Theodore Gusev

Holy Hieromartyr Theodore Gusev, a priest, was born on 2 February 1875 in the family of the priest Evdokim Gusev of the village of Nikolskoe in the Klin district of the Moscow province. He received the crown of martyrdom by shooting on 4 December 1937, at the Butovo firing range near Moscow.

He finished the Dmitrov clerical school. From 1899 to 1901 he served as a private in the army. In 1903 he became a psalm-⁠reader at the Dormition church in the village of Izosimenie in the Klin district, and served in it all his life. In 1912 Metropolitan Vladimir of Moscow ordained him deacon. In November 1929 the priest of the church was arrested and exiled for three years for failing to meet grain-⁠delivery quotas; with no one left to serve, the church was closed in December. On 31 March 1930, at the request of the parishioners, the church was reopened and priests of neighbouring parishes began to serve in it by turns. On 15 May 1934 it was closed again, for non-⁠payment of taxes, but in August of that year the parishioners again obtained its opening. On 8 November 1936 Bishop John Shirokov of Volokolamsk ordained the deacon Theodore priest for this church.

On 21 November 1937 Father Theodore was arrested and held in Taganka prison. At the interrogation the investigator asked with whom he kept contact, and he answered that it was with the priest of the church in Gribovo, Vasily Ivanovich Kolokolov, meanwhile arrested by the NKVD, from whom he often asked advice about the services. Asked about the charge of anti-⁠Soviet agitation, he said that in July 1937, on the question of taxes, he had told the collective farm workers that Soviet power laid unbearable taxes and that they could no longer pay, and he denied any other talk against the authorities. On 1 December 1937 the NKVD troika sentenced him to death. Father Theodore Gusev was shot on 4 December 1937 and buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo firing range.

He is commemorated on 5 December (new style), in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs of Butovo on 29 May, and in the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow on 5 September, the last two being movable.