Innocent Kikin

Holy Hieromartyr Innocent Kikin was a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, born in 1878 and shot on 26 October 1937 at Novosibirsk. He is counted among the New Martyrs of Novosibirsk. He was numbered among the saints, the new martyrs and confessors of Russia, on 24 April 2002, together with Archpriest Nikolai Yermolov. He is commemorated on 13 October by the old calendar (26 October by the new), the day of his death.

He was born into the family of the priest, later archpriest, Arseny Ivanovich Kikin (born 1851). His grandfather had also been a priest, and his father's elder brother, Peter, also became a priest. He had a sister, Euphrosyne, married name Bychkova. In 1899 he graduated from the Tomsk theological seminary in the highest category. From 18 August 1900 he served as psalm-⁠reader, and from 3 December 1902 he was appointed teacher in the preparatory classes of the Tomsk theological school. In 1908 he came to the village of Nizhne-⁠Kamenskoe, Barnaul district (today the Ordynsk district of the Novosibirsk region), as a teacher, and opened a parish church school here. Under his direction the church of Saint Nicholas was built in the village, and on 21 September 1910 he was ordained priest and appointed rector of the Saint Nicholas house of prayer of Nizhne-⁠Kamenskoe, in the 16th church district, where he served until his arrest on 28 July 1937. According to the testimony of descendants of the parishioners, in August 1919 Father Innocent succeeded in persuading the commander of a Kolchak detachment, Konokotin, not to carry out a punitive action in the village.

He was widowed very early, and in the early 1920s two of his children died. In 1922, by resolution of Bishop Sophronius of Novonikolaevsk, he was awarded the kamilavka. From 1924 he was a friend of Father Nikolai Yermolov; both remained faithful to the hierarchy of Patriarch Tikhon and urged the flock not to support the Renovationist schism. In 1922 and 1929 he was briefly arrested, and in 1929 it was planned to send him to a labour colony, but in both cases he returned to his priestly service.

Priest Innocent was arrested on 28 July 1937. First he was held in the pre-⁠trial cell at the Ordynsk militia station, then moved to the prison in Novosibirsk. He was tried under Article 58-10-8-11 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, as if he had carried on counter-⁠revolutionary activity, grouping around himself discontented and kulak elements. Like Father Nikolai Yermolov, Father Innocent was declared a member of a counter-⁠revolutionary insurgent organization. On 1 October 1937 the troika of the NKVD administration for the West Siberian Region sentenced Nikolai Yermolov and Innocent Kikin to death by shooting with confiscation of property. They were shot on 26 October 1937 at Novosibirsk and buried in an unknown common grave. By decision of the presidium of the Novosibirsk regional court of 2 August 1958 the decision of the troika was annulled and the case closed for lack of a crime.

On 24 April 2002, by decision of His Holiness the Patriarch and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Nikolai Yermolov and Priest Innocent Kikin were numbered among the saints, the new martyrs and confessors of Russia. The solemn glorification took place at the All-⁠Night Vigil in the Ascension cathedral of Novosibirsk on 23 May 2002, with the participation of Patriarch Alexy II. The author of the troparion of the holy hieromartyrs of Novosibirsk, Nikolai and Innocent, is Priest Alexander Matruk.