Basil Sokolov

Holy Hieromartyr Basil Sokolov, a protodeacon, was born in 1879 in the village of Saburovo, Sergiev volost, Dmitrov district, Moscow province, in the family of the deacon Nicholas Sokolov. In 1896 he finished the theological school and served as psalm-⁠reader at the Dormition cathedral in Dmitrov. In 1920 he was ordained deacon for the same cathedral, in 1926 he received the double orarion, and in 1927 was raised to protodeacon. From 1932 he served at the church of the Kazan Icon in the village of Podlipichye, Dmitrov district.

On 24 November 1937 witnesses who were questioned said that the protodeacon used to say: "Surely the constitution is not for the Church? The Bolsheviks close the churches and persecute the faithful. When will the Lord deliver us from the Bolsheviks? We live quieter than water, lower than grass, and still they do not leave us in peace. May the end of Soviet power come soon." He was also said to have said that he would go to the election meeting only if the civil authority ordered it, otherwise not, because they would not elect them anyway. On 27 November he was arrested, held in Taganka and interrogated. He denied any anti-⁠Soviet activity and did not admit guilt. The same day the investigation ended, and on 2 December 1937 an NKVD troika sentenced him to ten years in a camp. Protodeacon Basil Sokolov died in the camp on 2 April 1938 and was buried in an unknown grave.

He is commemorated on 2 April and on 7 February (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, in the new style.