John Rudinsky

Holy Hieromartyr John Rudinsky, a priest, in the world Ivan Ivanovich Rudinsky, was born in 1867 in the village of Pokrovskoe-⁠na-⁠Siti. After the Yaroslavl Theological Seminary he returned to his native village and took the parish. In 1918, in the Pokrovo-⁠Sit volost, a peasant uprising broke out against mobilization into the Red Army, and Father John, whose church lay on the territory of the volost, was later accused several times of having served molebens at the request of the rebels and of calling to fight with weapons in hand. He escaped reprisal by being in hospital. In 1920 he was arrested "for insulting an official", in 1926 he was sentenced by the people's court to a fine for "violating the rules of the separation of Church and state", and in 1929 for "concealing a cow". The authorities mocked him as they could.

In 1929, when the mass campaign began to close churches and to tax church property beyond means, the church was laid under an impossible tax, and in 1930 the assembly of the collective farm decided to close it for non-⁠payment. Then Father John appealed to the faithful to gather the money: "Orthodox, you see how hard it is for your pastors, how the representatives of Soviet power take taxes from us, help us... otherwise we shall have to leave." This time the church could be saved, but the priest gave all he had and began to go hungry. The parishioners brought him bread. At that time the bells had begun to be thrown down from churches, and this grief was heavier for him than hunger. Thanking the parishioners for their care, he at once turned their thought to the tragedy of the Church: "You have brought me bread, I thank you, but do not forget the Orthodox faith. They go through the villages and want to take the bells from the church, and then it will be like a man without a tongue." "See, Orthodox," he said with sorrow, "the end of the world draws near, the churches of God will soon be closed. They begin with the bells, then they will come to the buildings."

In February 1930 Father John, the priest John Afonsky and the deacon Gabriel Nerobov, who served together, were arrested on a charge of "opposing the measures of Soviet power in the village". Father John Afonsky and the deacon Gabriel were sentenced to three years of exile in the Northern Region, while John Rudinsky was released "for lack of evidence". At the end of March 1930 he returned to his native village, but there the church had been seized by a Renovationist priest and the church council re-⁠elected. He refused the proposal to betray Orthodoxy and to serve together with the Renovationist. On 15 April 1930 the faithful of the church of the Protection met, rejected the council supported by the Renovationists and asked for the release of Father John Afonsky and the deacon Gabriel, then supported John Rudinsky and decided: "Not wishing to be in Renovationism, let us ask the district committee for leave for a new meeting, to restore all the old members of the council and of the clergy." This was the cause of Father John's arrest.

On 15 July 1930 he was arrested and sent for three years to the Northern Region, to the Arkhangelsk region, to the Loden base no. 9 of Severles. There he died on 11 November 1930, from work beyond his strength. On 27 December 2000 the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church canonized him.

The Church commemorates him on 11 November, the day of his death, in the new style, on 5 June in the Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl, on 1 November in the Synaxis of the Saints of Arkhangelsk and on the movable day of the synaxis of the new martyrs.