Constantine Chekalov

Holy Hieromartyr Constantine Chekalov, a priest, was born in May 1889 in the village of Nikitskoe in the Kalyazin district, Tver region, in the family of the deacon of the Kazan church, John Vasilievich Chekalov. His full name was Constantine Ivanovich Chekalov. In 1900 he studied in the first class of the theological school in Kashin, and in 1912 he finished the theological seminary in Tver, in the second category. In the same year he was appointed teacher at the Sharapovo-⁠Kutuzovo parish school in the Kalyazin district, where he served until 15 July 1913.

On 30 July 1913 he was ordained priest for the church of Saint Dimitry in the village of Pechetovo, Korcheva district (now Kimry district). From November 1913 or 1914 he was teacher of religion at the zemstvo school in Dubrovo, near Pechetovo. From 1918 he served as priest of the church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Krasnoe, Kalyazin district. In 1932 the OGPU troika sentenced him to three years in labour camps; after his release he returned to Krasnoe.

On 7 October 1937 he was arrested on a charge of "anti-⁠Soviet agitation". On 1 November 1937 the troika of the UNKVD of the Kalinin region sentenced him to death, and on 3 November he was shot. On 16 March 1989 he was rehabilitated by the Tver regional prosecutor's office. He was canonized in August 2000 at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church.

He is commemorated on 3 November, the day of his death, on 18 July, with the Synaxis of the Saints of Tver (the date moves), and on 7 February, with the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, in the new style.