Anthony Chirkov

Holy Venerable Martyr Anthony Chirkov, a hieromonk (in the world Anton Ivanovich Chirkov, 1868 to 1930), was born in 1868 in the town of Chistopol, Kazan province, in a townsman's family. He was shot on 7 April 1930, on the day of the Annunciation, with other martyrs of Raifa. In 1996 he was numbered among the locally venerated saints of the Kazan diocese. He is commemorated on 27 January, on 7 February and in the Synaxis of the Saints of Kazan, on 17 October.

From 1883 to 1887 he served in the army. In 1890 he entered the Raifa Monastery, where on 23 March 1908 he received monastic tonsure; after 1917 he was ordained hierodeacon, then hieromonk. After the closing of the monastery, in 1928, he settled in the village of Belo-⁠Bezvodnaya and worked as a carpenter. On 23 January 1930 he was arrested and taken to Kazan. The arrest took place in the morning, at six: several chekists burst in on him and searched, but found nothing but spiritual books and vestments. The arrested entered the group case "of the monks of Raifa, Kazan, 1930". Father Anthony did not admit guilt of the charges. On 20 February 1930 he was sentenced to death by the OGPU troika of the Tatar Republic and, on 7 April 1930, on the day of the Annunciation of the Mother of God, he was shot together with the other martyrs of Raifa.