Presbyter
Priest Afanasy Grigoryevich Kislov was born in March 1880 in the village of Taraskino, Pskov province. In his childhood, he was left an orphan and was raised by the parish priest, Protopresbyter Iosif Nikanovich, and his family. Afanasy graduated from a 'people's school' and at the age of 16 moved to St. Petersburg, where he became a clerk. In 1908, he married Anna Iosifovna, and they had 9 children.
From 1908 to 1910, he studied to become a psalmist, and then he was appointed as a psalmist at the Assumption Church in the village of Yasluyzhi. In 1910, Bishop Serafim ordained him as a deacon. In 1924, he was ordained as a priest and became the rector of the church in the village of Rudnya. He did not participate in the Renovationist schism, remaining faithful to the Patriarchal Church.
In 1927, his church was burdened with taxes, and he lived in fear of arrest. In 1930, the Kislovs moved to the Pskov region, where Father Afanasy became the rector of the Nikolskaya Church. He continued to serve despite the persecutions. In 1935, he was arrested during a service but was soon released.
On the night of August 13, 1937, Father Afanasy was arrested again, and his house was searched. He was accused of anti-Soviet activities and was shot on August 23, 1937, in Tver. There is no information about the place of his burial.
Father Afanasy's family suffered from poverty and humiliation, but all the children survived and had their own families. His wife, Anna Iosifovna, lived to be 86 years old. In the 1970s, it became known that Father Afanasy had been shot. He accepted a martyr's death for Christ and was canonized among the ranks of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
