Laurence Nikitin

Holy Venerable Martyr Laurence Nikitin, a hieromonk (1872-1918), was one of the venerable martyrs of the Dormition Zilant monastery in Kazan, killed in 1918. The Azbyka page tells their story together.

In 1917 in the Zilant monastery, on the edge of the city of Kazan, nine monks and novices lived under the guidance of Archimandrite Sergius (Zaitsev). When in 1918 Kazan was liberated by the White and Czech forces under Colonel Kappel, two guns were set on the hill before the entrance to the monastery and shelled the Bolshevik positions. On 28 August (10 September new style) the Czechs withdrew and the Bolsheviks burst into the settlement where the monastery stood. The Red soldiers lined up the whole brotherhood against the wall of the monastery courtyard and shot them in rifle volleys, then left the monastery and moved on to the city.

Only one aged hieromonk, Joseph, was left alive, who at the first volleys fell to the ground and was thought dead. Getting out from under the bodies of his brethren, he went to the city and found shelter at the monastery of the Forerunner. Father Joseph, who had gone deaf and died a year later, told of the martyr's death of his brethren. Shot were Archimandrite Sergius (Zaitsev; 1863-1918), the hieromonk Laurence (Nikitin; 1872-1918), the hieromonk Seraphim (Kuzmin; 1870-1918), the hierodeacon Theodosius (Alexandrov; 1864-1918), the monk Leontius (Karyagin; 1870-1918), the monk Stephen (1918), the novices George (Timofeev; 1880-1918), Sergius (Galin; 1918), Hilarion (Pravdin; 1918) and John (Sretensky; 1918). The funeral service and burial of the martyrs were performed by Archimandrite, later Bishop and hieromartyr, Joasaph (Udalov).

They were canonized as locally venerated saints of the Kazan diocese in 1998, and at the Jubilee Council of Bishops in August 2000 they were numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, for veneration throughout the Church. Saint Laurence is commemorated on 10 September, on 17 October, with the Synaxis of the Saints of Kazan, and on 7 February, with the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, in the new style.