Andrew Kosovsky

Holy Hieromartyr Andrew Kosovsky, a priest (Andrew Yudovich Kosovsky, 1878 to 1920), was for twenty years rector of the church of Saint Catherine in Feodosia, in Crimea. He was arrested in the church on 7 December 1920, on the day of commemoration of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, and shot. The Synod of the Russian Church numbered him among the New Martyrs. He is commemorated on 16 December, on 7 February and, on 2 and 28 December, in the Synaxes of the Saints of Crimea.

Of his life it is known that he received spiritual education, was married and had two sons, Vladimir and Dmitry. On 26 February 1901 he was appointed to the church of Saint Catherine in Feodosia. He was loved and respected by his parishioners for his selflessness and care for his flock. He headed the district branch of the Tauride diocesan school council and was inspector of the parish schools of Feodosia. The changes of the revolutionary year 1917 brought anxiety not only to the priest but also to his parishioners. The pastor spoke openly and directly with the people about what he could not accept in the new authorities: the closing of churches, the arrests and exile of clergy. The Soviet authorities could not bear criticism. Father Andrew was arrested in the church itself, on 7 December 1920, and accused of speaking ill of the authorities and of serving molebens asking for victory over the Bolsheviks. His relatives asked the Cheka to let him go home, since he had had typhoid fever and malaria, was still weak and needed care, but the request was not granted.

The parishioners drew up a petition for the release of the sick protopriest, in which they wrote that Father Andrew had served in their parish for twenty years, had been a very good priest to them, understanding of their needs and just, and that they had not heard from him words against the Soviet authorities. On 16 December 1920 the investigating commission of the Special Department of the Cheka for the Black and Azov Seas decided, in view of his proven guilt of delivering in church sermons to discredit the Soviet authorities on the question of the separation of Church and state, his sincere confession and the petition of numerous parishioners, to send all the material to the People's Court. But the case never reached the court. One of the Cheka leaders, a certain Kovalev, thought the sentence too mild and gave his own: "Kosovsky, as an enemy of the RSFSR, to be isolated from the society of free citizens, applying the supreme penalty, shooting." The synodal commission for the canonization of the New Martyrs of Russia decided to glorify him among the saints.