Paul Ponyatsky

Holy Hieromartyr Paul Ponyatsky, a priest, was born on 20 June 1867 in the village of Borodino in the Mozhaysk district of Moscow province, in the family of the priest Alexander Ponyatsky. He finished the spiritual school and in 1896 was ordained deacon for the Ascension cathedral in Mozhaysk, and in the early twenties was ordained priest for the same church.

On 17 November 1932 he was arrested, charged with having organized a counter-⁠revolutionary anti-⁠Soviet group of former nuns and priests of the churches around Mozhaysk. He was held at Mozhaysk. In his testimony of 11 December he told that since February 1931 he lived in the watchman's hut of the Ascension church, where several nuns also lived, that priests from nearby churches visited him, and that he went with the nuns through the villages of the parish at feasts and to collect alms. He said that he regarded Soviet power as God's permission, sent for the sins of men. He did not admit guilt. On 16 February 1933 an OGPU troika sentenced him to three years of exile in Kazakhstan; he was released on 17 January 1934 by the Kustanai section of the OGPU and returned to Mozhaysk. In 1934 the Renovationists seized the Ascension cathedral, and the same year the authorities closed it for good.

At Mozhaysk Father Paul no longer served anywhere, lived on his children's help, but stayed in touch with the priests of the town. On 5 December 1937 he was arrested on the charge of having renewed his old ties with priests who had returned from exile, with counter-⁠revolutionary nuns and with other elements. He was held at Mozhaysk and interrogated on 7 December. He said that he had kept the best relations with the priest Konstantin Nikitich Nekrasov, whom he had known since childhood and with whom he had studied at the spiritual school, and that they spoke of health, of home affairs and of the service. Two women, agitators for the elections of 12 December 1937 to the Supreme Soviet, testified that the priest had asked, smiling, why those who were already elected needed to be elected, and whether one could write one's own candidates' names on the ballot.

On 8 December the investigation was closed and the priest was moved to Taganka in Moscow. On 9 December an NKVD troika sentenced him to death. The priest Paul Ponyatsky was shot on 15 December 1937 at the Butovo range near Moscow and buried in an unknown common grave. Before the execution the prison photographer photographed him, so that in mass executions the executioner would not make a mistake.

He is commemorated on 15 December, on 29 May (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs of Butovo and on 5 September (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow, in the new style.