Catherine Cherkasova

Saint Catherine Cherkasova, venerable martyr, was a novice and was shot on 5 February 1938 at the Butovo firing range near Moscow. She was numbered among the new martyrs and confessors of Russia in 2001, for veneration throughout the Church. She is commemorated on 5 February (23 January by the old calendar).

She was born on 4 December 1892 in the village of Kashino, Volokolamsk district, Moscow governorate, in the family of the peasant Michael Cherkasov. She finished the village parish school. In 1915 she entered the monastery of the Holy Trinity and Saint Alexander Nevsky, near the village of Akatovo in the Klin district, where she struggled until 1922. After leaving the monastery she helped the people.

She was arrested on a charge of counter-⁠revolutionary activity in the night before 20 January 1938, right after the feast of the Theophany. She was put in a cell of the district NKVD office in the town of Istra. Despite interrogations continuing without a break for several days by five investigators in all, she did not admit guilt. After the interrogations she was transferred to Butyrka prison. On 26 January 1938 the special NKVD troika for the Moscow region sentenced her to death by shooting, under article 58, points 10-11, for active counter-⁠revolutionary agitation.

She was shot on 5 February 1938 and buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo range. She was rehabilitated in 1989 by the prosecutor's office of the Moscow region. She was numbered among the saints, the new martyrs and confessors of Russia by decision of the Holy Synod of 26 December 2001.