Sergius Krestnikov

Holy Venerable Martyr Sergius Krestnikov was a novice and psalm-⁠reader, once a singer in monasteries and in the Trinity Lavra, and he was shot on 25 April 1938 after reaching a labour camp.

Life He was born on 1 July 1893 in Moscow. After school, in 1905 he entered the Protection of the Mother of God Monastery in Moscow and sang in its choir until 1915. For two years he sang in the choirs of Moscow churches, and in 1918 he entered the Trinity-⁠Sergius Lavra as a novice, where he stayed until its closure in 1922. Afterwards he sang in the choir of the Pyatnitskaya church in Sergiev Posad, and in 1928 he became psalm-⁠reader at the church of the Kukuevo cemetery, where Elder Alexis (Soloviev), hieroschemamonk of the Zosima Hermitage, was buried. There he was psalm-⁠reader, watchman and chairman of the church council.

The first arrest In 1935 the NKVD arrested former residents of the Lavra living in lodgings in the Posad and the priests of the town. On 21 October 1935 Novice Sergius was arrested and imprisoned at Butyrka. Some witnesses stated that he had said that church servants were tormented with taxes and that Soviet power meant to abolish the churches. At his interrogation he said that among the monastics people spoke of the time of the Antichrist, and that he himself thought we were living only on the threshold of it. He answered plainly that Soviet power closes churches without the consent of believers and exiles priests without cause, and that for this reason he felt opposed to it. On 5 January 1936 the inquiry closed, charging him with membership in a counter-⁠revolutionary group, spreading rumours of persecution, glorifying the grave of "Elder Alexis" and reporting healings there. On 8 January 1936 the Special Council sentenced him to five years in a camp, and he was sent to Ukhtpechlag at Chibyu.

Martyrdom In the camp he was caught by the new wave of persecution, which spared not even those already held. On 21 January 1938 he was arrested again and imprisoned at Chibyu. Questioned, he answered that he did not admit guilt and had only told the prisoners that life in the camp was hard. On 15 March 1938 an NKVD troika sentenced him to death, and on 25 April 1938 he was shot and buried in an unknown common grave.

He is commemorated on 25 April and, in the new style, on 7 February (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, on 19 July in the Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh, on 5 September (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow and on 10 December in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Radonezh.