George Stepanyuk

Holy Hieromartyr George Stepanyuk, a priest, was born in 1880 in the village of Polichna in the Brest district of the Grodno province, and received the crown of martyrdom on 26 June 1918, shot on a river bank after prayer, in Semirechye.

From 1900 he was a teacher at a village school. After finishing pastoral courses in Moscow, George was ordained priest, and in 1911 was sent to serve in the diocese of Turkestan, in the village of Glinovka in the Lepsinsk district, Semirechye region. In 1913 he was moved to the church in the village of Andreevskoe in the same district and appointed teacher of religion and arithmetic at the parish school.

Arrest

In 1918 the godless who had seized power in Russia unleashed civil war. The priest's wife suggested that he hide and wait out the troubled time, but Father George said: Soon it will be the feast of the Holy Trinity. What will the people say? and stayed. Soon a detachment of the Red Guard established Soviet power in the village. Father George was arrested and held under guard two weeks; then they brought him out before the people to gather testimony against him. None was found, and the priest was released.

The shooting

On 26 June 1918 another detachment of Red Guards entered the village, and several of them headed at once for the priest's house. His wife came out to meet them and tried to assure them that her husband was not at home, but Father George came out after her and said: Here I am. What do you need? He was answered that he was arrested. Being under guard, Father George, not wishing to leave church affairs in disorder, asked his wife to bring the registers from the church and put them in order, then wrote a letter to Archpriest Vladimir Tsedrinsky in Lepsinsk. In it he said that an armed guard of two soldiers had just been put on him, that he sat in a room, that he felt a longing and gloom to the point of pain, that death showed itself and looked on with its sunken eyes, that his past life passed through his mind, that it was hard to understand that in payment for eighteen years of service to the people he had received a guard of honour, that he felt he suffered for faith, truth and sincerity, and for love of the simple people, who in their ignorance betray their best friends and shepherds. He begged him not to leave orphaned his widowed wife and little children, whose life he regretted not having been able to make happier, thanked those who had shown him sympathy, and for the others asked that God forgive them the dreadful sin of betrayal.

The same day, in the afternoon, the priest was led to be shot, accompanied by horsemen. Father George took leave of his wife and children and walked along the main street of the village. Women and adolescents followed the dreadful procession. Reaching the steep bank of the river, the guards dismounted and began to go down to the river with the priest. Father George came to the water, knelt and, with hands raised to heaven, began to pray. Then he turned his face toward the executioners, crossed his hands on his breast and, sighing to God, said: Receive, O Lord, my sinful soul. The guards fired and killed him. The burial of the slain shepherd was done by four priests from neighbouring villages. He was buried in the village cemetery, and for many years believers came secretly to his grave to pray and ask his protection before God. He is commemorated on 9 July.