Stephen

Holy Venerable Martyr Stephen was a monk of the Dormition Monastery of Zilant near Kazan and was shot with Archimandrite Sergius and other brethren on 10 September 1918, new style.

In 1917 nine monks and novices lived at Zilant, under the guidance of Archimandrite Sergius (Zaitsev). In 1918, when Kazan was freed by the White Czech troops of Colonel Kappel, two guns were set on the hill before the monastery to shell the positions of the Bolsheviks. On 28 August (10 September in the new style) the Czechs withdrew and the Bolsheviks entered the suburb where the monastery stood. Red Army soldiers lined up the whole brotherhood against the wall of the courtyard and shot them in volleys. Only the aged hieromonk Joseph remained alive, having fallen at the first shots and been taken for dead; coming out from under the bodies, he found shelter in the city, at the Monastery of Saint John the Forerunner, and told of the end of the 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). Archimandrite Joasaph (Udalov), later a bishop and hieromartyr, performed the burial service.

They were canonized in 1998 as locally venerated saints of the Kazan diocese, and in August 2000 were numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors. Stephen is commemorated on 10 September and, in the new 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.