Euthymius Korotkov of Belogorsk

Holy Venerable Martyr Euthymius Korotkov of Belogorsk, a hierodeacon, received the crown of martyrdom in February 1918, at Perm, together with his brother Alexei. The Russian Church honours him among the New Martyrs and Confessors of the twentieth century.

The brothers Vladimir and Alexei Korotkov were born in the Perm province, in a family of deeply believing parents. In January 1897, sixty kilometres from Kungur, in one of the loveliest places of the Perm province, on Belaya Gora, the Saint Nicholas Missionary Monastery was opened. Its abbot was Archimandrite Barlaam, a man of great faith and a great ascetic, to whom those thirsting for salvation came from all parts of the Perm land.

The brothers Korotkov came to the monastery, and after them their father, who liked the place so much that he stayed there until his death, receiving monastic tonsure before it. In the monastery the brothers passed through all the obediences and were preparing to receive monasticism, but the First World War began and they had to part. Alexei was called into the active army; Vladimir was tonsured a monk with the name Euthymius, ordained hierodeacon and appointed to serve at the Belogorsk monastery's metochion in Perm.

Alexei served in the army throughout the war and took part in many battles; for the courage he showed he was awarded the Cross of Saint George. In February 1918 he received leave and went home. From the station he went straight to the metochion. The joy of the meeting for a time wholly eclipsed the anxious foreboding caused by the anarchy spreading everywhere.

The Belogorsk monastery was above all a missionary one, and mission was understood broadly: the struggle was not only with the errors of schismatics and sectarians but also with the temptations of the materialist teachings of Western Europe. For this reason, of all the monasteries of the Perm diocese the Bolsheviks hated Belogorsk most and, as soon as they managed to gather a small armed detachment, they set out at once to plunder it.

On 21 February armed Bolsheviks burst into the metochion with insolent unceremoniousness, searched the cells, turned everything over and took things they liked. Murmuring began among the people. Then the plunderers began arrests, and among others the brothers Korotkov were arrested. Reprisal in those years was swift and cruel. Euthymius and Alexei were led to the bank of the Kama and tortured. The sufferers held firm, and the Bolsheviks, after the torments, killed them, but did not drown them in the river, leaving the disfigured bodies on the ice to terrify.

In the morning cab drivers came upon them. The martyrs were recognized, a telegram was sent urgently to their relatives, and to the burial day, set for 25 February, came their mother and sisters.

From morning the bell of the Belogorsk metochion called to prayer in the church. By the funeral service all Orthodox Perm had gathered: thousands of candles surrounded the coffins. Memorial services were served one after another; no one wished the service to end, no one wished to part from the martyrs. The grace of God touched the hearts of those praying in a palpable way.

For all it was beyond doubt that among the saints two new stars had been lit, martyrs of Perm. Their mother and sisters soon afterwards received monasticism. One of the sisters wrote in memory of the martyrs: You were the first sufferers for the faith in our times. The Lord will write your names in the Book of Life for ever.

He is commemorated on 25 August, on 14 February in the Synaxis of the Saints of the Perm Metropolis, and on 7 February in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church (new style).