Andrew Kovalev

Holy Hieromartyr Andrew Kovalev, a priest, was born on 12 August 1871 in the stanitsa of Korenovskaya. He was shot on 28 September 1921 at Krasnodar, at one o'clock at night. The Russian Church honours him among the New Martyrs and Confessors; he is commemorated on 28 September, on 7 February and on 3 October, in the Synaxis of the Saints of the Kuban Metropolis.

He served at the church of Saints Peter and Paul in the stanitsa of Platnirovskaya, at the church of the Ascension in the stanitsa of Kushchevskaya in the Kuban region, at the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in the village of Blagodarnoe and at the church of the Kazan Mother of God in the village of Udelnoe, Stavropol province, and taught at the parish schools. He had a saving influence on those of other faiths and brought to Orthodoxy a family of five souls from the Austrian-⁠type schism. After 1917 the number of open churches fell painfully, and Father Andrew was moved to Krasnodar. He was married and had two children.

He was arrested on 21 September 1921 on a charge of having set fire to a candle factory and of agitating against the Soviet authorities. In the course of the investigation the atheist authorities could not prove the priest's guilt. Nevertheless the sentence was: "Taking into account the alarming moment given by the attack of bands on the stanitsa of Dinskaya and the suspicion that they will attack Krasnodar, and for the maintenance of the general political situation in the city, as an element hostile to Soviet power, to be shot." The sentence was carried out on 28 September 1921, at one o'clock at night.