Alexander Rusinov

Saint Alexander Rusinov, hieromartyr, was an archpriest of the Russian Church, born in 1878 into a priest's family in the Moscow governorate. He received the crown of martyrdom in 1938, shot at the Butovo firing range. He was canonized in 2006 by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church. He is commemorated on 31 January, the day of his martyric death.

He was born in the village of Kurkino in the Kolomna district, in a priest's family. In 1901, after finishing the seminary, he was ordained priest. From 1901 to 1909 he served at the church of the Yakot cemetery. In 1909 he was appointed the first rector of the church of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, at the monastery's dependency in the village of Novo-⁠Kuntsevo, and taught the Law of God at the commercial school of Kuntsevo. In 1934 he was appointed rector of the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Bolshevo and served there until his arrest in 1938.

In 1930 he was convicted under article 58 paragraph 10 (anti-⁠Soviet activity) and article 169 (concealing church valuables) and sent to the camp at Kotlas, where he remained three years. In January 1938 he was accused of "conducting counter-⁠revolutionary agitation against the elections to the Supreme Soviet" and of "holding illegal gatherings", was arrested again and imprisoned in Butyrka prison. On 31 January 1938 he was shot at the Butovo firing range, together with 313 other people. He was rehabilitated after death on 12 December 1958 by the Presidium of the Moscow regional court.

He was canonized on 11 April 2006 by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church and is venerated as a hieromartyr. Besides 31 January he is commemorated on the fourth Saturday after Pascha, in the Synaxis of the new martyrs of Butovo.