Marie Gruzínová

Holy New Martyr Marie Gruzínová, née Krylová, was born on 16 December 1904 in Dolní Štěpánov. During the Protectorate she lived in Prague with her husband Vladimír Gruzín, an official. She sang in the choir of the church of Saints Cyril and Methodius and worked as secretary to Bishop Gorazd, so she learned of many of his affairs; she typed his confidential letters to Yugoslavia and the manuscript of a book in which he criticized the conduct of the Nazis in the Protectorate.

She took part in supporting the paratroopers hidden in the crypt of the cathedral. After the arrest of Father Václav Čikl and his wife she secretly entered their apartment and took their two daughters, Olga and Taťána, to their godparents in Přerov, so keeping them from arrest. On 8 July 1942 she was arrested, held at Pankrác and then at Terezín, sentenced to death in her absence on 29 September, and taken to Mauthausen, where she was shot on 24 October 1942. Her husband was not arrested and survived.

The Synod of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia decided on 10 October 2019 to enter them among the saints, and the solemn glorification took place on 8 February 2020 at the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague, together with the other new martyrs of those years. They are remembered on 5 September.