Anatoly Pravdolyubov

Holy Hieromartyr Anatoly Pravdolyubov was an archpriest in the Kasimov district of the Ryazan diocese, put to death in 1937, aged 75, in the Soviet persecution. Three of his sons are saints as well. He was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000 and is commemorated on 10 (23) December.

Family and studies

He was born in the village of Davydovo, in the Kasimov district of the Ryazan governorate (today the Klepiki district), into a large priestly family: his father was Avdiy Semyonovich Pravdolyubov and his mother Ekaterina Ivanovna, born Palmova. The date of his birth appears differently in our source: 16 April 1862 at the head of the text, 6 April 1862 in the biography.

He graduated from the Ryazan theological seminary in 1882 with first-⁠class marks, and until 1886 was a teacher at the Davydovo school. In 1886 he moved to Kasimov and married Claudia, daughter of Archpriest Andrey Dmitriev, rector of the church of the Protection of the Mother of God in the village of Makkaveevo. They had eight sons and four daughters. Three of the sons, Sergius, Nicholas and Vladimir, received the crown of martyrdom and are glorified among the new martyrs and confessors of Russia; the source calls Sergius now a confessor, now a hieromartyr.

Priest in Kasimov

Until 1894 he taught in the preparatory class of the Kasimov theological school. On 20 February 1892 he was ordained priest by Archbishop Feoktist (Popov) of Ryazan and Zaraysk for the church of the village of Zmievka, but did not serve in that parish, being occupied with teaching at the theological school, the girls' gymnasium and the zemstvo school. On 16 January 1894 he was appointed priest at the Dormition church in Kasimov. He took part in the finding and glorification of the relics of Saint Theodosius of Chernigov.

From 1909 he was an inspector of church schools for the Kasimov district, a post he left in 1915 after the new regulation for such inspectors. After all theological schools were closed, from 18 November 1918 he served at the church of Saint John the Forerunner in the village of Danevo. From December 1921 he was rector of the Dormition church in Kasimov until its closure in 1933, and then, until November 1937, of the Annunciation church in the same town. In his last years he was also dean of the first Kasimov church district. For his zeal he received several church awards, including the mitre.

Arrest and martyrdom

He was arrested on 6 November 1937, aged 75, on the charge of taking part in an insurgent terrorist organization and of counter-⁠revolutionary activity. At the interrogation of 11 November the head of the district NKVD department demanded that he answer yes to invented accusations. Father Anatoly replied that he had not belonged to any counter-⁠revolutionary organization and did not admit guilt. He accused no one and signed no paper that would compromise innocent people.

The NKVD troika of Ryazan sentenced him on 6 December 1937 to death by shooting under Article 58, points 10 and 11. According to the data, he was put to death in Ryazan on 23 December 1937.

Veneration

He was numbered among the saints, the new martyrs and confessors of Russia, by the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church held in Moscow from 13 to 16 August 2000. He is commemorated on 10 (23) December, in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia and the Synaxis of the Saints of Ryazan.