk), Hierodeacons
Porphyrius (Sovetnikov) and Jerome (Sorokin). The other monks settled in
nearby villages. Thus about 40 monastics settled in the village of Belo-
Bezvodnaya; and the peasants selected seven of these to carry our church
needs for them. Thus in spite of the closure of the monastery, the influence of
the monks of Raithu remained great, and peasants came to them from the
Tatar, Chuvash and Mari republics. The Raithu monks did not cease to
perform the sacraments, to take confession, baptise and bury people, and
even celebrate the Liturgy (sometimes in the parish church, sometimes at
home).

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This situation did not suit the authorities, and in May, 1929 the first arrests
began under the pretext that many of the monks were hiding church vessels
from requisitioning by the government. However, the real reason was
probably the fact that the church was not registered and not within the
jurisdiction of Metropolitan Sergius of Nizhni-Novgorod. Fingers were
pointed at Hieromonk Sergius (Guskov), his sister the Nun Barbara, the
novice Ivan Larionov and others. Searches were carried out, and the GPU
removed some church vestments from Hieromonk Sergius, a gilded cross and
epitrachelion from the peasant woman Nadezhda Porphirievna (Fr. Sergius
had given them to her for safe keeping), and various vessels used in the
Liturgy from the peasant woman Pelagia Alexeyevna. When they came to
take away a chalice, Fr. Sergius said:

"I have not given the chalice to you because for religious reasons I
personally cannot give it up."

On December 20, 1929, Fr. Sergius was unexpectedly released on condition

that he did not go anywhere. This was done by the authorities so as to pacify
the peasants who had been upset by his arrest, and also in order clarify the
relationship of the other Raithu monks to him.

Another Raithu monk persecuted in this period was Hierodeacon Basil

(Ivanovich Pavlov), who was born in 1886 in the village of Vozdvizhenskoye,
Nizhegorod province. On December 16, 1926 he was arrested for “agitation
against Soviet power”, and on April 6, 1927 he was sentenced to three years’
exile and sent to Zyryansk region. On December 23, 1929 he was released and
sent to a special settlement. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Michael (Dmitrievich Ponkin) was born in 1891 in Yelabuga uyezd,

and became a monk in the Raithu monastery. On December 16, 1926 he was
arrested for “agitation against Soviet power”, and on April 5, 1927 was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the Zyryansk district. On December 23, 1929
he was released and sent to a special settlement. Nothing more is known
about him.

Having ascertained that the Raithu monks were continuing to influence the
peasants, who rejected all anti-religious propaganda and were not in a hurry
to enter the collective farms, the authorities decided to accuse the monks of
three things: of agitation against the decisions of Soviet power, of killing
seven Red Army soldiers in 1918 (although none of the monks took part in
this), and of hiding monastery property. And so on January 10/23, 1930, in
the village of Belo-Bezvodnaya, all the monks living in the village and several
churchmen were arrested - 19 people in all.

However, as the authorities themselves admitted, these arrests did not

have the desired effect, and only four days later, on the monastery feast day

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of January 14/27, 25 monastics from the closed monasteries of the Kazan area
assembled as usual at the Raithu Desert. This used to happen every year on
that day. Some of the monks were working as workers, while others were too
old to work and lived with those close to them. The nuns were laundresses
and workers in the factories and workshops, and in the kitchen gardens. On
the morning of January 14/27 they all arrived at the Vasilyevo station, from
where it was ten kilometres on foot to the monastery. They were allowed to
open the church and celebrate the Liturgy. Monastics of both sexes and
several laymen communed in the Holy Mysteries. It seemed as if a
community of Christians of the first centuries had gathered in the snow-
covered monastery among the elegant pines.

After the Liturgy and a touching moleben during which many of those
present wept, the GPU detachment that had surrounded the church pushed
their way into the altar, and dragged out the deacons who were consuming
the Holy Gifts. All present were arrested and accused of unlawful assembly.
The monks and nuns were interned into one room, and the laypeople into
another. Then, after each person had been interrogated individually, all the
monks and nuns and several of the laypeople were taken to Kazan, where
they were put in prison.

The investigation lasted 23 days, and on February 20, 1930 a troika of the
GPU of the Tatar autonomous republic sentenced the following to be shot in
“The Case of the Raithu Monks, Kazan, 1930”: Hieromonks Joseph
(Gavrilov), Sergius (Guskov), Barlaam (Pokhilyuk), Job (Protopopov) and
Anthony (Chirkov), Novice Peter (Tupitsin) and the laymen Basil Gavrilov
and Abram Stepanov. The sentence was carried out on Hieromonks Joseph,
Job, Barlaam and Anthony, and on Novice Peter, on the feast of the
Annunication, April 7, 1930.

The other worshippers who had been arrested in Belo-Bezvodnaya and

Raithu, including the former novices of the Kazan Mother of God and St.
Theodore monasteries, were scattered to various concentration camps in the
north with sentences of five or ten years.

Hieromonk Joseph (Illarionovich Gavrilov) was born in 1888 in the village

of Usad, Kazan uyezd into a peasant family. He went to the village school. On
entering the monastery, he was at first a novice in the guest-house and in the
apiary. In 1910 he was enlisted in the army as librarian of the Officers'
Assembly. In 1914 he was demobilised, and, having lived in the monastery for
two or three months, was again conscripted as a cook. "During the
revolution," he said at his interrogation, "I was at the front. My attitude to the
coup was that nothing good would come of it." In 1917 he returned home, but
in 1918 and at the beginning of 1919 he was forced to work in a workers'
battalion unloading carriages. From 1919, however, he never again left the
monastery. He received the rank of hierodeacon in 1920, and of hieromonk in

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1923. He was disenfranchised. After the closure of the monastery, although he

was far from the oldest hieromonk, he was elected superior of the parish
church in which the monks assembled. At his interrogation he said:

"I have never, and do not now, belong to any political parties. I consider
Soviet power to be given from God, but a power that is from God must fulfil
the will of God, and Soviet power does not fulfil the will of God. Therefore it
is not from God, but from Satan. It closes churches, mocks the holy icons,
teaches children atheism, etc. That is, it fulfills the will of Satan... It is better to
die with faith than without faith. I am a real believer, faith has saved me in
battles, and I hope that in the future faith will save me from death. I firmly
believe in the Resurrection of Christ and His Second Coming. I have not gone
against the taxes, since it says in Scripture: 'To Caesar what is Caesar's, and to
God what is God's.' I cannot recognise myself to be guilty. I have never
conducted any anti-Soviet agitation and do not do so now."

Hieromonk Barlaam, in the world Victor Semyonovich Pokhilyuk, was a

60-year-old monk who lived an ascetic and heremitic life. He was born in 1870
in the village of Porpurovtsy, Vinnitsa uyezd, Kamenets-Podolsk province, in
the family of a peasant. Having completed his studies in a parish school, he
was enrolled as a novice in the Hierarchical House in Kishinev. On November
19, 1900 he was tonsured by Bishop James (Pyatnitsky) of Kishinev, receiving
the name Barlaam. When Vladyka James was transferred to Yaroslavl, he was
made a member of the Hierarchical House in Yaroslavl. Vladyka loved Fr.
Barlaam's simplicity and humility, and ordained him to the diaconate (on
August 16) and then, on May 18, 1907, to the priesthood. And he took Fr.
Barlaam with him when he was transferred to the diocese of Kazan in 1910.
There Fr. Barlaam fulfilled the duties of steward in the Hierarchical House.
However, in 1912 he asked Vladyka to transfer him to the quiet Raithu Desert,
so that there, far from the noise of the city, he could seek salvation in prayer
and fasting. Here he was appointed to serve in the village of Vasilyevo, and
from January, 1917 - in the village of Pomarakh. He was disenfranchised.
After the closure of the monastery in 1928 he was imprisoned for four days.
At his trial he recognised Soviet power as being given from God, but said that
it was established "because of the sins of the people". He also rejected the
accusation that he was a drunkard, saying that none of the monks drank. On
January 27, 1930 he was arrested in a group church case, and on February 20
was sentenced to death. He was shot on April (or March) 7, 1930.

Hieromonk Job, in the world Ivan Andreyevich Protopopov, was born in

1880 or 1870 in Odessa, being a Ukrainian by origin. He was tonsured in 1907
and until 1917 lived in Kiev. In October, 1917 he went to Kazan and entered
the Sviyazhsk Dormition monastery, where the superior was the future
hieromartyr Bishop Ambrose of Sarapul. Fr. Job became his cell-attendant
and was in prison with him. After the martyrdom of Vladyka Ambrose in
August, 1918, Hierodeacon Job entered the Raithu Desert. Until December,

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1929 he served in the village of Taganash, and served as a go-between

between the Catacomb Bishops Nectarius of Yaransk and Demetrius of
Gdov. He was arrested on January 23, 1930 in the village of Belo-Bezvodny,
and on February 20 was sentenced to death. He was shot on April (March) 7.

Hieromonk Anthony (Stefanovich Chirkov) was born in 1860 or 1861 in

Chistopol in a lower middle class family. His parents were called Ivan
Stefanovich and Evdokia Ivanovna. He served in the army from 1883 to 1887.
In 1890 he joined the brotherhood of the Raithu Desert, where on March 23,
1908 he was tonsured. After the revolution he was ordained to the diaconate
and priesthood. After the closure of the monastery he went to Belo-
Bezvodnaya, where he worked as a carpenter, taking orders from the
peasants. He was arrested on January 23, 1930. Like all the Raithu monks, he
pleaded not guilty. On February 20 he was sentenced to death. On March 7 he
was shot.

Hieromonk Sergius, in the world Paul Ivanovich Guskov, was born in

1875 (1876) in the village of Mansurovo, Laishevsky uyezd, Kazan province,
in the family of the pious peasants Ivan Alexeyevich and Anna Semyonovna,
and went to the village school. While helping his father in his work tilling the
land, Paul, like his sister Barbara, dreamed of monasticism, and on May 1,
1898 he entered the Raithu Desert. After eight years as a novice, Paul was
tonsured on June 18, 1906 with the name Sergius. Three years later, he was
ordained to the diaconate, and on April 15, 1910 - to the priesthood. By a
decree of the Spiritual Consistory, on February 12, 1914 he was confirmed in
the post of sacristan. In September, 1918, at the request of the brothers, he was
confirmed as temporary superior of the monastery. It was during this period
that the monastery was almost completely gutted, but thanks to Fr. Sergius
the sacristy was saved from the looters. Even after July, 1920, when
Archimandrite Theodosius became superior, Hieromonk Sergius was often
called on to fulfil the duties of acting superior while Fr. Theodosius was
away. In 1923 his sister Barbara Ivanovna (born 1880 in the village of
Mansurovo, Laishevo uyezd) settled near the monastery, receiving the
tonsure with the name Nun Vera and they were arrested together on January
23, 1930. As the sacristan of the closed monastery, Fr. Sergius was especially
fiercely interrogated and tortured until they extracted from him where the
monastery sacristy was hidden. And when he was brought out of his cell to be
executed, two soldiers had to support the formerly strong monk under his
arms. On February 20 he was sentenced to death, and on March 7 he was shot.
On February 20 Nun Vera was sentenced to five years in the camps in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about her.

Novice Peter Yegorovich Tupitsin was born in 1906 in the village of

Elanbui, Osinovsky uyezd, Perm province, in a pious peasant family. Having
finished his studies in the village school, he set off to visit the holy places,
searching for a quiet community in which to practise the monastic life. Peter

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was in various monasteries, but found them all either closed or in a

devastated state and under threat of closure. He visited Sarov, and heard that
near Kazan there was the Raithu Desert, which was not closed and which was
very much supported by the peasants of the surrounding villages. Peter went
there and was kindly received by Archimandrite Theodosius. After the
closure of the monastery, Novice Peter was disenfranchised and became a
wanderer. But he was most often in the village of Belo-Bezvodnaya, where he
went for advice to Hieromonks Sergius and Job and was preparing to receive
the monastic tonsure. From there Peter went to Kazan, and then for about
eighteen months he lived in the village of Churlino, working in summer in the
fields. At the beginning of the Christmas fast in 1929 he returned to Belo-
Bezvodnaya. During his interrogation he said: "I am a believer and am ready
to suffer for the faith which is now undergoing persecution. This persecution
is no novelty. It was only to be expected since it was foretold in the Holy
Scriptures. Still more terrible times will come for Orthodox Christians, and it
is necessary to be ready and bear everything with joy." He was arrested on
January 27, 1930 in a group church case, and on February 20 – sentenced to
death. He was shot on April 7.

Basil Gavrilovich Gavrilov was born in 1882 in the village of Belo-

Bezvodnaya, Kazan uyezd into a peasant family, and went to a village school.
He was a free peasant with four children. On September 4, 1925 he was
sentenced to four years in the camps for killing Red Army soldiers. On
December 14 he was freed. On January 27, 1930 he was arrested in connection
with a church case. On February 20 he was sentenced to death. On March 7 he
was shot.

Stepan Alexeyevich Abramov was born in 1873 in the village of Belo-

Bezvodnaya, Kazan uyezd into a peasant family, and went to a village school.
He was a free peasant, and had four children. He was president of the church
council. He was disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930 he was arrested in
connection with a group church case. On February 20, 1930 he was sentenced
to death with confiscation of his property. On March 7 he was shot. His
family was exiled to Krasnoyarsk district.

Many other Raithu monks and novices were arrested and interrogated.
They all behaved with courage and refused to renounce the faith. Among
them were Hierodeacons Jerome (Sorokin) and Porphyrius (Sovetnikov),
Monks Gelasius, Nestor (Nikitin), who was from Athos, Sabbatius
(Agafonov), the novices Alexander Sebeldin, Peter Rantsev, John Balyakin,
and John Khorkov. Also interrogated and punished were 19 nuns from the
three women's monasteries in the region that had been closed towards the
end of the 1920s. Mother Sophia, the last superior of the St. Theodore
women's monastery, which had been razed to the ground in 1930, was
executed.

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Hierodeacon Jerome (Pavlovich Sorokin) was born in 1899 in the village of

Svinogory, Yelabuga uyezd into a peasant family, and went to a village
school. He was ordained in the Raithu monastery. He was disenfranchised.
On January 27, 1930 he was arrested, and on February 20 was sentenced to
five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Hierodeacon Porphyrius (Semyonovich Sovetnikov) was born in 1896 in

the village of Vozdvizhenki, Nizhegorod province into a peasant family, and
went to a village school. He was tonsured and ordained in the Raithu
monastery. He was disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930 he was arrested, and
on February 20 was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Monk Sabbatius (Stepanovich Agafonov) was born in 1870 in the village

of Votyakovykh khutor, Yugasinsky uyezd, Chistopol provine into a peasant
family, and went to the village school. He received the tonsure in Raithu
monastery. He was disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930 he was arrested, and
on February 20 – sentenced to five years in exile. Nothing more is known
about him.

Monk Nestor (Osipovich Nikitin) was born in 1860 in the village of

Taneyevo, Laishevo uyezd, into a peasant family. He was tonsured in Raithu
monastery (according to another source, he was an Athonite monk), and
served until the closure of the community in June, 1928. He was arrested in
Belo-Bezvodnaya on January 27 in Raithu after the service. On February 20,
he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to five years’
exile to the north. Nothing mmore is known about him.

Nun Theophania (Vasilyevna Grigoryeva) was born in 1867 in Yadrino

into a merchant’s family, and finished four classes at school. She became a
nun in the Raithu monastery. She was disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930
she was arrested, and on February 20, 1930 was sentenced to five years’ exile
and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Nina (Andreyevna Kasyanova) was born in 1873 in the village of

Tikhonovschina, Nolinsk uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. She
was tonsured in Sviyazhsk monastery. She was disenfranchised. On January
27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case, and on February 20 was
sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Maria (Trofimovna Trofimova) was born in 1876 in the village of

Serda, Laishevo uyezd into a peasant family, and received a secondary
education. She was tonsured in a Kazan monastery. She was disenfranchised.
On January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case, and on February
20 was sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known
about her.

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Nun Xenia (Grigoryevna Semenikhina) was born in 1876 in the village of

Serda, Laishevo uyezd into a peasant family, and received an intermediate
education. She was tonsured in Sviyazhsk monastery. She was
disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case,
and on February 20 was sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. Nothing
more is known about her.

Nun Darya (Mironovna Ivanova) was born in 1870 in Kazan uyezd into a
peasant family, and was tonsured in Sviyazhsk monastery. She was
disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case,
and on February 20 was sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. Nothing
more is known about her.

Nun Anna (Mikhailovna Kamasheva) was born in 1881 in the village of

Vysokaya gora, Kazan uyezd into a peasant family, and was tonsured in the
Kazan monastery. She was disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930 she was
arrested in a group church case, and on February 20 was sentenced to five
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Barbara (Timofeyevna Klyueva) was born in 1880 in the village of

Yermolovka, Laishevo uyezd into a peasant family. She was tonsured in the
Kazan monastery. She was disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930 she was
arrested in a group church case, and on February 20 was sentenced to five
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Athanasia (Iosifovna Mironova) was born in 1876 in the village of

Negashevo, Mamadysh canon into a peasant family, and went to a village
school. She was tonsured in the Sviyazhsk monastery. On January 27, 1930
she was arrested in a group church case, and on February 20 was sentenced to
five years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Ulyana (Maximovna Savina) was born in 1885 in the village of

Korshuny, Maritureksky uyezd into a peasant family. She was tonsured in the
Sviyazhsk monastery. On January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church
case, and on February 20 was sentenced to five years’ exile in the camps.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Maria (Nikiforovna Chepayeva) was born in 1876 in Mari province

into a peasant family, and went to a village school. She was tonsured in
Sviyazhsk monastery, and was disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930 she was
arrested in a group church case, and on February 20 was sentenced to five
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Natalya (Petrovna Sebeldina) was born in 1883 in Mamadysh uyezd

into a peasant family. She was tonsured in a Kazan monastery. She was
disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case,

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and on February 20 she was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about her.

Nun Euphemia (Petrovna Petrova) was born in 1900 in the village of Staro-
Odelyakovo, Chistopol canton into a peasant family. She was tonsured in the
Fyodorovsky monastery. She was disenfranchised. On January 27, 1930 she
was arrested in a group church case, and on February 20 was sentenced to
five years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Novice Alexander Kuzmich Sebeldin was born in 1905 in Kazan into a

peasant family, and went to a village school. He was a novice in the Raithu
monastery, and was disenfranchised. On December (?) 27, 1930 he was
arrested in a group church case, and on February 20 was sentenced to five
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Novice John Tikhonovich Balyakin was born in 1884 in the village of

Kirmenej, Mamadysh canton into a peasant family, and went to the village
school. He became a novice in Raithu monastery. From 1928 he was church
watchman in the village of Vasilyevka. He was disenfranchised. On January
27, 1930 he was arrested, and on September (February?) 20 was sentenced to
five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Novice Peter Ivanovich Rantsev was born in 1904 in the village of

Bogorodskoye, Prigorodny uyezd into a peasant family, and went to a village
school. He became a novice in Raithu monastery. He was disenfranchised. On
January 27, 1930 he was arrested, and on September 20 was sentenced to five
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Novice Ivan Alexeyevich Larionov was born in 1886 in the village of

Chiganary, Yadrinsk uyezd into a peasant family, and went to the village
school. He became a novice in the Raithu monastery. He was disenfranchised.
On January 23, 1930 he was arrested in a group church case, and on February
20 was sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

Novice Gerasimus Alexandrovich Terekhin was born in 1878 in the

village of Staraya Tura, Prigorodny uyezd into a peasant family, and went to a
village school. He became a novice in the Raithu monastery. He was
disenfranchised. On January 23, 1930 he was arrested in a group church case,
and on February 20 was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Novice Maria Ivanovna Larionova was born in 1897 in the village of

Chukhmanka, Sviyazhsk uyezd into a peasant family. She was a novice of the
Sviyazhsk monastery. On January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church

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case, and on February 20 was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about her.

Novice Anastasia Danilovna Dmitrieva was born in 1899 in the village of

Usad, Ars canon into a peasant family. She was a novice in the Kazan
monastery. On January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case, and
on February 20 was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Novice Maria Semyonovna Filina was born in 1892 in the village of

Klyuchi, Ars canton into a peasant family. She was a novice in the Sviyazhsk
monastery. On January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case, and
on February 20 was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Novice Catherine Pavlovna Dyudina was born in 1900 in the village of

Uray, Laishevo uyezd into a peasant family. She was a novice of the
Sviyazhsk monastery. On January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church
case, and on September (February?) 20 was sentenced to five years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Novice Catherine Kuzminishna Maximova was born in 1897 in the village

of Chernopenya, Kazan uyezd into a peasant family. She was a novice of the
Fyodorovsky monastery. On January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group
church case, and on February 20 was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about her.

Ivan Vasilyevich Antonov was born in 1895 in the village of Belo-

Bezvodnaya, Kazan uyezd into a peasant family, and went to a village school.
He was a free peasant and had five children. He was disenfranchised. On
January 27, 1930 he was arrested in connection with a group case of
churchmen, and on February 20 was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Matveyevich Semyonov was born in 1877 in the village of Rtischevo-

Kamenki, Ulyanovsk province into a merchant’s family, and went to a village
school. A free peasant, he was arrested on January 27, 1930 he was arrested in
connection with a group case of churchmen, and on February 20 was
sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Matveyevich Khorkov was born in 1908 in the village of Khodyaschevo, Sviyazhsk
uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant and a sexton. On January 27, 1930 he was
arrested in connection with a group case of churchmen, and on February 20 was sentenced to
five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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Tatyana Yegorovna Bondina was born in 1882 in the village of Belo-

Bezvodnaya, Prigorodny uyezd into a peasant family. She was an illiterate
free peasant. On January 23, 1930 she was arrested in connection with a
church case, and on February 20 was sentenced to five years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Alexeyevna Rodionova was born in 1894 in the village of Belo-

Bezvodnaya, Pridgorodny uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant, she
was arrested on January 23, 1930 in a group case of churchmen, and on
February 20 was sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is
known about her.

Maria Maximovna Savina was born in 1903 in the village of Korshuny,

Maritureksky uyezd into a peasant family. She had no fixed occupation. On
January 27, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case, and on February 20
was sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
her.

Alexandra Mikhailovna Mironova was born in 1880 in Yelabuga into a

merchant’s family, and went to a three-class school. She was a dress-maker.
On January 23, 1930 she was arrested in a group church case, and on February
20 was sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known
about her.

Priest Gurias Sergeyevich Kosmin was born in 1882 in the village of

Teploye marsh, Mamadysh uyezd into the family of a priest. He went to a
theological seminary, and served in the village of Verkhny Aktash,
Almetyevsk region. On March 5, 1930 he was arrested for being “a participant
in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church”, and on April 5 was sentenced to ten years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Reader Michael Alexandrovich Yegorov was born in 1906 in the village of

Yemelkino, Aksubayevo region, Tataria, and lived in the village of Yelaur,
Oktyabrsky region. On April 2, 1930 he was arrested, and on May 15 was
condemned for “anti-collective farm agitation”. However, he was released
under guard, taking into account the time he had already been in prison.
Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest Alexis Pobedonostev served in a church in Kazan. At the beginning

of the 1930s he was arrested in a group case, sentenced to death and shot.

Priest Michael Samsonovich Bespalov. He was born in 1866 in Kazan in

the family of a priest, and went to a theological seminary. In 1886 he was
ordained and became the priest of the church in Volchya sloboda. In 1901 he
finished missionary courses. In January, 1930, after the closure of the church,
he was arrested for being “a fervent Tikhonite”, and was accused of
“organizing a secret meeting of the church council with regard to the closing
of the church” and of “collecting signature to a declaration to the region
soviet”. On February 24, 1930 he was sentenced to death with confiscation of
his property and the exile of his family to the north. On May 6 he was shot.

Nicholas Dmitrievich Bezhentsev. He was born in 1875 in Volchya

Sloboda, Nizhne-Sheshminsk volost, Chistopol canton into a peasant family,
and received an elementary education. He was disenfranchised and a member
of a church council. In January, 1930 he was arrested for being “a participant
in illegal meetings where questions were allowed concerning the means and
methods of struggle against various campaigns, in particular the closing of
the church and the building of collective farms”. On February 24 he was
sentenced to five years in the camps with confiscation of property. Nothing
more is known about him.

Ivan Ephremovich Ostolopov was born in 1882 in Volchya Sloboda,

Nizhne-Sheshminsk volost, Chistopol canton into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. In 1915 he was called up into the army,
and served as a private. From January, 1917 he was serving in the police, and
from May was working as treasurer in a savings bank. From 1919 he was
working in the fields. In January, 1930 he was arrested for being “a
participant in illegal meetings where questions were allowed concerning the
means and methods of struggle against various campaigns, in particular the
closing of the church and the building of collective farms”. On February 24 he
was sentenced to five years in the camps with confiscation of property.
Nothing more is known about him.

Adrian Yakovlevich Lobashev was born in 1895 in Volchya sloboda, Nizhne-

Sheshminsk volost, Chistopol canton into a peasant family. He worked in the
fields and was president of the church council. He was disenfranchised. After the
closure of the church he gathered between 200 and 300 signatures of believers on
a petition to the Tataria ispolkom that “the church was closed incorrectly, ince
there was no decision of a common meeting, and the village soviet closed the
church in accordance with a decree that was against the will of the citizens”. In
January, 1930 he was arrested for being “the organizer of illegal meeting in which
were decided questions of the

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means and methods of struggle against various campaigns, in particular the

closure of the church and collective farm construction”. On February 24 he
was sentenced to death, commuted to ten years in the camps and confiscation
of property. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Feopemtovich Konoplin was born in 1870 in Sloboda Volchya,

Nizhne-Sheshminsk volost, Chistopol canon into a peasant family, and
finished a three-class school. He was a trader, and was disenfranchised. From
1928 he worked in the fields. In January, 1930 he was arrested for being “the
organizer of illegal meeting in which were decided questions of the means
and methods of struggle against various campaigns, in particular the closure
of the church and collective farm construction”. On February 24 he was
sentenced to death, commuted to five years in the camps and confiscation of
property. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Ignatyevich Kostin was born in 1869 in Sloboda Volchya, Nizhne-

Sheshminsk volost, Chistopol canton into a peasant family. He served as a
lance-corporal in the tsarist army. He worked on the land, and was a member
of the church council. He was arrested for being “a participant in illegal
meetings in which were decided questions of the means and methods of
struggle against various campaigns, in particular the closure of the church
and collective farm construction”. On February 24 he was sentenced to death,
commuted to three years in the camps and confiscation of property. Nothing
more is known about him.

Nicholas Ivanovich Temnikov was born in 1887 in Sloboda Volchya,

Nizhne-Sheshminsk volost, Chistopol canton into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. He was a peasant in his native village. In
1918 he was serving in the Red Army, but deserted. In 1920 he was an active
participant in a peasant uprising. In January, 1930 he was arrested for being
“a participant in illegal meetings in which were decided questions of the
means and methods of struggle against various campaigns, in particular the
closure of the church and collective farm construction”. On February 24 he
was sentenced to five years in the camps with confiscation of property.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Stepanovich Danilov was born in 1906 in Buzuluk, Samara

province. On February 28, 1930 he was arrested in the village of Mansuorovo,
Laishevo region, Tataria. On March 19 he was convicted of “undermining the
enterprises of Soviet power”, and in accordance with article 58-11 was
sentenced to eight years in the camps, while his family was expelled to the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest Basil Trofimovich Yevgenyev was born in 1877 in Kazan, and lived
in Laishevo settlement, Tataria. On February 22, 1930 he was arrested, and on
May 14 he was convicted of “anti-collective farm religious agitation”. In
accordance with article 58-10, he was sentenced to three years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Timothy (Danilovich Zarubenkov (Zarubezhnov)) was born in 1904

in the village of Novij Yelan, Almetyevsk region, Tataria, and lived in the
village of Onbia, Zainsk region, Tataria. On February 22, 1930 he was
arrested, and on May 25 he was convicted of being “a former monk” and of
“spreading religious fables and religious agitation”. In accordance with article
58-11 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Quadratus Petrovich Zuyev was born in 1887 in the village of

Nyrty, Sabinsky region, Tataria. On February 2, 1930 he was arrested in the
village of Chaksy, Mamadysh region, and on June 2 was sentenced to three
years in the camps in accordance with article 58-10. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Basil Alexeyevich Kiatrov was born in 1879 and served in the
village of Dubyazy, Tataria. On August 10, 1930 he was shot.

Peter Xenophonovich Kuzmin was born in 1883 in the village of

Kuzaikino, Chelnino canton into a peasant family. He went to a village school,
and served a merchant in Kuzaikino. After the revolution he was a trader. He
was disenfranchised, but later reinstated. On October 21, 1929 he was arrested
in a group church case. On December 23, 1929 he was sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. In November, 1930 he arrived in Arkhangelsk
province. Nothing more is known about him.

Leontius Yegorovich Tumayev was born in 1866 in the village of

Mordovskaya Ivanovka, Aktash uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant,
at the end of 1930 he was arrested for distributing “a holy letter written in
golden letters”, and on January 22, 1931 was sentenced to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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Basil Filippovich Filippov was born in 1869 in in the village of

Mordovskaya Ivanovka, Aktash uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant,
at the end of 1930 he was arrested for distributing “a holy letter written in
golden letters”, and on January 22, 1931 was sentenced to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Mirolyubov was rector of the Spassky church in Kazan.

On March 8, 1931 he was arrested in a group case and sentenced to ten years
in the camps and sent to a camp, where he died.

Priest Nicholas Alexandrovich Illarionov was born in 1890 in the village

of Lukinka, Bugulma region, Tataria into a peasant family. There were six
daughters and one son in the family. He went to a three-class church-parish
school. He had a good ear and voice, and the local priest taught him to play
the violin. After finishing his studies at Bugulma theological seminary, he
became a priest. During the First World War he was a military chaplain and
received the George Cross. He always attracted people by his good manner
and warmth. After the revolution he returned to his native village, where he
worked as the secretary of the village soviet, which was situated in his father’s
house. He never refused to help people, and continued to work as a priest. On
February 4, 1930 he was arrested at night and cast into prison in Bugulma.
After a time, the authorities refused to accept parcels for him, and his sister
was told that he had been shot. She had a dream: “The heaven opened, and in
it was Jesus Christ, radiant with open arms. And people came up to Him in a
long, long queue. And among them she saw her brother Nicholas. ‘Kolya!’ she
cried. He turned round and twice said to her: ‘Do not be afraid, do not be
afraid!’ On May 14 he was sentenced to death, and on August 12 he was shot
in Kazan. After his death his wife and five children were exiled to Kuzbass.

Nicholas Zinovyevich Chaikin was born in 1869 in the village of Kurkuly,

Alexeyevsky uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant, he worked as
president of the village soviet. In 1919 he was arrested for blowing up the
grinding system, but was soon released. In 1924 he was arrested for non-
payment of taxes, but was soon released. From 1929 he was president of the
church council. In 1930 he was fined for not giving up his family fund. On
April 7, 1931 he was arrested and accused of “anti-Soviet activity”. On May 15
he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about
him.

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Alexis Alexeyevich Torsukov was born in 1895 in the village of Kurkuly,

Alexeyevsky uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant, in 1929 he separated
with his household from his father. He had a wife, two sons and two
daughters. On April 7, 1931 he was arrested and accused of “anti-Soviet
activity”. He was exiled with his family. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Theodore Alexandrovich Yelansky was born in 1880 in the village

of Konuyevka (Kanayevka), Samara uyezd and lived in Yelabuga, Tataria. On
January 20, 1931 he was arrested, and on May 25 was convicted of “anti-
collective farm religious agitation in the ‘Pchelka’ society”. In accordance with
article 58-11 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Tikhon Dmitrievich Dmitriev was born in 1899 in the village of Bolshoye

Tyaberdino, Kaibitsky region, Tataria. He was a Kryashen by nationality and
a shepherd, and a member of a church-parish council. On May 29, 1931 he
was arrested, and on July 27 was convicted in accordance with article 58-10
part 1 of “anti-collective farm activity”. He was released, taking into account
the time he had already been in prison. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Michael Timofeyevich Votyakov was born in 1881 in the village of

Chistopolskoye, Chistopol region, Tataria, and served in Chistopol. On April
22, 1931 he was arrested, and on June 12 convicted of “anti-collective farm
agitation”. In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 he was sentenced to
death while his family was expelled to the north. He was shot on June 18,
1931 in Kazan.

Theodosius (Theodore) Yevlampievich Yevlampyev was born in 1860 in

the village of Novaya Yelan, Almetyevsk region, Tataria. He was a free
peasant, and the warden of the church in his native village. On June 15, 1931
he was arrested, and on August 31 was convicted of “anti-collective farm
agitation”. In accordance with article 58-10 he was sentenced to five years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest Alexander Semyonovich Agenosov was born in 1876 in the village

of Ati, Mamadysh uyezd, Kazan province into the family of a priest. He went
to a theological seminary, and service in the village of Maly Sundyr, Gorno-
Mariisk region. He was disenfranchised. On January 3, 1933 he was arrested
fro being “the leader of a counter-revolutionary cell of the church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on June 8 was sentenced to
three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Hieromonk Palladius, in the world Paul Yerofeyevich Stepanov, was born

in 1863 in the village of Kurkuly, Alexeyevsky uyezd into a peasant family,
and received an elementary education. In 1883 he was tonsured in Seven
Lakes Desert with the name Palladius. In 1893 he was ordained to the
priesthood. In 1928, after the closure of the monastery, he became priest in the
church of his native village, but from 1929 was serving needs at home. On
April 7, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in a kulak-priest
grouping”, and was sentenced to death with confiscation of property and
exile of his family. On June 17 he was shot.

Protopriest Paul Fedotovich Trifonov was born in 1869 in the village of

Zmievo, Chistopol uyezd. In 1891 he finished his studies at Kazan theological
seminary and was ordained to the priesthood. He served in the Rybno-
Slobodsky uyezd, and from 1905 in the cemetery church in Chistopol. In 1914
he was raised to the rank of protopriest. During the Civil War he went away
with the Whites. In 1922 he was serving again in the cemetery church in
Chistopol. On April 18, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 he was
sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Hieromonk Plato (Vasilyevich Vasilyev) was born in 1878 in the village of

Pereputye, Chistopol canton into a peasant family. An invalid from birth, he was
raised and lived until 1917 in the house of the merchant Chukashev in Chistopol.
In the 1920s his legs were paralyzed, and he could not walk; he had to be carried
and looked after by acquaintances, among whom he was known as Elder Plato.
He had no constant domicile and had to live on alms. He was the spiritual father
of Fr. Michael Yershov. On March 7, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member
of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”. On July 9 he was sentenced
to death, and on July 12 he was shot.

Priest Basil Ilyich Rozhdestvensky was born in 1868 in the village of

Savrushi, Bilyarskoye uyezd, and went to Kazan theological seminary. He
lived in Chistopol, serving in the Nikolayevsky church, and was supervisor of
church-parish schools. On October 27, 1923 he was brought to trial for “hiding

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church valuables”, but was later released. He returned to Chistopol and

served in the Spassky church, and later in the cemetery church. In 1928 he
was arrested and accused of “anti-Soviet agitation”, but was soon released.
On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and accused of “inspiring the
education of a religio-monarchist organization in a period of the
intensification of the class struggle on the territory of the Chistopol,
Aksubayevo and Bilyarskoyeoye regions. On July 9 he was sentenced to death
and shot.

Priest Ivan Ivanovich Dobryakov was born in 1876 in the village of

Ostolopovo, Alexeyevsky region, Tataria. On March 10, 1931 he was arrested
in his native village and on July 9 was convicted of being “a participant in an
anti-Soviet grouping” and of “anti-collective farm and religious agitation”. In
accordance with article 58-11 he was sentenced to death and the expulsion of
his family. He was shot on July 10, 1931 in Kazan.

Priest Alexander Yefimovich Voznesensky was born in 1849 in the village

of Tabeli, Matadysh uyezd, the son of a priest. In 1872 he finished his studies
at Kazan theological seminary, and from 1877 he was the priest in the village
of Ostolopovo, Alexeyevsky uyezd, Chistopol region. In 1923 he moved to the
village of Urmancheyevo, where he was disenfranchised. In 1927 he was
again in Ostolopovo. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member
of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”. On July 8 he was
sentenced to death, and on July 11 he was shot.

Abbess Christina (Olga Georgievna Yermolova) was born in 1876 (or 1882)
in Kazan, or the village of Muras, Bilyarskoye uyezd, into a noble family. In
1901 she finished her studies at the Kazan Institute for Noble Ladies, and
began to serve as a teacher. In 1903 she entered a monastery in Moscow, was
tonsured, and in 1906 became superior of the Romanovsky monastery, before
being transferred to the podvorye of the Pokrov community in the village of
Romodan, Chistopol uyezd. In the 1920s she was disenfranchised. According
to other sources, she was superior of the St. George monastery in Ufa province
and of the Anesinskaya desert in Kazan province. On October 30 1924 she was
arrested in Chistopol for “counter-revolutionary activity” and on June 19,
1925 she was accused of “religious agitation and spreading provocative
rumours” and was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to two years in
exile in Zyryansk region, Komi. In December, 1926 she returned to the
Romodan community. In 1928 she went to Chistopol and went to secret
services in the cemetery church. On March 10, 1931, she was arrested and
accused of being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary religio-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on July 9 was
sentenced to death and confiscation of her property in accordance with article
58-11. She was shot on July 10 in Kazan.

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Monk Basil (Nikolayevich Malisev) was born in 1884 in the village of

Digitli, Mamadysh uyezd into a peasant family. He worked as a shepherd,
and after the revolution was tonsured, becoming a wandering monk with no
fixed domicile and living on alms. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being
“a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July
9 was sentenced to death and shot.

Monk Demetrius (Alexandrovich Obryadin) was born in 1890 (1891) in

Bilyarskoye into a peasant family. He became a wandering monk with the
nickname “Mitenka”, and lived on alms. In 1930 he directed the disturbances
of peasants in Bilyarskoye because of the closure of the church, and on April
20, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on July 9 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps. However, according to another version,
he was sentenced to death, and on July 9 was shot.

Monk Peter (Nikolayevich Krupin) was born in 1894 in the village of

Bilyarskoye into a peasant family. He was a wandering monk without fixed
domicile, living on alms. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a
member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and was
accused of “taking an active part in a counter-revolutionary group of
churchmen in the village of Bilyarskoye”, and of “spreading anti-collective
farm and other provocative rumours and counter-revolutionary leaflets”. On
July 9 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps and was sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Sergius, in the world Basil Vasilyevich Prilezhayev, was born in

1901 in St. Petersburg into a noble family (his father was assistant to the
minister of trade). He finished two classes in the economics faculty of the
Polytechnic in Petrograd. In 1924 he was arrested “for participation in a Black
Sea counter-revolutionary organization”, and was sentenced to three years in
prison and sent to Kostroma House of Correction. In 1927 he was released,
but forbidden to live in six cities. He went to Kazan, and then to Chistopol,
where he was tonsured. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a
member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”. He twice tried
to escape from prison in Chistopol and Kazan. On July 9, 1931 he was
sentenced to death. On July 11 he was shot.

Monk Alexis (Grigoryevich Matveyev) was born in 1868 in the village of

Kurvich, Antislavsky uyezd, Mogilev province into a peasant family. From
1915 to 1923 he was in captivity in Germany. Then he became a wandering
monks with the nickname “redhead”. He had no fixed domicile and lived on
alms. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 8 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

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Monk Theodore (Filippovich Yulymov) was born in 1869 in the village of

Vishnevaya Polyana, Chistopol canton into a peasant family, and went to a
four-class village school. He worked as a fuller in the village of Memdino,
then (from 1917) in Tyumen, and then (from 1924) in Chistopol. He lived on
alms without a fixed domicile as a wandering monk nicknamed “Fedenka”.
On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 he was sentenced to
death. On July 11 he was shot.

Nun Catherine (Suslova) was born in 1865. She was a nun, and entered the
Trinity women’s monastery in Laishevo, Kazan province. In 1922 she went to
serve in the church of the Life-Giving Source in Bilyarskoye. In 1931 she was
sentenced to death, and in July, 1931 she was shot.

Nun Catherine (Yakovlevna Suslova) was born in 1865 in the village of

Bilyarskoye, Bilyarskoye uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family. She was a nun
of the Dormition monastery. In 1922, after the closure of the monastery, she
became a wanderer. She lived sometimes by the Holy Source in Bilyarskoye
region. On March 8, 1931 she was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and was accused that: “she belonged
to an anti-Soviet counter-revolutionary group of churchpeople in the village
of Bilyarskoye, led massive agitation on the basis of the closure of the church,
distributed provocative rumours, threatened the local population of workers,
distributed counter-revolutionary leaflets and led a demonstration of 150
women in the village of Bilyarsk in April, 1930 and incited them to take
reprisals on the representatives of the authorities”. On July 9 she was
sentenced to death, and on July 10 she was shot.

Nun Vassa (Alexeyevna Obryadina) was born in 1866 (1865) in

Bilyarskoye, and was illiterate. In 1930 her family was dekulakized, and her
husband was exiled for counter-revolutionary activity. She was
disenfranchised. She became a wandering nun in Bilyarskoye region. On
April 8, 1931 she was arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary
monarchist organization”, and was accused of “actively taking part in a
counter-revolutionary group of churchmen of the village of Bilyarskoye. She
spread rumours about a war and the coming of the Antichrist, and distributed
counter-revolutionary leaflets. She took a leading part in the peasant
disturbances in 1930. In her counter-revolutionary activity she had links with
“Platonushka” and “Fedenka”.” On July 9 she was sentenced to death, and on
July 11 she was shot.

Nun Eudocia (Stepanovna Mazanova) was born in 1893 in the village of

Lebyazhye, Alexeyevsky uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family, and became a
nun. From 1912 to 1927 she was in the Chistopol monastery, and after its
closure she lived in Chistopol without fixed occupation. On April 8, 1931 she
was arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist

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organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about her.

Nun Zinaida (Grigoryevna Vasilyuk) was born in 1897 in the village of

Kamenets, Brest-Litovsk uyezd, Grodno province into a peasant family. In
1905 she was tonsured and joined the Dormition monastery. After the closure
of the monastery she lived in Bilyarskoye region, Chistopol province. On
March 8, 1931 she was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and was accused of “leading a
counter-revolutionary group of churchmen in the village of Bilyarskoye,” of
spreading provocative rumours and counter-revolutionary leaflets”, of
“inciting believers to the appearance of a miracle in 1927” and of “threatening
collective farmers”. On July 9 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps and
was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Barbara (Nikolayevna Serova) was born in 1865 or 1862 in the village
of Bilyarskoye, Tataria into a peasant family. She became a nun in the
Dormition monastery, and from 1909 - a hermitess, living in a cell next to the
holy source in Bilyarskoye region. She was disenfranchised. On April 8, 1931
she was arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and accused, “with other members of the group”, of
“spreading provocative rumours” and “distributing leaflets of a counter-
revolutionary content”, and of “taking part in disturbances because of the
closure of the church”. On July 9, 1931 she was sentenced to death. On July 11
she was shot.

Nun Eudocia (Yakovlevna Suslova) was born in 1876 in the village of

Bilyarskoye, Tataria into a peasant family. She was tonsured in the Dormition
monastery, and from 1922, after the closure of the monastery, lived as a
hermitess in a cell next to the holy source in Bilyarskoye region. She was
disenfranchised. On March 8, 1931 she was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and accused of being “a
participant in an anti-Soviet church group in the village of Bilyarskoye”, of
“distributing counter-revolutionary leaflets and spreading rumours against
the collective farms”, and also of “taking an active part in massive
disturbances because of the closure of churches”. On July 9, 1931 she was
sentenced to five years in the camps, and was sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Anna (Ivanovna Mironova) was born in 1866 in Chistopol. In early

childhood she became a nun in the Dormition monastery. In the middle of the
1920s she was disenfranchised. After the closure of the monastery she lived in
the villages of Chistopol province. On April 8, 1931 she was arrested for being
“a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July
9 was sentenced to death. On July 11 she was shot.

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Nun Maria (Nikitichna Makarova) was born in 1887 in the village of Mysy,
Lanshevo uyezd into a peasant family. In 1913 she joined the Lanshevo
monastery, but within a year was transferred to the Chistopol monastery,
where she was tonsured. From 1924 she was serving as stoker in a church in
Chistopol. On April 8, 1931 she was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced
to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Alexander Leontyevich Maklakov was born in 1878 in Chistopol into a

merchant’s family, and went to a city school. He lived as a trader in Chistopol.
From 1927 he was a craftsman-cobbler, and a member of a church council. On
March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. His family was exiled, and his property confiscated.
Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Leontyevich Maklakov was born in 1878 in Chistopol into a

merchant’s family, and went to a city school. He lived as a trader in Chistopol.
From 1927 he was a craftsman-cobbler, and a member of a church council. On
March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Kondratyevich Maximov was born in 1878 in the village of

Ostolopovo, Alexeyevsky uyezd into a peasant family, where he lived as a
peasant. He was a member of a church council. On March 8, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to three years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Gregory Dmitrievich Zharkov was born in 1856 in a peasant family. He

lived in Chistopol, and was the president of the church council of the Spassky
church. On March 10, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to
death. He was shot on July 10.

Nicephorus Petrovich Vakhrushin was born in 1863 in the village of

Bolshaya Zalesnaya, Nolinsk uyezd. He lived in Chistopol, working as a
fuller, and was a member of a church council. On March 8, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Leonid Vasilyevich Maslennikov was born in 1875 in Chistopol, in the

family of a merchant. He went to a city school and to the Kazan junkers
school. He served in the tsarist and White armies in the rank of colonel. He

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was disenfranchised, and lived in Kazan, serving as an official from 1923. In

1930 he was made redundant. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a
member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 8
was sentenced to ten years in the camps. His family was exiled and his
property confiscated. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexis Andreyevich Platonov was born in 1889 in the village of

Galaktionovo, Chistopol uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant
and a member of a church council. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for
being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and
on July 9 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

Gregory Yefimovich Romanov was born in 1895 in the village of

Galaktionovo, Chistopol uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant
and a member of a church council. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for
being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and
on July 9 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

Theodore Ivanovich Kulikov was born in 1882 in the village of

Ostolopovo, Alexeyevsky uyezd into a peasant family. He lived as a trader in
Ostolopovo, and was a member of a church council. He was dekulakized and
disenfranchised. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced
to ten years in the camps. His family was exiled. Nothing more is known
about him.

Ivan Alexandrovich Fedorov was born in 1881 in the village of Karasa,

Aksubayevo uyezd into the family of a landowner. He went to a gymnasium
and polytechnic commercial course and the Saratov ensign school. He served
in the tsarist and White armies in the rank of second lieutenant. He lived in
Chistopol. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced
to ten years in the camps. His family was exiled. Nothing more is known
about him.

Plato Alexeyevich Prokofiev was born in 1902 in the village of Chuv.

Yenoruskino, Aksubayevo uyezd into a peasant family. He worked in the
fields. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Kuzma Vasilyevich Ladygin was born in 1896 in the village of

Ostolopovo, Alexeyevsky uyezd in the family of a trader. He worked in the
fields. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-

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revolutionary organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to five years in the

camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Vasilyevich Sharapov was born in 1871 in the village of Sakony,

Alexeyevsky uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant and church
reader in the village of Ostolopovo. In the 1929 he served a six-month term of
hard labour for non-fulfilment of bread deliveries. In 1931 he was exiled for
two years, but was released. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a
member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9
was sentenced to ten years in the camps. His family was exiled. Nothing more
is known about him.

Basil Sergeyevich Irisov was born in 1886 in the village of Ostolopovo into
a peasant family. He was a free peasant. In 1929 he served a six-month
sentence for not fulfilling bread requisitioning norms. In 1931 he was
sentenced to exile for two years, but was released. On March 8, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about him.

Quadratus Pavlovich Nikitin was born in 1864 in the village of

Ostolopovo into a peasant family. He worked in the fields, and was a member
of a church council. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of
a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps. His family was exiled. Nothing more is
known about him.

Ivan Ivanovich Babkin was born in 1881 in Chistopol into a peasant

family, and went to a city school. He lived in Chistopol, working as a trader.
After the revolution he did nursery gardening. On March 8, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. His
family was exiled. Nothing more is known about him.

Peter Dmitrievich Dmitriev was born in 1857 in Chistopol, Tataria, and

was a trader in church utensils. On April 8, 1931 he was arrested, and on July
9 was convicted of being “a participant in an anti-Soviet grouping” and of
“anti-collective farm and religious agitation”. In accordance with article 58-11,
he was sentenced to death with confiscation of his property. He was shot in
Kazan on July 11, 1931.

Gregory Konstantinovich Ananyev was born in 1896 in Chistopol into a

peasant family, and finished military school and a school for corporals. He
served in the Tsarist and White Armies. He lived in Chistopol and was a
craftsman-fuller and church choir director. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested
for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”,

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and on July 9 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Abram Dmitrievich Galkin was born in 1882 in Chistopol into a peasant

family. Before the revolution he was a trader. He was disenfranchised. On
March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Nikitich Kapitonov was born in 1895 in the village of Galactionovo,

Chistopol uyezd into a peasant family. He worked in the fields. On March 8,
1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary
monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to five years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Yefimovich Saparin was born in 1894 in the village of

Ostolopovo, Alexeyevsky uyezd into a peasant family. He owned a dress-
making workshop, and was president of the church council. On March 8, 1931
he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Nicephorus Vasilyevich Fadeyev was born in 1881 in the village of

Ostolopovo, Alexeyevsky uyezd into a peasant family. He went to the village
school and was a church reader. A free peasant, in 1930 he was subjected to
arrest for refusing to fulfil bread deliveries. On March 7, 1931 he was arrested
for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”,
and on July 9 was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Ivan Ivanovich Dobryakov was born in 1876 in the village of Ostolopovo,

Alexeyevsky uyezd into a peasant family. He was a member of the church
council. In 1929 he was arrested and sentenced to six months’ hard labour. On
March 10, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to
death. On July 10 he was shot.

Michael Trofimovich Merkulov was born in 1898 in the village of

Ostolopovo, Alexeyevsky uyezd into the family of a forestry industrialist.
From 1914 to 1920 he served in the tsarist, and then in the Red armies. Then
he served in the command unit of the Kazan Kremlin. From 1920 he worked
as a free peasant. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced
to ten years in the camps. His family was exiled to the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

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Hermolaus Pavlovich Mikulin was born in 1869 in St. Petersburg into the
family of a landowner, and went to a gymnasium. He served in the tsarist
army as an under-officer. He lived in Chistopol and worked as an official. On
March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to
death. He was shot, and his property confiscated.

Nicholas Aristarkhovich Danilov was born in 1889 in the village of

Berezovka, Spassky uyezd into a merchant’s family. He lived in Chistopol,
and had a restaurant and tea-house before the revolution. From 1922 he was
trading in wood, and from 1929 had a tea-house and refectory. He was a
member of the church council. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a
member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9
was sentenced to ten years in the camps. His property was confiscated.
Nothing more is known about him.

Peter Dmitrievich Dmitriev was born in 1867 in Chistopol, where he lived

as a trader. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced
to death. On July 11 he was shot.

Ivan Ivanovich Zhelnov was born in 1873 in the village of Galaktionovo,

Chistopol uyezd into a peasant family. Until the revolution he was a village
constable. He was a free peasant and chanted in the church choir. In 1930 he
was arrested and sentenced to three years in the camps and five years’ exile,
but on appeal this sentence was commuted. On March 10, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 he was sentenced to death. On July 10 he was
shot.

Ivan Ionovich Korolev was born in 1900 in the village of Galaktionovo,

Chistopol uyezd into a peasant family. From 1919 to 1921 he worked as a
barge hauler, then returned to his homeland and worked in the fields. On
March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 he was sentenced to
ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. His family was exiled. Nothing
more is known about him.

Paul Petrovich Napalkov was born in 1878 in the village of Sakharovka,

Alexeyevsky uyezd. He lived in Chistopol, and was a nursery garderner.
After the revolution he worked in the fields. On March 8, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 he was sentenced to five years in the camps.

Eudocimus Larionovich Kudryashev was born in 1911 in the village of

Chuv. Yenoruskino, Aksubayevo uyezd into a peasant family. He worked in

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the fields. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a

counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 he was
sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Ivanovich Perfilyev was born in 1904 in the village of Meledino,

Pavlovsky uyezd, Nizhegorod province into a peasant family. He went to a
four-class village school, and worked as a fuller, first in Meledino, then (from
1917) in Tyumen, and then (from 1924) in Chistopol. On March 8, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps and
sent to a camp. His family was exiled to the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

Nazarius Epifanovich Voronchikhin was born in 1889 in the village of

Kalshnikov, Nolinsk uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. Before the
revolution he was a trader. He lived in Chistopol as a baker. He was
disenfranchised. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”. On July 9 he was sentenced
to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexander Alexeyevich Vyazmin was born in 1873 in the village of

Sheremetyevo into a noble family. He lived in Chistopol and worked in the
state institutions. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”. On July 9 he was sentenced
to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Mikhailovich Galkin was born in 1876 in the village of

Udelnoye, Yenoruskon, Aksubayevo uyezd, Chistopol canon into a peasant
family. He worked in the fields. In 1915 he joined the army as a private. After
the revolution he returned home and became a free peasant. He was fined for
non-fulfilment of tasks. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a
member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9
was sentenced to death. On July 11 he was shot and his family exiled.

Demetrius Fyodorovich Nikolayev was born in 1881 in the village of

Galktionovo, Chistopol uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant, he was
dekulakized. He was a member of a church council. On March 8, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to death and shot. His family was
exiled.

Philip Petrovich Yakimov was born in 1879 in the village of Chuv.

Yenoruskino, Aksubayevo uyezd into a peasant family. He worked in the
fields. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to
death. On July 11 he was shot.

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Andrew Filippovich Yakimov was born in 1900 in the village of Chuv.

Yenoruskino, Aksubayevo uyezd into a peasant family. He worked in the
fields. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Yegor Filippovich Yakimov was born in 1903 in the village of Chuv.

Yenoruskino, Aksubayevo uyezd into a peasant family. He worked in the
fields. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. His family was exiled, and his property was confiscated.
Nothing more is known about him.

Denis Filippovich Yakimov was born in 1905 in the village of Chuv.

Yenoruskino, Aksubayevo uyezd into a peasant family. He worked in the
fields. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. His family was exiled. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexander Mikhailovich Kolchurin was born in 1880 in the village of

Temerlik, Oktyabrsky uyezd into a landowner’s family, and received higher
education. Before the revolution he was a captain of the land. From 1919 to
1921 he was often arrested. He lived in Chistopol. On March 8, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Daniel Timofeyevich Nelyubin was born in 1866 in the village of Bolshiye

Zalesniye, Nolinsk uyezd, Vyatka province, and lived in Chistopol working
as a craftsman and fuller. He was a church warden. On April 8, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps with confiscation of property. Nothing more is known
about him.

Michael Antonovich Monakhov was born in 1899 in the village of

Galaktionovo, Chistopol uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant.
On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to five
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Constantine Yakovlevich Molodkin was born in 1856 in Chistopol, where

he lived. He went to a parish school. Before the revolution he had a
workshop. After the revolution he had a smithy. He was president of the
church council. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a

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counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced

to death. On July 11 he was shot.

Basil Antonovich Monakhov was born in 1897 in the village of

Galaktionovo, Chistopol uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant.
In 1930 he was sentenced to hard labour for collecting alms for the Church.
On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Maximovich Sablin was born in 1871 in the village of Galaktionovo,

Chistopol uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant. He was
dekulakized. On March 8, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Nicholas Ivanovich Moskin was born in 1887 in the village of Cher.

Yenoruskino, Aksubayevo uyezd into a peasant family. On March 8, 1931 he
was arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary organization”,
and on July 9 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him. His family was exiled.

Anna Stepanovna Nelyubina was born in 1873 in the village of Rybnaya

Sloboda, Nolinsk uyezd into a peasant family. She lived in Chistopol. On
March 8, 1931 she was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on July 9 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Elizabeth Petrovna Beschastnova was born in 1875 in Tetyushi into a

merchant’s family. She lived in Chistopol and worked as a trader. She took
part in secret prayer meetings in her house. On April 8, 1931 she was arrested
for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”,
and on July 9 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Eudocia Afanasyevna Yuzeyeva was born in 1875 in Chistopol into the

family of an industrialist. She went to four classes of a pro-gymnasium. She
became a trader, and was a member of a church council. On March 8, 1931 she
was arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on July 9 she was sentenced to five years in the camps and
her property confiscated. Nothing more is known about her.

Monk Alexis (Ivanovich Ivanushkov) was born in 1860 in the village of

Digetli, Kazan province into a merchant’s family. He went to a gymnasium,

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and served in the tsarist army as an under-officer. He lived in Chistopol.

Before the revolution he was a trader. He became church warden. From 1927
he was a monk. On April 8, 1931 he was arrested for “active participation in
an underground church-insurgent organization”. He was sentenced to death
and shot.

Michael Sergeyevich Kazantsev was born in 1892 in Chistopol in the

family of a priest. He went to Kazan theological seminary and the Kiev ensign
school. He served in the tsarist and White armies in the rank of second
lieutenant. From 1923 he was living in Chistopol and working in the
institutions. He was a bee-keeper. On April 8, 1931 he was arrested for “active
participation in a church-insurgent organization”. He was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Stepan Gerasimovich Sinitsyn was born in 1898 in the village of Kurkuly,

Alexeyevsky uyezd in Tataria into a peasant family. A free peasant, his father
was dekulakized. He had a wife, three sons and three daughters. In 1931 he
did not fulfil his quota on bread deliveries and was exiled with his family. On
April 7, 1931 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”, and on May 15
sentenced to two years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Sergius Ilyich Ilyin, a Kryashen, was born in 1862 in the village of
Ureyevo-Chelny, Rybno-Slobodsky region, Tataria, and lived in the village of
Bassar, Zainsky region. On April 4, 1931 he was arrested, and on July 22 he
was sentenced to death in accordance with article 58-10. The sentence was
commuted to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Ignatius Yakovlevich Zaitsev was born in 1892 in the village of

Yegoryevo, Lishevsky region, Tataria. On May 27, 1931 he was arrested, and
on August 10 he was convicted of being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary grouping”, of “anti-collective farm agitation” and “disrupting
bread collections”. In accordance with article 58-10 he was sentenced to two
years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Vasilyevich Delfinov was born in 1890 in the village of

Apraksino, Nizhegorod uyezd, and served in the village of Kurakovo,
Mendeleyevsky region, Tataria. On May 24, 1931 he was arrested, and on
August 22 was convicted of being “a participant in a priestly grouping” and

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of “anti-collective farm agitation”. In accordance with article 58-11 he was

sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Basil Vladimirovich Vechtomov was born in 1892 in the village of

Mescheryakovo, Vyatka province and served in the village of Yelovo,
Yelabuga uyezd, Tataria. He was arrested on April 14, 1931 and on August 21
was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to ten years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Euthymius Anisimovich Voronov was born in 1887 in the village of

Bolshoye Taberdino, Kaibitsky region, Tataria. He was a Kryashen by
nationality. On May 29, 1931 he was arrested, and on July 27 he was convicted
of “anti-collective farm activity”, and sentenced to five years in the camps in
accordance with article 58-10. His family was exiled. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Yegor Avvakumovich Yegorov was born in 1895 in the village of

Klyanchino, Verkhneuslonsky region, Tataria, where he lived and served. On
April 24, 1931 he was arrested, and on August 29 was convicted of being “a
participant in a kulak-priestly grouping” and of “undermining the enterprises
of Soviet power”. In accordance with article 58-11, he was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Paul Kirillovich Zubov was born in 1865 in the village of Soldat-

Pismyanka, Bugulma region, Tataria. He was single, and warden of the local
church. On March 20, 1931 he was arrested, and on August 31 he was
convicted of being “a participant in a kulak grouping”, of “anti-collective
farm agitation” and “burning down collective farm barns”. In accordance
with articles 58-9 and 58-11, he was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Agatha (Frolovna Yezhova) was born in Tambov province, and lived
in Bugulma, Tataria. On June 9, 1931 she was arrested for “religious agitation”
and imprisoned in accordance with article 58-11. On August 14, 1931 she died
in prison.

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Schema-Nun Matrona (Stepanovna Dokukina) was born in 1860 in the

village of Semyonovka, Yelabuga region, Tataria. On May 17, 1931 she was
arrested, and on September 9 was convicted of being “a participant in a
counter-revolutionary monastic organization” and of “saying that Soviet
power was the power of the Antichrist”. In accordance with articles 58-11 and
58-12, she was sentenced to death, but this was commuted to ten years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Schema-Nun Eudocia (Petrovna Vetrova) was born in 1864 in the village

of Betki, Tukayevsky region, Tataria, and lived in Yelabuga. On May 17, 1931
she was arrested, and on September 9 was sentenced to death in accordance
with articles 58-11 and 59-12. However, her sentence was reduced to ten years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Reader Andrew Ivanovich Zhizhin was born in 1874 in the village of

Chepchugi, Vysokogorsky region, Tataria, and was a prosperous peasant. On
February 1, 1931 he was arrested, and on September 9 was convicted of being
“a participant in a kulak grouping” and “undermining the enterprises of
Soviet power”. In accordance with article 58-11 he was sentenced to three
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him

Priest Peter Mikhailovich Kostin was born in 1896 in the village of Krym-
Saray, Bugulma uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant, in 1919 he served
in the White army. On returning to his homeland he was arrested, but was
later released. In 1928 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Benjamin
of Ufa and served in the village of Sololeiki, living in the village of
Balakhonovka, Boklino region. In the spring of 1930 he was arrested, but not
condemned. On May 4, 1931 he was arrested in a group church case and sent
to Bugulma prison. On September 12 he was sentenced to ten years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Ilya (Gavrilovich Lesin) was born in 1870 in the village of Zykovo,
Bugulma uyezd into a peasant family. He was a monk of the Salsk monastery.
From 1914 he was a reader. He was a free peasant. In March, 1931 he was
arrested in a group church case and sent to Bugulma prison. On September 12
he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about
him.

Nun Xenia (Vasilyevna Pakhomova) was born in 1884 in the village of

Krym-Saray, Bugulma uyezd into a peasant family, becoming a nun in 1903.

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She was disenfranchised. She was a prosphora-baker. In March, 1931 she was
arrested in a group church case and sent to Bugulma prison. On September 12
she was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about
her.

Nun Theodosia, in the world Capitolina Andreyevna Rudakova, was born

in 1881 in the village of Krym-Saray, Yutazino uyezd into a peasant family,
and received an elementary education. In 1897 she was tonsured in a
monastery in Ufa. From 1925, after the closure of the monastery, she returned
to her homeland, and was reader and prosphora-baker for Priest Peter
Kostin. In 1928 she was arrested in a group church case and sent to Bugulma
prison. On September 12 she was sentenced to eight years in the camps and
sent to Alatyr, but was later transferred to the Balakhin colony. At the
beginning of 1936, after her release, she went to Bugulma. On August 9, 1936
she was arrested for being “the inspirer and organizer of a counter-
revolutionary church-monarchist group”, and on December 9 was sentenced
to five years in the camps and sent to Karlag. At the beginning of the 1940s
she was released, but on September 26, 1944 she was arrested again in a group
church case, and on December 21 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and
sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Agrippina (Demidovna Yegorova) was born in 1866 in the village of

Derbeden, Almetyevsky region, Tataria. She lived in Bugulma. On May 30,
1931 she was arrested, and on September 12 was convicted of “religious
agitation”, and was sentenced in accordance with article 58-11 to five years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Anastasia (Nikolayevna Astafyeva). She was born in 1885 in the

village of Krym-Saraj, Bugulma uyezd into a peasant family. She was
illiterate, and a free peasant. She was a widow with three children before
becoming a nun. In March, 1931 she was arrested in connection with a group
church case, and was sent to Bugulma prison. On September 12 she was
sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Tatyana (Alexeyevna Bezchastnova). She was born in 1888 in

Vozdvizhenka, Shugurovsky uyezd into a peasant family. She was an
illiterate free peasant. On March 7, 1931 she was arrested in connection with a
group church case, and was sent to Bugulma prison. On September 12 she
was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Anna (Timofeyevna Inchina) was born in 1895 in the village of

Salaleiko, Boklinsky region, Orenburg province, and lived in Bugulma,
Tataria. On May 30, 1931 she was arrested, and on September 12 she was
condemned for “religious agitation” and sentenced to five years in the camps
in accordance with article 58-11. Nothing more is known about her.

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Nun Nadezhda (Gavrilovna Ivanova) was born in 1896 in the village of

Chetyrly, Buguruslan region, Orenburg province, and lived in Bugulma,
Tataria. On May 30, 1931 she was arrested, and on September 12 she was
convicted of “religious agitation” and sentenced in accordance with article 58-
11 to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Maria (Trofimovna Korshenova) was born in 1884 in the village of

Spiridonovka, Shugurovsky uyezd into a peasant family. She was a free
peasant, a widow with four children. In March, 1931 she was arrested in a
group church case and was sent to Bugulma prison. On September 12 she was
sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Gregory Fyodorovich Mikhailov was born in 1873 in the village of

Spiridonovka, Shugurov uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant.
In March, 1931 he was arrested in a group church case and sent to Bugulma
prison, and on September 12 he was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Gerasimus Kharitonovich Siyakin was born in 1896 in the village of

Andreyevka, Oktyabrsky uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant
and a member of a church council. In 1924 he was dekulakized. In 1930 he
was charged with “anti-Soviet speeches”. On April 7, 1931 he was arrested in
a group church case and sent to Bugulma prison. On September 12 he was
sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Timothy Kharitonovich Siyakin was born in 1881 in the village of

Andreyevka, Oktyabrsky uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant
and a member of a church council. He had four children. In 1924 he was
dekulakized. In 1930 he was charged with “anti-Soviet speeches”. On April 7,
1931 he was arrested in a group church case and sent to Bugulma prison. On
September 12 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Theophan Kuzmich Khvoronov was born in 1878 in the village of Krym-

Saray, Bugulma uyezd into a peasant family, where he lived as a free peasant.
There were four children in the family. In 1930 he was dekulakized and exiled
with his family the settlement of Gorki, but later returned to his homeland. In
March, 1931 he was arrested in a group church case and sent to Bugulma
prison. On September 12 he was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Panteleyevich Istrashkin was born in 1884 in the village of

Pimogino, Saratov province into a peasant family. From 1920 he was living in the
village of Malaya Bugulma. A free peasant, he had five children. In March, 1931
he was arrested in a group church case and sent to Bugulma prison. On

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September 12 he was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is

known about him.

Porphyrius Zakharovich Nosov was born in 1879 in the village of

Spiridonovka, Shugurov uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant, he had
three children. In 1920 he was arrested for taking part in the fork uprising, but
was released within a month. In March, 1931 he was arrested in a group
church case and sent to Bugulma prison. On September 12 he was sentenced
to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Matthew Arsentyevich Zhilyakov was born in Krym-Saray, Bablino

uyezd, Chistopol province, where he lived as a free peasant. On March 6, 1931
he was arrested for being “a participant in a sectarian group of churchmen”.
On September 12 he was released and the case quashed. However, on
September 27, 1944 he was arrested again on the same charge, and on
December 21 was sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Laurence Arsentyevich Zhilyakov was born in 1886 in Krym-Saray,

Bablino uyezd, Chistopol province, where he lived as a free peasant. On
March 6, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in a sectarian group of
churchmen”. On September 12 he was released and the case quashed.
However, on September 27, 1944 he was arrested again on the same charge,
and on December 21 was sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexander Alexeyevich Surkov was born in 1870 in the village of

Neklyudovo, Kamyshlino uyezd into a peasant family. He lived in the village
of Novo-Osorgino in the same region. He was a free peasant and a village
elder. In 1930 he was dekulakized and went wandering round the villages
preaching the end of the world. On March 23, 1931 he was arrested in the
village of Malaya Karmalka, Shugurovo region in connection with a group
church case and sent to Bugulma prison. On September 12 he was sentenced
to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Gabriel Sevastyanovich Fedyanin was born in 1865 in the village of Krym-

Saray, Bugulma uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant, he was
dekulakized in 1930. In March, 1931 he was arrested in a group church case
and sent to Bugulma prison. On September 12 he was sentenced to five years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Martha Gavrilovna Fedyanina was born in 1891 (1893) in Krym-Saray,

Bablino uyezd, Chistopol province, and lived in Bugulma. On June 1, 1931 she
was arrested for being “a participant in a sectarian group of churchmen”, and
on September 12 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp.
In 1936 she was released and returned to her homeland. On September 26,

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1944 she was arrested in a group case, and on December 21 was sentenced to
ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Semyon Nikiforovich Yeremin was born in 1872 in the village of

Pokrovskoye, Yelabuga region, Tataria. He was a free peasant, and the
warden of the church in his native village. On September 20, 1931 he was
arrested, and on December 2 was convicted of “anti-collective farm religious
agitation”. In accordance with article 58-11 he was sentenced to five years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Agrippina Melentyeva went to a gymnasium. In the 1920s she was living

in Kazan, working in an institution. In 1931 she was arrested “for resistance to
the authorities in the matter of the closure of cult buildings”, and was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about her.

Ivan Mikhailovich Pokrovsky was born on January 17, 1865 (or 1866) in
the village of Koldarovo (or Koldary), Morshansk uyezd, Tambov province
into the family of a village priest. In 1886 he finished his studies at Tambov
theological seminary and went to serve as a reader in Lipetsk. He was then
appointed overseer in the Tambov theological school. In 1891 he entered the
Kazan Theological Academy, graduating in 1895, in which year he became a
lecturer in the faculty of the history of the Russian Church in the Academy. In
1908 he became extraordinary professor, and from 1909 to 1918 – ordinary
professor of Russian history. Moreover, from 1905 to 1907 he was editor of the
journal News from Kazan Diocese. He was the author of more than forty
scientific works. He had a wife and four children. In 1917 he was made a
member of the Preconciliar Council in Petrograd, and then a member of the
Local Council of the Russian Church from Kazan diocese. During the Council
he took part in working out a constitution for the Russian theological
academies. After the revolution Ivan Mikhailovich continued his academic
work in the faculty of the history of Russian Church history, working also in
the fields of archaeology and ethnography. At the end of 1918 he was part of a
group of university and academic professors who tried to preserve Raithu
monastery from the Bolsheviks, petitioning for the transfer of the Raithu lands
to Kazan University. On October 6, 1921 he was convicted by the Cheka of
“unlawful teaching in the Academy”, and was given one year’s imprisonment
conditionally. This was part of the group case, “The Case of the Teachers of
Kazan Theological Academy, Kazan, 1921”. On August 31, 1930 he was
arrested in a group church case and cast into a prison in Kazan. He

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was accused, together with other professors of the Academy, of “organizing

on the territory of the Tatar ASSR a branch of the All-Union Centre of the
church-monarchist organization, ‘The True Orthodox Church’… He spoke for
the necessity of bringing up children in the spirit of the church-parish schools,
and defended in his judgements the beneficial influence of the Tsars on
Russian life.” On January 5, 1932 he was sentenced to three years in exile in
Kazakhstan. During his exile in Kazakhstan, Ivan Mikhailovich was very ill.
He suffered from emphysema of the lungs, asthma and heart defects. On July
22, 1932 he was allowed to live freely in the USSR as a kind of partial
amnesty. On April 19, 1941 he died from a heart attack in the office of the
director of the Kazan State Museum while handing over to the museum some
documents from his archive on the shooting of the peasants in the village of
Bezdno, Spassky uyezd. Now his house, which he built in 1902 in Kazan and
in which he lived until his death, has been called officially “Pokrovsky house”
and has been made a historical monument.

Ivan Nikolayevich Sokolov was born in 1901 in the village of Sekines,

Mamadysh uyezd, Kazan province into the family of a priest. He went to the
Kazan agriculturual institute. He lived in Kazan and worked as an assistant
expert on field crop cultivation in the Bugulma experimental agricultural
stations. In 1920 he was arrested “for refusing to serve in the army and for
propaganda in among the recruits in relation to military service”. He was
sentenced to two years in the camps. After his release he returned to Kazan.
On February 6, 1931 he was arrested in a group church case, and was accused
that: “being until July, 1930 a student, he made links between the Kazan
counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen and the student body. He
discussed methods of struggling against Soviet power. He prepared a massive
protest of the student body against the closure of St. Barbara’s church.” On
January 5, 1932 he was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Peter Yefimovich Igumnov was born in 1852 in the village of

Darovskoye, Kotelnich uyezd, Vyatka province, and served in the village of
Yakovlevo, Yelabuga region, Tataria. On November 14, 1931 he was arrested,
and in 1932 he was condemned in accordance with article 58-11 for “anti-
collective farm agitation” and “burning down collective farm property”. On
January 21, 1932 he died in hospital during his investigation.

Priest Nicholas Alexandrovich Modestov was born in 1893 in Tver, and

went to a theological seminary. He served in the village of Naumovka,

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Buruguslam region, Middle Volga district, and from 1924 – in Bugulma. Then
he returned to Naumovka. He organized five underground churches on the
territory of Tataria and personally organized and distributed a series of
leaflets, including one by the name of “Russian has perished”. On May 7, 1929
he was arrested, but soon released. In January, 1930, fearing arrested, he left
the village and went underground, hiding in the village of Zabugorovka,
Bugulma region. On May 11, 1932 he was arrested for being “the leader of a
counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to ten years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Michael Fyodorovich Minyukhov was born in 1881 in the village of

Klyavino, Samara province, and went to a theological school. He served in the
village of Verkhnyaya Karmalka, Cheremshan region. In the 1920s he was
serving secretly in the homes of believers in the villages of Novoye Ilmovo,
Ulyanovka and Akkireyevo. On March 30, 1932 he was arrested for being “the
leader of a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to five years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Theodore (Timofeyevich Timofeyev) was born in 1879 in the village

of Novoye Ilmovo, Chemyshan uyezd. He organized an underground church
in the villages of Novoye Ilmovo and Zirekly, Klyavlin region. He was a
messenger for Fr. Nicholas Modestov. On May 14, 1932 he was arrested for
being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was
sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to Siblag. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nun Maria (Fyodorova Pravednikova) was born in 1883 in Bugulma, and

went to a gymnasium. A nun of the Bugulma women’s monastery, after the
revolution she was disenfranchised. She took an active part in the creation of
an underground church in the house of her sister Catherine. On May 14, 1932
she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7,
1933 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Kazakhstan. Nothing
more is known about her.

Nun Natalya (Mikhailovna Melentyeva) was born in 1892 in the village of

Chitari, Kazan uyezd, and received an elementary education. She was a
wanderer. On May 14, 1932 she was arrested for being “a participant in a
counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent
to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about her.

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Nun Eudocia (Yevdokimovna Mamayeva) was born in 1882 in Staroye

Selo, Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd, Nizhegorod province into a peasant family.
Until 1917 she was in the Kuzhenersky monastery, where she was tonsured.
After 1917 she became a wandering nun, but from 1920 lived in the church
watchtower in her native village, occupied in handiwork. In 1922 she was
investigated for non-payment of the seed fund, but was acquitted. She was
disenfranchised. From 1930 she was working as a watchman and cleaner in
the church of her native village. On May 8, 1932 she was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on August 19 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the
north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Aksinia (Vasilyevna Efremova) was born in 1892 in the village of

Novo-Sheshminsk, Novo-Sheshminsk region, and lived in the village of
Kulmaksi. In 1918 she joined the community of Fr. Peter Atlaner, received the
tonsure and became his cell-attendant. From 1924 she was living with Fr.
Peter in his cave, and remained there even after his death. On July 21, 1932 she
was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary religio-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7,
1933 was sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Theodosia (Pavlovna Atlanderova) was born in 1896 in the village of

Novosheshminsk, Novosheshminsk uyezd. She was a nun in the Lakshevsky,
then in the Chistopol monastery. She took part in the building of an
underground church-monastery in which there lived her brother and her
father Peter, and in which she carried out illegal prayer services at which she
gave sermons. On July 27, 1932 she was arrested in Chistopol for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the
True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three
years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about her.

Stepan Pavlovich Pavlov was born in 1899 in the village of Novoye

Ilmovo, Cheremshan uyezd, where he lived and received an elementary
education. He was a free peasant, and equipped an underground church and
was the leader of the parish in the village of Akkireyevo. On May 14, 1932 he
was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7,
1933 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

Semyon Yevdokimovich Yevdokimov was born in 1895 in the village of

Akkireyevo, Cheremshan uyezd. A free peasant, he threatened the
representatives of the soviet with retribution for taking away his horses. On
May 14, 1932 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary

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monarchist organization”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three

years in the camps. In March, 1942 he died in camp.

Semyon Nikolayevich Simakov was born in 1901 in the village of

Akkireyevo, Cheremshan uyezd, and received an elementary education. In
1918 he was fighting in the White army. In the 1920s he was a free peasant in
his native village. He took an active part in general village meetings to
organize mass rejections of the spring sowing, and agitated not to allow
children into the Soviet schools. More than once he threatened village soviet
representatives with reprisals, and demonstratively refused to accept Soviet
documents. On May 14, 1932 he was arrested for being “a member of a
counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Grigoryevich Borisov was born in 1878 in the village of Akkireyevo,

Cheremashan uyezd. He was a free peasant, and president of a church
council. He took part in the organization of a massive protest demanding
bread and threating the bread stores. He spoke at village meetings calling for
exist from the collective farm and refusal to accept Soviet documents. He
spread rumours about a war. On May 14, 1932 he was arrested for being “a
member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization”, and on
February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Michael Borisovich Borisov lived in the village of Akkireyevo,

Pervomaisk region. He was a former president of a church council, and a
participant in the armed destruction of the Committee of Poverty. On May 2,
1932 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary
religio-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on
February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three years in the camps, and was sent to
Siblag. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Stepanovich Borisov was born in 1901 in the village of Akkireyevo,

Cheremashan uyezd, and received an elementary education. A free peasant,
he was arrested for four months for non-fulfilment of state tasks. In 1932 he
took part in a demonstrative refusal to sow spring wheat and to collect seeds.
He spoke at a village assembly calling on people to refuse to receive Soviet
documents. He took part in secret prayer meetings. On May 14, 1932 he was
arrested for being “a member of a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Peter Maximovich Maximov was born in 1896 in the village of

Akkireyevo, Cheremashan uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. He took
part in a mass demonstration for the forcible removal of the collective farm

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horses. He was condemned and served a one year term of corrective

imprisonment for refusing to carry out state requisitions. On March 12, 1932
he expelled the representatives of the state requisitions from his house,
threatening them with a fork, and on May 14 was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the
True Orthodox Church”. He died during the investigation.

Ivan Grigoryevich Ayutov was born in 1876 in the village of Akkireyevo,

where he lived. He took part in secret prayer services in houses. In December,
1931 he spoke out at a village meeting, calling on people to refuse to mobilize
their means, to hand over their reserves of bread or to start sowing. He took
part in the organization of a massive demonstration for the forcible removal
of the collective farm’s horses. He conducted systematic agitation calling on
people to refuse to take Soviet documents. On May 14, 1932 he was arrested
for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was
sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Vasilyevich Vasilyev was born in 1886 in the village of Ulyanovka,

Cheremshan uyezd, Pervomaisk region. An illiterate free peasant, he was
sentenced in 1928 to one year’s imprisonment for spiteful non-fulfilment of
state tasks and was fined 250 rubles. He was also dekulakized. He organized a
group of True Orthodox Christians in Ulyanovka, and conducted secret
prayer meetings, keeping in touch with Priest Modestus.

Basil Matveyevich Astafyev was born in 1880 in the village of Krym-Saraj,

Bugulma uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasnt. For systematic
non-fulfilment of state tasks, his property and animals were confiscated. On
May 2, 1932 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”.
He was accused of leading a branch of the TOC, maintaining contact with the
branch leader, frightening people into leaving the collective farm and calling
on them to refuse to sow. On February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three years in
the camps, and was sent to Siblag. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Stepanovich Stepanov lived in the village of Novoye Ilmovo,

Chemyshan uyezd. A kulak and an active parishioner, he helped equip an
underground church. On July 21, 1932 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the
True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Nicholas Fyodorovich Fyodorov was born in 1889 in the village of Novoye

Ilmovo. A free peasant and the author of leaflets, he helped equip an
underground church. On July 21, 1932 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the

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True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three

years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Yakovlevich Malanchev was born in 1877 in the village of

Akkireyevo, Cheremshan uyezd. A free peasant, he was condemned for non-
payment of taxes and was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment. On May 14,
1932 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary
religio-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on
February 7, 1933 he was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more
is known about him.

Andrew Gavrilovich Vanyukov was born in 1883 in the village of Nytva,

Perm province. In the 1930s he was living in the village of Aksubayevo as a
free peasant. He went to secret prayer meetings. On May 2, 1932 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary religio-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7,
1933 was sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. On March 15, 1938 he was
arrested again while in exile, but was later released because of an absence of
evidence of a crime. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Ivanovich Batenev was born in 1873 in Volchya sloboda, Novo-

Sheshminsk region into a peasant family. He was a free peasant who was
often subjected to fines for non-fulfilment of state tasks. He later became a
church warden. After the closure of the church, illegal services were
conducted in his house. On July 21, 1932 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the
True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. On July 22, 1935 he was released from exile. Nothing
more is known about him.

Cosmas Ivanovich Krasnov was born in 1898 in the village of Ivashkino,

Cheremshan uyezd into a peasant family. He lived in the village of
Akkireyevo as a free peasant. For refusing to pay taxes his cow was taken
from him and sold. He conducted agitation against sowing and for refusing to
accept Soviet documents and signing them. On July 21, 1932 he was arrested
for being “a participant in a counter-revolutinary religio-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

Praskovya Ivanovna Bateneva, the daughter-in-law of Ivan Ivanovich, was

born in 1908 in Volchya sloboda into a peasant family. A free peasant and an
active parishioner, she carried out the duties of a dogmatist and gave talks.
Illegal services were carried out in her house. On July 21, 1932 she was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7 was sentenced

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to three years’ exile in the north. On July 22, 1935 she was released from exile.
Nothing more is known about her.

Natalya Vasilyevna Bazyanova was born in 1885 in the village of

Akkireyevo. She was a free peasant and an active parishioner, who led a
massive protest of women demanding to hand over bread and threatening to
destroy the bread warehouses. She called on people to refuse to receive Soviet
documents or to sign them. She was the organizer and provider of an
underground church. On May 14, 1932 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the
True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three
years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about her.

Martha Anisimovna Melnikova was born in 1873 in the village of Novoye

Ilmovo, Cheremshan uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. She helped in
the equipping of an underground church and secret prayer houses, and
demonstratively refused to accept Soviet documents. On May 14, 1932 she
was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7,
1933 was sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nicholas Alexeyevich Martyshev was born in 1883 in the village of

Volchya Sloboda, Novo-Sheshminsk uyezd into a peasant family. He was a
free peasant. In 1929 he was arrested and sentenced to three years in the
camps. On July 20, 1932 he was released from exile and returned to his
homeland. On November 15, 1932 he was arrested again in a group church
case, and on April 14, 1933 was sentenced to death, commuted to ten years in
the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Daniel Ivanovich Yeremin was born in 1900 in the village of

Kuluschi, Mamadysh region, Tataria, and lived in the village of Sokolka. On
March 24, 1933 he was arrested, and on June 15 was convicted of “anti-
collective farm religious agitation”. In accordance with articles 58-8 and 58-10,
he was sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is known about
him.

Priest John Lukich Lukin was born in 1890 in the village of Kazyn, Rybno-
Slobodsky uyezd into a peasant family. He went to a zemstvo school and a
theological seminary. From 1913 he was a reader. In 1915 he joined the army.
From January, 1917 he was a reader again. In 1918 he was ordained to the
diaconate, and in 1919 – to the priesthood in the village of Kuzaikino. In 1920

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he was condemned to one year’s forced labour for not handing over bread
reserves. In 1921 he was sentenced to three years in the camps. This sentence
was reduced to eighteen months on amnesty on June 22, 1921. After his
release he returned to Kuzaikino, and after the church’s closure worked as a
tailor. In 1929 he was fined for fifty rubles for not handing over bread
reserves. On October 18, 1929 he was arrested in a group church case and
accused that: “he grouped around himself the clergy of surrounding villages,
and for three years systematically conducted agitation against the soviets and
their enterprises”. On December 23 he was sentenced to three years in the
camps and sent to Solovki. In July, 1932 he was released and returned to his
homeland. In 1933 he was arrested for being “the leader of a religio-
monarchist group of True Orthodox Churchmen”. On June 16 he was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp (Nizhnyaya
Tunguska). Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Philip Demyanovich Gorbunov was born in 1892 in the village of

Maly Batras, Zainsk uyezd, where he served. He was a member of the
Brotherhood of St. Gurias. On February 25, 1930 he was arrested, but on April
13 he was released and the case shelved. On March 26, 1933 he was arrested
again for being “a participant in a religio-monarchist counter-revolutionary
group of True Orthodox Churchmen”, and on June 16 was sentenced to eight
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Andrew Nikolayevich Fokin was born in 1899 in the village of

Russkij Aktash, Almetyevsk uyezd. He served in the village of Yelan,
Almetyevsk uyezd. On March 23, 1933 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a religio-monarchist counter-revolutionary group of True
Orthodox Churchpeople”, and on June 16 was sentenced to eight years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Peter Zakharovich Pokarov was born in 1880 in the village of

Klyaush, Mamadysh uyezd. He served in the village of But, Almetyevsk
region, and was a member of the brotherhood of St. Gurias. On March 23,
1933 he was arrested for being “a participant in a religio-monarchist counter-
revolutionary group of True Orthodox Churchmen”, and on June 16 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

His wife, Euphrosyne Ivanovna Pokarova, was born in 1884 in the village
of Maly Tolkish, Chistopol uyezd, and was a member of the brotherhood of
St. Gurias. On March 26, 1933 she was arrested for being “a participant in a
religio-monarchist counter-revolutionary group of True Orthodox
Churchmen”, and on June 16 was sentenced to five years in the camps and
sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

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Nun Eudocia (Andreyevna Makarova) was born in 1904 in the village of

Yersubaikino, Almetyevsk uyezd. She was a member of the Brotherhood of St.
Gurias. On March 23, 1933 she was arrested for being “a participant in a
religio-monarchist group of True Orthodox churchmen”, and on June 16 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Seraphima (Ivanovna Klimova) was born in 1873 in the village of

Grishkino, Yelabuga uyezd. She was a member of the brotherhood of St.
Gurias, and lived in the village of Alexandrovskaya Sloboda, Zainsk region.
On March 26, 1933 she was arrested for being “a participant in a religio-
monarchist counter-revolutionary group of True Orthodox churchmen”, and
on June 16 was sentenced to five years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing
more is known about her.

Nun Euthalia, in the world Anna Ivanovna Volkova, was born in 1871 in
the village of Ploskoye, Novotorzhsk uyezd, Moscow province. She lived in
Torzhsk. On June 9, 1931 she was arrested, and on June 18 – sentenced to five
years in the camps, commuted to exile to Kazakhstan for the same period. On
March 26, 1933 she was arrested for being “a participant in a religio-
monarchist counter-revolutionary group of True Orthodox Christians”, and
on June 16 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Xenia (Ilyinichna Kildyusheva) was born in 1873 in the village of But,
Almetyevsk uyezd, where she lived. She was a member of the brotherhood of
St. Gurias. On March 26, 1933 she was arrested for being “a participant in a
religio-monarchist counter-revolutionary group of True Orthodox
Christians”, and on June 16 was sentenced to five years’ exile and sent to the
north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Maria (Ivanovna Kilyachenkova) was born in 1872 in the village of

Staroye Mavrino, Zainsk uyezd. She was a member of the brotherhood of St.
Gurias, and lived in the village of Utyashkino, Zainsk region. On March 26,
1933 she was arrested, and on June 16 was sentenced to five years in the
camps and sent to a camp. On October 10, 1938 she was arrested for being “a
participant in a religio-monarchist counter-revolutionary group of True
Orthodox churchmen”, and on November 29, 1939 was sentenced to three
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Gregory Milosipovich Kovalev was born in 1898 in the village of Gulkino,

Zainsk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. He was a member of the
brotherhood of St. Gurias. On March 23, 1933 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a religio-monarchist counter-revolutionary group of True
Orthodox Churchmen”, and on June 16 was sentenced to five years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

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Demetrius Petrovich Butyaev was born in 1871 in the village of Kara-Elga,

Zainsk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant and a member of the
Brotherhood of St. Gurias. On March 23, 1933 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the religio-monarchist counter-revolutionary group, the True
Orthodox Christians”, and on June 16 was sentenced to five years’ exile and
sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Paul Sofronovich Ilmigashev was born in 1893 in the village of

Yersubaikino, Almetyevsk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. He was a
member of the brotherhood of St. Gurias. On June 16, 1933 he was sentenced
to five years in the camps conditionally and was released. On March 18, 1946
he was arrested again for being “a participant in a religio-monarchist counter-
revolutionary group of True Orthodox churchmen”, and on December 16 was
sentenced to seven years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

Paul Nikiforovich Kotlov was born in 1880 in the village of Ulbukhtino,

Tukayevo uyezd, and lived in the village of Onbia, Almetyevsk region. He
was a member of the brotherhood of St. Gurias. On March 23, 1933 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the religio-monarchist counter-
revolutionary group, the True Orthodox Christians”, and on June 16 was
sentenced to five years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

Agapia Pavlovna Kosmina was born in 1884 in the village of Teploye

Boloto, Mamadysh uyezd. She was the wife of a priest, and a member of the
brotherhood of St. Gurias. She lived in the village of Aktash, Aktash region.
On March 26, 1933 she was arrested for being “a participant in a religio-
monarchist counter-revolutionary group of True Orthodox Churchmen”, and
on June 16 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Eudocia Agapovna Arkhipova was born in 1887 in the village of Staraya

Yelan, Almeyevsky uyezd, where she lived. She was a prosphora-baker and a
member of the Brotherhood of St. Gurias. On March 26, 1933 she was arrested
for being “a participant in a religio-monarchist counter-revolutionary group
of True Orthodox churchmen”, and on June 16 was sentenced to five years in
the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Theodore Alexeyevich Petrov was born in 1875, and lived in the
village of Stariye Chelny, Kazan province. On March 27, 1933 he was arrested
for being “a participant in a religio-monarchist organization”, and on

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November 28 was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Matrona (Osipovna Siplatova-Osipova) was born in 1888 in the

village of Bilyar-Ozero, Kazan province, where she lived as a nun without
fixed occupation. On March 27, 1933 she was arrested for being “a participant
in a religio-monarchist organization”, and on November 28 she was sentenced
to three years’ exile and sent to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about
her.

Boris Nikolayevich Yeraskin was born in 1910 in the village of Teneyevo,

Koshkin uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. On March 27, 1933 he was
arrested for being “a participant in a religio-monarchist organization”, and on
November 28 was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Paul Yefimovich Yefimov was born in 1900 in the village of Saddakayevo,

Kazan province, where he lived as a free peasant. In 1931 he was condemned
for anti-Soviet agitation. On March 27, 1933 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a religio-monarchist organization”, and on November 28 was
sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

James Fyodorovich Platonov was born in 1906 in the village of Turnoyas,

Kazan province, where he lived as a free peasant. In 1931 he was condemned
for “anti-Soviet agitation”. On March 28, 1933 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a religio-monarchist organization”. On November 28, 1933 he
was sentenced to two years’ exile and sent to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nicholas Romanovich Romanov was born in 1879 in the village of

Nikolayevna, Kazan province, where he lived as a free peasant. On March 27,
1933 he was arrested for being “a participant in a religio-monarchist
organization”, and November 28 was sentenced to three years in the camps
and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Taras Fyodorovich Fyodorov was born in 1901 in the village of Chura,

Kukmor uyezd, Tataria, where he lived as a trader and renter of land before
the revolution. In 1918 he was a soldier in the army of Wrangel, and in the
1920s was a free peasant. On March 28, 1933 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a religio-monarchist organization”, and on November 28 was
sentenced to two years’ exile and sent to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known
about him.

Euthymius Dmitrievich Kolesnikov was born in 1868 in the village of Kar-

Gora, Kazan province, where he lived as a free peasant. On March 27, 1933 he

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was arrested for being “a participant in a religio-monarchist organization”,

and on November 28 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to
Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Sophia Stepanovna Sapozhnikova was born in 1881 in Samara into a

merchant’s family, and went to a gymnasium. She lived in Kazan as an
official. On March 25, 1933 she was arrested for being “a participant in a
religio-monarchist organization”, and on November 28 was sentenced to
three years’ exile and was sent to Western Siberia. Nothing more is known
about her.

Maria Petrovna Kochergina was born in 1900 in the village of Nyrty,

Sabino uyezd, Tataria, where she lived as a widow without fixed occupation.
In 1930 she was arrested “for anti-Soviet activity”. On March 28, 1933 was
arrested again for being “a participant in a religio-monarchist organization”,
and on November 28 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Western
Siberia. Nothing more is known about her.

Lydia Ilyinichna Kuznetsova was born in 1893 in Kazan, and received

higher education. She lived in Kazan, working as an official. On March 25,
1933 she was arrested for being “a participant in a religio-monarchist
organization”, and on November 28 was sentenced to three years’ exile and
sent to Western Siberia. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Alexis Shigin served in the Yaroslavl diocese. He lived illegally in

the village of Aksubayevo, hiding from arrest. On June 7, 1934 he was
arrested for “organized counter-revolutionary activity directed to the creation
of grounds for overthrowing Soviet power with the use of the religious
feelings of believers”, and on July 10 he was sentenced to eight years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Reader Nicholas Alexeyevich Pavlov was born in 1895 in the village of

Aksubayevo into a peasant family, and went to the village school. A peasant
before the revolution, after the revolution he occupied himself in trade, and
from 1921 he was reader in the village of Verkhnyaya Balanda. In 1928 he was
dekulakized and disenfranchised. He went to the village of Krivozerki. He
had five children. In 1929 he was arrested for “counter-revolutionary activity”
and sentenced to three years in the camps. In 1932 he was released and
returned to Aksubayevo, but within six months he was impoverished. On
June 7, 1934 he was arrested for “organized counter-revolutionary activity
directed to the creation of grounds for overthrowing Soviet power with the
use of the religious feelings of believers”, and on July 10 he was sentenced to
eight years in the camps. He refused to sign the sentence “for religious

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reasons”. He was sent to Siblag, from where he fled in December, 1934. He

died in detention.

Andrew Fyodorovich Kulkov was born in 1897 in the village of

Aksubayevo, Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, where she lived as a
free peasant. On April 7, 1934 she was arrested for being “a religious fanatic”,
and on July 10 was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Novice Tatyana Ivanovna Kirilova was born in 1886, and in the 1900s
became a novice in the Dormition monastery. In the 1920s she was living in
the village of Nizhnyaya Rus’, Kukmor region. In 1931 she was arrested, and
on July 5 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Chelyabinsk
province. In 1934 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Reader Gurias Ivanovich Zinovyev was born in 1898 in the village of

Kirmeli, Zelenodolsk region. On December 24, 1930 he was arrested, and on
June 1, 1931 was condemned in accordance with article 58-7 to three years’
imprisonment with strict isolation for “destroying the collective farm”. On
August 9 the sentence was quashed. However, on September 16, 1932 he was
arrested again, and on January 29, 1933 he was sentenced in accordance with
article 58-10 to five years in the camps for “agitation against bread deliveries”.
On October 26, 1935 he was arrested again, and on November 16 he was
sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to three years’ exile in
Krasnoyarsk district for being “a participant in a grouping of churchmen”.
Nothing more is known about him.

Alexander Fyodorovich Zvonarev was born in 1907 in the village of Lenin,

Novo-Sheshminsk uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant, he was
arrested on October 17, 1932 in a group church case. On April 14, 1933 he was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to Bamlag. On October 28, 1935
he was released. Nothing more is known about him.

Maria Martynovna Sebastynova was born in 1898 in the village of

Dmitrievnka, Samara uyezd into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. She was a wandere without fixed occupation. On July

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21, 1935 she was arrested in a group church case, and on February 14, 1936
was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Adrian Nikolayevich Nagornov was born in 1890 in the village of

Malaya Bugulma, Tataria into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In 1931 he was arrested and sentenced to five years in the camps.
After his release he returned to his homeland. On May 25, 1936 he was
arrested in Bugulma and accused of being “the leader of a counter-
revolutionary church-monarchist group. He took part in illegal meetings and
performed services, giving material help to the reactionary and exiled clergy.”
On December 9 he was sentenced to five years in the camps and was sent to
Karlag. Nothing more is known about him. His wife, Barbara Rodionova
Nagornova, was born in 1890 in the village of Malaya Bugulma, Tataria into a
peasant family, and received an elementary education. In 1932 she was
condemned for “anti-Soviet agitation”. On May 25, 1936 she was arrested and
accused of being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary church-monarchist
group. She took part in illegal meetings and services. She is openly counter-
revolutionary and monarchist.” On December 9 she was sentenced to five
years in the camps, and was sent to Karlag. After her release she returned to
Bugulma. Nothing more is known about her.

Leontius Ilyich Kudryashov was born in 1891 in the village of Ivashkino,

Cheremshan uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. He lived in the village of Akkireyevo as a free peasant. In 1931, for
non-fulfilment of state tasks, he was sentenced to three months of forced
labour. On July 21, 1932 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
but on February 7, 1933 was released on account of the time he had already
spent in prison. He was the leader of a parish, and organizer of illegal
services. On August 20, 1936 he was arrested, and on December 8 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to Karlag.

Ivan Ivanovich Batenev was born in 1904 in Volchya Sloboda into a

peasant family, and received an elementary education. In 1932 he was on trial
for “anti-Soviet agitation”. On May 25, 1936 he was arrested and accused of
being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary church-monarchist group”, of
“taking part in illegal meetings and services”, of “giving material help to the
reactionary and exiled clergy” and of “establishing links in writing with
participants in Kuibyshev district. He is openly counter-revolutionary and
monarchist, in virtue of which he deliberately did not enrol in the military
reserve.” On December 9 he was sentenced to five years in the camps, and
was sent to Sevvostoklag, where, in 1940, he was arrested. On September 21,
1940 he was sentenced to death. On September 24 he was shot.

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Natalya Nikolayevna Pyanova was born in 1889 in the village of Krym-Saray,

Yutazin uyezd, Tataria into the family of a trader, and received an elementary
education. She was the wife of a priest. In 1932 she was condemned for “anti-
Soviet agitation”. On May 25, 1936 she was arrested, and accused that: “being a
participant in a counter-revolutionary church-monarchist group, she took part in
illegal meetings and services. She is openly counter-revolutionary and
monarchist.” On December 9 she was sentenced to five years in the camps and
sent to Karlag. Nothing more is known about her.

Elizabeth Merkuryevna Danilicheva was born in 1907 in the village of

Malaya Bugulma, Bugulma uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family, and received
an elementary education. In 1932 she was on trial for “anti-Soviet agitation”.
On May 25, 1936 she was arrested and accused of being “a participant in a
counter-revolutionary church-monarchist group” and of “taking part in
illegal meetings and services. She is openly counter-revolutionary and
monarchist.” On December 9 she was sentenced to five years in the camps,
and was sent to Karlag. After her release from camp and exile she returned to
Bugulma, where in April, 1951 she was again arrested for “belonging to an
anti-Soviet group of churchmen”. On June 9, 1951 she was sentenced to exile
in Kikchetavskaya province. Nothing more is known about her.

Anna Nikolayevna Kiseleva was born in 1908 in the village of Vasilyevka,

Sekretarsky uyezd, Orenburg province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. She was the sister of Maria Kostina. On May 25, 1936
she was arrested and accused that: “being a participant in a counter-
revolutionary church-monarchist group, she took part in illegal meetings and
services, and the construction of an illegal church. She hid an illegal preacher
in her house, giving material help to the reactionary and exiled clergy.” On
December 9 she was sentenced to five years in the camps and was sent to
Karlag. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Nikolayevna Danilicheva was born in 1881 in the village of Malaya

Bugulma, Bugulma uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In 1932 she was condemned for “anti-Soviet agitation”.
On May 25, 1936 she was arrested and accused that: “being a participant in a
counter-revolutionary church-monarchist group, she took part in illegal
meetings and services, and worked to attract new members into the
organization. She is openly counter-revolutionary and monarchist.” On
December 9 she was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to Karlag.
After her release she returned to Bugulma. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Nikolayevna Kostina was born in 1898 in the village of Vasilyevka,

Sekretarsky uyezd, Orenburg province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. She was the wife of a priest. On May 25, 1936 she was
arrested, and on October 11 she was accused that: “being a participant in a
counter-revolutinary church-monarchist group, she took part in illegal

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meetings and services, provided an underground church with church utensils

and worked to draw new members into the organization. She is openly
counter-revolutionary and monarchist. On December 9 she was sentenced to
five years in the camps and sent to Karlag. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Andrianovna Ishkov was born in 1889 in the village of

Zabugorovka, Bugulma uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In 1932 she was condemned for “anti-Soviet agitation”.
On May 25, 1936 she was arrested and accused that: “being a participant in a
counter-revolutionary church-monarchist group, she took part in illegal
meetings and services, for which she equipped an illegal prayer place in her
house. She is openly counter-revolutionary and monarchist.” On December 9
she was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to Karlag. Nothing
more is known about her.

Natalya Pavlovna Lomovskaya was born in 1892 in the village of Malaya

Bugulma, Bugulma uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. She was the sister of M.N. Danilicheva. In 1932 she was
condemned for “anti-Soviet agitation”. On May 25, 1936 she was arrested and
accused that: “being an active participant in a counter-revolutionary church-
monarchist group, she took part in the construction of an underground
church in her house and in illegal meetings and services. She gave material
help to the reactionary and exiled clergy. She is openly counter-revolutionary
and monarchist.” On December 9 she was sentenced to five years in the
camps and sent to Karlag. After her release she returned to Malaya Bugulma.
Nothing more is known about her.

Basil Fedosevich Rusakov was a peasant. In 1922 he became church

warden. In 1929 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet speeches” and exiled for six
years to Arkhangelsk province. In 1935, after his release, he went to his exiled
family in Magnitogorsk. He systematically gathered believers to secret prayer
meetings led by Priest Paul Mishukov. In 1937 he was again arrested
together with his wife and elder son Theodore, and was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. He was sent to a camp, where he died.

Emelian Nikiforovich Grivtsov was born in 1887 in the village of

Yefanovka, Bugulma uyezd into a peasant family. He was a free peasant with
five children. In March, 1931 he was arrested in a group case of churchmen
and sent to Bugulma prison, and on September 12 he was sentenced to five
years in the camps. In September, 1936 he was released from camp and
returned to his homeland. On October 11, 1937 he was sentenced to ten years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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Reader Terence Pavlovich Zharenkov was born in 1880 in the village of

Staroye Mavrino, Zainsky region, Tataria. On April 9, 1931 he was arrested,
and on August 22 was convicted of “anti-collective farm and religious
agitation, the undermining of the enterprises of Soviet power”. In accordance
with article 58-10, he was sentenced to eight years in the camps. On October
16, 1937 he was arrested again in Tataria, and on December 13 was sentenced
to death with confiscation of his property. The sentence was carried out in
Bugulma on December 19, 1937.

Nun Neonilla (Fyodorovna Smirnova) was born in 1885 in the village of

Russkoye, Utyashkino, Novosheshminsk uyezd, Kazan province, and
received an elementary education. On July 26, 1931 she was arrested for being
“a participant in the counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization,
the True Orthodox Church”, and on February 7, 1933 was sentenced to three
years’ exile and sent to Kazakhstan. On December 22, 1937 she was arrested
again, and on December 28 was sentenced to death. On January 7, 1938 she
was shot.

Ivan Afanasyevich Kuryashov was born in 1879 in the village of

Kuzyakon, Cheremshan uyezd into a peasant family. He went to a village
school. He worked for a merchant. After the revolution he rented a mill and
was a trader. On October 18, 1929 he was arrested in a group church case, and
was accused that: “he grouped around himself the clergy of the surrounding
villages, and for three years systematically conducted agitation against the
soviets and their enterprises”. On December 23, 1929 he was sentenced to
three years’ exile and sent to the north. In 1932 he returned to his homeland.
On October 26, 1938 he was arrested in Bugulma, and on December 19 died
during the investigation.

Anton Ivanovich Zolotukhin was born in 1888 in Krym-Saray, Bablino

uyezd, Chistopol province, where he lived as a free peasant. On September
27, 1944 he was arrested for being “a participant in a sectarian group of
churchmen”, and on December 21 was sentenced to eight years in the camps
and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Frolus Kirillovich Shirobokov was born in 1903 in Krym-Saray, Bablino

uyezd, Chistopol province, where he lived as a free peasant. On October 27,
1944 he was arrested for being “a participant in a sectarian group of

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churchmen”, and on December 21 was sentenced to five years in the camps

and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Paul Kuzmich Mishukov was born in 1871 in Volchya Sloboda,

Novo-Sheshminsk uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family. A free peasant, in
1931 he was arrested for “counter-revolutionary activity” and sentenced to
five years’ exile, but after a year he fled from exile. He was ordained to the
priesthood by Bishop Habbakuk of Old Ufa. On October 16, 1932 he was
arrested in a group church case, and on April 14, 1933 he was sentenced to
death. The sentence was commuted to ten years in the camps, and on June 4
he was taken to the special settlement of Magnitogorsk. After his release he
returned to his native village. On March 3, 1941 he was arrested in a group
church case and sent to the inner prison. On September 8 he was sentenced to
eight years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Gregory Ivanovich Repin was born in 1907 in the village of Sloboda
Volchya, Novosheshminsk uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family, and received
an elementary education. A free peasant, on November 19, 1932 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the sect of the True Orthodox Church”, but
in 1933 he was released from prison and his case shelved. He was then
secretly ordained to the priesthood. On August 20, 1936 he was arrested and
accused that: “being a participant in a counter-revolutionary church-
monarchist group, he took part in illegal meetings and services. He is openly
counter-revolutionary and monarchist, and categorically refuses to sign
documents.” On December 9 he was sentenced to five years in the camps and
sent to Karlag. Later he was transferred to Sevvostlag (Kolyma), where he
refused to work for religious reasons. In the summer of 1941 he was arrested,
and on August 16 was sentenced to death. On August 30 he was shot.

Xenia Ivanovna Mishukova was born in 1871 in Sloboda Volchya, Novo-

Sheshminsk uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family. A free peasant, in 1931 she
was exiled to Magnitogorsk, from where she ran away. On March 3, 1941 she
was arrested in a group church case and sent to Chistopol prison. On
September 8 she was sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Matrona Grigoryevna Repina was born in 1901 in Sloboda Volchya, Novo-

Sheshminsk uyezd, where she lived. She was a free peasant and a dressmaker.
After the death of her husband in exile she became very religious, and secret
prayer meetings of the True Orthodox Christians were held in her house. On
March 3, 1941 she was arrested in a group church case and sent to Chistopol
prison. On November 29 she was sentenced to death with confiscation of her
property. On February 21, 1942 the sentence was commuted to ten years in the
camps, and on April 3 she was sent to ITK-5 on the island of Sviyazhsk.

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On December 22 she was sent to hospital with a diagnosis of pellagria. On

January 14, 1943 she died in hospital.

Anna Ivanovna Repina was born in 1910 in Sloboda Volchya, Novo-

Sheshminsk uyezd, where she lived. She was a free peasant. In 1940 she was
arrested and sentenced to six months in the camps. After her release she
returned to her homeland. On March 3, 1941 she was arrested in a group
church case and sent to Chistopol prison. On September 8 she was sentenced
to eight years in the camps. After her release from camp she lived in the
village of Cheremshan, Lenino region. Nothing more is known about her.

Pelagia Petrovna Mukhanova was born in 1905 in Sloboda Volchya, Novo-

Sheshminsk uyezd, where she lived. She was a free peasant. On March 3, 1941
she was arrested in a group church case and sent to Chistopol prison. On
September 8 she was sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Xenia Sergeyevna Bateneva was born in 1891 in Volchya Sloboda into a

peasant family, and was an illiterate free peasant. On March 3, 1941 she was
arrested in a church group case and sent to Chistopol prison. On September 8
she was sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is known about
her.

Darya Nikolayevna Shirshova was born in 1880 in the village of

Berezovka, Bilyarskoye uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant, in 1930
she was resettled in Magnitogorsk, from where she fled in 1940. On March 3,
1941 she was arrested in a group church case and sent to the inner prison. On
September she was sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Praskovya Semyonova Yushetkova was born in 1883 in Sloboda Volchya,

Novo-Sheshminsk uyezd into a peasant family. A free peasant, on March 3,
1941 she was arrested in a group church case and sent to Chistopol prison. On
September she was sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Tatyana Ivanovna Glushkova was born in 1885 in Volchya sloboda, Novo-

Sheshminsky uyezd into a peasant family. She was a free peasant and literate.
On March 3, 1941 she was arrested in connection with a group case of
churchmen and sent to Chistopol prison. On September 8 she was sentenced
to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Mikhailovna Mukhanova was born in 1922 (1918) in Sloboda

Volchya, Novo-Sheshminsk uyezd, where she lived. She was a free peasant.
On March 3, 1941 she was arrested in a group church case and sent to

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Chistopol prison. On September 8 she was sentenced to eight years in the

camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Euphrosyne Semyonovna Sergeyeva was born in 1903 in Sloboda

Volchya, Novo -Sheshminsk uyezd, where she lived. She was a free peasant.
On March 3, 1941 she was arrested in a group church case and sent to
Chistopol prison. On September 8 she was sentenced to eight years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Vladimir Stepanovich Lubyshev was born in 1906 in Yutazin uyezd, and

lived in the village of Karakashly, working as an assistant mechanic in the
Yutazin section of “Zagotzern”. On October 16, 1944 he was arrested for being
“a participant in a sectarian group of churchmen”, and on December 21 was
sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

Stepanida Ustinovna Fedyanina was born in 1891 in Krym-Saray, Bablino

uyezd, Chistopol province, where she lived, working in a collective farm. On
October 5, 1944 she was arrested for being “a participant in a sectarian group
of churchmen”, and on December 21 was sentenced to five years in the camps
and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Thecla Yakovlevna Yakovleva was born in 1876 in Kanash uyezd, and

lived in Kazan. On October 10, 1946 she was arrested for being “a participant
in an anti-Soviet religious group”, and on March 25, 1947 was sentenced to six
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Valentina Makarovna Semyonova was born in 1926 in Petrograd into a

workers’ family, and finished seven classes at secondary school. During the
war she was on occupied territory in Pskov province. From 1944 she was
living in Sverdlov near Kazan and worked in a nursery. On July 11, 1947 she
was arrested and accused that: “she took an active part in the anti-Soviet
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church, went to illegal
meetings, at which she spoke out with anti-Soviet ideas, and praised the
German-Fascist order and its order”. She was sentenced to seven years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Anna Vasilyevna Kuznetsova was born in 1927 in the village of Azino,

Stolbischensk region into a peasant family, and she finished three classes in an
elementary school. She was a collective farmer. In 1945 she and her mother

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left the collective farm. From 1946 she offered her flat for illegal prayer
meetings, and concealed the illegal Stepanova in it. She was a messenger
between the Kazan group and the illegal priest Alexis Kornilov in Chuvashia.
On May 1, 1947 she was arrested and accused of “taking an active part in the
anti-Soviet organization of churchmen, the True Orthodox Church. She went
to illegal meetings at which she spoke out with anti-Soviet ideas.” On August
1 she was sentenced to seven years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about her.

Tatyana Ivanovna Gordeyeva was born in 1901 in the village of

Borisoglebskoye, Yudin uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In 1930 her property was confiscated because of non-
payment of taxed. In 1932 she was arrested for a speech against the collective
farm, but ran away from her guard. She then lived without fixed domicile or
occupation, leading a group of True Orthodox Christians in the village of
Novo-Karavayevo, near Kazan. In May, 1947 she was arrested, and accused
that: “being hostile to the state structure in the USSR, for a series of years she
conducted insurgent activity against the Communist Party and the Soviet
State”. She was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps and sent to
Vorkutlag, where she died at the end of the 1940s.

Michael Grigoryevich Gerasev was born in 1913 in the village of

Kerzhimany, Atashev region, Tataria into a peasant family, and finished five
classes at secondary school. He lived in Kazan, and worked as a master in a
factory. True Orthodox Christians used to gather in his flat. In 1947 he was
arrested, and was accused that: “being a participant in an anti-Soviet
organization of churchmen, the True Orthodox Church, he presented his flat
for illegal meetings, spread anti-Soviet inventions, praised the education of
youth in the schools of tsarist Russia and slandered the education of youth in
the Soviet Union”. He was sentenced to six years in the camps. Nothing more
is known about him.

Anna Osipovna Zubareva was born in 1891 in the village of

Starosheshminsk, Nizhnekamsky uyezd, and was a free peasant. On July 28,
1949 she was arrested for being “a participant in a group of participants in the
church underground, the True Orthodox Church”, and on October 8 was
sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about her.

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Antonina Petrovna Semyakina was born in 1915 in the village of

Starosheshminsk, Nizhnekamsky uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant.
On July 30, 1949 she was arrested for being “a participant in a group of
participants in the church underground, the True Orthodox Church”, and on
October 8 was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Tatyana Vasilyevna Tolkacheva was born in 1904 in the village of

Starosheshminsk, Nizhnekamsk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. On
July 28, 1949 she was arrested for being “a participant in a group of
participants in the church underground of the True Orthodox Church”, and
on October 8 was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Eudocia Artemyevna Averyanova was born in 1928 in the village of

Krasnovidovo, Novosheshminsk uyezd, where she lived. She was a free
peasant. On August 2, 1949 she was arrested for being “a participant in a
group of participants in the church underground of the True Orthodox
Church”. On October 8 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent
to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Theodosia Stepanovna Gorbunova was born in 1928 in the village of

Krasnovidovo, Novosheshminsk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. On
August 2, 1949 she was arrested for being “a participant in a group of
participants in the church underground of the True Orthodox Church”. On
October 8 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Ivanovna Paderina was born in 1924 in the village of

Starosheshminsk, Nizhnekamsk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. On
July 28, 1949 she was arrested for being “a participant in a group of
participants in the church underground of the True Orthodox Church”. On
October 8 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Natalya Porfiryevna Matyushina was born in 1891 in the village of

Starosheshminsk, Nizhnekamsk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. On
July 28, 1949 she was arrested for being “a participant in a group of
participants in the church underground of the True Orthodox Church”. On
October 8 she was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Irina Alexeyevna Sukhova was born in 1897 in the village of Perkhurovo,

Kasimov uyezd, Vladimir province, where she lived as a free peasant. For

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many years she hid her husband, Timothy Bobrov, under her house. On June
23, 1949 she was arrested in a group case of “the anti-Soviet underground of
churchpeople”, and was sent for further investigation to the inner prison. She
was accused that: “being hostile to the political system existing in the USSR,
for many years she has been an active participant in the anti-Soviet
underground of churchpeople”. On February 13, 1950 she was sentenced to
eight years in the camps, and was sent to Osoblag no. 4 (Dzhezkazgan camp).

Maria Grigoryevna Trostina was born in 1904 in the village Aksenovo,

Kurlovsky uyezd, Vladimir province into a peasant family. A free peasant,
she was married to Basil and had two children. In 1941 her husband
disappeared at the front. She took part in secret services. On June 18, 1949 she
was arrested in the group case of “the anti-Soviet underground of
churchpeople”, and was sent for further investigation to the inner prison. On
October 19 she was accused that: “being a participant in the anti-Soviet
underground, she carried out anti-Soviet agitation in her surroundings,
slandered Soviet reality and spread provocative inventions about the speedy
fall of Soviet power”. On February 13, 1950 she was sentenced to five years in
the camps and sent to Osoblag no. 4 (Dzhezkazgansk camp). Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Anna (Danilovna Butina) was born in 1900 in Novosheshminsk

uyezd, and lived in the village of Shegurcha, Almetyevsk region. On July 30,
1950 she was arrested for being “a participant in illegal meetings”, and on
December 15 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. On
October 14 her sentence was reduced to five years.

Euphrosyne Grigoryevna Mazurkina-Romanova was born in 1909 in the

village of Kuzaikino, Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family. A free
peasant, from 1945 she was a participant in illegal prayer meetings. On
October 25, 1949 she was arrested for being “a participant in illegal meetings
of churchpeople”, and on March 22, 1950 was sentenced to ten years in the
camps. She was sent to Ozerlag, where on November 8, 1951 she died in the
prison hospital.

Monk Ivan (Mikhailovich Gorelov) was born in 1886 in the village of

Barovka, Sergievsky region, Samara province into a peasant family. He was a
fuller. He lived in the village of Stary Bagryazhe-Yelkhovo, Almetyevsk
region, Tataria. On August 21, 1951 he was arrested, and on October 24 was
convicted of “participation in the anti-Soviet grouping, ‘The True Orthodox

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Church’”. In accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11, he was sentenced
to ten years in prison with confiscation of property. On July 17, 1954 this
sentence was commuted to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known
about him.

Monk Michael (Dmitrievich Yefremov) was born in 1931 in the village of

Kulmaksa, Nizhnekamsk region, Tataria. On July 20, 1951 he was arrested in
his native village, and on October 24 was convicted of being “a participant in
the grouping, ‘The True Orthodox Church’”. In accordance with articles 58-10
part 2 and 58-11, he was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison with
confiscation of property. On July 17, 1954 this sentence was commuted to ten
years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Darya (Prokhorovna Agafontseva). She was born in 1893 in the

village of Nizhnyaya Sikovinka, Tataurovsky uyezd, Vyatka province into a
peasant family. In 1924 she joined the Kutuzovsky monastery. In 1929 the
monastery was closed. In 1930 she was arrested “for violation of currency
operations”, and was sentenced to three years in the camps. In 1930 (?) she
was released from camp and returned to the village of Staroye Mokshino. In
1941 she was again arrested and sentenced to five years’ exile, and was sent to
Krasnoyarsk district. In 1946 she was released and returned to Staroye
Mokshino. She became a wandering nun. Sometimes she lived in Chistopol,
where she organized illegal services. On July 26, 1951 she was arrested for
being “a participant in an anti-Soviet organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on October 23-24, at a closed session, she was sentenced to
twenty-five years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five years.
Nothing more is known about her.

Ivan Mikhailovich Gorelov was born in 1886 in the village of Borovka,

Sergievo uyezd, Samara province into a peasant family, and lived in the
village of Yelokhovka, Pervomaisk region. He was a free peasant and
craftsman. In 1930 he was arrested “for anti-Soviet activity”, and sentenced to
three years in the camps. In 1946, after his release from camp, he returned to
Yelokhovka, concealed illegal True Orthodox Christians in his house and
presented his house for illegal services. On August 18, 1951 he was arrested
for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on October 23-24, at a closed session, was sentenced to ten years
in the camps with disenfranchisement for five years and confiscation of
property. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Dmitrievich Efremov was born in 1931 in the village of Kulmax,

Novo-Sheshminsk region into a peasant family. He was a free peasant. In
March, 1951 he refused call-up into the army and went underground, hiding
in Chistopol. In June he conducted prayers in the houses of believers,
attracting young people to them. On July 20 he was arrested and accused of
being “a participant in an anti-Soviet organization, the True Orthodox

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Church”, and on October 23-24, at a closed session, was sentenced to twenty-

five years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five years. Nothing more
is known about him.

Anna Alexeyevna Potapova was born in 1914 in the village of Nikolskoye,

Aksubayevo uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. A free peasant, she took part in illegal services. In 1948 she left the
collective farm. She was arrested for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet
group, the True Orthodox Church”, and on December 14, 1950 was sentenced
to ten years in the camps. She was sent to Ozerlag, and on January 27, 1954 –
to Angarlag. On November 2, 1955 she was released. Nothing more is known
about her.

Alexandra Denisovna Okuneva was born in 1919 in the village of

Nikolskoye, Aksubayevo uyezd into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In December, 1947 she returned to her homseland. She
was a free peasant, and took part in illegal services. She was arrested for
being “a participant in an anti-Soviet group, the True Orthodox Church”, and
on December 14, 1950 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. She was sent
to Karlag. On October 10, 1955 she was released and exiled to Shugurovo,
Leninogordsk region. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Euphrosyne (Ivanovna Komarova) was born in 1904 in the village of

Leontyevo, Tumanovo uyezd, Smolensk province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. She lived in Kazan, working in a factory. In
1946 she joined a group of True Orthodox Christians in Kazan, becoming its
leader in May, 1947. In 1947 she was condemned in accordance with an ukaz
dated June 26, 1940. On July 2, 1948 she was arrested in a group church case,
and was accused that: “on the soil of her anti-Soviet convictions she joined an
an anti-Soviet oranization of churchmen of the True Orthodox Church, and
took an active part in its activity. She worked over the young people in an
anti-Soviet spirit and drew two of her sons into the organization. She
systematically presented her flat for the carrying out of illegal meetings of the
organization of the True Orthodox Church and hid in it those of its
participants who were living illegally in Kazan.” On September 11-13 she was
sentenced to ten years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five years,
and was sent to Peschany camp in Karaganda. On November 25, 1954 she was
released from camp. She was tonsured by Fr. Ignatius Sklyarov in Uglyanets,
near Voronezh. She moved to Kurdzhinov in the Northern Caucasus, where
she looked after Matushka Afanasia. After her death she moved to Uglyanets,
where she looked after Matushka Barbara. Nothing more is known about her.

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Paul Dmitrievich Prokhorov was born in 1887 in the village of Salmachi,

Pestrechin uyezd, and lived in Kazan, working as a workers’ team leader to
clean up the city. On September 25, 1948 he was arrested for being “a
participant in an anti-Soviet religious group”, and on March 25, 1947 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to Dubravlag. On February 27,
1954 he was released. Nothing more is known about him.

Maria Prokopyevna Borisova was born in 1924 in the village of Kamskiye

Polyany, Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and went to seven
classes of an intermediate school. In 1939 she was working as a clearn in the
Krasno-Kamsky paper combinat. In 1940 she was made redundant and
returned to her native village and for two years was cared for by her parents
because of illness. At the end of 1942 she went to study on course for
combiners, which she finished six months later. She worked as a cleaner at a
mill in her native village, but was made redundant after six months. In 1947
she left home and became a wanderer, without fixed domicile or occupation.
On November 18, 1948 she was arrested in a group case of the True Orthodox
Christians, and was sent for further investigation to Kazan prison. On
February 8, 1949, at a closed session, she was sentenced to twenty years in the
camps with disenfranchisement for five years. On September 21, 1950 she was
taken under convoy to Ivedellag (Ivdel, Sverdlovsk province), but was later
transferred to a camp in Astrakhan. On November 17, 1954 her punishment
was reduced to seven years. On March 24, 1955 she was released from camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Olga Yemelyanovna Vasyunina was born in 1899 in the village of

Kudashevo, Pestrechinsky uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family. She was
illiterate, without fixed occupation or domicile. In 1946 she joined a group of
True Orthodox Christians in Kazan. On July 1, 1948 she was arrested in
connection with a group case of churchmen, and was accused that: “in 1946
she joined an anti-Soviet organization of churchmen of the True Orthodox
Church, destroyed her personal documents and went underground. She took
part in illegal meetings. She went round the villages carrying out anti-Soviet
agitation among the population and resisting the enterprises of the Soviet
state.” On September 11-13, 1948 she was sentenced to seven years in the
camps with disenfranchisement for three years. On April 11, 1949 she was
sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five
years. She was sent to Dubrovlag. On November 24, 1954 she was released.
Nothing more is known about her.

Martha Demyanovna Kuznetsova was born in 1916 in the village of

Khlebodarovka, Syzran province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. She lived in Kazan, working in a factory. In 1946 she
joined a group of True Orthodox Christians, and on July 12, 1948 was arrested
in a group church case and accused that: “being hostile to Soviet power, she
entered an anti-Soviet organization, the True Orthodox Church, in whose

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activity she took part, drawing young people into it”. On September 11-13,
1948 she was sentenced to six years in the camps with disenfranchisement for
three years, and was sent to Temlag (Yavas, Zubovo-Polyansky region). On
April 11, 1949 she was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps with
disenfranchisement for five years. On November 24, 1954 she was released
from camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Semyonovna Torgasheva was born in 1900 in the village of Pichuga,

Dubovsky uyezd, Tsaritsyn province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. She married Theodore Vasilyevich Torgashev, an office in
the White army, who emigrated at the end of the Civil War. In 1929 the family
was dekulakized, after which they lived in Stalingrad, and from 1936 – in Kazan,
where she was a housewife. On July 29, 1948 she was arrested in a group church
case, and was sentenced to ten years in the camps. On September 11-13, 1948 she
was sentenced to ten years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five years,
and was sent to a camp. On December 12, 1949 she was sentenced to ten years in
the camps with disenfranchisement for five years. On July 15, 1950 she was sent
to Minlag, where she never worked because of her religious convictions. In July,
1953 she was subjected to administrative search for “organizing mass chanting of
a religious character”. On October 28, 1954 her term was lowered to five years.
On December 12, 1955 she was released early and went to Tiraspol, under the
care of relatives and the surveillance of the MVd. Nothing more is known about
her.

Stepanida Artemyevna Melnikova was born in 1904 in Kholm, Velikoluga

province into a worker’s family, and received an elementary education. She
was without fixed occupation or domicile. On July 2, 1948 she was arrested in
a group church case and accused that: “being hostile to Soviet power, she
entered the anti-Soviet organization of the True Orthodox Church, and took
an active part in its activity. She systematically presented her flat for illegal
meetings of the organization of the True Orthodox Church and hid in it those
of its supporters who were in an illegal position.” On September 11-13, 1948
she was sentenced to ten years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five
years, and was sent to Minlag (Inta, Komi ASSR). On November 23, 1954 was
released. Nothing more is known about her.

Agatha Stepanovna Pavlova was born in 1892 in the village of Shegura,

Almetyevsk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. On July 30, 1950 she
was arrested for being “a participant in illegal meetings”, and on December
15 was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps and sent to a camp. On
October 14, 1954 her sentence was reduced to eight years, and on December
14, 1955 she was released. Nothing more is known about her.

Nadezhda Ivanovna Pavlova was born in 1826 (?) in the village of

Shegura, Almetyevsk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. On July 30,
1950 she was arrested for being “a participant in illegal meetings”, and on

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December 15 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. On
September 16, 1952 a camp court sentenced her to a further ten years. On
October 15, 1954 her sentence was reduced to five years and she was released.
Nothing more is known about her.

Anysia Ippolitovna Mazankina (Kornilova) was born in 1892 in the

village of Barsky Batras, Yamashi uyezd into a peasant family. From 1930 she
was living in Samaria. In 1931, after the death of her husband, she lived with
her sister Pelagia Melnikova in Kholodny klyuch, and from 1940 – in the
village of Dalnyaya Polyana, Sheremetyevo region. On September 7, 1950 she
was arrested for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet group of supporters of
the True Orthodox Church”, and on December 15 was sentenced to ten years
in the camps and sent to Taishetlag. On September 25, 1954 her sentence was
reduced to five years, and on October 15 she was released. She returned to
Yamashi, to the community of the True Orthodox, and went to illegal prayer
meetings under the leadership of Rusakov.

Eudocia Petrovna Meleshina was born in the village of Gorodische,

Sheremetyevo region, into a peasant family. In 1950 she was condemned. In
1954 she returned from prison and joined a community of the True Orthodox
Christians. Nothing more is known about her.

Quadratus Pavlovich Sidorov was born in 1885 in the village of Kaimary,

Vysokogorsk uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In 1921 he left the Communist Party because of
“disagreement with the politics of the party”. In 1931 he was arrested and
accused of “anti-Soviet agitation” and condemned. After his release he lived
in the village of Kulseitovo, Yudin region, where he organized illegal prayer
meetings in houses. In 1947 he was arrested and accused that: “he took an
active part in the anti-Soviet organization of churchmen of the True Orthodox
Church. He went to illegal meetings at which he spoke out with anti-Soviet
inventions.” He was sentenced to eight years in the camps. On January 13,
1955 he was released from camp and his case shelved. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nicholas Alexandrovich Agafonov was born in 1922 in Kazan into a

workers’ family, and finished seven classes at secondary school. He was
without fixed occupation or domicile. In 1947 he was arrested as one of the
organizers of an anti-Soviet group of the True Orthodox Church in Kazan,
and was accused that: “carrying out the role of propagandist-recruiting agent,
he led illegal meetings, carried out anti-Soviet agitation and recruited new
people from the inconstant part of the workers and the student youth”. He

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was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps. On January 13, 1955 he was
released from camp and his case was shelved. Nothing more is known about
him.

Stepan Stepanovich Stepanov was born in 1926 in the village of

Chelkassy, Cheboksary region, Chuvashia into a peasant family, and finished
three classes at primary school. In February, 1945 he went to Cheboksary, and
then, in February, 1946, to the village of Azino, Stolbischensk region, before
departing in the summer to Kazan on the instructions of an illegal priest from
Chuvashia. He was without fixed occupation or domicile. In 1947 he was
arrested, and accused that: “he took an active part in anti-Soviet activity,
recruiting new people, and was a messenger between the Kazan group and
the illegal Priest Alexis Kornilov in Chuvashia”. He was sentenced to eight
years in the camps. On January 13, 1955 he was released and his case quashed.
Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Stepanovich Denisov was born in 1905 in the village of Don-

Izbische, Lebedyan uyezd, Ryazan province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. Before the war he was arrested and
sentenced in accordance with articles 58-20 and 58-11. He was sent for
compulsory treatment to a psychiatric hospital in Kazan. After being released
he remained to live in the hospital. At the beginning of 1946 he headed a
group of True Orthodox Christians in the city and province. In May, 1947 he
was arrested for being “a leader of the anti-Soviet organization of churchmen,
the True Orthodox Church”, and was accused that: “on the basis of his hostile
attitude to Soviet power over a series of years he has conducted anti-Soviet
work directed against the Communist Party and the Soviet government. He
has occupied himself with the recruitment of new people.” He was sentenced
to twenty-five years in the camps. On January 13, 1955 his sentence was
reduced to ten years.

Gregory Sergeyevich Denisov was born in 1928 in the village of Don-

Izbische, Lebedyan uyezd, Ryazan province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. Before the war he was arrested “for
participation in the anti-Soviet organization, ‘Brothers in Christ’”. He was
without fixed domicile or occupation. In 1943 he joined a group of churchmen
led by his father, Sergius Denisov. In January, 1947 he visited an illegal priest
in the village of Tarkhan-Kasy, Kozlov region, Chuvashia. He was arrested,
and on July 5, 1947 was accused that: “he took an active part in the activity of
the anti-Soviet organization of churchmen, the True Orthodox Church,
carrying out the role of propagandist-agitator and distributing letters from his
father who was imprisoned in a camp.” He was sentenced to eight years in the
camps and was sent to Glazovlag. In 1948 he was transferred to Vorkutlag,
from where he was released on January 13, 1955 and his case shelved. He
lived in Mari ASSR. In the 1990s he moved to his daughter in Minvody.
Nothing more is known about him.

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Alexandra Fyodorovna Samarina was born in 1925 in the village of Kuzmino-

Otvertka, Lipets region, Voronezh province into a peasant family, and received
an elementary education. In 1943 she was detained in Lipetsk on suspicion of
“anti-Soviet agitation”. She was without fixed occupation or domicile, and had
no documents. At the beginning of February, 1947 she went to Kazan with a
letter from the prisoner Sergius Denisov, with which she got to know a group of
church-people. On April 8, 1947 she was arrested and accused that: “on the
instructions of the Voronezh organization of the True Orthodox Church she
conducted active anti-Soviet activity and organized illegal meetings at which she
spoke out with anti-Soviet inventions.” She was sentenced to ten years in the
camps and sent to Glazovlag (Glazov, Udmurtia ASSR). In 1948 she was
transferred to Dubravlag. She was released, and her case shelved, on January 13,
1955. Nothing more is known about her.

Vera Fyodorovna Torgasheva was born in 1928 in the village of Pichugi,

Dubovsky region, Stalingrad province into a peasant family. She went to
medical school specializing in midwifery. She lived in Kazan and studied at a
medical institute. In 1946 she abandoned her study in the institute and went
to work as an orderly and midwife in a clinic. In January, 1947 she was
arrested in Kazan and accused that: “she took an active part in practical anti-
Soviet activity of the organization of churchmen, the True Orthodox Church,
going to illegal meetings at which she often spoke out with anti-Soviet
inventions. She kept and distributed anti-Soviet literature, and took an active
part in the collection of alms in the population for aid to prisoners.” She was
sentenced to seven years in the camps. She was sent to Glazovlag, and in 1948
– to Dubravlag, when she was released and her case shelved on January 13,
1955. Nothing more is known about her.

Catherine Pavlovna Terentyeva was born in 1892 in the village of

Kaimary, Vysokogrosk uyezd, Tataria into a peasant family. She lived in
Kazan without working. In 1947 she was arrested and accused that: “she
systematically offered her flat for illegal meetings of participants in the
organization, working over its daughters in an anti-Soviet spirit, inclining
them to refuse to work and drawing them into the anti-Soviet organization”.
She was sentenced to eight years in the camps. On January 13, 1955 she was
released from camp and her case quashed. Nothing more is known about her.

Irina Yefimovna Yakovleva was born in 1911 in the village of Vozzhi,

Kuibyshev region into a peasant family, and went to three classes of
elementary school. She was without fixed occupation or domicle, and
destroyed her documents. In January, 1947 she visited an illegal priest in the
village of Takhan-Kasy, Kozlov region in Chuvashia. In 1947 she was arrested
and accused that: “On the basis of her religious convictions and her hostile
attitude to Soviet power, she became an active participant in an anti-Soviet
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church, systematically took

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part in illegal meetings and carried out collections of food for people
condemned for anti-Soviet activity”. She was sentenced to eight years in the
camps. On January 13, 1955 she was released from camp and her case
quashed. Nothing more is known about her.

Anna Emelyanova Zykova was born in 1905 in Starosheshminsk,

Nizhnekamsk uyezd, where she lived. In the 1950s she was without fixed
occupation. In her house there were illegal services. On August 22, 1950 she
was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on December 11
she was sentenced to ten years in the camps with confiscation of property and
sent to a camp. In 1955 she was released. Nothing more is known about her.

Aksinya Filippovna Shvedova-Sycheva was born in 1894 in

Starosheshminsk, where she lived as a free peasant. There were illegal prayer
meetings in her house. On March 17, 1950 she was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary religio-monarchist organization, the
True Orthodox Church”, and on June 21 was sentenced to ten years in the
camps with confiscation of property and disenfranchisement for five years.
On September 30, 1955 her sentence was reduced to five years and she was
released. Nothing more is known about her.

Barbara Yakovlevna Kuznetsova was born in 1886 in the village of

Starosheshminsk, Nizhnekamsk district into a peasant family. In 1930 her
family was dekulakized. She went to work as a dress-maker at home. On
March 17, 1950 she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary church-monarchist group. She took part in illegal meetings and
services.” On June 21 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps with
confiscation of property. On September 30, 1955 her sentence was reduced to
five years, and she was released from camp. Nothing more is known about
her.

Eulampius Victorovich Shilov was born in 1921 in the village of Maly

Batras, Yamashi region into a peasant family, and finished four classes at
intermediate school. He was a free peasant. From the beginning of the war he
went into hiding from the call-up into a forest near the village of Kuzaikino.
In 1944 he was arrested and sent to the front. In 1947 he went into an illegal
position and again went into hiding in the forest near Kuzaikino, and then in
the Bagryazh forest in Yamashi region. On the night of October 23, 1949 he
was arrested in Bagryazh-Nikolskoye for being “a participant in an illegal
underground of churchmen”, and on December 20 was sent to Kazan special
hospital on the grounds of mental illness. He was accused that: “being hostile

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to Soviet power, he entered the anti-Soviet organization of the True Orthodox

Church, and took an active part in illegal meetings at which he conducted
anti-Soviet agitation”. On February 16, 1950 he was sentenced to ten years in
the camps and sent to a camp. On May 23, 1956 he was released. Nothing
more is known about him.

Anna Alexeyevna Yefimova was born in 1924 in the village of Karaduli,

Stolbischensk region, Tataria into a worker’s family, and finished seven
classes at intermediate school. She lived in Kazan and worked in a factory. In
February, 1947 she abandoned her work and went into an illegal position. In
the same year she was arrested and accused that: “she took part in illegal
meetings at which she conducted anti-Soviet agitation. She kept and
distributed anti-Soviet verses.” She was sentenced to seven years in the camps
and was sent to Glazovlag. In 1948 she was transferred to Vorkutlag, and later
to the in Abez, from where she was released in 1956. Nothing more is known
about her.

Valentina Yegorovna Samsonova (Klimova) was born in 1931 in the

village of Sukhorechka, Klaylin region, Samara province into a peasant
family, and finished five classes in an intermediate school. She lived in
Leninogorsk, working as a plasterer, later as a signalwoman. On November 5,
1958 she was arrested in the group case of “the participants in the anti-Soviet
underground of the True Orthodox Church” and sent to the Kazan prison for
church people. She was accused that: “as a participant in the anti-Soviet
underground of the True Orthodox Church in Leninogorsk she worked over
and drew in new people into the supporters of the True Orthodox Church,
conducted anti-Soviet agitation and distributed letters of anti-Soviet content”.
On January 30, 1959 she was sentenced to three years in the camps, but on
February 19 this sentence was commuted to three years’ exile. Nothing more
is known about her.

Anna Yefimovna Lobasheva was born in 1903 in the village of Timoshkino

station, Aksubayevo uyezd, and received an elementary education. A free
peasant, she lived in the village of Nikolskoye and took part in illegal
services. She was arrested for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet group of
the True Orthodox Church”, and on December 14, 1950 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. She was sent to Steplag (Dzhezkazgan), and on April 7,
1955 was transferred to Peschanlag.

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Anthusa Artemyevna Averyanova was born in 1926, and in 1943 joined a

community of the True Orthodox Christians. In 1947 she abandoned her work
and together with her sister began to wander round the country, taking part
in illegal prayer meetings. In 1950 she was arrested and sentenced to ten years
in the camps. On November 23, 1955 she was released early and returned to
Tataria. She worked for hire. Nothing more is known about her.

Anatolius Vasilyevich Komarov was born in 1929 in the village of

Timoshino, Novodugino region, Smolensk province into a worker’s family.
He finished seven years at intermediate school. He was without fixed
occupation or domicile, and destroyed his documents. In 1947 he was arrested
and accused that: “in 1946 he entered the anti-Soviet organization of
churchmen, the True Orthodox Church, in whose activity he took an active
part. He systematically visited illegal meetings at which he occupied himself
in anti-Soviet propaganda.” He was sentenced to seven years in the camps,
and was sent to Glazovlag. In 1948 he was transferred to Vorkutlag, from
where he was released in 1956. Nothing more is known about him.

Catherine Ivanovna Bogolepova was born in 1924 in the village of

Barkhatovo, Cheremukhovsky region, Irkutsk province, and finished six
classes in school. In 1943 she was arrested and imprisoned, but released after
four months. In 1945 she was again arrested and sentenced to ten years in the
camps and sent to a camp. On March 2, 1955 she was released from camp and
went to Tataria, where she lived without fixed occupation or domicile. On
August 29, 1958 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet
underground of churchmen, supporters of the True Orthodox Church ‘of
Tikhonite orientation’”. On November 20, 1959 she was sentenced to ten years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Paul Kirillovich Lazarev was born in 1921 in the village of Bolshiye Aty,
Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family. He finished four classes at a
village school, and was a free peasant. In August, 1942 he was called, and in
October he was wounded. Until February, 1943 he was in hospital in Tambov,
then was again sent to the front, where he fell into captivity in August. In
May, 1945 he was freed by the Americans, and in June was sent to work in the
mines in Krivoy Rog. In August, 1946 he was made redundant and returned
to his homeland. On September 5, 1948 he and his sisters were exiled for eight
years to Prishkovaya, near Krasnovishera, Molotov province. He fled from
exile, but on April 8, 1949 was arrested and sentenced to eight years in the

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camps. In 1953, after his release on amnesty, he returned to his homeland. On

March 7, 1960 he was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet
underground of churchment, the supporters of the True Orthodox Church”,
and on May 25-26 was sentenced to six years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Paul Mikhailovich Umnov was born in 1927 in the village of Bolshiye Aty,
Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and went to four classes of the
village school. He was a carpenter. In 1943 he was sentenced to one year in
the camps. After his release he returned to his native village, but on March 7,
1960 he was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet underground
of churchmen, supporters of the True Orthodox Church”. On May 25-26 he
was sentenced to six years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Anton Romanovich Tuzeyev was born in 1910 in the village of Bolshiye

Aty, Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and went to four classes of
the village school. He was a carpenter. In 1939 he was sentenced to four years
in the camps and sent to a camp. After his release he returned to his native
village. In 1943 he was called up, and in 1945 was demobilized. On March 7,
1960 he was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet underground
of churchmen, supporters of the True Orthodox Church”. On May 25-26 he
was sentenced to seven years in the camps, three of them in prison. Nothing
more is known about him.

Nicholas Ivanovich Portnov was born in 1914 in the village of Chertyla,

Shentalin uyezd, Samara province into a peasant family, and went to four
classes of the village school. He lived in Leninogorsk. During the war he was
called up into the army and served in the Far Eastern region. In 1945 he was
demobilized. He went back to live in Leninogorsk. There were four children
in the family. On November 5, 1958 he was arrested in a group case “of
participants in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church”,
and was sent to Kazan prison. On December 30, 1958 he was accused that: “as
a participant in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church in
Leninogorsk he took upon himself the leadership of a group, conducted illegal
meetings, brought up believers not to recognize Soviet power and not to obey
its laws, and recruited new people into the supporters of the True Orthodox
Church”. On January 30, 1959 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps with
the first three years in prison and with confiscation of property. On February
19, 1959 his sentence was reduced to five years. Nothing more is known about
him.

Julitta Mikhailovna Eskina (Ignatyeva) was born in the village of

Spiridonovka, Shugurovsk uyezd into a peasant family, and finished three
classes at village school. From 1953 she was living in Leninogorsk. She
gathered believers in her house and read religious books. On November 8,
1958 she was arrested in connection with the group case of “the participants

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in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church” and was sent to
Kazan prison. She was accused that: “being a supporter of the anti-Soviet
underground of the True Orthodox Church, she took part in illegal meetings
at which she expressed anti-Soviet slanderous inventions and occupied
herself in active propaganda of the idea of the True Orthodox Church of
Tikhonite orientation, calling for active disobedience to the laws of Soviet
power”. On January 30, 1959 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps with
the first three years in prison and confiscation of property. On February 19 the
sentence was reduced to five years. Nothing more is known about her.

Monk Basil (Ivanovich Zhukov) was born in 1904 in the village of Staroye
Mokshino, Aksubayevo region, Tataria. On July 21, 1951 he was arrested, and
on October 24 was convicted of being “a participant in the grouping, ‘The
True Orthodox Church’”. In accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11,
he was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps with confiscation of his
property. On July 17, 1954 his sentence was commuted to ten years. On June
1, 1956 he was released because he was an invalid. On November 6, 1958 he
was arrested again in Tataria, and on January 30, 1959 was convicted of
“religious agitation”. In accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11, he
was sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment. On February 19, 1959 his
sentence was commuted to ten years. He was released on January 6, 1968.
Nothing more is known about him.

(Sources: A. Zhuravsky, Zhizneopisaniya Novykh Muchenikov Kazanskikh

god 1918, Moscow, 1996; Novye Prepodobnomuchenki Raifskiye, publication
of the Kazan diocese, Moscow, 1997; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Novye
Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville, 1957, part 2, pp. 180-183; Pravoslavnaya
Rus', N 8 (1509), 15/28 April, 1994, pp. 6-7; Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', 49, No. 2
(566), February, 1997, p. 13; Holy Trinity Calendar for 1999; Za Khrista
Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, pp. 30, 54,
40, 98-99, 175, 188, 235, 299, 359, 515-516, 524; L.E. Sikorskaya,
Svyashchennomuchenik Dmitrij Arkhiepiskop Gdovskij, Moscow, 2008, p.
491; Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 8 (1509), 15/28 April, 1994, pp. 6-7;
http://www.omolenko.com/texts/katakomb.htm;
http://www.pstbi.ru/bin/code.exe/frames/m/ind_oem.html?/ans/;
http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/tatar.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/mary.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/tatar.html#n.280)

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29. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF PENZA,

TAMBOV, LIPETSK AND MORDOVIA PROVINCES

Sergius Dlugokansky came from a well-known family of landowners in

Kozlov, Tambov province. On their estate they often had evening meetings at
which secular and spiritual literature was read and they discussed religio-
philosophical questions. The Dlugokansky house was open not only for
nobility, but for all. One member of the family, Julia Ivanovna, went to Optina
and was a spiritual daughter of Elder Nectarius. Sergius Dlugokansky was a
student at one of the Moscow institutes of higher education. He was a
member of the Russian Christian Student Movement. In the summer of 1917
he came home with a Moscow friend of his to spend the holidays in Kozlov.
He decided to visit the village. His mother tried to dissuade him – since the
February revolution estates had been burned and people had been killed
without trial or investigation. “What are you frightened of?” replied Sergius,
“the peasants have always loved us so much.” He and his friend set off for the
estate. In the village they were captured by a savage band of “peasant
revolutionaries”. Sergius understood everything and only asked for one thing
– for time for him and his friend to pray a little before death. A few minutes
later the youths were stabbed with pitchforks and killed.

Protopriest Lvov was serving in the city of Elatma, Tambov province. On

March 3, 1918 he was shot with eight laymen of the city when it was seized by
the Red Army in order to frighten the local population.

Priest Vladimir Ivanovich Daroshevsky was born in the village of

Znamenskoye, Ardatov region, Mordovia, where he also served. On
September 1, 1918 he was sentenced to death, and was shot.

Priest Demetrius Petropavlovsky was serving in Tambov province. In

November, 1918 he was shot by a punitive detachment of Red Army soldiers.

Priests Alexander Dmitrievsky and Alexis Dobrokhotov were serving in

the village of Bondari, Tambov province. They were shot at 4 a.m. on
November 3, 1918 by a punitive unit together with all the lower clergy,
including Michael and John (surnames unknown), 24 martyrs in all, and
were buried in the village cemetery in a common grave.

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Protopriest Theodore Malitsky and Priest Arsenius Milovidov were

serving in the church of St. John the Theologian in the village of Rasskazovo,
Tambov uyezd, Tambov province. When armed soldiers of the Red Army
tried to take away the metrical books from the church on May 22, 1918, the
parishioners entered into battle with them, two soldiers were killed and the
priests were arrested. The next day they were released. But on June 5 Fr.
Theodore was arrested again and cast into prison in Tambov. His
imprisonment ended on June 16. Fr. Arsenius was arrested on June 6 and
released on the same day. Nothing more is known about them.

Fr. Nicephorus Bogoyavlenksy, the father of Metropolitan Vladimir of

Kiev and superior of the church in the town of Malykh-Moroshky, Tambov
province, was killed by the Bolsheviks.

Priest Peter Ivanovich Kosmodemyansky was born on August 22, 1872

into the family of a priest, Fr. John, in Tambov province. One of his brothers,
Basil, was also a priest. He finished his studies at Tambov theological
seminary in 1894 and began to serve as a reader in the church of the village of
Bolshaya Lipovka, Morshansky uyezd, Tambov province. He also taught in
the church-parish school. Soon he married Lidia Fyodorovna Churikova, and
on February 6, 1900 was ordained as priest of the church in the village of
Krutets, where he became the head and teacher of the Law of God in the
church-parish school, and also president of the church-parish trust. In the
summer of 1906 he was transferred to the Znamenskaya church in the large
village of Osinoviye Gai in the neighbouring Kirsanovsky uyezd.

His first son, Anatoly, was born on October 24, 1900. Three more sons were
born: Alexis, Alexander and Theodore. In 1917 Anatoly and Alexis were
studying in Tambov theological seminary, and Alexander was continuing his
education in the church school.

In 1918 disturbances began among the peasants of Tambov province, and

in 1919 Kirsanovsky uyezd became the epicentre of a major peasant uprising
against Soviet power. Well-wishers advised Fr. Peter to flee, but he decided to
stay with his parish. There began a campaign for the “requisitioning of church
metrical books”, which all the priests in the uyezd resisted. On September 1,
1918 the military commissariat of the uyezd issued order no. 3627 on the
mobilization of horses for the Red Army. Special reception committees were
organized. The peasants were bringing in the harvest at the time, and, having

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gathered together, expressed dismay that the horses were being confiscated
when they were so necessary for bringing in the harvest. Fr. Peter stood up
before the peasants and spoke about the injustice of Soviet power. The
meeting was broken up with the aid of arms by communists and village
activists. An investigation was conducted. Fr. Peter was captured and,
according to a Cheka document dated November 25, 1918, after the uprising
had been suppressed, was sentenced to be shot together with another priest
called Panov for inciting the people to counter-revolutionary insurrection.
According to one version, his execution was also linked with his refusal to
hand over the metrical books of the parish, which contained the main
information about the parishioners and was kept in the church.

After being cruelly beaten, Fr. Peter was put on a cart and taken beyond
the bounds of the village. Throughout the night the semi-conscious priest
read prayers, while his tormentors were tormented by fears and visions. At
dawn the next day Fr. Peter was cast into Sosulinsky pond. There, not long
before Pentecost, a shepherd noticed something like light and singing by the
water (several kilometres from the village). Then they found the body of Fr.
Peter, which had a waxen colour and was completely incorrupt. Matushka
Lydia Feodorovna was frightened to take the body of her husband without
permission. Only when the village soviet gave permission did she and her
elder son Anatoly bury Fr. Peter beside the altar of the church on May 31,
1919, the Day of the Holy Spirit. A cross now stands on the grave.

Priest John Ostrovsky was shot by a punitive detachment of Red Army

soldiers in November, 1918 in the village of Bondari, Tambov province.

In 1918 Priests Alexander and Alexis, Deacon Basil, the church warden
Gregory and the laymen Antipas and John were killed in the village of
Bondari, Tambov province. They were buried in the village cemetery in a
common grave of 24 people killed by the persecutors of the faith.

Deacon Gregory Shemetov and Reader Demetrius Kornilov served in the

village of Perkino, Tambov province. On November 4, 1918 they were shot by
a unit of Red Army soldiers and buried in a common grave of 24 people who
had been killed by the Bolsheviks.

In 1918 the priest of the village of Olshanki, Tambov diocese, Fr. Nicholas
Kasatkin, was murdered. The criminals stole all the money that was in his

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hands and escaped. The priest's widow and his five young children were left
as orphans.

Archimandrite Nicholas (Orlov), rector of the Penza theological seminary,

was killed (no further details known).

Priest Basil Milyutin was serving in the village of Dmitrievka, Morshansk

uyezd, Tambov province. In October-November, 1918 he was shot by a
punitive detachment of Red Army soldiers “while suppressing peasant
disturbances”. He was buried in Tambov province.

Priest Ivan Ivanovich Pokhvalensky was born in 1859, and went to the
Tambov theological seminary. In 1879 he was appointed reader and teacher at
the church-parish school in the village of Uspenskoye, Kozlov uyezd, Tambov
province. In 1903 he was ordained to the priesthood and was appointed to the
Iverskaya church in the village of Naschekino, Kirsanov uyezd. He was
married to Ekaterina Petrovna (born 1882), and had no children. On
November 5, 1918 he was shot by the Bolsheviks.

Priest Nicholas Petrovich Varakin was born in 1891 in the village of

Chukaly, Ardatov region, Mordovia, where he also served. On March 26, 1919
he was condemned for “participation in a counter-revolutionary uprising”
and was sentenced to death. He was shot in 1919.

Priest Pancratius Anfirovich Miloslavsky was born in 1876 in Moscow.

He was arrested in 1919, and on October 28, 1919 was sentenced to be shot by
the Cheka of Tambov province. The order came directly from Trotsky.

The clergyman Michael Semyonovich Petrov was born in 1883 in the

village of B. Vyass, Penza province. On September 26, 1919 he was
condemned to death for “counter-revolutionary activity”, and was shot.

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Priest Nicholas Alexandrovich Protasov was serving in the prison church

in Kuznetsk, Penza province. In 1919 he was shot together with other priests
of the parishes of Kuznetsk.

Priest Alexander Evlampievich Lyubimov was the father-in-law of

Archbishop Augustine (Belyaev). He was serving in Penza diocese. During
the persecutions against the Church at the beginning of the 1920s he was
arrested and died in exile.

Priest Nicholas Nekrasov was serving in the village of Bolshie Izbischi,

Lebedyan region, Ryazan (now Lipetsk) province. In 1921 he was killed in his
own house.

Priest Vladimir Vladimirov was serving in Lebedyan, Ryazan (now

Lipetsk) province. In 1922 he was shot, supposedly for his links with the
Whites. He had been serving for less than a year, had been married for less
than a year, and after his death his daughter was born.

In 1922, 41 clergy of various ranks were killed in Tambov province in

connection with the requisitioning of church valuables.

The yedinverchesky Priest Yerokhin was put on trial together with S.A.
Nikitov, the warden of the church in the village of Lakhmytovka,
Kirsanovsky uyezd, Tambov province for “hiding church valuables”. As it
turned out, there was nothing to hide because the church was of the poorest.
So they were acquitted. Nothing more is known about him.

In Penza region there is a station which bears the name of Zametchina. Not
far away there used to be a monastery, of which only the foundations and
some stones remain. After the revolution forty monks were buried alive next
to the river. After a time forty small springs began to flow at the place of their
martyrdom. Their water is considered holy. At the end of June, on the day of
the commemoration of these forty martyrs, many people come to this spot to
venerate their memory. They say that on this day all forty springs burn with a
wonderful fire...

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Priest Paul Akimovich Kotelnikov was born in 1890 in the village of

Lenino in Lipetsk district, Lipetsk province. He was serving in the church of
the village of Mazeika (now in Dobrinsky district, Lipetsk province). On
August 10, 1928 he was condemned by the OGPU in accordance with article
58-10, and sentenced to three years exile in the Urals.

The clergyman Michael Ivanovich Konusov was born in 1887 in Penza

province. On October 2, 1929 he was sentenced in accordance with article 58-
10 to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Demetrius Nikolayevich Drozdov was born in 1890 in the village of

B. Khomutets, Dobrovsky region, Lipetsk province, where he also lived. In
1929 he was arrested, and on December 25 was sentenced in accordance with
article 58-10 part 2 to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about
him.

During his investigation, Hieromonk Seraphim (Borisov) said: “A series of

churches in the former Penza province joined the True Orthodox Church. I
heard about this from Deacon Fr. Alexander, I’ve forgotten his surname, he
arrived in Leningrad and served in the church of the Resurrection. Then he
went to Penza. In 1930 he was arrested...”

Priest Andrew Dmitrievich Zamyatin was born in 1867 in the village of

Krutoye, Lipetsk uyezd, and served in the village of Lebyazhye, Dobrovsky
region, Lipetsk province. On March 17, 1930 he was sentenced in accordance
with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Alexander Alexandrovich Kotelnikov was born in 1906 in the

village of Lenino, Lipetsk region, and served in the village of Bereznegovatka,
Dobrinsky region, Lipetsk province. In 1930 he was arrested, and on
September 26 he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in accordance
with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest Constantine Ivanovich Zolotnitsky was serving in the village of

Skachikha, Kirsanovsky uyezd, Tambov province. In July, 1929 he was
arrested for non-payment of taxes and expelled from his house with his
family. For some days they lived in the church courtyard. Then the authorities
offered him a flat. A little later the village soviet summoned him and detained
him for five hours. A crowd gather and demanded his release. They let him
go, but then arrested him again. He was condemned. Nothing more is known
about him.

The clergyman Michael Andreyevich Derzhavin was born in 1894 in the

village of Aksel, Temnikovsky region, Mordovia. On November 4, 1929 he
was sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with article 58-10.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Alexis Ivanovich Yezhikov was born in 1890 in the village
of Russkiye Naimany, Mordovia, and served in the village of Parakino,
Bolsheberezinkovsky region. On November 21, 1929 he was sentenced to five
years’ imprisonment in accordance with article 58-10. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Stepan Andreyevich Victorov was born in 1893 in Voronezh

province, the son of a medical assistant. In 1921 he married Raisa Dmitrievna
Maksutova, the daughter of a priest, Fr. Demetrius Ivanovich Maksutov. They
had two sons. He served in the village of Promzino, Tambov province. In
August, 1929 he was arrested and cast into the prison in the village of
Anayevo, Zubovopolyansky region, Mordovia. After the arrest of Fr. Stefan,
his family moved to the village of Podassy, where Raisa’s father served.
However, one frosty night in January, 1930, he, Raisa and the two children
were thrown out into the cold with only the clothes they were standing in. But
kind parishioners did not allow the family to perish from cold and hunger,
and hid Fr. Demetrius from the OGPU. Fr. Stepan, meanwhile was sentenced
to death and shot in the prison in Anayevo. In December, 1929, his father, not
bearing the loss of his son, also died.

The clergyman Michael Dmitrievich Voznesensky was born in 1889 in

the village of Drakino, Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia. On December 21, 1929

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he was convicted in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, and sentenced
to ten years in prison. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Alexander Pavlovich Kedrin was born in 1894 in the

village of Khomutovka, Penza province, and lived in his native village. On
December 21, 1929 he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Praskovya (Ivanovna Kovsheva) was born in 1879 in the city of

Biryuch, Voronezh province. She lived in Zadonsk, where, on December 26,
1929, she was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to five
years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Demetrius Matveyevich Kashmensky was born in 1866 in the

village of Kulikovo, Usmansky region, Lipetsk province, and served in the
same village. In 1929 he was arrested, and on December 24 he was sentenced
to three years’ exile to the north in accordance with article 58-10. Nothing
more is known about him.

The clergyman Nicholas Yegorovich Kutin was born in 1874 in the village
of Slaim, Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia, where he also served. On December
29, 1929 he was arrested and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexander Alexeyevich Kalashnikov was born in 1868 in Temnikov,

Mordovia. He was a church nightwatchman. In Temnikov, on January 3, 1930,
he was sentenced to three years in the camps in accordance with article 58-10.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Alexander Andreyevich Kaftayenkov was born in 1907 in

the village of Yavlashevo, Lyambirsky region, Mordovia, and served in his
native village. On January 16, 1930 he was sentenced in accordance with
article 58-10 part 2 to five years’ exile with forced labour. Nothing more is
known about him.

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Priest Nicholas Pavlovich Kamensky was born in 1883 in the village of

Trubetchino, Dobrovsky region, Lipetsk province, where he served and was
arrested. On March 17, 1930 he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-
10 and 58-11 to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Ivan Dmitrievich Kamnev was born in 1870 in the village
of Staraya Pichmorga (now in Nosakino), Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia.
There he was arrested, and on March 26, 1930 was sentenced in accordance
with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11 to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more
is known about him.

The clergyman Ivan Nikolayevich Dubrovsky was born in 1869 in the

village of Varzhelyai, Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia. On March 26, 1930 he
was convicted in accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11, and sentenced
to death. He was shot.

Nicholas Yegorovich Yevstakhov was born in 1861 in the village of

Temnikov, Mordovia. He was a former forester. On May 9, 1930 he was
arrested in Temnikova and sentenced to be shot in accordance with articles
58-10 and 58-11. The sentence was carried out.

The clergyman Sergius Dmitrievich Gorodetsky was born in 1872 in the

village of Tazino, Bolshebereznikovsky region, Mordovia, and lived in the
village of Neklyudovo, Dubensky region. On May 21, 1930 he was sentenced
in accordance with article 58-10 to seven years’ exile. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Eugene Vasilyevich Dobrotin was born in 1877 in the village of

Dmitriev Usad, Atyuryevsky region, Mordovia. On December 21, 1929 he was
sentenced to ten years in prison in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11.
Nothing more is known about him.

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Theodore Ivanovich Yermashov was born in the village of Salazgor,

Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia into a peasant family. He was a member of the
parish council in his native village. On December 21, 1929 he was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11 to five years’ exile in Siberia.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Yefimovich Yegorov was born in 1886 in the village of

Chetvertakovo (now Turgenevo), Ardatov region, Mordovia, where he also
served. On January 11, 1931 he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in
accordance with article 58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Neonilla (Petrovna Klyushenkova) was born in 1864 in the village of

Lunginsky Maidan, Ardatov region, Mordovia. On January 10, 1931 she was
sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to five years’ imprisonment.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Euphrosyne (Stepanovna Keksina) was born in 1864 in the village of

Tazneyevo, Atyashevsky region, Mordovia, where she continued to live. On
January 10, 1931 she was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 59-2
to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Monk Ivan (Apollinarievich Zharkikh) was born in 1876 in Voronezh

province and lived in the village of Papulevo, Ichalkovsky region, Mordovia.
On March 13, 1930 he was sentenced to five years’ exile in accordance with
article 58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

Deacon Sergius Fyodorovich Dobroserdov was born in 1889 in the village

of Gryaznovka, Lebedyan uyezd, Tambov province. In 1930 he was arrested,
and on March 29 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps in accordance
with article 58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

Deacon Gregory Denisovich Kapralov was born in 1896 in Fabritsy

khutor, Repyevsky region, Voronezh province, and served in the village of

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Bolshoy Khomutets, Dobrovsky region, Lipetsk province. There he was

arrested in 1930, and on March 29 he was sentenced in accordance with
articles 58-10 and 58-11 to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known
about him.

Nun Anna (Matveyevna Kostina) was born in 1891 in the village of

Rozhdestvo, Lebedyan uyezd, Tambov province (now Krasninsky region,
Lipetsk province). In 1931 she was arrested in her native village, and on
March 24 was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in accordance with
article 58-10. Nothing more is known about her.

The clergyman Alexander Mikhailovich Klyukov was born in 1888 in the

village of Rezovatovo, Ichalkovsky region, Mordovia. On April 25, 1930 he
was arrested and sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-8 and 58-13. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Tatyana (Ivanovna Kopytina) was born in 1886 in the village of

Poroy, Dobrovsky region, Lipetsk province. In 1931 she was arrested in her
native village, and on July 15 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10
part 2 to three years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Euphemia (Ivanovna Ivanova) was born in 1878 in the village of

Mokroye, Lebedyan uyezd, Tambov province, and struggled in the Ioanno-
Kazansky monastery in the village of Sezenovo, Lebedyan uyezd, Tambov
province. There, in 1931, she was arrested, and on July 15 was sentenced in
accordance with article 58-10 part 2 to three years’ exile. Nothing more is
known about her.

The clergyman Michael Dmitrievich Zernov was born in 1874 in the

village of Malyshevo, Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia, where he also served.
On February 28, 1930 he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in
accordance with article 58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest Michael Lvovich Kalinnikov was born in 1887 in the village of

Kazinka, Volovsky region, Lipetsk province, where he served. On March 6 he
was condemned to death in accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10, 58-11 and 58-
12. He was shot in Lipetsk province.

The clergyman Michael Ivanovich Kamnev was born in 1894 in the

village of Vazhelyaj, Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia. There, on March 26,
1930, he was arrested and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10
and 58-11, to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Eugene Pavlovich Insarsky was born in 1870 in the village
of Narovchat, Penza province, where he lived. On April 4, 1930 he was
sentenced in accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11 to ten years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Ivan (Dmitrievich Karabanov) was born in 1879 in the village of

Klicheno, Volhynia region, Lipetsk province, and struggled in the Holy
Trinity men’s monastery, Lipetsk province. In 1930 he was arrested, and on
June 7 he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to ten
years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Vladimir Nikolayevich Kamyshnikov was born in 1889 in the

village of Sergievskoye, Krasninsky region, Lipetsk province, and served in
the village of Pady, Lipetsk region. There, in 1930, he was arrested, and on
September 29 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to five years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Peter Grigoryevich Klyuchkov was born in 1874 in

Ityakovo settlement, Temnikovsky region, Mordovia. On June 19, 1931 he was
sentenced, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, to three years’ exile to
the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Fifteen people were sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11
as part of “The Case of Bishop Gabriel (Abalymov) and others, 1931”. They

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were recognized as being “participants in a branch of the counter-

revolutionary church-monarchist organization, ‘The Catacomb Church’ in
Moscow under the leadership of Bishop Gabriel (Abalymov) and
Hierodeacon Nestor (Postnikov-Myasnikov). These included:

Nicholas Trofimovich Zubarev. He was born in 1910 in the village of

Gusevka, Kirsanovsky uyezd, Tambov province, where he worked as church
reader. He was married. On October 16, 1930 he was arrested and cast into
Tambov Ispravdom. In 1931 he was condemned as “an active member of a
counter-revolutionary underground church-monarchist organization”. He
was also accused of being in close relations with the leaders of the
Underground Church in Moscow. “In 1929 he hid for a month in a cave
church, where he used church serving for anti-Soviet agitation”. Nothing
more is known about him.

Maria Ivanovna Vereschagina was born in 1902 in the village of Inokovka,

Kirsanvosky uyezd, Tambov province, the daughter of a trader. Under Soviet
power she was deprived of her civil rights. She was married. A part of her
property had been confiscated in 1929. On November 2, 1930 she was
imprisoned in Tambov, and in 1931 she was convicted of being “a member of
a counter-revolutionary church-monarchist organization”, of “active
participation in the equipping of secret caves” and of “active anti-Soviet
agitation against entering collective farms and other enterprises of Soviet
power”. Nothing more is known about her.

The clergyman Andrew Osipovich Ivanisov was born in 1870 in

Krasnoslobodsky region, Mordovia, and served in the town of Insar. On
January 10, 1931 he was arrested, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment
in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about
him.

The clergyman Peter Pavlovich Kulikovsky was born in 1883 in the

village of Chelmodeyevsky Maidan, Insarsky region, Mordovia. On January
11, 1931 he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-8 and 58-10 to ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Andrew Osipovich Ivanisov was born in 1870 in

Krasnoslobodsky region, Mordovia, and lived in the city of Insar, Mordovia.

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On January 10, 1931 he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and
58-11 to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Xenia (Yakovlevna Zetkina) was born in 1892 in the village of

Lobaski, Atyashevsky region, Mordovia. On January 10, 1931 she was
condemned, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 59-2, to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Deacon Sergius Petrovich Kalinnikov was born in 1908 in the village of

Soldatskoye, Terbunsky region, Lipetsk province, and served in the village of
Kazaki, Yelets region, Lipetsk province. There, in 1931, he was arrested, and
on March 18, 1931 was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and
58-11 to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Gabriel (Ivanovich Klirov) was born in 1876 in Skopin, Ryazan

province. In 1931 he was arrested in the village of Kashary, Zadonsk region,
Lipetsk province, and on April 21 was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment
in accordance with article 58-10 part 2. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Stepan Spiridonovich Korev was born in 1879 in the village of

Kalasevo, Ardatovsky region, Mordovia, where he served. On June 1, 1931 he
was arrested and sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’
imprisonment.

The clergyman Andrew Fyodorovich Kuslin was born in 1887 in the

village of Sabayevo, Kochkurovsky region, Mordovia. On November 23, 1931
he was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Demetrius Semyonovich Kalinin was born in 1885 in the village of

Petelino, Tula uyezd, Tula province, and took part in the First World War. In
March, 1930 he was arrested in the village of Durovschino, Chaplyginsky
region, Lipetsk province, and on March 19 was sentenced in accordance with
article 58-10 to three years’ imprisonment. On May 12, 1932 he died in prison.

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Bishop Stephen (Nikitin) relates:- "In the 30s I was imprisoned in a

concentration camp. I was at that time a doctor and in the camp I was
assigned as head of the clinic. Most of the prisoners were in such a critical
condition that it broke my heart and I released many of them from work so as
to give them at least some relief; the weaker ones I sent to the hospital.

"One day, as I was examining patients, the nurse who worked with me -
also a camp prisoner - said to me:

"'Doctor, I have heard that a denunciation has been brought against you;
you are being accused of excessive lenience in regard to prisoners and you are
threatened with an extension of your term up to fifteen years.'

"The nurse was a sober woman, I had good reason to feel horrified at her
words. I had been sentenced to three years which were soon to be completed.
Already I was counting the months and weeks which separated me from my
long-awaited freedom. And suddenly - fifteen years!

"All night I couldn't sleep, and when I went to work the next morning, the
nurse shook her head in distress upon seeing the drawn expression on my
face. After we had finished the examinations she said hesitantly:

"'I would like, doctor, to give you some advice, but I'm afraid you'll only
laugh at me.'

"'Tell me.'

"'In Penza, my home town, there lives a woman called Matronushka. The
Lord has granted her a special power of prayer. When once she begins to pray
for someone, her prayer is always answered. Many people turn to her for help
and she never refuses anyone. Why don't you ask her to help you?'

"I laughed sorrowfully. 'By the time my letter reaches her, they'll have
sentenced me to fifteen years.'

"'But it's not necessary to write to her, just call out to her,' said the nurse, a
little abashed.

"'Shout? From here?' I asked. 'She lives over a hundred kilometres away.'

"'I knew you'd laugh at me for saying that, but she can hear you from
anywhere. Do this: when you go out for your evening walk, fall behind the

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rest for a bit and shout out three times in a loud voice: "Matronushka, help
me. I'm in trouble." She'll hear you and will answer.'

"Although all this seemed very strange, rather like magic as it were,
nevertheless, when I went out on my evening walk, I did as my friend had
instructed. A day passed, a week, a month... No one summoned me. In the
meantime, changes were made in the camp administration: someone was
removed, another was appointed. Another half year passed and there came
the day of my release from the camp. When I was issued my documents in the
commandant's office, I asked to be sent in the direction of the town where
Matrona lived, since I had promised before calling out to her that if she
helped me I would remember her in my daily prayers and that upon my
release from camp I would straightway go and thank her.

"Having received my papers, I heard that two fellows, who were also being
released, were travelling to the same town where I was headed. I joined them
and we set off together. As we journeyed, I asked them if perchance they
knew Matronushka.

"'We know her very well; everyone knows her - both in the town and for
miles around. We'd take you to her if you like, but we live in the country, not
in town, and we're anxious to get home. But just do this: when you arrive, ask
the first person you meet where Matronushka lives and they'll show you.'

"On my arrival I did just as my fellow travellers had told me. I asked the
first boy I met.

"'Follow this street,' he said, 'then turn by the post office into the alley.
Matrona lives in the third house.'

"Trembling with excitement, I went up to the house and was about to

knock at the door, but it wasn't locked and opened easily. Standing on the
threshold, I surveyed the nearly empty room in the middle of which stood a
table. Upon it was a fairly large box.

"'May I come in?' I asked rather loudly.

"'Come in, Seryozha,' came a voice from the box.

"Startled by this unexpected reception, I proceeded hesitantly in the

direction of the voice. Looking into the box on the table, I saw a small woman
lying motionless. She was blind and possessed only rudimentary arms and
legs, Her face was remarkably bright and kindly. After greeting her, I asked:

"'How do you know my name?'

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"'Why shouldn't I know it?' came her weak but clear voice. 'You called out
to me and I prayed to God for you. This is how I know. Sit down, be my
guest.'

"For a long time I sat at Matronushka's. She told me that as a young child
she had fallen ill with some disease which had stunted her growth and caused
her to become immobile. At the age of two she had lost her sight from
smallpox. Her family was poor, and on her way to work her mother would
lay her in a box and take her to church. Putting the box with the girl on a
bench, she would leave her there until evening. Lying in the box, the young
girl would listen to all the church services and sermons. The priest took pity
on the little girl and looked after her. The parishioners also felt sorry for the
child and would bring her a little something to eat or something to wear;
someone else would caress her or help her to lie more comfortably. In this
way she grew up surrounded by an atmosphere of deep spirituality and
prayer.

"Then we spoke about the purpose of life, about faith, about God. Listening
to her, I was struck by the wisdom of her judgements and her spiritual
insight. In parting she said:

"'When you stand before the Throne of God, remember the slave of God
Matrona.'

"At that time I had no thought of becoming a bishop and was not even a
priest. Concerning herself, she said that she would die in prison.

"Sitting beside her, I understood that before me lay not an ordinary sick
woman but someone great in the eyes of God. It was such a comfort and a joy
to be with her that I hated to leave, and I promised myself to visit her again as
soon as I could. But this never came to pass. Soon Matronushka was dragged
off to prison, to Moscow, and there she died."

After the closure of the Kirsansky women’s monastery, the clairvoyant

Eldress Aquilina and the virgin Marina (nicknamed Morya) wandered
around Tambov province together. They went to the families of clergymen –
either those who had already been arrested, or who were about to be arrested,
- prayed with them and comforted them. Thus in 1937 they came to the
matushka of Fr. Peter Kotelnikov, Helena Fyodorovna, and foretold Fr.
Peter’s martyric end. However, in the same year they were bestially killed by
the NKVD, and their bodies were covered with straw.

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Priest Alexander Ivanovich Dmitrov was born in 1881 or 1882 in the

village of Novaya Sitovka, Voronezh province, and was serving in the village
of B. Kulminka, Lipetsk region. On December 3, 1929 he was convicted and
sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-12
and 59-3. He returned to Kuzminka, where he was arrested again and
condemned to death on August 23, 1937 in accordance with article 58-10. He
was shot.

The following were convicted in the group case, “The Case of Hieromonk
Pachomius (Ionov) and others, Mari (or Mordovia) ASSR, 1935”:

Hieromonk Pachomius, in the world Peter Matveyevich Ionov. He was

born on January 15, 1883 in the village of Troitskoye, Kamensky uyezd, Penza
province. He became a monk in 1901 in the Trinity Skanov monastery in
Penza province. He lived in the monastery until its closure in 1928, becoming
a hieromonk before that date. Then he lived at home tending his apiary,
which was confiscated in 1930. He was a member of the Penza branch of the
True Orthodox Church. However, after the liquidation of that branch, as his
1935 indictment reads, “hiding from arrest, Hieromonk Peter Matveyevich
Ionov, who is elder ‘Pachomius’, went into an illegal situation. He settled in
the village of Pichury [Kovylskinsky region, Mari Autonomous Republic], in a
cell of the church warden Febronia Ivanovna Tsibirkina [who gathered to
herself ‘all the offended and dispossessed’] that had been turned into a
‘catacomb’ church”. Believers from the surrounding villages gathered around
the elder and a kind of monastery was formed. They were joined by Priest
Ephraim Kurdyukov and Archimandrite Ignatius (Ignashkin), who had
returned from the camps. Fr. Pachomius was arrested on June 27, 1935, and
on September 21 was convicted by the NKVD of “being hostile to the existing
order, living illegally in Pichury, creating a counter-revolutionary group out
of ecclesiastical and monastic activists, conducting illegal meetings and
distributing counter-revolutionary literature, The Protocols of the Elders of
Sion. He was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to five
years in the camps. Fr. Pachomius was sent to Karlag in Karaganda,
Kazakhstan. In 1937 he was arrested again, and on September 20 was
convicted by UNKVD of “participation in prayer meetings and distributing
prayers of counter-revolutionary content. He has not changed his convictions,
and while in prison has continued his counter-revolutionary activity,
conducting counter-revolutionary monarchist agitation among the prisoners.”
He was sentenced to death in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. His
was part of the group case, “The Case of Metropolitan Eugene (Zernov) and
others, Karaganda, 1937”. The indictment said that prisoners Zernov, Ionov,
Byzhva, Aschepyev and Krejdich, gathering in various places, “under the
leadership of Zernov conducted counter-revolutionary religious propaganda
of a monarchist type, served pannikhidas for the shot enemies of the people

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Tukhachevsky, Uborevich and others, and spread provocative rumours about

a war and the destruction of Soviet power”. Fr. Pachomius did not recognize
his guilt and was shot on some day in September, 1937.

Priest Ephraim Mikhailovich Kurdyukov. He was born in 1882 in the

village of Potodeyevo, Narovchatsky region, Mordovia, and served in the
village of Vopilovka, Narovchatsky region. In 1931 he was arrested and
sentenced to ten years in the camps. He was released early and returned on
June 26, 1932. On June 27, 1935 he was arrested for “participation in religious
anti-Soviet meetings”, was cast into Penza House of Preliminary Arrest, and
on September 21 was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to
five years’ exile I the north. He also accused that “he joined a group of
churchmen headed by [Fr. Pachomius] Ionov, took part in illegal meetings
and helped Ionov to hide in the underground”. Nothing more is known about
him.

Priest Euthymius Fyodorovich Kulikov was born on December 22, 1876 in

the village of Shuty (now Savinki), Narovchatsky uyezd, Penza province. On
August 19, 1888 he finished his studies at the Shuty village school, and in 1895
– at the Narochatsky uyezd school. On May 20, 1895 he became a teacher in a
church-parish school in the village of Abashevo, Narovchatsky uyezd. On
June 18, 1905 he was ordained to the priesthood and sent to the village of
Nikolskoye, Navorchatsky uyezd, where he was also teacher of the Law of
God in the church-parish school. On October 11, 1910 he was appointed
uyezd missionary, and had great success in converting Old Ritualists to the
Orthodox Church. On October 27, 1914 he was transferred to the village of
Nikolayevka, Insarsky uyezd. On April 30, 1920 he was retired at his own
request because of illness, and worked for a while as a clerk. In 1917 he was
elected by the clergy of the Penza diocese to be a delegate at the Local Council
of the Russian Orthodox Church. On December 8, 1924 he was appointed to
serve in the village of Sergievo-Paleologovo, Penza uyezd. On October 11,
1926 he was retired at his own request. On March 10, 1931 he was arrested in
Penza, and on January 2, 1932 was convicted of “belonging to a branch of the
All-Union Church-Monarchist Organization, ‘The True Orthodox Church’”,
and was sentenced to five years in the camps. He was sent to
Medvezhyegorsk in Arkhangelsk province. On October 19, 1933 he was
conditionally released. On February 27, 1937 he was arrested for “organizing
services in his flat” and sentenced to five years in the camps. He was sent to
Karaganda, where, on February 4, 1942, he died.

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Other Catacomb Christians of Lipetsk province who suffered for the faith,
being accused of “participation in the anti-Soviet church group, ‘The True
Orthodox Christians’”, included:

Nun Claudia (Alexandrovna Zhidkova). She was born in 1885 in

Lebedyan, Tambov province, and served in the Troyekurovsky Dimitrievsky
Ilarionovsky women’s monastery in the village of Troyekurovo, Ryazan (now
Lipetsk) province. In 1932 she was arrested in Lebedyan, and on August 7
was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11, she was to
three years’ exile in the north. Hers was part of “The Case of the Nuns of the
Troyekurovsky Dimitrievsky Ilarionovsky monastery, Lipetsk province,
1932”. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Catherine (Ignatyevna Kulikova). She was born in 1887 in Pushkaro-

Zadonskaya sloboda, Lebedyan uyezd, Tambov province. She was arrested in
her native village, and was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2
and 58-11 to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Basil Antonovich Razomazov. He was born in 1898 in the village of

Kuyman, Trubetchinsky region, Ryazan province (now Lebedyan region,
Lipetsk province). He was arrested in his native village and was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 to twenty-five years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Tikhon Vasilyevich Sukhinin. He was born in 1894 in the village of

Dubovoye, Kolybelsky region, Ryazan province. He was arrested in his native
village, and was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11
to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

George Sergeyevich Yeremin. He was born in 1925 in the village of

Kuiman, and was a True Orthodox Christian. He was arrested in his native
village and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 to ten
years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Nicholas Pavlovich Yeremin. He was born in 1926 in Kuiman, and was a

True Orthodox Christian. He was arrested in his native village and sentenced
in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 to ten years’ imprisonment.
Nothing more is known about him.

Semyon Alexeyevich Lopukhov and Demetrius Semyonovich Lopukhov,

who were perhaps father and son. Semyon Alexeyevich was born in 1890 in
the village of Sergievka, Zadonsk uyezd, Voronezh province, and Demetrius
Semyonovich in 1923 in the same village. They were sentenced in accordance
with article 58-10 to twenty-five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known
about them.

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Maria Petrovna Nosova. She was born in 1901 in the village of Romanovo,
Lebedyan uyezd, Lipetsk province, and was sentenced in accordance with
article 58-10 to eight years in prison. Nothing more is known about her.

Praskovya Dmitrievna Shushunova. She was born in 1915 in the village of

Kuiman, and was a True Orthodox Christian. She was arrested in her native
village and was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11
to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about her.

Anna Akimovna Pronina. She was born in 1923 in the village of

Telezhenka, Trubetchinsky region, Ryazan province. She was arrested in
Telezhenka, and on October 7, 1944, in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2
and 58-11, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. She was arrested
again in 1947, and on January 9, in accordance with the same articles, was
sentenced to ten years in prison. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Grigoryevna Kobelkova. She was born in 1908 in the village of

Karpovka, Lev Tolstoy region, Lipetsk province. She was arrested in her
native village and was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and
58-11 to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about her.

Darya Ilyinichna Inshakova. She was born in 1977 in the village of

Bruslanovo, Lebedyan uyezd, Tambov province. She was arrested in
Lebedyan and was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-
11 to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Eudocia Grigoryevna Kobelkova. She was born in 1932 in the village of

Bigildino, Dankovsky uyezd, Lipetsk province. She was arrested in her native
village and was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11
to eight years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about her.

Theodosia Borisovna Zhikhareva. She was born in 1886 in the village of

Poroj, Dobrovsky region, Lipetsk province, and was a single peasant. She was
arrested in her native village for refusing to go out to work at Pascha, and was
sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 part 2 to eight years’
imprisonment. She was sent to the camps, where she was arrested again in
1943 and shot.

Matrona Ivanovna Pronina. She was born in 1902 in the village of

Telezhenka, Trubetchinsky region, Ryazan province. She was arrested in
Telezhenka, and in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11, was
sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

Valentina Ivanovna Medvedeva. She was born in 1922 in the village of

Zamatynye, Lebedyan region, Lipetsk province, and went to live in the village of
Privolye in the same region. She was sentenced in accordance with articles

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58-10 part 2 and 58-11 to exile in Krasnoyarsk region. Nothing more is known
about her.

Maria Andreyevna Isayeva was born in 1896 in the village of Pavlovskoye,

Lebedyan uyezd, Ryazan province. She was arrested in her native village, and
was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 to ten years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about her.

Olga Semyonovna Isayeva was born in 1926 in the village of Pavlovskoye,

Lebedyan uyezd, Lipetsk province. She was arrested in her native village, and
was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 to seven
years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about her.

Tatyana Antonovna Khromina. She was born in 1918 in the village of

Poroy, Lebedyan region, Lipetsk province, and went to live in the village of
Kuyman in the same region. She was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-
10 and 58-11 part 2 to three years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known
about her.

Lyubov Sergeyevna Panova. She was born in 1926 in the village of

Nikolskoye, Dankovsky uyezd, Ryazan province. She was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing
more is known about her.

Eudocia Ivanovna Pechenkina. She was born in 1917 in the village of

Mokroye, Trubetchinsky region, Ryazan province and sentenced in
accordance with article 58-10 part 2 to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more
is known about her.

Maria Ivanovna Pechenkina. She was born in 1920 in the village of

Mokroye and sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 part 2 to ten years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Kuzminichna Mironova. She was born in 1924 in the village of

Lubna, Trubetchinsky region, Ryazan province. She was arrested in Lubna
and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 to ten years
in prison. Nothing more is known about her.

Anna Petrovna Knutova. She was born in 1908 in the village of Romanovo,
Lebedyan uyezd. She was arrested in her native village and was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 to eight years’ imprisonment.
Nothing more is known about her.

Martha Nikitova Pobezhimova. She was born in 1882 in the village of

Troitskoye, Borinsky region, Central Black Earth province. She was arrested

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in her native village and was sentenced to three years in exile in the north.
Nothing more is known about her.

Eudocia Ilinichna Klevtsova. She was born in 1913 in the village of

Klevtsovo, Krasninsky region, Lipetsk province. She was arrested in her
native village and in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 was
sentenced to ten years in prison. Nothing more is known about her.

Catherine Gavrilovna Klevtsova. She was born in 1927 in the village of

Klevtsovo, Krasninsky region, Lipetsk province. She was arrested in her
native village and in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 was
sentenced to six years in prison. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Gavrilovna Klevtsova. She was born in 1925 in the village of

Klevtsovo, Krasninsky region, Lipetsk province. She was arrested in her
native village and in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 was
sentenced to ten years in prison. Nothing more is known about her.

Nadezhda Gavrilovna Klevtsova. She was born in 1922 in the village of

Klevtsovo, Krasninsky region, Lipetsk province. She was arrested in her
native village and in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 was
sentenced to eight years in prison. Nothing more is known about her.

Pelagia Fominichna Yefanova. She was born in 1911 in the village of

Znamenka, Izmailovsky region, Lipetsk province, was arrested in her native
village and in accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 was sentenced
to ten years in prison. Nothing more is known about her.

Maura Arkhipovna Novikova was born in the village of Troitskoye,

Borinsky region, Lipetsk province. At an unknown date she was condemned,
and in accordance with article 58-10 was exiled for three years to the north.
Nothing more is known about her.

Archimandrite Methodius continued serving in Lipetsk until 1943, when

he was arrested.

In 1955 a Catacomb Church family related: "Before we lived in Russia, in

Balashevo province, we were under the spiritual direction of Matushka
Abbess Seraphima, who had the gift of spiritual sight. She used to warn us:

"'See that when you are exiled, you take the door with you. Take it off its
hinges and put your things on it. Carry them in that way. Don't fear the

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difficulties. Endure everything. They'll take you a long way away. But God is
everywhere: He sees everything, hears everything, knows everything...
'Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake... Blessed are ye
when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil
against you for My name's sake' (Matt. 5.10-11)... Take the door from its
hinges and put all kinds of food on it. Don't forget to take an axe and a spade.
Oh how handy they'll be!'

"We didn't understand what exile she was talking about. Everything was
calm with us. They didn't harm anybody. A few years later [in the time of
collectivization in the 1930s], the exiles began. Our turn came. We were
warned only a day before:

"'You can take as many things as you can carry with you!'

"At that moment we understood matushka's words. We took a door and

put our most necessary things on it: food and clothes. And we also took a
spade and axe on matushka's advice.

"They loaded us onto cattle trucks. They spread out a panel which read:
'Volunteers are going to Siberia to live. Greetings to them from the working
population.'

"But if the people had known what kind of 'volunteers' were travelling in
that special train! How many tears were shed in every carriage! You know,
we had abandoned everything - homes, property, gardens. Our only
consolation was that Matushka Abbess had warned us about everything long
before and had given her blessing.

We travelled for a long time. Finally, we came to the place: bare steppe!
There was not even a bush. And no people at all: it was just desert... They
took us out:

"'Well now, kulaks, let's see how you're going to live here!'

"Everyone wept. The women sobbed aloud. But the authorities just got into
their cars and drove off. It was already frosty, winter was approaching in that
area. And we had nothing. Under our feet was bare, cold earth, and above us
the blue sky. That was all!

"Oh, how we thanked God that we had taken an axe and spade! And how
useful the doors came in! We bowed to the earth in front of Matushka. But she
herself was blind. In both eyes. But the Lord gives wisdom to the blind, He
gave her other, spiritual eyes. She saw what others did not see, what the Lord
revealed to her. She was already old, now she's over ninety...Save, O Lord,
and have mercy on Thy servant schema-abbess Seraphima. You know, we all

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lived in obedience to her, we did everything with her blessing. She, the
servant of God, kept the whole region free from heresy. She stood like an
unbending pillar!

"In the churches they began to read the 'declaration' of Metropolitan

Sergius. How it dismayed us. The priest went out and began to read it to the
people. But matushka went up to him and said loudly:

"'You're a wolf, a wolf!... You are apostates. You have denied Christ-God.
How can you read such a paper in the church of God!...'

"The priest was embarrassed. She knocked the declaration out of his hands.
She was pushed aside. But she continued:

"'Sergius is a turn-coat, a traitor of Christ, like Judas... What does he write?

What does he say? He says it is necessary to thank Soviet power... For what?
For the bloody persecution of the Holy Church?! And he suggests that we
rejoice with the antichrist at his joys and sorrow at his sorrows... How
shameful!'

"The people supported her:

"'Shameful! Shameful!'

"The priest cut off the reading and went into the altar. But the people said:

"'Matushka has spoken rightly. That was right!'"

Maria Ivanovna told the following story:

"I will tell you a story which proves that Matushka Schema-Abbess had the
gift of clairvoyance.

"It was completely understandable that the authorities should look for her,
but they did not succeed in finding her. First one group of believers, and then
another, took her into their home. She was transferred from one province to
another. So the KGB resorted to a diabolical trick.

"There appeared in that region what appeared to be a homeless wanderer,

a nun who had been persecuted for Christ's sake. But in fact she was an
experienced co-worker of the KGB. And if it had not been for Matushka
Schema-Abbess, no-one would ever have guessed that she was an agent. She
did everything in a monastic way, her clothes in the house were monastic and
everything about her was monastic. And she began to go round the houses of
everyone who might know where the schema-abbess was. She went from
house to house, but did not gain the information she needed. Finally, she

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came to the house of a woman who believed that she was a real nun, and not
an artist. And so they later called her 'artist'...

"'Oh matushka, matushka!' she sighed, calling the simple laywoman

'matushka' as if in forgetfulness.

"'The Lord be with you, but how am I 'matushka'?

"'Oh, forgive me, dear sister, I said that out of habit. You know, I'm always
among nuns, and I took you for a matushka... But perhaps you will be a nun!'

"Of course, such a device might appear to be the best proof that she was a
true nun. The more so since she always acted and spoke in a monastic way.
On sitting down to eat lunch or supper, she read the prayers in a monastic
way. After the meal and prayers she thanked the mistress of the house with a
deep bow and prayed for the repose of her parents' souls. She particularly
won over the mistress with her rapid prostrations, which showed that the
'nun' did many prostrations secretly.

"'Oh, ma... - forgive me, sister, what kind of life are we living now! I don't
want to live any longer. These are the last times! Faith has diminished in
people. You can no longer find a monk to ask his advice on how to live. But
the Lord has led me to you, may Christ save you. You don't know where else
to go. You might land up with some OGPU agents!'

"'But, by the mercy of God, there are still some lamps of God left!'

"'What are you saying?! I have gone round almost half Russia, and there's
no-one!'

"'There is! I tell you that there is...'

"'Where, dear one! For Christ's sake, tell me!'

"'Only don't tell anyone!'

"'What are you saying? How could I?!'

"And so in this cunning way the agent found out the address. The
laywoman told her everything, only she couldn't remember the number of the
house:

"'It doesn't matter, I'll explain it to you... It's the third, or maybe the fourth
house from the corner. There's a high gate covered with tin-plate. . As you go
in, you'll see a narrow path to the corner of the house. Turn left past the
corner. Knock three times on the first window past the turn. And ask...'

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"'Christ save you!'

"With these words she immediately went into the town... Perhaps about
two hours later she came back:

"'Ach, I went the wrong way. I arrived, but it seems that it wasn't the right
place... I came to the window and knocked three times. A woman jumped out,
it seems she had been washing some clothes.

"'"What do you want?" she asked in a coarse way.

"'I told her. She said:

"'"What matushka are you talking about? I'll wake up my husband now,
he's drunk, and he’ll show you both a matushka and a batyushka!" I was
frightened and left...'

"'That was probably Dasha... Most likely you didn't understand each
other... It doesn't matter. I'll find out. Don't be sad. Sit down and drink some
tea. I'll put the samovar on... And meanwhile write down some addresses you
can go to.'

"The nun took out a piece of paper and wrote down the addresses. The
samovar was already on the table...

"While the so-called 'nun' had been knocking on the window, matushka
said to the novice:

"'It's an enemy! It's an enemy! Drive her away, drive her away!'

"And when the agent had left in perplexity, the blind woman said:

"'Now run quickly to Pasha and tell her that a spy is drinking tea in her
house.'

"Dasha ran off. By road it was about 11 kilometres, but much shorter
through the kitchen-gardens. Dasha ran up, panting. She knocked on the
door. Pasha came out. Dasha passed her the message:

"'Matushka told me: run quickly to Pasha, a spy is drinking tea in her
house!'

"And Dasha disappeared... It was as if she had been covered with boiling
water. But she went in calmly and asked:

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"'Where were we?'

"The nun read the last address.

"'And before that?'

"She read several addresses. Pasha said:

"'Let's have a look... What's this, I'm so mixed up. No, that's wrong...'

"And she threw the whole piece of paper into the samovar spout. It went
up in smoke.

"'Ach, someone probably came and told you something!'

"What are you saying? That was a neighbour bringing me a frying-pan.'

"'No, no! Someone told you...'

"They transferred matushka to another place. And the OGPU agent went
away in a sulk... But she couldn't say that she was working for the OGPU...

"I'll tell you about a miracle which took place, as all of us firmly believe, by
the holy prayers of Matushka Schema-Abbess Seraphima.

"I was fixed up, again by her prayers, in a good job at a railway crossing,
opening and closing the barrier. This place was near a mine. Trucks passed
along the road carrying explosive destined for the mine. My work consisted
in sitting in a glass cabin and looking out for trains. When a train came up to
cross the road, I closed the barrier, and when it passed, I opened it. On
blessing me for this work, matushka had said:

"'When you go to work in the morning, your first duty will be to make the
sign of the cross over all the levers and cables and everything that has to do
with your work. Then sit down and say the Jesus prayer without ceasing.
Don't allow any sinful thought in, fight it by prayer!'

"And I did everything that matushka told me to do... Many years passed,
and nothing special happened at that place... There was another person, a
trackman, working on the crossing. His duties included sweeping the road
and watching the track. I used to say hello to him, and then sit down to work
and prayer.

“One day I came to work. It was already autumn, and it was frosty. I
secretly made the sign of the cross over the whole place. I went into the cabin,
sat down and occupied myself with the Jesus prayer. I lost consciousness of

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my surroundings. When I lifted my head I saw a big and heavy goods train
already close. And when I looked behind, I saw a car going along the road
with red flags, which meant that it was carrying explosive. There was no time
to let down the barrier. Apparently the driver had decided to get ahead of the
train. I froze... The car crossed the rails, but the locomotive was there too. The
sound of glass was heard. The car was hanging on the locomotive. The guards
who were sitting with their rifles on chests flew out onto the asphalt together
with the explosive. The explosive scattered over a wide area. The train
stopped. I heard a voice:

"'Step on the cable with your foot!'

"I was wearing boots. But as I stepped on the cable, to my surprise it

snapped.

"A short time later the police and the bosses arrived. Many of them. But for
some reason everyone was very quiet. There was no sound of conversation.
They were walking carefully, there was explosive everywhere... But the
guards who had fallen at great speed off the car were unharmed, safe and
sound. They took the car down from the locomotive. In the cabin were the
driver and senior guard - the door was jammed. But they also were
completely unharmed. It was simply amazing. Such a catastrophe and no
consequences. The car was going at such a speed and yet nobody suffered.
They came out, said something... Finally, the commission came up to the
barrier and said to me:

"'Tell us what happened.'

"I told them that I had tried to close the barrier, but the cable had snapped.
The commission and I went up to the transmission. There was ice there. I was
so amazed at that and fervently thanked the Lord in my soul. Although it was
frosty, it was impossible to explain the presence of ice in the transmission. It
was the first time I had seen ice there in so many years. Yes and in general
was it not a clear miracle of God! Why were the guards alive and unharmed?
After all, they had fallen out of the car and flown several metres. Why did the
explosive not explode at the impact? They later said that if the explosive had
gone off the whole town would have been destroyed!

"I was not responsible at all. Formally speaking, I did everything I could.
Only the technology did not work. It could not work because ice had formed
in the box. Only the car suffered damage. While all the people who had been
involved in the catastrophe had been miraculously preserved completely
unharmed.

"Several years passed... Circumstances were such that I was given the right
to retire. And I asked matushka for permission to retire. 'Blind' matushka, as

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everyone called her, gave her blessing... And so I, having gone with my list of
signatures through all the sections, went to the director for the final signature.
He signed, and then, looking attentively at me, asked me to close the doors. I
closed them. And he said to me:

"'Yes, Maria, we know your 'crosses'!.. Well!..'

"He spread his hands as if he wanted to say something special, but just
said:

"'I wish you all the best!'"

As she told the story of this miracle wrought through the prayers of
Schema-Abbess Seraphima, tears were in her eyes. And we all, as we listened
to her, could not refrain from weeping.

Fr. Sergius Tikhrov was from Tambov, a graduate of the Moscow

Theological Academy. He had been imprisoned twice. He had a very high
reputation among the faithful. After his release in 1955 he went underground.
He died in 1977 in Tambov.

Hieroschemamonk Seraphim (in monasticism Vissarion) was born Ivan

Petrovich Markov in 1894 in the city of Kasimov, Ryazan province. Until 1917
he was a junker, and received a pedagogical education. When the Soviets
came to power he stopped teaching and worked on stone-cutting sites on the
Oka and Volga rivers. He did not recognize the sergianist church. For his anti-
Soviet views he was subjected to arrests and exiles. In 1945 he was tonsured
into monasticism with the name Vissarion and ordained to the priesthood for
the True Orthodox Church by Archbishop Nicholas (Vladimir Ivanovich
Muraviev-Uralsky). In 1950 he was arrested and sentenced to ten years in the
camps for organizing “underground cells of the True Orthodox Church”. He
was for six years in the Potma camps. After his release he looked after
communities of the Catacomb Church in Moscow, Karaganda, Kirov,
Tambov, Mordovia, and Vologda, Voronezh, Gorky and Vladimir provinces.
Through Hieromonk Lazarus (Zhurbenko) he applied to be received under
the omophorion of Archbishop Leontius of Chile of the Russian Church
Abroad. In the middle of the 1970s he took the schema with the name
Seraphim. He died on the day of Pascha, 1979 immediately after Mattins. He
was buried in Tambov in the Petropavlovsk city cemetery.

(Sources: Holy Trinity Calendar for 1999, Jordanville; Marina Klimkova,

“Svyatoj iz Osinovykh Gayev”, Rodina, № 4, 2004, pp. 62-64; Za Khrista

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Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, pp. 51, 63,
92, 226, 340, 511, 613; Vladimir Rusak, Pir Satany, London, Canada: "Zarya",
1991, p. 29; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye,
Jordanville, 1949-57, part 1, pp. 213-214; Michael Khlebnikov, “O tserkovnoj
situatsii v Kostrome v 20-30ye gody”, Pravoslavnaya Zhizn’, 49, N 5 (569),
May, 1997, p. 2; Priest Basil Redechkin, from the witness of T.V. Nikolayeva
and the servant of God Juliana; Nadezhda, no. 5; Orthodox America, vol. 4,
no. 1, July, 1983, p. 5; Schema-Monk Epiphany (Chernov), typescript; “Krasnij
Provokator F.I. Zhurbenko, ‘Arkhiepiskop Lazar’”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N
2 (16), 1999, pp. 9-10; Archbishop Lazarus of Tambov, “Out of the
Catacombs”, Orthodox America, p. 6;
http://www.omolenko.com/texts/katakomb.htm; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-
htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/;
http://catacomb.org.ua/modules.php?name=Pages&go=print_page&pid=12
66)

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30. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF THE MIDDLE AND

LOWER VOLGA REGION

Priest Peter Voznesensky served in the village of Yasashnaya Tashla,

Simbirsk uyezd, Simbirsk province). He was married with seven children. He
always rebuked those who went against God and the Church. This was very
displeasing to the new authorities. In 1917 some soldiers came to him at night
and cast lots to see who should shoot him. The one to whom the lot fell
refused, saying:

"The priest has seven children, they will be orphans, I can't."

Then another decided to do it. They summoned Fr. Peter to the window, he
came up, and the soldier immediately shot him - straight in the heart.

Fr. Peter was shot at the church. Now there is no church there - it was
destroyed. And the grave was washed away by a river.

Priest Vladimir Piksanov was serving in the Pokrov church of the village of
Pavlovka, Khvalynsky uyezd, Simbirsk province. He was a good pastor, and
many people went to batyushka for advice and consolation. Fr. Vladimir
enjoyed great authority in the village as an educated and discerning man. The
villagers went to church with joy, dressed in their best clothes. The choir was
renowned far beyond the confines of Pavlovka. In 1917 he was conducting a
service when some armed men came into the church. They did not allow him
to take off his epitrachelion, but took him away with insults. The people
followed him in a crowd. Many of the women wept. Batyushka calmly stood
opposite his persecutors. Making the sign of the cross, he said: “O Lord, accept
my soul!” And the epitrachelion was stained with his blood. In the evening it
was quiet in the village. In many families they wept and prayed for the
murdered priest.

In 1917 or 1918 Priest James, superior of the Sarapul Startsevo-Gorsky-

Ioanno-Predtechensky monastery, was killed by the Bolsheviks, who forced
him to dig a pit and then shot him on the edge of it.

Protopriest Ioann Anastasiev was serving in the Pokrov cathedral in the

city of Sengiley, Simbirsk province. On March 18, 1918 he was arrested for
“refusing to cooperate with Soviet power” and imprisoned in Sengiley.
Nothing more is known about him.

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Schema-Monk Epiphanius (Chernov) writes: “Christians watched from a

distance as the Bolsheviks drove whole monasteries of monks and nuns to the
banks of the Volga river, bound each of them with a rope, and then threw the
whole monastery, this 'chain of martyrs', into the water from a barge. They all
quickly disappeared in the water and there remained no sign of the crime.”

Lev Zacharovich Kuntsevich was born in 1875 or 1876 or 1877, and

graduated from a theological academy and a university (where he studied
law), and served the church in the capacity of an anti-sectarian missionary in
the dioceses of Kharkov, Saratov and Voronezh. He was well known for his
zeal in unmasking the heretical errors of the enemies of Holy Orthodoxy. In
1917 he was living in Saratov (or Rostov-on-Don, according to another source),
and was denounced by the liberal city clergy as a member of the “Black
Hundreds”. He was arrested and sent to Moscow, where he spent a month in
prison but was finally released for lack of evidence. He never took part in
politics, so the accusation that he was a member of the "Black Hundreds" was
baseless. He was a member of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox
Church in 1917-18. On returning to Saratov, he did not take up his former post
but declared himself "a free Orthodox preacher". He journeyed through the
south of Russia and read public lectures on the themes of the revolution:
"Christianity and Socialism", "The Religion of Socialism", etc. To a missionary
friend of his he wrote: "Abandon state service and occupy yourself with the
public refutation of Socialism. There will be significantly greater benefit from
that."

A co-prisoner of his, who witnessed his martyric end, tells the following.
The whole tragedy took place in the town of Chorny-Yar, on the Volga, where
he had gone with his wife in the hope that, being near the Whites (the front
was quite near Chorny-Yar), he would be able to pass over to their side and
thus flee the Bolshevik horrors. But the Lord judged otherwise. The church
authorities had given him an order to read Patriarch Tikhon's epistle
anathematizing the Bolsheviks on one of the Sundays. This event was widely
announced among the local population, and on the day on which he was to
read the epistle so many people had gathered that he had to read it, not in the
church, but on the porch in front of the whole people. Of course, among the
people there were many Bolsheviks who reported the event to the centre. The
front moved to and fro in the area of Tsaritsyn. The Bolsheviks raged, and
special tribunals did their savage work everywhere. The cheka also came to
Chorny Yar. The population was forbidden to leave their houses without
special permission from the authorities. But some managed to leave the town
after having been thoroughly checked by the Bolsheviks. When Lev
Zacharovich's wife heard about this, wishing to help her husband leave

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Chorny Yar, she went to the cheka for a pass. This wife was a very simple
woman, in the full sense of the phrase "not of this world". In her simplicity she
could not understand what Bolshevism was. She believed everything and
everyone, as only the purest child can believe. But having fallen into the hands
of the skilled masters of satanism, she, the poor wretch, could not understand
what was awaiting her husband. Having listened to her request and found out
from her where her husband was, the Bolsheviks rejoiced and told her that he
must now come to them and they would immediately give him a pass. In fact
the Bolsheviks had special instructions from the centre to search for and arrest
him. But since the couple lived humbly and in isolation, rarely coming out
onto the street, the Bolsheviks had not been able to find where he was. The
wife, rejoicing at this declaration by the Bolsheviks, ran to her husband to
inform him of the news. After some hesitations they went together to the
cheka, from where Lev Zacharovich never returned. This was between July 20-
30, 1918. He was about two months in prison, being subjected to mockery and
humiliation. One hour before his execution the chekists gave his wife
permission to meet him, assuring her that his time in prison was about to come
to an end. She wept for joy, but an hour after the meeting, as she was passing
through the square, she saw her husband tied to a post and being shot by the
Red Army men. On seeing this horrific scene, she went out of her mind. The
peasants of the village of Staritsky all took turns in taking her in and feeding
her. During the last days of his imprisonment, Lev Zacharovich felt that his
fate was already decided and wept bitterly, thinking all the time about the
destiny of his defenceless and unhappy wife. He besought everyone that if he
were saved he would not abandon his wife.

The village of Bortsurman, Kyrmyshsky uyezd, Simbirsk province, was

made famous in the nineteenth century by its famous wonderworking priest,
Fr. Alexis Gneushev. At the beginning of the twentieth century it was served
by Priest Michael Grigoryevich Voskresensky. He was born in 1883 in the
village of Teply Stan in the family of the district policeman Gregory
Dmitrievich Voskresensky. Fr. Michael's grandfather was the rector of the
church in the village of Poretsky and taught the Law of God in the local school.
Another teacher there was Fr. Michael's future father-in-law, John Danilovich.
Once, after his death, Fr. Demetrius appeared to him. John Danilovich
considered this appearance as a special foreshadowing, and when, many years
later, Fr. Demetrius' grandson Michael asked for his daughter Maria's hand in
marriage, he agreed immediately.

Fr. Michael served in Bortsurman from 1910. His parishioners loved him for
his kindness, piety and conscientious fulfilment of his pastoral duties. The
revolution came, and then, in the summer of 1918, a group of Kolchak's armies
were retreating along the banks of the river Sura. The inhabitants of the city of
Kurmysh rebelled, either in order to free themselves from the Bolshevik yoke,
or in order to unite with the retreating armies.

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The rebellion was led by the director of the local bank, Sovernin. The
citizens disarmed a unit of the Red Army that was in the town and imprisoned
the soldiers, strictly ordering Nicholas Migunov and Nicholas Nebasov from
the village of Bortsurman to guard them without giving them anything to eat
or drink. However, the villagers gave them both food and drink, and hardly
restricted them at all.

The punishment squad sent to suppress the rebellion was composed almost
entirely of Latvians. It was led by a certain Garin, who was from a noble
family of Nizhegorod province. Where he arrived, there were tortures and the
killing of priests.

Bortsurman was swept by the rumour that the punishment squad was
going to kill everybody. A peasant named Elen sounded the alarm from the
church bell-tower. Fr. Michael was at that time in the neighbouring village of
Kozlovka, giving communion to an old man.

The punishment squad arrayed itself on a hill opposite the village. They
had also heard the bell, and they decided to burn the village down. And that is
probably what would have happened if a postman had not fallen into their
hands.

"Is Bortsurman surrounded by trenches?" Garin asked him.

"There are no trenches at all," replied the postman.

"You're lying, there are trenches!" insisted Garin.

"There are no trenches," insisted the postman.

Finally, they decided to send two spies. At the entrance to the village they
met a peasant who was peacefully ploughing the land. Being peasants
themselves, the soldiers knew how to win over the peasant. One harnessed his
horse to the plough and began to plough, while the other asked the villagers
who was living where and how they could get in. A list was composed. That
night the soldiers entered the village and started arresting people. The arrested
men were brought to the building of the volost administration.

Fr. Michael returned home late at night. On the edge of the village his way
was barred by the soldiers.

"Who goes there?"

"The priest," replied Fr. Michael.

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That was enough.

"Let's kill him," said one.

"We've still got time," replied another.

They let him go, and he went home.

At that very moment another group of soldiers arrived at his home to arrest
him, but, not finding him there, they left.

On entering his house, Fr. Michael understood what awaited him, but did
not run away.

They soon came to arrest him. He was accused of raising the alarm and
joyfully waiting for Kolchak's troops, and was cruelly tortured.

Also arrested with Fr. Michael was the reader, Eulampius Pavlovich
Nikolayev. A relative of Fr. Michael's, he was from Elijah's hill, and had lived
for some time as a clerk in the neighbouring village. Fr. Michael had invited
him to serve as the church reader in Bortsurman, and now he shared a
martyr's end with him.

Among the peasants arrested were Nicholas Migunov and Nicholas

Nebasov.

So as not to alarm the villagers, the soldiers had declared that the arrested
men would be sent to Kurmysh to be put on trial. However, the martyrs knew
what was in store for them and prepared for death by repentance and
confession.

In the morning of August 27 / September 9, 1918 a column of thirty people

escorted by soldiers made its way along the road to Kurmysh. Fr. Michael
went in front, loudly chanting funeral hymns with the parishioners. After five
kilometres they came to a ravine called Stepanikha. Here they were ordered to
line up, while the executioners lined up opposite them.

Fr. Michael fell on his knees and with hands raised prayed to God. He was
shot sixteen times, and yet remained alive - an obvious miracle. Then one of
the executioners went up to him and bayoneted him in the heart.

Of the thirty people killed only one, John Petrovich Kurepin, remained
alive. He recounted the story of the martyrdoms of Fr. Michael, the church
reader and the twenty-seven parishioners.

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After the murder, the executioners sent one of the local inhabitants to
Bortsurman to tell the villagers to come and take the bodies or bury them there
- they all had to be buried by the evening. The peasants arrived on carts and
took them all, leaving a cross with an inscription at the site of the martyrdom.

Fr. Michael was buried in the middle of his parishioners Nicholas

Migunov, Nicholas Nebasov, another Nicholas Migunov and a servant of
God whose name is unknown.

Fr. Michael's house was sacked by the executioners. Soon after his martyric
death his matushka wrote to the authorities in Moscow, asking why they had
killed her husband. The reply was that her husband had suffered innocently...

Protopriest John Ilyinsky was born in 1846, and served in the village of
Sheremetyevo-Nikolskoye, Simbirsk province. There in 1918 he was arrested,
sentenced to death and shot for “counter-revolution”. All his property was
confiscated or trashed, In 1919 the Bolsheviks recognized that there had been
not enough evidence to accuse him of counter-revolution, so they returned the
confiscated property to his family.

Priest Peter Petrovich Lvov was a member of the Saratov Diocesan Council.
On October 6, 1918 he was condemned by the Saratov revolutionary tribunal
for “passive participation in counter-revolutionary activities” and condemned
to ten years’ conditional imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Simeon Ionin served in the city of Troitsk, Orenburg diocese. He was
shot in Kustanai in 1918.

Protopriest Michael Gromoglasov was the superior of the cathedral in

Verkhne-Uralsk, Orenburg province. He was arrested before Pascha in 1918,
having been denounced by the second priest of the cathedral, Telegin. In
prison an escort stabbed him with a bayonet. He was released, recovered from
his injuries and was arrested again. On the night of June 17, seventeen people
in all, including eleven citizens and six Cossacks, were taken out of prison on
the pretext of being taken to Ufa. Their hands and legs were bound, and they
were taken on carts in the direction of Tirlyany. At the sixteenth kilometre they
were ordered to dig their own graves. Fr. Michael asked permission to pray
and fell on his knees. Having prayed, he got up and said: “I’m ready.”

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All seventeen were shot. According to one source, the execution took place in
the period from August to December.

Protopriest Michael Nikolayevich Mansurov was born in 1852. In 1871 he

became a reader in Kazan province, and in 1876 – a deacon in Mamadysh
uyezd, Kazan province. In 1884 he was ordained to the priesthood, and served
in the village of Kukmore, Mamadysh uyezd. He was put in prison in
Verkhne-Uralsk with Fr. Michael Gromoglasov, and was shot together with
him on June 17, 1918.

Priest Michael Pavlovich Platonov was serving in the church of St.

Seraphim in Saratov. On October 6, 1918 he was arrested and accused of
counter-revolutionary activity, that is, “of stirring up the masses against the
existing government”. On the same day he was shot in Saratov. The news of
the shooting came to the Commission for Persecutions attached to the Local
Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Fr. Stephen Nemkov, a friend of Hieromartyr Michael (Voskresensky) of

Bortsurman, served in the village of Deyanovo, not far from Bortsurman,
Simbirsk province. In 1918, the Latvian Garin and his executioners came to his
village and chose certain victims, although the village had not taken part in the
rebellion against the Bolsheviks. The day before Fr. Stephen's martyrdom, two
Red Army soldiers came to his house. The priest received them hospitably and
gave them lunch.

During the meal, the soldiers tried to persuade the priest:

"Batyushka, hide yourself somewhere, or they'll shoot you all."

Fr. Stephen did not flinch. With a radiant face he got up from the table and
with a broad gesture pointed at the five-headed church of the Holy Trinity.

"Look, there it is, the Trinity. I shall never leave it. Our Lord Jesus Christ
did not hide and conceal himself, and neither shall I."

In the evening he was arrested together with eighteen other people. His
matushka, Anna, got together a knapsack for the road, but he took nothing.

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The arrested men were brought to the school building and beaten for a
long time. Fr. Stephen was especially cruelly beaten and humiliated, and
before his execution his hair was cut off.

After midday on the Sunday Fr. Stephen and the peasants were led out of
Deyanovo in the direction of the village of Maltsev.

Coming up to a ravine, the executioners ordered the arrested men to draw

up in a line. Then they shot them from a machine-gun. Fr. Stephen was
executed separately, with a shot in the head. But he was not killed, and the
executioners bayoneted him.

All the sufferers were buried in a common grave except for Fr. Stephen,
who was buried separately in the centre of the cemetery.

On the third day, Eugenia Fyodorovna Khorina gathered together a group

of believing girls and went with a box to the site of the martyrdom so as to
collect the blood and remains of the martyrs. Then they placed everything
they had found in the box, dug out a pit and placed the box with the remains
in it.

Later a cross was erected at the site, and pannikhidas were served.

The leader of the executioners, Garin, was later killed by his own men.

Priest Vladimir Karpinsky took the place of Fr. Stephen in Deyanovo after
his death.

At Pascha, 1923, the local communist Golopupov, nicknamed Vaska the

Tatar, thought up a bold way of killing the priest. Before the beginning of the
cross procession, he hid himself in the bell-tower, waiting for midnight.

Vespers was coming to an end in the church. The cross procession,

illuminated by hundreds of burning candles, began its way around the
church, and the harmonious chanting could be heard: "Thy Resurrection,
Christ our Saviour, the angels are singing in the heavens..."

The shining ribbon came to the entrance to the church and stopped: the
doors were closed.

"Count worthy also us on earth with a pure heart to glorify Thee..."

"Glory to the Holy, Consubstantial, Life-creating and Undivided Trinity!"

Fr. Vladimir cried.

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"Christ is risen!" shouted the priest.

The sound of the response was mixed with the sound of a gunshot.

"He is risen indeed!" was heard by the priest already not from his own
parishioners, not in the earthly church, but in the Heavenly Church, with the
angels chanting the Resurrection of Christ...

On March 6, the Bolsheviks shot Priest Kuryachy, from the Novo-

Astrakhan sloboda, Starobelsky uyezd.

Priest Nicetas Tikhonovich Pazukhin was born on May 23, 1885 into a
peasant family. He was educated at home, and on May 2, 1895 he passed the
examination for becoming a teacher and church reader. On June 13, 1905 he
became a reader in the village of Alovo, Alatyr uyezd, Simbirsk province. On
April 29, 1906 he was transferred to the village of Chirkovo, Alatyr uyezd. He
was also teacher of the Law of God. He was well-known for his kindness,
intelligence, generosity and hospitality, and had a good library. On October 16,
1911 he was ordained to the diaconate, and began to serve in the village of
Nikolayevka, Alatyr uyezd. On April 15, 1915 he was ordained to the
priesthood, and began to serve in the village of Koshelevka, Karsunsky uyezd,
Simbirsk province. Fr. Nicetas was married to Maria, who came from a poor
but pious family. In 1919 she was only a little more than twenty years old.
They had three daughters.

In March, 1919 a parishioner came to the house of Fr. Nicetas and said:
“Batyushka, you have to hide – in Pogorelova they’ve arrested the whole
church council of ten people.” He replied: “I can run, but what will happen to
my wife and children?” And so he remained. He put his older daughters on a
bench, read a prayer and made the sign of the cross over them. Soon Red
Army soldiers came one by one into his hut. Fr. Nicetas’ daughter Elizabeth
remembers: “Fr. Nicetas gave them tea and milk, and cut some bread for them.
The Red Army soldiers did not refuse. They stacked up their rifles – the whole
wall was full of weapons. They ate and drank, and then they said: ‘You’re
wanted in the office, come with us.’ Batyushka’s wife Maria, on hearing shots,
jumped out onto the porch. A woman neighbour came up to her: ‘Matushka,
they’ve shot your [husband] and ten other people. They’re lying on their
backs.’ Matushka began to rush about, she took her youngest daughter out of
her cradle and wanted to run to the shooting, but the Red Army commander
got hold of her: ‘You can’t help him at all, think about your children, otherwise
you, too, will be shot.’ They buried Fr. Nicetas and eleven other villagers in a
common grave in the village cemetery. A cross without any names was

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planted (they decided not to write the names of those killed). Within a week
they came for ‘the pope’s goods’. They took all the clothes, books, utensils,
tablecloths and napkins which matushka herself had sewn – she was a
needlewoman. They succeeded in keeping a jacket – they’d thrown it into the
manure. Now on the place of the burial of the twelve shot men there is a small
hillock, and some spikes from the fence have remained. There is no cross…”

Priest Nicholas Pokrovsky was born in 1864, and was killed on March 18,
1919 in Simbirsk province.

Deacon Michael Mongolov was serving in the village of Karalat, Astrakhan

uyezd, Astrakhan province. In 1919 he was convicted by the Karalat military
field tribunal created by the communists of being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary rebellion of peasants of the village in March, 1919”. He was shot
on March 25, 1919.

Priest Seraphim Sarychev was shot after the paschal Liturgy at Gondatyevka
station.

Priest James Alexeyevich Dobrokhotov was serving in the village of Lesnoye,

Sengileyevsky uyezd, Simbirsk province. On July 8, 1919 he was arrested and
accused of “counter-revolutionary activity”. He was sentenced to death and
was shot.

Priest Michael Dmitrievich Dobrolyubov was born in 1862 in the village of

Pirzavka, Petrovsk uyezd, Saratov province. He was serving in the village of
Varypayevka, Atkarsk uyezd, Saratov province. He was arrested on a charge
of “anti-Soviet agitation among the believers”, and on July 9, 1919 was
sentenced to be shot. On July 13 he was shot in the city of Atkarsk.

Priest Averyan Spiridinovich Grishin was born in 1867 in Penza province.

He was the president of the Union of the Archangel Michael. In February, 1919
he was arrested, and on October 9 he was shot by the Saratov cheka.

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Priest Vladimir Perfilyevich (?) Dubrovin was the rector of the Pokrov
cathedral in the city of Kuznetsk, Saratov province. In the summer of 1919 he
was shot together with other priests in Kuznetsk.

Priest Alexis Ivanovich Razumov was born in 1871 in the family of Priest
Ivan Fyodorovich Razumov in the village of Yulovo, Karsunsky uyezd (now
Inzensky region). In 1893 he finished a complete science course at the Simbirsk
theological seminary, and on December 22, 1893 he was ordained as deacon of
the village of Kabayevo, Alatyr uyezd, by Bishop Barsonuphius. On May 9,
1895 he was ordained as priest of the church of the Archangel Michael in the
village of Vyazovka, Sengileyevsky uyezd (now Mainsky region). On March 2,
1900 he was transferred to the village of Kitovka, Karsunsky uyezd (now the
town of Inza), where he served in the church of the Nativity of the Mother of
God until his death in 1918. From 1895 Fr. Alexis was teacher of the Law of
God in a land school, and was also headmaster and teacher of the Law of God
in a church school from 1907. He was also trustee of a labourers' farmstead
which was under the main trusteeship of the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna,
for which Her Majesty thanked him on September 9, 1899. In 1901 he was
given the blessing of the Holy Synod for his zealous aid to the population
suffering from a fire. He was married to the daughter of a priest, Elizabeth
Nikolayevna Pisareva (1877-1943) and had eight children.

Fr. Alexis perished together with his youngest son Nicholas (born 1911)
from a bomb thrown by Red Army soldiers through the window of his house.
He was buried in the Kitovo cemetery.

Priest John Ilyinsky of the village of Sh... was shot by unknown people in 1918 in
the village of Nikolsk. He had been accused of counter-revolution, but the Simbirsk
revolutionary tribunal admitted in 1919 that there was no evidence for that.

Deacon Peter Grigoryevich Petrovsky and Reader Nikolayev were shot on March
3/16, 1919 in the village of Repyevka-Ksomynka.

Fr. Peter was born in 1855 in the village of Annenkovo, Simbirsk uyezd
(now Annenkovo, Stepnoye Tsilinsky region), in the family of a junior deacon.
He completed his studies as the Simbirsk theological school, after which he
became a novice in the Hierarchical House (the former Pokrovsky monastery)
in Simbirsk. On November 29, 1872 he was appointed junior deacon for the
small town of Yushansk, Simbirsk uyezd (now the village of Yushanskoye,
Mainsky region). On May 11, 1875, for an incorrect handing out of two birth-

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certificates to one person, he was removed from his post and exiled for three
years to Perm province, with no rights or freedoms. On May 6, 1881 he was
pardoned by the Emperor and returned to Simbirsk province. He and his wife
Pelagia Alexeyevna settled at first in the family of Pelagia Alexeyevna's father,
who was a reader.

On March 9, 1882 Fr. Peter was appointed acting reader in the village of
Osoka, Sengileyevsky uyezd (now Baryshsky region). On December 21, 1882
he was transferred to the village of Annenkovo. On June 12, 1887 he was
ordained deacon for the village of Siyava, Alatyr uyezd (now in Chuvashia).
On October 27, 1887 he was transferred to the village of Sutyazhnoye, Alatyr
uyezd (now in Chuvashia), on March 9, 1901 - to the village of Karlinskoye,
Simbirsk uyezd (now Ulyanovsk region), on April 28, 1901 - to the village of
Mikhailovka, on July 21, 1901 - to the village of Semyonovskoye, Alatyr uyezd
(now Poretsky region, Chuvashia), on December 8, 1901 - to the village of
Kladbishchi, Alatyr uyezd (now in Chuvashia). On November 2, 1904 he was
retired. On November 24, 1904 he was appointed reader of the church of the
Nativity of Christ in the city of Alatyr, Simbirsk province (now in Chuvashia).
On May 5, 1905 he was transferred to a retired deacon's post in the village of
Alovo, Alatyr uyezd (now Atyashevsky region, Mordovia). On July 5, 1906 he
was transferred to the village of Repyevka-Kosmynka, Simbirsk uyezd (now in
Maisky region), where he served to the end of his life. Fr. Peter had five
children.

In March, 1919, there was a rebellion by the peasants against Soviet power
in the region of the villages of Karlinsky and Repevka-Kosmynka. When the
"war" ended, a Soviet mounted detachment came to the house of Fr. Peter and
Reader Nikolayev, and, although there had been no rebellion in their village,
and they were not accused of anything, they were taken out onto the street
and shot before the eyes of their family. Fr. Peter’s wife, Pelagia Alexeyevna,
took his body into the house, washed it and vested it in deacon’s vestments.
Then she sent to inform her five children. On the next day, March 4, the
Monday of the Third Week of the Great Fast, Fr. Peter's son, Priest Sergius,
served the Liturgy and buried him with his own hands in the Repevka
cemetery together with Reader Nikolayev.

Priest John Nikolayevich Yagodinsky was born in 1859 in the family of a

deacon. In 1884 he finished his studies in the Simbirsk theological seminary,
and on June 24 he was appointed reader in the village of Maximovka, Simbirsk
uyezd (now Ulyanovsk region). On May 15, 1885 he was ordained to the
diaconate and transferred to the church in the village of Rtishchevaya
Kamenka, Simbirsk uyezd (now the village of Polbino, Mainky region). On
September 6, 1886 he was ordained to the priesthood for the church in the
village of Osoki, Sengileyevsk uyezd (now Baryshsky region). On October 29,

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1892 (or, according to other information, October 20, 1891) he was transferred
to the village of Permis, Karsunsky uyezd (now the village of Permixi,
Bolshebereznikovsky region, Mordovia), where from February 17, 1892 to 1900
he was also teacher of the Law of God in the land school. From 1896 he was
missionary for the fourth rural deanery, Karsunsky uyezd. On April 16, 1900
he was transferred to the village of Bolshiye Berezinki, Karsunsky uyezd,
where he was also headmaster and teacher of the Law of God in the church-
parish school. On July 1, 1900 he was confirmed in the post of librarian of the
rural deanery library and a member of the auditing commission attached to
the Bolshebereznikovsky candle factory. From February 10, 1901 to February
10, 1904 he was a member of the Deanery Council. On August 4, 1904 he was
transferred to the village of Kirzhemany, Ardatov uyezd (now the village of
Kirzhemany, Bolsheignatovsky region, Mordovia), where he was also teacher
of the Law of God at the local land school. On October 28, 1910 he was
transferred to the village of Pyatina, Karsunsky uyezd (now Inzensky region).
From the time he came to this parish he was also headmaster of the
Mamyrovksy church-parish school, and from March 15, 1911 - teacher of the
Law of God at the Pyatinsky land school. On August 15, 1912 he was
confirmed in the post of deputy to the Diocesan conference from the fourth
deanery district of the Karsunsky uyezd. Fr. John was married to Alexandra
Stefanovna (born October 30, 1867). They had seven children.

Fr. John was shot during the requisitioning of church valuables from the
church of the village of Pyatina on March 17, 1919.

Priest Alexander Petrovich Vvedensky was shot by Red Army soldiers on

March 23, 1919 in the village of Akhmatov Belij Klyuch, Karsunsky uyezd,
Simbirsk province. He was a widower with three children.

Priest Alexis Arkhangelsky was shot in March, 1919 for “counter-

revolutionary activity”. No further details are known.

Priest Lev Arsenyevich Yagodinsky and his daughter, Nadezhda Lvovna

Yagodinskaya, were condemned to be shot on August 23, 1919 in Simbirsk.

Fr. Lev was born in 1859 in the village of Alovo, Alatyr uyezd (now
Atyashevsky region, Mordovia) in the family of a deacon. In 1880 he finished
his studies at Simbirsk theological seminary, and on June 30, 1880 was
appointed reader in the village of Khokhlovka, Simbirsk uyezd (now
Tsilninsky region). Later he was transferred to the Pokrov church in Syzran,
Simbirsk province, where he remained until September 1, 1881, when he was

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transferred to the village of Stariye Algashi, Simbirsk uyezd (now Tsilninsky

region). On February 27, 1883 he was ordained to the priesthood in the village
of Malaya Borla, Sengileyevsky uyezd (now Kuvovatovsky region). In 1888 he
became teacher of the Law of God in the local school. In 1898 he was
transferred to another parish as reader, remaining a teacher of the Law of God.
In 1899 he was transferred to another parish as priest, while remaining a
teacher of the Law of God. In 1901 he was transferred to the Resurrection
church in Simbirsk as a reader. On October 7, 1904 he was appointed as a su
pernumerary priest in the same church. There he served to the end of his life.
Fr. Lev was a widower with four children. His daughter Nadezhda was born
in 1893 in Simbirsk. She was a teacher in school no. 31.

Fr. Lev and his daughter Nadezhda were condemned to be shot by a special
section attached to the Revolutionary Council of the Eastern front for “active
aid to the counter-revolution and belonging to a counter-revolutionary
organization”.

Priest Michael Petrovich Soloviev was born in 1886 in the town of

Petrovsk, Saratov province. In 1920 he was living in the village of
Telyatnikova, Baryshsky region (now Nikolayevsk region). He was sentenced
to be shot by a troika of the OGPU according to article 58-10 of Criminal Code
of the USSR. The sentence was carried out on November 5, 1920.

Protopriest James Petrovich Gorokhov was born in 1880 in Kamayshin,

Saratov province, the son of the rector of the church of the Astrakhan Devichi
monastery. He finished his studies at a theological seminary, and began work
as the senior teacher in a two-year school in the village of Alexandrovka,
Alexandrovsky district, Stavropol region. In 1907 he entered the Moscow
Theological Academy, where he became close to Fr. Paul Florensky. He
married Maria Prokopyevna, had seven children, and was ordained to the
priesthood, serving in the Dormition church attached to the passenger quay in
the city of Tsaritsyn. He was the dean of the district, and at the same time
taught in a high school. During the civil war he often came into conflict with
the authorities, speaking out against their cruelties and demanding that they
cease their executions and remove those who had been hanged from public
view. For his opposition to the persecutions he was often arrested. Finally, his
fate was decided by M.I. Kalinin, who asked him under interrogation what his
attitude to Soviet power was. Fr. James replied: “I accept Soviet power - as the
punishment of God.” For that he was condemned to death. The chauffeur who
was taking Fr. James and seven other condemned people to be shot told how
on the way the others wept and asked batyushka to pray. He calmed them,
saying: “Do not fear death, you are bearers of the truth.” After the shooting,

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which took place on May 31, 1921, people looked for the bodies in order to
bury them, but could not find them.

Fr. James’ fate may be linked with that of Alexandra Petrovna Pronina,
who was born in Vladimir (?). She came from a family of church servers, and
her father was an iconographer. She was a deeply believing person, kind and
responsive. With her husband, who was an artist, she came to Tsaritsyn before
the revolution. During the civil war her husband was called up into the army.
Alexandra Petrovna had to look after their two children in a time of famine, so
she had to take work as a prison supervisor. At that time they had already
begun to imprison clergy, and, of course, Alexandra Petrovna began to help
the priests who were in the prison where she worked. Through her the
arrested priests received letters from their loved ones, and sent notes back.
Among them was Fr. James, whose letters to his wife were taken by Alexandra
Petrovna’s daughter, the ten-year-old Vera. In April, 1921 Alexandra Petrovna
was caught with a letter of an imprisoned priest, and was herself arrested and
cast into prison. A few days later, her demobilized husband returned home.
Just the night before he had had a portentous dream, from which it was clear
to him that he would never see his wife again. And he and the children could
not obtain any news about her. Then they were told that she was supposedly
in hospital. But when they came to find out if this was true, they discovered
that they had buried her already three days before in a mass grave with other
people who had died from illness or been killed. Probably, Alexandra
Petrovna had passed through the same case as Fr. James, and had been shot
with him and six others on May 31, 1921.

Vera recalls: “My father took my brother and me to the cemetery to look for
the common grave. He was madly digging in the earth with his hands. The
earth at one spot seemed to him to be warm – it was the month of May - and
he said: ‘Here is where your holy mama lies.’ After this he was ill for a long
time… I often remember a childhood dream which I had when mama was still
alive. My mama was standing in a crowd in a ship going down the Volga. She
was waving at me with her hand. At the helm stood Jesus Christ with a halo
over His head, and He was blessing me with a cross. In the morning I told this
to mama, and she, putting me on my knees, wept and said: ‘That means that I
will soon be no more, and you will be my little orphan…’”

Protopriest Euthymius Alexeyevich Ilyinsky was born in 1868 in the

village of Chadayevka, Aktarsk uyezd, Saratov province, and went to Saratov
theological seminary. He served in Tsaritsyn, in the Transfiguration church.
On February 2, 1921 he was arrested, and on June 20 was convicted of
“counter-revolutionary activity expressed in the fraudulent renovation of
icons”. He was sentenced to death and shot.

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In 1922, 61 clergy and monastics of various ranks were killed by the

Bolsheviks in Samara province in connection with the confiscation of church
valuables. In Simbirsk province they killed 47, in Saratov province - 52, and in
Astrakhan province - 84.

Hieromonk Matthew (Oleynik) was born in Tauris province. In 1916 he

graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy with the degree of
candidate of theology. He received the monastic tonsure during his course of
study. On September 21, 1916 he began to serve as a teacher of polemical
theology at the Astrakhan theological seminary. In 1922 he was killed in
connection with the campaign for the requisitioning of church valuables.

From May 26 to 29, 1922 the Simbirsk revolutionary tribunal sitting in

Alatyr reviewed the case of the citizens of the villages of Koltsovka and
Zhdamirovo, Alatyr uyezd, Simbirsk province. 53 people were accused. They
were divided into five groups. The first constituted the peasants of
Zhdamirovo, headed by Pelagia Fyodorovna Parfenovna, who, according to
the indictment, “on May 10, 1922 in the village of Zhdamirovo, by prior
agreement amongst themselves, with the aim of resisting the requisitioning of
church valuables from the Orthodox church of the said village, raised the
alarm by ringing the church bell, removed the key from the church warden,
emptied the church of people and then locked it. And when the citizens ran
together at the sound of the bell, the members of the Commission, under threat
of being lynched by the mob, were forced to go away”, that is, they were
forced to save themselves by flight. The second group constituted people who
were accused that “under the influence of the agitation of the people of the
first group, acting in concert and in complete agreement with those who
committed the crime, they took direct part in the resistance to the
requisitioning of church valuables, which was expressed in various forms of
life-threatening actions, shouts and calls to murder”. The members of the
Commission who ran away, Blokhintsev and Nesterov, were caught by other
peasants and severely beaten up. The people of the third group were accused
that: “while not taking direct part in the described resistance, they got hold of
those who had suffered and who were trying to run away from the pursuing
mob, and gave them heavy blows which did not threaten their life.” The
people in the fourth group were accused of inciting others to the crime. The
fifth group consisted of the president of the village council, who instead of
taking part in the disorders, occupied himself in his own business – handing
out seeds for sowing. Depending on the group to which they belonged, the
accused received various terms of imprisonment. They included:

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Pelagia Fyodorovna Parfenovna. She was born in 1863 in Zhdamirovo into

a peasant family. On May 10, 1922 she was arrested for “actively resisting the
requisitioning of church valuables”.

Leontius Mikhailovich Lapotnikov. He was born in 1903 in Zhdamirovo

into a peasant family. On May 10, 1922 he was arrested for “actively resisting
the requisitioning of church valuables”, and on May 29 he was sentenced to
two years’ imprisonment with a less strict isolation in view of his prior
internment of 20 days.

Gregory Alexeyevich Lakeyev. He was born in 1852 in Zhdamirovo into a

peasant family. On May 10, 1922 he was arrested for “actively resisting the
requisitioning of church valuables”, and on May 29 he was sentenced to two
years’ imprisonment with a less strict isolation in view of his prior internment
of 20 days.

Ivan Pavlovich Pankov. He was born in 1853 in Zhdamirovo into a peasant

family. On May 10, 1922 he was arrested for “actively resisting the
requisitioning of church valuables”, and on May 29 he was sentenced to two
years’ imprisonment with a less strict isolation in view of his prior internment
of 20 days.

Matrona Makarovna (Maximovna?) Pankova. She was born in 1865 in

Zhdamirovo. On May 10, 1922 she was arrested for “actively resisting the
requisitioning of church valuables”, and on May 29 she was sentenced to two
years’ imprisonment with a less strict isolation in view of her prior internment
of 20 days.

Praskovya Andreyevna Pankova. She was born in 1866 in Zhdamirovo into

a peasant family. On May 10, 1922 she was arrested for “actively resisting the
requisitioning of church valuables”, and on May 29 she was sentenced to six
months’ imprisonment with a less strict isolation in view of his prior
internment of 20 days.

Alexandra Mikhailovna Lakeyeva. She was born in 1901 in Zhdamirovo

into a peasant family. On May 10, 1922 she was arrested for “actively resisting
the requisitioning of church valuables”, and on May 29 she was sentenced to
six months’ imprisonment with a less strict isolation in view of his prior
internment of 20 days.

Matrona Romanovna Lebedeva-Yezhova. She was born in 1886 in

Zhdamirovo into a peasant family. On May 10, 1922 she was arrested for
“actively resisting the requisitioning of church valuables”, and on May 29 she
was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with a less strict isolation in view
of his prior internment of 20 days.

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Eudocia Mikhailovna Makarova. She was born in 1852 in Zhdamirovo into

a peasant family. On May 10, 1922 she was arrested in for “actively resisting
the requisitioning of church valuables”, and on May 29, after spending twenty
days in prison, she was acquitted.

Agrafena Makarovna Moiseyeva (born 1855) and Agrafena Petrovna

Moiseyeva (born 1867). they were born of a peasant family in Zhdamirovo. On
May 10, 1922 they were arrested for “active opposition to the requisitioning of
church valuables”, and spent twenty days in prison before the end of their
trials. On May 29 they were acquitted. Theirs was part of the group case, “The
Case of Pelagia Fyodorovna Parfenova and others, Alatyr, 1922”.

The following were indicted in “The Case of Priest John Yablonsky and
others, Sutyazhnoye village, Simbirsk province, 1922”:

Basil Mazurov (born 1877) and Basil Malkov (born 1880). They were born
in the village of Sutyazhnoye, Kuvakinskaya volost, Alatyr uyezd, Simbirsk
province into peasant families. They became members of the church-parish
council. In March, 1922 they were arrested because “under the influence of
Priest Yablonsky [they] protested against the requisitioning of church
valuables not only from [their] church, but also from other churches in
Russia”. On May 24, 1922 they were convicted of “resisting the requisitioning
of church valuables” and sentenced them to six months’ conditional
imprisonment, deprivation of civil right and the right to occupy posts in Soviet
institution”.

Sergius Paramonov. He was born in 1872 in the village of Sutyazhnoye,

Alatyr uyezd, Simbirsk province into a peasant family. In April, 1922 he was
arrested and accused that “under the influence of Priest Yablonsky he
protested against the requisitioning of church valuables not only from his own
church, but also from other churches in Russia”. On May 24 he was convicted
by a revolutionary tribunal in Alatyr of “resistance to the requisitioning of
church valuables” and sentenced to six months imprisonment (taking into
account his preliminary imprisonment of one months, seven days). He was
also deprived of voting rights and the right to occupy posts in Soviet
institutions.

Paul Golovanov. He was born in 1872 in the village of Sutyazhnoye into a

peasant family and was the president of the church-parish council. In March,
1922 he wsas arrested and accused that “under the influence of Priest
Yablonsky he protested against the requisitioning of church valuables not only
from his own church, but also from other churches in Russia”. On May 24 they
were convicted of “resistance to the requisitioning of church valuables” and
sentenced to six months imprisonment (taking into account his preliminary

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imprisonment of one month, seven days). He was also deprived of voting

rights and the right to occupy posts in Soviet institutions.

Deacon Michael Vasilyevich Malkov was born in 1883, and completed his
studies at a theological seminary. He then went to serve in the Pokrov church
in Astrakhan. In 1927 he was arrested, and on December 19 he was convicted
for “anti-Soviet agitation” and sentenced to three years’ exile in Siberia.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Basil Semyonovich Lovtsov was born in 1863 or 1864, and served in
the village of Klyuchi, Samara province. In 1928 he was arrested and sent to
Solovki. Apart from one letter in the same year, nothing more was heard from
him.

Priest Theodore Levitsky was arrested in Stalingrad province in 1929 and

died under interrogation.

Priest Nicholas Donskov served in one of the churches of Samara province.

In about 1929 he was sentenced to be shot by a court in Samara.

Protopriest Mafanov and Protopriest Basil Vitevsky were serving in the

Pokrov cathedral in Samara in 1929 when they were arrested and exiled out of
Samara. Nothing more is known about them.

Reader Peter Ivanovich Kurnykin was born in 1869 and had an elementary
education. He lived in the village of Ikryanoye, Ikryanoye region, Astrakhan
province. On November 17, 1920 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”,
but was released on amnesty. In 1929 he was arrested again, and on April 5
was sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan for “anti-Soviet agitation”.
Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest James Nikitiovich Korolkov was born in 1876 in the village of

Zubovka, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province, and served in the village of
Devlezerkino in the same uyezd. In 1929 he was arrested, and on September 3,
1929 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

Reader Basil Akimovich Dalmatov was born in 1893 in the village of Orlov
Gaj, Dergachevsky region, Saratov province. He served in the village of
Zeleniye Khutora, Atkarsk region, Saratov province. On August 15, 1929 he
was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation among the believers”. On December 3
he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about
him.

Athanasius Vasilyevich Zaitsev was born in 1880, and was a member of

the church council in the village of Davlezerkino, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara
province. In 1929 he was arrested and sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Protopriest Nicholas Pavlovich Razhdayev was born in 1849, and was

serving in the village of Aglashi, Ulyanovsk province. In 1929 he was arrested
and imprisoned in Ardatov, Nizhni-Novgorod province, where he died in the
same year.

Nun Raisa (Lvovna Pokrovskaya) was born on September 5, 1862 in the

village of Kazachka, Samoilovsky region, Saratov province into the family of a
deacon. She received a good education and worked as a teacher for most of
her life. She entered a monastery in Balashev, Saratov province. After its
closure in 1923, the nuns managed to obtain permission to open a monastic
community in its place, and Mother Raise continued to live in the community.
In 1929 the authorities closed this community, too. On March 13, 1930 she was
arrested in Balashov for “distributing clearly anti-Soviet rumours among the
population, and having links with nuns in the surrounding villages, through
whom she worked on the local population in an anti-Soviet spirit”. She did
not admit her guilt. On June 9 she was condemned for “anti-Soviet agitation”
and exiled to Voronezh, where, three months later, she died.

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Priest Stephen Andreyevich Silantyev was born in 1885 in the village of

Mordovskaya Temryazan, Sengileyevsky uyezd, Simbirsk province. He was
serving in the village of Mordovskaya Karaguzha, Novospassky region when
he was arrested and on March 15, 1930 condemned to be shot. The sentence
was carried out in Ulyanovsk.

Priest Semyon Maximovich Bakholdin was born in 1885 and served in the
village of Kamennij Yar, Chernoyarsky region, Astrakhan province. On
November 3, 1930 he was arrested and convicted of “belonging to a counter-
revolutionary organization”. On November 10 he was shot.

Monk Levtej (Ivanovich Khramenkov) was born in 1855 in the village of

Truyenskaya Maza, Cherkassky region, Saratov province. On August 30, 1930
he was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”, and on November 23 was shot in
Saratov.

Nun Praskovya Potapovna Ivanova was born in 1875, being from the
village of Makovka, Buzuluk uyezd, Samara area. She was illiterate. Before her
arrest she was living in the village of Pronkino, Sorochinsky district, Middle
Volga region. She was arrested by the OGPU on February 11, 1930, and on
April 27, 1930, on the basis of article 58-11, was sentenced to five years’
deprivation of liberty. Nothing more is known about her.

Nicholas Ivanovich Usachev was born in 1904. He was a legless invalid

and unmarried. In 1930 he was arrested in the village of Kostychi and shot for
“distributing counter-revolutionary literature (the books of Nilus, etc.)”.

Stepan Guryanovich Ushkov was born in 1877. He was arrested in 1930 in

the village of Kostychi, Syzran region, Samara province and sentenced to
death as part of a church trial. He was shot.

Nun Nadezhda (Osipovna Borzunova) was born in 1882, and was the
director of the choir in the Smolensk women’s monastery in the village of

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Kostychi, Syzran region. She was arrested in Kostychi in 1930, condemned to

death and shot.

Priest James Grigoryevich Belov was born in 1896 in the village of B.

Ploskoye, Kozlov volost, Tver uyezd, Tver province, and was serving in the
village of Ogarevka, Atkarsk region, Saratov province. On December 22, 1930
he was arrested and accused of anti-Soviet agitation. On March 28, 1931 he
was sentenced to death, and on April 19 he was shot in Atkarsk.

Ivan Yefimovich Tsaplin was born in 1891 in the village of Krasnaya

Rechka, Vyazovsky region, Saratov province into a peasant family. On
February 16, 1931 he was arrested and accused of “creating a counter-
revolutionary organization among the believers”. On March 28 he was
sentenced to ten years in prison.

The following were convicted in the group case, “The Case of the ‘Holy
Counter-Revolution’ in Vavilov Dale, Samara, 1929”:

Hieromonk John, in the world Ivan Osipovich Dorofeyev. He served in the

monastery of St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos, when he moved to the dave
skete in Vavilov Dale, Ivanteyevsky region, Saratov province. Together with
Igumen Anthimus, he preached about the holiness of Vavilov Dale. He looked
after the economic side of the skete, received wanderers and pilgrims and led
them round the holy places. He wrote spiritual verses and was the
community’s librarian, constantly increasing their store of books. He was
highly respected in the area. In 1925, in view of the increase in pilgrims, a
group of citizens of the town of Pugachev petitioned that he be ordained to the
priesthood, which took place. In 1929 he was arrested and shot.

Priest John Pavlovich Zhuravlev. He was born in the village of Kamenka,

Pugachev region, Saratov province, and served in the cave skete in Vavilov
Dale, to which he was appointed in 1914, as well as in the village of Ivanovka,
Ivanteyevsky region, Saratov province. He was a man of fiery faith and
fearless before any temptations or threats from the authorities. In July, 1928 he
was summoned to interrogation in Pugachev, and in 1929 was sentenced to
death. The sentence was carried out.

Priest Onesimus Alexeyevich Pryakhin. He was born in the village of

Shirokij Buyerak, Volsk region, Saratov province. He served for twenty years
in Saratov diocese. He was tall and majestic, and his sermons, peppered with

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Gospel quotations, were so fiery that people sobbed. In July, 1928 Fr.
Onesimus took the place of Fr. John Zhuravlev, who had been arrested, in the
church of St. Nicholas in the cave skete in Vavilov Dale, Ivanteyevsky region.
He took to heart the words of Patriarch Tikhon calling the Bolsheviks “outcasts
of the human race” whose work was “satanic, for which the fire of gehenna
awaits you in the future life beyond the grave”. He expressed the same
thoughts in a more hidden way. But everybody understood what he was
talking about. He was arrested in 1929. “The court evaluates the actions of
Pryakhin and Zhuravlev as most serious crimes, though cleverly masked,
which have been committed in a period of intensification of the class struggle,
in accordance with which it considers it necessary to define for them measures
of social defence” – in other words, the death penalty… Fr. Onesimus did not
accept that he was guilty.

Theodore Alexandrovich Malov was a rich peasant melon-grower, living

in the village of Ivanovka, Ivanteyevsky region, Saratov province. In 1912 he
oversaw the construction of a church in Vavilov Dale, and after its opening in
1914 became its permanent trustee. He was greatly honoured among the
people. After the death of his wife, when all his children were already grown
up and with families, he finally went to live in the cave skete in Vavilov Dale.
There he became a preacher, speaking about the speedy approach of the end of
the world and the coming of the Antichrist, who was now unbound and come
out onto the earth in the form of the atheists and Bolsheviks. In his speeches he
talked about how they were robbing the peasants of their bread and stealing
their last animals. He called all the actions of Soviet power satanic and against
God. Theodore Alexandrovich devoted all his time to preaching. He spoke
ardently and openly, in no way fearing to suffer for his accusatory speeches.
He expressed in everything his readiness to accept persecutions for the faith.
When he left his house for the last time, he said to those in it: “Pray for me to
God.” He was arrested in 1929. From the records of the case we read: “The
court finds in Malov complete consciousness of his actions and irreconcilable
hostility to the workers’ and peasants’ power and a stubborn refusal to admit
to his crimes”. In 1929 he was shot.

Quadratus Fyodorovich Molodykh was born in the village of Orekhovka,

Buzuluk region, Samara district into a pious peasant family. The house was
often visited by monks, from whom Quadratus learned to read and write, and
wanderers, who would take Quadratus with them on their travels. And so
from the age of 18 he wandered around the holy places. He lived for a long
time in the St. Nicholas monastery in Saratov province. Then, after serving for
th
seven years in the 60 Vladivostok regiment, he again began wandering. He
went on foot to Sarov and the Tambov sketes, through the Ukraine and then
came to Vavilov Dale and stayed there in the cave skete. He was small in
stature with a dishevelled beard of greying hair that hid his face. He had a
brass cross which the demons feared. After molebens conducted in the houses
of villagers, Quadratus Fyodorovich would plunge the cross into the chalice

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full of water with the words: “Lord, give the blessing…” – at which moment
the sick would begin to show signs of demonic possession, shouting and
cursing. He would sprinkle the demon-possessed with water, and many
through his prayers would receive healing. He preached mainly in parables,
and told people about the special holiness of Vavilov Dale, and its miracles.
The following fact witnesses to the lofty spirit of Quadratus Molodykh and
Stepan Turapin. Once they came to the settlement of Gorno-Ishikansky, where
the wells had dried up, and there was not enough water, not only for the
animals but also for men. Not far away there was a little lake with water, but it
was dirty, completely unfit for drinking. After a few days of constant intense
prayers on the part of the ascetics, the waters in the lake miraculously changed
and became pure and clear. After this Priest Alexander Agapovich Korin
(born 1868 or 1869, serving in the village of Ukrainka, Ivanteyevsky region,
Samara district) came with a deacon and served a thanksgiving moleben and
blessed the lake, for which he was given a lengthy prison sentence without the
right to live any longer in the European part of the RSFSR. Quadratus
Fyodorovich unceasingly went round the district preaching the truth of the
Holy Gospel. He fearlessly exposed the lies and hypocrisy of the slogans and
summonses of the new authorities. In 1929 he and Stepan were arrested in
Vavilov Dale. In the trial records we read: “the court considers the accused
Turapin and Molodykh to be socially dangerous, and since they give no sign
of correction, they are declassified and parasitic persons”. They refused to
recognize their guilt, and were sentenced to be shot. The sentence was carried
out.

Moiseyev and Demekhov lived in the Gorno-Ishikansky settlement,

Bolshe-Glushinsky region, Samara district. They were active participants in the
nightly vigils, prayers and akathist to St. Nicholas organized by the
inhabitants of Vavilov Dale in the peasant home of the Shubin family. The sick
and the suffering came to these services, and healings began. In 1929 they were
arrested and imprisoned. Nothing more is known about them.

The following were convicted in “The Case of Archimandrite Callistus

(Pavlov) and others, Zhadovskaya Desert, 1930”:

Archimandrite Callistus (Constantine Yegorovich Pavlov) went to the

Kazan pedagogical seminary, and then worked as a teacher in a zemstvo
school and in the village of Kiyat, Buninsky uyezd, Simbirsk province on the
estate of the Simbirsk governor Terentyev. On February 12, 1889 he was
ordained to the priesthood and began to work in the church attached to the
Mariinsky children’s home in Simbirsk. On March 18, 1901 he was made
hieromonk in the Zhadovskaya Desert of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God,
Korsun uyezd, Simbirsk province, and served as treasurer and clerk
administering the affairs of the Desert. On May 6, 1906 he was made

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archimandrite and dean of the women’s monasteries of Syzran uyezd.On July

12, 1912 he was appointed superior of the Ascension monastery in Syzran, and
in 1916 – superior of the Zhadovskaya Desert. In 1924 he was given a two-year
conditional sentence for “non-denunciation”. He was released from Simbirsk
Domzak and returned to the Zhadovskaya Desert. At the beginning of the
1920s the monastery was closed, but about twenty monks still remained in the
community and services continued in the Kazan church. Even after its formal
closure of the community in 1927 monks continued to serve there. Finally, in
July, 1929 the paralyzed Elder Basil from the village of Kopyshevka was
brought to the monastery. This served as the excuse for the conducting of a
criminal case against them, and on March 15, 1930 Archimandrite Callistus
and Hieromonks Damascene and Arcadius were arrested. On April 10 Fr.
Callistus was sentenced to five years in the camps, commuted to exile to the
north for the same period. He was sent to the Moscow-Volga canal. Nothing
more is known about him.

Hieromonk Damascene (Demetrius Gerasimovich Aristov). He was born in

1876 or 1877, and served in the Zhadovskaya Desert. He was sentenced to
three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Hieromonk Arcadius, in the world Alexander Kireyevich (Kirillovich)

Fokin. He was born in about 1893 and at first lived as a simple monk in the
Zhadovskaya Desert. He was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Vladimir Petrovich Veselovsky was born in 1882 in the village of

Zeleniye Khutora, Atkarsk region, Saratov province. On August 14, 1929 he
was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation among the believers (against the
removal of the bell in the church). On December 3 he was sentenced to ten
years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Alexandrovich Kurkov was born in 1884 in the village of

Shakhovskoye, Khvaynsky region, Saratov province, and served in the village
of N. Zakharkino, Atkarsk region, Saratov province. On October 31, 1929 he
was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”, and on January 25, 1931 was
sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexander Ilarionovich Zakharov was born in 1877 in the village of

Tavolozhka, Petrovsky region, Saratov province. On November 6, 1929 he was

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arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”, and on January 25, 1930 was sentenced to
three years’ exile in the north. He suffered for the faith.

Archippus Martynovich Konnov was born in 1869 in the village of

Kuvyka, Tatischev region, Saratov province, and was a member of a church-
parish council. On January 20, 1930 he was arrested for anti-Soviet agitation,
and on February 16 was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing
more is known about him.

Basil Fyodorovich Kobyakov was born in 1880 in the village of Truyevaya

Maza, Balakovsky region, Saratov province, and was a member of a church-
parish council. On January 1, 1930 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”,
and was sentenced to death. He was shot on February 21 in Volsk.

Nun Darya (Petrovna Kursheva (Kurysheva)) was born in the village of

Ivanovka, Petrovsky region, Saratov province in 1878 or 1882. On February
22, 1931 she was arrested in Saratov, and May 15 was sentenced to five years’
exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about her.

Ivan Yakovlevich Gordienko was arrested in 1929, and on February 9, 1930

was sentenced to three years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10
and 58-11. His family was expelled and his property confiscated. His was part
of the group case, “The Case of Priest Michael Sherhshayev and others,
Astrakhan province, 1930”. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Constantine Nikolayevich Ivanov was born in 1869 in Posad

Kolpino, Tsarskoye Selo uyezd, St. Petersburg province, and served in the
village of Bezobrazovka, Balandinsky region, Saratov province. On January 30,
1931 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation, and sentenced to three years’
exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Yefimovich Ivanov was born in 1869 in the village of Ozerki,

Tatischevo region, Saratov province. On January 27, 1930 he was arrested for

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“anti-Soviet agitation”, and on February 16 was sentenced to three years’ exile

in the north. He suffered for the faith.

Eudocimus Semyonovich Zharov was born in 1910 in the village of Elan,

Yekaterinovsky region, Atkarsk district, Samara province, the son of the local
priest. On January 17, 1929 he was arrested for anti-Soviet agitation, and on
February 17, 1930 was sentenced to ten years in prison. Nothing more is
known about him.

Reader Paul Kuzmich Tatilin was born in 1872 and lived in the village of
Nachalovo, Narimanovsky region, Astrakhan province. On February 28, 1930
he was sentenced to five years imprisonment for “counter-revolutionary
activity”. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Basil Ilyich Kornev was born in 1870 and went to a theological
seminary. He served in the village of Kochkovatka, Kharabalinsky region,
Astrakhan province. On April 12, 1930 he was convicted of “anti-Soviet
agitation” and sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

Semyon Timofeyevich Kalinin was born in 1863 in the village of Apalikha,

Volsk region, Saratov province. On April 21, 1930 he was arrested for
“organizing an anti-Soviet speech among the believers” and for “agitation for
the transfer of a closed church to the believers”. On April 28 he was sentenced
to death, and was shot on the same day in Volsk.

Alexis Afanasyevich Sukhorukov was the warden of the church in the

village of Stariye Uzeli, Korovinsky region (now Buguruslan region),
Orenburg province. He was an honourable, hard-working and very meek
peasant. He was arrested after Holy Pascha in 1930 together with the priest,
deacon and reader of the parish to Kotlas region, Arkhangelsk province. With
them were some dekulakized peasants from the same village. Ten years later,
on returning to the village, they told how the four church servers had been
kept in a separate group, were often interrogated and then “disappeared”.
Alexis Afanasyevich’s relatives received one letter from him asking for some

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warm clothes. They sent a package, but six months later it was sent back.
Nothing more was heard of him…

*
Priest Thomas Konstantinovich Artemyev was born in 1883 and served in
the village of Mordovskoye Adelyakovo, Samara province. He used to give
sermons in which he said that now the Orthodox Church was being
persecuted, but it was necessary to be patient, for it would come to an end
soon. He said that the collective form was violence against the peasants and
the renunciation of Orthodoxy. After his sermon three hundred families left
the collective farm. Fr. Thomas asked his parishioners to help him pay his
taxes. “Otherwise,” he said, “the church of God will be closed.” In 1930 he was
sentenced to death in the village of Sosnovka, Stalinsky region, Samara
province. On January 1, 1931 he was shot.

Priest Michael Mikhailovich Kaminsky was born in 1884 in the village of

Vladimirovka, Samara province. On March 1, 1931, while serving in the village
of K.-Umet, Sergievsky region, Samara district, he was arrested and sentenced
to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Agatha (Fyodorovna Kalinina) was born in 1887 in the village of N.

Burasy, Saratov province. On February 22, 1931 she was arrested in Saratov,
and on May 15 was sentenced to three years’ exile to the north. Nothing more
is known about her.

Demetrius Ivanovich Kamenkov was born in 1871 in the village of

Ogarevka, Atkarsky region, Saratov province, and was a church warden. On
July 13, 1930 he was arrested in Ogarevka for creating a counter-revolutionary
organization and conducting anti-Soviet agitation among the believers. On
March 28, 1931 he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is
known about him.

Monk Hilarion (Porfiryevich Kalinin) was born in 1866 in the village of

Bolezino, Vyatka province, and lived in the village of Kinel-Cherkassy, Samara
district. There, on July 13, 1931, he was arrested, and sentenced to three years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest Sergius Alexandrovich Belov was born in 1874 in Khvalynsk,

Saratov province into the family of a clergyman. He went to a theological
seminary and was serving in Pokrovsk in the Autonomous Volga German
Republic. On January 9, 1931 he was arrested for participating in an anti-Soviet
church organization and on August 31 was sentenced to ten years’
imprisonment. He was sent to Medvezhyegorsk in Karelia, where he died in
1931 from illnesses and over-work.

Priest Alexander Dmitrievich Ivanovsky was born in 1853 and went to a

theological seminary. In 1931 he was arrested in the village of Zamyany,
Yenotayevo region, Astrakhan province. On April 23, 1931 he was convicted of
“anti-Soviet agitation” and sentenced to deprivation of freedom for the period
of his preliminary detention. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Matrona (Polikarpovna Zhulidova) was born in 1884 in the village of

Piterka, Saratov province. On February 22, 1931 she was arrested for anti-
Soviet agitation, and on May 15 she was sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Alexander Vasilyevich Nosov was born in 1892, and was the priest
of the village of Izobilnoye, Sol-Iletsky region, Orenburg province. In 1930 he
was arrested together with other representatives of the clergy and asked to
renounce God in return for freedom and prosperity. He refused. He was cast
into prison. On April 21, 1930 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. In
prison he was tortured for a long time and then killed. His house and property
were all confiscated and his family was thrown out into the world.

Reader Ivan Afanasyevich Kovalev was born in 1870 in Sergievsky khutor,

Berezovsky region, Lower Volga district into a family of Cossack peasants. He
went to the Sergievsky parish school, and served as reader in his native
khutor. On February 22, 1930 he was arrested, and on May 5 was condemned
to death for “counter-revolutionary activity”. On May 15 he was shot in
Stalingrad province.

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Priest Gregory Kondratyevich Denisov was born in 1872 in Pletnev-

Shiryaevsky khutor, Staro-Grigoryevskaya stanitsa, Second Don district. He
was a Russian Cossack. On September 3, 1930 he was arrested in
Kumylzhensky region, Stalingrad province, and on November 3 was
sentenced to death. He was shot on November 20, 1930.

Priest Gabriel Vasilyevich Zakharov was born in 1895 in the village of

Mordovsky Shmalak, Khvalynsk region, Saratov province, and served in the
villages of Kizyatovka and Novaya Lopasteika, Saratov province. On October
9, 1930 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation among the believers”,
although the real reason was that he refused to renounce God. After this the
church in the village was destroyed. On December 9, 1930 Fr. Gabriel was
condemned to death. And on December 13 he was shot in Saratov.

Priest Alexander Ivanovich Kipersky was born in 1886 in the city of

Khvalinsk, Saratov province, and served in the village of Sergeyevka,
Samoilovsky region, Saratov province. On November 16, 1930 he was arrested
in Balandinsky region and accused of creating a kulak-clerical grouping,
undermining enterprises in the village and spreading provocative rumours.
On December 14 he was sentenced to death, and on December 19 he was shot.

Protopriest Matthew Ivanovich Karmanov was born in 1859 in Petrovsk,

Petrovsky uyezd, Saratov province, and served in the cathedral in Khvalynsk,
Saratov province. In 1922 he joined the “Living Church”, but quickly repented.
On August 30, 1929 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”, and on
December 12 was shot in Volsk.

Priest Gregory Vasilyevich Zamkov was born in 1893 in Samara district,

and served in Voskresensky region, Saratov province. On October 7, 1930 he
was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”, and on February 26, 1931 was
sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Demetrius Konstantinovich Klyucharev was born in 1891 in Penza

province, and served in the city of Volsk. On December 12, 1930 he was
arrested in the Voskresensky region of Saratov province for “anti-Soviet

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agitation”, and on February 26, 1931 was sentenced to ten years’

imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Emelian Porfiryevich Efremov was born in 1888, being from the
village of Stary Nekhratov in Kazan province. From 1913 he lived in
monasteries in Jerusalem, Athos and Kiev. Before his arrest he was living in
the khutor of Malga, Petrovsky district, Middle Volga region. He was arrested
by the GPU on January 21, 1931 and charged in accordance with article 58-11
as a participant in a counter-revolutionary organisation. On March 26, 1931 he
was condemned to be shot. The sentence was carried out on April 5, 1931 in
Orenburg.

Monk Nicholas (Stepanovich Kapralov) was born in 1872 in the village of

Atlat, Khvalinsky region, Saratov province. On February 12, 1930 he was
arrested in the village of Krutets, Bazarno-Karabulaksky region, Saratov
province and accused of “anti-Soviet agitation”. On April 4, 1931 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Praskovya Potapovna Ivanova was born in 1875, being from the
village of Makovka, Buzuluk uyezd, Samara area. She was illiterate. Before her
arrest she was living in the village of Pronkino, Sorochinsky district, Middle
Volga region. She was arrested by the OGPU on February 11, 1930, and on
April 27, 1930, on the basis of article 58-11, was sentenced to five years’
deprivation of liberty. Nothing more is known about her.

Peter Semyonovich Zaborovsky was born in the village of Ivanovka,

Turkovsky region, Saratov province, where he also served as church warden.
He was married to Anna Afanasyevna, and had four children. In 1929 he was
arrested together with his brother Timothy. He was sent with him to a camp
in the Urals, where he died in 1931. It is not known what happened to
Timothy. Anna Afanasyevna was also arrested, and given a term of ten years,
but they released her after three years.

Nun Alexandra (Grigoryevna Dozorova) was born in 1873 in Balashov,

Saratov province. On February 13, 1930 she was arrested and accused on anti-

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Soviet agitation among the believers. On June 9, 1930 she was sentenced to
three years’ exile in Siberia.

Priest Alexis Karpovich Yeltsov was born in 1882 and went to a theological
seminary. He was serving in the village of Vyazovka, Chernoyarsky region,
Astrakhan province, when, on November 3, 1930, he was arrested and
condemned for “belonging to a counter-revolutionary organization”. He was
sentenced to death and shot on November 10, 1930.

Basil Vasilyevich Vizgalov was born in 1890 in the village of Vyazovka,

Bazarno-Karabulaksky region, Saratov province. On October 25, 1930 he was
arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation among the population of the village of
Gostevki, Voskresensky region”. On January 1, 1931 he was sentenced to ten
years’ imprisonment. He suffered for the faith.

Alexander Yerofeyevich Kulikov was born in 1877 in the village of

Medyanikovo, Voskresensky region, Lower Volga province. On December 22,
1930 he was arrested for anti-Soviet agitation and links with the priest Orlov.
On January 9, 1931 he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

Priest Gregory Vasilyevich Zamkov was born in Samara uyezd, Samara

province in 1893. He was serving in one of the churches of the Voskresensky
region of Saratov province. On October 7, 1930 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet
agitation”, and on February 26, 1931 was sentenced by a troika of the OGPU to
ten years’ deprivation of liberty.

Theodore Alexeyvich Golovenko, a Ukrainian, was born in 1884 in the

village of Shinshinovka, Pugachev region, Saratov province. On February 27,
1931 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”, and on March 28 was
sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodotus Romanovich Zankin was born in 1870 in the village of Orkino,

Vyzovsky region, Saratov province into a peasant family. He was Mordvinian
and warden of the local church. On February 16, 1930 he was arrested for

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counter-revolutionary organization and anti-Soviet agitation. On March 28 he

was exiled to the north for three years. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Philip (Stepanovich Zhivoderov) was born in 1851 in the village of

Bolshoj Melik, Balashov region, Saratov province. On April 3, 1931 he was
arrested in his native village, and on May 12 was convicted of “anti-Soviet
agitation and the organization of a counter-revolutionary grouping among the
monks of Balashov region”. He was sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Catherine (Kirillovna Zlentsova) was born in 1869 in the village of

Cheryamy Lus, Samara province, and served in the Holy Trinity women’s
monastery in the village of Rakovo. On May 4, 1931 she was arrested and
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Nicholas Ivanovich Zavrazhin was born in 1890 in the village of

Kushum, Pugachev region, Saratov province, and served in Pokrovsk (Engels)
in the German Autonomous Republic. On November 28, 1930 he was arrested
for participation in an anti-Soviet church organization, and on August 31, 1931
was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

Priest Vladimir Konstantinovich Konstantinov was born in 1872 in the

village of Musorka, Kazan province (now Samara province), and served in the
village of Russky Baitugan, Middle Volga region. There, on February 6, 1931,
he was arrested, and sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Basil Andreyevich Shumov was born in 1890 in the village of N-

Ozernovo, Pokrovsky district, Middle Volga region. He served in the local
church. In 1931 he was arrested on the basis of article 58-10, and on September
16, 1931 he was sentenced to three years deprivation of liberty. He had a wife
Tatyana, six sons and one daughter.

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Antonina Pavlovna Azarova, who was born in 1910, recounts that from the
age of 16 she used to chant in the choir of the church in the village of
Petrovskoye. There Priest Victor worked hard and brought the church into a
flourishing condition. The deacon was Fr. Paul (perhaps Zhernikov, born 1890,
repressed in 1932), and the choir master was Philip Arsenyevich. It was a
terrible time, there was shooting day and night. Philip Arsenyevich was forced
to leave. Red army men surrounded the church, they shot over the heads of
the terrified congregation. “Whoever comes near the church,” they said, “will
get a bullet in the head!” They mocked and bound Fr. Victor and Fr. Paul, who
were dragged off somewhere and never seen again. Fr. Victor’s matushka
Natalya and her two children (one son had just died) lived for a time with the
church warden. Then someone took them away.

Priest Sergius Alexandrovich Belov. He was born in 1874 in Khvalynsk,

Saratov province, in the family of a clergyman. He went to a theological
seminary and was ordained to the priesthood, serving in the churches of the
Exaltatation and the Annunciation in Pokrovsk. On January 9, 1931 he was
arrested for being “an active participant in the Saratov branch of the counter-
revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and on August 31 was sentenced to ten years’ exile and sent to the White Sea –
Baltic Canal, where he died in the same year.

Priest Semyon Kharitonovich Bondarenko. He was born in 1876 in the

village of Sandat, Medvezh uyezd, Stavropol province, and served in the
village of Peschanovka, Rtischev region. On February 27, 1932 he was arrested
for being “an active participant in the Saratov branch of the counter-
revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and on September 21 was sentenced to three years’ exile and was sent to
Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Theodore Fyodorovich Drozdov. He was born in 1883 in the village

of Andreyevskoye, Serdobol uyezd, Saratov province, and served in the
Kazan church in the village of Bazarny, Volsk district. On February 7, 1930 he
was arrested for being “an active participant in the Saratov branch of the
counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on April 2 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to
the White Sea – Baltic Canal. On November 10, 1930 he was arrested again,
sentenced to death and on December 9 – shot in Sandarmokh.

Monk Philip (Stepanovich Zhivoderov). He was born in 1851 in the village

of Bolshoy Melik, Saratov province, and in the 1920s was in the Balashev
region. On April 3, 1931 he was arrested in connection with the Balashev cell
of the Saratov branch of the True Orthodox Church. On May 12 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north.

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Hieromonk Hilarion, in the world Ivan Alexeyevich Ovinov. He was born

in 1880 in the village of Sukhaya Rechka, Buzuluk uyezd, Orenburg province.
In 1907 he was tonsured, and was later ordained to the priesthood, serving in a
monastery in Samara province. From 1910 he was serving in the Nikolayevsky
monastery in Samara, from 1917 – in a village parish, from 1918 – again in the
Nikolayevsky monastery, and from 1920 was spiritual father of the Iveron
women’s monastery. After its closure he continued serving in its church. In
1930 he was arrested for being “a participant in the Samara branch of the
counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and was sentenced to three years’ exile and was sent to the north. In
the middle of the 1930s, after his release from exile, he returned to Samara. On
September 29, 1937 he was arrested, and on December 21 was sentenced to
death. On January 16, 1938 he was shot.

Priest Michael Dmitrievich Adushev. He was born in 1882 in the village of

Baitermish, Buguruslan uyezd, Samara province. In the 1920s he was serving
in his native village. On February 12, 1930 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist
church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on May 13 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp in Kotlas, Arkhangelsk
province. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Fyodorovich Antonov. He was born in the 1880s in the

village of Perekopnoye, Samara province, and served in the church of the
village of Kvasnikovo. On December 20, 1930 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist
church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on August 31, 1931 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. On October 31, 1937 he
was arrested again. On December 9 he was sentenced to death, and on
December 11 he was shot.

Priest Xenophon Alexandrovich Arkhangelsky. He was born in 1878 in the

village of Kurumoch, Samara province, and served in the cathedral church of
Samara. On February 24, 1923 he was arrested, but on August 3 he was
released and his case was shelved because of lack of evidence of a crime. He
then served in the church of SS. Peter and Paul. On December 11, 1928 he was
arrested again, and on March 29 he was released but forbidden to live in six
cities for three years. In 1931 he returned to Samara, and on December 3 he
was arrested for being “a participant in the Samara branch of the counter-
revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”.
On April 13, 1932 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps and was sent to a
camp, where he died.

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Priest James Sidorovich Astrakhansky. He was born in 1870 in Samara

province, and served in a church in Samara. In October, 1931 he was arrested
for being “a participant in the Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary
monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on April 12,
1932 was sentenced to five years in the camps. This sentenced was commuted
to exile for the same period, and he was sent to the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Leonid Petrovich Bushuyev. He was born in 1894 in the village of

Voskresenka, Samara province, and served in his native village. On January
29, 1930 he was arrested for being “a participant in the Samara branch of the
counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on February 16 was sentenced to eight years in the camps and
sent to the White Sea – Baltic Canal. In 1937 he was arrested again in camp, on
September 20 was sentenced to death, and on October 4 was shot.

Priest Ivan Ivanovich Vinogradov. He was born in 1887 in the village of

Rykovo, Orenburg province, and served in a church in Samara. In October,
1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in the Samara branch of the
counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on April 13, 1931 (1932?) was sentenced to three years in the
camps and was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Ivanovich Golubev. He was born in 1883 in Samara province,

and served in a church in Samara. In October, 1931 he was arrested for being
“a participant in the Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist
church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on April 13, 1931
(1932?) was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Alexandrovich Dokukin. He was born in 1867 in the

village of Sorochinskoye, Orenburg province, and served in a church in
Samara. On October 10, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization,
the True Orthodox Church”, and on April 13, 1932 was sentenced to five years
in the camps, which was commuted to exile for the same period in
Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Arcadius Spiridonovich Klyucharev. He was born in 1877 in

Samara, and served in a church in Samara. In October, 1931 he was arrested
for being “a participant in the Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary
monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on April 13,
1932 was sentenced to five years in the camps, commuted to exile for the same
period, and was sent to the north. In the autumn of 1934 he was released and
returned to Samara, where he lived without fixed occupation. In the autumn

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of 1937 he was arrested. On December 21 he was sentenced to death, and on

January 15, 1938 he was shot.

Priest Demetrius Vasilyevich Kozhevnikov. He was born in 1882 in

Samara, and served in a church in Samara. In October, 1931 he was arrested
for being “a participant in the Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary
monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on April 13,
1932 he was sentenced to five years in the camps, commuted to exile for the
same period, and was sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Benjamin Ivanovich Nemertsanov. He was born in 1871 in the

village of Andreyevo, Samara province, and served in a church in Samara. On
November 23, 1930 he was arrested, but was released on January 26, 1931. In
the autumn of 1932 (1931?) he was arrested for being “a participant in the
Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization,
the True Orthodox Church”, and on April 13 he was sentenced to five years’
exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Alexeyevich Nikiforov. He was born in 1869 in Samara

province, and served in a church in Samara. In October, 1931 he was arrested
for being “a participant in the Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary
monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on April 13,
1932 he was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Gregory Stepanovich Petrov. He was born in 1887 in Samara

province, and served in a church in Samara. In October, 1931 he was arrested
in connection with the Samara branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on
April 13, 1932 he was sentenced to five years in the camps, commuted to exile
for the same period, and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Ivanovich Razumovsky. He was born in 1885 in the

village of Dergunovka, Samara province, and served in a church in Samara.
On November 20, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in the Samara
branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True
Orthodox Church”, and was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to
a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Konstantinovich Smirnov. He was born in 1880 in the

village of Kormaly-Ivanovka, Orenburg province, and served in a church in
Samara. On November 10, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization,
the True Orthodox Church”, and on April 13, 1932 was sentenced to three
years in the camps and sent to a camp. In 1935 he was released and returned
to Samara. On November 30, 1937 he was arrested, and on December 21 was
sentenced to death. On January 14, 1938 he was shot.

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Priest Alexander Nikolayevich Scherbakov. He was born in 1876 in the

village of Kurnayevka, Saratov province, and served in a church in Samara. In
October, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in the Samara branch of
the counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on April 13, 1932 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to
Central Asia. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Vladimir Dormidontovich Chernozatonsky. He was born in 1876 in

the village of Kurnayevka, Saratov province, and served in a church in
Samara. On November 23, 1930 he was arrested, and on January 26, 1931 was
released from prison. On November 10, 1931 he was arrested again for being
“a participant in the Samara branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist
church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on April 13, 1932 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Central Asia. Nothing more is
known about him.

Monk Matthew (Yegorovich Pelevtsev). He was born in 1864 in the village

of Ivanovka, Samara province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In the 1920s he was living in Samara. On November 10,
1931 he was arrested in connection with the Samara branch of the True
Orthodox Church, and on April 13, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile
and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Maria (Ivanovna Sizonenko). She was born in 1883 in the village of
Chernovka, Samara province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In the 1920s she was living in Samara. On November
10, 1931 she was arrested in connection with the Samara branch of the True
Orthodox Church, and on April 13, 1932 she was sentenced to three years’
exile and sent to Central Asia. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Alexandra (Dmitrievna Ponormova). She was born in 1870 in the

village of Gorodok, Samara province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In the 1920s she was living in Samara. On November 10
she was arrested in connection with the Samara branch of the True Orthodox
Church, and on April 13, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent
to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Praskovya (Petrovna Nikiforova). She was born in 1905 in Samara,

and received an elementary education. In the 1920s she was living in Samara.
On November 10, 1931 she was arrested in connection with the case of the
Samara branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on April 13, 1932 was
sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Maria (Alexeyevna Zhmakina). She was born in 1898 in the village of
Beresta, Saratov province into a peasant family, and received an elementary

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education. In the 1920s she was living in Samara. On October 8, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the Samara branch of the counter-
revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and on April 13, 1932 she was sentenced to five years in the camps and was
sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

The following were convicted in “The Case of a Group of Clergy and Laity
of Samara province, Syzran uyezd, 1931”:

Hieromonk Joachim Semyonovich Savenkov. He was born in September,

1897 in the village of Nadezhdino, Syzran uyezd, Simbirsk province into a
peasant family. He went to a church-parish school. From 1921 to 1924 he
served in the Red Army. He had a son and a daughter. On May 18, 1930
Metropolitan Seraphim ordained him as a hieromonk, and he went to serve in
the village of Bogorodskoye, Dukhovnitsky region, Pugachevsky district. In
August, 1930 he was transferred to the jurisdiction of Bishop Augustine, who
sent him to the village of Chekalino, Syzran region. On December 27 he was
arrested and cast into Syzran Domzak. On October 28, 1931 he was
condemned for being “an active assistant of the church-mercantile-monarchist
organization, ‘The Trues’,” and for “having close links with the Kazan
community, and also with the mercantile element in Syzran”. He refused to
recognize his guilt. In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was
sentenced to three years in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Andrew Alexandrovich Pokrovsky. He was born in 1879 in Syzran,

Simbirsk province into a merchant’s family. His father was a salesman. In 1900
he finished his studies at Simbirsk theological seminary, and began teaching at
the church-parish school in the village of Sosnovo-Solonetskoye. In 1903 he
was ordained to the priesthood, and went to serve in the village of Novinki,
Syrzan uyezd. In 1914 he was transferred to the village of Verknyaya Maza,
Syzran uyezd, and in 1918 – to the church of St. Elijah in Syzran. He had a wife
(who died before 1931) and a son and daughter. In 1923 he was imprisoned for
a short time in Syzran, and again in 1924. In 1930 the St. Elijah church was
closed, and he was transferred to the Kazan cathedral in Syzran. On December
24, 1930 he was arrested and cast into the Syzran Domzak. The indictment
concluded: “He conducted an irreconcilable struggle against the recognition of
Soviet power and the ‘declaration’ of Metropolitan Sergius, and together with
[Bishop] A. Belyaev took an active part in the formation of the core of the
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’, visiting his flat and being one
of those who put his ideas into action”. He refused to recognize his guilt. On
October 28, 1931 he was convicted by the OGPU of “being an active member
of, and being in the ruling centre of, the church-mercenary-monarchist
organization, ‘The Trues’, one of the pillars of Tikhonism”. In accordance with
articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years in the camps,

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considering his term to begin from February 21, 1931. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Basil Fyodorovich Pokrovsky was born in 1885 or 1886 in the village
of Beketovka, Korsun uyezd, Simbirsk province into the family of a priest. He
finished his studies at Simbirsk theological seminary in 1907, and became a
teacher. Then, in 1911 he became a priest in the village of N. Ekakli, Simbirsk
province. He was married, and had a son and daughter. In 1924 he was
transferred to the village of Dolzhnikovo, and was arrested in the same year,
but was soon released. In 1926 he was transferred to the village of Zhidovka,
and then, in December – to the women’s monastery in the village of Kostyuki.
In 1928 he was again arrested, and again soon released. In August, 1928 he was
transferred to the Transfiguration church in Syzran. In 1929 he was arrested
and cast into the Domzak in Syzran, but was soon released. On February 21,
1931 he was arrested in Syzran and again cast into the Domzak. The
indictment concluded: “He visited the flat of the leader of the counter-
revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’, Bishop Augustine (Belyaev), and was
acquainted with Nilus’ book, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, on the basis
of whose data he with other members of the organization conducted anti-
Soviet propaganda. In services he commemorated the reposed Tsars
Alexander II and Alexander III.” He refused to admit that he was guilty of
counter-revolutionary activity or participating in a counter-revolutionary
organization. On October 28, 1931 he was convicted by the OGPU of “being an
active member of, and being in the ruling centre of, the church-mercenary-
monarchist organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]”. In
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years in
the camps, considering his term to begin from February 21, 1931. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Iosifovich Suldin. He was born in 1880 in the village of

Ardatovo, Simbirsk province in a peasant family. He went to Simbirsk
theological seminary, after which, in 1902, he was ordained to the priesthood.
He served in the villages of Tomyshevo and Novoye Tomyshevo, Simbirsk
province from 1902, and from 1917 – only in Tomyshevo. In March, 1920 he
was transferred to the church of St. Elijah in Syzran. From 1923 he was
regularly arrested and acquitted. After the closure of the St. Elijah church in
November, 1930 he did not serve anywhere. At the time of his arrest on
February 21, 1931 he was a widower with four sons and two daughters. He
was cast into the Domzak in Syzran. The indictment against him read: “He
was the founder of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’, in
Syzran. He waged an irreconcilable war against the recognition of Soviet
power and the Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, defending the bases of the
former tsarist authority”. He refused to admit that he was guilty. On October
28 he was convicted of “anti-Soviet activity, of being an active member of the
ruling core of the church-mercantile-monarchist counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’, of being one of the pillars of Tikhonitism and a

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virulent enemy of Soviet power and all its enterprises”. In accordance with
articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years in the camps. In 1933
he was again condemned for “anti-Soviet activity” and was exiled. On
returning from exile in 1937, he lived “without definite occupation” in Samara
(Kuibyshev). On November 30, 1937 he was arrested in Samara and cast into
the barracks of the correctional labour facility. He was accused of
“participation in an underground counter-revolutionary church-sectarian
organization”, and on December 21 was sentenced to be shot. This was part of
“The Case of Archbishop Alexander (Trapitsyn) and others, Samara, 1938”.
The sentence was carried out in Samara on January 14, 1938.

Priest James Ivanovich Nikolsky. He was born in 1876 in the village of

Batraki, Syzran uyezd, Samara province into the family of a priest. He finished
his studies at Samara theological seminary, and in 1919 began to serve as a
priest in the villages of Kanadel, Syzran uyezd, and Abaydulino,
Sengileyevsky uyezd, Simbirsk province. In 1921 he was transferred to the
church of SS. Peter and Paul, Syzran. In 1922 he was arrested in Syzran and
cast into prison for two weeks, after which he was released. In 1923 he was
arrested again in Syzran, and this time was held for one month. In 1924 he was
arrested for a third time, was put into prison for four months, but was then
acquitted and released. He continued serving in the church of SS. Peter and
Paul, and from 1930 – in the Kazan cathedral in Syzran. He was married to
Sophia Pavlovna (born 1881) and had a son. On February 21, 1931 he was
arrested in Syzran, and was cast into the Syzran Domzak. On October 28, 1931
he was convicted of “counter-revolutionary agitation, of being an active
member of the leading core of the church-mercenary-monarchist organization,
‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’, one of the pillars of Tikhonitism, an
irreconcilable warrior against Soviet power and the declaration of
Metropolitan Sergius”. In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was
sentenced to three years’ exile to the north. He refused to recognize his guilt.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Constantine Andreyevich Magayev. He was born in 1896 in the

village of Otovozero, Olonets province, and served in the village of Staroye
Baytermishevo, Klyavlinsky region, Samara district. On February 27, 1931 he
was arrested, accused of “participation in the church-monarchist counter-
revolutionary organization ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’ and
sentenced to three years in the camps in accordance with article 58-10. Nothing
more is known about him.

Deacon Boris Alexandrovich Semyonov. He was born in 1900 in St.

Petersburg into the family of the typesetter of the journal Niva. Until 1916
(1918?) he studied in a technical school attached to the Gosznak factory, and
then until 1920 he worked in this factory. In 1920 his family moved to
Moscow, where he began to work as a clerk. Then he was laid off and from
1923 to 1926 studied in a technical institute for nursery gardening. In 1922 he

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began to serve in the church of the Holy Archangel Michael on Pirogov street,
becoming a subdeacon and cell-attendant of Bishop Augustine. When
Vladyka was exiled to Central Asia, he followed him, helping the bishop
during services and working in the fruit gardens in Pedzhikent. When the
bishop moved to Syzran, Boris went too. Apart from helping in services, he
carried out various assignments, including taking letters from Vladyka to
Metropolitan Sergius. In December, 1930 Bishop Augustine ordained him to
the diaconate. On being arrested, Fr. Boris was cast into Syzran Domzak. At
the trial he witnessed: “In my conviction, Soviet power is at the present time
restricting the servants of the religious cult… The clergy are being loaded
with insupportable taxes which they cannot pay… Collectivization is
acceptable for an Orthodox Christian only if it does not damage his religious
convictions, that is, if collectivization does not pursue the aim of the
persecution of religion.” Fr. Boris was sent to a camp near Lodeinoye Polye,
Svirlag, Leningrad province. He was parted from the archbishop, who was
sent to another camp also near Lodeinoye Polye. There he died at the
beginning of the 1930s.

Nun Luceria Yefimovna Mankova. She was born in 1888. She was arrested
in September, 1931 and convicted, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 59-11,
of belonging to “the church-monarchist counter-revolutionary organization,
‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]”. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Stepanida (Sergeyevna Kshnyaseva). She was born on November 11,

1878 in the village of Nizhnee Nikolskoye, Pokrovsky region, Orenburg
district. She was illiterate. She entered the Pokrovsky women’s monastery in
Plokrovsky region, Orenburg province in 1905, leaving it in 1928. On
November 20, 1930 she was arrested in her native village and cast into the
Orenburg domzak. On March 26, 1931 she was convicted of “participation in
the counter-revolutionary church organization, ‘The Trues’”, and sentenced to
five years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7.
Nothing more is known about her.

Alexander Antonovich Medem. He was born in 1877 (or 1870) in the city of
Mitava, now Elgava in Latvia. His father was Count Otto (Anton)
Ludwigovich Medem, a Lutheran, a senator, a member of the State Council,
who had many important government posts, in particular the governorship of
Novgorod. He went to the Novgorod gymnasium, and then to the juridical
faculty of St. Petersburg university, from which he graduated in 1897.
However, he was not much interested in the law, and occupied himself rather
on his estate in Khvalynsky uyezd, Saratov province. He sold several pieces of
land that he had received from his father to his peasants at very low prices. In
1901 he married Maria Fyodorovna Cherkova, from whom he had a son and
three daughters. (After the revolution his son emigrated to Germany, while
one of his daughters was shot in 1938.) Until 1918 he administered the estate of
his father, and after the confiscation of the estate he rented as much of it as he

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could in order to work it himself. When the Civil War began, Alexander
Antonovich and his two brothers agreed that they would not raise their hands
against their own people and would take no part in it. In 1918 he was arrested
by the Bolsheviks and was sentenced to death. However, on the eve of
execution he was allowed home to say goodbye to his relatives. He was
intending to return to the prison by morning, but the Bolsheviks were thrust
out of the city by the Whites, and the sentence was never carried out. In the
summer of 1919 he was arrested again. On returning from prison he said that
he “had never prayed so well as in prison, where death can knock on the door
at night, and nobody knows whose turn is next”. He was arrested for a third
time in the summer of 1923. He was released at the end of October and
returned home. His spiritual father at this time was Hieromonk Niphon
(Vyblov). Arrests and deprivations hardened his soul and strengthened his
faith. He wrote to his son: “Only the belief that everything does not end here
with our earthly existence gives us the strength not to hold on to our
insignificant life at all cost and for its sake descend to the depths of meanness,
baseness and humiliation. Only a man of deep and sincere faith can be really
free. Dependence on the Lord God is the only dependence that does not
humiliate a man does not turn him into a pitiful slave, but on the contrary
exalts him… Believe firmly, without wavering, pray always ardently and with
faith that the Lord will hear you. Fear nothing on earth except the Lord God
and your conscience that is ruled by him. Take no account of anything else.”
Because of illness Alexander Antonovich was forced to stop work. But he
never worked in any Soviet institution. In 1925 his wife, Maria Fyodorovna,
wrote to her son about his father: “In these years he has grown morally to an
unusual degree. I have never in my life seen such faith, such peace and
calmness of soul, such true freedom and strength of spirit. This is not only my
opinion, which could be biased. Everybody sees it. And by this we live –
nothing else. For the very fact we exist as a family in this way, having nothing
except hope on the Lord God, proves it.” Alexander Antonovich was an
opponent of the renovationists. From a letter to his children: “The pressure on
the Church, which at one time was weakening, has again increased.
Metropolitan Peter is in prison. In the Caucasus they are taking away the last
churches and giving them to the ‘livers’ – those servants of the Antichrist… So
far it is quiet with us… But this will probably reach us, too. In that case, of
course, I will be the first to fall. I don’t fear this in the slightest, the will of God
is over all. We are doing our work, and of course, if it is destined that we shed
our blood, it will not be shed in vain… I bless you, my boy, to live. Live
simply, honourably, in a godly manner. Never give in to depression.” On May
4, 1929 Alexander Antonovich was arrested and cast into Saratov prison. He
was sentenced by the OGPU to exile and deprivation of the right to live in six
major cities of the USSR. At the moment of his release from prison in May,
Alexander Antonovich became a widower, and he went into exile in Syzran
with his daughters. On December 11, 1930, when he was seriously ill, he was
arrested again for “participation in the counter-revolutionary church-
monarchist organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’ in Syzran”.

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During interrogation he categorically refused to name those whom he knew in

Syzran. He was cast into the Domzak in Syzran, where his tuberculosis of the
lungs sharply deteriorated. He was transferred to the prison hospital, where
on April 1, 1931 he died. His daughters, meanwhile, had been trying to see
their father. They were told they could see him the next day, but when they
came they were told that their father had been buried the previous day – but
were not told where. On April 3 the case against the deceased was terminated.

Ivan Yegorovich Yevstigneyev. He was born on August 19, 1883 in the

village of Zaborovka, Syzran uyezd into a peasant family. He went to a village
school and was a trader. In 1929 he was deprived of the right to trade and
became a metal-workers. He was a parishioner at the Kazan cathedral in
Syzran. He was married to Catherine Ivanovna (born 1885) and had a son and
three daughters. On February 21, 1931 he was arrested and cast into the
Domzak in Syzran. On October 28 he was convicted of “being an active
member and in the ruling core of the counter-revolutionary church-mercantile-
monarchist organization, ‘The Trues’, in Syzran”. In accordance with articles
58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years in the camps. He refused to
recognize his guilt. Nothing more is known about him.

Reader Ivan Vasilyevich Klubnichkin. He was born on March 23, 1890 in

the village of Panshino, Syzran uyezd, Simbirsk province. He went to the
village school, and was a tailor. In 1928 he became the reader in a church in the
Syzran region. He was also the church warden. On May 30, 1931 he was
arrested and cast into Syzran domzak for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary church-monarchist organization” and for “preparing a
rebellious mood in the masses of believers”. On October 28 he was sentenced
to three years’ exile in the north in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11.
Nothing more is known about him.

Reader Joseph Yefimovich Lopotkov. He was born in 1870 in the village of

Bariukovo, Volsky region, Saratov province. He was a reader in the village of
Vasilyevka, Petrovsky region, Middle Volga district. He was arrested for
“participation in the counter-revolutionary organization ‘’the Trues [True
Orthodox Christians?]’”. Nothing more is known about him.

Reader Michael Fyodorovich Ladanin. He was born in 1870 in the village

of Novoye-Arkhangelovka (or Arkhipovka), Sharlyksky region, Orenburg
district, in the Middle Volga region. He was a reader who had been deprived
of his civil rights. On March 26, 1931 he was condemned by the OGPU for
“participation in the counter-revolutionary organization ‘the Trues [True
Orthodox Christians?]’”, and sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about him.

Ivan Kupriyanovich Konstantinov. He was born in 1903 in Syzran. Until

1917 he did not work, being an invalid. From 1929 he worked selling candles

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in the Kazan cathedral in Syzran. On February 21, 1931 he was arrested and
cast into the Syzran domzak for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary church-monarchist organization and preparing a rebellious
mood in the masses of believers”. On October 28, 1931 he was sentenced to
three years’ exile in the north in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11.

Michael Andreyevich Lyabin. He was born in November, 1888 in the

second Saratovsky poselok, Sharlyksky region, Middle Volga region into a
peasant family. He finished his studies at a village school. When the region
was occupied by the Whites in 1918-19 he helped them with animals, bread,
etc. He lived in the village of Pletnevka, Sharlyksky region, and had a wife,
Eudocia (born 1890), and had three sons and a daughter. He was arrested for
the first time in March, 1930 and was sentenced to the confiscation of two
horses in accordance with article 61. On November 3, 1930 he was arrested
again and accused of “participation in the counter-revolutionary organization
‘the Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’”, and sentenced to five years in the
camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing more is
known about him.

Michael Petrovich Rasskazov. He was born in 1873 in the village of

Lipovka in the Lower Volga region into a peasant family. In 1885 he finished
his studies at the village school of Lipovka. He was married to Lyubov
Fyodorovna (born 1873) and had two sons and two daughters. In 1930 he was
working as a hired labourer. On December 11, 1930 he was arrested in Syzran
and cast into Syzran Domzak. On October 28, 1931 he was given an unknown
sentence in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known
about him.

Theodore Pavlovich Zhegalov. He was born in 1883 or 1873 in the village

of Chekalino, Syzran uyezd, Samara province into a peasant family. Before
1914 he worked as a peasant and had a grocery stall. During the First World
War he served in the tsarist army. In 1918, during the retreat of the Whites, he
went with them to Krasnoyarsk and lived there until 1921. In 1922 he was on
invalidity pension. In the 1920s he was deprived of his civil rights, and was a
member of the church council of the Ascension church in Syzran. In 1927, and
again in 1928, he was arrested and cast into Syzran Domzak, but was soon
released. In 1928 he was elected by a district deanery meeting to go to Moscow
“about a bishop”. In Moscow he met Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky).
From 1929 he worked as a nightwatchman. He was married to Praskovya
Mikhailovna (born 1882), and had two daughters and a son. On February 21,
1931 he was arrested and cast into Syzran Domzak. On October 28 he was
convicted of “being an active member and in the ruling core of the church-
mercantile-monarchist organization, ‘The Trues’”. In accordance with articles
58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing
more is known about him.

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Michael Vasilyevich Yermakov. He was born in 1879 in the village of

Goryushka, Syzran uyezd, Simbirsk province, into a peasant family. He went
to the village school. From June, 1904 to 1917 he served as a policeman in
Kaluga, Protopopovo, Temkino. During the Civil War he retreated with the
Whites to Irkutsk, but returned in 1920. In 1920 he was in prison for two weeks
for “travelling without a ticket”, then until March, 1921 he worked in a
concentration camp in Syzran. Then he was a trader and a carpenter. He was
married to Anna, and had a son. On April 2, 1931 he was arrested in Syzran,
and cast into the GPU prison. One October 28 he was convicted of being “an
active member and in the ruling core of the counter-revolutionary church-
mercantile-monarchist organization, ‘The Trues’”, of “having close links with
the trading element in Syzran” and of “conducting conversations on the
speedy fall of Soviet power. “He was well acquainted with Nilus’ book, The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and on the basis of it conducted agitation”. In
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 he was sentenced to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Andrew Andreyevich Lyabin. He was born in August, 1893 in the second

Saratovsky poselok, Sharlyksky region, Middle Volga region into a peasant
family. When the region was occupied by the Whites in 1918-19 he helped
them with animals, bread, etc. He lived in the village of Pletnevka, Sharlyksky
region, and had a wife, Stepanida, two sons and three daughters. On
November 3, 1930 he was arrested and accused of “participation in the
counter-revolutionary organization ‘the Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’, of
having links with the kulaks and of breaking up a meeting on the sowing
campaign. He was sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with
articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Terentyevich Golovkin. He was born in 1883 in the village of

Vladimirovka, Ivanovsky region, and went to a church-parish school. He was
married to Tatyana Georgievna and lived in Samara. On January 1, 1931 he
was arrested in Pakurlevsky khutor, Petrovsky region, and was cast into
Samara Domzak. On January 1, 1931 he was arrested and cast into Samara
Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted of “being the organizer and one
of the leaders of the Samaran city cell of the counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’, maintaining links with the centre”. In accordance
with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to death. On March 31 at
22.20 he was shot.

Gregory Victorovich Petrov was born in January, 1883 in the village of

Ushakovka, Syzran uyezd, Simbirsk province into a peasant family. He went
to a village school. Until the revolution he worked as a stoker. In 1930 he was
working as a soap-maker. He had a wife, Natalya Petrovna (born 1878), three
sons and a daughter. On February 21, 1931 he was arrested in Syzran and cast
into the Domzak in Syzran. On October 28 he was convicted by the OGPU in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 of “being a participant in a counter-

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revolutionary church-monarchist organization which was preparing a

rebellious mood in the mass of believers”. He refused to recognize his guilt.
He was released under guard, and deprived of the right to live in twelve
places, and confined to one place of residence, for three years. Nothing more
is known about him.

Ivan Alexeyevich Razin was born in 1872 in Syzran. Until 1930 he was
engaged in agricultural work and trade. On February 21, 1931 he was arrested
in Zhareny Bugor, Samara province, and cast into the Domzak in Syzran. On
October 28 he was convicted by the OGPU in accordance with articles 58-10
and 58-11 of “being a participant in a counter-revolutionary church-
monarchist organization which was preparing a rebellious mood in the mass
of believers”. He refused to recognize his guilt. He was released under guard,
and deprived of the right to live in twelve places, and confined to one place of
residence, for three years. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Martynovich Pelyavin was born in January, 1862 in Syzran, Simbirsk

province. He was a director of a bank, and then from 1919 to 1922 worked as a
cashier. From 1922 to the day of this arrest he was unemployed. On February
2, 1931 he was arrested for “being a participant in a counter-revolutionary
church-monarchist organization which was preparing a rebellious mood in
the mass of believers”, and cast into the Domzak in Syzran. On October 28,
1931 he was released under guard, and deprived of the right to live in twelve
places, and confined to one place of residence, for three years. Nothing more
is known about him.

Priest Ivan Andreyevich Ivanov was born in 1900, and went to a

theological seminary. He served in the village of Fedorovka, Yenotayevsky
region, Astrakhan province, where he was arrested in 1931. On April 4 he was
sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for “anti-Soviet agitation”. Nothing
more is known about him.

Monk Alexander (Mitrofanovich Naumov) was born in 1888 in the village

of N. Lomov, Saratov province. At the moment of his arrest, on April 2, 1932,
he had no fixed abode (the monasteries had been closed). On September 21 he
was convicted by the OGPU of being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary grouping, The True Orthodox Christians”. He was sentenced to
three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Sergius (Matveyevich Loginov) was born in 1877 in the village of

Samodurovka, Cherkassky region, Saratov province. In March, 1933 he was
arrested in Balandinsky region, Saratov province. On September 21, 1932 the

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OGPU condemned him for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary

group of True Orthodox Christians”, and he was sentenced to three years’
exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Nina (Grigoryevna Barinova) was born in 1895 in the village of

Bolshaya Kamenka, Samara uyezd, Samara province. On January 3, 1931 she
was arrested and put in the Butyrki prison in Moscow. On February 5 she was
sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for “participation in the anti-Soviet
illegal organization’ True Orthodoxy’”.

Ivan Stepanovich Panin was born in 1903 in the village of Shklovo,

Balandinsk region, Saratov province. On March 13, 1932 he was arrested, and
on September 21 he was convicted by the OGPU of being “a participant in the
counter-revolutionary grouping, The True Orthodox Christians”. He was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Andrew Nazarovich Danyshin was born in 1895 in the village of Turki

(Bolshiye Turki), Balashovsky uyezd, Saratov province. On March 13, 1932 he
was arrested and accused of “participation in a counter-revolutionary group of
True Orthodox Christians”. On September 21 he was sentenced by the OGPU
to three years exile in the northern regions.

Olga Isayevna Gromovenko was born in Talovka sloboda, Atkarsky uyezd,

Saratov province. On March 13, 1932 she was arrested and accused of
“participation in a counter-revolutionary group of True Orthodox Christians”.
On September 21 she was sentenced by the OGPU to three years’ exile in the
north.

Praskovya Yakovlevna Korniyenko was born in 1870 in Talovka sloboda,

Aktarsky uyezd, Saratov province. On February 13, 1932 she was arrested and
accused of “leading a counter-revolutionary group of True Orthodox
Christians of Talovka”. She was condemned to deprivation of the right to live
in a series of populated areas.

The following were convicted in “The Case of the Samara ‘churchmen’,

1932”:

Priest Ivan Ivanovich Golubev. He was born in 1883 or 1882 in Namangan,

Fergan province. He graduated from Kazan Theological Academy and took
one course at the medical faculty of Samara State University. Then, until 1917,
he became an inspector and teacher at the Minsk-Pinsk theological school in
Pinsk. In 1922 he became rector of the Dormition church in Samara. In 1930 he
moved to his home city, where, on May 25, 1931 he was arrested. He was cast
into prison in Samara. On November 8, 1931 he was condemned to five years

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in the camps, and on April 13, by another court, to ten years in accordance
with articles 58-10 and 58-11 for being “the leader of a church-monarchist
organization in Samara”. He was accused of “creating, in the period 1927-28,
in Samara a church-monarchist organization with a platform of non-
recognition of Soviet power as being an atheist power. Thus he directed this
organization until April, 1930 when he went into hiding away from Samara.
The activists of the organization included churchmen of the Dormition church.
He took part in the creating and distributing of anti-Soviet propaganda.” He
was sent under convoy to Siblag in Novosibirsk province. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nun Barbara (Vasilyevna Tsaplina). She was born in 1889 or 1888 in Samara
into a peasant family. She became a nun in the Samara Iveron monastery until
1917. From 1914 to 1917 she worked as a cleaner in a field hospital. From 1917
to 1924 she worked in a factory manufacturing uniforms for the Red Army.
She visited the Trinity and Ascension churches until their closure, “then right
up to her arrest began to go to the Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya church”. On
November 9, 1931 she was arrested and cast into Samara isolator. On April 13,
1932 she was convicted of “being a member of a counter-revolutionary church-
monarchist organization in Samara”. “She joined an organizational group that
illegally collected aid for church exiles. She carried this out while conducting
provocative agitation to the effect that the money was being collected for
‘martyrs’ of the kingdom of the Antichrist.” In accordance with articles 58-10
and 58-11, she was sentenced to three years in the camps, and was sent under
escort to Vishlag in Perm province. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Anastasia (Prokofyevna Chernikova). She was born in 1876 or 1875 in

the village of Logachevka, Buzuluk uyezd, Samara province. From 1914 to
1917 she worked in a field hospital in Samara. From 1917 she worked for hire.
On November 9, 1931 she was arrested and cast into Samara isolator. On April
13, 1932 she was convicted of “being a member of a counter-revolutionary
church-monarchist organization in Samara”. She was accused that she “shared
and propagandized among the believers of the city churches the counter-
revolutionary platform of the organization on the non-recognition of Soviet
power, and spread provocative rumours about persecution against religion”.
In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 she was sentenced to three years’
exile to Western Siberia under convoy. She was sent to Narym region. Nothing
more is known about her.

Novice Maria (Alexeyevna Zhmakina). She was born in July, 1898 in the
village of Perelyub, Pugachev uyezd, Lower Volga region. She was the
daughter of the priest, Fr. Alexis Alexandrovich Zhmakin. In October, 1918 she
was arrested together with her father for “participation in an uprising” and
cast into prison in Samara. After spending a month there, she was acquitted at
the trial. In the same year she entered the faculty of natural science in Samara
University, but was forced to leave after three months because of illness. From

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1919 to 1920 she “was mentally ill” and was in hospital. The doctor said that
she “suffers from vividly expressed schizophrenia”. In 1924 she became a
novice in the Diveyevo monastery. In 1925 she left and in March, 1926 went to
work as a teacher in Vertyanovo, Arzamas uyezd. She was sacked from this
post because she conducted religious propaganda in the school. Then she went
round the monasteries, mainly Diveyevo. In her native village she, together
with her father, organized a circle for young people called “The Seventeenth
Party” by the authorities. The members of the circle were concerned with
keeping the church clean, spreading Christianity among the village youth and
converting unbelievers to the faith. Maria herself succeeded in converting
some inveterate unbelievers. On October 7, 1931 Maria was on a steamer
sailing down the Volga from Samara and started preached to a crowd that
gathered around her. She was arrested and cast into prison in Samara. She was
accused of “going round a whole series of towns and conducting anti-Soviet
agitation and spreading counter-revolutionary leaflets”. On April 13, 1932 she
was convicted of being “the main messenger for the counter-revolutionary
centre of ‘The Trues’”, and in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 was
sent to the Vishera camps in Perm province. There she died sometime after
1932.

Alexandra Petrovna Zhukova. She was born in 1889 or 1888 in Samara, and
went to Samara University. Until 1917 she gave private lessons. From 1918 to
1920 she worked in Samara University and taught in a preparatory school. On
Novembe 10, 1931 she was arrested and cast into Samara isolator. On April 13,
1932 she was convicted of “joining the group of founders of a counter-
revolutionary churchpeople in Samara” and of “taking part in the spreading of
the organization’s ideology”. In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, she
was sent to the Vishera camps for three years.

Protopriest Vladimir Ivanovich Kassenyev served in the village of Bolshie

Berezinki, Simbirsk province. He was related through his wife to the poet F.I.
Tyutchev and the over-procurator of the Holy Synod, K.N. Pobedonostsev.
The family of Fr. Vladimir was large and friendly – there were nine children.
Fr. Vladimir served in the largest church of the village, which had four altars.
On great feasts the service encompassed all four altars. Fr. Vladimir read the
canons for Christmas and Pascha in twelve languages, which astonished
everyone. At his house there assembled congresses of priests. They came with
their families and lived there for weeks. For Christmas and Pascha three tables
were laid with places for twelve people on each, and for three days the doors
were open for everyone. The intelligentsia also came, and the richer and
poorer peasants. The family had two cows, two horses and poultry. Batyushka
was friendly with Michurin and had a beautiful garden. Matushka was good
at sewing and cooking, and was an excellent housewife. They were
dekulakized three times: first they took their livestock, then their furniture,

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then their house. But each time they recovered. The people used to say:
“Batyushka is helped by God! Everything with him is not as it is with us!” He
was arrested several times on various excuses. In 1932 he was cast into prison
in Saransk for refusing to renounce his priesthood. In prison they forcibly cut
his hair in Holy Week, and he died on the night of Pascha. His fellow inmates
brought matushka his watch and boots and said: “Batyushka looked at his
watch, said: ‘Christ is risen!’ and died.”

Hieromonk Basil was born in about 1860 in Syzran, Samara province. After
ten years of happy married life he decided to leave the world. He revealed his
desire to his wife. She was silent for three days and prayed – after all, they had
ten children. On the third day, she got together a knapsack and firmly said to
her husband: “Go, if God needs you. Save us by your prayers.” And Basil set
off for Mount Athos, to St. Panteleimon’s monastery, where he remained for
three years. After the revolution he was sent back to his homeland to arouse
repentance in the deceived people. He began to live in an abandoned
basement on the outskirts of the village of Troitskoye, Syzran region. After a
time he was revealed to the villagers, and from that moment his service as an
elder began. He lived for six years in the cold basement, until the villagers
built him a little izba and asked him to move there. He had the gift of healing
and foreknowledge. He was arrested at the end of the 1920s, and returned
from prison in 1930 on crutches – his leg had been paralyzed in prison, which
is why they let him out early. He died in 1934 or 1935.

Praskovya Borisovna Yepaneshnikova was born in 1895 in the village of

Russkaya Barkovka, Samara province into a peasant family. In 1929 she was
convicted of “participation in a counter-revolutionary organization” and was
sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. She was released after serving her
term in 1931. Then she was arrested in Kuibyshev on a church-related charge
and sentenced to death. She was shot towards the end of the 1930s.

Maria Mikhailovna Borozheykina was born in 1905 in the village of

Monastyrskoye, Atkar uyezd, Saratov province. On December 28, 1937 she
was arrested for “spreading the religious views of the sect of the True
Orthodox Christians”. On December 31 she was sentenced by a troika of the
UNKVD to eight years’ imprisonment.

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Alexander Ivanovich Noskov was born in the village of Akhmat in the

former Batsersky canton, Saratov province. He was arrested on January 24,
1941, and on June 4 was convicted of “participation in an illegal anti-Soviet
organization of sectarians (the True Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”, and was
sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

Ivan Semyonovich Milovanov was born in 1865 in the village of Lokh, B.

Burassky region, Saratov province. On December 17, 1940 he was arrested by
the NKVD, and on June 4, 1941 was convicted of “participation in an anti-
Soviet organization of sectarians (the True Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”,
and sentenced to ten years in prison. Nothing more is known about him.

Gregory Savelyevich Ryakhov was born in 1888 in the city of Buguruslan,

Orenburg province. On December 17, 1940 he was arrested, and on June 4,
1941 was convicted of “participation in an anti-Soviet organization of
sectarians (the True Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”, and sentenced to five
years in prison. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Grigoryevich Ponomarev was born in 1868 in the village of Shirokij

Buyerak, Saratov region. On January 24, 1941 he was arrested, and on June 4,
1941 was convicted of “participation in an anti-Soviet organization of
sectarians (the True Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”, and sentenced to seven
years in prison. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Arkhipovich Inozemtsev (Dvoryakin) was born in 1872 in the

village of Sinenkiye, Saratov region. On December 17, 1940 he was arrested,
and on June 4, 1941 was convicted of “participation in an anti-Soviet
organization of sectarians (the True Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”, and
sentenced to eight years in prison. Nothing more is known about him.

Matrona (Irina) Andreyevna Inozemtseva was born in 1876 in the village

of Sinenkiye, Saratov region. On January 24, 1941 she was arrested, and on
June 4, 1941 was convicted of “participation in an anti-Soviet organization of
sectarians (the True Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”, and sentenced to ten
years in prison. Nothing more is known about her.

Helena Mikhailovna Milovanova was born in 1876 in the city of Petrovsk,

Saratov province. On February 28, 1941 she was arrested, and on June 4 she
was convicted of “participation in an anti-Soviet organization of sectarians (the
True Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”, and sentenced to five years in prison.
Nothing more is known about her.

Martha Timofeyevna Popova was born in 1893 in Saratov. On January 21,

1941 she was arrested in Saratov, and on June 4 she was convicted of
“participation in an anti-Soviet organization of sectarians (the True Orthodox

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Christians of Saratov)”, and sentenced to seven years in prison. Nothing more

is known about her.

Anna Evdokimovna Nagayeva was born in 1867 in the village of

Balyaninkovka, Zolotovsky region, Saratov province. A True Orthodox
Christian, she lived in the town of Khvalynsk, Saratov province. On December
30, 1940 she was arrested in Khvalynsk and accused of “participation in an
anti-Soviet organization of sectarians (the True Orthodox Christians of
Saratov)”. On June 4, 1941 she was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Pelagia Vasilyevna Popova was born in 1881 in the village of Neyelovka,

Vyazovsky region, Saratov province. On March 4, 1941 she was arrested in
Saratov, and on June 4 she was sentenced to seven years in prison for
“belonging to an anti-Soviet sectarian organization of sectarians (the True
Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”.

Eudocia Stepanovna Gorina was born in 1881 in the village of Formosovo,

Saratov region. On January 24, 1941 she was arrested in Saratov, and
sentenced to eight years in prison for “belonging to an anti-Soviet sectarian
organization of sectarians (the True Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”.

Maria (Valentina) Alexeyevna Petrova (Klinova) was born in 1902 in the

village of Sinenkiye, Saratov region, Saratov province. On December 17, 1940
she was arrested by the investigatory department of the Saratov UNKVD, and
on June 4, 1941 was accused of “participation in an anti-Soviet organization of
sectarians (the True Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”. She was sentenced to
seven years in prison.

Barbara Semyonovna Ponomareva was born in 1880 in the village of

Formosovo, Saratov region. On January 22, 1941 she was arrested by the
UNKVD in Saratov, and on June 4 she was sentenced to eight years’
imprisonment for “participation in an anti-Soviet organization of sectarians
(The True Orthodox Christians of Saratov)”.

Nun Vassa (Leonida (Larisa) Efimovna Dozmorova) was born in 1896 in

the village of Ust-Gorokhovoye, Dobryansky region, Perm province. On June
8, 1949 she was arrested as “a wandering nun”, and on May 6, 1950 was
convicted as “a participant in the sectarian organization, ‘The True Orthodox
Christians of S(aratov)’”. In accordance with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11,
she was sentenced to five years in a special camp. Nothing more is known
about her.

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Ivan Fyodorovich Zagorodnikov was born in 1899 in the village of

Verkhnyaya Yaroslavka, Lamsky region, Tambov province. A True Orthodox
Christian, he was living illegally in Saratov when he was arrested on March 30,
1959. On June 9 he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

Sophia Mikhailovna Kazakova, an active member of the Catacomb Church

until her death in the early 1960s recounts: "It was in the 1930s. They were
closing the village churches at that time, making them into warehouses,
lavatories and sometimes clubs where they held dances. Our village priest, Fr.
John, was forbidden to serve. He refused to sign the declaration of
Metropolitan Sergius. First he was expecting to be arrested, but then our
villagers (from the village of Novy Buyan, Samara region) began to hide him.
There were still a lot of believers at that time. The people got together and
decided: we would have a secret church in Novy Buyan. The services took
place at night, and there were quite a few people. Admittedly, this didn't last
long. Someone denounced us. Judases will always be found. Our batyushka
was arrested. And not only him. They arrested several chanters, including me.
The chekists asked: who thought up this idea of building an underground
church? That's how they put it: "underground". One of our older villagers, on
being interrogated by the investigator, replied:

"'Methodius the blessed said: "When the enemy comes, the Church will be
saved in the mountains, in the dens of the earth, and in the deserts." And so
we went under the earth.'

"Nobody ever saw Fr. John again. But the parishioners were released after
about three months in detention.

"There were many wanderers in the Volga region at that time. At one time
we had two living in our house - Fr. Theodore and Fr. Alexis, that's what we
called them. They had nothing, neither passports nor personal effects. And as
a rule they lived with us one at a time, in turn. One would come and the other
would immediately get up and leave. It was evidently impossible for them to
live together. The chekists were searching for them, they hounded them. And
once they arrested Fr. Alexis. And it happened that I, who was a young
woman at that time, was entrusted with taking him on a cart into town. I
agreed. When we had left the village, I stopped the horses on the edge of a
wood and said:

"'Run, Fr. Alexis, go away!'

"We never saw him or Fr. Theodore again. I was locked up for a few days
under guard and then released. What more will you get from me? I remember
that Fr. Alexis was very learned in the Scriptures. He read us the Apocalypse

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and explained to us what he had read, especially chapters 12, 13 and 17. He
said:

"'Our Mother Russia will have to suffer much. The disorders of the
commune will not end soon. It will end in the time of the seventh [general
secretary - Gorbachev?], but don't expect anything good in the eighth.'

"In the 1920s Priest Peter Antipovich Vinokurov was serving in the village
of Sengilya in Simbirsk region. He did not sign [Metropolitan Sergius'
declaration] and was prevented from serving. He moved to the village of
Gorodishche, on the other bank of the Volga. At that moment they closed the
church. Then, after going through several villages, he came to the last -
Novodevichye, in Samara region. A renovationist priest called Rastorguyev,
who was then a young reformer with good prospects, turned up there. He
tried to persuade the people to let him serve according to the new style, and he
advised the people to sign. Fr. Peter refused outright. Rastorguyev was then
promoted and transferred to Moscow, where he served in one of the churches.
But they deprived Fr. Peter of all his rights and constantly tried to make him
speak at a meeting and renounce God. Being without work, he accepted help
from the local parishioners and for several years lived in a church lodge. In
1937 he was arrested as an enemy of the people. According to some
information, he lived for some time in Kolyma and died in the 1960s in
Kazakhstan in very difficult circumstances. It is known that there suffered
with him in the same camp Fr. Modestus and his son Herman, also natives of
Simbirsk. Perhaps people will be found who knew them and met them in their
places of imprisonment?

"Some who survived by a miracle returned from the camps and celebrated
services in secret. Thus in the 1960s in the town of Sengilya in Ulyanovsk
region there served in secret a batyushka named John (I don't remember his
surname), who had been released from the camps because of illness. Eternal
glory to these, our reposed men of prayer!"

On May 5, 1995, the last surviving member of the "underground church" of

Novy Buyan, the servant of God Natalya, reposed.

Theodore Goncharov (Goncharenko) was in the Gavrilova Polyana camp

in Kuibyshev. Anatoly Krasnov-Levitin, who was with him in camp, writes:
“He lived in a khutor. He father had managed with great difficulty to get
himself out of the collective farm… By the time of the war his son Theodore
had grown up. He was exceptionally religious. And very firm… Both under
the Germans and under the Russians he categorically refused, for religious
reasons, to enter the collective farm. At first he received three years for not
being able to pay his taxes. He refused to work in camp, quoting the words of

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the Gospel: ‘One cannot serve two masters.’ In camp he received another term
– ten years for sabotage in accordance with article 58-10. For his refusal to go
to work he was often beaten to the verge of death. He got yet another term – 25
years. I have been with monks from my childhood. I know this group of the
population thoroughly. But perhaps the strictest monk of all those I have seen
I met in camp. And he was, moreover, a simple, illiterate layman. That was
Theodore. He categorically refused to take a mattress and underwear from the
store-room. He slept on bare boards. He prayed all through the night every
night, on his knees, making prostrations to the ground. He was a very strict
faster. He was barely literate. But it was difficult to believe that when one
looked at his nervous face edged with a black beard, at his expressive, burning
eyes. His face was radiant with thought, inspired, gleaming with an inner
light. He did not want to work. But there was no resentment in him. It was
from a deep principle: ‘One cannot serve two masters.’ If a friend would ask
him for something, he would immediately do it. If someone was in trouble
with something and did not ask for help – he would go up and do it. When it
was necessary to clean the barracks, he was the first to run for water, clean the
floor, seep and scrub. This was not for the bosses – it was for the comrades. For
a long time he refused to write a petition for his release. But when they wrote
it, for a long time he did not take it to the bosses. But then, nevertheless, they
took it to the boss of the camp. The reply came in three weeks: exonerate him
in everything, release him… He lived in the village with his sister doing
handiwork. He was counted as an invalid.” Until 1958 he corresponded with
Anatoly Levitin-Krasnov. Nothing more is known about him.

During the Khruschev years, Fr. Innocent used to serve some catacomb
nuns in Suzdal. He himself was from Astrakhan, and had neither passport nor
documents, but only a certificate from a psychiatric hospital. But he was
completely normal, although he was able to imitate a mentally ill person very
well.

He used to describe the terrible things that Kirov had done in Astrakhan.
He himself survived because they buried him in the kitchen-garden. In
Simbirsk province they would put priests in barrels, put nails into them and
throw them down the cliffs into the Volga. In the Alatyr monastery of the
Archangel Michael the whole brotherhood was driven into the Alatyrka
stream and drowned there. Their bodies dammed the river for a while.

Fr. Innocent was old, he could no longer see well and for that reason was
detained in Suzdal. But he wanted to go to the other side of the Volga, to a
skete, to die. There they knew him well and invited him to join them.

The services with the nuns were monastic, sometimes they served the
whole night, reading in turn. During the day they cultivated vegetables,

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guerkins and very tasty tomatoes. The nuns were from the Protection and
Deposition of the Sash convents and other monasteries. They commemorated
the Tsar and Patriarch Tikhon and called the Soviet patriarchs Sergius and
Alexis I “betrayers of Christ and servants of the Antichrist”.

Yury Belov writes: "In prison I met some Orthodox priests... Most of them
were True Orthodox priests, two of whom were unforgettable: Fr. John
(Krivushchev) and Fr. Michael (Kalinin). They did not recognize the satanic
authorities and did not want to hide that fact. On the contrary, they went
along the Volga from village to village preaching that salvation would come to
the world only from struggle with 'the Bolshevik devil'. They called on people
not to work for the Bolsheviks, to go into the woods, not to serve in the Soviet
army, and not to read satanic newspapers and books, since through them, and
through the cinema and radio, 'a great deception comes'. Krivushchev is now
[in 1980] serving his last 10-year sentence at the age of 80. Kalinin also is not
yet free, he is now about 63. If a chekist or just a warder appeared, he would
make the sign of the cross all around him and proclaim: 'Get out, satan! Out of
my sight, Bolshevik filth!' He absolutely refused to talk with them and said
that if everyone rejected 'these commissars' they would not remain in power
even for a year..."

(Sources: Holy Trinity Calendar for 1999, Jordanville; Za Khrista

Postradavshiye, Moscow, 1997, vol. 1; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-
htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky,
Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville, 1949-57, part 1, pp. 193-194, 213,
part 2, pp. 311-312; Hieromonk Damascene Orlovsky, Mucheniki, Ispovedniki
i Podvizhniki Blagochestiya Rossijskoj Pravoslavnoj Tserkvi XX Stoletiya,
Tver: Bulat, 1992, pp. 134-139; Vladimir Rusak, Pir Satany, London, Canada:
"Zarya", 1991, pp. 27, 96; Fr. Vladimir Dmitriev, Simbirskaya Golgofa,
Moscow, 1997, pp. 9-33; Anton Zhogolev, Noviye Mucheniki i Ispovedniki
Samarskogo Kraia, Samara, 1996; Schemamonk Epiphany (Chernov), Tserkov'
Katakombnaya na Zemlye Rossijskoj; E.P., Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 8 (1509),
15/28 April, 1994, p. 8; Pravoslavnaya Rus', N 16 (1541), 15/28 August, 1995,
p. 12; I. Eremina, “Svyaschennik Nikita Tikhonovich Pazukhin”,
Pravoslavnaya Moskva, N 29-30 (125-126), October, 1997, p. 9; A. Smirnov,
“Ugasshie nepominaiuschie v bege vremeni”, Simvol, № 40, 1998, pp. 224-225;
Y. Belov, "Svyashchenniki v lageryakh", Posev, 1980, no. 5; Svecha Pokayaniya,
N 4, February, 2000, p. 24; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/samara.html)

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31. HIEROMARTYRS AND

MARTYRS OF ORENBURG
PROVINCE

Protopriest Michael Pribytkov was a graduate of Kharkov Theological

Academy, and served in the village of Preobrazhenka, Orenburg province. He
was married to Maria Mikhailovna, who died in childbirth at the age of 30. He
had three daughters, who were brought up by a governess. Fr. Michael was
seized by Red Army soldiers and taken to the courtyard behind the church.
His daughters, who were all working as teachers, fled to the lodge. The
soldiers were shooting Fr. Michael and amusing themselves as he several
times got up. That night the daughters returned home, but the drunken
soldiers were there, and they only escaped from them by a miracle.

In 1918, in Orenburg diocese, Priest Fyodorov was killed in the following

way. They tied a soapy waxed thread round his skull and began to twist with
a nail until the upper part of his head jumped out.

In 1918 Protopriests Alexander Zemlyanitsyn, John Yevstratyev, Peter

Kholmogortsev, Michael Penkovsky and others were taken out of
Chelyabinsk and disappeared without trace.

Priest Nicholas Yakovlevich Rusanov was born in 1869 in the city of

Kustanai, Orenburg province. He had an elementary education. On August
30, 1918 (or 1920) he was arrested in Kustanai, and on November 25 was
sentenced to death by the Chelyabinsk Cheka in accordance with article 58-10.
He was then shot. He was one of six brothers, all protopriests, who were shot:
Fathers Nicholas and Antonin in Kustanai, the rest in Chelyabinsk uyezd.

In all, 80 clergy were killed in the northern uyezds of Orenburg province

and diocese - the Chelyabinsk, Troitsk and Turgay regions that form part of
that diocese. One of these was Priest Simeon Ionin, who served in Troitsk,
Orenburg diocese. He was shot in Kustanai in 1918.

Protopriest Michael Gromoglasov was the superior of the cathedral in

Verkhne-Uralsk, Orenburg province. He was arrested before Pascha in 1918,

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having been denounced by the second priest of the cathedral, Telegin. In

prison an escort stabbed him with a bayonet. He was released, recovered from
his injuries and was arrested again. On the night of June 17, seventeen people
in all, including eleven citizens and six Cossacks, were taken out of prison on
the pretext of being taken to Ufa. Their hands and legs were bound, and they
were taken on carts in the direction of Tirlyany. At the sixteenth kilometre they
were ordered to dig their own graves. Fr. Michael asked permission to pray
and fell on his knees. Having prayed, he got up and said: “I’m ready.” All
seventeen were shot. Another was Protopriest Michael Nikolayevich
Mansurov. He was born in 1852, and in 1871 he became a reader in Kazan
province. In 1876 he was ordained to the diaconate in Mamadysh uyezd,
Kazan province, and in 1884 - to the priesthood. He served in the village of
Kukmore, Mamadysh uyezd. He was put in prison in Verkhne-Uralsk with Fr.
Michael Gromoglasov, and was shot together with him on June 17, 1918. Also
shot was S.T. Vasilyev, the director of a mutual credit society.

Priest Simeon Ionin was serving in the city of Troitsk, Orenburg province.
In 1918 he was shot in Kustanai.

Priest Nicetas Semyonovich Selivanov was born in 1885. He received an

intermediate education, and served in Peshkovka settlement, Fyodorovsky
region, Kustanai province. On February 2, 1920 he was arrested, and on June
24 was condemned to three years in the camps by the Kustanai Cheka in
accordance with article 58-10.

Nun Tikhona, in the world Haya Rozenblatt, was born into a Jewish family
that settled in Orenburg in the 1880s. Her father had a small lawyer’s practice.
Haya was the eldest child in the family. Her understanding of Christianity
was very confused. She thought that the holy Hierarch Nicholas was the
Christian God. Once, while swimming, she began to drown. “Nicholas the
Russian God, save me!” she cried, “I will become a Christian!” A wave came
up and hurled her onto the other bank. Haya could not immediately fulfil her
promise – she was still small, and did not know what to do. When she was
fourteen years old, she began to help her father in his affairs. Once it
happened that she lost a promissory note her father had given her for a large
sum of money from one of his clients. Her father went mad, cruelly beat her
up and told her that if she did not find the note by nine o’ clock the next
morning he would kill her. All night Haya rushed round the courtyard feeling
terrible. So upset was she that she decided to go the river Ural and hurl
herself into it. Then suddenly she remembered the holy

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Hierarch Nicholas, who had saved her from drowning in her childhood. The
girl prayed to St. Nicholas for help. Nine o’ clock came, and Haya rushed to
the latch of the gate in order to run to the Ural when suddenly she saw
something snowy white in her hand. It was a promissory note… Haya
decided to become a Christian. She learned that the most important priest in
the town was called a “hierarch”; she learned where he lived, and went to the
hierarchical house. On entering, she saw a small old man with long hair and a
beard. It was Bishop Macarius, an elder of a lofty spiritual life. She turned to
him with her request. He listened attentively to the future Christian and sent
her to the Dormition women’s monastery, and its very old superior, Abbess
Taisia, a clairvoyant ascetic.

Haya was baptised at the age of sixteen. She liked it so much in the
monastery that after baptism she decided to become a nun. She was given her
first obedience in the icon-painting workshop. Here she had to suffer a bitter
insult from an older nun. The inexperienced novice was so upset that she
began to have the thought of changing monastery. The clairvoyant Abbess
Taisia understood her condition and said: “I don’t give you my blessing for
that. You will be my secretary and a good nun.” Everything happened as she
had foretold. A few years later she was tonsured as a rasofor nun and became
the abbess’ secretary.

Nun Taisia continued to struggle in the Dormition monastery. She had to

suffer much anguish in this period. First, she was frightened that the Jews –
especially her father, who hated Christians - would take revenge on her.
Secondly, she found her separation from her dearly beloved mother very hard
to take. Her mother, who understood nothing about either Christianity or
Judaism, was also desperately sorrowful. And this angered her husband.
Once Taisia received the news that her mother was near death in the
Saratovsky lunatic asylum. She went there. Her appearance elicited some kind
of incomprehensible alarm. The doctors whispered among themselves: “So
that means that it’s true?” It turned out that her husband had brought the
unfortunate woman, saying that she was mad because she imagined that her
daughter was a nun. On trying to run away, she had jumped through the
window and almost died. Her condition was hopeless. Taisia tried to comfort
her mother as best she could. She sprinkled her with holy water with the
words: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. She
anointed her with holy oil. She gave her a grape to eat. And her mother
joyfully described how during the night there had come to her “such a
beautiful Woman with a Child in her arms”, and They had smiled at her, and
the Child had stretched out His hands to her. The poor woman did not know
who They might be, but Taisia understood that the Most Holy Mother of God
with her Pre-Eternal Son had visited her mother. When Taisia came back the
next day, her mother had already died. Her father later suffered the same fate
as the heretic Arius…

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For a short time Taisia had to go to a monastery in Ufa. There nobody

knew her, and they were cold to her. In this monastery she suffered paralysis,
and they looked after her badly. The Bishop of Ufa came to the monastery,
and on hearing of her condition began to serve the all-night vigil in her cell. It
was the eve of the feast of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk in August, and during the
magnification she saw herself in a cave church where the relics of the holy
hierarch were resting. He got up out of his reliquary and gave her his hand.
She came to and felt herself healed. Then she was tonsured into the mantia
with the name Tikhona in memory of her healing.

On returning to Orenburg, Mother Tikhona wrote much in defence of the

monasteries, for she had literary talent. With the blessing of her spiritual
father she described her life in the form of a confession, and sent it to the well-
known writer Sergius Alexandrovich Nilus.

In the summer of 1920 a group of Chekists came to the monastery and

demanded to speak with the abbess. They demanded the closure of the
monastery and the dispersal of the community. The Dormition monastery was
ruled by Abbess Taisia. She was so upset and despondent that the nuns
decided to elect one from their midst who was stronger in spirit. Nun Tikhona
was chosen. She took the name of Abbess Taisia and her whole identity, while
Abbess Taisia became Nun Tikhona. The new “abbess” bore her cross with
courage. Under the guise of removing church valuables, the Bolsheviks
robbed the monastery of all its property. Nun Tikhona (under the guise of
Abbess Taisia) accompanied them round the monastery during their searches.
After one of these searches, she invited them into her cell, gave them tea and
tried to stir up their consciences. The soldiers said that they themselves did
not like what they were doing, but they had no alternative… Soon the
Bolsheviks learned that before them was not the real Abbess Taisia, but Nun
Tikhona. With satanic fury they cut her to pieces with their sabres.

Priest Ivan Andreyevich Dokukin was born in 1874 in the village of

Chibikpura, Kazan province. He had a theological education, and lived in
Libanovsky settlement Kustanai province. On March 17, 1920 he was arrested,
and on February 15, 1921 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to
five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Protopriest Demetrius Fyodorovich Neapolitanov was born on October

18, 1845, the son of a sacristan. On finishing his studies at the Ufa theological
seminary, he was appointed teacher of the preparatory class of the Orenburg
theological school. On November 25, 1873 he was ordained to the priesthood,
and was sent to the Voskresenskaya sloboda, Chelyabinsk uyezd, Orenburg

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province. He also taught the Law of God gratis in the Voskresenskaya

ministerial school. On June 23, 1876 he petitioned to be transferred to the
village of Kosulino, Chelyabinsk uyezd. From 1876 to 1877 he was a member
of the deanery council and trust for poor children of clerical families. He was
a deputy of the Orenburg diocesan congress of clergy from 1888 to 1891. On
January 2, 1881 he was transferred from Kosulino to the village of
Dolgovskoye, Chelyabinsk uyezd, “in order to resist the [Old Ritualist]
schism and raise the moral level of the parish”. On January 2, 1882, at the
request of his parishioners, he was returned to Kosulino. From 1884 to 1888 he
exhorted the Old Ritualists to join the True Church. From 1886 to 1891 he
fulfilled the duties of diocesan missionary gratis. In these years he was the
rd
dean of the 23 district. From 1891 to 1901 Fr. Demetrius was given the right
to inspect all the church-parish schools and the schools of literacy in
Chelyabinsk, Troitsk and Verkhne-Uralsk uyezds. From 1891 to 1907 he was a
member of the Chelyabinsk section of the diocesan schools council. He took
part in the work of the second and third All-Russian Congresses of
Missionaries in Moscow (June, 1891) and Kazan (June, 1897). On August 28,
1901 he was raised to the rank of protopriest. At his request, because of the
state of his health, he was retired from the post of missionary, and from
November 27, 1911 was appointed to the cemetery church of the Kazan icon
of the Mother of God in Chelyabinsk and also to the cathedral of the Nativity
of Christ. From 1902 to 1905 he was a clergy deputy in the Chelyabinsk city
Duma. On November 5, 1905 he became rector of the Holy Trinity church in
Chelyabinsk, and on May 5, 1907 – of the cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in
Chelyabinsk. On February 9, 1912 he was appointed to the Hodigitria
women’s monastery in Chelyabinsk, and on April 4 was appointed spiritual
father of the Chelyabinsk city and Balandinsk districts. From March 1, 1912 he
was teacher of the Law of God in a monastery church-parish school.

After the revolution Fr. Demetrius retired. However, on March 28, 1921 he
was arrested by the Cheka in Chelyabinsk, and on April 23 was shot.

In 1922 many priests were killed for resisting the requisitioning of church
valuables: in Chelyabinsk province - 20; in Urals province - 49.

Priest Andrew Vasilyevich Lvov was born on October 17, 1874, and was
educated at the Ufa theological seminary. In 1901 he started serving as a
priest in the Holy Trinity church in Chelyabinsk, Orenburg diocese. He taught
the Law of God in various educational establishments of the city. In 1908 he
was appointed to serve in the cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in
Chelyabinsk. In 1914 he served for a while in the Sosnovsky settlement, but
then returned to the Nativity of Christ cathedral in 1915. After the revolution

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he did not recognize the renovationists, and was banned by the renovationist
Metropolitan Peter (Blinov). He did not recognize this ban, and was elected
by the part of the cathedral parish that separated from the renovationists as
priest of the Kazan church of the Mother of God. He started serving there on
June 4, 1923, but on June 27 he was arrested and accused by the OGPU of
“participating in a meeting of clergy” that had taken place the previous day in
his flat. He was sentenced to two years’ exile as part of “the Case of the
Chelyabinsk priests at the illegal meeting, Chelyabinsk, 1923. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Demetrius Alexandrovich Nassonov was born in October, 1875.

Having studied in a theological seminary and at university, he began to teach
the Law of God in Orenburg. In 1917 he was the president of the All-Diocesan
Congress of Clergy in Orenburg. He served successively in Port Arthur
settlement, the village of Karachelskoye, Miassky Factory and the Pokrov
church in Chelyabinsk. In June, 1923 he was arrested for “participation in an
illegal congress of clergy”. For lack of evidence against him he was released.
In the investigatory records he is characterized as “the leader of
autocephalism”, having many followers in the Chelyabinsk diocese. Emphasis
was laid on his connections with Bishop Dionysius (Prozorov), who was in
prison, and who had supposedly blessed him temporarily to administer the
diocese. Fr. Demetrius was convicted of “counter-revolutionary activity” and
sentenced to two years’ exile. Nothing more is known about him.

The following Orenburg priests were arrested on July 20, 1925 and
convicted in the group case “The Case of Bishop James (Maskayev) and
others, Orenburg, 1925” for refusing to accept the “Living Church” when the
married renovationist “bishop” Andrew Sosedov and his supporters seized
some churches in Orenburg:

Protopriest Demetrius Mikhailovich Kononov. He was married with

eight young children and served in Orenburg, where he was arrested on July
20, 1923 and cast into prison. In September he was released. At the beginning
of 1925 he was arrested again, and in April was convicted of refusing to
recognize the “Living Church”, and was sentenced in accordance with article
69 to three years’ exile in Siberia. On July 13 the Tikhonite parishes of
Orenburg asked the Political Red Cross to petition for his release, but without
success. From September he was in exile in the village of Kindal, Tomsk
province. Nothing more is known about him.

Protopriest Nicholas Ivanov. He lived in Orenburg and had a daughter.

Nothing more is known about him.

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Protopriest Paul Marsov. He was born in 1863 and was exiled to

Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Protopriest Eugene Alexandrovich Urbansky. He had three small children.

He was exiled to the village of Kindal, Kargasoksky region, Tomsk province
(Narym region). Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Constantine Antonov. He had three small children. He was

sentenced to three years’ exile in Siberia. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Semyonovich Frolov was born into a peasant family. In the
1920s he served in the Red Army. He served as a reader, then deacon and then
priest in various places in Chelyabinsk province. His last place of service was
Chelyabinsk. He was married to Tatyana and had two children. Fr. John
defended his church from the renovationists, and was arrested on June 19,
1927 through their denunciation: “He conducted conversations with other
people to the effect that in Zlatoust the workers were armed with axes and
would not give away their church to the renovationists. He said that we
should not give away our old-church church. He organized an illegal meeting
of the clergy of the church for this reason.” In November, 1927 he was
convicted of “counter-revolutionary activity” and sentenced to three years’
exile in Siberia in accordance with article 58-14. He was exiled to the village of
Shaguli in Irbit district. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Arsenyevich Chernyshev was frequently arrested and

released in the period 1923 to 1925. He was arrested again in March, 1927 in
the town of Troitsko-Savsk, Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Republic, where he
served, because of his opposition to the renovationists. He was cast into
prison in Chelyabinsk, and on January 18, 1929 was sentenced to three years’
exile to the Urals in accordance with articles 58-14 and 58-18. On October 18,
1929 he wrote a letter to the Political Red Cross. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Victor and Deacon Paul Zhernikov served in the village of

Petrovskoye, Saraktashsky region, Orenburg province. Fr. Victor was married
to Natalya and had three children. When Fr. Victor came to the parish it was
in a dilapidated state. But he worked hard and brought it to a good condition.
Armed Red Army soldiers surrounded the church and committed sacrilege.
They first towards the frightened crowd, over their heads, and said:
“antonym who comes close to the church – a bullet in his head!” Fr. Victor

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and Fr. Paul were bound and dragged away. They were never seen in the
village again. Matushka Natalya stayed for some time in the village, but was
then taken away somewhere. Nothing more is known about Fr. Victor. This
took place in the 1920s or 1930s.

The clergyman Sergius Petrovich Sharygin was born in 1885, and served
in the village of Mordovskoye-Dobrino, Severny region, Orenburg province.
In 1929 he was arrested, and on December 22 he was sentenced to ten years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Cyril Mikhailovich Kuleznev was born in 1874, and

served in the village of Zlobinka, Totsky region, Orenburg province. In 1929
he was arrested, and on November 23 was sentenced to three years’ exile.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Michael Fyodorovich Dmitriev was born in 1878, and

served in the village of Sarbai Kinel, Cherkassky region, Orenburg province.
On December 22, 1929 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about him.

The clergyman Demetrius Vasilyevich Yevstafyev was born in 1896, and

served in the village of Dmitrovka, Orenburg province. On February 22, 1930
he was condemned to be shot. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Alexis Ivanovich Zdvizhkov was born in 1881, and served
in the village of Yashkino, Sorochinsky region, Orenburg province. In 1930 he
was arrested, and on April 12 was sentenced to three years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Gregory Stepanovich Kuprin (Kudrin?) was born in 1889, and was

warden of the church in the village of Filippovka, Krasnokholm region,
Orenburg province. In 1930 he was arrested, and on April 24 was sentenced to
five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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The clergyman Maximus Ivanovich Klimentov was born in 1884, and

served in the village of Novo-Troitskoye, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg
province. He was arrested in 1930, and on May 18 was sentenced to three
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Nicetas Pimenovich Kurlanov was born in 1875 and was warden of the
church in the village of Kirsanovka, Totsky region, Orenburg province. In
1930 he was arrested, and on October 25 was sentenced to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Timothy Yegorovich Gorshkov was born in 1873 and

served in the village of Kulgush, Ponomarevsky region, Orenburg province.
On December 16, 1930 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about him.

Fr. Basil served in the church of the village of Chernij Otrog. During the
famine of 1921 he organized a kitchen at the church and fed many starving
people. He fed them with maize, which came from America as humanitarian
aid. His daughter, Olga Vasilyevna, taught in the parish school. Fr. Basil was
probably a dean because priests would come from the whole of the
surrounding region and he would read them lectures and books, and talk with
them for a long time. These seminars lasted for up to seven days. Once the
hierarch arrived, and a large crowd gathered in the square. The bishop
thanked Fr. Basil and called on the people to not to give in and not to give up
their church. However, when Fr. Basil was dekulakized they took away
everything. The people wept, Fr. Basil’s matushka died on the spot. He was
arrested and taken, not to Orenburg, but to Kardeyevo (now Izyak-Nikitino),
to the hospital. They soon let him out, but he did not recover.

After these events they sent another priest. He was very old, about 70. He
served for two years and was then taken; no more was seen of him. He may
have been Fr. Theodore Vecherko, who was born in 1865 and was repressed
in 1932.

Protopriest Anthony Mikhailovich Albokrinov was born on January 17,

1854, the son of a sacristan. He went to Ufa theological seminary. On August

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24, 1876 he was appointed teacher of Russian at an uyezd school in Orenburg.

In 1879 he was ordained to the priesthood and served in several villages in
Orenburg province. On October 3, 1891 he was appointed to the cathedral of
the Nativity of Christ in Chelyabinsk, and from 1894 taught the Law of God in
various local schools. In 1891 he became a member of the Orthodox missionary
society. From 1896 to 1898 he represented the clergy in the City Duman. On
July 2, 1907 he became a protopriest. Not later than 1909 he was widowed. He
enjoyed the love and respect of his parishioners. In 1913 he was transferred to
the Hodigitria monastery in Chelyabinsk, and became teacher of the Law of
God in the monastery school. He rejected renovationism, and conducted
services in the homes of his former flock, and then in the Dormition church.
From 1923 he was arrested several times, but usually they could prove nothing
against him, and he was released. In 1923 he was indicted in “The Case of the
Illegal Meeting of the Chelyabinsk Priests, Chelyabinsk, 1923”, and in 1930 in
“The Case of the Union of the Salvation of Russia, Chelyabinsk, 1930”. He was
described in these trials as “spiritual leader of all the city counter-
revolutionary forces”, “a very cunning, hidden and cautious” man. We hear
nothing about him from the beginning of the 1930s.

Priest Alexander Vasilyevich Nosov was born in 1892, and was the priest
of the village of Izobilnoye, Sol-Iletsky region, Orenburg province. In 1930 he
was arrested together with other representatives of the clergy and asked to
renounce God in return for freedom and prosperity. He refused. He was cast
into prison. On April 21, 1930 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. In
prison he was tortured for a long time and then killed. His house and property
were all confiscated and his family was thrown out into the world.

The clergyman Alexander Mikhailovich Gidaspov was born in 1881, and

served in the village of Mikhailovka, Sorochinsky region, Orenburg province.
On April 27, 1930 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nun Stepanida (Matveyevna Samartseva) was born in 1883, a native of the

village of Vetlyanki, Sol-Iletsk region, Orenburg province. Before her arrest she
lived alone in her birthplace. On January 27, 1930 she was arrested on charges
of belonging to an anti-Soviet group and systematically conducting anti-soviet
agitation together with other nuns (articles 58-10, 58-11, 58-12). On April 24,
1930 she was condemned to three years in prison.

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The clergyman Platon Grigoryevich Konnov was born in 1886 and served
in the village of Abdulino, Orenburg province. In 1931 he was arrested, and on
September 3 was sentenced to seven years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Hieromonk Niphon Ivanovich Slavgorodsky was born in 1882, being a

native of the village of Proskurino, Buzuluk region, Orenburg province. Before
his arrest he served in the Klyuchegorsky women’s monastery in the village of
Tally, Grachevsky region. He was arrested on September 21, 1928 for
“conducting agitation and propaganda aimed at the undermining and
weakening of Soviet power by using religious convictions of those in his
surroundings…” On February 8, 1929 he was convicted in accordance with
article 58-10 to three years in prison. On October 28, 1931 his case was
reviewed and after serving his term he was exiled to the Urals for another
three years.

Nun Marina (Ivanovna Yemelyanova) was born in 1886 and lived in the
village of Pyanovka, Sorochinski region, Orenburg province. On April 27, 1930
she was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about
her.

Nun Eudocia (Romanovna Samsonova) was born in 1892, being a native of

the village of Logachevki, Totsk region, Orenburg province. She was alone and
illiterate. Before her arrest she lived in her birthplace. She never worked. On
January 24, 1930 she was arrested on a charge of conducting antisoviet
agitation and calling on believers to resist the enterprises of Soviet power. On
May 1, 1930 she was sentenced to five years in prison.

Priest Alexis Petrovich Yasenev was born in 1877 in the village of

Yelkhovka, Buguruslan district, Orenburg region. Until his arrest he lived in
the village of Pavlushkino in the same district with his wife Maria, two sons
and two daughters. He was arrested on January 20, 1930 in connection with
article 58-10 and the next day was sentenced to be shot. Nothing more is
known about him.

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Protopriest George Nikolayevich Zevakin was born in 1877 in Uralsk into

the family of a priest. In 1900 he finished his studies at Orenburg theological
seminary, and in 1910 was ordained to the priesthood. He was appointed to
the railway prayer house in Chelyabinsk, and became a dean. On February 5,
1930 he was arrested for “participation in ‘The Union of the Salvation of
Russia’”. His was part of the group case, “The Case of the Union of the
Salvation of Russia, Chelyabinsk, 1930”. In accordance with articles 58-10 and
58-11, he was exiled beyond the bounds of Urals province. Nothing more is
known about him.

The clergyman Yegor Borisovich Grazhdankin was born in 1867 and

served in the village of Dmitrievka, Buzuluk region, Orenburg province. On
February 22, 1930 he was sentenced to death. Nothing more is known about
him.

The clergyman Gennadius Dmitrievich Zhukovsky was born in 1893 and

served in the village of Bulgakovo, Buzuluk region. On March 25, 1930 he was
sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Paul Dmitrievich Kasatkin (Kasatin?) served in the village

of Grachevka, Samara region, Orenburg province. There he was arrested in
1930, and on March 25 was sentenced to three years’ exile. Nothing more is
known about him.

The clergyman Nicholas Alexandrovich Zenkevich was born in 1890, and

served in the village of Tolkayevka, Sorochinsky region, Orenburg province.
In 1930 he was arrested, and on March 27 he was sentenced to ten years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Andrew Mikhailovich Kanarsky was born in 1872 and

served in the village of Ozerye, Grachevsky region, Orenburg province. There,
in 1930, he was arrested, and on March 29 was sentenced to five years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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The clergyman Michael Yegorovich Kalashnikov was born in 1855 and

served in Shar khutor, Ponomarevsky region, Orenburg province. There, in
1930, he was arrested, and on April 12 was sentenced to three years’ exile.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Kostylev was born in 1882, and

served in the village of Russko-Dobrino, Sok-Karmalinsky region, Orenburg
province. In 1930 he was arrested in his native village, and on April 20 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Alexander (Sergeyevich Cherkavskikh) was born in 1902. After the

closure of his monastery in Orenburg province he had no definite place of
residence. He was arrested, and on April 27, 1930 was sentenced to be shot.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Nicholas Klavdianovich Zephirov was born in 1869, and

served in the village of Novo-Sergievka, Sorochinsky region, Orenburg
province. In 1930 he was arrested, and on April 27 he was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Andrew Maximovich Zakharov was born in 1900 and

served in the village of Ephremo-Zykovo, Ponomarevsky region, Orenburg
province. In 1930 he was arrested, and on April 26 he was sentenced to ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Nicholas Maximianovich Zhemchuzhnikov was born in

1889, and served in the village of Ivanovka, Sorochinsky region. In 1930 he
was arrested, and on April 27 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Paul Grigoryevich Dombrovsky was born in 1868 and

served in the village of Ivanovka, Buguruslan region, Orenburg province. In

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1930 he was arrested, and on April 29 he was sentenced to ten years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Basil Olimievich Yemelyanov was born in 1877 and served
in the village of Pronysino, Sorochinski region, Orenburg province. In 1930 he
was arrested, and on April 27 was sentenced to ten years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Michael Yevgenyevich Kesarev was born in 1889 and

served in the village of Second Ivanovka, Sorochinsky region, Orenburg
province. There, on April 27, 1930 he was arrested, and sentenced to ten years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Agrafena (Dmitrievna Kemayeva) was born in 1881, and struggled in

the village of Devyatayevka, Sorochinsky region, Orenburg province. There, in
1930, she was arrested, and on April 27 was sentenced to five years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about her.

The clergyman Vladimir Nikolayevich Kandalinsky was born in 1868, and

served in the village of Pervoye Krasnoye, Sorochinski region, Orenburg
province. There, in 1930, he was arrested, and on April 27 was sentenced to
three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Basil Ignatyevich Yeremenko was born in 1886 and served
in the village of Chernorechenskoye, Orenburg province. On September 16,
1930 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

The clergyman Hermolaus Avtonomovich Ivanov was born in 1874, and

served in the village of Cherepanovka, Pokrovsky region, Orenburg province.
In 1930 he was arrested, and on May 18 was sentenced to five years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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The clergyman Ivan Semyonovich Kireyev was born in 1878, and served
in the settlement of Verkhne-Ozerniy, Pokrovsky region, Orenburg province.
There, in 1930, he was arrested, and on May 18 was sentenced to ten years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Irina (Artemyevna Kapustina) was born in 1880 and struggled in the
village of Spasskoye, Sorochinski region, Orenburg province. There she was
arrested in 1930, and on May 18 was sentenced to three years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about her.

The clergyman Alexander Alexeyevich Kamensky was born in 1868, and

served in the village of N. Vyazovka, Buzuluk region. In 1930 he was arrested,
and on August 2 was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

The clergyman Theodore Nikolayevich Zykov was born in 1882 in

Novokazansky khutor, Novo-Pokrovsky region, Orenburg province. On
November 28, 1930 he was arrested and sentenced to three years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Alexander Ivanovich Kamenev was born in 1891 and

served in Buzuluk. There, in 1931, he was arrested, and on April 13 was
sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Ivan Feofilaktovich Kalyakin was born in 1888 in Buranny

settlement, Sol-Iletsky region, Orenburg province. There, in 1931, he was
arrested, and on April 24 was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about him.

The clergyman James Vasilyevich Korotkov was born in 1865, and served
in the village of Logachevka, Totsky region, Orenburg province. There, in
1931, he was arrested, and on June 29 was sentenced to three years’ exile.
Nothing more is known about him.

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The clergyman Illarion Ilyich Isayev was serving in the village of

Yashkino, Sorochinsky region, Orenburg province. In 1931 he was arrested,
and on August 8 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

The clergyman Paul Nikolayevich Kurbatov was born in 1885, and served
in Kukma settlement, Kvarkensky region, Orenburg province. In 1930 he was
arrested, and on September 9 was sentenced to three years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Michael Alexandrovich Koschlovsky was born in 1875 and

served in Gorodische, Orenburg region.In 1931 he was arrested in Tashkonksy,
Ileksky region, and on Apri 14, 1931 was sentenced to two years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Macarius (Mikhailovich Karpov) was born in 1876 and lived in a

wood near the Rodnikovsky settlement, Ileksky region, Orenburg province.
There, in 1931, he was arrested, and in April, 1931 was sentenced to five years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

In the spring of 1929 the church on the hill Mayak in Orenburg, where
Priest Basil Moiseyevich Kurdyukov was serving, was closed and turned into
an electricity station. Then Fr. Basil and Priest Ivan Nikolayevich Mironov
began to conduct services in Fr. Basil’s flat. The NKVD considered this to be a
crime and ascribed to Fr. Basil a whole anti-Soviet organization consisting of
four groups: Orenburg, Belozersk, Putyatin and Nizhne-Arkhangelsk. 29
people were arrested in connected with this affair, among them: G.E. Sviridov,
M.E. Nikulochkin, A.M. Lernikov in Putyatin; P.F. Igonin, F.P. Tuchin, A.Y.
Teplyakov, K.A. Nasekin in Nizhne-Arkhangelsk; T.A. Safronov, I.A.
Mishnev, N.M. Lomakin in Belozersk; and others.

On April 19, 1930, in Orenburg, in “the Case of Fr. Basil Kudryukov, Fr.
John Mironov and others (29 persons), Orenburg, 1930”, an OGPU troika for
the Middle Volga region sentenced Fr. Basil and Fr. Ivan to be shot; four
people received ten years in the camps; and the remaining twenty-three –

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various terms of punishment. Fr. Basil refused to accept any guilt, he said that
he had formed no anti-Soviet organization, and that the community of 150
people which he had formed pursued purely religious ends.

Also convicted in this case were:

Monk Theodore Yegorovich Novikov. He was born in 1900 in the village

of Belozerki, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district into a peasant family. From
1919 to 1921 he served in the Red Army, and from 1921 to 1922 – in the armies
of the OGPU in Turkestan. He had a wife, Eudocia Vasilyevna. In 1928 he was
made a monk by Fr. Basil (Kudryukov) in the church on Mayak, Orenburg. On
November 30, 1930 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He “was
an active supporter of Fr. Basil Kudryukov”. He was sentenced in accordance
with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to three years in the camps conditionally.
Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Sylvestra, in the world Darya Prokofyevna Kurdyukova. She was born
in March, 1880 in Bogorodsk, Moscow province, or the village of
Bogorodskoye, Kashirinsky uyezd into a merchant’s family. She was the wife
of Priest Moses Kudryukov and had three or four children. In 1923 she went to
live in Orenburg. In 1926 she was made a nun by her husband. Fr. Basil and
his matushka were followers of Bishop Demetrius (Lyubimov) of Gdov. She
was arrested together with her daughter Natalya by the OGPU on January 3,
1931 and was cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 she was
condemned for “leadership of the Kudryukov part of the Orenburg city
counter-revolutionary church organization, ‘The Trues’”. In accordance with
articles 58-11 (counter-revolutionary organizational activity) and 59-7
(agitation of a revolutionary nature), she was sentenced to be shot. The
sentence was carried out on April 5, 1931 at 4.25 a.m.

F.P. Tuchin and K.A. Nasekin. They lived in the village of Nizhne-
Arkhangelskoye, Orenburg region. They went to services in the house of Fr.
Basil Kudryukov. They were arrested in 1929, and on April 19, 1930 were
convicted of “participation in the Nizhne-Arkhangelskoye group of the anti-
Soviet organization under the leadership of Priest Kudryukov”. They were
sentenced to a term in the camps. Nothing more is known about them.

Matthew Yegorovich Nikulochkin. He was a peasant from Orlovsky

khutor, Sharlyksky region. He was arrested in 1929 or 1930 by the Orenburg
OGPU, convicted in accordance with article 58-10 of “participation in the
Kurkyukov sect” and sentenced to three years’ exile to Arkhangelsk province.
Nothing more is known about him.

His son, Stepan Matveyevich Nikulochkin, was born on December 26,

1899 in Orlovsky khutor. He finished two classes in the village school. He
served for two years in the Red Army, from 1919 to 1921. He had a wife:

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Agatha (borhn 1899) and children: Demetrius (born 1924), Theodore (born
1927 and Stepanida (born 1929). On October 29, 1930 he was arrested and put
in the Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted of “being a
member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox
Christians?]’” and of “agitating among the peasants against entry into the
party” and “spreading defeatist rumours”. He was sentenced to five years in
the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. His was part of the
group case, “The Case of the Group of Clergy and Laity of Orenburg region,
1931”. He was sent to the White Sea canal. Nothing more is known about him.

Protopriest Macarius Fyodorovich Kvitkin was born in August, 1882 in the

town of Orsk, Orenburg province, in the family of the pious parents Theodore
and Eudocia Kvitkin. From an early age he loved Christ and the Church. He
often went to church, reading and chanting in the choir. He graduated from a
teacher training college and became a schoolteacher in Orsk. In 1904, Macarius
married a pious girl from a well-to-do family, Euphrosyne Kondratyevna
Beznosova. A year later their first child, Sergius, was born. Having worked for
some years as a teacher, Macarius went to a theological seminary, and after
graduation was ordained to the diaconate, serving from 1914 in the village of
Verkhnyaya Pavlovka, 25 kilometres from Orenburg, where his second son,
Vladimir, was born. In 1918 he was ordained to the priesthood and went to
serve in Novo-Troitsk. In 1920, Batyushka and his family settled in the village
of Alexandrovka, Orenburg region. At first Fr. Macarius served in a prayer
house, but then, in 1924, he constructed a small wooden church. In 1925,
however, this church was closed, and they moved to Orenburg. In the autumn
of 1925, he was appointed as the second priest in a large, three-altared church
whose main part was dedicated to St. Seraphim of Sarov and which was
situated in Forstadt, a suburb of Orenburg. In 1925-26, the diocese was
temporarily administered by Vladyka Dionysius. Fr. Macarius' son Vladimir
was the bishop's staff-bearer and often travelled with Vladyka when he served
in the other, still open churches of Orenburg and in the women's monastery.

On July 16/29, 1927, Metropolitan Sergius issued his notorious declaration,

which formally opened the way for the antichristian authorities into the
Church. Over 90% of parishes in the Urals rejected Sergius' declaration. The
rector of the St. Seraphim church where Fr. Macarius was serving as the
second priest at that time was Fr. Alexis S. During the first years of their
serving together, he and Fr. Macarius had had peaceful, friendly relations. But
after the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, frictions between them
developed. Fr. Macarius categorically refused to commemorate the puppet of
Soviet power, Metropolitan Sergius, as the patriarchal locum tenens, but
commemorated Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsa, who was at that time in prison.
This difference in understanding of church truth and the true pastoral way led
to the division of the parish into two groups, one supporting Fr. Alexis and the

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other - Fr. Macarius. Finally, the parishioners came to the decision that the
priest who had the majority of votes would remain in the parish. Since the
parish was a large one (more than 1000 people), a general meeting was
arranged in the church. The first to speak was Fr. Alexis. He rebuked Fr.
Macarius for not recognizing or commemorating Metropolitan Sergius and
thereby disobeying him as the rector of the church, and for creating a division
and a schism. Then Fr. Macarius took the floor. He explained to the believers
that through his declaration Metropolitan Sergius had betrayed church truth
and had entered into union with the atheists, the enemies of the Church. For
that reason he could not commemorate him for fear of becoming an
accomplice in the sin of betraying the Church. This was why he did not agree
with, and could not serve together with, Fr. Alexis. Finally, Fr. Alexis
suggested to everyone that those who agreed with him should go to the right
part of the church, while those agreed with Fr. Macarius should go to the left.
He was hoping for a majority, since he had been a priest for many years and
was the rector of the parish. But then something unexpected took place: the
left part of the church filled up with parishioners, more than two thirds of
those present. Thus did the parishioners express their trust in Fr. Macarius and
he became the rector of the church of St. Seraphim. Immediately a
thanksgiving moleben was served with great prayerful enthusiasm. Many of
the worshippers had tears in their eyes.

It seemed as if everything had gone according to the will of God and the
parish had been pacified. But the devil, in the person of the Soviet authorities,
was not pacified. In order to force the parishioners to close the church, they
imposed an unbearable tax burden on them, and increased it after each
payment. Usually the taxes were paid quarterly, but after a general meeting
the authorities decide to increase the tax each month. At first the parish
somehow managed to pay the tax, but then the authorities began to seize the
gold and silver rizas and frames from the icons, together with the Gospels and
other precious objects as if in payment of the tax. Then, in 1930, they closed the
church on the excuse that the tax had not been paid.

By this time Fr. Macarius had four children living with him: his daughter
Olga and Raisa, and his sons Vladimir and Nicholas. His eldest son Sergius,
who was a reader in the village of Chorny Otrog, Orenburg region, lived
separately. With this family Fr. Macarius took refuge in a small old bath-house
which had been adapted for living in.

This had come about as follows. On arriving in Orenburg in 1925,

batyushka and matushka and their children had settled temporarily in the
house of three sister nuns. Then they had rented a flat from a widow.
However, the widow's son, who was a communist, had come and demanded
that his mother throw the "pope" out of the flat. Meanwhile, Fr. Macarius had
bought a small plot of land with a bath-house, intending to build a small house
there later. They threw all the bath things out of the bath-house,

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installed a Russian stove with benches, put in a small table for meals, a bed for
the parents and a trunk with clothes. The children slept on the trunk and the
stove, and sometimes simply on the floor. They were all in one room with their
parents. This small room, which could be entered only one at a time, served as
their kitchen, dining room and bedroom. It was from this bath-house that Fr.
Macarius was evicted and taken to prison...

The family lived on alms from the parishioners. They would creep up
bringing bread and potatoes and furtively looking on either side as they
entered the courtyard in case outsiders noticed them. The Kvitkins had no
other kind of support since they were "depriveds" (deprived of civil rights, a
category to which the families of clergy belonged).

The bath-house where they lived was located four or five blocks from the
church. Every time Fr. Macarius and his children went to church in the
morning for the Liturgy, or in the morning for the all-night vigil, they were
met on the street by pioneers who threw sand and sometimes even stones at
them. Batyushka ordered his children never to reply to these pranks, but to
walk calmly on, for they could not expect support from anyone.

From the time that Fr. Macarius remained alone in the church of St.
Seraphim, they began to terrorize him and summon him to the GPU. His first
summons was supposedly in connection with his non-commemoration of
Metropolitan Sergius as patriarchal locum tenens, and also because under his
rectorship the parish did not pay the "lawful" tax. The second summons was
accompanied by a warning: if the parish did not pay the indicated sum, they
would close the church. The atheists suggested to Fr. Macarius that since they
would close the church come what may, he should renounce God and his
priestly rank in the columnns of the district newspaper. He was to admit that
he had "drugged" the people with "religious obscurantism". In return, they
promised him a place as a teacher, perhaps even as a school director. Fr.
Macarius replied with a categorical refusal. Then they began to try and
convince him that in this way he would save his own life and the life of his
children. But Fr. Macarius replied that he did not fear death, and that he
entrusted his children to the will of God, but that he would never, under any
circumstances, break the vow he had given to God. The Lord did not
disappoint the hopes of the martyr: all his children grew up to be honourable,
believing and pious people.

The chekists advised him to think well about their proposition and to give
them a final answer when they next summoned him. And so, on January 21,
1931, they came at midnight to search the bath-house. The search lasted until
four in the morning. Of course, they found nothing. Before leaving, Fr.
Macarius said goodbye to his family, blessed his matushka and children, and
was taken to prison. On March 26, 1931 he was accused of “being a member of
the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’ [True Orthodox

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Christians]” and of “spreading rumours about the difficult times and the
persecution against religion”. He was sentenced to be shot in accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 58-7.

In the prison they accepted - rarely, but at any rate sometimes - small
parcels of provisions and clean clothing. As always, on March 31, matushka
with her elder daughter Olga brought a small parcel, but on that day they did
not accept it. On asking why, she received no reply. Then matushka, Olga and
some other people who had also brought parcels for their relatives, began to
wait for the moment when they would be able to hand over their parcels. And
then, at about three in the afternoon, all of them were driven away, the doors
of the prison were opened and they led out the arrestees - between 25 and 30
people, among whom was Fr. Macarius. On seeing his wife and elder
daughter, he waved at them from a distance. He looked completely healthy.
The group was led to the building of the GPU and taken inside, while the
relatives who ran after them were ordered to go home. They were told to come
the next day at nine o' clock, and everything would be explained to them.

But some did not obey, and surrounded the GPU building waiting. They
were given several warnings by the guards, and then some of them were
arrested. Among these was the wife of Fr. Macarius and his daughter. Having
held them in the basement until morning, they were given a certificate saying
that Fr. Macarius had died in prison. Then they were very severely forbidden,
under threat of arrest, not to tell anyone where they had been or what they
had seen.

Fr. Macarius' wife asked:

"Where is the body of my husband? I would like to bury it."

The prison boss who issued the certificate swore and said:

"There's nothing to worry about, Soviet power will give him the burial he
deserved."

Then he ordered them to go away before it was too late. Then they learned
that this group had contained, basically, the priests of Orenburg and the
surrounding district who had been the most popular among believers, as well
as some steadfast true Christians who had got in the way of Soviet power. And
all these people, who the previous day had been healthy and fit, and who had
walked calmly and quickly from the prison to the GPU building, suddenly, the
next day, "died in prison", a fact that was confirmed by certificates given out to
the relatives. Later the rumour spread secretly that all of them had been
herded into a basement room in the GPU and gassed. That was why no body
was given to any of the relatives.

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Fr. Macarius was shot on April 5, 1931, Palm Sunday, at 4.30 in the
morning. In this way he gave his life for the true faith as a steadfast martyr
and true pastor, loved by his parishioners, a true faithful server in the pastures
of Christ.

Miracles were performed by the future hieromartyr even during his

lifetime. Thus when Fr. Macarius' son Vladimir was ten years old, he fell ill
first with measles, then with scarlet fever, and then with some unknown
disease which the doctors could not cure. He had been ill for more than eight
months, and already displayed hardly any signs of life. His mother only
poured several spoonfuls of broth into his mouth each day. To put it briefly, he
was just skin and bones. And then, one evening, Yefrosinya Kondratyevna,
with tears in her eyes, sat down and began to sow a garment from the remains
of a sheet so that Volodya could be put in the grave in clean clothing. But Fr.
Macarius went into the other room to pray and beseech God that He grant
either death and an end to the sufferings of his son Volodya, or healing and
health. In this depressed state, they all, with the exception of matushka, lay
down to sleep. Then suddenly, at two in the morning, the bell sounded in the
corridor. Matushka opened the door and met a friend of Fr. Macarius from his
school days, a doctor now, whom they had neither seen nor corresponded
with for more than five years. How he knew their address and what made him
drop in on them at such a later – no-one knows. In reply to Fr. Macarius'
question, he replied that he was passing through on his way to Tashkent and
had decided to visit his old friend. Matushka told him about the illness of her
son and showed him Volodya. He immediately declared that he should be
given cupping-glasses. Matushka told the doctor that this was almost
impossible because of Volodya's thinness, but he himself applied several,
albeit with great difficulty. And then a miracle took place. In the morning the
boy began to give some signs of life, to move and even to open one eye. The
doctor showed them how to apply cupping-glasses and told matushka to
apply them every day, as many as possible. He left them at seven in the
morning, and after this the family of Fr. Macarius neither saw nor heard of
him again. By the mercy of God Volodya recovered, grew up, went through
the war, and is alive now. This miracle, which was accomplished by the Lord
God by the prayers of Fr. Macarius, is confirmed by his son Vladimir.

Again, in the madhouse in Orenburg there was a ten-year-old boy who was
suffering from an illness that the doctors pronounced incurable. Fr. Macarius
often used to go to this house and pray fervently for the boy's recovery. For
two months he visited him - and then the illness passed. The doctors, to their
amazement, recognized that the boy was completely healthy. He is now a
grown man, and has been in sound mind ever since. This miracle was also
accomplished by the prayers of Fr. Macarius. This incident was recounted by
Matushka Euphrosyne to her son Volodya before the Second World War,
when they took Vladimir into the army.

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The third incident took place already after Fr. Macarius' martyric death.
Vladimir himself was a witness and remembered it all his life.

After the arrest of Fr. Macarius, his family continued to live in the same
converted bath-house, in hunger and cold. They were not allowed ration
cards. Matushka went to the country to exchange their remaining things for
something to eat. She brought everything they had in the house, to the last
towel. The parishioners tried to support the family in secret, but everyone was
in difficult circumstances at that time.

Batyushka's daughters were not given jobs since they were "children of an
enemy of the people". Nevertheless, in the summer of 1934 the second
daughter, Raisa, succeeded in getting some work in an agricultural commune
in the suburbs, and thanks to this, the family stocked up for the winter on dry
potato tops, which they later used as fuel for the stove. Kindling wood for the
stove was obtained by Vladimir and his younger brother Kolya, who went
with sleds into the woods and gathered branches, standing up to their knees in
the snow. Once all they had was taken away from them and they were nearly
beaten to death...

Next to the bath-house was a communal household with several heads of

cattle with a reserve of fuel. Once, when matushka was away and only the
children were at home, a fire started in the neighbouring yard. The fuel
ignited, the flames spread, and the sparks flew into the Kvitkins' yard, which
was all covered with dry potato tops. The children crowded in front of the
icons and fervently prayed to God. They also asked their deceased father to
help them - and, by the prayers of the new martyr, God protected them.

The following were convicted together with Fr. Macarius for being
members of “the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True
Orthodox Christians]’” in “The Case of the Group of Clergy and Laity of
Orenburg region, 1931”:

Archimandrite Barnabas, in the world Basil Yegorovich Kalashnikov. He

was born in January, 1872 in the village of Perevolotskoye, Pokrovsky region,
Orenburg district into a Cossack family. He went to a village school. In 1910 he
was serving in the rank of archimandrite in the Nikolayevsky men’s
monastery in Troitsk uyezd, Orenburg province. On February 18, 1930 the
OGPU “suggested” that he leave Troitsk and settle in Zakhlamony khutor.
From there, in June, 1930, he moved to his native village, and in December,
1930 he began serving in the village of Ekaterinovka, Petrovsky region. On
January 7, 1931 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On May (?)
26 he was convicted of “participation in the counter-revolutionary church
organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “having close links with the kulaks”. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to death. He
was shot at 4.25 on April 5, 1931.

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Hieromonk Nicodemus, in the world Nicholas Alexeyevich Lidin. He was

born in February, 1892 in the village of Voli Zdarovatsk, Galicia. Until 1915 he
lived in Galicia and was occupied in agriculture. In 1916, with the retreat of the
Russian armies, he was taken into captivity and worked as a captive farm-
labourer on Goncharenko khutor, Troitsk, Orenburg province. In 1920 he
became a monk and a hierodeacon in the Nikolayevsky men’s monastery in
Troitsk region. In 1929 he moved to Zakhlamny khutor, Orenburg district, and
in 1931 – to the village of Ekaterinovka, Orenburg district. On January 7, 1931
he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. In accordance with articles
58-10 and 59-7 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Hieromonk Tikhon (Pavlovich Bolmasov). He was born on February 18,

1883 in the village of Sophievka, Ponomarevsky region, Orenburg district into
a peasant family. In 1909 he became a monk on Mount Athos, but in 1914
returned to his native village. In 1916 he joined the Makariev Dormition
monastery in Orenburg uyezd. After the revolution he was in charge of a
cobblers’ workshop attached a home for the elderly. On March 25, 1919 he was
made reader of the church in the village of Voronino, Orenburg province, but
in 1920 returned to his native village. In 1926 Bishop Dionysius (Prozorovsky)
ordained him to the priesthood in Orenburg (Fr. Tikhon twice refused, but
accepted the third call). He was sent to serve in Sophievka, then in the village
of Alexeyevka, Sorochinsky region, then in the village of Belozerka,
Ponomarevsky region. In 1928 he refused to recognize Bishop Dionysius and
was for that banned from serving. In 1929 in the name of the Belozerka
community he went to Archbishop Demetrius (Lyubimov) in Petrograd and
was received under his omophorion. On December 2, 1930 he was appointed
to the village of Ilyinka, Kashirinsky region. On December 12 he was cast into
Orenburg Domzak. He was accused of “participation in a church-monarchist
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’”, of “recruiting people” and
of “calling people to struggle against Soviet power”. In accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to death. He was shot at 4.25
a.m. on April 5, 1931.

Hieromonk Stepan (Linarovich Sebastyanov). He was born in 1896 in the

village of Sofyevka, Ponomarevsky region, Orenburg district. In February,
1931 he was arrested in the village of Blagoslovenka, Orenburg district, for
“participation in a church-monarchist counter-revolutionary organization,
‘The Trues’”. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Vladimir Petrovich Goryunov. He was born in July, 1894 in the

village of Novo-Arkhangelskoye, Sharlyksky region into a clerical famil, and
went to Orenburg theological seminary. In 1916 he was ordained to the
priesthood and went to serve in the village of Spasskoye, Petrovsky region. In
1926 he was transferred to the village of Novo-Petrovskoye, Petrovsky region.

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He had a wife Anna, two sons and a daughter. On January 13, 1931 he was
arrested on the way from Ivanovskoye khutor to Novo-Petrovskoye and cast
into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted of “being a
member of a counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’ and the leader of
a cell”, and of “having close links with the leader of the organization”. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 5907, he was sentenced to death. He
was shot at 4.25 on Apri 5, 1931.

Priest Semyon Vasilyevich Ogorodnikov. He was born on May 10, 1881 in

the city of Mogilev, Kamenets-Podolskaya province. He was the son of a
cobbler, and completed his studies at a city school. Until 1912 he served in
Orenburg on the railway. In that year he became a priest, and served, first in
the village of Karmokhovo, Sharlyksky region, Orenburg province, for
eighteen months; then in the monastery in the settlement of Igor, Pokrovsky
region, Orenburg district, for eight months, in 1913; then in the village of N-
Nikolskoye, Pokrovsky region; then in Krasny gorodok, Orenburg, from 1917;
then in the village of Alexeyevka, Orenburg district, from 1926; and finally in
the village of Ilyinka, Kashirinsky region. Orenburg district, from 1927. He
was married, but did not live with his family from 1925. His family lived
separately in Orenburg. At the interrogation he said: “I do not live with my
family because my wife and children have renounced me, as being a priest.
Lately, I have been serving in Ilyinka, but already six months ago my
parishioners rejected my service and instead of me summoned another pope,
Tikhon Bolmasov, who serves there while I am occupied in purely agricultural
work.” In February, 1931 he was arrested at the mill of the Karayev collective
farm, and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he was convicted of
“being a member of the directing centre of the church-monarchist counter-
revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?], and of
taking part in meetings with regard to links with the Leningrad centre”, and
was sentenced, in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, to be shot. On
April 5, 1931, at 4.25 a.m. he was shot.

Priest Michael Fyodorovich Dadakin. He was born in 1870 in the village of

Novo-Arkhangelovka, Sharlyksky region. He was married to Ulyana (born
1870) and had two daughters. On February 4, 1931 he was arrested and cast
into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he was convicted of “being a member of
the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and “the leader of a cell
in the village of Novo-Arkhangelovka”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-
11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Spyridon Vasilyevich Palatov. He was born on December 7, 1887 in

the village of Novo-Troitskoye, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district into a
peasant family. He went to a village school, and until 1917 was supervisor of
the prison in Orenburg. Then, in 1918, he went back to living a peasant’s life in
his native village, serving as a reader in the church. He had a wife Ekaterina,

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two daughters and a son. In 1930 he was condemned in accordance with

article 61 and imprisoned for two years. On November 4, 1931 he resumed
living in Novo-Troitskoye. On April 5, 1931, at 4.25 a.m. he was shot.

Priest Sabbas Semyonovich Meshkov. He was born on November 27, 1888

in the village of Novo-Troitskoye, Kashirinsky district, Middle Volga region.
From 1911 (or 1914) until 1920 he served as a deacon in the village of
Travyanskoye, Chelyabinsk district, Orenburg province. From 1920 to 1925 he
was a priest there, and from 1925 to 1929 he served in the village of Dolgoye,
Kargopol district, Shadrinsk region, returning to Novo-Troitskoye in 1929. Fr.
Sabbas was a widower. He was the author of a letter in the name of the centre
of the “Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]” to Archbishop Demetrius of Gdov.
On December 12, 1930 he was arrested in the village of B. Gumber,
Kashirinsky district, and was cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. In accordance
with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 he was sentenced to death. On April 5, 1931
he was shot at 4.25 a.m.

Protopriest Semyon Nikolayevich Mogilev. He was born on April 12, 1880

in the village of Novo-Troitskoye, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district into a
peasant family. He took missionary courses in Orenburg in 1910. He had a
wife, Maria Fyodorovna, sons Gennadius (born 1910), Vladimir (14 years) and
Ivan (10 years) and daughters Ekaterina and Lyubov (15 years). He was very
strict with regard to the defence of Orthodoxy. One of his flock brought him a
baby to be baptized and also a twelve-year-old girl as godmother. But this girl
went to the renovationist (sergianist) church. Knowing this, Fr. Semyon did
not allow this girl to be the one who received the baby at the baptism since she
was a renovationist. Another example of his strictness. There was a meeting of
priests in 1928. They brought Fr. Semyon in a sledge. The meeting had already
started. He entered dressed in a sheepskin coat tied round the waist with a
string. And, without taking it off, he immediately began to say: "You have
betrayed Christ the Saviour... You are not pastors, you are Judas traitors..." In
the hall there were two or three bishops and they all ran for it... Fr. Semyon
was well-known as a missionary! Fr. Spyridon, a fellow-ascetic of Fr. Semyon,
foretold that he would not last. Fr. Paul said the same. Some women were in
raptures about Fr. Semyon: “What a batiushka! We would like to see him once
more..." To this Fr. Paul replied: "No, no. You will see him no more. They will
seize him... They will take him..." In a photograph of 1924 or 1925 Fr. Simeon
can be seen with Fr. Tikhon, Fr. Spyridon and Igor Nikolaevich. All were
counted worthy to receive the crown of martyrdom. In 1926 Fr. Simeon was
accused of “exploitation” and was imprisoned for six months. In 1929 he
began to serve in the church of SS. Cosmas and Damian in his native village.
On May 31, 1929, the day of Mid-Pentecost, he was arrested in the village of
Boldirevka, Yekaterinensky region, Orenburg province, at the very moment
when he was making the rounds of all the village households with prayer-
services. He was cast into the corrective labour facility in Orenburg on June 7.
There he remained until September, when he was convicted in accordance

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with article 58-10 of “counter-revolutionary agitation”. The court heard: “The

authority of Mogilev has grown so much that before sowing the citizens come
to him for a blessing: ‘How much to sow, whether it is necessary to take a loan,
whether it is necessary to trample on the seeds”. He was sentenced to three
years exile in Siberia. They took him from Orenburg on September 8, 1929, the
day of the Nativity of the All-Holy Birth-Giver of God. On that day they
allowed the people to say goodbye to him. And there were many people.
While saying goodbye he said to the believers: "Stand, brothers, stand
courageously in the Orthodox Faith. Have no communion with the sergianist
heresy, with its heretical 'church'. This heresy recognizes the antichristian
authorities to be 'from God'... If anyone deviates into this heresy, then not even
martyrdom will save him from this great sin... I would wish you to follow me
and be where I am. I pray the Lord to strengthen me and you for this exploit,
sealed with holy martyrdom for the true Faith, the Orthodox Faith... I beseech
you, stand in the Orthodox Faith, stand firmly, unshakeably. I pray the Lord
and I pray you that you entreat Him to strengthen me, to grant me His mercy,
that I the unworthy one may receive holy martyrdom for Him. But if I return
from prison, do not trust me and do not come up to me. That would mean that
I had betrayed Christ. All those who are strong in spirit and faith leave for
'there', but they never return from there... Children, I beseech you, I entreat
you, stand unshakeably... Recognize nobody after me... They have all, all fallen
away... What can we do? We shall suffer together, although in different ways...
O what joy it would be for me if I appeared before the Lord and He asked me:
'Pastor, where is your flock?' and I would turn to you and say: 'Lord, here is
my flock!' You know, you are my justification, and you are also my reproach...
As is the pastor, so is his flock!.. But what shame, what disgrace and horror it
will be for me if I turn and behind me there is – no-one!.. My dear children,
beloved in Christ! Once more and now for the last time I entreat you: Stand
with the Lord, do not enter into communion or come into any contact with the
antichristian heresy!.. May the Lord Himself, our Saviour and God, Jesus
Christ, now bless you for a long struggle, year after year, and I bless you for
this labour and spiritual feat..." Thus spoke Father Simeon as he said goodbye
to the people. And it was amazing that no-one hindered him from speaking in
this way... From Orenburg they took him to Novosibirsk, from Novosibirsk to
Abakan. According to one account, he was shot in Abakan, as was officially
communicated to his brother on his inquiry. However, according to another
source, he was arrested again while in exile, and on August 16 a special
conference of the OGPU decided, after convicting him of “anti-Soviet
agitation”, to release him under guard while depriving him of the right to live
in six regions and fixing him to one place of residence for three years. On
February 6, 1931 he was arrested and cast into the Domzak in Samara. On
March 31, 1931, at 22.20 p.m., he was shot in Samara. In his will Fr. Simeon
wrote: "I leave you my old mother and family of nine persons" (he sheltered
orphans). "Look after them... I am going where the Lord calls me..."

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The clergyman Zachariah Dmitrievich Zaitsev was born on August 29,

1899 in the village of Voronino, Sharlyksky region into a peasant family. He
went to the village school. He was married to Olga (born 1899) and had two
sons and two daughters. On November 3, 1930 he was arrested in his native
village and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced in accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to three years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Schema-Monk Paul, in the world Emelyan Porfiryevich Efremov. He was

born in 1888 in the village of Stary Nekhratov, Kazan province into a peasant
family. “From childhood,” he said at his interrogation, “I was a religious
person, and from the age of thirteen went round the monasteries, staying in
each of them for two or three months.” He went as a labourer to Jerusalem, to
Mount Athos and to a men’s monastery in Kiev. In 1913 he became a monk on
Mount Athos. The elders there told him that there would come a time when
the authorities would persecute Christians and it would be necessary to flee to
the mountains and hide, but continue to preach the Word of God. After his
tonsure he went to live in Malga khutor, Orenburg province, where he dug out
a cave for himself in the mountains and lived in it until 1919, praying to God.
We would accept visitors into his cave for counsel. Sometimes he went out of
his cave and walked in the khutors, preaching the Word of God. At the height
of the Civil War, in 1919 he left his cave for good and went to live in another
cave on the river Belaya. In August, 1920 there was an attack on those living in
the cave, two were killed and Fr. Paul was beaten up. He decided to go back to
Malga and his cave in the mountains. On January 10 (or 21), 1931 he was
arrested, and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was condemned to be shot in
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 he was sentenced to death. The
sentence was carried out at 4.25 a.m. on April 5, 1931.

Monk Andrew (Mironovich Tikhonov). He was born on October 1, 1894 in

the village of Belozerki, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district into a peasant
family. From 1915 to 1918 he was serving at the front, and from 1919 to 1920 he
was serving in the Red Army. In 1928 he was tonsured into monasticism by Fr.
Basil Kurdyuk together with his wife Anisya. On November 30, 1930 he was
arrested in his native village and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10,
58-11 and 58-7 to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Seraphim, in the world Semyon Lipatovich Sevastianov. He was

born in September, 1894, and finished village school. From 1915 to 1917 he
served in the army as a private. In 1926 he was tonsured into monasticism by
Hieromonk Basil (Kurdyukov) together with his wife Martha, who became
Nun Maria. On January 11, 1931 he was arrested in the house of Monk James
Tugin, to whom he had gone “to feed his horse”. He was cast into Orenburg
Domzak. He was convicted of “being a member of the counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “conducting anti-collective farm agitation”.

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In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to three
years in the camps conditionally. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Ivan (Petrovich Timokhin). He was born in September, 1881 in the

village of Belozerki, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district. He had a wife and
two children. For fifteen years he was a hired labourer. In 1927 he was
tonsured into monasticism by Fr. Basil (Kurdyukov) in Orenburg. On January
11, 1931 he was arrested in the flat of James Tugin and cast into Orenburg
Domzak. He was convicted of “participation in the church-monarchist
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and of being “an active
supporter of Kurdyukov”. In accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-7 he was
given three years in the camps conditionally. Nothing more is known about
him.

Monk Paul (Dmitrievich Timokhin). He was born in January, 1898 in the

village of Belozerki, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district. He had a wife and
three children. In 1928 he was tonsured into monasticism by Fr. Basil
(Kurdyukov) in Orenburg. On November 29, 1930 he was arrested in Belozerki
and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was convicted of “participation in the
church-monarchist counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and of
being “an active supporter of Kurdyukov”. In accordance with articles 58-10
and 58-7 he was given three years in the camps conditionally. Nothing more is
known about him.

Schema-Nun Vassa (Pavlovna Gusarenkova). She was born in August, 1880

in the village of Kamenki, Kashirsky region into a lower-middle class family.
In 1897 she joined the Dormition monastery in Orenburg. After its closure in
1924 she visited the church where Fr. Basil (Kurdyukov) served, and in 1927
was tonsured by him, becoming a schema-nun in 1928. On January 22, 1931
she was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 she was
convicted of “participation in the church-monarchist organization, ‘The
Trues’” and of “calling on people not to join the collective farms and not to
allow their children to go to school”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7, she was sentenced to death. On April 5 she was shot at 4.25.

Nun Natalya Vasilyevna Mishneva was born in 1903 in the village of

Belozerki, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district. She was the daughter of Fr.
Basil. In 1928 she was tonsured into monasticism by her father in the church
on Mayak in Orenburg. She is recorded as saying in the protocols: “I was also
tonsured because my husband is a half-wit.” After her tonsure she continued
to live in her native village with her husband and two children – her daughters
Helena, aged five, and Maria, aged three. On December 2, 1930 she was
arrested in the village of Belozerka, and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. On
March 26 she was convicted of “being a member of the counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’ and the daughter of its

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leader Kudryukov”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, she was
sentenced to five years in the camps.

Nun Nadezhda Paramonovna Mishneva was born in October, 1883 in the

village of Belozerki, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district. She was a widow
with three sons. An orphan girl of thirteen years of age also lived with her. In
1928 she was tonsured into monasticism by Fr. Basil in the church on Mayak in
Orenburg. On November 28, 1930 she was arrested in Belozerki, and cast into
the Domzak in Orenburg. On March 26, 1931 she was convicted by the OGPU
of “participation in a church-monarchist counter-revolutionary organization,
‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’. She was sentenced in accordance
with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to three years in the camps conditionally.

Nun Maria Petrovna Potto was born in Orenburg in 1896 into a merchant’s
family. She went to a parish school. On January 2, 1931 she was arrested and
cast into Orenburg Domzak. At her interrogation she said: “We have not
recognized Metropolitan Sergius because he has issued a declaration.
Metropolitan Sergius is also not recognized by Priest Artemius, who serves in
St. Nicholas church on Novaya Stroika… The persecutions on religion on the
part of Soviet power exist. Soviet power deals in a bestial manner with
innocent clergy, sending them to Solovki and closing the churches.” On March
26, 1931 she was convicted by the OGPU of “participation in a church-
monarchist counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox
Christians?]’. She was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and
59-7 to five years in the camps conditionally.

Nun Olga Vasilyevna Pogorelova was born in 1868 in the village of Ilyinka,
Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district. She was in a monastery in Orenburg
from before the revolution until its closure. On January 10, 1931 she was
arrested and cast into the Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 she was
convicted by the OGPU of “participation in a church-monarchist counter-
revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’”, “hiding
the leader of the organization, Ogorodnikov” and “forbidding women to enter
the collective farm as being ‘an organization of Satan’”. She was sentenced to
death in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. She was shot at 4.25
a.m. on April 5, 1931.

Nun Irina (Fyodorovna Gladysheva). She was born in 1889 in the village of
Bredy, Orsky region into a peasant family. She lived in a monastery in
Orenburg for about five years. In February, 1931 she was arrested in Irpen
station, Kiev, where she had been hiding. As she said at her interrogation:
“During my first trip to Kiev in 1928 I stayed in Moscow with Hieromonk
Zephaniah Tkachev, who during the famine years had been in exile in
Orenburg. I often went to Buzuluk, where I was linked with Schema-Monk
Maximushka. Later I got to know Bishop Sergius (Nikolsky), who was at one
with us, of the Josephite orientation. Later I learned from a letter of his sister

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that Bishop Sergius went from exile (he had been exiled to Ufa) to Orenburg
and was in prison. She asked me to visit her brother. I carried out her request
and sent parcels to the Domzak for Bishop Sergius.” On March 26 she was
convicted of “being the main messenger for the church-monarchist
organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “directing the city cell”. In accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 58-7, she was sentenced to death. She was shot at 22.20
on March 31, 1931 in Samara Domzak.

Nun Maria (Ivanovna Chernova). She was born in 1889 in Didurovka

settlement, Pavlovsky region, Orenburg district into a peasant family. In 1902
she entered a monastery in Orenburg. In June, 1930 she fled to Kiev to escape
arrest. She was a needlewoman. On January 9, 1931 she was arrested in
Samara district and cast into Samara Domzak. In accordance with articles 58-
10, 58-11 and 58-7, she was sentenced to death. She was shot on March 31.

Nun Eugenia, in the world Matrona Ignayevna Kalashnikova. She was born
in 1886 in the village of Belozerki, Kashira region, Orenburg district, and
entered the Orenburg Dormition monastery as a novice in 1920. From 1920 to
1928 she lived with various people. In 1928 she was tonsured by Hieromonk
Basil (Kudryuk). On December 29, 1930 she was arrested in her native village
and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 she was convicted of
“participation in the counter-revolutionary church organization, ‘The Trues’”
and of being an active participant in the “Kudryukites’” cell. In accordance
with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, she was sentenced to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Zinaida (Potapovna Stepanova). She was born in 1870 in Orenburg

into a lower middle class family. She was a widow. On January 22, 1931 she
was arrested in Orenburg and cast into the Orenburg Domzak. She was
convicted by the OGPU of being “a member of the church-monarchist counter-
revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’”, and of being “a messenger closely
linked with the leadership of the organization”. In accordance with articles 58-
10, 58-11 and 58-7, she was sentenced to death. She was shot on April 5.

Nun Natalya (Vasilyevna Mishneva). She was born in 1903 in the village of
Belozerki, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district. She was the daughter of Fr.
Basil. In 1928 she was tonsured into monasticism by her father in the church
on Mayak in Orenburg. She is recorded as saying in the protocols: “I was also
tonsured because my husband is a half-wit.” After her tonsure she continued
to live in her native village with her husband and two children – her daughters
Helena, aged five, and Maria, aged three. On December 2, 1930 she was
arrested in the village of Belozerka, and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, she was sentenced to five years
in the camps.

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Nun Nadezhda (Paramonovna Mishneva). She was born in October, 1883 in

the village of Belozerki, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district. She was a
widow with three sons. An orphan girl of thirteen years of age also lived with
her. In 1928 she was tonsured into monasticism by Fr. Basil in the church on
Mayak in Orenburg. On November 28, 1930 she was arrested in Belozerki, and
cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. She was sentenced in accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to three years in the camps conditionally.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Praskovya (Yakovlevna Fyodorova). She was born on November 6,

1885 in the village of Belozerki, Kashirinsky region. At her interrogation she
said: “I have lived with Matushka Dunya for four years, in our village we
consider her to be a saints and come to her for the expulsion of demons and
healing of illnesses. I serve her, that is how I earn my living.” On December 9,
1931 she was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. She was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Anastasia (Ilyinichna Lomakina). She was born in 1885 in the village
of Belozerka, Kashirinsky district, Orenburg region, into a peasant family.
Before her tonsure she was the wife of Nicetas Maximovich Lomakin. On
November 29, 1930 she arrested, and was cast into the DZ in Orenburg. She
witnessed at her interrogation: “I am also a nun, I recognize the Church, but I
do not want to go to it, because I do not recognize these popes, but I don’t
know why, I pray at home and go nowhere.” On March 26, 1931 a troika of the
OGPU condemned her for “participation in the church-monarchist
organization ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’” to five years in the
camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7.

Nun Praskovya (Fyodorovna Babina). She was born in 1875 in the village of
Second Nikolskoye, Pokrov region, Orenburg district. She struggled in the
Dormition monastery in Orenburg until 1926. On December 1, 1930 she was
arrested in her native village and cast into the Orenburg Domzak. She was
convicted of “participation in a church-monarchist counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’” and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-
11 and 59-7 to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Ulyana (Afanasyevna Spirenkova) was born in 1892 in the village of

Vasilyevka, Petrovsky region, Middle Volga district into a peasant family. She
was the daughter of Nun Euphrosyne (Fatinya Petrovna Spirenkova). She
entered a monastery in Orenburg in 1914. In 1918 she returned to her native
village. On January 9, 1931 she was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak.
On March 26 she was convicted by the OGPU of “participation in the church-
monarchist counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’,” and of
“spreading provocative rumours during the time of bread procurement”. In

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accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, she was sentenced to ten years in the
camps.

Nun Anastasia (Sergeyevna Urazova). She was born in 1890 in the village
of N. Petrovskoye, Petrovsky region into a peasant family. She lived from 1913
to 1917 in Jerusalem. She returned to her native village and lived there
working in the fields. On January 13, 1931 she was arrested and cast into
Orenburg Domzak. She was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7 to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Glyceria (Grigoryevna Urazova). She was born in May, 1877 in the
village of N. Petrovskoye, Petrovsky region into a peasant family. She lived
from 1913 to 1917 in Jerusalem and Egypt. She returned to her native village,
where, on January 13, 1931 she was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak.
She was accused of having links with the leaders of “The Trues” on Malga
khutor. She was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to
ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Anastasia (Ilyinichna Lomakina). She was born in 1885 in the village
of Belozerka, Kashirinsky district, Orenburg region, into a peasant family.
Before her tonsure she was the wife of Nicetas Maximovich Lomakin. On
November 29, 1930 she arrested, and was cast into the Domzak in Orenburg.
She witnessed at her interrogation: “I am also a nun, I recognize the Church,
but I do not want to go to it, because I do not recognize these popes, but I
don’t know why, I pray at home and go nowhere.” She was sentenced to five
years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing
more is known about her.

Nun Juvenalia, in the world Helena Timofeyevna Shevchenko, was born in

1870 in the village of Ilyinka, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district into a
Ukrainian peasant family. For forty years, until 1929, she lived in the Pokrov
women’s monastery in Sterlitamak, Ufa province. On January 22, 1931 she was
arrested in her native village, and accused of being “the right hand of the
leader of the organization” and of “conducting anti-Soviet work”. She was
sentenced to death in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7.

Nun Maria (Petrovna Potto). She was born in Orenburg in 1896 into a
merchant’s family. She went to a parish school. On January 2, 1931 she was
arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. At her interrogation she said: “We
have not recognized Metropolitan Sergius because he has issued a declaration.
Metropolitan Sergius is also not recognized by Priest Artemius, who serves in
St. Nicholas church on Novaya Stroika… The persecutions on religion on the
part of Soviet power exist. Soviet power deals in a bestial manner with
innocent clergy, sending them to Solovki and closing the churches.” She was
sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to five years in the
camps conditionally. Nothing more is known about her.

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Nun Olga (Vasilyevna Pogorelova). She was born in 1868 in the village of
Ilyinka, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district. She was in a monastery in
Orenburg from before the revolution until its closure. On January 10, 1931 she
was arrested and cast into the Orenburg Domzak. She was also accused of
“hiding the leader of the organization, Ogorodnikov” and “forbidding women
to enter the collective farm as being ‘an organization of Satan’”. She was
sentenced to death in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. She was
shot at 4.25 a.m. on April 5, 1931.

Nun Magdalina, in the world Vera Antonovna Ramenskaya. She was born
on September 13, 1869 in the village of Cherninovo, Samara province
(Bolshaya Kirsanovka, Taganrog district, Don province?). She went to the
village school. From the age of twelve she lived in the Paraskevievsky
Toplovsky monastery, Theodosiya uyezd, Tauris province. At the beginning of
the 1920s an agricultural artel was organized in the monastery. On September
9, 1929 she was arrested and accused of being “a member of an anti-Soviet
grouping uniting the monastic element of the village-agricultural artel”. She
was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’ administrative
exile to Samara. This was part of the group case, “The Case of the
Paraskevievsky Toplovsky monastery, Crimea, 1929”. On February 23, 1931
she was arrested again and cast into the Orenburg Domzak. She was sentenced
in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to five years in the camps,
commuted to exile in the northern regions for the same period. Nothing more
is known about her.

Nun Magdalina, in the world Vera Antonovna Ramenskaya, was born on

September 13, 1869 in the village of Cherninovo, Samara province (Bolshaya
Kirsanovka, Taganrog district, Don province?). She went to the village school.
From the age of twelve she lived in the Paraskevievsky Toplovsky monastery,
Theodosiya uyezd, Tauris province. At the beginning of the 1920s an
agricultural artel was organized in the monastery. On September 9, 1929 she
was arrested and accused of being “a member of an anti-Soviet grouping
uniting the monastic element of the village-agricultural artel”. She was
sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’ administrative exile
to Samara. This was part of the group case, “The Case of the Paraskevievsky
Toplovsky monastery, Crimea, 1929”. On February 23, 1931 she was arrested
again and cast into the Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 she was
condemned by the OGPU for “participation in the church-monarchist counter-
revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’, living in
the flat of the cell-leader, V.S. Golovina”. She was sentenced in accordance
with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to five years in the camps, commuted to
exile in the northern regions for the same period. Nothing more is known
about her.

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Nun Anna (Makarovna Ivanova). She was born in 1867 in Kremenchug,

Poltava province into a noble family. She was disenfranchised and exiled to
Samara. In 1928 she was arrested and exiled for “counter-revolutionary
activity”. She had two sons and two daughters. On January 1, 1931 she was
arrested in Samara and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 she
was condemned by the OGPU for “participation in the church-monarchist
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’, being one of the leaders of the
Samara city cell”. She was sentenced to death in accordance with articles 58-10,
58-11 and 59-7. The sentence was carried out on March 31, 1931 at 22.20.

Reader Joseph Efremovich Lopatnov was born in July, 1869 in Volsky

uyezd, Saratov province into a peasant family. In 1920 he became a reader in
the village of Vasilyevka, Petrovsk region, Middle Volga district. He was
married to Lukerya Fadeyevna. On April 7, 1930 he was arrested. On May 17
he was released. On January 1, 1931 he was arrested again, and cast into the
Domzak in Orenburg on January 10. He was also accused of being “the leader
of a cell”. He was sentenced to be shot in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7. The sentence was carried out on April 5.

Peter Leontyevich Masyutin was born on February 2, 1889 in the village of

Zobovo, Sharlyk region, Middle Volga area into a peasant family. From 1916 to
1917 he served at the front as a private. He had a wife Maria (born 1892), two
sons and five daughters. In 1921 he was arrested and imprisoned for 90 days
on suspicion of “killing a pauper”. He was “dekulakized”, but was later
reinstated in his rights. In 1929 he was fined 36 roubles for not giving up his
excess of bread. Then on November (or October) 29, 1930 he was arrested for
“not giving up contracted cattle”, and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. On
March 26, 1931 he was convicted by the OGPU of “being a member of a
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’.
He conducted anti-collective farm agitation.” In accordance with articles 58-10,
58-11 and 59-7, he was given three years in the camps conditionally. Nothing
more is known about him.

Andrew Akimovich Koval was born in May, 1883 in the village of

Nikolayevka, Krasnodar uyezd, Poltava province. From 1925 he was president
of the parish church council in the village of Boldyrevka, Kashirinsky region.
He was married to Nadezhda. On January 18, 1931 he was arrested and cast
into the Domzak in Orenburg. On March 26 he was convicted of being “a
member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox
Christians?]’” and of “having close links with its leader, Mogilev”. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to ten years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Filippovich Kasimovsky was born in January, 1867 in the village of

Novo-Troitskoye, Kashirinsky region into a peasant family. He was married to
Pelagia, and had a foster son. On December 30, 1930 he was arrested in the

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settlement of Novo-Zerkalinsk, Kashirinsky region and cast into Orenburg

Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted of “being a member of the
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’, and the leader of a cell in his
khutor”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to
the camps for five years, which was remitted to exile in the north for the same
period. Nothing more is known about him.

Peter Pavlovich Pokhryaev was born in December, 1874 or 1880 in N-

Spassk, Kashirinsky region, Middle Volga district. He was a “dekulakized”
trader who had been sentenced to three years’ exile in the north in accordance
with article 61. He had a wife Maria and a son Alexis. On December 8, 1930 he
was arrested and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. On March 26, 1931 he was
convicted by the OGPU of “being a member of a counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’. He took part in illegal meetings of the cell in his
village.” In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to
ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Joseph Ivanovich Zhukov. He was born in 1869 in the village of

Nikolayevka, Petrovsky region into a peasant family. He was married to
Pelagia Sergeyevna and had four sons. On April 6, 1931 he was arrested in the
village of Karayevo, Meleussky region, and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg.
On March 26, 1931 he was convicted by the OGPU of “being a member of a
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and “speaking against
collective farms and cooperatives”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and
59-7, he was sentenced to death. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Vasilyevich Karyakin. He was born in December, 1876 into a peasant

family in the village of Novo-Troitsk, Kashirinsky region, and was president of
the local church council. He had a wife and four children. On January 22, 1931
he was arrested in Novo-Troitsk and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March
26 he was convicted of “being a member of the counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’”, and was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-
10, 58-11 and 59-7 to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about
him.

Ivan Fyodorovich Zhukov. He was born in 1877 in the village of

Boldyrevka, Kashirinsky region. He was married to Avdotia. On January 22,
1931 he was arrested in Orenburg and cast into the Domzak. On March 26,
1931 he was convicted by the OGPU of “being a member of a counter-
revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “organizing illegal meetings in
his flat and having close links with the leader Mogilev”. He took part in illegal
meetings of the cell in his village.” In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and
59-7, he was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

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Leonid Klavdiyevich Popov. He was born in March, 1903 in Repinsky

settlement, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district in the family of a landowner.
He went to Orenburg theological school, and went to live in the village of
Pogromnoye, Kashirinsky region, working as an accountant. He had a wife
and five children. On November 10, 1930 he was arrested in Pogromnoye and
cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted by the
OGPU of “being a member of a church-monarchist counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’. He conducted anti-
collective farm agitation.” In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he
was given three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Paul Yakovlevich Kurakin. He was born in December, 1872 in the village of

Novo-Troitskoye, Kashirinsky region into a peasant family. He was
disenfranchised in 1928 and dekulakized in 1930. He had a wife, Anastasia,
and a son. On January 12, 1931 he was arrested in Boldyrevka, Kashirinsky
region, where he lived, and on March 26 was convicted by the OGPU of “being
a member of a church-monarchist counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The
Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’. He conducted anti-collective farm
agitation.” In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was given ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Eusebius Semyonovich Mamontov. He was born in November, 1885 in the

village of Voronino, Sharlyksky district, Middle Volga region into a peasant
family. During the First World War he served as a private in a technical
battalion. In 1920 he became president of the village soviet. He was married to
Anastasia, and had two sons and three daughters. In 1929 he was convicted in
accordance with article 107 for “concealing bread” and in February, 1930 was
cast into Orenburg prison, where he remained for about two months. His wife
Anastasia was sentenced to eighteen months in prison. On November 10, 1930
he was arrested again, and cast into the Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he
was convicted of “being a member of the counter-revolutionary organization,
‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-
11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nicetas Anempodistovich Yeshaulov. He was a Cossack born in August,

1895 in the village of Prechistenka, Orenburg region. He went to a village
th
school. From August, 1918 to July, 1919 he was a private in the 20 Orenburg
regiment of Dutov’s army. From June, 1919 he crossed over to the Red Army,
th
serving in the 438 regiment until March, 1920. For about a month from 1927
to 1928 he was president of the church council in his native village. He was
married to Eudocia, and had three sons and a daughter. In 1928 he was
arrested and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment conditionally in
accordance with article 128, but was acquitted. On January 20, 1931 he was
arrested again and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he was convicted
of “being a member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’”

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and for being “a recruiter, maintaining links with travelling agents”. In

accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to ten years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Tikhon Yevimovich Zaitsev. He was born in 1895 in the village of

Rybatino, Chernigov province. From 1914 to 1917 he worked in the depo in
Orenburg. From 1918 he lived in the village of Sharlyk with his wife Pelagia
(born 1898), and son and daughter. On November 3, 1930 he was arrested and
cast into Orenburg Domzak. On he was convicted of “being a member of the
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and in accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Andreyevich Lyabin. He was born in November, 1888 in the

second Saratovsky poselok, Sharlyksky region, into a peasant family. He
finished his studies at a village school. When the region was occupied by the
Whites in 1918-19 he helped them with animals, bread, etc. He lived in the
village of Pletnevka, Sharlyksky region, Orenburg district, and had a wife,
Eudocia (born 1890), and had three sons and a daughter. He was arrested for
the first time in March, 1930 and was sentenced to the confiscation of two
horses in accordance with article 61. On November 3, 1930 he was arrested
again and accused of “participation in the counter-revolutionary organization
‘the Trues’”, and sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing more is known about him.

Andrew Andreyevich Lyabin. He was born in August, 1893 in the second

Saratovsky poselok, Sharlyksky region, Middle Volga region into a peasant
family. When the region was occupied by the Whites in 1918-19 he helped
them with animals, bread, etc. He lived in the village of Pletnevka, Sharlyksky
region, and had a wife, Stepanida, two sons and three daughters. On
November 3, 1930 he was arrested and accused of “participation in the
counter-revolutionary organization ‘the Trues’, of having links with the kulaks
and of breaking up a meeting on the sowing campaign. He was sentenced to
five years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing
more is known about him.

Sergius Petrovich Zubkov. He was born in September, 1876 in the village

of Vasilyevka, Petrovsky region into a peasant family. He served in the First
World War. He was married to Eudocia, and had two sons. He was
dekulakized. On January 13, 1931 he was arrested and cast into the Domzak in
Orenburg. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted, and sentenced to five years in
the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing more is
known about him.

Basil Mikhailovich Chujko. He was born in 1873 in the village of

Nikolayevka, Artemovsky district, Ukraine into a Ukrainian peasant family.

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He went to a village school. He served as a private in the Russo-Japanese and

First World Wars. In 1929, while living in his native village, he was sentenced
to three years’ exile in Samara. There, on February 23, 1931 he was arrested
again and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced to eight years in the
camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing more is
known about him.

Paul Vasilyevich Bocharov. He was born in February, 1894 into a peasant

family in the village of V-Gumber, Kashirinsky region. He went to a village
school and served as a private in the army from 1914 to 1917. He was married
to Eudocia, and had two sons and three daughters. On December 20, 1930 he
was arrested in his native village, and was sentenced to five years in the camps
in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing more is known
about him.

Ivan Stepanovich Yarygin. He was born in 1888 in the village of

Kolychevo, Sharlyksky region into a peasant family. In 1928 he was deprived
of civil rights. He was married to Aquilina, and had five daughters. On
February 4, 1931 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was
convicted of being “a member of a church-monarchist counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’,” and “the organizer of a cell in Kolychevo”. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 58-7, he was sentenced to eight years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Ignatius Danilovich Ivannikov. He was born in December, 1879 in the

village of V-Gumbet, Kashirinsky region, into a peasant family. He was
married to Matrona, and had two sons. On December 16, 1930 he was arrested
and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. He was convicted of “being a member
of a counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’, visiting illegal meetings
and agitating against collective farms”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

Theodore Timofeyevich Gusev. He was born in 1880 (or March, 1879) in

Novo-Spassky, Pokrov region, and served as a private in the army from 1916
to 1917. In 1929 he was disenfranchised, and in 1930 – dekulakized, being
condemned for not fulfilling a plan for the production of bread. He was
married to Maria (born 1879) and had a son. On December 16, 1930 he was
arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he was convicted of
“being a member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’”, and
in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 was sentenced to five years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Konstantinovich Lavrov. He was born in 1897 in the village of

Putyatino, Sharlyksky region in the Middle Volga region. He was the son of a
tradesman and finished his studies at the village school. Before the revolution

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th
he was occupied in trade. In 1916-17 he served in the army in the 105 reserve
regiment in Orenburg. In 1918 he served in the White army under Dutov. In
Guryev he was seized by the red forces of the Guryev cheka, and was forced to
serve in the Red Army from 1919 to 1921 in a unit of the Guryev cheka. Later
he went to live in the village of Podgornoye, Sharlyksky region. From 1923 he
was deprived of voting rights. And in 1929, for non-payment of taxes, he was
fined. He had a wife Anna (born 1902) and two daughters Vera. On October
29, 1930 he was arrested, detained in the Orenburg DPZ and on March 26, 1931
was accused by the OGPU of “being a member of the counter-revolutionary
organization ‘the Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’, of stirring up the
peasants not to join the party, and of spreading defeatist rumours”. In
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 he was sentenced to five years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Alexeyevich Sheptunov. He was born on October 19, 1884 in the

village of Pokurlej, Petrovsky region, Orenburg province into a peasant family.
From 1914 to 1917 he served as a private in the army. He was married to
Eudocia Grigoryevna, and had two sons and five daughters. He was arrested
on January 9, 1931 and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was convicted in
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to ten years in the camps.
Nothing mores is known about him.

Paul Nikitich Khaidarov. He was born on January 2, 1870 in Pakurlevsky

khutor, Petrovsky region into a peasant family. He was married to Avdotia
Safonova and had a son. On January 10, 1931 he was arrested in his native
village and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced to death in
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. He was shot on April 5, 1931 at
4.25 a.m.

Nicholas Afanasyevich Kharin. He was born in 1869 in the village of

Kashirisnkoye, Kashirinsky region into a peasant family. He was married to
Anna, and had two sons and two daughters. On December 10, 1930 he was
arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced to five years in
the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing more is
known about him.

Alexander Prokhorovich Kashirin. He was born on May 11, 1899 in the

village of Novo-Spassk, Pokrovsky region, Middle Volga district into a peasant
family. Before the revolution he was a shepherd in his native village. In 1918
he served for six months in the White Army. From 1919 to 1921 he served in
the Red Army, and was at the front. He had a wife, Arina, two sons and a
daughter. On December 6, 1930 he was arrested in his native village and cast
into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted of “being a
member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’, and the leader
of a cell in his village”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he
was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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Philip Andreyevich Trushkin. He was born in August, 1894 in the Second

Saratov settlement, Sharlyksky region into a peasant family. He went to a
village school, and served in the tsarist army as a private. When the Whites
retreated in 1919 he joined their ranks as a volunteer, but returned in 1920. In
March, 1930 he was accused of “not bringing out bread”, and sentenced in
accordance with article 61 to confiscation of one horse, one cow, five cubs and
eight sheep. On November 3 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak.
He was convicted of being “a member of the counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “conducting anti-collective farm agitation”.
In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to five
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Stepan Grigoryevich Gerasimov. He was born in August, 1901 in the

village of Second Novo-Nikolskoye, Pokrovsky region. His father was
dekulakized and exiled to Perm province. He was married and had three
children. On January 11, 1931 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak.
On March 26 he was convicted of “being a member of a counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “participating in meetings with the cell-
leader Vinogradov”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was
sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Prochorus Ivlievich Kharin. He was born in July, 1885 in the village of

Korem, Orenburg uyezd into a peasant family. He served in the army as a
private until 1918. He was married to Tatyana, and had two sons and two
daughters. He was dekulakized in 1930. On January 13, 1931 he was arrested
in the village of Novo-Petrovka, Petrovsky region and cast into Orenburg
Domzak. On March 26, 1931 was sentenced to five years in the camps in
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing more is known about
him.

Nicholas Fyodorovich Kharchenko. He was born in December, 1887 in the

village of Belovodskoye, Sumsky uyezd, Kharkov province into a Ukrainian
peasant family. He went to a church-parish school in Sukhomlinovka. From
1914 to 1918 he served in the army as a private. He was married to Anna, and
had four sons and a daughter. On January 18, 1931 he was arrested in
Kashirinsky region, and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he
was sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-
11 and 59-7. Nothing more is known about him.

Averyan Dmitrievich Chernetsov. He was born in 1883 in the village of

Mikhailovka, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district into a peasant family. He
went to a village school and was engaged in arable farming. He went on a
pilgrimage with Emelyan Profiryevich Efremov to Jerusalem and Mount
Athos. In December, 1918 he went on missionary courses, but did not finish

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them because of his poor literacy. He was married to Aquilina Andreyevna

and had two daughters. In 1930 he was dekulakized, and on December 16 was
arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted
of being “the leader of a cell of the church-monarchist counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’” in Mikhailovka, and in accordance with articles 58-
10, 58-11 and 58-7 was sentenced to death. On April 5, 1931 he was shot at 4.25
a.m.

Matthew Davidovich Shepelev. He was born in 1884 in the village of B.

Gumbet, Kashirsky region, Middle Volga district into a peasant family. He
was married to Anastasia, and had three sons and three daughters. He was
arrested on December 16, 1930 and was cast into Orenburg Domzak. On
March 26 he was convicted of being “a member of a counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’, and of conducting disruptive work against the
collective farms. He was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7 to eight years in the camps.

Ivan Mikhailovich Galakhov. He was born in August, 1883 in the village

of Pokurlej, Petrovsky region, Orenburg province into a peasant family. He
served as a lance-corporal at the front until 1917. He was married to Anna
Vasilyevna, and had three sons and four daughters. On January 10, 1931 he
was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was
sentenced to ten years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Timofeyevich Gamov. He was born in 1884 in the village of

Slonovka, Sharlyksky region. He fought at the front in the First World War.
From 1921 he was working at a mill in Karayevo, Melussky region. He was
married to Anastasia (born 1886) and had two sons and two daughters.
During his interrogation he said: “When they arrested Priest Simon
(Ogorodnikov), my wife truly went after him to know where they were taking
the pope.” On January 15, 1931 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg
Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted of “being a member of the
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “speaking against
collective farms and cooperatives”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7, he was sentenced to death. He was shot at 4.25 on April 5, 1931.

Theodore Viktorovich Ignatyev (Gorokhov?). He was born on February

15, 1893 in the village of Izyak-Nikitino, Sharlyk region into a peasant family.
From 1919 to 1920 he served in the Red Army. In 1921 he was arrested in his
native village for “desertion from service in the Red Army. He was caught,
but tore himself out of the hands of the convoy.” “With the aim of avoiding
service in the Red Army he lived in various places under an assumed name.
Although his real name was Gorokhov, he lived under the name Ignatyev.”
He was married to Theodosia (born 1892) and had two sons and a daughter.
In January, 1930, and again on November 10, he was arrested and cast into

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Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was convicted of “being a member

of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “conducting
anti-collective farm agitation”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-
7, he was sentenced to three years in the camps conditionally. Nothing more
is known about him.

Theodore Petrovich Kharchenko. He was born in April, 1867 in the village

of Belovodskoye, Sumsky uyezd, Kharkov province. He was married to Maria,
and had a son and two daughters. Until 1920 he lived in Verkhnyaya kazarma,
working as a bee-keeper. Then he moved to the village of Boldyrevka,
Kashirinsky region. In 1930 he was dekulakized and disenfranchised. On
January 18, 1931 he was arrested in Boldyrevka and cast into Orenburg
Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was sentenced to five years in the camps in
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. This sentence was commuted to
the same period of exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Trofimovich Babich. He was born in August, 1880 in the village

of Bubnovka, Poltava province into a peasant family. He finished two classes
in the village school. He was married to Pelagia (born 1880) and had three
sons. On November 3, 1930 he was arrested in the village of Pletnevka,
Sharlyksky region and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 he was
sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Nikolayevich Bazanov. He was born in 1875 in the settlement of

Novo-Spassky, Pokrovsky region and served as a private in the tsarist army in
1916. He was married to Arina and had a daughter. In 1930 he was
dekulakized. On December 7, 1930 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg
Domzak. He was accused of “not handing over reserves of bread” and
sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in accordance with article 61. On
March 26, 1931 he was sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing more is known about him.

Trophimus Evdokimovich Popov was born in 1877 in the village of

Bogorodskoye, Sharlyksk region, Middle Volga region into a peasant family.
He had a wife Maria (born 1878) and four daughters. In 1918 he was arrested
for making “a speech against Soviet power”. On November 10, 1931 he was
arrested in Bogorodskoye and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he
was condemned by the OGPU for “being a member of a counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?], and sentenced to five
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexis Ivanovich Trokhov was born in 1888 in the village of Repyevka,

Simbirsk province into a peasant family. He went to the local village school.
Until 1914 he was a typesetter in St. Petersburg. From 1914 to October 10, 1917
he was at the front, and from October 25, 1917 to March 2, 1918 he was a

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typesetter in a printing press. During the Civil War he did physical labour in
the main workshops in Samara station. From September 13, 1921 to September
10, 1930 he worked at the depot in Samara. Then he worked as a typesetter in
the “Middle Volga Commune” printing press. At the beginning of 1931 he was
arrested, and on March 26 was convicted of “participation in a church-
monarchist counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’”, and of being “an
active supporter of [Fr. Basil] Kudrukov”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-
11 and 58-7, he was given three years in the camps conditionally. Later, at the
end of the 1930s he was arrested in Kuibyshev on a church matter and was
shot.

Roman Semyonovich Andreyev. He was born in 1884 in the village of

Savinki, Novooskolsky uyezd, Kursk province into a peasant family. From
1914 to 1917 he was serving at the front as a private. Then he went to work in
the fields. He had a wife, Eudocia, a son and a daughter. On January 7, 1931 he
was arrested in the village of Kaprovka, Petrovsky region and cast into the
Domzak in Orenburg. He was accused of being the leader of a cell of the
“Trues”, and of “having close links with the leader, Mogilev”. In accordance
with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to death. He was shot at
4.25 a.m. on April 5.

Athanasius Filippovich Uryusov was born in May, 1890 in the village of

Izyak-Nikitino, Sharlyksky region into a peasant family. From 1914 to 1917 he
served in the Tsarist army as a private, then in the army of the Provisional
Government, and from 1919 to 1921 – in the Red Army. From 1921 to 1922 he
was the president of a village council. He was married to Alexandra (born
1900) and had two sons and three daughters. In 1925 he was accused of being
“a participant in an anti-Soviet speech”. On November 3, 1930 he was arrested
and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. He was sentenced in accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Semyon Nikolayevich Tomin was born in April, 1887 in the village of

Putyatino, Sharlyksky uyezd into a peasant family. From 1916 to 1917 he
served in the army, but was wounded and was released from service. He
worked for one year in a machine-building factory in Kolomna. Then he
occupied himself with agricultural work in his native village. He had a wife,
Natalya (born 1887), four sons and two daughters. On November 3, 1930 he
was arrested and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. He was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Pegasius Ivanovich Burdun. He was born in November, 1870 in the village

of Gorodische, Starobela uyezd, Kharkov province into a peasant family. He
was married to Anastasia Ivanovna (born 1868) and had two daughters. On
January 8, 1931 he was arrested at Smochilinsky khutor, Petrovsky region and

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cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-
10, 58-11 and 59-7 to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about
him.

Metrophanes Vasilyevich Tonkikh. He was born in 1880 in the village of

Zobovo, Sharlyksky region. He was married with a son and two daughters. On
October 29, 1930 he was arrested and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. He
was accused of being “a member of a counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The
Trues’, participating in illegal meetings, trying to tear down the portrait of
Lenin and threatening the communists”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-
11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on April
5, 1931 at 4.25 a.m.

Tryphon Efimovich Nesterenko. He was born in 1889 in the village of

Pokrovka, Kuibyshev province into a peasant family. On January 1, 1931 he
was arrested in Samara and cast into the Samara DPZ. He was convicted by
the OGPU of “participation in the counter-revolutionary church organization,
‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’, was a member of the Samaran cell of
the organization, and participated in illegal gatherings”. In accordance with
articles 58-10 and 58-11, he was sentenced to five years in the camps. On
returning from exile in 1937, he worked as a carpenter in Kuibyshev. He was
arrested on a Church-related charge and shot towards the end of the 1930s.

Basil Mironovich Tikhonov. He was born in 1882 in the village of

Belozerki, Kashirinsky region. He took part in the First World War. He was
married. In 1930 he was arrested with his brother, Monk Andrew, and cast
into Orenburg Domzak. However, he was released under guard. Nothing
more is known about him.

Nicetas Yermolayevich Tikhonov. He was born in 1866 in Novo-Spassk,

Pokrovsky region into a peasant family. He was married with two daughters.
On December 8, 1930 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was
sentenced to five years in the camps, commuted to exile to the north for the
same period. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Efimovich Boriskin. He was born on January 11, 1886 in the village of
Bogorodskoye, Sharlyksky region. He had a wife (born 1895), four sons and a
daughter. On November 10, 1930 he was arrested, and on January 13, 1931 was
cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced to five years in the camps in
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing more is known about
him.

James Nikiforovich Borodin. He was born in October, 1896 in the village of

Putyatino, Sharlyksky region. He had a wife (born 1896) and three sons. On
October 29, 1930 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was
convicted of being “a member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The

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Trues’” and of “having links with certain members of this organization”. In

accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to five years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

James Vasilyevich Avdeyev. He was born in 1868 in the village of

Bogoslovka, Sharlyksky region, Orenburg district. He was a trader, with a
wife, Anna Mikhailovna (born 1864) and a son, and was a church warden for
fifteen years. He was in prison for some months in 1918. He was arrested on
November 10, 1930 and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. On March 26 he
was condemned by the OGPU for “being a member of a counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’”, “organizing illegal meetings” and “speaking
against Soviet power”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he
was sentenced to five years in the camps, which was commuted to exile to the
north for the same period. Nothing more is known about him.

Andrew Yakovlevich Shulika. He was born in August, 1871 in the village

of Semynovka, Kharkov province into a peasant family. In 1929 he was
arrested and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in accordance with article
107. He was acquitted later, but from 1929 was disenfranchised. On January
18, 1931 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was convicted of
being “a member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and
of “participating in illegal meetings”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7, he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

Vladimir Ilyich Varzhentsev. He was born in 1898 in the village of Sharlyk,

Sharlyksky region. In 1928 he was arrested and condemned for “losing state
money”, and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. On amnesty he was
released early, after sixteen months in prison. He worked as an accountant. On
November 10, 1930 he was arrested again for “participation in the church-
monarchist organization, ‘The Trues’”, and was cast into Orenburg Domzak.
On March 26 he was condemned in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and
59-7 to three years in the camps for “being a member of the organization, ‘The
Trues’” and for “participating in illegal meetings”. Nothing more is known
about him.

Metrophanes Yakovlevich Shulika. He was born in December, 1892 in the

village of Semynovka, Kharkov province into a peasant family. From 1914 to
1917 he served in the war as a senior under-officer. From 1919 to 1922 he
served in the Red Army. He was married to Anna, and had a son and a
daughter. In 1930 he was dekulakized and exiled to the village of Novo-
Zerkla, Kashirsky region. On December 30, 1930 he was arrested and cast into
Orenburg Domzak. He was convicted of being “a member of the counter-
revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “participating in illegal
meetings”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced
to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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Alexis Semyonovich Myachin. He was born in March, 1896 in the village

of Zobovo, Sharlyksky region, Middle Volga district. From 1915 to 1918 he
th
served in the tsarist army, serving as an under-officer in the 105 reserve
regiment in Orenburg. On June 20, 1917 he went to guard the Finnish border,
and was demobilized from there in November, 1918. He was married and had
four daughters and two sons. He was arrested on November 10, 1930 at
Novo-Georgievsky khutor, Sharlyksky region, and was cast into the Domzak
in Orenburg. On March 26, 1931 he was condemned by the OGPU for “being
a member of a counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’, and for
having close links with the leader of the cell in the village of Putyatino,
Spiridov”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced
to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Nicephorus Dmitrievich Selivanov was born in February, 1883 in the

village of Kubiki (Kubyaki?), Kirsanovsky uyezd, Tambov province into a
peasant family. He served as a private in the army in Ufa. From 1926 to 1927
he was a trader. He had a wife Matrona, three sons and two daughters. On
January 13, 1931 he was arrested in the village of Novo-Petrovka, Petrovsk
region, and was cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was also accused of
conducting agitation against the collective farms. He was sentenced to five
years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing
more is known about him.

Alexis Kuzmich Brazhnikov. He was born on February 12, 1894 in the

village of Zobovo, Sharlyksky region into a peasant family. From 1915 to 1918
he served in the army, from July 1919 to 1921 he served in the Red army. He
was married to Eudocia (born 1894) and had three sons and two daughters. On
November 10, 1930 he was arrested in his native village, and was cast into
Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced to three years in the camps in
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. Nothing more is known about
him.

Zachariah Grigorievich Strizhkov. He was born on February 2, 1895 in the

village of Voronino, Sharlyk uyezd into a peasant family. He went to the
village school. From 1915 to 1917 he served in the army as a private. From
1919 to 1921 he served in the Red Army. He had a wife, a son and three
daughters. In 1929 he was imprisoned for three months in accordance with
article 111 for “a careless attitude to the preparation of bread”. He was tried
as being a member of the commission for bread preparation. On November
11, 1930 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he
was convicted by the OGPU of being “a member of the counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “conducting anti-collective farm agitation”.
Nothing more is known about him.

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Stepan Matveyevich Nikulochkin, the son of Matthew Yegorovich

Nikulochkin, was born on December 26, 1899 in Orlovsky khutor. He finished
two classes in the village school. He served for two years in the Red Army,
from 1919 to 1921. He had a wife: Agatha (borhn 1899) and children:
Demetrius (born 1924), Theodore (born 1927 and Stepanida (born 1929). On
October 29, 1930 he was arrested and put in the Orenburg Domzak. He was
also accused of “agitating among the peasants against entry into the party”
and “spreading defeatist rumours”. He was sentenced to five years in the
camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7. He was sent to the
White Sea canal. Nothing more is known about him.

Archippus Yegorovich Rudavitsy was born in 1875 in the village of

Kolychevo, Sharlyksky region into a peasant family. He was married to
Ekaterina, and had a grandson Nicholas. On February 4, 1931 he was arrested
and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

Ivan Pavlovich Rudenko was born in 1896 in the village of Belenkoye

(Belinskoye?), Alexandrovsk uyezd, Ekaterinoslav province into a peasant
th
family. He sent to a village school. He was a lance-corporal in the 104
regiment in Orenburg. He was also a smith. On February 1, 1928 he was
deprived of voting rights. He had a wife Anastasia (born 1896) and a son. On
November 10, 1930 he was arrested and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to five years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Maximovich Rudenko was born in August, 1896 in the Ukrained. He

served as a volunteer in the White Guards unit of Bobryshev in 1918-19. In
1919 he was mobilized into the Red army, serving as a clerk. On February 1,
1928 he was deprived of voting rights, and in 1930 he was dekulakized. He
had a wife Eudocia (born 1902) and a daughter. On November 10, 1930 he was
arrested and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. In accordance with articles 58-
10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about him.

Michael Pavlovich Rudenko. He was born in November, 1889 in the village

of Belenkoye (Belinskoye?), Alexandrovsk uyezd, Ekaterinoslav province into
a peasant family. He went to a village school. He served in the Tsarist army in
1915-17, and in the White Guards unit of Bobryshev from 1918-
19. His father Paul was arrested in accordance with article 58-10 and exiled for
three years. He had a wife Pelagia (born 1891) and three sons and two
daughters. On February 1, 1928 he was deprived of his voting rights. On
November 10, 1930 he was arrested and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to three years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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Eusebius Semyonovich Mamontov. He was born in November, 1885 in the

village of Voronino, Sharlyksky district, Middle Volga region into a peasant
family. During the First World War he served as a private in a technical
battalion. In 1920 he became president of the village soviet. He had a wife,
Anastasia, and two sons and three daughters. In 1929 he was convicted in
accordance with article 107 for “concealing bread” and in February, 1930 was
cast into Orenburg prison, where he remained for about two months. His wife
Anastasia was sentenced to eighteen months in prison. On November 10, 1930
he was arrested again, and cast into the Orenburg Domzak. Nothing more is
known about him.

Arsenius Mikhailovich Khodyrev was born in 1875 in the village of

Zobovo, Sharlyksky region into a peasant family. He was married and had two
daughters. On October 29, 1930 he was arrested and cast into Orenburg
Domzak. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to
five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Mikhailovich Khodyrev was born in 1898 in the village of

Voronino, Sharlyksky region. He was married to Xenia (born 1898) and had
two sons and three daughters. On October 29, 1930 he was arrested and cast
into Orenburg Domzak. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he
was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Micah Pakhomovich Rudenko was born in 1889 in the village of Belenkoye

(Belinskoye?), Alexandrovsk uyezd, Ekaterinoslav province into a peasant
family. He served in the Tsarist army in 1914-17, and in the army of General
Dulov as a medical orderly from 1917-18. He served in the White Guards unit
of Bobryshev from 1918-19. From 1918 to 1922 he served in the Red Army. He
had three daughters. On February 1, 1928 he was deprived of his voting rights.
On November 10, 1930 he was arrested and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg.
In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to five
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Peter Leontyevich Masyutin. He was born on February 2, 1889 in the

village of Zobovo, Sharlyk region, Middle Volga area into a peasant family.
From 1916 to 1917 he served at the front as a private. He had a wife Maria
(born 1892), two sons and five daughters. In 1921 he was arrested and
imprisoned for 90 days on suspicion of “killing a pauper”. He was
“dekulakized”, but was later reinstated in his rights. In 1929 he was fined 36
roubles for not giving up his excess of bread. Then on November (or October)
29, 1930 he was arrested for “not giving up contracted cattle”, and cast into the
Domzak in Orenburg. “He conducted anti-collective farm agitation.” In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was given three years in the
camps conditionally. Nothing more is known about him.

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Basil Vasilyevich Goncharov. He was born in July, 1871 in the village of

Logachevka, Buzuluk uyezd, Samara province into a peasant family. He was
married to Catherine and had a son. He was dekulakized. On January 29, 1031
he was arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he was
condemned for “being a member of the counter-revolutionary organization,
‘The Trues’”, for “having close links with the messenger Ephremov”and
“being a participant in religious meetings”. In accordance with articles 58-10,
58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Alexander Stepanovich Vasilyev. He was born on February 15, 1880 in the

village of Prechistenka, Orenburg region into a peasant family. From autumn
1918 to autumn 1919 he was in the White Army. He was married to Claudia
(born 1878) and had two sons. On January 14, 1931 he was arrested and cast
into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he was condemned for “being a member
of a counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and for “conducting
anti-Soviet agitation”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was
sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Euthymius Nikolayevich Trukhanov. He was born in May, 1888 in the

village of Boldyrevka, Kashirinsky region into a peasant family. He was self-
taught. In 1929 he was under investigation, but was released. He was married
to Marina (53 years old) and had three sons. On January 18, 1931 he was
arrested in his native village and cast into Orenburg Domzak. In accordance
with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Maximus Vasilyevich Barbashin. He was born on January 11, 1886 in the

village of Bogorodskoye, Sharlyksky region into a peasant family. In 1918 he
was mobilized by Dubov. From 1919 to 1920 he was serving in the Red army.
He was married to Pelagia Nikitichna and had two sons and four daughters.
On November 10, 1930 he was arrested in his native village and cast into
Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he was convicted of “being a member of a
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’”, and was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Leontius Yefimovich Shvetsov. He was born in 1870 in the village of

Sharlyk, Orenburg district into a peasant family. Until 1921 he lived in the
village, and worked in the fields and as a horse-doctor. In 1921 he became a
church watchman in Orenburg. He was widowed. On January 22, 1931 he was
arrested and cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he was convicted of
“being a member of a counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’”, and
was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to five years in
the camps, commuted to the same period of exile in the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

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Peter Pavlovich Pokhryaev was born in December, 1874 or 1880 in N-

Spassk, Kashirinsky region, Middle Volga district. He was a “dekulakized”
trader who had been sentenced to three years’ exile in the north in accordance
with article 61. He had a wife Maria and a son Alexis. On December 8, 1930 he
was arrested and cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. “He took part in illegal
meetings of the cell in his village.” In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and
59-7, he was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

Leonid Klavdiyevich Popov was born in March, 1903 in Repinsky

settlement, Kashirinsky region, Orenburg district in the family of a landowner.
He went to Orenburg theological school, and went to live in the village of
Pogromnoye, Kashirinsky region, working as an accountant. He had a wife
and five children. On November 10, 1930 he was arrested in Pogromnoye and
cast into Orenburg Domzak. He conducted anti-collective farm agitation.” In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was given three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Konstantinovich Lavrov was born in 1897 in the village of

Putyatino, Sharlyksky region in the Middle Volga region. He was the son of a
tradesman and finished his studies at the village school. Before the revolution
th
he was occupied in trade. In 1916-17 he served in the army in the 105 reserve
regiment in Orenburg. In 1918 he served in the White army under Dutov. In
Guryev he was seized by the red forces of the Guryev cheka, and was forced to
serve in the Red Army from 1919 to 1921 in a unit of the Guryev cheka. Later
he went to live in the village of Podgornoye, Sharlyksky region. From 1923 he
was deprived of voting rights. And in 1929, for non-payment of taxes, he was
fined. He had a wife Anna (born 1902) and daughters Vera (born 1924) and
Seraphima (born 1927). On October 29, 1930 he was arrested and cast into
Orenburg DPZ. He was also accused “of stirring up the peasants not to join the
party, and of spreading defeatist rumours”. In accordance with articles 58-10
and 58-11 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

Alexis Semyonovich Myachin. He was born in March, 1896 in the village

of Zobovo, Sharlyksky region, Middle Volga district. From 1915 to 1918 he
th
served in the tsarist army, serving as an under-officer in the 105 reserve
regiment in Orenburg. On June 20, 1917 he went to guard the Finnish border,
and was demobilized from there in November, 1918. He had a wife, E.S. (born
1895) and children: Anna (born 1915), Tatyana (born 1917), Nicholas (born
1919), Ekaterina (born 1923), Nadezhda (born 1921) and Peter (born 1926). He
was arrested on November 10, 1930 at Novo-Georgievsky khutor, Sharlyksky
region, and was cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. On March 26, 1931 he was
condemned by the OGPU for “being a member of a counter-revolutionary
organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?]’, and for having close

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links with the leader of the cell in the village of Putyatino, Spiridov”. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to five years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Peter Prokopyevich Fadeyev. He was born on January 14, 1880 in the

village of Syezhyeye, Maximovskaya volost, Buzuluk uyezd, Samara province
into a peasant family. He was married to Eudocia Mikhailovna, and had a son
and two daughters. On January 13, 1931 he was arrested in the village of
Isangulovo, Petrovsky region and cast into Orenburg Domzak. In accordance
with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to be shot. The sentence
was carried out on April 5 at 4.25 a.m.

Terence Semyonovich Sviridov was born in 1870 in the village of

Putyatino, Sharlyksky region. He was married to Vasilissa, and had three sons
and a daughter. On January 29, 1931 he was arrested and cast into the Domzak
in Orenburg. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was
sentenced to be shot. The sentence was carried out on April 5 at 4.25 a.m.

Michael Mikhailovich Sviridov was born in 1877 in the village of

Voronino, Sharlyksky region into a peasant family. He served at the front in
the First World War. On October 29, 1930 he was arrested in Voronino and cast
into the Domzak in Orenburg. He was sentenced in accordance with articles
58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

Sergius Akimovich Golikov. He was born on July 5, 1885 in the village of

Melshino, Bolkhov uyezd, Orel province into a peasant family. He served as a
private in the First World War. He lived in Repninsky khutor, Sharlyksky
region. In 1930 he was dekulakized. On November 3, 1930 he was arrested and
cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-
10, 58-11 and 59-7 to eight years in the camps. Nothing more is known about
him.

Gregory Akimovich Savilov was born in September, 1901 in the village of

Bogorodskoye, Sharlyksky region, Middle Volga district into a peasant family.
Until 1919 he served in the Red Army. In 1920 he took an active part in a “rag
band”, for which his two brothers were shot, while Gregory Akimovich fled
and served in the RKKA until 1924. In 1927 he was arrested for “hooliganism”,
and again in 1929 on the same charge, for which he was sentenced to one
year’s hard labour. He had a wife, Eugenia Alexandrovna and a son and a
daughter. On November 10, 1930 he was arrested again in Bogorodskoye, and
cast into the Domzak in Orenburg. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and
59-7, he was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about him.

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Trophimus Evdokimovich Popov was born in 1877 in the village of

Bogorodskoye, Sharlyksky region, Middle Volga region into a peasant family.
He had a wife Maria (born 1878) and four daughters. In 1918 he was arrested
for making “a speech against Soviet power”. On November 10, 1931 he was
arrested in Bogorodskoye and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced
to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Timothy Nikolayevich Golovin. He was born in 1878 in the village of

Zobovo, Sharlyksky region, into a peasant family. He had a wife Anna (born
1878) and two sons. On November 10, 1931 he was arrested in Mayelovsky
khutor and cast into Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced to five years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Joseph Grigoryevich Vostrikov. He was born on April 4, 1878 in the village

of Zobovo, Sharlyksky region into a peasant family. He went to a village
school, and served as a policeman in Zobovo. He was a sergeant-major in the
First World War. In August, 1930 he was condemned for “not handing over
contracted cattle”, and was sentenced to eight months forced labour.
Moreover, in October he was put on trial for not handing over bread, and the
bread was confiscated. He was married to Alexandra (born 1870) and had
three sons and a daughter. On October 29, 1930 he was arrested again and cast
into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he was convicted of “being a member of
the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and of “expressing
dissatisfaction with the bread requisitioning”. In accordance with articles 58-
10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing more
is known about him.

Michael Grigoryevich Vostrikov. He was born on May 22, 1899 in Zobovo.

From 1919 to 1921 he served in the Red Army. In 1929 he was arrested and
fined for “not handing over bread”. He was married to Praskovya (born 1901)
and had two sons and a daughter. On October 29, 1930 he was arrested and
cast into Orenburg Domzak. On March 26 he was convicted of “being a
member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’” and of
“conducting systematic anti-collective farm agitation”. In accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, he was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

James Gavrilovich Bulgakov. He was born in 1868 in the village of

Orlovskoye, Sharlyksky region and worked on the land. He had a wife, Maria
Vasilyevna (born 1869) and a son. In February, 1931 he was arrested for
“participation in the church-monarchist organization, ‘The Trues’” and cast
into Orenburg Domzak. He was sentenced to death in accordance with articles
58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, and was shot at 4.25 a.m. on April 5, 1931.

Elizabeth Timofeyevna Fyodorova. She was born in 1855 or 1856, and lived
in the village of Belozerka, Kashirinsky region. She was convicted on

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December 15, 1930 in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 and cast into
Orenburg Domzak, but was released under guard. Nothing more is known
about her.

Aquilina Yegorovna (Grigoryevna?) Golikova. She was born in 1882 in the

village of Melshino, Repninskaya volost, Bolkhov uyezd, Orel province into a
peasant family. In 1918 she went to live in Repninsky khutor, Sharlyksky
region. She had a daughter and a son. On November 11, 1930 she was arrested
and cast into Orenburg Domzak, and in accordance with article 58-10, 58-11
and 59-7 was sentenced to five years in the camps for being “a member of the
counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’, and a messenger between its
leaders, being linked with the Samara cell”. Nothing more is known about her.

Alexandra Maximovna Bukina was born in December, 1886 in the village

of Kashirinskoye (Kashirinka?), Kashirinsky region into a peasant family. In
1923 she was imprisoned for one year for “trading in wine”. In 1929 she went
with Priest Bolmasov and Deacon Fokin to Bishop Demetrius of Gdov in
Petrograd. At the moment of her arrest, on January 1, 1931 in the village of
Boldyrevka, she was a widow. She was cast into Orenburg Domzak, and in
accordance with article 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7 was sentenced to ten years in the
camps for being “a member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The
Trues’, and a messenger between its leaders, being linked with the Samara
cell”. Nothing more is known about her.

Lukerya Andreyevna Fokina. She was born in 1887 or 1886 in the village of
Novoye Spasskoye, Orenburg district, and was the wife of a priest with two
sons and three daughters. On December 8, 1930 she was arrested and cast into
Orenburg Domzak. On March 26, 1931 she was convicted of being “a member
of a church-monarchist counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues’, and
the wife of one of its leaders”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 58-7,
she was sentenced to five years in the camps. “My husband Fokin,” she said,
“is a priest, they exiled him to a camp for anti-Soviet activity”. Nothing more
is known about her.

Matrona Romanovna Fokina. She was born in 1887 in the village of

Novoye Petrovskoye, Petrovsky region. From 1913 to 1927 she lived in Egypt
and Jerusalem. She was arrested in February, 1931 and cast into Orenburg
Domzak. On March 26, 1931 she was condemned for “having close links with
certain members of the church-monarchist counter-revolutionary organization,
‘The Trues’” and for “coming from abroad”. In accordance with articles 58-10,
58-11 and 58-7, she was sentenced to be shot. The sentence was carried out on
April 5, 1931 at 4.25 a.m.

Lydia Lvovna Pershakova. She was born on January 1, 1882 in Ufa into a
noble family. She finished her studies at a gymnasium and at accountancy
courses. In 1915 she moved to Tashkent, where she worked as a librarian until

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1915. From 1920 she did not work, but received a sickness pension. She was
deprived of voting rights. In 1927 she was arrested in Tashkent, and was
sentenced to three years in exile in accordance with article 58-10. In April, 1927
she was arrested again and cast into prison in Orenburg. In 1928 she was
arrested yet again in Orenburg. On January 5, 1931 she was arrested for a
fourth time and cast into the Orenburg Domzak. At her interrogation she said:
“Since April, 1930 I have broken with the [sergianist] church and do not go to
church. I have remained to this day a deeply religious person, and have
stopped going to church on the basis of the declaration of Metropolitan
Sergius. Proceeding from my convictions, I regularly give messages to
imprisoned priests and have often sent parcels to exiled clergy.” Lydia Lvovna
was in correspondence with Bishop Andrew of Ufa until October, 1929, and
with Bishop Benjamin of Ufa until his arrest in June, 1930. On March 26, 1931
she was convicted by the OGPU of “being a member of the counter-
revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True Orthodox Christians?], of
organizing an illegal cell and leading it”. In accordance with articles 58-10, 58-
11 and 59-7, she was sentenced to be shot. She was shot at 4.25 a.m. on April 5,
1931.

Maria Gavrilovna Pokryaeva was born in July, 1874 in the village of Novo-
Spassky, Pokrovsky region, Middle Volga area. She was illiterate. On
December 8, 1930 she was arrested in her native village and cast into the
Domzak in Orenburg. On March 26, 1931 she was convicted by the OGPU of
“being a member of the counter-revolutionary organization, ‘The Trues [True
Orthodox Christians?], of organizing an illegal cell, visiting illegal meetings
and considering the collective farm to be an organization of the Antichrist”. In
accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, she was sentenced to five years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Claudia Yakovlevna Tarabrina was born in April, 1899 in Orenburg and

went to a parish school and to a gymnasium (for four classes). On December
27, 1930 she was arrested by the OGPU and cast into the Domzak in
Orenburg. At her interrogation she said: “My sister is Nun Anastasia
(Antonina Yakovlevna Tarabrina), who left Orenburg in 1926 together with
Taisia Kaletina for Sukhumi. From 1926 to 1929 she was in a monastic union
that was in a desert eighty kilometres from Sukhumi, in the mountains three
versts from the village of Pskhu. Here my sister took the monastic tonsure
from Hieromonk Cyril. This monastic union was mixed – monks and nuns
lived there. There it was possible to meet monks and nuns from New and Old
Athos, Optina Desert, Glinsk Desert and other monasteries. Hieromonk Cyril
himself was from Optina Desert. In 1928 I went to this monastic union… It
turned out that they also did not commemorate Metropolitan Sergius, but
commemorated Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsa and Bishop Barlaam… From
the letters of my sister I learned that in 1929 their monastic union was
liquidated, and many were arrested, including Hieromonk Cyril.” On March
26 she was convicted of “being a member of the counter-revolutionary

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organization, ‘The Trues’, and was a recruiter and travelling agent”. In

accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 59-7, she was sentenced to ten years
in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Novice Praskovya (Potapovna Ivanova) was born in 1875 in the village of

Makovki, Buzuluk uyezd, Samara province, and lived in the village of
Pronkino, Sorochinsky region. On February 11, 1930 she was arrested, and on
March 26, 1931 was sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with
articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Sergius Fyodorovich Belyaev was born in 1869 or 1871 and served
in the village of Vasilyevka, Yekaterinovsky region, Orenburg province. On
March 8, 1930 he was convicted of being “an enemy of the people” and was
sentenced to death. He was shot in Orenburg province.

Priest Sergius Ivanovich Chekunov was born in 1908 in Samara province,

and had an elementary education. He went to live in the village of
Kazanskoye, Leninsky region, Kustanai province. On November 12, 1930 he
was arrested, and on December 4 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-
10 to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Gabriel Petrovich Zhukov was born in 1874, and served in
the village of Grachevka, Andreyevsky region, Orenburg province. In 1931 he
was arrested, and on July 27 was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Paul Petrovich Zhukov was born in 1870 in Sorochinsk, Orenburg

province, and served in the village of Lavrenyevka, Kurmanayevsky region.
He was married to Antonina Alexandrovna, the daughter of a priest. Before
the birth of their son all their children died. Then they went on pilgrimage to
Diveyevo, after which they had one son and three daughters who survived.
At the end of the 1920s the family was “dekulakized”. From 1929 to 1932 he
served in the village of Yelshanka, Buzuluk region. On April 23, 1932 he was
arrested and sentenced to five years felling trees in Komi republic. He died
there in the 1930s.

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The clergyman Michael Petrovich Belousov was born in 1894 in the village
of Verkhne-Ozernoye, Petrovsky region. According to his son, Fr. Michael was
a deacon; according to his daughter – a priest, a most honourable man of great
heart. On April 25, 1932 he was arrested simply because he was a clergyman
and refused to renounced his priesthood as the Bolsheviks demanded,
replying that he had been taught to serve God and the people in faith and
truth. He left eight young children. His son Boris wrote: “All the property was
registered and removed, the family was ejected from the house and took
shelter in the abandoned houses of others. In those years of 1932-33 my mother
died of hunger and deprivations, and then my sisters: Antonina, Lyudmila,
Valentina and my brother Peter. They were all buried in the cemetery in one
grave… The time was such that the people from our village dropped
everything and went off in different directions. Four of us remained: my sister
Lyubov (12), my brother Nicholas (9), I (7) and Elizabeth (5). We were fed God
only knows how. Only in the autumn of 1934 did our relatives take us to
Magnitogorsk and distributed us among their villages.” On May 23, 1932 Fr.
Michael was condemned to three years in the camps for “anti-Soviet agitation”
and sent to the White Sea-Baltic canal. He did not return from his
imprisonment. His elder daughter Lyubov recalls that there was a letter from
the camp boss who told about the death of her father, saying that he had
accepted death with prayer on his lips.

Priest Vladimir Petrovich Gorizontov was born in 1894, and served in the
village of N. Petrovskoye, Orenburg province. On January 25, 1931 he was
arrested and cast into prison in Orenburg. At first they suggested that he buy
his life at the price of his public renunciation of the faith, but he refused. On
March 26 he was sentenced to death. On April 5 he was shot. When his wife
came to see him they told her that he was dead.

Nun Irina (Vladimirovna Voskolovich) was born in 1898, and lived in

Second Ivanovka village, Sorochinsky region, Orenburg province. On April
27, 1930 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known
about her.

The clergyman Basil Georgievich Yeremeyev was born in 1885 and served
in the village of Zhilinka, Buzuluk region, Orenburg province. He was
arrested in his native village, and on July 27, 1931 he was sentenced to five
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

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The clergyman Porphyrius Matveyevich Korotin (Korotan) was born in

1885, and served in the Tashlinky settlement, Ileksky region, Orenburg
province. There he was arrested in 1831, and on July 27 was sentenced to five
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Abbess Hermionia was in charge of the monastery of the Kazan Mother of

God in the village of Klyuchegorye, Orenburg province. She was shot in her
cell by a shot through the window. After her death the monastery was
destroyed, and its property handed over to a collective farm.

Fr. Basil served in the church of the village of Chernij Otrog. During the
famine of 1921 he organized a kitchen at the church and fed many starving
people. He fed them with maize, which came from America as humanitarian
aid. His daughter, Olga Vasilyevna, taught in the parish school. Fr. Basil was
probably a dean because priests would come from the whole of the
surrounding region and he would read them lectures and books, and talk with
them for a long time. These seminars lasted for up to seven days. Once the
hierarch arrived, and a large crowd gathered in the square. The bishop
thanked Fr. Basil and called on the people to not to give in and not to give up
their church. However, when Fr. Basil was dekulakized they took away
everything. The people wept, Fr. Basil’s matushka died on the spot. He was
arrested and taken, not to Orenburg, but to Kardeyevo (now Izyak-Nikitino),
to the hospital. They soon let him out, but he did not recover. After these
events they sent Fr. Theodore Vecherko, who was born in 1865. He served for
two years and was then taken in 1932. Nothing more was seen of him.

Priest John was born in about 1851, and was rector of the church in
Barakovo, Sharlyk region, Orenburg province. From the recollections of
Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Michael Tomin), he was “an exceptional
man of prayer. Fr. John could not pray without tears. While reading the
akathist, Fr. John always sobbed. He would begin, then begin to weep, and
only then continue to read. From the age of six I served in the church.
Batyushka very much loved me and cared for me.”

On the feast of the Annunciation, 1934, since almost all the churches in the
district were closed, the believers from twenty villages came together in the
church in Barakovo. The church could not accommodate all the people. They

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began to ring the bells at four in the morning, and the service continued until
one in the afternoon. As little Michael Tomin was entering the church in his
sticharion, he saw two NKVD officers dragging Fr. John out of the altar. They
also arrested the warden, two nuns and the ten-year-old Misha. All the
arrestees were locked into a hut for three days. Misha’s hat was in the altar,
but he had put on a little fur coat under his sticharion. Fr. John put his own
skufya on Misha, while he himself froze without anything on his head. On
April 11, Fr. John was taken out and soon shot. The other prisoners were
given three-year terms.

Deacon Nicholas Fyodorovich Ivanov was born in 1888 in the village of

Novo-Alexeyevka, Orenburg province, and served in the village of Tally,
Grachev region, Orenburg province. On February 8, 1929 he was arrested and
sentenced to five years in the camps (or three years in the camps and three
years in exile) for “counter-revolutionary activity”. He went to live in
Smyshlyayevsky settlement, Kuibyshev province. There he was sentenced to
death and shot towards the end of the 1930s.

Schema-Monk Maximus, in the world Matthew Georgievich Paliptsov

(Peleptsov?)) was born in 1863 in the village of Ivanovka, Sorochinsky region,
Orenburg province. He was the eldest child in the simple peasant family of
George and Pelagia Paliptsov. At the age of seven he became blind after
suffering smallpox.

In 1873, at the age of ten, he was given to the Spaso-Preobrazhensky men’s

monastery in the city of Buzuluk, Orenburg province. He was brought to the
monastery by his parents, who placed the boy on the threshold of the
monastery church and then left. In the monastery he baked bread and was a
bell-ringer. On May 15, 1895 he became a novice. On May 15, 1896 he became
a rasophor monk with the name Macarius.

Many poor, sick and unfortunate people from the neighbouring villages
came to see Monk Macarius to seek his advice and comfort in their sorrows.
He received them from morning to late at night. He was greatly loved for this
childlike simplicity and meekness. The Lord gave him the gifts of
clairvoyance and healing. Thus the servant of God Zoya relates: “My great-
grandmother Nastya came with her little son Ilyushka to the elder at the
monatery in Buzuluk. Ilya was still small. He was walking on a bench, fell and
began to grow a hump on his back. They brought him to the monastery, to Fr.
Macarius, and the hump immediately disappeared. Babushka Dunya went to
him several times. And the elder always read her thoughts: she would be
thinking something, and he would immediately say it. She went to

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him for a blessing to build a house, but the elder said: ‘Build, but let the house
be small.’ Babushka was amazed: ‘But why should it be small?! We have
seven children.’ The elder replied: ‘Build it small – it will stand empty.’ The
prophecy was fulfilled: Uncle Vanya, a White officer, was killed in 1918,
Uncle Sasha was put in prison, Auntie Natasha was exiled, Aunt Lena died
young, etc. And the house remained empty. Babushka Marina went blind. She
would sit down and say: ‘If I can see, I will go to the monastery and serve a
moleben.’ And after that she began to see…”

In 1903 (considerably later, according to another source,) Fr. Macarius took

the schema with the name Maximus.

In 1929 the monastery was closed, and Fr. Maximus was exiled for four
years to Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan. At the end of his sentence he went to live in
Samara (Kuibyshev). Then, in 1936, he moved to Buzuluk where a little house
was bought in which he lived with for a year with his only sister Tatyana,
until his next arrest. Not long before his arrest Fr. Maximus told his sister that
they would soon have to part, and that he would die in the cell of a nun.

One night in the spring of 1937 he was arrested. The prison into which he
was cast was situated in a former women’s monastery (next to a cemetery
church that is now functioning). There, according to the words of an eye-
witness, Fr. Maximus was strongly beaten, there was blood on his clothing.
According to one witness, Fr. Maximus was in Kultubanskaya prison, twenty-
five kilometres from Buzuluk.

In September, 1937 Fr. Maximus died in prison, and was buried in the old
cemetery (near the prison) in Buzuluk (after first being buried in Kultubank,
according to one witness). When he died, the room was filled with fragrance.
The prison boss ordered a coffin to be made for the elder, even though
prisoners were usually buried without coffins, because even in the opinion of
the prison boss this was a holy man. They put one half of torn bag which his
sister had given him into the coffin, and with the other half they covered his
body. A chanter from the church of All Saints in Buzuluk, who had been in
the same cell with Fr. Maximus, said that the elder had said before his death:
“Now my sufferings have ended. I will soon die. They will let you go. Don’t
put a cross immediately on my grave, for innocent people who come to me
may suffer because of that… One or two years later, go to the left kliros of the
church of All Saints and tell them where I am buried.” “I was indeed soon
released. And I completely forgot about the wonderful elder. But he began to
appear to me often in sleep, asking: ‘Why don’t you say where I’m buried?
Why don’t you put a cross there for me?’ After this I decided to go to the
indicated church.” They put a wooden cross on the grave. People come to his
grave with their sorrows, needs, illnesses and joys and receive what they ask
for through the prayers of the elder.

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Two brothers declared: "We have not refused to serve in that army which
goes with Christ, but to serve in an army which is against God and Christ, that
we cannot and will not do - we are Christians!"

First they placed them under arrest in the town of Sharlyk, Orenburg
province. Then they took them to Alexandrovka, in the same province. This
was where their parents lived, and the God-fighting authorities hoped that
they would influence their sons, since otherwise death awaited them. But the
God-fighters were mistaken. The parents, being convinced Christians, not only
did not dissuade their sons from refusing to serve in the Red army, but also,
quite the reverse, supported them in their decision. Knowing that death
threatened their sons, the parents said, with tears in their eyes:

"Children, dear children, you are our hope. Apart from you we have no
children. You know what awaits you... But remember that you have received
Holy Baptism. And that is an oath of faithfulness to the Lord God Himself...
We are your parents, and you are our beloved children. We bless you to be
faithful Christians both in life and in death for Christ, the Lord of glory. The
blessing of God is with you, and our fervent prayers are with you and for
you... Go, dear ones, to eternity!"

The military command was by no means expecting this. Instead of

dissuasion, a blessing... And both the sons and their parents were weeping
tears of tender feeling. And even those of the command who were present
were not themselves... But the Soviet system is such that people do only what
they are ordered to do. And the fate of these valiant soldiers was decided
accordingly.

A horse-mounted convoy drove them, on foot and in summer clothes in a

fierce Siberian frost, from Alexandrovka to the town of Orenburg. This is
about 150 kilometres. It is not surprising that they did not reach Orenburg. So
as not to freeze, they had to run, but neither their hearts nor their legs could
sustain them and they both fell and froze to death on the way.

Their parents, who had showed such exemplary firmness in confession,

died on the same day, so they say, at the very same hour, suffering for their
sons and knowing that in such a hard frost they were being driven down the
road to Orenburg. And perhaps they killed their parents... Be that as it may, on
the same day and hour the whole of this Catacomb Church family - two sons,
father and mother - died a martyr's death in 1937.

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Fr. Nicetas was a catacomb priest from Orenburg who was in hiding until
his death. But during this period he continued to fulfil his priestly duties. He
was constantly on the move, going from village to town, from town to village,
from house to house, celebrating services in "house churches", confessing
people and communicating them in the Holy Mysteries. He had to suffer very
much for the Church, but he showed himself to be a true, exemplary, self-
sacrificing pastor, bringing up his only son, Theodore, not so much by word
and instruction as by his own example without words, teaching him to be a
firm, self-sacrificing Christian.

The young Theodore was called up and went into the army. He knew
beforehand that there awaited him an impious oath, not to the Lord God, but
to the God-fighting Soviet authorities who had come in the spirit and the name
of the Antichrist. And Theodore decided in advance not to accept it. He
prayed to the Lord to strengthen him for the feat of martyrdom. In tears he
said goodbye to his parents, knowing that he would never see them again. He
took a blessing from his father, Fr. Nicetas, and from his mother. He besought
them to pray fervently for him, that he would not weaken...

When all the other soldiers obediently swore the oath to the Soviet
authorities, he alone refused. Boldly in front off everyone he declared that he
could not swear such an oath to the God-fighting authorities because he was a
Christian. There was a big stir. They forced all the soldiers to come out against
the confessor of Christ. And the son of the catacomb priest Fr. Nicetas, the
martyr for Christ Theodore, was shot in front of all the soldiers of the unit in
1937. He was an inhabitant of Orenburg.

In the same external circumstances as the soldier of Christ Theodore, there

was also shot the soldier of Christ Peter Gerasimovich Zamesin, who
fearlessly confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His Holy Gospel
announced to men for their salvation.

"So you say that your God, Christ, came 'for the salvation of men'? But what
'salvation' can there be for you personally if we shoot you tomorrow as
criminal for breaking the law?" said the chief to Peter. "Your 'law' is not law.
There is only one law in the world which everyone must obey. That is the Law
of God. But God allows man both to break His Law and reject the Gospel Law
of love and to accept an evil law, the law of diabolic hatred. Which is what you
do... I believe in eternal life in Christ and I accept death for Christ with great
joy!.."

The soldier of Christ Peter was shot in 1944 or 1945.

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Deacon Valentine served in the Dormition women’s skete in Orenburg. In

1928 the skete was closed and Fr. Valentine was repressed. He was released
not later than 1946. Nothing more is known about him.

The martyred servant of God Michael Vasilyevich Avdeyev came from a

strongly Orthodox peasant family, and he was directed by pastors who were
confessors and martyrs of the Catacomb Church. He lived in Orenburg, and
worked as a lorry-driver. At the time of his violent death, which took place in
1977, he was 35 years old.

Because of something wrong in the lorry he was forced to lie down under it
and carry out repairs. As a result he caught a chill in his kidney and was
admitted into a therapeutic hospital with the diagnosis: nephritis. He felt very
ill and began to do what is "not allowed", even "in thought only", in the Soviet
Union - to pray out loud in front of everyone, and, according to the Christian
custom, to ask forgiveness of all those in the dormitory, saying that he was
going to die. And he was not mistaken...

The Soviet doctors were called to this "disorder in the ward", and, of course,
since he believed in God and prayed to Him, they certified "sudden insanity",
"madness" in the sick man. For the Soviet State recognizes as completely
normal only those people who do not pray and do not believe in God. And in
the given case, evidently, there was clearly seen such an "impudent
demonstration" of religious feelings and convictions. Therefore Michael
Vasilyevich was quickly transferred to the psychiatric section of the hospital
with the label: "socially dangerous patient".

But here he showed himself to be the same as in the therapeutic hospital.

He continued to pray in front of everyone in the ward, and he asked
everyone's forgiveness, saying:

"I'm dying, I'm dying!"

The rest of the story was recounted by a boy who was in this ward. To the
question: what happened that Avdeyev so suddenly, on the first day of his
stay in the hospital, died?, he replied:

"A doctor entered with a big syringe and said:

"'You're feeling ill? We shall give you an injection, and it will immediately
make you feel better!'

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When he had given this injection, the sick man didn't even move. He died
immediately!"

(Sources: Holy Trinity Calendar for 1999, Jordanville; Priest N.E. Stremsky,
Mucheniki i Ispovedniki Orenburgskoj Eparkhii XX Veka, Saraktash, 1998,
pp. 113-120, 143-149, 183-5, 187, 190-194; "Novomuchenik Protoierej Makary
Kvitkin", Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', N 7 (547), July, 1995, pp. 2-9; Schemamonk
Epiphanius (Chernov), Tserkov' Katakombnaya na Zemlye Rossijskoj (MS),
Woking, 1980; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-
htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans)

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32. HIEROMARTYRS AND

MARTYRS OF UFA AND CHUVASHIA
PROVINCES

Priest John Boldyrev was ordained to the priesthood not later than in 1913,
and in 1917 was sent to the church of the Holy Archangel Michael in the
village of Petropavlovka, Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufa province. In 1917 or 1918
some Bolsheviks came supposedly from the regional committee and said to
him: “Get ready”. He put on a black jacket, they put him in a sledge and took
him away. In the morning the villagers found him pierced with bayonet
wounds – the jacket was missing. They buried him opposite Krasny Yar near
the village of Ishtuganovo. A little hill can still be seen where he was buried.
His wife was so upset by his death that she soon died.

Alexander Fyodorovich Nitsa was born in 1870 in Bessarabia into a noble

family. He was by race either Bulgarian or Moldavian. After graduating from
Kiev Theological Academy, he began to work in St. Petersburg, where he met
his future wife. At the beginning of the 1890s he went to Ufa, serving as an
inspector in the State palace. He began to take part in theological-educational
readings for the people. On June 26, 1906 he left State service and devoted
himself full-time to public service. He became secretary of the newspaper, Ufa
Gazette, and from 1911 to 1915 was editor. At the same time he founded a
kindergarten and a school attached to it, organized public readings and
literary-artistic evenings, and studied the local region. Under the influence of
Bishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky), he also became actively involved in church
life. His liberal views finally changed into a recognition that only through the
people’s return to the Church could Russia deal with her mounting problems.
Until 1917 he was director of a private boys’ gymnasium, and in that year
became a member of the editorial board of The Church-Popular Voice of Ufa
and president of the church council of the St. Nicholas church in Ufa. In the
spring of 1917 he was elected to the diocesan congress of the clergy and laity
of Ufa diocese, and at this congress was elected as a member of the delegation
of the diocese to the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. After the
Council, Alexander Fyodorovich returned to Ufa and continued to take an
active part in church work.

As the Reds retreated before the Whites in the summer of 1918, they took
more than 200 prominent citizens and officers of Ufa as hostages. Alexander
Fyodorovich was seized as a hostage on June 12. On the night of June 27 to 28,
the hostages were taken down the river Belaya on a barge. On July 1 the barge
with the hostages arrives in Birsk. In spite of the danger of being arrested, the
Birsk cooperatives provided the needy Ufa hostages with fresh linen and
beds, food and money. Two days later, the barge set off again down the river.
On the evening of July 7, nine of the hostages, including Alexander

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Fyodorovich, were thrown into the hold, which was covered by an iron roof.
In January-February, 1919 the rest of the hostages were returned to Ufa. They
th
were convinced that on the night to the 8 of July the nine had been killed by
the soldiers and sailors on the deck of the barge and cast into the Kama. This
was later confirmed by some of the soldiers and sailors.

Priest Michael Mozhdlakov, who was serving in Ufa province, died as a

hostage in the summer of 1918.

Priest Abercius Yakovlevich Severovostokov was born between 1845 and

1847 in the family of a priest. He went to Ufa theological seminary (?), was
ordained to the priesthood and sent to the village of Yemashi, Zlatoustovsky
uyezd, Ufa province as the rector of the local church and teacher of the Law of
God in the zemstvo school. He served there for thirty-eight years, until his
martyric death. He was married to Eudocia Vasilyevna (born 1850), and had
four sons and two daughters. All four sons went to Ufa seminary and served
the Church. Fr. Abercius collected a huge library of theological literature. In
1913 he was appointed a member of the Diocesan Committee of the Orthodox
Missionary Society. On June 17/30, 1918, the Sunday of All Saints of Russia,
Fr. Abercius celebrated a festal moleben in the central square of the village
before a large gathering of parishioners. At that moment a detachment of Red
Army soldiers burst into the village. They seized the priest, who was still
vested, and took him to a hut next to the square, placed him against the wall
and shot him in the city of everybody. The church warden was also shot.
According to another version preserved by the martyr’s family, he was
serving a funeral and the funeral bell was sounding when the soldiers burst it.
They asked why they had been met with a funeral bell and not in a more
triumphant manner. Fr. Abercius replied that first he had to accompany the
deceased, in accordance with the Church’s rite. For that reply he was shot.
Batyushka and the warden were buried near the church. At the end of the
1920s the church was closed, and by the 1970s only the foundation remained.
In about 1975 they were digging a trench on the territory of the church for the
foundation of a new club when they found the grave with, it is thought, the
relics of Fr. Abercius, which were then reinterred.

Priest Timothy Alexandrovich Petropavlovsky was born in the late 1880s.

He was first a reader, then a deacon in the St. Nicholas church in the village of
Rayevka, Belebeyevsky uyezd, Ufa province. On July 9, 1913 he was ordained
to the priesthood, and was sent to serve in the church of the Nativity of the
Mother of God in the village of Zolotonoshki, Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufa

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province. At the beginning of July, 1918 a part of the Czechoslovak corps

approached the city of Sterlitamak. The peasant of the village of Zolotonoshki
sent a special delegation to meet them at Rayevka station. Moreover, they
arrested and locked in barns the members of the local soviet and those who
sympathized with Soviet power. At that point the Bolshevik Yakov Garbuz
and the soviet’s cashier were killed. In order to suppress this rebellion, a
mounted convoy under the command of Anton Garbuz, the brother of Yakov,
was sent from Sterlitamak. The Garbuz brothers were from Zolotonoshki. On
his way there, Anton Garbuz took four women and one man as hostages in
the village of Nikolayevka. As if having a premonition of his martyric death,
on June 30 / July 13 Fr. Timothy served the liturgy and then a moleben to the
Holy Apostle Timothy and Martyr Sophia with an akathist. The Gospel
contained the words: “Fear not those who kill the body”, which he read with
special meaning. On that day Garbuz and his soldiers took Zolotonoshki. The
peasants came towards them with a white flag. Garbuz brought with him the
five hostages from Nikolayevka. Fr. Timothy neither met Garbuz himself, nor
allowed his wife to meet him, but calmly continued to weed his potato patch.
After an hour Fr. Timothy set off for the village. Garbuz had begun to kill the
hostages and other “participants in the rebellion”. His mother hurled herself
at him, pleading for mercy for the victims. At that moment Fr. Timothy came
up. Signing himself with the sign of the cross “in the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit”, he, too, began to plead for mercy. However, Garbuz
ordered the priest to be arrested, took him away from the eyes of his mother,
and shot him. His fingers were formed in the sign of the cross. On the same
day the hostages were killed, and the village partly burned down. A
hieromonk of the Alexeyev monastery came to perform the funeral service,
but Garbuz did not allow him to take the coffin with the body around the
church, nor was he or the wife of the priest allowed to accompany him to the
village cemetery. Parishioners said that he was eventually buried by the altar
of the church. In his epistle on the situation of the diocese on October 5/18,
1918, Bishop Andrew of Ufa witnessed that “Priest Timothy Petropavlovsky
died only because he stood up in defence of those who had been innocently
condemned to death”.

Priest Alexis Yakovlevich Kantserov finished his studies at Ufa

theological seminary in 1902, and became a teacher in the church-parish
school attached to the Transfiguration church at Vyazovaya stanitsa, Samaro-
Zlatoustovsk railway, Zlatoust uyezd, Ufa province, and a reader in the
church. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1907 and was transferred to the
village of Vozdvizhenka, Belebeyevsky uyezd, Ufa province. In 1914 he was
appointed spiritual investigator of the first district of Belebeyevsky uyezd as
being a person of wisdom and discernment. In August, 1915 he was
appointed to the church in the village of Topornino (now Kushnarenkovo),
Pokrovskaya volost’, Ufa uyezd. In July, 1918 there was a volost’ assembly in

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Topornino at which the peasants protested against mobilization into the Red
Army. They demanded the removal of the reds from the boundaries of their
volost and resisted pressure from the local Soviets. As a result, during the
upheaval one Bolshevik military commissar was shot dead. Then, on June 23-
24, a punitive detachment was sent by steamer from Ufa to Topornino.
Arriving at night, they arrested several people, including Fr. Alexis, who was
cast into the hold of the steamer. Then the village was sacked, and all reserves
of food stolen. Since there was a danger that the Whites might have taken Ufa,
the steamer headed for Sarapul. On its arrival on June 25, a half-drunken
sailor boarded the steamer. The twelve prisoners were taken on a return
journey from Sarapul, and not far from the railway bridge across the Kama
they were taken out of the hold and shot. Fr. Alexis raised his cross and said:
“God will forgive you, you do not know what you are doing!” The bodies
were thrown overboard.

Also killed by Red Army soldiers at this time in Ufa province was Reader
Chepurov from the village of Kaltovka.

Abbess Margaret, in the world Maria Mikhailovna Gunarodnoulo, was

born in 1865 or 1866 in a family of Greek origin. Before becoming a nun she
lived in Kiev. Her spiritual father was Protopriest Alexander Korsakovsky,
the rector of the St. George church, in whose parish she lived. In his memoirs
Prince N.D. Zhevakov, who knew matushka long before she became a nun,
writes: “I saw in Maria Mikhailovna the incarnation of fiery faith ardent love
for God. Small, frail, almost an old woman, she burned like a candle before
God: everyone who knew her knew that she had been born precisely in order
to warm others with her love.” Shortly after receiving the monastic tonsure
with the name Margaret, she went to live in the “Joy and Consolation”
community of the Orlov-Davydovs near Moscow, where the abbess was the
very elderly Countess Orlova-Davydova. This period in her life was a heavy
trial that demanded great courage, patience and humility.

On January 18, 1917 the Holy Synod appointed her superior of the
Menzelinsk women’s monastery of the Prophet Elijah in Ufa province with
elevation to the rank of abbess. This appointment took place thanks to the
efforts of Prince N.D. Zhevakov, the assistant over-procurator of the Holy
Synod. And her ordination as abbess took place in the presence of Great
Princess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, who was exceptionally fond of Matushka
Margaret.

The move to Menzelinsk was long and difficult. At the end of 1917 she
arrived in the monastery, which was one of the biggest women’s communities

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in the Ufa diocese. It had three churches, a church-parish school, a monastic

economy with fruit trees, kitchen-gardens and apiaries. The nuns worked in
the guest-house for pilgrims, in workshops devoted to iconography, gold-
weaving, carpentry, dress-making and book-binding, and also baking bread
and prosphoras and preparing food. The monastery even had its own
photographic studio – an extreme rarity at that time. In 1917 there were fifty
nuns and 248 novices. The intelligent and educated abbess was renowned for
her strict ascetic life and the good order she introduced into the monastery in
the old Russian spirit.

In April, 1917 the revolutionary wave also hit the Prophet Elijah
monastery. By decree of the Provisional Government, the church-parish
schools had to be transferred into the administration of the Ministry of
popular enlightenment, but the abbess tried to defend the monastery’s school
from this transfer on the grounds that the property and buildings of the
school belonged to the monastery and that the pupils were its novices. She
declared that the upkeep of the school would from now on be the
responsibility of the monastery (under the Tsars the State had paid the
teachers). The unshakeable will of the abbess to keep the school’s education in
the Orthodox faith had an unexpected result: the city left the school in her
hands. Moreover, since city girls were studying in it, the city decided to pay
the teachers and provide the necessary equipment.

On April 18, 1918 Abbess Margaret was elected a member of the diocesan
council.

In May, 1918 the Czech legion rebelled, and by July the whole province
had been liberated from the Bolsheviks. However, battles still continued on
the western boundaries of the province, and Menzelinsk changed hands
between the combatants several times. In the late summer the Whites
abandoned Kazan; and according to Nun Alevtina, a previous inhabitant of
the monastery, Abbess Margaret at one time decided to leave with the Whites
and not remain under the authority of the Bolsheviks. She was at the wharf
preparing to leave when St. Nicholas appeared to her and said:

"Why are you running from your crown?"

Stunned by the vision, Abbess Margaret returned to the monastery and

told the monastery priest about what had happened. And sensing that she
would soon have to suffer for the faith, she asked for her coffin to be prepared
in advance, and that she should be buried on the very day of her death, after
the burial service.

During the night of August 11–12 the Bolsheviks suddenly left Menzelinsk.
The citizens created a voluntary unit to guard the city and established links
with units of the White army. On August 21 the Bolsheviks renewed their

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attack on Menzelinsk. The Whites held out for four hours, but finally the
Bolsheviks burst into the city and began to take revenge… On August 21 and
22, they shot 150-200 people in the city. Mother Margaret was one of their
victims. Another was Priest Vozdvizhensky of the Trinity church.

According to the witness of the Red Army soldier Ya.F. Ostroumov, the
excuse for killing the abbess was the fact that the nuns were trying to defend
some White officers probably wounded) in the monastery. “Several White
officers who had been left in the monastery were hidden in the cells of the
women’s monastery and were… shot in the monastery courtyard. The abbess
of the monastery was also shot… for hiding White officers in the cells of the
monastery.”

According to another account that reached Prince Zhevakov across the

front line, the Bolsheviks, having burst into the territory of the monastery,
wanted to defile the church, but the abbess did not let them in there.
Matushka fearlessly went out to the crown of drunk and heavily armed
Bolsheviks and meekly said to them: ‘I do not fear death, for only after death
will I appear before the Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom I have striven all my life.
You will only bring forward my meeting with the Lord… But I wish to suffer
and endure endlessly in this life if only you would save your souls… In
killing my body, you kill your own souls… Think about that.”

In reply to this they hurled insults and curses at her and demanded that
she open the church. The abbess refused outright, and the Bolsheviks said to
her: “Look to it: early tomorrow we will kill you…” With these words they
left.

After their departure, having locked the monastery gates, Abbess Margaret
went together with the sisters into the church, where they spent the whole
night in prayer and communed at the early liturgy. The abbess had not
succeeded in leaving the church when the Bolsheviks, seeing her coming
down from the ambon, took aim at her and fired point-blank. “Glory to Thee,
O God!” cried the abbess loudly when she saw the Bolsheviks taking aim at
her, and… fell dead to the floor.

Nun Alevtina has a slightly different account: “The following day [after the
Whites left Menzelinsk], Abbess Margaret was arrested as a supposed
‘counter-revolutionary’ during a service. She was taken out onto the porch,
and having refused her request to partake of the Holy Mysteries, shot her.”

Immediately after the burial service, the sisters of the monastery buried her
behind the altar of the Ascension church where she had been shot.

It was only the next day that the abbess's request to be buried on the very
day of her death, which had at first seemed strange to the priest, became

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comprehensible. For the same chekists who had shot Abbess Margaret
brought out a Muslim mullah to be shot, wishing to bury him in one grave
with the Orthodox superior of the monastery. However, since she was already
buried, they could not do this and took the mullah somewhere else.

According to M.V. Mikhailova, the daughter of a priest of Menzelinsk, in

the 1970s, near the main church of the Menzelinsk monastery, which was
closed at that time, they decided to dig a hole behind the very altar. Suddenly
they came on a coffin. In it were the incorrupt relics of Abbess Margaret with
a cross on her breast. They did not disturb the coffin, but filled in the grave
and found another place for the hole...

A great Russian elder - St. Ambrose of Optina, it seems - prophesied about

this monastery that under one superior they would build a church, another
would be a martyr, and under a third - the bells would fall. The prophecy was
fulfilled. Abbess Margaret became a martyr, and under the last superior they
removed the bells from the church and closed the monastery.

Priest Andrew Dmitrievich Musin studied at Ufa theological seminary,

and was made a priest in May, 1902. He served in the Spassky church in the
village of Maty, Belebeyevsk uyezd, Ufa province. In 1912 he was transferred
to the church of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God in the village of
Alexeyevka-Fedotovo in Menzelinsk uyezd, Ufa province, and then, in 1913,
to the village of Olgino, Menzelinsk uyezd. In the autumn of 1915 he was
transferred again to the St. Michael the Archangel church in the village of
Melkeni, Menzelinsk uyezd. In 1918 Fr. Andrew was widowed, being left
with two small children. In October, 1918 he was killed by Red Army soldiers.
As Bishop Andrew of Ufa wrote on October 5/18: “… These days Priest
Andrew Musin was killed, after which his children remained as complete
orphans. He was killed because he stood up for an old teacher, a pious old
woman, who had given her whole life to the people…”

Priest Alexander Petrovich Kandaritsky was married to Anna Ivanovna

and had children. He was serving as a missionary in the village of Troitskoye,
Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufa province, when, on April 16, 1919, he was arrested
and shot.

Abbess Christina, in the world Great Princess Olga Romanova, studied

together with the future Archbishop Andrew of Ufa. When he was a bishop, and
she an abbess, she visited him in Ufa and stayed in a women’s monastery.

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She was wearing light clothing, and the nuns were given sacks of stinging
nettles out of which they sewed shirts. Abbess Christina took off her clothes
and put on what everyone was wearing so as not to stand out in any way
from the other nuns.

She was killed by the Bolsheviks sometime between 1918 and 1922. On the day
of her death, according to Valentina Timofeyevna Koroleva, who received this
account from her cell-attendant, Mother Platonida, when she was on her death-
bed, the abbess “wept and prayed the whole day. Evening was already
approaching. Matushka Platonida had already prepared the evening meal. The
table stood by the window, and some icons were hanging near the table. Abbess
Christina fell on her knees and prayed ardently with tears. A shot rang out,
piercing the glass and entering the spine of Abbess Christina. She fell, but
Matushka Platonida stood petrified. She remembered only the [men in] leather
anoraks. ‘I don’t know how many there were. They had a hook. They got hold of
her by her skirt and dragged her along. But her hand was still moving, she was
only wounded. They either finished her off or buried her alive.’ She didn’t know
what happened next. While recalling all this, Matushka Platonida was covered
with tears and asked me never to forget the murdered Abbess Christina in her
prayers, calling her a holy martyr.”

Valentina Timofeyevna went on to tell of a wonderful vision she had: “I,

Valentina Koroleva, carried out the promise I had made to Matushka
Platonida, but I never told anybody about it… I live alone… And then, in the
middle of February, 1994, at six o’clock in the morning, I fell ill and wanted to
ask my neighbours to call the ambulance, but I was embarrassed to disturb
them so early. I lay on the sofa, a lamp was burning on the table… And then a
ball of lightning flew into the room… I was so frightened that I drew the
blanket onto myself in fear. When I removed the blanket from my face, I saw
a woman standing in the air in a white sun. And it immediately flashed
through my mind that an angel had come for my sinful soul. The woman
said: ‘It is time for everyone to know what matushka told you. And whoever
will honour me, I will be his intercessor before the Lord.’ Somehow she was
next to me and put her hand on my forehead and disappeared. She left an
aroma of spring behind her after she disappeared – a smell of lilies of the
valley. I felt better, and had no need of a doctor. I even had the strength to go
to the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God and tell this vision to the
priest who was serving there at that time, not expecting to go there again on
my own strength. I consider it my duty to tell about what happened, so that
believers should know about this and should not forget the murdered Abbess
Christina in their prayers.”

Protopriest Eugraphus Vasilyevich Yevarestov was born in December,

1857 in the village of Kirsanovo, Ponomarevskaya volost, Buguruslan uyezd,

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Samara province, in the family of a village priest. In 1879 he finished his

studies at the Samara theological seminary. Two of his brothers, Alexander
and Gennadius, became priests (Fr. Gennadius was shot in 1937). He went to
Samara theological seminary, finishing in 1879. From 1879 to 1881 he was a
teacher of Russian and Church Slavonic in the Samara theological school,
becoming overseer from 1880 to 1881. In 1885 he graduated from the Kazan
Theological Academy with the degree of candidate of theology. On August
16, 1885 he became assistant inspector of the Ufa theological seminary. On
May 24, 1887 he was ordained to the diaconate, and on May 25 – to the
priesthood, by Bishop Dionysius (Khitrov) of Ufa. Then, while being attached
to the Resurrection cathedral in Ufa, he was a teacher in the Ufa theological
seminary (from 1887), diocesan catechist (from 1888 to 1898) and dean (from
1897). He was in charge of the church parish schools of the diocese, and was
the censor of the Ufa Diocesan Gazette, where he also published his own
works (among them was a history of the acquisition and glorification of the
wonderworking Ufa icon of the Mother of God). On January 30, 1900 he
became a protopriest. From 1903 to 1905 he was rector of the Ufa theological
seminary, remaining a teacher there until 1917. In 1905 he was appointed the
head of the anti-schism mission. From 1907 to 1909, and again in 1911, he was
a deputy from the priesthood in the Ufa City Duma. He was an exceptionally
talented preacher and polemicist. In 1918 all the clergy of Ufa welcomed the
coming of the White Army, serving thanksgiving molebens constantly in the
cathedral. Collections of clothing, underclothes and money were organized in
the churches, in which Matushka Anna Vasilyevna took an active part. For
this activity Fr. Eugraphus was arrested by the Bolsheviks. (He may have been
freed when the Whites returned in March, 1919.) Many of the priests left, and
soon Fr. Eugraphus was serving alone in the church. Four of his sons joined
the Army of Admiral Kolchak – two were volunteers, two were mobilized –
and two of his daughters were married to Kolchak supporters. On June 9,
1919 the Reds reconquered Ufa. Fr. Eugraphus was arrested on November 21,
1919 and cast into the Ufa Governor’s House of Forced Labour. He was
mocked, beaten, spat at and dragged by his beard. On November 30 he was
convicted of being “a member of a monarchist organization” and of “agitation
in favour of Kolchak”. He was sentenced to be shot with confiscation of his
property. On December 7 or 8 he was shot, barefoot and in his underwear in
the snow. For a year after his death old women went to the prison and served
pannikhidas for him. Once he appeared to them in white clothing and with a
crown on his head. Anna Vasilyevna contracted typhus and then tuberculosis
in prison. In December, 1919 the elder daughter Alexandra with her two
children and five younger brothers and sisters were exiled in minus 40 degree
frosts to Katav-Ivanovsky factory, Ufa province. On March 31, 1920 the whole
family were allowed to return to their house. On March 22, 1922 Anna
Vasilyevna died of tuberculosis contracted in prison.

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Abbess Claudia came from a merchant’s family. In the 1910s she joined the
monastery of the Annunciation in Ufa, and on April 8, 1914 was ordained
abbess of the monastery by Bishop Andrew of Ufa. From 1914 to 1917 she was
a member of the Orthodox Palestine Society, and also of the Ufa diocesan
committee of the Orthodox Missionary Society. In July, 1914 she opened a
refuge for fifteen places for the education of non-Russian girls in her
monastery. During the First World War she did much patriotic charitable
work. The building of the monastery hospital was given over for sick and
wounded soldiers. In 1915 she opened a refuge for soldiers’ children with 45
places. Between January and March (or in June), 1919 she was killed by Red
Army soldiers in Ufa.

Priest Nicholas Stepanovich Frolov was born in 1887 in Urals province.

He had an intermediate education. On September 13, 1919 he was arrested,
and on October 6 was sentenced to death. He was then shot.

Priest Gennadius Vasilyevich Yevarestov was born in 1870 in Ufa. On

December 3, 1919 he was arrested, and on December 15 he was condemned.

Priest Alexander Andreyevich Padchenko was born in 1877 in the village

of Kornilovskoye, Kanevsky uyezd, Kiev province. He was serving at Leipzig
stanitsa, Varnensky region, Chelyabinsk province, when, on August 19, 1920,
he was condemned by a revolutionary tribunal for “counter-revolutionary
activity” and sentenced to three years’ public forced labour without
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Reader Basil Platonovich Orlovsky was born in 1875 in Kherson. He was a

teacher of singing and a reader in Kurgan. On September 4, 1920 he was
arrested in Kurgan, and on September 25 was sentenced by the Cheka to
imprisonment until the end of the Civil War for “belonging to a counter-
revolutionary organization”.

Priest Demetrius Dmitrievich Gromoglasov was born in the family of a

priest, all five of whose sons became priests, two of them, Demetrius and
Michael, being killed by the Bolsheviks. In May, 1912, immediately after the
consecration of the church in the village of Ivanenkovo, Belebeyevsky uyezd,

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Ufa province, he became rector of the church. He brought up nine children.

During the revolution he saved a red commissar in his basement, which
meant that the Reds did not kill him when they burst into the village.
However, in 1920 they arrested him, cast him into prison in Belebeyev and
sentenced him to death. The prison boss was the same man whom he had
saved earlier. He was released from prison, but again arrested and shot. It is
said that they fired at him five times, but each time the bullet bounced off him
as if repulsed by some invisible power. Then they went up to him and shot
him point-blank and killed him.

Protopriest Alexander Alexandrovich Solovyev was born in 1870 in

Cheboksary, Chuvashia. In May, 1922 he was shot.

In the ancient town of Zilair in Bashkiria, shortly after the revolution,

Priest Raphael and Deacon Terence were serving the Divine Liturgy. A
detachment of Bolsheviks broke into the church wanting to take hold of the
church-servers, but the people prevented them, and the priest prevailed upon
them to allow him to complete the service. The deacon was terrified and ran
away, while the priest remained to complete the Liturgy. But the Bolsheviks
could not wait for the end. They took hold of the priest, tied his legs to the tail
of a horse, and, with one of them sitting on the horse, they dragged the priest
out of the town. They dragged him over the stumps and bushes to the edge of
a pit, and then threw him into it.

The next day the priest appeared in a dream to the deacon in shining white
vestments with a golden crown on his head and said:

"Brother! So you were afraid of your crown! It's waiting for you, in the
morning go and get it."

In the morning the deacon got up, recounted his vision and... went to the
Bolsheviks. They took hold of him and led him out to the place where they
had cast the remains of the priest. Several pious laymen were also led out
with the deacon. They killed them and threw them into the pit, which was
filled with rubbish and animal excrement.

In time a light began to appear over the place of the burial. And then a
spring appeared, which gushed out bubbles in abundance. The water
breathed, as it were; it gushed out air bubbles under great pressure, forming a
little pool about 450 square metres in area, and breathing as it were in one
place. It was very pleasant to the taste. And it remained at a constant cold

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temperature, never freezing during the most severe frosts. Believers visit this
source in summer and winter.

About nine laymen were martyred with the hieromartyrs.

Protopriest Demetrius Dmitrievich Gromoglasov was born into the family

of a priest, all five of whose sons became priests, and two of whom –
Demetrius and Michael – were executed. Fr. Demetrius had been rector of the
church of the Life-Originating Trinity in the village of Ivanenkovo,
Belebeyevsky uyezd, Ufa province since May, 1912, when the church was
consecrated. In 1920 he was arrested and imprisoned in the city of Belebeya.
The prison chief there turned out to be a red commissar whom Fr. Demetrius
had saved in the basement of his house during the revolution. He was
arrested a second time in 1920 and shot. He was buried in Ivanenkovo village.

Priest Paul Grigoryevich Nikolayev was born in the village of Kuyashtyr,

Askinsk region, Bashkiria, where he also served as a priest. On January 29,
1920 he was arrested in Kyashtyr, and on February 15, he was condemned.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Kuzmich Kuzmin was born in 1877. In 1921 he was

arrested in the village of Yuskasy (now in Yadrinsky region in Chuvashia).
Nothing more is known about him.

In 1922, 28 clergy and monastics of various ranks in Ufa province were

killed in connection with the Bolsheviks' requisitioning of valuables from the
churches.

Timothy Ivanovich Starostin was born in 1892 in the village of Koshkino,

Chubaksarsky uyezd, Kazan province into a peasant family. He was a
parishioner of the Pokrov church in Cheboksary, Chuvashia. In 1922 he was
arrested for “agitation against the requisitioning of church valuables and for
calling on people to rebel”. “Citizen Starostin, being in the Pokrov church in
Cheboksary on April 7, 1922, after the end of the service, on hearing the
speech of the representatives of the commission for the requisitioning of
church valuables in favour of the starving, came out of the church and incited
several people in the crowd of citizens against the requisitioning of church
valuables and called on them to rebel.” On April 14, 1922 he was condemned

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and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment taking into account the period he
had already been in prison.

In 1923 Bishop John of Divlekanovsk was appointed by Patriarch Tikhon as

temporary administrator of the Ufa diocese. Times were difficult, the
renovationists were on the ascendant and had taken into their hands almost
the whole diocese. The clergy were silent out of fear, the people had no
leaders and were in the full sense "sheep without a shepherd".

At this moment Bishop John issued his first epistle exposing the lies and
treachery of the renovationists. The epistle was distributed round the parishes
by volunteer laypeople, among whom there were some secretly ordained
priests. Great in the eyes of the Church was the feat of these messengers; they
were called in church circles "apologists" of Orthodoxy. It was they who
pushed into action the sluggish clergy and led the movement of the people.
They were the first to use the term "Soviet church", and defined their
confession as "old church". There were many of them, and their fates were
varied, but some of them received the title "ascetics" already during their
lifetime. Such, for example, was the student at the pedagogical technical
college Valentina Ch.

Valentina was a character of rare integrity, purity and energy. Many, even
in the True Church, called her a fanatic; but she was not hindered by, or
ashamed by, this title; and it was then that many understood that every
Christian is obliged to be such a "fanatic". Valentina worked mainly among
the women, and she did impossible things. Thus when she came to a parish,
the situation was reversed with lightning-like speed, the renovationist clergy
were driven out, the women created dvadtsatky (groups empowered to
accept the church from the Soviet authorities) and removed the keys from the
"livers" (as the renovationists of the "Living Church" were called) and simply
compelled the representatives of the authorities to sign agreements with them
concerning the existence of the "Tikhonite" Church. Often the dvadtsatky
were joined by wives and sisters of leading party members - so great was the
influence of Valentina, so powerful her word, so great the scope of her
activity.

Literally the whole police force, the communists and the komsomol
pursued Valentina. On the roads into the villages seized by the renovationists
they placed pickets composed of people who had seen Valentina, but she was
led along local paths and used to appear unexpectedly. An "old women's
psychosis" would erupt, as the local papers called it, a parish would become
"old church", and Valentina would disappear without a trace, so as to appear
again where she was least of all expected.

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Valentina was arrested in 1923. But her work was already done.
Renovationism was finished.

Valentina was taken out from a small quay on the Belaya River under a
powerful convoy. Walking along the long gang-planks on the deck of the
steamer, Valentina looked back and saw a silent crowd of women on the river
bank. They had come out to escort her into exile. Then she waved her hand
and shouted:

"We're best rid of them, sisters!"

At that moment her convoy behind her struck her in the back and she
stumbled and fell from the gang-planks into the river. Both the convoy and
the people rushed to save her, but it was too late: perhaps half an hour later
she was pulled dead out of the water. The river's swift current had pulled
Valentina under the steamer, where her dress had caught on some iron object
and she was unable to surface. The authorities did not hand her body over for
burial, but the people found her grave and secretly transferred her body to a
village cemetery.

Priest Boris Mikhailovich Zoroaster was born in 1890. In 1927 he was

arrested in the village of Pokrovskoye, Tsivilsky region, Chuvashia. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Peter Ivanovich Kuznetsov was born in 1872 in the village of Novo-
Semenkino, Belebedeyevsky uyezd, Ufa province. On July 19, 1929 he was
arrested. On November 6 he was condemned according to article 58-10. On
November 30 he was shot.

Hieromonk Simeon, in the world Semyon Mikhailovich Dobrynin, was

born in 1881 in the village of Zhuravlevka, Yaransk uyezd, Vyatka province.
In 1929 he was serving in the village of Troitskoye, Bogdanovichsky region,
Urals province, when, on October 25, he was arrested. On February 22, 1929
he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the Urals. Nothing more is known
about him.

The clergyman Andrew Vasilyevich Yevstafyev was born in 1901 in the

village of Podgornoye, Kugarchinsky region, Bashkiria, and served in his

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native village. On May 11, 1929 he was arrested, and on February 7, 1930 was
sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to five years in prison.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Clement Lukyanovich Lebedev was born in 1871, and was the
rector of the church in the village of Semetyayevka, Fyodorovsky region,
Bashkiria. On June 20, 1928 he was arrested, and on September 3, 1929 he was
sentenced to three years in exile according to article 58-10. Nothing more is
known about him.

Lydia Grammakova (?), the daughter of a protopriest in the city of Ufa,

was born on March 20, 1901. From childhood she was sensitive, affectionare,
loved by all, fearing sin and everything forbidden by God. Upon completing
girls' school, at the age of nineteen she married and lost her husband in the
Civil War with the departure of the White Army.

Her father joined the schism of the renovationists in 1922. The daughter,
prostrating herself at her father's feet, said:

"Bless me, father, to leave you, so that I will not bind you in the salvation of
your soul."

The old priest knew his daughter, just as he was aware of the wrongness of
his action. He wept, and, blessing Lydia for an independent life, prophetically
said to her:

"See, daughter, when you win your crown, that you tell the Lord that
although I myself proved too weak for battle, still I did not restrain you, but
blessed you."

"I will, papa," she said, kissing his hand, thus herself also prophetically
foreseeing her future.

Lydia succeeded in entering the Forestry Department, and in 1926 she was
transferred to the Collective Lumber Industry for work with the lower-paid
labourers. Here she immediately came into contact with simple Russian
people, whom she warmly loved and who responded in the same fashion.

The lumberjacks and drivers, who had been hardened by the work they
did under difficult conditions, related with amazement that in the officer of
the Lumber department, where Lydia met them, a feeling came over them
similar to the one, now almost smothered, which they had felt when before

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the revolution they had gone to meet the venerated icon of the Mother of God
from the village of Bogorodskoye near Ufa. In the office foul language, insults
and quarrels were no longer heard. Evil passions were extinguished, and
people became kinder to each other.

This was amazing and was noticed by everybody, including the party
chiefs. They kept watch over Lydia, but discovered nothing suspicious: she
did not go at all to the churches that had been legalized by the Bolsheviks,
and she attended catacomb services rarely and carefully. The GPU knew that
members of the Catacomb Church existed in the diocese, but they could find
no way of uncovering and arresting them.

With the aim of uncovering those who had not yet been arrested, the GPU
suddenly returned Bishop Andrew of Ufa from exile. He was deeply revered
by the people; but at his command he was received openly by only one
church in Ufa, although secretly the whole diocese came to him. The GPU was
mistaken: instead of being uncovered, the Catacomb Church deepened and
spread, remaining as before inaccessible to spies. Convinced of the failure of
its plan, the GPU again arrested Bishop Andrew and sent him into exile.

Lydia was arrested on July 9, 1928. The secret-operations department had

long been seeking a typist who had been supplying the workers of the
Forestry Department with typewritten brochures containing lives of the
saints, prayers, sermons and instructions of ancient and recent hierarchs. It
had been noticed that on this typist's typewriter the lower stem of the "k" was
broken; and thus Lydia was discovered.

The GPU understood that there had fallen into their hands a clue for
uncovering the whole Catacomb Church in the region. Ten days of
uninterrupted questioning did not break the martyr; she simply refused to
say anything. On July 20 the interrogator, having lost all patience, gave Lydia
over to the "special command" for interrogation.

This "special command" worked in a corner room in the cellar of the GPU.
A permanent guard was stationed in the cellar corridor. On this day the guard
was Cyril Atayev, a 23-year-old private. He saw Lydia as she was brought
into the cellar. The preceding ten days' questioning had drained the strength
of the martyr, and she could not go down the steps. Private Atayev, at the call
of his chiefs, held her and led her down to the interrogation chamber.

"May Christ save you,"

said Lydia, sensing in the Red Army guard a spark of compassion for her in
the delicate gentleness of his strong arms.

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And Christ saved Atayev. The words of the martyr, her eyes full of pain
and perplexity, fell into his heart. Now he could not listen with indifference to
her uninterrupted screams and cries, as he had previously listened to the
same cries from others being interrogated and tortured.

Lydia was tortured for a long time. The tortures of the GPU were usually
fashioned so as to leave no particularly noticeable marks on the body of the
tortured one, but at Lydia's interrogation no attention was paid to this. The
screams and cries of Lydia continued almost uninterruptedly for more than
an hour and a half.

"But aren't you in pain? You're screaming and crying, that means it's
awful?" asked the exhausted torturers in one of the intervals.

"Painful! Lord, how painful!" replied Lydia with a broken moan.

"Then why don't you talk? It will be more painful!" said the perplexed
torturers.

"I can't talk... I can't... He won't allow..." groaned Lydia.

"Who won't allow?"

"God won't allow!"

Then the torturers devised something new for the martyr: sexual assault.
There were four of them - one more was needed. They called the guard to
help.

When Atayev entered the room, he saw Lydia, understood the means of
her further torture and his own role in it - and there was worked in him a
miracle similar to the unexpected conversions of the ancient torturers.
Atayev's whole soul was repelled by the satanic abominableness, and a holy
enthusiasm seized him. Totally unaware of what he was doing, the Red Army
guard killed on the spot the two torturers who stood before him with his own
revolver. Before even the second shot had echoed the GPU man who had been
standing behind hit Cyril on the head with the handle of his gun. Atayev still
had the strength to turn and seize his attacker by the throat, but a shot from
the fourth one knocked him to the floor.

Cyril fell with his head toward Lydia, who was stretched out with thongs.
The Lord gave him the opportunity of hearing once more words of hope from
the martyr. And looking straight into Lydia's eyes, Cyril, with blood gushing
from him, gasped his union to the Lord:

"Saint, take me with you!"

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"I will take you," Lydia smiled, radiant.

The sound and meaning of this conversation as it were opened a door to

the other world, and terror darkened the consciousness of the two GPU men
who remained alive. With insane shouts they began to shoot the helpless
victims who threatened them, and they shot until both their revolvers had
been emptied. Those who had come running at the shots led them away,
shouting insanely, and themselves fled from the room, seized by an unknown
terror.

One of these two GPU men became completely insane. The other soon died
of nervous shock. Before his death this second one told everything to his
friend, Sergeant Alexis Ikonikov, who turned to God and brought this
account to the Church. For his zealous propagation of it, he himself suffered a
martyr's death.

Priest Demetrius Nikolayevich Petrov was born in 1901. In 1928 he was

arrested in the village of Stemasy, Alatyr uyezd, Chuvashia. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Ivan Nikolayevich Shikhov was born in 1894 in Vyatka province,

and served in the village of Zirgan, Sterlitamak region, Bashkiria. On
November 12, 1928 he was arrested, and on January 18, 1929 was sentenced in
accordance with article 58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

Cosmas Alexeyevich Yedrenkin was born in 1876 in the village of St.-

Alexandrovka, Blagoveschensky region, Bashkiria. He was the deputy
president of a parish council. In 1929 he was arrested, and on April 13 was
sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Hosea Silvestrovich Koptsov was born in 1887 in the village of

Mamagory (Managora?), Iglinsky region, Bashkiria, and served in Ufa. On
November 17, 1928 he was arrested, and on May 10, 1929 he was sentenced in
accordance with article 58-10 to three years’ exile. Nothing more is known
about him.

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Monk Ivan (Alexeyevich Kiselev) was born in 1869 in Penza province, and
struggled in Ufa. There, on February 15, 1929, he was arrested, and on May 10
was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10. Nothing more is known about
him.

Priest Nicholas Mitrofanovich Popov was born in 1893 in Orenburg

province. He was serving in the village of Otrada, Kumertuasky region,
Bashkiria when, on September 23, 1929 he was arrested and condemned (in
November). Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Egorovich Matveyev was born in 1893 in the village of Sadovka,

Sterlitamak region, Bashkiria Autonomous Republic. He was a Mordovian,
and a member of a church parish council. On August 20, 1929 he was arrested
and condemned to three years’ imprisonment in accordance with articles 58-
10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

Deacon Constantine Petrovich Kandaritsky was born in 1877 in the

village of Schmidtovo, Ufa region, and served in the village of Mikhailovka,
Sterlitamak region. On September 4, 1929 he was arrested, and on November
3 was sentenced to three years in the camps in accordance with article 58-10.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Ilyich Zubarev was born in 1865 in Vyatka province, and
served in the village of Saklovo, Krasnokamsky region, Bashkiria. On October
24, 1929 he was arrested, and on December 3 he was condemned. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Arcadius Vitalyevich Ponamarev (Ponomarev?) was born in 1899 in

the city of Belabej, Bashkiria. He was serving in the church of SS. Peter and
Paul in the village of Duvan, Duvansky uyezd, Bashkiria. On October 3, 1929
he was arrested in Duvan, and on January 3, 1930 was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-13 to three years’ imprisonment.
Nothing more is known about him.

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Alexis Semyonovich Ivanov. He was born in 1895 in the village of

Aibushevo, Pronsky uyezd, Ryazan province, and received an intermediate
education. He lived in Ufa, working as an accountant. In 1926 he was arrested
and sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment under guard for forging a
document. On January 13, 1928 he was released because of ill health. Nothing
more is known about him.

Ivan Yegorovich Matveyev was born in 1893 in the village of Sadovka,

Sterlitamak region, Bashkiria Autonomous Republic. He was a Mordovian,
and a member of a church parish council. On August 20, 1929 he was arrested
and condemned to three years’ imprisonment in accordance with articles 58-
10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Alexander (Vasilyevich Shevtsov) was born in 1911 in Stavropol

region, and lived in Ufa. On September 10, 1930 he was arrested, and on
September 27 was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in accordance with
articles 58-10 and 58-11.

The following suffered for their membership of the True Orthodox Church:

Hieromonk Joasaph, in the world Ivan Vasilyevich Boev. He was born in

1879, and was a messenger for Archbishop Andrew. On November 16, 1931
he was arrested and sentenced to ten years in the camps, and was sent to a
camp. After being released he returned to his homeland. On April 22, 1949 he
was arrested and sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps. He was sent to
a special camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Paul Fyodorovich Alyaev. He was born in 1891 in the village of

Nordovka, Sterlitamak uyezd, and received an elementary education. In the
1920s he was serving in the churches of the Ufa diocese. On March 10, 1929 he
was arrested for being “an active participant in the Ufa branch of the counter-
revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and on May 31 was sentenced to five years in the camps and was sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Gavrilovich Amanatsky. He was born in 1882 in the

village of Durasovo, Ufa uyezd, and received an intermediate education. In
the 1920s he was serving in the churches of the Ufa diocese. He was serving in

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the village of Polyanovka, Chelyabinsk province when, on March 2, 1929

(1930) he was arrested for being “an active participant in the Ufa branch of the
counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on March 26 was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10,
58-11 and 58-13 to ten years in the camps and confiscation of his property. He
was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Basil Mikhailovich Alimanov. He was born in 1869 in Samara

province, and received an elementary education. In the 1920s he was serving
in the churches of the Ufa diocese. On March 27, 1930 he was arrested for
being “an active participant in the Ufa branch of the counter-revolutionary
monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on April 21
was sentenced to five years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Victor Alexandrovich Alimanov. He was born in 1869 in the village

of Bolotino, Ufa uyezd, and received an elementary education. In the 1920s he
was serving in the churches of the Ufa diocese. On December 22, 1929 he was
arrested for being “an active participant in the Ufa branch of the counter-
revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and on March 19 was sentenced to five (?) years’ exile and sent to the north.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Benjamin Vasilyevich Trotsky. He was born in 1906 in Tula in the

family of a priest, and went to a theological seminary. He served in a church
in Ufa region. On March 21, 1930 he was arrested for being “an active
participant in the Ufa branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist church
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on December 3 was sentenced
to ten years in the camps and was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Sergius Grigoryvich Kolesnikov. He was born in 1878 in Kharkov

province, and went to two classes in a city school. He served in the village of
Mikhailovka, Duvan region, and was a messenger for Bishop Benjamin
(Troitsky). On May 14, 1931 he was arrested for being “an active participant in
the Ufa branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization,
the True Orthodox Church”, and on September 24 was sentenced to ten years’
exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Lvovich Lavrov. He was born in 1889 in the village of

Kosteyevo, Belebeyevsky uyezd, Ufa province, and received an elementary
education. He served in the village of Mikhailovka, Duvan region, and was a
messenger for Bishop Benjamin (Troitsky). On May 29, 1931 he was arrested
for being “an active member of the Ufa branch of the counter-revolutionary
monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on

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September 10 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Michael Petrovich Perov. He was born in 1885 in the village of

Zernovka, Samara province in the family of a priest, and went to a theological
seminary. He served in the village of Bogorodskoye, Meleuzovsky region, and
was the organizer of mass protests of believers. On July 15, 1931 he was
arrested for being “an active participant in the Ufa branch of the counter-
revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and on September 22 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a
camp. In 1936, after being released from exile, he returned to the
Voskresensky region. On August 15, 1937 he was arrested, and on November
3 was sentenced to death. He was shot on the same day.

Deacon Alexander Ivanovich Gayev. He was born in 1903 in the Urals

region, and went to a village school. He served in the village of Mikhailovka.
On May 14, 1931 he was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the
True Orthodox Church, and on September 24 was sentenced to five years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Deacon Andrew Leontyevich Kazarez. He was born in 1872. In 1930 he

was arrested, and on April 9, 1930 was sentenced to three years’ exile. After
his release he returned to his homeland. In 1940 he was arrested again, and on
August 23, 1940 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Abbess Avdotia, in the world Eudocia Yakovlevna Panferova. She was

born in 1886 in Tambov province and received an elementary education. She
became the abbess of the Yenatsky monastery in Sterlitamak. On June 2, 1931
she was arrested in connection with a branch of the True Orthodox Church.
she was released from prison after promising not to leave the town, but was
later exiled. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Theodosia (Stepanovna Alysheva). She was born in 1883 in the

village of Samorodovka, Ufa province. On June 15, 1931 she was arrested in
connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church. On September
22, 1931 she was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north.

Nun Anna (Fyodorovna Azarova). She was born in 1905 in Sterlitamak,

Ufa province, and received an elementary education. On August 25, 1931 she
was arrested for being “an active participant in the Ufa branch of the counter-
revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and on September 24 was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

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Nun Anna (Antonovna Anferova). She was born in 1885 in the village of
Yezhovka, Ufa province. On August 25, 1931 she was arrested in connection
with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on September 24 was
sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about
her.

Nun Natalya (Grigoryevna Artemyeva). She was born in 1901 in the village
of Mikhailovka, Ufa province. On May 26, 1931 she was arrested in connection
with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on September 24 she
was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Agatha (Prokopyevna Bodrova). She was born in 1900 in the village of
Andreyevka, Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufa province. On November 23, 1930 she was
arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church, and
on February 7 was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Eudocia (Leontyevna Builova). She was born in 1870 in the village of
Andreyevka, Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufa province. On November 23, 1930 she
was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church,
and on February 7 was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Anna (Fyodorovna Vaganova). She was born in 1904 in the village of
Varvarino, Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufa province. On May 29, 1831 she was
arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church, and
on September 24 was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Alexandra (Larionovna Vasilyeva). She was born in 1875 in Ufa

province. In 1931 she was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the
True Orthodox Church, and on October 31 was sentenced to three years in the
camps.

Nun Anna (Gavrilovna Vasilyeva). She was born in 1899 in Ufa province.
In 1932 she was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the True
Orthodox Church, and on February 2, 1932 was sentenced to three years’
exile. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Lukerya (Mikhailovna Vasilyeva). She was born in 1890 in the village
of Novoandreyevka, Sterlitamak uyezd. On November 23, 1930 she was
arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church, and
on February 7, 1931 was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more
is known about her.

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Nun Anastasia (Alexandrovna Yevgrafova). She was born in 1881 (1890)

into the family of a merchant, and had an intermediate education. She lived in
Ufa and worked as a clerk. She was actively involved in the illegal
multiplication and distribution of sermons and letters of Archbishop Andrew
among believers. In 1927 she was present at a renovationist congress in
Moscow and distributed there the works of Archbishop Andrew. She
collected parcels and sent them to Bishops Andrew and Benjamin in exile. In
January, 1928 she was arrested in Ufa for “anti-Soviet activity” and sentenced
to exile in Kazan. In 1933 she was arrested again for “keeping and distributing
Church literature, and for conducting anti-Soviet agitation”. However, the
case was not proved, and she was released. In 1937 she was arrested for a
third time and condemned. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Zinaida (Mikhailovna Zakharova). She was born in 1893 in

Meleuzovsky uyezd, Ufa province. On June 15, 1931 she was arrested in
connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on
September 22 was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Darya (Kapitonova). On May 29, 1931 she was arrested in connection
with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on September 24 was
sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Praskovya (Semyonovna Kalkina). She was born in 1875 in Ufa

province. In 1931 she was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the
True Orthodox Church, and on November 16 was sentenced to three years’
exile. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Aquilina (Matveyevna Kozlova). She was born in 1897 in Ufa

province. In 1931 she was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the
True Orthodox Church, and on August 25 was sentenced to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Vassa (Dmitrievna Kolyaskina). She was born in 1896 in the village of
Mikhailovka, Ufa province, and went to a village school. On May 26, 1931 she
was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church,
and on September 24 was sentenced to five years in the camps. Nothing more
is known about her.

Nun Darya (Dmitrievna Kulikova). She was born in 1891 in the village of
Nizhne-Troitskoye, Ufa province. On June 13, 1931 she was arrested in
connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on
September 22 she was sentenced to five years’ exile in the north. Nothing
more is known about her.

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Nun Thecla, in the world Olga Petrovna Motovilova. She was born in 1899
in Ufa province, and was tonsured by Archbishop Andrew. On June 30, 1930
she was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox
Church, and sentenced to three years in the camps. She was sent to a camp.
After her release she returned to her homeland. On February 26, 1946 she was
arrested again and sentenced to eight years in the camps. She was sent to
Dubravlag. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Matrona (Mikhailovna Oskina). She was born in 1905 in the village of
Nizhne-Troitskoye, Ufa province. On June 15, 1931 she was arrested in
connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox church, and on
September 22 was sentenced to five years in the camps. After her release she
returned to her homeland, but later joined the True Orthodox Christians in
Lipetsk.

Nun Tatyana (Dmitrievna Popova). She was born in 1903 in the village of
Nizhnyaya Burma, Askinsk uyezd, Ufa province, and went to two classes of a
village school. On May 25, 1931 she was arrested in connection with the Ufa
branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on September 24 was sentenced to
five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Tatyana (Ivanovna Saburova). She was born in 1893 in Zlatooust

uyezd, Ufa province, and received an elementary education. In the 1930s she
was in the Kolpashevsky region, and took part in the secret Chainsky
monastery. On March 25, 1933 she was arrested for being “a participant in a
counter-revolutionary monarchist-terrorist organization of churchmen”, and
on August 22 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Olympiada (Romanovna Sudarikova). She was born in 1875 in the

village of Varvarino, Strelitamak uyezd, Ufa province, and received an
elementary education. On May 29, 1931 she was arrested in connection with
the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on September 24 was
sentenced to five years’ exile and sent to Siberia. Nothing more is known
about her.

Nun Barbara (Vasilyevna Timoshina). She was born in 1870 in the village
of Varvarino, Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufa province, and received an elementary
education. On May 29, 1931 she was arrested in connection with the Ufa
branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on September 24 was sentenced to
three years in the camps and was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known
about her.

Nun Agrippina (Efremova Fedoseyeva-Konovalova). She was born in 1903

in the village of Varvarino, Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufa province, and received an
elementary education. On May 29, 1931 she was arrested in connection with

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the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on September 24 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Nun Theodosia (Andreyevna Shitlina). She was born in 1896 in the village
of Varvarino, Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufa province, and received an elementary
education. On May 29, 1931 she was arrested in connection with the Ufa
branch of the True Orthodox Church, and on September 24 was sentenced to
three years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about
her.

Reader Leonid Anatolyevich Bogolyubov. He was born in 1903 in Ufa

province. He was arrested in 1930 in connection with the Ufa branch of the
True Orthodox Church, and on October 2 was sentenced to five years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Anysia Yevseyevna Yakovleva. She was born in 1896 in the village of

Mikhailovka, Duvan uyezd, Ufa province into a peasant family, and went to a
village school. She was a reader in the church in Mikhailovka. On May 14,
1931 she was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the True Orthodox
Church, and on September 24 was sentenced to five years in the camps and
sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Catherine Petrovna Motovilova. She was born in 1907 in Ufa province. On

June 30, 1930 she was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the True
Orthodox church and sentenced to five years’ exile. Nothing more is known
about her.

Maria Alexeyevna Nikitina. She was born in 1893 in the village of

Mikhailovka, Duvan uyezd, Ufa province, and went to a village school. On
May 14, 1931 she was arrested in connection with the Ufa branch of the True
Orthodox Church, and on September 24 was sentenced to five years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest James Efimovich Zhuravlev was born in 1892 in Samara province,

and served in the village of Romodanovka, Meluzovsky region, Bashkiria. On
October 21, 1929 he was arrested, and on February 7, 1930 he was sentenced
to ten years’ imprisonment in accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11.
Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Alexandra (Yakovlevna Yevdokimova). She was born in 1884 in the

village of Osipovka, Blagoveschensk region, Bashkiria. On June 4, 1930 she

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was arrested, and on July 12 was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in

accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Nicholas Vasilyevich Bogolyubov. He was born in 1885. In 1930 he

was arrested, and on June 30 he was sentenced to three years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest (?) Ivan Andreyevich Belyaev was born in 1885 in the village of
Artakul, Birsk uyezd, Ufa province. From 1908 to 1910 and from 1914 to 1915
he served as a private in the tsarist army. He became either a priest or a
member of the parish council in the SS. Cosmas and Damian church in his
native village. In 1928 he was sentenced in accordance with article 59 to six
months in a house of correction. On May 18, 1929 he was arrested again, and
on September 3 was accused of “violating the rules on the separation of the
Church from the State – collecting alms among the parishioners for building a
church and for the upkeep of the clergy”. He was sentenced in accordance
with articles 58-10 and 124, but the case was shelved because of lack of
evidence of a crime. On October 18, 1929 he was arrested again, and on
February 10, 1930 he was sentenced to five years in the camps with
confiscation of his property and expulsion of his family in accordance with
articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Nikolayevich Ivlev was born in 1883 in Sterlitamak, Ufa

province, and served in Dyurtylinsky region. On March 25, 1930 he was
arrested, and on April 29 was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Praskovya (Andreyevna Kaparushkina) was born in 885 in

Chelyabinsk uyezd, Orenburg province, and struggled in the village of
Osipovka, Blagoveschensk region, Bashkiria. There, on June 4, 1930, she was
arrested, and on July 12 was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and
58-11 to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about her.

Reader Alexander Vasilyevich Ilyinsky was born in 1909 in Vologda

province, and served in the village of Kazanka, Alsheyevsky region,
Bashkiria. On August 6, 1930 he was arrested, and on September 27 was

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sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to ten years’

imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Vera (Nikolayevna Zhukova) was born in 1860 in the village of

Bogolyubovka, Sterlitamak region, Bashkiria. On October 31, 1930 she was
arrested and sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’ exile.
Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Alexander Ivanovich Kirpayev was born in 1863 in Perm province,

and served in the Spasskaya church in the village of Alexeyevka, Ufa region.
There, on August 18, 1930, he was arrested, and on December 3 was
sentenced, in accordance with article 58-7, to three years in exile. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Kuzmich Zvarygin was born in 1884 in Vyatka province, and
served in the village of Mitrofanovka, Duvan region, Bashkiria. On March 10,
1930 he was arrested, and on December 27 he was sentenced to death in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-13. He was shot on the same day.

Reader Constantine Grigoryevich Katkov was born in 1884 in the village

of Chukayevo, Bakalinsky region, Bashkiria, where he also served. There, on
February 23, 1930 he was arrested, and on April 18 was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Petrovich Zadorozhnin was born in 1863 in the village of Zar-
Usy, Muslyumovsky region, Tataria. He was a Kryashen. On October 20, 1930
he was arrested in his native village, and on December 1 was sentenced in
accordance with article 58-10 to five years’ exile in the north for “anti-
collective farm agitation”. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Gregory Fyodorovich Vershinin was born on January 18, 1882 in

the village of Romochi, Vetluga uyezd, Kostroma province into a pious
peasant family. His mother was a prosphora-baker. In the 1900s he was a

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reader in the village of Beberino, Barnavinsky uyezd, Kostroma province. Not

later than 1914 he was ordained to the diaconate. On October 2, 1919, in order
to avoid the famine, he sailed with his family on barges along the rivers
Volga, Kama and Bela to Birsk, where he began to serve in the Archangel
Michael church in January, 1920. In that year he was ordained to the
priesthood and was sent to the village of Abyzovo, Birsk uyezd, then (in 1925)
to Inzersky Factory, then (in 1927) to the village of Sasykul, Sterlitamak
canton. On June, 1928 he was made rector of the church in the village of
Nikolayevka, Sterlitamak canton after the arrest of Fr. Peter Valamov. At the
same time he looked after the church in the village of Preobrazhenkovka,
where he was appointed rector on April 15, 1930. On December 9, 1930 he was
arrested in Preobrazhenka in connection with the protests of the believers
against the closure of the church and cast into the House of Correction in
Sterlitamak. On February 7, 1931 he was sentenced in accordance with articles
58-10 and 58-11 to five years’ exile to the north and confiscation of his
property. In 1933 he died from illness in exile.

Priest Alexander Yakovlevich Bannikov. He was arrested in 1931, and on

February 21, 1931 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. Nothing more is
known about him.

Nun Valentina (Osipovna Shilova) was born in 1903 in the village of

Tastuba, Duvansky region, Bashkiria. On February 12, 1931 she was arrested
there, and on April 30 was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in accordance
with articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-13. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Salome, in the world Alexandra Ivanovna Zelinskaya. She was born
in 1872 in Ufa province and went to a gymnasium. From 1918 she was editor
of the newspaper “Trans-Volga Chronicle”. On April 13, 1929 she was
arrested and sentenced to three years in the camps. After her release from
camp she was exiled to Central Asia. Archbishop Andrew lived in her flat.
Nothing more is known about her.

Hieromonk Damian (Demetrius Antonovich Lisitsyn) was born in 1863

into a peasant family. From 1884 to 1890 he served in the army. In 1891 he
entered the Verkhoturye monastery, where he became sacristan and treasurer.
On November 27, 1896 he was tonsured into monasticism, on October 22,
1898 was ordained to the diaconate, and in September, 1899. He became the

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spiritual father of the Dormition women’s monastery. In 1901 he was accused

of unlawfully buying land with monastery money. In 1905 he was banned
from serving. In 1906 he voluntarily renounced his monasticism. He went to
live in Chelyabinsk, and then, in 1910, in Irkutsk. In 1911 he returned to the
Urals and settled by Krivy Lake, where he founded a men’s community. After
the confiscation of the property of the community, he moved to Okunevsky
Lake. He grouped around himself nuns from the closed monasteries of the
Verkhoturye, Dormition and Turinsky monasteries. He rejected the
“declaration” of Metropolitan Sergius and joined the Ufa bishops. In 1930 he
was arrested, and on May 28 was sentenced to one year’s exile to the north of
the Urals. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Hilarion Mikhailovich Yendovitsky was born in 1870 in Nizhni-

Novgorod and served in the village of Bolsheustikinskoye, Mechetlinsky
region, Bashkiria. On May 22, 1929 he was arrested, and on November 29 was
sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in accordance with article 58-10.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Gregory Fyodorovich Gorshkov was born in 1885 in Ufa, and

served in the village of Golyshevo, Blagovarsky region, Bashkiria. On
November 7, 1929 he was arrested in Golyshevo, and on January 3, 1930 was
sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in accordance with articles 58-10 and
58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Theodore Ivanovich Shklyaev was born in 1865 in Vyatka province,

and served in the village of Novo-Berezovka, Bashkiria. On December 30,
1929 he was arrested, and on February 26, 1930 he was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Sergius Alexandrovich Grebnev was born in 1898 in the village of

N. Troitskaya, Iglinsky region, Bashkiria. He served in the village of
Ivanovka, Karmaskalinsky region, where, on November 22, 1929, he was
arrested. On January 3, 1930 he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in
accordance with articles 58-8 and 58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

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Arethas Ivanovich Yermolayev was born in 1877 in the village of

Kreschenka, Blagoveschensk region, Bashkiria. He was the warden of the
local church. On June 12, 1930 he was arrested, and on December 27 was
sentenced to five years’ exile in accordance with articles 58-8 and 58-10.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Porphyrius Sergeyevich Zhilyaev was born in 1874 in Kursk

province. He went to serve in the village of Sergeyevka, Buzdyaksky region,
Bashkiria. On March 6, 1930 he was arrested, and on April 26 he was
sentenced to ten years’ exile in accordance with article 58-10 and 58-13.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Stepanovich Karteryev was born in 1872 in Simbirsk

province, and served in the village of Krivlyia-Iliyushino, Mrakovsky region,
Bashkiria. There, on July 1, 1931 he was arrested, and on August 6 was
sentenced to three years in exile in accordance with article 58-10. Nothing
more is known about him.

Deacon Basil Lvovich Kondratyev was born in 1888 in the village of Ud.
Duvaney, Blagoveschensk region, Bashkiria, and served in his native village.
On August 11, 1930 he was arrested, and on October 3 was sentenced in
accordance with article 58-7 to three years’ exile. Nothing more is known
about him.

Nun Natalya (Arsenyevna (Arsentyevna?) Zhilyakina) was born in 1870 in

Tataria, and struggled in Ufa. On November 16, 1931 she was arrested, and on
April 13, 1932 was sentenced to three years’ exile in accordance with articles
58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Praskovya (Demidovna Kovardakova) was born in 1888 in Urals

province. Until 1931 she was a nun in Birsk. On December 24, 1931 she was
arrested, and on April 28, 1932 was sentenced to three years’ exile in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about her.

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Nun Anysia (Ivanovna Ionova), a Mordovian, was born in 1881 in the

village of Boriskino, Bugulma uyezd, Samara province. On April 26, 1931 she
was arrested in Bugulma, Tataria, and on September 12 was sentenced to five
years in the camps in accordance with article 58-10 for “religious agitation”.
Nothing more is known about her.

Protopriest Michael Ivanovich Mironov was born between 1863 and 865.
He was rector of the Pokrov church in the village of Romanovka,
Meleuzskaya, Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufa province. From 1926 he was many times
in Meleuzskaya prison. When it was suggested that he renounce the faith, he
replied with a decisive refusal. After his sentence he said: “Christ went to be
crucified for the faith, I must accept trials”. He was cast into the prison of the
village of Priluk in Arkhangelsk province. There, in the prison hospital, he
died in 1932, having been subjected to terrible treatment from the camp
bosses and criminals.

Protopriest Paul Mikhailovich Favoritov was born in 1875 in Chelyabinsk

district into the family of a nobleman, an official who also served in church as
a reader. He went to Ufa theological seminary and graduated from Kazan
Theological Academy with distinction. In 1897 he married Valentina
Ivanovna, the daughter of a priest, a teacher who was born in 1879 in the
village of Karachensky, near Shadrinsk. Until 1918 Fr. Paul served in the
cathedral of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye in Shadrinsk. After the revolution the
choir was composed of exiles, including many of the Russian intelligentsia. Fr.
Paul also taught philosophy and the Law of God in Shadrinsk real school. Fr.
Paul’s family was large and musical. He himself had a fine baritone and
played many instruments. He brought up his children very strictly – they
fasted from the age of three. In 1918, when the Reds came to Shadrinsk, the
whole family fled to Krasnoyarsk. In 1922-23 they returned to Shadrinsk. In
1926 Fr. Paul was disenfranchised in accordance with article 69. On February
20, 1928 he was arrested together with some other priests and accused of
“creating a counter-revolutionary organization of priests”. On August 10 he
was convicted and sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’
exile to the north. From 1928 to 1931 he was on Solovki, working as a
watchman on the shore of the White Sea. “Never have I met so many
remarkable people,” he said later. “I did not know what I learned from them.
I am grateful to God for Solovki.” On April 30, 1935 he died of pneumonia in
a hospital in Petrograd.

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The following suffered for their membership of the True Orthodox Church
after the war:

Priest Alexis Kornilovich Kornilov. He was born in 1881 in the village of

Sotnikovo, Marlosadsky uyezd, Chuvashia into a peasant family. In 1929 he
was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”, and was sentenced to three years in
the camps and sent to a camp. In 1932 he was released and returned to his
homeland. In 1937 he was again arrested and sentenced to five years in the
camps and sent to a camp. In 1942 he was released and went to live in
Cheboksary without a fixed occupation. On June 20, 1947 he was arrested for
being “an active participant in the illegal anti-Soviet church-monarchist
organization calling itself ‘the True Orthodox Christians’. On August 28-30, in
a closed session, he was sentenced to five years in the camps with
disenfranchisement for three years. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Barsonuphius, in the world Basil Yakovlevich Yakovlev. He was

born in 1922 in the village of Koshmashtoisi, Ibresinsky region, Mordovia into
a peasant family, and was a free peasant. He finished school and in 1941 – the
Kanashsky financial-economic technicum. In the summer of 1941 he was
called into the army. In 1946 he was demobilized and worked as an income
inspector in Raifo. In 1947 he was made redundant, and refused to take part
in any enterprise of Soviet power. He was passportless. He got to know Priest
Alexis Kornilov and took part in secret services. He was tonsured with the
name Barsonuphius. He conducted secret services in a specially constructed
cell. On August 11, 1958 he was arrested for being “the leader of an anti-
Soviet church-monarchist group, the so-called ‘True Orthodox Christians’”,
and on January 22, 1959 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. On April 30
his sentence was reduced to seven years and he was sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

Nun Anna (Prokopyevna Prokofyeva). She was born in 1889 in the village
of Yandashevo, Marlosadsky uyezd, Chuvashia into a peasant family. In the
1930s she was living in Cheboksary without fixed occupation. On March 27,
1947 she was arrested for being “an active participant in the illegal anti-Soviet
church-monarchist organization called ‘the True Orthodox Christians’”, and
on August 28-30, in a closed session, was sentenced to five years in the camps
with disenfranchisement for two years. Nothing more is known about her.

Andrew Romanovich Romanov. He was born in 1888 in the village of

Kadyk-Oi, Margaush uyezd, Chuvashia into a peasant family. In 1927 he was
arrested in Nizhegorod province and sentenced to seven years’ exile and sent
to the north. In 1934 he was released and went to live in Cheboksary, working
in the fire-fighting section of a factory. On March 15, 1947 he was arrested for
being “an active participant in the illegal anti-Soviet church-monarchist
organization calling itself ‘the True Orthodox Christians’. On August 28-30, in

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a closed session, he was sentenced to ten years in the camps with

disenfranchisement for five years. Nothing more is known about him.

Abraham Markovich Markov. He was born in 1894 in the village of

Syatrya-Marga, Ishleisky uyezd, Chuvashia into a peasant family, and was a
free peasant. In the 1930s he was without fixed occupation. On April 16, 1947
he was arrested for being “an active participant in the illegal anti-Soviet
church-monarchist organization calling itself ‘the True Orthodox Christians’.
On August 28-30, in a closed session, he was sentenced to ten years in the
camps with disenfranchisement for five years. Nothing more is known about
him.

Basil Petrovich Troitsky. He was born in 1893 in the village of Novoye

Shokino, Sundyr uyezd, Chuvashia. In the 1940s he was living in Cheboksary
and worked as a bodyguard at a factory stadium. On March 27, 1947 he was
arrested for being “the leader of an illegal church group”. On June 1 he died
in an inner prison, and his case was shelved “in connection with the death of
the accused”.

Alexis Ivanovich Ivanov. He was born in 1918 in the village of Tatarkasy,

Sundyr uyezd, Chuvashia into a peasant family. In the 1930s he was living in
Cheboksary without fixed occupation. On March 27, 1947 he was arrested for
being “an active participant in the illegal anti-Soviet church-monarchist
organization that is called ‘the True Orthodox Christians’”, and on August 28-
30 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and was disenfranchised. Nothing
more is known about him.

Basil Yakovlevich Muslov. He was born in 1912 in the village of Staroye

Yashkino, Orenburg province into a peasant family, and was a free peasant.
In the 1950s he was living in Karaganda, working as a carriage inspector on
the railway. In 1956 he was made redundant, and presented his home for
secret prayer meetings with his wife, V.T. Vitsukayeva. On September 17,
1958 he was arrested for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet church-
monarchist group, the so-called ‘True Orthodox Christians’”. During the
investigation he renounced his citizenship of the USSR. On January 22, 1959
he was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more
is known about him.

Porphyrius Ivanovich Borzayev. He was born in 1912 in the village of

Yunga-Pos, Sundyr uyezd, Chuvashia into a peasant family. In 1943 he was
arrested, sentenced to one year in the camps and sent to a camp. In 1944 he
was released and went to live in Cheboksary, without fixed occupation. On
July 7, 1947 he was arrested for being “an active participant in the illegal anti-
Soviet church-monarchist organization called ‘the True Orthodox
Christians’”, and on August 28-30 was sentenced to eight years in the camps
with disenfranchisement for three years. Nothing more is known about him.

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Vasilisa Tikhonovna Vitsykayeva. She was born in 1922 in the village of

Pokrovskoye, Zubovo-Polyansky region, Chuvashia into a peasant family,
and went to school in Karaganda. In 1950 she left her work, burned her
passport and refused to take part in any enterprises undertaken by Soviet
power. In 1956 she presented her home for, and took part in, secret prayer
services together with her husband, V.Ya. Muslov. On November 4, 1958 she
was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet church-monarchist
troup, the so-called ‘True Orthodox Christians’”. In the course of the
investigation she renounced citizenship of the USSR. On January 22, 1959 she
was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Tatyana Ignatyevna Ignatyeva. She was born in 1911 in the village of

Oikassy, Churachinsky region, and received an intermediate education. From
1949 to 1950 she worked as a technician in Tsivilsk children’s home. On
December 23, 1951 she was arrested in a group case. On April 11-12, 1952 she
was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to Gorlag. Nothing more is
known about her.

Maria Ignatyevna Ignatyeva. She was born in 1924 in the village of

Oikassy, Churachinsky region. In 1947 she finished her studies at Tsivilsk
medical orderly school, and worked as a nurse in a city hospital, from 1950 –
in a tuberculosis hospital. On December 23, 1951 she was arrested in a group
case. On April 11-12, 1952 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps and
sent to Minlag. Nothing more is known about her.

Justina Filippovna Filippova. She was born in 1905 in the village of

Vurman-Kosy, Alikovsky uyezd, Chuvashia into a peasant family. In the
1930s she was living in Cheboksary and worked as an orderly in a city
hospital. On March 27, 1947 she was arrested for being “an active participant
in the illegal anti-Soviet church-monarchist organization called ‘the True
Orthodox Christians’”, and on August 28-30 was sentenced to five years in the
camps and disenfranchisement for three years. Nothing more is known about
her.

Agapia Pimenovna Kuzmina. She was born in 1903 in the village of

Pizipovo, Alikovsky uyezd, Chuvashia into a peasant family. In the 1930s she
was living in Cheboksary without fixed occupation. On March 27, 1947 she
was arrested for being “an active participant in the illegal anti-Soviet church-
monarchist organization called ‘the True Orthodox Christians’”, and on
August 28-30 was sentenced to ten years in the camps with
disenfranchisement for five years. Nothing more is known about her.

Matrona Fedotovna Rybkina. She was born in 1922 in the village of

Vurman-Kassy, October region. In 1942 she finished medical orderly school,

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and worked as a medical orderly in the Semyonovsky point near Poretsk, and
from 1945 – in the children’s home in Tsivilsk. After meeting the True
Orthodox Christians she was converted to the Faith, and offered her room for
secret services. She gave refuge to Hieromonk Gurias (Pavlov). On December
23, 1951 she was arrested in a group case, and on April 10-11, 1952 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and was sent to Steplag. In 1955 she was
released and settled in the Caucasus, then in Bataisk. In 1962 she was arrested
as an “idler” and sentenced to exile and sent to the settlement of Yartsevo,
Krasnoyarsk district. For refusing to work in a collective farm she was sent for
four months to Mariinsk camp, and then exiled to Yeniseisk region. For again
refusing to work she was sentenced to internment in a camp. In 1970 she was
released from camp and settled in the village of Tishank, Voronezh province,
where she lives.

(Sources: Reader Gregory Ivanovich Mukhortov, personal communication,

1990, and Pravoslavnaya Zhizn', No. 2, February, 1995;
http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/;
Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville,
1949-57; http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/bashkir.html;
http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/chuvashiya.html)

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33. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF

VYATKA, UDMURTIA AND KOMI
PROVINCES

Protopriest Paul Alexandrovich Dernov was the son of a Glazov priest,

and went to missionary courses at the Kazan Theological Academy. He
headed a Temperance Brotherhood organized by Bishop Ambrose (Gudko) in
Yelabuga, Vyatka province, where, on February 27, 1918, he was shot by the
Bolsheviks. His three children, Boris, Gregory and Simeon, were also shot
because one of them, on hearing of the martyric death of his father, called the
Red Guards soul-destroyers. He was commemorated as a martyr by Patriarch
Tikhon on March 31, 1918.

Basil Alexeyevich Lozhkin was chief clerk in Vyatka spiritual consistory,

in which post he was distinguished for his fervent service. On August 22, 1918
he was arrested, and on September 4 he was condemned to be shot. This
execution was part of the “red terror” unleashed in revenge for the attempts
on the lives of Lenin and Uritsky.

Priest Alexander Orlov was born in 1865 in the village of Ilgino, Orel
uyezd, Vyatka province, and was serving in his native village. On September
18, 1918 he was arrested and convicted by a military-revolutionary tribunal of
“counter-revolutionary activity”. He was sentenced to two years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Theodore Ivanovich Natonichnykh was born in the city of

Slobodskoy, Vyatka province, and served in the Pokrov church in Vyatka. On
September 19, 1918 he was sentenced to death by the Cheka, and was shot at
the age of 53 as a “counter-revolutionary”.

Priest Sergius Dmitrievich Yemelyanov was born in 1872 in the village of

Pokrovskoye, Kotelnichi uyezd, Vyatka province, where he also served. On
October 4, 1918 he was arrested for “calling on parishioners not to give gold
and silver from the church to Soviet power”. He was sentenced to death and
was shot.

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Priest Chrysanthus Ioannovich Polyakov was born in 1886 and finished

his studies at a theological seminary. He became priest of the Resurrection
cathedral of the Tsarevokokshaisk, and was killed on August 3, 1918.

Priest Anatoly Dmitrievich Ivanovsky was born in 1863 in the village of

Saltakh, Kuzhenersky region (Urzhuma uyezd), Mari republic, and served in
his native village. On October 18, 1918 he was convicted of “anti-Soviet
agitation” and shot.

Priest Andrew Stepanovich Popov was serving in the village of Prosnitsa,

Vyatka province. On December 10, 1918 he was convicted by the Cheka of
“anti-Soviet agitation”, and sentenced to death. He was shot on December 11.

Priest Alexis Alexandrovich Popov was born in 1849 in Vyatka. He was

arrested and cast into Vyatka provincial prison. On December 10, 1918 he was
sentenced to death for “counter-revolutionary activity”. On December 11 he
was shot.

Hieromonk M.F. Mityushev was serving in Ust-Sysolsk uyezd. In 1918 he

was arrested, convicted of “anti-Soviet agitation under the guise of ‘religious-
moral conversations’” and was sentenced to three years in prison
conditionally. He was imprisoned in Ust-Sysolsk. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Basil Ivanovich Ilyinsky was born in 1871. He served in the church
of the village of Korkono, Nolinsk uyezd, Vyatka province. On October 18,
1918 he was arrested and accused by the cheka of “distributing religious
passions”. He was sentenced to death and shot in Nolinsk uyezd.

Priest Basil Vasilyevich Nesmelov was born on February 21, 1874 in the
city of Tsarevo-Sanchursk, Yaransk uyezd, Vyatka province. He finished his
studies at the Vyatka theological seminary in 1897. On June 25, 1904 he was
ordained to the diaconate and went to serve in the village of Sezenovo,
Slobodskaya uyezd, Vyatka province. On December 18, 1907 he was ordained
to the priesthood, and went to serve in the village of Bolshaya Sheshurga,

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Yaransk uyezd. In 1912 he was transferred to Kadochigovo, Yaransk uyezd,

but on January 12, 1914 was transferred back to Bolshaya Sheshurga. At the
beginning of 1918 he was transferred to the village of Lebyazhye, Vyatka
province. On October 18, 1918 he was convicted by the Cheka of
“participation in the White Guard Stepanov rebellion”, and was shot in the
city of Urzhum.

Priest Michael Mikhailovich Zirin was born in 1878 in the village of

Lebyazhye, Urzhuma uyezd, Vyatka province. He served in the local church.
On October 18, 1918 he was condemned by the cheka for “participation in the
White Guard Stepanov rebellion”, and sentenced to be shot. The sentence was
carried out.

Deacon Nicholas Stepanovich Metelev was born in 1870 in the city of

Nolinsk, Vyatka province, where he also served. On October 18, 1918 he was
arrested, convicted for “sympathizing with the Whites” and shot.

The clergyman Michael Kibardin was serving in the city of Izhevsk,

Vyatka province. On November 13, 1918 he was shot by the chekists.

Protopriest Alexis Petrovich Lopatin was born in 1867 and was serving in
the Transfiguration cathedral in the city of Slobodskaya, Vyatka province. On
April 21, 1918 he gave a sermon in which he compared Soviet power to a
whore… On April 23 he was arrested for “summoning and inciting laymen to
defend the rights of the Church trampled on by Soviet power”. The “counter-
revolutionary” epistles of Patriarch Tikhon were also confiscated from him.
On hearing of the arrest of their pastor, 189 parishioners of the
Transfiguration cathedral had a meeting and decided to petition for his
release. They were joined by the Vyatka spiritual consistory, which sent a
letter with a similar request to the Vyatka commissar of justice. As a result of
these petitions, on May 2 Fr. Alexis was released under guard from prison in
Slobodskaya, but was forbidden to leave his place of residence. On July 26 he
was again arrested for “summoning and inciting laymen to defend the rights
of the Church trampled on by Soviet power”. He was transferred to the Urals
Cheka, which sentenced him to be shot. The sentence was carried out on
August 25, 1918.

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Igumen Martinian was serving in the Spaso-Orlovsky monastery,

Orlovsky uyezd, Vyatka province. In 1918 he was arrested, and on September
5 he was convicted of “counter-revolutionary activity” and sentenced to be
shot. The sentence was carried out in 1918 in Vyatka province.

Protopriest Michael Tikhonitsky, aged 72, was shot on September 7/20,

1918 in the city of Orlov, Vyatka province, while holding an icon. In
September, 2008 his relics were uncovered.

Priest Vladimir Mikhailovich Agafonnikov served in the church of the

village of Bogoslovskoye, Kotelnichi uyezd, Vyatka province. On February 23,
1919 he was condemned by the Cheka for reading the appeals of Patriarch
Tikhon in church. He was shot on the same day.

Priest Kuzmin was serving in the church of the village of Ukan, Glazov
uyezd, Vyatka province. In 1919 he was arrested and imprisoned in Glazov.
Nothing more is known about him except that the believers formed a petition
for his release.

Priest Alexander Ivanovich Pokrovsky was born in 1874 in the village of

Podyelskoye, Ust-Sysolsk uyezd, Vologda province. He was serving in the
village of Lekma, Slobodsky uyezd, Vyatka province when, in October, 1919
he was arrested. On November 1 he was sentenced to death for “anti-Soviet
agitation”, and was shot.

Priest Nicholas Ilyich Naumov was serving in the city of Slobodskoy,

Vyatka province. In 1919 he was arrested for “anti-Soviet agitation”. On
November 19 he was released under guard and the case shelved.

Priest Constantine Ivanovich Lyubimov was born in 1884, and served in

the village of Verkhosunye, Nolinsk uyezd, Vyatka province. On June 25,
1919 he was condemned by the Vyatka revolutionary tribunal for “anti-Soviet
agitation” and sentenced to five years’ forced labour. He was released at the
time of an amnesty. Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Akishev served in the village of Zuyevka,

Vyatka province. On June 4, 1919 he was arrested for “counter-revolutionary
activity”. He was released on July 22.

Archimandrite Gennadius Panfilov was born in 1867 in the village of

Moiseyevka, Putivl region, Kursk province. He was superior of the
Prorochensky men’s monastery, Yaransk uyezd, Vyatka province. On
October 28, 1919 he was convicted by the Cheka of “hiding bread and an
officer of the White army” and shot.

Priest Peter Vasilyevich Zamyatin was born in 1871 in the village of

Rusanovo, Orlovsky region, Vyatka province, and served in the village of
Ankushino. On January 25, 1920 he was convicted of “counter-revolutionary
agitation”, and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. The sentence was
reduced to two years on amnesty. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Nikolayevich Domrachev was born in 1872 in the village of

Ryazan, Slobodsky uyezd, Vyatka province. He served in the local church. On
March 20, 1920 he was accused of “speeches of a counter-revolutionary
nature” and was sentenced conditionally to three years’ deprivation of liberty.

Priest Michael Ivanovich Krestyaninov was born in 1879 in the village of

Kopyryata, Nolinsk uyezd, Vyatka province. He was serving in the church of
the village of Syrchany, Nolinsk uyezd. On October 9, 1920 he condemned by
the Vyatka revolutionary tribunal for “counter-revolutionary agitation” and
sentenced to five years deprivation of freedom.

Nun Anna (Sergeyevna Mamayevna) was born in 1895 in the city of

Kotelnich, Vyatka province. She was the steward of the women’s monastery
in Malmyzhsky uyezd, Vyatka province. In 1919 she was arrested, and on
June 14, 1919 she was convicted by Vyatka Province Cheka of “participation
in the activity of a White cell”. She was sentenced to internment in a

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concentration camp with partial confiscation of her property. She was

released on amnesty. Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Ivan Ivanovich Myshkin was born on March 16, 1874 in the village
of Kuznetsovo, Urzhuma uyezd, Vyatka province. He was educated in
Vyatka theological seminary, and on June 21, 1899 was married to Eugenia
Ivanovna Padarina, the daughter of a priest from Verkhoturye. In August,
1899 he was ordained to the priesthood, and was sent to serve in the Nativity
church in the village of Rozhdestvenskoye (Chakhlovka), Kotelnichi uyezd,
Vyatka province. At the beginning of 1919 Fr. John was forced to pay an
“extraordinary tax” of 1000 roubles. Being unable to pay this, his property in
his house was confiscated and he himself was arrested. He was sent to a
prison or camp in Vyatka province, where he was tortured in prison. On
being released, October 22, 1921, he was taken, very ill and unconscious to
Rozhdestvenskoye by his son, Nicholas. There he immediately died.

Priest George Mikhailovich Marakulin was born in 1881 in the village of

Rozhdestvenskoye, Kotelnichi, Vyatka province. On October 5, 1921 he was
convicted by the Vyatka revolutionary tribunal of “counter-revolutionary
agitation” and sentenced to three years in prison. Nothing more is known
about him.

In 1922, in connection with the confiscation of church valuables, many

clergy and monastics were killed by the Bolsheviks in Vyatka province.

Protopriest Nicholas Mikhailovich Vasnetsov was born in 1865 in the

village of Oshet, Vyatka province. He went to Vyatka theological seminary
and then married the daughter of a priest, Lyudmilla Alexeyevna. After
ordination, from 1901, he served in his native village, in the village of
Kstinino, as well as in Vyatka diocesan school. In 1921 he was serving in
Kstinino in the rank of protopriest. He was also dean of the Kstinino district.
In 1922 he was arrested, and on February 6 he was shot.

Priest Ivan Alexandrovich Polyakov was born in 1872 in the village of

Kumeny, Vyatka uyezd, Vyatka province. He was serving in the village of
Polzharnovy, Slobodsky uyezd, Sezenevskaya volost, Vyatka province. On

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May 30, 1922 he was arrested and condemned for “anti-Soviet agitation”, and
sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. On December 28 a tribunal released
him because of mental illness.

Abbess (?) Julia (Alexandrovna Lavrovskaya) was born in 1864 in Vyatka.

She was the superior of the St. Tryphon monastery and president of the St.
Tryphon religious community. On August 22, 1923 she was arrested by the
NKVD and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile in Zyryansk
region for “resistance to the handover of the property of the St. Tryphon
monastery” to the Bolsheviks.

Priest Nicholas Ivanovich Lyubimov served in the village of Savali,

Vyatka province. In October, 1920 he was arrested in the church after the
liturgy. He was taken away without being allowed to say goodbye to his
family. A few days later, without being tried, he was shot. His wife was not
allowed to bury him. In 1925 she died of hunger and cold, leaving five
children orphans.

Archimandrite Vladimir Nikolayevich Pusset was born in 1895 in

Artinsky factory, Artinsky region, Sverdlovsk province. He was serving in the
St. Seraphim church in Vyatka when, on November 13, 1925, he was
sentenced in accordance with articles 69, 121 and 122 to three years’ exile to
Zyryansk region. Nothing more is known about him.

Archimandrite Herman (Antonovich Rykov) was born in 1871 in the

village of Makanetskaya, Orlovsky uyezd, Perm province. He was abbot of
the Bolychkin monastery in Nolinsk uyezd. In the summer of 1925 he was
arrested, and on November 13 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to
Zyryansk district. Nothing more is known about him.

Igumen Bartholomew (Ivanovich Poptsov) was born in 1860 in the city of

Sovyetsk, Vyatka province, and was serving in the city of Orlov. On
November 13, 1925 he was arrested by the OGPU and condemned in
accordance with articles 69 and 121 to three years’ exile to Zyryansk region.

Monk Hilarion (Ivanovich Melnikov) was born in 1874 in the village of

Skorodskoye, Tula province, and struggled in the Bolyachinsky monastery in
the village of Bolyachkinskaya, Nolinsk uyezd, Sunskaya volost, Vyatka
province. In the summer of 1925 he was arrested, and on November 13 in
accordance with articles 69 and 121 he was sentenced to three years’ exile and

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sent to the village of Ust-Kulom, Zyryansk district. On May 31, 1931 he was
arrested again, and on October 6 was sentenced to five years’ exile and sent to
the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Zakharovich Aranovich was born in 1876 in the city of

Totma, Vologda province. He served in the city Urzhum, Vyatka province. On
October 15, 1926 he was condemned by the OGPU according to articles 62 and
122 to six months’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Demetrius Petrovich Milov was born in 1866 in Vyatka. He was a member

of the lesser clergy. On October 8, 1926 he was convicted by the OGPU in
accordance with articles 72 and 126 and sentenced to three years’ exile in
Central Asia with a further ban on living in any of the central cities of Russia.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Sergius Ivanovich Znamensky (born 1873 in Chita) was serving in

the cathedral in Yaransk. In 1926 he was arrested, and on March 26 was
sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in accordance with article 58-10.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Vladimirovich Mineyev was born in 1887 in the village of

Korlyaki, Sanchur volost, Yaransk uyezd. In the 1920s he was serving in the
village of Soboli, Sanchur region. In the summer of 1926 he was arrested, and
on December 17 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Zyryansk
district. Nothing more is known about him.

Paul Iosifovich Platov was born in 1899 in the village of Andreikovo,

Kostroma province, and worked in a church in Yaransk uyezd, Vyatka
province. On July 8, 1927 he was condemned in accordance with article 58-13
to three years’ exile in Siberia. Nothing more is known about him.

Philaret Andreyevich Belokanov, a member of the lower clergy, was born

in the village of Oseyevka, Nolinsk uyezd, Vyatka province. On March 27,

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1927 he was condemned by the OGPU in accordance with article 58-10 and
sentenced to five years in prison.

*
Priest Basil Stepanovich Malginov was born in 1871 in the village of
Seleznevo, Zuyevo region, Vyatka province, where he served in the local
church. On October 19, 1927 he was arrested by the OGPU. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Alexander Azaryevich Kurochkin was born in 1895 in the village of

Kilyshinskaya, Vyatka uyezd, Vyatka province. He was serving in the church
in the village of Leninskoye (now Shabalinsky district). On January 13, 1928
he was sentenced to three years in exile by the OGPU.

Priest Alexander Alexeyevich Pershakov was born in 1888 in

Belokholunitsky Factory, Slobodsky uyezd, Vyatka province. He became
priest in the Resurrection church in Belaya Kholunitsa. On March 26, 1926 he
was convicted by the OGPU and sentenced to three years’ deprivation of
liberty in accordance with articles 69 and 120. On October 8, 1928 he was
sentenced to three years in exile in accordance with article 58-10. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Zachariah Lazhenitsyn served in the Yelabuga uyezd, Vyatka

province. In 1928 he was arrested. One of the chekists wrote about him to his
boss: “A very developed, authoritative and influential man. He knows the
literature of the Communist Party. He is a type that is very harmful for us, but
it is very difficult to catch him in anything against the law.” Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Theodosius Ivanovich Ivanov was born in 1878 in the village of

Tormyanovy, Soligalich region, Kostroma province, and served in the
cemetery church in Vyatka. On September 25, 1928 he was condemned to
three years’ exile in Yaroslavl in accordance with article 58-10. Nothing more
is known about him.

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Archimandrite Athanasius (Alexis Antonovich Mukhachev) was born in

1873 in Mukhachev settlement, Orlov uyezd, and became superior of the
Yaransk Znamensko-Mariinsky monastery in the rank of archimandrite. At
the beginning of 1929 he was arrested for being “a participant in the Vyatka
branch of the counter-revolutionary monarchist church organization, the True
Orthodox Church”, and on May 10 was sentenced to ten years in the camps
and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Vsevolodovich Lopatin was born in 1877 in the village of

Velikoretskoye, Khalturino region, Vyatka province. In 1926 he began to serve
as a priest in Kukarka sloboda (the city of Sovyetsk) in Vyatka province. In the
autumn he was arrested for “agitation against Soviet power”, and on
December 17 was sentenced, in accordance with articles 58-13, 69 and 72 to
three years’ exile in Zyryansk region (Sysolsk uyezd). His sentence was due to
end on August 8, 1929, but on July 12, 1929 he was again sentenced, in
accordance with articles 69 and 72, to three years’ deprivation of the right to
live in the central cities and provinces of Russia. On December 23 he was
released, but restricted to living in one place for three years. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest Constantine Karpovich Mokhov was born in 1879 in the village of

Vozhdovo, Vyatka province. He was arrested in the village of Bakhily,
Sarapul region, Udmurtia, and on September 20, 1929 was sentenced to three
years’ exile in Siberia.

Priest Alexis Petrovich Polushin was born in 1891 in the village of

Kodachigi, Yaransk uyezd, Vyatka province. On May 10, 1929 he was
condemned by the OGPU in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’ exile
in the Urals. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Nadezhda, in the world Nadezhda Ivanovna Korotkova, lived in a

monastery in the village of Medyany, Nizhni-Novgorod province. After the
destruction of the monastery she went to live in the village of Kamenki, where
she was arrested at the end of the 1920s. Having spent eight or nine years in
prison, she died in the arms of her fellow-prisoner, Anastasia, who was also from
Medyany. Anastasia and the guards heard angelic singing at her death.

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Monk Theodore (Ionovich Anosov) was born in 1895 in the village of

Sheshurga, Yaransk uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. In 1929 he
was arrested as “a wandering monk”, and on November 3 was sentenced to
three years in the camps in accordance with article 58-10.

Priest Seraphim Mikhailovich Yermolin was born in 1888 in the village of

Tulino, Veliko-Ustyug region, Vologda province. He served as a priest in the
village of Polom, Falensky region, Vyatka province. On February 26, 1930 he
was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to ten years’ imprisonment
with confiscation of property. On appeal, his property was not confiscated,
and his prison term was commuted to five years in exile in the north. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Paul Nikolayevich Kallistov was born in 1877 in the village of

Pasegovo, Vyatka uyezd, and went to Vyatka theological school. In 1895 he
was serving as a reader in the village of Arskoye, then in the village of
Pustoshi. In 1909 he was ordained to the diaconate and served in the village
of Kosmodemyansk. From 1925 he was serving as a priest in the village of
Kazanskoye, Sernur region, Mari province. On December 12, 1929 he was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of clergy
and believers attached to the ‘Victorites’”, and on February 27, 1930 was
sentenced to death with exile of his family and confiscation of his property,
and was shot.

Alexis Nikolayevich Mikheyev was born in 1886 in the village of

Busygino, Senchur uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant and member of the
church council. On December 12, 1929 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary group of clergy and believers attached
to the ‘Victorites’”, and on February 27, 1930 was sentenced to five years in
the camps with confiscation of property and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

The clergyman Alexander Vasilyevich Ilyinsky was born in 1873 in the

village of Dmitrievskoye, Kostroma province, and served in Lebyazhsky
region, Vyatka province. In 1930 he was arrested, and on February 29 was
sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to five years’ imprisonment.
Nothing more is known about him.

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Anna Matveyevna Vasnetsova was born in 1870 in the village of Chepets,

Prosnitsky region, Vyatka province and worked in the church. In 1930 she
was arrested, and on March 29 was sentenced to death in accordance with
article 58-10. She was shot on the same day.

Alexander Vasilyevich Utrobin was born in 1875 in the village of

Utrobino, Vyatka uyezd, Vyatka province. He was the warden of the village
church. On March 29, 1930 he was arrested and sentenced to death in
accordance with article 58-10. The sentence was carried out on the same day.

Priest Lev Alexeyevich Ishkinev was born in 1875 in the village of

Dyusmetevo, Mamadysh region, Tataria. On January 8, 1930 he was arrested,
and on April 8 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 part 2 to five
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Theodore Mikhailovich Zubarev was born in 1864 in the village of

Vichkil, Kotelnich region, Vyatka province. He was arrested in Mari republic,
and on April 21, 1930 he was exiled for three years.

Priest Alexis Vasilyevich Klenovitsky was born in 1878 in the village of

Khoruga, Slobodsky region, Vyatka province, and served in the village of
Volkovo, Slobodsky region. He was arrested in 1930, and on April 27 was
sentenced to death in accordance with article 58-10. The sentence was carried
out.

Priest Alexander Ilyich Ivanovskikh was born in 1884 in the village of V.

Arnyak, Malmyzhsky uyezd, Vyatka province, and served in Khalturino
region. On April 27, 1930 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in accordance
with article 58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

Deacon Sergius Nikolayevich Kibardin was born in 1897 in the village of

Borovitsa (Volkovo), Slobodsky region, Vyatka province, where he served. On
April 27, 1930 he was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to five years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Gabriel Vasilyevich Ivanovsky (Ivanovskikh) was born in 1861 in

Kotelnich, Vyatka province. He served in the village of Alexandrovskoye,

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Kotelnich region. In 1930 he was arrested in Kotelnich, and on May 4 was

sentenced to three years’ exile in the north in accordance with article 58-10.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Michael Nikolayevich Zubarev was born in 1894 in the village of

Kazanskoye, Mari republic, and served in the Urzhum region of Vyatka
province. On May 4, 1930 he was arrested, and sentenced to death in
accordance with article 58-10. The sentence was carried out.

Priest Michael Petrovich Urbantsev was born in 1868 in the village of

Maltsevy, Vyatka province, and served in the village of Veliko-Kaitskoye. On
April 29, 1929 he was convicted by the OGPU for Nizhegorod province and
sentenced to death in accordance with article 58-10. He was shot on May 26,
1930.

Matthew Petrovich Kopysov was born in 1881 in the village of Fedyakovy,

Vyatka uyezd, and was the warden of the local church. In 1930 he was
arrested, and on August 27 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to
ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Anna Nikolayevna Konovalova was born in 1900 in the village of

Popovka, and served as a church reader in the village of Krasnoye, Vyatka
region. There she was arrested, and on August 27, 1930 was sentenced in
accordance with article 58-10 to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is
known about her.

Priest Basil Yegorovich Kylasov was born in 1871 in Vyatka province, in

Udmurtia, and served in the village of Sare, Sarapul region, Udmurtia. There
he was arrested, and on October 24, 1930 was sentenced to ten years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Maria (Mikhailovna Isupova) was born in 1880 in the village of Suna,
Sunsky region, Vyatka province. She was arrested in 1930, and on November
15 was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about her.

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Ivan Polikarpovich Kassin was born in Vyatka province. On November 6,

1930 he was arrested in Vyatka uyezd and sentenced on December 29 to three
years in the camps in accordance with articles 58-10, 58-11 and 58-14. He was
arrested together with Priest Basil Vladimirovich Agafonnikov and was
accused with him of belonging to “a group of kulaks headed by Pope
Agafonnikov” in “The Case of Priest Basil Agafonnikov and others, Kirov
province, 1930”. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Maria (Filippovna Zhelvakova) was born in 1871 in the village of

Zhelvaki, Nolinsk uyezd, Vyatka province. She was arrested, and on June 5,
1931 was exiled for three years to Central Asia in accordance with article 58-
10. Nothing more is known about her.

Deacon Constantine Alexandrovich Knyazev was born in 1886 in the

village of Chepetsko-Ilyinskoye, Vyatka province. He was married to Maria
Stepanovna, the daughter of a merchant from Kotelnich, and had two sons
and two daughters. In the 1910s he served in the village of Zagarye, Vyatka
uyezd, and then in the village of Ankunshino in the same uyezd. In 1925 Fr.
Constantine and his wife were deprived of voting rights. In 1931 he was
arrested, and on June 10 was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for
“counter-revolutionary agitation and propaganda” in accordance with article
58-10. He was sent to the Murmansk railway. Nothing more is known about
him.

The clergyman Sergius Mikhailovich Kibardin was born in 1891 in the

village of Sosnovka, Glazov uyezd, Vyatka province, and served in the village
of Pasegovo, Kirovo-Chenetsky region, Vyatka province. There, in 1931, he
was arrested, and on July 10, 1931 was sentenced in accordance with article
58-10 to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Paul Ivanovich Kashin was born in 1899 in the village of Ust-
Cheptsa, Kirovo-Chepetsky region, Kirov province, and served in the village
of Khmelevka, Zuyevsky region, Kirov province. On August 20, 1931 he was
sentenced, in accordance with article 58-10, to three years’ exile in the Urals.
Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest Ilya Ivanovich Karavayev was born in 1879 in the village of Selty,
Kilmez region, Vyatka province. There, in 1931, he was arrested, and on
September 10 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in accordance with article
58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexander Nikolayevich Emelyanov was born in 1878 in the village

of Atsvezha, Kotelnich uyezd into the family of a reader. He finished four
classes in a theological seminary. He served in the village of Karanovo,
Tuzhino region. In 1926 he was in prison for six months, and was
disenfranchised. On June 17, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in
an illegal monastery of ‘Victorite orientation’ called the ‘True Orthodox
Church’”, and on October 2 was sentenced to three years in the camps and
sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Hieromonk Theodore (Leontyevich Teplyakov) was born in 1891 in the

village of Yelambayevo, Mari province into a peasant family. He was
tonsured by Archimandrite Barsanuphius and ordained to the priesthood by
Bishop Basil in Petrograd. He served in the village of Ostanchurovo, Yaransk
region. In February, 1931 he was arrested for being “a member of a counter-
revolutionary organization of churchmen, the True Orthodox Church” and
for “conducting counter-revolutionary work among the population on the
orders of the organization”. On December 14, 1931 he was sentenced to three
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Hieromonk Theodore (Leontyevich Teplyakov) was born in 1891 in the

village of Starozhilovo, Tambov uyezd into a peasant family, and finished
elementary school. From 1919 he was serving in the Red army. In 1921 he was
tonsured, and became a wandering monk. In the 1920s he was
disenfranchised. From the beginning of 1931 he was ordained to the
priesthood, and serving in the village of Yelembayevo, Novo-Toryalsk canon,
Mari province. On February 2, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in
a counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, the ‘True Orthodox
Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years in the camps and
sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Hieromonk Nicholas (Ivanovich Vinokurov) was born in 1886 in the

village of Paiglovo, Yaransk uyezd into a peasant family, and went to
elementary school. From 1915 he was living in a monastery and was tonsured.
In 1918 he was in Grodno. In 1924 he was ordained to the priesthood in
Yaransk, and went to serve in Yelembayevo, Mari republish. He was
disenfranchised. On February 2, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant
in a counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, the ‘True Orthodox

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Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years in the camps and
sent to a camp. In 1934 he was released and settled in Tabashino, Orshansk
region. In January, 1937 he was arrested again for being “a participant in a
counter-revolutionary group of True Orthodox Churchmen”, and on
February 7 was sentenced to death and shot.

Priest Triphyllius Grigoryevich Morozov was born in 1891 in the village

of Protasovo, Lukoyanovo uyezd, Nizhegorod province into the family of a
reader, and went to elementary school. In 1909 he was in the Holy Trinity – St.
Sergius Lavra, and from 1919 was serving as a priest in the village of Lisa,
Sanchur uyezd. In 1930 he was in the village of Nedelki, Novo-Toryalsk
canton, Mari province. In the 1920s he was disenfranchised. On February 8,
1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary
organization of churchmen of the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December
14 was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Anatolius Nikiforovich Nagorin was born in 1890 in the village of

Ibray-Soda, Novo-Toryalsk canton, Mari province into a peasant family, and
went to the village school. In 1914 he was ordained to the priesthood, and
serving in the village of Bolshoj Shoshy, Sernur canton, Mari province. In the
1920s he was disenfranchised. On February 2, 1931 she was arrested for being
“a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, the
‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years
in the camps and sent to a camp. In 1934 he was released from camp and
settled in the village of Malaya Kilmez, serving in the local church. On July 12,
1939 he was arrested, but in the autumn was released from prison and his
case shelved. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Valentine Vladimirovich Fyodorov was born in 1893 in the village

of Dergashino, Nolinsk uyezd, into the family of a reader, and went to a
theological seminary. In 1914 he was ordained to the priesthood and served in
Nolinsk uyezd, from 1926 – in the village of Khlebnikov, Mari-Tureksk canon,
Mari province. In the 1920s he was disenfranchised. On February 8, 1931 he
was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary
organization of churchmen, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December
14 was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

Priest Ioann Stepanovich Bezdenezhnykh was born in 1882 in the village

of Sr. Kugurum, Kotelnich uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family.
From January, 1915 he was serving as a private in the tsarist army at the front,
and in November, 1918 he returned to Russia. A free peasant, he did joinery
work in his native village and served in church. On March 27, 1930 Bishop
Nectarius (Trezvinsky) ordained him to the priesthood in Kazan and sent him
to serve in the village of Makmanur, Orshansk region, Mari province. He

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refused to commune collective farm workers or baptized their children. On

December 14, 1931 he was arrested “for anti-Soviet agitation”. On March 14,
1932 he was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Basil Vasilyevich Poptsov was born in 1887 in Tetyushi, Yaransk

uyezd, Vyatka province into the family of an assistant pharmacist. In 1909 he
finished his studies at Vyatka theological seminary, and went to serve as a
priest in the village of Lyumpanur, Sanchur uyezd. In the 1920s he was
disenfranchised. In 1922 he was arrested “in connection with the
requisitioning of church valuables”, and sentenced to two years in the camps.
He was released early after six months. After the arrest of Protopriest John
Fokin, he succeeded him as dean of the fifth deanery district, and served
about 40 “Victorite” parishes. On June 24, 1931 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘The
True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years in
the camps and sent to a camp. In 1934 he was released and returned to
Lyumpanur. On September 26, 1938 he was arrested, and on December 8 he
died during investigation in prison.

Nun Eudocia (Mikhailovna Semyonova) was born in 1893 in the village of

Maly Yaren, Nolinsk uyezd, Nizhegorod province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. In the 1920s she was disenfranchised. She
lived in Kozmodemyansk, Mari province. On February 8, 1931 she was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of
churchmen, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. In 1934 she was released
and returned to her homeland. In the autumn of 1937 she was arrested again,
and on December 29 she was sentenced to death and shot on the same day.

Nun Tatyana (Georgievna Kochkina) was born in 1898 in the village of

Kochkino, Akulyevskaya volost, Chuvashia into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. She was disenfranchised. She lived in
Kozmodemyansk. On February 8, 1931 she was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, the ‘True
Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile
and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Natalya (Vasilyevna Chepaikina) was born in 1883 in the village of

Pikoneshka, Novo-Toryalsk canon, Mari province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. In the 1920s she was disenfranchised. On
February 2, 1931 she was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchpeople, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”,
and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north.
Nothing more is known about her.

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 639

Nun Catherine (Petrovna Dobrynina) was born in 1881 in Novy, Sachursk

uyezd, Nizhegorod province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In the 1920s she was disenfranchised. She lived at the
church in the village of Pektubayevo, Novo-Toryalsk canton, Mari province.
On February 2, 1931 she was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchpeople, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”,
and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Eudocia (Lavrentyevna Kostina) was born in 1886 in the village of

Platiner, Nizhegorod province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In 1911 she was tonsured. In the 1920s she was
disenfranchised. From 1928 she was living at the church in the village of
Khlebnikovo, Mari-Tureksky canton, Mari republic. On February 8, 1931 she
was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization
of churchpeople, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about her.

Nun Stepanida (Borisovna Yerofeyeva) was born in 1887 in the village of

Karmaner, Gorno-Mariisky canon, Mari province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. In the 1920s she was disenfranchised. She
lived in Kozmodemyansk, Mari province. On July 21, 1931 she was arrested
for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of
churchmen, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about her.

Nun Anastasia (Yefimovna Zhelonkina) was born in 1883 in the village of

Giganur, Orshansk canton, Mari province into a peasant family, and received
an elementary education. In the 1920s she was disenfranchised. She lived in
the village of Gari, Novo-Toryalsk canon, Mari province. On July 21, 1931 she
was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization
of churchmen, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about her.

Nun Claudia (Fyodorovna Anokhina) was born in 1882 (1884) in the

village of Anokhintsy, Nolinsk uyezd, Nizhegorod province into a peasant
family, and received an elementary education. In the 1920s she was
disenfranchised. She lived in Kozmodemyansk, Mari province. On July 2,
1931 she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary
organization of churchmen of the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December
14 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. After release she
returned to her homeland. On November 25, 1941 she was arrested, and on

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May 27, 1942 was sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to Karlag,
where she arrived on October 3. On August 23, 1943 she died in camp.

Nun Martha (Pavlovna Fyodorova) was born in the village of Shunangar,

Gorno-Mariisky canon, Mari province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. She was disenfranchised in the 1920s. She lived in
Kosmodemyansk. On July 21, 1931 she was arrested for being “a participant
in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchment, the ‘True Orthodox
Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to
the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Antonina (Vasilyevna Shvetsova) was born in 1900 in the village of

Lom, Mari-Tureksky canton, Mari province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. From 1922 she was living in the Kazan
monastery, and was tonsured. In the 1920s she was disenfranchised. From
1929 she was living at the church in the village of Khlebnikov, Mari-Tureksk
canon, Mari province. On February 8, she was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen of the ‘True
Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile
and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Eudocia (Loginovna Smirnova) was born in 1873 in the village of

Cherezy, Nolinsk uyezd, Nizhegorod province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. She lived in Kozmodemyansk, and was
disenfranchised. On July 21, 1931 she was arrested for being “a participant in
a counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen of the ‘True Orthodox
Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years in a special
settlement and sent to Tomsk province, where she died in 1932.

Nun Matrona (Nikolayevna Novoselova) was born in 1884 in the village of

Krasnaya Rechka, Orshansk canton, Mari province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. From 1922 she was living in a Kazan
monastery, where she was tonsured. In the 1920s she was disenfranchised.
From 1929 she was living at the church in the village of Kuglanur, Novo-
Toryalsk canton, Mari province. On February 2, 1931 she was arrested for
being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was
sentenced to three years in a special settlement and was sent to Tomsk
province. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Catherine (Khrisanfovna Moshkina) was born in 1874 in the village of

Gubino, Sernur canton, Mari province into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. She was tonsured, and in the 1920s was
disenfranchised. On February 8, 1931 she was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, the ‘True

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Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile

and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Irina (Alexandrovna Perminova) was born in 1913 (?) in the village of
Platiner, Nolinsk uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In 1916 she was tonsured. In the 1920s she was disenfranchised.
From 1928 she was living at the church in the village of Khlebnikovo, Mari-
Tureksky canton, Mari province. On February 8, 1931 she was arrested for
being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen,
the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to ten years
in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Eudocia (Yefimovna Purtova) was born in 1872 in the village of

Mushenskaya, Novo-Toryalsk canon, Mari province into a peasant family,
and received an elementary education. She was tonsured, and in the 1920s
was disenfranchised. She lived in the village of Orsha in the same canton. On
February 3, 1931 she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary organization of churchmen, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and
on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Euphrosyne (Yefimovna Purtova) was born in 1875 in the village of

Yeshinki, Novo-Toryalsk canon, Mari province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. She was tonsured, and in the 1920s was
disenfranchised. She lived in the village of Orsha in the same canton. On
February 3, 1931 she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary organization of churchmen, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and
on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north.
Nothing more is known about her.

Reader Andrew Antonovich Isayev, a Chuvash, was born in 1872 in the

village of Nizhneye Kolchurino, Alkeyevsky region, Tataria, where he served.
On October 29, 1931 he was arrested, and on December 14 he was convicted
of “anti-collective farm agitation” and “sympathy with the Whites in 1918”. In
accordance with article 58-11 he was sentenced to five years in the camps.
Nothing more is known about him.

Reader Miron Fyodorovich Zimirev was born in 1875 in the village of

Paskhalinskaya, Lalsky region, Vyatka province, and served in the village of
Andreyevskaya. In May, 1931 he was arrested, and on December 14 was
sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’ imprisonment.
Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Grigoryevich Polushin was born in 1880 in the village of Tabashino,

Orshansk uyezd, Mari province, and received an elementary education.
Before the revolution he was a trader. In the 1920s he was disenfranchised. On

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February 3, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-

revolutionary organization of churchmen, ‘The True Orthodox Church’”, and
on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile. Nothing more is known
about him.

James Timofeyevich Polushin was born in 1879 in the village of Orsha,

Novo-Toryalsk canton, Mari province, where he lived as a free peasant. He
received an elementary education. On February 3, 1931 he was arrested for
being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization, the ‘True
Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile.
Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Alexandrovich Matveyev was born in 1880 in the village of

Pektubayevo, Novo-Toryalsk canton, Mari province into a peasant family,
and received an elementary education. On February 2, 1931 he was arrested
for being “participant in a counter-revolutionary organization, the ‘True
Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile
and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

James Nikolayevich Gubin was born in 1872 in the village of Gubino,

Sernur canton, Mari province into a peasant family. A free peasant, he was
disenfranchised in the 1920s. In January, 1931 he was sentenced to two
months’ forced labour for non-fulfilment of tasks. On February 2, 1931 he was
arrested for being “participant in a counter-revolutionary organization, the
‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’
exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Thaddeus Semyonovich Sokolov was born in 1888 in the village of

Novoye Yanayevo, Novo-Toryalsk canon, Mari province. Before the
revolution he was a trader. A free peasant, in the 1920s he was
disenfranchised. On February 2, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant
in a counter-revolutinary organization of churchmen, ‘the True Orthodox
Church’”, and on December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to
the north. In 1934 he was released and returned to his homeland. In the
summer of 1937 he was arrested again, and on August 26 was sentenced to
ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Gregory Danilovich Purtov was born in 1875 in the village of Yelshinki,

Novo-Toryalsk canton, Mari province into a peasant family. A free peasant, in
the 1920s he was disenfranchised. In January, 1931 he was sentenced to two
months’ forced labour for non-fulfilment of tasks. On February 2, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

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Theodora Ivanovna Andrievskaya was born in 1872 in the village of

Borovskoy Pochinok, Urzhuma uyezd, Nizhegorod province into a peasant
family, and received an elementary education. She married a priest. In the
1920s she was dekulakized. From 1929 she lived at the church in the village of
Yelembayevo, Novo-Toryalsk canon, Mari province. On February 2, 1931 she
was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization
of churchmen of the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about her.

Priest Gennadius Trofimovich Zavyalov was born in 1869 in the village of

Ogoreloye, Chernovsk uyezd, Nizhegorod province. He was disenfranchised.
In 1925 he was under investigation, but was justified. In 1932 he was arrested
in the village of Verkho-Vondnask, Darovsk region and accused of “joining
the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
and of “being an activist of the organization and conducting counter-
revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 he was sentenced to
three years’ exile to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexis Vasilyevich Usoltsev was born in 1881 in the village of

Takhtino, Khalturino uyezd, Vyatka province, and went to Vyatka theological
seminary. He was disenfranchised. In 1929 he was arrested and sentenced to
six months’ forced labour with confiscation of property. In 1932 he was
arrested in the village of Makarye, Kiknur region and accused of “joining the
staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, of
“being an activist of the organization” and of “conducting active counter-
revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 he was sentenced to
three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Peter Platonovich Kirillov was born in 1899 in the village of Maly
Yedun, Sanchur uyezd, and received an intermediate education. He was
disenfranchised. In 1930 he was under investigation twice: “for counter-
revolutionary activity” and “for participation in a mass demonstration”. In
1932 he was arrested in the village of Sheshurga, Yaransk region and accused
of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church”, of “being an activist of the organization” and of “conducting active
counter-revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. After his release he went to live in
the village of Kokshaga, Kiknur region. In the spring of 1939 he was arrested,
and on July 30 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Serapion Nikolayevich Emelyanov was born in 1884 in the village

of Atsbezh, Kotelnich uyezd. He was disenfranchised. In 1930 he was arrested

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and sentenced to two years in the camps and three years’ exile, but the
sentence was not confirmed. In 1932 he was arrested in the village of Russkiye
Kraya, Kiknur region, and accused of “joining the staff of the church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, of “being an activist of
the organization” and of “conducting active counter-revolutionary work in
the population”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent
to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Ivanovich Kandakov was born in 1873 in the village of

Smetanino, Sanchur uyezd. He was disenfranchised. In 1930 he was arrested
and sentenced to sixteen months, but the sentence was not confirmed. In 1932
he was arrested in the village of Russkie Krai, Kiknur region and accused of
“joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and of “being an activist of the organization and conducting active
counter-revolutionary work in the organization”. On August 14 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Michael Alexandrovich Ogorodov was born in 1870 in the village of

Brochenki, Kotelnich uyezd, and was disenfranchised. In 1925 he was under
investigation, but was acquitted in the trial. In 1932 he was arrested in the
village of Ostenchurg, Sharanga region, Nizhegorod province and accused of
“joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and of “being an activist of the organization and conducting
counter-revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
him.

Priest Peter Ivanovich Teplyashin was born in 1891 in the village of

Toropovo, Darovsk uyezd, and went to Vyatka theological seminary. He was
disenfranchised. In 1931 he was under investigation, and in 1932 he was
arrested in the village of Gostevo, Kotelnich region and accused of “joining
the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”
and of “being an activist of the organization and conducting active counter-
revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 he was sentenced to
three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Mikhailovich Myshkin was born in 1870 in the village of

Sovietskoye, and went to Yaransk theological school. He was a priest and a
dean. He was disenfranchised. In 1930 he was condemned for non-payment of
taxes and sentenced to a fine. In 1932 he was arrested in Sovietskoye and
accused of “leading the activity of the church-monarchist organization, the
True Orthodox Church”, and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work,
pursuing as his final aim the preparation of conditions for the overthrow of

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Soviet power”. On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in
the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Leonid Vasilyevich Nesmelov was born in 1883 in the village of

Kiknur, Mari province, and went to Vyatka theological seminary. As priest
and dean, he served in Kotelnich. He was disenfranchised. He was accused of
“directing the activity of the church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work, pursuing
as a final aim the preparation of conditions for the overthrow of Soviet
power”. On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three years in the camps and
sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Vladimirovich Nikonov was born in 1872 in the village of

Velikorechye, Yaransk uyezd, Vyatka province into the family of a priest. He
went to Vyatka theological seminary. He was disenfranchised. In 1921 he was
arrested for antisoviet activity, and sntenced to three years in the camps
conditionally. After the arrest of Fr. Basil Poptsov he became the rector of his
church in the village of Lyumpanur. In 1932 he was arrested in the village of
Shapta, Kiknur region and accused of “directing the activity of the church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting
active counter-revolutionary work, pursuing as his final aim the preparation
of conditions for the overthrow of Soviet power”. On August 14 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
him.

Priest Michael Ippolitovich Strelnikov was born in 1876 in the village of

Verkhoizhskoye, Yaransk uyezd, Vyatka province, and went to Vyatka
theological seminary. He was disenfranchised. In 1931 he was under
investigation. In 1932 he was arrested in the village of Yefimenki, Arbazh
region and accused of “directing the activity of the church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting counter-
revolutionary work, pursuing as his final aim the preparation of conditions
for the overthrow of Soviet power”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Ivan Savvateyevich Starodubtsev was born in 1886 in the village of

Petrovskoye, Yaransk uyezd. He was disenfranchised. In 1932 he was arrested
in the village of Izh, Pizhansk region and accused of “directing the activity of
the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of
“conducting counter-revolutionary work, pursuing as his final aim the
preparation of conditions for the overthrow of Soviet power”. On August 14
he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Ivan Petrovich Kurochkin was born in 1894 in the village of Yaran-
Muchazh, Yaransk uyezd, and went to Vyatka theological seminary. He was

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disenfranchised. In 1932 he was arrested in the village of Kolodovo,

Sovietskoye region, and accused “of joining the membership of the church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and of “conducting
counter-revolutionary work among the population at the command of the
organization”. On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexis Vsevolodovich Lozhkin was born in 1892 in the village of

Kolyanur, Yaransk uyezd, Vyatka province, and went to Vyatka theological
seminary. He was disenfranchised. In 1930 he was under investigation for
“counter-revolutionary activity”. In 1932 he was arrested in the village of
Chernushka, Kiknur region and accused of “joining the staff of the church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and of “conducting
counter-revolutionary work among the population at the command of the
organization”. On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in
the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Alexis Vikentyevich Lubnin was born in 1876 in the village of

Yuryevo, Kotelnich uyezd, and went to Vyatka theological seminary. He was
disenfranchised. In 1923 he was condemned for bad management of his house
and sentenced to confiscation of his house and outbuildings. In 1932 he was
arrested in the village of Kugusherga, Yaransk region and accused of
“conducting counter-revolutionary work among the population at the
command of the organization”. On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Basil Vasilyevich Ovchinnikov was born in 1891 in the village of

Verkhne-Vondanskoye, Darovsk uyezd. He was disenfranchised. In 1931 he
was under investigation, and was sentenced to three months’ forced labour.
In 1932 he was arrested in the village of Yekaterinovskoye, Kotelnich region,
and accused of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the
True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work
among the population on the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he
was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
him.

Priest Ivan Denisovich Malykh was born in 1879 in the village of

Ilyinskoye, Kotelnich uyezd, and went to a pedagogical seminary. He was
disenfranchised. In 1929 he was under investigation, and was sentenced to
one year’s forced labour. In 1932 he was arrested in his native village and
accused of “entering the staff of a church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church”, and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work among
the population on the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
him.

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Priest Nicholas Alexandrovich Kocheshkov was born in 1901 in the

village of Ulesh, Kiknur uyezd, and was disenfranchised. In 1932 he was
arrested in the village of Solominskoye, Pizhansk region and accused of
“joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on
the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three
years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Peter Stepanovich Galitsky was born in 1865 in the village of Izh,
Pizhansk uyezd, Nizhegorod region, and went to Vyatka theological
seminary. In 1923 he was under investigation. He was disenfranchised. In
1932 he was arrested in the village of Arkhangelskoye, Shabalin region, and
accused of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox church”, of “being a messenger” and of “conducting active counter-
revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 (or 19) he was
sentenced to three years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about
him.

Deacon Paul Fyodorovich Olyunin was born in 1876 in the village of Izh,
Pizhansk uyezd, Nizhegorod region, and went to three classes at theological
seminary. He was disenfranchised. In 1932 he was arrested in the village of
Ilyinskoye, Kotelnich region and accused of “joining the staff of the church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox church”, of “being a messenger”
and of “conducting active counter-revolutionary work in the population”. On
August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

Deacon Leonid Vikentyevich Medvedev was born in 1902 in Omutensk

uyezd, Vyatka province, and went to Yaransk theological school. He was
disenfranchised. In 1927 he was arrested and sentenced to one year in prison,
but was released on amnesty. In 1932 he was arrested in the village of
Paderino. Kiknur region, and accused of “joining the staff of a church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and of “conducting
counter-revolutionary work among the population on the orders of the
organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Deacon Gennadius Vasilyevich Rublev was born in 1892 in the village of

Uni, Nolinsk uyezd, and received an intermediate education. He was
disenfranchised. In 1932 he was arrested in Kotelnich and accused of “joining
the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”,
of “being an activist of the organization” and of “conducting counter-
revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 he was sentenced to
three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

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Deacon Michael Ivanovich Golovin was born in 1871 in the village of

Lyumpanur, Sanchur uyezd, and went to Yaransk theological school. He was
disenfranchised. In the 1930s he was condemned and fined. In 1932 he was
arrested in Lyumpanur and accused of “joining a church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church” and “on the organization’s
commands, conducting counter-revolutionary work among the population”.
On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north.
Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Stepan (Nikolayevich Averyanov) was born in 1889 in the village of

Kosyakovo, Spassky uyezd, Kazan province. He was a monk-wanderer. In
1932 he was arrested in Sanchur region and accused of “joining the staff of a
church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and “on the
command of the organization, carrying out counter-revolutionary work
among the population”. On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’
exile and sent to the north. After his release he returned to his homeland. In
the summer of 1941 he was arrested, and on August 1 he was sentenced to
death and shot.

Monk Basil (Vasilyevich Zharekhin) was born in 1893 in the village of

Maloye Kurino, Sanchur uyezd. He was disenfranchised. He was a wanderer.
In 1932 he was arrested in the Sanchur region and accused of “joining the staff
of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of
“conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on the orders of
the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile and
sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Xenia (Ignatyevna Lapteva) was born in 1896 in the village of Maloye,
Sharygino, Kiknur uyezd. She was disenfranchised. In 1932 she was arrested
in her native village and accused of “joining the staff of a church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church” and “on the command of the
organization, carrying out counter-revolutionary work among the
population”. On August 14, 1932 she was sentenced to three years’ exile and
sent to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about her.

Reader Gregory Alexandrovich Kreknin was born in 1876 in the village of

Verkhne-Vondanskoye, Darovsk uyezd. He was disenfranchised. In 1931 he
was arrested and sentenced to three months’ forced labour. In 1932 he was
arrested in his native village and accused of “joining the staff of the church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting
counter-revolutionary work in the population on the orders of the
organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent
to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

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Reader Andrew Afanasyevich Petukhov was born in 1882 in the village of

Shelemeti, Kotelnich uyezd. He was disenfranchised. In 1931 he was arrested
and sentenced to three years’ exile, but he ran away and went into hiding. In
1932 he was arrested in the village of Atsvezh, Kotelnich region and accused
of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on
the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three
years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Reader Alexis Mikhailovich Golovin was born in 1900 in the village of

Lyumpanur, Sanchur uyezd, and received an intermediate education. He was
disenfranchised. In 1931 he was condemned for insulting someone and
sentenced to a fine of three hundred rubles. In 1932 he was arrested in the
village of Korlyaki, Sanchur region and accused of “joining the staff of the
church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of being “an
activist of the organization and of conducting active counter-revolutionary
work in the population”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile
and sent to the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Zachariah Mikheyevich Lukovnikov was born in 1882 in the village of

Maliye Luzhki, Sovietskoye uyezd. A middle peasant, he was president of
the church council. In 1932 he was arrested in his native village and accused
of “joining the staff of a church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and “on the command of the organization, carrying out counter-
revolutionary work among the population”. On August 14, 1932 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. In the autumn of 1937 he was
arrested again in Vyatka province, and on November 19 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Stepan Fyodorovich Makarov was born in 1878 in the village of Tashkem,

Yaransk uyezd. A kukak, he was dekulakized and disenfranchised. In 1931 he
was sentenced to one year’s forced labour and fined three hundred rubles. In
1932 he was arrested in his native village and accused of “joining a church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and “on the
organization’s commands, conducting counter-revolutionary work among the
population”. On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Nestor Yakovlevich Mosunov was born in 1872 in the village of Bebenino,

Kiknur uyezd. He was church warden in the village of Paderino. In 1925 he
was under investigation. In 1932 he was arrested in his native village and
accused of “joining a church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and of “being a messenger and conducting counter-revolutionary
work among the population”. On August 14, 1932 he was sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. At the beginning of 1937 he was arrested again, and

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on March 27 was sentenced to five years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Nothing more

is known about him.

Michael Stepanovich Myagchilov was born in 1858 in the village of

Krasnogorye, Sanchur uyezd. He was dekulakized and disenfranchised. In
1931 he was arrested and sentenced to two years in the camps and three
years’ exile. In 1932 he was arrested in the village of Krasnogorye, Sanchur
region and accused of “joining a church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church” and “on the organization’s commands, conducting
counter-revolutionary work among the population”. On August 14, 1932 he
was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
him.

Basil Matveyevich Galkin was born in 1891 in the village of Cheburenki,

Kotelnich uyezd. A kulak, he was disenfranchised. He was condemned for
hooliganism and sentenced to three months’ hard labour. In 1932 he was
arrested in his native village and accused of “joining the staff of the church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and “conducting
counter-revolutionary work among the population on the orders of the
organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent
to the settlement of Gadovskikh, working as chief mechanic. In the autumn of
1938 he was arrested, and on October 10 was sentenced to five years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Alexandrovich Popov was born in 1887 in the village of Lom,

Yaransk uyezd. He was disenfranchised and dekulakized. In 1930 he was
arrested and sentenced to five years’ exile. In 1932 he was arrested again in
Lom and accused of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization,
the True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work
in the population on the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about
him.

Peter Alexandrovich Popov was born in 1904 in the village of Lom,

Yaransk uyezd. He was disenfranchised and dekulakized. In 1932 he was
arrested in his native village and accused of “joining the staff of the church-
monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting
counter-revolutionary work in the population on the orders of the
organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent
to the north. In the autumn of 1937 he was arrested again in Vyatka province,
and on December 7 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Nicholas Stepanovich Popov was born in 1902 in the village of Okrug,

Yaransk uyezd. He was disenfranchised and dekulakized. In 1932 he was
arrested in his native village and accused of “joining the staff of the church-

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monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting

counter-revolutionary work in the population on the orders of the
organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Stepan Pavlovich Popov was born in 1864 in the village of Okrug, Yaransk
uyezd. He was disenfranchised and dekulakized. In 1932 he was arrested in
his native village and accused of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting counter-
revolutionary work in the population on the orders of the organization”. On
August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is
known about him.

Ivan Pavlovich Zabegayev was born in 1862 in the village of Zabegan,

Yaransk uyezd. He was disenfranchised and dekulakized. He was
condemned for hooliganism and sentenced to three months’ forced labour. In
1932 he was arrested in Kotelnich region and accused of “joining the staff of
the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of
“conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on the orders of
the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile and
sent to Kazakhstan. Nothing more is known about him.

Ilya Petrovich Bezdenezhnykh was born in 1901 in the village of

Mamayevo, Sanchur uyezd. A kulak, he was disenfranchised, but later
reinstated. He was a wanderer. In 1932 he was arrested in Kotelnich region
and accused of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the
True Orthodox Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in
the population on the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing more is known
about him.

Arsenius Alexandrovich Domrachev was born in 1896 in the village of

Kugusherg, Yaransk uyezd, and finished four classes at Vyatka theological
seminary. He was disenfranchised and fined. In 1932 he was arrested in the
village of Kolosovo, Shabalin region and accused of “joining the staff of the
church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church” and of
“conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on the orders of
the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Fomich Kulpin was born in 1870 in the village of Sheshurga, Yaransk
uyezd. He was disenfranchised and dekulakized and sentenced to six months’
forced labour. In 1932 he was arrested in his native village and accused of
“joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on

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the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three

years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexander Alexandrovich Khromikhin was born in 1884 in the village of

Krasnogorye, Sanchur uyezd. He was disenfranchised and dekulakized. In
1931 he was arrested and sentenced to two years in the camps and three
years’ exile. In 1932 he was arrested in his native village and accused of
“joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on
the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Pavlovich Shatov was born in 1889 in the village of Tyurichi,

Kotelnich uyezd. He was disenfranchised. He served as a storeman in the
Gortorg base in Kotelnich. In 1932 he was arrested in Kotelnich and accused
of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox
Church” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work in the population on
the orders of the organization”. On August 14 he was sentenced to three
years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about him.

Eudocia Yegorovna Bakulova was born in 1864 in the village of

Shabalinskoye, Yaransk uyezd. A widow, she was arrested in her native
village and accused of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, of “organizing the church counter-
revolutionary underground”, of “leading it and conducting active counter-
revolutionary work in the population”. On August 14 she was sentenced to
three years’ exile in the north. Nothing more is known about her.

Catherine Nikolayevna Dryagina was born in the village of Sretenskoye,

Yaransk uyezd, and finished six classes at the Vyatka diocesan school. She
was a reader, and was disenfranchised. In 1932 she was arrested in the village
of Molotnikovo, Kotelnich region, and accused of “joining the staff of the
church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox church”, of “being a
messenger” and of “conducting active counter-revolutionary work in the
population”. On August 14 she was sentenced to three years’ exile in the
north. Nothing more is known about her.

Barbara Borisovna Rayeva was born in 1880 in the village of Anshur,

Arban uyezd, Tataria, and received an elementary education. From 1914 she
was living in Kazan, and working in a sewing factory. From 1919 she was a
technician in a school in Yoshkar-Ola. From 1921 she earned money by
washing clothes. On May 13, 1932 she was arrested for being “a participant in
a counter-revolutionary organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on

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August 19 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. Nothing
more is known about her.

Maria Petrovna Dolgova was born in 1887 in the village of Sarateyevo-

Kumarga, Mari-El. She had been a choir director in a monastery, and worked
as a seamstress in an artel. On April 14, 1932 she was arrested, and on October
28 was convicted of “anti-collective and religious agitation”. In accordance
with article 58-10 she was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about her.

Deacon Valery Vasilyevich Verbitsky was born in 1899 in Novgorod into

the family of a lieutenant-colonel in the tsarist army, and went to a theological
school. In the 1920s he was disenfranchised. He lived at Novinka station,
Oredezh region, Petrograd province, serving as deacon and choir-master in
the Trinity church. On May 31, 1931 he was arrested for being “a participant
in the Udmurtia ‘branch’ of the counter-revolutionary church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on January 19, 1932 was
sentenced to three years in the camps and sent (in February) to Novinsky
forestry point in Oredezh lespromkhoz, Visherlag, working as tree-cutter. On
September 17, 1934 he was arrested in a group case, and on January 21, 1935
was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to Karlag. Nothing more is
known about him.

Ivan Gerasimovich Plotnikov was born in 1877 in the village of

Selivanovo, Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. On
December 22, 1935 he was arrested “for anti-Soviet agitation”. On April 8 he
was sentenced to seven years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more
is known about him.

Priest Paul Kuzmich was born in 1900 in Nizhegorod province. A priest of

the “Victorite” orientation, at the beginning of the 1930s he was in Buj,
Yaroslavl province, but without work. He became a messenger between the
local clergy and the “Victorite” clergy in Vyatka province. In 1934 he was
arrested in a group case of churchmen, but within two months was released
from prison and the case shelved for lack of evidence. He moved to
Slobodskye, Vyatka province, still without work. In 1936 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen,

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the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on March 27 was sentenced to five years in
the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Yegor Ilyich Stenkin was born in 1887 in the village of Vazhnager, Gorno-
Mariisk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. He went to four classes in the
village school. He was church warden in the village of M. Sundyr. On June 8,
1932 he was arrested for “counter-revolutionary activity and belonging to the
True Orthodox Church”, but was released after six months. In 1935 he was
fined for sabotage of political campaigns. On February 14, 1936 he was
arrested for being “the leader of a counter-revolutionary group of followers of
‘the True Orthodox Churchpeople’”, and was sentenced to ten years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Nicholas Timofeyevich Kirpichnikov was born in 1883 in the village of

Vazhnager, Gorno-Mariisk uyezd, where he lived. From 1918 to 1919 he
served as a private in the Red army. A free peasant, he was deprived of his
property because of sabotage. On February 14, 1936 he was arrested for being
“a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of followers of the ‘True
Orthodox Churchmen’”, and was then released. On August 29 he was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

Basil Petrovich Selivanov was born in 1899 in the village of Koptykovo,

Gorno-Mariisk uyezd. From 1918 to 1922 he served as a private in the Red
army. A free peasant, he had five children in his family. He was several times
fined for sabotage. In 1934 he was arrested and sentenced for two years to the
camps and sent to a camp. After his released he returned to his homeland. On
March 9, 1936 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary group of followers of the ‘True Orthodox churchpeople’”, and
on August 29 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. On
January 14, 1940 he was arrested in camp, sentenced to death and shot.

Ivan Semyonovich Korolev was born in 1901 in the village of Gorshkovo,

Novo-Sheshminsk uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. A free peasant, he was dekulakized, after which he was without
fixed occupation. On May 21, 1935 he was arrested in a group church case,
and on February 14, 1936 was sentenced to three years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about him.

Adrian Ivanovich Ivanov was born in 1869 in the village of Lenin, Novo-
Sheshminsk uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. A carpenter, in 1931 he was twice condemned in accordance with
articles 58-10 and 61, and sentenced to two years in the camps. In 1933 he was
released. On July 23, 1935 he was arrested again in a group church case, and

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on February 14, 1936 was sentenced to eight years in the camps. Nothing
more is known about him.

Matthew Petrovich Midyakov was born in 1896 in the village of

Midyakovo, Gorno-Mariisk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. On
February 14, 1936 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary group of follower of the ‘True Orthodox Churchpeople’”, and
on August 29 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Praskovya Alexandrovna Kirpichnikova was born in 1896 in the village of

Arsikhola, Gorno-Mariisk uyezd. After marrying she lived in the village of
Vazhnager, Gorno-Mariisk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. There
were two children in the family. On February 14, 1936 she was arrested for
being “the leader of a counter-revolutionary group of followers of the ‘True
Orthodox Churchmen’”, and on August 29 she was sentenced to ten years in
the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Eudocia Vasilyevna Abyzova was born in 1893 in the village of Yelantovo,

Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. For refusing to sow her land, and for failure to carry out state
obligations, she was deprived of his land. On May 7, 1933 she was sentenced
to two years in the camps. The punishment was not carried out, and she
remained without definite occupation. On July 21, 1935 she was arrested in
connection with a group case of churchmen. On February 14, 1936 she was
sentenced to six years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Aquilina Mironovna Chugunova was born in 1905 in the village of

Vazhnanger, Gorno-Mariisky uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. On
February 15, 1936 she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary group of followers of ‘the True Orthodox Churchmen’”, and on
August 29 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. On
June 1, 1949 she was sent into termless exile in the Krasnoyarsk district.
Nothing more is known about her.

Eudocia Yakovlevna Fomina was born in 1890 in the village of

Yandushevo, Gorno-Mariisk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. On
March 9, 1936 she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary group of followers of the ‘True Orthodox Churchmen’”, and on
August 29 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Martha Fyodorovna Sigachkova was born in 1893 in the village of

Makarovo, Gorno-Mariisk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. There
were five children in the family. She was deprived of her property for
sabotage. On April 3, 1936 she was arrested for being “a participant in a

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counter-revolutionary group of followers of ‘the True Orthodox

Churchpeople’”, and on August 29 was sentenced to five years in the camps
and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Anna Andreyevna Makarova was born in 1885 in the village of Shargiyal,

Gorno-Mariisky uyezd, Nizhegorod province, where she lived as a free
peasant. She was subjected to fines and forcible confiscation of her property
for sabotage. On April 4, 1936 she was arrested for being “the leader of
counter-revolutionary group of followers of ‘the True Orthodox churchmen’”,
and on August 29 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Claudia Alexandrovna Mironova was born in 1902 in the village of

Kozhvozh, Gorno-Mariisky uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. On
April 3, 1936 she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary group of followers of ‘the True Orthodox churchmen’”, and on
August 29 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Anastasia Afanasyevna Polushina was born in 1901 in the village of

Kashnur, Orshansk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant. On December 6,
1936 she was arrested and sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Protopriest Nicholas Arsenyevich Akishev was born in 1877 in the village

of Mukhinsky, Slobodsky uyezd, Vyatka province. He lived and served in the
village of Makarye. In the summer of 1931 he was arrested “for antisoviet
agitation”, and on September 17 was sentenced to three years in the camps
and sent to a camps. After his release he returned to his homeland. At the
beginning of 1937 he was arrested, and on February 15 he was sentenced to
death. On February 23 he was shot.

Gregory Markovich Midyakov was born in the village of M. Sundyr,

Gorno-Mariisk uyezd, and finished two classes at village school. He was a
free peasant and president of the church council of M. Sundyr. He was
disenfranchised. On January 3, 1933 he was arrested for being “the leader of a
counter-revolutionary cell of the church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church”, and on June 8 was sentenced to six months in prison and
released. In 1937 he was arrested again, and on March 26 was sentenced to ten
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest Basil Mikhailovich Andronnikov was born in 1884 in the village of

Mari-Sola, Sernur uyezd, into the family of a trader, and received an
elementary education. He worked in a furniture factory. He was secretly
ordained to the priesthood. On December 14, 1929 he was arrested for being
“a participant in an anti-Soviet group of churchmen”, and on February 19,
1930 was sentenced to eight years in the camps with confiscation of property
and was sent to a camp. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested in camp, and
on August 7 was sentenced to death and shot.

Alexis Yakovlevich Turusinov was born in 1881 in the village of Gusevo,

Orshansk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. In the summer of 1937 he
was arrested in camp, and on August 7 was sentenced to death and shot.

Athanasius Yakovlevich Turusinov was born in 1895 in the village of

Gusevo, Orshansk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. In the summer of
1937 he was arrested in camp, and on August 7 was sentenced to ten years in
the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Nikolayevich Poptsov was born in 1900 in the village of

Blinovo, Orshansk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. In the summer of
1937 he was arrested in camp, and on August 7 was sentenced to eight years
in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Paul Ionovich Cheshuin was born in 1889 in the village of Tabashino,

Orshansk uyezd, Nizhegorod province, where he lived as a free peasant. In
the summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary group of True Orthodox Churchmen”, and on August 7 he was
sentenced to death and shot.

Gabriel Ionovich Blinov was born in the village of Blinovo, Orshansk

uyezd, and lived there as a free peasant. In 1932 he was arrested, and on
December 29 was sentenced to 21 months in prison. In 1934 he was released
from prison and returned to the village of Kulashino. In the summer of 1937
he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of
True Orthodox Churchmen”, and on August 7 he was sentenced to death and
shot.

Stepan Kuzmich Blinov was born in the village of Blinovo, Orshansk

uyezd, and lived there as a free peasant. In the summer of 1937 he was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary group of True
Orthodox Churchmen”, and on August 7 he was sentenced to death and shot.

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Ivan Pavlovich Polushin was born in 1881 in the village of Tabashino,

Orshansk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. In the summer of 1937 he
was arrested in camp, and on August 7 was sentenced to death and shot.

Semyon Alexeyevich Kanashin was born in 1899 in the village of

Tabashino, Orshansk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. In the summer
of 1937 he was arrested in camp, and on August 7 was sentenced to eight
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.
death and shot.

Hieromonk Gabriel, in the world Malchus Ivanovich Blokhin, was born in

1880 in the village of Yezhovo, Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd, and went to four
classes in a village school. He was tonsured and disenfranchised. From 1924,
after the closure of the monastery, he worked as a craftsman-cobbler. He was
secretly ordained to the priesthood and conducted secret services in the
homes of believers. On December 30, 1932 he was arrested for being “the
leader of a counter-revolutionary group of followers of the True Orthodox
Church”, and on July 22, 1933 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to
the north. After release he returned to Mari republic. In 1937 he was arrested,
and on August 26 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Protopriest Basil Vasilyevich Polovnikov was born in 1895 in Nolinsk,

Vyatka province into a workers’ family, where he lived and worked as a
teacher. Later he was ordained and served in the Trinity church in Urzhum. In
1925 he was arrested “for antisoviet activity”, and on June 19 was sentenced to
three years in the camps and sent to a camp. In 1928, after his released, he
served as protopriest in the village of Nikulitskoye. In 1932 he was arrested,
and on September 21 was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a
camp. In 1935 he was released and returned to Urzhum. In the summer of
1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary
organization of churchmen, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on September
29 was sentenced to death. On October 14 he was shot.

Priest Paul Nikolayevich Pitirimov was born in 1883 in the village of

Sharanga, Nizhegorod region, and went to pastoral courses in Vyatka. He
was disenfranchised. In 1929 he was under investigation for counter-
revolutionary activity. In 1932 he was arrested in the village of Kiknur and
accused of “joining the staff of the church-monarchist organization, the True
Orthodox Church”, of “being an activist of the organization” and of
“conducting active counter-revolutionary work among the population”. On
August 14 he was sentenced to three years’ exile in the north. At the

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beginning of 1937 he was arrested in Yaransk region, and on May 7 was

sentenced to death. On October 14 he was shot.

Priest Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev was born in 1885 in the village of

Korba, Semynovsky uyezd, Ivanovo province, and went to a theological
seminary. A priest of “Victorite” orientation, he served in the village of
Ilyinskoye, Makaryevo region. In 1929 he was arrested for “counter-
revolutionary activity” and was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent
to a camp. In 1934, after his release, he returned to Vyatka province. In the
summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”,
and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He was shot on October 13.

Priest Alexander Timofeyevich Shilnikov was born in 1882 in the

settlement of Kirs, Omutnino uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family,
and served in the village of Yelevo, Belokholunitsky region. In 1930 he was
arrested and sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. In the
summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”,
and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He was shot on October 14.

Priest Michael Alexeyevich Yuferev was born in 1882 in the village of

Nemy, Nemy uyezd, Vyatka province into a clerical family. He lived in the
village of Nikulitskoye, while serving in the village of Uspenskoye, Slobodsky
region. In 1929 he was arrested, and on February 3, 1930 was sentenced to five
years in the camps and sent to a camp. In 1934 he was released and returned
to Nikulitskoye. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the
True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He
was shot on October 14.

Priest Peter Alexandrovich Obraztsov was born in 1888 in the village of

Katroma, Vologda province (or Mityukovo pogost, Kadnikovo uyezd,
Vologda province) into a clergy family, and went to theological seminary and
Kazan Theological Academy. He became rector of the Trinity cathedral in
Kotelnich. On June 10, 1921 he was sentenced to five years in the camps. In
January, 1928 he was persuaded by Priest Peter Teplyashin to join Bishop
Victor together with his parish council. The other priest of the cathedral, Fr.
Nicholas Kurbanovsky, also commemorated Bishop Victor. Nothing more is
known about him. In 1931 he was arrested, and on June 10 was sentenced to
five years in the camps and sent to a camp. In 1936 he was released and
returned to the village of Topovo, serving in the village of Fedoseyevskoye,
Svechin region. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the
True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He
was shot on October 14.

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Priest Alexis Andreyevich Papyrin was born in 1888 in the village of

Kosino, Verkhoschizhemsk uyezd, Vyatka province, and finished six classes
at secondary school. An illegal priest of “Victorite” orientation, in 1930 he was
under investigation for extortion. In the middle of the 1930s he was in Vyatka.
In the summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”,
and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He was shot on October 13.

Priest Stepan Danilovich Alalykin was born in 1883 in the village of

Loshikha, Orichevo uyezd, Vyatka province in a clergy family. He served in
the village of Pustoshi, Orichevo region. In the summer of 1937 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was
sentenced to death. He was shot on October 14.

Priest Arcadius Mikhailovich Gradoboyev was born in 1882 in Glazov. A

priest of “Victorite” orientation, he served in the village of Zznamenskoye,
Uninsk region. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant
in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True
Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He was
shot on October 14.

Priest Paul Vladimirovich Budrin was born in 1879 in the village of

Yekhnyavskaya, Asinsk uyezd, Vyatka province, and served in the village of
Razygray, Verkhoshizhemsk region, In 1932 he was arrested, and on
September 21 he was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to the
White Sea – Baltic canal. On July 4, 1933 he was released early and sent to
Vyatka for the rest of his term. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was
sentenced to death. He was shot on October 14.

Priest Victor Nikolayevich Levashov was born in 1893 in the village of

Chistopolye, Arbazh uyezd, Vyatka province into a clergy family. He lived in
the village of Fileika, and served in the village of Dymko, Kumensk region. In
1931 he was arrested, and on June 5 was sentenced to three years in the camps
and sent to a camp. In 1934 he was release and returned to Fileika. In the
summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”,
and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He was shot on October 14.

Priest Azarius Nikolayevich Domrachev was born in 1883 in the village of

Sovye, Shestanovo uyezd, Vyatka province into a clergy family. He went to a
theological school, and was a priest of the “Victorite” orientation, serving in
the village of Tsepeli, Khalturninsk region. For non-payment of state taxes he

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was sentenced to six months’ hard labour. In the summer of 1937 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was
sentenced to death. He was shot on October 14.

Priest Alexander Alexandrovich Dyurbaum was born in 1873 in Yaransk

into a family of bureaucrats. He served in the village of Bystritsy, Orichevo
region. In 1930 he was arrested and sentenced to two years in the camps and
sent to a camp. After his release he returned to serve in Bystritsy. In the
summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”,
and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He was shot on October 14.

Priest Theodore Yefimovich Yefimov was born in 1882 in the village of

Kutyuk-Kiner, Morkinsk uyezd, Nizhegorod province, and went to a
theological seminary. A priest of the Victorite orientation, he served in the
village of Belyaevo, Kiknur region. In 1930 he was under investigation, but
was justified. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant
in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True
Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He was
shot on October 14.

Priest Paul Kornilovich Bondal was born in 1879 in the village of Grigory,
Belskaya volost, Belorussia, and finished three classes in the village school
and eight months of theological course. A priest of the Victorite orientation,
he served in the village of Trekhrechye, Vyatka province. In 1931 he was
arrested, and on October 12 was sentenced to three years in the camps and
sent to a camp. In 1934, after being released from camp, he was exiled for
three years to the north. After his release he returned to Vyatka province. In
the summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”,
and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He was shot on October 14.

Nun Maria (Petrovna Sadakova) was born in 1894 in the village of Sadaki,
Chepetsk uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. She became a nun in
a Vytka monastery. Then she lived in Vyatka without fixed occupation. In the
summer of 1937 she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary organization of churchmen, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and
on September 29 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Matrona (Petrovna Trefilova) was born in 1892 in the village of

Barsuki, Kotelnich uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. After the
closure of her monastery, she lived in the village of Atsvezh, Svechino region,
working as a prosphora-baker in the local church. In 1926 she was arrested,
and on March 26 was released but not allowed to live in twelve places for

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three years. In 1932 she was arrested again, and on July 29 was sentenced to
three years’ exile and sent to the north. In 1935 she was living in the village of
Barsuki, and working as a watchman in the church. In 1936 she was released
from camp and returned to Barsuki. In the summer of 1937 she was arrested
for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was
sentenced to death. On October 14 she was shot.

Nun Maria (Afanasyevna Voronina) was born in 1900 in the village of

Kolygino, Nikolsky uyezd, Vologda province into a peasant family. She was a
nun of the Pokrov monastery in Kotelnich region. After its closure she lived in
the village of Khlynovo, serving as sexton in the local church. In 1931 she was
arrested, and on September 10 was sentenced to three years in the camps and
sent to a camp. In 1934, after her release, she lived in Vyatka. In the summer
of 1937 she was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary
organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on
September 29 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about her.

Ivan Vasilyevich Shikhov was born in 1885 in the village of Vidykiny,

Orichevo uyezd, Vyatka province, where he lived as a free peasant. In the
summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”,
and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He was shot on October 14.

Nicholas Fyodorovich Sadyrin was born in 1900 in the village of Gusi,

Shabalin uyezd into a peasant family. He worked in Vyatka in a garage. In the
summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”,
and on September 29 was sentenced to death. He was shot on October 14.

Ivan Fomich Glukhikh was born in 1913 in the village of Starikovo,

Vokhomsk uyezd, Vologda province into a peasant family. He lived in
Vyatka, and worked in a garage. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

Theodore Nikitich Plenkov was born in 1891 in the village of Plenkovy,

Orichevo uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. He was a free
peasant. In 1934 he was arrested, but on July 22 the case was shelved for lack
of evidence and he was released. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was
sentenced to death. On October 14 he was shot.

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Nicholas Vasilyevich Kolotov was born in 1891 in the village of Kolotovy,

Orichevo uyezd, where he lived as a craftsman. In the autumn of 1929 he was
arrested, and on January 3, 1930 was sentenced to three years in the camps
and sent to a camp. In 1932 he was released and went to live in Vyatka, where
he worked as a warehouseman in a brick factory. In the summer of 1937 he
was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary
organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on
September 29 was sentenced to death. On October 14 he was shot.

Vladimir Andrianovich Kuklin was born in 1899 in the village of Ersh,

Orichevo uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. He was a free
peasant. In 1933 he was arrested and fined. In the summer of 1937 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

Alexandra Arefyevna Kuklina was born in 1894 in the village of Ersh,

Orichevo uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. She worked as a
restorer of paintings and weaving. In the summer of 1937 she was arrested for
being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was
sentenced to death. On October 14 she was shot.

Anna Vladimirovna Ponomareva was born in 1879 in the village of

Pozdnyaki, Orichevo uyezd into a peasant family. She lived in the village of
Shalegovo, and worked as a reader in the local church. In the summer of 1937
she was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary
organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox Church’”, and on
September 29 was sentenced to death. On October 14 she was shot.

Anastasia Arefyeva Glushkova was born in 1891 in the village of

Skorodumy, Svechinky uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. She
lived in the village of Russkoye, and served as a reader in the local church. In
1932 she was arrested, and on September 21 was sentenced to three years in
the camps and sent to a camp. In 1935 she was released from camp, and went
to live in the village of Monastyrschina, Orichevo region, working as a reader
in the church. In the summer of 1937 she was arrested for being “a participant
in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True
Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was sentenced to ten years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Claudia Stepanovna Moshkina was born in 1891 in the village of

Skorodumy, Svechinky uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. She
lived in the village of Russkoye, and served as a reader in the local church. In

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1932 she was arrested, and on September 21 was sentenced to three years in
the camps and sent to a camp. In 1935 she was released from camp, and went
to live in the village of Monastyrschina, Orichevo region, working as a reader
in the church. In the summer of 1937 she was arrested for being “a participant
in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True
Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was sentenced to ten years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Catherine Ivanovna Gryazeva was born in 1890 in the village of Shirkino,

Lebyazh uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. She lived in Urzhum,
doing housework. In the summer of 1937 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the
True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was sentenced to ten years in
the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Antonina Leontyevna Petrova was born in 1894 in Vyatka into a peasant

family. A free peasant, she was arrested in 1930, and on February 3 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. In 1933 she was released
and returned to Vyatka. In the summer of 1937 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the
True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was sentenced to death. On
October 14 she was shot.

Apollinaria Nikitichna Vylegzhanina was born in 1912 in the village of

Krutsy, Orichevo uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family, and lived in
Vyatka without working. In the summer of 1937 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, the
‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 was sentenced to ten years in
the camps and sent to a camp. In 1947 she was released and settled in
Sovietskoye, working in a veterinary clinic. In 1949 she was arrested, and on
February 23 was sentenced to termless exile and sent to Krasnoyarsk district.
Nothing more is known about her.

Priest Alexander Ivanovich Tumbasov was born in 1902 in Yaransk,

Vyatka province. In 1922 he finished at a two-class school in Yaransk. He
served in the village of Tabashino, Orshansk region. On February 1, 1931 he
was arrested in a group case, and on December 14 he was sentenced to three
years in the camps and sent to Siblag. In May, 1933 he was arrested for being
“a participant in a counter-revolutionary church-monarchist group of the
True Orthodox Church”, and on January 28, 1934 was transferred to a
punishment isolation cell for two years. In 1942, after his release, he settled
illegally in the village of Turunovo near Yoshkar-Ola. On August 31, 1945 he
was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet underground of the

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True Orthodox Church”, and was sentenced to ten years in the camps and
sent to the Osinnikovo section of Siblag. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Cyril, in the world Clement Vasilyevich Gritsko, was born in 1890 in
the village of Blyuvinichi, Brest-Litovsk uyezd, Grodno province into a
peasant family, and went to three classes of the village school. From 1915 he
was in the Yezhovsky monastery, and was tronsured. In 1924, after the
closure of the monastery, he lived in the village of Selivanovo, Yoshkar-Ola
region, and worked in the fields. In 1932 he was arrested for not handing over
bread, but was later released. He returned to Selivanovo, and was without
fixed occupation. On December 23, 1935 he was arrested, but on March 3,
1936 he was freed, and the case was shelved. He took part in secret services in
the village. On August 31, 1945 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church”, and was sentenced
to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about
him.

Nun Anastasia (Vasilyevna Scheglova) was born in 1883 in the village of

Schegly, Salobelyaksky uyezd, Vyatka province, and received an elementary
education. After the closure of her monastery she lived in Yoshkar-Ula and
worked as a homeworker in an artel, taking part in secret services. On August
31, 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet
underground of the True Orthodox Church”, and was sentenced to six years
in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Yegor Emelianovich Mutovkin was born in 1888 in the village of Yezhovo,

Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd, and received an elementary education. In 1914 he
was at the front, and fell into captivity. In 1920 he returned to Russia and
lived in Yezhovo as a free peasant. On October 24, 1945 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox
Church”, and was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Maximus Vladimirovich Vladimirov was born in 1875 in the village of

Korsakovo, Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd, and received an elementary education.
In 1914 he was at the front, and fell into captivity. In 1920 he returned to
Russia and lived in Yezhovo as a free peasant. On October 24, 1945 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet underground of the True
Orthodox Church”, and was sentenced to seven years in the camps and sent
to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexander Kirillovich Gulin was born in 1891 in the village of Kuchki,

Medvedevsk uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant. He also worked as a
smith in a collective farm. On August 31, 1945 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church”,

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and was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

Alexandra Vasilyevna Scheglova was born in 1893 in the village of

Schegly, Salobelyaksky uyezd, Vyatka province. She lived in Yoshkar-Ola,
and was a dress-maker from home and the director of an artel. She took part
in secret services. On August 31, 1945 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church”,
and was sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about her.

*
The following members of the Myrrh-Bearers’ Desert suffered for the faith:

Archimandrite Innocent (Arsentyevich Kuledin) was born in 1882 in the

village of Oshla, Solobelyaksk uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family,
and went to agricultural school. In 1914 he was in the Myrrh-Bearers’ Desert,
where he was tonsured and later ordained to the diaconate. From September,
1921 he was working in the Myrrh-Bearers’ workers’ artel. At the end of 1923
he was arrested for “distributing religious literature and hiding church
valuables”, and on February 2, 1924 was sentenced to two years in prison. At
the beginning of 1926 he was released, returned to his homeland, and began
to serve as a deacon in Vyatka province. In 1928 he was ordained to the
priesthood, was disenfranchised, and served as a priest in the villages of
Yaransk region. In 1931 he was serving in Kosmodemyansk, and in the same
years was raised to the rank of archimandrite. On July 21, 1931 he was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary organization of
churchpeople, the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 was
sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a camp. In 1934 he was
released and settled in the village of Nurzeni, Yaransk region, where he
served in the village of Urtma. On July 24, 1937 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, the ‘True
Orthodox Church’”, and on September 29 he was sentenced to death. On
October 14 he was shot.

Hieromonk Vladimir, in the world Basil Stepanovich Sanchurov, was born

in 1900 in the village of Kondakovka, Stavropol uyezd, Samara province into
a peasant family, and went to four classes of the village school. In 1916 he
became a novice in the Desert of the Myrrh-Bearers. In 1919 he served as a
private in the Red Army. In 1922 he was demobilized and returned to the
Desert. He was tonsured and served as reader in the Staroselsky church in
Orshansk region. In 1925 he was investigated in connection with the
monastery, but was not condemned. In 1929 he was ordained to the
priesthood, serving in the Staroselsky church. He was disenfranchised. In
1930 he and his parish joined Bishop Nectarius. On February 5, 1932 he was
arrested for being “the leader of a counter-revolutionary organization, the

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True Orthodox Church”. On August 19 he was sentenced to three years in the

camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Hieromonk Gabriel, in the world Gabriel Alexeyevich Burtsev, was born

in 1871 in the village of Labazy, Buzuluk uyezd, Samara province into a
peasant family, and finished two classes at village school. He joined the
Myrrh-Bearers Desert, was tonsured and later ordained to the priesthood. In
1918 he was arrested, but released after fourteen days. In September, 1921 he
was working in the Myrrh-Bearers workers’ artel. In 1922 he was arrested,
and was released within five days. He lived in Tsarevokokshaisk and served
as a reader in the village of Kuznetsovo. In 1937 he was arrested, and August
19 sentenced to death and shot the same day in the prison of Yoshkar-Ola.

Hieromonk Maurice (Ilyich Petrov) was born in 1874 in the village of

Kuznetsovo, Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd into a peasant family, and finished
three classes at village school. From 1914 he was in the Myrrh-Bearers’ Desert,
was tonsured, and ordained to the diaconate. In 1918 he was disenfranchised.
In 1919 he was arrested and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. In 1921 he
was released, and from September he was working as treasurer of the Myrrh-
Bearers’ workers’ artel. In December, 1923 he was arrested for “distributing
religious literature and concealing church valuables”, but was released within
two months. He was ordained to the priesthood and served in his native
village. On December 30, 1932 he was arrested for being “a leader of a
counter-revolutionary group of followers of the True Orthodox Church”, and
on July 22, 1933 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. After
his release he returned to his native village. In the summer of 1937 he was
arrested, and on August 19 was sentenced to death and shot.

Hieromonk Basil (Bystrov) was from 1915 a novice in the Myrrh-Bearers

Desert. He was tonsured and later ordained to the priesthood. In September,
1921 he was working in the Myrrh-Bearers workers’ artel. In 1937 he was
arrested, and August 20 sentenced to eight years in the camps ands sent to a
damp, where, on November 2, 1941, he died.

Hierodeacon Nicholas Alexandrovich Yurichev was born in 1900 in the

village of Yezhovo, Tsarekokshaisk uyezd, and became a novice in the Desert
of the Myrrh-Bearers. From 1921 he was working the Myrrh-Bearers labour
artel. At the end of 1923 he was arrested for “hiding church valuables”, and
on February 2, 1924 was sentenced to one year’s incarceration. In December
he was released. He was ordained to the diaconate and served in the
Resurrection cathedral in Tsarekokshaisk. On May 18, 1931 he was arrested
for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary cell of the True Orthodox
Church”, and on August 20 was sentenced to three years in the camps and
sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

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Hieromonk Alypius (Ivanenko) was tonsured and ordained in the Myrrh-

Bearers’ Desert. From September, 1921 he was working in the Myrrh-Bearers’
workers’ artel. At the end of 1923 he was arrested and accused of
“distributing religious literature and concealing church valuables”. On
February 2, 1924 he was sentenced to six years in prison. Nothing more is
known about him.

Hierodeacon Eugene (Danilov) joined the Myrrh-Bearers’ Desert, was

tonsured and ordained to the diaconate. From September, 1921 he was
working in the Myrrh-Bearers’ workers’ artel. At the end of 1923 he was
arrested and accused of “distributing religious literature and concealing
church valuables”. In 1924 he was sentenced to five years in prison. Nothing
more is known about him.

Hierodeacon Raphael (Vechkelev) was tonsured and ordained to the

diaconate in the Myrrh-Bearers Desert. He was the treasurer of the
community, and from 1921 – the accountant of the Myrrh-Bearers workers’
artel. At the end of 1923 he was arrested for “distributing religious literature
and concealing church valuables”, and on February 2, 1924 was sentenced to
four years in prison. After his release he served in the village of Kivatskoye,
Mordovo-Boklinsk region. In 1931 he was arrested and on September 8 was
sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

Archimandrite Seraphim, in the world Severian Nikandrovich Pavlovsky,

was born in 1869 in the village of Yezhovo, Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd, and
finished six classes at a gymnasium. In 1905 he became a novice in the Nikolo-
Berezovsky missionary monastery. On November 21, 1910 he was tonsured,
on May 30, 1911 was ordained to the diaconate, and on May 31 – to the
priesthood. From 1913 he was living in the Sviyazhsk monastery. From 1918
he was serving in the village of Krasnaya Gorka, from 1921 – in the Danilov
monastery in Moscow, from 1927 in the church of St. Nicholas on Pokrovka,
and from 1927 in the church of the Georgian icon of the Mother of God. On
January 29, 1927 he was raised to the rank of igumen in the Uglich women’s
monastery, and on January 30 – to the rank of archimandrite, being registered
in the Danilov monastery. At the beginning of 1931 he was arrested, and in
March was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to Arkhangelsk. In
February, 1934 he was released from exile and returned to this native village.
From February, 1936 he served in the village of Kuzhmar. On November 29,
1937 he was arrested, and on December 7 was sentenced to death. On
December 8 he was shot.

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Priest Nicholas Georgievich Zavarin was born in 1882 in the village of

Spasskoye, Vokhansk uyezd into a peasant family, and went to theological
seminary in Vologda. He served in the village of Poludennoye, Petropavlovsk
uyezd in Siberia, and from 1926 in the village of Ledenskoye, Vokhansk
region. He supported Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov). In 1930 he was arrested
and sentenced to two years in the camps and sent to a camp. In June, 1932 he
was exiled to Arkhangelsk, where he worked in forestry. In June, 1934 he was
released from exile and settled in the village of Zavetluzhye, Pyschugsky
region, serving in the local church. On March 3, 1935 he was arrested for anti-
Soviet agitation, and on June 21 was sentenced to three years in the camps
and sent to Karlag. On October 30, 1937 he was arrested in camp, and on
November 30 was sentenced to death and shot on the same day.

Priest Ivan Stepanovich Mamayev was born in 1899 in the village of

Dushkiny, Arbazh uyezd, where he served. In 1928 he was appointed dean of
the second district of the Kotelnich region, and in 1928 succeeded in
persuading the believers of the village of Letyagi, Arbazh region to join the
Catacomb Church under Bishop Victor. In 1930 he was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen, the ‘True
Orthodox Church’”, and on May 26 was sentenced to five years in the camps
and sent to Karlag. In 1936 he was arrested in camp, and on October 27 his
sentence was increased to five years. In 1937 he was arrested in camp, and on
December 8 he was sentenced to death. On December 10 he was shot.

Priest Nicholas Dmitrievich Fokin was born in 1873 in the village of

Krasnaya rechka, Yaransk uyezd, and went to a theological seminary. A priest
of the “Victorite” orientation, he served in the village of Chigiren, Kyrchansk
region. In the summer of 1937 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
counter-revolutionary organization of churchpeople, ‘the True Orthodox
Church’”, and on December 9 he was sentenced to death. On December 11 he
was shot.

Priest Nicholas Nikolayevich Kurbanovsky was born in 1881 in Vyatka,

and went to a theological seminary. He was disenfranchised. He served in
Kotelnich, where he was arrested in 1932 and accused of “joining the staff of a
church-monarchist organization, the True Orthodox Church”, of “being an
activist of the organization” and of “conducting counter-revolutionary work
in the population”. In the autumn of 1937 he was arrested in Vyatka province,
and on December 9 was sentenced to death. On December 13 he was shot in
Vyatka prison.

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Nun Olga (Fyodorovna Lopatina) was born in 1894 in the village of

Platiner, Nolinsk uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In 1916 she was tonsured. In the 1920s she was disenfranchised.
From 1928 she was living at the church in the village of Khlebnikovo, Mari-
Tureksk canton, Mari province. On February 8, 1931 she was arrested for
being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary organization of churchmen,
the ‘True Orthodox Church’”, and on December 14 she was sentenced to three
years’ exile and sent to the north. In 1934 she was released and returned to
Khlebnikov. In the autumn of 1937 she was arrested, and on December 9 was
sentenced to death. She was shot on the same day.

Reader Nicanor Nikolayevich Novokshonov was born in 1886 in the

village of Bezdenezhnaya, Verkhoshizhemsky region, Vyatka province into a
peasant family. After serving in a Guards regiment in St. Petersburg until
1911, he went to the Far East and worked on the Amur railway. In 1928 he
returned to his homeland and became a reader in the village of
Monastyrschina, Verkhoshizhemsky region. Returning to the Far East, he
began to help Fr. Alexis Papyrin as a reader. However, he returned to Vyatka
province, and from 1929 to 1937 served in four villages of the diocese: Sredne-
Ivkino and Istobenskoye in Verkhoshizhemsky region, Prokopyevskoye in
Shabalinsky region and Pustoshi in Verkhoshizhemsky region. On February
12, 1938 he was arrested in Torfyanaya settlement for “belonging to the
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization ‘Vyatka diocese – the True
Orthodox Church’”, and cast into Kirov (Vyatka) prison. On February 15 he
was convicted by the UNKVD and sentenced to be shot. While denying that
he belonged to any mythical “church-monarchist organization”, Nicanor
Nikolayevich did not deny that he was a supporter of the views of Bishop
Victor (Ostrovidov), which were displeasing to the authorities. On February
23, 1938 he was shot in Vyatka prison.

Reader Isaac Yakovlevich Serkov was born in 1899 in the village of

Okruga, Tuzhin uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family, and was a
church reader. On May 22, 1935 he was arrested and sentenced to three years
in the camps, and was sent to Temlag, where he was again arrested for anti-
Soviet activity. On February 16, 1938 he was sentenced to six years in the
camps. On September 10, 1938 he was arrested in camp in a group church
case. On January 15, 1939 he was sentenced as “an especially socially
dangerous element” to ten years in prison. Nothing more is known about
him.

Demetrius Nikolayevich Tkachenko was born in 1886 in the village of

Yevsug, Belovodsky uyezd, Donetsk province into a peasant family. A free

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peasant, in 1934 he was arrested, and on September 15 was sentenced to eight

years in the camps. He was sent to Temlang, where on September 10, 1938 he
was arrested in a group church case, and on January 15, 1939 – sentenced to
ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Nicholas Konstantinovich Teplyashin was born in 1900 in the

village of Pizhenskoye, Yaransk uyezd, and served in the village of Lum,
Yaransk region. At the beginning of 1932 he was arrested in a group case, and
on August 19 was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to a camp.
At the end of the 1930s he was living in the village of Tuzha, Vyatka province.
In the spring of 1939 he was arrested for “antisoviet agitation”, and on July 5
was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about him.

Priest John Alexandrovich Dvoyeglazov was born in 1898 in Klimkovo

factory (now Klimkovka, Belokholunitsky region, Vyatka diocese) in a
working class family. He was the eldest of four children. His father died
young. Ivan was accepted at state expense into the Belokholunitsky second-
class school, which he left with a diploma as a people’s teacher.

The First World War broke out. Ivan with four of his fellow villagers was
enrolled in the army. Once Ivan’s gas-mask didn’t work, and he would
undoubtedly have perished from the gas if his comrades had not succeeded in
wrapping him in a wet greatcoat.

In February, 1917 Ivan returned home, where he was elected secretary of

the volost executive committee. This, however, did not prevent him, a deeply
religious person, from going to church and singing in the church choir.

Of course, the local communists could not look with favour on such
behaviour in a representative of the new authorities, and at the first
convenient opportunity (the excuse was Ivan’s marriage to his young wife in
church) they removed him from his post.

Then Ivan decided to devote himself completely to God. He left Klimkovka

for the village of Mikhailovskoye in Nagorsky region, where he became the
Church reader. Soon he was ordained to the diaconate, and then to the
priesthood.

In about 1927 the church authorities transferred Fr. John to the village of
Yelevo in Belokholunitsky region. After his arrival the church of Saints Peter

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and Paul began to fill up with people from Zuyevka, Kosa and other places.
Some were particularly attracted by Fr. John’s chanting.

“Our house,” recalls Fr. John’s son Nicholas, “was filled to overflowing
before feasts. My father directed the rehearsals. Already at that time I knew
the music of Tchaikovsky and Glinka.”

In 1930, Fr. John, who did not recognize the renovationists and sergianist
neo-renovationists, was arrested under the article about “antisoviet agitation
and propaganda”. He was sent to the White Sea - Baltic canal, while his
family was thrown onto the street. His wife and four children had to take
shelter with relatives. The youngest child, a daughter, died at the age of
eleven months. Matushka wove shawls day and night in order to earn enough
money to survive. She was also helped by kind people who did not let the
young family perish.

Fr. John was so exhausted by his work on the canal that he began to spit
blood and landed up in hospital. There they noticed his erudition and good
handwriting, and when he recovered a little he was taken into the
administration of the canal construction. There Fr. John even acquired a
patent for a new method of calculating the quantity of work done.

After three and a half years he was released. On returning to Yelevo he

obtained the opening of the church, and managed to convince his
parishioners that without their will the authorities had not right to close the
church according to existing legislation. In spite of threats he continued to
commemorate Patriarch Tikhon (or the faithful, “Tikhonite” bishops), and
refused to join the sergianists. Because of this he was persecuted in various
ways. Thus on any day, and especially on the eve of feasts, he could be
summoned to the NKVD in Vyatka for no reason at all. On returning (as a
rule, on foot), he would start serving, sometimes without resting at all. There
were times when he collapsed from exhaustion in the church.

Once the president of the village soviet, a teacher and one other person
came to Fr. John and tried to persuade him to renounce God. They departed
defeated.

However, a Judas was found to denounce the pastor. He was accused of

agitating among the collective farm workers, persuading them not to vote in
elections and sending nuns among them with various fables. Even some
young people, including former komsomol members such as N. Kh, Kulakov,
P.M. Marenin, had submitted to his influence and been married in church
after living with their wives for several years without the Church’s blessing.

As a result, Fr. John was sentenced in accordance with article 58 of the

Criminal Code. He was arrested for the last time not long before the outbreak

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of war with Germany. By a miracle his relatives received a letter from him in
the summer of 1941 in which he said that he was digging ditches in Penza
region and had eaten only one wet potato in the last three days. Soon they
were informed that Fr. John had died.

Nun Justina (Markovna Bazhnina) was born in 1872 in the village of

Bolshaya Sosnovka, Nolinsk uyezd into a peasant family. In the 1930s she was
living in Krasnokokshaisk (Tsarevokokshaisk). She was disenfranchised. On
December 30, 1932 she was arrested for being “a participant in a counter-
revolutionary group of followers of the True Orthodox Church”, and on July
22 was sentenced to 5.5 months in prison. She was released. In 1937 she was
arrested again for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September 11 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps. In 1942 she died in camp.

Priest Semyon Ivanovich Yanduletsky was born in 1887 in the village of

Aleyevo, Rongin uyezd, Mari province. From 1909 he was serving as under-
th
officer in the 20 Siberian rifles regiment. In 1912 he was demobilized, but
from 1914 he was a company commander and the senior member of a band of
st
spires in the 41 Siberian rifles regiment. From January, 1918 he was working
in the fields in his native village. From 1930 he was serving as priest in the
village of Lezhnino, Sharanga region. In 1932 he was arrested and sentenced
to three years’ exile and sent to Arkhangelsk. In April, 1933 he ran away from
exile, but in May, 1934 he was arrested and sentenced to three years in the
camps and sent to Mariinsk camp. After his release in 1937 he helped serving
priests in the village of Vostanchursk and in the village of Klochki, Yaransk
region. In 1938 he went underground and conducted secret services in
villages. From August, 1941 he was conducting services in a secret church. On
June 3, 1942 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on September 22-25 was sentenced to death, and on September
25 he was shot.

Nicephorus Mikhailovich Makarov was born in 1892 in the village of

Markushki, Yaransk uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed
occupation or domicile, but went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September
22-25 was sentenced to death. On November 20 this sentence was commuted
to ten years in the camps, and he was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known
about him.

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Vladimir Lukyanovich Andreyev was born in 1885 in the village of

Kurantsy, Kiknur uyezd, Vyatka province. A free peasant, he was arrested in
1932 and sentenced to two years in the camps and sent to a camp, from which
he ran away. In the 1940s he had no fixed occupation or domicile, but went
underground. On June 3, 1942 he was arrested for being “a participant in a
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of churchpeople, the True
Orthodox Church”, and on September 22-25 was sentenced to death. On
November 20 this sentence was commuted to ten years in the camps, and he
was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Vasilyevich Bazhin was born in 1906 in the village of

Bezdenezhnykh, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed
occupation or domicile, but went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September
22-25 was sentenced to ten years in the camps, and he was sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Ivan Vasilyevich Bazhin was born in 1899 in the village of

Bezdenezhnykh, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed
occupation or domicile, but went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September
22-25 was sentenced to death. On November 20 this sentence was commuted
to ten years in the camps, and he was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known
about him.

Nicholas Alexandrovich Beresnev was born in 1909 in the village of

Beresnevo, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed
occupation or domicile, but went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was
arrested for being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September
22-25 was sentenced to death. On November 20 this sentence was commuted
to ten years in the camps, and he was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known
about him.

Paul Alexandrovich Beresnev was born in 1918 in the village of Beresnevo,

Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed occupation or
domicile, but went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was arrested for being “a
participant in a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of
churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September 22-25 was
sentenced to death. On November 20 this sentence was commuted to ten
years in the camps, and he was sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about
him.

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Ivan Alexeyevich Zagulyaev was born in 1901 in the village of

Zagulyaevo, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed
occupation or domicile, and he went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September
22-25 was sentenced to death and shot.

Peter Alexeyvich Zagulyaev was born in 1910 in the village of Zagulyaevo,

Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed occupation or
domicile, and he went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of
churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September 22-25 was
sentenced to death and shot.

Semyon Alexeyevich Zagulyaev was born in 1903 in the village of

Zagulyaevo, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed
occupation or domicile, and he went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September
22-25 was sentenced to death and shot.

Theodore Fyodorovich Zagulyaev was born in 1894 in the village of

Zagulyaevo, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in 1931 he was arrested and
sentenced to four years in the camps and sent to a camp, from which he ran
away. In 1932 he was arrested against and sentenced to a further three years
and sent to a camp. In the 1940s, after his released, he had no fixed occupation
or domicile, and went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of
churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September 22-25 was
sentenced to death and shot.

Alexis Alexandrovich Skurikhin was born in 1918 in the village of

Kuznetsy, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed
occupation or domicile, and went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September
22-25 was sentenced to death and shot.

Michael Alexanedrovich Skurikhin was born in 1912 in the village of

Kuznetsy, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in 1938 he was arrested and
sentenced to one years’ hard labour and sent to a camp. In the 1940s he had
no fixed occupation or domicile, and went underground. On June 3, 1942 he
was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September
22-25 was sentenced to death and shot.

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Ivan Stepanovich Zamyatin was born in 1900 in the village of Saltayevo,

Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in 1938 he was arrested and sentenced to one
years’ hard labour and sent to a camp. After his release he returned to his
homeland. In 1935 he was again arrested and sentenced to three years in the
camps and sent to a camp. In 1938 he was released and returned to his
homeland. In the 1940s he had no fixed occupation or domicile, and went
underground. On June 3, 1942 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of churchpeople, the True
Orthodox Church”, and on September 22-25 was sentenced to death and shot.

Ivan Petrovich Zolotarev was born in 1905 in the village of Chashnitsy,

Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in 1930 he was arrested and sentenced to two
years in the camps and sent to a colony, from which he ran away. He was
again arrested and sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp,
but again ran away. In the 1940s he had no fixed occupation or domicile, and
went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was arrested for being “a participant
in the counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of churchpeople, the
True Orthodox Church”, and on September 22-25 was sentenced to death and
shot.

Ivan Nikityevich Makoveyev was born in 1900 in the village of

Oshetskaya, Kiknur uyezd. In the 1940s he had no fixed occupation or
domicile, and went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was arrested for being
“a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of
churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September 22-25 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps. The sentence was postponed and he was
sent to the army. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexander Viktorovich Sannikov was born in 1913 in the village of Maly

Kuyanur, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed
occupation or domicile, and went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September
22-25 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

Peter Prokopyevich Filinykh was born in 1904 in the village of Zybenski,

Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in 1931 he was arrested and sentenced to eight
years in the camps and sent to Usollag, from where he ran away in 1936. In
the 1940s he had no fixed occupation or domicile, and went underground. On
June 3, 1942 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-
revolutionary monarchist organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox
Church”, and on September 22-25 was sentenced to death and shot.

Sergius Vladimirovich Khlybov was born in 1921 in the village of

Svetlaki, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1940s he had no fixed

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occupation or domicile, and went underground. On June 3, 1942 he was

arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist
organization of churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September
22-25 was sentenced to ten years in the camps. The sentence was postponed
and he was sent to the army. Nothing more is known about him.

Alexandra Ivanovna Yelsukova was born in 1920 in the village of

Chashnitsy, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, in the 1930s she had no fixed
occupation or domicile. On June 3, 1942 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of
churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September 22-25 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Olympiada Mikhailovna Zaitseva was born in 1904 in the village of

Chashnitsy, Kiknur uyezd. A free peasant, from the 1940s she had no fixed
occupation or domicile. On June 3, 1942 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of
churchpeople, the True Orthodox Church”, and on September 22-25 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Priest Seraphim Vladimirovich Agafonnikov was born in 1904 in the

village of Bogoslovskoye, Kotelnich uyezd, a son of the martyred priest Fr.
Vladimir Agafonnikov. Until 1914 he lived with his parents and studied in
the village school. From 1914 to 1918 he studied in a gymnasium in Vyatka.
After the martyrdom of his father, he could not continue his education and
worked as a copyist at the Batalov volost military commissariat, and then,
from 1919 to 1922, at the railway station in Vyatka. In 1923, falling ill because
of malnutrition, he could not work for a year. From the end of 1923 he began
to serve as a reader in his native village. In 1927 he was ordained to the
diaconate and went to serve in the village of Arkhangelskoye, Kotelnich
uyezd. In the same year his mother, a village teacher, had her house taken
from her, so Fr. Seraphim had to serve in other parishes. From the beginning
of 1928 (according to another source, 1924) he was serving in the village of
Istobenskoye, Verkhoshizhemsky region. In 1934 he was ordained to the
priesthood by Bishop Sergius (Druzhinin) in Yoshkar-Ola, and went to serve
in the village of Vozhgaly, Kumensk region until 1937, when the church was
closed because of the parish’s inability to pay the extraordinary church taxes.
From that time Fr. Seraphim performed needs in the homes of believers. He
could not get work of any kind. In 1938, with great labour he built a small
house for himself on the outskirts of Vyatka, but this was confiscated. Then,

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with his brother, he constructed a house out of a wooden pig-sty that a

parishioner had given him. On November 29, 1939 he was arrested on the
basis of a report that he was carrying out church rites in the homes of
believers and cast into Vyatka prison. During a search church utensils were
found in his house. His books were burned. According to Fr. Seraphim’s
nephew, “he was interrogated several times a day, especially at night. We can
say with certainty that tortures were applied.” The chekists took it in turns to
interrogate him, not allowing him to sleep day or night. At the beginning of
the investigation Fr. Seraphim affirmed that he never engaged in politics, nor
conducted agitation against Soviet power and did not criticize the measures
undertaken by the authorities. But at the end of the investigation he
compromised himself, and so on April 20, 1940 he was convicted of “illegal
carrying out of religious rites” and in accordance with article 58-10 part one
was sentenced to ten years in the camps with five years disenfranchisement.
He was sent to colony no. 3 at Kirs station, Omutino region, Vyatka province,
where he died in 1943, perhaps by starvation.

James Yakimovich Popov was born in 1875 in the village of Lom, Yaransk
uyezd, and lived there as a free peasant. In 1927 he was arrested and
sentenced to six months in prison, but was released on amnesty. On July 24,
1941 he was arrested for being “a participant in the counter-revolutionary
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, but on August 18, 1943 the case
was shelved because of the death of the accused.

Ilya Izotovich Kasyanov was born in 1906 in the village of Valki, Kiknur
uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. A free peasant, in the 1940s he went into hiding from military
service. On September 15, 1942 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
counter-revolutionary organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on
August 18, 1943 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Ivanovich Sannikov was born in 1905 in the village of Maly

Kulyanur, Kiknur uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. A free peasant, in the 1940s he went into hiding from military
service. On September 9, 1942 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
counter-revolutionary organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on
August 18, 1943 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Semyonovich Zagulyaev was born in 1924 in the village of

Shabashi, Kiknur uyezd into a peasant family. In 1942 he was called up, but
on August 16 he deserted from the army and went into hiding in Vyatka
province. On October 16, 1942 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
counter-revolutionary organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on

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August 18, 1943 he was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Alexandra (Polikarpovna Tolstikova) was born in 1883 in the village

of Chulki, Arbazh uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family. In the 1930s
he was living in the village of Karavannoye, Tuzhim region, and serving as a
reader in the local church. On May 21, 1934 she was arrested and accused of
“counter-revolutionary activity”. On August 14 she was released on account
of her age, and the case was shelved because of lack of evidence. She was
without fixed occupation or domicile. On July 23, 1943 she was arrested for
being “a participant in a counter-revolutionary church-monarchist
organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on August 18 was sentenced
to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about
her.

Archimandrite Seraphim, in the world Ivan Vasilyevich Cherstvov, was

arrested and condemned many times. From 1920 he was in Tashkent, where
he organized secret services with a group of nuns. In 1925 he was arrested for
being “the leader of a counter-revolutionary monarchist organization of
churchpeople”, and was sentenced to three years in the camps and sent to
Solovki. In 1928 he was released and exiled to Mari province. In the 1940s he
went underground. In 1944 he was arrested and sentenced to ten years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Anastasia (Iosifovna Krasnova) was born in 1883 in the village of

Maliye Kosheli, Chuvashia, and received an elementary education. In the
1940s she was living in Yoshkar-Ola, and took part in secret services. On
August 31, 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet
underground of the True Orthodox Church”, and was sentenced to ten years
in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Catherine Iosifovna Baranova was born in 1893 in the village of

Khmelevo, Salobelyaksk uyezd, Vyatka province. She lived as a free peasant
in the village of Krayevo, Orshansk region. She took part in secret services.
On September 1, 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-
Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church, and was sentenced to ten
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

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Michael Grigoryevich Chernyaev was born in 1886 in the village of

Pavlovo, Medvedevsky uyezd, where he lived. He had an elementary
education. Before the revolution he was a trader. In the 1920s he was a free
peasant. On October 23, 1945 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church”, and was sentenced
to seven years in the camps and sent to Usollag. Nothing more is known
about him.

Ulyana Gavrilovna Popova was born in 1883 in the village of Akshak-

Belyak, Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd, and received an elementary education. She
lived as a free peasant in the village of Russkij Kuknor. On October 23, 1945
she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet underground of
the True Orthodox Church”, and was sentenced to ten years in the camps and
sent to Usollag. Nothing more is known about her.

Natalya Vasilyevna Belorusova was born in 1878 in the village of

Krayevo, Orshansk uyezd, where she lived as a free peasant, taking part in
secret services. On October 25, 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant
in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church”, and was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Archimandrite Sergius, in the world Semyon Filippovich Mytikov, was

born in 1872 in the village of Set-Kasy, Yadrinsk uyezd, Chuvashia into a
peasant family, and finished three classes in a parish school. In 1898 he joined
the Myrrh-Bearers’ Desert as a novice, and on July 5, 1902 was tonsured. On
December 22 he was ordained to the diaconate, and on February 22, 1904 – to
the priesthood. From May he was serving as treasurer of the community. On
October 30, 1916 he became superior of the community – form June 14, 1917 in
the rank of Igumen. From 1921 he was serving in the village of Urtminskoye,
Yaransk uyezd, and from the middle of the 1920s, after the closure of the
monastery, he was living in Krasnokokshaisk. From 1926 he was serving in
the church of the Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem. From 1928 he refused to
serve in churches subject to Metropolitan Sergius, but served in the houses of
believers in the outskirts of Yoshkar-Ola. In 1932 he settled in a small house in
Yoshkar-Olga, where he organized a secret church and conducted illegal
services. He was thrice summoned to investigations on the suspicion of
“antisoviet activity”, but was not condemned. On August 30, 1945 he was
arrested for being “an active organizer and ideological leader of the antisoviet
church underground”. On October 31 he was sentenced to ten years in the
camps. On November 30 he died in the inner prison of Vyatka.

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Deacon Ivan Yakovlevich Buritsky was born in 1883 in Yaransk into a

merchant’s family, and received an elementary education. He served in a
church in Yaransk. In the 1940s he had no work. In the spring of 1945 he was
arrested for being “a participant in the antisoviet church underground”, and
on October 31 was sentenced to four years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Eudocia (Fyodorovna Kosolapova) was born in 1887 in the village of

Vaskino, Sanchur uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In the 1930s she went underground, and was a messenger for
Archimandrite Sergius (Mytikov). In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for
being “a participant in the antisoviet church underground”, and on October
31 was sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about her.

Nun Maria (Nikolayevna Berezina) was born in 1875 in the village of

Katanur, Yaransk uyezd, and received an elementary education. In the 1930s
she went underground. In 1943 Archimandrite Sergius (Mytikov) blessed her
to serve in secret churches in the Vyatka province. In the spring of 1945 she
was arrested for being “a participant in the antisoviet church underground”,
and on October 31 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Martha (Ivanovna Skulkina) was born in 1890 in the village of

Tumsha, Pizhansk uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In the 1940s she was living in her native village, but without work.
In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-
Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to five years
in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Alexandra (Yakovlevna Verkhorubova) was born in 1889 in the

village of Kolesnikova, Kotelnich uyezd, and received an elementary
education. In the 1930s she went underground, and in the 1940s was living in
Yaransk. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the
anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to five
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Ivan Mikhailovich Vidyakin was born in 1896 in the village of Pichura,

Kiknur uyezd, where he lived as a free peasant, and received an elementary
education. In 1931 he was arrested and sentenced to three years’ exile and
sent to the north. After release from exile he lived in the village of
Nikulinskaya, working as a miller. In the spring of 1945 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the antisoviet church underground”, and on October
31 was sentenced to seven years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

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Michael Terenteyvich Gladyshev was born in 1889 in the village of

Krutoye, Sanchur uyezd into a peasant family, and he received an elementary
education. A free peasant, he had a hiding-place in his house for illegal
priests. In the spring of 1945 he was arrested for being “a participant in the
antisoviet church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to seven
years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Grigoryevich Shemyakin was born in 1870 in Sanchursk, and

received an elementary education. Until the revolution he served as a police
constable in Sanchursk. In the 1940s he was living in Yaransk without work.
In the spring of 1945 he was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet
church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to eight years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Kuzmich Nemikhin was born in 1884 in the village of Nemichevo,

Sanchur uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary education.
In 1932 he was arrested, and on June 25 was sentenced to three years in the
camps and sent to a camp. After his release from camp and exile he returned
to his native village as a free peasant. In the spring of 1945 he was arrested for
being “a participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October
31 was sentenced to seven years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing
more is known about him.

Ivan Vasilyevich Sushentsov was born in 1885 in the village of

Sheklyanur, Kiknur uyezd into a merchant’s family, and received an
elementary education. A free peasant, in the spring of 1945 he was arrested
for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on
October 31 was sentenced to seven years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Eugenia Fyodorovna Sheveleva was born in 1928 in the village of

Filinskoye, Verkhne-Shishmenskoye uyezd into a merchant’s family, and
received an elementary education. In the 1940s she went underground. In the
spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet
church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to seven years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Vedeneyevna Ozhiganova was born in 1896 in the village of

Komarovka, Korlyakovsky uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. In the 1940s she was living in her native
village, but not working. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was
sentenced to six years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

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Anna Ivanovna Myagchilova was born in 1895 in the village of Krutoye,

Sanchur uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary education.
In the 1940s she was living in her native village, but not working. In the
spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet
church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to six years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Anna Yegorovna Kozhinova was born in 1913 in the village of Pirinda,

Yaransk uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary education.
In the 1940s she went underground, and was a messenger for an illegal priest.
In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-
Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to eight years
in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Anna Vasilyevna Razgulina was born in 1911 in the village of Russkaya

Lisa, Sanchur uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In the 1940s she was living in his native village, but without work.
In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-
Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to five years
in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Pelagia Yegorovna Ryzhakova was born in 1895 in the village of Okrug,

Tuzhino uyezd into a peasant family, and had an elementary education. In the
1940s she was living in the village of Shudum, Korlyakovsky region, but
without work. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant
in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to
five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Catherine Stepanovna Kozlova was born in 1911 in the village of

Vardushino, Sanchur uyezd into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In the 1940s she had a hiding place in her house for
illegal priests. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant
in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to
five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Elizabeth Alexeyevna Kozlova was born in 1887 in the village of Karelino,

Sanchur uyezd into a peasant family, and had an elementary education. In the
1940s she was living in Karelino. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for
being “a participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October
31 was sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more
is known about her.

Alexandra Fyodorovna Selivanova was born in 1907 in the village of

Chigiryan, Sanchur uyezd, and received an elementary education. In the
1940s she went underground, and was a messenger for Archimandrite
Sergius (Mytikov). In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a

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participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was

sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Eudocia Ivanovna Smirnova was born in 1897 in the village of Krutoye,

Sanchur uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary education.
In the 1940s she had a secret hiding place in her house for illegal priests. In
the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet
church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to eight years in the
camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Anna Stepanovna Sokolova was born in 1909 in the village of Chernaya

Rechka, Sanchur uyezd, and received an elementary education. In the 1930s
she went underground. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was
sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Eudocia Danilovna Mukhina was born in 1887 in the village of

Vypolzovo, Sanchur uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In the 1940s she was living in her native village, where she had a
hiding place for illegal priests. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being
“a participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Matrona Afanasyevna Vershinina was born in 1891 in the village of

Tabashino, Orshansk uyezd, Mari republic, and received an elementary
education. In 1931 she was arrested “for anti-Soviet activity”, and on
December 14 was sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. After
her release she went underground. She was a messenger of Archimandrite
Sergius (Mytikov). In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was
sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Agatha Yevseyeva Vorontsova was born in 1889 in the village of

Kozhenerka, Salobelyksky uyezd into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In the 1940s she was living in her native village
without working. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Matrona Fyodorovna Vorontsova was born in 1889 in the village of

Kozhenerka, Salobelyksky uyezd into a peasant family, and received an

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elementary education. In the 1940s she was living in her native village
without working. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Valentina Ivanovna Vokhmintseva was born in 1904 in the village of

Bakalda, Salobelyaksky uyezd into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In the 1940s she was living in her native village
without working. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was
sentenced to seven years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Taisia Mikhailovna Gladysheva was born in 1919 in the village of

Sheplyanka, Korlykovsky uyezd into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. In the 1940s she was living in the village of
Sheplyanka. In the 1940s she was living in her native village without working.
In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-
Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to five years
in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Alexandra Vasilyevna Zarnitsyna was born in 1916 in the village of

Mureyevo, Korlyakovsk uyezd, and received an elementary education. In the
1940s she was living in her native village, where she had a hiding place in her
house for illegal priests. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is
known about her.

Evgenia Petrovna Zarnitsyna was born in 1912 in the village of Mureyevo,

Korlyakovsk uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In the 1940s she was living in her native village without working.
In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-
Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to five years
in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Taisia Alexandrovna Kalyagina was born in 1912 in the village of

Gorodische, Sanchur uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In the 1940s she was living in her native village without working.
In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in the anti-
Soviet church underground”, and on October 31 was sentenced to four years
in the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about her.

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Peter Petrovich Yurichev was born in 1885 in the village of

Podmonastyrskaya Sloboda, Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd. A free peasant, he
finished two classes at village school. In 1923 he was under investigation “for
counter-revolutionary work”, but was released after two months. He went
underground. On December 30, 1932 he was arrested for being “a participant
in a counter-revolutionary group of followers of the True Orthodox Church”,
and on July 22, 1933 was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment and freed
in view of the time he has already spent in prison. He returned to Mari
republic. In 1946 he was arrested, and on March 5 sentenced to ten months in
the camps and sent to a camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Michael Ivanovich Pavlovsky was born in 1909 in the village of Yezhovo,

Tsarevokokshaisk uyezd, and received an elementary education. He lived as a
free peasant in the village of Yezhovo. On October 24, 1945 he was arrested
for being “a participant in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox
Church”, and was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to Usollag. On
May 27, 1947 he was arrested in camp “for counter-revolutionary sabotage”,
and on July 28 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp.
Nothing more is known about him.

Deacon Athanasius Ignatyevich Kasyanov was born in 1902 in the village

of Guslyanka, Kiknursky uyezd, Vyatka province. He lived in the village of
Shapta, Kiknursky region, Vyatka province. After his ordination to the
diaconate by Archbishop Demetrius of Gdov he served in the village of
Berezovaya. On February 17, 1932 he was arrested, and on August 14 was
sentenced to three years’ exile and sent to the north. After his release he went
underground. In the spring of 1935 he was arrested again in Arkhangelsk for
conducting illegal services and on March 9 was sentenced to five years in the
camps and sent to a camp. After his release he returned to his homeland,
where, on September 7, 1946, he was arrested for being “a participant in an
anti-Soviet religious group”. On March 25, 1947 he was sentenced to death in
Kazan for being an active member of the True Orthodox Church, but on May
25 this sentence was commuted to ten years in the camps and he was sent to a
camp. On August 4, 1955 he was released. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest John Vasilyevich Razgulin was born in 1901 in the village of

Russkaya Lisa, Sanchur uyezd, Vyatka province, where he lived and worked
as a craftsman. In the 1930s he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop
Nectarius, but without the right to celebrate the Liturgy. In 1932 he was
arrested for being a secret priest and sentenced to three years’ exile and sent

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to the north. After being released he continued his secret service in the
villages, working as a cobbler. In 1937 he was arrested, and on March 27 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. In the middle of the
1950s he was released, but continued to serve in secret. He died in the 1970s.

(Sources: Holy Trinity Calendar for 1999, Jordanville; Za Khrista

Postradavshiye, Moscow, 1997; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye
Mucheniki Rossijskiye, Jordanville, 1949-57; Vladimir Rusak, Pir Satany,
London, Canada: "Zarya", 1991 ;
http://213.171.53.29/bin/code.exe/frames/m/ind_oem.html/charset/ans;
http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/mary.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/vyatka.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/perm.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/nnov.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/tatar.html#n.280)

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34. HIEROMARTYRS AND MARTYRS OF PENZA,

TAMBOV, LIPETSK AND MORDOVIA PROVINCES

Sergius Dlugokansky came from a well-known family of landowners in

Kozlov, Tambov province. On their estate they often had evening meetings at
which secular and spiritual literature was read and they discussed religio-
philosophical questions. The Dlugokansky house was open not only for
nobility, but for all. One member of the family, Julia Ivanovna, went to Optina
and was a spiritual daughter of Elder Nectarius. Sergius Dlugokansky was a
student at one of the Moscow institutes of higher education. He was a
member of the Russian Christian Student Movement. In the summer of 1917
he came home with a Moscow friend of his to spend the holidays in Kozlov.
He decided to visit the village. His mother tried to dissuade him – since the
February revolution estates had been burned and people had been killed
without trial or investigation. “What are you frightened of?” replied Sergius,
“the peasants have always loved us so much.” He and his friend set off for the
estate. In the village they were captured by a savage band of “peasant
revolutionaries”. Sergius understood everything and only asked for one thing
– for time for him and his friend to pray a little before death. A few minutes
later the youths were stabbed with pitchforks and killed.

Protopriest Lvov was serving in the city of Elatma, Tambov province. On

March 3, 1918 he was shot with eight laymen of the city when it was seized by
the Red Army in order to frighten the local population.

Priest Vladimir Ivanovich Daroshevsky was born in the village of

Znamenskoye, Ardatov region, Mordovia, where he also served. On
September 1, 1918 he was sentenced to death, and was shot.

Priest Demetrius Petropavlovsky was serving in Tambov province. In

November, 1918 he was shot by a punitive detachment of Red Army soldiers.

Priests Alexander Dmitrievsky and Alexis Dobrokhotov were serving in

the village of Bondari, Tambov province. They were shot at 4 a.m. on
November 3, 1918 by a punitive unit together with all the lower clergy,
including Michael and John (surnames unknown), 24 martyrs in all, and
were buried in the village cemetery in a common grave.

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Protopriest Theodore Malitsky and Priest Arsenius Milovidov were

serving in the church of St. John the Theologian in the village of Rasskazovo,
Tambov uyezd, Tambov province. When armed soldiers of the Red Army
tried to take away the metrical books from the church on May 22, 1918, the
parishioners entered into battle with them, two soldiers were killed and the
priests were arrested. The next day they were released. But on June 5 Fr.
Theodore was arrested again and cast into prison in Tambov. His
imprisonment ended on June 16. Fr. Arsenius was arrested on June 6 and
released on the same day. Nothing more is known about them.

Fr. Nicephorus Bogoyavlenksy, the father of Metropolitan Vladimir of

Kiev and superior of the church in the town of Malykh-Moroshky, Tambov
province, was killed by the Bolsheviks.

Priest Peter Ivanovich Kosmodemyansky was born on August 22, 1872

into the family of a priest, Fr. John, in Tambov province. One of his brothers,
Basil, was also a priest. He finished his studies at Tambov theological
seminary in 1894 and began to serve as a reader in the church of the village of
Bolshaya Lipovka, Morshansky uyezd, Tambov province. He also taught in
the church-parish school. Soon he married Lidia Fyodorovna Churikova, and
on February 6, 1900 was ordained as priest of the church in the village of
Krutets, where he became the head and teacher of the Law of God in the
church-parish school, and also president of the church-parish trust. In the
summer of 1906 he was transferred to the Znamenskaya church in the large
village of Osinoviye Gai in the neighbouring Kirsanovsky uyezd.

His first son, Anatoly, was born on October 24, 1900. Three more sons were
born: Alexis, Alexander and Theodore. In 1917 Anatoly and Alexis were
studying in Tambov theological seminary, and Alexander was continuing his
education in the church school.

In 1918 disturbances began among the peasants of Tambov province, and

in 1919 Kirsanovsky uyezd became the epicentre of a major peasant uprising
against Soviet power. Well-wishers advised Fr. Peter to flee, but he decided to
stay with his parish. There began a campaign for the “requisitioning of church
metrical books”, which all the priests in the uyezd resisted. On September 1,
1918 the military commissariat of the uyezd issued order no. 3627 on the
mobilization of horses for the Red Army. Special reception committees were
organized. The peasants were bringing in the harvest at the time, and, having

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gathered together, expressed dismay that the horses were being confiscated
when they were so necessary for bringing in the harvest. Fr. Peter stood up
before the peasants and spoke about the injustice of Soviet power. The
meeting was broken up with the aid of arms by communists and village
activists. An investigation was conducted. Fr. Peter was captured and,
according to a Cheka document dated November 25, 1918, after the uprising
had been suppressed, was sentenced to be shot together with another priest
called Panov for inciting the people to counter-revolutionary insurrection.
According to one version, his execution was also linked with his refusal to
hand over the metrical books of the parish, which contained the main
information about the parishioners and was kept in the church.

After being cruelly beaten, Fr. Peter was put on a cart and taken beyond
the bounds of the village. Throughout the night the semi-conscious priest
read prayers, while his tormentors were tormented by fears and visions. At
dawn the next day Fr. Peter was cast into Sosulinsky pond. There, not long
before Pentecost, a shepherd noticed something like light and singing by the
water (several kilometres from the village). Then they found the body of Fr.
Peter, which had a waxen colour and was completely incorrupt. Matushka
Lydia Feodorovna was frightened to take the body of her husband without
permission. Only when the village soviet gave permission did she and her
elder son Anatoly bury Fr. Peter beside the altar of the church on May 31,
1919, the Day of the Holy Spirit. A cross now stands on the grave.

Priest John Ostrovsky was shot by a punitive detachment of Red Army

soldiers in November, 1918 in the village of Bondari, Tambov province.

In 1918 Priests Alexander and Alexis, Deacon Basil, the church warden
Gregory and the laymen Antipas and John were killed in the village of
Bondari, Tambov province. They were buried in the village cemetery in a
common grave of 24 people killed by the persecutors of the faith.

Deacon Gregory Shemetov and Reader Demetrius Kornilov served in the

village of Perkino, Tambov province. On November 4, 1918 they were shot by
a unit of Red Army soldiers and buried in a common grave of 24 people who
had been killed by the Bolsheviks.

In 1918 the priest of the village of Olshanki, Tambov diocese, Fr. Nicholas
Kasatkin, was murdered. The criminals stole all the money that was in his

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hands and escaped. The priest's widow and his five young children were left
as orphans.

Archimandrite Nicholas (Orlov), rector of the Penza theological seminary,

was killed (no further details known).

Priest Basil Milyutin was serving in the village of Dmitrievka, Morshansk

uyezd, Tambov province. In October-November, 1918 he was shot by a
punitive detachment of Red Army soldiers “while suppressing peasant
disturbances”. He was buried in Tambov province.

Priest Ivan Ivanovich Pokhvalensky was born in 1859, and went to the
Tambov theological seminary. In 1879 he was appointed reader and teacher at
the church-parish school in the village of Uspenskoye, Kozlov uyezd, Tambov
province. In 1903 he was ordained to the priesthood and was appointed to the
Iverskaya church in the village of Naschekino, Kirsanov uyezd. He was
married to Ekaterina Petrovna (born 1882), and had no children. On
November 5, 1918 he was shot by the Bolsheviks.

Priest Nicholas Petrovich Varakin was born in 1891 in the village of

Chukaly, Ardatov region, Mordovia, where he also served. On March 26, 1919
he was condemned for “participation in a counter-revolutionary uprising”
and was sentenced to death. He was shot in 1919.

Priest Pancratius Anfirovich Miloslavsky was born in 1876 in Moscow.

He was arrested in 1919, and on October 28, 1919 was sentenced to be shot by
the Cheka of Tambov province. The order came directly from Trotsky.

The clergyman Michael Semyonovich Petrov was born in 1883 in the

village of B. Vyass, Penza province. On September 26, 1919 he was
condemned to death for “counter-revolutionary activity”, and was shot.

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Priest Nicholas Alexandrovich Protasov was serving in the prison church

in Kuznetsk, Penza province. In 1919 he was shot together with other priests
of the parishes of Kuznetsk.

Priest Alexander Evlampievich Lyubimov was the father-in-law of

Archbishop Augustine (Belyaev). He was serving in Penza diocese. During
the persecutions against the Church at the beginning of the 1920s he was
arrested and died in exile.

In 1922, 41 clergy of various ranks were killed in Tambov province in

connection with the requisitioning of church valuables.

The yedinverchesky Priest Yerokhin was put on trial together with S.A.
Nikitov, the warden of the church in the village of Lakhmytovka,
Kirsanovsky uyezd, Tambov province for “hiding church valuables”. As it
turned out, there was nothing to hide because the church was of the poorest.
So they were acquitted. Nothing more is known about him.

In Penza region there is a station which bears the name of Zametchina. Not
far away there used to be a monastery, of which only the foundations and
some stones remain. After the revolution forty monks were buried alive next
to the river. After a time forty small springs began to flow at the place of their
martyrdom. Their water is considered holy. At the end of June, on the day of
the commemoration of these forty martyrs, many people come to this spot to
venerate their memory. They say that on this day all forty springs burn with a
wonderful fire...

During his investigation, Hieromonk Seraphim (Borisov) said: “A series of

churches in the former Penza province joined the True Orthodox Church. I
heard about this from Deacon Fr. Alexander, I’ve forgotten his surname, he
arrived in Leningrad and served in the church of the Resurrection. Then he
went to Penza. In 1930 he was arrested...”

Priest Constantine Ivanovich Zolotnitsky was serving in the village of

Skachikha, Kirsanovsky uyezd, Tambov province. In July, 1929 he was
arrested for non-payment of taxes and expelled from his house with his

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family. For some days they lived in the church courtyard. Then the authorities
offered him a flat. A little later the village soviet summoned him and detained
him for five hours. A crowd gather and demanded his release. They let him
go, but then arrested him again. He was condemned. Nothing more is known
about him.

The clergyman Michael Ivanovich Konusov was born in 1887 in Penza

province. On October 2, 1929 he was sentenced in accordance with article 58-
10 to five years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Michael Andreyevich Derzhavin was born in 1894 in the

village of Aksel, Temnikovsky region, Mordovia. On November 4, 1929 he
was sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with article 58-10.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Alexis Ivanovich Yezhikov was born in 1890 in the village
of Russkiye Naimany, Mordovia, and served in the village of Parakino,
Bolsheberezinkovsky region. On November 21, 1929 he was sentenced to five
years’ imprisonment in accordance with article 58-10. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Stepan Andreyevich Victorov was born in 1893 in Voronezh

province, the son of a medical assistant. In 1921 he married Raisa Dmitrievna
Maksutova, the daughter of a priest, Fr. Demetrius Ivanovich Maksutov. They
had two sons. He served in the village of Promzino, Tambov province. In
August, 1929 he was arrested and cast into the prison in the village of
Anayevo, Zubovopolyansky region, Mordovia. After the arrest of Fr. Stefan,
his family moved to the village of Podassy, where Raisa’s father served.
However, one frosty night in January, 1930, he, Raisa and the two children
were thrown out into the cold with only the clothes they were standing in. But
kind parishioners did not allow the family to perish from cold and hunger,
and hid Fr. Demetrius from the OGPU. Fr. Stepan, meanwhile was sentenced
to death and shot in the prison in Anayevo. In December, 1929, his father, not
bearing the loss of his son, also died.

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The clergyman Michael Dmitrievich Voznesensky was born in 1889 in

the village of Drakino, Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia. On December 21, 1929
he was convicted in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, and sentenced
to ten years in prison. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Alexander Pavlovich Kedrin was born in 1894 in the

village of Khomutovka, Penza province, and lived in his native village. On
December 21, 1929 he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Nicholas Yegorovich Kutin was born in 1874 in the village
of Slaim, Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia, where he also served. On December
29, 1929 he was arrested and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in
accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Alexander Andreyevich Kaftayenkov was born in 1907 in

the village of Yavlashevo, Lyambirsky region, Mordovia, and served in his
native village. On January 16, 1930 he was sentenced in accordance with
article 58-10 part 2 to five years’ exile with forced labour. Nothing more is
known about him.

The clergyman Ivan Dmitrievich Kamnev was born in 1870 in the village
of Staraya Pichmorga (now in Nosakino), Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia.
There he was arrested, and on March 26, 1930 was sentenced in accordance
with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11 to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more
is known about him.

The clergyman Ivan Nikolayevich Dubrovsky was born in 1869 in the

village of Varzhelyai, Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia. On March 26, 1930 he
was convicted in accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11, and sentenced
to death. He was shot.

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Nicholas Yegorovich Yevstakhov was born in 1861 in the village of

Temnikov, Mordovia. He was a former forester. On May 9, 1930 he was
arrested in Temnikova and sentenced to be shot in accordance with articles
58-10 and 58-11. The sentence was carried out.

The clergyman Sergius Dmitrievich Gorodetsky was born in 1872 in the

village of Tazino, Bolshebereznikovsky region, Mordovia, and lived in the
village of Neklyudovo, Dubensky region. On May 21, 1930 he was sentenced
in accordance with article 58-10 to seven years’ exile. Nothing more is known
about him.

Priest Eugene Vasilyevich Dobrotin was born in 1877 in the village of

Dmitriev Usad, Atyuryevsky region, Mordovia. On December 21, 1929 he was
sentenced to ten years in prison in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11.
Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Ivanovich Yermashov was born in the village of Salazgor,

Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia into a peasant family. He was a member of the
parish council in his native village. On December 21, 1929 he was sentenced in
accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11 to five years’ exile in Siberia.
Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Euphrosyne (Stepanovna Keksina) was born in 1864 in the village of

Tazneyevo, Atyshevsky region, Mordovia, where she also struggled. On
January 10, 1931, she was sentenced to three years in the camps in accordance
with articles 58-10 and 59-2. Nothing more is known about her.

The clergyman Andrew Osipovich Ivanisov was born in 1870 in

Krasnoslobodsky region, Mordovia, and lived in the city of Insar, Mordovia.
On January 10, 1931 he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and
58-11 to five years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

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Priest Ivan Yefimovich Yegorov was born in 1886 in the village of

Chetvertakovo (now Turgenevo), Ardatov region, Mordovia, where he also
served. On January 11, 1931 he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in
accordance with article 58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

Monk Ivan (Apollinarievich Zharkikh) was born in 1876 in Voronezh

province and lived in the village of Papulevo, Ichalkovsky region, Mordovia.
On March 13, 1930 he was sentenced to five years’ exile in accordance with
article 58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Michael Ivanovich Kamnev was born in 1894 in the

village of Vazhelyaj, Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia. There, on March 26,
1930, he was arrested and sentenced in accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10
and 58-11, to ten years’ imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Alexander Mikhailovich Klyukov was born in 1888 in the

village of Rezovatovo, Ichalkovsky region, Mordovia. On April 25, 1930 he
was arrested and sentenced to five years in the camps in accordance with
articles 58-10, 58-8 and 58-13. Nothing more is known about him.

Priest Stepan Spiridonovich Korev was born in 1879 in the village of

Kalasevo, Ardatovsky region, Mordovia, where he served. On June 1, 1931 he
was arrested and sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’
imprisonment.

The clergyman Peter Grigoryevich Klyuchkov was born in 1874 in

Ityakovo settlement, Temnikovsky region, Mordovia. On June 19, 1931 he was
sentenced, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11, to three years’ exile to
the north. Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Michael Dmitrievich Zernov was born in 1874 in the

village of Malyshevo, Torbeyevsky region, Mordovia, where he also served.
On February 28, 1930 he was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in
accordance with article 58-10. Nothing more is known about him.

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Fifteen people were sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11
as part of “The Case of Bishop Gabriel (Abalymov) and others, 1931”. They
were recognized as being “participants in a branch of the counter-
revolutionary church-monarchist organization, ‘The Catacomb Church’ in
Moscow under the leadership of Bishop Gabriel (Abalymov) and
Hierodeacon Nestor (Postnikov-Myasnikov)”. These included:

Nicholas Trofimovich Zubarev. He was born in 1910 in the village of

Gusevka, Kirsanovsky uyezd, Tambov province, where he worked as church
reader. He was married. On October 16, 1930 he was arrested and cast into
Tambov Ispravdom. In 1931 he was condemned as “an active member of a
counter-revolutionary underground church-monarchist organization”. He
was also accused of being in close relations with the leaders of the
Underground Church in Moscow. “In 1929 he hid for a month in a cave
church, where he used church serving for anti-Soviet agitation”. Nothing
more is known about him.

Maria Ivanovna Vereschagina was born in 1902 in the village of Inokovka,

Kirsanvosky uyezd, Tambov province, the daughter of a trader. Under Soviet
power she was deprived of her civil rights. She was married. A part of her
property had been confiscated in 1929. On November 2, 1930 she was
imprisoned in Tambov, and in 1931 she was convicted of being “a member of
a counter-revolutionary church-monarchist organization”, of “active
participation in the equipping of secret caves” and of “active anti-Soviet
agitation against entering collective farms and other enterprises of Soviet
power”. Nothing more is known about her.

Alexander Alexeyevich Kalashnikov was born in 1868 in Temnikov,

Mordovia. He was a church nightwatchman. In Temnikov, on January 3, 1930,
he was sentenced to three years in the camps in accordance with article 58-10.
Nothing more is known about him.

The clergyman Eugene Pavlovich Insarsky was born in 1870 in the village
of Narovchat, Penza province, where he lived. On April 4, 1930 he was
sentenced in accordance with articles 58-8, 58-10 and 58-11 to ten years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

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The clergyman Andrew Osipovich Ivanisov was born in 1870 in

Krasnoslobodsky region, Mordovia, and served in the town of Insar. On
January 10, 1931 he was arrested, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment
in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. Nothing more is known about
him.

The clergyman Peter Pavlovich Kulikovsky was born in 1883 in the

village of Chelmodeyevsky Maidan, Insarsky region, Mordovia. On January
11, 1931 he was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-8 and 58-10 to ten
years in the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Nun Xenia (Yakovlevna Zetkina) was born in 1892 in the village of

Lobaski, Atyashevsky region, Mordovia. On January 10, 1931 she was
condemned, in accordance with articles 58-10 and 59-2, to three years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Nun Neonilla (Petrovna Klyushenkova) was born in 1864 in the village of

Lunginsky Maidan, Ardatov region, Mordovia. On January 10, 1931 she was
sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to five years’ imprisonment.
Nothing more is known about her.

The clergyman Andrew Fyodorovich Kuslin was born in 1887 in the

village of Sabayevo, Kochkurovsky region, Mordovia. On November 23, 1931
he was sentenced in accordance with article 58-10 to three years’
imprisonment. Nothing more is known about him.

Bishop Stephen (Nikitin) relates:- "In the 30s I was imprisoned in a

concentration camp. I was at that time a doctor and in the camp I was
assigned as head of the clinic. Most of the prisoners were in such a critical
condition that it broke my heart and I released many of them from work so as
to give them at least some relief; the weaker ones I sent to the hospital.

"One day, as I was examining patients, the nurse who worked with me -
also a camp prisoner - said to me:

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"'Doctor, I have heard that a denunciation has been brought against you;
you are being accused of excessive lenience in regard to prisoners and you are
threatened with an extension of your term up to fifteen years.'

"The nurse was a sober woman, I had good reason to feel horrified at her
words. I had been sentenced to three years which were soon to be completed.
Already I was counting the months and weeks which separated me from my
long-awaited freedom. And suddenly - fifteen years!

"All night I couldn't sleep, and when I went to work the next morning, the
nurse shook her head in distress upon seeing the drawn expression on my
face. After we had finished the examinations she said hesitantly:

"'I would like, doctor, to give you some advice, but I'm afraid you'll only
laugh at me.'

"'Tell me.'

"'In Penza, my home town, there lives a woman called Matronushka. The
Lord has granted her a special power of prayer. When once she begins to pray
for someone, her prayer is always answered. Many people turn to her for help
and she never refuses anyone. Why don't you ask her to help you?'

"I laughed sorrowfully. 'By the time my letter reaches her, they'll have
sentenced me to fifteen years.'

"'But it's not necessary to write to her, just call out to her,' said the nurse, a
little abashed.

"'Shout? From here?' I asked. 'She lives over a hundred kilometres away.'

"'I knew you'd laugh at me for saying that, but she can hear you from
anywhere. Do this: when you go out for your evening walk, fall behind the
rest for a bit and shout out three times in a loud voice: "Matronushka, help
me. I'm in trouble." She'll hear you and will answer.'

"Although all this seemed very strange, rather like magic as it were,
nevertheless, when I went out on my evening walk, I did as my friend had
instructed. A day passed, a week, a month... No one summoned me. In the
meantime, changes were made in the camp administration: someone was
removed, another was appointed. Another half year passed and there came
the day of my release from the camp. When I was issued my documents in the
commandant's office, I asked to be sent in the direction of the town where
Matrona lived, since I had promised before calling out to her that if she
helped me I would remember her in my daily prayers and that upon my
release from camp I would straightway go and thank her.

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"Having received my papers, I heard that two fellows, who were also being
released, were travelling to the same town where I was headed. I joined them
and we set off together. As we journeyed, I asked them if perchance they
knew Matronushka.

"'We know her very well; everyone knows her - both in the town and for
miles around. We'd take you to her if you like, but we live in the country, not
in town, and we're anxious to get home. But just do this: when you arrive, ask
the first person you meet where Matronushka lives and they'll show you.'

"On my arrival I did just as my fellow travellers had told me. I asked the
first boy I met.

"'Follow this street,' he said, 'then turn by the post office into the alley.
Matrona lives in the third house.'

"Trembling with excitement, I went up to the house and was about to

knock at the door, but it wasn't locked and opened easily. Standing on the
threshold, I surveyed the nearly empty room in the middle of which stood a
table. Upon it was a fairly large box.

"'May I come in?' I asked rather loudly.

"'Come in, Seryozha,' came a voice from the box.

"Startled by this unexpected reception, I proceeded hesitantly in the

direction of the voice. Looking into the box on the table, I saw a small woman
lying motionless. She was blind and possessed only rudimentary arms and
legs, Her face was remarkably bright and kindly. After greeting her, I asked:

"'How do you know my name?'

"'Why shouldn't I know it?' came her weak but clear voice. 'You called out
to me and I prayed to God for you. This is how I know. Sit down, be my
guest.'

"For a long time I sat at Matronushka's. She told me that as a young child
she had fallen ill with some disease which had stunted her growth and caused
her to become immobile. At the age of two she had lost her sight from
smallpox. Her family was poor, and on her way to work her mother would
lay her in a box and take her to church. Putting the box with the girl on a
bench, she would leave her there until evening. Lying in the box, the young
girl would listen to all the church services and sermons. The priest took pity
on the little girl and looked after her. The parishioners also felt sorry for the
child and would bring her a little something to eat or something to wear;

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someone else would caress her or help her to lie more comfortably. In this
way she grew up surrounded by an atmosphere of deep spirituality and
prayer.

"Then we spoke about the purpose of life, about faith, about God. Listening
to her, I was struck by the wisdom of her judgements and her spiritual
insight. In parting she said:

"'When you stand before the Throne of God, remember the slave of God
Matrona.'

"At that time I had no thought of becoming a bishop and was not even a
priest. Concerning herself, she said that she would die in prison.

"Sitting beside her, I understood that before me lay not an ordinary sick
woman but someone great in the eyes of God. It was such a comfort and a joy
to be with her that I hated to leave, and I promised myself to visit her again as
soon as I could. But this never came to pass. Soon Matronushka was dragged
off to prison, to Moscow, and there she died."

After the closure of the Kirsansky women’s monastery, the clairvoyant

Eldress Aquilina and the virgin Marina (nicknamed Morya) wandered
around Tambov province together. They went to the families of clergymen –
either those who had already been arrested, or who were about to be arrested,
- prayed with them and comforted them. Thus in 1937 they came to the
matushka of Fr. Peter Kotelnikov, Helena Fyodorovna, and foretold Fr.
Peter’s martyric end. However, in the same year they were bestially killed by
the NKVD, and their bodies were covered with straw.

The following were convicted in the group case, “The Case of Hieromonk
Pachomius (Ionov) and others, Mari (or Mordovia) ASSR, 1935”:

Hieromonk Pachomius, in the world Peter Matveyevich Ionov. He was

born on January 15, 1883 in the village of Troitskoye, Kamensky uyezd, Penza
province. He became a monk in 1901 in the Trinity Skanov monastery in
Penza province. He lived in the monastery until its closure in 1928, becoming
a hieromonk before that date. Then he lived at home tending his apiary,
which was confiscated in 1930. He was a member of the Penza branch of the
True Orthodox Church. However, after the liquidation of that branch, as his
1935 indictment reads, “hiding from arrest, Hieromonk Peter Matveyevich
Ionov, who is elder ‘Pachomius’, went into an illegal situation. He settled in
the village of Pichury [Kovylskinsky region, Mari Autonomous Republic], in a

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cell of the church warden Febronia Ivanovna Tsibirkina [who gathered to

herself ‘all the offended and dispossessed’] that had been turned into a
‘catacomb’ church”. Believers from the surrounding villages gathered around
the elder and a kind of monastery was formed. They were joined by Priest
Ephraim Kurdyukov and Archimandrite Ignatius (Ignashkin), who had
returned from the camps. Fr. Pachomius was arrested on June 27, 1935, and
on September 21 was convicted by the NKVD of “being hostile to the existing
order, living illegally in Pichury, creating a counter-revolutionary group out
of ecclesiastical and monastic activists, conducting illegal meetings and
distributing counter-revolutionary literature, The Protocols of the Elders of
Sion. He was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to five
years in the camps. Fr. Pachomius was sent to Karlag in Karaganda,
Kazakhstan. In 1937 he was arrested again, and on September 20 was
convicted by UNKVD of “participation in prayer meetings and distributing
prayers of counter-revolutionary content. He has not changed his convictions,
and while in prison has continued his counter-revolutionary activity,
conducting counter-revolutionary monarchist agitation among the prisoners.”
He was sentenced to death in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11. His
was part of the group case, “The Case of Metropolitan Eugene (Zernov) and
others, Karaganda, 1937”. The indictment said that prisoners Zernov, Ionov,
Byzhva, Aschepyev and Krejdich, gathering in various places, “under the
leadership of Zernov conducted counter-revolutionary religious propaganda
of a monarchist type, served pannikhidas for the shot enemies of the people
Tukhachevsky, Uborevich and others, and spread provocative rumours about
a war and the destruction of Soviet power”. Fr. Pachomius did not recognize
his guilt and was shot on some day in September, 1937.

Priest Ephraim Mikhailovich Kurdyukov. He was born in 1882 in the

village of Potodeyevo, Narovchatsky region, Mordovia, and served in the
village of Vopilovka, Narovchatsky region. In 1931 he was arrested and
sentenced to ten years in the camps. He was released early and returned on
June 26, 1932. On June 27, 1935 he was arrested for “participation in religious
anti-Soviet meetings”, was cast into Penza House of Preliminary Arrest, and
on September 21 was sentenced in accordance with articles 58-10 and 58-11 to
five years’ exile I the north. He also accused that “he joined a group of
churchmen headed by [Fr. Pachomius] Ionov, took part in illegal meetings
and helped Ionov to hide in the underground”. Nothing more is known about
him.

Priest Euthymius Fyodorovich Kulikov was born on December 22, 1876 in

the village of Shuty (now Savinki), Narovchatsky uyezd, Penza province. On
August 19, 1888 he finished his studies at the Shuty village school, and in 1895
– at the Narochatsky uyezd school. On May 20, 1895 he became a teacher in a
church-parish school in the village of Abashevo, Narovchatsky uyezd. On

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June 18, 1905 he was ordained to the priesthood and sent to the village of
Nikolskoye, Navorchatsky uyezd, where he was also teacher of the Law of
God in the church-parish school. On October 11, 1910 he was appointed
uyezd missionary, and had great success in converting Old Ritualists to the
Orthodox Church. On October 27, 1914 he was transferred to the village of
Nikolayevka, Insarsky uyezd. On April 30, 1920 he was retired at his own
request because of illness, and worked for a while as a clerk. In 1917 he was
elected by the clergy of the Penza diocese to be a delegate at the Local Council
of the Russian Orthodox Church. On December 8, 1924 he was appointed to
serve in the village of Sergievo-Paleologovo, Penza uyezd. On October 11,
1926 he was retired at his own request. On March 10, 1931 he was arrested in
Penza, and on January 2, 1932 was convicted of “belonging to a branch of the
All-Union Church-Monarchist Organization, ‘The True Orthodox Church’”,
and was sentenced to five years in the camps. He was sent to
Medvezhyegorsk in Arkhangelsk province. On October 19, 1933 he was
conditionally released. On February 27, 1937 he was arrested for “organizing
services in his flat” and sentenced to five years in the camps. He was sent to
Karaganda, where, on February 4, 1942, he died.

In 1955 a Catacomb Church family related: "Before we lived in Russia, in

Balashevo province, we were under the spiritual direction of Matushka
Abbess Seraphima, who had the gift of spiritual sight. She used to warn us:

"'See that when you are exiled, you take the door with you. Take it off its
hinges and put your things on it. Carry them in that way. Don't fear the
difficulties. Endure everything. They'll take you a long way away. But God is
everywhere: He sees everything, hears everything, knows everything...
'Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake... Blessed are ye
when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil
against you for My name's sake' (Matt. 5.10-11)... Take the door from its
hinges and put all kinds of food on it. Don't forget to take an axe and a spade.
Oh how handy they'll be!'

"We didn't understand what exile she was talking about. Everything was
calm with us. They didn't harm anybody. A few years later [in the time of
collectivization in the 1930s], the exiles began. Our turn came. We were
warned only a day before:

"'You can take as many things as you can carry with you!'

"At that moment we understood matushka's words. We took a door and

put our most necessary things on it: food and clothes. And we also took a
spade and axe on matushka's advice.

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"They loaded us onto cattle trucks. They spread out a panel which read:
'Volunteers are going to Siberia to live. Greetings to them from the working
population.'

"But if the people had known what kind of 'volunteers' were travelling in
that special train! How many tears were shed in every carriage! You know,
we had abandoned everything - homes, property, gardens. Our only
consolation was that Matushka Abbess had warned us about everything long
before and had given her blessing.

We travelled for a long time. Finally, we came to the place: bare steppe!
There was not even a bush. And no people at all: it was just desert... They
took us out:

"'Well now, kulaks, let's see how you're going to live here!'

"Everyone wept. The women sobbed aloud. But the authorities just got into
their cars and drove off. It was already frosty, winter was approaching in that
area. And we had nothing. Under our feet was bare, cold earth, and above us
the blue sky. That was all!

"Oh, how we thanked God that we had taken an axe and spade! And how
useful the doors came in! We bowed to the earth in front of Matushka. But she
herself was blind. In both eyes. But the Lord gives wisdom to the blind, He
gave her other, spiritual eyes. She saw what others did not see, what the Lord
revealed to her. She was already old, now she's over ninety...Save, O Lord,
and have mercy on Thy servant schema-abbess Seraphima. You know, we all
lived in obedience to her, we did everything with her blessing. She, the
servant of God, kept the whole region free from heresy. She stood like an
unbending pillar!

"In the churches they began to read the 'declaration' of Metropolitan

Sergius. How it dismayed us. The priest went out and began to read it to the
people. But matushka went up to him and said loudly:

"'You're a wolf, a wolf!... You are apostates. You have denied Christ-God.
How can you read such a paper in the church of God!...'

"The priest was embarrassed. She knocked the declaration out of his hands.
She was pushed aside. But she continued:

"'Sergius is a turn-coat, a traitor of Christ, like Judas... What does he write?

What does he say? He says it is necessary to thank Soviet power... For what?
For the bloody persecution of the Holy Church?! And he suggests that we
rejoice with the antichrist at his joys and sorrow at his sorrows... How
shameful!'

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"The people supported her:

"'Shameful! Shameful!'

"The priest cut off the reading and went into the altar. But the people said:

"'Matushka has spoken rightly. That was right!'"

Maria Ivanovna told the following story:

"I will tell you a story which proves that Matushka Schema-Abbess had the
gift of clairvoyance.

"It was completely understandable that the authorities should look for her,
but they did not succeed in finding her. First one group of believers, and then
another, took her into their home. She was transferred from one province to
another. So the KGB resorted to a diabolical trick.

"There appeared in that region what appeared to be a homeless wanderer,

a nun who had been persecuted for Christ's sake. But in fact she was an
experienced co-worker of the KGB. And if it had not been for Matushka
Schema-Abbess, no-one would ever have guessed that she was an agent. She
did everything in a monastic way, her clothes in the house were monastic and
everything about her was monastic. And she began to go round the houses of
everyone who might know where the schema-abbess was. She went from
house to house, but did not gain the information she needed. Finally, she
came to the house of a woman who believed that she was a real nun, and not
an artist. And so they later called her 'artist'...

"'Oh matushka, matushka!' she sighed, calling the simple laywoman

'matushka' as if in forgetfulness.

"'The Lord be with you, but how am I 'matushka'?

"'Oh, forgive me, dear sister, I said that out of habit. You know, I'm always
among nuns, and I took you for a matushka... But perhaps you will be a nun!'

"Of course, such a device might appear to be the best proof that she was a
true nun. The more so since she always acted and spoke in a monastic way.
On sitting down to eat lunch or supper, she read the prayers in a monastic
way. After the meal and prayers she thanked the mistress of the house with a
deep bow and prayed for the repose of her parents' souls. She particularly
won over the mistress with her rapid prostrations, which showed that the
'nun' did many prostrations secretly.

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"'Oh, ma... - forgive me, sister, what kind of life are we living now! I don't
want to live any longer. These are the last times! Faith has diminished in
people. You can no longer find a monk to ask his advice on how to live. But
the Lord has led me to you, may Christ save you. You don't know where else
to go. You might land up with some OGPU agents!'

"'But, by the mercy of God, there are still some lamps of God left!'

"'What are you saying?! I have gone round almost half Russia, and there's
no-one!'

"'There is! I tell you that there is...'

"'Where, dear one! For Christ's sake, tell me!'

"'Only don't tell anyone!'

"'What are you saying? How could I?!'

"And so in this cunning way the agent found out the address. The
laywoman told her everything, only she couldn't remember the number of the
house:

"'It doesn't matter, I'll explain it to you... It's the third, or maybe the fourth
house from the corner. There's a high gate covered with tin-plate. . As you go
in, you'll see a narrow path to the corner of the house. Turn left past the
corner. Knock three times on the first window past the turn. And ask...'

"'Christ save you!'

"With these words she immediately went into the town... Perhaps about
two hours later she came back:

"'Ach, I went the wrong way. I arrived, but it seems that it wasn't the right
place... I came to the window and knocked three times. A woman jumped out,
it seems she had been washing some clothes.

"'"What do you want?" she asked in a coarse way.

"'I told her. She said:

"'"What matushka are you talking about? I'll wake up my husband now,
he's drunk, and he’ll show you both a matushka and a batyushka!" I was
frightened and left...'

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"'That was probably Dasha... Most likely you didn't understand each
other... It doesn't matter. I'll find out. Don't be sad. Sit down and drink some
tea. I'll put the samovar on... And meanwhile write down some addresses you
can go to.'

"The nun took out a piece of paper and wrote down the addresses. The
samovar was already on the table...

"While the so-called 'nun' had been knocking on the window, matushka
said to the novice:

"'It's an enemy! It's an enemy! Drive her away, drive her away!'

"And when the agent had left in perplexity, the blind woman said:

"'Now run quickly to Pasha and tell her that a spy is drinking tea in her
house.'

"Dasha ran off. By road it was about 11 kilometres, but much shorter
through the kitchen-gardens. Dasha ran up, panting. She knocked on the
door. Pasha came out. Dasha passed her the message:

"'Matushka told me: run quickly to Pasha, a spy is drinking tea in her
house!'

"And Dasha disappeared... It was as if she had been covered with boiling
water. But she went in calmly and asked:

"'Where were we?'

"The nun read the last address.

"'And before that?'

"She read several addresses. Pasha said:

"'Let's have a look... What's this, I'm so mixed up. No, that's wrong...'

"And she threw the whole piece of paper into the samovar spout. It went
up in smoke.

"'Ach, someone probably came and told you something!'

"What are you saying? That was a neighbour bringing me a frying-pan.'

"'No, no! Someone told you...'

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"They transferred matushka to another place. And the OGPU agent went
away in a sulk... But she couldn't say that she was working for the OGPU...

"I'll tell you about a miracle which took place, as all of us firmly believe, by
the holy prayers of Matushka Schema-Abbess Seraphima.

"I was fixed up, again by her prayers, in a good job at a railway crossing,
opening and closing the barrier. This place was near a mine. Trucks passed
along the road carrying explosive destined for the mine. My work consisted
in sitting in a glass cabin and looking out for trains. When a train came up to
cross the road, I closed the barrier, and when it passed, I opened it. On
blessing me for this work, matushka had said:

"'When you go to work in the morning, your first duty will be to make the
sign of the cross over all the levers and cables and everything that has to do
with your work. Then sit down and say the Jesus prayer without ceasing.
Don't allow any sinful thought in, fight it by prayer!'

"And I did everything that matushka told me to do... Many years passed,
and nothing special happened at that place... There was another person, a
trackman, working on the crossing. His duties included sweeping the road
and watching the track. I used to say hello to him, and then sit down to work
and prayer.

“One day I came to work. It was already autumn, and it was frosty. I
secretly made the sign of the cross over the whole place. I went into the cabin,
sat down and occupied myself with the Jesus prayer. I lost consciousness of
my surroundings. When I lifted my head I saw a big and heavy goods train
already close. And when I looked behind, I saw a car going along the road
with red flags, which meant that it was carrying explosive. There was no time
to let down the barrier. Apparently the driver had decided to get ahead of the
train. I froze... The car crossed the rails, but the locomotive was there too. The
sound of glass was heard. The car was hanging on the locomotive. The guards
who were sitting with their rifles on chests flew out onto the asphalt together
with the explosive. The explosive scattered over a wide area. The train
stopped. I heard a voice:

"'Step on the cable with your foot!'

"I was wearing boots. But as I stepped on the cable, to my surprise it

snapped.

"A short time later the police and the bosses arrived. Many of them. But for
some reason everyone was very quiet. There was no sound of conversation.
They were walking carefully, there was explosive everywhere... But the

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guards who had fallen at great speed off the car were unharmed, safe and
sound. They took the car down from the locomotive. In the cabin were the
driver and senior guard - the door was jammed. But they also were
completely unharmed. It was simply amazing. Such a catastrophe and no
consequences. The car was going at such a speed and yet nobody suffered.
They came out, said something... Finally, the commission came up to the
barrier and said to me:

"'Tell us what happened.'

"I told them that I had tried to close the barrier, but the cable had snapped.
The commission and I went up to the transmission. There was ice there. I was
so amazed at that and fervently thanked the Lord in my soul. Although it was
frosty, it was impossible to explain the presence of ice in the transmission. It
was the first time I had seen ice there in so many years. Yes and in general
was it not a clear miracle of God! Why were the guards alive and unharmed?
After all, they had fallen out of the car and flown several metres. Why did the
explosive not explode at the impact? They later said that if the explosive had
gone off the whole town would have been destroyed!

"I was not responsible at all. Formally speaking, I did everything I could.
Only the technology did not work. It could not work because ice had formed
in the box. Only the car suffered damage. While all the people who had been
involved in the catastrophe had been miraculously preserved completely
unharmed.

"Several years passed... Circumstances were such that I was given the right
to retire. And I asked matushka for permission to retire. 'Blind' matushka, as
everyone called her, gave her blessing... And so I, having gone with my list of
signatures through all the sections, went to the director for the final signature.
He signed, and then, looking attentively at me, asked me to close the doors. I
closed them. And he said to me:

"'Yes, Maria, we know your 'crosses'!.. Well!..'

"He spread his hands as if he wanted to say something special, but just
said:

"'I wish you all the best!'"

As she told the story of this miracle wrought through the prayers of
Schema-Abbess Seraphima, tears were in her eyes. And we all, as we listened
to her, could not refrain from weeping.

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 710

Fr. Sergius Tikhrov was from Tambov, a graduate of the Moscow

Theological Academy. He had been imprisoned twice. He had a very high
reputation among the faithful. After his release in 1955 he went underground.
He died in 1977 in Tambov.

Hieroschemamonk Seraphim (in monasticism Vissarion) was born Ivan

Petrovich Markov in 1894 in the city of Kasimov, Ryazan province. Until 1917
he was a junker, and received a pedagogical education. When the Soviets
came to power he stopped teaching and worked on stone-cutting sites on the
Oka and Volga rivers. He did not recognize the sergianist church. For his anti-
Soviet views he was subjected to arrests and exiles. In 1945 he was tonsured
into monasticism with the name Vissarion and ordained to the priesthood for
the True Orthodox Church by Archbishop Nicholas (Vladimir Ivanovich
Muraviev-Uralsky). In 1950 he was arrested and sentenced to ten years in the
camps for organizing “underground cells of the True Orthodox Church”. He
was for six years in the Potma camps. After his release he looked after
communities of the Catacomb Church in Moscow, Karaganda, Kirov,
Tambov, Mordovia, and Vologda, Voronezh, Gorky and Vladimir provinces.
Through Hieromonk Lazarus (Zhurbenko) he applied to be received under
the omophorion of Archbishop Leontius of Chile of the Russian Church
Abroad. In the middle of the 1970s he took the schema with the name
Seraphim. He died on the day of Pascha, 1979 immediately after Mattins. He
was buried in Tambov in the Petropavlovsk city cemetery.

(Sources: Holy Trinity Calendar for 1999, Jordanville; Marina Klimkova,

“Svyatoj iz Osinovykh Gayev”, Rodina, № 4, 2004, pp. 62-64; Za Khrista
Postradavshiye, Moscow: St. Tikhon’s Theological Institute, 1997, pp. 51, 63,
92, 226, 340, 511, 613; Vladimir Rusak, Pir Satany, London, Canada: "Zarya",
1991, p. 29; Protopresbyter Michael Polsky, Noviye Mucheniki Rossijskiye,
Jordanville, 1949-57, part 1, pp. 213-214; Michael Khlebnikov, “O tserkovnoj
situatsii v Kostrome v 20-30ye gody”, Pravoslavnaya Zhizn’, 49, N 5 (569),
May, 1997, p. 2; Priest Basil Redechkin, from the witness of T.V. Nikolayeva
and the servant of God Juliana; Nadezhda, no. 5; Orthodox America, vol. 4,
no. 1, July, 1983, p. 5; Schema-Monk Epiphany (Chernov), typescript; “Krasnij
Provokator F.I. Zhurbenko, ‘Arkhiepiskop Lazar’”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N
2 (16), 1999, pp. 9-10; Archbishop Lazarus of Tambov, “Out of the
Catacombs”, Orthodox America, p. 6;
http://www.omolenko.com/texts/katakomb.htm;
http://catacomb.org.ua/modules.php?name=Pages&go=print_page&pid=12
66; http://www.pstbi.ru/cgi-htm/db.exe/no_dbpath/docum/cnt/ans/)

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35. HIEROMARTYR MICHAEL OF CHISTOPOL

and those with him

Fr. Michael (Yershov) was born on September 17 (or October 12), 1911, in
the village of Mamykovo in Kazan province, in a peasant family. According to
another source, he was born in the village of Barskoye, Yenaruskino,
Aksubayevo volost, Chistopol canon, Tataria. His father, whose name was
Basil, had taken part in the Russo-Japanese War, the First World War and the
Civil War. From 1920 he had become a cobbler and president of the committee
of poverty in the village. There were five children in the family, four
daughters and a son. Michael’s mother was called Daria.

Michael finished two classes at elementary school, and at the age of ten
began to help his father, working as a cobbler. He went to church services and
sang in the choir. When he was twelve years old, as he was receiving
communion a church in Chistopol, an elder saw him and said: "This lad will
take upon himself the sins of the whole people." From 1929 the church was
closed and his father became president of the village soviet and began to
persecute his son for reading service books and constantly praying at home.
As a result of this he went blind. Afterwards, when he repented, he recovered
his sight.

In November, 1930 Fr. Michael left his father’s home because he did not
agree with the family’s joining the collective farm. At some time during that
year. He arrived in Chistopol, where he fell seriously ill. On recovering, he
got to know Elder Plato, who told him: “You will suffer very much for the
name of God and for the people. Only don’t seek anything from anyone, rely
only on Almighty God. By the mercy of God I knew about you before.”
Together they went round the villages taking part in joint prayer-services.

According to one source, Fr. Michael was ordained to the priesthood in

1930 by the Catacomb Archbishop and future Hieromartyr Nectarius
(Trezvinsky) in Kazan. According to another source, however, his ordination
took place in September, 1933 at the hands of Hieromonk Peter (?). He was a
fervent opponent of the Moscow Patriarchate, and believed that it was wrong
to have any contact with it.

Fr. Michael and Elder Plato were arrested on March 3, 1931 in Chistopol,
but he was released on May 1. A few days later, he was arrested again in
Kazan, but was released after twelve days. He then went underground,
wandering round the villages and earning his bread as a cobbler. He walked
in chains, carried out joint prayer services and healed the sick and the demon-
possessed.

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In April, 1933 he was arrested in the village of Aksubayevo, but was

released in July. On June 7, 1934 he was arrested in Bilyarsk, taken by convoy
to Chistopol, then to Kazan and on July 10 condemned to eight years in the
camps for anti-Soviet agitation. He served his term in the Mariinsk and
Baikal-Amur camps, and then in Ulan-Ude and near Murmansk, doing
general work. In 1940 he was transferred to Kandalaksha, where they were
building a railway. He worked in the refectory. In May, 1942 he was sent to
Tataria to work on the Ulyanovsk-Sviyazhsk railway. There he worked in the
field hospital. On September 25 he was sent for defensive works in the village
of Stepanovka, Buinsk region, from where he escaped to Chistopol, then to
Aksubayevo region. On October 16 (17), 1942 he was arrested and cast into
Chistopol prison. On January 23, 1943 he was sentenced “for desertion from
defensive works” to seven (eight) years in prison. On February 16, 1943,
according to one source, he was released, but according to another he was
sent to call-up, but, not wishing to serve in the army, escaped. After this he
served secretly in the village of Yelantovo, Sheremetyevo region. He
celebrated Pascha on April 12, 1943 in a tent on a hill not far from Yelantovo
with a group of twelve women. Later those attending the services in the tent
rose to sixty. In September, during a service on the hill, the police arrived and
drove away the believers; some were arrested and sent to the camps. On
December 12 (or 15 or 26), 1943 he was arrested again for church preaching
and cast into Chistopol prison. He was accused of being “a leader of the anti-
Soviet activity of the underground of the True Orthodox Church of Tikhonite
tendency in Tataria”, and on August 18, 1944 was sentenced to death by
shooting. He spent 81 days in the death cell; they starved him the whole time.
On October 25, 1944, they commuted the death sentence to fifteen years' hard
labour, of which he was informed on November 9. He was sent to Vorkutlag,
where he worked in the mines, and later – in the cobblers’ workshop. In 1945
he appealed for clemency to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, but his
request was declined.

In October, 1946 he got to know Basil Kalinin, healing him from an illness
of the spine which had paralyzed him completely for three years. He came up
to him, took him by the hand and said:

"Get up and walk."

He also healed the withered hand of John Kokarev and the leprous face of
Gregory Rusakov (the future Hieromonk Philaret), which was already
stinking. He took the whole crust from his face.

Fr. Michael passed through almost all the prisons of the Soviet Gulag:
Kazan, Arzamas, Vorkuta, Olga, Bannino, Sakhalin, Nagayeva, Magadan,
Suman, Kolyma, Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk, Bratsk, Taipet...

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It is said that in the 1950s Fr. Michael was secretly consecrated Bishop of
Chistopol in the camps, and in this capacity took part, according to one
source, in the Nikolsky Council of the Catacomb Church in 1961 through
Monk John. However, the real existence of this Council is doubted by many.

On August 3, 1950 he was transferred to Sevvostoklag (Kolyma, North-

East Siberia), where he worked in the gold-fields. On November 15, 1954 he
was recorded in his personal file as having worked only 54 days, while there
was a series of decrees casting him into the isolator for between three and ten
days for refusing to work. On July 14, 1954 his sentenced was reduced by one-
third. In December, 1954 he was transferred from Kolyma to the camp section
Sovietskaya Gavan, Khabarovsk district. On May 29, 1956 he was transferred
to a prison regime for one year, and was sent to prison in Blagoveschensk. On
July 4, 1958 the follow report was written about him: “During his stay in
prison he behaved satisfactorily, and did not violate the prison regime, was a
cleaner in the corridors of the prison, and carried out his work. A religious
fanatic, he did not work on days that were, in his opinion, festal.”

On April 11, he was transferred to the inner prison of the KGB in Kazan for
investigation in connection with a church case. On July 18 he was indicted for
being “the leader of the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox
Church in Tataria. By means of written and personal links with those who
think like him, he gave instructions on preaching the ideas of the True
Orthodox Church, called on people to refuse to participate in political
enterprises and decline from service in the Soviet Army, in collective farms, in
state institutions and undertakings. He gave instructions on preparing new
secret priests, and on acquiring houses and equipment for an illegal church.”

On August 11-14, 1958 he was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps

with five years disenfranchisement, and was sent to Dubravlag, Potma,
Mordovia. “At eight in the morning they brought Vladyka Michael (Yershov)
in a ‘black raven’… He raised his hand like this, crossed himself and bowed to
the earth. ‘Pray and fear not. The victory will be with the True Orthodox
Christians!’ Then they took him away. After him they brought in Basil
Vladimirovich, and he also said: ‘All of you pray for us, pray. The spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Then they brought in Fr. Philaret, and after him
Ivan, and the last was Nadezhda Vasilyevna. They brought them through,
and they all shouted: ‘Pray! The victory will be with the True Orthodox
Christians!’... They gave them twenty-five years’ strict regime.”

Fr. Michael spent fifteen years in irons. According to the accounts of

prisoners, he spent whole nights standing in prayer. He healed many
criminals, possessed, lame, blind and sick people, and gave them instructions
on how to live well. He also had the gift of prophecy.

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On August 13, 1973 he declared a hunger strike in the camp. In October he

was transferred to the seventeenth section of the Temnikov camp (Potma). In
the spring of 1974 they pulled out all his hair and all the hairs of his beard one
by one with manacles, after which he was paralyzed. A.S. Dubina reported
that he died in camp on June 4, 1977. According to another report, however,
he died in a special prison hospital in Kazan on June 4, 1974.

However, his relatives heard that he had been transferred to the Kazan
special psychiatric hospital. It seems that the secret was let out by the
procurator of the town of Kazan when he was receiving his relatives. It is
possible that the authorities wanted to hide him from the believing people
because of his great popularity - he was known as "the Tsar of Mordovia" and
people came to catch a glimpse of him through the barbed wire from all over
the Soviet Union. Fr. Michael himself prophesied that they were going to hide
him, and he ordered them not to believe the story of his death. All his
spiritual children were convinced that he had been hidden away in a
psychiatric hospital so as to be annihilated there.

Hieromonk Philaret, in the world Gregory Vasilyevich Rusakov. He was

born on September 30, 1917 in the village of Kuzaikino, Aktash region, Tataria
into a peasant family. He finished two classes at an elementary school. His
father, Basil Fyodorovich, was a church warden. From the age of eight
Gregory carried out the duties of sacristan in his church. In 1929 his father
was arrested and sentenced to three years’ exile in Arkhangelsk province. In
1931 the family was exiled for ten years to Magnitogorsk, whither, in 1933, his
father was transferred (he died in 1937). From 1935 Gregory began to work in
a factory. In 1936 his brother Theodore was arrested “for anti-Soviet activity”
and sentenced to ten years in the camps. In 1939 he and his sister fled from
exile and returned to their native village, where he lived illegally: in the
summer he worked for hire in the fields in the Novo-Troitsky state farm,
while from the autumn he secretly lived in Volchya Sloboda, Yamashi region.
In the spring of 1940 he was arrested for being without documents, and on
October 15 was sentenced to 1.6 years in the camps. In September, 1941 he
was released from camp and returned to Aktash region, was enrolled for the
army, but obtained a delay of six months. In the spring of 1942 he went into
hiding in order “not to serve in the army for religious reasons”. He lived
illegally in Yamashi, Novo-Sheshminsk and Sheremetyevo regions. In the
summer of 1943 he was hiding in Yelantovo in a specially adapted hiding
place, taking part in the illegal services of Fr. Michael Yershov. In September,
1943 he was arrested for being a deserter, and on November 13, 1944 he was
sentenced to ten years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five years.
He was sent to Sviyazhsk camp, from where he was released on September 14,
1945. Together with his brother Theodore he returned to his native village. In
1946 he was working for hire preparing logs in Chistopol while serving
secretly as a priest in the homes of believers and at “holy wells”. In June, 1948,
as a new wave of arrests began, he went secretly to the village of Syntul,

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Ryazan province. Later he hid in the house of a believer in the village of

Koryakino. He was secretly tonsured into the mantia by Elder Gennadius. On
June 18, 1949 he was arrested with his brother for “organizing prayers and
other church rites”, and on February 18, 1950 was sentenced to ten years in the
camps. He was sent to Dubrovlag, from where, on September 3, 1956 he was
released early, “taking into account his good behaviour and conscientious
attitude to work”. He returned to Kuzaikino. On March 28, 1956 he was
arrested in the village of Yamashi, Aktash region. He was accused of “heading
the activity of the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church on
the territory of Tataria. He created groups of supporters of the True Orthodox
Church in Chistopol, Telmansk, Aksubayevo, Yamashi and other regions of
Tataria and other provinces. He led them, educating them not to recognize
Soviet power and to disobey its laws.” On August 11-14, 1958 he was
sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five
years and confiscation of his property. He was sent to a camp. On April 30,
1972 his sentenced was reduced to fifteen years. On March 28, 1973 he was
released from camp. Nothing more is known about him.

Demetrius Vasilyevich Efremov was born in 1906 in the village of

Kulmaks, Novo-Sheshminsk uyezd into a peasant family, and finished three
classes at the village school. From 1929 he was a free peasant in the village of
Gorodische. Until 1931 he was a church warden. On September 19, 1943 he
was arrested for rejecting the call-up into the Red Army. On May 13, 1944 he
was sentenced to death, but on June 16 the sentence was commuted to ten
years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five years. On July 27, 1945 he
was released early on amnesty and returned to the village of Kuzaikino,
where he organized illegal services in his house under the leadership of
Gregory Rusakov (Hieromonk Philaret). On March 16, 1950 he was arrested
for belonging to the True Orthodox Church, and was accused that: “being
hostile to the existing order, and using the religious convictions of individual
people, he systematically conducted anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda in
his environment”. On June 20 he was sentenced to twenty-five years in the
camps with disenfranchisement for five years and confiscation of property.
He was sent to Peschanlag (osoblag no. 7). On November 1, 1954 his
sentenced was reduced to ten years, and on October 10, 1955 it was reduced to
five years and he was released. On May 4, 1961 he was sentenced to four years
in the camps by a judge of Sheremetyevo regional court. Nothing more is
known about him.

Basil Vladimirovich Kalinin. He was born in 1917 at Kubansky khutor,

Belorechensky uyezd, Krasnodar region into a peasant family. He finished
one class of elementary school. In 1929 his family was dekulakized and he
was exiled to Stavropol, later to Sverdlovsk. In 1932 his family fled from exile,
and his father began preaching in the villages of the Kuban about the coming
of the last time and of the Antichrist. In 1933, together with his father,
Vladimir Markovich, he was arrested, but soon released, while his father was

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sent to a camp. He married, and in 1938 a daughter Tatyana was born to him,
and in 1940 – a son Michael. In 1940 he was called up into the army and was
sent to the northern fleet. At the beginning of the war he operated a machine-
gun. In 1943 he was preparing to go over to the Germans, but then he
received a letter from his brother and understood that “I’m doing something
very stupid. If I betray the Homeland, then because of me my whole family
will perish, and I am particularly sorry for my children.” In 1943 he was
arrested in Polyarny and was accused that, “while on military service in the
period 1942-43, he systematically made anti-Soviet statements and, besides,
recruited like-minded people from the other soldier with the aim of going
over to the Germans and organizing on their side an armed struggle against
Soviet power. At the same time he aimed to hand over spy material to the
Germans and carry out diversionary and terrorist acts at the moment of
passing over to the enemy.” On January 5, 1944 he was sentenced to death,
but in March his sentence was commuted to twenty years’ hard labour. He
was sent to a camp, where he got to know Fr. Michael Yershov. On October 6,
1956 he was pardoned and released from camp, and on the instructions of Fr.
Michael went to Yelantovo in Tataria, where he established links with the
underground True Orthodox Church. In March, 1957 he went, on the
instructions of Fr. Michael, to Krasnodar district, where, on March 25, 1958 he
was arrested. He was accused of “joining the anti-Soviet underground of the
True Orthodox Church of Tikhonite orientation and taking an active part in
carrying out counter-revolutionary agitation among the population, calling
people to boycott political state enterprises and decline from socially useful
work. Also he drew new people into the underground.” On August 11-14 he
was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps with disenfranchisement for
five years with confiscation of property. On October 5 he arrived in
Dubravlag, and on October 20, 1960 he was transferred to Temnikov camp.
On March 30, 1961 he was recognized to be “an especially dangerous
recidivist”, and in February, 1974 he was sent for twelve days to a penal
isolator “for absence from physical exercise” (at that time he was praying in
the barracks). On August 30, 1974 the head of the camp gave him a negative
report and said that he had not started on the path of correction. On March 25,
1983 he was released and returned to Yelantovo, where, on February 18, 1995,
he died.

Peter Stepanovich Labutov was born in 1905 in the village of

Novoposelennaya Lebedka, Novo-Sheshmino uyezd into a peasant family. He
finished three classes in a village school. He worked as a painter-decorator. He
had three daughters and a son. In 1929 he was separated from his father, who
was dekulakized and exiled to the Far East (he died in 1930). In 1931 he himself
was dekulakized and exiled with his family to Molotov province in the Urals. In
1947 he was released from exile and arrived in Chistopol, where he worked as a
painter-decorator. In 1951 he bought a house in which Hieromonk Philaret
(Rusakov) conducted services. On April 18, 1958 a

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search was conducted in his house and religious literature and letters were
removed. Nothing more is known about him.

Basil Ivanovich Zhukov was born in 1904 in the village of Staroye

Mokshino, Telmanovo region, where he lived as a free peasant. From 1932 to
1939 he worked as a painter-decorator, a plasterer and a stove-mender in
Chelyabinsk, Petrozavodsk, Molotov and Novaya Bukhara. In 1940 he
returned to his homeland, and worked as a plasterer in a spirits factory. In
1941 he was enrolled in the army, and worked in a building battalion. In
November he was transferred to work as a joiner in Ulyanovsk. In the autumn
of 1946 he was demobilized and returned to his homeland. He worked as a
plasterer in a state farm. In July, 1948 he moved to Novotroitsk, Yamashi
region. From July, 1950 he was living in the village of Aksubayevo as a stove-
mender in a children’s school and house. From November he was living in his
native village. On July 21, 1951 he was arrested for being “a participant in an
anti-Soviet organization, the True Orthodox Church”, and on October 23-24
was sentenced to ten years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five
years. He was sent to Dubravlag. On June 1, 1956 he was released and
returned to his native village. On November 6, 1958 he was arrested for being
“a participant in the anti-Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church”.
He was accused that: “he re-established links with participants of the anti-
Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church, and after the arrest of
[Hieromonk Philaret] Rusakov took upon himself the leadership of the anti-
Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church, conducting illegal
meetings at which he actively propagandized the idea of the True Orthodox
Church of Tikhonite orientation and called on people to actively disobey the
laws of Soviet power”. On January 30, 1959 he was sentenced to twenty-five
years in the camps with the first three years in prison. On February 19 his
sentence was reduced to ten years in the camps without prison. In November,
1968 he was released and returned to his native village. On October 5, 1968 he
died.

Ivan Filippovich Vakin. He was born in 1930 in the village of Nikolskoye,

Aksubayevo region, Tataria into a peasant family, and finished five classes at
an intermediate school. From 1944 he was in a collective farm, but later left it.
On December 24, 1945 he was sentenced to two years in the camps. On March
13, 1948 he was released, and became an active member of the True Orthodox
Church. In 1950 he rejected the call-up into the Soviet Army, went into hiding
and had no definite domicile or documents. On July 10, 1951 he was arrested
and sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps, and was sent to the Far East
(Kushka). On August 9, 1956 a report about him said: “Under the pretext of
religious convictions he has systematically refused work in production. For
the rest he has observed the established demands of discipline. He has
behaved humbly, has been polite in dealings with the administration and has
not taken part in public enterprises.” On August 10 he was released from
camp “in connection with the inappropriateness of keeping him longer in

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prison”. In October he arrived in his native village, but did not live there
permanently. On March 28, 1958 he was arrested in the village of Yamashi,
Aktash region and accused of “joining the anti-Soviet underground of the
True Orthodox Church and helping the anti-Soviet activity of Rusakov, aiding
him to hold meetings and work on believers in an anti-Soviet spirit. He drew
new people into the True Orthodox Church.” On August 11-14, 1958 he was
sentenced to the camps and sent to a camp. On April 9, 1964 he was pardoned
and released. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Vasilyevich Rusakov was born in 1910 in the village of

Kuzaikino, Yamashi uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. In 1937 he was condemned to ten years in the camps and sent to
Kargopollag. In August, 1946 he was released early for good work and
returned to Kuzaikino. On October 15, 1949 he was arrested for “organized
anti-Soviet activity”, and was accused that: “in view of his anti-Soviet
convictions he entered the anti-Soviet organization of the True Orthodox
Church and organized illegal meetings at which he spoke with anti-Soviet
inventions”. On February 15, 1950 he was sentenced to twenty-five years in
the camps with disenfranchisement for five years. On November 27, 1956 he
was released. Nothing more is known about him.

Pelagia Yermilovna Rusakova was born in 1903 in the village of Ivanovka,

Yamashi uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary education.
She lived in the village of Kuzaikino as a free peasant. On October 25, 1949
she was arrested “for organized anti-Soviet activity” and was accused that:
“being an active participant in the anti-Soviet organization of the True
Orthodox Church, she took an active part in illegal meetings, presented her
flat for the hiding of its leader and the carrying out of illegal meetings, and
systematically conducted anti-Soviet agitation”. On February 15, 1950 she was
sentenced to ten years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five years.
On May 4, 1956 she was released from camp. Nothing more is known about
her.

Maria Mikhailovna Vakina. She was born in 1930 in the village of

Nikolskoye, Aksubayevo region, Tataria into a peasant family, and received
an elementary education. In 1930 her family was dekulakized and exiled to
the Urals. In 1944 she was released from exile and returned to Nikolskoye. In
1946 she joined a collective farm. In 1948 she left it out of religious
convictions. In the same year she was condemned to six months in the camps
for refusing to work in a collective farm. She took part in illegal services. She
was arrested for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet group of the True
Orthodox Church”. On September 30, 1950 she was indicted, and on
December 14 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps and was sent to
Steplag, where, on January 22, 1953, she died from pneumonia.

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Seraphima Denisovna Alikina was born in 1916 in the village of

Verkhnyaya Balanda, Aksubayevo uyezd, into a peasant family, and received
an elementary education. In 1930 her family was dekulakized, and her father
was exiled. She lived in the village of Nikolskoye, Aksubayevo region, but did
not work. On December 20, 1949 she was arrested in Nikolskoye “for activity
hostile to Soviet power”. On February 20, 1950 she was indicted, and on
March 15, 1951 – sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps with consequent
disenfranchisement for five years. She was sent to Dubrovlag. On May 20,
1954 her sentenced was reduced to five years. On June 16, 1954 she was
released from camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Salmanida Yefimovna Antipova was born in 1905 in the village of Stariye

Katushi, Pervomaisk uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. She lived in the village of Nikolskoye, Aksubayevo region, and
was a free peasant. In 1948 she was sentenced for refusal to work. She left the
collective farm for religious reasons, and took part in illegal services. She was
arrested for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet group of the True Orthodox
Church”. On September 30, 1950 she was indicted, and on December 14 –
sentenced to ten years in the camps. She was sent to Temlag. On September
29, 1955 she was released from camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Agatha Alexeyevna Peschayeva was born in 1916 in the village of Yamashi

into a peasant family. She was illiterate without fixed domicile. On September
7, 1950 she was arrested for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet group of
supporters of the True Orthodox Church”, and on December 15 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps. She was sent to Taishetlag. On September
15, 1954 her sentence was reduced to five years. On October 27 she was
released from camp and returned to Yamashi. She joined a True Orthodox
community and went to prayer meetings under the leadership of Hieromonk
Philaret (Rusakov). Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Alexeyevna Kirdyasheva was born in 1903 in the village of

Yamashi, Yamashi uyezd into a peasant family. She had no fixed domicile. On
September 7, 1950 she was arrested for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet
group of supporters of the True Orthodox Church”, and on December 15 was
sentenced to ten years in the camps and was sent to Dubravlag. On September
25, 1954 her sentence was reduced to five years, and on October 15 she was
released. She returned to Yamashi and joined the community of the True
Orthodox, going to illegal prayer meetings under the leadership of
Hieromonk Philaret (Rusakov). Nothing more is known about her.

Anysia Yermolayevna Kochemasova-Yermolayeva was born in 1908 in

the village of Yamashi into a peasant family. She had no fixed domicile or
documents from 1940. She wandered around the villages and sewed outer
garments. On September 7, 1950 she was arrested for being “a participant in
an anti-Soviet group of supporters of the True Orthodox Church”, and on

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December 15 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and was sent to
Taishetlag. On September 25, 1954 her sentence was reduced to five years. On
October 27 she was released from camp and returned to Yamashi, where she
joined the community of the True Orthodox, going to illegal prayer meetings
under the leadership of Hieromonk Philaret (Rusakov). Nothing more is
known about her.

Eudocia Petrovna Leontyeva was born in 1894 in the village of Gorodische,

Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and lived as a free peasant in the
village of Staro-Sheshminsk. She had five children. She took part in illegal prayer
services in Yelantovo grove, where she was wounded in the leg in 1943 during a
search for deserters. On September 18, 1950 she was arrested for being “a
participant in an underground anti-Soviet group of supporters of the True
Orthodox Church”, and on December 11 was sentenced to ten years in the camps.
She was sent to Ozerlag. On September 4, 1954 she was released and her case
shelved because of insufficiency of evidence. On October 8 she was released from
camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Maria Grigoryevna Tikhonova was born in 1900 in the village of

Yelantovo, Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family. She married Basil
Sergeyevich Tikhon, and they had four daughters. In 1942 her husband died
at the front. On December 18, 1942 she was sentenced to five months’ forced
labour for refusing agricultural work in the collective farm on mobilization.
After her release from prison she went underground. On September 18, 1943
she was arrested in Aksubayevo forest during an ambush, later she was
released. On October 10, 1943 she was again arrested, and accused that:
“being a participant in an illegal anti-Soviet group of churchpeople, she
presented her house for illegal meetings, taking an active part there in the
discussion of questions of an organized struggle against Soviet power”. On
August 18, 1944 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps with
disenfranchisement for three years, and was sent to Usollag (?). On being
released from camp on December 25, 1958, she went to live in Lysva, Perm
province. On February 13, 1960 she was again arrested on a charge of “anti-
Soviet agitation”, and on May 7 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and
was sent to Dubravlag. She was released from there on February 13, 1970.
Nothing more is known about her.

Nadezhda Vasilyevna Yershova. She was born in 1921 in the village of

Barskoye, Yenaruskino, Aksubayevo region into a peasant family, and
finished six classed at secondary school. She did not enter the collective farm,
and in 1934, after her family moved to Aksubayevo she did housework. In
1945, after the death of her mother, she destroyed her passport and went
underground, leading a wandering form of life. On December 30, 1948 she
was arrested in a group case of True Orthodox Christians and was
incarcerated for further investigation in Kazan prison. On January 18, 1949 she
was indicated, and on February 8, 1949, in a closed session, she was

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sentenced to twenty years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five

years. On October 16, 1949 she was sent under convoy to Sevvostoklag
(Magadan), and was in the camp section in the village of Nizhni Semchan. On
November 17, 1954 her punishment was reduced to seven years. On
December 30, 1955 she was released and went to live in Starosheshminsk,
Sheremetyevo region. Soon she moved to Staroye Mokshino, and then to
Balanda. On March 28, 1958 she was arrested and accused of “joining the anti-
Soviet underground of the True Orthodox Church and taking part in illegal
meetings”. In spite of the fact that she was deaf and spoke thickly, she was
also accused of “distributing anti-Soviet judgements” and “attracting new
people into the underground of the True Orthodox Church”. On August 11-14
August, 1958 she was sentenced to ten years in the camps with
disenfranchisement for five years and confiscation of property. She was sent
to Ozerlag. On November 10, 1960 her sentence was commuted to three years
in prison, and she was sent to Vladimir prison. On March 22, 1961 she was
recognized to be “an especially dangerous recidivist”, and on November 25
was sent to Dubravlag. On August 17, 1966 she was released from camp and
returned to her homeland. Later she lived in Aksubayevo, where, on January
8, 2005, she died.

Demetrius Ivanovich Antonov was born in 1876 in the village of

Yelantovo, Sheremetyevo uyezd, into a peasant family. He was the uncle of
Maria Alexeyevna Kandalina. Illegal meetings and readings of religious
books were often arranged in his house. On April 10, 1931 he was arrested for
anti-Soviet activity, and on August 29 was sentenced, in accordance with
article 58-10, to three years in the camps. After his release he returned to his
native village. In 1937 he was again arrested and sentenced to ten years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Maria Alexeyevna Kandalina was born in 1905 (1907, according to

documents) in the village of Gorshkovo, Novo-Sheshminsk uyezd into a
peasant family, and received an elementary education. In 1923 she married
Alexander Petrovich Kandalin-Anisimov, the son of a kulak who was
dekulakized in 1929. In 1928 she and her family were living in the town of
Lysva, Molotov province, and from 1930 – at Polovinki station. From 1935 she
was working as a cleaner in Moscow, and later as a courier in
“Mosstroistrest”. In 1942 she moved with three children to the village of
Yelantovo to her relative Akulina Plekhanova (her two sons refused to serve
in the army and were sent to a camp). She got to know Fr. Michael Yershov
and began to go to his services in Yelantovo forest. Then she got to know
Hieromonk Philaret. On September 18, 1943 she was arrested in Aksubayevo
wood, and on August 18, 1944 was sentenced to ten years in the camps with
disenfranchisement for five years. She was sent to Usollag (Berezinki,
Molotov province). She worked as an assistant cook, and was later transferred
to the cutting and preparing of wood products. On July 25, 1945 she ran away
from the camp, got to Kizel, then by railway to Usol, then on the river Kama

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by steamboat to Smylovka quay, from where she walked to Yelantovo in

August. She went into hiding in Yamashi, Sheremetyevo, Novo-Sheshmino
and Chistopol regions, living mainly with Pelagia Kionova, who acquainted
her with members of her group. Her daughter visited her by night. In the
summer of 1946 she joined the group of True Orthodox Christians led by
Hieromonk Philaret. She went to secret festal services at holy springs near
Sheremetyevo, Yusupkino, Bilyarsk and Yelantovo forest, and also in houses
in the villages of Kuzaikino, Maly Batras and Yusupkino. On August 30, 1948
she was arrested, but refused to sign the protocols of the interrogations. She
was accused that: “being a participant in an illegal anti-Soviet organization,
the True Orthodox Church, she conducted anti-Soviet activity, opposing the
enterprises of the Communist Party and the Soviet government. She often
took part in illegal meetings of participants in the organization, where under
the cover of religious rites anti-Soviet activity was discussed.” On November
22, 1948 she was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps with
disenfranchisement for five years. On October 16, 1949 she was taken under
convoy to Sevvostlag (Magadan). Nothing more is known about her.

Yegor Fyodorovich Plekhanov was born in 1885 in the village of

Yelantovo, Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. A free peasant, on July 23, 1935 he was arrested in a
group church case, and on February 14, 1936 was sentenced to four years in
the camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Timothy Kharitonovich Plekhanov was born in 1888 in the village of

Yelantovo, Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. A free peasant, in 1934 he was arrested for hoarding
and speculation in bread and was sentenced to eighteen months in the camps.
He was released after eight months. On May 21, 1935 he was arrested in a
group church case, and on February 14, 1936 was sentenced to ten years in the
camps. Nothing more is known about him.

Theodore Fyodorovich Plekhanov was born in 1897 in the village of

Yelantovo, Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and received an
elementary education. A free peasant, after dekulakization he had no fixed
occupation. In July, 1935 he was arrested in a group church case, and on
February 14, 1936 was sentenced to seven years in the camps. He was sent to
Temlag, where he refused to work, and in 1939 was arrested for sabotage and
sentenced to ten years in the camps. He remained in the same camp, from
which he was released on September 16, 1948. On May 16, 1949 he was
arrested again for belonging to “an anti-Soviet sectarian organization”, and on
August 17 he was sentenced to a termless exile in Kazakhstan. He was sent to
Petropavlovsk. Nothing more is known about him.

Vassa Fyodorovna Plekhanova was born in 1901 in the village of

Yelantovo, Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and received an

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elementary education. A free peasant, she was deprived of her plot of land for
refusing to sow and carry out state obligations. She joined a group of the True
Orthodox Christians and went to secret prayer meetings in houses. On May 7,
1933 she was sentenced to five years’ exile, but ran away from exile. On July 2,
1935 she was arrested “for anti-Soviet activity”, and on February 14, 1936 was
sentenced to five years in the camps and sent to a camp. There she refused to
work since she considered that “to work for Soviet power is a sin”. In the
autumn of 1940 she was released from camp and returned to Yelantovo and
joined a group of the True Orthodox Christians. In 1943, fearing repression,
she went into an illegal position. On January 13, 1948 she was arrested in a
group case of the True Orthodox, but refused to sign the protocols of the
interrogations. On February 8, 1949, in a closed session, she was sentenced to
twenty-five years in the camps with disenfranchisement for five years. On
October 17 she was taken under convoy to Sevurallag (Sosva, Sverdlovsk
province). On October 11, 1953 she was transferred to Karlag. On November
17, 1954 her sentence was reduced to ten years. On June 7, 1955 she was
released from camp. Nothing more is known about her.

Seraphima Plekhanova was born in 1912 in the village of Yelantovo,

Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary
education. A free peasant, in the 1940s she was imprisoned in Ustvymlag. On
September 17, 1945 she was arrested for being “a participant in a group of
saboteurs from religious conviction”, and on March 14, 1946 was sentenced to
ten years in the camps. Nothing more is known about her.

Agrafena Ivanovna Kalinina-Plenova. She was born in 1913 in the village

of Yelantovo, and was a participant in illegal prayer meetings. She went
underground “in order to escape mobilization for peatbog works”. While she
was being detained she was wounded and died within the hour.

Nina Alexandrovna Kandalina was born in 1924 in Yelantovo into a

peasant family. In March, 1942 she was arrested and sentenced to six years in
the camps. She was sent to colony no. 5 in Sviyazhsk. Nothing more is known
about her.

Anna Pavlovna Prosneva was born in 1907 in the village of Staro-

Sheshminsk, Shermetyevo uyezd into a peasant family. She was a free
peasant. Her husband died during the war at the front. There were four
children in the family between five and fifteen years of age. On June 16, 1950
she was arrested for being “a participant in an anti-Soviet organization, the
True Orthodox Church, under the direction of the illegal priest G.V. Rusakov
[Hieromonk Philaret]”, and on August 30, 1950 she was sentenced to ten
years in the camps and was sent to a camp. On April 18, 1955 she was
released. Nothing more is known about her.

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Justina Alexeyevna Grunina was born in 1902 in the village of

Gorshkovo, Novo-Sheshminsk uyezd, into a peasant family. She was the
sister of Maria Kandalina, and married Stepan Andreyevich Grunin. On
September 18, 1943 she was arrested in Aksubayevo forest, but was later
released. On October 10 she was again arrested, and was accused that: “being
a participant in an illegal anti-Soviet group of churchmen, she threw up
working in a collective farm and went into an illegal position, systematically
visiting illegal meetings, and sharing in and supporting the anti-Soviet
judgements of the participants”. On August 18, 1944 she was sentenced to
five years in the camps with disenfranchisement for three years, and was sent
to Usollag (?). On February 1, 1947 she died in camp in Kazan.

Anna Alexandrovna Kandalina. She was born in 1926 in the village of

Yelantovo, Sheremetyevo uyezd into a peasant family, and finished six
classes. In the 1940s she was living underground, without fixed occupation or
domicile, and took part in secret prayer meetings in Aksubayevo forest. On
September 18, 1943 she was arrested, but then released. On November 19,
1948 she was arrested in connection with a group case of True Orthodox
Christians and was cast into Kazan prison for further investigation. On
February 8, 1949 she was sentenced to twenty-five years in the camps with
disenfranchisement for five years. On November 17, 1954 her sentence was
reduced to seven years, and in November, 1955 she was released. On May 30,
2009 she died.

Alexandra Romanovna Porokhina was born in 1912 in the village of

Babinskoye, Salobalyksky uyezd, Vyatka province into a peasant family, and
received an elementary education. In the 1940s she was in hiding from
defence works, and went underground. She was a messenger for Igumen
Sergius (Mytikov). In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being “a
participant in the antisoviet church underground”, and on October 31 was
sentenced to eight years in the camps and sent to a camp, where she refused
to work and was constantly sent to the punishment isolator. From March,
1952 she was looked after by Seraphima Alikina, who had arrived in the
camp. In June, 1953 she was sent into exile in Yeniseisk region, Krasnoyarsk
district. In June, 1956 she was released, and went to live in the village of
Oshlanskoye, Vyatka province, and constantly went to Bilyarsk to secret
prayer services at the holy springs. In the autumn of 1957 she was arrested
and accused that: “since 1954 she has systematically conducted antisoviet
agitation among her acquaintances, directed at changing the existing order
and re-establishing the monarchy headed by the now condemned M.V.
Yershov, who is called ‘Father Michael’ among the religious believers”. On
August 12, 1958 she was condemned to forced treatment with isolation from
society as being irresponsible. Nothing more is known about her.

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Maria Alexeyevna Sergeyeva was born in 1909 in Yersubaikino, Yamashi

uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary education. She lived
in the village of Kuzaikino as a free peasant. On October 25, 1949 she was
arrested for “organized anti-Soviet activity” and was accused that: “by dint of
her hostile attitude to the existing state order, she entered the anti-Soviet
organization of the True Orthodox Church, and systematically conducted
anti-Soviet agitation”. On February 15, 1950 she was sentenced to ten years in
the camps with disenfranchisement for five years, and was sent to Siblag. On
October 25, 1959 she was released after serving her term. Nothing more is
known about her.

Olga Alexeyevna Sergeyeva was born in 1920 in Yersubaikino, Yamashi

uyezd into a peasant family, and received an elementary education. She lived
in the village of Kuzaikino as a free peasant. On October 25, 1949 she was
arrested for “organized anti-Soviet activity” and was accused that: “by dint of
her hostile attitude to the existing state order, she entered the anti-Soviet
organization of the True Orthodox Church, and systematically organized and
conducted illegal meetings in her house, carrying out anti-Soviet agitation
among the population”. On February 15, 1950 she was sentenced to ten years
in the camps with disenfranchisement for five years, and was sent to Siblag.
On October 25, 1959 she was released after serving her term. Nothing more is
known about her.

(Sources: Les Cahiers du Samizdat, April, 1978; Russkoye Vozrozhdeniye,

1978, N 4, pp. 39-42; Schema-Monk Epiphanius (Chernov), Tserkov’
Katakombnaya na Zemlye Rossijskoj (MS), 1980; I.M. Andreyev, Russia's
Catacomb Saints, Platina: St. Herman Monastery Press, 1982, chapter 42;
Chronicle of Current Events, no. 32, p. 80; Bishop Ambrose (von Sievers),
“Episkopat Istinno-Pravoslavnoj Katakombnoj Tserkvi”, Russkoye
Pravoslaviye, N 4 (8), 1997, pp. 14-15; “Katakombnaya Tserkov’: Tainij Soboer
1948g.”, Russkoye Pravoslaviye, N 5 (9), 1997, pp. 20, 27; I.I. Osipova, Skvoz’
Ogn’ Muchenij i Vody Slyoz”, Moscow: Serebryanniye Niti, 1998, pp. 180-182,
259; "ОPremudrij… Budi s nami neotsupno…" Vospominaniya veruyuschikh
Istinno-Pravoslavnoj (Katakombnoj) Tserkvi. Konets 1920-x – nachalo 1970-x
godov (‘O All-Merciful God… Remain with us without ceasing…’
Reminiscences of Believers of the True Orthodox (Catacomb) Church. End of
the 1920s – beginning of the 1930s), Moscow, 2008, pp. 148-149;
http://www.katakomb.ru/2/canon.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/tatar.html)

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36. HIEROCONFESSOR NICETAS OF VYATKA

It is not known where Protopriest Nicetas Illarionovich Ignatiev was born.

Once he was asked: “Is your homeland far?” “Far, where the vines grow – my
homeland is there,” replied batyushka. “When the pilgrims went to
Jerusalem, to the Black Sea, they spent the night with us.”

The hospitable house of his parents was always open for wanderers. Fr.
Nicetas had a brother, Demetrius, who was eight years older than he, and
their father used to explain his hospitality as follows: “I have two sons. Maybe
they will have to go wandering…” That’s how it turned out, at any rate in the
case of the younger son. Fr. Nicetas said that since his parents gave refuge to
pilgrims, he himself was later hidden by kind people.

One old wanderer lived for a long time with his parents, and they buried
him… Many years later, Fr. Nicetas would be secretly buried, at great risk, by
those who gave him his last shelter.

Fr. Nicetas had a Christian upbringing; he said that he had been close to
the Church from his young years, and declined from playing games: “The
young people would go and play, but I – to the church…” From his childhood
he read and chanted on the kliros, and learned all the services; the boy also
read the Apostle, for which he stood on a bench.

Fr. Nicetas’ parents were called Illarion and Euphrosyne. They were
tortured by the Bolsheviks – starved to death. They locked them in one of the
rooms of their house and didn’t let anyone bring them food, telling everyone
that they were ill. But the neighbours knew what kind of illness they had –
they said that if they had had something to eat, they would have recovered.

Fr. Nicetas was apparently born at the beginning of the century. Thus
when the revolution came he was 16 or 17. It is not known whether his
parents were still alive at that time. He was caught by the reds with an appeal
in his hands written by a starets called Jonah. The young man was taken to be
shot, but on the way he lost consciousness and turned up in hospital, where a
doctor he knew helped him to escape. He was exiled to Turkestan for refusing
to serve in the Red Army, and it is probably there that he met two people who
were destined to be very important in his life: Archimandrite Seraphim, who
came from a monastery near Tashkent, and Nun Catherine (Ilyinichna
Golovanova).

Matushka Catherine was born in the village of Novosibirskoye,

Novopokrovsk uyezd, Orenburg province into a peasant family, and went to
elementary school. In her childhood she joined a monastery whose spiritual
father was Archimandrite Seraphim. In 1920 she was in Tashkent and took

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part in secret services. In 1925, with the beginning of the massive arrests of
believers, she went into hiding and an All-Union warrant was issued for her
arrest. At the end of the 1920s she was serving as Fr. Nicetas’ reader in the
villages of Gorodische and Tabashkino, Sanchur region, Vyatka province, and
then in Kiknur region. In September, 1936 he was arrested, but escaped when
her guards were sleeping. On February 18, 1937 she was again arrested for
“anti-Soviet agitation”. On March 7 she was released and her case shelved for
lack of evidence. In 1943 she was under investigation “for anti-Soviet
activity”, but was again released because of lack of evidence. She continued
her secret service in Vyatka. In the spring of 1945 she was arrested for being
“a leader of, and participant in, the anti-Soviet church underground”, and on
October 31 was sentenced to ten years in the camps and sent to a camp.

When Fr. Nicetas’ term of exile expired, he set off for Moscow, where his
brother Demetrius was, serving as a deacon. There also was Archimandrite
Seraphim, who had come from Tashkent.

Fr. Nicetas said that during the time of his service in Moscow he twice held
the robe of the Saviour in his hands; he raised it and showed the ark in which
it was laid to the people. The robe of the Lord was in the Dormition cathedral,
so did Fr. Nicetas serve there, or did he receive the holy object during a cross
procession?

Fr. Nicetas was not registered in Moscow. His life there became more and
more intolerable; they were searching for him, and at one point he had to save
himself by jumping out of a moving tram. His position became especially
difficult after the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius in 1927.

Fr. Nicetas’ name’s day was May 24 according to the old calendar – the
feast of St. Nicetas the Stylite.

In Moscow there was a certain matushka who was nicknamed ‘dark’, that
is, blind. Once for some reason she started to abuse Fr. Nicetas:

“Schismatic, schismatic, you’ve left Vladyka Sergius?! I’m going to Sergius

now; he’ll come for you in a van and take you with him – you’ll serve with
him!”

But Fr. Nicetas, without panicking, firmly explained that he would never
serve with Metropolitan Sergius, adding:

“He goes round Moscow in a van by day, while I walk the streets by
night…”

“What’s your name? Nicetas?” asked the clairvoyant matushka (she did
not know his name).

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“Nicetas.”

“The Stylite?”

“The Stylite.”

At that point matushka as it were struck Fr. Nicetas on the head with the
palm of her hand.

“So be a pillar of Orthodoxy!”

She had been testing him by reviling him as a schismatic…

It was during his time in Moscow that Fr. Nicetas got to know Bishop
Maximus (Zhizhilenko), who had been consecrated to the episcopate with the
blessing of Patriarch Tikhon specially for the Catacomb Church. They even
rented a room together. Fr. Nicetas became a cleric of the church of the
Meeting in Serpukhov. He belonged to the True Orthodox Church under
Bishop Maximus’ omophorion.

As they were returning home one evening in 1929, Bishop Maximus and
Fr. Nicetas noticed a light shining in the windows of their room. This put
them on their guard. “Something’s not right: there’s a light burning in the
house, and our room is lit up…”

Fr. Nicetas went to the back door: the landlady, recognizing him, waved
him away. It turned out that a search was taking place in their room: one
policeman was rummaging in their things, while the other was dozing at the
table. Fr. Nicetas tried to take Bishop Maximus away, but he decisively
refused: “I have to go – my mitre and vestments are there!” He didn’t want to
leave his hierarchical vestments in the hands of the police, so he went to the
room and was arrested…

We don’t know whether this was the same arrest that brought Bishop
Maximus to Solovki… But we know that on Solovki Bishop Maximus met the
other Catacomb Bishops Victor of Vyatka and Nectarius of Yaransk. It was
with the blessing of Bishop Nectarius that Fr. Nicetas was to carry out his
service in Vyatka province…

This took place as follows. After the arrest of Bishop Maximus Fr. Nicetas
moved to Moscow, where he served in the Exaltation church. However, he
was being hunted, and it became impossible for him to stay any longer in
Moscow. Archimandrite Seraphim was at that time in Yoshkar-Ola; and it
was from there that Fr. Nicetas received an invitation to go to him. According
to one version, this letter contained the advice to go to Kazan on his way, and

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meet Vladyka Nectarius. According to other versions, Fr. Nicetas first went to
Fr. Seraphim in Yoshkar-Ola, and from there was sent by him to Bishop
Nectarius in Kazan. “You go to Vladyka,” he said; “he’ll decide your
course…”

Fr. Nicetas recounts: “I went to Kazan, and searched for the street, and the
number of the house… I arrived – he was doing some carpentry. He was not
tall, dressed in civil clothes and a jacket. “How can I find Vladyka Nectarius
and see him?” “Right now,” he said, “you’ll see him.” He turned quickly – he
was brisk, young, he’d only just left the Academy, He went up, put on his
cassock, ryassa and klobuk, and said: “Here’s Vladyka Nectarius for you.”

Fr. Nectarius took his blessing and confessed that he felt awkward in front
of Vladyka: “I took you for a novice…” “That’s nothing – I took you for a
metropolitan…”

Fr. Nicetas was indeed impressive, good-looking. According to his

spiritual children he was gifted both with good looks and height and a
beautiful voice and hair…

Speaking about his voice: after the conversation, Vladyka Nectarius took
Fr. Nicetas out of the cell to sing near the yard. When he began to sing, the
neighbours began to run up and listen…

During their conversation, Fr. Nicetas said that he had not signed the
declaration of Metropolitan Sergius and after that was subject to persecutions
in Moscow, so that it had become impossible for him to stay there.
“Archimandrite Seraphim advised me to come to you, Vladyka…”

“So go to Vyatka province,” said Vladyka. “Go to Sanchur, live there, it’s a
bit quieter…“ And Bishop Nectarius wrote a paper with approximately the
following content: “I allow Protopriest Nicetas Ignatyev to serve in all the
Orthodox churches of Yaransk diocese…” (At that time there still existed
Orthodox churches subject to Bishop Nectarius, which he ruled from Kazan.).
“Vladyka, I just went to stay with Fr. Seraphim, just for two weeks…”
Vladyka slapped him on the shoulder: “Perhaps for twenty years…”

His prophetic words were fulfilled twice over – Protopriest Nicetas spent,
not twenty, but forty years in those regions…

Having spent the night with Vladyka, in the morning Fr. Nicetas went to
Yoshkar-Ola, where a telegram, like the finger of destiny, came for him: in the
village of Gorodishche they had seized a priest… He had to obey the Bishop
and set off for the vacant place in Gorodishche, the more so in that he had
failed to resolve his destiny in any other way: Fr. Nicetas had nowhere to
return to. They used to travel by cart in those days; they found such a

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transport, and just as they arrived at Gorodishche the wheel fell off, as if it
had been waiting just for that…

The villagers were overjoyed at the arrival of Fr. Nicetas; there had been an
elder Miron in those parts who had prophesied: the hill of Gorodishche will
be covered with velvet… And truly it was covered with people as if with
velvet: parishioners came to it from all sides, both on foot and on horse, so as
to delight in the services of Fr. Nicetas. During the service, they say, no one
left the church, and at the end the people did not want to disperse, as if
waiting for something… This waiting was characteristic of people who, it
seemed, had been starved of a true pastor, who did not know how to act at
this terrible crisis in Russian life. Fr. Nicetas gave everyone the advice not to
join the collective farms…

But disagreements began with the second priest, Fr. D., apparently because
of his jealousy. The wife of this priest even went to Vladyka Nectarius with
some kind of complaints against Fr. Nicetas. She came into the Bishop’s cell
without a scarf: “So.. go away,” said Vladyka. She waited and waited, and
went in again, but again without a scarf – and the hierarch again drove her
out.

At this time in the village of Tabashino they had constructed a new church,
and the local fool-for-Christ used to say as he walked near it: “A new church,
but no batyushka. There’s only one batyushka, a long way away – Fr.
Nicetas…”

Then the brother-builders went to Vladyka Nectarius and asked that Fr.
Nicetas be sent to them. The Bishop looked favourably on their request. But
even at this new place Fr. Nicetas’s life was not without sorrow.

The warden of the church in Gorodishche demanded the return of the

batyushka they had come to love; the priest who survived Fr. Nicetas, they
said, got so angry that it even got to the stage that his kamilavka rolled over
the floor of the church… They returned Fr. Nicetas to Gorodishche; but
sorrows followed him wherever he went.

It was about 1929, and he began to be followed. The police attacked him;
first two, then four fell on him. They tried to force him to cut his hair, but he
didn’t give in. They struck his head on the bench, and he lost consciousness.
When he came to there were blood-covered hairs all round him – he had been
shorn… They didn’t even let him gather up his hair… But they let him go.

Fr. Nicetas continued to say: “Even if you’re down to your last shirt, don’t
go into the collective farm…”

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Once a GPU chief dressed in a sheepskin coat came to him for confession,
to hear what the priest was teaching the people. Fr. Nicetas told him, too, not
to go to the collective farm – the same as he told everyone at confession. But
he felt something not good in this “confessor” and noted that he did not come
up for Communion.

Two weeks later, Fr. Nicetas and Matushka Golovanova, who was his
reader at that time, went to friends for a cup of tea. When they returned,
batyushka did not go to bed. The bed in his room remained undisturbed.
Batyushka himself told the story: “I sat down and kept on sitting, fur cap in
hand, without undressing. I felt a pain in my heart – probably something was
going to happen.” There was a knock at the window. “They’re coming to take
me,” said Fr. Nicetas with conviction.

Matushka Golovanova went with a candle in her hand to see who the
uninvited guests were. The door of the cabin opened outwards, and Fr.
Nicetas stood behind the opened door in the hall. The “guests” hurled
themselves from the street into the hall and suddenly found themselves in
impenetrable darkness. “Oh, the candle’s gone out!” cried matushka. Go into
the living-room - it’s light there.” As they went into the lit up part of the
house, Fr. Nicetas left the house: he was quite ready for the arrival of the
“guests” and he even had his outdoor clothing on.

“Where is batyushka?” asked the “guests”. “He’s been called for some
need to Serkovo.”

They looked round the house. Batyushka’s bunk was undisturbed – when
they had checked they went to Serkovo.

That was how Fr. Nicetas’ parish life came to an end. After serving a
moleben in the church for the last time, Fr. Nicetas started a life of wandering.
His heart told him that he would not serve in a church again in this life. And
perhaps he shouldn’t?

Fr. Nicetas stayed sometimes for one night, sometimes for two, sometimes
for a month. Matushka Golovanova went for some time to Kiknursky region
as a reader; she had a cell there. She chanted on the kliros, and herself drew
orphans to church chanting. This was how she educated them.

It was difficult until the war, then it became still harder. During the war
there was a kind of break in Fr. Nicetas’ Vyatka life. Before the war he again
went to Moscow, where Archimandrite Seraphim and many of their
acquaintances were gathered. They had much to talk about… But it was
impossible to stay long in Moscow, and the day came when Archimandrite
Seraphim said to Fr. Nicetas: “Return to Vyatka.” “You know, I have no

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documents.” “There’s your document,” said Fr. Seraphim, pointing upwards

with his hand, “- the Lord!”

It was impossible to travel in wartime without being checked; and this time
guards were walking with torches from both ends of the carriage.

“The man checking me trained his torch on me,” said Fr. Nicetas. “I had no
documents, only an icon of the Vladimir Mother of God hidden on my
breast…”

The guard looked in silence at Fr. Nicetas for some time, while Fr. Nicetas
looked at him… Those accompanying batyushka almost died from fear.

Then the second guard came up: “Well, why aren’t you checking him?”
“All done, let’s go,” replied his comrade unexpectedly.

Everybody was amazed that they hadn’t checked them. Fr. Nicetas
especially venerated the Vladimir icon of the Mother of God, and she saved
him more than once…

But again it was impossible to avoid sorrows. On returning from Moscow,

Fr. Nicetas discovered that there had been a search at his last refuge, some
valuable vessels and white vestments that batyushka especially valued (they
were prepared for his burial) had disappeared. The strain from his emotions
was too much for him and Fr. Nicetas fainted and fell, and hit his face so hard
that a swelling appeared which remained with him for a long time.
Eventually he healed it by applying oil from a lampada.

Were there any days in Fr. Nicetas’ wandering life when he experienced no
feeling of alarm and which he passed in peace? We don’t know of any, his
spiritual children remembered only unceasingly anxious days. It goes without
saying that the authorities were tormented with the thought that Fr. Nicetas
was hiding somewhere in the region. Already all the other well-known
catacomb priests had been arrested, including Fr. John Razgulin, otherwise
known as Lisinsky from the village of Russkaya Lisa where he was born in
about 1906-07. He had been ordained by Vladyka Nectarius in Kazan, but,
because of his lack of knowledge and preparedness, had not been given the
right to serve. Vladyka Nectarius had ordained him as it were in advance, for
the last times, in case there was no one left who could give the Christians the
Holy Gifts. It only remained to Fr. John to acquire the wisdom of priestly
service; but, on his return journey from the Bishop, arriving in one of the
villages on a feastday, when the priests went out for the litia, he, too, without
the blessing of the Bishop, appeared next to them in priestly vestments, which
greatly amazed the local inhabitants, who whispered: “Look, Ivanushka’s a
pope!” Apparently the rumours spread quickly, and a little later the
incautious Fr. John was arrested, which was the result of his disobedience to

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his Bishop. Fr. John Lisinsky was about ten years in prison and died already
at the end of the 1970s, remaining a secret priest. But since he had undertaken
to serve the Divine Liturgy without the blessing of his Bishop, he apparently
did not have a big flock.

Also arrested was the notable pastor Hieromonk John (Protasov), who was
remembered with gratitude for many years and before his death in prison
succeeded in transferring his flock to Fr. Nicetas. And Fr. Nicetas remained
the only priest in the whole region – his single combat with the atheist
authorities had begun.

The police in five regions searched and searched for Fr. Nicetas, but could
not catch him. Every day he was conscious that they were after him. Only
God, Fr. Nicetas and his spiritual children know what this cost him. But this
spiritual unity of theirs was worthy more than life. “For us he was
irreplaceable,” remembered his children. “For us he was a great elder.” But
they added: “Like every man, he wanted to live…” And he said to them: “If
our Church will manage to come out into freedom, if I will be able to come
out of the house without hiding – don’t tell me immediately, I won’t be able
to bear it.”

Fr. Nicetas found a temporary refuge with one widow in the village of
Krutoi, Lisisnky region. At that time they were conducting a search
throughout the village – they were looking for deserters. Stopping at the
house of the widow, the searchers unexpectedly decided to display some
uncharacteristic mercy: “Don’t go to her, we won’t trouble the old woman…”
But if they had found the priest in her house, they would certainly have
“troubled” her. All ages were suitable for prison, and there quite enough old
people in the Soviet prisons – apparently old women presented a special
threat for Soviet power… This was just one day out of thousands which
brought this kind of alarm.

Another day, in another place, they were also searching for deserters. But
when they failed to find them they decided to change from hunting men to
hunting thrushes. There were shots, whose cause Fr. Nicetas did not know, he
only heard them beginning to beat on their gates and shout: “Here!” How
was batyushka to know that a shot thrush had fallen into their yard, and the
hunters of me just wanted to take the bird to show what good shots they
were…

Batyushka had an attack of nerves and was too frightened to remain there.
So when a neighbour with children who lived about ten houses away came
into the house, he took hold of her like a little child and said: “Take me to
your house!” She took him to her shed, where they made a hole out of straw
and put Fr. Nicetas there. He lay there for three months without straightening
up; he just cut out a little chink with his knife to see the light, and prayed. The

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mistress of the house did not always bring him food; if she didn’t bring him
bread, batyushka would remain hungry. After these three months he could
hardly stand on his feet, he continually fell and could hardly comb his hair…

It was difficult to find a refuge for batyushka. Some feared to have him in
their house, others were in a dangerous situation for one reason or another.
On the house-owners there lay a particularly heavy burden of responsibility,
and during the secret services, which took place, of course, at night, they
usually didn’t so much pray, as watched. There were false alarms – but, alas,
not always false. The secret had to be kept so strictly that, for example, if two
people came to batyushka they were not allowed to talk to each other about it.

The situation was so dangerous that Fr. Nicetas’ parishioners decided to

move him to another region 50 kilometres away, where they thought it would
be less dangerous. But to move 50 kilometres was easier said than done. A
simple matter of a walk by foot was turned into a complicated operation. Fr.
Nicetas with his big beard was very conspicuous, so he had to pretend to be a
hunched-up old man with a pile of bast shoes on his back going to the bazaar.
The roads were covered by the police, so they had to go along a path through
the fields of rye. Boys went out in front to see whether it was safe for
batyushka and those accompanying him to leave the village. By the time the
boys returned, two policemen were already on guard along the path; if
batyushka had tarried just a little longer, he wouldn’t have got through…

But when they arrived in their destination, the village of Sobolyak, another
difficulty awaited them. It turned out that the woman had invited Fr. Nicetas
only in order to serve some kind of need, and not at all in order to give him a
place to stay. Those accompanying batyushka, his devoted spiritual children,
were so filled with sorrow at the prospect of leaving him that they couldn’t
restrain their tears. “What are you crying for?” said the mistress of the house.
“Take your batyushka back with you!” She was frightened of taking him.
Now it was time to weep for batyushka, whose legs were covered in blood
after the long and dangerous journey. He was too weak to return, and
besides, returning was very risky. The woman’s heart softened when Fr.
Nicetas foretold the return of her husband, from whom she had had no news
for a long time: “Write down the date and the time, and make ready a parcel
for the prison – your husband will be alive.” And indeed, after some time she
received a letter from her husband, and he himself soon appeared with a
wounded arm.

Fr. Nicetas returned to Sanchur region and lived in a village nicknamed

“Pig’s clearing” with an old woman. When she left the house, batyushka
would lock it from the inside on hook, which the old woman would open on
her return by pushing a stick through the hole. Once when she was away
some people came up to the house and began to knock and push on the door:
“It’s locked from inside, she’s not opening up – it’s obvious she’s dead!” Fr.

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Nicetas was standing behind the door holding the hook… Alas there were
few in whose hearts were preserved the words: “I will not give the Mystery to
Thine enemy…” There were far more who would give away the mystery than
keep it; they would either make a denunciation or let the cat out of the bag.
This woman suffered because of that.

One nun of the Catacomb Church, remembering that time, says: “Can a
man living in freedom stand what a hunted man experiences…?” It is hard for
us to understand now how real and terrible that threat was. 40 people
suffered for Fr. Nicetas at one time (according to another source – 30 at first,
and 10 later). Batyushka went from place to place, they couldn’t catch him, so
they began to arrest his spiritual children. One woman was arrested just for
giving him some cream. It seems that in her simplicity she didn’t think of
hiding that from the persecutors. They tortured those whom they arrested,
beat them, demanding the addresses where batyushka was hiding.

Among those arrested was Matushka Catherine Golovanova. She was

arrested twice. The first time they came and tried to torture her to reveal
where Fr. Nicetas was; two policmen dressed in civil clothes took her to the
house which they had under surveillance – an elderly man and his wife were
living there. On seeing matushka, they rejoiced, and the wife, thinking that
matushka was accompanied by her own people, started to talk joyfully.
Matushka couldn’t stop her because the police were careful that she not give
her any sign. The woman gave away the secret of Fr. Nicetas’ whereabouts:
“O Matushka, dear one, how are you? You know, we accompanied Fr. Nicetas
like this: we hung a bag full of shoes on him and he went…” Matushka finally
succeeded in winking at her, the woman stopped short. “Well, why have you
stopped?” asked the searchers. “I remember nothing…” “We’ll lean on you
now – you’ll remember.” They took off their outer clothing, under which, as
under a sheep skin, was the inner wolf – policeman’s uniforms and guns. But
it was already late, and the exhausted police wanted to go to sleep. One was
dozing at the table, the other was at the threshold – he was evidently
guarding the door to prevent matushka running away. Matushka waited and
waited, then she opened a window and ran away. She was on the run for half
a year, and then they arrested her again. “Well, then,” they said, “how did
you run away?” “How? Well, they were sleeping and I thought: why should I
simply sit here, I opened the window and left.” “You did well,” they said. But
now they didn’t doze. They condemned all forty at one go (according to
another source – thirty at the beginning). Matushka Golovanova was the chief
culprit. They really gave it to her at the interrogation: many years later
Matushka S. saw scars from the interrogations on her back.

They tortured them so much that some of them couldn’t stand it and
revealed the addresses where they could find Fr. Nicetas; but it seems that the
pursuers had so despaired of catching Fr. Nicetas that they didn’t believe
them even when they told them the truth.

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At the trial one woman in her simplicity said: “If you let me go, I’ll go to Fr.
Nicetas again the same day.” Not believing her, they said: “We’ve been
looking for him for so many years without finding him, and you’ll find where
he is in one day?!”

They gave Fr. Nicetas’ parishioners sentences of many years in length.

Matushka Golovanova was given twelve years, two of them in a lock-up…

While Fr. Nicetas’ spiritual children were going to suffer, he himself had
another thirty years of suffering and wanderings ahead of him. And he was
surrounded by the sufferings of the people; the war tormented Russia, their
own Russian people tormented the Russian people. So often they would go
up to door, enter as if they were the masters, say to the servants of God:
“Time’s up!” and take them away, together with their last possessions…

Batyushka came to Shamakovo in Kiknursky region. The father and two

sons were at the front, the mother of the house remained with the young
children. They had taken everything away, so they boiled the tea and the soup
in the mortar, they didn’t even have any spoons. The sated man is no friend to
the hungry, but in this house batyushka was given a refuge – God preserved
him…

And it was amazing that what the majority of the Russian adults had
forgotten how to do – keep secret, the children in these families where Fr.
Nicetas was concealed were able to do.

Later, when they were grown up and had preserved this great secret of
love and faithfulness in their hearts, they remembered how Fr. Nicetas had
brought them up – he taught them about the life to come. He said to the
children: “If I didn’t believe in the future life, I wouldn’t be hiding, but would
go out onto the street and walk, or go by car… This temporary life passes, and
however long you live you’ll have to answer at the Terrible Judgement. These
are only temporary sufferings. Let us endure. Prepare yourselves – perhaps
you’ll have to suffer.

At confession he insisted: “Be meek and humble, do good works” – and

they received these instructions with all their heart, both his big and his small
spiritual children. The seed fell on good ground, and these words did not
remain simple words. There are no meeker or humbler people in Rus’ than
the children of these secret batyushkas, the children of the True Orthodox
Church. And there are no firmer, more unshakeable people in Rus’ than they.

Fr. Nicetas loved to joke, especially with children. He loved to read verses;
the kids would come in and batyushka would meet them:

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There was a fight in the yard,

The bull fought with the pigs.
The chickens went onto the attack –
A bloody battle began!

There were verses on more serious themes, about Lenin and Stalin:

They’ve lost the whole of Russia,

The two mad fools…

And so Fr. Nicetas went from house to house in that most terrible time. He
lived in one family where he served in a hut which the neighbours passed on
their way to get water. The service was going on while behind the wall the
neighbour’s bucket was tinkling as he went towards the well. The owners just
couldn’t understand how they hadn’t been caught. Batyushka did think of
settling with an old woman from his parishioners. But the enemy was
everywhere; her sister was caught and sentenced to ten years for refusing to
vote. He had to leave again…

It is known that Fr. Nicetas did not allow people to enter the collective
farms or to vote. One could say: did he not demand too much from his
spiritual children, if they were threatened with prison for that? In our
lukewarm time we have different ideas, and it’s not done to remember the
example of St. Sophia, who blessed her three children to torments for Christ.
That was the position of Fr. Nicetas and other catacomb priests. It looks
strange when compared with the mass of Soviet clergy, who from the ambon
blessed their children to go and vote, so as to give their voices for the
communists, for “the ideal man” – Stalin, who blessed their flocks to lie and
be hypocritical without limit, and to carry out all the demands of the
antichristian authorities… They will say: Fr. Nicetas and those like him were
strict! But did they really love their flock more, did they really care for it more
when they blessed the Russian people to deliver themselves into the most
fearful slavery that has ever been seen on earth?

The absolutely rightless Russian slaves laboured on “the great

constructions of communism” until they fell dead. These same slaves, turned
into living frozen skeletons, mined gold in the mines of Kolyma in 50 degrees
of frost and looked for opportunities to cling to the boxes in which the bosses
warmed themselves at the stoves, so as to gulp down, if only for a moment,
the warm air, getting in return for that gulp of warmth a kick up the ass… In
earlier historical periods, the learned historians tell us, masters valued their
slaves and took care that they were well-fed. But there was no point in these
masters feeding their slaves: in place of the one who died of hunger several
more would come…

And one of the forms of this unheard of slavery was the collective farm.

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One of Fr. Nicetas’ parishioners left the collective farm. They arrested her
and began to ask her about everything: why she didn’t go to the elections,
why she didn’t go to the church.

They gave her eight years, although she had four children. The person who
took her away from her children received half a pound of oil. But the workers
on the collective farm worked without being paid. The milk went to the milk
factory, and the oil – to the executioners and above – to their bosses and the
bosses of bosses… It was real slavery; which was why they persecuted those
who did not want to enter slavery so cruelly And in spite of the fact that those
on their own were threatened with prison, the collective farm-workers envied
them and said: you live like tsars… Although there was not much to envy:
they didn’t let the cow of the private worker into the field, he had to pay 200
working days for the right of keeping a goat. It came to the point that in one
village the president even said to one person who did not want to enter the
collective farm: your land is not yours – it belongs to the collective farm; don’t
you dare to cross the threshold! If the old house was destroyed, they didn’t
allow them to build a new one or even repair the old one. They had to lay new
foundations or replace rotten blinds secretly, at night. Once Fr. Nicetas’
parishioners nevertheless succeeded in building a new house, and they had to
roll it onto the site of the old one – as if it had always been there.

They will say: Fr. Nicetas was too strict, insisting that his spiritual children
did not enter the collective farms and kept their individual holdings. Yes, on
the background of the general mindless obedience the refusal to enter the
collective farm was a podvig which involved the bearing of sorrows,
sometimes up to prison and death. But did not those who blessed the Russian
people to obey the antichristian authorities condemn them to worse sufferings
even here on earth, not to speak of eternal life? And what if all the batyushkas
– or at any rate the majority of them – had acted as Fr. Nicetas did? It would
probably have been harder to drive the Russian people into this yoke: after
all, the people were waiting for the decisive word of the Church.
Nevertheless, there were many Russian people who put up a firm spiritual
resistance to the violence of the satanists. Of course, these spiritually strong
people were able to find for themselves true pastors, but, on the other hand,
you could equally say that it was precisely these true pastors who nurtured
and educated such a strong flock.

Only gradually did the renovationist clergy re-educate the Russian people,
training them all to think that for the sake of the preservation of life one could
surrender one’s faith – and as a result the people lost both faith and life… “He
who wishes to save his life will lose it; while he who loses his life for My sake
and the Gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8. 35).

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In her childhood Matushka S. had a friend, who once went to a

neighbouring village and did not return home. Matushka went to look for
her; someone told her that the police had taken the girl in the field and put
her in a tarantass. They let her out five days later. On meeting Matushka S.
the girl said:

“Don’t give the impression that you are friendly with me…”

“What happened?”

“Oh, what happened!”

Then she said that for three days and nights they had not let her eat or
drink or sleep, and every night they interrogated her. They asked her: why
don’t you join the collective farm, why don’t you marry, why don’t you go to
church? This concern that citizens should visit the sergianist church was very
characteristic of Soviet power. And do you know such-and-such? they
continued to interrogate her. When she replied: “no” or “I don’t know” to all
the questions, they threatened her that they wouldn’t let her out until she had
signed that she would point the finger at such-and-such and such-and-such.
The young victim, who was in her nineteenth year, couldn’t hold out and
signed, and now she was frightened of speaking with her friend.

The investigator appointed a place of meeting in the thickets by the river,

saying that a piece of paper or a cloth attached to a branch would signify the
place. When she came for the meeting, she said only one thing:

“I know nothing, I don’t know them…”

“But you know such-and-such, and such-and-such. Go and listen to what

they’re saying!” were his instructions.

Unable to endure such a life, the girl got a passport and went to her aunt,
where she joined a sewing factory. After some time her mother went to see
her daughter. But on the first evening a policemen appeared to check her
documents.

“Well, stay for a month,” he said kindly.

Exactly a month later he appeared again. Unable to leave again, the

frightened woman, knowing what this meeting held in store for her, tried to
hide under the bed, but even there the policeman spied her out and ordered
to come out. And he led her, knee-deep in the snow, saying all the while:

“Oh, I’m so sorry for you, the way you’re walking…”

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Pity did not prevent this state criminal from being incarcerated in Perm.
During the interrogations they kept asking her:

“What is your faith?”

“I’m an Orthodox Christian.”

“So you’re Orthodox… No, tell us what faith you adhere to.”

“I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ…”

“No, what is your confession of faith.”

The poor woman couldn’t make out what they were wanted from her and
finally she blurted out:

“I’m a True Orthodox Christian.”

“There – you should have said that long ago!”

They gathered from her that she belonged to the Tikhonite tendency. They
gave her ten years. Such charges as: belonging to the True Orthodox Church
of the Tikhonite orientation still produced long sentences. In 1958 a nun of the
Catacomb Church was condemned on such a charge, and there were many
like her.

At the same time that they were condemning the mother of the girl to ten
years, they also took her acquaintance. The investigator began to ask:

“Well, tell us: did you go to secret batyushkas?”

“But she went to your place and received communion in your place,”
suddenly said the woman.

The investigator laughed. Some time ago he had gone to a village, claiming
that he was a secret priest and, what is more, the son of the Tsar, Alexis
Nikolayevich, who had supposedly been saved and received priestly
ordination. When some trusting visitors decided to fast in preparation for
communion, the mistress of the house said:

“You sleep here, and batyushka over there in that room. Don’t disturb him,
he’ll be sleeping the whole night… The women couldn’t stand it, after a time
they looked through a crack in the half-open door – they very much wanted
to see how the holy batyushka was praying, and to be joined to his prayerful
spirit… But “batyushka” wasn’t at all thinking of praying, he was in deep
sleep, spread-eagled over the whole width of the bed.

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“Let’s not receive communion from him, something’s not right here…”
decided the women.

The “batyushka’s” purpose was to find out who went to the secret Church.
For this, as we can see, he didn’t shun any means.

In the house where Fr. Nicetas was living the mistress’ son had returned
from the army; the boys and girls were walking together; the mother
suddenly saw that her son was being taken by two unknown men into the rye
field. She was frightened, her heart missed a beat. Not far away she noticed a
van. It turned out that the bosses had come and were trying to persuade her
son:

“You’ve served in the army – now you’re a Soviet person. Now they’ve
released the 58-ers, watch your mother, she’s an elderly person – see whether
a man with a knapsack comes to her…”

The young man told all this to batyushka. He advised him: when they
come the next time, ask them how much they will give you for this. When the
son did this, they replied:

“We will show our gratitude.”

The young man couldn’t stand it: “No, I won’t accept the lot of Judas!”

They left him… But it was already impossible for Fr. Nicetas to stay in the
house, which was being watched by the police.

And so once again Fr. Nicetas was living in a shack, sometimes in a store-
room. Or they would section off a small room…

Once at Pascha Fr. Nicetas was serving in a narrow little store-room, half of
which was curtained off. During the Paschal service the priest has to change
his vestments, and Fr. Nicetas couldn’t do this without an assistant. He
remembered a service in a big Moscow church where the choir alone
numbered 70 chanters, - all the circumstances of his long and much-suffering
life appeared in a flash before his mental gaze, - and Batyushka fell onto the
altar and wept – as an eye-witness remembers – like a child… But Batyushka
was immediately consoled, for the Saviour appeared to him at that moment
and strengthened him. He ordered that this incident should not be related to
others until after his death…

While ahead of him there were still more temptations.

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One night the neighbour’s house was on fire. The people gathered to look,
as in a bazaar. Batyushka’s frightened spiritual children ran up and asked the
mistress of the house where batyushka was. She didn’t know. It turned out
that batushka was in a shack, not knowing how he could get out when the
people were all around. The neighbouring shack was already on fire, the
sparks were flying; it was only 200 or 300 metres to the wood. Batyushka gave
his devoted parishioner the church utensils; they finally plucked up courage
to leave. Some thought that they were leading out an old man, others – that it
was Fr. John Lysinsky.

It was winter; they buried the suitcase in the woods in the snow; they
wanted to go on skis, but batyushka couldn’t. The parishioner’s family went
home from the fire and began to call out to them in the woods: they thought
that he had been captured. Fr. Nicetas said:

“Go to the neighbouring village, tell them that I wasn’t in the fire, I was
with auntie…”

“What do you mean: you weren’t in the fire, your whole back is burnt…”

Later there were many rumours about that fire. The women gathered
together in a huddle and put the question straight:

“Tell us, who was with you?”

Batyushka went fifty kilometres away. His spiritual children who

remained in the previous placed did not dare even to ask where he was…
They were afraid to pronounce his name aloud.

Yes, the 58-ers were released, in the big cities a “thaw” took place, a new
generation of Soviet people grew up, a far more carefree generation that the
previous one, and it seemed that those who were still alive from the older
generation could begin to live more freely. And only for Fr. Nicetas and his
faithful children did not consolation come. Many people began to come to
him, once nine people at once – such meetings could not remain unnoticed.
Fear for batyushka began to grow in the hearts of his children; Matushka
Golovanova, who had already been released for some years now, was also
worried. She wrote to batushka that it was time for him to change his flat, and
he began to prepare to leave. But the owners of the house were very much
against his moving, and detained him almost by force. Perhaps they liked
having such a remarkable person with them; besides, he received many
parcels.

At the feast of the Annunciation there was a service, and on the next day
(fortunately, not on the feast itself, when many people came), the president,
the accountant and the party committee arrived. They noticed a lamp and a

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man’s hand pulling the curtain to in the uninhabited part of the house where
Fr. Nicetas lived. And in the inhabited part they came upon a woman they
didn’t know, one of Fr. Nicetas’ parishioners, who said she was a seamstress.
Without wasting time to work out who she was, they began to break down
the door – it was sealed from the house, and the entrance was from the
courtyard.

Fr. Nicetas was hiding in the basement, in such a shallow space that he
could only lie down in it. The accountant looked into the basement and saw a
grey-haired old man lying there. And again, as in the train, an icon of the
Vladimir Mother of God was on Fr. Nicetas’ breast…

The clerk slammed the hatch down and said: “Nobody there!”

Many years later, he explained his action thus: “I didn’t want him to..” –
and here he added a strong expression – “on my grave…”

The visitors took two or three suitcases with ryasas, some lengths of good
material, a Gospel in a golden setting, an altar cross with some precious
adornments and some crosses to be worn on the breast. Although the police
were informed, the investigation proceeded slowly. Perhaps they shared that
which they had plundered amongst themselves, for only a part – and not the
most valuable part – was displayed in the village soviet, as if in a museum.
Some foreign balsam was displayed for all to see, but the altar cross, for
example, had disappeared…

Now, of course, Fr. Nicetas’ landlords who had so insistently detained him
earlier, immediately asked him to leave. By this time batyushka was old and
sick and moved with difficulty, and he had nowhere to go – everyone feared
to take him in. He spent some days in an uninhabited house, then with an old
woman, until that same parishioner who had led him out of the fire found
him. They had to go many kilometres, but batyushka was exhausted and
could go only three houses away. After asking the old woman to shelter him
for a little longer, the parishioner went off in search of help. This time six
people came – four men and two women. They were ready to carry batyushka
and had made a stretcher. When batyushka came out to them and saw the
stretcher he said:

“What kind of boards are these?”

They explained that they were going to carry him, but he refused outright.
They set off on foot; one went in front as a scout while the others supported
batyushka on both sides. This was after the Annunciation, at the wettest and
muddiest time of the spring thaw. And they went at night because they feared
to go during the day.

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Batyushka’s legs just wouldn’t carry him, and they managed to go only
about two kilometres before stopping in an uninhabited village. While
batyushka was resting on some straw in the bath-house, the others tried to
construct a raft made out of logs from another bathhouse. But batyushka also
refused this method of transport. So they had to walk…

It was eight or nine kilometres to the next village. They stopped in an

uninhabited house – to get into it they had to break down the fence and take
away the roof. They found some coal and burned it, so as to get at least a little
warm without drawing attention to themselves with the smoke. It was so cold
that after putting on his boots on his soaked feet, one of the men stamped up
and down on the same spot for half a day “like a physical culture instructor”.

When they finally got to the first big settlement, from where they hoped to
take batyushka out in a car, it turned out that the place was full of police –
apparently they had begun to look for batyushka. Fortunately, the wind had
broken the wires supplying electricity, and under cover of the darkness into
which the village had been plunged they were able to take batyushka down
the streets. But where to go – that was the big question. And once again Fr.
Nicetas had to take shelter in a shack. Only the mistress of the house knew
about this, the rest of the family, which included one of the bosses, suspected
nothing. They made a nest for Fr. Nicetas in the straw of the shack, where the
tormented sick man had to spend a week until his children could find a car
with a reliable driver.

Finally, Fr. Nicetas was taken to where he spent the remainder of his life
until his death in 1974. Surrounded by care and love, he could rest a bit… But
his illness became worse. He tried to hide his increasing sufferings, because
he knew that his death and burial would impose a heavy burden on those
giving him shelter. How and where were they to bury a man whom,
according to Soviet power, was not supposed to exist?

For many years Fr. Nicetas commemorated Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsa,

Archbishop Victor of Vyatka and Glazov and Archbishop Nectarius of
Yaransk. And not having certain news of their deaths, he continued to
commemorate for some years after their deaths. But then he was for a time
without a bishop to commemorate. This naturally worried him. But in about
1955 he came under the omophorion of Archbishop Anthony Galynsky-
Mikhailovsky. This took place as follows.

When Matushka Catherine Golovanova was put in the camps, she got to
know a woman called Daria Pavlovna, and through her she got to know
about Archbishop Anthony. Daria Pavlovna was serving an eight-year
sentence and had been arrested at the same time as Archbishop Anthony,
with whom she had prayed in the same house. Their places of imprisonment
were not far from each other, so somehow they were able to correspond,

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putting little notes in holes or under logs. And Vladyka greatly consoled and
strengthened Daria Pavlovna with these notes.

When Matushka Golovanova returned from the camps, she of course told
Fr. Nicetas about the remarkable Catacomb hierarch. Her information was
confirmed by the Catacomb batyushka Fr. Athanasius, who had returned
from exile. He had served three sentences of eight years, five years and three
years. He had been ordained to the diaconate by Archbishop Nectarius before
the declaration of 1927; and since he had refused to sign the declaration he
had been immediately arrested. On being released, he went to Vladyka
Anthony in Armavir and received ordination to the priesthood from him.
Since the authorities knew about him, he did not have to hide as much as Fr.
Nicetas did, and batyushka sometimes went to Fr. Athanasius for help. Once
a sick girl had to be united to the Church. She couldn’t be taken to Fr. Nicetas,
nor could batyushka, who was also sick, go to her. So he ordered that Fr.
Athanasius be invited. Fr. Athanasius was able to go long distances around –
for example, to Kozmodemyansk. So whoever could not go to Fr. Nicetas
went to him.

So through Fr. Athanasius Fr. Nicetas came under the omophorion of

Archbishop Anthony, and he now commemorated Metropolitan Philaret,
first-hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, and Archbishop Anthony.

Another of the priests under Archbishop Anthony was Fr. Gurias, a good-
looking, dark-haired priest who had served ten years in the camps. He had a
family and lived after the camps in Kozmodemyansk. He was ordained by
Archbishop Anthony. He lived openly, was very firm in his faith, but was
condescending to those who had fallen. He once received the secretary of the
village soviet with his wife, saying:

“They’re getting old, who can I not give them communion?”

Once, on entering a small town, and seeing that a house was full of people,
he began the all-night vigil with a sermon:

“You don’t know me, or to what Church I belong. I want to explain.”

Then he explained, citing passages from the Old and New Testaments.

According to the witness of those who knew him, at the end of his life, in
the middle of the 1980s, he was killed in a hospital, where he was given a
treatment from which he died. Matushka Golovanova greatly valued and
loved him.

Matushka herself had been raised from childhood in a monastery,

becoming a nun with the name Catherine. At the age of 21 she was forced to

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leave her monastery destroyed by the Bolsheviks and went round the village
churches as a chanter – she was an excellent choir leader. Her bishop (this was
before the Church descended into the catacombs) blessed her to give sermons.
According to the witness of those who knew her, she understood even the
most complex church questions, and even, so they say, was able to reply to
questions on any church theme. She herself said of herself that she ate more
books than bread. She was Fr. Nicetas’ support during his suffering life; he
respected her and listened to her opinions. Learning about Vladyka Anthony
in the camps, she later went to him, was tonsured into the mantia by him with
the name Antonia, and thus became, not Matushka Catherine or Aunt Katya,
but Matushka Antonia. Vladyka Anthony himself said about her: “She is like
a pillar with you stretching from earth to heaven.”

When the six had to accompany Fr. Nicetas from the dangerous place
during the spring floods, one of them set off by train to Matushka Antonia to
tell her about the catastrophe. When she got on the train she was so nervous
that she shook; but tiredness took its tool and she dozed off. At this point it
seemed to her that someone was bending over her and whispering that
everything was alright with batyushka. When Matushka Antonia heard what
condition Fr. Nicetas was in she was at first very worried, but on hearing
about the incident on the train she calmed down and calmed her visitor. And
truly, although they had to undergo many labours and suffer many sorrows,
everything ended well.

Matushka Antonia died on August 17/30, 1979, already after the death of
Fr. Nicetas.

One who also received the monastic tonsure from Vladyka Anthony was
Matushka S. With the blessing of Fr. Nicetas, she was appointed to carry the
Holy Gifts. She carried out this very responsible duty for 28 years. She always
carried the Holy Gifts in a dry form.

Once someone they summoned the old woman: “She hasn’t communed for 30
years and is approaching death.” The old woman wept from joy. On the return
journey she had to run and almost missed the bus, there were absolutely no
roads. But it seemed to Matushka S. that she was travelling on a flat road because
the old woman was praying for her. On other occasions they led her to some
villages where the old women had also not communed for 30 years. And here
also after receiving communion they did not live long – it was evidently God’s
will; they received communion, and God took them. Matushka S. read a Lament
over sins (the blessing of the community of the Three Hierarchs on Mount Athos)
to them, and they sent their confession with her in envelopes. Once she was sent
by Fr. Nicetas 30 kilometres to a certain village and then some more kilometres
on foot by a big circuitous route.

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Fr. V. was a spiritual son of Fr. Nicetas. He distributed the Holy Gifts while
still a reader. Once he came to Fr. Nicetas, who told him that he was now
under the omophorion of Vladyka Anthony. Later, with the blessing of Fr.
Nicetas, he was ordained to the priesthood by Vladyka Anthony. A few years
later, Fr. V. had to receive Fr. Nicetas’ flock.

The last days of Fr. Nicetas, besides his fears for his spiritual children, were
darkened by another sorrow.

The sick man, who could not leave his refuge, was also unable to see
Vladyka Anthony, and he gave his confession to Vladyka only through Fr. V.
Vladyka awarded him with the mitre and showered him with prosphoras;
and when he heard that Fr. Nicetas could not come to him he intended to visit
him himself in order to tonsure him and raise him to the rank of
archimandrite.

The date of Vladyka’s arrival was already decided on; everything had been
collected for the journey, his vestments had been packed and a telegram had
been sent to say that guests were expected. (Of course, it was impossible to
announce his arrival directly; it had to be done in an allegorical form.)
However, this telegram was interpreted incorrectly by the women who
received it. They were frightened at the prospect of the arrival of unknown
guests and, without saying a word to Fr. Nicetas, immediately sent a telegram
telling them not to come. When Fr. Nicetas heard about this it was already too
late, and a fitting moment for the journey did not present itself again. So the
two men never met.

And then Vladyka Anthony’s name was besmirched by a slander. People

said that he was a name-worshipper, although Vladyka had in fact fought
against this heresy, for which the name-worshippers in the Caucasus had
refused to recognise him. But when Fr. Nicetas heard these rumours, living as
he was in almost complete isolation and not being able to check them out, he
did not know what to do. Being on the edge of death, he did not know to
whom to entrust his flock. Fr. V., his spiritual son, was under the omophorion
of Vladyka Anthony, and Fr. Nicetas did not know whether to satisfy the
request of his flock and hand them over to him.

Fr. Nicetas served his last service, a moleben and akathist to the Mother of
God, on the feast of the 40 martyrs, March 9/22. He decided to take refuge in
his sorrow to the Mother of God, who had always helped him out of all
difficult circumstances.

“Let us ask the Mother of God what path she indicates for us. I as a man
can go wrong. She has preserved me throughout my life,” said Fr. Nicetas.

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They placed the lots behind an icon of the Vladimir Mother of God, one for
the priests under Vladyka Anthony’s omophorion, and the other for those
who did not recognise him. Then they took one out after prayer – it indicated
the priests of Vladyka Anthony.

The next day it became clear that Fr. Nicetas’ end was near. They
summoned Fr. Valentine, the future Archbishop Anthony of Yaransk. He was
at that time on quite a long journey confessing and communing the faithful;
but, although he had not completed all that he had to do, he suddenly felt that
he had to return home immediately. There they were waiting for him with the
news that batyushka was dying…

When Fr. Valentine arrived him, batyushka told him to accept his flock,
many of whom were present there. The priests managed to talk about the
most important thing, then Fr. Nicetas did confession and received
communion. He sat down, embracing Fr. Valentine, and leaning closer and
closer to him. They put him to bed and he seemed to doze off… After a time
they noticed that he was departing, and Fr. Valentine began to read the
prayers for the departing of the soul. He died very quietly. This took place on
March 12/25, 1974.

They had to bury Fr. Nicetas… They dismantled the floor in one of the
rooms in which Fr. Nicetas died and hastily dug out a grave for him under
the floor. His parishioners came from the backwoods to say goodbye to their
batyushka. There were so many of them that the neighbours were begin to
notice something. They had to hurry. They made a coffin for batyushka and to
the whispered chant, “With the souls of the righteous who have fallen
asleep…”, they lowered him into the grave. Of course, the mistress of the
house was especially worried, but they calmed her, saying: “Have no fear, the
Lord preserved him for 40 years, he’ll preserve him now.”

There was no reason to fear. The burial was carried out without
interruption and the house was put back in order. At night the mistress of the
house clearly heard angelic chanting in the place under the floor when Fr.
Nicetas was buried…

For nine months Fr. Nicetas remained under the floor. Then Fr. Valentine
ordered that his body be taken to the cemetery, which was done late in the
autumn.

(Sources: Nun Vasilissa, “I vrata adovy nye odoleyut yeyo…”, Suzdal’skiye

Eparkhial’niye Vedomosti, N 4, June-July, 1998, pp. 32-40; N 5, September-
November, 1998, pp. 35-40; N 6, December, 1998 – February, 1999, pp. 37-40 ;
http://www.histor-ipt-kt.org/KNIGA/mary.html; http://www.histor-ipt-
kt.org/KNIGA/vyatka.html)

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