Theodosius Bobkov

Holy Venerable Martyr Theodosius Bobkov, a hieromonk, was born on 7 February 1874 in the village of Novoe Ivanovskoe in the Tula province, in the family of the peasant Peter Bobkov, and was named Theodore at Baptism. He received the crown of martyrdom by shooting on 17 February 1938, at the Butovo firing range near Moscow.

He received his first schooling at the Moscow town school, then at the school attached to the Chudov monastery, where he was received as a novice on 21 May 1902 and had the obedience of choir director. At the Chudov monastery he was tonsured into the mantle with the name Theodosius. On 14 December 1907 he was ordained hierodeacon, then hieromonk. In July 1915 he was sent to the army in the field and appointed priest of the 211th field reserve hospital, and in March 1916 transferred to the 161st Alexandropol infantry regiment. The service of a regimental priest in time of battle often demanded great courage: on 10 April, going round the positions of the 161st regiment with the cross and holy water, he came under enemy fire. In May 1916 he was appointed to the field church of the second infirmary of the 41st division, where he also had to serve under conditions of war: on 9 May 1916 he came under artillery fire when the enemy shelled the village of Rydoruby. For heroism shown in battle he received many awards. On 25 July 1917 he returned to the Chudov monastery. The monastery was closed by the godless among the first, and Hieromonk Theodosius was sent to serve at the church in the village of Odintsovo in the Kashira district of the Moscow province.

In 1923 he was called to Moscow, to the Novospassky monastery, where he was choir director. In the same year he was appointed to the parish in the village of Zaraz in the Kashira district. On 11 June 1930 he was sent to the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the village of Vikhorna in the Kashira district, where he served until his arrest.

On 20 January 1938 peasants of the collective farm "Answer to Saboteurs" signed the testimony demanded by NKVD officers: Theodore Petrovich Bobkov had told people that Soviet power only mocks religion, that priests are arrested for the truth, that the authorities wish to push the Orthodox away from religion by force, but are deeply mistaken, for the more they attack religion, the more the people will believe in God. On 29 January Hieromonk Theodosius was arrested, held in Kashira and questioned the next day. The investigator asked whether he admitted guilt, and he answered no. Asked whether he agreed at least with what the witnesses said, he answered, "This I did not say, and I do not admit guilt." The interrogations ended. On 8 February the NKVD troika sentenced him to death, and Hieromonk Theodosius (Bobkov) was shot on 17 February 1938 and buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo firing range.

He is commemorated on 17 February (new style), that is 4 February by the old calendar, 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.