Gennady Parfentyev

Venerable Martyr Gennady Parfentyev (in the world Grigory Sergeevich, 1864-1919) was an archimandrite and abbot of the Prophet's Monastery at Yaransk in the Vyatka region, and was shot at Vyatka on 10 November 1919. He was numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church by the Holy Synod on 23-24 September 2021; he is commemorated on 28 October (10 November).

He was born in 1864 in the Kursk province into a peasant family. In 1886 he entered the Sofronievsky hermitage at Molchansk, near Putivl. In 1895 he came as a novice to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery at Filevka, where he received monastic tonsure in 1896 and was ordained hierodeacon. In 1897 he was moved to the Dormition Monastery of Saint Tryphon, where he was ordained hieromonk in 1900. In 1902 he was appointed abbot of the Prophet's Monastery at Yaransk. Bishop Veniamin Milov wrote in his diary of the peaceful, graceful atmosphere that reigned at the monastery under his leadership. The abbot enjoyed authority among the people, guided those in the convents of the area, and helped to found the Protection convent in the Kotelnich district. In 1918 he was raised to archimandrite.

The Soviet power resolved to close the monastery because of the prestige it enjoyed among the peasants and began on 10 September 1918 to confiscate a large part of its property. In November 1918 Father Gennady was detained and sent to Vyatka, but in January 1919 he returned to the monastery. Soon the brothers received an order to leave by 2 February 1919. The archimandrite strove to prepare everything needed so that the brothers could continue the monastic life in the new conditions and, at the beginning of February, tried to save the monastery church by giving it to a community of believers from the surrounding villages.

On 16 February 1919 he was arrested again. The Cheka men at Yaransk tried at the interrogation to learn where the rye and valuables of the monastery were hidden. He answered briefly: "About the rye and flour I can say nothing, and the monastery's valuables are at the church." In April 1919, being already in the Vyatka prison, he was sentenced to death because, answerable for the whole monastery, he had hidden wheat and flour for the celebration of church services. He was shot on 10 November 1919.