Laurentius Knyazev

Saint Laurentius Knyazev the Hieromartyr (born Evgeny Ivanovich Knyazev, 1877 to 1918) was Bishop of Balakhna, vicar of the diocese of Nizhny Novgorod, a scholar and seminary teacher who became a monk. Consecrated bishop a year before the revolution, he led the diocese in the hard years that followed, was arrested by the Chekists on 3 September 1918 and shot on 6 November 1918 at Nizhny Novgorod. He was first canonized in 1981 by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, then in 2000 by the Russian Orthodox Church, for veneration in the whole Church.

Childhood and studies

He was born in the town of Kashira, Tula province, to the merchant Ivan Ivanovich Knyazev; his mother, Ekaterina Vasilievna, born Preobrazhenskaya, was the daughter of the priest Vasily Petrovich Preobrazhensky, who had served in various rural parishes of Tula province. On 3 July, in the Dormition cathedral of Kashira, the infant received baptism with the name Evgeny. The eldest son of the family, Ivan, was ordained deacon after seminary but died young. Two other sons, Mikhail and Georgy, died in infancy "from weakness from birth". On 13 July 1878, when Evgeny was only a year old, his father died of apoplexy, so the boy remained the only son of his widowed mother.

From 1887 to 1891 he studied at the church school in Venev, then entered the Tula Theological Seminary. In 1902 he graduated from the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy with the degree of candidate in theology, with the thesis "The relation between a man's piety and his fate according to the teaching of the Psalter", and with the right to seek the master's degree without a new oral examination.

Teacher and monk

On 6 February 1903 he was appointed teacher of Old Testament Holy Scripture at the Tauride Theological Seminary, and on 8 July clerk of the Tauride diocesan committee of the Orthodox Missionary Society. From 18 March 1904 he was a member of the diocesan censorship and preaching committee. On 24 May 1907 he was appointed inspector of the seminary. From January 1908 he was treasurer of the trusteeship for aid to poor pupils at the Three Hierarchs church of the seminary. On 6 September 1909 he joined the council of the Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood of Simferopol.

On 28 January 1912 he was tonsured a monk at Valaam by Archbishop Sergius (Stragorodsky), with the name Laurentius; on 30 January, at Vyborg, the same bishop ordained him hierodeacon, and on 5 February hieromonk. On 28 February 1912 he was appointed rector of the Lithuanian Theological Seminary and abbot of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Vilnius, and on 17 March raised to archimandrite. In 1912 to 1915 he was responsible editor of the "Herald of the Vilnius Holy Spirit Brotherhood".

Bishop of Balakhna

On 28 January 1917 Emperor Nicholas II approved the report of the Holy Synod "on the appointment of the rector of the Lithuanian Seminary, Laurentius, as Bishop of Balakhna, vicar of Nizhny Novgorod, with the provision that the nomination and consecration be done at Nizhny Novgorod". Archbishop Tikhon (Bellavin) had petitioned the Holy Synod for the consecration of Archimandrite Laurentius. On 18 February, at noon, in the Church of the Holy Cross the nomination of Archimandrite Laurentius as Bishop of Balakhna took place, performed by Archbishop Tikhon of Lithuania and Vilnius, Archbishop Joachim (Levitsky) of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, Bishop Macarius (Gnevushev) of Oryol and Sevsk, and Bishop Ambrose (Smirnov) of Mikhailov. On 19 February 1917, in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Nizhny Novgorod, the same bishops consecrated him Bishop of Balakhna, vicar of the diocese of Nizhny Novgorod. Archimandrite Barnabas (Belyaev), who was present, wrote in a letter to relatives in February 1917: "They have consecrated a new bishop. A pious, humble man, such as few are". Together with his elevation and appointment, he was by tradition named abbot of the Ascension Caves Monastery of Nizhny Novgorod. He was the second to last bishop consecrated under Nicholas II, the last being Theophanes (Ilmensky), consecrated a week later.

From the summer of 1917 he administered the Nizhny Novgorod diocese temporarily, since the ruling bishop had gone to Moscow for the Local Council and never returned. He took part as guest of honor in the Second All-⁠Russian Congress of Edinoverie (Old Rite) believers, held from 23 to 29 July 1917 at Nizhny Novgorod. In 1917 he blessed the founding of the Transfiguration Brotherhood for the revival of church and public life. He was a disciple and spiritual friend of the Optina elders. On 3 April 1918 he wrote to Patriarch Tikhon: "…business, business, petitioners and visitors have crushed me, and above all that since my consecration I am quite alone… And here I must repeat to myself the proverb: never renounce the beggar's bag or prison… But what to do? Evidently I must bear this cross while the Lord gives strength". He served and preached often. He ended his last three sermons with the same words: "Beloved brothers and sisters, we are living a quite special time, confession awaits all of us, and martyrdom some".

On 7 June 1918 the congress of the clergy of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese took place and adopted a resolution of protest against the taking from the Church of churches, monasteries and church property. An appeal to the flock was drawn up, signed by Bishop Laurentius as chairman of the congress, by Archpriest Alexei Porfiriev, rector of the cathedral, as secretary of the meeting, and by Alexei Borisovich Neidgardt, former provincial marshal of the Nizhny Novgorod nobility. In August 1918 about 700 former officers and gendarmes were arrested. Shot were Archimandrite Augustine, superior of the Oransky Monastery, Archpriest Nikolai Orlov, rector of the Kazan church, and others, forty-⁠one in all. Learning of their death, Bishop Laurentius celebrated a memorial service with the brethren of the Caves Monastery for the repose of those killed. On 23 August he wrote to Patriarch Tikhon: "I feel great weariness and exhaustion from the burden, so heavy, but laid on my solitary shoulders… Remaining alone in the diocese in such a difficult and exceptional time, every day and almost every hour I must receive news, one more alarming than the next…"

Arrest and execution

On 3 September 1918 he was arrested by the Chekists. He was allowed to serve in the prison church. In his free time in the cell he prayed unceasingly. He and the two other signers of the appeal were charged with a call to armed rebellion (on the ground that the text of the document contained the Apostle's words "put on the whole armor of God"). All three were sentenced to death, and the clergy were offered, to save their lives, to renounce their rank. The condemned did not accept the offer. On 8 (21) October 1918, by decree of Patriarch Tikhon, he was relieved of the temporary administration of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese.

Before death he received Communion and gave it to Father Alexei (Neidgardt was held separately). Before death he prayed with raised hands. The execution took place on 6 November 1918 in the Pochaina ravine of the city. The soldiers refused to shoot the bishop and the sentence was carried out by Latvian riflemen. The bodies of those shot were thrown into the Volga.

Canonization and veneration

In 1981, by decision of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, he was canonized as hieromartyr, in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, with commemoration on 24 October. He was numbered among the saints, New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, at the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000, for veneration in the whole Church. Together with him were canonized Archpriest Alexei Porfiriev and Alexei Neidgardt.

On 7 November 2003, on the bank of the Oka, at the foot of the oldest Annunciation monastery for men, hundreds of young people from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Vladimir, Kaluga, Sarov and Nizhny Novgorod gathered to honor the memory of the Nizhny Novgorod new martyrs: Bishop Laurentius of Balakhna, Archpriest Alexei Porfiriev and the provincial marshal of the nobility A. B. Neidgardt. On 6 November 2015, in the cathedral church of the Nativity of Christ in the town of Balakhna, a concelebrated service took place in memory of the Hieromartyr Laurentius, Bishop of Balakhna, led by Dean Fr. Mikhail Minyukhin with the participation of all the clergy of the deanery. Of his writings, letters survive, among them one to A. F. Kerensky, as well as sermons and addresses published in the diocesan periodicals between 1903 and 1917.