Nicholas Kulakov

Holy Hieromartyr Nicholas Kulakov was a priest in Saint Petersburg and was shot on 1 June 1938, in a camp in the Far East, together with Archbishop Onuphrius of Kursk, Bishop Anthony of Belgorod and other priests.

The Azbyka page holds the life of this numerous group of martyrs, beginning with that of Archbishop Onuphrius (Gagalyuk); here we tell what is proper to Father Nicholas.

He was born in 1876 in the town of Velsk, in the Vologda province, in the family of the peasant Konstantin Kulakov. After the two-⁠class town school he worked until 1912 as assistant accountant at the Vologda provincial zemstvo, then as a scribe. Bishop Anthony (Bystrov) of Velsk, who knew him well, ordained him priest in 1912 at one of the churches of Vologda. In 1913 he was sent to the church of the Mitrofaniev metochion in Saint Petersburg, being also secretary of Archbishop Nikon of Vologda, a member of the Synod. He served at the metochion until its closing in the time of persecution, then at the Vladimir Cathedral and, from 1932, at the church of the Protection on Borovaya Street. He celebrated the services with zeal, raised his parishioners in the spirit of the Gospel and of the writings of the Holy Fathers and wrote his sermons in advance, so that his spiritual children might grasp the teaching of the Lord as their father understood it, should he be arrested.

He was arrested on 22 December 1933, with many clergy and laity of Leningrad, in the case of a so-⁠called church-⁠monarchist organisation, in which a hundred and seventy-⁠five persons were charged. At the interrogation he said openly that politically he considered himself a monarchist, and in matters of faith a Christian ready for martyrdom, if it were asked of him, and that his duty was to raise those around him in faith, piety and morality. On 25 February 1934 an OGPU troika sentenced him to five years in a labour camp, and he was sent to the Sevvostlag camp. In February 1938, together with Archbishop Onuphrius, Bishop Anthony and other clergy in the camp, a new case was opened on the basis of the false testimony of some prisoners. On 17 March 1938 an NKVD troika sentenced them to death. On 1 June 1938 all were shot and buried in an unknown common grave.

He is remembered on 1 June, on 7 February (a movable day) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors, on 11 July (a movable day) in the Synaxis of the Saints of Saint Petersburg, on 1 August in the Synaxis of the Saints of Kursk, and on 1 November in the Synaxis of the Saints of the Archangelsk Metropolis, in the new style.