Victor Klimov

Holy Hieromartyr Victor Klimov was a priest at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan and was shot together with three other priests, following the decision of the troika of 19 November 1937.

He was born on 17 April 1889 in the village of Semiyarskoe in the Semipalatinsk region (today Semiyarka in East Kazakhstan), in a well-⁠off and cultured family of a station master. His brother Nicholas became a priest at the Holy Trinity cathedral in Tomsk and also died as a martyr. After the Tomsk seminary, which he finished in 1909, he taught literature at the boys' gymnasium of Semipalatinsk. He married in 1911, was ordained deacon in 1913 and on 8 December 1913 priest, by Bishop Cyprian Komarovsky of Semipalatinsk. Between 1914 and 1923 he served at the Resurrection church of the city, was a member of the clergy of the church of Alexander Nevsky and bore the obedience of dean.

In 1922 he took part in the assemblies of the clergy and laity of the Semipalatinsk vicariate, held to oppose Renovationism. On 4 December he was detained with other participants but was released soon after, on condition that he not leave the city, and on 5 March 1923 he received a fine for "taking part in secret assemblies". From 1924 he served at the cathedral of the Sign, and after its closing in 1931 returned to the Resurrection church.

He was arrested on 17 November 1937 and accused of "active counter-⁠revolutionary activity through agitation among the population", of spreading "slanderous rumors about the measures of the Soviet government" and of espionage. He did not admit guilt. He was shot with Archpriests Nestor Panin and Theodore Chichkanov and Priest Constantine Cherepanov, according to the decision of the troika of the East Kazakhstan regional NKVD of 19 November 1937. The Holy Synod of the Russian Church included him in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia on 27 December 2000.

The saint is commemorated on 22 November and, in the new style, on 7 February (movable) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.