Seraphim Bulashov

Holy Venerable Martyr Seraphim Bulashov, an abbot, was a monk of the Edinoverie (same-⁠rite) St Nicholas Monastery in Moscow, then a priest in the village of Yakovlevo, and was shot on 5 February 1938 at the Butovo range near Moscow.

In the world he was called Nicholas Semyonovich Bulashov and was born in 1872, in Moscow, in a family of Popovtsy schismatics (Old Believers with priests). Between 1893 and 1897 he was in the army, with the rank of senior non-⁠commissioned officer. On 19 November 1899 he was received into the Orthodox Church and the same day entered the Edinoverie St Nicholas Monastery. For two years he worked as candle-⁠keeper, in 1902 he was the abbot's cell attendant, on 28 June 1903 he was received as a novice, and on 26 February 1904 he was tonsured a monk with the name Seraphim. From 1903 he was the abbot's secretary. On 23 November 1906 he was ordained hierodeacon and continued the obedience of secretary, to which that of the choir was added. In 1911 he was acting dean of the monastery, and on 13 April 1912 he was ordained hieromonk. In 1915 he passed to the Guslitsa Transfiguration Monastery, founded precisely for the work of enlightenment among the Old Believers.

In February 1930 the priest of the church of the Akhtyrka icon of the Mother of God in the village of Yakovlevo was arrested, and the parishioners asked Father Seraphim to serve for them. He agreed, sent a petition to the bishop, on 4 June 1930 was appointed to the church there and on 10 June 1931 was raised to abbot. He served there almost eight years.

On 25 January 1938 he was arrested, held in Taganka prison in Moscow and interrogated the next day. He answered the investigator's charge that he did not admit guilt and had never carried out propaganda. Two false witnesses were called, who confirmed the charges. On 2 February 1938 an NKVD troika sentenced him to death. He was shot on 5 February 1938 and buried in the unknown common grave at Butovo.

He is commemorated on 5 February, 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. In 2021 the Holy Synod approved a common service for the Venerable Martyrs of Guslitsa Seraphim Bulashov, Joasaph Krymzin and Peter Mamontov, set for 19 November, in the old style.