Ierotheos the New

Holy Hieromartyr Ierotheos the New, bishop of Nikolsk, was born around 1891 and fell asleep in 1928, after his arrest by the Soviet regime.

He arrived as bishop at Nikolsk on Palm Sunday 1923 and served the Church with divine zeal and self-⁠denial. In 1927 he was transferred to the diocese of Veliky Ustyug, near Vologda. At that time he refused to sign the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius on the subordination of the Church to state power. For this reason the Soviet security police summoned him for interrogation several times. At last he was arrested while he had gone to serve in a town of his diocese. The people wept and cried out, feeling that they were losing their spiritual father. The steamer soon reached Ustyug. Being ill, he was taken to hospital, where he fell asleep piously in 1928. His memory did not vanish: it became the salt of the piety and hope of the Russian people.

He is commemorated on 31 May, according to the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style).