5/29/2023
Olga Sokirkina
These women lived during the period of militant atheism—the persecution of the Church and the repression of the clergy and the faithful.
A Moscow priest who taught Red Army soldiers during the Civil War was repeatedly persecuted and executed at Butovo firing range in 1937, one of thousands of clergy martyred under Stalin.
He came into this world to serve God and sow goodness, and so he always instructed people to live in unity, go to church, and pray.
His all-conquering love for God determined his life path and cross. He would ultimately choose to serve God as the supreme good.
After the Great Victory, many soldiers and officers devoted their lives to God, becoming priests and monks. God’s ways are mysterious. God alone knows His plans for the world and for each one of us.
The priest, who fell ill during interrogations and confinement in the cold barn, was taken away from the village on a sleigh in the snow. The whole village came out to see him off.
The novice nun’s life was destroyed within two weeks. She was interred in a mass grave.
St. Euphrosyne became the only woman representative of Muscovy to be ranked among the saints.
