Alexander Pokrovsky

Saint Hieromartyr Alexander Pokrovsky (1889 to 1938) was a priest in the village of Mineevo, in the Taldom district, and was shot on 17 February 1938, at Butovo. He is commemorated on 17 February, on 29 May with the new martyrs of Butovo, and on 5 September with the saints of Moscow.

He was born on 5 July 1889 in the village of Aksinino, Kolomna district, into the family of the priest Simeon Pokrovsky. After finishing two classes of the Moscow seminary in 1907, he was appointed psalm-⁠reader at the church of the Archangel Michael in the village of Muravlevo. In 1911 Bishop Tikhon (Turkestanov) ordained him deacon at the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the village of Verkholyany, and in 1916 Bishop Demetrius (Dobroserdov) ordained him priest at the church of Saint Nicholas in Aksinino. In 1930 he was sentenced, for non-⁠payment of taxes, to one year in a labour camp, and in 1931, also for taxes, to two more years, reduced to one year, which he served in full.

In June 1937 he was sent to serve at the church of the Resurrection of Christ in the village of Mineevo, Taldom district. In November 1937, crossing the Moscow-⁠Volga canal, he slipped and fell into the water. It was cold, and the priest went in to warm himself at the house of a resident of the village of Fedorovka. Later one of those present, summoned to the NKVD as a witness, said that Father Alexander had carried on anti-⁠Soviet agitation in the house. On 26 January 1938 he was arrested and imprisoned in the Butyrka. The investigator told him that in November 1937 he had uttered counter-⁠revolutionary slanders among the farm workers and hostile views about the leader of the party; the priest answered that he had said no such thing and did not admit guilt. Asked whether he had been in the village of Fedorovka in November and had seen the people who testified against him, he confirmed that he had been there and had seen them, but did not admit guilt of anti-⁠Soviet agitation. On 8 February 1938 the NKVD troika sentenced him to death. Father Alexander Pokrovsky was shot on 17 February 1938 and buried in an unmarked common grave at the Butovo firing range near Moscow.