Boris Nazarov

Saint Boris Nazarov, hieromartyr, was an archpriest of the Russian Church, born in Moscow in 1884 and shot at the Butovo firing range in 1938. He is commemorated on 4 February by the old calendar, which is 17 February by the new, the day of his martyric death, and in the Synaxes of the new martyrs.

He was born in Moscow in the family of a notary, Nikolai Egorovich Nazarov. In 1902 he graduated from the Third Moscow gymnasium, then for two years attended the physics and mathematics faculty of Moscow University. In 1907 he passed examinations in theology at the Moscow seminary, and in 1908 he was ordained priest at the church of the Sign in the village of Ilinskoe, Kolomna district, where he served until 1910. Then, until 1923, he served at the church of the Transfiguration in the village of Kryukovo. From 1924 he served at the church of the Dormition in the village of Kartino, Ruza district, and in 1931 he was given the rank of archpriest. In the same year he was appointed to the church of Saint Nicholas in the village of Protasyevo, Vereya district.

He was arrested on 25 January 1938 and imprisoned in the Mozhaisk jail, then moved to Taganka in Moscow. At the interrogation of 26 January he rejected the accusations of counter-⁠revolutionary activity. The priest Victor Ozerov appeared as a false witness in the case. The NKVD troika sentenced him to death on 2 February 1938, and the sentence was carried out at the Butovo firing range on 17 February 1938.

He was numbered among the new martyrs of Russia. He is commemorated on the day of his martyric death and in the Synaxis of the new martyrs and confessors of Russia and in the Synaxis of the new martyrs of Butovo.