Paul Shirokogorov

Holy Hieromartyr Paul Shirokogorov, a deacon, was born in 1878 in Moscow, in the family of the deacon Pavel Shirokogorov. In 1900 he finished the Moscow Theological Seminary and was a teacher. In 1908 he was appointed psalmist at one of the churches of Moscow, and in 1918 he was ordained deacon and served until his arrest at the church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Moscow. In 1935 he settled in the village of Dedenevo in the Dmitrov district, where his sister lived with her family, but he went to Moscow for the services.

Deacon Paul was arrested in the night of 26 to 27 November 1937, held at Taganka and interrogated at once. The investigator told him that he was carrying on anti-⁠Soviet agitation among the people. He answered: I do not carry on anti-⁠Soviet agitation. He did not admit guilt. The next day the on-⁠duty witnesses were questioned and the investigation closed. On 3 December 1937 an NKVD troika sentenced him to ten years in a camp. Deacon Paul Shirokogorov died in captivity on 6 March 1938 and was buried in an unknown grave.

He is commemorated on 6 March (a movable date), on 7 February (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church and on 5 September (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow, in the new style.