Basil Pokrovsky

Holy Hieromartyr Basil Pokrovsky, a priest, by his full name Basil Vasilievich Pokrovsky, was born on 26 July 1875 in the village of Goloperovo, Pereslavl district, Vladimir province, in the family of the deacon Basil Pokrovsky. He finished the Vladimir seminary and married Claudia, daughter of the priest Peter Efimovich Sokolov. Soon he was ordained priest and served at the church in the village of Goltsovo. They had three children, a son and two daughters.

In 1929 his house and all his property were inventoried and seized by the authorities, but then part of the things were returned. In the 1930s he served at the church in the village of Pustoe Rozhdestvo, Konstantinov district. He was arrested in church during the service, on the feast of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow", 6 November 1937, and held in Zagorsk. To the investigators' demands that he admit guilt he answered: "I do not admit guilt of the charge of spreading provocative rumours about war and of terrorist intentions toward the communists. I can say no more." The same day the investigation ended and the file passed to the NKVD troika, and after that the investigator questioned him once more. He repeated that he did not admit guilt. A week after his arrest, on 14 November 1937, the troika sentenced him to death. The priest Basil Pokrovsky was shot on 16 November 1937 and buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo firing range.

He is commemorated on 16 November, on 29 May (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs of Butovo, on 6 July in the Synaxis of the Saints of Vladimir, and on 5 September (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow, all in the new style.