Basil Sokolsky

Holy Hieromartyr Basil Sokolsky, a priest, by his full name Basil Petrovich Sokolsky, was born on 30 January 1878 in the village of Beloe Ozero, Sengiley district, Simbirsk province, in the family of a priest. In 1902 he finished the Kazan Theological Academy with the degree of candidate in theology, married and was ordained priest. In 1905 he received the degree of master of theology for his work "The Gospel Ideal of the Christian Pastor". He taught Holy Scripture at the seminaries of Astrakhan and later of Chernigov. Afterwards he served at the church of the Annunciation on Vasilievsky Island in Petrograd, whose parish remained faithful to the canonical Church when the renovationists seized the diocesan administration. Father Basil took part in the 1922 negotiations with the renovationists, which did not lead to union, and the members of the reconciliation commission were sent into exile.

He was arrested in 1923 and exiled for three years to Berezov, in the Tobolsk district. On his return he served in Leningrad and was made archpriest. In 1929 he was arrested again "for struggle with the renovationists" and exiled for three years to the Northern Region, to the village of Chekuevo, where he nearly lost his sight. After his return he settled with his family in Leningrad and served first at the church of the Holy Apostle Matthew and then at the church of the Vatopedi Icon of the Mother of God of the former Novodevichy Monastery. On 7 March 1935 he was arrested; asked about his convictions, he said that he was non-⁠party and did not interfere in politics, but that he did not agree with the communists' denial of the existence of God, of the immortality of the soul and of moral accountability beyond the grave, things which, like other priests, he did not hide. The same day an NKVD officer wrote that he was a "socially dangerous element". By decision of the special council of 9 March 1935 he was exiled with his family for five years to northern Kazakhstan, to Atbasar. On 8 July 1937 he was arrested by the Atbasar NKVD, accused of "defeatist and slanderous agitation and of not ceasing to perform religious rites", and imprisoned. He did not admit guilt. He was shot on 10 September 1937 by decision of the NKVD troika of North Kazakhstan region of 5 September. He wrote "Immortality and Life" (1909), "Christian Upbringing and Teaching of School-⁠Age Children" (1909), "Biblical Cosmogony" (1911) and "On Pastoral Watch" (1914). He was glorified by the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in the year 2000.

He is commemorated on 10 September and on 7 February (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, in the new style.