Averkios

Holy Hieromartyr Averkios (Averky), in the world Polycarp Kedrov, was born on 2 March 1879 in the town of Yaransk in Vyatka province, to pious parents: the hieromartyr Nicholas and Elizabeth. He was shot in 1937 by the Soviet regime.

Averky studied at the theological seminary of Vyatka and at the Theological Academy of Saint Petersburg. On 2 July 1910 he was tonsured a monk by Archbishop Sergius Stragorodsky of Finland and was given the name Averky, and on 5 July he was ordained. He directed the church school of Zhitomir, and on 27 June 1915 he was elected bishop of the region.

He was first arrested by the Soviet regime in 1922 and exiled to Uzbekistan. At that time he struggled against the autocephaly of the Church of Ukraine. In 1925 he was living in Moscow and attended the funeral of Patriarch Tikhon. He was arrested again in 1926 and imprisoned at Zhitomir, then moved to the Butyrka prison in Moscow. Together with his brother, Archbishop Pachomius, he signed a letter against the "state religion" that the atheist regime was trying to impose. In 1929 he was imprisoned in Butyrka, and in February 1930 exiled to Arkhangelsk. From 1933 to 1934 he was in exile at Birsk in Bashkiria, where he was arrested and in 1937 condemned to death by shooting.

He is commemorated on 15 May, according to the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style).