Jonah Lazarev

Holy Hieromartyr Jonah (Ivan Ivanovich Lazarev, in the world) was bishop of Nevel, vicar of the diocese of Vitebsk. He was born in 1869 at Luchensky Pogost, Tikhvin district, Novgorod province, and was shot on 21 October 1937 at the Butovo firing range. The Russian Church numbered him among the saints in 2000, at the Jubilee Council of Bishops in August, for veneration throughout the Church. He is commemorated on 8 October by the old calendar (21 October by the new).

He was born into a priest's family. He graduated from the Novgorod seminary in 1892; the rector of the seminary was then Archimandrite Tikhon (Nikanorov), later archbishop of Voronezh and a new martyr. From 1892 he was a supervisor at the Zvenigorod theological school. On 4 November 1892 he was tonsured a monk, on 3 December he was raised hierodeacon, on 23 December 1893 he was enrolled among the brethren of the Savvino-⁠Storozhevsky Monastery, and on 6 January 1895 he was raised hieromonk. On 30 December 1899, at the request of Bishop Tikhon (Nikanorov) of Polotsk, he was enrolled among the brethren of the bishop's house of Polotsk. From 5 January 1900 he was treasurer and sacristan of this house. From 27 November 1900 he was abbot of the Transfiguration Monastery of Nevel, and from 2 September 1902 of the Skovorodsky Monastery in Novgorod. In 1903 he was raised to the rank of archimandrite. From 22 March 1911 he was abbot of the stauropegial Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery, on the recommendation of Bishop Tikhon, who had himself been abbot of it. In January 1918 he was sent to the disposal of Archbishop Tikhon of Voronezh and Zadonsk.

On 29 January 1926 he was appointed bishop of Nevel, vicar of the diocese of Vitebsk, but for reasons independent of him he could not take up his duties. On 14 May 1926 he was retired, with the blessing of the deputy Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergius, to live in the village of Batyushkovo, Dmitrov district, Moscow region, where he served at the church of Saint Nicholas. Many Christians came to him to receive spiritual counsel. The bishop helped the priests held in camps on the territory of the Dmitrov district, who were building canals and locks.

He was arrested on 15 August 1937. At the interrogations he did not admit guilt. On 17 October 1937 he was sentenced by the troika of the NKVD administration of the Moscow region, for "anti-⁠Soviet agitation", to the supreme penalty. He was shot on 21 October 1937 at the Butovo firing range.