Nicholas of Elisavetgrad

Saint Nicholas Vinogradov, hieromartyr (1 August 1868 to December 1931), was an archpriest of the diocese of Kirovohrad (Elisavetgrad), arrested on 15 January 1931 and died after tortures in prison. He was canonized by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a saint venerated only locally, in the diocese of Kirovohrad: the Holy Synod decided this on 17 August 2021, and the canonization service took place on 6 February 2022, in the Nativity of the Mother of God cathedral. He is commemorated (according to our record) on 15 June.

Life

He was born on 1 (14) August 1868 in the family of a church servant. After church school he entered in 1878 the church school at Chișinău, and in 1883 the seminary at Chișinău, where he showed himself a disciplined and responsible pupil. In June 1889 he married Alexandra Ivanovna Fialkovskaya, daughter of a priest; they had five children. On 3 (16) June 1890 he was ordained priest and began his ministry at the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God at Arbuzynka, in the Elisavetgrad district, Kherson province. The next year he was moved to the church of the Ascension in the village of Sosheostrovske, in the Tiraspol district, where he also taught religion in the village school. In 1900 he was moved to Lelekivka, and in 1903 became head of the second-⁠class teachers' school in the village of Hlodosy, serving also at the church of the Protection there. His work in the field of education was several times rewarded with thanks.

In 1912 he was appointed rector of the church of Saints Peter and Paul at the cemetery in Elisavetgrad (today Kropyvnytskyi) and teacher of religion at the Gogol school. On 14 (27) July 1917 he was confirmed dean of the Elisavetgrad district. In the hard years after the revolution, together with Bishop Paul (Kolosov) of Elisavetgrad and other helpers of the bishop, he fought hard against the renovationist movement, refusing to submit to the "Living Church" and the orders of its "metropolitan" Evdokim. In 1926 he was held responsible for gathering news about the labours and miracles of the blessed elder Daniel of Elisavetgrad, accused of "speculating on the religious ignorance of the masses, by organizing prayers at a grave regarded as holy", but the authorities soon dropped the charge and acquitted him.

Martyrdom

On 15 January 1931 he was arrested and thrown into the prison of the city of Zinovievsk (Elisavetgrad). He was called to night interrogations and "influenced" in various ways, in the hope that he would not endure, would admit guilt, would denounce others or renounce. Of his torments the reburial of 2018 bears witness, with the broken kneecaps, broken ribs, severed hands and crushed back of the skull shown by his remains. In December 1931, after further harsh torments and inhuman conditions of life, he went to his Golgotha, dying a martyr, having carried his cross to the end. The body was bought back by the parishioners of the Peter and Paul church and buried in secret in the old Kushchevsky cemetery of the city. In 1997, with the blessing of Archbishop Basil, memorial services began to be served at the grave, and a wooden cross was set. On 15 June 2018 the remains were moved to the Elizabeth men's monastery in Kropyvnytskyi. The Synod decided on the local canonization on 17 August 2021, and on 6 February 2022 the canonization service was held.