Vladimir Piksanov

Holy Hieromartyr Vladimir Piksanov was a priest in the village of Pavlovka, Khvalynsk district, Saratov province, and was shot by Red Guards in the spring of 1918, probably the first cleric of the Saratov diocese killed by the godless.

His family

He came from a family of servants of the Church. His great-⁠grandfather, Philip Arkhangelsky, was a parish clerk in the village of Piksanovka in the Kuznetsk district; his son Ermil, born in 1790, received at the seminary, from the name of the village, the surname Piksanov. He was ordained priest in 1818 and served in the villages of Cherkasskoe and Kurilovka, then, retired in 1860, lived with his son Timothy at Spasskoe until his death in 1874. His death was peaceful: the day before he asked that new linen be sewn, and on the day of his death he sent for a priest for Holy Unction, then withdrew to a room with prayers, and when his son came near, weeping, he told him to read the service of departure quickly, and died before it was finished. Two years earlier, on 10 July 1872, a son, Vladimir, had been born in the family of the priest Timothy Piksanov, baptized in honor of Saint Vladimir, equal to the Apostles.

The priest

In 1892 he finished the Saratov seminary, and on 16 July was appointed psalm-⁠reader in the village of Alexeyevka, Khvalynsk district, "with the duty of helping the priest in conversations with the schismatics", at the same time being a teacher at the literacy school. Alexeyevka had Old Believers without priests, and when Saint John of Kronstadt passed through, after the Liturgy he addressed his sermon above all to them. He married Anna Petrovna, born in 1877, a priest's daughter, a graduate of the diocesan girls' school; the marriage permit was issued on 27 September 1893. On 20 August 1893 he asked to be appointed priest in the village of Novospasskoe, and Bishop Abraham ordained him on 17 October 1893, only a week before his own death. On 24 January 1899 he received the epigonation, and in October 1899 their daughter Zinaida was born. On 28 November 1899 he was moved to the Resurrection church in the large village of Pavlovka, Khvalynsk district, where he would serve until his martyric death. In 1912 the parish numbered 4,111 people, plus 995 villagers of various Old Believer currents. The stone church with three altars had been built in 1827. Father Vladimir was teacher of religion at the two-⁠year school of the Ministry of Education and at the church school, and until 1913 also chairman of the local section of the diocesan school council. The pupils who sang in the choir remembered him as a good teacher; many sought his counsel in troubles. He was elected assistant to the dean in 1900, in 1903 received a violet velvet skufia, and the service records showed that he "had no property". In one year alone, 1907, he gave 119 instructions.

Martyrdom

After 1917 the attack on the Church began. In March-⁠April 1918 the wave reached the northernmost district of Saratov. A few days earlier several Red Guards had arrived in Pavlovka and been disarmed by the villagers, which led the authorities to think that a White guard had been organized in the village and that the beloved and respected priest was at its head. A detachment of more than six hundred and fifty Red Guards was sent against the village, later increased by reinforcements. It is only known that Father Vladimir was brought home at about three in the night, cruelly beaten with whips. In the morning the guards came again and led him to the District Administration, without allowing him even to take off his epitrachelion. On the road they mocked him, and he bore it with humility. When they reached the parish church, a shot was heard somewhere in the village; supposing that fighting had begun, they shot him on the square. The priest turned to his killers, made the sign of the cross and said: "Lord, receive my soul," and the epitrachelion was stained with blood. They took his boots and galoshes. Compassionate women put his cap under his head and folded his hands. His relatives and parishioners were not allowed to take the body, but at their entreaty the guards threw it into a sleigh and brought it home, where it lay two nights in the carriage shed, and then it was buried.

The saint is commemorated on 2 April and, in the new style, on 7 February (movable) in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, on 3 June in the Synaxis of the Saints of Simbirsk and on 12 September (movable) in the Synaxis of the Saints of Saratov.