Sergius Zavarin

Saint Sergius Zavarin, hieromartyr, was an archpriest of the Russian Church and died in a camp in Siberia on 14 April 1938. He was numbered among the saints as a hieromartyr in the year 2000, for veneration throughout the Church. He is also venerated in the Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl. He is commemorated on 1 April by the old calendar (14 April on the new style).

He was born on 9 October 1885, in the village of Voznesenskoe, Yaroslavl governorate, in the family of the priest Constantine Zavarin. In 1913 his father received in the village of Voznesenskoe a visit from Archbishop Tikhon of Yaroslavl and Rostov, later patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. On that occasion the archbishop went on to Afanasievskoe, and on the way stopped at the home of the dean K. Zavarin, where tea and a snack were offered him. Talking during the meal with the host and his family and blessing them, the archbishop set off on foot for home at five in the evening.

Sergius finished the theological seminary of Yaroslavl and was ordained priest. Until 1927 he served in the village of Koporye, Mologa district. In 1927 he was appointed to the church of the Holy Trinity in the village of Troitsa-⁠Zakulzhye, Lyubim district, Yaroslavl region. He was constantly under pressure from the authorities, who wanted to force him to leave.

On 30 October 1937, during the service, he was arrested by NKVD officers. On 5 November 1937 the NKVD troika sentenced him to ten years in a labour camp. Archpriest Sergius Zavarin died in confinement on 14 April 1938 and was buried in an unknown grave.