Gregory Bronnikov

Holy Hieromartyr Gregory Bronnikov, a priest, was born in 1876 in the village of Pyeldino in the Ust-⁠Sysolsk district of Vologda province (today the Sysolsk district of Komi), the son of Alexei Ivanovich, deacon of the village church. He was shot on 31 August 1937 and was canonised in 2001.

Until 1895 he completed two classes at the Vologda theological seminary, then served as a psalmist in the churches of the Ust-⁠Sysolsk district and was a singing teacher in the zemstvo schools. From 1904 he was a deacon. Between 1912 and 1914 he had no place of service, and between 1914 and 1918 he served as a psalmist. In 1921 he was ordained a priest and until the end of his life served at the Epiphany church in the village of Selib, in the Udora district of Komi.

In 1930 he was classed among the kulaks and subjected to an individual tax. In 1936 the church was closed and used as a village club, and in August 1937 Father Gregory was arrested. He was accused of systematic counter-⁠revolutionary agitation against Soviet power and shot on 31 August 1937 in the environs of Syktyvkar.

He was canonised by decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Church of 6 October 2001, on the proposal of the Syktyvkar diocese. His brother, the priest John Bronnikov, also suffered for the faith: he was sentenced to five years of exile in the Northern Region for counter-⁠revolutionary propaganda and agitation, and died after 1933 in a transit prison.

He is commemorated on 31 August, on 11 February, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Komi, and on 7 February, in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church (new style, the last being a movable day).