Vladimir Elizarov

Holy Venerable Martyr Vladimir (Vasily Vikentievich Elizarov, in the world) was a Russian monk, born in 1877 in the village of Bykovo, Kirillov district, Novgorod province, and shot on 20 February 1930 in the Urals. The Holy Synod of the Russian Church, at its session of 14 May 2026, decided to enter his name in the named list of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church. His commemoration is on 7 (20) February, the day of his martyric death.

He was born into a peasant family. In 1904 and 1905 he took part in the Russo-⁠Japanese war. From 1907 he was a labourer at the Solovki Monastery, and in 1911 he passed as a novice to the Saint Nicholas Belogorsky Monastery in the diocese of Perm. From 1914 to 1917 he served, by mobilization, as a private in the field artillery on the fronts of the First World War. In 1917 he returned to the monastery, and on 1 June 1919 the rassophore novice Vasily was tonsured a monk and received the name Vladimir.

He remained a resident of the Belogorsky monastery until its closure in 1923. In the same year Father Vladimir was arrested, but on 15 October, after almost seven months in detention, he was released on condition that he not leave the place. After the monastery was closed he worked as a watchman at the church of the Ascension in the settlement of Mikhailovsky Zavod. He actively opposed the planned closure of the church by the authorities, for which he was arrested again in January 1930. Father Vladimir conducted himself bravely at the interrogations, and by decision of the secret police troika for the Urals of 16 February 1930 he was sentenced to death. He was shot on 20 February of the same year. He was buried, probably, in the common cemetery in the environs of Yekaterinburg, on the grounds of the secret police firing range.

By the decision of the Synod of 14 May 2026, his name was entered in the list of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church. His commemoration was ordered for 7 (20) February, the day of his martyric death. The honoured remains of the venerable martyr, if they are found, are to be regarded as holy relics and given due veneration. Icons of the newly glorified saint may be painted, according to the decree of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. His name was entered in the previously approved Synaxes of the Saints of Yekaterinburg and of Perm. He is also commemorated on 11 February, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Yekaterinburg, and on the first Sunday after 29 January, in the Synaxis of the Saints of the Perm metropolis.