Alexander Dagaev

Saint Hieromartyr Alexander Dagaev (1862 to 1920) was archpriest of the Protection cathedral in Ust-⁠Kamenogorsk, in Kazakhstan, and was hacked to death with sabres on 10 January 1920. He is commemorated on 10 January, on 7 February with the synaxis of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church, and on 26 September with the saints of Altai. He was numbered among the saints by the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on 19 August 2000.

He was born in 1862 in the city of Biysk, into the family of Archpriest Vladimir Dagaev. Taking part from childhood in his father's services as altar server, he was imbued with the atmosphere of the church. The desire for spiritual perfection brought him to the seminary at Tomsk. There, among other subjects, he received the knowledge every pastor needs. He was influenced by Bishop Vladimir (Petrov) of Tomsk and Semipalatinsk, a man of high spiritual life, prayer and reading of patristic literature, and by the elder hieromonk Naum of the monastery of the Mother of God and Saint Alexis in Tomsk, to whom all the pious went for counsel. Graduating from the seminary in the year of the elder's death, who died at eighty, he was counted among the few honoured with the title of "student", which shows his ability and diligence.

In 1884 Alexander Dagaev married Stepanida Drobinina, of the family of the well-⁠known Biysk merchant Alexei Drobinin, and in the same year he was ordained priest. He taught religion at the boys' and girls' gymnasia of Ust-⁠Kamenogorsk. From 1892 he was rector of the Protection cathedral in Ust-⁠Kamenogorsk and dean of the churches of the Zmeinogorsk district. His labour was rewarded with many imperial distinctions, but it was not earthly honour that filled his mind and heart, but Christ and His eternal truth.

After the coup of October 1917 Father Alexander defended the Orthodox faith firmly and without compromise. At the beginning of 1920 regular units of the Red Army entered Ust-⁠Kamenogorsk. Arrests and reprisals without trial began. Among those arrested was Archpriest Alexander Dagaev. He did not suit the Soviet authorities because of his meekness, peace and calls to repentance. From the pulpit he urged keeping the Christian commandments under any authority. His sermons had a great moral and spiritual effect on the people. His church was always full of those who came to hear the word of truth, not only from the city but also from the surrounding villages.

On 10 January 1920 armed men came to Father Alexander's house. It was dinner time, and he was sitting at table with his family. The men demanded that he go with them; he obeyed. They took him to Sakenkin Log, near Ust-⁠Kamenogorsk, and hacked him with sabres. The fingers of Father Alexander's severed right hand were folded in the sign of the priestly blessing.