Alexander Belyakov, Presbyter

Priest Alexander Nikolaevich Belyakov was born in 1890 in Nizhny Novgorod. He was arrested on August 6, 1937, during the mass repressions against the Nizhny Novgorod clergy and accused of participating in a 'counter-revolutionary church group.' Father Alexander did not confess to the charges and refused to testify against others. He was executed by firing squad under the sentence of August 21, 1937. Saint Martyr Alexander was canonized in the rank of saints by the Archdiocesan Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.