Theodore Raspopov

Holy Hieromartyr Theodore Raspopov, a priest, was born on 7 February 1891 in the village of Pokrovskoe in the Tobolsk province, in the family of the peasant Ioann Feraponovich Raspopov and his wife Daria Yakovlevna. He was baptized on 9 February in the local church. He received the crown of martyrdom by shooting in the night of 8 (21) July 1918.

Life

He lived in his native village until 1906, when at fifteen he entered the first class of the Tobolsk seminary. He studied well and in June 1912 graduated with distinction, second in the final examinations. At the seminary he was a member of a preachers' circle and was often entrusted to preach in the churches of Tobolsk. After the seminary he entered the Imperial Theological Academy in Kazan, but studied there only a year, and in September 1913 asked to be discharged from the students, wishing to serve in the Tobolsk diocese. He married Maria Rodionovna Markova, the sister of a fellow seminarian, and in 1914 their first son, Alexander, was born, and in 1915 the second, Antonin. On 5 November 1913 he was assigned to the church of the village of Gaevskoe in the Verkhoturye district; on 15 November he was ordained deacon by Bishop Mitrophan (Afonsky) of Yekaterinburg and Irbit, and two days later priest and assigned to the church of Saint Nicholas in the village of Elkino. At the same time he began to teach religion in the schools of Elkino and Glubokoe. On 12 May 1917 he was appointed priest at the church of Saint Michael the Archangel in Turinskaya Sloboda, and in March 1918 he became dean of the fourth district of the Turinsk district and chairman of the deanery council.

Arrest

In July 1918 a resident of Turinskaya Sloboda, the peasant Fedot Malyshev, asked him to marry him, showing a certificate of dissolution of his marriage to his lawful wife. Father Theodore refused and explained that a marriage can be dissolved only by Church authority, then gave him instruction about marriage and advised him to go home in peace. Malyshev complained to the Red Army soldiers, saying that Father Theodore did not recognize Soviet power. Armed soldiers broke into the priest's flat. The detachment was commanded by a parishioner of the Turinsk church, who told him maliciously that his life was now in his hands. Father Theodore answered that he was mistaken, for we are all in the hands of God and not a hair falls from our head without His will. He was arrested.

Martyrdom

On the evening of Saturday 7 (20) July he took part in the service, singing at the choir stand. After the vigil, at eleven at night, nine drunken Bolsheviks led by the commissar Obrosov burst into the prisoners' cell. They took eight people, led them out into the prison yard and stood them by the wall. Their intention was clear, for some shouted in frenzy, "Blood, blood." Of all the unfortunates, only Father Theodore kept his peace of soul and comforted the others: "Do not be afraid, hope in God." While they stood by the wall, he read quietly for all of them the prayers for the departure of the soul. After the first shot an old Jew fell, whom they finished with rifle butts. Father Theodore was second. The killers demanded a ransom: "Give a thousand roubles." He answered, "I believe there is a God in heaven and justice on earth; I will not buy my life with money. I do not trade my body, and over my soul you have no power." Some witnesses say that no ransom was demanded of him, but that he was beaten. They shot at him six times, but the bullets struck the cross on his chest. After each shot he made the sign of the cross, saying calmly, "May we live." "This priest is some kind of saint, the bullet doesn't take him," the soldiers fumed. Then Obrosov leapt at him, struck him on the cheek and shouted, "You have prayed to God, but He will not help you, while I could save you." The executioners tore the cross from his chest. The seventh shot brought him down, and death was instant. It happened in the night of 8 (21) July 1918, when he was twenty-⁠seven. The slain were thrown into a pit dug in advance, and even over the priest's dead body they mocked him, dragging him by the hair.

Burial and veneration

The diocese wrote of him that he was a worthy pastor, respected by all, who at twenty-⁠seven could have done much for the Church, but the Lord judged otherwise, and he died as a hero martyr, suffering for truth and for the Orthodox Church. On 15 (28) July his body was moved from the prison grave to the cathedral, where it was buried in the cathedral enclosure, in the presence of many people, with the most heartfelt address given by the priest Alexander Burov.

He is commemorated on 21 July (new style), that is 8 July by the old calendar, in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church on 7 February on a movable day, and in the Synaxis of the Saints of Yekaterinburg on 11 February.