Moscow, December 30, 2021
Photo: pravmir.ru
During its session in Moscow yesterday, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church added another name to the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.
Having heard a report regarding the relevant petition from His Eminence Metropolitan Dimitry of Tobolsk and Tyumen, the Synod resolved to canonize Fr. Mikhail Krasnotsvetov, to be celebrated on September 30/October 12, the day of his martyrdom at the hands of the godless Bolsheviks, reports Patriarchia.ru.
Holy Hieromartyr Mikhail, pray to God for us!
***
St. Mikhail was born on September 29, 1885, in Kaluga. He got married in 1907 and eventually had six children.
He held various jobs, including public teacher, insurance agent, and justice of the peace under the Provisional Government. During the Russian civil war, he and his family moved to Siberia.
And then in 1921, he decided to become a cleric. He was ordained to the diaconate on November 4, and to the priesthood two days later. He temporarily joined the emerging Renovationist movement, though parted ways with it after a few months, realizing its divisive nature. There is information that they tried to recruit Fr. Mikhail as an informant in 1927, but he refused.
On March 19, 1927, he was arrested for “agitation in the form of assisting the international bourgeoisie.” He was imprisoned for one month. In 1929, the Holy Protection Church where Fr. Mikhail served was closed, and he was dispossessed, with his house and property being confiscated.
He was arrested again on March 21, 1931, on charges of counterrevolutionary agitation, to which he plead not guilty. He testified that as a priest, he preached exclusively on the Gospel and Christian moral principles. He was sentenced to imprisonment in the Vishera Camp for 5 years. He was released in April 1935, and served a term of exile until March 29, 1936. Then he lived with his family in Tyumen, serving as a reader in the local cemetery church.
He was arrested yet again on July 5, 1937, on charges of anti-Soviet propaganda, and again plead not guilty. There is evidence that he was physically beaten during the interrogations. In his letters to his family, he wrote that he would never leave his ministry.
On October 10, 1937, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses and other accused priests, Fr. Mikhail was sentenced to death by firing squad, which was carried out on October 12, 1937. He was rehabilitated posthumously in 1957.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
