John Vasilyev

Holy Confessor John Vasilyev, a churchwarden, was born in 1869 in the village of Martyanovo in the Serpukhov district of the Moscow province, in the family of the locksmith Sergei Vasilyev. From 1884 he worked in the eating-⁠house of the Ryabov factory and became a head salesman. After his dismissal, in 1922, he opened a trade of his own. From 1919 he was churchwarden of the church of Saint Nicholas in the village of Buturlino, where the rector was the priest Constantine Uarov.

The funeral at Buturlino

In July 1929 an eighteen-⁠year-⁠old Komsomol member, Aksyonov, died in the village. The parents bought the coffin and what was needed, called the priest to read the service the next morning at their home, but on the eve the head of the Komsomol cell came to the mother and said that the young people wished to bury their comrade themselves, without a priest. The mother did not agree, since the coffin was paid for by her. The next day, at eleven o'clock, Father Constantine came for the funeral service, but the dead man's brother, an active Komsomol member, did not wait for the end of the service, took the coffin with others and carried it to the red corner. They then held two anti-⁠religious meetings, with an orchestra, and from the crowd of some five hundred people were heard words like "give the dead man to the priest, do not bury him like a beast". At the cemetery the people began to reproach the mother, the mother and sisters did not let the coffin be lowered into the grave, a cry and uproar arose, the crowd pushed the Komsomol members away and carried the coffin to the church. Father Constantine finished the funeral service there with the clergy.

On 26 July 1929 the newspaper "Nabat", published by the Communists of the Serpukhov district, printed a note, "They carried the coffin into the church by force", signed with the pseudonym Godless. An inquiry by the district administration established that the facts had been described wrongly, that on the part of the priest there had been no "hooligan actions" and that the incident had happened by the fault of the Komsomol organization, which had not come to an agreement with the relatives. Nevertheless on 30 August 1929 the OGPU started a case against the priest Constantine Uarov, and the churchwarden Ivan Sergeevich Vasilyev was accused of "spreading false rumours about the innocence of the priest". False witnesses appeared who said that he had said, at a congress, that it would be good for the churches to remain, and for new schools to be built instead.

Arrest and exile

On 3 September 1929 he was arrested and imprisoned at Serpukhov. At the interrogation he said that he had not been at the burial and knew nothing, and from the priest Uarov he knew only that the mother had asked him to serve the vigil and the funeral. On 16 September the investigation closed, although the investigator noted that the file did not contain enough testimony of direct participation. The file was sent to the Special Council of the OGPU, with a request for administrative exile. On 4 November 1929 the OGPU troika sentenced Father Constantine to three years in a camp, and Ivan Vasilyev to three years of exile in Kazakhstan.

He was sent to the locality of Zhamshy, station Karaganda, Kaunrad district, Aktogai, on a journey which took half a year alongside criminals. The term ended on 3 September 1932, but he was not released. Because of the harsh conditions, in old age he fell ill with rheumatism in the legs and could no longer walk. The dugout in which he lived measured 3.5 by 3.5 metres, and three people lived in it. The place of exile was more than 400 versts from the railway. His son asked for the father's early release, because of the weather he could not leave for seven or eight months. On 4 December 1932 the relatives received a telegram, then a letter from the priest Skvortsov, who was serving his term with him, writing that their father was dying, his hands and legs had gone numb and nothing could be done to help. John Vasilyev died on 6 December 1932 and was buried in an unknown grave.

The Church commemorates him on 6 December, the day of his death, in the new style, and on the movable days of the synaxis of the new martyrs and confessors and of the Saints of Moscow (5 September).