Mitrofan Kornitsky

Holy Hieromartyr Mitrofan Kornitsky, an archpriest, was born in 1873 in the little town of Troyanov, Zhitomir province (Mitrofan Feodosievich Kornitsky). The beginning of his priestly service was bound to the little town of Osniki in Chernigov province, then he served in the village of Yankovtsy, then in the village of Klishki. Longest, from 1915 to 1929, he served in the village of Medvedovo, where toward the end he was raised to the rank of archpriest. In 1929 the church was closed and the building given to a "cultural" institution, then pulled down. Father Mitrofan was moved to the village of Logovatoe, in the Bryansk region, where he served for a year, until the church there too was closed. Then he was appointed to the church of the village of Yartsevo, and when this too was closed he was moved to the church of Saint Michael in the town of Starodub. He was rector of this church until October 1937.

On 20 October 1937 Archpriest Mitrofan was arrested. First he was held in Starodub, then moved to Klintsy. His relatives did not know where and why Father Mitrofan had been taken from Starodub. Matushka Nadezhda Ivanovna was told at the NKVD district office that he had been sent into exile. In reality, on 22 November 1937 the troika of the UNKVD of the Oryol region sentenced him to death. The matushka died in 1955, knowing nothing of her husband's fate, and the children learned only in 1989 that Father Mitrofan had been shot at Klintsy on 7 December 1937. He is commemorated on 7 December, 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, on 3 October, with the Synaxis of the Saints of Bryansk.