Sergius Galin

Holy Venerable Martyr Sergius Galin was a novice of the Zilant Monastery in Kazan and received the crown of martyrdom by shooting in 1918, with nine of his brethren.

In 1917 nine monks and novices lived in the Dormition Monastery of Zilant, on the edge of Kazan, under the guidance of Archimandrite Sergius (Zaitsev). In 1918, when Kazan was freed by the White and Czech forces of Colonel Kappel, two guns were set on the hill before the monastery gate and shelled the positions of the Bolsheviks. On 28 August (10 September in the new style) the Czechs withdrew and the Bolsheviks burst into the settlement where the monastery stood. Red Army soldiers lined up the whole brotherhood against the wall of the monastery courtyard and shot them in volleys. Then they left the monastery and moved on into the city.

Only one aged hieromonk, Joseph, remained alive: at the first volleys he fell to the ground and was taken for dead. Having crept out from under the bodies of his brethren, he went into the city and found shelter at the Monastery of Saint John the Forerunner. Father Joseph, who went deaf and died a year later, told of the martyrdom of his brethren. Those shot were Archimandrite Sergius (Zaitsev), the hieromonks Lawrence (Nikitin) and Seraphim (Kuzmin), the hierodeacon Theodosius (Alexandrov), the monks Leontius (Karyagin) and Stephen, and the novices George (Timofeev), Sergius (Galin), Hilarion (Pravdin) and John (Sretensky). The funeral and burial service for the martyrs was performed by Archimandrite Joasaph (Udalov), later a bishop and hieromartyr.

The venerable martyrs were canonized in 1998 as locally venerated saints of the Kazan diocese, and in August 2000, at the Jubilee Council of Bishops, they were numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church for veneration throughout the Church. Sergius Galin is commemorated on 10 September, in the new style (28 August in the old style), on 7 February (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors, and on 17 October in the Synaxis of the Saints of Kazan.