John Chestnov

Holy Hieromartyr John Chestnov, a priest, was born on 30 January 1874 in the village of Zaponorye, in the Bogorodsk district of the Moscow province, in the family of the priest Peter Chestnov. He was shot on 13 December 1937. He was numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia by decision of the Holy Synod of 17 July 2002.

Service

In 1904, after the fourth year of the Moscow Seminary, Ivan Chestnov asked to be discharged and passed the examination as a teacher in a church school. On 29 June 1904 he was appointed psalmist at the church of the Sign in Amerevo, and in 1905 was made a reader. In 1907 he was moved as psalmist to the church of the Exaltation of the Cross in Novoe on the Volga. In 1908 he was ordained deacon and assigned by Metropolitan Vladimir of Moscow to the cemetery church of the Resurrection in Podolsk; from 1910 he was also catechist in the boys' and girls' schools. For his zeal he received the Patriarch's blessing at Pascha of 1919. In 1920 he was ordained priest and Metropolitan Eusebius (Nikolsky) of Krutitsy assigned him to the church of the Sign in Zakharino, then, on 3 January 1921, again to the cemetery church of the Resurrection in Podolsk. At the end of December 1928 he was sent to the church of the Holy Archangel Michael in Vertlinskoe, where he was arrested for the first time, in 1929, and released after five and a half weeks. In February 1930 his cow and part of his property were confiscated for unpaid taxes. On 24 January 1930 he was moved to the Dormition church in Gzhel.

Persecution

At the beginning of 1930 the authorities wanted to take the bells of the church in Gzhel, and the rector, Alexander Vinogradov, tried to prevent it. The believing women resisted at the village assembly. In October 1930 the OGPU investigator questioned false witnesses, and Deacon Solertovsky, who served in the same church, confirmed their statements, quoting the father's word that, despite the persecution, the Orthodox faith would not go out and would triumph. On 31 October 1930 Father John was arrested, and on 1 November interrogated. He answered that all power comes from God, that God sends power in punishment for sins, that the soul of man is darkened for a time like ashes, but then a man can become a believer, like Paul, once a persecutor. He admitted that he had stated his thoughts when the faithful asked him, but he had never begun the conversation, and he did not admit guilt of calls to disrupt the harvest. The OGPU troika sentenced him on 22 November 1930 to three years of exile in Kazakhstan.

After the exile he was not allowed to live within a hundred kilometres of Moscow, so he settled in Mozhaisk, where he was assigned to the church of the Ascension. In 1934, with the help of the Renovationists, the authorities wanted to close it. The community wrote a complaint on 21 August 1934, telling how in May 1933 a Renovationist priest was registered, who sold things from the church and disappeared; his successor died of drink and hunger and was found dead for a week; and the third priest, Maximov, left for Moscow with the keys. The faithful chose a priest and registered him on 11 July, but after a few services the Renovationists asked that the church be sealed. The authorities did not give it to the believers.

The father asked to be appointed to another parish. Since many churches were closed, many priests were left without a place, and he could not be registered within a hundred kilometres of Moscow, it was suggested that he apply to the bishops of neighbouring dioceses. In October 1934 he asked Archbishop Vassian (Pyatnitsky) of Tambov, and in February 1935 received the answer that the number of parishes was falling while that of clergy without a place was rising. Archbishop Thaddeus (Uspensky) of Tver answered him on 1 March 1935 that there were no free places. On 10 March 1935 he was appointed to the church of the Holy Archangel Michael in Taldom. At Pascha the authorities forbade him to go round the houses of the faithful with molebens. On the first day of Pascha he went for tea to the warden Volkov, where Agentov was also present, who made candles for the parish. On 19 May 1935 Agentov testified at an interrogation that Chestnov had said that if the Russian people held firmly to the Orthodox faith and to patriotism, the authorities would not dare to arrest a single priest, for the people would defend the clergy, and that he had also spoken of the war which he saw drawing near. The same day the father was arrested. On the back of the warrant he wrote that he refused to sign, since he did not admit guilt. At the investigation he said that he had spoken only of the loss of the Christian spirit and that in confessions he urged the faithful to guard their souls from unbelief and told parents to raise their children in the fear of God, teaching them prayers up to the age of fifteen. A parishioner, probably set to watch him, confirmed the charges at a confrontation on 21 May. The father was taken to Butyrka. On 8 June 1935 the NKVD troika sentenced him to three years of exile in Kazakhstan.

Martyrdom

He served the term at the station of Chu in the Chu district of the Kazakh SSR. On 23 November 1937 he was arrested by the Chu district branch of the NKVD. At the interrogation he said that in exile he had carried on no anti-⁠Soviet activity. On 4 December the indictment was drawn up, according to which "Chestnov, serving exile in the Chu district, performed religious rites illegally and carried on anti-⁠Soviet agitation among the inhabitants." On 10 December the troika of the UNKVD of the Alma-⁠Ata region sentenced him to death. The priest John Chestnov was shot on 13 December 1937 and buried in an unknown common grave.

The Church commemorates him on 13 December, in the new style, and on the movable days of the synaxis of the new martyrs and of the Saints of Moscow.