Michael Nakaryakov

Holy Hieromartyr Michael Nakaryakov was a priest of the Transfiguration cathedral in Usolye, in the Perm region, killed on 22 July (4 August) 1918 and canonized in the year 2000. The birth year 1866 on the record is not supported by the sources; the place of birth is not known.

He served at the Transfiguration cathedral in the village (today town) of Usolye as third priest. His main ministry was the performance of services on request: baptism of newborns, weddings of the young, burial of the departed, services of supplication for the needs of the people of the village and nearby villages. He was loved by the parishioners for his unacquisitive way of life. He made great efforts for the education of poor children from workers' families. He collected funds for gifts to the needy at the feasts.

On 20 July (2 August) 1918 Father Michael Nakaryakov, as a priest respected and loved by the people, was summoned to the Cheka of Usolye in connection with the popular unrest that had begun to spread when the churches stopped performing services on request (baptisms, weddings, burials). The cause was the arrest of the ruling bishop of the Perm diocese, Archbishop Andronik (Nikolsky) of Perm and Kungur, who had forbidden services so that the people would demand the release of the clergy from prison. To the Cheka's order to perform the services to calm the rebellious, Father Michael answered that at his ordination, before the Cross, he had sworn to obey his bishop and that until he gave an order he would not serve; let him be freed and then he would perform the services. For the refusal the priest Michael Nakaryakov was sentenced to death.

On the evening of 20 July (2 August) 1918, as Father Michael was being taken to be shot, one of the soldiers whispered to him that they were sorry for him, that all remembered that he had taught them and helped their families, that they could not kill him, that they would shoot into the air and he should fall. Father Michael answered that whatever their commanders had ordered, that they should do. The soldiers fired, but in the morning of 21 July (3 August) it was found that the priest had only been wounded by three bullets, not killed. Then it was decided to take him to the prison of Solikamsk; on the way the soldiers stopped in a village and asked that Father Michael be hidden or at least bandaged, but no peasant dared to help, and even the local priest refused to give shelter to his brother, betraying him from fear of the new power. Only one woman gave the wounded man fresh milk to drink, but she too refused to keep him. The priest Michael Nakaryakov was brought to the prison. On 22 July (4 August) 1918 he was led into the yard and beaten on the head with rifle butts, then a stone was tied to his body and he was thrown into the river Usolka.

The veneration of the priest Michael Nakaryakov as a holy martyr began with Bishop Theophan (Ilmensky), who, after the murder of Archbishop Andronik (Nikolsky), headed the Perm diocese. Bishop Theophan celebrated in Perm a vigil service at which he commemorated Father Michael as a hieromartyr, for whom not only do we pray, but he too prays for us before God. For veneration throughout the Church, the priest Michael Nakaryakov was numbered among the saints, the new martyrs and confessors of Russia, at the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000. He is the heavenly patron of the Transfiguration convent in Usolye, Perm diocese.