Gabriel Bezfamilny

Holy Martyr Gabriel Bezfamilny was a layman and died shot on 27 November 1937, at the Butovo firing range near Moscow, together with the priests Nicholas Vinogradov and Dimitry Lebedev. In 1937 the authorities often arrested all the members of a church's clergy, then demolished the churches left empty. On 21 October 1937 were arrested Archpriest Nicholas Vinogradov, rector of the church of the Ascension in the village of Teryaeva Sloboda, Volokolamsk district, the deacon Peter Smirnov, the layman Gabriel Bezfamilny, and Archpriest Dimitry Lebedev, rector of the church of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple in the neighbouring village of Spirovo.

Father Nicholas

Nicholas Vinogradov was born on 21 April 1876 in the town of Dmitrov, in the family of the deacon John Vinogradov. He finished the Moscow Theological Academy in 1901, married Catherine Pavlovna Sokolova and was ordained priest. In 1914 he received the degree of master of theology and was rector of the church of the Alexandrovsk Institute in Moscow, and teacher of religion there. In 1918 he was moved as rector to the church of Saint Nicholas at Pupyshi, in 1920 he was raised to archpriest, in 1924 Metropolitan Peter named him dean, and in 1927 he received the mitre. In 1929 he was appointed rector of the church of the Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus at Zatsep. At the end of the twenties the authorities pressed him to cooperate and he consented, but, for reasons of conscience, could not do what the OGPU demanded. On 1 January 1933 he was arrested together with other servants and some members of the parish council and imprisoned in Butyrka. At the interrogation of the next day he said that he had told an anecdote about the fifteenth anniversary of the revolution and others which made fun of the person of Stalin, and of the sermons delivered at services he said that they had not been anti-⁠Soviet and had not criticized the existing order. On 15 March 1933 the Special Council sentenced him to three years of exile, which he served in Kargopol. On 2 January 1936 he was released and on 21 January he was sent to serve at the church of the Ascension in Teryaeva Sloboda.

On 21 October 1937 he was arrested and imprisoned at Volokolamsk. He was accused of having blessed the parishioner Gabriel Bezfamilny to sell commemoration books for writing the names of the living and the departed, and of having spoken at the village soviet about the constitution, the elections and religion. At the interrogation he answered that if he had spoken of these things it was only in the spirit of the letters of the deputy locum tenens Metropolitan Sergius and of the prayer for those in authority in the great litany. Of the witnesses who said that he had held anti-⁠Soviet conversations, he said that he denied them, except that they had held a procession in the church yard without the permission of the soviet.

Father Dimitry

Dimitry Lebedev was born in 1871 in the village of Spirovo in the Volokolamsk district, in the family of the priest Alexander Lebedev. In 1892 he finished the Moscow Theological Academy and was ordained priest. He served at the church of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple at Spirovo, famed for its sculpted icon of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker and for the processions with that icon, and all his life he served in that church, being raised to archpriest. In time of persecution he was arrested on a charge of anti-⁠Soviet propaganda and exiled for three years to Kazakhstan. On his return the authorities demanded that he pay taxes and fulfil agricultural procurement quotas, but he could not, was put out of his house and all his property was confiscated. On 21 October 1937 he was arrested again. At the interrogation he was told that he had preached a sermon in which he urged believers to keep ties with the Church. He answered that the sermon had been on the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea and that he had ended by saying that believers should keep ties with the Church and struggle with those who had gone astray, that is, those who do not acknowledge the Orthodox faith. He did not admit guilt.

Gabriel and the end

Gabriel Gavrilovich Bezfamilny was born in 1880 in Moscow. He finished school, then worked as a plumber and served at the church. In 1924 he moved to the village of Yaropolets in the Volokolamsk district. On 21 October 1937 he was arrested on the charge of anti-⁠Soviet and counterrevolutionary propaganda. He did not admit guilt, saying only that he had indeed sold two commemoration books to believers. On 23 November 1937 the NKVD troika sentenced the priests Nicholas and Dimitry and the layman Gabriel to death. On 27 November 1937 Archpriest Nicholas Vinogradov, Archpriest Dimitry Lebedev and the layman Gabriel Bezfamilny were shot and buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo firing range. The saints are commemorated on 27 November.