Laurence Kogtev

Holy Martyr Laurence Kogtev was born in 1880 in the village of Zabelino, Kasimov district, Ryazan province, where he also lived all his life. His full name was Laurence Dimitrievich Kogtev. His family consisted of his wife, aged fifty-⁠eight, and a thirteen-⁠year-⁠old son. He engaged in the grain trade, and after being dispossessed as a "kulak" he became an engineer at the "Zabelino" landing.

In 1933 he was convicted for the first time for counter-⁠revolutionary activity and sentenced to three years of imprisonment, and served his sentence in full. In September 1937 he was arrested on suspicion of taking part in an insurgent-⁠terrorist group said to be active in the Kasimov district. On 6 December 1937 the troika of the UNKVD of the Ryazan region sentenced Laurence Dimitrievich Kogtev to death by shooting, under article 58, points 10-11.

He is commemorated on 23 December, on 23 June, with the Synaxis of the Saints of Ryazan, and on 7 February, with the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, in the new style.