Demetrius Rozhdestvensky

Holy Hieromartyr Demetrius Rozhdestvensky, a priest, served at Verny, now Alma-⁠Ata, in Kazakhstan, and received the crown of martyrdom by shooting on 19 February 1921, together with his son, Anatoly. He is commemorated on 19 February, on 7 February, in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, and on 8 September, in the Synaxis of the Saints of the Central Asian Metropolitan District. He was glorified at the Council of Bishops in August 2000.

He was born in the village of Selets, in the Trubchevsk district of the Oryol province; the data on the year of birth differ, 1863 or 1868. In 1884 he finished the seminary in Chernigov, where during his studies he worked as an observer at an astrophysical observatory, and in the same year was ordained priest, on 14 March. From 1885 to 1892 he was a teacher of religion at a zemstvo public school. In 1894 he received the diploma of correspondent of the Russian Academy of Sciences for his work at the astrophysical observatory and for observing changes of climate in Russia, as well as a bronze medal for zeal in the census. For work at the pedagogical courses he received thanks from the archpastors of Oryol in 1898 and 1899. On 18 February 1899, at the request of Bishop Arcadius Karpinsky of Turkestan and Tashkent, he arrived in the city of Verny, in the Semirechye region. On 14 August of that year he was appointed a member of the spiritual consistory of Turkestan, and taught religion at the two-⁠class parish school in Verny. From 24 August 1900 to 2 September 1904 he was a teacher at the Holy Trinity parish school. In August 1902 the city duma of Verny appointed him guardian of the poor, and in the same year he received a silver medal and, on 2 December, a violet skufia. From 10 October 1904 he was head of the Kuchugur parish school and teacher of religion at the teachers' seminary in Verny. Until 1911 he was rector of the church in the village of Tokmak, in the Pishpek district, then was moved to the church in the village of Vysokoe, in the Chimkent district, in the Syr-⁠Darya province, where he carried on successful missionary activity. On 19 February 1921 he was shot together with his son, Anatoly, born in 1891, in the course of the persecution of the clergy in Alma-⁠Ata.