John Yakovlev

Holy Hieromartyr John Yakovlev, a priest, was born on 11 November 1866 in a peasant family in the village of Novoegorlykskoe, Stavropol province. He served at the church of Saint Nicholas in the town of Yeysk, at the church of Saint John the Theologian in the stanitsa of Novonikolaevskaya, at the church of Saint Daniel in Stavropol and at the church of Saint Demetrius in Yekaterinodar. He taught the Law of God at the diocesan girls' school in Yekaterinodar and was appointed representative of the clergy in the city Duma of Yekaterinodar. He was married and had four children.

He was arrested at night, on 16 September 1921, for correspondence with exiled priests. The whole parish of the church of Saint Demetrius in Krasnodar rose up for him. The faithful sent a letter in defence of their pastor. They wrote: "The priest John Yakovlev, living beside us for more than twenty years, is well known to us as a man who always had love for people, being a spiritual shepherd on the path of goodness, conscience and honour. He sowed good and wise things, useful teachings in the spirit of Christianity." But on 23 September 1921 the troika of the Kuban-⁠Black Sea Cheka decided on the supreme penalty. On 28 September Father John was shot and buried in Krasnodar in an unknown grave.

The Church commemorates him on 28 September, the day of his death, in the new style, on 3 October in the Synaxis of the Saints of Kuban, on a movable day, and on the movable day of the synaxis of the new martyrs.