Michael Bogorodsky

Holy Hieromartyr Michael Bogorodsky, an archpriest, was born on 19 September 1878 in the village of Molokovo, Tver province. His father, Nikolai Bogorodsky, was a clerk on a landowner's estate. After graduating from the Tver theological seminary Michael was ordained a priest and served in churches of the Tver diocese. For his blameless fulfilment of pastoral duties, in April 1922 he was awarded by Holy Patriarch Tikhon the pectoral cross and the rank of archpriest.

The godless state fought the Church without mercy, accusing some clergy of political crimes against the state and others of failing to pay enormous taxes. Any representative of the authorities could demand a huge sum from any priest, and since most often there was no way to find it, the priest was arrested, in the hope that the church would be closed as well. Father Michael's zeal was soon noticed by the authorities, and in January 1930 he was arrested, accused of having in December 1929 evaded the second task of grain procurement set for him. The court sentenced him to one year of imprisonment and a fine of four thousand roubles. Since he did not have the money, his property was inventoried, and the court, wishing to take from the parishioners a conscientious and respected pastor, ordered exile from the Moscow region for five years as a social danger.

After a year he was released and returned to the Tver diocese. With the blessing of Archbishop Thaddeus of Tver, the holy hieromartyr, he was sent to serve at the church of the Mother of God "of Sorrows" in the village of Selets, Maksatikha district, and appointed dean of the 11th deanery. For his zealous service he received the palitsa in April 1932. Like many priests who had been in prison, he was careful to avoid speaking of politics, but when the new persecution began, no prudence could protect him.

The security police summoned frightened witnesses, who could say nothing bad about him, but whatever they said was recorded as evidence. On 8 August 1937 Father Michael was arrested. At the search the church documents were taken, and attention fell on the fact that he had been blessed to be confessor of the clergy of the district and their families. Asked what organizational task Archbishop Thaddeus had entrusted to him, he answered that from 1933 to 1936 he had kept the record and the confessions of the clergy of the district. Accused of counter-⁠revolutionary agitation after his return from exile, he said that he had sometimes said that formerly priests were respected and now they are laughed at and despised. About the news from Spain, which he was said to have criticized, he said that he could say nothing, but that he read Pravda regularly.

On 13 September the NKVD troika sentenced him to death. He was shot on 17 September 1937. He was numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia at the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000, for veneration throughout the Church. He is commemorated on 17 September, the day of his death, in the new style, with the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church (a movable day) and with the Synaxis of the Saints of Tver (18 July, a movable day).