Demetrius Kuklin

Holy Hieromartyr Demetrius Kuklin, a priest, was born in 1870 in Vologda and received the crown of martyrdom on 2 December 1937, at Semipalatinsk. The place of his burial is not known. He is commemorated on 2 December, on 7 February, in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, and on 11 July, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Vologda.

After graduating from the seminary he received priestly rank and went to serve in the town of Veliky Ustyug in the Vologda region. After a time he was raised to the rank of archpriest. He served there until 1936, when he was arrested together with the archbishop of Veliky Ustyug, Nikolai Klimentiev. Accused of taking part in a counter-⁠revolutionary group of churchmen in Ustyug, he was sentenced to five years of exile in Kazakhstan. He served his exile in hard conditions, in the village of Borodulikha in the Semipalatinsk region. Spiritual support for enduring his troubles he received from the exchange of letters with Archbishop Nikolai, exiled at Chimkent, and from the services held by the exiled clergy. This could not go unnoticed by the God-⁠fighting authorities. On 22 November 1937 a new arrest followed. A group file was drawn up, the Case of Archpriest Demetrius Kuklin and others, Semipalatinsk, 1937. In the indictment he was charged with performing religious rites and illegal gatherings, at which the forming of groups of believers and the opening of a church were discussed, and with spreading anti-⁠Soviet agitation against the collective farm system.

Archpriest Demetrius Kuklin did not admit guilt of anti-⁠Soviet agitation and said at the investigation that the local residents had turned to him for advice on forming a group of believers. He told them that for this they must gather a certain group of believers and apply to the district committee, and then he or another, of their choice, would perform the services. He also said that he had baptised a child only once and that at that time no other minister but he had been present. On 27 November 1937 he was sentenced to death. On 2 December he received a martyr's death at Semipalatinsk.