Stephen Nemkov

Saint Stephen Nemkov, hieromartyr, was a priest of the Russian Church and was shot in 1918 near the village of Deyanovo, in the Kurmysh district, Simbirsk governorate. In 2000 he was numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

He was born on 17 December 1882, into a priest's family. At sixteen he entered the theological seminary of Simbirsk, which he finished in 1904. In the same year, on 5 September, he was appointed by decree of Bishop Gurias of Simbirsk and Syzran teacher of religion at the parish school attached to the Zhadovka hermitage of the Kazan Mother of God (Karsun district, Simbirsk governorate). In February 1905 he was transferred as psalm-⁠reader to the church of Saint Nicholas in the village of Medyany, Kurmysh district. On 3 September 1906 he was ordained deacon of the Holy Trinity church in the village of Deyanovo. In the spring of 1907 the rector at Deyanovo was moved to a new place, and on 6 May 1907 Archbishop Jacob of Simbirsk and Syzran ordained Father Stephen priest of the Holy Trinity church of Deyanovo. In the same year he was also appointed teacher of religion at the Deyanovo zemstvo school. In 1912 he received the priestly belt.

According to the report of Archpriest Michael Razhdaev to the diocesan council of Simbirsk, the priest Stephen Nemkov was shot for anti-⁠Soviet agitation during the suppression of a White Guard revolt in the Kurmysh district. Other sources say that the shooting took place on another day; our source does not give the day. Some years later a cross was set up at the place of the shooting. With his wife Anna Vasilievna he had three daughters: Nina, Maria and Alexandra. In 2000, by decision of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, on the proposal of the diocese of Nizhny Novgorod, he was numbered among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.