Nicholas Vinogradov

Holy Hieromartyr Nicholas Vinogradov, archpriest, born in 1876 at Dmitrov into a deacon's family, was a priest and learned theologian in Moscow and was shot at the Butovo firing range on 27 November 1937. He was canonized by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in the year 2000. Our sources give no feast day.

Studies and first service

He was born in the town of Dmitrov, in the family of the deacon of the church of the Saviour in Dmitrov, John Vinogradov. After finishing, in 1899, the Bethany seminary, he was kept there as supervisor and teacher at the seminary's model school. He was ordained priest on 5 June 1901 by Bishop Nathanael (Soborov), abbot of the Spaso-⁠Andronikov monastery in Moscow. From 27 November 1901 until 1907 he was priest at the church of the Intercession in the village of Pokrovskoe on the Gorodnya and taught religion at the zemstvo school in Pokrovskie Vyselki and at the school of the Ministry of Education at Biryulevo station.

Between 1907 and 1911 he studied at the Moscow Theological Academy and received the title of candidate in theology for his work The Book of the Prophet Haggai: an isagogical-⁠exegetical study, awarded the prize of Professor I. N. Korsunsky. He reworked it extensively and published it in 1914, and on 1 December 1914 the Council of the Academy gave him the title of master of theology. On 10 March 1915 the work received the prize of Bishop Michael (Luzin) of Kursk. In 1911 and 1912 he was inspector and teacher of religion at the diocesan girls' school at Kostroma.

Service in Moscow

From 8 December 1912 he served in Moscow: he was teacher of religion at the Alexander Institute and priest of the institute's church of Saint Alexander Nevsky, secretary of the pedagogical conferences (from 1914) and member of the institute's Council (from 1917). At the same time he was lecturer in Holy Scripture of the New Testament at the Moscow pastoral courses led by Archpriest John Vostorgov, and teacher of religion in several girls' schools. He received the epigonation (1905), the skufia (1907), the kamilavka (1913) and the pectoral cross on 7 January 1918.

After the closing of the Alexander Institute, on 22 August 1918, he was appointed rector of the church of Saint Nicholas at Pupyshi, and on 31 December 1920 he was raised to archpriest. He served at the church of the Annunciation on Tverskaya and at the church of Saints Peter and Paul at the Mariinsky hospital. In 1924 Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) appointed him dean of the first section of the Zamoskvorechye, and from 1927 also of the third section, and he received the mitre. From 1929 he was rector of the church of the Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus at Zatsepa.

Arrests and martyrdom

On 1 January 1933 he was arrested and imprisoned at Butyrka, together with other members of the clergy and of the parish council, among them Dmitry Rozanov. Already in the 1920s he had given a pledge of cooperation with the OGPU, but had not cooperated with the authorities. Those arrested were charged with taking part in a counter-⁠revolutionary group of churchmen, systematic anti-⁠Soviet agitation and the organising of illegal anti-⁠Soviet meetings. Vinogradov did not admit guilt, though he did not hide that he had told anecdotes making fun of Stalin. On 15 March 1933 he was sentenced to three years of exile, which he served at Kargopol.

After his return, in 1936, he served at the church of the Ascension in the village of Teryaeva Sloboda. In October 1937 he was arrested again, on the charge of counter-⁠revolutionary agitation, for having held, together with Deacon Smirnov, in August 1937, a procession without permission of the local authorities, carrying icons past the hospital, school and other Soviet institutions. On 27 November 1937 he was shot at the Butovo firing range. He was rehabilitated on 3 May 1959 for the year 1937 and on 2 June 1989 for the year 1933. He was married to Ekaterina Pavlovna Sokolova and they had four children, the daughters Galina, Angelina and Irina and the son Sergei.