Gregory Smirnov

Holy Hieromartyr Gregory of Mokino (Smirnov), a deacon, was born on 18 November 1891 in Vyatka province, to the peasant Prokopy Smirnov. In 1911 he finished the two-⁠class school attached to the Kazan church in the village of Stary Toryal, in the Urzhum district, and in 1913 the additional courses at the Mitinsky school in the Vyatka district. That same year he was appointed psalmist at the Kazan church in the village of Gorokhovo, Orlov district. In 1916 he moved to service in the Perm diocese, and on 15 January 1917 Bishop Andronik (Nikolsky) of Perm ordained him deacon at the church of Saint Nicholas in the village of Mokino, Okhansk district.

In December 1918 Deacon Gregory Smirnov was shot by the godless Bolsheviks and stabbed with bayonets. He suffered together with the priest Paul, which is why the calendar commemorates them together as the hieromartyrs Paul and Gregory of Mokino. Their service, approved by the Holy Synod at its session of 23 and 24 September 2021, recalls in its hymns that Paul was from Kungur and Gregory from a district of Vyatka; that they were shot by armed men; that they suffered the frost of the night, being dragged by horses and sword blows; that they remained together in life and in death; and that their relics were found. The service is appointed for 7 June.

He is commemorated on 11 January, on 7 February, in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, and on 14 February, in the Synaxis of the Saints of the Perm Metropolis (new style, the last two being movable days).