George Sedov

Holy Confessor George Sedov, of Romanov-⁠Borisoglebsk, in the world Egor Egorovich Sedov, was born in 1883 in the village of Churilovo in the Vladimir province, in a peasant family, and died on 16 December 1960, at Tutaev. He belonged to that wonderful kind of Russian people whose clarity and simplicity of soul made all their deeds sound and every step sure: they were not deceived by the substitution of life's values, did not betray their principles out of fear, did not lose their wholeness and remained faithful to the end.

Egor learned his letters in the village school, and from youth did peasant work. In 1907 he married and they had five children. All went to church. Even in the Soviet time Egor Egorovich did not work on feast days, and every task he did with prayer. After the revolution the piety of the Sedov family began to draw mockery, and they called Egor Egorovich the monk. At the end of the twenties, not frightened by repressions against himself and his family, he became warden of the church in the village of Lykovo. When arrests of the clergy began, the house of the Sedovs was often visited by priests and monks driven out of churches and monasteries, seeking temporary shelter.

Bishop Athanasius

In 1925 he met Bishop Athanasius Sakharov of Vladimir, who was beginning his confessor's way, and became his spiritual son. Coming to Vladimir, Egor Egorovich always stayed in the bishop's house, and Bishop Athanasius visited the Sedovs' house at Churilovo. All his life he helped the bishop with parcels and money. Besides, he carried honey from his apiary and other food through the prisons and gave it to the prisoners. In the time of collectivization Egor Egorovich's cousin was the plenipotentiary of the village soviet in Churilovo. The piety and prosperity of the Sedov family aroused the cousin's enmity, who in 1932 asked that Egor be given a so-⁠called firm assignment, which he could not fulfil, that is, a tax in produce knowingly too high. The family was stripped of its property, Egor Egorovich was arrested and spent a year at forced labour, and the family had to leave its native village. They settled first in Yaroslavl, then in Tutaev. After his release Egor Egorovich was a shepherd for three years and, with the money earned, bought in Tutaev a house for the family. Here he became a parishioner of the Dormition church in the village of Kotovo and, as before, welcomed into his house expelled monks and repressed priests.

Arrest and last years

In 1943 he was arrested on the basis of the testimony of a man arrested earlier, who had not withstood the interrogations. The investigation lasted eleven months, Egor Egorovich was questioned six times, but in no way would he agree to admit guilt and he named none of his acquaintances. The investigation did not succeed in collecting any grounds for his conviction and had to release him. Coming out of prison, he learned that Bishop Athanasius had been arrested at Ishim. Almost ten years of imprisonment in camps still awaited the sick hierarch, and Egor Egorovich sought all this time to ease his sufferings. When the bishop, already very sick, was placed in a home for the disabled, Egor Egorovich took upon himself guarantee for the exiled bishop and took him to his home. The bishop lived with his spiritual son eleven months.

In the fifties Egor Egorovich became warden of the Resurrection church in Tutaev. All the strength of the seventy-⁠year-⁠old confessor he spent on its restoration, despite the terrible godless time. In 1960, during repairs of the church, three ladders tied together fell on him. He walked home himself, but there he lay down and did not rise again. He was ill about a year. To his wife he said: Evidently so it was God's will. On 16 December 1960 he departed to the Lord. He was buried in the town cemetery of Tutaev. Today the holy relics of the confessor George are in the town cathedral of Tutaev. He is commemorated, according to the Azbyka page, on 5 June, 6 July and 16 December.