Basil Sungurov

Holy Hieromartyr Basil Sungurov, a priest, was born on 20 March 1876 in the village of Spasskoe, Ruza district, Moscow province, in the family of the psalm-⁠reader Arseny Sungurov. After the theological school in Volokolamsk he was appointed in 1898 psalm-⁠reader at the church of Saint Nicholas in the village of Amelfino, Volokolamsk district. In 1910 he served as psalm-⁠reader at the church of Saint Nicholas in Zhegalovo, Bogorodsk district, in 1915 he was ordained deacon for the same church, and in 1919 priest for the church of Saint Mary Magdalene in the village of Ulitkino. In 1935 he was appointed to the Epiphany church in the village of Brykovo, Istra district, and in 1936 he received the pectoral cross.

He was arrested on 28 August 1937 and held in Taganka. Two witnesses on duty testified against him, and the father, hearing these lies, did not confirm them. At the end of the interrogation, asked whether he admitted guilt of having carried on counter-⁠revolutionary activity until then, he answered: "No, I do not admit it." On 19 September 1937 an NKVD troika sentenced him to death, and the priest Basil Sungurov was shot the next day, 20 September 1937, and buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo firing range.

He is commemorated on 20 September, on 29 May (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs of Butovo, and on 5 September (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow, all in the new style.