Paul Aglomazovsky

Holy Martyr Paul Aglomazovsky (the second of that name) was, like the other Paul, one of the thirteen people killed in the village of Aglomazovo in Ryazan region, together with the priest Nicholas Probatov, by a punitive detachment. The Azbyka page where he is mentioned tells almost only the priest's life; of the two Pauls it says nothing individually.

Those killed were the church warden Kosma Egorovich, Victor Krasnov, Nahum and Philip, father and son, John, Paul, Andrew, Paul, Basil, Alexis, John and Agatha. After an uprising of peasants in February 1918 against Bolshevik conscription, a punitive detachment entered the village, arrested people from a list kept by the local schoolteacher and held them in a cellar, tormenting them. The priest Nicholas Probatov, born in 1874, had served there since 1906; he was a pastor and gifted preacher, built a school and took no fee for services. When beaten and mocked he answered gently: Christ suffered without sin, and we suffer for our sins.

Eighteen people were led in the evening to the river Tsna and shot. Thirteen died, and the others crawled away and told what had happened. The priest died saying prayers with raised hands, and his stiff body seemed to bless. He was buried at night by priests from neighbouring villages. The martyrs of Aglomazovo are commemorated on 11 November, on 7 February (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church and on 23 June in the Synaxis of the Saints of Ryazan, in the new style.