Presbyter
Priest Alexander Ivanovich Krylov was born on August 14, 1892, in the village of Ryakhovo, Kovrov district of Vladimir province. His father was a teacher, and his mother was a housewife. From an early age, Alexander felt a calling to God and, despite his father's opposition, began to study to become a priest. In 1907, he graduated from the Vladimir Theological School, and in 1913, he graduated from the Vladimir Theological Seminary. Since 1915, he served in the church of the village of Smerdovo, where he married Ekaterina, the daughter of a priest. After the October Revolution, persecutions against the Church began, and he had to change his place of service. In 1920, he saved the village from a fire by carrying out the icon of the Mother of God 'Burning Bush'.
In 1929, he was arrested for 'agitation against the grain procurement'. He refused to pay an impossible tax, which led to his imprisonment in a concentration camp. In 1932, he returned but was constantly under surveillance. In 1935, he moved to the village of Yazykovo, and then to Ilyinskoye. In 1937, he was arrested again, accused of counter-revolutionary agitation. On December 27, 1937, the troika of the NKVD decided on his execution. On January 8, 1938, he was shot and buried in the Balino cemetery.
