Vladimir Troepolsky

Holy Hieromartyr Vladimir Troepolsky was a priest in Crimea, at Alupka, and was stabbed in his house on 28 December 1905, dying the next day, after he had confessed and received communion.

He was born on 13 January 1864 in the village of Kolomna in Orel province, in a priest's family, and was orphaned young. He studied first at the theological school and then at the seminary. In September 1891 he was ordained deacon and priest for the church of the Prophet Elijah in the town of Saki, Evpatoria district. By his labor a bell tower was raised and some two hundred desyatinas of church land were acquired. He gathered benefactors for a shelter beside the mud-⁠bath spa, where the poor who came for treatment could find lodging at small cost. From 1891 to 1898 he was teacher of religion at three zemstvo schools of Saki, from 1896 supervisor of the parish schools of the Evpatoria district. He was a delegate of the clergy at the diocesan congresses in 1895, 1896 and 1898 and headed the free libraries of Saki. In 1898 he was appointed rector of the Greek church of Saint John the Baptist in Kerch, then, in 1899, at Alupka, at the church of the Archangel Michael, teacher of religion at the parish school of Alupka and at the schools of Simeiz.

In the events of 1905 he rebuked the revolutionaries and received the first threat at the beginning of the year, but he did not stop and urged people not to go to meetings but to live in peace and love. Three days after Christmas, on 28 December 1905, he was stabbed with daggers in his house, before the eyes of his wife and four small sons. When he fell covered in blood, one of the killers, seized by horror and remorse, bent over him crying: "Father, forgive me", and he whispered: "God will forgive." On 29 December (11 January new style) the priest died, having been able to confess and receive communion.

He was glorified by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Outside Russia in November 1981, with the commemoration set on the day of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. On 28 July 2019 the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church entered his name in the calendar, the commemoration being on 11 January. The calendar shows him on 28 December, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Crimea.