Philosophus Zyabrev

Holy Confessor Philosophus Zyabrev, a priest, was born in 1874 in a priest's family and was in prison after 1937, from which he did not return. His name was Philosophus Pavlovich Zyabrev.

He finished the church school of Simferopol and, after an examination, was appointed psalm reader at the church of Saint Demetrius in the village of Tsarevodarovka, in the Berdyansk district of the Tauride province. In 1898 he was moved to the church of Saint Elias in the village of Girsovka, in the same district. After 1917 he served in the church of the Holy Archangel Michael in the village of Gyuneevka, in the Bolshoi Belozerk district of the Zaporozhye region. After the church was closed, in 1931, he continued to hold unlawful services and to meet the needs of believers in the homes of parishioners. He was subjected to repression seven times. The property of his family was sold several times for non-⁠payment of taxes and finally sold off entirely in 1936.

On 14 August 1937 he was arrested by the NKVD on the charge of counterrevolutionary terrorist activity and of holding unlawful services in houses. At the interrogation he said that his main profession was priest, that after the closing of the church he remained faithful to his duty and went on performing services in houses, that he considered and still considers that the Soviet power has conducted an unjust policy, not permitting religious rites and closing churches unjustly, which is against the interests of believers, hence his dissatisfaction with the policy of the Communist Party. On 21 September 1937 the troika of the NKVD Directorate of the Dnepropetrovsk region sentenced him to eight years in prison. From detention the Father did not return, and in the file there is no record of his release.

At the session of 25 August 2012 of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church it was decided to glorify the priest Philosophus Zyabrev among the saints of local veneration of the Zaporozhye diocese. The glorification took place on 13 October 2012, at the service in the Protection cathedral in Zaporozhye, and it was decided to keep the confessor's commemoration on the day of his glorification. On 5 January 2013 the Holy Synod included him in the Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of Zaporozhye. The Azbyka page also gives for him the days 2 December and 28 December.